Sweet

We have had a pretty crazy week here. We got back from an awesome but difficult road trip on Monday. Ben had to go in to work as soon as we got home. Lucas is getting over a cold and still has a cough. Juli has been teething/sick this week with a runny nose and whiney. So she has been more clingy and needy than normal. Which makes Lucas more needy because she is taking time and attention from him. Agh. Anyways, not the best week of my life. 

But. Yesterday things were a little better. Juli and Lucas weren't as whiney. They were playing together. (Best part of having two kids- when they are making each other happy😊) Lucas was pushing Juliana around in her cozy coup. He accidentally ran it into the pole in the living room and she started crying. We got her out and she was fine, just startled. Lucas came over to check on her and got close to her face and started talking. She immediately smiled and grabbed for his face, laughing when he pulled away. Lucas looked at me and said "she still loves me." And walked away. 

Then at bedtime, I was rocking juli and twice she sat up, pulled her binky out of her mouth, and said Mama. Then cuddled into me. Just about melted my heart. 

I have to soak up the little sweet moments so I can Remember them when I'm trying to get dinner on the table and both kids are screaming. And I have to remember the love between my two babies when they aren't being so loving. 

Where Did My Baby Go?

Juli turned one in October. I didn't really get too upset about it. She was still my baby. She was still nursing. Still didn't talk. Still wanted to be held a lot. Still demanded to rocked to sleep. Every nap and night. So her turning one wasn't that much of a shock to me. But now that she is 14 months old, I feel like she has crossed over an invisible threshold into toddlerhood. 

She still nurses at night to go to sleep and at naps sometimes. But if she doesn't nurse at all during the day, it's not a big deal. She eats everything we do, except for dairy.  She has 12 teeth and is working on her canines. She ate a whole turkey dog the other day in about 5 minutes. 

Juli is talking. She has words for so many things. She uses yes (shur) and no all the time. She says up (bup) and down (dah) to get where she wants to go. She uses our names (mama, dada, bubba) when she sees us or pictures of us. She has sounds for lots of animals and things like planes. (Blows a raspberry like a plane motor) 

She follows directions all the time. Hand this to bubba, go find your baby, where's your book?, take your shoes off, sit down. She understands so much of what we say to her now. 

Not only does she understand a lot, she is starting to express herself. She hit her finger the other day and came up to me, put her finger near my mouth, and made a kissing noise. She wanted a kiss to make it better. 

She was playing with Lucas and he shut her out of his room. She came out to the kitchen, took my hand and led me to the door. So that I would open it for her. Hello reasoning skills. 😳 

She feeds herself with a spoon. Or with her fingers, depending on the food. She cracks up when she thinks Lucas is being funny (pretty much all the time) She falls asleep by herself in her crib most of the time. (Unless she is teething or sick or in an unfamiliar place) 

She is still such a sweet girl. Still loves cuddles and hugs and kisses. But she also has an stubborn streak. This is her first year being mobile and aware at Christmas. She loves the tree. But she wants to touch the ornaments. So badly. She knows she isn't supposed to. But sometimes she gets this look in her eyes and just goes for it. Then when she gets caught she gives you the sweetest smile and even tries to give you a kiss. She is going to be dangerous as a teen. 

 

Juli at 13 Months

When Lucas was around the age Juli currently is, I did some posts about what he was up to.  I feel like these months all blur together but kids grow and learn so much that I want to remember the small things! So here are some of the things that Juli is doing now!

- talking! At Juli's 12 month appointment, they said she should be saying two words, in addition to mama and dada. I was a little worried because she rarely said mama, had never said dada, and the only other word she said was bubba. But the doctor said not to stress over it. So within one month, Juli's vocabulary has exploded! Here are some of the words she says

Da- daddy

Pa- up

Don- down

Ca- car

Ba- baby

Mmm- Mickey Mouse

And she is starting to use these unprompted.  For example, I used to have to say, Juli, do you out want to get down? Say "down." And she would say it. Now she just looks at me and says "da." 

She knows what a 

Fish says- opens and shuts mouth

Monkey- oo oo oo

Cow- moo

Doggy- woo woo

-Loves on her baby doll! This girl loves her baby. She flaps her hands around when she sees it, goes straight to it and cuddles and hugs her baby all the time. She feeds her with the play bottle, and today she even tried to give her baby medicine with the dropper she gets medicine from. If she is playing with her baby and it's time for her to go to bed or take a nap, she wants to put her baby to bed first (baby has a little bassinet). She gives the baby doll kisses all the time. And puts her up to my mouth for kisses. And she hands you her baby to watch or feed. It's adorable I just love watching her little loving heart.

- Loves music! She brings me my phone and says da (meaning dance) and wants me to put her dancing music on. (Favorite songs are Classic and  Shake it Off) She likes me to hold her and dance around, and she'll wave her arm with the music. And just recently she started really dancing on her own, bouncing around, spinning in circles, waving her arms around, and any combination of those.  This morning she was even trying to sing!! Ah! She's my little mini me! I love putting the music on and dancing and singing with the kids.

- Eating everything. We are still wary of dairy, but slowly introducing small portions of it, which don't seem to bother her. This month, she got her bottom two molars and one top one. The last one is just about to come through. So she is up to 11 teeth. 

- Reading. Her favorite books have animals in them. Open the barn door is her current favorite which has flaps that have animals underneath. She loves animals in general. She waves to every dog, duck, bird, cat, whatever type of animal she sees, but refuses to wave to people most of the time. 

Juli is everything I could've asked for in a daughter.  She is sweet, funny, sassy, and smart. I am absolutely loving this age where she is starting to communicate more and more with us. I can't wait to hear more about what she has to say!

Church With Kids

Going to church with kids is hard. No getting around it. Getting my kids to sit quietly for over an hour each week is not something that I look forward to with joy. But I am so thankful that I have done this since Lucas was an infant. 

I'm not talking about bringing your kid to the nursery for church. That, to me, isn't really teaching my kids anything about God and why we are there. I'm talking about having kids in the pews, listening to the service, and being a part of the congregation. There have been Sundays that I did not want to go to church. I didn't want to worry about a meltdown or a whiney child, or having to drag a screaming toddler down the aisle. But we always go. Because I have explained to Lucas that we go to church on Sunday to show God that we love Him. What kind of message does it send my son if I don't go to church? It tells him that it isn't a priority. That it's not important to me, and therefor doesn't need to be important to him. Right now, Lucas is just three years old. But he already has learned from, and gotten used to going to church. 

The other week, I looked down while I was singing a mass part. Lucas was singing along with me. "Lord have mercy, lord have mercy, Christ have mercy."  He knew the words and the music. It made me so happy to see his involvement and interest in the mass. He says "lord hear our prayer" with the congregation. He shakes hands and says "Peace be with you." He says the Our Father. Then, last week we sang "One Bread, One Body" as the communion hymn. I guess that's a pretty common one that we have sung many times because Lucas sang the refrain with me each time it came around. These small ways that Lucas has found to be part of the celebration of mass make allllll the hard times we have had in the past three years at church every Sunday worth it. 

This is not to say that my toddler is the model of perfect behavior at mass every week. Oh no. Not even close. He still says he doesn't want to go to church most Sundays before we leave the house. But I know that the only way he is going to grow into his faith and into the man that I want him to be (and that God has tasked us to help form) is to keep going. Keep talking to him about our faith. Keep showing him that this is important through my own actions. And keep watching for those small but wonderful signs that he is slowly but surely absorbing and reflecting that faith in and love of God.

So keep going! Or go for the first time! It has to start somewhere. And why not now? Jesus loved the little children. And it's ok if they cry in his house. God doesn't mind. :) And one day, maybe three years from now, you will see the signs that your child is benefitting and learning from your perseverance. 

Update-- 1 and 3

So once again, I have been distracted by this silly little thing called life, and havent been blogging! :) But I love re-reading my posts from when Lucas was smaller, and remembering what he could do at that time, and I really want to be able to do that with Juli. So I have got to buckle down and write.

Juliana is ONE. Craziness. Absolutely bonkers. She was supposed to stay a squishy little baby forever! Not really, but it seems impossible that she is already a year old. She started walking at 10 months. She has 8 teeth fully in, and four molars that have barely broken through. She can stick out her tongue when you ask where it is. She scrunches up her face when you tell her to close her eyes. She opens and closes her mouth when you ask what a fish says. She will immitate you when you moo , woof woof, or meow. She follows commands so well. If you ask where her baby is, she goes hunting for it until she finds it. If you ask if the baby is hungry, she goes and finds the bottle, puts the baby down and 'feeds" her. So stinking cute.

Juliana is our happy girl. She is such a content baby. She loves being out and about, is easily entertained, distracted, and has a happy face 99% of the time. So when she is cranky or clingy, it is really noticeable. She got her one year shots on Friday, and just got her reaction to them two nights ago. She spiked a high fever and has kept it until today, still on meds. She's much fussier than normal, won't sleep well, and just not her normal happy self. Which makes me thankful that her normal self IS so happy and content.

Juliana's favorite person is Lucas. By far. She gets so excited to see him when he wakes up from a nap and she's already been awake for a while, or if he's up when she wakes up. She flaps her hands and gets this huge grin. It's adorable. And Lucas loves Juli too. He obviously still has his (many) moments where she bugs him, touches his things, takes his toys, gets the attention take away from him and acts not so loving towards her. But overall, he really does love his sister. Just this afternoon, we got home from Chik Fil A, and Juli had fallen asleep in her carseat. (She boycotted her morning nap) I normally get Juli out first, then go over and unbuckle Lucas and we all go inside. But I left Juli in her seat, and went to get Lucas out. I had a few bags and a drink so I figured I would set them inside before getting her out of the car. Lucas immediately wanted to know why I was leaving Juli, and then made SURE I didn't forget her in the car. 8) What a good big brother.

Lucas also turned three recently, which blows my mind. It's like someone pushed the fast forward button because he is supposed to be my baby. He started a two day a week preschool in August, which has gone fabulously. He loves going to school. He gets to do all kinds of fun things, gets to hang out with kids, and I get a little time to get things done. The most important part of school, for Lucas, is the social interaction. Lucas is really smart. I'm not bragging. He just is. He has astounded us with his memory, problem solving, and verbal skills since he was 18 months old. The kid is scary smart. But he is a typical (just) three year old in other areas, like emotional control, egocentric tendencies, and social understanding. Preschool was the first time that I EVER left him on a regular basis. He never went to daycare, mother's day out, or nursery at church. Even his gymnastics class that he took, which was another big step for us, I stayed in the waiting room where he could see me on breaks, and through a window during class. So I was surprised by how easily he adjusted to being dropped off at Preschool and picked up 3 hours later. He never had a problem with it. The only time he had an issue at school was when they made him go to the bathroom. Too noisy.

The things Lucas says always surprise me. Just today I thanked him for giving something to Juli. He said "It's my pleasure." Haha, obviously we go to Chik Fil A too much, but how stinking cute is that!? His memory is amazing. He told Ben about going to a hotel with his Mickey pillow, and that he slept in a crib- that happened LAST September. Before he turned 2. And it's not something we have ever discussed since then. He just remembered it. He is also really observant. He got new Thomas the Train stuff for his birthday, and one thing is a tunnel. He looked at it and said, "Hey this is like the tunnel on Daniel Tiger!" I had no idea what he was talking about. I never noticed a tunnel on Daniel Tiger! But sure enough, next time we watched I saw that he was right. Then, I bought a pur water filter for our sink. First thing Lucas says is, "Kayce has one of those." Yes, Kayce does have one of those. I don't know how he noticed her sink faucet, or why he remembered that- but he did.

OK, that's a uick update of what my little ones are up to these days. :) More to come soon, hopefully!

Loving life

What a great day. I'm sitting down nursing juli before she goes to sleep and was thinking of how I loved today. We woke up happy, had fun playing, had friends over, went to the pool with friends. Enjoyed some great weather, took long naps, woke up and went to the park. Had a quick and healthy dinner, played some more and took baths. It was just a fun, happy, easy day. And I'm thankful for it. Because some days are not fun OR easy. So days like today must be savored. 

Lucas was especially sweet today. At the pool he told me he had to pee. So we quickly went to the bathroom. As we were walking in, he said "Thank you for taking me to the pool mommy. And to the potty." 😢so stinking sweet. 

Then, during their bath, Lucas and I were singing Skidamarink a Dink a Dink. Part of the song says "I love you!" So I always point to his nose or Juliana's. He pointed to Juli as he sang "I love you!" It was just so cute. He really is a sweetheart. I love him. And his sister. 

Munchkins

I seem to have a problem keeping track of time. I can't quite believe it's been seven months since Juliana was born. But she's so big and active, it makes sense that she's that old. I just think of her as my little baby, and that doesn't match with the number, I guess. Juli is still our sweet girl. She is so happy. She rarely cries, and normally only when she is hungry or tired. Her hungry cues are so different than Lucas's were. She just fusses a little. But Lucas would wail and scream when he was hungry. Sometimes it takes me a few minutes to even realize Juliana is hungry because she doesn't actually cry. She just cough/ whines. That's it. 

Lucas is a very good big brother (most of the time).  He loves making juli smile, which she pretty much does every time she sees him. Or he talks to her. Or laughs at her. She loves her brother. If she is upset,  I can just get Lucas to talk to her and she normally stops crying. It's adorable. Lucas has discovered that he can feed Juliana her "puffs" and she really likes that. They both do. But I have to monitor how many he gives her because he will just keep feeding her! He loves taking care of her. He is still working on sharing. It's a lot harder for him now that she is so mobile. She army crawls and sits herself up., so she can get wherever she wants to go, and then sit up and play there. This makes her happy, but makes it tricky to keep her away from little toys and crumbs that she wants to eat. 

I can't wait to see them interacting even more in the coming months and years. It already is so cute. I am so glad we have two sweet kids that can always be there for each other. :)