Activity Mat

Julia has a lot of fun on her activity mat. Typically her favorite thing is to look at herself in the mirror, though on the video she only glances at herself briefly.

She still can't purposely grab at the toys, but she does swat at them and occasionally will then 'catch' them in her hand. This morning she made a big step, we think she figured out 'cause and effect'. While holding the dangling rings on her mat, she pulled hard on them which made another toy light up and play music. She stared at the light-up musical toy, but then it stopped and she pulled hard on the rings which made the toy light up and play music again. She did this 4 times in a row. Of course this made her parents very excited and we started out the day truly believing (or should I say knowing) that our daughter is a genius.

Spring is Here

We finally have spring weather up here in New England. In fact this weekend we're actually having summer like weather. So it was the perfect opportunity to spend time outside. We had a great time at the Daffodil festival. Here we are with grandpa, Lisa, and Ella watching the parade, though Julia slept through the entire parade (including the marching bands, the bagpipes, and the fire engines).

It seems to be a theme that Julia sleeps through a lot of events. Here she is sleeping through the Easter Egg Hunt with Ella from last weekend.
One event she doesn't sleep through is the nighttime, but we are very happy that for the past 2 weeks she has only been waking up once around 3am and then sleeps until 7am. Now that she's not waking up multiple times also means she graduated to sleeping in her crib in her own room.

Easter

The last few days have been very exciting for Julia. Last week Julia turned 3 months old, which I think means she is officially no longer a newborn and is now considered an infant. Here's Julia cheering "Hurray, go infants!"She went to her Nana's in Boston to celebrate Easter and got to meet her cousin Sophia for the first time. Sophia was very interested in Julia, always wanting to know where the baby was, wanting to hold the baby, and playing with her dolls in Julia's bouncy seat.

Last, but not least Julia had her first day at daycare today and mom started back parttime at work. Fortunately, my first day back at work went better than the transition day when Julia was at daycare for an hour last week. After I dropped Julia off I decided to run a few errands, I thought I was fine with Julia being at daycare, but subconsciously it must have been bothering me more than I thought. First I didn't screw the lid on the bottle for Julia so milk slipped all over my car, then when I picked up my dry cleaning I forgot to actually take the dry cleaning home with me, and then at the dunkin' donuts I left without getting my 18 dollars of change (luckily the cashier tracked me down in the parking lot).

Julia had a great day with all her new friends. Here is the report from her teacher: "I was very excited to return from vacation and meet Julia. She's such a cutie! She had a wonderful first day. You should be very proud of her. I had trouble keeping her asleep, but all that will work out. Happy the entire day and did great with her bottles. Julia loved looking around the room and keeping an eye on her new friends."

Rolling Over

Julia rolled over for the first time last night. Twice at night she woke up crying and when we went to check on her she was on her stomach. I guess this means I now have to assume she is now a little more "mobile", at least at nighttime.

Here's a 'stock' photo of Julia and I from Florida with her brand new blankie knit by her Nana.

Underwater Musical Mobile

I discovered the hard way that Julia loves her mobile. Several weeks ago I was trying to put her down for a nap, she was essentially asleep, pacifer in her mouth, and I lowered her into her crib. I then turned on the mobile above her crib (I figured to help her drift peacefully off to sleep even though up until this point she had never really looked at or acknowledged the mobile was even there), but suddenly she heard the music and caught sight of the twirling starfish. Her eyes popped open, her pacifer fell out of her mouth, she grined widely and starting squealing with delight and I was left to wonder... what happened to naptime?

Of course everytime I try to film her squealing with delight at the mobile, she is as quiet as a mouse, but you can get general the idea . . .

Spring Break (Part II)

The best part of Florida was all the people that Julia got to be around . . .

Nana with her 3 of her 4 grandchildren (we'll see you soon Sophia!)

Taylor holding Julia



Cousins Chase and Taylor meet Julia for the first time

Chase was very intrigued by Julia...

Grandpa and Julia

Aunt Arlen and Uncle Bill with Julia

During Arlen and Bill's visit to Tampa Julia behaved perfectly, awake, happy and smiling when they first arrived, then slept peacefully while we all enjoyed lunch. The loud music and construction that started at the end of lunch couldn't even wake her up. That basically summarizes how Julia was the entire trip: awake and smiling or sound asleep and no amount of noise could wake her up.

Spring Break (Part I)

Julia went on Spring Break to Florida, but don't worry her parents were there as chaperons so she didn't get into any trouble. We went to the beach outside Tampa and had an relaxing vacation. She had many firsts during the trip including flying on an airplane, going in the pool, going in the ocean, and meeting her cousins and aunts and uncles. She loved the trip and to thank her parents for taking her on vacation she slept quietly both ways on the airplane and let her parents catch up on sleep by going 7 hours been feedings at night (she had gone 7 hours one time several weeks ago, but it hadn't happened since then).

Relaxing by the pool with her dad and cousins, Chase and Taylor .

It took a minute for Julia to decide she didn't like going in the pool.

She didn't like the ocean anymore than the pool. She was sound asleep when I dunked her feet into the water and didn't appreciate being woken up.

... more pictures to follow