Juliet speaks!

BABY!

Well, this post is over due, but hopefully I won't be!! Everyone who is anyone knows already that we are expecting #2 at the beginning of May. You may not know (but probably do) that we are expecting a little boy! This is both exciting (Brett has been looking forward to passing on a Y chromosome) terrifying (I only have experience with girls! Okay, girl.) and I have to admit, a little disappointing (I already own all the girl things I need, I already had plans for a bedroom for my two little girls, and we already had several names we agreed on for our daughter. Oh well. :) But as the pregnancy draws on (and on and on and on) I can't help but get a little more excited for our new addition.
This pregnancy has been really hard for me. In August we prayed to see if it was time to expand our little family. I was relieved when we received the answer that we should wait another year before trying for #2. I gained a lot of weight with Juliet, and still had 15 lbs to take off. It was nice to know I had one more year before I had to plunge back into fat lady-ness.
Imagine our surprise when less than a week later we found out we were pregnant. SURPRISE! Well, even though it has been a hard adjustment, I have felt really blessed this pregnancy as I have prayed for understanding, comfort and insight. It has been a neat experience to really feel this baby's spirit and know we are welcoming a special person into our home. It has been hard, but it has also been very rewarding.
Some things about this pregnancy have been a lot better than last time though. NO ACNE! I was looking at my 6 months pictures from last pregnancy and am amazed at how fat my face was. And spotty. This time around I have worked hard to excercise -- not every day (thanks to Juliet) but at least 4 times a week. Thankyou Denise Austin! I have felt so much better this pregnancy, my weight gain has been better, my energy has been better, and I haven't been so sore (though the best is yet to come, of course.) All in all things are looking up, and we are looking forward to welcoming our little man into the family!

Ode to Juliet

Juliet is finally getting over her travel funk and settling back down into life at home. She has been so sweet and perfect the last few days, it almost breaks my heart to think she won't be the sole center of attention for much longer. The big ultrasound is tomorrow, and though I've been pregnant for five months now, it seems like this is the event that is going to make this new baby real. So before that happens, before I get wrapped up in setting up for new baby, in finding a baby name, in worrying about space for #2, I wanted to reflect a little about that first baby that stole my heart.

Juliet just a few days old: several people warned me that some new moms don't instantly bond with their newborns, that often enough it takes a few days, weeks or even months for women to feel that instinctual bond with their baby. Not so with Juliet! The moment she was placed in my arms I knew I would do anything to keep her happy and safe. I loved her in a way I never understood before. My sweet baby!!

Juliet at 2 months old -- this same trip was the first time I ever heard her laugh. It nearly melted my heart! We spent the rest of the vacation trying to get her to make that sweet sound again.



Juliet at 4 months old: starting to sit up on her own and her first taste of rice cereal. And yams. She hated them and still hates them. This was also the first time I ever got a rubber band into her hair! She is so beautiful!!

Juliet at 7 months old -- She has two tiny teeth poking in from the bottom. I could hardly get her to sit still for this mother's day photo shoot. She had been crawling for nearly a month and was unstoppable!! She hasn't quit moving since. She'll probably be flying soon.


Juliet at 10 months old -- She was a champ during the big move to Lubbock. Can you believe 6 more teeth in 3 months? She never complained once. Sweet angel baby!! She's already a professional walker -- if only we'd had a yard to run around in!

Juliet on her first birthday! She is so over photo shoots. I have to resort to all kinds of trickery to get any decent photos out of her. This is a sweet reaction to peek-a-boo with mom. It is soooo hard to play peek-a-boo while trying to aim and click!


Juliet today, 15 months old. I can't believe how beautiful she is!! When Dr. Barton first handed me that (not-so) tiny little baby, I thought I couldn't love her more. Well, today I love her more, and I can't imagine being able to increase that love or my heart will blow up. At 15 months old Juliet has started to rapidly increase her vocabulary. It seems like she has a new word every day!! To date the words she uses often and correctly include:

Juliet
Mom
Daddy
I (short for "I love you")
Up
Bite
Uh-Oh
Baby (and points to my ever increasing belly)
Bath
Dad (which means down)
Puppy
Nana (banana, and sometimes other food items)
What's that?
Good Job!

Her other tricks include pointing out her nose and head when asked, singing "Jujy's song" (adapted from Elmo's song), laying down for diaper changes when asked (and when she feels like it!), throwing her own diapers in the garbage (along with sippy cups, socks, remote controls, and whatever else she likes), sitting down when asked, climbing onto chairs, stabbing macaroni with a fork, and unfolding laundry.

Juliet is truly the biggest blessing in Brett's and my life, and every night we thank our Father in Heaven for sending us such a special spirit. We look forward to watching her blossom into a little girl.

Best of 2008

I had a friend who did a blog of their 'best of 2008' and I loved the idea! So here is OUR best of 2008!

Best Movie: Iron Man I really have to side with Brett on this one. I loved it.
Best Book: I haven't read as much as I would have liked to this year. What mom has! But of what I read, my favorites were Life of Pi, Anansi Boys, and Girl with a Pearl Earring . Yes I read Twilight this year. No it did not make my favorites.
Best Place to Live: What can I say, I miss Rexburg. Lubbock has nicer weather though.
Best TV Show: Still Chuck. I am sorry for all of you out there who did not appreciate it as it should have been appreciated. I also love Pushing Daisies. Darn you ABC for canceling the show!
Best Video Game: I really enjoyed Zelda Twilight Princess. I don't play a lot of video games though. Unless Bloons tower Defense 3 counts.
Best Home-made Dinner: Salmon Bisque. Next time I am putting the salmon in the blender though. Oh and Kelli's apple pie oatmeal. I still can't get over that.
Best Deal: $1.33 for gas. But it looks like it is going up now!
Best New Hobby: Eating Brett's delicious home-made pretzels. mmmmmm. . .

Second Christmas

Well as I mentioned before, Brett worked on Christmas. Not only Christmas, but Christmas eve, the day after Christmas, and basically every other day he could convince his coworkers to give him a shift. It was looking to be a lonely holiday. Until, inspiration! Brett shipped me off to California for the Holidays. I felt a little guilty leaving him home alone, but I think his new video game was a more than adequate consolation prize.
This photo doesn't really look too much like sunny California, but it is! We went to Tahoe and stayed in this fun cabin for the week. We had a great time.

It seemed like Christmas would never end! I had already celebrated Christmas the week before with Brett, and now it was Christmas all over again! We had a great time. Juliet had a blast with her uncles and aunties, and got loved to death by grandma and grandpa Foutz. It would have been the perfect Christmas if only Juliet would sleep. And if only Brett had been there.
This is the fun tree Carlie created for the cabin. It was a lot cuter before Juliet got to it.

She absolutely hated being outside. I couldn't get 1 single good picture out of her. I guess snow isn't her thing.

Tis the season!

Is it cliche to say that Christmas is my favorite time of the year? Well I don't care because I love it. And it just goes to show how awesome it is by how many other people love it too.

One of the most exciting things about Christmas this year was being able to decorate our own house. The last two years we have purchased Christmas goodies in January, and this year all that saving paid off. Our first Christmas tree! It almost turned out that we would have no tree for the third year running, but as luck would have it (and a few fervent prayers) a sister in our ward replaced her tree this year, and gave away her old one. I expected it to be one of those really old annoying 'you must fluff and add every branch yourself and are probably missing a couple' trees -- but it was BEAUTIFUL! It was a true blessing, and we love love love having a tree in our home!

Since Brett is working this Christmas we had our own family Christmas early. It was exciting to stay up and play Santa!



This was a definite Christmas favorite. It is on loan from my sister but Juliet doesn't know or care. She loves it!!


My husband knows me very well. And I love hot chocolate!!

Juliet couldn't even wait to finish unwrapping her new little chair before she had to sit down in it!

I sent Brett outside on a photo scavenger hunt so I could get his present out. I wasn't about to wrap that huge box. For those of you who can't tell by the cut off box at the bottom of the picture or the silly school boy grin on Brett's face, he got Guitar Hero World Tour for Christmas.
Delicious pancake Christmas breakfast, with egg nog of course. And orange juice. And milk. And eggs and bacon . . . mmmmmmm......


It was a great Christmas. After opening presents we ran to the doctor's office for my first visit. We were secretly hoping to get an unofficial ultrasound but we didn't even get to meet the doctor. Too bad!! Our big ultrasound is scheduled for Jan. 8th so we have to wait EVEN longer. Having a baby in Texas is a mess!!!
We hope everyone else's Holiday season has turned out to be as fulfilling as ours. We love you all so much. Merry Christmas!

Gifts.

There haven't been many things I've had stewardship over. Actually, before Juliet came along there were a couple cats and that was it. "The cat" was my last animal. I think Charles originally named him Joseph - but that could have been a different cat I can't remember. Carlee named him Bagheera, and some of the guys from our ward called him Thriftshop. But around the house we just referred to him as the cat. That didn't mean he went unloved, he had free range of the house and was king of our two acres (and plenty of the neighbor's lots as well). But he was never too proud to show his appreciation to me by bringing me gifts and offerings. It wasn't uncommon to find a dead mouse in one of my shoes. Actually once I found a live mouse in one of my shoes. That wasn't so pleasant, but not so bad as the night he proudly dropped a nice moist mouse in my slumbering hand. I often wondered, 'What kind of behaviour do I demonstrate that makes the cat think I would want a dead mouse?' I suppose in cat logic that was a surpreme gift.

Now there is Juliet. Her gifts are anything from half chewed bananas to cups of juice, a box of matches, various dvds or books, any clothing she can find in drawers or laundry baskets. I accept them all. But today, Juliet gave me the gift to top all gifts.

She has had a little bit of a diaper rash recently, and in hopes of helping it heal a little faster I've been letting her run around bum in the air. She promptly took off for her room for a little solo play (which I encourage!). A few minutes later she returned with an unidentifiable object in her hand.
"What have you got there Juliet?"
She smiles and laughs, walks over to me and proudly deposits her gift in my proferred hand.
Yesterday I could honestly say no one had ever handed me poop before.
Today I cannot make such a claim.

What kind of behaviour do I demonstrate that makes Juliet think I would want a piece of poop? I suppose in 1-year-old logic it was a supreme gift.