Monday, May 31, 2010

video time!

video above: julianna and daddy being silly together. num num num!

video above: julianna reminded josh of ray charles performing in this video. she just kept moving her head side to side in her infamous bumbo seat.

ENJOY :)

Friday, May 28, 2010

cute as a bug

Scrapbooking at WiddlyTinks.com
Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com

it's party time... well, tomorrow it is

I decided it was time for an updated look for the blog. It's cute, right? The theme is appropriate. A life without love is no life at all. Isn't that the truth? It's all about love and you're only going to get what you give away. So give away some love!

One of my friend's, Amanda, just became a consultant for Thirty-One gifts (if you haven't heard of it go here and check out the goodies http://www.mythirtyone.com/amandagriffin). I'm hosting a party for her tomorrow at my house. She came up with a cute theme, Mommy and Me! I invited many of my friends and then I realized when people were letting me know whether they could come or not that it was Memorial Day weekend. Oh well! I know at least a few ladies are coming. I've already prepared snacks so if you can, come! There is no pressure to buy anything, I would just love to see everyone (Julianna would too).

The picture below is of my silly husband. He's "Bumbotron"... a baby superhero. He's got a Bumbo on his head, seahorse by his side, and a bottle ready to go. He's definitely Julianna's hero!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

10 weeks old (+ 1 day)

On Tuesday, Julianna and I went out to run a few errands. We stopped at the natural foods store then Staples to see Josh's mom. A lady came up to us and I was saying how adorable Julianna is. Then she said something about her being about 4 weeks old. I told her that she was actually 10 weeks old. I always seem to forget that she is a tiny 2 month old due to having a low birth weight and being born 3 weeks early. She just seems so big to me compared to how small she was when she was born! She was only 5.8 at birth and now she's over 9 lbs.

She may be small but there's no doubt she's developing like a 2 month old. Here's what she likes and has been doing lately:

1. She enjoys sitting in her Bumbo seat, especially when mommy or daddy is sitting right in front of her.

2. She has great head and neck control. She enjoys looking all around the room.

3. She enjoys kisses. A lot!

4. Speaking of kisses, when you kiss her she smiles and if you're lucky, she'll lick you too!

5. She licks her lips frequently.

6. She enjoys playing on her play mat. She reaches for her toys, bats at them, kicks her feet like crazy, and stares at her pretty self in the mirror above the mat.

7. She "talks" to the fish in the mobile over her swing.

8. She still grunts a lot too. She was grunting the first time I ever held her.

Josh and I are really enjoying being parents and every moment with our precious Julianna. She even sorta giggled at Josh this morning and waved. Well, it could have just been a coincidence that her arm raised in the air when Josh said bye to her but it was cute nonetheless!

gifts + first bubble bath

my mom and dad stopped by on tuesday evening with a special suprise. a HUGE box of diapers and a cute outfit for julianna. we are sooooo blessed!!! thank you mom and dad! :)

last night, julianna took her very first bubble bath and she loved it. josh and i even created a bubble bikini to cover up her lady parts:

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

julianna eating josh's nose!

wow... can you imagine what kind of videos your parents would have been posting on the internet if they had this technology when you were a child???

Monday, May 24, 2010

the flower headbands have arrived...


first road trip... South Carolina to visit the Soto's

julianna completed her very first road trip this weekend! we went down to south carolina to visit josh's dad, stepmom, josh's sister and her boyfriend, and josh's great grandmother who was visiting from Puerto Rico. julianna did great in the car. she slept all of the way there and all the way back. she also had a longest sleep session. 10pm to 6am!!! mommy was very excited!

ashley brought juju 2 cute outfits. she's such a good auntie! josh's stepmom bought julianna a swing to have at their house, a few new outfits, and a bumbo seat. i've been wanting to get julianna a bumbo seat for a few weeks now. she has been doing soooo good with holding her head up so i wanted to get a bumbo to help her strengthen her neck muscles. she's sitting in the bumbo for the first time in the video below. this video will definitely embarrass her in the future. she made "cookie dough" while she was in the bumbo!



and more pictures from our trip:


Thursday, May 20, 2010

flower headbands

One of my favorite things to do is to visit the 0-3 months community at http://www.thebump.com/ to talk with other new mommies. Everyone posts lots of pictures of their little ones and I kept seeing the little girls wearing these CUTE flower headbands. A fellow mommy on The Bump told me about http://www.girlscrochetheadbands.com/ and I'm addicted! I ordered seven flowers and 12 of the crochet headbeads last night. The flowers and headbands are totally interchangable so Julianna will have a headband/flower combo for every outfit! I've also seen the baby girls on 19 Kids and Counting wearing these headbands. I can't wait til they arrive! Aren't they adorable??

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

good news!

Josh got some good news today. I can't share too much about it right now (via blog--you can ask us though) but just know that God's listening to your prayers. Keep sending them up to Him!

Today, I have started my packing for this weekend. This will be Julianna's first overnight trip. We are going to South Carolina to visit Josh's dad. I'm sure abuelo will be excited to see little JuJu! I just know that I'm going to forget something...

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

2 months old (and one day)


Julianna turned 2 months old yesterday!

We also had our 2 month well baby check:
-She's 20.5 inches long.
-She weighs 8 lbs. 14 oz. (birth weight 5 lbs. 8 oz.)

The doctor checked her out and said she's looks GREAT! A mommy loves to hear that! Then aunt Shandi came in to do those dreaded, awful, yucky 2 month shots...

Julianna only cried right when she gave her the shot but during that brief moment her face was as red as a strawberry. I didn't cry! I think I was so focused on making sure she knew everything was okay and that I was there--I didn't have time to think about it hurting her.
She got her cute little Bugs Bunny band-aids and we were done!
I had to go help my dad out at Ready Mart #1 so nana (my mom) came over to take care of little Julianna. This was the first time nana had watched Julianna. Maw maw (Josh's mom) watched her for a little while on Friday night so that Josh and I could go to the movies. We saw "The Back Up Plan"... and it made me miss being pregnant! I miss pregnancy. It's so special to feel those little kicks and flutters. However, I do not miss the morning sickness!

Then of course, we had her 2 month mini-photo shoot last night:







Saturday, May 15, 2010

"In My Daughter's Eyes" by Martina McBride


"In My Daughter's Eyes" by Martina McBride

In my daughter's eyes I am a hero
I am strong and wise and I know no fear
But the truth is plain to see
She was sent to rescue me
I see who I wanna be
In my daughter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal
Darkness turns to light and the
world is at peace
This miracle God gave to me gives me
strength when I am weak
I find reason to believe
In my daughter's eyes

And when she wraps her hand
around my finger
Oh it puts a smile in my heart
Everything becomes a little clearer
I realize what life is all about

It's hangin' on when your heart
has had enough
It's giving more when you feel like giving up
I've seen the light
It's in my daugter's eyes

In my daughter's eyes I can see the future
A reflection of who I am and what will be
Though she'll grow and someday leave
Maybe raise a family
When I'm gone I hope you see how happy
she made me
For I'll be there
In my daughter's eyes

Friday, May 14, 2010

baby picture... of me!

Recently, my mom has joined Facebook... and she's addicted too! She's been scanning and posting pictures from when my brothers and I were little. I was a cute baby!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

8 weeks old today

Julianna is eight weeks old today!

Julianna and I just got back from shopping at Wal-Mart. I don't know what it is about that place but she won't sleep in her carseat while we're in there. She could be feed and sound asleep but as soon as we walk in... she's awake! So I end up carrying her around while I push the cart. This gets difficult! But as long as she's happy, I make it work. Many people came up to me to look at her today. I know she's cute people... but don't touch! I kept a good distance and no one even attempted to touch her today. YAY!


I had to get some groceries while we were there because I had no milk for my cereal this morning. I also had to pick up a birthday present for our niece, Lexi. While I was in the toy section, I saw the pink Fisher-Price seahorse that I had been reading about online. The reviews say that it's good for getting your baby to go to sleep. It plays music, makes water sounds, and lights up. It stays on for five minutes and then gradually turns itself off. It was only $12 and really cute, so I figured we'd give it a try.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

playtime with julianna!

Maybe only her mother or father would really appreciate this little video but it definitely makes me smile. Julianna is just now starting to interact with her toys on her playmat. She appears to be having fun!

Monday, May 10, 2010

first mother's day :)

Yesterday, I celebrated my very first Mother's Day as a mommy! It was such a special day! The picture above is of Julianna and I before we left to go to church. There's also a close-up of her socks. Mommy is a Carolina fan and daddy is a Duke fan so we had to buy each set of socks!
After church we did some visiting. We stopped ar Staples to see Maw Maw at work and to wish her a happy Mother's Day. We also went to see Josh's grandma to deliver something special to her. They were both thrilled to see our little Julianna!

This year, I wanted to do something special for Mother's Day since my mom went from 1 grandchild last year to 4 this year! Josh and I hosted a Mother's Day cookout at our house to celebrate mommies! It was a full house--me, Josh, my mom, Zach, Katie, Nick, Molly, Molly's mom-Kate, Jake (Molly's brother), his girlfriend-Alex, Ashton, Tyson, Clara, and Julianna! I wish my dad could have been there but he was running Ready Mart #2 so that Zach to come and be with us. We had a yummy feast and a great time passing around the babies. Ashton even ate dirt! But even cuter... he gave Julianna some super sweet kisses!
And even more fun photos from this week...

Thursday, May 6, 2010

GROSS but FUNNY!


Josh was getting Julianna ready for her bath on Wednesday night and I said, "wouldn't it be hilarious if she pooped in your hand right now?!" We both laughed. About a minute later, I was checking the temperature of the water as I turned around Josh had the most disgusted expression on his face.

I plan to show this photo to all of Julianna's future boyfriends!!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

7 weeks old today!


Today, Julianna is seven weeks old!

The 3 of us have been quite busy the past few days. Sunday, was an amazing day at church. We were blessed to hear Dr. Ray Young speak in the am and pm services. The pm service was especially wonderful because he was preaching on rearing children. He gave some great, practical advice. It was a good message for all parents, especially newbies like Josh and I. We hope and strive to be great parents to Julianna!

Monday and Tuesday, our church held East Coast Soul Winning and Church Growth Conference. We had several wonderful speakers and fabulous music. It was all so touching. Especially a group of girls from a girls home in South Carolina. The church was filled with tears as they were giving their testimonies.

Speaking of church, last night when I went to pick Julianna up from the nursery, this is what I found:Before we left for church on Tuesday evening, my mom and dad (nana and paw paw) stopped by to visit our little on. My mom brought a few goodies for us, including a piece of antique glassware that was my great grandmother's from the early 1900s and a little musical teddy bear that was mine when I was a baby. Such treaures to have!