Saturday, March 19, 2011

Happy First Birthday, Julianna Hope!

Happy First Birthday, Julianna Hope!

My sweet baby girl is officially one year old. What an amazing year! I have enjoyed being a mommy more than I ever could have imagined. The pictures in this post are from our one year photoshoot last Saturday. Julianna didn't love the icing making her hands sticky at the photoshoot. She quickly turned her smile into screams when her hands got covered with icing.

On Thursday, we celebrated her birthday with a green cupcake (since it was St. Patrick's Day too). Again... icing on the hands = angry baby! She didn't want anything to do with that cupcake once her hands were icky.

Today was Julianna's first birthday party. It was such a success! The decorations turned out beautiful, the cake was too cute, lots of family and friends joined us in the celebration, and Julianna had a blast! This time, I gave her the cupcake icing down so she only had to touch the cake part of the cupcake. She enjoyed that much more! She actually ate quite a bit of her cupcake. Thanks to all of my great friends and family who helped make the party so successful!

Pictures of the party to come!





Friday, March 11, 2011

party planning

Julianna's 1st birthday party is coming together! Today, I ordered Julianna's birthday cake and her own personal jumbo cupcake for devouring/destroying!

The theme is ladybugs. Here's a sample of what some of the party supplies look like:

The cake that we will be serving will be the shape of the ladybug on this plate. Julianna's jumbo cupcake with have hot pink icing with black polka dots to resemble a ladybug.

I even bought lady bug antennae for her to wear as well as some of the other little girls at the party. I can't wait to celebrate! :)

soup on the cheap

On Sunday, I was talking with a friend from church about easy dinners. She suggested one to me that she'd heard of from other friend. I'm not really sure if it has a technical name but it's cheap and it's delicious. I added a little chili powder to the original recipe and it turned out great!

Ingredients:
-1 can of diced tomatoes (preferably the ones seasoned with basil & oregano)
-1 can of black beans
-1 can of corn (drained)
-Chili powder (seasoned to personal taste)

Optional:
-Sour cream
-Shredded cheese
-Tortilla chips

Combine the tomatoes, black beans, and drained corn in a pot. Add chili powder if desired. Simmer over low heat for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and tortilla chips.

Next time, I plan to add in chicken and rice for a hearty variation. Enjoy!

Here is the finished product... I had taken a bite already and then remembered I wanted to take a picture of it. It's so good that I just couldn't wait:

Thursday, March 10, 2011

word of God speak



This week has been such a whirlwind. Josh has been having various health problems so he went back to the doctor on Tuesday. He had bloodwork done as well as a chest exam. The doctor discovered that he's heart is enlarged, his oxygen intake is low, and there is something (not sure what) on the outside of his lungs. The doctor gave him some scary ideas of what all of this means. Initally we were both very scared. But our faith is in God. He is in great hands, the hands of God. We have been blessed to have prayers being poured out from all our close friends and family. I have faith that with prayer, faith, and the support of amazing people-- anything is possible! Josh will be healed. I know that.

In other news, I got a call at work this afternoon that little Julianna was running a temperature of 103. I was completely baffled at first because she's till on an antibiotic for her ear infection-- she hasn't finished it yet. I picked her up asap and headed to the doctor. She appeared to be completely normal, just warm to the touch. After several tests, she came back positive for strep throat. Poor baby! I can't recall ever having strep but I'm sure it's no fun. I'm staying at home with her tomorrow and praying for a fast recovery!

Friday, March 4, 2011

got hair?!


Julianna was born with a head full of hair. Within her first 2 months, she lost quite a bit of it. Then around 5 months it started growing again. And now... she has tons of thick, beautiful hair! I usually put it up with a hair tie with a bow. Now, her bangs have gotten so long that she's going to have to get her first haircut. It will be just a trim to get the hair out of her face. I LOVE her hair so we're not going to take much off. Any tips for baby's first haircut?

Thursday, March 3, 2011

answered prayers... and a biting baby

In my last post, I mentioned that I was dragging my feet about scheduling Julianna's surgery to open up the blocked tear duct. The thoughts of my little baby girl being put to sleep for surgery scared me to death. I know parents go through things like this all of the time but it's really tough when it's your own child. Since the appointment with the ophthalmologist, I have been praying that Julianna's eye would heal itself and the tear duct would open up on it's own. Julianna's appointment was in the second week of February. For the past 2 weeks, there have been no signs that anything is wrong with Julianna's eye! Her eye hasn't been watery or goopy at all. Since she was born, I have constantly had to clean her eye--at least every hour!

God answered my prayers. I know that without a doubt. When I met with the eye doctor, he told me that he doubted that it would open up if it hadn't by that point. He said that they usually don't open up on their own. Thank you, God for answering my prayers! There will be no eye surgery for Ju Ju!

In other news, Julianna is officially a biter. She has always nimbled on me here and there but now she full on bites! As in, leave a mark on mommy's arm bite! She just sunk her teeth (all 4 of them) right into my arm and then laughed. I had no idea that I would be having "don't bite" conversations this soon! She even continued to try to bite me. She thought it was a game or something! Let's not play that game, I like peek-a-book much better... it's less painful!
Josh is enjoying his trip to El Salvador. He has sent me a picture of a dress that the women at the plant he's visiting had made for Julianna. It's such a beautiful, handmade dress. I can't wait for Julianna to try it on!