Pages

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Heartaches and Happiness

Hi Everyone! I know it has been a while since my last post. We have been facing some difficult challenges as a family, and have been using the past few months to work on things and spend some quality time together. I won't go into the challenges here, as they are deeply personal, but just know that the prayers you all have sent on our behalf are working and the sun is starting to shine a little brighter each day.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my summer with my princess and hubby. Next week I have to return to work, and am a little bummed about that, but I am really working on trying to stay positive in all things. You won't believe how big Miss Julianna has gotten. On Monday she will be 8 months old!! Not sure how much she weighs, but I am guessing around 18 lbs or so. She eats all kinds of things now, but her favorite is bananas. I am only nursing her once in the morning and once in the evening. The rest of the time she gets formula, because my milk production dropped drastically. I was really hoping to nurse for a year, and then pump after that so that she would get the nutrition from breast milk for at least 2 years, as the American Pediatric Association recommends, but I am learning that we do what we have to do. As long as she is fed and healthy, it doesn't matter if it is formula or breast milk.  I will say it is SOOO much easier to give a squirmy baby a bottle when we are in public than to try to covertly nurse.  So, again, I find the positive! This new plan is working! Today anyway..... LOL.  In addition to bananas, she also has been served oatmeal, rice, sweet potatoes, green peans, pears, apples, yogurt and mashed potatoes.  She is taking a while to get those teeth, so purees it will be for a while. She seems to like everything so far, which means she is taking after her daddy and not her mama!!

She is so close to crawling, I can already feel the muscles burning from chasing after her.  Right now she rolls to get where she wants to go, but this past week at Papa and Gigi's house she pushed up on all fours and pushed herself forward and inch or two to reach a desired object (Papa's watch!). LIke I said it won't be long!!

Julianna had her first night (actually 2) away from us in June. Her grandma kept her so that we could enjoy our anniversary. We went to Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor, and out to dinner. It was nice to be able to play and eat without her constantly wanting our attention, but when it came bedtime, I really missed her and worried about her all night.  Of course she was fine and had a great time at grandma's so after taking her back to the hotel with us for one night, we decided she could stay with grandma one more time the next night. I think mommy is learning to share a little bit!!

We just retuned from our summer road trip. We put 3200 miles on our car, and basically made a big triangle throughout the eastern/central part of the US. We drove from Houston to Waynesville, MO where we stayed with some very gracious friends, Hermann and Melissa. I also got to see Fort Leonard Wood where George was stationed when he was in the Marines. That was pretty cool. Then we went to Chicago where we stayed for almost a week and had many adventures, including a trip to the top of the Willis (Sears) tower. Then it was on to Gulf Shores for a short visit with Dad and Kelly (otherwise known as Papa and Gig), then finally home to Houston. WHEW!!! Can you say tired??? We had to come home just to recuperate from our vacation.  But we had a blast, and got some great pictures.

So now it is back to the real world. Next week, Julianna starts with a new babysitter, Mrs. Tania, and I go back to work, and George's schedule pics up too. So the countdown begins...how long until Thanksgiving break?????

Love you guys! Thanks for reading and, I promise to update more often. Please feel free to leave a comment if you enjoyed our updates!!