Friday, July 25, 2014

Julia Rose at 6 months old

 
This little cutie-patootie is 6 months old as of the 17th.  I know, I have turned into such a lazy blogger lately.  Actually, I keep wanting to get to it and I just run out of time between taking care of the girls, unpacking and organizing the house, entertaining visitors, keeping up with the laundry, taking care of a sick Paul and Rose, and running the endless other chores that take up so much time. 
 
Anyhow, it is way past time for an update on our happy little Rosie-girl.  She had her 6-month checkup with her new doctor (who I already adore - we have seriously lucked out in the pediatrician department both times) and she is growing like crazy.  Rose is in the 93% for weight at 19 lbs 7 oz. (which was no surprise to us because this little chunker is HEAVY) and is 2'3" tall which puts her in the 88% for height.  So yes, she is definitely a big girl.  Rose is already straining in many of her 6-12 month size outfits, especially if they have a waistband (like the cutest jeans ever) and I imagine that within the next month we are going to have to pull out all of the 12-18 month size clothes for her. 
 
It is a good thing she has so many clothes because Rose hasn't been feeling amazingly well ever since getting back from Utah and has been going through 3-4 outfits and onesies a day because of bad, bad, bad diapers.  I try not to blog about stuff like that, but seriously, I tried multiple brands and going up sizes and nothing could contain her blowouts that were easily half-way up her back every single time.  I think she is finally feeling a bit better though and our pediatrician told me that I should cut out oatmeal and plums and start giving Rose fresh, mashed bananas with rice cereal every day to firm things up and it has made a huge difference.  Yesterday was the first in what feels like a long time that Rose made it through the day without a single blowout.
 

Personality wise, Rose is just the happiest little babe you have ever seen.  She is super social and LOVES when people make eye contact with her and talk to her.  I started taking the girls back to the gym this past week (hooray for finally having a gym membership again - I have been missing the endorphin boost like crazy for the past month and a half during the move) and the kid's club workers all immediately fell in love with Rose and when I picked the girls up after my workout they all gushed about how she was the happiest, smiliest, best little baby they had ever watched. 

Rose especially loves when Clara plays with her, which we are getting to see more and more of these days as Clara's interest in Rose perks up now that she is much more interactive.  Last weekend we saw the movie "Rio 2" at Paul's cousin's house for cookie & movie night and there is a song in the movie called "Welcome Back" that is sung by Bruno Mars and starts with a little "ah-ah-ah" vocal run (he plays a blue macaw so it is a bird sound, sort of).  Anyway, Clara LOVES the movie and has been listening to and singing the songs (which I am totally encouraging because I am SO grateful for the break from "Frozen") and Rose just giggles like crazy whenever Clara does the "ah-ah-ah" part and Clara knows it.  So when I was trying to take Rose's 6 month photos Clara helped me out by standing behind me and singing that part for Rose.  Except that Clara ended up climbing all over me and choking me in the process, which you will hear in the video. 



Rose at 6 months old from Amy Nash on Vimeo.
 



Clara making Rose laugh at 6 months from Amy Nash on Vimeo.
 

And here is a video that I meant to post with the 4th of July post but it is really cute of the girls swimming while we were in Utah.  Rose loved splashing in the pool and I think my dad had fun holding her and playing with her while I chased Clara around a lot of the time.  Please ignore my obnoxious voice in the commentary.



Rose and Clara swimming in Utah 2014 from Amy Nash on Vimeo.
 
 
Rose got her first tooth on the 16th, the day before she turned 6-months old.  It is one of the bottom front teeth and she has a second tooth that is just about to come through right next to it any day.  Teething has upset her regular sleep pattern, which is a bummer because she had been sleeping 12-13 hours every night without fail for almost 2 months but now she is back to waking up once a night (I think because her teeth are bugging her).  They are still hard to see so I haven't been able to get a picture but I can easily feel them when I put my finger in her mouth to massage her gums. 
 
Rose is still a great little eater and has tried the gamut of most baby foods now and I am trying to expose her to textures bit by bit.  This morning she tried fresh raspberries and blueberries in her plastic mesh food pouch thing and I'm pretty sure its her new favorite thing because she went to town on it and I kept refilling it over and over. 
 
Rose is sitting up like a champ all on her own and has definitely been working on the fundamentals of pushing up and rotating her body but I think it is still a month or two before we see any crawling from her.  She still won't roll from her back to her tummy although I am positive she is capable of it.  But her hand coordination is improving a lot as she has figured out how to grasp things and adjust her grip and is even starting to get the basics of moving baby puff cereal snacks to her mouth.  She has also started shaking her head at us when we say "no, no, no" and laughing about it. 
 

 

We had a special visitor come stay with us for a few days this past weekend to help us celebrate Rose's half-birthday.  It was so fun to see Tabby and spend time with her in our home.  We went to the farmer's market and to San Francisco but mostly just hung out around the house playing with the girls.



Rose is starting to get very chatty, which we are just loving.  She is sort of getting more comfortable with the carseat and I can actually run some errands and listen to her chatter to herself instead of wailing, which is wonderful.  Mostly she makes the "blurfffph" sound but yesterday she went on and on with a "gom-gom-gom" conversation.  Also, she really seems to pipe up whenever there is music on and I swear she is trying to sing along, especially during the hymns at church.


Clara and Rose have been big helpers with the remodel.


 
 
Happy half-birthday little Rose.


Thursday, July 17, 2014

4th of July Catch-Up

Ho-de-hum, where to start...
 
The girls and I had an enjoyable trip to Utah for the 4th of July, although we were all missing Paul an awful lot since he stayed behind to keep working on the house.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows up the canyon one night,











went swimming with grandparents and cousins,







watched fireworks on the 3rd in Farmington while listening to an awesome live band and eating fresh cotton candy,





watched fireworks from Paul's parents front yard in Alpine looking over a good swatch of Utah Valley while listening to the Sousa station on Pandora, enjoyed a 4th of July party at Jennie's house (her birthday is the 3rd and her husband, Ryan's, birthday is the 4th),








 












went shopping with my sis, "helped" Grandpa Russ garden,




did a zumba class, got a horrible 24-hour flu bug (that was definitely the low part of the trip), went to the Bountiful temple to do a session, got a mani/pedi, went for an early morning run on a trail near my parents house, got to see Kayli's two sisters and her youngest brother who were passing through and seeing their grandparents who live about a mile from my mom and dad,



and generally got to love on my darling nieces (especially Adelaide who is 1 and just the sweetest thing ever and who is completely smitten with her Aunt Amy which went straight to my head since she was constantly coming over to lay her head on my shoulder or lap or leg or basically any part of me that she could touch and giving me crazy kisses and her momma said that she isn't like that with anybody else, not even her mom). 


 

The new house is definitely coming along but oh gosh this is a long process and it is just going to keep on going for a good long while still.  We got back on Saturday morning and the carpet was installed that afternoon (it was supposed to have been done Thursday, then Friday, and then got pushed to Saturday by the razzle-frazzin flooring company that couldn't seem to get its act together).  We quickly put together beds and the crib and enjoyed finally sleeping in our own rooms that night and I have been spending every spare minute of the girls' naptime since then desperately trying to unpack and organize and create some semblance of hominess for us because I feel like we have been displaced for a while.  Paul was able to get two closets installed (Clara's and the guest bedroom) last night which has been a huge help because it finally gave me some shelves and space to hang clothes and store books and toys that have just been in piles.  New windows were installed today and the garage is slowly, slowly emptying out.  There is a bunch of finish work to be done in the bedrooms (trim around windows and doors, closet doors installed, baseboard caulked and nail holes filled and touched up, light fixtures chosen and installed to replace the bare bulbs we put up as temporary measures, etc.) and it is going to take a while just to do all of that so we aren't going to be moving on to the kitchen, living room and family room anytime soon (like, maybe not even before Christmas - we'll just see).