Julia Rose at 7 months old

It is absolutely ridiculous how big this little girl is getting.  And I mean that both teasingly and literally.  Rose is definitely into 12-18 month sizes now (in fact, she's already too big for many of those clothes, particularly ones with more restrictive, less elastic waistbands, which is so weird because just last month I was saying how I was just moving her into those sizes so I think she must have had a major growth spurt recently).  I'm guessing she easily weighs over 21 pounds now and that is some serious weight to carry around.  By the end of the three hour church block on Sundays my arms feel like lead. 

 

Her biggest milestone achieved this past month has been learning to roll over from her back to her tummy, which she now does whenever we put her down to sleep.  She likes to sleep either on her stomach or sleeping on her side.  But so far she refuses to get up on her knees in anything resembling a crawling position.  She loves sitting up to play with toys, however, and recently has decided that standing is pretty much the coolest thing ever and wants to be held in a standing position to look around. 

Rose is still a good sleeper and we have adjusted her schedule to where she can stay up most days until 7:00 so that Paul gets to see her more, which has been really so nice.  She has been waking up once a night 4-5 times a week lately (teething, grrr) but really she just needs a little comforting and then goes right back down to sleep until about 6:15 usually.  When she does wake up in the morning she will happily hang out in her crib gurgling and talking and twisting around and around and around in little laps for half an hour until I go in to get her.  I am trying to be intentional about giving her this time to entertain herself because I know it will help her as she gets older when I can't attend to her every second.  And she is just so darn cute to watch on the monitor as she just chatters away in her crib.

Rose has both of her two bottom front teeth now and has been fussing more lately again so I'm thinking that maybe her top ones are starting to make their way in too.  She still loves to eat pretty much anything but is definitely starting to show an interest in table food, particularly when I feed her little pieces of muffin or bread or anything like that.  She still eats purees primarily but we are working on giving her more opportunities with "real" foods like spaghetti and tacos and fish and chicken - basically whatever we are having that we can mash down small enough for her to handle it.  Fresh fruit, especially pineapple and raspberries, seem to be a favorite for her and she also really likes those baby "puffs" and cheerios although she hasn't figured out her coordination enough to get them into her mouth on her own yet.  But they are perfect for church because when she starts getting fussy I can just pull those out and keep her happy for a good 20-30 minutes while she sits on my lap gumming those down and shaking the container they are in. 

Rose looks like she is going to have wavy hair.  She has a spot on the right hand front side that curls after her bath, even when I have combed and brushed it down.  It is darling and we are waiting to see if the rest of her hair curls as it gets longer or if it is just going to be that one spot. 

Rose has become much more vocal too.  She says "mamamamamama" most often but I can't claim "mama" to be her first word quite yet because it is definitely just a babbling sort of jabber and not a formed word.  But she continues to be just a really social, happy little gal who loves to be talked to and interacted with and has a big smile ready for pretty much anybody.  Oh, and Rose also figured out how to clap this past month (although not yet on command though she finds our excitement when she does it pretty hilarious). 

In this next month I am thinking/hoping Rose starts making progress with crawling - at least some pushing with her feet a bit or trying to push up onto her knees.  I think it will make all of our lives a little bit easier if Rose could get around a bit because she gets frustrated just laying in one spot and my arms and back are taking a beating from how heavy she is!  Plus, I think that Clara will be excited to see Rose more mobile.  Clara has definitely been much more interested in and interactive with Rose this past month as Rose has been "talking" to her more and showing greater interest in toys and standing and playing. 

And that's pretty much the scoop on Rose these days.  She was totally over this photo shoot by the end but I had to include this shot because you can actually see both of her little teeth in it!

Clara-isms of late

I have got to write more of these down because there are at least a couple times a day when Clara says or does something that has me dying:

Clara has this game with circular playing cards with pictures of fish or turtles or frogs on them.  She picked one up, walked it over to the blu-ray player and set it down in front of it, then ran and grabbed my phone and stood in front of the TV while explaining to me "I've got your phone. Don't freak out.  I'm pretending it is the remote control."

Clara was frustrated that I was putting Rose in the jumparoo instead of Clara's "baby" so she was scowling and shouting "no! no!" at me.  After reprimanding her she stated matter of factly: "I really appreciate this conversation."  Except usually "conversation" sounds a little more like "conbersation".

I made seared mahi mahi for dinner the other night.  Although she is a great eater, she usually doesn't give compliments about food unless she really, really loves it.  Or if I ask her how it is she just grunts, "good," and keeps eating.  But this time she took a bite of fish and gushed, "ooh, I like it crispy and crunchy.  Sooo good mommy."  At least she didn't say "I likes it raw and wriggling."

I had left a box of neatly washed and folded 0-6 month size clothes in the guest bedroom instead of putting it up on a shelf in the garage.  Clara apparently opened it and went through it to find the perfect dress for her "baby"  (the stuffed zebra one) and came out proudly showing us her baby's new dress.  I was exasperated that she got into the box (even though it was my fault) and took the dress to return it to the box (I was nice about it though - she wasn't in trouble).  She followed me down the hallway (I'm pretty sure she knew going into it that keeping the dress was a long shot) and confidently demanded:  "Give it back you mean old thing!"  (It's a quote from Cinderella to Lucifer the cat, in case you don't recognize it).  I just about died and decided, what the heck, who cares if one little dress doesn't make it into the right box, so I gave it back.

We were driving in the car and Rose was being super vocal.  I mentioned to Clara that Rose was "talking up a storm" and Clara immediately replied, "yeah, she's talking up a rain too."

I have been drinking these whey protein shakes after working out at the gym whenever I do weights and Clara immediately requested a taste the first day.  It is just chocolate flavored powder mixed with water and while not awful, isn't amazing or anything but mostly I knew that if I gave in she would constantly ask to drink my protein shake so I explained that it was not chocolate milk, it was a protein shake and it tasted yucky but it helped my muscles after exercise so I was going to chug it as fast as I could.  Then I chugged it and made gagging noises like it was the worst thing ever.  So later that day (and every day since then) Clara has walked around the house with a sippy cup full of water taking sips and making gagging sounds while explaining that she was drinking her yucky protein shake and sorry, I couldn't have any because it was yucky and she was just going to chug it. 

I told Clara I was making French toast for breakfast and I then overheard her say to her "baby" (the zebra again): "ooh-la-la, my mother knows French! She is making French toast!".  Her favorite books are the Fancy Nancy books and obviously this has infiltrated her vocabulary.

Week in Review

Things are finally starting to feel like we are settling in here and this has been a week of normalizing.  Turns out, while I have a spontaneous and adventurous side of me and don't necessarily love sticking around the house all the time, I am also a major creature of habit and like structure and schedules and needing to be places.  Having Rose finally really settle into a predictable routine has been a major boon as far as structuring things goes.  Most days she is up at 6:30 (Clara too, although sometimes she sleeps until 7:00 or so) and we do breakfast, read books, get the girls dressed, etc. then Rose is back down for her morning nap around 8:00.  It seems excessively early and she only naps for about an hour but the nice thing is that it means by 9:00 a.m. or shortly thereafter we have the rest of the morning free to get out and run errands.  So that's when we hit up Costco or a park (because it is too hot for this in the afternoons) and go to the gym. 

I joined 24 Hour Fitness since there is no YMCA up here and I am LOVING it.  I checked out the insanely, outrageously expensive gym that has every amenity known to man attached (along with an extreme price tag of $255/month) and frankly, I sort of hated it and don't understand why it is such a widely regarded gym in the area.  24 Hour Fitness is a WAY better facility with a better layout and support staff.  I seriously cringed at the kids' area of the other gym because it seemed so dingy and gross and was full of stuff like arcade looking game areas and frowny staff to take care of the kids whereas 24 Hour Fitness has a huge play structure and toy area and the staff are so nice and have been gushing about how Rose is the happiest baby ever (she is) on a daily basis.  Anyhow, the Friday yoga class is one of the best yoga classes I have been to in a long time and will be a weekly thing for me and I'm sort of into this intense boot camp type class held multiple times a week called a Nike Training Class.  I've also started foam rolling and using the TRX area to build strength and basically, the gym is my happy place these days. 

And speaking of gyms, I found one for Clara that seems to be a really good facility and got her signed up for the "Mini Mites" Tuesday afternoon class.  She hadn't been to gymnastics in almost 2 months by the time we finally were ready to take her for a trial class and I worried that she would be clingy or refuse to participate or something (she has a tendency to be that way until she warms up again) but man alive she was pumped to put on her pink leotard and was bouncing around waiting for her new coach to call her class onto the floor for warm-up.  And she smiled and laughed and focused the entire session so I signed her up right then and there, which was good because apparently the afternoon sessions fill up really fast and a morning session would have been a lot trickier for us since I'm planning on putting Clara in a Tuesday/Thursday co-op preschool this fall (not sure how that is all going to work out but I've met some other moms in our ward here who are planning on doing this and invited me to join so I figure its worth a shot). 

Other noteworthy news:  after Rose relapsed and started waking up every morning around 4:00-5:00 a.m. because she would come unswaddled I finally bit the bullet and weaned her from the upper body swaddle.  It actually wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared it would be and only took about 30 minutes of tears the first night and that was it and we haven't gone back since.  I still swaddle her lower body and she gets annoyed when she kicks her feet out but we have definitely made progress.

Have I mentioned that we got rid of our kitchen table?  The day of the big move we ran out of space in the moving van and for the life of us couldn't fit the thing in.  And it was in awful shape anyway and we only paid $100 for it 10 years ago anyway so we left it on the curb with a free sign and it was gone the next day.  So now we are stuck eating on the card table, which isn't so horrible but also isn't my favorite, until we can find a new table that we like (haven't even started looking yet).  Also, Rose likes to ham it up for the camera.

My friend Lisa called me out on not having posted "after" shots yet and that's because we really aren't quite there yet.  The bedrooms are totally livable and we are really enjoying them but they are still missing trim, crown, closet doors, vent covers, touch-up paint, and having everything caulked and filled where there were nail holes to install baseboards and doors and such.  I have just been grateful to have the closet shelving installed over the past week or so which has made it possible to hang up clothes and put toys and things away.  Only I have to redo Rose's clothes because I realized after sorting and hanging everything that her 6-12 month sizes just aren't fitting and the 12-18 month sizes are perfect on her (I think I have been in denial about this fact).  So I need to go back through and pull all the 6-12 month stuff and rearrange her closet again.  The girls have been pretty good about playing together in a room while I am working on sorting, at least for 20-30 minutes at a time, which has been helpful.  Also, we really, really need blinds in her room because it is way too bright without them and I loathe having makeshift blanket curtains tacked up as a stop-gap measure. 

I don't know what I was thinking letting Clara blow bubbles indoors.  Of course she spilled the bottle.  But Rose was sure entertained for a while.

Rose has two teeth now and we actually got a picture of them the other day while we were at the fairgrounds for a stake pioneer day party.  Rose's smile is totally indicative of her personality, which is happy, happy, happy unless she is tired or hungry.

This is just a random pic from the pioneer picnic.  They served some of the most amazing tri-tip I have ever had.  Rose loved being the center of attention.

Now that we are living in the house I am working on adjusting Rose's schedule to staying up a little bit later so that she can see Paul each night when he gets home from work.  Some nights she just can't quite make it, especially when he works later, but I have found that if I take the girls outside with some books and a quilt we can hang out in front while we wait for him and that seems to help Rose be happy even when she is getting pretty sleepy. 

The girls are my little grocery shopping buddies.  Clara likes riding in the basket and loading items onto the belt to be scanned and Rose smiles at everybody in the store.

The farmer's market here is sort of sad but it is right next to a splash pad, which is pretty much perfect on a 100 degree day.  I let Clara gorge herself on peaches and strawberries and pluots then she washes off the sticky juices and has a ball while tuckering herself out and staying cool. 

And part of our farmer's market bounty this week was some excellent vanilla almond granola that we used to make fruit and yogurt parfaits for breakfast on Friday.  We layered blueberries, raspberries, granola, and raspberry yoplait and plain greek yogurt and they were excellent.  But Clara really just wanted to pick through and eat all the blueberries.

And that was our week!

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.



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).