Rice Cereal = Yummy!

Julia had her first solid food on Friday, July 6... rice cereal.  She really seemed to enjoy it and she got the hang of eating from a spoon pretty quickly. We'll try the next type of solid food in a day or so.

Daddy, I'm ready for my cereal now!

 Daddy did a good job feeding me!

 This is pretty good stuff!

I'm still hungry, so I'm gonna eat the high chair!

More fun up north...

Julia is so blessed to be loved by so many wonderful people.  We enjoyed our week up in Roseau hanging out with family and friends. 

Julia getting some love from Great-Aunt Eva!  What a special lady!

Jonas (Thor and Kelsey Didrikson) had a baby shower while we were home.  It was fun to get Julia and Jonas together (Julia is about 4 months older).

We also stopped at Lisa and Jimmy's house to meet their new addition. Kendyl was born April 20, so Julia is about 4 months older then her too.  What a sweet baby!  So fun to meet new babies!

Tara was able to stop over one evening to see us and meet Julia!  What a dear friend Tara is!

Grandma Lee and Julia enjoying the flowers.

We had planned to go to Greenbush for the 4th of July parade.  I was so excited to go, but then we took a look at the radar.  Yup, a big storm cell heading right for Greenbush.  Of course!  Well, we decided not to make the trip to Greenbush just to sit in the rain.  Good choice, because we heard it poured. 

Grandpa Lee showed Julia the grandkids' soybean field.

Checking out the plants.

Julia got a little science lesson.  She learned where the pods will grow, she saw the flowers and took a look at the roots.  It's never to early to learn!

Of course, Gus LOVED running around at the Rudebusch and Lee farms.  What a happy dog!

Grandpa and Grandma Rudebusch and Emmett joined us at the Lee farm for a 4th of July celebration.  Yes, we ate lots again!

Meeting Auntie Brieann and Uncle Paul for the first time!

Paul and Brieann were able to come home the same weekend we were home.  It was the first time they have been able to see Julia in person.  It was great to see them. 

4 generation picture!  Pretty special!

Auntie and Uncle getting to know Julia!

 

We even got to see Great-Aunt Margie and Great-Unce Mike on Sunday night! 

Happy 50th Anniversary Orin and Carolyn!

We came home to help Orin and Carolyn celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary this weekend! 

A family picture taken at their party.

The bride and groom with Julia!  Congrats Orin and Carolyn!

Great-Aunt Brenda and Julia!

Great-Aunt JoAnn and Julia!

Tammy has been waiting to meet Julia!  So good to see you Tammy!

Cousins... Julia and Gavin!  Carson didn't make this picture.

Grandma and Grandpa Lee and their grandkids. 

Our family picture!

Can you tell that Julia is loved by lots of people!?!?

Happy Father's Day!

Julia enjoyed spoiling her daddy today for his first Father's Day! She had a little photo shoot earlier this week to make a special gift for Daddy.  We framed these pics in a 3-photo frame to give to Daddy for part of his gift. 

We went to church this morning and then hung out at home.  We had planned to go to the parade in town, but the rain came pouring down just as the parade was supposed to start.  Oh, well. 
Julia and Daddy hanging out on the floor... oh, and Gus has to be close, too.

Daddy and his kiddos (yes, Gus counts, too!) relaxing in the afternoon.  What a great Daddy Julia has! We are so thankful for our dads (Grandpa Don and Grandpa Mike) as they are such great examples of wonderful fathers.  Happy Father's Day! 

A Little Sleepy and a Big Kiss

Julia is getting to be such a big girl.  She absolutely loves to sit up (she can't quite do it on her own, yet)... so she gets a little help from the Boppy, the Bumbo or Mommy and Daddy!  We weighed her the other day and she is at about 17 pounds and 26.5 inches tall (of course, these aren't super scientific measurements from the doctor's office though!)

"Oh, dear," says Julia. Gus is coming after me...

"and he got me... Mom, help!"  Actually she didn't care at all.  This is the first big slobbery kiss I have seen Gus give Julia. I just had to take a picture instead of push him away! : )  Too bad it wasn't in focus.

Julia must have been really bored with mom and dad's dinner conversation.  She was a sleepy little girl.  I decided to come into the office and update the blog while she slept.  I left the dishes on the table to be cleaned up when she wakes up.  NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY! : )

Julia spent some time at our friends' house this week and last week while Mommy went to work for curriculum writing.  Daddy watched her on Tuesday morning last week so Mommy could go into work for the last staff day of the school year.  Otherwise, not much else is new.  Julia is still doing great with out her pacifier.  She sleeps for 10-12 hours at night... with one bottle sometime between 4-6 am.  One word: awesome!  We just love our little peanut and can't believe how big she is getting.  She misses her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and can't wait to see them again.  It has been too long! 

Loving Life...

We can't believe Julia will be 5 months old on Thursday!  We have been so blessed to have her join our family.  She is getting to be so much fun.  I miss the little infant we brought home from the hospital, but each day gets better and better with her!  I remember when she first started giving us smiles and now she is smiling and giggling all the time!  She loves her jumperoo or as we call it... her "jump-jump."  She likes to play with all the fun toys, and is so into exploring things now.  She spins all the spinny things and of course jumps a lot.  You can see that she is thinking about what she wants to do and intentionally will go after something. 

 I know this picture is blurry, but it is because she is hard to catch with the camera when she is so busy!   This picture shows just how much fun she is having (arms wide open, jumping and giggling/talking)!!!

 All smiles in her "Jump-Jump"

 She has been sleeping in her crib at night since May 10.  We stopped swaddling her on May 24 and the next day she had a really big change... no more pacifier.  We had to be the mean mommy and daddy at some point and take away the paci... we decided it would be nice if she wasn't attached to it (especially to the point that she needs it when sleeping).  She has done amazingly well without it. In fact, I am surprised how well she is doing.  We are all sleeping better at night when we don't have to go into her room in the middle of the night to put her "lost paci" back in her mouth!  Oh, and now she likes to surprise mommy and daddy by moving around in her crib, too.  She has often done a 90 degree turn, 180 or sometimes even a complete 360! This morning when I went to get Julia out of her crib she was sleeping on her tummy.  I guess she had rolled over! : )

 One of the newest milestones is rolling over from her back to her tummy.  She did it for the first time on June 1.  Since then she is a rolling machine.  She has rolled over from her tummy to back since Easter, but now that she can do both she is a mover.  She doesn't stay in one spot for very long when we put her on a blanket on the floor.  She is either rolling or scooting/inching her way to somewhere. 

Some other things about Julia at 5 months... she loves to sit up in the Bumbo seat, everything goes in her mouth, she likes to grab things, she is purposeful- knows what she wants, she wants to hold her bottle, she rocks herself in her bouncy seat (with her left leg kicking), she loves to touch faces and pull/hold mommy's hair. 

She is a wonderful and sweet little girl.  We are so thankful.