Holiday Weekend

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend and want to thank all those who have fought for our country. We had a busy but fun weekend with both sides of our families. We left Friday afternoon and headed to Smith Mountain Lake where we hung out, ate great food, enjoyed adult beverages, and took a few boat rides. Since she's having some issues with the bath right now, I was afraid that getting on the boat would be a problem. However, Juliann seemed to enjoy the water from inside the boat, much more than in the tub! Jules was also able to see Grammy (who she now calls me-me) and Gramps (she calls him pa-pa), as well as Aunt Heather, Ryan, and Uncle Ry and Aunt Meredith. My friend Merrilee and her daughter Kendri also came down for part of the weekend and Juliann had a blast with her bff.

We left Sunday afternoon for Wintergreen to see David's family. We also got to meet Anne (our future sister-in-law)'s parents who drove down from Cincinnati. Despite a water main breaking, leaving the top of the mountain with no water, we had a great time! Juliann loves Ranger, Peter's dog, and had a great time playing with him (and his toys). We left Wintergreen on Monday afternoon and had lunch in Charlottesville on the downtown mall. There were lots of people shopping, eating and enjoying the beautiful weather. Juliann had fun dancing to the music from a group of high school students-see the video of my future So You Think You Can Dance star below!

We have a busy couple of weeks coming up but are looking forward to the summer.
Enjoy the pics below of out holiday weekend. Sorry one of the videos is sideways, our camera can't convert once we download.

Uncle Ry, Jules, Aunt Meredith, and Kendri at the lake

David calls this the "sumo" look

Looking at another boat on the lake

Kendri and Jules trying to hug on the boat!

Pa-Pa, Jules and Kendri reading

Uncle Peter, Jules and Ranger

The Perins and Ellington

Jules on the way to the lake-so talented! (sorry its sideways)

Jules dancing on the downtown mall in Charlottesville

Check-up

We had Juliann's 15 month check up on Monday and she's officially over 20 pounds! We're allowed to turn her car seat around (although we haven't gotten to it just yet) since she weighed in at 20lbs 13oz and was 30.5 in. She's still only in the 15% for weight but is now almost 50% for height! She checked out fine-in fact, the doctor said she was the picture of good health and was developmentally right on track. :) The only downside to the check-ups are the shots. She got 2 and was not a happy camper. In addition, she's got 2 molars coming in, making her a little more fussy than usual. I don't blame her though-I'm sure it hurts.

She seems to be hitting lots of milestones lately, some good and some not so much fun. She's like a parrot-saying new words all the time. And she's learned how to get down the stairs (see the pics below) although we don't let her go up or down that one of us is not right there with her. She's also going through a "mommy phase" where she wants me ALL THE TIME. Makes it challenging to cook dinner, get dressed, go to the bathroom even! I honestly can't leave the room that she's not yelling, "mommy, mommy" and following me. If she catches me, she grabs a hold of my legs, sticks her head through them, and won't let go! It's even worse when I drop her off at the sitters. I feel bad for Jenny some mornings because Jules screams like she's being hurt. There are times when its cute but its also a challenge!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the warmer weather. We're looking forward to spending some time with our families over the Memorial Day Holiday and getting out on the lake. Let's hope the warm, sunny weather continues!

starting down the stairs

finally made it down

aren't you proud of me?!?

Meeting Caden

On Monday, May 4th I drove home to Lynchburg to meet up with my friend, Jamie. She's in the states for a few weeks from Japan. Her husband is stationed in Okinawa and their son, Caden, was born in November. This was his first trip to the USA and we were excited to meet him! After visiting mom at her school (her kindergartners LOVE Juliann) we headed over to Jamie's parents house to hang out until nap time. Jules really enjoys seeing other babies and kept giving Caden hugs and kisses-it was SO cute! After the kids napped we met back up for an early dinner with our own moms and the kids. It's crazy how our lives have changed since we first met in elementary school! We took lots of pictures of our visit back to Amherst-enjoy!

Juliann at mom's school playing with the big kids

Jules trying to help Caden get out-she wanted to get in!

Jamie, Caden, me and Juliann at dinner

15 Months

My little baby is no longer a baby. She's a walking, talking, bundle of energy. Juliann turned 15 months yesterday and is such a big girl now! She is into everything and is saying/signing so many words! Her vocabulary has increased in the past few months and she's now saying mommy, daddy, dog, Cady (one of our dogs), eat, water, Jenny (her sitter), night-night, book, ball, bubble, and down. She signs water, more, eat, milk, book, dog, ball, all done, light and sleep (night-night). We're working on thank you and please now. It's amazing to watch her and I love being able to communicate with her. It helps keep crying to a minimum when she can tell me she's hungry, thirsty, or tired. I think we're almost ready to turn her car seat around to face forward too! Hopefully when we go for her check-up on the 11th she'll finally be 20 pounds and they'll give us the go ahead.

The last few weeks have been busy as usual and it doesn't appear to calm down any time soon. Work is starting to get a little crazy as the SOL test dates approach and our weekends are booked straight through the end of the month. No rest for the weary, right?!?

Today we met some friends in Charlottesville for lunch (see pictures below) and on the way home caught Juliann dancing in her car seat. She does this on a regular basis but today it was hilarious because she had been dead asleep just minutes before and woke up dancing! I was so happy to have the camera to document this moment!

Also, congrats to Patrick and Kristin and Peter and Anne on their engagements recently. Next summer's going to be busy too! :)

My big girl!

Juliann, Jennifer and Pete

Jules helping Jen open a gift

And Here's Jules dancing: