Funny girl....

After several hours of eating candy necklace, Julie has string in hand and asks, “where necklace go?”

Minnieland's winter concert

Julie was a big performer in the concert---she (and all her friends) wore red-noses and antlers! They performed the Reindeer Pokey and it was absolutely adorable...most of them stood there, just like Julie, staring at the adults helping them and the audience.

Julie has been singing a few other songs around the house…she's learned Faliz Navidad. When it says “from the [bottom] of my heart” that she thought it meant her butt-bottom! Well, that’s what Momma calls it…bottom. I laughed and said that when you say the bottom of your heart—it’s right here (and pointed to her heart—)!!

Of course she doesn't know as her "bottom" being something that mommy would pop from time to time!

http://youtu.be/3ZCT3iXByX4

(ok so it took me 11 months to upload the video--gotta love being a busy mom!)

No tears this year!

Hmmmm, still not sure about this....

Yeah, this guy is ok!
Santa gets a high five!

Santa: And what do you want for Christmas Julie?

Julie: "Snow White candy"

Santa will have to do some work on this one....hmmm, where would one get this candy?

Mother Goose

Mommy: Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick.
Jack jump over the ?

Julie: Moon

Hanging around this ole town of Richmond

Yep, she sure did take a poo at Hollywood Cemetery!

only three left....

Our need for sippy cups is dwindling.  I can only think of two that are still in the house.

Of course we still have cups with lids. You can be sure that if there is a drink given without a top, it will certainly be spilled. :)

I remember Jesse doing this...but with blankets

A new room in the house!

We finally converted the former guest room into the kid’s playroom. We removed the bed (sorry GaGa and Chappell girls). We have added the train tables, Julie’s Holly Hobbie kitchen, the kid’s picnic table, a radio, and toy storage cabinet.

Mommy has big plans for decorating the room—thinking about asking Daddy’s friend, Julie, to paint on the walls, or just to buy some wall stickers.

Very demanding lately...

Last night, Julie demanded something to drink...
Mommy responded, "Ok, Captain Rude". I guess I was tired of asking her to ask nicely for something!

Julie replied happily, "I rude! I rude!"

Jesse and I both laughed and told Julie that being called rude wasn't a good thing!!

She insisted on adding pepper to my drink....

Wanna play in my room...

Julie made me wash my hands in the Holly Hobbie sink kitchen set that was mine as a young child. She prepared pizza, peppered juice (she insisted that she pepper my drink!), hot dogs, and we flipped eggs together.

I finally found my Weebles...and we added my little ones to the much bigger ones that they have now days. She insisted sleeping with the treehouse in her bed...so I let her. Of course this was after I removed many of the babies that had taken up residence in her bed and the library of books that she must be reading from in the middle of the night! :)

Winnie gets some lovin' too!

Mommy decided that poor Winnie needed a new outfit...her pants had been falling off long enough! We found the perfect outfit at Toys "R" Us...it's a pretty pink shirt with flowers and a pair of skin tight jeans. I don't think the jeans are supposed to be that tight...so maybe Winnie can hit the gym with Mommy to lose a little bit of weight! Mommy just bought the wrong size clothes...she's most likely a 20 inch doll, not 16-18in.

Winnie still looks good! :)

My superheroine

Julie loved getting all this candy! And she made a beautiful Super Girl!

Cabbage Patch Dolls take the floor....

Julie has taken to Mommy's CPK dolls!

10/23/11 Otis Lee spent lots of time in Julie’s arms. He came to church, but had to stay in the car. He enjoyed playing on the playset once we got home and even went down the slide! He ate dinner with us. And he also got to fly around the kitchen while Julie was humming the theme from Superman! What a great day for a 28 year old baby doll!!

10/29/2011 Another day with baby. Here's a funny conversation.

Julie: Otis, not nice (talking to doll)
Mommy: Julie, what did Otis do?
Julie: Otis hit me.
Mommy: Otis, it’s not nice to hit people (talking to doll)

Later on in the evening, Otis pooped in his pants. Julie cleaned him up with a wipe. Of course this happened after Julie pooped in her pants :)

Where Daddy Go?

Julie: Where Daddy go?
Mommy: He went to work.
Julie: He go to band?
Mommy: Yep.
Julie: Throw us Tootsie Rolls and we see firetruck.

Julie remembered last week when we saw the band--at the Homecoming parade.

Gnats in the kitchen....

Lately, we have had gnats in our kitchen. Every time I clap my hands together to try to kill one, Julie asks “you get one Mom?”

The Princesses....

So, Julie is able to call the Disney Princesses by name. Last night, she said "umbrella" for Cinderella!!

How sweet my baby is!

Do you wanna wear a pretty dress?

When getting Julie up in the morning, I asked her if she wanted to wear a pretty dress. She said, "Yes." I thought she had finished...then she added "Aaron likes pretty dresses!".

I couldn't believe she said this! It starts so early these day!! :) Aaron is one of the little boys in her class at Minnieland.

Piano-ing

I should of known...sooner or later, Julie would serenade us on the piano just as Jesse did when he was 2 years old. She’s been seeing big brother Jesse practice almost daily and it’s clear that she wants to do it as well!! When Jesse was finished practicing, she crawled up on the bench to play and sing. We were delighted to hear Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, the ABC song, and another song (can’t remember at the moment).

It was great!

5 weeks--

Today marked the 5 week mark of being in big girl underwear! There are a few accidents every now and then, which is expected. We did put a diaper back on you at night when there was two days in a row that we had to change sheets. Funny, but true...I ended up buying you bigger underwear because the 2T/3T Minnie Mouse ones that you have seem really tight. That's not the funny part...the funny part is that you and big brother Jesse are wearing the same sized underwear now (4T). :)

Not too sure about the Stoney Point fountains....

May as well....

I guess if you are potty training then that means that you need to be able to get out of bed, if you gotta go....

I was totally expecting you to pull a Jesse when we transitioned you to the toddler bed. But you didn't. And three weeks later, you still haven't! The only time you have gotten out of your bed after we left the room, you moved so that you could sleep in the tent on the floor. I was suprised to find you there...to be quite honest.

And it was just this past weekend when you finally came into Mommy and Daddy's room after awaking...it only because we kept calling you to come to us and I didn't get out of bed to come into your room.

:)

Girl's weekend!

We gained an extra day at home because Jesse was running a fever on Friday. There must have been some bug that hit us all. Julie had diarrhea Friday night while ate dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger. Then Mommy had it Saturday morning.

Jesse and Daddy ended up going to the beach Saturday (Jesse’s fever was gone). Mommy had a final due for her summer class, so Julie and I stayed home. We practiced pulling down pants and underwear several times. She was good about trying to do it herself, but most of the time ended up asking for help. We each had a home pedicure, Julie got a hair cut and we had pizza for dinner! We enjoyed church on Sunday, and then just hung out in the afternoon until the boys got home. About 7pm, we were outside showing Daddy what Mommy had done in the flowerbed while Julie was napping. Julie said, “Mommy, I gotta pee!” By the time we looked down at her, we noticed it was already running down her legs. :)

We are off to an awesome start!

Ok, so we are officially potty training!

Sunday, we stayed home all day and tried it out. She wore a gown or dress with no underwear or diaper. We kept the potty wherever we went... Most of the times when Julie would sit, she would get right back up. It was noticable when she had to "go" because she would sit there for longer periods. Rob, Uncle Tom and I went down the hall to Jesse's room for something. Julie joined us a few minutes later saying she had peed (the potty was in the master bedroom. Mommy went to check things out and found a big pile of poo in the potty and a itty bitty spot of it on the carpet. WOW!! That totally surprised me/all of us!! She peed in the potty a couple times that day as well! And even one time, she noticed that she had started to go, and held the rest of it until she got to the potty! Awesome!

We sent Julie to Minnieland with several pairs of thick underwear and some instructions for her teachers! Monday and Tuesday she went to Minnieland without doing her morning pee. She had some success...and a few accidents as well. Tuesday night, we were upstairs in the hall...when she said, I gotta pee. She went right over to the potty (which was also in the hall) and peed in it!

This morning...she had a dry diaper! And within 5 seconds of sitting down, she was already peeing!

When she sits down, she touches her nose and says "Shhh, listen".

Geez, where does the time go!

We have been on two vacations since I have last posted. We spent a week in the Outer Banks and then just this past weekend, in the mountains. We had a blast at both extremes!

Julie loved the swimming pool at the beach house. She was so confident with herself that she went under water many times...and she loved it! She would grab Jesse's kick board and kinda jump off the steps toward me! This little lady even went go-carting with us! She couldn't stop talking about it, especially when we bumped into Daddy and Jesse's cart. She wasn't too excited about the ocean...whenever we went to put our feet in the water, she would put her head down on our shoulder. However, she enjoyed playing in the sand. Whenever telling someone about vacation, she told them about "going under water" and the go-carts.

She loves eating cantaboop (cantaloupe).

In the mountains, she liked putting her feet into the creek. We walked on the rocks in the water. We enjoyed experiencing the bullfrogs scurrying away as we walked near their pond. Julie and Jesse enjoyed the skylift in Gatlinburg and put on a great Indian dance around the campfire (where we cooked hotdogs for dinner).

Outside last night...

We were playing on the playset last night...and Julie reminded me, "Julie fall in the sandbox". :(

She did go up the steps a few times...but I was right there. :)

I'm a bad mom...I am very sorry!

Last night, I discovered the bad way that Julie is not ready to go up and down the play set steps without supervision. After many successful times over the last two weeks, this particular time, she didn’t make it . When I turned around, I found her face first in the sandbox. We were very fortunate that she wasn’t hurt—she cried a bit, but it didn’t last more than 1 minute to a minute! My girl is tough! But we won’t do the steps again without adult supervision until you are at least three years old, I promise that. We called it a night from being outside and went in for a bath.

Julie tells us “Julie fall in the sandbox”. I bet she won’t forget it for a long, long time. I say this because, about a month ago, when she was riding the bike (tricycle) down the incline from the garage, and she coasted right into the deck and bumped her chin. Every time she sees a bike, she points to and mentions her chin.
Mommy loves you very much Julie. I am trying to let you be as independent as a two year old can be, but I learned from what could have been a very bad experience that the play set steps is not one of them!

At home with Daddy--

The kids are staying home with their Daddy a couple days a week this summer.

I received an email from Daddy today. It said that he was pretending to snore with Julie. When he stopped, she looked at him and said, “Daddy, I want hong chew.”

That’s what she thought the snoring sounded like.

Too cute!

CD player

Julie got a cool toy CD player for her birthday. I told her to put a CD in it. She then told me that she put a "ABCD" in it.

I thought this was so adorable! The alphabet "CD" is the only one she knows!

A Toy Story party...

We had a great time at Julie's 2nd birthday party! She liked everyone singing to her and she even blew out her own candles. We decorated paper turtles with stickers and pulled ducks out of the water for prizes! We love all of our new toys...some of the coolest are a pink bubble blower, crayons, coloring books, a Leap Frog computer, and toy cd player!

I'll post pictures soon.

Mr and Mrs. Head

Julie was introduced to Mr. Potato Head at GaGa and PaPa's house. This toy kept her occupied for 45 minutes or so! GaGa wanted to buy one for her birthday, but couldn't find one. Daddy and I ended up finding one at Toys R Us, so we got it for her...GaGa paid for it. We just got the normal Mrs. Potato Head...that came with about ten pieces. It took a few days for Julie to start playing with it. And she yells "Heady!"

Since Mrs. Head came into the house, Jesse's Optimus Tater Prime started to get some action.

On a recent trip to Toys R Us, the kids and I saw another "Head" set with about 40 pieces! I saw this one when we found Mrs' Head, but decided not to get it. Well, this time, I decided to get it. This is what Mommy is giving Julie for her birthday--one of your presents. Once we were home from the store, Jesse, Julie and I, all enjoyed playing with this new fun!

This week, I was lucky enough to come across someone on Craig's List selling their "Head" set---came with 2 heads and pieces to make Toy Story characters Woody, Buzz, Jessie and Mr. Potato Head. Since we are having a Toy Story themed 2nd birthday party for Julie, I got this!

Ok, so Julie's like for this toy...is becoming an obsession for Mommy! I thought that with the Toy Story addition that our "Head" family would be complete (with 5 heads). Well, now I am not so sure about this!

I've heard that they have a Mr. Potato Head pieces store in Downtown Disney. And I've googled and found Luke Frywalker, Darth Vader Tater, Darth Bob, etc. It would be interesting if I can find the "Head" pieces for let's say a Disney Princess or Strawberry Shortcake!

This is too much fun! :)

Birthday fun

You spent your 2nd birthday hanging out with Daddy at home. You wore a “Birthday Girl” t-shirt and could say happy birthday very well! Jesse went to Bible school in the morning, but was there in the afternoon. Mom arrived home a bit early from work. We colored and played until it was dinner time. One of your favorites was a side at dinner…macaroni (but you called it spaghetti). After dinner, we headed out to Cold Stone for ice cream. You cried all the way there because you didn’t understand that we were celebrating out for ice cream. Grammy, Ashie and Rylan met us there. After showers, we played with something that mom got from Craig’s List—it was Toy Story themed Potato Heads. It came with two bodies and pieces to create Woody, Buzz, Jessie and Potato Head. We now have a family of five potato heads—no, this does not mean there will be any more in the Blankenship’s!

I can’t believe my baby is now 2!

Whenever Daddy lights the candles....

Julie starts singing "Happy Birthday!"

The latest and greatest....

Ok, so some of this is great! And some, not so great!

Julie loves singing... Row your Boat, Are you Sleeping, ABCs, and Twinkle, Twinkle

Tell me that this girl is not ready to be potty trained---in addition to most mornings waking up with a dry diaper, when she needs to be changed, she gets out the changing pad, wipes, a diaper, and lays down on the carpet or the kitchen floor (she likes to choose where we change the diaper! :) I am so ready for her to move up to the next class at Minnieland...and the potty training will be ON!

Ok, for the not so great... Julie has picked up saying, "No, Never" from someone...I am guessing it's big brother Jesse!

A sweet moment....

Last night, at Julie’s bed time, she kissed Jesse good night, then kissed a photo her Daddy that was on the end table (he wasn’t home because of the end of the year jazz band concert). It was just so sweet…that she “kissed” Daddy good night!

Julie lost her eyes....

When Jesse gets out of the bath tub, he acts like he has lost his eyes and asks me to put some new ones in. And he usually asks for a certain color, sometimes each eye is a different color. Wild imagination...

But anyway, tonight Julie did it! She schrunched her eyes and asked "eyes?" (and Jesse hadn't done it in a couple of weeks!)

Amazing what they pick up and remember!!

I forgot the exact date...

of the first time Julie initiated the words, "I love you".

I thought since yesterday was the second time that she said it, that I would make sure to mention it!

We were hugging each other in her room...and she said the "sweet" words!

I love her...more than she knows. At least until she has her own daughter!

An early morning party...

Dry diaper = pee pee on the potty! And there was no crying today as she was doing it. She heard it, then said "pee pee!"

Thankfully, it took less than 15 minutes!

Yay for pee pee and M&Ms!

Two times in one week!

Dry diaper in the morning...means we aren't leaving the house until we have success!

So, today was a bit better...it took about 30 minutes, but we got that pee pee!!

Julie stood up for a second as she had started to pee. Mommy quickly pushed her to sit down...so we wouldn't have so much of a mess to clean up!

Yay for pottying!

A new phrase....and success on the potty

Julie’s latest favorite phrase is “I did it!” She is enjoying getting up into the car and car seat all by herself. Of course it takes about 5+ minutes…she gets pissed when Mommy says that we don’t have time for it in the mornings on the way to Minnieland and is she is put into her seat. She is also learning how to take her clothes off and put them on… Hmmm, good, and not so good! One shoe always comes off when we are in the car. And she does not mind walking with one on and one off.

Dry diaper = 40 minutes on the potty until she peed!

She cried as she was doing it, so every time she cried, a little more came out! We had a party!! And she loved the M&M's!

Washcloth germs

During bath time, Julie’s freshly clean wash cloth ended up between Jesse’s legs.
I told Jesse to get that washcloth away from his penis. Jesse takes it and starts to put it on Julie…and says, “it has my penis germs on it!” Mommy just had to laugh…

Julie's latest...

Julie is continuing to give us new words daily…. I have even gotten her to say “I love you”

She loves taunting big brother…she takes something of his, then runs! I have to giggle when I see the way he reacts (which is usually pretty whiny and he then cries to tell us what she has done). And then I giggle at the smile that’s on Julie’s face! Gotta love those sibling moments!

Julie is being very independent in many areas. She walks down the steps like a big person and also climbing into and out of the carseat. She's getting really good!

I see all of these growing up things a sign that makes us closer to potty training!

recognizing a few important people...

Ok, so maybe they aren't important people, but she recognizes Spider"man", Frosty the Snow"man", "Melmo", and "Woody" from Toy Story. It's darling to hear her say Woody!

Julie will pretty much repeat anything that is said. Her latest is "raisin". I still can't believe that both of my children like Raisin Bran!

This weekend, when Julie was laying in our bed, she hid her socks under the covers. She then looked at me and asked "where'd they go?" It was too cute!

Julie continues playing frisbee and ball with the dogs. She learned the word "leave it" when she was taking their toys from them. She then throws the toy into the "kitchen". And she's finally calling Luke's name (Duke).

Mommy and Julie love playing dress up. Julie put on a bathing suit show for her Daddy and Jesse. And tonight, we even tried on a few new dresses.

My baby is growing up...so fast.

18 month check up at 19 months...

In this corner, we have Julie Blankenship standing at 32 inches tall and weighing 24 lbs, 12 and 3/4 oz!

She is in the 50% percentile for weight and 25th-50th percentile for height.

Doctor said that she is talking great for her age...and said that it's obvious that she comprehends what we say.

We've been released to not come back until she's 2 years old!

Picking up a bad habit from Mommy...at least Daddy thinks it's a bad one!

A bit too young...

So, I tried potty training you this weekend.

There were several accidents in the padded big girl underwear and you love sitting on the potty! We read books, played with the whack the ball toy and see-n-say. However, you wouldn't ever do "anything" on the potty.

This was mean, but Mommy ended up putting you in the bathtub when it should have been time for you to go pee again. You did not like this and cried. Because you were mad, you "let go" and peed.

We halted the potty training at this time....obviously, not ready yet.

But when you are ready, I think you will be very easy to train. You woke up one day this past weekend from a 3-hour nap...still dry! You go girl!

Can't fault a mommy for trying!

Mommy thinks it's cute that you can say this...

pizza!

The latest and greatest...

Julie loves "Ring Around the Rosy"...

Julie says "up" and "down", "thank you", and "clean up" (she also actually cleans up!--thank you Minnieland!)

She is very brave/dare devil-ish because goes down the slide to our playset all by herself. She can also go up the ladder, but Mommy likes to be right there when she falls/slips.

We've heard her singing the ABC song...not the actual words, but singing her version of it.

your first sentence....

"I want more"

Of course you were talking about food!

:)

It's potty time!

Mommy decided that since you are so interested in sitting on the potty...that it's time to sorta start with the training.

This week, we started sitting on the potty in the morning before going to Minnieland and in the evenings before bath time. Nothing yet...but in time, we will get lucky!

Two of the three mornings, I have noticed that you pee in the diaper as soon as I put it on (after this potty sitting time). So girl, relax and let it flow (in the potty!)

Finally figured it out...I think.

Whenever Julie sees a star, she says, "Bubba".

So the rhyme goes:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
How I wonder what you are.
Up above (I think she thinks that we are saying "bubba" here) the world so high.
Like a diamond in the sky.

Your digestive track....thank God it works good!

So, this morning, we found three marbles in your diaper.

Thankfully, these items were round, passed through with no troubles...and all marbles are accounted for!

When I saw them, I immediatedly said a prayer thanking God that you were ok!

And I am sorry that this happened! I did a quick clean through again...of all small things and the marbles were put away.

Interest in the steps...

Julie likes to hold someone's hand when she's going down the steps these days!

She's talking a lot more...saying "read", "book", and "potty"!

Loves to play ball---Julie and I will sit to roll the ball for 30 minutes at a time! The other night, we even had two balls going at once! I was impressed that she was that coordinated!!

An attempt at a family photo

Wrong virus...

Mommy was wrong...it wasn't roseola.

Julie checked out fine at the doctor's office, after having the rash for three days.

Mommy was getting worried that it was something else, eventhough you were acting completely normal!!

On the way to the doctor's office, we won 4 monster truck tickets from the radio!

Later over the weekend, Mommy had a fever, and some stomach rash. I bet I had the same thing!

Shoo fly shoo...go away all viruses!

Ring around the Roseola

Boo...my baby girl has a virus. And I think she got it from me (herpes virus--Mommy has a big ole fever blister right now). She threw up in our bed early Saturday morning, had a fever during the day, then some rash (lots on her face), then later noticed it on her entire body.

We spent today at GaGa and PaPa's house...for Amanda and Mommy's birthday lunch. Julie napped while we were there and then took a nap on the way home. She seemed to be a better mood once we were home. Thankfully, we have the holiday tomorrow...and that the virus will be over so that we can go back to work Tuesday.

These days...

Julie is talking a lot! Mostly one words, but sometimes two word sentences!

"Want that" is a famous phrase!!

She puckers for a kiss...which is so adorable!

When we go down the drive way...we hit the "bump, bump".

Julie loves listening to music. She is enjoying Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald, ABC, and other toddler songs. She even does moves to Wheels on the Bus! I think Minnieland has the same toddler songs cd that we do, because she totally knows a lot of the songs!

She's a lot of fun.....well except when you do one little thing that she doesn't like!! It could be that you opened her cereal bar, removed the cereal bar from the wrapper, or took her shoes off.

Mommy loves to see Julie in tights....18 month photos

Mommy is proud of these photos. Her photography mentor said that they finally look like professional photos!

Now, I just need to get that chair painted!