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Happy 6 Months Juliet!!

Juliet's first time to sit up was outside at the Easter Egg hunt last weekend!

Juliet sampling Mommy's homemade sweet potato baby food

Juliet was ready to go to church this morning!

Robby, on the other hand, thought that a nap might be a better way to spend the morning :)

I absolutely cannot believe that Juliet is 6 months old. I am as ever daily amazed at her growth, even though I experienced the exact same milestones with Robby. Each child is a miracle, and I was thinking today that it is actually more miraculous to consider how similarly all babies achieve the same milestones than it is surprising to see the minute differences in what each baby does and when.

Six months is a time of great joy because there is an explosion of growth in terms of what babies start being able to do, but for me, it is also hard because I feel like I am letting go of the sweet moments of infancy. Juliet is in the process of moving completely to the bottle rather than breastfeeding. With Robby, I had a bad breastfeeding experience from start to finish, and the first few weeks with Juliet were also very difficult. As such, Bryan and I decided months ago to take a trip just the two of us to Washington DC right after Juliet's 6 month birthday. The trip is intended to be a getaway from the stress of our daily lives as well as a time to help complete the move from breast to bottle. However, by one month into breastfeeding, Juliet and I hit our stride, and were this trip not coming up, I probably would not have made the move as of yet.

We are also getting ever closer to the time when Juliet will need to join her brother at school. She has moved out of infancy and into babyhood, so she needs much more sustained and regular interaction which has lead to many late nights of working for me because I could not get my work done during the day. I have been so blessed to be able to have a job that has allowed me to work full time while also watching her for this long, and for that I am extremely grateful.

Now, on to Juliet's list of accomplishments. One day last week, she hit two major milestones in half an hour: she rolled from front to back (at least 4 times in a row and now does it any time we attempt tummy time), and she also scooted about 18 inches on the floor to try to reach a toy. Last Saturday she also began to sit up for sustained periods of time without help, and she is now a pro at this as well. And, since last weekend, she has begun to babble with gusto, using new consonant sounds just about every day. Yesterday at ArtFest, she said Dada over and over. Bryan of course insists this is her first word and that she understands what she was saying. It might be true, though if she says Mama within the next couple of weeks, I will be more inclined to believe she has a working knowledge of what she is communicating :). Finally, she is now eating real baby food. We started with sweet potatoes, which I made sometime last week. Once she has finished that, I will move to avocado, and then I think carrot.

Phew! That was a lot of talk, when I know what you really want is just the pics :)

Easter Sunday

We didn't get any great pics, but here are a couple just for an idea (and yes, Juliet did start out with shoes on but she has the narrowest feet on the planet and they mostly just fall right off):

Easter Week

We had a wonderful week in Houston with SueSue, Pops, Eraina and Lucy (and later Bryan), Michael and Ali and Collier, and Paul. It was a blessing to get to hear Robert preach on Easter Sunday, and before that we had all kinds of fun activities, including:

Water Time:

no pool? no problem! We will make our own :)

Juliet might rock a bathing suit, but she did not want to mess up her hair (or her tan!) by getting in that cold water

Dying Easter Eggs:

Why was I unprepared for the massive mess? Can I blame it on lack of sleep or something?

Easter Baskets:

Juliet got four dresses and one tiny toy. Maybe it was more for Mommy?

Robby's haul was much more fun

Easter Egg Hunt!

Robby and Lucy had been excited all day for this event



We hid candy in only about half of the eggs. Once they figured that out, they had to be cajoled into picking up the eggs that didn't rattle. Smart kids.

Juliet and I kept up as best we could

The whole crew after the hunt was over


Robby's haul--not bad!

SueSue and Juliet were glad to get back inside and away from that hot afternoon sun!

Cousins

I have a bunch of great pictures from Easter, but I wanted to share these first because they are so sweet and really illustrate how much Robby and Lucy love to spend time together. These were taken on a walk with SueSue through the HBU campus.