Birthday Bash

Three days before Julia's actual birthday, we had her second birthday party. It was considerably smaller this year, less stress on the preggo mommy! We were again blessed with a beautiful sunny day for an outdoor party, though windy. Only problem with a windy party...

lighting the candle! We tried and tried, but it wouldn't stay lit. Oh well, there's always next year! Julia wasn't so concerned about the candle anyway. Notice in the photo above that while we were all huddled around the candle, she was sneaking her little hand in with a "yoink"!

No tears for the birthday song this year.

Finally, she got her flowers. And once she did, she wouldn't let go. Of all the gifts that day, the cake decoration was her favorite thing! That's a two year old for ya. She carried them around for days, even took them to bed. Goofy girl. I'll have to make sure those find their way into a keepsake box.

She did remarkably well with her cake. I just gave her fork and let her go to town (not like she'd let me help anyway!), thinking she could get as messy as she wanted, but she was very neat and careful. Such a big girl!

Since cake isn't the kind of thing we eat at home, and she hadn't really been to any parties all summer, this was her first experience of it (that she can remember). For days after the party, she would look out onto the deck from the living room, with her arms held out, shrugging her shoulders, saying, "Where cape go?" or "Cape gone!" It was as if she expected to eat cake on the deck all the time after that!

Pile 'o presents.

The touching of the ears means she's tired. We had passed nap time at that point and it was obvious. She kept trying to squirm down away from me. We got through it without a major meltdown, though, so that was good.

Overall, she did well, and it was a fun afternoon. Thank you to everyone for all the gifts, and for coming to celebrate with us!

Family Ties

I don"t know about you, but the last couple of months have been insanely busy around here. Consequently, I have lots of blogging to do! There's going to be a bit of a lull now before it gets busier than ever, so hopefully I'll get all caught up in time.

We spent September 18-20 in southern Illinois for the Hankla Family Reunion. My Mom's Dad's brothers and sisters and their families get together at a Methodist Camp that my Grandpa's brother Joe used to be the director of. We've been going there for years and it's a lot of fun. This was actually the first time that John didn't have to work and could come along. We took lots of pictures in the beautiful scenery.

Looking at all these pictures, I can't help but think that this was one of our last flings as a family of three. All too soon there will be another munchkin vying for our attention. While I know that I will be able to love as many children as God blesses us with, it has been my prayer of late that Julia will continue to feel that love when she isn't the only child anymore.

***

Julia Faith, the last two years of my life that I have gotten to spend with you have been the best I've ever had. I can never tell you how much I love you, or how much I have thanked God for you. It's hard to imagine a time when you weren't a part of my life. It has been such an awesome privilege to watch you grow and change, and I am so honored that God has trusted me to take care of you and be your Mommy. I want you to know just how much I love it when you wrap your little arms around my neck and squeeze tight ... when you kiss my cheek so tenderly with your soft lips ... when you look at me sweetly with your gorgeous blue eyes ... when you cuddle up with me on the couch to read books. You melt my heart with your honest, innocent expressions of love for me that I can't help but think I don't deserve. Thank you for that, Baby Girl. Thank you for just being you. Know that I love you and nothing will ever change that, no matter what the next two, twenty, or two hundred years may bring.

Swings, Slides & Such

At this age, of course, Julia loves the park. All summer long, whenever we'd drive past one and she saw it out the window, she'd yell, "Park! Park!", waving her arms. Most mornings when I would get her up and ask, "So, what are we going to do today?", she'd say "park" of course.

So, these are a few pictures of some of the many parks we visited in the last few months.

These two were taken at Central Park on the day of the church picnic, June 28.

Julia and I almost balanced Daddy out! Course, I was only about 5 months pregnant then. :)

The next several ones were taken at a park in Wisconsin when we visited Tony and Marlene at the cabin. (July 17) It was so cold, but Julia was not to be deterred!

She actually prefers these big kid swings to the baby ones that you put your legs in the holes. I would think the ones with a seat would be less scary, but what do I know? Maybe it's because these kind are usually closer to the ground.

Slides are probably her favorite...she's pretty fearless on them.

I just like these two. Mom has a thing for the serious expressions. I love a chessy smile as much as the next guy, don't get me wrong, I just think there's more artistic beauty in ones like these.

Hugs for Gaga!

Who knows?! Sometimes ya just get the urge to stand on your head, I guess. By the time I walked around to get a picture of her looking through her legs, she had moved on.

Okay, big stuff, maybe next summer!

Thought the butt shot was cute.

This is Julia's new swing at the Mehok Homestead. Papa hung it at a perfect height for her.

Gaga took her to Central Park this time and these are some of her pictures.

Anyone that has lived in Griffith knows how long this swing has been there.

Couldn't have posed a better shot!

Another day at Gaga's house.

On the day I had some bloodwork scheduled (the yucky glucola test where you have to fast and then drink a nasty, sugary, flat pop sort of drink and then have your blood drawn an hour later), Julia wasn't feeling well at all. I think allergy season had just hit and she was a mess. She didn't want to get out of bed that morning, let alone get dressed. So, I took her to Gaga and Papa's in her jammies. They had just put up a second new swing, and in spite of not feeling well, she had to try it. It's a horse made out of tires, very cool! It cheered her up a bit, I'm sure.

After a couple days of those awful allergies flaring up, I started her on children's Claritin and it has worked wonders. Thank goodness, because the poor child would be miserable without it.

Fish Stories

Everybody has a fish story, right? Well, now Julia has her first. And when you ask her to tell it, she'll gesture with arms wide to show how big Papa's fish was, saying, "Biiig!"; and hold her fingers close together to show how big Mom or Dad's fish was, saying, "Baby". Classic.

Anywho, we spent July 15-19 in Wisconsin at the cabin Tony and Marlene have rented every year since John was little. It was Julia's first trip there and we had fun. It turned out to be record cold that week, which put a damper on some activities, but we braved the weather and Julia went out on the boat once and to the park a few times. Marlene even spent time with her so John and I could go out on the boat without her and we even went to the local casino to have all you can eat crab legs one night. She wouldn't have been allowed into the buffet, so we were very grateful that Gaga, with her willing heart, stayed back with her. All in all, it was a fun mini-vaca.

Julia read some books to pass the time. She does really well in the car, I'm proud of her.

Checking out the fishing pole. Look at that concentration!

Drivin' Papa's truck.

Reading the Bible with Papa. If Julia finds a Bible, she will bring it to you and want to read. Priceless.

Feeding the fish some bread off the dock. There were lots of minnows there, and those were her favorite fish because they were so small she thought they were babies.

Practicing with the pole.

She liked to go fast and make big splashes!

Papa plucked a flower out of the water for her.


Reeling in her first fish with Papa.

She was brave enough to hold the string, at least.

She looks a little apprehensive in this one.

Marlene plopped her down on the swing and set a fish next to her to take a picture. She scooted over right away and would not take her eyes off of it to look at the camera. I love this photo.

Here I am, wearing a parka in July for cryin' out loud. Good thing Marlene had brought it with her because the heaviest thing I had was the fleece I'm wearing underneath. It was cold out on that water, and the wind could cut right through you.

At one point, we thought John had the biggest fish ever on his line. It was definitely swimming and pulling like a fish, so we knew he wasn't just caught in the weeds. We thought his line might break though, he had such a tough time getting it in.

Turns out it was an average size northern pike that had got itself caught in the weeds after it took the bait. We're still proud of you babe!

A close up of some of the teeth in a northern Tony caught.

This would be why Julia says, "Big!" when referring to Papa's fish.

John called this his "I hate scaling fish" face.

Well, we caught one as big as Julia!

In about half the pictures of her with a fish, she would stick her tongue out as if to say, "Ewww!"

Watching Nemo on the ride home. We borrowed a portable DVD player and that really helped pass the time. Shortly after that trip, we upgraded vehicles so now we have a DVD player built in. It is so nice on long trips!

Overall, we had a great time. It was a whirlwind trip, with two days spent travelling and really only 3 full days there, but it was worth it. Hopefully it will work out that we can go again next year!

Tick Tock

Yipe! Has anyone else noticed how fast those tickers at the top of this page are ticking?! There must be something wrong with them, because I highly doubt that my "baby" is almost two and I'm in my third trimester. I'll have to email tech support about this problem.

You Reap What You Sow

These were taken on May 2 at the Mehok Homestead. Gaga changed Julia into some play clothes she had at her house and plunked her down in the dirt. She handed her a spade and a few tomato plants and Julia went to town. Marlene told me that in the days after their planting adventure, Julia wanted to climb into the dirt and dig every time they walked by to check on the plants.

She must have gotten the green thumb from her Gaga, because it certainly isn't from me! She looks like a professional I'd say, and you can't argue with results...

Taken on August 19.

"Whoa! Look what I found on my tomato plant!"

"I've got an idea... these look an awful lot like apples, and I love apples, so maybe I'll try a bite."

"Hmm. Not bad, but something isn't right."

"Yeah, this tastes nothing like an apple! Oh well, they look pretty enough!"

Adventures with Gaga

I copied pictures off of Marlene's camera again, so here are some of the August highlights.

This was taken in Marlene's sister, Lurlene's, barn. Julia is all about animals lately, and who doesn't love a cuddly little kitty, anyway? And it's funny, she even gets that high pitched voice you use for talking to babies. "Awww... tat (cat)." I thought this was the most precious picture, though. I can only hope she will be so admiring of her baby sister!

Lovin on Anya, the Mehok's dog.

Two eggs for breakfast today!

Hmmm... Julia, have you been berry picking or berry eating?! Marlene said Julia Julia could put them in her mouth about as fast as she could put them in the bucket. Then she would look in the bucket and say, "Julia, where did the berries go?", and Julia would say, "Ah know?" (which means, "I don't know", with that inflection) Silly kid.

Well, that's all for now, but I have so many tomato pictures that I want to devote an entire post to them, so keep an eye out for that soon!