My Christmas Angels

I call this dynamic duo "OJ"

oLiViA

JuLiAn

Debi Gomez, a local photographer, took these pictures of Olivia and Julian when Julian was about 1 month old (O is 2 years old). She took TONS of awesome shots, but these were the three I chose. Check out more of her shots at www.lifesimages.com!

Professional Pictures

Hey guys, just wanted to post some pictures and let you know it will be a while before new posts appear. Lupe (our dog) and I are the only two members of this family who are not sick. :( We have a lot of fun things to blog about, but that will have to wait. Sorry! These pictures were taken last month, when Julian was about one month old. Side note, Olivia is chasing Lupe around the house with a tissue saying, "Lupe, blow nose?" Too funny. The following pictures were taken by Jeni Hendricks, a local photographer.

This pictures CRACKS ME UP! It looks like he is saying, "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Hey ladies, check out my muscles!"

I absolutely LOVE this picture of Olivia!

Classic. Olivia has her finger in her mouth and Julian looks scared to death of Olivia.

It is so hard to get both kids doing anything relatively normal. Olivia was looking over at "puppies" in the room. There were no puppies, but O thought there were. Silly.

I couldn't say it better myself. This is EXACTLY what Olivia does when confronted by anyone she doesn't know. Such a shy little girl.

Julian is TWO MONTHS OLD

Height: 23 1/4" (63rd percentile)

Weight: 11 lbs. 4.5 oz. (40th percentile)

Head circumference: 39 1/2 cm. (38th percentile)

WOW! It seems like last week Julian was born! I can't believe he is already two months old! He's really starting to interact with us. He smiles, coos, giggles a little, and tracks you everywhere you go. He's such a great baby! He eats well, sleeps well at night, and is very alert and calm during the day. Little guy even slept through the night last night! We put him down at 10, he fell asleep around 10:30, and I didn't hear from him again until 6:30!

Things are definitely picking up speed at our house. Olivia has attempted to give Julian a pretzel and some water from her cup. Last night I caught her pulling a strip of paper out of his mouth that she had given him. She also continues to try to pick him up. Here's the story. It was time for Olivia's bath, so I told her to go get undressed in the bathroom. I told her I'd meet her in there because I was going to go get Julian. He sits in a bouncer in the bathroom with us so we can talk to him. I put the bouncer in the bathroom, and went to grab O's pajamas from her room. Olivia was in our bathroom, and Julian was laying by the Christmas tree looking at the lights. Next thing I know, I hear Olivia struggling in the living room. I came out to see what she was fussing about. There she was, standing there holding Julian in the "hug" position. She had obviously bent down, hugged him, and was attempting to "help me" and take him to the bathroom for me. She was fussing because he was too heavy for her. He wasn't crying or anything, just looking at her. I was inches from grabbing him from her when she just kind of threw him back down onto the boppy (pillow). She ran away crying, and he just kind of laid there like nothing had happened. This is now the second time I have caught her picking him up. I thought I scared her enough last time that she knew never to do it again. Guess I was wrong.

I came into the room the other day to find Julian like this. I guess Olivia thought he needed some shoes. She cracks me up!

Julian LOVES to lay by the tree and look at the lights.

Getting close and snuggly with his "snuggly" frog.

Yes, I do realize that all these pictures feature the pacifier. He absolutely LOVES it. Olivia never took one, but this kid is addicted. Hey, if it makes him happy, it makes me happy.

Anyone want to trade?

I'd love to trade days with anyone who is willing. Let me tell you a story:

Olivia was helping me fold the clothes this morning when she found her panties. She took off her diaper, put on the panties, and put her pants back on. I thought maybe this meant she was ready. So I let her keep them on. I heard Julian fussing, so I got him up and started feeding him. Olivia ran over to me to let me know that her pants were wet. Grr. I put Julian down, took Olivia to the bathroom, stripped her, and cleaned her up. I gave her another pair of panties and went back to Julian. I no sooner than picked him up when I hear a huge gush. I looked over to see Olivia standing at the back door as if she were a little puppy waiting to be taken out to potty. She was standing in a giant puddle of her own pee. Arg. I got up to get a towel, and when I came back into the room, I hear the familiar sound of Lupe gagging. Where is she? I finally found her standing over a pool of vomit in Julian's room. Lovely. It just keeps getting better. Ok, to recap, I now have a hungry baby, a puddle of pee by the back door, and a puddle of vomit in Julian's room. What to tackle first? I put O on the potty, cleaned up the puke, cleaned up the pee, went back to get O, and then returned to continue feeding Julian. Ok, so all is well. Or so I thought. I hear Olivia in the kitchen, then I see her running toward the bathroom saying something about potty. I go into the kitchen, and sure enough, there is a huge puddle of pee by the trashcan. What's more is that there are now little footprints of pee leading all the way to the bathroom. Awesome. Did I mention that this is mostly carpet?? I put O on the potty, got out the swiffer wetjet that I JUST bought, and went to town wiping and mopping the floor. Keep in mind Julian is STILL hungry. So after I cleaned up the kitchen, got Olivia off of the potty and in a PULLUP, I returned to finish feeding Julian. Thinking everything was over, I took J to his room to change his diaper, and I feel something wet. Yep, I stepped in another pile of vomit that I had not seen before. Awesome. And it is not even 11 yet. Yikes!

A *first* for Mr. Julian

After we dropped Olivia off at school today, Julian and I headed to Target. We were looking around in the clothing area, and I was talking to him about...I don't remember. Anyway, he was smiling at me, so I kept talking to him trying to get him to smile bigger, when all of a sudden..he laughed! He was giggling at me and it was the funniest sound ever! It was so cute! I called Eric to see if I could get Julian to laugh for him, and it worked! Eric got to hear Julian's first laugh, too! It was the most adorable little giggle!

And for those of you who care, Olivia has now gone "poo-poo" on the potty three days in a row! She won't go pee pee on it, but she manages to do her #2 business in there. Hooray!

What's up?

Not much happening here...but we have had some interesting things happen:

1. Olivia pooped in the potty yesterday! Want me to go into more detail Cindy?

2. Julian is flashing us some pretty handsome smiles when he sees us!

3. Olivia's vocabulary is rapidly increasing these days, and this morning she told me "Tigger and Pooh are awesome!"

4. Julian is doing a great job at night, usually only getting up once, maybe twice and ALWAYS going right back to sleep after eating.

5. We have our chip-e-chee (Christmas tree) up and Julian LOVES to lay under it and look at all the lights.

6. Eric and I have given up drinking soda!

7. Olivia is OBSESSED with reading books. We will finish one and she will immediately say "do it again" and expect us to read it again.

8. Olivia threw up in her hand at the mall and tried to hand it to me. NOT at all what I want for Christmas.

9. We are looking forward to most of our family coming down to visit next week and the week after!!

10. Can't wait for Christmas!!

A White Christmas

For everyone in Indiana...(and you friends in Michigan and Georgia too)...