I feel so bad that I haven't written about Joe in a long time. He is such a joy! He smiles with his whole face. He is now 7 months old and is 22 lbs. He loves his food!
His face lights up when Juju looks at him or talks to him. She is excited to see him, too. They have a small tent in our kitchen that they like to play in and Juju is trying to get used to sharing. She's not really that great at it yet. Joe will take whatever she is willing to give him.
They are both teething right now and some days that is pretty unbearable for all 3 of us. Most days, I enjoy their company so much. It it is so cool to watch their personalities develop a little each day.
Juju is very analytical. She looks at each toy or each cat or even her brother and thinks about what it is. She is really funny, too. She is into tickling right now and I have a few bruises to prove it. She will jibber jabber something and start laughing like she just told herself a joke. She is so willing to entertain also. She likes to go through her tricks for us. She knows how to walk backwards, jump, dance, she know all of her body parts and names (she's a little ahead of me there!) and she can count to three. She is very gentle with the cats but likes to play rough with Poppy and her dad. Know one taught her to like clothes and yet she loves to try stuff on and sways around to show them off. She is very creative already. Blocks are her favorite toys for now.
Joeby (as Juju and the rest of us call him) is very laid back and has such a sweet disposition that he melts everyone's heart that meets him. As long as he has a dry butt and a full belly, he is a happy boy. He just started chewing on Puffs this past week. He sits up by himself really well. He likes apples and oranges in this little mesh thing. He has a shy, bashful look about him when he smiles.
I am such a blessed Gigi! They are great entertainment and a wonderful blessing.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
May 3, 2010
Juju had her first trip to a hotel! She and her mom went with me to St. Charles for the day and we stayed at an area hotel. She shopped all day and was quite a trooper I in the hotel room. It made me a little nervous having her crawl around on the carpet there.
She did a great job sleeping in the hotel. We brought a fan and tacked up a sheet around her porta crib so she felt like she was in her own room and she slept like a champ. Her mom and I could then rent a movie and hang out.
It is so cool to watch how alert and aware of her surroundings she has become. She’s very smart.
May 9th, 2010
Another trip to Children’s Hospital. So glad her daddy knows her so well to realize something was wrong. The dr. suspects she has a urinary tract infection. Since Juju’s mom is pregnant I had to stay in the room when they catherized her and took x-rays. It broke my heart to hold her down while the doctors inserted the catheter. She looked me right in the eye as if to say, “How can you let them do this to me?” It was horrible. Fortunately, Juju is very forgiving and was still glad to see me when it was all over with.
May 14th, 2010
Good news! The infection is gone and Juju is back to her old self. She is so active and so aware of her surroundings. She wants to take in everything and understand it. She is really drooling a lot right now. More teeth to come.
June, 2010
Jujuj’s mom is getting bigger and it’s a little hard for her to sit on her mom’s lap now. She doesn’t quite understand why she can’t crawl all over mom. Juju is still crawling but she is really fast. She continues to love books. She will sit half an hour and let you read books to her. I hope she stays that way. Her mother was always the same way. Juju’s dad bought her a big red ball and she loves watching it roll away from her. Poppy picks her up and uses her to kick the ball. She giggles so hard it is contagious. Her face lights up when Poppy walks in the room. She loves being outside and playing in water. Her mom has taken her swimming in Aunt Carol’s pool and friend Erin’s pool and she loves it. She has no fear of water.
July, 2010
Aunt Jami and Uncle Chris came into town for Juju’s first birthday party. We did a lot of sight seeing and took Juju to the City Museum in St. Louis and the City Park. She loved all the things to look at in The City Museum especially the room that the kids could stack buckets and then knock them down. Juju’s all about knocking stuff down. You can see how she studies her surroundings and the people. She makes eye contact with other kids and is drawn like a magnet to them. Still not walking yet but she can scoot and crawl really fast. She makes a lot of sounds and it does sound like she says “mama” and “dada”. She loves her sippy cup with water in it. Her favorite stuffed animals are “Mutton”, a lamb that has a lavender scented insert, and “Lovie”, a chocolate scented teddy bear.
She loved the City Park. There were tiny little water fountains that would shoot up from the ground randomly. It was a hot day so playing in the water was great. Juju loved all the water around her and would stick her face right in it when it sprouted up from the ground. Aunt Jami took lots of pictures and Juju loves being in front of the camera.
We had her first birthday party while Aunt Jami and Uncle Chris were here. She had a pool filled with water and water toys, a “slip and slide”, and lots of balls. Her mom had several friends with small children that came and her cousins Anna and Tim came to her party as well. She was not interested in her cupcake for her birthday. It was a long day but I think she had fun. She got lots of presents!
August, 2010
Juju is one year old on August 3rd! It’s time for Juju’s mom to go back to teaching before the baby is born so I get to spend four days a week with her. Juju stays with her dad on Mondays. She is very blessed to have such a great dad that tries really hard to have a good relationship with her. I pick her up in the mornings and sometimes we stop by the Troy Petting Zoo. She loves looking at the animals and trying to make their sounds. It’s not really a “petting” zoo, you can’t get to the animals to pet them and I’m not sure I would let her anyway. She is still getting some teeth in and her smile is full of teeth right now. She has a great sense of humor and seems to find humor in most everything around her. When we get home, I turn on Sesame Street and she seems to be real interested in Elmo when he is on. She only stays interested for about 5 minutes at a time. Her attention span is quite short.
Juju is still very interested in books and has certain books that are her favorites. We have one at my house that we call the “good book.” It lights up and sings when you turn the pages. It is all about animals and makes the animal noises. She starts to dance when the singing song comes on. She’s a character! Juju has finally shown some interest in walking. She takes a few steps and then sits down and scoots or crawls but she does seem to have good balance. I just think she knows she can get what she wants faster by crawling.
When we get to my house, we have to go say “good morning” to the trees and the fishies in the pond. We sit on the swing overlooking the pond and she always has to clean off the leaves before sitting down. She cracks me up!
September, 2010
Baby brother, Joe, is born on September 19th! We got the call early on Sunday morning and Poppy and I went over to stay with Juju while her mommy and daddy went to the hospital. She was a little surprised to see us when she woke up that morning but didn’t seem to mind. Later that day, baby Joe came into this world and he and his mom did great. We took Juju up to the hospital right away so she could see her mom and dad and be introduced to her brother. We walked into the room and she was a little hesitant to go to mom or dad. Her mom was in bed in a hospital gown and her dad was holding something she didn’t recognize. Finally, she wanted to see her mom and she sat on the bed with her. Her dad laid Joe down next to her. He made a few noises and Juju wasn’t sure what this was. Finally, she leaned over him and had her little fingers curled up and made the meowing noise she makes for the cats. We know she didn’t know what Joe was but at least she was interested.
We took her home with us and she spent the night. The next day we took her back to the hospital to visit with her mom and dad and new brother. The doctor came in to check on Juju’s mom and we had to leave the room. We went down to the lobby area which has a coffee bar so we could get something to drink. As we are standing in line, Juju notices a little girl about 5 or 6 with sparkly red shoes on. Juju walked right up to her (she’s walking by now) and wanted to touch her. She acted so excited to see a kid. Then she saw her shoes. She bent down and touched them and giggled. She then looked up at the little girl and started making that meowing noise like she does with the cats and now her brother. Fortunately, the little girl was entertained by Juju. An Indian woman walked past us with a long skirt that had sparkles on it and shoes with gems and sparkles and Juju took off after her down the hall. We waited to see how far she would go without us and she had no problem being out of our sight. That was a little scary. We took her back up to see her parents and her new brother. She was still inquisitive about her brother. The next day, her parents and her brother were back at home so she went home, too. We were a little concerned for a while because every time Joe cried, Juju cried. If he let out a scream so did she. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s so empathetic for her brother or if that noise just scared her. I hope it’s the former.
October, 2010
Juju’s mom is on maternity leave so she is home every day again with Juju and brother Joe. I go most every day to visit and help out. Juju is still fascinated with her brother. She doesn’t get nearly as upset when he cries as she did in the beginning. Joe is a good boy. He is a healthy eater and an optimum pooper! But, after all, he is a boy!
It’s an interesting adventure to take both kids anywhere. It really is a two man job.
November, 2010
It’s getting colder outside so Juju can’t go outside as much but she loves to stare out the window and see what’s going on. Poppy likes to bundle her up and take her outside with him when she’s at our house. He hung a swing from our pergola but it’s too cold to swing on it so she pushes it a few times when she’s out there. Poppy always plays rough with her and she loves it. Right now, all Joe wants is a full belly, a dry butt and a booby nap!
Juju, Joe, their mom and I went on an airplane to see Aunt Jami and Uncle Chris in San Diego. It’s the first time they got to meet Joe. It is the second time on an airplane for Juju and the first for Joe. Everyone in the airport looked upon us with pity. We had lots of offers to help us which was great because we could use it. I had Juju in a stroller and Joe’s mom was wearing him. The lady at the counter for Southwest told us that there was one seat available and that we should sit in the back and take up all three seats before anyone wanted that seat. As if anyone would want to sit between a fifteen month old and a two month old babies! Joe was a champ! He ate and slept all the way there. Juju wasn’t too bad. She got bored, but so did I. As long as you kept hauling out different toys and books and snacks, she was entertained. She is great at people watching so that kept her busy as well.
Jami picked us up and we almost didn’t fit everything into her little car that we had to bring for two kids. Juju slept in a borrowed pack ‘n play in a bedroom with me and Joe slept on the “L” shaped sofa with his mom.
Juju had a rough night the first night. No surprise. She was in a smaller bed than she is used to in a room she was not used to and there was a time change she had to deal with. Someone once wrote a song about how it never rains in southern California but it rained all five days we were there. Juju could see a park across the street from Jami’s house and she would point at it and whine. We finally took her over there to play on the swings in between rain drops. She loved it! There were kids there she wanted to play with but they were not too interested in her. Aunt Jami has three cats that all live in the house and Juju was ecstatic. One of the cats fell in love with her, too. Cajun and Juju played tag every day we were there. Cajun would even fetch stuff Juju threw. It was so cute watching the two of them. Joe…..ate and slept!
One day, Aunt Jami asked Juju if she wanted to go to the market with her and Juju got her coat. So the two of them went to the market and Jami said she was perfect. She likes the music Aunt Jami likes.
Finally, the day comes that we have to leave and get back on an airplane. It is almost four hours in the air. I was not looking forward to it. Hanging out at the airport was almost worse. It was hard to entertain Juju and she just wanted to run. The airport was packed with people coming and going for the Thanksgiving holiday-this was the Monday before. We were so blessed once again to only one seat left on the whole plane available. Again the lady at the counter told us there would be only one extra seat and we should go to the back and take it so we did. Joe was a little fussy at the beginning but I think he was starting to get hot being up against his mother so much. Juju was a little wild. She did not want to sit in a seat, she wanted to get past me and into the aisle. We started pulling out toys and snacks again but she wasn’t interested at first. Then we got drinks and snacks served to us and her mom gave her some ice. She is fascinated with ice. We were all wet from the melting ice but it kept Juju busy for about a half an hour. I started reading books to her and taking stuff out of my purse for her to see but she was pretty antsy. All of a sudden Joe let out a scream and we realized he had pooped and was not happy about it. His mom had to take him into the bathroom to clean him up and she was gone quite a while. Juju kept walking back and forth from her mom’s chair to me while she was gone and giggling each time. She made friends with a little boy behind us and a little girl in front of us so they helped to entertain her. Her mom got back with Joe and took her seat next to the window and Juju wanted to sit on her mom’s lap. I took Joe for a while and Juju sat on her mom’s lap. The stewardess in the back with us was great. She talked to Juju and brought her a water. Joe went back to sleep and Juju wanted me so we swapped. Juju had her binkie and her blankie and laid her head down on my shoulder. I started to rock her and sing to her and she fell asleep for the last hour of the flight. It was awesome!
Thanksgiving was spent at Carol’s house with great food (thanks Uncle Rico) and great company. Juju takes off running wherever she is and ran into an excited dog at Aunt Carol’s. She hasn’t seen too many dogs but was not a fan. She started crying and wanted to be held up away from it. So, poor Wiener had to go upstairs to the bedrooms away from everyone. Joe slept through the whole thing.
December, 2010
Aunt Jami came home for “Faux” Christmas! It was quite harrowing. The St. Louis airport got closed due to icy weather so she had to spend the night in K.C. But, we got her the next day. Juju and Joe’s mom had to go back to work that week but we got a snow storm and school was closed the last two days before the break. Juju remembered Aunt Jami and wanted to sit on her lap and have her read to her. We had the family Christmas get together at a hall the Saturday before Christmas, that’s why Jami came home. Everyone was so excited to meet Joe for the first time and they all wanted to hold him. Juju had a great time running around the hall with cousins Anna and Tim. They were so good about trying to play with her and entertain her. As per usual, Juju did not want to eat her dinner from her plate, but she came to sit on my lap and eat from my plate. I’m glad to share. It was a long day and evening for everyone. The kids were completely exhausted as were the adults.
The next morning we had “faux” Christmas morning. We got Juju a kitchen set with a stove and refrigerator all in one. She had a ball with it. Joe wasn’t too excited about any of it. We had a wonderful “faux” Christmas and it was wonderful to have all of, except for Christopher, home. We had our traditional Christmas Brunch, everyone ate too much and wanted to take a nap-except for Juju! There was so much for her to see and do.
We had a great visit with Jami. We did lots of lunches and Jami got lots of pictures of Joe and Juju. Then, we had to take Jami to the airport to go back to San Diego. We show pictures of Jami to Juju all the time and she recognizes her.
The real Christmas day came and was spent at Joe and Juju’s house with their dad’s family. It was a nice day and both kids got more stuff. Amazing how much stuff it takes!
January, 2011
Juju and Joe’s mom is back at work again and we are working on our schedule. After picking the kids up we come home in time for Sesame Street. Juju is still mostly interested in Elmo. She goes running to the t.v. when she hears the “la la la la…la la la la…Elmo’s world!” Joe usually sleeps at first while I make breakfast for Juju. She is such a healthy eater. She loves fruits and most vegetables. For breakfast, she will get oatmeal with craisins and pecans or scrambled eggs with cheese and red peppers with a fruit and milk. For lunch, she loves fish sticks and sweet potato fries and usually an apple or mango. Then Joe will wake up and want to be changed and fed. Juju will play and look at her books while I feed Joe. She still meows at him. He gets a big smile on his face when she meows at him. He is so good natured. We can make him laugh out loud now. He has dimples when he smiles real big. Juju sometimes wants to poke him or feed him something but I don’t think she wants to hurt him. That will come later in life.
Juju loves to see the cats at our house. Smokey lives outside and greets us as soon as we get out of the car. She gets so excited to see him. Then we get inside and she goes for Frankie and Missy. Missy will stand still longer while she makes over her and tries to pick her up. Joe is too little yet to notice all the cats.
Juju had her first trip to a hotel! She and her mom went with me to St. Charles for the day and we stayed at an area hotel. She shopped all day and was quite a trooper I in the hotel room. It made me a little nervous having her crawl around on the carpet there.
She did a great job sleeping in the hotel. We brought a fan and tacked up a sheet around her porta crib so she felt like she was in her own room and she slept like a champ. Her mom and I could then rent a movie and hang out.
It is so cool to watch how alert and aware of her surroundings she has become. She’s very smart.
May 9th, 2010
Another trip to Children’s Hospital. So glad her daddy knows her so well to realize something was wrong. The dr. suspects she has a urinary tract infection. Since Juju’s mom is pregnant I had to stay in the room when they catherized her and took x-rays. It broke my heart to hold her down while the doctors inserted the catheter. She looked me right in the eye as if to say, “How can you let them do this to me?” It was horrible. Fortunately, Juju is very forgiving and was still glad to see me when it was all over with.
May 14th, 2010
Good news! The infection is gone and Juju is back to her old self. She is so active and so aware of her surroundings. She wants to take in everything and understand it. She is really drooling a lot right now. More teeth to come.
June, 2010
Jujuj’s mom is getting bigger and it’s a little hard for her to sit on her mom’s lap now. She doesn’t quite understand why she can’t crawl all over mom. Juju is still crawling but she is really fast. She continues to love books. She will sit half an hour and let you read books to her. I hope she stays that way. Her mother was always the same way. Juju’s dad bought her a big red ball and she loves watching it roll away from her. Poppy picks her up and uses her to kick the ball. She giggles so hard it is contagious. Her face lights up when Poppy walks in the room. She loves being outside and playing in water. Her mom has taken her swimming in Aunt Carol’s pool and friend Erin’s pool and she loves it. She has no fear of water.
July, 2010
Aunt Jami and Uncle Chris came into town for Juju’s first birthday party. We did a lot of sight seeing and took Juju to the City Museum in St. Louis and the City Park. She loved all the things to look at in The City Museum especially the room that the kids could stack buckets and then knock them down. Juju’s all about knocking stuff down. You can see how she studies her surroundings and the people. She makes eye contact with other kids and is drawn like a magnet to them. Still not walking yet but she can scoot and crawl really fast. She makes a lot of sounds and it does sound like she says “mama” and “dada”. She loves her sippy cup with water in it. Her favorite stuffed animals are “Mutton”, a lamb that has a lavender scented insert, and “Lovie”, a chocolate scented teddy bear.
She loved the City Park. There were tiny little water fountains that would shoot up from the ground randomly. It was a hot day so playing in the water was great. Juju loved all the water around her and would stick her face right in it when it sprouted up from the ground. Aunt Jami took lots of pictures and Juju loves being in front of the camera.
We had her first birthday party while Aunt Jami and Uncle Chris were here. She had a pool filled with water and water toys, a “slip and slide”, and lots of balls. Her mom had several friends with small children that came and her cousins Anna and Tim came to her party as well. She was not interested in her cupcake for her birthday. It was a long day but I think she had fun. She got lots of presents!
August, 2010
Juju is one year old on August 3rd! It’s time for Juju’s mom to go back to teaching before the baby is born so I get to spend four days a week with her. Juju stays with her dad on Mondays. She is very blessed to have such a great dad that tries really hard to have a good relationship with her. I pick her up in the mornings and sometimes we stop by the Troy Petting Zoo. She loves looking at the animals and trying to make their sounds. It’s not really a “petting” zoo, you can’t get to the animals to pet them and I’m not sure I would let her anyway. She is still getting some teeth in and her smile is full of teeth right now. She has a great sense of humor and seems to find humor in most everything around her. When we get home, I turn on Sesame Street and she seems to be real interested in Elmo when he is on. She only stays interested for about 5 minutes at a time. Her attention span is quite short.
Juju is still very interested in books and has certain books that are her favorites. We have one at my house that we call the “good book.” It lights up and sings when you turn the pages. It is all about animals and makes the animal noises. She starts to dance when the singing song comes on. She’s a character! Juju has finally shown some interest in walking. She takes a few steps and then sits down and scoots or crawls but she does seem to have good balance. I just think she knows she can get what she wants faster by crawling.
When we get to my house, we have to go say “good morning” to the trees and the fishies in the pond. We sit on the swing overlooking the pond and she always has to clean off the leaves before sitting down. She cracks me up!
September, 2010
Baby brother, Joe, is born on September 19th! We got the call early on Sunday morning and Poppy and I went over to stay with Juju while her mommy and daddy went to the hospital. She was a little surprised to see us when she woke up that morning but didn’t seem to mind. Later that day, baby Joe came into this world and he and his mom did great. We took Juju up to the hospital right away so she could see her mom and dad and be introduced to her brother. We walked into the room and she was a little hesitant to go to mom or dad. Her mom was in bed in a hospital gown and her dad was holding something she didn’t recognize. Finally, she wanted to see her mom and she sat on the bed with her. Her dad laid Joe down next to her. He made a few noises and Juju wasn’t sure what this was. Finally, she leaned over him and had her little fingers curled up and made the meowing noise she makes for the cats. We know she didn’t know what Joe was but at least she was interested.
We took her home with us and she spent the night. The next day we took her back to the hospital to visit with her mom and dad and new brother. The doctor came in to check on Juju’s mom and we had to leave the room. We went down to the lobby area which has a coffee bar so we could get something to drink. As we are standing in line, Juju notices a little girl about 5 or 6 with sparkly red shoes on. Juju walked right up to her (she’s walking by now) and wanted to touch her. She acted so excited to see a kid. Then she saw her shoes. She bent down and touched them and giggled. She then looked up at the little girl and started making that meowing noise like she does with the cats and now her brother. Fortunately, the little girl was entertained by Juju. An Indian woman walked past us with a long skirt that had sparkles on it and shoes with gems and sparkles and Juju took off after her down the hall. We waited to see how far she would go without us and she had no problem being out of our sight. That was a little scary. We took her back up to see her parents and her new brother. She was still inquisitive about her brother. The next day, her parents and her brother were back at home so she went home, too. We were a little concerned for a while because every time Joe cried, Juju cried. If he let out a scream so did she. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s so empathetic for her brother or if that noise just scared her. I hope it’s the former.
October, 2010
Juju’s mom is on maternity leave so she is home every day again with Juju and brother Joe. I go most every day to visit and help out. Juju is still fascinated with her brother. She doesn’t get nearly as upset when he cries as she did in the beginning. Joe is a good boy. He is a healthy eater and an optimum pooper! But, after all, he is a boy!
It’s an interesting adventure to take both kids anywhere. It really is a two man job.
November, 2010
It’s getting colder outside so Juju can’t go outside as much but she loves to stare out the window and see what’s going on. Poppy likes to bundle her up and take her outside with him when she’s at our house. He hung a swing from our pergola but it’s too cold to swing on it so she pushes it a few times when she’s out there. Poppy always plays rough with her and she loves it. Right now, all Joe wants is a full belly, a dry butt and a booby nap!
Juju, Joe, their mom and I went on an airplane to see Aunt Jami and Uncle Chris in San Diego. It’s the first time they got to meet Joe. It is the second time on an airplane for Juju and the first for Joe. Everyone in the airport looked upon us with pity. We had lots of offers to help us which was great because we could use it. I had Juju in a stroller and Joe’s mom was wearing him. The lady at the counter for Southwest told us that there was one seat available and that we should sit in the back and take up all three seats before anyone wanted that seat. As if anyone would want to sit between a fifteen month old and a two month old babies! Joe was a champ! He ate and slept all the way there. Juju wasn’t too bad. She got bored, but so did I. As long as you kept hauling out different toys and books and snacks, she was entertained. She is great at people watching so that kept her busy as well.
Jami picked us up and we almost didn’t fit everything into her little car that we had to bring for two kids. Juju slept in a borrowed pack ‘n play in a bedroom with me and Joe slept on the “L” shaped sofa with his mom.
Juju had a rough night the first night. No surprise. She was in a smaller bed than she is used to in a room she was not used to and there was a time change she had to deal with. Someone once wrote a song about how it never rains in southern California but it rained all five days we were there. Juju could see a park across the street from Jami’s house and she would point at it and whine. We finally took her over there to play on the swings in between rain drops. She loved it! There were kids there she wanted to play with but they were not too interested in her. Aunt Jami has three cats that all live in the house and Juju was ecstatic. One of the cats fell in love with her, too. Cajun and Juju played tag every day we were there. Cajun would even fetch stuff Juju threw. It was so cute watching the two of them. Joe…..ate and slept!
One day, Aunt Jami asked Juju if she wanted to go to the market with her and Juju got her coat. So the two of them went to the market and Jami said she was perfect. She likes the music Aunt Jami likes.
Finally, the day comes that we have to leave and get back on an airplane. It is almost four hours in the air. I was not looking forward to it. Hanging out at the airport was almost worse. It was hard to entertain Juju and she just wanted to run. The airport was packed with people coming and going for the Thanksgiving holiday-this was the Monday before. We were so blessed once again to only one seat left on the whole plane available. Again the lady at the counter told us there would be only one extra seat and we should go to the back and take it so we did. Joe was a little fussy at the beginning but I think he was starting to get hot being up against his mother so much. Juju was a little wild. She did not want to sit in a seat, she wanted to get past me and into the aisle. We started pulling out toys and snacks again but she wasn’t interested at first. Then we got drinks and snacks served to us and her mom gave her some ice. She is fascinated with ice. We were all wet from the melting ice but it kept Juju busy for about a half an hour. I started reading books to her and taking stuff out of my purse for her to see but she was pretty antsy. All of a sudden Joe let out a scream and we realized he had pooped and was not happy about it. His mom had to take him into the bathroom to clean him up and she was gone quite a while. Juju kept walking back and forth from her mom’s chair to me while she was gone and giggling each time. She made friends with a little boy behind us and a little girl in front of us so they helped to entertain her. Her mom got back with Joe and took her seat next to the window and Juju wanted to sit on her mom’s lap. I took Joe for a while and Juju sat on her mom’s lap. The stewardess in the back with us was great. She talked to Juju and brought her a water. Joe went back to sleep and Juju wanted me so we swapped. Juju had her binkie and her blankie and laid her head down on my shoulder. I started to rock her and sing to her and she fell asleep for the last hour of the flight. It was awesome!
Thanksgiving was spent at Carol’s house with great food (thanks Uncle Rico) and great company. Juju takes off running wherever she is and ran into an excited dog at Aunt Carol’s. She hasn’t seen too many dogs but was not a fan. She started crying and wanted to be held up away from it. So, poor Wiener had to go upstairs to the bedrooms away from everyone. Joe slept through the whole thing.
December, 2010
Aunt Jami came home for “Faux” Christmas! It was quite harrowing. The St. Louis airport got closed due to icy weather so she had to spend the night in K.C. But, we got her the next day. Juju and Joe’s mom had to go back to work that week but we got a snow storm and school was closed the last two days before the break. Juju remembered Aunt Jami and wanted to sit on her lap and have her read to her. We had the family Christmas get together at a hall the Saturday before Christmas, that’s why Jami came home. Everyone was so excited to meet Joe for the first time and they all wanted to hold him. Juju had a great time running around the hall with cousins Anna and Tim. They were so good about trying to play with her and entertain her. As per usual, Juju did not want to eat her dinner from her plate, but she came to sit on my lap and eat from my plate. I’m glad to share. It was a long day and evening for everyone. The kids were completely exhausted as were the adults.
The next morning we had “faux” Christmas morning. We got Juju a kitchen set with a stove and refrigerator all in one. She had a ball with it. Joe wasn’t too excited about any of it. We had a wonderful “faux” Christmas and it was wonderful to have all of, except for Christopher, home. We had our traditional Christmas Brunch, everyone ate too much and wanted to take a nap-except for Juju! There was so much for her to see and do.
We had a great visit with Jami. We did lots of lunches and Jami got lots of pictures of Joe and Juju. Then, we had to take Jami to the airport to go back to San Diego. We show pictures of Jami to Juju all the time and she recognizes her.
The real Christmas day came and was spent at Joe and Juju’s house with their dad’s family. It was a nice day and both kids got more stuff. Amazing how much stuff it takes!
January, 2011
Juju and Joe’s mom is back at work again and we are working on our schedule. After picking the kids up we come home in time for Sesame Street. Juju is still mostly interested in Elmo. She goes running to the t.v. when she hears the “la la la la…la la la la…Elmo’s world!” Joe usually sleeps at first while I make breakfast for Juju. She is such a healthy eater. She loves fruits and most vegetables. For breakfast, she will get oatmeal with craisins and pecans or scrambled eggs with cheese and red peppers with a fruit and milk. For lunch, she loves fish sticks and sweet potato fries and usually an apple or mango. Then Joe will wake up and want to be changed and fed. Juju will play and look at her books while I feed Joe. She still meows at him. He gets a big smile on his face when she meows at him. He is so good natured. We can make him laugh out loud now. He has dimples when he smiles real big. Juju sometimes wants to poke him or feed him something but I don’t think she wants to hurt him. That will come later in life.
Juju loves to see the cats at our house. Smokey lives outside and greets us as soon as we get out of the car. She gets so excited to see him. Then we get inside and she goes for Frankie and Missy. Missy will stand still longer while she makes over her and tries to pick her up. Joe is too little yet to notice all the cats.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Juju’s first plane ride!
Juju had her first airplane ride last week and it was quite entertaining. She was on 4 planes in 6 days. The first plane was a stop in Colorado and she screamed most of the hour and a half flight. We were not sure if her ears hurt or not, but she just doesn’t like being held sometimes. She is very independent.
The next flight we were on, she slept on her mom’s chest for most of the flight and we didn’t get in until 10:30 which was 12:30 (after midnight) our time. So she was really a trooper. We went to see Aunt Jami and Uncle Chris and juju and her mom spent the nights there. Jami was able to borrow a Pack ‘n Play for juju to sleep in. As long as she has her “snuggly” blanket and Murry (her stuffed cat that looks like Aunt Jami’s cat) she slept well. She did pretty well with naps, too.
We did a lot of sight-seeing and constantly disrupted juju’s sleep, but she was such a good sport. She had lots of grown up foods while in California. She loves avocadoes and Aunt Jami’s Banana Bread which had coconut in it. We went to the San Diego Zoo and she got to ride on a lift that went all the way across the park. She was only mildly impressed.
By the time the trip came, she was starting to pull herself up on everything she could including legs! She would get up on all fours and wiggle a little but not quite crawling.
April 23, 2010
Juju has a tooth! It is so cute, it’s on the bottom. She slobbers like a puppy and chews on everything. More to come! Also, she is crawling about 3 or 4 feet at a time now. She really isn’t very patient with crawling, she would rather be running.
She likes lots of new foods now. She is eating baby fruit puffs like there is no tomorrow. I think she likes those because she can feed them to herself. She will eat a couple of those then take a drink from her sippy cup to wash it down. It’s so cute because after she takes a drink, she sticks her tongue out and says, “Ahhhhhhh.” She cracks me up.
Every day now she has at least three meals with real food. She loves cheese sticks. We cut them into fourths and she puts them in her mouth and sort of gums it. She has fresh fruits and veggies every day now. But, she still likes her milk in her bottle. She wants to help do that, too, though.
When she is at Gigi’s, her favorite toy is her piano. I took her downstairs the other day and showed her the piano her mom and Aunt Jami learned on and she banged out a pretty cute song. I think being a piano player is her destiny. She will do that while attending beauty pageants and squeezing in her MENSA meetings! I’m a proud Gigi! She lights up my whole day!!
The next flight we were on, she slept on her mom’s chest for most of the flight and we didn’t get in until 10:30 which was 12:30 (after midnight) our time. So she was really a trooper. We went to see Aunt Jami and Uncle Chris and juju and her mom spent the nights there. Jami was able to borrow a Pack ‘n Play for juju to sleep in. As long as she has her “snuggly” blanket and Murry (her stuffed cat that looks like Aunt Jami’s cat) she slept well. She did pretty well with naps, too.
We did a lot of sight-seeing and constantly disrupted juju’s sleep, but she was such a good sport. She had lots of grown up foods while in California. She loves avocadoes and Aunt Jami’s Banana Bread which had coconut in it. We went to the San Diego Zoo and she got to ride on a lift that went all the way across the park. She was only mildly impressed.
By the time the trip came, she was starting to pull herself up on everything she could including legs! She would get up on all fours and wiggle a little but not quite crawling.
April 23, 2010
Juju has a tooth! It is so cute, it’s on the bottom. She slobbers like a puppy and chews on everything. More to come! Also, she is crawling about 3 or 4 feet at a time now. She really isn’t very patient with crawling, she would rather be running.
She likes lots of new foods now. She is eating baby fruit puffs like there is no tomorrow. I think she likes those because she can feed them to herself. She will eat a couple of those then take a drink from her sippy cup to wash it down. It’s so cute because after she takes a drink, she sticks her tongue out and says, “Ahhhhhhh.” She cracks me up.
Every day now she has at least three meals with real food. She loves cheese sticks. We cut them into fourths and she puts them in her mouth and sort of gums it. She has fresh fruits and veggies every day now. But, she still likes her milk in her bottle. She wants to help do that, too, though.
When she is at Gigi’s, her favorite toy is her piano. I took her downstairs the other day and showed her the piano her mom and Aunt Jami learned on and she banged out a pretty cute song. I think being a piano player is her destiny. She will do that while attending beauty pageants and squeezing in her MENSA meetings! I’m a proud Gigi! She lights up my whole day!!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Catching up with juju!
It's been too long since I have caught everyone up. So sorry! In this past month, juju is eating fruits and vegetables, sitting up on her own and trying various ways to crawl. One day in juju's life must be the same as a year to adults. She is growing up so fast and developing her own personality.
Juju decided 2 weeks ago to attempt to crawl. She got up on all fours and rocked back and forth for about a minute then she moved her left hand forward and rocked a little, then she moved her left knee toward her hand. She looked up at me and smiled real big, then did the same with her right side but much slower. I kept calling her and had toys she likes in front of her to encourage her to come to me. She was so proud of herself. She did this 2 more times and then fell on her belly. She did not try this way again-yet!
Then, this week she got up on all fours then sat back on her legs and lunged forward like a little frog. She did this 3 more times and went about 3 feet lunging forward.
She really has no patience for all this crawling. She just wants to walk and get to where she wants to go right now.
She is a riot when I feed her the green mixture her mother makes for her. It is broccoli, peas and squash. She blends this mixture and then freezes it in ice cube trays. It looks like poop!
Speaking of poop.......no, I won't go there! Juju may read this some day. I love looking at her smiling face every day. She is so expressive. You can read exactly what she is thinking and when she is thinking it. I don't know where she gets that from.
You can never read enough books to juju. She loves looking at each page and taking it all in. Her favorite book is about animals and lights up and sings. She makes her legs wiggle every time the song comes on.
She is going on her first airplane ride next week and should be very interesting. Stay tuned.....................................
Juju decided 2 weeks ago to attempt to crawl. She got up on all fours and rocked back and forth for about a minute then she moved her left hand forward and rocked a little, then she moved her left knee toward her hand. She looked up at me and smiled real big, then did the same with her right side but much slower. I kept calling her and had toys she likes in front of her to encourage her to come to me. She was so proud of herself. She did this 2 more times and then fell on her belly. She did not try this way again-yet!
Then, this week she got up on all fours then sat back on her legs and lunged forward like a little frog. She did this 3 more times and went about 3 feet lunging forward.
She really has no patience for all this crawling. She just wants to walk and get to where she wants to go right now.
She is a riot when I feed her the green mixture her mother makes for her. It is broccoli, peas and squash. She blends this mixture and then freezes it in ice cube trays. It looks like poop!
Speaking of poop.......no, I won't go there! Juju may read this some day. I love looking at her smiling face every day. She is so expressive. You can read exactly what she is thinking and when she is thinking it. I don't know where she gets that from.
You can never read enough books to juju. She loves looking at each page and taking it all in. Her favorite book is about animals and lights up and sings. She makes her legs wiggle every time the song comes on.
She is going on her first airplane ride next week and should be very interesting. Stay tuned.....................................
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Juju at Gigi's
Juju spent the week at Gigi's. I thought that by having her here all week I could get so much more done. Boy, was I wrong. She was really good humored on Tuesday and Wednesday but really not on Thursday and Friday.
I feel so bad for her because she is teething and you can tell she is really n pain sometimes. She chews on everything she gets her hands on. But, when she is in a good mood and smiles, she melts your heart.
We went out for fish on Friday night and she was passed around by relatives. She did really well especially since she doesn't really know them.
I have found that she likes to play in her box lined with a quilt and surrounded by toys and teethers.
She has started to stretch her arms out toward people and that's really cool.
Juju is so ready to be mobile and independent. She's already very opinionated. The future will be very interesting. xo
I feel so bad for her because she is teething and you can tell she is really n pain sometimes. She chews on everything she gets her hands on. But, when she is in a good mood and smiles, she melts your heart.
We went out for fish on Friday night and she was passed around by relatives. She did really well especially since she doesn't really know them.
I have found that she likes to play in her box lined with a quilt and surrounded by toys and teethers.
She has started to stretch her arms out toward people and that's really cool.
Juju is so ready to be mobile and independent. She's already very opinionated. The future will be very interesting. xo
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Catching up with juju!
I haven't posted in a while because I have had computer problems again! But, juju has grown so much and changed so much in the last 10 days so I'll have to catch you up.
She is eating cereal twice a day now. In the morning and at night before she goes to bed. Almost every day she likes it, but some days she's just not in the mood. Her mom had a snow day on Tuesday but we had to go to St. Louis anyway. Juju is so nosy now that she doesn't nap at the mall any more. She wants to sit up and look around.
Wednesday we hung out at her house and played with the red piano and new books. She is starting to like to spend more time being left alone these days. It just depends on the mood she is in.
Thursday, we hung out at Gigi's house. Poppy came home to spend some time with her. But, first we had to go take the computer from hell back to the store and go to the grocery store. We were gone so long that it was time for juju to eat and there was no bottle in the diaper bag. I had to buy one in the grocery store and buy soap and a bottle of water to clean it out in the car. It was not the same as her usual bottles but I did not want to spend that much money for this one time. Juju kept spitting the nipple out of her mouth and then got hold of the bottle and threw it into the back seat. Then, I tried to reason with her and explain to her that this was the same milk she always drank and it is just this one time. She then chewed on the nipple and squirted milk all over my glasses and in my hair. She's something.........................
Friday we met friends at the Cheesecake Factory and juju had 2 firsts. The first first was that she sat in her stroller without the carseat like a big girl. She liked that because she could look around at everyone. But she did have her Auntie J scowl on her face which made people want to talk to her even more. The second first was that she sat in a high chair at the restaurant. We had to use about 10 baby wipes first to clean it, but she had a great time.
She is eating cereal twice a day now. In the morning and at night before she goes to bed. Almost every day she likes it, but some days she's just not in the mood. Her mom had a snow day on Tuesday but we had to go to St. Louis anyway. Juju is so nosy now that she doesn't nap at the mall any more. She wants to sit up and look around.
Wednesday we hung out at her house and played with the red piano and new books. She is starting to like to spend more time being left alone these days. It just depends on the mood she is in.
Thursday, we hung out at Gigi's house. Poppy came home to spend some time with her. But, first we had to go take the computer from hell back to the store and go to the grocery store. We were gone so long that it was time for juju to eat and there was no bottle in the diaper bag. I had to buy one in the grocery store and buy soap and a bottle of water to clean it out in the car. It was not the same as her usual bottles but I did not want to spend that much money for this one time. Juju kept spitting the nipple out of her mouth and then got hold of the bottle and threw it into the back seat. Then, I tried to reason with her and explain to her that this was the same milk she always drank and it is just this one time. She then chewed on the nipple and squirted milk all over my glasses and in my hair. She's something.........................
Friday we met friends at the Cheesecake Factory and juju had 2 firsts. The first first was that she sat in her stroller without the carseat like a big girl. She liked that because she could look around at everyone. But she did have her Auntie J scowl on her face which made people want to talk to her even more. The second first was that she sat in a high chair at the restaurant. We had to use about 10 baby wipes first to clean it, but she had a great time.
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