Jul-Ja, 13 months

To let Julia celebrate turning 13 months old, we gave her the camera to take a self portrait. Not too shabby, for a 13 month old, eh?


Jules, at 13 months you are a little wonder. You seem to have forgotten what crawling is entirely, and you walk everywhere at this point. You have developed two curls, one behind each ear, that stick out perfectly and oh so irresistibly. You adore your brother. You are a total Mama's girl, and love nothing more than to be in my arms/on my leg/somehow, anyhow, touching me. You squeal with delight when you see your Dad in the mornings, scream "Da Da!" and love to place your face right flush up against his face. You still love to nurse, though we are moving quickly towards weaning. You love to give kisses, and blow kisses, and you love to kiss any stuffed animal that you come across. You actually sit in your car seat, and have kiss-blowing-giggle-"Hi~"-fests with your brother while I am driving. You love the bath, and I swear you are going to be a backstroker, as you love laying flat out on your back in the tub having your hair washed. You just go limp and relaxed and languid and sweet. You love to eat, and seem to take the task quite seriously. I have yet to meet a food you will not eat. You LOVE to be naked, and every diaper change turns into a entertainment adventure as I attempt to keep you from rolling and running away from me, squealing with naughty delicious delight. Speaking of naughty, you love being naughty. Not true naughtiness or disobeying (generally) ~ but the game of "bye bye!" as you race to the steps, shrieking with delight as you know I am hot on your heels is a favourite. You love to be chased. You love it when I am changing your diaper and Luke sits above you saying "I.......love........Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" as he dive bombs his finger onto your nose. When I put you to bed (by 7) every night we nurse, then say your prayers, then I lay you in your crib wide eyed and pink cheeked and warm and full. You throw both arms straight out to your side as you lay on your back, and say "night night" as I pull up your blanket. You glide effortlessly into sleep. You wake between 6.30 (ugh) and 7.30 (yay). You nap for about 2.5 hours every afternoon, right after lunch, while your brother does. At 13 months you actually sleep slightly less than your 26 month old brother. You seem to be a little nature girl. You will sit still and watch me weed or garden for well over an hour, while inside your attention span is all of three minutes. You will play outside with your bike for hours on end, while any indoor toy or bike is boring after hardly any time at all. You love the swings at the playground, and could swing in the sunshine, laughing, for hours on end. You will wear hats anytime, but never sunglasses. I still marvel at your blue eyes and blond hair......You don't look anything like your brother, to me....at this point I think that while your coloring is totally different, you look like your Dad. You say "hi! Night Night, bye bye, Ma Ma, Da Da, Touchdown!, Uh oh! and your absolute obsession is the word "Dat", just like your big brother. You use it as a verb, as an adjective, and as a noun.

You are a joy baby girl. I love you. Thank you for all of the sunshine that you bring into our lives.