11 Months Passed One O'Clock

It is so hard to believe that this day next month Julip will be TWO YEARS OLD! How can we already have a two year old. Crazy crazy. 

 disbelief :) 

Julip is growing up everyday! Not only does she wake up an inch taller (or so it seems), each day she tells us something new, eats something different, or does something all by herself. I catch myself saying this at every age, but this age is just so fun! 

This month, she apparently learned to fly. (I was so tempted to photoshop her really high in the sky, haha!)

We love playing outside! 

Julip loves playing with her daddy. Every morning, as soon as she wakes up, she starts calling for her daddy. And constantly throughout the day she looks for her daddy around the house and then says, "Daddy. Work." :) One of my favorite times of the day is while I'm making dinner. I can hear Dustin reading with Julip and tickling her and just having so much fun together. Our house is usually full of laughter at this time because no one can help but laugh! (Keeping our tv turned off has been such a nice change!)

Julip thought it was so funny the other night when she and her daddy both had on hoods. My little hoodlums. 

She likes to do things on her own now. She'll play with her dolls and feed them and change their diapers, she insists on walking in front of us at the park or zoo, and she tries to use her fork to eat most of her food. She's growing up! I think she'll make a great big sister! 

Playing at the bookstore. 

Leading the way to say "hi" to her zoo friends. 

 Recently, the youth surprised Dustin when he walked into a balloon filled office. Tons of balloons! :) Julip had fun playing in them! Dustin said it took forever to pop them all.

 She's even pinning away on Pinterest now! Just kidding, but it was so funny when we found her sitting with the laptop in her lap "typing" away. Hmm... I wonder where she learned that from. 

She loves going "potty" where she'll sit on her potty...but nothing more than sit. I'm so thankful she's showing interest and we're working on the "relaxing to relieve" part. She also enjoys going "ou-side" to play by the garden and with her friends. Bath time is also by far one of her favorite times!

 Her first official bubble bath as a result of a VERY dirty diaper one morning (the bubbles had mostly popped by this picture). She loved it! 

 She's just exploring so much now! She wants to try everything! She has been practicing animal names with some flashcards she got last year and loves naming off the ones she recognizes (it's so cute hearing a little person say "chicken" and "raffe" (giraffe). I'm pretty sure she thinks a cow is called a "moo"). She LOVES puppies and babies! She calls every dog, big and small, a puppy, and every kid, tiny or tall, a baby. Recently, she said her name for the first time, "Dubie". :) She really likes pointing out family members in pictures. She'll say, "PawPaw, Munnie (Muttie), Mimi, Bobo, Egger (Eric)" and "Susu, DD, Annnnnnah (Anna), Pahker (Parker), Gan (Gran)" and so on.

 Playing a friend's piano. When should we get her a cello?  

 Taking a break from climbing to say, "HELLOOO!" 

A few funny things she did this month: Our friend/neighbor who is also pregnant came by and immediately Julip pointed to her tummy and said, "baby"! Very perceptive, I thought. Secondly, Dustin was leaving for work the other day and apparently forgot something Julip thought was very important. She ran screaming, "DADDY, DADDY" and handed him his two books he'd been reading. He cannot forget his books, ha! And lastly, our house is pretty old and the door to our bathroom doesn't quite shut unless you lock it. One day Julip busted in the bathroom while Dustin was taking a shower and said, "Daddy. Sock." handing him his sock. Then, she promptly left, returned, and handed him the other sock cause he's got to wear them when showering, you know?!

 She really is funny! 

One of my favorite new developments is that she's interested in helping me put things away and tidy up the house (I know, it's very nice I tell you). I can ask her to stack dishes, put away books, or clean up her puzzles and she'll do it. We're also working on saying "Please" when asking for things. She says "Peees" and it is just so cute! 

Visiting her future college town, Oxford, Mississippi. 

At Dustin's favorite bookstore, Square Books. We've always thought "Julip Jernigan" sounds like an author (or musician). 

Her favorite foods right now are "almies" (almonds), cheese, "blumblums" (blueberries), apples, "bret" bread, "buttabutta" peanut butter, "cackers" (crackers), and carrots. And GUESS WHAT!? She has been guzzling milk! Plain, white, organic, raw, whole milk!!!! I'm so beyond thankful!!! She asks for "Mik" all the time! I have to limit her after two or three glasses! (Obviously this is a huge deal to me... can you tell by my exclamation points?!!!)

 She's back to napping twice a day, like a champ. She usually goes to sleep from 11:30-2 and again from 4:30-5:30ish. And somehow, after all that, she's still sleepy enough to sleep from 7:30-8:30. However, we did recently change things up a bit. We I cut a hole in her "fofos" (pacifier). We wanted her to be without it officially by the time baby number two comes along. Just like how I didn't think she'd ever wean herself from breastfeeding (and happily did), I didn't think she could go without her beloved "fofos". She still keeps it with her when falling asleep, but hasn't been sucking on it like normal. And, she sleeps... that's all that matters!

As for me, I need to go plan my two year old's birthday party!!! :)

Love,
a mother in denial- Caro