new words

ME: Sylvia, GO TO THE RED ROOM RIGHT NOW! ONE...
JULIUS: twofree!

sweet man

One of the best things about Julius is his boundless capacity for sweetness. If you have to go into a room alone, he'll follow you back, and fall asleep on the floor trying to peek through the crack under the door. If we're lecturing Sylvia about needing to wear some underwear or socks, Julius will silently go to his room and bring Sylvia a pair of underwear or socks. He wants to make people happy and to end conflict, and he really follows through -- he wants to hug Mr. Cuddles too tightly, and he wants to roll around all over your face even if he's not trying to go to sleep.

Last week we all had a terrible stomach virus. At one point I couldn't make it to the bathroom and I collapsed in the Red Room with my trash can. Julius ran toward me, to see what fun things I would do with the trash can (he got excited whenever Sylvia threw up and he'd stand next to her and pretend to vomit, too). But once I started making my terrible noises he stumbled backward, scared. I saw he was scared and said, "go find mommy!" trying not to sound like a sea monster. He pointed to the living room and started to walk away. Then a second later, he appeared back in my field of vision, pointed at me, and then just stood there with me until I was done. I saw care and sympathy (and still some of the fear) in his eyes. I've seen my kids display oddly grown-up behaviors and emotions before, but I think this was the first time I'd been deeply touched by a little baby's care and concern for his daddy.

Halloween 2009

I both love and hate making Halloween costumes for the children. This year was especially tricky because I started on Julius' costume a full month prior to Halloween not realizing how much he'd grow during that time.
He grew and the fabric glue I used to adhere the strips of cloth to his shirt and pants caused the fabric underneath to pucker and tighten. He was initially suppose to be a mummy but when we were unable to squeeze him into the costume we went with plan b--ZOMBIE BABY!


This is what the Zombie Apocalypse will look like.


BRAAAAAINNSSS, that way.


I love how angelic his eyes look despite the fake blood and make up.

We went trick or treating for a good hour and Julius held up quite well. He wasn't too keen on keeping the candy in his bucket and wanted to eat every piece immediately but hey, doesn't everyone?

Tickle Monster

Julius can tickle now and he can even say the word "tickle" right before doing so. He also holds up his little hands and wiggles his little fingers and puts on this mischievous smile.
It's incredibly adorable.

ABCs

Julius loves to have us read to him. Lately he's shown a clear preference for alphabet books, and he reads the same 3 or 4 over and over. Sometimes we'll just sing the alphabet instead of reading the book to him. And now he's started singing back! He sings, "dee-dee-dee-dee-deeeeee," to the tune of the "QRS - TUV" part, and then repeats that phrase, sometimes a step higher the second time. And he sings it surprisingly in-tune. :)

new development

Now sweet baby Jules wants me to put him to sleep at night!
Sylvia never stuck with the same sleep pattern for very long. For a few months I had to rock her and bring her to bed, for a few months she read herself to sleep, for a few months she needed milk in bed. But Julius has always been consistent: he needs mom to put him to sleep in bed. For a while, though, the milk has been having the opposite effect. He'll tank up and then be full of energy, going crazy all over the bed and waking Sylvia up.
But recently I found that I'm able to get him to sleep by laying next to him, holding him tightly, and rocking back and forth. He's gotten so used to it that his eyes start fluttering as soon as I lay next to him. :) The only problem is, after all that rocking next to a sweet baby, I'm ready to go to sleep, too!


Jules is also working on some new words. Let's see... there's cow, cup, up, bye, cat, mama, dada, sylvia (ee-uh), thank you, read, ball. Probably some others too. He says thank you ("duck-dooo") any time any transaction takes place. He hands me a book, "reee, duck-doo". It makes a game of catch very entertaining. "Duck-doo!" "You're welcome." "Duck-doo!" "You're welcome."

Falls

Julius was romping around on the floor in Sylvia's room last night when he incurred yet another injury. He was flopping around on top of a blanket when his face made contact with the bottom rail of the bed. At first it didn't look that serious. It bled profusely but mouth cuts tend to do that. However, upon further examination we found that his frenulum(the piece of skin that connects his upper lip to his gums) was torn and that the area around his front teeth was bleeding as well.
My first worry was for his teeth because, although they are still baby teeth, damaging one can have a serious effect on the way his permanent teeth come in.

Alan had just gotten home so scrambled to get back into the car. Our pediatrician's office was closed of course, being 7:00 pm and on a Sunday no less so we opted for Doctor's Care(which was still open, thank God.)
His teeth appeared to be fine, not loose at all and the frenulum was not torn enough to require stitches. He does have to take a round of antibiotics to prevent infection and we'll have to keep an eye on his mouth to make sure things are healing properly.

Of course he was fine immediately after but when that much blood is involved and when the injury is to the mouth I'd rather be seen by a doctor just to be on the safe side.

Septembers

I uploaded some pictures tonight from this month(September 2009) and while I was creating the new photo album I found myself thumbing(or is that scrolling?) through pictures from last September. I thought it would be nice to contrast and compare.


September 2008 -- Mr. Chubby Cheeks


September 2009 -- He's still Mr. Chubby Cheeks but now he can walk and run!


September 2008 -- He wasn't even sitting up on his own yet but boy did he drool.


September 2009 -- He loves to accesorize!

say cheese!

This boy loves the camera.

hugs

There is no child-borne annoyance or offense that cannot be redressed by one of Julius' famous "ugg-AH"s. For a tiny little person with chubby little baby arms he sure can hug your neck tightly!

The pillow

This isn't an incredible significant bit of information but I thought it should be documented all the same.
Nothing brings Julius more joy than rolling around on the floor, clutching a pillow and farting. He does it on almost a daily basis and all the while he just smiles and laughs and laughs.

coming home

I love coming home to Julius. Doesn't matter what he's doing (or how full my arms are), as soon as he sees me he says, "OH!" and his arms shoot up so quickly that it hurts me to imitate him.
He does similar moves for when I get him out of bed after a nap or enter a room he's been playing in for a while. He makes a sweet, guileless face and says, "OH." What a sweet bundle of big boy -- even if he rolls around and yells all night!

Cuddle Treatment

Last night, around 2:00 am I whispered to Alan "Hey, did you blog about 'the cuddle treatment,' yet?" He said no so I am updating now in order to document this phenomenon.

Julius has entered a phase in his life where he must fuss or cry a bit before he is willing to finally give in and welcome sleep. Now, what we don't do is leave him alone in a room inside of a crib to cry. What we do do is hold him in our arms and rock him gently and sing. Boy does he hate it. He just cries and cries. I don't hold him very tightly so he breaks free quite a bit. After a couple of minutes of the cuddle treatment he's ready for sleep, though.
It's like some strange little dance we do now before bed.

Birthday Pictures

cake!



presents!


big boy!

Just One Year

I have been thinking a great deal about this last year, Julius' first year. Tonight I think about what I was doing last year at this very same time as we began Julius' birth adventure.

This time last year I had just entered into active labor and after a failed movie watching / birthing ball bouncing excursion I had decided to call in my doula. I also called on Alan's parents to watch Sylvia.
The events of that night are well described in mine and Alan's birth stories.
I think about that night often. When Julius' starts to nod off at the breast I remember how afraid I was and uncertain if he would take to the breast at all. When he speaks and calls out my name, "Mama," I can't help but think about those hours spent waiting, not knowing if he would make it. But most of all, I think about how immensely happy he has made our lives.
Our family seemed more whole with his arrival and feels even more so with every day that passes.

Today we celebrated his first year of life with a party in the park.. last night I celebrated with Julius alone, in our big bed. He nursed off to sleep and once finished he unlatched and bopped his way up to rest his head in the crook of my arm. I watched him sleep and as he began to snore my eyes focused in on his size and how much he has grown over this last year.
It's amazing and also a little bittersweet to think that this is just the first of many birthdays he will have where I will lay or sit with him and be in awe of how fast and how big he has grown.

adventurer

Julius is trying to do himself in. He keeps climbing to perilous heights. He'll stand on Sylvia's wooden chair, use that to climb onto her table, and then lift the curtains to look out the window. He's actually pretty good at climbing, but trouble sets in when music starts playing, since he cannot resist the urge to dance even in mid-climbing-step, or when someone smiles at him, since he cannot resist the urge to laugh and charm. We have an unfortunate video of Julius climbing up a chair, doing his sweet Woody Woodpecker laugh, and then suffering a terrible fall.
He already climbs so high, I don't know what we'll do when he starts walking! I'm sure he and big sister will have a great time exploring, though.

this just in:

Julius, happiest child in the world, hates sleep. It's driving us bonkers. The worst part is that he's not upset, he just wants to play and laugh all night. But, five years from now, I'll really wish that I could spend a night laughing and playing with baby Jules. :) (PS: Heather, I'll take the night shift tonight!)

Julius' main pastime now is getting into stuff with big sister. He'll follow Sylvia anywhere, and for her part, she gives him ample reward. Like "snack salad": a large chair, with the cushions removed, and a mixture of goldfish crackers, puffy rice cereal, and whatever else they could find, scattered around on it.
I often wonder what the future holds for those two. I worried that having them so close together might lead to increased rivalry, since they're still interested in a lot of the same toys and activities (e.g. mommy milk). But so far all signs point to them developing great teamwork that they can use to outsmart and overthrow the parents!

Happening Now

A quick update on what Julius is up to right now:

• His new laugh, which kind of resembles Woody Woodpecker
  
• Clapping his hands, he's been working on it for a little while now and recently he mastered it!
  
• Kisses. Another task he's been working on for a little while or, rather, one I've been working on with him. Now when I say "kiss" he'll give a big kiss and smile and laugh big as well. Too cute!
  

Is that all? I feel like there's more but this is all that comes to mind. Perhaps Alan can help me out with this one. I could probably remember more but 'sleeping at night' is NOT something Julius is up to right now.

Oh! He has started to pick up the phone and say 'hi' but when someone is actually on the other line he's not up for talking.

Tired Baby Alert

So, Julius has not been sleeping well and this is not a new development, either. For the last few weeks--or has it been months? I'm so tired and dis-oriented that I can hardly tell... For the most part his sleep patterns can be blamed on teething. He now has 4 teeth on the top with 2 more following close behind.

I feel terrible because at 3:00 am I tend to forget that he is the one experiencing the awful pain that's causing him to be awake.
It's even worse when he's happy, which he almost always is. Last night we played peek-a-boo for about half an hour before he started showing signs that he was ready to nurse again.
Hearing his sweet little laughter cut through the late night air makes the long and sleep-deprived days all the more worthwhile.

Picture Update

A dream, realized:






Baby steps, baby:

Sleep Fighter II

Julius has become a pro at fighting off sleep. At night, when the whole family is in bed, it's easy for him to become distracted. During naptime, however, he's gotta work for it.
His new technique is simple. He has discovered that when mommy traces the outline of his ear while he's nursing, it causes him to become very sleepy. In an effort to combat this he has now taken to wrapping his arm around his head, thus covering his exposed ear. He also does this because enjoys pulling on the strand of hair growing out of the back of his head.
Unfortunately he doesn't know his own strength and from time to time he pulls on his hair a little too hard. Of course he doesn't realize he has done this to himself and instead he gazes up at mommy with a look of betrayl in his eyes--similar to the one he gives me when he falls asleep at the breast, unlatches and then wakes up because he has unlatched himself.

coming home

Julius gets very upset if I don't pick him up as soon as I come in the door. He looks up at me and starts making an insistent, pleased kind of gurgling baby sound, like, "eeeh! mmmm! eehhh! mmm!" It's so sweet! He also gets upset if I walk by while Heather's holding him without stopping to play with him. It's nice to have a baby who appreciates me. :)

New Trick

Julius has a new trick!
He's been perfecting it for a few weeks now and he is become quite the Master of Standing.
As always, he is insanely happy about standing. Among standing his newest activities include: Peek-A-Boo, saying 'cat' and, much to mommy's dismay, pinching.

standing up

I love the look Julius has on his face after he stands up. He looks all around with a huge grin, seeing, I suppose, if everyone notices. Then, when we look excited, he gets even happier, and then we laugh, and then he gets crazily excited, and then he loses his grip and falls down! But he's resilient. :)

big man

not only is julius scooting around the house at a record pace, now he has started pulling up! this afternoon i caught him standing on top of a game box in front of big sister's toy bin. apparently he was trying to get to some of her toys!
he also loves to scale mommy or daddy when we lay on the floor next to him.
i honestly think he might bypass crawling just so he can chase sylvia around more effeciently.

julius will be 8 months old on valentine's day and it blows my mind! where has all the time gone?
real quickly let me add a few things:
-his favorite food right now is avocado but he's also quite fond of sweet potatoes and *cring* french fries
-he can say 'ba ba,' 'da da' and 'ma ma'
-when i hold him his new favorite thing to do is push off of me with his arms and rock back and forth and then slam his mouth on me and blow a raspberry. whenever he does this he just laughs and laughs afterwards.

impression

tonight julius fell asleep while i held him and stayed that way for roughly 2 hours.
i had already had a unsuccessful lay down attempt and i didn't want to risk it again.
halfway through his nap i move my arm out from under him and placed his head on the pillow in my lap.
now, it's quite common for his ear to leave a small print on my arm after i've nursed him for awhile but because i had held him in that position for so long the ear print was quite detailed. i found myself checking it over and over until it finally faded away. even now, hours later, there is still a bit of soreness in that part of my arm.
it feels wonderful.

daddy, daddy!

Not only can Julius say "da-da," he actually uses it to refer to me! His favorite situation is to be held by mommy and entertained by daddy. I'll talk to him for a second, and after I walk outside his field of vision, he'll look all around and say, "dada? dada! dada!" Every time I walk away he'll call for me again!
The best part of this is that he can be happy to see me when I get home from work, telling me "dada!" when I walk in. I remember when Sylvia was first able to tell me she was glad I was home. It's still the highlight of my day.
The worst part, though, is that he'll look for me sadly while I'm at work. "Dada?..."

Shortly after writing a draft of this post, I held Julius for an hour to get him to sleep. Appparently he loves or is bored by early-80s Genesis: if I wear him in the carrier for a while and sway around while Abacab plays it puts him right to sleep!

going, going...

julius has been scooting and pushing up for a little while now but recently he has added backwards crawling to his catalog. it's entertaining to watch how quickly he's able to get around and to know that this is only the beginning.

we re-arranged the livingroom, after taking down the christmas tree, to make more room for crawling, scooting and rocking. the only con here is that occassionally he looses his balance and falls flat on his face.

oh, and another milestone--blowing rasberries and talking. his babble is becoming more fine tuned and he's also learning that blowing rasberries is funny. he loves to blow them on me when i'm trying to nurse him to sleep, what a silly boy!