Peak inside our window.... Jillian at 4.5 months

At the beginning of November, Debra, Jeff's sister came in town for work and stayed with us for a few days. It was so fun getting to spend time with her, and Jillian loved getting to know her Aunt Debra even better!

Another perk was Debra took a lot more AMAZING shots of Jillian! She documented normal things we do every single day. There are quite a few photos, so enjoy!

It was Wednesday, so I was off to work at 7:15am. Jeff takes care of her these mornings before my mom arrives.

Here they are playing before Jillian had her breakfast

Getting the bottle ready. I love how Debra photographs life as it happens, nothing is staged.

I think this is called Photo Journalism...?

The next day Debra was gracious enough to capture Jillian and I most of the morning before she had a photo shoot.

Picking out her outfit for the day

All dressed!

In this series of photos you'll get a glimpse of how much Austin loves Jillian.

(Taking pictures as life happens, I guess means I get a pass on cleaning up?? Geez, I could have picked up the dirty clothes hanging right there. But that's life... at our house anyways!)

Love Jillian's look of 'Help - he's smelling my diaper again!'

If you look close, he's got his tongue out licking. Just like every other day.

Playtime!

Raspberries

Breakfast!

This is when Jillian was just starting to eat solids at 4.5 months. And boy was it messy!

I love this last picture: a full, messy, HAPPY baby girl!

6 Months!

Happy 6 Month Birthday Jillian!

We seriously can not believe that 6 months ago we were in the hospital waiting on Jillian to arrive! I always knew I would love my children immensely, but until you're a parent you never really grasp how deep that love is. Jillian has captured our hearts and they are SO full of love. Jillian is such a perfect gift from God; the perfect addition to our family. I'm amazed God is letting us be the parents to such a beautiful baby girl. We love you Jilly Bean!

Here's Jillian at 6 months:

~ Sitting up all by herself (in short spurts). This to me is the most exciting milestone yet. I'm so excited she can sit up now and play with toys!

(I love how she looks relaxed and 'chill' in this photo)

~ Jillian LOVES to eat solids. Every-time I set her in the bumbo she gets really excited and starts opening her mouth. She also knows when we're eating in front of her; she stares at us, opens her mouth and leans forward each time we take a bite. So cute.

~ Her personality is really starting to come out! She loves to smile and is just so happy. She's also starting to play back a little bit which is so fun.

~ Jeff is by FAR the best at getting her to giggle. I sure try, but Jeff gets the best ones :)

~ Noticing the shadow from her hands and head, and follows them.

~ 6 month clothing is getting a little tight :( 9 month fits her best now.

~ When my face gets close to hers, she grabs at it and grabs my mouth. I just love it!

~ Still at 3 naps a day, still sleeping 7pm-7am

~ Still loves getting walks and being outside, although it's been too cold lately. Today it was 55 so out we went all bundled up!

I laugh at this one - it's like she's waving bye!

~ We go in Tuesday for her 6 month check-up so I don't know what she weighs, but I'm guessing a lot!

I've had friends tell me that each stage, and each month just gets more and more fun. They were right. I thought when Jillian was 4 months that was the MOST fun ever. Now that she's 6 months I say the same thing. Don't grow up too fast Jillian, but we also can't wait to love on you next month and the month after and the month after......

Santa Baby

Literally... Santa + Baby

I finally found a great little place to get Jillian's picture taken with Santa! Cedar Hill Town Square has the same 'idea' as Southlake Town Square, but not quite as nice. A friend told me Santa was there so I took Jillian expecting long lines again. Not so! In fact, there was no line at all! It was awesome, and we'll be going there again next year. Here's Jillian in her "Santa's Little Helper" outfit from Nana.

We just love her sly little smile in the picture.

'Tis the Season!

We are full of the Christmas Spirit at our house! I decorated the house right after Thanksgiving, and am loving every minute of planning for Jillian's very First Christmas!!

She loves the Christmas tree

Finally bought Stockings now that we have a family

Jillian is right on the cusp of sitting up all by herself! I'm hoping she will be by next Friday :)

Here she is all whibbly-wobly, and then she tips over after a few seconds.

She also has a super-cute Santa A&M outfit on that was a gift.... very fitting for this post

Lastly, I've tried twice to take Jillian so she can give Santa her 'Wish-List' to no avail! I went to Northpark on Friday at 11 (when pics start) and it was a circus. Our number was 151 and they said it would be around 5pm when our number would come up.... Um, no. Not doing that. I go back again today - SAME THING. 6 hour wait. Ugh!!! I'm not giving up, Jillian needs to meet Santa, but I need to find a new location! Lesson learned, next year she's meeting Santa at the beginning of December when there are no lines.

Oh so Thankful!!

Jeff and I are so incredibly blessed! We have so much to be thankful for - our wonderful families, friends, and of course Jillian! God has truly been so good to us.

Let me preface this post with 2 things: 1. It's reeeally long! 2. Debra took a lot of the photos, so you'll notice one amazing picture (from Debra) and then a blurry, so-so picture (from me).

We had a great Thanksgiving with Jeff's family and Jillian loved being at Nana and Popa's house! I love this photo of Jillian with her Nana.

Ok, let's get to it - Jillian was a great little traveler and did great riding in an airplane! I was really nervous about her crying, but she didn't! Not one peep either way! On both flights she slept the first 45 minutes and was either playing or eating the remaining 45 minutes. Jeff and I were SOOO relieved!

Tuesday, Nov 24th:

Our flight took off around 1pm, and right before we checked our bags, Jeff was carrying Jillian in the Baby Bjorn and commented that Jillian just had a grumpy (that's what we call it). I didn't think much about it, but I remembered that I forgot to pack a back-up outfit for her in our carry-on. I grabbed the first outfit I could find from our luggage right before we checked it. It happened to be a set of pajamas, and boy am I glad I did. I waited until we got thru security to change her. When Jeff took her out of the Bjorn, that's when we realized she had a MAJOR blowout! I mean all over her, her legs, her tummy.... it was naaaasty!! This was also the first time I had to change her diaper in a public restroom. YUCK! Granted, I wasn't too keen on Jillian wearing her jammies (she had such a cute outfit from Nana on) but I was SO thankful she at least had that. I guess she would have traveled in just a diaper and blanket (??) if I hadn't grabbed the outfit. So to all moms out there - don't forget the extra outfit ;)

Here she is snoozin' in my arms on the flight. I tried not to move at all, so my arms were aching after 45 minutes!

Awake and playing

NaNa and Debra met us at the airport; we spent the rest of the day getting settled in and catching up.

Wednesday, November 25th:

Jillian was REALLY off this day. She was really fussy and just not herself. I thought maybe she was getting sick, but when she was back to normal on Thanksgiving Day, we just chalked it up to traveling, being in a different place and maybe the altitude change.

These are the only pictures we took all day of her playing first thing in the morning. Nana and Popa's house was FULL of fun new toys!!

Getting some tummy time. It spins around, and Jillian loved it!

These are 2 pics Deb took. This one is so cute! I just took her bow off (that's why her forehead is a little red) and she was looking at me

Everyone was commenting on how much Jill was drooling and chewing on her hands and thought maybe she's teething. (I've since busted out the teething ring and she loves it) I did find out that all the Gulbas kids teeth really late. For instance - 18 months!! Hopefully Jillian won't be drooling like this for another year + ! Time will tell:)

Thanksgiving Day:

Thanksgiving day was just what we needed - relaxing, playing with Jillian, catching up with all of the family and of course eating!

We went on a long walk with her

Getting some tummy time on daddy, while watching Uncle Shale play the guitar with Uncle Adir

Mommy's turn to play with Jillian!

So many fun new toys! Needless to say, Jillian was spoiled on the trip!

Since Jillian was going to be fast asleep for the Aggie game, that afternoon I put her in her game day outfit so Jeff would be happy :)

I'm sure it's obvious, but Debra took both these photos - they are gorgeous! A lot of the pictures on the rest of this post will be from Debra, so if the picture looks perfect, creative, and professional, she took it! LOVE when she takes photos of Jillian!!

Jillian took a really long nap and then we got her all dressed up in her Thanksgiving dinner outfit! Then is was time for LOTS of photos!!!

Popa & Nana

Here's Uncle Shale getting some quality time

Great Grandma Judy and Phil

Jillian can now stand all by herself if you just hold her arms or hands!

Friday November 27th:

Jillian got lots of love from Nana all morning!

I love this photo - getting some great Nana advice!

Uncle Adir and Aunt Debra - yay a picture with Debra in it!!

Talkin'

So happy!

That night Jeff and I got to go out on a dinner date - oh so fun! We rarely get out alone together :)

Saturday November 28th:

Our flight took off around 4pm, and the Gulbas household had a whirlwind of visitors. It was really fun getting to see everyone. And of course, we took more photos!

Jillian and her Popa

Here is our sweet baby girl at 8pm that night; still happy after a long day of traveling and an hour past her bedtime

We had such a great trip, and Jillian had a wonderful first Thanksgiving!!