11 Months!

Our little Jillian is one month away from the big 1.0!!

Jillian has gone through quite a few changes this month!  She's getting so much more comfortable in her body and in control of her movements.  It's amazing to see her crawl, pull up, cruise, crawl over things and jabber the entire time.   She is constantly making Jeff and me smile and laugh.

Jillian's 10 month was so fun!  Here are a few highlights:
~Started pointing this month.  She loves to point at Austin, lights, fans, trees, and just about anything that fascinates her.  If she sees her sippy cup on the counter she points and lets me know she wants it.

~Just started to cruise this past week.  She likes to stand behind things that slowly move and push them - like a cardboard box or her toy chest.

~ Takes the path of most resistance when crawling.  She will purposely crawl over Austin, over the legs of chairs, over the base of her high chair, thru furniture, ect.  This does get her into trouble when she tries to crawl through her nightstand.  It's just wide enough to get her shoulders through and then she's stuck.  

~Feeds herself with a spoon; I only let her practice when its a sticky food that doesn't fly off.  What a messy process.

~Loves to crawl up steps.  The only steps around our house is our front walkway.  The first time I set her in front of them, she crawled right up them.  Now anytime the front door is open she beelines outside so she can crawl on them.

~No teeth!  I see no signs of any either!!

~Continues to love her some Austin.  If he's outside she crawls over, pulls up and bangs on the glass so he'll come over.  She loves to grab his ears, paws, fur, eyes, ect.  Austin just lays there.  So sweet to watch them.

~This girl is crazy about pulling up on anything she can get a handhold on.  From the window seal, the wall, to the glass door, her toy chest (and then pull her toys out),  and even Austin (she pulled all the way up while holding onto his collar when he was laying down).  She also loves to reach and grab things when she's standing.

~ Practices balancing.  She's getting more and more gutsy when she's standing.  She now lets go and stands all by herself for a few seconds.  

Jillian, you are getting harder and harder to get pictures of - you crawl around at lightening speed!!  As soon as I get the camera out and head your way, you're on the move again!  Here are a few more pictures of our sweet Jilly Bean.

We love you Jillian!  We can't wait to celebrate one full year with you next month!!

Water Baby

Jillian started Swimming Class three weeks ago!  We go on Saturday mornings, and it's the perfect 'Jeff & Jill' time.  I'm trying to let this be mostly daddy/daughter time - but that's hard for me to do - it's so fun!  But I spend all week with her, so Jillian is ready to have some quality time with her dad.

There are probably 15 other babies in the class.  They sing nursery rhymes, teach the basics of swimming, and incorporate some playtime.  It took a little warming up, but Jillian is officially a Water Baby.

Jillian was definitely scared the first day, and kept looking to me.  

Still looking back at mama.....

I got in, and helped calm her down - from there on out this was Daddy/Jillian time.

Relaxing and learning to float in Jeff's arms

She made it thru her first class!!

    

Class #2 was all smiles - she loved it!

Last week Jillian was 'dunked' for the first time.  It looks terrifying (and I thought it was) but after I saw all the other babies get dunked with no problems, I decided she'd survive.

The instructor passes Jillian to Jeff underwater.

Apparently it's a reflex to hold your breath.

Now Jillian is comfortable with the water, so we can go play in friends' pools on hot summer days!

My Heart is Full

My Heart is Full.  I don't need to elaborate much more than that - I have a beautiful, happy, spirited, curious, precious, adorable, healthy, independent baby girl taking her afternoon nap.  My heart is full.

This is my first Mother's Day to celebrate and it's been wonderful!  What a blessing Jillian is to me.  What a blessing to be Jillian's mommy.  

Jeff has been super-dad this weekend.  He took care of her most of the day yesterday, and all of today.  He's been doing all the "work" (diapers, feedings, clothes change, bath, ect) and I've been having all the "fun" simply playing with her  :)  Jeff got up with Jill this morning and I slept in til 8 (since when is that sleeping in?).  I laid in bed drinking coffee and reading a book on my Kindle.  Ahhh - so relaxing!  Jeff would pop in with Jill and she'd climb all around the bed and all over me.  Jill then took her morning nap, and when she woke we were off to church.  Great lesson pertaining to motherhood - being the person you want your child to be.  What a responsibility being a parent.  Being a mom makes me appreciate my parents even more and how much they sacrificed for us.  How much they taught us.  And how much they loved us.

After church we went out to eat and had Mexican food.  Yum!  Jillian was adorable the entire time, happy to eat and play in her highchair.  That's when I looked at Jeff and told him 'My Heart is Full'.  He smiled.  So is his.

Now we're back home and we plan on taking it easy the rest of the afternoon.  

  

Here are a few pictures of Jillian and me after church.  Of course I had to take photos of me and my baby girl on my first Mother's Day!

She wont sit still for one second, so I grabbed her, trying to get one more shot.

I don't want to forget about my other baby - Austin!  

(Again, he won't sit still for a second, so I had to lure him with a tennis ball)

Other recent pics - I'm indulging since it is Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mama's out there!

Little Ms Crawler

Here is yet another video of Jillian crawling and pulling up. I took this a few weeks ago but our 1 year old Mac was out of hard drive space - whaaaaat??!!

Yep, we managed to fill it up with pics and videos of Jill. We got an external hard drive and cleaned up the Mac so I could upload MORE stuff!

Our family loved seeing the last video, so here is another!

Few Rules:

- Don't make fun of (or even laugh at) my annoying voice. yikes!

- I was doing the Summer/Winter clothes swap, so don't mind the clothes and tupperware in the background.  (I locked Jill in our bedroom with me so she couldn't crawl away. Then I got side tracked and got the video camera)

- If you like dogs you'll probably think Austin is super cute licking her feet, not getting out of her way so she can sit, and basically following her around.  If you don't like dogs.......sorry?He's in the video A LOT.