A^2 Multiply: Back from Hiatus

Things are slowly getting back to normal in our house. The last few weeks have been challenging for us but all the help, love, and support of family and friends has helped tremendously. One of the most amazing things to me has been how well Julia has handled everything. While there was a bit of an adjustment period after I came home from the hospital as she became confident again that Andrew and I weren’t going to just leave her, overall she has shown us that she is a very flexible and easy-going kid. And she has loved all the extra attention she has gotten from grandparents and Auntie Lyndsay.

So we have some serious catching up to do… first and most important is that Julia turned ONE!! It was an incredible year and I feel so lucky and grateful that I was able to spend it home with her and got to witness all the little steps (literally and figuratively!) that she took. She has turned into a true toddler with definite opinions that she is not shy about sharing! As for her likes, at the top of the list is Dad - she is definitely a “Daddy’s girl” and is his little shadow whenever he is home. She also loves all green vegetables including peas, broccoli, and best of all, edamame, as well as tomatoes, most types of meat, pasta, yogurt, cheese, and fruit (particularly oranges, apples, and bananas). She is not the biggest breakfast eater but will happily eat whatever is on Mom’s plate! She is still napping twice a day and hopefully soon will be moving on to whole milk from formula. She had lost a pound at her 12 month check-up so the doctors want to make sure she’s not allergic to dairy, soy, and wheat (besides the egg and peanut allergies that we already know about). I highly doubt that she is allergic to any of those three – particularly as all of them are in her favorite foods (see above) and she has been eating homemade yogurt and bread since she was six months old without issues! But we go for the blood tests this week and then should have clearance to move on to milk.

On the playing front, her favorite game is peek-a-boo and she loves reading books and racing around the house. She goes non-stop pretty much from the time she gets up until she crashes at night (this is why I suspect she lost a pound!). She has started to develop attachments to some of her stuffed animals and seems to be leaning towards a stuffed bunny (the one from Goodnight Moon) as her “lovey.” She also adores Sesame Street and all those characters especially Elmo and Abby Cadabby.

She has said a few words (mama, dada, diaper, apple, and puff -for the pom-poms that she got from my craft supplies and plays with constantly!) but does not use any of them very consistently – probably because she can get her point across perfectly well by pointing and grunting/squeaking. But I’m fully expecting to her to just start coming out with sentences one day because she just seems like that type of kid! ;)

We have managed to take some pictures over the past month and here are a few of my favorites:

Our snowbunny: