Juliet is 9 months old!

Today marks Juliets 9 month "birthday" and we are thrilled at the progress she has made in one very important area: SLEEP! Since the first of the year, we have informed Juliet that she will no longer be fed or attended to in the middle of the night. She has, more or less, started to understand our new stance and has complied quite nicely. This has been good for everyone. Now, Juliet and Isaac share a room and our cozy little apartment has an official guestroom.


Other things Juliet has started to do are: waving, clapping, drumming on the drum, tapping the keys on the piano, self-feeding, walking behind the push-car, climbing on everything, and she still has 2 teeth!

Juliet loves her family very much. If she is doing something in one room and hears the rest of the family in another, she will fuss until we are all together. She is much more affectionate than Isaac was at her age. She loves to snuggle and just be held. She watches and studies expressions on faces as if she's doing research on human behavior. She loves to watch me cook and so I try to remember to narrate to her what I'm doing and what tools I am using.

She is so amazing to watch! I still can't believe we have a daughter, and that her name is Juliet! I can't believe she is 9 months old and that she is more than we could have asked for! Our lives are truly blessed by her presence and we are so excited that she is a part of our family.

Juliet walking behind the car.

Isaac teaching Juliet how to use the drum.

Isaac and Juliet playing and dancing.

a Visit from Grandma

Well, it was suppose to be a visit from Grandma AND Grandpa but Grandpa was held back by 3 trials that needed his attention this weekend, so he had to stay home. We missed him, but let me tell you, we had an awesome weekend with Grandma.

First, she brought Christmas with her! The whole family was given wonderful gifts of all types. Even gifts from their recent cruise through the Mediterranean! (Seriously jealous).

Grandma also helped Isaac with his piano lesson for the day. We try to do them daily, but it ends up being 3-4 times per week. He's only 2 (I only have one more month to say it, so I'm going to milk it as much as I can)!!

Here, Isaac and Juliet are playing sweetly together with one of the toys Grandma brought for Juliet. They have been playing together every day of late and it is a fairly new and welcomed phenomennon. It brings great joy to see them love each other and get along so well. Soon, I will need to post a video of them dancing together...it is a hoot!

The first night Grandma was here, I stole her for some girl time, but then, for the next two nights, she watched the children so that Tim and I could go on dates! It was a great weekend.

Note to Grandma: Thank you very much. Both nights we were out, we toasted to you! You are awesome and we love you.

Happy New Year!

Well, we are settled back in Mississippi! We left on December 5 and returned on December 28th. On our way back, we spent Christmas with my brother and his family. We took the opportunity to take a few pictures of the cousins while we were together.

Stasiu is 5 and Bohdan is 2.