Thankful

I am thankful for my friends who stepped in this week in lieu of my family (who are opening a restaurant hecka far away) so that I could get my house ready for guests. Jessica was super amazing and came over and helped me organize our guest room, decorate Julia's room, and do some light cleaning. Then she took me to dinner. Such a great friend! And the ever wonderful (and happy belated birthday) Amberly watched Julia so I could run errands all over town. Last but not least, my wonderful husband who has helped all week with re-arranging furniture, cleaning, baby sitting, and organizing. He also did a great job helping me pick out our new sofa and he has, as he puts it, worked hard for free all week [literally :( ]. I am so excited for my family to come in to town and spend a whole week with us! I am one happy lady.

On a side note, Brenan felt Jackson kick for the first time!

My garden

World, I am trying to keep a garden this summer. I have only killed one plant so far, which is a HUGE success for me. I'm not done planting and I'm no pro, but we will have flowers, tomatoes, basil, and cucumbers (hopefully) in our little dirt patch in the back. I even intend on canning the tomatoes (which I have never done before, but that is a different story). Here is my garden...

http://emandrachdg.blogspot.com/2012/05/gardening-tips.html

11 months

Don't remind me she's 11 months old, because that means she'll be 1 soon. Too soon.

**She wasn't in the mood for pictures today, so here are some from the past couple of days.

 Julia and her friend at the park.

Julia and daddy.

New things about Julia:
She stands on her own. Sometimes she realizes and sometimes she doesn't. She also just started to step toward something (like the sofa or chair) without holding on to anything. Walking may be sooner than I thought.

She crawls up the stairs all the time and heads for her play room. If I weren't so afraid for her, I might think it's cuter.

She has started sleeping through the night (i.e. 12 straight hours) more often than she wakes up in the night, so about 4-5 nights a week. I LOVE this, especially since I'm pregnant, I want all the sleep I can get.

She does not like salmon. Or sitting still on her changing table.

She does like ice cream, veggie straws, chicken (chunks, not pureed), shopping and water. Boy does she love baths, fountains, sprinklers, hoses, the dogs bowl, etc...

She got 2 more teeth, totaling 8 in all.

Grass is the enemy (and still the swing set). For now...

The dog and her get along great and she now knows how to pet him and she tries to "throw" his toys for him. She also feeds him off of her tray.

We are also working on high fives and kisses (she is very stingy with her kisses).

She has started making "w" sounds, our favorite is "whoa!"