Julia's Baptism

Hi, all! Julia was baptized today into her church here in Pella -- Trinity Reformed Church.f We had a really fun day!

Julia's grandparents (Ron & Marcia and Jeff & Sue) drove down from Wisconsin. Great-Grandpa John and Cousin Laila also came for a visit. Julia was baptized during the 10:45 service. After the baptism, Daddy sang a song called "Julia" by The Beatles. It was absolutely beautiful!

Here are a few pictures. When I have some video of the song, I hope to post it.

Hugs!

Erin

Julia and her cousin, Laila (my sister's oldest -- my sister has two -- Laila, 3.5 and Hannah, 2):


Adam, me, and Julia in front of the baptism banner:

The Family: (L - R) Adam's mom, Marcia; Adam's dad, Ron; my grandpa, John; me, my dad, Jeff; and my mom, Sue. Also included are Julia and cousin, Laila.

Adam's parents w/ Julia:


My parents w/ Julia:



Great-grandpa John w/ Julia:


Julia at home after the baptism; she will FINALLY wear a winter hat (without screaming), now that it is March. Ha.



And... here's a fun video of Julia today! Something fun and new!!! :)

The Last Day of February...? Not this year!

Hee, hee! It's a Leap Year!

I don't know why that excites me so much... I mean, it's just one extra day in February. Anyway.

Life is good in the Draeger household, if a little stressful. Both Adam and I are experiencing a few stressers at work, which makes home life all the more sweet. And, good news; no one has been sick the last few weeks!

Julia is surprising us and changing on a regular basis!

• She has been sleeping in her crib now since the 18th, although this mommy refuses to jinx herself just yet by putting the bassinet in storage.
• She sleeps regularly for about 7 - 9 hours a night now! WOOHOO! Mommy LOVES this! :)
• Julia was 3 months old on Sunday! WOW! It has been three months since she has been born! It's very hard to believe!
• She's a lot more 'vocal' now... she loves to 'talk' and daddy loves to try and make her talk.
• She loves her hanging toys! It's fun to watch her play with them and try to catch them with her hands (and feet)!

I thought I'd put a little video in this time instead of just pictures... we have a lot of fun catching Julia on video, if we can. Lately she seems to think the camera is more of something to just look at as opposed to smiling for it.

Today I'm getting my hair cut... FINALLY! I haven't had it cut since September and I'm ready for a lift... or a complete change! Who knows! We'll let my hairdresser decide...! I will post pictures later!

Also... Julia will be baptized on March 9th! We're so excited for her to be baptized into our church and furthermore, for family to be visiting and celebrating with us.

Otherwise... the next week will be geared towards cleaning the house and picking it up so that we feel good about having a lot of people here.

Hugs to you all!
Erin

Just a few notes...

Good morning!

Good news! Julia is completely healthy again... and so are Adam and me. We're all very happy to be back to 'normal' again.

Julia has begun to sleep longer stretches at night... our longest so far is 9 hours, but we're hovering around 7 - 8. This has been wonderful for all of us and our sleeping habits! And, Julia slept in her crib IN HER ROOM for the first time on the 18th... SHE had no problem sleeping 8 hours that night, but mommy was up every 1.5 hours checking on her little girl.

This last weekend Julia stayed home with daddy so that I could go to my quilt guild retreat. We all had a nice weekend and did well. From what I hear, Julia even slept most of Saturday so Adam could putter around the house.

Here are a few pictures to share with you all.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Erin

Illness Recovery and More Photos

Hi, all!

We started off February with trip to the hospital. Julia was admitted last Saturday for RSV, and after two day stay, we finally went home Monday night. Adam and I also both ended up sick, so we have had a house full of sickos and we're all trying to recover. Too bad Julia isn't old enough to go get mommy more water. ;) We are hoping that we all be feeling tip-top again by sometime next week. Until then, we pretty much stay in the house so we don't pass our germs onto some unsuspecting soul.

Otherwise, Julia is in love with her hands and loves to put them in her mouth and her eyes. It's necessary to keep her nails clipped nice and short, as she has pretty much given herself a rash by scratching her forehead... it's almost funny! But she thinks her fingers taste divine, and sometimes better than mom's milk, as I often have to hold down her hands now when she is nursing.

She's a lively little thing, even when she's sick.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Looking 'boyish' in an outfit picked out by daddy:


One smiley girl:


Hanging out with daddy:


Showing off my bunny feet:


Every girl needs pink camo:


Ready for bed:


We still love the Packers, even when they lose:



Erin

Julia is TWO MONTHS old!

Yesterday Julia was two months old!

She had her 2 mo appointment.

She weights 11 lbs 2.8 oz and she is 23.5" long. She is in the 90th percentile for height... whew! She is mostly wearing 3 - 6 mo clothes now because she is too long for her 0 - 3 mo clothes. However, they are baggy on her because she's only a little over 11 lbs. It's quite cute!

Her latest new thing is to bring her fist to her mouth. She is getting better at it every day!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday:





erin

House Cleaning and Other Fun

It's house cleaning day here today... and it's about time! I don't remember the last time that I cleaned the house, but I can tell you the last time I was SUPPOSED to clean the house... ha, ha, the day I had Julia. Sure, I've spot cleaned here and there, but not the good house cleaning that I'm used to... and it's been driving me a bit batty for a while. Thankfully Adam 'has the day off' and is watching Julia while I scour and vacuum. I think that my soul will be better for it once this is done today!

And... ha, ha, yes, it is JANUARY 19 and my Christmas decorations are STILL UP! It's been 8 weeks and 1 day since I put them up... I think it's about time for them to come down. My tree is pretty, yes, but it's starting to seem a bit... well... yah. Hopefully I get to that today yet... we'll see! If not today, then DEFINITELY tomorrow!

This afternoon we'll go to a wedding for our friends Jamey and Mary here in Pella. Adam is playing worship music during the wedding service, so we attended the rehearsal last night... it's going to be a beautiful wedding! We're looking forward to it!

Julia is 8 weeks old today! She will be 2 months old next Thursday (and I'll report her new 'stats' at that point). She's growing like a weed! Here are a few pictures from this week!

Monday, playing with daddy.


Tuesday, after Julia's bath.


Wednesday, while mommy was working.


And Wednesday, down for a nap.


Aren't I cute?


Last night, after the rehearsal dinner. Julia was a very good girl during the rehearsal and the dinner!


Enjoy!

Of course, we're looking forward to the Packers vs. Giants game tomorrow... should be a fun one to watch!

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Erin

Sunday Musings

Hello, all!
I'm a happy camper after a fun weekend of football. While I normally like watching and rooting for the Seahawks, I was very HAPPY yesterday to see the Packers beat the Seahawks 42 - 20 yesterday. Our little Packer Backer Julia joined us at our friend Joe's to watch the game yesterday.





Sadly, the Jaguars lost to the Patriots, but we were excited today that the Chargers and the Giants won. Next week's game against the Giants at Lambeau should be a fun one to watch!


Here are a few pictures of Julia from today... she is one happy little girl! She was seven weeks old yesterday. She has been getting over a cold, but it is pretty much gone. She has been doing well sleeping at night, only getting up once around 2 AM. She loves to chatter with us, show us how strong her neck is, and smile up a storm.

Have a good week!

Erin

Back to Work

Hello, all!

I returned to work this week. I am still working through Donatech with Rockwell Collins… and I have the best job in the world. I went back to work part-time, and I work out of my house. It’s been an absolute blessing!

Both Julia and I had quite the change to make to our routine… we had gotten used to going to bed between midnight and 1 AM (her choice… not mine!), and getting up around 9:30 in the morning (I DO love sleeping in!). I knew this wasn’t going to work for me to go back to work… so we needed to make some changes!Sunday night wasn’t so great in the sleep department, but we had a good day… and THEN Monday evening hit. Finally at 10:30 PM, Adam took one very disgruntled baby from me and had her asleep in 5 minutes (go figure). However, she slept wonderfully that night and only got up once between 10:30 PM and 6 AM. The last two nights have been similar… I’ve been able to get her down by 10:30 PM, she wakes up once around 2 AM to nurse, and then again around 5:15 – 5:30 AM to hang out.

Work is going well too. Going back part-time has been nice this week… and I know it will be nice from here on out. As many of you know, it takes a lot of work to be a wife, mother, and employee… and that’s no exception in my house. Ah… now if I could just hire a maid, my life would be complete. Hee, hee.

Other than that, life is becoming more regular for us. Julia and I are learning to be social with people out in the world instead of holing up at home all day. I’ve started cooking again and no doubt, I’ll start cleaning again too.

Julia will be 7 weeks old on Saturday, and in two weeks she has her two month appointment with the doctor. Where has the time gone?

Some neat things about Julia:
- She is over 10 lbs already.
- She is at least 22” long, but maybe longer.
- She smiles… a lot! (I call it ‘smiling on command’, since I can usually make her smile.)
- She laughs in her sleep… it’s very cute.
- She MIGHT be starting to stick her tongue out when someone sticks their tongue out at her… I can’t quite figure out if she’s sticking her tongue out just because, or because I am doing it.
- She likes to dance and seems to enjoy classic rock.
- She hasn’t lost any of her hair yet… but it is lightening up.

Here are a few pictures from this week… enjoy!









Erin

New Pictures, New Pictures!

So... I've taken a few new pictures... :) I love to take pictures of Julia and I love to share them too! :) To me, she has changed so very much in the last few weeks!









Erin

More Pictures of Julia...

Okay, so I love to take pictures of Julia... here are some from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy! :)







erin