Julia is one!!!

Julia turned one on September 16th!  

The kids and I went to New York over her actual birthday because Eric had to be in Seattle for a conference.  Julia enjoyed a fun day!  We went to the mall play area in the morning and the kids got a chance to run, crawl, and play.  We sang happy birthday to her too!  Being the girl she is, she decided to draw her birthday out for a bit.  

Over Labor Day weekend, we were all supposed to go to New York for a birthday party that would celebrate Julia turning 1, Lucas turning 1, and Timothy turning 3.  Julia had other plans and ended up in the hospital with pneumonia.  She still managed to get a cake and presents sent back to Ohio for her (courtesy of Aunt Kara- making it, and Aunt Coco- transporting it (and Oliver and Parker)).  She had her first birthday cake on Monday, September 2nd.  

The party in NY was a jungle them so Julia wore her birthday attire while eating her cake in Ohio.  She also got to open some presents this day.

The party continued on September 11th with a FaceTime date with Grandma and Grandpa Shook where she opened her birthday presents from them..

On September 13th, our family of five celebrated her birthday with cake and presents.  Julia had fun eating cake and opening presents (with some help from her big brothers).

On the 14th, we drove off to New York and Eric flew off to Seattle.  On the 16th (her actual birthday), we played at the play place at the mall.  

 Julia and Luke also had fun playing in cousin Michelle's kayak

Julia got a few more presents in the mail in the next few weeks- she is a pretty lucky girl.  She also got cake (again) yesterday when we took her in for her one-year pictures.  We  do a cake smash picture for their birthday.  She seemed to enjoy all of the cake :)

She had her 1-year well baby visit on September 20th.  She is 22 lbs, 13 oz and 30.9 inches long.  That puts her just above 75th percentile for weight and around the 95th percentile for height.  She is pretty healthy.  We continue bloodwork and ultrasounds to monitor her kidneys and liver for cancer, but have always received good results.  She is starting some of the follow-up care from her tongue reduction.  We also have an upcoming appointment with a surgeon to discuss her belly button and an eventual surgery for that.  She has her first dentist appointment at the end of this month too.

Now the fun stuff.  Julia is such a happy baby and loves to be on the move.  She is easy going and enjoys everything we do. Here are some of the things our baby girl can do:

-Stands on her own for a few seconds

-Took her first step without holding onto anything last night!

-Takes 2 naps (morning and afternoon)

-Goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and wakes up between 7:00 and 7:30

-Loves almost all foods- especially cheese

-Wears 18 month clothes

-Loves playing with toys- especially little people, pounding benches, and stacking cups

-Is infatuated with her big brothers

-Uses a sippy cup or a straw cup with no problem

-Had her last bottle yesterday morning

-Cruises along furniture and has started walking behind push toys

-Likes to climb on chairs and bins

-Likes to draw

-Loves to get Parker's trains (especially when he is playing with them)

-Likes to splash in the bathtub

-Says mama and dada

-Plays peek-a-boo

I know there are lots more things she does everyday.  She is such a fun little girl and makes us smile all the time.  When I think back that just a year ago, she wasn't here yet, I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  At the same time, the last year seems like it was forever ago.  I have lost track of how many doctor visits we have had, two surgeries, three hospital stays, and lots of stressful times.  But we have had millions of smiles, endless hugs and cuddles, and one amazing little girl through it all.  Julia Marie- we love you like crazy baby girl!!  Happy first birthday!

Julia is 11 months old!

 

She is a bit of a moving target now.  Julia is growing so fast- I can't believe she'll be one year old in just under a month now.  She is doing lots of fun things now.

 

At 11 months, here is what Julia is up to:

-Typically sleeps through the night (around 7:30pm-7:00am)

-Loves all foods she has tried, especially mac and cheese

-Takes 3 bottles a day

-Drinks from a sippy cup too

-Loves to play with her big brothers- even in their wrestling matches

-Crawls everywhere and gets places quickly

-Pulls up to anything and can climb onto the kids' chairs

-Takes 2 naps a day- usually around 10am and 1:30pm

-Likes to play with toys- everything from rattles to trains to Batman

-Loves playing outside- she likes to splash in the water table

-Still likes to snuggle

-Makes a lot of noise, but no real words yet

-No teeth yet- I could feel her bottom two a few days ago, but they seem to have gone back down

-Likes to pull all of the toys and all of the books off the shelves

-Starting to switch to 18 month clothes

-Still has crazy hair- we do 1 or 2 pony tails every day

 

She continues to be lots of fun.  She ran a fever early this week, but seems to be over it and healthy again.  Her AFP (alpha-fetoprotein) levels from her most recent blood work came back at 24 which we were happy with.  She had an ultrasound yesterday and the results looked good- all news we are happy with.  We need to get in contact with a pediatric dentist and a speech pathologist before long, but hopefully she'll begin seeing both of those in October, both as follow-up care from her tongue reduction. 

 

There is the news on our baby girl- she'll be one for her next update!!

A walk through our house

We are in and settled- this is what our house looks like for those few hours a day where no kids are awake pulling out toys- and let's be honest, even that is on those days that we actually make beds and get all of the toys put away. 

When you walk into our house from the garage, this is what you see.  The two closets are (on the left) a coat closet and (on the right) a pantry.

 

If you look to your left, you will see our laundry room.  It also has a door that leads outside. 

We got a new washer and dryer when we moved in.  They have gotten lots of use already.

 

If you look to your right, you'll see our kitchen. 

It is what I think is technically called a galley kitchen- I refer to it as a hallway kitchen :)  I was a little nervous about it when we first looked at the place because it is pretty small, but it has all of the essentials (like a dishwasher) and with the pantry, it actually works pretty well.

 

Continuing on from the kitchen, you go into our dining room.

We lucked out that Eric's parents were looking to get rid of their table and chairs and were willing to give it to us.  We have more seating and the chairs are more stable for wiggly 2 year olds (although they probably have more food on them now than they have in awhile).  The doorways on either side of the dining room have pocket doors on them.  We actually find ourselves using the one that separates the dining room from the living room fairly often.  It keeps Julia out, the boys can open it easily, but having it shut deters them from going in there. 

 

From the dining room, you head into the living room.

 

The living room is actually a much bigger room than our old house.  The ceiling is vaulted so that helps in making it feel big.  It is nice having all the space and having both our couch and loveseat in the same room again.  There are two half-walls on either side of the space that opens up to the toy room. 

Behind the curtain is a sliding glass door that leads outside to our backyard.  It was getting dark out when I took the pictures so I didn't do any outside ones.  The toy room definitely doesn't usually look like this.  Julia is getting very good at dumping toys, although she isn't quite up to Parker.  Oliver doesn't just dump quite as much anymore, but he still gets his fair share out.

 

Now down the hallway are the bedrooms and bathrooms.

First the kids' bathroom:

 

Then Julia's room (also our guest bedroom if anyone wants to visit- don't worry, we take her out ;) )

Julia finally got to sleep in a crib once we moved.  Her transition to her own room went very smoothly.

I think we have 17 totes stored in her closet, plus some other stuff.  Luckily her clothes are small and don't take up much space in the closet. 

 

The boys' room:

They were excited to keep their curtains from the old house.  Parker has done really well with the transition to a twin bed.  He tends to play a bit before he goes down at nap time, but he stays in his room so I'm not complaining.  Eventually we'll probably bunk their beds (which were from Coco & Chris- thank you!), but at this point, we are waiting for them to get a bit older. 

 

And finally, our bedroom (with our own bathroom!):

We were originally going to put the computer in the living room, but we had a lot of space in our bedroom and decided that it would be better in there.  Most of the totes and files in this picture will eventually go to Eric's office (on campus) when it is completed. 

After 5 years of having a bathroom that connected to another bedroom, we have a master bath and it is wonderful.  I think this is something that will be hard to change when we look at other houses. 

 

So there you have it- our new house.  We like it so far.  A little more storage space would be nice, but we are getting along.  We have had the car parked in the garage a few times, but haven't been regularly.  I'm guessing once it starts getting colder, that will become more of a priority.  I'm hoping it happens before then, but also trying to be realistic. 

 

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

 

 

 

 

 

Return to Life

We are still alive in the Shook household, although some nights I wonder how we survived the day.  Life has been crazy, but I think we are coming down from the peak of the craziness.  Since I posted last, we have moved from Illinois to Ohio, gone on vacation to Kentucky, gone to New York (Sara, Oliver, Parker, & Julia), gone to San Diego (Eric), began adjusting to life in a new state, started his new job at Kent State, and lots of other things in between. 
I'll try to give some updates on everything in the next few weeks, but I'll start with one on the kids.

Oliver (4 years, 8 months)
He is always busy with something.  He loves to do art projects.  His favorite thing is to play on electronics- iPad, Kindle, etc.  He is always full of questions- tonight he asked us why everyone has to die- when we tried to explain the earth getting full, he said new babies will just grow into big people and then other new babies will replace them.  His logical progression doesn't always follow ours, but I think that is pretty typical for a 4-year old.  He has started trying new foods (with bribes of new apps), but he has recently tried broccoli, tortillas, carrots, and pizza.  This feels like a huge step for him and we are excited and hoping eventually he will like one of the new foods he tries and not gag...  He is still a good big brother and helps out a lot around the house.  He is very excited for Eric's office to get finished up so that he can go spend some time on campus with Eric.

Here is a picture with a freezie on vacation in Kentucky.  His swimsuit got a lot of wear that week. 

 

Parker (2 years, 7 months)

Parker is a boy who is full of energy.  He goes 100% all the time, no matter what he is doing.  Recently, he has really started playing with Julia a lot- the two of the play really well together.  Parker loves driving trucks, playing dinosaurs, building towers, and playing trains.   I am hoping we are in the beginning stages of potty training- we have had 1 success on the toilet and he is no longer screaming when I sit him on the toilet to try.  He loves to play outside.  He is also my little cuddly boy.  His smile lights up a room and he has quite the laugh.  Parker loves food- around 5:00 every night he tells me- "I so hungry mommy."  As soon as he hears a plate hit the table, he is on is way out.  Waiting to eat until after we pray is a form of torture for him.  :)  He likes to play with Oliver and do whatever he is doing- pretty typical little brother behavior.  He is also excited to get to spend some time on campus, although he goes back and forth between saying he's going to campus and he's going camping.

 

Parker getting a drink (in between freezies I'm sure)

 

 

Julia (10 months)

This baby girl is growing up so fast.  She is crawling everywhere and pulling up to things and cruising around like a rockstar.  I think as soon as she lets herself try, she'll be standing on her own.  She has decided she is pretty much done with baby food and definitely prefers real food.  We haven't really found a food she doesn't like yet.  Cheese is definitely a favorite and wins out over fruits.  She has her sippy cup all figured out and likes to drink water from it.  She takes 3 bottles a day and usually holds it herself for part of the time.  She is a smiley girl.  We took her to her new geneticist yesterday and she had bloodwork done (poor baby did not like the finger prick- she always did well with blood draws so maybe next time I'll ask if they can do that instead).  She loves keeping up with her big brothers.  She plays at the water table alongside them.  She still has crazy hair- we do pig tails or a pony tail every day- she likes to put food in the back of her hair- luckily she likes baths too.  Just tonight, we switched her from her infant carrier car seat to a convertible car seat.  First drive out and she took a nap.  She was 22.1 pounds and 29 inches long at her appointment yesterday. 





Julia loved the pool on vacation :) 

 

 

So there is an update on the kids- I hope to do a few more updates in the coming week or so.