I’m the luckiest parent in the world.

(More photos available in the photo gallery under the category “June-August 2010“)

Wow, Julius, you are one lucky kid! You had four birthdays in August… haha. Let me explain. Basically your birthday was celebrated on several different days (including your actual August 13th birthday, shown above). On your fourth birthday celebration, you said, “biday” which sounded a lot like the word “birthday” (which was my first word when I was your age).

Essentially, your first birthday was celebrated twice on one day: once with Carly (your very awesome nanny) and her two friends outdoor with cake and ice cream. And later with your dad in the living room with lots of yummy strawberry yogurt and a WHOLE DAY of Dora the Explorer (your favorite!)

Your second birthday involved a trip to the park with me and your father with pizza, paper plates, a blanket, and plenty of paper towels. We made sure to cut up the pieces nice and small and let you make a beautiful tomato colored mess! We sang and danced and chased each other all over the grass - laughing and basically being silly.

Your third birthday was a shopping spree at several baby stores where your dad and I showed you new potential toys and outfits and let your expressions determine whether or not we’d purchase them. We walked away with a whole cartful of new items that you absolutely LOVE! Including a brand new Spider-Man outfit that looks oh so cute on you! We followed up with a trip to Jiffy Treet Ice Cream shop. While at the shop, we let your expressions determine what flavor to get you. You eventually chose the blue ice cream. Yes, your tongue was blue afterwards… and so were your newly worn clothes. Yes, the wonders of having a washer and dryer.

Your fourth birthday involved a trip to Indianapolis with me and Kathleen (your other babysitter and very cool friend) to Chuck E Cheese! Unfortunately I don’t have pictures — BUT — I DO have video!! It’s going to take me a little while to upload it to the site since I have to combine several mini video clips into one big video so you see how fun it was! You played many games, rode several play vehicles that move backwards, forwards, up and down… and you ALSO ate pizza in your high chair while drinking milk from your sippy cup. You were SO happy! Even Kathleen said she heard you say the word “birthday”!

I hope you remember all four events as being a HUGE introduction to your very first trip around the sun

Love
Mom

Yup, that’s right… when you want mommy, you say, “mom-mom-mom” usually 3 or 4 times…

Soooo cute. Unreal. I am such a fortunate and grateful mom. I love you, sweetheart. *hug*

Love
Mom-mom-mom

Wow you sure didn’t wait long to start walking! What a smart boy you are! Your first steps happened many times for lots of people (me and probably 6 other people all claimed to see the magic moment first)… so I think it’s fair to say you took your first step towards the middle of May 2010. By the time June came around, it was like you instantly mastered the ability to run, climb, AND manage to chase the cat around! Exciting!

June 13, 2010 you turned 10 months old - and wow, this was a great month for you as far as growth spurts go. By the end of June, you climbed an entire set of stairs (24 steps) all by yourself without any assistance at all. And you have continued to do this ever since. You run so fast sometimes it’s hard to keep up with you, but it’s one of the qualities I love about you. You are a ball of energy that’s for sure. You love to open all the cabinets in the kitchen and pull out the pots and pans and leave them on the floor… or you’ll open a drawer and pull everything out, one at a time, and once it’s on the floor, you’ll walk away and stop playing with it. It’s almost as if you find it more entertaining to pull out an item simply to drop it rather than to pick it up again and play with it. Silly boy.

Such a handsome boy you are! And growing up so fast! Everywhere we go, people stop to tell you how adorable you are… and you just smile with those cute little puffy cheeks of yours. You are loved by so many folks, seriously.

Sometimes we go to the park and buckle you into the baby swing. It’s no surprise you get super excited when you’re high in the air! You love meeting other kids your age at the park. One time you met three young boys who were playing pretend inside a clubhouse. They pretended to own a diner where they put wood chips on a make-shift “stove” and asked you if you wanted pancakes. Then they gave you a woodchip and told you it was orange juice. You stared and stared and they had so much fun walking around you while you watched. It was like you were a part of the experience! Incredible!!

More pics from Feb-May 2010 available in the photo gallery!

Love
Mom

It goes without saying you couldn’t eat the candy… besides, you enjoyed the shiny metallic wrappers so much, you tried to open eggs just to touch the shiny candy! Even after Easter was over (for close to 2 months), you continued to put those colored plastic eggs into your mouth. Sometimes we’d put them on the floor just so you could find them… for some reason, whenever we’d give you a plastic colored egg, you’d stop crying and self-soothe yourself by attempting to put the giant thing into that little mouth of yours. Hilarious!

And one day you may laugh at this, but if you look in the picture you’ll see a tupperware container with the eggs in it. One of your favorite things in the world at the time was to crawl into the container - or put it on your head - or hit it like a drum - or we’d dump the candy and eggs out and put the tupperware container OVER it while it was upside down and you would rush over to flip it over… the tupperware container became a bit of a game after a while. Amazing how the littlest things seem to entertain you! I love you!

Love
Mom

Julius,

Ok I simply must share these outrageous photos of you being silly - you crack me up sometimes!!! These are candid pics taken in the master bedroom as we were trying to get you to try and take your evening nap. You couldn’t keep a straight face for the life of you!

There are a few others too if you want to see them. Just check out the “Crazy Ju-Ju” category in the baby gallery.

Love
Mom

P.S. Isn’t it past your naptime?

Dear Julius,

Welcome to 2010, my sweet. This time last year, I was almost three months pregnant with you! Now you’re here - and gosh I love you.

Check out the rest of the photos for early January - “Early January Photos in 2010″ in the baby gallery!
Love
Mom

Dear Julius,

December was a very cool month as far as growth spurts go. You really have learned a lot! Here’s a few things you’ve learned so far:
1) How to put everything in your mouth. Your hands, other people’s hands, your feet, blankets, bibs, toys, shirts, hair…
2) How to laugh… you really have learned how to giggle and when you think something is funny, you crack and up and can’t stop!
3) How to stick your tongue out… and then you keep it out. Maybe you get this from dad.
4) You’re learning how to stick to a consistent sleep schedule FINALLY. We’ve implemented a written schedule and have followed it regularly the whole month and it seems to have paid off. You’re getting 15 hours of sleep a day which is what babies need. You get fed exactly every 3 hours, but that will change soon since your intake will require more liquid with less frequent feedings.
5) You’re recognizing people.
6) You raise your left eyebrow when you understand something for the first time. It’s like the “aha!” moment for you.
7) You like to jump up and down on people’s laps
You learning what your body can do. Often times, you’ll put your feet in your mouth or bend backwards so your head leans all the way back (on the floor) to see how close you can get the back of your head to touch your feet.
9) You’re not crawling yet, but if someone stands you up, you can manage standing on your feet with just the slightest of assistance.
10) Your cries are easy as pie to interpret now.

Is this not the cutest face?!

There are 49 photos that have been uploaded to “More December Photos” in the baby gallery. Enjoy!
Love
Mom

Dear Julius,

Your Grandma Velara spent a long long time knitting this baby blue outfit just for you! And you just look adorable in this, wow. It fits you perfectly - you are 4 months old in this photo! One of these days when I have more money, I’ll send a photo or two of you wearing this to your Grandma (she keeps asking, but patience is a virtue, yes?) - in the mean time, this is my ghetto way of sharing photos with people.

What I love about this outfit is that there are so many things to love about this outfit! You use the blanket absolutely every day, and it seems your fingers have a way of finding where the holes are so you can grab the blanket and pull the whole thing into your mouth. You tend to kick your socks off, so they barely even stayed on for the photoshoot - but they sure are cute on you when you manage to keep them on.

The hat is so comfy on your head to keep you warm… although I do sometimes worry you might choke on the ribbon attached to it since you put EVERYTHING in your mouth that you can get your hands on! What I really love the most is the sweater especially since it’s winter time. Several people have commented on how beautifully stitched the whole outfit is, the blanket, the sweater, the booties. Everyone who has ever seen you in this outfit just admires it!! So be sure to thank your Grandma when you learn to talk. I love the hearts in the stitching. It doesn’t take a genius to see how much time was put into each detail. The whole ensemble is a work of art. A masterpiece of sorts.

I love you, baby.

Feel free to see more photos of you wearing this in the photo gallery under the category “Hand-knitted Outfit by Velara.”

Love
Mom