The Championships at Wimbledon have begun. I have watched a little tennis while Julianna plays in the TV room. Her patience runs thin after about half an hour, so no complete matches. She still does not have a lot of independent play, so it is a lot of her getting in and out of my lap and bringing me things to look at/play with. Eventually the excitement runs out and we have to find new activities. She has toys in the room, but finds anything on the computer table more interesting. Right now she is running around with a software disc. I guess the good thing about not watching much of Wimbledon is that it spares me having to listen to John McEnroe bemoan the loss of serve/volleyers in the game. The world is dominated by base liners. Life changes. Move on.

Things are pretty good around our house. Our biggest issues continues to be night time. We still think she is having night terrors, nightmares or both. Some nights she is up a couple of times and some nights she is up every two hours. We got an article yesterday about night terrors. It said you should wake them up either 15 minutes before their terrors if they are consistently at the same time or 30 minutes after you put them to bed if not. It is suppose to break the sleep cycle and prevent. We tried the 30 minute wake up last night and had a good night. Need some more data points before deciding that it made a difference.

The word of the week is defiance. I still wonder how much she understands, especially after putting her in the time out chair three times in a row for the same offense. She will get out of the chair, head straight to the stove and turn knobs. Back to the chair. Sometimes she pokes her lower jaw out in clear defiance and commits the offense. Sometimes she just seems to be going about the business of play and falls into forbidden territory.

The pictures are from her birthday. Doesn't every two year old need a tennis racket? Notice it is Wilson, like mommy, not Prince, like daddy.

It is hard to believe, but today is the three month anniversary of getting our little girl. Exactly twelve weeks ago today, we flew into China, took quick showers, and met our beautiful girl. We were so exhausted by the end of the day that I fell asleep on the bed with Julianna, completely awake, sitting on my stomach. I thought it might be fun on this anniversary to relive some of those parenting dictums that have fallen away at our house. I hope you enjoy our silliness.

10. We won't loose any of those sippy cups


About half of them are spread out somewhere in the house. We did at least make it to
eleven weeks before leaving one at a restaurant.

9. No character toys
We broke this one before we even made it to China

8. She will sleep in her own bed in her own room


We can dream

7. No caffeine
How about no caffeine in her sippy cups?

6. No eating in the car

5. We will have a bookshelf filled with classic literature for our darling to enjoy.


I guess Dr. Seuss is a classic

4. We will read from the above mentioned classics before bedtime every night.

3. Our child will eat whatever we make for dinner (ie, no special baby meals)


Good thing I own this.

2. No junk food
Thanks, Mary

1. Our house will not be taken over by baby paraphernalia


And pigs will fly.

Happy Father's Day. Julianna and her daddy have gone to visit his parents, so mommy has the afternoon to herself. Now I have to come up with "what I've been wanting to do but could not because of the baby". Unfortunately, my favorite fabric store is closed. Cannot really go to the movies because I still have to take call and would most likely spend the entire time in the lobby answering calls. I'm not really in the mood to sew after the sewing machine ripped a huge whole in the dedication dress (the needle got embedded in the bobbin plate, which had slipped out when I put the embroidery hoop on. Sigh). No good tennis matches on. I guess I'll just take a nap.

This is Julianna in one of Cousin Jessica's dresses. It is a six/nine month size. She picked the red shoes. I had her in white ones for about five minutes and she exercised her option of selecting her own footwear. The band aid is for no particular reason. She does have boo boos on both knees, but they are healing nicely. She just wanted a band aid. I think it is cute that she is all decked out in a frilly dress and socks but has rough-n-tumble knees.

We have had our crib for an embarrassing long time, and this happened for the first time Tuesday...
The photograph did not turn out as well as I hoped. I could not get high enough, so let me explain. In the left corner is Julianna, sound asleep, in the right corner is a cat, and not just any cat, the cat that Julianna is afraid of, the one that has bitten me three times since we got back from China. It was a frightening sight. Fortunately, she has not done it again.

Julianna had her big birthday this weekend. The big number two. We had a good time. Number of photos taken by her parents=0. Number of photos taken by her grandparents=+100. I even took the camera downstairs where the festivities were. Good thing she has grandparents or nothing in her life would be photographed.

This is today's shoe selection. Julianna has taken to selecting shoes right after her first diaper change. I think she just likes putting them on and does use any great criteria in her selection process. She loves to stand up and put on her shoes like a big girl slipping into shoes. She has started wearing the shoes more consistently as well. Up until now, we would put the shoes in her diaper bag and put them on at the destination because she would inevitably get them off in the car.
Here we are, bed hair and shoes. She has a sock on her hand. She caught her fingers in the door and has a bad boo boo on one finger. The sock is so she will not pull the band aid off. The experience did not in any way change her habit of closing and opening doors.

Yesterday, or maybe Sunday, she decided to eat bananas like the adults in the house and not cut up on her plate. Emily Post would be aghast that anyone in our house eats bananas like this, but I'm sure it is not the only uncouth activity we partake in.

Today we took part in that great American privilege--voting. We had a "I Voted" sticker and I was going to get her picture in it, but we lost it. They just don't stick quite so well after you pull them off five or six times.

We scheduled her baby dedication. It will be July 29. That means about seven weeks for mommy to finish her dress. I guess I should go start...

I've said how much I like footed jammies, but how about footed jammies and shoes?

It is another no picture post. I'm sure they are boring. I went to work this weekend. First full weekend back. It was sort of strange. I had to take daddy's car because the car seat is in mommy's. I had to take my coat, two parking passes and a patient list. Nearly left without the parking passes. I also had to remember the dictation codes for three systems and the computer codes for two. I did not write them down anywhere because I thought I would always remember them since I use them so much. Brilliant plan that was. I'm sure someone can reset the computer codes this week. Perhaps I'll even write them down...

Today is just one of those frustrating parenting days. Julianna was so tired at nap time that she could not keep her eyes open, but still managed to fight sleep for an hour and a half. Strong willed indeed. It is frustrating because I feel like I don't know what the right thing to do is. Do we walk out and let her fall asleep on her own? Do we sit in the room with her (she thinks this is an invitation to play)? Rock her? Stroke her arm and back (forty minutes today)? I just do not know and it is driving me crazy.

The camera is still by the computer from the last photo download, so no new pictures. Poor kid.