Juliet Frances

When I was pregnant with Juliet, we found out that she was going to be a girl at the 20 week ultrasound. We were really excited that Sophia would have a sister to play with. I loved having a younger sister to share my childhood with. But, I could not envision what kind of little girl she would be. I could only imagine her being a little copy of Sophia. When she was born, however, we knew instantly that she was definitely her own little person.

One of my favorite things about Juliet is that she loves to snuggle. When she was a tiny baby, I carried her everywhere in a soft fleece sling. Even my mom carried her around the house in the sling when she visited! Now, Juliet continues to be so snugly. If I get on my knees and open-up my arms, Juliet comes walking right into my arms and gives me a huge hug. When Juliet wants some extra snuggles, she grabs a book and backs herself into a warm lap and quietly listens to the book.

Juliet is also our little "yes" girl. She is the only toddler that I know that learned to say "yes" before she learned to say "no." She nods her head down and says, "yes" when she wants something. She still does not say "no," instead shaking her head back and forth saying "ah-uh." I think that her learning to "yes" so early may be an indication of her current pleasant disposition and a predication of her future positive outlook on life.

Her greatest joy in her life is her big sister, Sophia. She is constantly by Sophia's side. Sophia does not mind one bit. She enjoys Juliet just as much and eggs-her-on to play fun and silly games with her. Their latest game is to crawl around on the floor chasing each other and laughing hysterically.

Juliet is our little climber. A few weeks ago she learned to climb the ladder on the slide on the swing-set. As brave as that is, she then sits on top of the slide waiting for assistance to go down. She loves to climb stairs, often pointing at stairs saying, "Uh? Uh? Uh? (Up? Up? Up?)." I have to watch her at all times because, while she can climb stairs with ease, she thinks she can down them just as well (she cannot!).

Juliet loves ducks. Her passion for ducks originated on Easter when White Bear Lake Grandma gave her a tiny little brown duck that quacks when you push its tummy. Juliet was smitten, and our search to find her a lovey has ended. Juliet sleeps with "Duck Duck" every night and drags him on many outings. When we are at Lake Harriet and Juliet sees a duck, she become almost hysterical, exclaiming, "Duck! duck! duck!" and pointing wildly.

We love our little Juliettie so much and cannot image our life without her.

Music

Oh dear.

I thought I would not hear this uttered in our house until at least the pre-teen years:

"Mommy, you never let me have any fun."

---Sophia (in reference to the fact that I would not let her pull on the cord of the blinds as I was carrying her up the stairs).

Sophia Marie

Self Portrait #1

Self Portrait #2

Self Portrait #3

Mommy should not leave her lipstick in plain sight!

Goofing around with Juliet.


The girls.

Super happy.

The latest "green" fashion.


I know that this goes without saying, but we just love Sophia so much. She is a really sweet, smart, and fun kid. But, it is hard to sum her up. She is really active and loves to jump, climb, ride her new bike (with training wheels), swing on the swing-set (and pump her legs all on her own). She also loves her stuffed animals. The other day she told Adam to call her "jungle" because she loves animals so much.

She is also a really sweet big sister to Juliet. Yesterday, Juliet was having trouble with a toy that makes music when you push buttons. Sophia stood there and patiently showed Juliet how to do it, and continued to laugh along with Juliet when she finally would figure it out, long after Sophia actually thought it was funny.

Sophia also is independent and can go an entire day without hardly seeming to care or notice her dear mommy, until bedtime when she says, "Mommy, I just love you so, so much. I love you a gigantic, super duper gigantic-gigantic much."

Sophia is also the barometer of the family absorbing it all in; she misses nothing. When we are stressed, so is she. When we are happy, so is she.

She is also totally hilarious. Sophia rarely cries, even after a big fall. She will often stand up and immediately say, "I'm okay. I'm okay." So, we have developed a habit of asking her if her arm/leg/wrist can still move after she takes a particularly bad fall. Today, after she fell, Sophia did not wait for my question and instead stood up, wiggled her entire body around and said, "See? They are all moving." I could not stop laughing.

Anyway....time just suddenly seems to be moving so fast and I do not want to forget how wonderful our little 3 1/2 year old girl is.

Multitasking

"I may be able to squeeze you in for a playdate after my nap. I will have to check my calendar."

"She actually ate the sand? Shocking."

"Oh my! You don't say?"

"Ha, ha, ha...I spill my food on the floor, too!"

P.S. The phone has no battery. Juliet just loves to pretend!

Crabby (for pretend)

Never argue with a three-year-old, or you will get crabby! In these pictures, Sophia and I were pretending to be crabby. I particularly like Sophia's hand on her hip for added emphasis. I often forget the rule that you should never argue with a three-year-old, and find myself in the most ridiculous arguments with her. After all, I am the grown-up and should know better!

Why the girls love daddy soooo much

First Corn of the Season

Who says that kids won't eat their veggies????

Bye Nanny Katie!

Last week we had to saw goodbye to our dear nanny-Katie. I work two days per week at the law firm. Katie watched the girls on Wednesdays for the last nine months. I am very particular about who I let watch the girls. But, Katie was wonderful, and I felt so comfortable leaving them with her. Sophia and Juliet love being outside and so did Katie. Sophia would tell me about their adventures going to the park, the lake, playing on the swing-set or the sprinkler. Sophia called her "nanny-Katie" and would often ask if it was a "nanny-Katie day." We were so sad to see her leave, but wish her the best as she starts her latest adventure in Seattle. We will miss you!

We Love Summer!

We love summer! These are pictures Adam took over the weekend while we were playing outside at our house.

We live near Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. Almost every day in the summer we walk down to Lake Harriet or the Rose Gardens adjacent to the Lake. This afternoon we went to the Rose Gardens. The roses are not in bloom, but many other flowers are in the bloom and the City turned on the water fountains in the gardens. Also, just beyond the Rose Gardens is a vast park with rolling hills and shady trees. I can find a spot to sit in the grass and just watch Sophia and Juliet run and run and play and play. Living in the City makes me forget how important it is to have wide open spaces to run. At home, we are constantly telling the girls, "Don't run into the alley. Don't run into the street. Watch out for the people on the sidewalk." But, not today. Today they ran free in the hills and played in the trees. It was a good day.

Conversation with Sophia

Conversation at the Heffelbowers today:

Sophia: How was work today, daddy?

Adam: It was an interesting day.

Sophia: Why was it interesting?

Adam: I got a lot of work done, had a few meetings. It was just an interesting day.

Sophia: Did you type on the computer?

Adam: Yes, I did.

Our little Sophia is turning into quite the conversationist. She often asks Adam how he day was when he gets home from work. When someone asks Sophia, "How are you doing." Sophia answers and then asks, "How is your day going?" It is so sweet.

Fun Stories

Today we went to a First Communion party at Adam's friends' Trung and Tang's house. Adam met Trung 16 or 17 years ago when Trung and Adam both worked on the factory floor at a company called Seagate when they were about 20 years old. Trung's family had recently arrived from Vietnam. Several of Trung's other family members and friends also worked at Seagate. Adam and Trung became friends. Trung and a few others needed rides to work on most days. Adam would drive them to work. Trung's family would pack extra Vietnamese food for Adam to eat when they were on their lunch breaks.

I met Trung and his girlfriend Tang when Adam and I started dating (13 years ago). Trung and Tang got married the same summer that Adam and I got married. Adam and I were in their wedding. They have been good friends over the years. Trung is now an engineer and Tang has her own successful tailoring/dressmaking shop. They have two little boys, and the oldest had his First Communion today. We got to go to the party!

Vietnamese food is awesome. They grilled the best ribs/chicken/beef. Unfortunately, we were all so busy having fun, that we did not eat very much. Tang packed-up a bag of still hot grilled meat for us to take home. Sophia and Juliet began begging for the meat once we got into the car. I gave Sophia a piece and Juliet immediately wanted some, too. They wanted more and more and more. Every time I gave Juliet a piece of the meat, she would say, "MMMMMMM" , pop it into her mouth and chuckle gleefully. We ate the entire bag of meat on the way home.

At the party, Sophia and Juliet got to play with the other kids. Sophia was able to show off her big sister protectiveness. Sophia, Juliet and another little girl were walking and playing, when the little girl (also named Sophia) started gently hitting Juliet with a toy. Sophia put her arm around Juliet, pulled her a little closer and said, "Don't wack Juliet. Don't wack her." until the little girl stopped. Thanks for watching out for your little sis!

Finally, Juliet has learned to say "ball." To her, anything that is round is a "ball." At the party, Juliet looked up at the early evening sky, pointed at the moon and said, "ball." Every time she glanced upward and saw the moon, she would again repeat "ball." Adam and I thought it was so darling!

Yum.

WHAT?!?!

"Yo (gurt), baby."

Juliet is a good eater. She tries lots of food and generally, eats well. However, she wants to eat on her own these days. She wants to try to eat with a spoon and fork, but mostly with her hands. We want to encourage her, but things do get messy. Often, dinner time ends with a bath for Juliet! She also has a particular love for sweets. In these photos, we had frozen yogurt, whip cream and sprinkles for dessert. Juliet gleefully ate hers up. Even Sophia was shocked at the mess!

Flower Show

We have a spring tradition of going to the Macy's flower show every year. The downtown Macy's store turns its 8th floor auditorium into a magical flower land. The girls loved smelling all of the beautiful flowers. Afterward, we did a little shopping (where Sophia and Juliet found some glass wall decorations to wedge themselves into--see pictures above) and had a little lunch. It was a lovely time!

Mommy and the Girls Go Shopping

We went shopping today. Sophia desperately needed new clothes for Spring. But, Sophia is very particular about what she wears. She wants clothes that feel a certain way and look a certain way. She likes clothes that "have a lot going on" (her words). She also likes clothes that are soft with no itchy seams, tight sleeves or waistbands. She loves dresses.

Luckily, a few years ago we discovered the Hannah Andersson brand, whose clothes generally meet all of her requirements. The clothes are colorful, soft, and not itchy. They also make beautiful dresses, which Sophia calls her "princess dresses." We have also fallen in love with their super soft jammies, that do not seem to stain, despite daily breakfast disasters. The only problem is that the clothes are really expensive.

Then, we discovered the Hannah Andersson Outlet in Albertville about 45 minutes from Minneapolis. So, today Sophia, Juliet and I made the trek to the Outlet mall. I carefully planned the entire trip so that I could maximize on shopping and minimize on kid meltdowns. I packed lots of snacks, we only went to three stores, stayed one hour, ate a picnic lunch and ran-around, and then headed home. It was a total success! The kids were great. Sophia and I picked out some super cute clothes, we got some new jammies for Juliet, and everyone had fun.

Family Resemblance?

Juliet Heffelbower---March 2009

Lindsay (Heffelbower) Finneman---September 1983

Lindsay is Juliet's aunt and godmother. We all think that these early pictures of Lindsay show a huge family resemblance between the two! We will post more photos of when Lindsay was little as we dig through Ann's old photos.

Easter Party!

My parents drove from Green Bay to celebrate Easter with us. They brought a giant stuffed animal bunny for Sophia (which she named "Sparkle") and a giant stuffed animal duck for Juliet (which she is kind of afraid of). Sophia carried the bunny everywhere with her, and still often insists on bringing him for car rides, outside to be pushed in the swing, etc. Sophia and Grandma frosted the little lamby cake. Juliet loves sheep and lambs because she knows how to say, "Baa Baa," so she adored the cake.

Juliet immediately snuggled with Grandpa and became his constant companion for the weekend. On Saturday, we went to an Easter egg hunt and made crafts at church.

Unfortunately, by Sunday Juliet and I had come down with ear infections, which necessitated trips to the ER. Luckily, my parents were around to take care of the sickies while Sophia and Adam went to the Easter party at Adam parents. All-in-all we made the best of the weekend and still had a fun Easter.

Is our house a death trap?

At the risk of sounding a bit old-fashioned, we have only one tv in the house. And, this tv is 12 years old. We were perfectly happy with our tv until two days ago when it nearly fell and crushed our little Juliettie. Old tv's, like ours, are very thick and front-heavy. We have ours sitting on top of a wooden chest with doors. Two days ago, the girls opened the doors of the chest, when Sophia leaned on one of the doors. This small act caused the entire chest, including the tv, to tip forward. The chest managed to right itself, but the front-heavy tv continued its fall forward. Super-hero Adam, seeing what was about to happen, jumped in-between the tv and Juliet who was standing directly in front of it. The tv hit Adam's shoulder and bounced to the floor. Adam has a cut and bruise on his shoulder, the tv is fine, and Juliet has no idea what could have happened.

Thus, despite our "extreme budget makeover," we have decided to dip into our savings and purchase a small LCD tv. But, this all makes me wonder, is our house a death trap? Will super-hero Adam be there the next time?

Juliet at (almost) 14 months

A few funny stories about Juliet:

Juliet loves the bath. Every night Sophia and Juliet take a bath together. They splash around, and Juliet will even sometimes put her face in the water and look-up with a bit of a shocked look on her face. Sophia usually plays a make-believe game about being a mermaid, frog, princess, etc.

Two nights ago, we had a little Juliet bath surprise: Juliet pooped in the bath! This has never happened to us before, and it really is quite shocking to see a big brown turd floating in the water. Sophia immediately notified us of the situation, "Juliet pooped! Get me out! Get me out!", which we promptly did. I was on "cleaning up the baby" duty and Adam got "cleaning up the bath" duty. We are hoping that this was a first (and last) of this kind of bath tub surprise.

Now onto more pleasant things. We have been struggling with finding a "lovey" for Juliet.
By the time Sophia was about six or seven months old, she was already 100% attached to Bunny Bun. Juliet has been much pickier. We have tried various animals and blankets to no avail. But, we may have recently hit upon something:

Juliet loves a particular book and has been snuggling with it for the past few nights. This is no ordinary book. It is a book that I made when Sophia was about six months old of photographs of me, Adam and Sophia. Juliet is obsessed. We will see if this obsession lasts!

New Blog Format!

We have decided to go with a new blog format. Until now, our little Miss Sophia was the voice behind the blog (with a little help from me, her mommy). However, this format has become a bit awkward now that we are blogging about both of our daughters and Juliet does not have a "voice" in the blog. Also, Sophia truly does have her own voice now, and it no longer feels right "speaking" on her behalf, even if it is just pretending.

Thus, we are introducing our new blog! I will be writing the posts as myself, sharing the wonderful adventures that we have raising our two girls.

Enjoy!