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!

Happy Spring!

Yes, we're obsessed

We love video blogging!

Sleepy

...this is what happens when you are driving in the car a little too close to nap time.

In the heart of Winter

Winters in Minnesota are long, cold and dark. Here is what we do to pass the time until Spring:

We play computer games with friends.

We bring the outdoor toys inside.

We draw.


We read.

We use our clothes in creative play.

We take pictures of ourselves making surprised faces...

....and sad faces.

We ride around the house on our trike...

...with a little help from the little sister.

Before you know it, Spring is here!

First Blog video

Look Whose Walking!!!

Juliet continues to amaze us with her new walking skills. She still spends the majority of her time crawling, but when she stands-up she can really move. We are still getting used to her rounding a corner and seeing her upright!

As an aside, Juliet is wearing a red ribbon around her neck in these photos. She will often have some article of clothing or ribbon drapped around her neck. She thinks she is "getting dressed." She will go into my dresser and pull out a few shirts and pants. She then puts them over her head until she gets one to stay on her like a scarf. She will also pull socks out of the drawer and try and try to put them on her feet herself. It is super silly and super adorable.

Also, Juliet is saying some more words:

Ma Ma

Da da

Uh Oh

This

Socks

Baa Baa (for a sheep)

SSSSS (for a snake)

GRrrrr (for a bear)

ruufff ruff (for a doggie)

Handmade Bathrobe

Green Bay Grandma made me this beautiful yellow bathrobe. I prance around the house in it before and after my bath. It is luxuriously soft and wonderful. Aren't you jealous???

More Birthday Bashes!!!!

It was another birthday weekend! Green Bay Grandma and Grandpa came into town and we partied with the Heffelbowers one night and with the Wilensky's in the morning. Here are the pictures to prove how much fun we had!

Great Auntie Joan and Juliet in her new Patagonia

Me in my new Patagonia. Thank you Wilenskys!

Grandma helping Juliet open presents.

Uncle Ross and Juliet

Guess who liked her birthday cake!

Lindsay and I digging into our cake.

Grandma helping Juliet with her cake.

Grandpa helping out with the trike.

The birthday cake (a special thanks to Costco)

I am the best present of all!

Mommy getting dinner ready.

The birthday girl and daddy.

Happy Birthday, Darlings!

Guess who turned one and 36 today?? Juliet and daddy! We cannot believe our darling baby girl is already one. Where did the time go? Juliet gave us an extra sweet birthday treat by walking! She repeatedly walked across our living room today. She seemed a little shocked and totally thrilled. Daddy and Juliet will always have their special birthday bond. We love you both!

Gymanstics

A few weeks ago was our last day of gymnastics. I love, love, love gymnastics. Our last day of gymnastics we put on a show. We show-off all of the tricks that we learned through-out the semester. We also can invite guests. Daddy, Juliet, Lindsay, and White Bear Lake Grandma and Grandpa came to the show! (Mommy was hosting a shower for her friend Jenny that day). At the end of the show, we received our metals. Teacher Tracy said that I was a really good listener and a "role model" for the other kids.

"Embracing the Chaos"

After Christmas, things got a little crazy around here. First, there is recovering from Christmas. Then there is New Year's. After that, we hosted a shower for our friend Jenny and her new little son, Isaac. Of course, we cannot forget the inaugeration of Barack Obama. (As an aside, mommy bribed me with three (yes, three!) suckers to sit with her and watch the inaugeration on tv.) Now, we are coming up on Juliet's, daddy's and mommy's birthdays. I am getting tired just thinking about it!

Even though things sometimes are hectic, messy, silly, wild, fun, and funny around here, this is how we love it. We call it "embracing the chaos." We would not have it any other way. Clean, organized, predictable, and serious are just so darn boring!

(Not so) Magical Christmas Day

Juliet spent the evening in the ER at St. Vincent Hospital on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, this is a continuation of the ear infection saga. As previously blogged, all of the Heffelbower girls got ear infections on December 1st. We all survived. However, Juliet got a new infection on the Monday before Christmas. She was given antibiotics (again) and we assumed that within 24-48 hours, she would be back to her normal bubbly self. Not so. Instead, she got a terrible fever that fluctuated between 102 and 104 degrees. By Christmas Day, Juliet was acting lethargic and not herself at all so Mommy and Daddy decided it was time to take her to the emergency room. On Christmas Day, no one wants to be at the ER---not the doctors, not the nurses, not the valet, and especially not the patients. Grandma and Mommy took baby Juliet to the ER. After several hours and a lot of blood work, it was determined that Juliet now had an ear infection in both ears and needed different and stronger medicine. However, we are happy to report that the antibiotics kicked-in right away and our little miss happy-pants is back to her normal smiley and active self!

Magical Christmas Eve

Playing with our new musical table from Auntie Katie.

Wearing my new fancy dress & slippers from grandma and
grandpa and playing with my new keyboard.

Juliet decided to try-out using utensils.



It's present time!

Look at all of the beautiful ornaments!

The Heffelbowers before church.

Posing for the annual Christmas photo in front of the Mulloy fireplace.

Snuggling with my Auntie Katie.

Making "butt angels." The snow was too deep for real snow angels.

All of the girls chilling-out. We are snapping bubble wrap, which I termed the "snap out of it" game.

The busy blogging Heffelbower girls.

Juliet was not too sure about the cold weather.

Sledding with grandpa.

It was a magical Christmas in Green Bay. We ended-up traveling to Green Bay on Monday night in order to beat a big snow storm. Juliet and I slept for most of the car ride, but woke-up for the last half hour. I was pretty goofy and sang crazy songs to pass the time. My favorite went something like this, "Rock stars, rock stars, rock stars. I like rock stars and so do you. I like rock stars and so do you...." We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house a little before midnight. As we pulled up to their house, we were greeted with a magical sight. Their house was lit with beautiful twinkling lights and their yard was covered in mounds of snow. I said, "Oh, this is so beee-u-tee-ful!" Inside, we were wowed with another display of Christmas lights and decorations. Juliet was so enchanted that she permanently out-stretched her hand and pointed at everything within her sight, saying, "This, this, this, this, this..." After a snack, we went to bed. We spent our days before Christmas having fun with grandma and grandpa, sledding, eating delicious food and running around their house. Grandma taught Juliet how to wave "bye-bye." On Christmas Eve, we ate a wonderful turkey dinner, went to church and opened presents. The first present that I opened was a pair of socks (boring!). The next day, mommy asked me what my favorite presents were. I said that I loved the keyboard and the slippers that light-up when I walk. Mommy asked if the socks were my "favorite present" and I graciously said that they were my "first present." It was a lovely Christmas!