Juniper is 11 months old! WHAT!?

June at 11 months:

• LOVES the bouncy chair
• new foods: chicken, cows milk (whoops- too soon), garbonzo beans, lemon, orange, plum
• 1st pig tails
• full on crawling
• full on waving
• full on dancing
• can get up on her knees
• LOVES books and tearing apart magazines
• pants at doggies (especially uncle evin's dog, buddy)
• will yell through the house and "talk" to you across the hall
• serious case of stranger danger (lower lip quivers if someone she doesn't know well is holding her)
• Gasping, then pinching her little lips into an "O" shape and pausing and looking around as if she's really shocked by something and wants to see if anyone else is surprised
• 1st clapping on october 6th 2014, after a show at Disneyland

9 Months with Juniper Belle

Juniper Belle at 9 months:

• first time at the Williams Family Beach House
• on the first night of the beach house, she slept her longest stretch of sleep! 11 1/2 hours! From 8:20pm to 7:50am! (kinda sad that it's not a normal occurrence after nine freakin months). I think it was because we were in a room that was pitch black, with a loud fan, the room was a little warmer than normal, and she slept on her tummy. I've been trying to recreate the situation ever since, but it hasn't quite worked out. 
• first tastes of: squash, oatmeal, peas, blueberries, raspberries, and ICE CREAM! (actually it was pineapple gelato that her aunt Celestial gave her when I wasn't looking. Wish I could have seen her face!)
• had her first hair cut by her (great) aunt Ruth! To be honest, I was a little nervous to cut the rat tail for a second. I don't know why, it was kinda gross. Maybe thought it might change the look of my sweet girl, but the minute it was cut off I could tell it was a good thing. It was long overdue. She should have had her first haircut when she was a week old.
• went on her first bike ride! It was just June, mommy and daddy. We rode along the Newport Beach boardwalk at dusk. Everyone coming toward us on the boardwalk lit up at the sight of her, some smiled, pointed, giggled or waved, like she was her own little parade. She LOVED it.
• has started DANCING!! It's more like bouncing up and down and waving her arms around. Sadly... it's usually to "Gangnam Style," which is Harvey's favorite dance party song, so she's been hearing it since she was in the womb. I guess I should have been putting classical music up to my belly. I hope she hasn't lost brain cells.
• she does this adorable thing where she leans in and goes forehead to forehead with me. She lingers there with this adorable genuine smile across her face like she's the happiest little baby in the world. I love it so much.
• has been "singing" this song where she sticks her tongue in & out and says "Labalabaladalabalada." It's my new favorite song and I get to listen to it on repeat all day long!
• she has been trying to get on all fours and rocks back & forth like she's going to crawl any day now! I'm a little nervous for her to start crawling so young (well, young for our family. Wendy and Harvey never really crawled, and were late walkers) but I'm excited too! I think crawling is adorable and intriguing because my older two never did it. But I'm nervous to have to keep the floor clean and free of choking hazards with two other kids who love things like legos and littlest petshop. 

June is 8 MONTHS OLD!! WHAT!?

June at 8 months:

• Has figured out how to roll from her back to her tummy and now rolls ALL OVER the place! Seriously, if I take my eye off her for two seconds she's across the room. My older two children were late when it comes to mobility, late rollers, sitters, crawlers AND walkers. But I think June is going to break the mold. I wouldn't mind if all my kids were late in that department...
• Sounds insignificant, but can pick up her pacifier and put it back in her mouth (thanks to our new favorite pacifier, the wubbanub. #googleit). I don't know why it's so cute to watch her pick the little stuffed animal up and shake her head back and forth with her mouth wide open until she finds the binki and latches on, but it is. And now I'm not constantly putting it back in or making my older children do it for me.
• NEW FOODS: prunes, carrots, & peaches
• Sitting up! Unassisted... and raaaarely flopping over anymore
• First time on a swing. It was at the park in Brea by the Plunge Pool after the older kids' swimming lessons. The poor thing kept flopping forward but she still loved it!
• 1st 4th of July!
• 1st road trip: Las Vegas, Utah, Idaho. She was a ROCK STAR in her carseat. The happiest out of all my little road trippers. We learned her limit when we tried to barge it straight home from Idaho all in one day and hit 4th of July weekend Vegas traffic. Eleven and a half hours. My June is happy as a clam in the carseat, facing backwards and staring at the blank nothingness of a seat for eleven and a half hours. The older two lose it after 5 minutes if they don't have a dvd player in their face. But my sweet, dream baby lasted eleven and a half hours before letting us know she was done. It took us twelve to get home so... not too bad.
• First hair cut! Took June to aunt Ruthy to finally cut the mullet/rat-tail off. Honestly, I was a little nervous. I know those whispy, Gollum hairs were sparse and always out of control, but I was used to her little face surrounded by a crazy mane. But we did it and she still looks like herself, only a little cuter (if that's possible). 

*My babe and my baby... LOVE these two!

June in June

June at 7 months:

• 18.5 pounds
• 1st "SOLID" foods: rice cereal, avocado, sweet potatoes, bananas - loved every thing she's tasted
• moved out of her bassinet in mommy & daddy's room into a big girl crib in Wendy's room. She did great with the transition and loves her new bed!
• First trip to the temple! We went to the San Diego temple for our cousin, Alyssa's wedding.
• Is now reaching out for people when they go to hold her... probably my FAVORITE milestone this month
• On June's first memorial day, 5/26/14, she went swimming for the first time. She wore a hot pink with white polka dot swimsuit that matched Wendy's and kicked and splashed in the cool water for as long as I let her.

*love the baby rolls and the little glimpse of her congenital mullet in this photo :)

HAPPY half BIRTHDAY JUNIPER!

In her sixth month, June:

• experienced her 1st Easter! She had no clue what was going on, slept through most of it, and received some small gifts from the Easter bunny that he grabbed out of her stash of belongings just to save face in front of her older siblings. 
• 1st time in the bumbo chair. She wasn't so sure about it. She got all "back-archey" pretty soon. My kids are late sitter-uppers, late crawlers, and late walkers, so I think the sensation was very foreign to her, but I think it might help her in the process of becoming a sitter. Harvey was SO excited. It was like he realized for the first time that he has another potential playmate in the house. He sat close to her, his arm wrapped around her shoulders, talking in a high pitch to her the whole time (...maybe that's why she didn't love it so much). We've used it a lot more and she's slowly starting to love it. A little.
• month full of holiday celebrations: Wendy, Harvey & Daddy's birthdays, Cinco de Mayo and Mother's day!
• Has become very grabby. She'll grab anything within reach and immediately attempt to stick whatever it is in her mouth.
• She has discovered her pudgy feet- they're her new favorite things to grab and put in he r mouth, which sounds absolutely disgusting but it's the most adorable thing. I know it sounds gross but I really love when she does that. 
• My new favorite thing to do is to stand June up on my lap and kiss her chubby cheeks. They're SO soft and kissable! Sometimes, I just leave my lips on her cheek, breath her in and she nuzzles into to me. It's the best thing.

Sorry for going overboard, these were all just SO cute that I couldn't narrow it down. I think six 6 month photos is fitting. FUN FACT: from May 14th 2014 to June 13th 2014 our family's lucky number is 3! Check it out, for EXACTLY 30 days:

Mom is 30 years old

Dad is 33 years old

Wendy is 3+3 years old

Harvey is 3 years old

June is 3+3 months old

Is your mind sufficiently blown?! Mine is. Que the twilight zone theme song. Three is our lucky number this month... Maybe I should buy a lotto ticket or something.

*this little girl is seriously all cheeks and eyelashes! And here's the picture to prove it :)

5 MONTHS!

At FIVE months, June:

• weighs 16lbs 8oz - 90th percentile
• 26.8 inches long - 98th percentile
• head circumference 16.3 inches - 75th percentile (good to know for making headbands)
• rolled over! she did it twice on April fool's day and hasn't done it since, the little trickster
• officially in size 2 diapers
• knows her name and will respond to it
• had her longest stretch of sleep: 9 1/2 HOURS!! From 9pm to 6:30am and it was glorious!
• First overnight vacation - went with mommy & daddy on our 10th anniversary getaway weekend while Wendy & Harvey stayed with Grammy & Grandpa. We stayed at The Inn in Rancho Santa Fe then spent the next day at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. She was a great little date!
• 1st Saint Patrick's Day - she looked so cute all decked out in my favorite color. I ordered a green bow on etsy and it showed up WAY bigger than I thought (shoulda read the fine print) she rocked it anyway.
• First earthquake! Ryan & I were at the temple in Newport Beach and the kids were sleeping at their grandparents house. They all slept right through it, but the scariest part was June's location - she was sleeping in a bassinet right next to a giant, un-anchored bookshelf, that was full of glass frames and large hard-back books. Luckily nothing came crashing down on her.
• after explaining to the nurse at her pediatric appointment that we've affectionately nicknamed her "Dream Baby" because, well, she's the best baby ever, she proceeded to prove me right and got her shots without even crying! Not even a gasp or a flinch! More than one! The nurse said she save the one that stings for last and not even then! I think she actually smiled at the nurse through it. It was crazy to watch.
• this month was filled with lots of fun trips to disneyland, the beach, and the L.A. zoo 

*I love this silly face!

*can't get enough of those luscious baby thunder thighs

June is 4 months old!

At 4 months old, June:

• weighs 15 pounds - 89th percentile
• 24 inches long - 88th percentile
• head circumference 16 inches  - 81st percentile (random, I know, but I like the info)
• wakes up happy every morning & coos/talks baby gibberish in her bassinet until I get her. I think most babies would cry, but not her. Sometimes I just lay there and listen to her for a while before getting her because it's my favorite sound in the world.
• slowly developing those luscious baby rolls that I love to kiss and squeeze
• has discovered her dimpled hands and likes to hold them together before trying to fit them both in her mouth at the same time
• smiling at anyone who will look at her
• laughs every time I wipe her chin or chest - SUPER ticklish
• LOVES bath time and kicks her legs back & forth the entire time
• is so happy and brings the sweetest spirit into our home

3 months of JUNE!

*I have mixed feelings about this picture. On one hand I LOVE how cute it is, on the other I hate how old she looks. I think it's because I propped her up so it looks like she can sit up, but she's still too young to do that. She cannot sit up yet, thank heavens, I want to keep her little.

My June at three months:

• 14 lbs 
• 24 inches long
• cooing all day long. It's the best sound!
• happiest baby ever- wakes up smiling & cooing
• laughs every time I wipe her chin or chest = WAY ticklish!
• will not laugh or coo or "talk" for the camera, she's not a performer just like her big sister.
• getting nice and chubby- baby rolls, knuckle dimples, rubber band indents on her wrists, and even CHUBBIER cheeks
• does "crunches" all day long. She puts her chin on her chest and tries to sit up. We change the words to the song from Frozen and sing "She's just a bit of a sitter upper..." to her.
• first vacation: weekend in big bear and it was awesome. She slept her longest stretch so far on that trip, from 11pm to 6:30am! SEVEN and a HALF HOURS! On this trip she went on her first hike, saw her first snow, and had daddy feed her her first bottle- she drank 3 ounces! (We didn't want her first bottle to be the day I went back to work, just in case she wouldn't take it. Luckily she did great- one less thing to worry about!)
• first trip to Disneyland - she slept in the sling the whole time. I felt like a rockstar because I was so outnumbered but we still had a lot of fun because my kids were little angels. (They must have known our passes were about to expire and I was on the fence about renewing them right away.)
• first trip to the Children's Museum - slept in the stroller the whole time.
• first trip to the zoo. We went to the Santa Ana Zoo. We ate a packed picnic lunch on the bench that overlooks the camel exhibit (like we always do), saw the live animal show and rode the train (the train that Harvey DID NOT want to get off. He ran down the tracks crying "NOOOO! I wanna wide da twain again!! I not done!!" At which point the workers had to chase him down to get him because it's not safe to be on train tracks and I had a newborn in a sling and a 5 1/2 year old girl that was freaking out that her brother was going to die. That's when we left.)

 

 

2 months already!

June at 2 months old

• 12lbs, 15oz
• 23 inches long
• cooing & "talking" now
• smiling ALL the time, all i have to do is make intense eye contact with her & smile big and she smiles right back. she has a faint dimple on her right cheek and when she smiles, her eyes smile more than her mouth does- like two little half moons
• first trip to the beach! we went to Huntington on Dec. 30th! she slept the whole time in her sling.
• went to her first (and second and third and fourth) movie. The Hobit, Hunger Games, then Saving Mr. Banks and Frozen. The little sweetheart slept the whole time. We went to early showings so the theaters would hopefully be more empty. I love movies and was going through with-drawls with all the good holiday films that came out while I was in newborn hibernation. 
• favorite way to be held is on my right shoulder. she's got such a strong neck and holds her own head up already. she loves to look around. my favorite part of holding her on my shoulder is that she always sucks on her little fist. she did it right out of the womb, but has stopped because i swaddle her fists down & stick a binki in her mouth. so it warms my heart a little because its the only time she does it anymore.
• also loves to lay flat on the couch or bed - she prefers to be sprawled out