Our House

Life has been such a whirlwind lately! Once we finally got into our house and got my computer set up we went straight into the 18 month sleep regression. I'm really hoping my nap times become a bit more predictable at least for a few months (hopefully years- c'mon Juliet!). 

Anyhoos, I realized I never really blogged about our house hunting/buying experience. It was super nuts. So the last info I gave was that we made an offer 50,000 over asking price and were told it wasn't even close. It turns out, we actually were pretty close, but whatevs- it all worked out! 

The next day our realtor let us know that another house on the same street was about to come on the market. This one was a tad bigger, with a tad better yard, a separate mother in law suite and didn't back up to a semi-busy road. So it was an even better house for us, but it was also more expensive, of course! 

I remember when our realtor toured us around via FaceTime before the house was officially on the market. It seemed like a no brainer- of course we wanted this house! But I feared we'd be outbid even at the tip top of our strongest offer. Luckily, we had a way in- the family wanted to stay in the house until January (it was October). We had an air bnb already lined up until mid-December and my parents graciously offered to let us stay at their place over the holidays so we were able to come in with a strong offer and accept the terms that they could stay through Jan 5. 

Then they came back and said Jan 15. Ugh. That meant we had to move out of an air bnb (including all our air shipment possessions), travel to Lafayette for 2.5 weeks and then move into another air bnb. I'm not gonna lie, it was ZERO fun. Like probably the most zero fun I have ever had. All that moving and traveling in the midst of Covid numbers soaring was just fan to the flames. With a feral toddler. Y'all. I'm barely alive to tell the tale. 

One of my best friends, Talia, spoke this truth to me during the midst of some hard times and said 'I'm fairly convinced that God doesn't want our lives to be easy.' It's been a mantra I replay in my head. Life is hard. DUH. (James 1:2-4 My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials because you know the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything.)

Hard times refine us, make us more humble and compassionate, make us more into a reflection of Jesus. Our sole purpose in life is to glorify God and to be in awe of him. 

Do I do a better job of that when I'm well rested and living with my head above water? Probably. But if I was always well rested and comfortable and had naturally compliant and calm children then I may loose sight of the critical fact that I am a mere pion in the universe and would maybe stop constantly bowing before the Lord with a broken and contrite heart.  Trust me, he's tried to teach me things the easy way but it just does not take.  

I just read a scathing article criticizing Meghan Markel and Prince Harry about their fleeing of the 'abuse' of the royal family and British press and how no one feels sorry for them as they were offered shelter in million dollar homes complete with security detail. I realize when I complain people probably look at me a bit like this. So while I feel tons of compassion for the ousted royal couple, I also think it's healthy to keep a good perspective about all of the resources I have at my disposal. It's also good to reflect on the fact that despite these resources, my mental health and marriage and parenting went through some pretty dark hours over the last few months. 

Does that make me weak? Absolutely. I am weak. I am SO weak. I've never said otherwise. But I can also admit that this isn't easy. Covid has made this one hell of a tough year for just about everyone. Add in an international move and all the stress that goes along with resettling and it's just been HARD. 

Juliet only just started watching TV a few weeks ago. She loves music so we generally have a youtube playlist full of Sesame Street and Disney songs. Without ever seeing Frozen 2, we saw the video for 'The next right thing'. 

We had a chuckle at how dark Disney had gotten and Forest made the hilarious comment, 'get up Anna. This is nothing. Rey has been through way worse and I never saw her cry about it.' 

Then we actually watched the movie and saw the context for her hopelessness and her paralysis in the face of unthinkable choices and grief. Still dark for Disney, but when Jonathan called with the news about our shipment possibly going overboard when I was already barely getting through the days until we could finally get settled, my first thought was, 'I feel just like Anna in that cave'. 

But truly, what could I do other than just keep taking the next step forward, even in pitch darkness? At church this past weekend our Pastor imparted similar advice saying 'Don't forget in the darkness what God called you to in the light.' We prayed over our move and we prayed over our home and our neighborhood that God would put us in the right spot. There have been tons of hiccups but also tons of signs of God's providence- with Forest getting a spot at our church's school which has a waiting list a mile long, with losing out on a house in a spot we loved only to find a house more suitable for us just down the street. 

And now the market has only skyrocketed more and we feel good about having claimed our little stake of land here! Especially since it seems like Jon's company is going to move away from moving people around the world like chess pieces so this may be where we get to stay for a while. 

So now a little bit about our house!!! It's a cute cape cod style, yellow siding with brick accents. 

When you come in there is a stairwell with no banister (eeeeek). 

To the right is a front bedroom which we are using as playroom and to the left is a formal sitting area or dining room. 

sitting room

Playroom space. We are gonna have to donate or burn most of what's coming in the shipment!

We currently have very few possessions so for now our second living room is just space! But it will be a sitting room based on the furniture we have coming. 

Our kitchen is great! Lots of built in storage and tons of counter space which was rare based on  the houses we looked at! 

It overlooks our family room which right now is also serving as a playroom since it's just easier at this age to keep Juliet in this part of the house where I'm usually getting things done. 

Plus it overlooks our yard which I love love love! The kids can be outside while I stay in and have a whole wall of windows to keep an eye on them. our backyard is a great size with both grassy areas and hardscape and decking. We have an outdoor kitchen complete with a kegerator! It's awesome! 

great yard for an egg hunt

we finally got our backordered table so we can dine outside on those perfect California evenings! 

Juliet's bedroom is also downstairs, along with a small guest bathroom. This is probably my least favorite part of the house. Not only do I hate that she's on the main floor while we are upstairs but upstairs is soooooo creaky and our room is right above her. Lots of times Jon wakes her up when he 'leaves' for work in the morning. 

We have an amazing master suite with a built in office- plenty of room for an elliptical or peloton- but yet we are scared to move in this direction because using such equipment would undoubtedly wake her. 

I would love to move her upstairs but there is no way Forest would give up the better room! 

He has a finished attic space off of his bedroom that he uses as his 'fort'. It basically carpeted in LEGO all the time which is fine by me because I can just close the door and pretend it doesn't exist! 

Once our shipment comes, we may have to annex some of this space for storage. We have a finished attic space off of our room as well but we really don't have much more in terms of storage. 

That's the biggest bummer about the house for sure. It's a 2 car garage that our 2 cars don't fit in together. The driveway narrows toward the street so we can't even park one car in and one on the driveway because the person in the garage wouldn't be able to back around the person in the driveway. So Jon has to park on the street most of the time. Even with my 1 SUV we barely have any extra room for storage in the garage. 

The closets in the downstairs bedrooms are tiny! Once we have a dresser for Juliet I'm sure it'll be better but right now her closet is overflowing. We have a decent sized walk in closet in our bedroom but not nearly big enough for us to share once all of our stuff arrives. Forest is the only one who probably has adequate storage space with a small walk in closet and another little closet space. 

Our mother-in-law suite is another amazing find for our area. It's attached to our house but has a separate entrance. It has a small bedroom and closet, it's own full bathroom, laundry facilities, full fridge and kitchenette with a small living room. 

This is the previous owner's decor- not our naked lady poster;)

There is a Murphy bed in there now but we will remove it once our shipment comes and put a standard bed in there.

It has been perfect for Jonathan working from home and will be so nice for having visitors! Who's coming to visit us first? Hint-hint, wink-wink;)

We really do have a great house! And a great location! We love the area we ended up in. It feels like it's in the country, just at the bottom on the Mt. Diablo foothills. Two miles away are trailheads to climb the iconic mountain. 

We see wildlife and breathtaking scenery every day. I definitely pinch myself feeling so blessed to live here. Our backyard makes us feel like we are on vacation. It's so nice just to get to have a little space for our kids to run around while we get to enjoy the gorgeous weather and a beer from our kegerator! 

We live in easy walking distance to our 3 neighborhood schools. Forest is attending our church's private school for the time being and we have no plans of pulling him out, but the schools are top notch and close by if we ever change our minds. Juliet can start attending preschool at our church when she's 3 so it will be nice to have them together. They used to have a 2 year old program but COVID restrictions meant they had to use the 2 year old classroom to instead space out the 3 year olds. Ugh. Anyways, the church/school is only a 8 minute drive so it's pretty close too! 

We've decided to go ahead put Juliet in a different preschool instead of waiting to start her when she's 3. She will start in July when she turns 2. She's so super social and confident that I know she will love it. She's been going to the church nursery on Sundays and pulls our hands dragging us to the classroom and then rushes in without a backward glance. She says 'church!' whenever we drop Forest off at school and throws tantrums when we bring him for his midweek youth group and she doesn't get to stay. I wish she could go there for school next year but I'm sure she'll be happy where we found her a spot too! 

Alright, that's an update on our house and lives currently! Oh- our shipment is officially on it's way and set to be here by the end of April, but we were told to expect major delays because of covid backups. Maybe we'll get it this summer? What's a few more weeks after waiting 6 months?  

2020 Reads

In one category 2020 was my best year ever: reading. I finished 72.5 books, my personal record. A lot of people have asked me how I find that much time to read, and I really don't. I mean, I don't sit down for 2 hour chunks in the day and just read, but I do build reading habits into my day. 

There are a few key things which have helped me keep a good reading pace. 

1) Reading sprints. I heard a tip to set a timer for 20 minutes when you want to read. I do this everyday at the start of Juliet's naptime. This is great because it usually takes her 10 minutes to fall asleep and I need to be relatively quiet for the first little bit since she has major FOMO, so reading is the perfect way to kick off my 'break' time. I also read for 20 minutes first thing in the morning and 20 minutes before bed. These little chunks lead to about 80 pages a day which puts me at about a book every 4-5 days pace. 

2)Audiobooks. I'm not crazy about audiobooks but they come in handy! I love to listen to something while I do chores, walk to the park, get dressed, etc. It also helps me to quickly get through books I want to read alongside Forest. He's legit a faster reader than me and can get through a 300 page book in about 2-3 days. He's starting to read wonderful literature like Land of Stories, Harry Potter, Mysterious Benedict Society, etc and I can't keep up when I've got my own 'to be read (TBR)' list. I will try to score the audiobook version of these from the library or with my monthly audible credit so that we can keep up our little family book club. 

I also will use audible if I'm reading a book that is over 700 pages. I am a slooooow reader and I don't want it to take me 3 weeks to finish one book, but I also don't want to be dissuaded from reading a lengthy novel just because of that. So I'll do whispersync which is a feature where you can switch seamlessly between the audible and kindle version of a book. Therefore I can read in my little 20 minute pockets as well as while I'm busy and on the go. It helps me to get through epically long books in about a week and a half. 

Whispersync allows you to seamlessly switch between audible and kindle versions of a book. It allowed me to finish Stephen King's 1340 page The Stand in less than 2 weeks. 

3) Library timelines. I'm totally double dipping the library's digital catalog using both mine and Forest's library cards to put books on hold. The loans only last 2 weeks and I usually have 3 checked out at any given time so it motivates me to stay on task! 

4) 'What should I Read Next?' podcast and facebook group. 

One of the things I love to listen to when I'm not listening to audiobooks is the 'What should I read next?' podcast with Anne Bogel. The format of the podcast is Anne interviewing guests about 3 books they loved, 1 book the didn't and then she gives them ideas for what they might enjoy reading next. I hear about so many books this way and it keeps me excited about reading. My library wishlist is always growing and my 20 hold limit is always maxed out. So in the spirit of What Should I Read Next I am going to talk about some of the books I loved and didn't from 2020. 

Best of 2020

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson 

This was the first book I finished in 2020 and it might have peaked there. I love nonfiction/jounralistic/memoirish books and in this one Stevenson recounts his experiences as a young black lawyer working on behalf of death row inmates in the Deep South. 

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel 

I was hesitant to read this one because of ALL the hype but wow, it was such a poignantly beautiful novel. Parents welcome a 4th son into their family who from the beginning insists that he is a girl. The parents grapple with how to best usher Poppy through her childhood and ever closer looming puberty. It gave me a lot of empathy for any parent in that situation. The book was 'knock the wind out of you' beautiful and I could relate in many ways with how hard it can be raising an out of the norm child, wanting them to just be who they are and not be squished into a label or box. 

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup By John Carreyrou 

Investigative Journalism is one of my most favorite genres. This one was riveting! About a supposed phenom, Elizabeth Holmes, who was the mastermind behind a revolutionary blood sampling technology that didn't actually work despite the millions of dollars in stock the company sold. HBO made it into an equally captivating documentary called 'The Inventor: Out for Blood'.

Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. 

Written in letter format, this follows two friends and their correspondence throughout WW I and the proceeding Spanish Flu. Lovely writing and a good glimpse into the history of common people living through a hellish time. It has tragic elements but still manages to be sweet.  

American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal mastermind behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton. 

I told y'all I like investigative journalism! This one follows Ross Ulbricht (aka Dread Pirate Roberts) as he creates an online black market and then eventual FBI investigation that led to his capture and arrest. 

White Oleander by Janet Fitch 

This is an older book that I finally got around to reading. A heart breaking journey following Astrid, a young girl plunged into the foster care system when her mother is arrested for murder. This novel is gorgeously written. 

The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth 

In 2020 I discovered Australian author Sally Hepworth and I'm pretty excited to read through her catalog. I think fans of Liane Moriarty will also like Hepworth's work. Her books have elements of mystery, humor, and complex family and community dynamics. 

Catch and Kill: Lies Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow 

Yes, ANOTHER investigative journalism book. Farrow dives into the culture of sexual harassment and assault in the media industry and his efforts are thwarted and covered up at every turn. A very ugly look at Hollywood and the media. Farrow's estranged father is Woody Allen so he has bit of a personal interest in exploring how powerful men get away with abusing young women in the entertainment industry. And it will make you not trust the media even more... Also interesting to watch Farrow vs Allen on HBO as a follow up. 

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren 

After reading this light, funny, effortless romantic comedy I was surprised to find out the author was actually authors. Christina and Lauren are two friends who write many bestsellers together. Their formula works and this was a delightful read. I'm not into racy romance and I'd rate this one PG 13, so well within my comfort zone. 

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center. 

This is another romantic comedy that was just a nice easy breath of fresh air in a troubled year. Romances are not my thing so they have to be worth my while and have a good bit of humor to boot for me to recommend them. 

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. 

Ann Patchett is a genius. Everything she writes is a masterpiece. Period. The end. Some people criticize this one for being too slow and I will say that plot-wise not much happens, but character-wise it's brilliant and rich. I'll take sleepy character driven and well written over fast paced thriller any day, so you should be aware of that when reading my recommendations. Though I read this on my kindle, everyone raves about Tom Hanks narration of the audio version.  That's how A-list Ann Patchett is: Tom Hanks reads her novels. 

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That wraps up my favorites of 2020. There are unfortunately a few books I did not enjoy. We all have different tastes and I know 2020 was a year of extreme worry and preoccupation which undoubtedly influenced my attention span. However, if you find your tastes aligning with mine, maybe the following books are not for you:

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. 

People love this as a kind of paranormal romance for adults. I see the Twilight comparisons in that it involves a completely toxic relationship with a vampire. This novel was so slow and repetitive. There are 2 more in this trilogy that its safe to say I will not be reading. 

The kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. 

You learn something new every year. This year I learned that there is a difference between open door (very graphic) and closed door (leave something to the imagination) romance novels. I also learned that I am basically a puritan and do not enjoy the open door type. This is *very* open door. Ick. There are 2 more in this series that it's safe to say I will not be reading. 

A Woman is no Man by Etaf Rum 

This is another one that got so much hype. I was excited to read it but then felt so disappointed in the writing. It reads more like a YA novel than literary fiction. I say don't waste your time. Khaled Hosseini covers similar topics (oppression of Muslim women) in a much more profound and artistic way. Just my (very unpopular) opinion... 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Hunger games #0) by Suzanne Collins. 

I waited so long for this on my library's wait list and then felt like I couldn't get through the book fast enough. Ugh. It was painfully bad and almost ruined the entire Hunger Games series for me. It was like the Gilmore Girls special all over again. If you can't enhance the story, just leave it alone. 

All Adults Here by Emma Straub. 

Here's an idea: take every social hot button issue and cram it into one novel so that none of them actually carry the weight they deserve. That's this book in a nutshell. So overcrowded and over the top. And I think it was supposed to be funny? It wasn't... 

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Sorry guys- I hate being negative about books and there were several I read last year that weren't my favorite but these are the 5 that made me viscerally upset, probably because my expectations were too inflated. I'm sorry if they were your favorites! 

It was hard to remember details about what'd I'd read throughout the year, so I may attempt to do more of a quarterly review. It's only February as I write this and I've already read 12 books (and 10 out of 12 have been great!). 

18 month Sleep Regression and Shipment update

So pretty much as soon as I hit publish on the 'things feel like they are getting easier with Juliet' 18 month post, things promptly fell apart. This started with prolonged middle of the night wakings. Like 2.5 hours of just screaming in the middle of the night. 

Juliet has pretty much slept through the night without a peep (other than jet lag) since she was 3 months old. If she ever did wake up, she'd just roll over and put herself back to sleep with little drama and no need for us to intervene. Both of my kids were super easy to sleep train and I took it for granted. 

So anyways, the night wakings happened and then resolved themselves, but as soon as they went away the nap refusal started. Again, since 4 months or so I've been able to put Juliet down awake for her naps and with zero fuss she puts herself to sleep for a good nap. So imagine my alarm when I went to do my usual laundry at the start of nap time and heard her screaming when I finished. I went right to her because it was so unusual, scooped her up and soothed her, put her back down and she rolled over and went to sleep so hard I had to wake her up after almost 3 hours to go get Forest from school. 

The next day, the same thing happened, so I went to her and soothed her but instead of laying back down after a check in from mom, she proceeded to SCREAM for an hour. I was doing graduated check ins (go in and comfort at elongated intervals), which is how we sleep trained the kids (which honestly, we never had to do more than one check in with either kid because they were super easy on us and I didn't realize what a wuss I am!). She never laid down or stopped crying to entire time and my brief check ins seemed to upset her more. 

This happened for the next 5 days! She'd cry for an hour and then I'd relent and rock or wear her for a cat nap. 

Finally at day 5 I switched to extinction (it's time for nap, I'll see you in an hour...and just don't go back in until the 'nap' is over). The first day of this, she stood up and cried the whole time. 

The next day I gave her Tylenol as a Hail Mary (maybe teething/ear ache?) and told her bunny needed a nap so she had to be quiet and lay down and snuggle bunny so that bunny got her rest and y'all...she laid right down without a peep and slept 2.5 hours. 

Then that night she was up for 2.5 hours screaming in the middle of the night- which I also used extinction and ignored. IT WAS ROUGH. The next day I gave Tylenol again for nap, but no dice. She screamed for an hour and a half. And that was after not sleeping well that night. We were both a mess. 

She slept well that night, took a nap the next day, but then had another prolonged night waking and 2 additional brief wakings. 

our week from H E double hockey sticks. 

I was freaking out! I contacted a sleep consultant for a consultation. She said to  keep doing extinction and to give it a week. Offer brief car naps and early bedtime on the days she refused to nap and then touch base with her in a week to see if anything else needed to change. 

I don't want to talk about fight club and I'm still feeling really uneasy about everything, but the last few days she is back to sleeping 11ish hours at night and taking 2ish hour naps. 

getting better! 

She's even started staying calm and quiet upon waking where she had gotten into a habit of waking up screaming from naps and in the morning until I went to get her. I'm cautiously hopeful that we are coming through the 18 month regression. It was one of my hardest weeks as a parent. I would just go into Forest's fort off of his room and turn on white noise to drown out the crying and read my bible and pray and cry. I had heard of the regression but thought that only happened to babies who weren't on good schedules or who weren't sleep trained yet. Consider me humbled!

In other news, we have some updates on our shipment. While we still haven't heard about the official status of our container, when we entered our container number into the ship's database it said our container was thought to be in the hold and therefore on board and minimally damaged. Hooray! 

The only problem is, they are unloading the ship at a snail's pace. They have to unload every container before they can re-ship them. There are 4,000ish to unload and they are doing this at a pace of about 10 per day. Once it leaves Japan it will be another 6-10 weeks before it arrives in California. It could feasibly be 2022 before this happens. 

Since it's costing Jon's company an arm and a leg to rent us minimal furniture, they decided instead to offer us a payout to go ahead and replace anything we can't live without. They will also help up discard of any duplicate stuff that we are unable to sell/donate once our shipment arrives. This is really the best case scenario of the worst case scenarios! 

We have furniture in storage coming from Houston so will have beds and dressers for us and Forest (but no mattresses). That should arrive next week and then they'll come and pick up the rental stuff.  We bought a used glider, changing table, and crib for Juliet (who is actually still sleeping in the pack n play because we didn't want to change anything during a regression- I'm super nervous to change anything up now because I get super superstitious when it comes to baby sleep!). 

We bought a nice couch, cookware, tableware, towels, bedding, etc. We need a dining table and barstools but we can't find anything we like that is available before June which kind of defeats the purpose. We love our table that's coming but we are worried that after being in Thailand without A/C (was in our nanny's kitchen) and then in a shipping container for possibly a year, it's gonna be in pretty bad shape once it arrives, so we want to go ahead and just replace it just in case. 

our perfectly cozily rumpled restoration hardware cloud couch for the family room

great for snuggling up for movie time. And yes, we were crazy to get white.  Especially in a room off of the kitchen and backyard. It's performance fabric but I still feel totally uptight about it! 

You don't realize how much stuff you need to make a house a home until you have to replace it all in one fell swoop. We are super thankful this happened on this side vs happening while we were living in Thailand. Target, homegoods and pottery barn make this a lot easier! 

Little J just woke from her 2.5 hour siesta. If she continues to nap well I'll do a little post on our house and neighborhood soon! 

18 month snapshot

Happy belated half birthday to our girl! Juliet turned 18 months on January 21. Our baby is a fully fledged toddler in both motor and language skills. She's a running, climbing, jumping bean with a vocab of over 100 words! She still has the attention span of a fruit fly with approximately 0% interest in conventional toys, but we now that we area bit more settled we are figuring out some things that keep her entertained and happy. Let's dive in!

Stats: Funny story. At her well check I was expecting Juliet to fall somewhere around 34.5 inches tall which would keep her on the 97% trajectory. When they laid her down and measured her she clocked in at 36 inches. Which is like 2 standard deviations off the chart. 

The doctor didn't believe it and quickly remeasured her standing up using a tape measure. It still came out around 36 inches but she said the bow was probably throwing off the measurement so she 'shrunk' her 1.5 inches and put her at 34.5. Very scientific. I'm gonna call it 35 inches which is 99%. Her weight was 27.8ish pounds which is 95% and her head circumference was 75%. She's a VERY big girl and I've got the backache to prove it! 

For comparison, at this age Forest was 34.5 inches and 26.5 lbs, so pretty close in size except his head was only 37%.  

She's wearing 2T clothes and could probably move into 3T in certain brands (why is Cat&Jack so small???). She's wearing size 7 shoes but I think could switch to size 8s soon. 

Teeth: Still holding strong at 16 teeth but she's showing signs that the 2 year molars are on the way. I remember having some false starts with these when Forest was the same age so I don't expect her to cut them for another few weeks or so. 

Schedule: Sleep issues have been like a game of whack a mole recently. A few weeks ago we were having obnoxiously early wakes where she'd get up at 4:30 and just cry off and on until her stubborn parents would finally get her up at 6 am, at which point she would promptly fall asleep in our arms for an hour. Now we've gotten that sorted out and she's sleeping better than ever at night (don't get too excited- 'better than ever' means sleeping 7:30-6:30 vs 7:30-5:30 but I will take it!) but her marathon naps are now only averaging 2 hours with many 1-1.5 hour days sprinkled in. She used to be a 2.5-3 hour nap kind of girl. 

Forest NEVER regularly napped more than 1 hour and 10 minutes so it still feels like a good nap to me! It's just when other people smugly brag about their babies that sleep 13 hours at night and take a 3 hour nap that I'm like 'really?!?!'. 

It's just like she's suddenly become a very light sleeper or something. Something wakes her up nearly every day- whether that's Forest not obeying my commands to slink around the house like a ninja during naptime or the neighbor using their leaf blower. I'm hoping it's a phase because the girl slept fairly well through mooooonths of construction in Bangkok. 

Forest is the lightest sleeper ever and it made things really tough as a baby/toddler, esp since naptime is the time I need to get things done like cleaning/calls/exercise. We had planned to get a peloton to put in my office but my office is directly above her room and has very creaky floors so we know that's not gonna work since I'd exclusively be using it in the early mornings or naptime. Anyhoo- average schedule is as follows:

6:30- wake

7- breakfast

8-8:30- school drop off, followed by errands, chores, trips to the park

11- lunch

12-2 nap

3-3:30 school pick up followed by snack and outside time

5:30- dinner

7- bath, bedtime snack and books

7:30- bedtime

Feedings: Juliet's appetite fluctuates so much but we are in the pickiest phase we've faced so far. She's suddenly turning up her nose at foods that used to be her favorites and the veggies she will eat are down to sweet potatoes, carrots and cucumbers. She will not be convinced to try a bite if she doesn't want it. I think it must be teething related bc she's gravitating towards purees as well. 

Her favorites are chicken, clementines, watermelon, tortellini, string cheese, hot dogs, scrambled eggs, sweet potato/black bean. That's about it! 

We do a lot of chicken dishes bc she will eat anything chicken! She's still top of the charts as far as size and weight go so I just try to trust her appetite and keep offering a healthy variety of choices. Her doctor said not to worry about her being too heavy because 'once they become more active they tend to slim down.' Um, have you met Juliet? Home girl literally hasn't stopped moving in 9 months and her cheeks are as chubby as ever. 

Favorite Book: This changes frequently, but when she has a favorite, she usually only wants to read that book over and over again. Right now it's Pajama Time by Sandra Boynton and We're Going on a Bear Hunt. She also LOVES her Hello magazine subscription (thanks Aunt Beth!). She's getting better at sitting through 2-3 board books in a row which is a big breakthrough. 

Favorite toy:   Juliet is still not very interested in toys. We've tried various types of toys and she might play with something for a minute or two but nothing holds her attention for very long. I'd say her favorite things are accessories and clothes, and she'll spend a good bit of time putting on and taking off clothes (she can put on shirts and shoes by herself), and putting on jewelry/hats/purses. 

This pack of ponytail holder/bracelets was the biggest hit on the plane. Thank you Aunt Alexis for the genius gift! 

She's very much a gross motor girl and is a very skilled playground goer. She loves to go for walks and be outside. Her favorite toys are her push lawn mower, balance bike and Cozy Coupe- so yea-gross motor/outside toys. 

She does love her ring stacker toy and she has this piggy bank toy where you put the coins in and she'll play with that a few times before losing interest. 

Words: I keep a running list of new words Juliet says and right now we are just over 120 and she's adding more all the time.  She isn't great with enunciation and she has a handful that are made-up approximations that she consistently uses  (she exclusively calls her Paci her 'bop' and Forest 'brubba' to the point where that's what we call them as well.) She is starting to put 2 words together more but I'm surprised with her big vocabulary that this hasn't take off more. Language-wise, she reminds me a lot of Forest at this age, though she has a lot more words comparatively. Some days I'll add as many as 10 words to her list! 

New skills: She's mastered hopping and can jump from a step down. She's galloping a lot and runs with her knees up now. She's super strong and a whiz with gross motor stuff. She loves to move her body and does it constantly! 

I had expectations that girls were less energetic than boys but that hasn't been the case in our house. She is busy! She's mastered her pop up surprise toy and loves anything with a buckle so that she can buckle and unbuckle it several times. She knows how to take all her clothes off and can put on her shirt and shoes. She still puts pants on her head like a hat though! 

Other favorites: Moana. Girl loves Moana and asks for it every morning. 

Morning Moana with brubba. 

She had no interest in TV before about 17 months so this is a big development! She also likes this show called Toddler Talk on youtube that's a speech therapy type of show. She's learned so much and has gained a lot of confidence by watching it and it has allowed me enough time to cook dinner or unload the dishwasher without her attached to my hip which is amazing! 

General observations: She continues to be quite fussy. We joke that she has reverse colic. Forest was such a hard baby but such a happy toddler. Juliet was an angel baby but a tough toddler. She just whines A LOT. She hates the car, stroller, shopping cart, high chair, etc. Anytime she has to be confined she is just fussing the whole time which has made running errands really stressful. 

She definitely doesn't like the fact that she can't immediately eat all the snacks she sees at Target. 

She's high energy but also quite extroverted so I think she probably doesn't have that internal thought life that F had from an early age that made him content to ride in a car or shopping cart just observing his surroundings. We'll see! As her vocabulary grows the fussing and the tantrums decrease so I just keep chatting her up all day in hopes that it helps get her there sooner! I definitely feel like we are entering an easier phase (knock on wood!). But she is still the boss baby and way more strong willed that her big brother ever was! 

Happy half birthday baby girl. I so enjoy watching you find your voice and I even enjoy watching you use it so fiercely. I try to reframe all the traits that are hard to parent as 'these attributes will serve you well in life.' You certainly have strong opinions and will not be easily swayed or distracted. You are hilarious and smart and your love for your brother brightens my world. You have the most kissable cheeks and the brightest blue eyes. Your resting grump face is a bit much but your radiant smile lights up a room. 

The face she makes when I ask her to smile...