Back in the swing of things

Things have been busy around here the past week, as the students are back on campus and school is in full swing.  After a long spring break, we're all making the final push to the end of the school year.  It's funny that I find the time NOW to write a new blog post!

The weather has been incredible here, so much so that I had to dig out Julia's shorts and tee shirts to accommodate the sunshine and highs of 80 degrees!  Julia reminds me a lot of myself as a kid, never getting enough of playing outside.  Julia's new favorite word is "swing"  which sounds more like "sweee!" when she says it.  She also loves going down the slide and often refuses any help; she'll say "no" and then point to herself and say "ya-ya" (which is her version of "Julia").  Translation: Mama and papa, I want to do it myself.

Julia is still very obsessed with the number 2.  Jason and I fool around and call her our little Noah because of it.  At nap time and bed time, we'll put a blanket on her and she'll then say "two?" and keep repeating it until we get her another.  She'll ask for two baby dolls (which she sometimes sleeps with), balls, you name it.  She's too funny.

Julia's hair has been growing quite a bit recently and we can now put tiny hair clips in it.  They don't always stay in very long, but she looks so sweet with them in.  Here's a picture of the other day when she wanted a bunch in her hair.

We've got a busy couple of weeks ahead, but then it's Easter!  Stay tuned for a post with some photos and stories of the holiday.  I'm sure it'll be a fun day!

18 months later....

Well it seems impossible, but our little girl is 18 months old. "What?!?!?!" you say? "You guys actually had that baby you were writing about?" Of course we did! And she's been keeping us on our toes this past year and a half.

Any of you reading this blog probably know our little Julsie by now. She was born on August 15, 2010 at 8:59pm (after 25 hours of labor - ouch!). She weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz, was 20" long, and her head circumference was 13.5". Here's a picture of her as a newborn:



She is absolutely the best thing that's ever happened to us and amazes us constantly. Out little peanut, though, is growing up fast. Here's her stats after her 18 month check-up today, and a look at her from last week during our family trip to St. Petersburg, FL:

HEIGHT: 33" (85th percentile)
WEIGHT: 24 lbs. 12 oz (60th percentile)
HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE: 18" (45th percentile)



For a girl who for quite some time was in the 30th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height, Julia is now towering over her peers. Born with very little hair, it's been growing slowly ever since and is coming in now. But no need for her first haircut just yet (sorry, Aunt Kristy). We think by the time she is 3 she'll be able to wear a barrette, and maybe by 7 we can give her some pigtails. (*smile*)

These days, Julia is into just about everything. She likes to dance and listen to music, play with balls, read books, stack her Mega Bloks, carry around her baby doll, take things apart and put them back together (the remotes, caps on bottles, buckling and unbuckling her highchair straps...), climb, play peek-a-boo, help mama feed Emma, go from stroller rides outside....the list goes on and on. She is one busy kiddo! She also loves to do things by herself more and more. She often insists on putting on her shoes, coat and hat all by herself. And of course she likes to feed herself and is getting better and better at using utensils. Julia is also talking up a storm, and now says over 20 words. Her most common words are mama, papa, Emma, uh-oh, up, more, please, ipod, boo-boo, Elmo, and two. (Yes, she really likes Elmo, and we watch little snippets of Sesame Street with her every now and then. The same is true with Kipper, who's a British doggie that is very mellow, but Kipper's a lot harder to say).

I could go on and on about my little girl, but I'll end this post with a promise to update you on all of the Maier family happenings MUCH, MUCH more often from now on. Lots of love to you all!

8/9/10 Has Come and Gone

Well, my due date has come and gone and we are trying to stay patient for peanut's arrival. We were hoping our baby would have the coolest birth date ever (8/9/10), but at least they will always have the coolest due date ever :) At this point, we are hoping I go into labor by the end of the weekend, because our midwife, Meg, is going on vacation as of Monday. We've been working with her throughout our pregnancy and would really like her to be there for the delivery. We've met with all of the ob/gyns in the practice and they are all nice, so I'm not concerned about having one of them at the delivery instead; I'd just prefer to have Meg there instead.

We had an ultrasound yesterday to check the baby's growth and it looks like the growth slowed only a little, but it's still in the normal range. The estimates for weight went from the 78th percentile to the 80th percentile, and now to the 70th percentile. The technician said that the estimate for weight (give or take a pound) is 8.5 lbs at this point. In addition, we were told that all of the amniotic fluid levels look good, the heartbeat is in normal range (147 beats/min.), and the baby is in the proper head-down position for birth. These are all great things to hear and be happy about, and we're glad that the baby's doing well in there.

That said, here's to hoping the baby decides it's time to be born this week. If he or she doesn't, I'll be posting an update on Monday after our doctor's appointment!