Thanks for the memories

Well, it was certainly a Thanksgiving to remember, for reasons both good and bad. Most importantly, I had a great time spending Thanksgiving weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's. Uncle Ryan had to work, but Aunt Jess was there and I got to show off my beautiful Thanksgiving dress.


And of course, there was the actual Thanksgiving dinner, which Bobbi and Dido came down for as well. As you know, I've been prepping for weeks, quoting Peppermint Patty when she yells, "Where's the turkey? Where's the mashed potatoes? Where's the pumpkin pie?" Well, Grandma made all that and much more, and every bite of it was delicious! My personal favorite was the mashed potatoes, but I loved the pumpkin pie too.


And while Henry's still too little to eat real food, he certainly tried his hardest to help himself to a piece of pumpkin pie.


Sorry, little brother, better luck next year!

Now for the not-so-good stuff: while I was healthy over Thanksgiving for the first time ever, Henry wasn't so lucky. He was all congested, and a little feverish at night, so Mom and Dad continued the Thanksgiving tradition started last year, where on Friday they took a sick kid (me last year; Henry this year) to the same pediatrician that Dad went to growing up. Turns out he had a cold (yes, another one!), which explains why he's been keeping Mom and Dad up every night: he's really congested.

And our car is even sicker — its computer board conked out Friday, which means that we had to borrow Grandpa's car this week until it can get fixed (good thing Mom and Dad took out our car seats before the car got towed away!). And sadly, our car dying is another Thanksgiving tradition (it also happened three Thanksgivings ago, when I was still in Mom's belly).

And finally, we ran into major traffic problems trying to get home Saturday. After it took us an hour to travel just 10 miles on the turnpike, we turned around and went back to Grandma and Grandpa's for a couple hours. We were more successful later on, and we made it back home safe and sound Saturday night — just in time for another big event that I'll tell you about later this week!

Turkey time!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I made this turkey at school. Isn't it great? I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year, for many reasons. First off, this just might be my first Thanksgiving ever where I'm not sick all weekend (that could still change, as I have a minor cold and I just got my H1N1 vaccine yesterday, so who knows what side effects are headed my way?). Then I'm really looking forward to turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. And finally, I have a lot to be thankful this year, which by the way is the first year I actually know how to say "thank you." I'm thankful for my loving parents and grandparents, my friends (both real and imaginary) and most importantly, my favorite brother in the whole world:


Speaking of Henry, he's too young to partake in the Thanksgiving feast, but he told me that he's thankful that his fingers are so tasty:


And yes, he's also thankful for our family, as well as all of you blog fans out there. We hope you have a happy Thanksgiving. We'll be at Grandma and Grandpa's all weekend, so we'll catch up with you next week. Gobble gobble!

Leaf me alone

I guess I've already started to get influenced by what I watch on TV, because A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving gave me some great ideas about what do to with all the leaves on the lawn. Inspired by Linus, I had Mom rake them into a pile so I could jump around in them.


It was so much fun!


Here's a video of my leaf jumping antics, with some shaky guest camerawork by Henry:

Sixth sense

I'm six months old today! And in celebration of my big day, I put together a slideshow featuring me and my very favorite person:


My big sister! Here are my favorite moments from her during the past six months that we've been together.



Pretty great, huh? If you had problems watching it on YouTube (we had to do a higher-quality version because of all the photos, which might have slowed things down on your computer), try the quicktime version located here, and see if you have any better luck. You also can download that version directly to your computer, which should also make it easier to see it clearly.

I'm off to celebrate, so I'll talk to you later!

Out with the old toys, in with the new

On Sunday, I'm going to be six months old. I'm halfway to my very first birthday! Now that I'm growing up and getting so big, I've said goodbye to a lot of my "baby" stuff, including my swing. That's okay, because Mom has introduced a whole new batch of toys, for babies 6 months and up. (Well, they're new to me. Julia spent a lot of time with them in her younger days.) I love them already.




Okay, so maybe I still need to learn which toys are for playing with and which are used for teething!

Here's a look at me testing out all my new toys.



Have a great weekend, and be sure to check back on Sunday. I have something special planned here that day!

Thanksgiving preparations

Thanksgiving is only a week away, and I'm eagerly looking forward to it. I've been watching a lot of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving with Dad, so I know exactly what food I'll be demanding from Grandma on the big day. Though as you can see, I'm still a little fuzzy on the concept of appropriate Thanksgiving attire:



Do you think I have enough barrettes and headbands? The answer of course is no. I can never have enough!

Thinking inside the inbox

All week, I've been torturing my parents by waking up no later than 5:30 (today I got up even earlier: at 5 sharp). And if you think that's cruel, it's nothing compared to what I might do if my mailbox remains empty despite last week's plea for Ask Julia & Henry questions! So for everyone's sake, send some questions our way! That is all.

Sitting pretty

Look at me! I've had enough of being stuck on my back and tummy, so I figured it was high time to start sitting up! I've been doing it for the past couple weeks. I'm not completely steady yet (Mom and Dad still have to spot me, because I inevitably take a tumble), but I'm doing pretty well.


And take a look at my spiky hair! I hear that Dad had the same haircut in eighth grade. Of course mine isn't a voluntarily thing - it's just what my hair is doing at this length.


Aren't I a cutie? Here's a video of me sitting up, along with a glimpse of how agile I can be when I end up back on my tummy.

Sweet potato, sweet potahto

After a month of "eating" rice cereal, oatmeal and barley, it was time for a new challenge. So this weekend, Mom and Dad gave me vegetables for the first time. First up was sweet potatoes. What did I think? Here are some photos:





And a video:



These fruits and veggies will take some time to get used to I'm sure, and result in lots more funny faces from yours truly as I taste new things for the first time!

Baby I was born to run

I'm still waiting on my Yankees World Series outfit - what's the holdup, Dad? - so until then I'll just have to enjoy the Bruce Springsteen shirt that Mom and Dad got for me after the Bruce concerts last month.


I would have preferred the Born to Run album cover, which has Bruce and Clarence on it, but Born in the U.S.A. is great too!

Although the weather isn't going to be great, this looks to be the first weekend that the whole family is semi-healthy in months, so I'm looking forward to it. And do you know what would make it even better? If you'd send some Ask Julia & Henry questions our way. Have a great weekend!

The look of love

It's no secret that Mom was always Julia's favorite person when she was a baby. As for who my favorite person is, it's no contest: my big sister! I get so happy whenever she's around. And when she's playing near me, I always want to see what she's doing. Take a look:



One bit of good news before I go: I went back to the doctor's yesterday, and my ear infection is finally all gone. I've slept through the night for the past three nights, which is always a good sign that I'm feeling better. But then the doctor gave me a bunch of vaccines — four shots in all, including H1N1 and flu — which I was not happy about!

Playtime with Nia

If you were having trouble accessing the video of Henry leaning over in his swing from yesterday's blog, we got Dad to fix it, so click back on it and take another look.

I don't get to see my friend Nia as often as I used to. Back in the day, Bobbi and Dido would schedule playdates with Nia's mom in the park, and we'd see each other a couple of times a week. But now she's in school all day, so we only get to see each other once a month or so on a weekend. Whenever we do get together, however, we remain the best of friends. We have so much fun playing together.


And take a look at this, the cutest picture ever taken of the two of us:


Isn't it great? I miss you, Nia! I hope we see each other again soon.

Going down swinging

I showed you yesterday how much I love my Jumperoo. So it should come as little surprise that I've started spending less time in my swing. While I've loved that thing far more than Julia ever did, I'm getting too big for it, and whenever I'm in there lately, I tend to lean over to one side in an attempt to free myself, as you can see in the photo above and this video (UPDATE: video fixed):



I heard a rumor that once the Christmas tree comes out (which is apparently going to happen soon), the swing is going to disappear permanently. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Jumperoo for joy!

I had a fun weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's. Mom and Dad went away to Philly for the weekend and Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to watch Julia and me. I showed them all my new tricks: rolling over onto my tummy and then onto my back again, sitting upright.

In fact, the only bad thing about the weekend is that I couldn't spend time in my Jumperoo. Just like my sister did when she was my age, I love going in there and jumping wildly up and down (and more often that not, all that movement inspires me to have a dirty diaper!).


It's so much fun! Take a look:



One other thing before I forget: I had my six month checkup last week. I couldn't get any vaccinations or flu shot because I'm still congested, but I now weigh 17 lbs 4 oz and am 28 inches tall. I'm getting really big!

We are the World (Series Champions)!

Congratulations Yankees! I couldn't make the big World Series parade today because I'm, ironically, in Phillies country, visiting Grandma and Grandpa while Mom and Dad spend the weekend in Philly (though I don't understand why they'd want to spend time away from me and Henry!). Henry and I have lots more photos and videos to share, so look for those next week. And one more time - let's hear it for the Yankees!

Haunted (and tasty!) house

For weeks, I've had my eye on the Haunted Gingerbread House kit that Mom had at home, but we didn't have a chance to actually put it together until the day after Halloween. Take a look (and if you're wondering why I'm inexplicably crying at the beginning, well, welcome to my world):



Unfortunately, the gingerbread house fell apart soon after — I guess it really was haunted — but we'll try again at Christmas!

A spooktacular Halloween!

I had such a happy Halloween this year! First off, I got a new pretty princess outfit to go trick or treating in, and I loved being a princess. Like last year, I went trick or treating three different times, plus this year I had the added fun of doing a Halloween parade at school on Friday.


Mom and Bobbi came to see the parade and watched me sing my "Witches Brew" song along with the rest of the class. After school, Dad took me into work for his office's Halloween party (Henry was feeling sick again — we later found out he got another ear infection — so he didn't get to participate in the fun as much as we'd hoped).


I got lots of candy at Dad's work. And much to Dad's dismay, I've learned that you can actually eat the candy you get trick or treating! So I started asking for some as soon as we got back to his office. Three Musketeers and Milky Ways are two of my favorites!

On Saturday, we kicked off Halloween by going trick or treating at the stores in town. Mom got some hot cider, but I ended up drinking most of it!


Henry donned his lobster costume and came around with us. He looked so adorable!


But he still wasn't feeling great, and before long, all the excitement was too much for him.


I, on the other hand, was ready for more! At night, Mom took me out trick or treating around the block.


As much I loved trick or treating, my favorite part of the day was going home and giving out candy to the other trick or treaters who came by. I got so excited whenever a new group of kids came to the house!


Dad put together a video of some of my favorite Halloween moments from Friday and Saturday, so take a look:



I'm sad that Halloween is over (and Dad said that we can't watch one of my favorite new shows - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - until next Halloween). But at least I still have lots of Halloween candy (I ask Mom and Dad every day if I can have more of it, but they only let me have one piece a day), and Mom and Dad tell me that the next holiday, Thanksgiving, is just around the corner!