Julia's 12-Month Checkup

Julia went in for her 12-month checkup last Friday. I'm sure everyone is waiting on pins and needles for her height and weight measurements, so here they are: 23 pounds, 1 ounce and 30 1/4 inches long. Since her last checkup in January, she has gained 1 pound, 12 ounces, and she has grown nearly two inches. Let's not forget about comparing Julia's measurements to Evelyn's. Julia is only half an inch longer than Evelyn was at 12 months, but she weighs four more pounds than Evelyn did. When you add four pounds to a baby that is/was the same length, it's no wonder Julia has such juicy legs!

There was one area of concern for the doctor - Julia's gross motor skills. At this age, she should be pulling herself up to standing, standing without assistance and cruising (walking along furniture). Julia just recently started to creep and scoot along the floor, so it will be a little while before she starts the age-appropriate gross motor skills.

Day Out with Thomas - Baltimore

We headed up to Baltimore this afternoon. First we met Kat and Ross for lunch at Panera (at the Inner Harbor). Yummy food and great company. :)

Then we went to the B&O Railroad Museum for Day Out with Thomas. This is the third time Evelyn has seen Thomas. The previous two times were in Texas and Nebraska. Today's venue was bigger, and there were a few more activities for Evelyn to participate in.

After checking in at the admissions area, she went to the "Imagination Station" area inside the roundhouse. She colored for a little bit before deciding it was time to move on. Since we know our way around the museum, and we had an hour and a half before our train ride, we headed outside. Evelyn's first stop there was the bounce house. She spent nearly ten minutes jumping around in there. In the meantime, Troy and Julia waited in the breezy shade of the food pavillion.
Next, Evelyn got two tattoos - Thomas and Rosie. Then she made a spinning painting. We just had to get a picture with Sir Topham Hatt, so we went back inside the roundhouse. The line wasn't too long, and Evelyn was simply giddy with excitement to be standing next to the controller of the Island of Sodor.
Evelyn wanted to get a video of Thomas leaving the station, so we headed outside to watch the 2:30 train depart. Evelyn waved and blew on her wooden train whistle. In other words, she and Thomas talked to each other. By this time, the sun and heat of the day was catching up to Evelyn, so she settled down in front of some Thomas videos back inside the roundhouse (while sipping water).

It wasn't long before we heard the announcement for us to board our 3:15 train. As we walked along the raised passenger platform, I had a chance to get a great picture of Evelyn standing in front of Thomas. It's so fun to watch her excitement over being so close to one of her favorite engines. I was only able to buy two tickets (long computer story), so Troy stayed back with Julia while I rode the train with Evelyn. She noticed right away that we were on a MARC coach, which made the trip that much more special.
After our 25-minute train ride, we met up with Troy and Julia in the food pavillion. We snacked and then headed to the gift shop, our last stop of the day. It's a Day Out with Thomas tradition to get a souvenir car. She got a caboose in Texas (2007) and a tank car in Nebraska in (2008). She couldn't wait to see what kind of car she would get this year . . . It was a passenger car! Just perfect for tagging along behind Annie and Clarabel (Thomas' coaches).

Let's not forget about our little Sunshine. She deserves that nickname after today's excursion. Julia only had a 30-minute nap in the car during the drive up to Baltimore. Even though it was past 4:00 - her afternoon nap time - in the following picture, she was still all smiles.

Saturday Goings-On

Julia went to her first swimming lesson this morning at the Germantown Recreation Center. I had the honor of playing with Julia in the water. At first she acted like she couldn't quite figure out why we were sitting in cool (but not cold, thank goodness) water with a bunch of other little people. After doing the warm-up activity in the super-shallow area, the class moved to the three-foot area and did fun activities like songs, front floats and back floats. I would consider the lesson a success because Julia never cried.

After lunch, we all headed over to a nearby garden center to load up on annual flowers for our front yard. We had a 25%-off coupon for our total purchase, and it's amazing what $50 will do for the front area of a townhouse. Simply amazing. I wish I had taken before and after pictures because the comparison is like night and day. Anyway - We found some stepping stones to make a path in the narrow area where we walk to turn on the faucet (no more trekking through mud and leaves and weeds). We bought imaptiens (Troy's favorite ) to put in the shady spots. For sunny annuals, we got purple ageratums, pink asters, pinkish-purple dianthus and yellow snapdragons. Finally, to make the transformation complete, we got mulch, which really made the grass, bushes and flowers pop. I will probably post a picture after a month or so, when the flowers have had a chance to fill in.

Did I mention the temperature was over 90 degrees today?

Amazing Customer Service

I was wowed by the incredible customer service I experienced during our trip back home today. It all started when we dropped off our rental car at Enterprise. The guy who checked in the car was super-friendly at the ungodly hour of 6:00 a.m., and he helped me unload our luggage. The shuttle driver was also very helpful and friendly.

I am always pleasantly surprised at the efficiency of the security lines at Denver International Airport. The security workers know what they're doing, and they offer helpful advice before you realize you need help. For example, I was looking around to find the special line for families of children that have food and/or liquid in their carry-on baggage (read: Julia's jar of baby food). Before I knew it, someone directed me to the correct line. I should also mention the help with collapsing and opening the stroller for the xray conveyor belt - much appreciated when my hands are full.

After we made it through security, our next stop was breakfast. Evelyn had pancakes on the brain, and our only option was a sit-down place. I figured I would get everything I truly needed for both girls at a place like that (as opposed to McDonald's), and I was right. The waitress provided me with every little extra thing I requested, and she never acted like it was out of the ordinary.

I need to write to Southwest Airlines to commend one of their flight attendants. Overall, we girls had very pleasant experiences flying Southwest for this trip - (decent-sized) snacks, drinks and friendly staff. But today was even better. I needed to make Julia's cereal, so I rang for a flight attendant to bring some water. When she came back with the water, it was almost as if she could read my mind: How in the world am I going to make cereal in this cramped space and keep Julia from making a huge mess? The flight attendant said, "I have grandkids, and I know how to make baby cereal. Give me the container and the cereal, and I'll be right back." That's exactly what happened - in just moments, the flight attendant returned with perfectly-made cereal.

Behind the Scenes

Evelyn had a chance to go behind the scenes today. The first stop was the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Even though we visited this museum Friday afternoon, Evelyn requested to go back because she hadn't seen everything she wanted to. No problem, since Uncle Eric has a membership that we borrowed. After checking out the space exhibits, we headed to the dinosaur area. When we walked past the laboratory, we were lucky enough to see a scientist cleaning a fossil. Not only that, but the window was open so that we could talk with the scientist. He told us about the ankylosaurus plate fossil he was cleaning. Since Evelyn loves dinosaurs, she knew exactly what the guy was talking about. She even got to touch the fossil. Very cool for a little girl who loves dinosaurs.

The next stop was the RTD maintenance facility. Evelyn's Uncle Eric works for the Denver transportation district, so he managed to make an appointment to tour the yards where the light-rail trains are serviced and cleaned. This is also the place where they "live," and Evelyn was able to see some of the trains leave for shifts. She helped move a switch to change the direction of the tracks the trains travel on. She walked through the engine wash area - I don't think Evelyn was as nervous as I was that the whole thing would start spinning and spraying while we were in there. Great stuff for our Train Girl.

Julia's Real Birthday

Today marks the day when sweet little Julia Carolyn Luster came into the world. Most of the weekend was devoted to Julia's birthday, so not much happened in the way of a celebration today. Julia mostly tagged along with Evelyn on her Denver adventures. But she was able to visit with Uncle Eric and Aunt Heather shortly before bedtime. Happy birthday Sweet Babes!

Julia's First Birthday Party

Originally, Julia's birthday party was scheduled for Saturday evening. Since the weather was predicted to be sloppy and wet and cold all day Saturday (which is what ended up happening), we postponed the party. It was a good thing, too, because this afternoon it was sunny and warm. Just perfect for a birthday barbecue.

Julia entertained her guests while they ate lunch. Then it was time for cake. I made two birthday cakes - a cut-out number one and a baby cake. The baby cake was strictly for Julia to play with or eat, and it had candles that spelled her name. After Evelyn helped Julia blow out her candles, it was time to dig in! Well . . . it turns out that Julia gets the prize for cleanest cake-eating baby. She grabbed the cake with her entire hand, but Julia didn't get what she expected. She didn't know quite what to do with the squishy cube. After a few more attempts of poking at the cake with her index fingers, she gave up and decided it was nap time.

Julia didn't get around to opening her presents until after her supper and bath time. Somehow everyone knew that Julia is a little bookworm because she made out with eight books. As you can see in the picture below, it didn't take long for Julia to dive into her books.