The Month in Review

I can not believe it has been so long since my last post.  I will try to catch you up on our little world.

Bill's mom came for a visit.  I did not take many pictures but we enjoyed our time with her.  Our busy girl kept Grandma Carol on the go! 

Juliana playing with Grandma's zipper 

We celebrated my parent's 51st wedding anniversary.  We went to a local landmark, The Columbia Restaurant.  It is a delicious Spanish restaurant that has been in Ybor City since 1905.  It is a family favorite.  Juliana was happy.  Cuban bread will do that to a girl.

My Mom & Dad

Juliana with Aunt Linda

This month we also celebrated our nephew's 18th birthday.  It is hard to believe that little boy can be all grown up.  Chaise is an intelligent, handsome young man with a fantastic sense of humor.  My oh my can he make us laugh!

Juliana enjoyed the party.  She provided the musical entertainment.

Performing a duet with her cousin, Emily.

Juliana loves dogs.  My brother's family dog was no exception.  She was mesmerized by Remi's ears.  Remi is such a sweet girl she let Juliana play with them.

And kiss her too!

The next day was Mother's Day.  It was a wonderful day.  I truly savored the day and the overwhelming blessing I have to be Momma to our sweet girl.  My heart is filled with immense love. 

The greatest moment of the day was receiving this card made by Juliana.  Oh so sweet, I didn't need anything else.

The verse printed in her card is Proverbs 23:25. 

 It reads: May your father and your mother be glad, May she who gave birth to you rejoice.

Such an interesting yet appropriate verse.

Exactly 3 months after we arrived home, Juliana started to attend my bible study with me.  It is Bible Study Fellowship which includes a wonderful program for children.  She has loved it.  From her excitement of getting to see my mom-she starts yelling "Ba-ba!" (her name for Grandma Kent) as soon as we pull into the parking lot.  To her joy for her teachers and classmates.  We have been amazed to see her learn something new every week.  The study runs from September to May.  In the past, when May comes around I am ready for the summer break.  This year I was sad for it to end because it was an end for Juliana also.  We look forward to starting back in September.

Here she is with one of her teachers, Mrs. Sample.

We also went to a surprise party for my aunt and uncle.  It was their 50th wedding anniversary.  They were surprised and we had a great time.  Juliana once again tickled the ivories.  A piano may be in our future!  She was also a dancing queen.  She hopped, skipped, clapped her hands and spun until she was dizzy.  Obviously I was preoccupied with dancing with my girl because I didn't take any pictures.  Hopefully I can order some from the photographer!

In between all her social engagements, Juliana has been busy at home. 

Enjoying the pool.

She loves the water!  We have finally signed her up for swim lessons starting next week. 

In the meantime, we bought a mini pool so she can splash about without us getting in with her.

Anything to beat the heat, the hose works too!

Juliana has fallen in love with her polar bear, Louie.  He is named after our sweet friends, Louie and Carol, who gave him to her. 

She looks for him as soon as she wakes up. 

He goes shopping with us.

He tags along on our walks.

He is her little playmate!

Look at her gazing at him!

That just about wraps up the past month.  So much fun can be exhausting!

Beach Weekend

This past weekend we took Juliana on her first weekend away to the beach.  After being in Russia for that long trip 2, we thought we may never leave home again!  But time passed and we were ready to take her on another first time adventure!  We headed to Sarasota, just a short 1  1/2 hour car ride from home.  Juliana quickly made her self at home in the hotel room as she grabbed the remote and phone.  Bill and I had flashbacks of Russia!!  She loved playing with both during our stay in St. Petersburg!  She checked out the balcony.

And the bathtub! 

This was on our way out to dinner.  A nice man offered to take a picture of the 3 of us.

The next day was the big day.  Her first trip to the beach.  She loved it all!

The sand,

that first view of the water,

and she was ready to dive in!

Little Miss must have been feeling pretty special.  She seated herself in the "Members Only" section of the beach club.  Well excuse us!

She loves the pool too.

She could have played with the turtles all day!

Did I mention how much she loves her sunglasses?

And her hat.

It was a great weekend filled with lots of firsts, joyful squeals and giggles,  and lots of love.  Sarasota is a place Bill & I have visited many, many times.  Yet experiencing it through the eyes of our daughter made it seem like our first time too! 

Easter

We enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend.  It was such a joy to share another first with our sweet girl!
The week before Easter we went to an Easter egg hunt.  She quickly figured out this game.

Although there were eggs everywhere, she decided she wanted the one in a little boy's hand.  When that didn't go over very well, she had another strategy...she found the jackpot!

And loaded up!

Then she used her big muscles to carry her basket.

On Saturday, of Easter weekend, all of my family came to visit.  This included our niece, Emily, who is away at college.  This was the first time she met Juliana.  They became fast friends.

There were lots of special moments to be had.  She was thrilled to play with Uncle Chuck.  Especially when she got her hands on his phone!

There was swinging with Uncle Robert

Dancing with Aunt Linda

Her cousin, Chaise, tried out her bike.  Hmmm just a tad too small for him!

Aunt Angie brought her books.  Juliana loves books!

She even got gifts in the mail from her Aunt Dee.  She loved the clothes.  So much she immediately began to try them on!

Easter Sunday was a day of starting our own family traditions.  After church, we enjoyed lunch with family and had an egg hunt.  Juliana also discovered what the Easter Bunny brought her. 

She hunted for eggs.  Not many made it in her basket.  She would pick one up and before she put it into her basket she would spot another.  The first one would get tossed in the air as she ran to get the next egg!

Here she is with my parents, Gamma & Pop-Pop.  She is looking serious as she works on getting that bow out of her hair!

By the end of the weekend, we were all worn out.  It was so worth it.  We cherished sharing our first Easter together.  Every day is a blessing with our dear little girl.  Her joy is contagious. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

My two Valentines!

First week home

I apologize for neglecting my blogging duties.  I have had good intentions but never quite made it to my laptop. 

Our trip home was long as expected but Juliana did great.  On the nearly 12 hour flight from Moscow to Houston, she played in her seat with all the "toys" the plane had to offer.  Plastic coffee cup, plastic spoons, flight safety card, tray tables, cup holders-she was a busy girl.  She became friends with the kind man sitting behind us who was making funny faces at her, and watched all the activity of people passing by in the aisle.  She also managed to sleep some.   A couple of cat naps and when she could no longer fight her exhaustion she took a 3 hour nap.  Upon arriving in Houston, immigration and security took much longer than expected and we missed our connection.  Thankfully, we were able to book another flight 4 hours later.  Through all of this our girl was a champ.  While waiting for our flight to Tampa she fell asleep and slept through the entire flight.  We were thrilled to see my family at the airport.  All of the emotions of the month came flooding forward.  It was a wonderful feeling to hug all of them.  Juliana was happy too.  She was pleasant and friendly even after just waking up.

Fun fun on the plane!

Arriving in Tampa and receiving her first doll from Grandma Kent.

Her big welcome home!

Juliana is adjusting beautifully.  Her biggest issue has been sleep.  The combination of another new environment and the time difference was causing her to get up every couple of hours at night.  Clearly her days and nights were mixed up when for a couple of days she took 4 1/2 hour naps.  We have been able to turn that around and the last 2 nights she has slept through the night for 11 or 12 hours.  She is still napping once a day for about 2 hours.  She loves her high chair.  After 2 weeks of holding her on our laps to feed her, and wearing much of what she was eating, I am loving it too!  She still is eating very well.  Now that she is settling in we will work on trying some new foods.  Juliana now loves her dogs (doga as she would say).  She was immediately enamored with our little yorkie, Macie.  She enjoys Macie's kisses, laughs as she rolls around on the floor, and looks for her when she hears the tip tap of her feet on the floor.  She has grown to love Ben, our big standard poodle.  The first time she saw him she did not know what to think,  Her eyes were huge looking at this "giant" animal.  But now she loves him too.  Just yesterday he was standing next to her high chair while she was eating and she was patting his head.
We have enjoyed walks in the neighborhood.  The weather has been beautiful.  After 29 days of no sunshine in Russia, I can truly appreciate our brilliant blue skies.  Juliana stares in awe while we walk.  So much to see, hear and smell!  Her inquisitive mind has also led her to explore the house.  And led us to do a bit more child proofing!  We believe she has opened nearly every door and cabinet in the house!  But it is a pleasure to see her grow comfortable in her new home.  She is beautiful child, full of love and joy.  At times, Bill & I still can't believe she is ours and we are finally home.  Yet at the same time it feels like she has been ours forever.  We can not imagine our life without her.

Our happy girl in her high chair.

Enjoying the outdoors-no snowsuit required!!