Party Girl

One day after turning 1-year old, it was time to throw a big party for Jillian.

On Saturday, we had the party at Grace Lutheran Church, the same place that we've had many events (like Mommy and Daddy's wedding). Lots and lots of friends and family came to wish Jillian a happy birthday. There were many appetizers, snacks, goodies and treats, and there was a punch bowl that was a big hit with Cousin Ty. At the entrance was a photo album of Jillian's first year, thanks to Mommy's hard work in putting it together until 2:30 am the night before. We had much help in decorating by Cousin Meagan (and her friend Hannah) and Cousin Tierney ... the tables were decorated in pink, lime green and baby blue, with tulips, votive candles and balloons. Jillian was wearing her new dress.

The first thing to do was sing to Jillian. As always, Ty started everybody off with the "Happy Birthday" song. Then, it was time for cake ... in this case, it was the cupcakes that Mommy had made. Jillian got her own cupcake to eat, and she latched on with both hands and ate. We think she might like sugar. Then she wanted down, but she kept on holding and eating the cupcake while standing there ... until it fell, and that was the end of it. Somehow, Jillian managed to keep her dress clean through it all!

Next, it was present-opening time. So many nice presents! Mommy opened them while Jillian (and every other little kid) stood around and watched closely. We don't have the space to mention all the presents here, but Jillian thanks everyone very much! She will enjoy them for months and years to come. As a little treat, here's a photo of Jillian wearing one of her gifts, a sun hat from Auntie Sheryl and Aunt Denise.

Finally, the party ended with a kid's game ... "Pin the Tail on Mocha". Amazingly, nearly every kid got the tail in the right spot; we didn't have a blindfold, or is that just coincidence? Jillian gave her best shot, and at least got the tail on Mocha's foot (like this photo shows).

All in all, it was a wonderful 1st birthday party for Jillian! Thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen, and thanks to everyone for sharing this big day with the little Sweetie-Pie.

1-year Old!!!

Today was Jillian's big day ... her 1st birthday!

She started it off by having Mommy sing "Happy Birthday" to her at 5:30 am this morning while she was still asleep. After waking up and having a bottle, she got picked up by Grannie to spend the day in Castle Rock. She spent the day running around, playing with family, and being bothered by the dogs. Then she got picked up by Daddy and took a long nap until Mommy got home. Then it was off to the Verd house to celebrate her Uncle Clark's birthday (yes, they share the same day). After running around with more family, she came home and relaxed after a long birth-day. Such a big girl now!

Babble

Here's a clip of Jillian practicing her talking, and then taking one of her many tumbles ...

New Things

Jillian has been working on a couple new things today ...

1. She has been trying to say the word "cheese". This started when Mommy said "cheese" to get a smile out of Jillian, and that's when she tried saying it herself. She did pretty well, because it sounds pretty close.

2. Since her 1st birthday is coming up, Mommy has been helping Jillian learn to "blow". Jillian puts her lips together and makes a little bit of a puffing sound.

These are in addition to all the jabbering she's been doing lately. The amount of baby-talk that Jillian has been doing has really increased. Plus, she's been trying new sounds, especially her little high-pitched squeal that's been funny to hear.

Rockin'

Grannie got out her little rocking chair that she had when she was a kid so that Jillian could rock on it. And rock she did! She got on and off of it many times, and rocked it as hard as she could all by herself. Here's a little video of the action:

It's Mine

It's difficult to take anything away from Jillian and not have her throw a fit. We have usually used a little deception, giving her something while quickly taking the other thing away. But, when we just take it (such as car keys or a water bottle), she gets very mad, and there's lots of yelling and plenty of tears. These episodes seem to be happening much more often, since she seems to think that every set of keys and every water bottle is hers.

Little Gardener

While Daddy worked in the backyard, Jillian got into everything and ended up very dirty. She doesn't seem to mind getting dirt on herself, and of course she loves to grab everything she sees, so there were lots of opportunities to get her clothes messy. The thing she was really into was playing with the work gloves ... she liked it when Daddy put a glove on one of her hands.

Giddyup, Horsey

Here's another guest video of Jillian, this time provided by her Aunt Dianne. It shows Jillian riding the little carousel at Papa Pete's Pizza with Cousin Ainsley, when they were there celebrating Uncle Alan's 70th birthday. Jillian loved to be on the rides!

Super Fast

"What just happened?" That's what Heather and I asked each other tonight when Jillian went zipping by us like a blur. It was so fast, it was kind of scary and definitely surprising. It looks like Jillian has found a higher gear, and is cruising at fast walking speed, getting closer to "run-time"! Here's a short clip of her zooming about:

Sighting No. 25

Here's another photo of Jillian, flashing her big, blue eyes. Photos of Jillian (standing still) continue to be hard to come by, as she continues to be on the move ... faster and faster each day!

Outdoor Girl II

Another nice day out, so Jillian got to go outside to the backyard and run around for a while. Before, she liked to stay on the path and patio, since those are nice and level. But, today she ventured off the beaten path into the dirt, grass and mostly weeds. She fell down a bunch at first, and when she got back up, she'd look closely at the dirt on her hands for a bit ... and then rub her hands together to wipe them off. But eventually she got used to the uneven ground and cruised all over the backyard, like this video shows:

Tantrum

So, Daddy was taking some photos of Jillian, and then she decided that she wanted the camera. Daddy said "no", and this video shows what happened next. Of course, as soon as Daddy let Jillian watch a replay of this video, she stopped crying and started laughing. Just like a light switch ... on and off.

Eyes and Nose

Mommy decided to turn Jillian's habit of poking us in the face into something positive. Now, when we ask Jillian where our eye is, she points her index finger at our eye. And when we ask where our nose is, she pushes her finger into our nose. Being the independent little girl that she is, she'll usually only do this for us once ... then she's back to being on her own program.

Return of the Tornado

After over a week of being knocked flat by illness, Jillian has returned in full force and is now all about go-go-go! We ended up not having to give her the amoxicillin, since the fever never returned and her energy levels came back to normal. She has the usual congestion in her sinuses, but that's not enough to stop her. Now, she has returned to finding every toy she owns and throwing them all over the house, tornado-style. And she's a fast as ever, cruising up and down the hallways faster than we can keep track of her.

The Big Honey Hunt

By far, Jillian's favorite book is "The Big Honey Hunt", a Berenstain Bears book from 1962. It's an old hard-bound school book that's a little worn, and is steadily getting more worn by the day. Whenever Jillian sees this book, she goes right after it, picks it up and brings it to us to read. And we sit with her and read all 63 pages of it. After many, many weeks of reading, she hasn't gotten tired of it yet. It's one of the few books that she'll sit and listen carefully to (and get kind of excited about) through the entire reading. And if we're not around, she like to open it up and look at all the pictures on her own.

Eye Poker

Something new for Jillian, and that Mommy and Daddy are not too thrilled about, is that she likes to poke at people's eyes (mostly our own). If she gets close to our heads, she'll point with her index finger and try to jab them into our eyes. And it's not just us, either ... she has tried to do it with other people, too. Of course, we say "no" to her, and she agrees, shaking her head and saying "no" back ... and then she goes back to the poking.

This has also turned into pulling at our eyebrows. Jillian has been fascinated with those, and she like to scratch and pull at them.

Doggie Bed

One of Jillian's favorite places to play at Grannie's house is Mocha's doggie bed. She loves to get on it and roll around, because it's nice and soft. She even likes to play with Mocha's doggie toys, like this photo shows. But eventually Mocha wants the bed back, and will get it back by either licking Jillian in the face (which she doesn't care for), or by nudging Jillian out of the way (since Mocha weighs over 2X more).

Sick, still ...

First it was a long weekend of the "croup". Now that has been followed by a long week of something else. Jillian has not felt well all this past week, as she has been congested, she has been coughing (and urping) and the fever has come and gone at times. Which means she hasn't been sleeping very well, and doesn't want any solids, preferring just formula. Compared to the weekend, she's actually looking and feeling so much better ... but she's still not her usual go-go self.

So, Mommy scheduled another doctor appointment at the family clinic in Vancouver. We went there this morning and met with Dr. Wheelock. He checked Jillian's lungs, and those were fine. Then he checked her ears carefully, and said that there might possibly be the start of an ear infection. To be safe and head it off, he prescribed amoxicillin, and said that we could choose to use it or not, based on how Jillian was feeling. In the end, the doctor said that he thought that Jillian had picked up another bug.

Croup

The past 4 days have been long and painful for Jillian. She came down with the "croup" last week, and is just now beginning to recover.

Late Thursday evening, Jillian started getting even more congested than she had been the past couple months. We could tell that some kind of bug was getting to her, as she was getting pretty crabby. In the middle of the night, around 2:00 am, she started coughing and promptly urped up a lot of the formula she had drank before going to bed. The coughing and urping continued through the night. Then the fever came on, and it was a hot one. We checked her with the ear thermometer, and it was over 101 F. A little while later, we went ahead and used the liquid thermometer and it came in at over 103 F! Jillian was very warm to the touch, and it was making her very uncomfortable ... she cried and cried. Mommy went ahead and gave her some children's Tylenol to bring the fever down, and it helped some. At this point, Mommy called her workplace to let them know she needed to stay home with Jillian.

On Friday morning, Jillian was still running a fever and was coughing alot. The coughs were painful, and after every one of them, she'd look to Mommy and then cry. Plus, she couldn't keep any food down. Mommy called the Advice Nurse at SWMC, and she advised her to bring Jillian in to a doctor. So, Daddy got off work early and drove Mommy and Jillian to the family clinic in Vancouver. It was a long drive, because Jillian continued to cough and urp all the way there. Eventually, we met with a new doctor (can't recall the name), and he listened to us tell him the symptoms, immediately telling us that Jillian probably had the "croup". Since it was a virus, we could only wait it out, probably 3 or 4 days. He did suggest some things to help relieve some of Jillian's symptoms, including Ibuprofen for the fever and reducing inflammation, Afrin to help drain the sinuses ... and to help breathing, either a steamy bathroom or going outside into the cold.

Unfortunately, this was the Yakima tournament weekend for the club volleyball team that Mommy and Daddy coaches. Jillian was in no condition to travel (especially this 3-hour drive), so, Daddy went ahead and took the team to Yakima, while Mommy stayed home with Jillian. Here's Mommy's report on how that went:

"Saturday morning Jillian was very congested and still had a low grade fever. We tried several liquids, but she was unable to keep anything down. Jillian was not interested in playing or being left alone, so Mommy had a full upper body workout packing her around. Jillian and Mommy went through many changes of clothing that day. On Sunday Jillian was feeling a little better, but it was a challenge trying to get her to drink anything. I called Cindy and Scott and they picked up some popsicles and electrolyte fluid. Jillian loved the cherry popsicle. She ate about half a stick and then tried some water. Finally, something that would stay down. As the day progressed Jillian began to take in more fluids and keep them down. Her fever finally broke late in the evening. The cough still bothers her, it sounds horrible, but she is feeling much better now."