Zwieback, Standing & a Bath

The title pretty much says it all.

Fun Pics

Here's an assortment of recent pics. Enjoy!





With Puggy, Peter & Caryn's dog


Playing on the floor with kitchen utensils. That's Mikey, Peter & Caryn's son, on the left.


First haircut!




Before a walk


In the backyard




Pulling up on Daddy


Showing us how she can clap!

Wordle

Our good friend Christi sent a link to this cool Web site called Wordle, which creates "word clouds" from text you type in.

As you may know, there is a beautiful and haunting John Lennon song called "Julia," which was written for (and named after) his late mother. Here is the Julia Wordle (click on it to enlarge), and below are the lyrics. Thought it was neat.

For what it's worth, once Dario & I decided on the name Julia, I couldn't get this song out of my head for months.



"Julia"
(Lennon/McCartney)

Half of what I say is meaningless
But I say it just to reach you, Julia
Julia, Julia, oceanchild, calls me
So I sing a song of love, Julia

Julia, seashell eyes, windy smile, calls me
So I sing a song of love, Julia
Her hair of floating sky is shimmering, glimmering
In the sun

Julia, Julia, morning moon, touch me
So I sing a song of love, Julia

When I cannot sing my heart
I can only speak my mind, Julia

Julia, sleeping sand, silent cloud, touch me
So I sing a song of love, Julia
Hum hum hum...calls me
So I sing a song of love for Julia
Julia
Julia

What is My Gym anyway?

Due to a schedule shuffle, Thursday was our last My Gym class. I took loads of pics so you can see what it is that Julia does there.

We first start by sitting in a circle and singing a hello song. Here is J sitting up nice and straight:


Then we have a few minutes of free play. Here is Julia exploring an open-ended barrel.


Julia and her doppelganger...


Then we have swing time, one of Julesie's favorites:


This week's theme was space rides. Here is Julia riding across the room in her spaceship:


Playing in the ball pit:


Getting swallowed by the balls...help!


Swinging together


Finally, it's the end of class, which means "separation time." Julia is the youngest child in the class, but she does great! Can you find her in the below?


There she is!

We love Maggie!

As loyal JRFZ blog readers know, we have some awesome neighbors on this here street. We're particularly friendly with the family that lives two houses to the left (stage left).

Mom Becca, Dad David, Daughter Maggie and Son Declan moved to Fairfield from Park Slope about a year after we moved to Brookview.

All of them love Baby Julia, but Maggie has a particular fondness for her. She has gotten her gifts, given her own baby things to Julia (don't worry, we gave them back), wants to stop by and see how she's doing, etc.

For Father's Day, she dropped off some special cards. Thought you might like to see them.

Here is the front of our card:


And the inside:


In case you didn't get that...
Dear Dr. Dario & Miss Carrie,
Baby Julia is very, very, very, very, very, very, very sweet.
Margaret

And Dario's own card. The cover:


And the inside:

Dear Dr. Dario,
Thanks for raising Baby Julia right. Baby Julia is really, really, really, really nice.
Margaret

And here is Maggie (with Declan, Dario, Julia and Maggie's baby, Victoria):

Father's Day...in Stills

Hello! Carrie here to post a few pics and provide narrative for our adventures this weekend.

On Friday, Julia had her first taste of yogurt, and it was a big hit! A bit messy, but the majority went into her mouth.



















We'd like to get her off the bottle (so to speak) by her first birthday, so we've introduced the sippy cup. She's gotten the hang of holding it and she knows what it's for, but she isn't yet able to tilt it back so that she can actually drink from it.

We've been doing this for about six weeks now, in the as yet vain hope that she'll one day get it.

Parenthood is nothing if not a test of perseverance.

















Friday was also spent wrapping prezzies for Father's Day. Julia & I got Daddy Dario just a few small things, the coolest being these circuit board bookmarks from Etsy.

Julia's favorite part was playing in the tissue paper.

















Weekends on Brookview Avenue mean laundry. Julesie enjoyed playing in the basket (the clean clothes basket that is) on Saturday.



And finally Father's Day! After morning bottle/coffee, we headed to Home on the Range in Bridgeport's Black Rock neighborhood. Dario and I split the wholewheat blueberry pancakes with fresh blueberries, strawberries and drizzled yogurt and the shiitake mushroom and Boursin omelet. It was delicious. Here we are:



And here are two shots of Daddy and Julesie. Check out Julesie's special t-shirt in the second pic.

Summer Fun!

Hello again, everyone! Here are a few fun videos for you, including my first attempt at some actual editing...we'll see if it works.

Here, Julia is crawling like a champ, into her new favorite room, the office. (Naturally, she doesn't want to look at her books, only whatever I happen to be reading at the time...)



Next, Julesie having great fun on a hot weekend in her new inflatable pool. Sure, it's not as big as Nana and Dido's, but still a great time for all.




Lastly, Julia in a rare moment of calm stillness, resting before bed with Mommy and some old music.



Hopefully, Mommy will be posting some photos later on. Happy Father's Day, everyone!

My Gym and Weekend Fun

Julia and I are attending one month of Tiny Tykes class at My Gym, and it's a big hit.

Twice a week they have "free play" where any currently registered members can come to the gym and have at it. Since Daddy was off on Friday, the three of us decided to check it out.

Julesie and a big kid:


Playing on her own:


Playing with Daddy:


And with Mommy:


Favorite Activity #1:


And Favorite Activity #2:


Today we decided to have a backyard pool party. Here's Julia & Daddy finishing breakfast:


Julesie playing with her pool toys (but not in the pool just yet...):


Slying thinking...hmmm...what could I do with this thing?


Aha, THIS is what I could do!


In the pool at last!






Afterwards, Brad, Tara & Sacha came over. We don't have any pics, but hopefully Sacha's blog will have captured some of the action. We hung out and took a walk and then Julesie had some fun on the swings at nearby Lincoln School Park:







Mommy & Daddy want to sleep for a week.

At least.