It is hard to believe that Julia is over a month old now! At her one month check-up, she weighed in at 10 lbs 5 oz and was 21.5 inches long -- 80% for weight and 60% for length. Definitely a big girl, and growing! She's still a great baby and is fitting in great into our little family. A few big milestones for her -- she started smiling at about 4 weeks, lost her umbilical stump and got her first bath and had her first bottle at a month. We give her at least one bottle each day now to get her ready for daycare. I'll be going back to work in only ten more days, so she needs to get used to taking a bottle well. She does a little better every day with it.

We had a couple big events in Julia's life this past weekend. My mom and our friends at church threw a welcome Julia shower on Saturday. It was great to pass Julia around and celebrate her birth. I brought Clara, and she had a blast in her party princess dress! She is getting to be such a big girl, it is hard to believe sometimes. I am so proud of the little person she is turning into!

Then on Sunday was the baptism. Her aunts and uncles on my side of the family were all there -- Scott, Felecia, Aaron, Lisa, and Matthew. Lisa is her godmother, and Matthew is her godfather. My godmother Doreen made her an absolutely gorgeous gown, and Lisa added shoes and a hat. She was beautiful. The ceremony was great. Julia decided to make an event of it by having a giant poop just before the actual baptism. Since it was so close to the time, we didn't have a chance to change her. When we finally did, we realized it had leaked out of her diaper, all over her gown, and all over her Aunt Lisa's white sweater. Thank goodness for stain removing pens! Sadly, after the baptism I got pretty sick so I couldn't enjoy the little party we had at my parents' house, but I think everyone else had a great time. Oh, and my family did a surprise 30th birthday party for me at the same time. Yep, it is getting very close to being that time!

Thankfully on Monday I was feeling better, but I still missed out on the zoo trip. Steve, Papa, and the assorted aunts and uncles took Clara and Amelia, and a good time was had by all. Julia, Meemaw and I hung out at the house which was ok, too. We also spent time with family on Tuesday. I wanted Clara, Amelia, and Julia to have as much time as possible with Aaron, Lisa, and Matthew since we don't get to see them as often as we would like.

Oh, and we found out that Amelia has a skill we didn't know about -- she can count to ten! Funny story, Lisa was playing with her and said "one" when Amelia brought her a toy. Then Amelia went out to "two" and kept going. It is really cute to hear her, and she is so proud of herself. Amelia was very good this weekend for her. We had a couple episodes where she put her stubborn streak on display, most notably when we had to remove her from church due to screaming, but otherwise she did very well.

Wednesday it was back to normal, and the rest of the week the girls have been getting back into more of a routine again. It was really hard seeing everyone go. I wish we could all be together more often. The girls love spending time with their aunts and uncles, and it seems the feeling is mutual! Hopefully, everyone will be back for Scott and Felecia's wedding in January.

I am starting to feel a little sad about the upcoming end of my maternity leave. Julia is really starting to interact, smiling and talking, and it will be hard to leave her. But that's how it goes.

I'll post some pictures from the weekend when I get them off my parents' computer this weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!