December

Jillian has been crawling like crazy since she was a little over 9 months old. This has allowed her to discover all kind of new things like tags on the bottom of rugs in the kitchen...

...and STAIRS!

We really enjoyed our first Christmas with Jillian. We spent Christmas Eve and day with Paul's family and then got together with Abby's family the following Tuesday. Jillian was given a bib by her three-year-old cousin, Kailey, who insisted she should be wearing a bib letting all know it was her first Christmas.

Jillian and Mommy on Christmas morning.

Jillian started to get the hang of ripping the wrapping paper but like we were warned, was mostly interested in the boxes. Some of Jillian's favorite Christmas gifts were books, a ball popper, a lion walker/rider, and baby dolls.

November

More firsts for Jillian Grace for the month of November! Gram Glew got Jillian a ducky to start taking her baths in. Jillian loves splashing around in it and is always excited for "tubby time".

Mommy broke down and let Jillian try her first bite of ice cream...from Culver's nonetheless. Of course, she LOVED it and right away looked for another bite.

We stopped in Maquoketa to show the grandparents and great grandparents Jillian's Halloween costume. Great Grandma Hovey sent Jillian home with this cute chair and a set of little cups and plates that Jillian LOVED.

We met in Aurora for a Jackson family get together and Jillian got to go on her first wagon ride. We definitely made sure she was belted in good but she never once wanted to get out.

Jillian was introduced to the piano by cousin, Leah at Thanksgiving. Maybe this is the start to their career playing duets together!

Halloween

This year Jillian was a lady bug for Halloween. One of Abby's patients gave us a gift of Kohl's cash to get the costume Abby had mentioned at an earlier conversation with her. Jillian got to wear her costume several times as she tried to make her rounds to the grandparents and great grandparents.

We also found time to carve a couple pumpkins this year. Jillian even got to feel the "guts" of the pumpkin.

Some of Jillian's favorite things

It's hard to believe that Jillian will be 8 months old tomorrow. She now has 3 teeth and even occasionally blurts out "ma-ma" and "da-da". She isn't crawling quite yet but likes to "belly surf" all over the wood floor. She loves squash, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, bananas, avocados, the list goes on....As you can see from the pictures, she's not a picky eater! It's fun to watch her discover new things every day from watching her own hand open and close to watching a squirrel run all over the park.

Some of her favorite things from the last couple months are:
1.) Bucket swings. At least this is what we call them. When we pull the stroller into the park and she sees kids laughing and playing around, she instantly smiles and her whole body shakes with excitement.

2.)The zoo. We went to the Niabi Zoo in September and were very impressed. Jillian reached right out to pet the goats.

3.) Bibs. As in bib overalls. We've found some great baby consignment shops in the area and last week Paul picked these out for Jillian. She's our little farmer girl now!

4.) Laughing at kids. Doesn't matter where we are or if the kid is doing anything entertaining or not...Jillian laughs! Here she is laughing at her cousin Leah.

Labor Day Weekend

This year we had a very special Labor Day Weekend. We celebrated two big milestones on Paul's side of the family. Paul's parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this year and Paul's dad is turning 60! It was fun to have the whole family together.

Many rounds of bocce ball were played. Paul is standing there with two of his brothers, Pat and Mike, and his niece, Alyssa. Can you tell looking at the backs of all their heads that they're brothers? :)

Jillian and Great Grandpa Hovey

Paul with his Grandma Hovey and Grandma Simmons

August--Home improvement projects, visiting great grandparents, and weddings

There goes another month, and no updated blog! To all the busy moms out there who update their blog regularly...you'll have to give me some lessons! Anyway, August was a busy month. We had two weddings to go to. The first was Abby's cousin Dustin and then Abby's good friend Ashley. Both were beautiful weddings and we felt so fortunate to be closer to home to be able to attend! We are adjusting to requesting a seat in back now, although Jillian made it through both weddings very well!

Paul had a weekend off from work in August so we were able to go up to the Manchester/ Strawberry Point area to visit Abby's grandparents. It was such a blessing to see them with Jillian and of course she ate up all the attention!

We also worked on a few house projects in August. We put up some new blinds and got a new table for our dining area. Since we have been married we have been using the table Abby grew up with! It has held up great but we were ready for a little updated version! :)

Jillian continues to grow quickly. It has been so much fun to see her personality blossom! We got 6 month pictures taken of her in August. She is now rolling all over the place and enjoys sitting up on her own. Some activities she's really enjoying right now are to be read to, rolling the ball back and forth with Daddy, trying new baby foods that Mommy and Daddy make, playing in the exersaucer, and babbling in her crib.

Jillian with Great Grandma Jackson

Jillian with Great Grandma Sutton

Paul did a great job installing the blinds



"I love my high chair! Who knows what they're going to try to feed me!" So far Jillian has tried green beans, squash, and carrots all homeade from the Hovey kitchen!



Jillian having fun in her exersaucer!

Daddy and me

Daddy takes real good care of me while Mommy is at work (as well as the Grandmas of course!). I have to say, my Daddy has to be one of the coolest guys I've known in my short life. Here is a little video Daddy took of us hanging out one day! Enjoy! ~Jillian Grace~

New house, first plane ride, rolling over, weddings, birthdays, and rice cereal

By the sounds of the title of this blog, you probably have guessed we have been quite busy in the last month. We moved into our house in Bettendorf over Father's Day weekend and have enjoyed having shorter commutes and a place to call our own. We are still working on unpacking those final boxes but it is slowly becoming home to us.

At the end of June, Jillian went on her first plane ride. We headed to Colorado for a long weekend to attend a wedding of some dear friends of ours. Jillian did great on the plane and had fun visiting her birth place again! :) We were able so see several of our friends from church, seminary, and our work places while we were back. We even took a day trip up into the mountains.

Jillian's first plane ride!

Strolling around with Mommy on a trail up in the mountains.
"Why did my parents leave this great state? It's beautiful here! I guess Grandma and Grandpa tell me Iowa needs me!" :) ~Jillian

Paul and I both celebrate our birthdays in July. For my birthday, we were in Iowa City for a wedding and then met up with my brother and his family for supper. It's so fun to be closer to family to be able to do this kind of stuff again! I surprised Paul for his birthday this year as it is his 30th and invited his parents and grandparents down for supper and dessert.


Jillian continues to grow and is a little over 5 months now. She rolled over a couple times for us at the beginning of July but unfortunately hasn't repeated it since. She seems to enjoy tummy time much more but doesn't have a real interest in flipping onto her back. I'm sure it will come in good time and we have been told by many parents to enjoy this time when she is pretty stationary! She recently started trying some rice cereal which has been a fun adventure too! She is a very smiley baby and continues to bring us so much joy every day!

Teeth, Rolling Over, and Losing Hair

Wow, I can't believe it's already been a month since we last blogged! There has certainly been a lot that has happened. Jillian is growing like crazy and has managed to already start teething, rolling over (one time...and only witnessed by Mom), and losing her hair like crazy. We might still have a bald baby after all! Jillian has been a very good baby, giving us lots of smiles and sleeping 9-10 hours at night. We are very grateful and consider it pure joy to be her parents! Abby is back to work full time and Paul continues to work at Lowe's part time (mostly weekends) and watching Jillian during the week. We have enjoyed many wonderful times with family since we've been back to Iowa. We will be officially closing on our new house June 17th in Bettendorf so we are anxious to get rid of our 45 minute commute to work and scale it back to 5 minutes! It has been quite the process becoming home owners and I think we can safely say we've learned a lot along the way! We are looking forward to going back to Colorado at the end of June for a wedding. We are flying so we'll see how Jillian likes her first flight!

Jillian at 3 months telling secrets to her bunny

Paul reading to Jillian and niece, Leah. They both love books!

Jillian gets spoiled about once a week when she gets to hang out with Grandma Hovey and cousins, Brittney and Kailey
Jillian loves her cousin Alyssa too!

Friends, Stephen and Carrie Mulligan came to visit at the end of May with their little girl, Mikah

Jillian has been enjoying her bumbo for about a month now!

Jillian and Gram Glew

Jillian with Aunt Erica and Uncle Nick

Jillian with Great Grandma Jackson and Gram Glew

Enjoying relaxing in a cute summer dress from Grandma Hovey

I love my bumbo!

Last weekend, Abby and Jillian went with Gram Glew over to Marion to visit Abby's brother and his family. Abby's brother, Nick, got the great idea of getting out their bumbo and seeing what Jillian would do. She LOVED it and was able to hold herself up so well! I think we found a new source of endless entertainment! She even loves to have books read to her while she sits in it!

2 months!

This picture was taken closer to 9 weeks. Jillian is already 10 weeks now so before long we'll be posting a 3 month picture! Oh, how time flies!

...and MORE family!

It doesn't stop there...here are more picture of Jillian meeting family!

Uncle Nick, Aunt Erica, and cousin Leah came to visit the first weekend we were back home

Abby's cousin Melissa came to visit with her son Kaden and Abby's Aunt Pam

We went up to Maquoketa to celebrate cousin Brittney's birthday party. Jillian had some time with Grandma and Grandpa Hovey. Grandma Hovey even got to babysitt this last week and Jillian had a great time with her and the Hovey girls.

Jillian gets to be held by Great Grandma Simmons. Four generations here!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Hovey with Jillian

Jillian meets family!

Since we have been back in Iowa, Jillian has been able to meet so many family members! It has been such a joy to be reunited with family and to share our little girl with everyone. Jillian continues to grow! At her 8 week appointment (2 weeks ago) she weighed 10lbs 11oz (50th percentile) and 21.5 inches long (30th percentile...a shortly like Mom!). She is smiling more and more every day and has been a good baby, sleeping consistently at night about 8 hours since she was about 8 weeks old! Abby has gone back to work now and is adjusting to leaving Jillian with either her daddy or one of the grandparents. We feel so blessed to not have to do the day care thing yet. Paul continues to work at Lowe's part time and is enjoying watching Jillian on his days at home. We are in the process of getting a house in the Bettendorf area that we'll close on June 17th. We have felt so blessed to be able to live at Abby's parents during this time but are also looking forward to having our first home!

Uncle Matt with Jillian. Uncle Matt was nice enough to come out with Grandpa Hovey to help move us back from Colorado!

Great Grandma Hovey made this beautiful quilt for Jillian

Cousin Alyssa loved playing with Jillian. She has had quite the baby experience with having two younger sisters!

Great Grandma Sutton with Jillian. A 4 generation picture! Abby's aunt Vicki also came along to meet Jillian. She seemed to have a way with being able to make Jillian happy no matter what the circumstance.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Jackson with Jillian. Another 4 generations!