My goodness, our baby girl is two and a half! (She isn’t really a baby anymore — how can that be?) She’s overcame some huge hurdles throughout the last six months and we are just so proud of this resilient girl. (Remember to scroll all the way down if you’re just here for the cute photos!)
Juno is currently doing so, so well and she literally makes us laugh and smile all day every day. She’s currently living her best life with mama on summer break and our days have been consisting of going to the pool or swimming in the blow up pool in our backyard. This girl LOVES to swim, and while we have to watch her closely, she is full on swimming! All the credit goes to swim lessons which she started in February. She started as a level two based on her age and in that level I got in the pool with her during lessons. She immediately loved it and having her Auntie KK and her twin cousin Raleigh in our class made it all the more fun! At the end of last month she passed level two and now is a level three tadpole which means mama doesn’t get it in anymore! I get to watch from behind the glass. We weren’t sure how this would go especially since Raleigh isn’t in her class anymore, but she has done great and is all smiles during her lessons! Getting her there is a bit harder since her cousins aren’t there at the same time anymore, but once she’s there she does really well! Swim lessons have made her SO comfortable in the water which is so wonderful for this summer. She has a couple of private lessons coming up, which I think will be so good for her! We’ve been going to the pool and this little fish won’t get out — she just wants to swim, swim, swim!
Speaking of the water, Juno is finally bathing again! She went through a pretty major bath/shower/potty regression, which all started in mid-February when she had to have a barium enema X-ray done through her colon (un-sedated). Needless to say this was extremely traumatic. The week before this she also came down with a UTI and then had an accident at school where her teachers had to get her cleaned up in the sink in her classroom. Between the three of these things all happening within the same week, our fully-potty-trained, bath-loving girl regressed back into diapers and went on a full-blown bathing hiatus for the next three months. It was terrible and our sweet girl was frantic about having to poop, take a bath or shower, go near the bathroom or really anything that had to do with the potty or bathing what so ever. We worked with our amazing child development specialist who has helped us through other major hurdles in the past and through her help and a LOT of patience, we are finally on the other side and so proud of this brave girl. Through all of this, Juno continued to love swim lessons, which was really a blessing because this all happened the week after her very first swim lesson so we weren’t sure how swimming would go, but somehow she didn’t associate swimming like she did the bath or shower, thank goodness. We were also very thankful for the once a week chlorine baths that she would get during swim lessons during this time. Ha! We potty-trained again at the start of June and Juno is now officially, officially potty-trained. Hooray! We are out of diapers completely except for during night (and she wakes up dry most mornings!)! We even went to the zoo last week and I wasn’t sure how she would do with it being such a long outing, but she went in the restrooms and used the big potties three times while we were there and was dry all day. Way to go, girly! While sometimes Juno still thinks she doesn’t want to take a bath, once she’s in we cannot get her out and she has been loving taking showers again as well. She’s done a complete 180 and we are so relieved! Way to go, June Bug!
What else is new with our bug since she turned two? Let’s see … she has moved through two classes at school. When she turned two she moved to the Big Tods classroom and at the beginning of June she moved to the Get Set classroom which is the pre, pre-school class. I can’t believe it. We are keeping Juno in daycare two days a week throughout the summer so that she has some consistency and so that I can have a couple of days a week to work or have some time for myself. She is loving her new class. She has so many friends that moved up with her at the same time and she loves her new sweet teachers so much! This morning before we left for “school” she said, “I’m going to have the best day with my friends and teachers!” Melt my heart why don’t ya.
Juno has grown so much! She was at the doctors last week and she was JUST about 24 pounds so she has gone up in percentile to the whopping fourth percentile, but when she was in the less than the 1st percentile just a few months ago, I’d say that is a huge improvement. She is almost three feet tall hitting right at 34 and a half inches. She is still in size 2T clothes, but I got out all of her swimsuits and shorts from last summer that were too big for her then and they all fit her now so she technically can still fit in 18 month clothes. So happy I didn’t have to get her new clothes this summer. While at the doctor last week, the doctor didn’t hear her heart murmur so it could be going away on it’s own, which is great! After Juno’s appointment with the pediatric GI in January, we had a few other appointments with a different GI for a second opinion. This is when we then had the barium enema x-ray, abdominal ultrasound and started a new plan. We are continuing to keep her on laxatives for now, but hopefully can try to start weaning her from them within the next few months — although that’ll be a very long process. Right now she’s doing so well so we don’t want to make any changes. She got the all clear to eat dairy again and she is loving it although she doesn’t really care for yogurt and won’t go near cow’s milk. We also have given up on finding a milk alternative for her because honestly she won’t drink anything except water. She doesn’t even like juice! But I think all the cheese she’s been consuming has helped her gain a few LB’s. Now the only thing Juno can’t eat is avocado, but we MIGHT try a tiny bite of avocado at some point this summer and see how it goes or we might wait until she’s 3 — we haven’t decided yet. Juno hasn’t had to go to the doctor since early March and she did SO well last week. I let her have her pacifier under her mask (usually it stays at home and is kept only for sleeping) so she thought that was just the best. She was so brave even though I could tell she was really nervous the whole time. Speaking of the pacifier, I think the Pacifier Fairy is set to come sometime next week. Send us some good vibes because that pacifier has got to go! Juno has a dentist appointment next week and her final two year old molar is currently making it’s way in and I can’t believe that after this tooth fully comes through that teething will be officially over! Hallelujah!
Juno is talking so much and speaking in full sentences. If we ever can’t understand what she is saying she gets real frustrated, but, for the most part, we can understand her and she just talks non-stop. She cracks us up all day long every day by the things she says and she just soaks up everything she sees, hears and learns like a sponge. The other day she said, “This toy is filled with air just my lungs so I can breathe” and just last night she said, “Daddy’s in the bathroom taking out his contacts so he can put on his glasses”. This morning while looking at a book that had a cow in it she said, “That’s the cow’s utters. It’s where her baby cow drinks it’s mommy milk from just like your two boobies mommy!” Ha! (Side note: we just stopped nursing in April and she did really well during the weaning process — phew — I was pretty certain there for a while that I’d still be nursing her while sending her off to kindergarten — haha!). If she is not saying something hysterical she is usually singing at the top of her lungs. Her favorite songs to sing right now are Twinkle Twinkle, Black Sheep Black Sheep, Old McDonald Had a Farm and Little Bunny Foo Foo. When she sings she belts it out in this really DEEP voice and it cracks up us. Juno also loves to dance too. Her favorite song right now is “Better When I’m Dancing” by Meghan Trainor. This song is literally on repeat at our house and if it stops Juno goes, “Alexa, play that song again!”
Some of Juno’s favorite things right now in addition to swimming, dancing and singing are:
-Remington — she LOVES her dog so, so much and Remi is just the BEST with her
-being outside — I swear, Juno and Remi would LIVE outside if we let them
-playing with her cousins (on both sides)
-playing with our sweet neighbor who is a year younger than Juno right next door
-gardening and watering the plants
-painting / play dough / coloring
-reading books
-playing with her kitchen in the basement and cooking for us
-snuggles with mommy
-Yaya days
-the zoo and seeing all the “am-i-nals”
-Target runs — she’ll often say “Mommy, you got this for me at Target?” or “Mommy, we have to buy more at Target?”
-somersaults, “cartwheels”, donkey kicks and doing yoga (we are going to start her in gymnastics here soon — I think she’s going to do a mom & tot class at my old gym with her Yaya once I go back to work this fall! Juno will LOVE it
-swinging on the neighbors swing right next door
And while Juno is usually happy, there are a few things she still doesn’t love. Sleeping and going to bed being one of them. We seem to take two steps forward in the sleep department and then a giant leap backwards. Someday though I know she’ll start sleeping well … I’m not giving up hope yet! Juno moved to a big girl bed in March and this has helped her sleep a lot. She loves her bed and it’s been really great for when I end up in her room (most nights - ha!) — I now can lay down with her instead of spending my nights sitting upright in a rocking chair. Right now we are going through some hard separation anxiety again and I basically have to PEEL her off of me kicking and screaming when I leave her room at bedtime. Sometimes she’ll then settle on her own, but, most of the time, she’ll scream until she’s blue in the face and won’t stop (believe me, we’ve let her scream for five hours before) so I usually go back in and lay with her some more. She likes to fall asleep laying RIGHT on top of me. Her cheek has to literally be smooched into my cheek. Bedtime seems to take us a couple of hours most nights, but I know that someday I’m going to miss her snuggles so much when she gets older so I’m trying to remember that in the midst of our bedtime battles.
Juno loves BIG and she is happiest when she’s surrounded by the people she loves or is outside. She has to constantly be near one of us and loves to play with us. She is the best little helper!
Juno Elizabeth, we love you so much. We can’t wait to see what the second half of your second year bring. We are SO proud of you and everything you’ve overcame since you turned 2!
Photo Notes: I LOVE this first photo SO much because this is how I think of bug. She picks out her own clothes, usually has wild, uncombed hair, walks around barefoot and carries around her OG (Original Giraffe). She had me snap this of her in the studio a few weeks ago when we were out here playing. I love her “cheese” smile in the photos outside and how silly she was being in the studio. The photos below with Remington in the studio are some of my favorite photos of her that I’ve ever taken.
