2 BIG milestones for baby JJ

First, Julian got his 1st tooth that popped through the gum and stayed popped out 3 weeks ago. It is soo cute! He has been teething like crazy, but other than the tremendous amount of drool and chewing on his hands, you wouldn't even know it.

Second, as of tonight, he has figured out the art of crawling!! He has been able to shuffle back and forth on all fours for weeks now, but tonight he actually moved from one side of the room to me on the other. Bella and I were soooo excited! We kept making him do it over and over again. I kept his interest by using my cell phone as bait because he loves it so much. I'm still in shock that he has figured it out. He sort of did a crawl somewhere between a bear crawl and a regular crawl. It is so cute :)
I was just saying to Deb yesterday at the park that I feel that he is growing so super fast, even more than Bella had at his age. He was never really a tiny baby, as he was almost 9 lbs at birth. He has since grown non stop. I knew he'd be an early mover since he was rolling over, sitting, and scooting early on, but Im just not ready for my baby to be mobile yet :( Julian SLOW DOWN PLEASE!!! You are Mommy's last baby, and I'd like to keep you a baby for as long as I can :)

Our big boy at 6 months

Julian turned 6 months on December 21st. He had his 6 month check up last week. He is 20 lbs 8 oz (87th percentile) and 28 inches (88th percentile). The Dr. did her regular question asking about his development. She asked if he was rolling over (yes, since 2 months old), asked about sleeping and eating habits, etc. I was also anxious to bring him in because he has had a cold for over 2 months off and on. However, the Dr. looked at his ears and listened to his chest and all was clear. Other than his colds, he has been a healthy boy.
Baby J.J. is :

-sleeping 11 hours at night, and has been since he was 2 months old
-eating cereal and fruits and vegetables and loves them all!
-very close to crawling. He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth
-smiling all the time, he has the biggest smile EVER! he loves people and loves to be held or played with.
- a mama's boy! If he sees me walk by, he will whine or cry for me to pick him up. I think it's the cutest thing but can be a little annoying :)
-sitting in the bath like a big boy, no more baby tub. He is sitting up so well, and has been for over a month and a half.
-Likes to pick up his toys and lift them over his head or throw them. The boy in him really shines through!
-does a lot of vocal play
-loves his sister so much. If she is next to him, he is staring at her and smiling.
-does NOT SIT STILL! he is very active


I've said it before, Julian has made our family complete. Almost every night when Eric gets home, we go in to the playroom as a family and sit on the floor together. This part of the day is my favorite, as we can all be together and just play. Julian has made our family life just that much better :)

Happy New Year-2011

This year we had our annual New Years Eve party at our house with our closest friends. First, Auntie Jen came by to give her Christmas gifts to the kids. Bella loved her Dora tent and Melissa and Doug Cookie set. Us girlfriends (Jen,Deb,me, and Amy) also did something different this holiday. We did a secret Santa gift exchange that we decided to exchange on New Years Eve when we were all together.
Then the rest of our friends showed up and as always we had a great time with some munchies and drinks. We also did some karaoke which is always fun! It is so nice spending each New Year with the same people and of course our babies. Bella and Julian stayed up as long as they could before it was time for bath and bed. Us Hoover's are looking forward to a wonderful year and getting to spend it with those we love most...

Big girl bed

Nannie bought Bella a new bed set for Christmas. We took Bella to Babies R Us and let her pick out her set. She was trying to decide between TinkerBell and Dora and she chose Tinkerbell. I was excited because I can keep her green curtains and letters on her wall. Eric and I were reluctant to convert her crib, as she has never tried to climb out and she really does love her crib. She has always loved going to bed and enjoys her own space. But, we figured since she has a new bed set and she was excited for it, we would convert it out. I was nervous because I have had several friends who have had toddlers have a rough time with the new big kid bed in the last few months. Anyway, here we are a week later and she has done great with it! She never woke once and has not wandered out of bed or cried. I am so proud of my baby girl and how big she is :)Next, we are going to paint her room and put up her decorations on the walls.Thank you Nannie!
Bella is awesome and such a big girl. Eric and I keep talkng about how big she is now. It's like once she was potty trained and now sleeping in a big girl bed, our "baby" is now a girl. Well actually, NO...BELLA, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE OUR BABY!!

SNOW IN PHOENIX???

On Thursday December 30th, Phoenix snowed!! The news had been saying all week that it could snow here, however, since Ive lived here (all my life) I have only seen flakes fall from the sky once. I was on my way to see Katherine at her family's house in North Phoenix. I had both kiddos with me in the car when I see what looks like snow falling from the sky. I immediately pull over to check it out. To my surprise, it was indeed snow flakes! I snapped a picture of the snow on my car so that I had proof because I figured that it would stop any minute. I pulled up to Katherine's and her nieces and nephews, along with Bella were excited to play in it. By the time we got inside, it had stopped. It started again a few minutes later so we all went outside and played in it and snapped lots of pictures. It stopped and started about 3 times and we got a good amount of it, enough to stick to the ground. Bella loved it and we had fun playing in it for a while :)