I used a sling to carry Jillian around in public for probably the first six months of her life.  Then she got too heavy and seemed to like riding in the stroller.  Well, now I'm going back to "wearing" her.  We're going on vacation in June (Philly-NYC-Boston) and I figure it will be easier to maneuver around those cities with her on my back instead of in a stroller.  Also, there will be quite a few outdoor events this summer that we want to attend and, again, it's easier to get through the crowds carrying her instead of pushing her.

So, I've settled on the Ergo baby carrier and I'm really excited about it.  There is a store here that sells them and they get a new shipment in today.  Yea!  I hope to try it out this weekend when we go to the Crozet Arts and Crafts Festival

In other news, Jillian has pretty much weaned herself from her bottle.  She takes a four-ounce bottle at school but I think that's only because other kids have bottles too.  She doesn't seem to ask for one when we're home on the weekend.  Also, she doesn't seem to need one before going to bed.  I'm a little conflicted over this.  While I'm happy that she doesn't need something to soothe her to sleep, I feel that 13 months is moving too fast away from the bottle.

I know that she's getting plenty to eat during the day and she's getting more than 8 ounces of cow's milk.  Plus, she drinks a TON of water during the day - especially on the weekends when we play outside.  Sriously, when we're outside she can't do anything unless she has her sippy cup of water in her hand.

Her typical daily menu is:
breakfast: yogurt mixed with applesauce and cinnamon or scrambled eggs and fruit and milk
morning snack: peach, mango or apple slices (some sort of fruit)
lunch: either left overs from dinner or chicken and two veggies (usually broccoli or peas and carrots or sweet potato fries); sometimes she'll get cheese ravioli with a bit of sauce and her two veggies.
afternoon snack: either fruit chews or Earth's Best cheese crackers
dinner: whatever we eat

So, I guess she's OK, but still.  Not feeding her at night means that she's becoming less and less dependent on us and that's kinda sad....

Oh!  I'm getting these this weekend to make our own fruit pops for the summer:

I think that I'm looking forward to it for myself just as much as for her.

Jillian started swim lessons on Saturday.  She had a blast and got tired of me holding her because she wanted to venture out on her own.  The first session was to get the kids used to the water.  Jillian didn't have any problems feeling comfortable.

Thank goodness we have professional photographer in the family or there wouldn't have been any pictures of Jillian's birthday party.  Both J and I were having too much fun and didn't get many shots.  For those of you who could not attend, here is what you missed:

It's hard to imagine that in just one year we've gone from this:

to this

This is one of my favorite recent photos of Jillian.  She was eating pasta salad that had spinach and feta cheese.  She LOVED it.

Jillian and I spent Easter in Tennesee while daddy was in Houston helping with the NCAA tournament.  We had fun but it would have been better if dad would have been with us.

I was a little thrown off by Easter being so early this year since last Easter Jillian was born.  I just dubbed it as her "unofficial" birthday.

Hunting for eggs (we're not allowed to crawl through funiture at home, but the rules are a little different when you're at Ma's )

Jillian had two photo sessions this weekend with two photographers.  Here's a link to the set that I love the best.  The other photos were with a bunny and they turned out great, but her personality just shines through in these photos.

Also we had a doctor's appointment this morning to make sure that our nasty ear infection has cleared.  We asked Dr. Alexander to confirm that teeth are coming in (since Jillian won't let us look) and she said that she spied four.  Her Easter and birthday pictures sure will look different with all of those teeth.

• blah, blah, blah - we LOVE to talk.; we clearly say "da da" though I'm not exactly sure she knows that dad is da da, though she does say it when he enters the room. but she also says da da to Sandy and just rolls it off of her tongue most of the time.  she's started making "m" sounds so hopefully "ma ma" will come soon
• crawling - she's so darned fast.  i'll look over and see her at one end of the room and a second later she's next to me.  maybe we have a future Flo Jo on our hands.
• self-feeding - for someone who has only two teeth, she's a great eater.
• waving - she LOVES to wave at people.  my mom was here for a week and left yesterday. we  watched her go through the security line at the airport and Jillian waved at her the entire time.  she also says something that sounds like "hi" when she waves or when she sees someone for the first time
• clapping - she claps to music and when she's finished eating and when she successfully rolls the ball the Sandy

• climbing stairs - she showed her first sign of interest in the stairs this weekend.  mom and I sat on the steps to encourage her and she made it to the landing but pooped out after that.  I'd like for her to figure out how to get down by scooting backward
• holding on to one hand - she doesn't quite have the confidence to walk while holding only one hand, though she is good at holding on the the couch with one hand while making her way down the way
• standing alone - every now and then she'll let go of whatever she's holding on to and stand by herself, then she realizes that she's "on her own" and suddenly loses her balance

• dinner - she loves dinner because this is when she gets to eat what mom and dad are eating. her favorite meals so far are pot roast with carrots and sweet potatoes and onions, fish, chicken.  she also LOVES peas and broccoli
• water - Jillian loves to drink water out of her cup.  we haven't ventured on to juice yet and I'm in no rush. I'd rather she prefer water and milk to anything sweet to drink.
• books - we've been reading to her since Day 1 but now she wants to hold the books. she'll sit with a book and blab to whoever is nearby, which I suppose is her reading to us. she also has to take a book to bed with her and she'll lay in bed for a few moments blabbing away, which I suppose is her reading to Lily (her stuffed frog that she sleeps with each night)
• baths - taking a bath is one of the highlights of Jillian's day.  she loves to play with her rubber duckies and frogs.  she's started lying on her stomach and scooshing across the tub; i suppose she's preparing herself for swim lessons
• Sandy - I cannot explain the look on Jillian's face each time she sees Sandy. she adores that dog. too bad Sandy isn't too crazy about her; she tolerates the baby but wouldn't mind if she didn't exist.

I really  need to do an update on my child since this blog is all about her, but I need to download some photos from the camera first.  Besides, if I don't put this inifo here for safe keeping, I'll never find it again.

I would give anything to be able to make Jillian's birthday cake, but I'm not a baker.  I am a good cook and can make a great regular cake, but when it comes to the details of decorating a birthday cake, I just don't have the patience.  However, looking at different cakes lately has inspired me to take a cake decorating class so that I can do something nice for her next year....In the meantime, I contacted the woman who made our wedding cake but she has a wedding the weekend of Jillian's birthday and cannot do the cake for us.  She did recommend one of her students so I contacted her and she is on board. 

This is the cake that I am hoping she can do for us (I posted it earlier):

Instead of it being blue and green, I would like for it to be lavender and green (like her room).

And I like this little invitation:

The frog reminds me of Jillian's favorite doll, and the only toy that she's attached to, Miss Lilly:

Another invite option:
Found here

Jillian has been eating more and more "big people" food these days and absolutely loves it.  I don't know if she has a favorite, yet, because she seems so excited with each new offering.

We made pizza a few weeks ago and daddy made Jillian her own mini cheese pizza with a touch of sauce.  Of course she licked off the cheese and sauce before eating the crust.  The next week she had chicken enchiladas, which I made with a touch of green chili.  I was a bit nervous giving her chilies but you really can't get a good, spicy green chili in Virginia....You also can't get a fresh tortilla here so I had to make tortillas Saturday night and, of course, it didn't take Jillian long to gobble it up.  Last night we had catfish, lightly fried (very, VERY little oil) and she got the cutest look on her face each time she put the fish in her mouth.  We had beef stew a couple of weeks ago and I pureed the left overs and froze it for her to take to school for lunch.  Yesterday was the last of that so I guess we'll have to make more stew....

Other yummies:
pureed pears with cinnamin or vanilla
sweet peas with curry
Annie's Organic wheat mac & alfredo sauce
grilled green beans
sweet potatoes

Dinner time is so much fun now that we can eat as a family.

OK, so I'm obcessed with the whole birthday thing....Here are some cake ideas for safe keeping:

I like this idea.  I can have a small cake just for Jillian and everyone else can have cupcakes.  I really like the way the stand is made.  The woman who did it says that she used wrapping paper.  The directions can be found here:

This frog cake is adorable!  Jillian likes frogs and lambs: