Happy Birthday Uncle Justin!

Hi everybody!
Uncle Justin's birthday is October 29! Let's all wish him a happy birthday.
In honor of his birthday, here are some pictures of Uncle Justin with his lovely wife, my Aunt Chloe. They met in Hangzhou and got married in August 2005! In fact they have been married longer than my own parents. Not that anyone's keeping score.
I'll give more information about the below pictures...

Here they are with me on September 13, 2009; basically they're at my house for dinner!

Here we are on Halloween 2009, at the house of Veronica and Jennifer. And no, Aunt Chloe didn't grow white rabbit ears - she's always had them; she usually just keeps them covered!

Here's Uncle Justin with Aunt Chloe, and Mommy and Daddy. They came (as well as my paternal grandparents) to our house for Christmas dinner.

Here we are on Christmas Day, 2009 - in San Leandro at Great Aunt Katie and Great Uncle Hanley's house. Do you see the red hat in the picture? It's a hat that Uncle Justin and Aunt Chloe gave to me!

And lastly, here we are in June 2010, in one of my favorite restaurants for bruncheon and luncheon - Sally's, at De Haro and 16th Streets.
Have a great birthday Uncle Justin! Eat a lot of cake for me!
love,
Julien the Baby

9/9/10: a visit to Brown University

Hi everybody!
Greetings! It's me, Julien the Baby!
I never finished telling you all about our September trip to New England! I've given a lot of information about places we went in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. But I've never talked about our visit to Rhode Island, via Connecticut!
On Thursday September 9, 2010, we departed Massachusetts with Double M and dropped him off at the BDL airport in Hartford. Then we headed to Rhode Island for a 2 night visit. We first had lunch at a fun Teapot cafe, and then went to Mommy's alma mater, Brown University.
Coincidentally, Ruby's mommy also went to Brown... as did Sam's mommy... and Mommy's friend Michele (mommy to Harris and Ezra)... and Sue... plus a whole lot of other friends that Mommy has. I think that Mommy knows a lot of people who went to Brown. I am sure that one day, I'll go there with Ruby and Sam!

Here I am with Mommy in front of the statue of the growling Brown Bear! He's so big, that I had to take another look at him!

Mommy tried to pose with me in front of other lovely Brown monuments by the student union, but I wasn't in the mood to pose for pictures. I like to walk and explore, and I can't really do that when I'm stuck in a modeling session!

I first had to inspect the walking trail in front of the union. It's not as pretty as our cement floor at home, but I guess it's okay!

There was a lot to see!

I walked and explored all over the place.

It was also fun to inspect the grass. New England grass is definitely different from what I see in California!

It appears that I am looking at DOJ as he's taking a picture of me, but I was actually looking at some students behind him, because they were smiling and waving at me.

There is just so much to see here!

After an hour or so of exploring the student union area, I was ready for a rest! We strolled in Providence for awhile, before driving to the Newport area. But that'll be another blog post...
Love,
Julien the Baby!

October 14: Happy anniversary to my Maternal Grandparents!

Hi everybody!
It's me, Julien the Baby! I've been so busy these past few days with my new Tot Gym activities, that I forgot to wish Mommy's parents a Happy Anniversary!
So for Grams and Grandaddy X, Happy Anniversary from me, Julien the Baby!


It's hard to believe that the camera phones were able to take pictures in black and white when my grandparents got married. I thought that black and white pictures were done with very new technology. I have a lot to learn!
Anyway I look forward to seeing my grandparents very soon!!!
Love,
Julien the Baby

Halloween 2009 laughter videos

Hi everybody,
On Halloween 2009, which was a Saturday night, I got to enjoy a puppet show with my friend Sam, who now lives in Chicago. DOJ took videos with his iphone - there are 5 but they are only about 15 seconds apiece. Enjoy!










I'll admit that I laugh a lot now, but I think last Halloween, it wasn't always so common for me to laugh. I was just a few months old at the time!
This friend Sam is different from my other friend Sam! This Sam now lives in Chicago and has an older brother named Jack.
Love,
Julien the Baby

Keep on Walking

Hi everybody!
So as I mentioned, I first started to walk without assistance on Monday July 26, 2010. As you can imagine, before that date I was walking with the help of other people holding my hands and such. But that Monday during playgroup was the first time I moved on my own two feet without any help. Those were just very tiny steps, and unfortunately my Daddy didn't film it.
However, on Tuesday or Wednesday of that week, he filmed me with his telephone, which he proceeded to email to a few family members. Now here's the film so that you can see it as well. It may not seem like a big deal, but at that time it was early in my stages of walking! You can also see my Baba (Green Silky blanket) in the video! Hurray for Baba - I sleep with it every night! Allegedly my parents have at least 2000 of them in case any ever get lost, just like that scarf that the magazine editor loses in The Devil Wears Prada book! I think the most I've seen are 2 of these blankets.
Love,
Julien the Baby

Then and later and more recent...

Hi everybody,
I've not really talked about my friend Rachel! Our parents are long-time friends - I think our mommies have known each other for almost 20 years! I've known her for more than a year - I even met her before Ruby and Lily! Here's a brief history in pictures...

Here I am the morning of June 28, 2009 - I'm 24 days old! You can see that I've broken free of my swaddle, but I'm wearing PJs that cover my hands! That was to prevent me from hurting myself, since I tended to move my arms and hands a lot without knowing if I could have accidentally hit something.

Here I am later that day (6/28/09) with Rachel - here I'm properly swaddled and very relaxed. I don't have that much hair (although I did have hair - it was just very light in color!), which is pretty normal for young babies!

Here I am on March 20, 2010 - in this picture, I'm almost 10 months old! You can see that my hands are now free to roam, and I now have more hair. I'm also no longer swaddled - instead I'm wearing a shirt, pants, and Zutano booties.

You can see that I'm very expressive.

Interestingly, the shirt that I'm wearing was a gift from Rachel's parents!

Finally, here I am on July 31, 2010 - now I'm almost 14 months old! I think I'm wearing the same shirt that I wore in March! My parents and I had a sleepover at Rachel's house. You may notice that I'm barefoot in this picture, relaxing on the grass with her.

Here we are the following morning (8/1/10) - you can probably tell that I'm not swaddled. To be truthful, I've not been swaddled in a very long time. I don't think that I even miss it any longer!

You might notice that I have a lot more hair than ever before! That's because my hair is growing as I'm getting older! You may think that I'm comfortably placing my hands on Rachel's shoulders to make it easier for her to hold me.

But the reason is not so simple... actually, I wanted to break free from her gentle grasp and have my feet on the ground. By this time, I was not only standing on my own two feet... but I had started walking on July 26. So I was now able to walk and move as I wished. As much as I enjoyed being held by Rachel, after a nanosecond or so I was ready to be able to have my feet on the ground so that I could walk!

And as you can see by this video... later that day (August 1, 2010), I'm walking!
That's what I do - I'm Julien the Baby, and I walk!
Love,
Julien the Baby

Upside Down

Hi everybody!
I know that "Upside Down" is a song by both Donna Summer and Yo La Tengo / Daniel Johnston, but I really am talking about the art of being upside down. My parents learned about the idea of babies liking being upside down from Sam and his parents Jean and Trey. They allegedly have a picture of Sam being upside down at the age of 4 months, and I think their goal was to turn me upside down before I was 4 months old. But I don't know if there are pictures...
I have a lot of memories of my parents putting me upside down, usually with them holding onto my ankles and calves. And even though I quite enjoy it (just like the crazy fast baby swings - yet another future blog post), I don't know what the big deal is. If we all could walk on our hands, then we could all be upside down!
Here are some pictures of my parents putting me upside down when we were in France in April. They were really obsessed with getting pictures of me being upside down when we were there. Can we just say the word... Whackjob???

Here I am in Lacoste, in Provence. Lacoste is famous for having a college connected with the Savannah design school of Savannah, Georgia! They're famous for also being associated with the Marquis de Sade. Oh the irony...

Here we are in Goult, at the cafe near the house we rented.

None of the other patrons seemed disturbed that I was upside down... but then again, I quite liked it.

Here I am upside down in the main parking lot of Goult, which is also quite near the house (even closer than the cafe).

Lastly here I am at the Cafe Breizh, a Breton crepe-specialty cafe in Paris, in or near Le Marais. You may notice by the wedding bands that in this picture, it's Mommy putting me upside down!
So one huge side benefit of my love of being upside down is that Daddy now tries to be upside down more than ever in his Pilates class; in fact I heard that today (10/5/10), he was upside during Pilates and was very happy! I would be very happy to hold Daddy upside down every day - I could hold him upside down for hours, when I'm not sleeping, eating, or taking a nap.
I can also tell you that DOJ even went on some crazy roller coaster at that State Fair in Massachusetts on Labor Day so that he and Michael Melcher could be upside down. I'm telling you, my parents are Whackjobs! Hey, that's a fun word...
Hmmm, I wonder if Ruby likes to be upside down...
Love,
Julien the Baby

Swimming on Friday August 13, 2010

Hi everybody,
Here are some pictures from a swimming lesson I had with Aunt Nancy on Friday August 13. Both she and Mommy are amazing swimmers. Mommy did synchronized swimming and Aunt Nancy was a champion competitive swimmer. So I'm very lucky to have great swimming influences!
Love,
Julien the Baby

Wednesday 9/8/10: DAR State Forest, Massachusetts

Hi everybody!
Here I am in the DAR State Forest in Western Massachusetts - in the water!

As you can see, there were many ducks, including baby ducklings!

Here I stand (with support), feeling the sand beneath my tootsies!

I am much braver about walking in the water, thanks to a lot of practice in pools and beaches.

It was really beautiful to be here in the water, sharing the lake with ducks!

I was so comfortable here that I even put my own face in the water and blew bubbles! I got very wet, but my parents dried me off and changed me into a warm set of clothes! Hurray!
Love,
Julien the Baby

Waterbug Julien

Hi everybody!
I know this may sound surprising... but I really love the water and swimming pools. It all started back in October 2009, when I was 4 and a half months old.

Here I am in my rashguard, swimming trunks, and swimming hat. I'm also wearing sunscreen and a swimming diaper!

Here I am with my Daddy! We are at the public swimming pool in Brisbane, just south of San Francisco.


And here I am in the water - even though I love the water, I don't actually know how to swim. So when I go in the water, I'm always with Mommy or Daddy, or another responsible adult. I really love the water, but that's no surprise since I also love baths. Still, there's something amazing about being in a big swimming pool. The really big bonus, though, is that my parents have taken me to beaches, lakes, ponds, and more... that'll be another blog post!

Halloween 2009 Meltdowns

Hi everybody!
Normally people think that I'm a very friendly and happy baby. And while that's actually true, there are times when I'm not always the happiest baby!

Here's a picture of what life normally is like for me - I'm happy and smiling a lot. After all, I'm a baby, and that's what we babies do...

Now here's a picture that was taken after too many other pictures were taken - and I just couldn't take it any longer!

In fact, most of us were quite unhappy and no longer congenial for the cameras. But I think our mommies found this to be quite funny, and they just kept taking pictures... you may notice that Ruby was actually quite calm and not unhappy - she probably was wondering why we were not being the happy babies that we normally are!

Here I am, having a meltdown with another playgroup - I just wasn't very thrilled.

But of course that meltdown was quite temporary... and just moments later I was in Mommy's arms, and as you can see, I was quite happy... as was my Mommy!
Looking back a year later, I do think that the meltdowns were very funny. I think that when I experiment with tantrums and being naughty, that we'll all look back and laugh.
Love,
Julien the Baby

Halloween 2009

Hi everybody,
As you all know, Halloween's coming up! We already have a costume picked out, but it's a big secret! Shhhhh.
But in the meantime, here are some pictures from Halloween 2009!
Can you guess my costume?

Here I am posing on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - just before Playgroup!

Here we are at playgroup... since we were mostly 6 months and under, most of us didn't even roll over. So at playgroup we would just rest on blankets while our mommies could have a short moment.


At some point, we were all plopped on the couch for a marathon photo session.

And yes - I'm sitting next to Ruby! In this picture, I wanted to have glazed eyes so that people can imagine what I'll look like in a few years when I start to have Halloween candy! Gotta get myself in practice...
Love,
Julien the Baby