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