An exhaustive list of my vocabulary, and some footage of me walking!

Hi everyone!

Now that I'm a year old, I'm really off to the races.  Pretty soon I'm going to be hosting impromptu walks and speeches with my newly acquired skills.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks:

Dinner at Raymond's

In my vroom vroom!

Doing art with Paula 

At the park with dada (clearly we are a little ahead of park season)

Also, here's me on the move:

I also have a pretty extensive vocabulary (noting this all "for the record"):

• mama, dada, mimi (often said while holding the phone- guess she knows who mama spends the most time talking to)
• car, vroom vroom: I like to keep an eye on things in this new suburban neighborhood of mine. lots of cars!  AND now I have one of my own (thanks, grandma)!
• Hat (pronounced hot): I love my hot, and really any hot!  I love when other people try on my hat, and when other people have hats so that I can take them off.  Sometimes I call my bows hats, because, after all, they are on my head, just like my hots!
• baba!  This is a work with many different meanings.  First, baba is the obvious bottle.  Love babas, especially when I see other babies with them.  I also call ducks babas, and tend to shout it confidently.  BABA!!
• Baby: I love pointing out other babies!  In my world, babies are everywhere.  They're on my yogurt container, they're in books, and they are on the streets of Ridgewood.  They're even kids who are 10 years old- anyone who's not an adult is a baby.  I even have a baby of my very own that I like to keep an eye on. She wears a hat!
• ney ney: horsie!  This is a new one
• hi: I like to say hi to everyone
• agua and yum yum: you need to be able to tell people when you'e hungry and thirsty.  I sometimes like to walk over to the refrigerator and shout YUM YUM so people really get the message
• up/down: i'm working on these- my delivery isn't perfect yet, but I know that up means go up the stairs and pick me up and down means let go of me i've got things I've got to get to on the ground
• bye bye: this is hot off the press.  I tried it out tonight twice, but will need to practice a lot more
• ojo: spanish for eye (forgive the spelling, my mother took French). I used to poke people and my baby doll in the eye, but I am less interested in eyeballs than I used to be (cars are more interesting)!

Well, that's it (for the record)!  Mom should be putting this stuff in the baby book, but she is making me do all the work.

Lots of love,

Gillian

Happy Birthday to me!!

Hi everyone,

What a busy month this last one of my first year has been!

First, we moved to NJ!  I love our house and in honor of my new pad, I tried out some new tricks, including the one below:

This is me walking, which is not totally clear based on yet another terrible job videotaping from my parents!

I actually hate walking and haven't done it since this video.  I can get places so much faster by crawling and being carried!  I do, however, love to climb stairs, which there are plenty of in our new home.

We also joined the kids gym so that I can stop being such an antisocial hermit (thanks, mom)! I love the trampoline, though circle time just doesn't make sense to me. There are so many fun stations, including a ball pit which may like a germ pit to the outside observer, but is really fun!  And i also hung off a bar, swung on some swings, and crawled through a tunnel.  Can't wait to go back!

Here is a link to my 12 month pics or you can buy them here!

Last night, we had a birthday celebration with me, mama, and dada and a cupcake just for me! And, Mimi and Papa got me an amazing kitchen (that my parents spent 6 hours building to a 90% complete state) with my VERY OWN MICROWAVE!  I love my birthday!

Lots of love,
Gillian

Happy First Birthday to Our Little Angel!

Hi all,

It's me, Morgan/Mom here.  Gillian will be back shortly, I am sure, to recap her 12th month, but I wanted to mark this very special day with a quick reflection on the last year.

When you're pregnant with your first child, moms and dads who are "in the club" lovingly share their congratulations and exchange knowing looks while saying things like "Get ready!" or "Being a parent is the best." 

No piece of advice could have prepared me for the love that I feel for this baby and the joy that she has brought me and Chad each and every day. I couldn't have known what it would mean to be amazed every day. Gillian took a few steps last week and it was pretty amazing- but no more amazing than hearing her say "hiiiii dada", or when she pulled herself up to stand on the crib for the first time, or smiled, laughed, pointed, or put her head on my shoulder for the first time. It is just the best to be amazed by our baby every day.

Happy First Birthday, Gillian!

I've already written Gillian an email (though it may take 30 years to make sense to her), so I need not go into greater detail here.  But let the record show that Chad and I are overjoyed to celebrate our little Gillian's first birthday, and can't wait to see her grow (but please, not too fast).

lots of love,

morgan and chad

11 Months!

Hi everyone!

It's been a very exciting month for us Tullys!  We are moving to NJ in 3 days and mom and dad have been busy packing.  I'm pretty excited, and have been told that I'm going to have a little more room to play.  Sounds good to me! 

I've been a very good girl this month; I've been sleeping great at night, taking decent naps, trying new foods (I love quinoa)! and just generally being a delight (or so I'm told).

With the Olympics happening in Sochi this month, I decided to spend January, my 11th month, practicing for a few events of my own:

1. Product Removal

I've been honing my skills at removing things from where they belong, and placing them on the floor.  Here is me taking the books off the shelf.  My strategy for bringing home the gold is to start with the biggest heaviest ones, and then remove the little ones as quickly as possible.  I leave them on the floor before going into my room ...

Once I'm in my room, I have a go at the bookshelf in there, and then move along to the dresser drawers.  My strategy here is to start with the bottom drawer, move on to the middle two, and go back to the bottom.  I leave everything on the floor here, as well, so that my hard work is visible to everyone.

2.  Walking

With my walker, of course! I love to walk with my walker, or by holding on to walls, ledges, chairs, couches, etc.  I've been told that I have great form, but that my fear of letting go and walking on my own is holding me back from a lot of freedom!  And I love freedom.  Maybe when I turn one in a few weeks, I'll let loose and start to motor around on my own.

3. Laundry

I'm no Mimi when it comes to laundry (she's taken home the gold since the 70s), but I do love some laundry.  I love sorting, smelling and putting dangerous chemicals very close to my mouth. The washing machine is an amazing invention and I love to spend time watching it go around!

4. Reading

You can see my appetite for books has not diminished despite the fact that I finally have some toys to play with!  I love turning the pages and feeling the different textures in some of my books.  I am a pretty fast flipper and think this is where I can really lead the team.

5.  Babbling

I have been learning so many new words!  I always say HI DADA to anyone who enters the apartment, and sometimes to no one in particular.  I now say AGUA when I want my cup of water, which my non-Spanish speaking parents took a little while to catch onto.  I continue to say MAMA and occasionally MIMI.  My new favorite word is BABY, which is just in time, because apparently we're getting a new one, due August 12th.  

Signing off from NYC, my home for 11.5 months!

Love,

Gillian

Here is a link to my 11 month photo shoot!

Peekaboo!

Hi guys! 

Just thought you might like to see one of my new tricks!

love,

gillian

My First Haircut!

Hi all,

I'm feeling a little bit lighter today- and no, I haven't been doing pilates.  I got a haircut people!

Here's me at Gymboree with Gloria, my stylist.  She set me up in this nice Jeep Wrangler with some cartoons from the 1950s.  Once I had my bagel I was good to go- Gloria tidied me up without incident.  See below!

I think after seeing the before and after shots (below), you'll agree that this was a much needed operation.

Before

After!

Stay warm out there!

love,

gillian

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone!

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had as exciting a night as I did.  Mom and Dad had Aunt Megs and Uncle Tim over last night and they had a pretty wild night that culminated in a 10pm bedtime for everyone but me (I tucked in at 7).

I just returned from a week at Mimi and Papa's in Florida.  Big thanks to Uncle Tim for surrendering his closet to me (not for my clothes THIS TIME, but for me and my crib) and really thanks to everyone for waiting on me hand and foot!  I had so much fun with everyone down there and loved playing with my new toys and the best appliances in America (great microwave and washer/dryer! Love my appliances!!)

The sun didn't come out much, which was fine for me given my complexion, but made the week a little less exciting for mom.  Here are some pics of me on the beach and pool:

This hat stayed on my head long enough to snap a pic and then had to be removed. I do not like headgear!

I stayed in this hut for 32 seconds. Too far from the action.

Mom had several parenting fails this holiday season, and she wanted to come clean 'for the record'.  Here they are in no particular order:

1. She waited until Christmas Eve at 4pm to take me to meet Santa, and the line was so long that we were told that Santa went home at 6, whether or not there were still kids on line. We could "wait at our own risk".  Silver Lining: I did get to see this Santa, who was taped to the door of the mall California Pizza Kitchen.   I touched his beard and felt very satisfied with our mission.

2.  She didn't order enough Christmas cards. No excuses.  Sorry, they were so cute!

3.  She didn't take any family pictures on Christmas morning or New Year's Eve.  

4.  While she is in FULL confession mode, she also wanted me to pass along that she didn't wrap some of my gifts, and quite honestly, decided to keep one or two of them on the backburner until I get tired of some of my other new toys.  Good to know, Mom!!

5.  This falls outside parenting, but she did have ice cream for dessert 8 nights in a row.  I think we can all agree when I say, NO COMMENT.

Here's to a 2014 that is filled with lots of fun, forgiveable parenting fails, and of course, good health and cheer.  Love you all!

Gillian