Chilli Cookoff 2010!

A couple of weekends ago (Sunday, Feb. 28th to be exact) Anni and Randy had their Chili Cook off! What a great time we had and ate some really good chili as well. Our good friends Kayte and Brody came up with their little man, Mason. Kayte won the chili cook off with her traditional turkey chili recipe...yum! There were many of Anni's Marquette friends there cheering on the basketball team. One of her friends, Sarah Kahn, also won for her green chili recipe, which was also very good. It was a hard choice, so they shared the cook off title this year. We also were able to see our friends Amy and Tony. They are expecting a little BOY of their own this summer. So they are welcome to practice any time with Jillian (preferably on Friday or Saturday date nights!) I do have to say...Anni's chili was better than Randy's chili this year! Here are some action shots of the fun day.

Beth and Sam

The hostess with the mostess, Anni, wondering "Did my chili win?"

Anni and Randy getting chili recipe tips!


Brody, Mason, Kelley and Jillian (how cute are we!?...the babies!)

The expecting parents, Amy and Tony Hopkins.

Jeremy only wishes his chili won!

First time in the water!

We took Jillian to the water park for the first time. An indoor water park...of course! Grandma Grace stayed over another night after the dedication and came along with us to Country Springs in Waukesha and we had a great time. Jillian LOVED the water. She wasn't feeling very well and had a crazy day on Sunday, so she easily could have been fussy at the water park. But she loved every moment, really enjoyed being in the water. Take a look at Jillian at the water park...

Jillian with daddy (before entering the water), mommy and grandma (after water fun).

Splash, splash, splash...so much fun!

We had so much fun, it just tuckered her out!

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Jillian has begun to love her Jump-N-Go. She just jumps and jumps in here. Like mother like daughter (I loved my Johnny Jumper according to my mother!).

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Jillian's Dedication

Jason and I have been going to a new church, Redeemer Evangelical Free Church. It is a non-denominational church and pretty different that what we both grew up with. But they are VERY welcoming and has been a great fit for us. So we have been going there for several months now and will call this church home. They do not do infant baptisms there, but they do dedicate the babies. So we decided to have Jillian dedicated. It was a great day and she was SO good. We feel so very blessed to have had such a wonderful baby and so many people who love her. Here is her dedication.

Our first LONG road trip...

Now in the grand scheme of things, 5 1/2 hours in the car isn't that long for most people...but when you have a small child in the car, who needs to eat every few hours, 5 1/2 hours can seem like FOREVER! But we made it through in shinning colors!

Valentines weekend Jason and I ventured up North to visit our friends Anne and Pete Young. Jason took Friday off of work and we left Thursday evening and drove up to his dad's in Portage. That is only a 2 hour drive (not bad at all, Jillian slept the entire way). We got up the next morning with the sun shinning and decided to take Jillian out for a walk around their area. The fresh air was so good for her...it put her right to sleep!

After a walk we packed up and continued on our adventure North! Rhinelander is another 3 1/2 hours in the car North. We got to Anne and Pete's house late afternoon with most of our sanity in tact! I had to jump in the back seat to help entertain Jillian for the last hour of our drive (not an easy task!). After saying hello, getting a tour of the new house, unpacking the car and a quick feeding for Jillian we were off to an authentic North Woods fish fry (so good!). We had a great time up North with Triple A and Uncle Pete. Just take a look!

Uncle Pete entertaining Jillian...the airplane is landing!


Jillian is such a happy baby, sitting and playing at Anne and Pete's.


Anne and Pete's neighbor, Christy and Chloe (10 months) came over for a play date when the boys went on their outdoor adventure!

We got up Sunday morning and had another great breakfast, packed up and headed home. Jillian was such a good girl on the way home. She let us drive for 2 1/2 hours and we stopped for lunch. Jillian ate and pooped, all in one stop! She was good to go and slept the rest of the way home! We had a great time up North with Anne and Pete, the drive was good, so all-in-all it was a good Valentines weekend!

6 month birthday!

Today Jillian is 6 months old! I can't believe how fast these past few months have gone. It seems like just yesterday we were on our way to the hospital...but so much has happened and Jillian is getting big so quickly. There have had many many fun days, along with a few tearful and sleepless days when our little J decides she doesn't want to sleep (which she feels she is much too important to miss anything and does not nap during the day). Here are a few things we are accomplishing these days:

We are eating solids and have been eating solids since 4 months. Jillian seems to enjoy her veggies, but not her fruits (weird huh, but I am sure we'll find them more enjoyable sooner than I would like). We have accomplished rice cereal, carrots, sweet potatoe/broccoli. We tried apple sauce and apple/pears/cinnamon, but can't seem to get that down. As you can see we are in a big girl high chair and no longer eating in our bouncy seat. The bottle still isn't one of Jillian's favorite things, but we have been using a sippy cup. More of it seems to get on her than in her but it is a start!

Jillian and I went out to shovel the other day. It was our first real "outdoor" experience (other than running in and out from the house to car). We wore our snow suit, hat and mittens and, as you can see, she was not thrilled with the situation. So I quickly shoveled what needed to be done so we could go in. Hopefully our next outdoor excursion will go better!

Jillian has found her feet! Whenever she is on the changing table or on her back she grabs her feet. She has been able to even get a few toes in her mouth! It's super cute, until you need her legs down to put on her diaper! Not only do her feet go into her mouth, everything goes into her mouth these days. We wear a bib constantly because she is a drooly monster!

Weight:TBD, dr. apt. is next week. I am guessing over 16 lbs. for sure!

Height:TBD, dr. apt. is next week. I am guessing longer than 25 in. for sure!

Jillian has and will roll over...when she wants to and usually only for daddy. We spend time on our tummy, not willingly, but she'll roll on occasion. So needless to say, she is mobile!

We can't wait to see what the next 6 months bring us! Stay tuned...