Style Series: Julianna's first ensemble

So, lately I've been feeling time pass quickly. It seems like all of the sudden my children are entering a new phase. This is the first time since May of 2004 that I haven't had a baby or had a new baby coming. That's quite a long time to be always taking care of babies or pregnant. I mean, I'm no Michelle Duggar, but I have been consumed with children under the age of 5 for quite awhile now.

I'm excited for this new stage of parenting. I am sad to see the baby days go...they were tons of work, but there is nothing like the unconditional love of a baby. In this new stage my children are becoming so independent and turning into regular people. A very exciting thing!

To mark this burst of maturity, I have added a few new things to our routine. The kids are now in charge of loading their dirty dishes into the dishwasher after dinner. And they now do one chore a day. Like real chores. Taking out the trash, sorting laundry and washing windows. Realistically, it's more work for me, but it gets the job done and everybody feels good about it. (Don't worry, I'm not making Julianna partake in the chore list!)

And one more example of my children growing up? Julianna picked out her first outfit today. Lily did this at a very early age, and I let her. Lily had tons of hair. Tons. So, to justify letting her pick out her outfits I would always do her hair up really cute. This way she never looked like I neglected her. Poor Julianna doesn't have any hair and she looks much younger than she actually is. So, she just looks neglected. ha ha