A new year, a new post!

Happy New Year to everyone! Well, seeing at it's almost February that phrase is a little weird now.

It's been a great month so far for the Hejl fam. Juliet is five months old, and cuter than EVER. She's eating rice cereal and oatmeal, and has thus far tried peas, green beans and sweet potatoes. She seems to like the sweet potatoes the most, but who doesn't. Peas are just NASTY to me, but Cooper and Juliet love them. I have no excuse.

Cooper is growing like a weed, and learning about/questioning everything. We've had a lot of death in the family lately - Granddaddy, uncle Harold, and yes, my parents' dog, Clovis - so Coop's been asking about Heaven a lot. It's pretty hard to explain death and Heaven to a four year old. Right now, he doesn't really want to go to Heaven because that's far away from everything he knows on this earth. He's coming around though, since we explained to him that Harold is now in Heaven with his mom and dad. He did pray once, "Dear God, thank you for Granddaddy and Harold. Help Harold to have a good time with his mom and dad in Heaven." Well said. Last night he mentioned to Luke, "I have two dads!" We were all, um okay. He then said, "God and Daddy. God is our Heavenly Father." How sweet is that? I love me some Cooper. So strong-willed yet sensitive and all-ears.

Because I haven't updated since Christmasish, here are a bunch of fun and random pics.

Four month stats, Christmas, etc.

Hope everyone had a great holiday. Now it's back to the grind. Cooper starts back preschool on Wednesday, and I couldn't be more excited. He couldn't be either. Luke will be traveling to Salt Lake City, some other place, and POLAND this month, so it should be interesting for us all.

Juliet had her four month appointment a couple of weeks ago. She was 13 pounds, 14 ounces (50th percentile), and doing well. She was almost 25 inches long, which puts her in the 90th percentile for height. A tall one. The doc said she was grasping at things at a six month-old level, so even if she was just saying that, it made me feel good that we already have a genius on our hands. :) She's talking a lot more, sleeping better during the day and at night, grabbing her feet with her hands, and really chewing on everything she can get her hands on - quite a drooler, too. She started last week on some rice cereal, and LOVES it. We're eating it every night now, and are about to start with it twice a day. Gives me a little feeding break - not so constant. We love her so much, and are so grateful for this blessing in our lives. Super cute.

Cooper is playing more and more with his little sister. I asked him outside today: "Cooper, do you remember when it was just me, you and Daddy ... No Juliet?" He replied, "Yes, that was fun. Babies are hard to take care of and cry. But, I'm glad we have her now. I love her." Made me tear up a little. He is the sweetest little boy in the world - smart, funny, compassionate, loves to run around at full speed, and is always seeking knowledge. He wants to know about EVERYTHING, and is slowly starting to try and read a few books. He wants you to follow the words with your finger, and spell things. SO great. We bought him the TAG reader for Christmas and he uses it a lot. Mix anything with technology and he's rarin' to go. Much like his daddy. Oh, and there's still the car and phone obsessions. Show him a car, and he'll tell you the make and model. Not kidding.

We had a fantastic holiday this year. Always, a holiday with an infant doesn't really feel much like a holiday, but who needs sleep and time to one's self? Not me. We stayed in Austin for Luke's parents' Christmas, came to our house for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, and then were off to my parents' Christmas Day. After some good quality time with family (and an Old 97s concert for good measure), we crammed everything in our suburban and came home, only to cram it all in our house. Needless to say, we're blessed beyond measure, and had a great holiday.

More to come. Upcoming events: Photo Card Cafe' yearly company meeting, our huddle retreat, running the Austin half marathon (Luke is too, but I'm actually running with my friend Jillian), judging Sing Song at ACU, and Disneyland in March. Whew!