Honestly Julia

Welcome to Honestly Julia!

I am excited to start writing a blog again! This is going to sound a bit silly, but last week while I couldn't sleep in the middle of the night (and my mind was racing!), I remembered that I had a blog! Granted, I hadn't written in it since 2012, but I had a blog! It was then that I realized I wanted to resurrect it and begin writing again.

The original blog was created with the purpose for me to have a place to write and document some of my travels, etc. I started this blog with the name "theadventuroustravller" just before my dream trip to New Zealand and Australia in 2011. Yes, I used two “l's” in traveller, I accidentally spelled it the British way! I enjoyed writing a blog and it was fun to document my pregnancy with our son in 2011.

I was fairly consistent in blogging for the first year of our son's life. Around the one year mark, I just got busy with life (learning how to cook/bake for us with dairy/wheat sensitivities became a full time job!) and the blog was completely neglected, so much so that I actually forgot I even had it!

Our son is now 4 and life seems to be going at a bit more of a manageable pace so I'm excited to start writing again.

A little about the new name of this blog:

I knew I wanted to rename the blog to something more generic than just one interest/hobby, etc but not too specific (I didn't want a lot of identifying information, etc). I did some brainstorming and asked my Facebook friends to weigh in. My top three names were "juliainalaska", "journeyofgrace" and "honestlyjulia". I was leaning towards "journeyofgrace" but also liked the other two. "juliainalaska" is convenient but it's also a bit identifying as far as where I live, etc. I think I was surprised by how many votes "honestlyjulia" got. Here's the funny thing about the written word as we have all come to realize in the past decade plus with social media, texting, etc....it's hard to discern tone. For example, "honestlyjulia" could be interpreted at least three different ways:

Honestly Julia
This is the way I hope most people view it: genuine, honest, real and authentic.

Honestly Julia!
This is interpreted or conveyed in a sarcastic or snarky tone. Almost like "shame on you!", pronounced with exclamation.

Honestly Julia?
This also has a sarcastic tone or pronounced in a "what are you thinking?" sort of way.

Honestly, Julia
At a recommendation of a friend (who actually suggested "honestlyjulia" in the first place), I can sign my posts with "Honestly, Julia" instead of "Sincerely, Julia", etc. Thanks, Nikkole for the great suggestions!

As far as the design of this blog, I'm learning how to make it "cute"! A dear friend of mine originally designed the layout and theme for the blog when I started it in 2010. I had her wipe it all clean so I could start fresh and learn how to make changes and add things to it on my own, without having to bug her to change things (she has 3 kids which includes a newborn). If anyone wants to give suggestions as to how to add things or make it look better, please let me know! In the meantime, I'll be educating myself through YouTube videos on how to design/maintain a cute blog! I will probably use a free template to customize it more, but for now, I'm just using a Blogger template to keep it simple. The look of the blog may change a bit before I get it the way I like it but that's ok!

One last thing...I will not be using my family's real names on this blog out of privacy concerns. My name is obviously fine but if you know us in real life, please refrain from using my husband or son's names in the comments. I'm still working on nicknames for both of them. It's easiest to just say "my love" or "my husband" for my spouse, but it'd be kind of fun to have an actual blog name that isn't his real name. For my son, his name while in my belly was Bobo so I could continue on with that I suppose. Or just call him "my son", but that gets kind of boring!

I'm excited to have a little corner of the web to process my thoughts and share my life with friends and family. I hope you enjoy reading along!

Honestly,
Julia

Singing to tiny baby Bobo

I used to think I was somewhat "tech savvy" but I don't think that's the case anymore. I've tried to upload this sweet video that My Love captured of me singing to tiny baby Bobo in the hospital for over a year! I finally discovered that I can upload videos to YouTube easily then share them on my blog. So, you may be seeing a backlog of Bobo videos from the last year as I sort through all that we've taken and find some good ones.

Enjoy!

The song is "I Get To Be The One" by one of my favorite artists JJ Heller

Bobo takes his first steps!

We were at our friends/neighbor's house for a birthday party last night and Bobo took his very first steps on his own! I just happened to capture it on video and was quite excited about our son's accomplishment. We'll see if he can do it at home without a xylophone.

Good job, Bobo! We're so proud of you!

Here's another video I took the other day that shows Bobo's developing cute personality.

Our big one year old!

We made it! We all survived our first year as a new family and Bobo is still alive! Ok, so that may be a bit dramatic but it was definitely a huge year of adjustment for all of us. We sure do love our little guy and are so glad God chose to place him in our family.

Here's a few pics of our big one year old:

What a difference one year makes! 

Hmm, what is this stuff?

I think I like it!

(Bobo & I are mostly wheat, sugar and dairy free so I made him a cupcake out of coconut flour, honey and coconut whipped cream. He liked it!)

Daddy's big helper

Helping Daddy put together his birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa in WA

We got to have a 22 hour layover in Seattle with my parents and niece

Bobo and his friend chilling out on Boppy pillows in Colorado

My love and his brother with their babes

My love is a great Daddy and Uncle!

Bobo is generally a very happy kid (I was going to say "baby" but he's more of a toddler now!). He enjoys knocking down towers we build for him out of blocks and especially likes drumming. Give him two wooden spoons and he's in heaven! He recently decided he doesn't like having his diaper changed or having clothes put on or taken off. He also doesn't like getting into his carseat, but once he's in, he usually falls asleep or enjoys the car ride. He babbles constantly and it's so fun to watch him explore his world around him. 

We are so thankful for our little guy and look forward to our next year ahead with him in our lives. 

9 months!

Could it be that Bobo has now been on the outside of me almost as much time as he was inside?! It's so crazy how quickly time flies, but we do indeed have a beautiful and active 9 month old baby boy!

We went to Oregon for a week and while there, Bobo worked hard at perfecting his "inchworm" crawl. It's like a combo of an army crawl and toe scoot all together, it's quite cute! The other day, I left him in the living room and not more than a minute later, he appeared in the bathroom! He definitely keeps us on our toes and his toes are getting a workout propelling him all over the place! I haven't captured it well on video yet, but when I do, I'll post it.

For now, I'll leave you with a few more cute pics and a video of Daddy and Bobo playing the "near/far" game!

Sweet cousins together 

Sweet summer baby boy

Mmm, I like Gramma's toothbrush!

Looking up to Daddy

Playing in the tent

Family pool fun with Grandpa & Grandma

Trying a lemon for the first time = sour face!

Beach fun on the Oregon coast with Grampa!

Family fun day at the beach for Mama's birthday!

Grampa and his sweetie pies

Baby blue eyes

Who would have thought we'd have a reddish haired baby with blue eyes? Not us, but we sure think he's cute!

Startling blue eyes

Do you see it?! I got my very first tooth this week!

I sure know how to melt Mommy's heart with my smile!

We took Bobo to the eye doctor a few weeks ago as it looked like one of his eyes turned in a bit. He has what is called "pseudoesotropia" which just makes it look like it turns in. As his nose bridge develops, the appearance of the turning in will go away. 

We are so thankful for such a happy, easy-going little guy. It's so hard to believe he's 7 months old already!

Our happy chatterbox

I'm working on a post about our time in California, but until then, I thought I'd share this sweet video of our little talkative man: