Lilly Rae - Week 45

Sunday, April 21

Lilly is still not very interested in food, but she nurses really well, so I am not worried.  She did really enjoy sharing a cheese stick with me, so at least we know one thing she will eat!  It was adorable: I was holding her and biting the cheese stick and she was staring at me, so I let her try a bite and she was hooked!  I didn't give her too much just in case it didn't sit well with her, but she loved it!

We went to Jared and Carissa's for dinner tonight.  It was great to see everyone.  As always, Ryan and Drew were extremely into Lilly and both wanted to hold her.  It's funny that the boys are so much more interested in Lilly than the girls!  Hmmm...that sounds weird, but you know what I mean!

I am still in denial that my baby is almost a year old.  How did that happen???

Is it sad that I am sometimes jealous of how much Lilly seems to love Maggie?  She laughs harder playing with Maggie than anything else!  Our daughter is definitely a dog person.

Monday, April 22

Someone is very proud of themselves now that they can pull up and stand up on their own!  She pulls up and gives me a huge, toothy grin to show how happy she is.  She still flops on her butt sometimes because she gets so excited that she tries to bounce, but she doesn't quite have the balance to do that yet.  

We have a full blown crawler on our hands now too!  Lilly just decided that she wasn't going to settle for her army crawl/worm movement, she wanted to crawl for real.  So now, look out!  We cannot turn our backs on Lilly and expect her to be in the same place anymore!

You can see Lilly pulling up!

Tuesday, April 23

Lilly's top incisor still has not cut through, so she has sometimes been taking an evening nap since she is not feeling great and she doesn't always sleep as long during her daily naps.  Today I carried her on our evening walk and she fell asleep on me.  I told Darren he needed to go get the camera because I wanted a picture of this.  It is so rare that Lilly sleeps in my arms, I wanted to have a picture.  We went inside and I took her out of her carrier and just let her sleep on me while I sat in the recliner.  It reminded me of the first 12 weeks I had with Lilly at home.  We used to always sleep on the recliner together.  She is still my sweet little baby!

We also met a possible daycare provider today and LOVED her!  She is a former teacher (her husband is still a teacher) and they have two beautiful girls.  Lilly and the girls played really well together and Darren and I felt like we really clicked with the family.  It was a HUGE weight lifted off of my shoulders that we knew we had someone that would work out, and we still have several other great possibilities to interview.  

Wednesday, April 24

Unfortunately the flash woke her up (don't worry, she needed to get up anyway!), but I needed to snap this picture.  Lilly was asleep with her little fanny up in the air!  I have only seen her do this one other time and I didn't have my phone to take a picture.  It is so cute!  

I had soccer duty today, so we brought Lilly to school to see everyone and see some of the game.  Our principal said Lilly is so cute he wanted to set up his office as a daycare and watch Lilly for us.  I told him I wish that were an option!

Lilly enjoyed visiting with our friends at work and getting to be outside for a little while.  It was great!

Thursday, April 25

Darren had a meeting today with his China trip group, so I had the Smiths all over for dinner.  Michelle offered to feed Lilly while I finished dinner and I was hoping she might have better luck getting Lilly to eat, but she pretty much stuck to her Cheerios and didn't want anything to do with her spaghetti.  All in time I guess!

 Lilly is still completely fascinated by my camera.  At least I can get some cute face shots this way!

She's pretty much the cutest baby ever...admit it.

Friday, April 26

I still have a stack of magazines in a basket by the fireplace (because I am going to get time to read them...riiiiiiight).  Anyway, Lilly was playing with her toys and crawled over to get the magazines.  We tried several times to move her or move them, but she was pretty intent on seeing them, so I figured, what the heck, and I gave her one to read with Darren.  She pretty much just flipped through the pages like she does with her books.  She started to crumple it a little toward the end, but I think that was because she likes the sound more than anything.  

Saturday, April 27

I went out early this morning to a garage sale to see if I could find any toys for Lilly for her birthday and I came out with such a great deal!  I bought at least 12 toys including a walker/rider, play table, a stand up activity center and a talking/moving Elmo for $10!  I was originally going to save them for Lilly's birthday, but why keep them away from her for 6 more weeks when she can play with them now!  :-)

Lilly was crawling up a storm today.  She wanted to explore everything!  She loves going over to the big bookshelf and seeing what she can find, since of course that is pretty much the only spot in the entire living room that we prefer her not to go (since it's kind of behind an arm of the couch and harder to see her).  I think her toy box will make the perfect blockade for that area.

We went to the Health Fair at The Vine today and I was SO excited because we ran into our doula, Kalan!  Not only that, but we were able to meet her hansom baby boy, Gentry!  It was so nice to see Kalan and Gentry.  We have been meaning to schedule a play date and time just got away from us.  We will schedule it soon though, for sure!

We went to Amber and Seth's that night for a party and it was so much fun!  Shanequia and William were there, and also Andrea from school but I didn't really know anyone else.  Luckily everyone was so friendly and I just talked to other moms and met new people.  There must have been 15 kids under the age of 4 there.  It seemed like everyone had a baby or small child!   It was great :-)  

Amber's daughter, Gracen, loved playing with Lilly and was so sweet with her!  She wanted to hold her, so I sat Lilly on her lap and she hugged her.  Then she told me she wanted to hold her "like this" and she pointed to her shoulder.  She wanted to hold Lilly up in her arms (probably because she sees her parents and grandparents hold her brother like that).  I told her Lilly was probably too big for that, but she could give her a hug instead.  She liked that.

I was proud of Lilly because she lasted until almost 8:30 that night.  She started to get really tired and cranky though, so we called it an early night and got her home.  It was nice to get out and hang out with great friends though!

Lilly Rae- Week 44

Sunday, April 14

I missed my baby's adorable, soft as silk, chunky little legs!  I love this warm weather and that I get to squeeze her little legs and tickle her monkey toes whenever I want!  I think something in the weather also made Lilly feel more confident about being mobile!  I feel like it is night and day how mobile she is now compared to a week ago!  She moves all over (scootching, rolling, pulling...etc) and she is so much more confident and comfortable.  

We went to the park today to enjoy the nice weather.  Lilly really enjoyed her time on the swing (see the video below).  I was a little nervous because she is still so tiny and the swing is pretty big, but she loved it!  

Lilly wanted to make sure I knew that she is in charge of what goes on her head, not me.  She was very clear that she was NOT going to wear her headband for any pictures today :-)  She definitely has her own personality!

Monday, April 15

Lilly wasn't feeling very well today.  She had a little fever and was teething pretty badly.  Of course, it was also the day we had to go back to work.  Lilly cried when we left, so I cried in the car on the way to work.  I missed her as soon as we walked out of the door.  I was so used to being with her all day, it was hard to imagine not getting to see those big, beautiful eyes staring up at me with her sweet little grin.  Kristi sent me some pictures throughout the day so I could still see Lilly.  When we got home I wasn't thinking about taking any pictures, I just wanted to be with my girl, especially since I needed to go to rehearsal that night as well.  

Lilly is now drinking from a straw sippy cup as well.  She loves this bunny cup that we got at Target after Easter when it was 70% off (yes, I am proud of how cheap I am!)  

I was so glad to see a picture of Lilly smiling.  She was having a rough day, but she is such a happy baby, she still smiled through it!

I love how Gus Gus (the dog) is sleeping, but he still needs to be close to Lilly.  He loves her...

...and Lilly loves him too!

Tuesday, April 16

Lilly was still not feeling great today (those darn teeth are such a pain!), so she was a "barnacle baby" and did not want to be put down AT ALL.  Darren had an HOA meeting, which meant Mommy and Lilly were all by ourselves.  Since Lilly didn't want to be put down this meant we really couldn't play with her toys, and I grew tired of walking around the house pretty quickly, so I tried to take her for a walk around the neighborhood.  She loved it!  

I was playing music on my phone for her and Lilly was clapping along.  

Apparently riding in a stroller is really hard work, because my baby girl fell right asleep.  I wanted to let her sleep since she wasn't feeling well, but I knew if I took her out of the stroller she would wake up, so I grabbed my book and sat in the garage with her while she slept for about 10 more minutes :-)

Wednesday, April 17

Kristi gave us some bad news last night.  She will no longer be able to watch Lilly after this school year.  She was really upset about it because she loves Lilly, but with her oldest daughter going to college, her family needs her to go back to work.  We are really going to miss Kristi, but hopefully someone else just as good will come our way.  

Kristi sent me a video of Lilly moving her exersauser today and titled it "Super Baby"!  It was so funny.  Lilly was actually moving the exersauser around even though it's not on wheels and I can vouch that it is not easy to move!  I was impressed.  She was also scootching all over the floor and getting around really well today.

I think Lilly's teeth felt a little better because she was much more independent today.  She was happy to sit and play with her toys on her own and just hum to herself.  She was really into the ball popper toy and enjoyed banging the plastic balls together, throwing them, trying to chew them and she was also interested in the fan that makes the balls pop.  These aren't the greatest pictures, but you can get a sense of how active she was and how vocal she was as well!

Thursday, April 18

Kristi sent me a few pictures today of Lilly and her "bunny cup."  We got this for Lilly on a whim because it was 70% off at Target after Easter, and apparently Lilly wouldn't put it down all day!  She even wanted it when she was in her jumper.  Kristi has started giving Lilly her milk in her cup because she doesn't want a bottle anymore.  She even made her a milk "slushie" because she uses frozen breast milk and it wasn't completely thawed.  I think the cold feels good on Lilly's gums because she is still working on her right incisor tooth.  Her left on has broken through, but the right one is taking a little longer.  

I don't have any pictures or video of it yet, but Lilly also says "Maggie" now, though she says "Aggie". It is hilarious that the first time she said Hi, she said it to the dog and now her next word is the dog's name.  I am starting to get a complex here!  I was preparing myself to be jealous when she said Dada before Mama.  I hadn't prepared myself for her to say Maggie before Mama!  She babbles and says Mamamama and Dadadada still, but not in context.  

Friday, April 19

I feel like so much has changed in a week.  Lilly is so much more independent and mobile now.  I can put her down on the floor and she just moves all over the place, gets herself around, plays on her own, babbles the whole time...etc.  She is growing up so much.  

When we got home from work, I put Lilly on the floor and she started digging in her diaper bag that we send to Kristi's and taking out the toys that she wanted.  I love the face she is making here because she is looking at me as if I am interrupting some very important play time with her new bowl.  That's the other funny thing!  Lilly loves kitchen supplies.  She loves cups, bowls, spatulas...etc.  It's the simple things!

She is getting so big!  I don't even worry about her falling over when she is sitting by herself anymore. Look at how much older she looks.  Where did the time go???

I am so grateful that Lilly is so happy.  She just loves to laugh, smile and play.  She also bounces up and down and claps her hands when music is playing.  She loves music.

One of Lilly's new favorite things to do is to take all of her toys out of her toy basket and just spread them out all over the floor so she can get to everything easily.  You would think I would hate this, but I love it!  I love that she just wants to play and have fun.

Saturday, April 20

Lilly has been pulling up on things lately, but this morning we saw her pull up completely on her own and stay that way without flopping down on her behind.  Darren and I both looked at each other and were waiting to catch her, but she stayed up!  We tried to coax her into doing it again when I had the camera on (we put her bunny cup on the ottoman to try to get her to reach for it), but she wasn't interested.

I like this video also because it shows Lilly and her blankey.  She has had this blanket since she was born (though she didn't start using it until a few months ago).  We have been giving it to her at bedtime for a few months and recently we found a second one at Kid to Kid, so she has even been bringing it to Kristi's.  I think that has made her more attached to it because it is definitely her security object now.  She loves to grab it and rub her face on it.  I am glad she has a comfort object because it seems to really help her sleep and stay asleep at night and during naps.

Lilly is looking at me like I disturbed her again.  I think it's funny that she is more conscious of when I am taking her picture now and she seems a little annoyed by it!  Gets used to it kid ;o)

We went to Sweet Creations and I didn't have any toys for Lilly (oops!) but I had a water bottle.  Apparently, that did the trick!  Like I said before, it's the simple things (cups, bottles, spatulas...etc) that Lilly really likes.  She just played with the bottle and had a blast while we had our frozen yogurt.  I am so glad that she is relaxed and happy most of the time when we are out and about.  It would be really hard if she wasn't.

Here is a great shot of the monkey toes!  She has been so happy this week because it's been warm enough that she hasn't really had to wear sock.  She can just set her piggies free!