July Track Out

We made our semi-annual trek up to New York during this track out.  We decided to drive through the night since Lilly is difficult to entertain in the car.  We left our house at about 7 p.m. and it was raining on an off.  As we drove through North Carolina, we saw a HUGE rainbow all the way across the sky.  We figured it was a good omen for our drive...

...too bad it wasn't.  Lilly was awesome for a few hours, but then she really wanted to change positions and sleep on her belly.  She was struggling to stay asleep in her seat, which meant I was trying to calm her down while driving so Darren could sleep.  Then when it was my turn to "sleep" I barely slept for 20 minutes.  She was up and upset for the last 90 minutes of the trip.  When we got to Mom's house at about 5 a.m., we slept for maybe 2 hours before Lilly was up and ready for the day.  It made it hard to sleep during the day because it was the 4th of July and there were festivities throughout the day, plus we wanted to see the family.  Overall, it was not the best laid plan for us, but it was better than trying to entertain Lilly awake in the car for 10 hours.  

The 4th of July is a lot of fun in Hamilton.  The town hosts a parade in the morning, so the whole family came out to watch.  My stepdad put out chairs and blankets early in the morning to secure us a perfect spot down the street.  It was nice to be home for the parade to spend time with my side of the family.  Lilly actually seemed to like the parade for the most part.  She liked the horses and some of the music, but she did not like the hot air balloon basket that came by when it pulled the cord to light the fire; it made a really loud noise and scared her.

 Grandma and Grandpa

 Aunt Susan, Anthony, Nick, Brianna and Jackson.

 Lilly put her sunglasses in her mouth, so I did the same ;o)

 Susan and the kids came to Mom's house all three days that we were there, so it was really nice that Lilly got to know the kids and seemed to become more comfortable playing with them.  Lilly and Jackson had a great time playing with toys.  Even though Jackson can walk, he really liked pushing Lilly's walker around the house.  I think that motivated Lilly a little, because she became a lot more interested in her walker over vacation...but more on that later ;o)

 We took several walks together.  This walk actually ended with us trapped under a huge tree in the rain!  We were really close to Mom's house, so we thought we could just wait it out under the tree (which kept us completely dry), but then the rain just kept coming and coming harder!  It turns out that waiting it out wasn't such a good idea.  Luckily Mom saw us from the porch and came to our rescue with some umbrellas.

 Lilly was determined to get up the back staircase.  She loves climbing the stairs at our house, but my Mom's house is all hardwood, and the main staircase is very tall, and it goes straight up with no landings, so we weren't keen on letting Lilly climb them.  She would try to get the door to the back stairs open though, thinking maybe she could climb those since they are less steep and have a landing.  Luckily she doesn't know how to open doors...yet!

 I was so happy to get to visit with my friends Pat and Greg and their beautiful families while we were in Hamilton.  Pat lives in the next town over from Hamilton, but Greg lives in Pittsburgh, so we are rarely all in the same place.  I (very sadly) had never met their kids, so it was really special to get the families together.  We went to brunch at a local diner first.  The kids entertained each other while the adults got to catch up a little, but they were quickly getting antsy, so we decided to head to the new playground!  My town previously had a wooden playground (built when I was 3 or 4 years old), which my dad helped to build.  Just last year it was torn down for various reasons and a new playground was constructed.  I was disappointed to see the old playground go, but I understand why they did it.  Lilly didn't seem to mind!

 Delaney and Parker found the teeter totter...

 ...and so did Pat and Greg!

Lilly really liked climbing on the playground.  Most of the steps were the exact right size for her to climb up.  It was a hot day, but Lilly didn't seem to mind!

 Greg's daughter, Jilly, was definitely the most interested in Lilly.  She wanted to play with her and even give her big hugs!  It was so cute!

 The kids all wanted to get into the merry-go-round, so I climbed in with Lilly.  I was excited because Jilly climbed into my lap, too.  She had just met me that day, so I was pleasantly surprised that she wanted to sit on my lap!  She was probably more interested in being close to Lilly, but it made me feel good regardless.

 I tried to get a picture of all the kids together...this was the best I could do ;o)

 Here we all are!  Greg, Pat and I graduated from HCS in 12 years ago.  It's hard to believe time went by that fast!  Let's hope it's not 5 years before we're all together again.

 The playground was so much fun, Darren, Susan and I took Brianna, Nick, Anthony and Jackson there later that day.  It was a little hot for Lilly, so she stayed at home to play with Grandma.  We had more fun playing on the playground with our niece and nephews.  The boys are such monkeys, they were finding new and exciting ways to use every piece of playground equipment ;o)

The first day we were in Tupper Lake, Lilly met Zoe and Tanner.  Technically she met them when she was four months old, but she definitely didn't remember that.  She absolutely LOVED the dogs!  She was giggling and smiling like crazy.  She called them both "Aggie" (which is what she calls Maggie) and spent probably half of our time in Tupper crawling after them calling, "Aggie!  Aggie!" and trying to get them to play with her.  Lilly's interactions with dogs is one of my favorite things right now.  She just loves all dogs!

Our first full day in Tupper we decided to climb Coney Mountain.  Our friends Andy and Karen and their beautiful daughters Mirabelle and Chloe were also in Tupper, so we all climbed the mountain together (along with their dog Oggie).  Coney isn't a terribly high  mountain, so Darren strapped Lilly to his back in our soft carrier and we started climbing.  It was a pretty hot day and we thought Lilly might be getting hot being so close to Darren, so Andy and Karen let us borrow their backpack carrier (Serpani I think??).  I think Lilly really liked being in it, but she started getting kind of fussy on the way down.  I think she was just hot and ready for a nap ;o)  Regardless, Lilly climbed her first mountain!

Lilly also went on her first boat ride!  We took the boat out to Bog River Falls and had lunch on the water.  I loved the boat rides because Lilly sat on my lap and let me cuddle her!  She is in the stage of her life when she wants to always be up and moving, so it was nice to get some cuddle time.  I was worried that she wouldn't like to noise, but she seemed to really enjoy looking out on the water and the motion of the boat.

 Lilly was enjoying her boat ride so much, she even sat like a big girl in a seat and ate some Cheerios while we had a sub from Shaheens.  What a good baby girl!

I just love this picture.  I don't remember what they're looking at, but Zoe and Lilly were very interested in something outside :-)

I don't have pictures of this but Lilly did a few other really cute things in Tupper that I want to remember.

Lilly was a walking machine while we were on vacation (with her walker, I mean).  I am SO glad we brought her walker with us because it gave her hours of amusement.  At Darren's parents' house she would take laps around their kitchen island and go up and down the living room.  The funny thing was she hadn't learned to turn or steer yet, so she would bump into something and then just bang her walker on the floor and grunt until we came to help her.  It sounds obnoxious, but it was actually really funny!  She had a ball going all over the house with her walker.

 When we were sitting in Darren's parents' screen house, originally Grandma had set a blanket down on the floor so Lilly could crawl around and play, but Lilly had other ideas.  She grabbed an end table and was using it to walk back and forth in the screen house.  She was giggling and having the best time!

Also, when we went to get lunch at the Marketplace, Lilly was getting a little restless while we waited for our food so I was walking around with her and trying to distract her.  There was a stuffed head of an animal that I thought looked like an antelope, so I started singing Home on the Range (clearly not the cute part!)  Lilly started singing along!  Granted, she didn't sing the real words, but she was singing.  Darren and Grandma were both laughing and listening to Lilly's beautiful song.  We did this several other times throughout the trip and she loved to sing with me!  I love how musical my little girl is!

Darren's mom noticed something interesting about Lilly and her Lovey that we hadn't noticed before.  Lilly's lovey has a butterfly in the middle of the blanket and when Lilly snuggles with it, she feels around on the blanket until she finds the butterfly's brown wings.  She takes one in each hand and then smushes the blanket to her face.  It's so cute!

We had to take one last boat ride before leaving Tupper Lake.  We had such a good visit!

Our next stop was Long Island for my grandparent's memorial service and to visit family.  We left Tupper at about 7 p.m. and Lilly was a rock star in the car.  Darren was amazing and drove the whole way (including across the George Washington Bridge and through a slight detour in Brooklyn...) 

We have always known that Lilly loves music.  One of the best ways to calm her down if she is fussy is to sing to her or play music.  On on of our short car trips, we gave Lilly Darren's old ipod so she could listen to music and she LOVED it!  She would hold it up to her ear and listen and sing to herself.  As much as I love singing to Lilly, 12 rounds of Home on the Range can get old, so it was nice for her to have her own music to listen to!  :o)

We were so happy to be be able to see our extended family in Long Island and to pay our respects to my grandparents.  The memorial service was very moving and it was great to spend time with the whole family afterwards.  Here is a picture of the beautiful family my grandparents are responsible for.  We love and miss you all!

When we got home, Lilly was SO excited to see Maggie.  She had spent all vacation playing with other "Aggie's", which was adorable, but nothing compared to watching her crawl up to Maggie and give her hugs and kisses while saying, "Aggie!  Aggie!  Aggie!" to Maggie Moo.  People ask us if Lilly and Maggie get along...I think this video and these pictures answers that question.

Chad and Michelle invited us to come with them to the pool one afternoon.  Lilly always loves playing with Allie and Ryan and seeing her Aunt Michelle and Uncle Chad.  Lilly also loves water, so we knew she would be excited to be in the pool.  We've gone swimming in a pool with her once before at a hotel, but it was an indoor pool and there were kids yelling and it was really loud so Lilly didn't really enjoy it.  

 She definitely enjoyed this though!  Thanks to our friend Donna, we had a covered floaty for Lilly to sit in and float around in the pool.  She was out of the sun and able to kick her feet and splash in the pool.  We also carried her and let her "swim" around, but this floaty was awesome!

The next day was just as hot so we took Lilly's splash mat out (thanks Uncle Chad, Aunt Michelle, Allie and Ryan!) and let her play on that to cool off.  She LOVED it!  She could sit on the cushy mat and splash in the water, grab at the water shooting up off the sides and play with her toys.  It was a great way to entertain her!  I loved how she would try to grab the water that was shooting out of the mat and catch it in her hands.  What a great toy!

Lilly had so much fun playing on her splash mat, we decided to break out her water table as well (thanks Aunt Kelly, Aunt Sonya and Aunt Carole!)  I think Lilly would have played with this until it was dark out because she loved it so much!  There were so many things for her to do and manipulate on this table, it even entertained Darren and me (though I think Darren mostly enjoyed talking like a pirate while he played).

 Our good friend Dave was in town from Portland so we had him over for dinner and Chad, Michelle, Allie and Ryan joined us.  Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pictures with Lilly and Dave, but I know Lilly enjoyed meeting him!

Ryan and Allie are always so sweet with Lilly.  Every time we see them they go out of their way to get her toys, give her hugs and to play with her.  I was so glad that I managed to catch this picture of Lilly and Ryan giving each other a hug!  Lilly gives hugs and kisses now, so it was a really cute moment to see them hugging each other.

 This was Lilly watching Allie and Ryan play in the ball pit just before she decided to crawl in and join them.  One might think that three kids couldn't fit in that ball pit, but one would be wrong!  They all squeezed in together and had a ball (haha!  pun completely intended!)

It took me a while to get to it, but we had big news over track out....Lilly took her first steps!!!!  It was so exciting!!!  It was July 16th, just a little over a month after her first birthday.  She walked from the windowsill over to me (three steps at once)!  Ever since then she has been taking a few steps at a time, but I think her body moves faster than her feet because she is always a little top heavy and falls forward!  I am in rush for Lilly to be a "walker" but I am so proud of her for taking her first steps!  We get so excited every time she makes a little more progress like standing up on her own, walking with one hand on something and using her walker.  We have even started trying to get her to wear shoes.  We broke a record one day and she wore them for almost an hour!  ;o)

While we were on vacation, Lilly would grunt and yell when she hit something with her walker, but a week after we got home, she is a pro!  She goes all over the house with her scooter (that's what we call it) and steers around the tables, toys, the fridge...anything that gets in her way.  She practically runs with it now!  You can see in the picture below (if you look very closely!) that she has a very determined face on, complete with her little tongue out!  I have a lot of video of this, but it's too long to post!  Sorry!  I will see if Facebook will let me upload it.  

Another funny thing that Lilly has been doing is crawling with her head down!  Is this normal?  She faces the ground and just crawls as fast as she can while Darren and I try to keep her from running into things!  We call it "bulldozer baby" ;o)  She doesn't do it that much anymore, but it was really funny when she did it.  I don't have a picture of it, but I am sure you get the idea.

Lilly is "talking" up a storm, though most of it is just Lilly talk.  She does say: Dada, Mama (though only when she is crying!), Aggie (for Maggie) and just recently she sang "Hooray" when we were singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" and she also said Ouch!  Super cute :o)  She also points to things that she wants (which is awesome) and it sounds like she says "that".  We also taught her to sign "all done", though I think I remembered the actual sign wrong.  She waves her hands around when she is done.  Probably not what the baby sign is, but it works for us!  

Now if only I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow...  ;o)