How did I do this every week?????
One of my New Year's resolutions is to be better about my blog. Mostly because it's important to me to have these memories, but also because it's important to me that my family and friends who don't get to see Lilly very often at least get to watch her grow up.
The fall was a lot of fun because Lilly loved to be outside! We played on her swing set, went for walks, playing with the neighborhood kids, drew with chalk, went to the dog park and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. Lilly is definitely a girl on the move and was excited to get out and play!
Lilly loves music (YAY!), whether it be listening to it so she can dance or playing it herself. I am so happy she loves to explore music!
She has such a great sense of humor for a toddler! She cracks herself up!
Michelle invited us to join her and the kids at Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh and said Lilly will have an absolute blast there. I was a little nervous because Darren couldn't come, but I am SO glad we went anyway! Lilly DID have a blast and I had a huge smile on my face the entire time watching her play. Marbles is a huge hands-on museum that allows kids to play with everything, explore different occupations and hobbies and to basically run free in several large rooms. I didn't get great pictures because Lilly didn't stand still at all and I was too busy watching and helping to be camera woman, but you can get a decent idea of how amazing this place is.
Darren and I decided to buy a nice camera as our Christmas present this year and it was seriously the best purchase we have made in a long time. I am just sad we didn't get it sooner! We have been having trouble getting good pictures of Lilly because she moves so much and doesn't sit still anymore. The new camera fixed that! The first day we got it, we went outside to get some pictures for our Christmas card. It was great to just let Lilly explore outside, run, play and smile while Darren snapped pictures. This was so much more fun than trying to get her to hold still!
We really wanted to get Maggie and Lilly in a picture by the tree, so we did attempt a more posted photo shoot as well. I was amazed we got both of them to sit still together! (spoiler alert: I was holding the iPad which was playing Elmo above or next to the camera; hence why Lilly's eyes are looking above or next to the camera...hehe)
Before we got the new camera, we attempted to get some great shots of Lilly with our phones. These didn't turn out bad, but they definitely are not as nice as the new camera. I know I am biased, but Lilly is ridiculously adorable no matter WHAT camera we use! She actually enjoyed this photo shoot because we went outside since it was so nice out and let her play. We also walked to the neighbors' house because they had the big blow up decorations that Lilly loves to see. She was point over there and say Santa! She would wave at the decorations, go up and pat them and sometimes even give them a hug.
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We went to downtown Fuquay for the Christmas Tree lighting in early December. It's hard to believe that we didn't even need to have coats on at a Christmas Tree lighting! We're not in Hamilton anymore Toto ;-)
Lilly was not interested in meeting Santa and I was not up for waiting in a huge line to see her get scared and refuse to sit with Santa, so we listened to the music and danced around for a while then we went home. There wasn't much else to see or do, and it started to rain anyway.
It's crazy how fast Lilly is learning and growing. She is getting so much more dexterous and is amazing at copying things that you show her just a few times. She is able to navigate the iPad by herself and open the ap that plays Elmo...by herself! I had to pick myself up off the floor the first time I saw this! We are trying to get her used to wearing headphones so if she wants to watch Elmo or use the DVD player in public (say, on an airplane) she can do so without disturbing others. We'll see how that goes...
We were very open to letting Lilly explore the Christmas tree. I didn't want to be fighting her constantly to not touch it, so we put ornaments that the liked and could touch on the bottom. She would point to it and say "please" and then when she was done holding it, she would say "back" and I would put it back. It worked great because we didn't have to tell her no and she lost interest pretty quickly once she checked out what she wanted to see.
The Holly Springs Christmas celebration was mid December and it was cold that night...well, Carolina cold, so it was maybe 45 degrees. We got bundled up and went downtown. We were some of the first on line for the sleigh ride, and Lilly played with the other little kids in line while we waited. She is such a charmer! She is very smiley and happy when other kids are around. She definitely loves people.
After the sleigh ride we went inside for story time with Mrs. Clause and Lilly had her first candy cane. It was nice to warm up a bit and Lilly really enjoyed her treat!
Ryan's birthday party was the next day, so we were very excited to go and celebrate with him! He was having a superhero party, and Mommy wasn't about to let her little girl be the only one without a costume, so I called on my amazing friend Cindy to see if we could borrow something from the theater. She had an awesome Pink Power Ranger costume! Unfortunately, it was a size 7/8. Fortunately, I have had my share of costume experience so I grabbed the safety pins and, voila! a costume for a toddler!
I was very impressed that Lilly went to Genna (Michelle's sister) at the party. She is in the stage where she is shy around people she doesn't know, but she went right to Genna and played with her without giving me a second look!
I love this picture of Lilly by Chad and Michelle's Christmas tree
Lilly is growing up so quickly! She is a little girl playing with her baby doll and walking her puppy. It happened very fast. I know that's a cliche, but it's true. I love seeing her grow and the last couple of months have been a whirlwind of changes and new developments.
In December we took another trip to Marbles, this time Darren was able to come (hence the MUCH better pictures!) The picture below is one of my favorites because I think Lilly looks so much like Darren in this picture! They have the same cute smile and look in their eye like they are about to start trouble ;o)
Lilly really enjoyed making the "pizza" and putting all her own toppings on the pizza. I love the lower picture where she looks like she is doing her best Guido impression - "Ayyy!"
Best. Story. Ever. So Darren took Lilly up the play area and was going to take her down the tube slide. I had the camera ready to get a shot of them coming down and midway down I hear, "Oh! I'm stuck!" At first I got really nervous and was ready to climb up that slide to get my family out! Then I heard, "Oh we're ok!" followed again by, "Nope, stuck again!" At this point I was laughing so hard I was crying. After a few more...pit stops...Darren and Lilly emerged with big smiles on their faces. Needless to say we did not attempt the slide again!
Lilly actually insisted on walking all the way down the stairs and through the hallway in my shoes. She was trying to get me to take her outside at this point, but it was a little cold.
Giving Daddy a well deserved hug for carrying her.
True, unbridled joy!
I am sure this is not a big deal to most, but Lilly has recently gotten really really good at stacking. She has really improved her sense of balance and can stack her cups on top of one another, even if they are not in the right order. She did this tower completely on her own. Way to go Lilly!
Carissa and Jared invited us to join them at church for Christmas Eve because they hold an interative Christmas Pageant for all of the kids. When you walk in you choose a prop that you can wear so you can be a character in the Pageant. We grabbed Lilly cow ears because I thought they were cute and Lilly knows what a cow is, so I figured that was a good one. Lilly wasn't quite old enough to go up and participate this year, but she still enjoyed all of the music and seeing all of the kids. She was playing with a baby across the aisle at one point and even shared her snack with her! I apologized to the baby's dad, but he said it was fine and they continued to play. Lilly did such a wonderful job and seemed to really enjoy herself! I know I did!
We went up and got Lilly when she woke up and Darren manned the video camera so we could get a clear shot of her when she first walked into the room. I don't think she fully understood what was going on right away, but she definitely enjoyed opening her presents and playing with them all morning. I loved watching her rip the wrapping paper off and she would sometimes even gasp when she saw the present. It was awesome! About halfway through her presents, she started to get a little annoyed that she couldn't just play with everything, she had to keep opening, so we let her play.
She also enjoyed playing with the camera! I think our Christmas video will be very memorable...and bumpy!
My family always had cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning as a special treat, and I have been continuing this for the past few years, so we kept that tradition going. Lilly was a huge fan! After breakfast Lilly was ready for a nap, so we took a break!
After nap, Lilly continued to open more presents. I think this was such a great decision because she was just as excited and she had recharged so she was ready to keep going. I gave Lilly a Funshine Carebear this year that I had bought when I was in high school when I visited NYC with my mom. I told her I would give it to my first born child when she was a year old (the same age I was when my parents gave me my Funshine Bear). I still have my Funshine, so it was neat to get Lilly her own. She wasn't very impressed by it, but it was sentimental to me ;-)
After we had our Christmas morning, we went to Jared and Carissa's to celebrate with the Smiths. Lilly enjoyed playing with her sticker books...and putting the stickers on her nose and mouth.
Lilly always loves playing with the kids, but she was especially excited to play with their new puppy, Dexter! I managed to catch a shot of Lilly giving Dexter a kiss.
Lilly definitely enjoyed Christmas this year and it was such a fun time for Darren and me. Christmas is fun as adults, but once you have a child, the joy of Christmas is completely elevated! I already can't wait for Christmas next year!
We have been trying to keep Lilly from getting bored in our house since there is no one else to play with here, so we have been going out and about a lot. Though Lilly is still a bit young for it, we went to Chick-fil-A's play place the other day and that was a lot of fun! She was the only kid in there for a while, so I was climbing up the play place with her. She didn't like the enclosed part to get to the slide, but she would climb up and down with me. She also enjoyed sitting at the bottom of the slide. A few other kids came in and she played with them for a little bit too.
Apparently walking around in my shoes wasn't enough, Lilly also wanted to walk around in Daddy's shoes! These were a bit more difficult because they are heavy, but she had a ball trying!
While shopping in HomeGoods, Lilly pointed to a baby doll ballerina and asked to see it, so I gave it to her. Then she continued to point, so I gave her another one...and another one. She snuggled all of her babies and gave Darren the absolute cutest face ever! We probably would have given in and bought her one (cough cough ALL of them), but she became interested in something else and forgot about them. How could we say no to that face???
Jared, Carissa, Addie and Drew came over for dinner one night and Lilly had such a blast playing with the kids! I am always so happy to see with her other kids because she always seems so fascinated by everything the older kids do, and when there are babies around, she is so nurturing and loving. I am 100% biased, but I think I have a really great kid on my hands!
One of Lilly's favorite toys is her kazoo from her musical instruments. Once she figured out how to play it, she was hooked!
While I was working at the theater, Darren had a great time doing an impromptu photo shoot with Lilly using the new lens he got for the camera. Again, I am biased, but I think my husband has a great eye for photography already and, well, EVERY picture he takes of Lilly is amazing, but these are a few of my favorites.
Lilly made a game of putting baby wipes on Maggie and laughed when she would run away.
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