Play that guitar!

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Originally uploaded by jopgaard.

Lily got a new guitar for Christmas from Santa. She very quickly caugh on how to play like a real rocker!

Big Kids

Well Lily is definitely growing up. Just yesterday, when she opened her package of fruit snacks for herself, she told me that "I'm getting to be 3!". She's quite pleased by that and she knows that she will be a Big Kid then. She tells everyone that on her birthday she gets to have gum. I am afraid it will be a bit anticlimactic....

The weekend before last, Lily took a nap in her big girl bed for the first time! Slept like a big kid. Before long, we will be sleeping in the bed all the time and looking at getting her a BIG big girl bed, instead of just a toddler bed. Her Christmas Program at school is next week, so watch for video of that to be posted. All in all, she is getting big, growing up, and ready to move out I think.

Pilgrims? Bah! Who needs 'em?

On Monday, November 24, we had Thanksgiving Luncheon at Lily's school. She was very excited for Mommy and Daddy to come eat lunch with her. Daddy arrived before I did, and got a table for us.

As I walked in, Lily was just entering the lunch room. She had a very large, black, felt pilgrim hat on and when she saw me, she exclaimed excitedly, "Mommy! I'm a Pirate!"

I asked her what kind of pirate she was, and with a disdainful look she replied, "The turkey kind!"

Well obviously.

This kid has timing....

This evening, as we were leaving a local bookstore, my mother called to have me talk her through the finer points of internet surfing (namely the difference between typing web address into "the Google" or typing it into the address bar).

I said, "Go to the very top of the screen and type the address."
I said, "Did it come up for you?"
She said, "I typed it in but nothing happened."
I said, "You have to hit enter. Hit enter."
She said, "Enter? Where is that?"
I said, "On your keyboard. The enter key"
She said, "Oh! Enter! I see! Its coming up now."

Lily, a child with absolute perfection in comic timing shouts from the back seat:
"Winner! Winner! Chicken dinner!"

Seriously, I laughed about that for like 2 hours. I'm still laughing. Holy crap, where does this kid get her material?

Singing Frere Jacques

Lily has started to sing Frere Jacques a lot. Mom has to sing it with her lots of the time, as well. She is adorable!

Are you kidding me?

What 2 year old do you know who has a boyfriend?

Earlier this evening, when we were over at my parents house, Lily dropped a bombshell. Well, technically I guess she dropped it when she was still at school.

Mommy: "Lily, do you need to potty?"
Lily: "No! I alREADY potty at school! I pooped a BIG poop! Evan flushed it for me. He's my boyfriend."

Well of course, you can't let just anyone flush for you. That Evan...he sure knows how to treat a girl.

Tinkerbelle PRINCESS...and don't you forget it!

P1020809, originally uploaded by Laurel Rose Mommy.

This year, Lily decided to be Tinkerbelle. BUT we couldn't find a Tinkerbelle costume. After she carefully considered her options, she chose this lovely dress. She seemed satisfied and I said, "So...you can be a princess! You are my princess you know, baby."

She quickly corrected me and said, "No! I not a baby. I a big girl and I gonna be Tinkerbelle PINCESS not other pincess."

So Tinkerbelle Princess she is. We let her know that if Tinkerbelle was going to be a princess, this is most certainly what she would wear. Especially note the fancy foofoo tights and shoes. They were an especially important choice.

Who's old?

Miss Lori was babysitting this evening while we attended...what could very loosely be called the theater. When we got home, Miss Lori told us that she was really surprised at how incredibly vocal Lily had become. She laughed so hard when she told us this:

Tonight as Lily was chattering away, Lori asked her, 'Lily, how old are you?'"
"I two! How old are you?", replied Lily.
"Oh, I'm old." says Lori.
"HAHA," Lily laughed, "So's Daddy!"
Lori asked, "Is Mommy old?"
"No, only Daddy..." says Lily.

Bwahaha. I really enjoy conversations like this one, especially!

Lily plays basketball

Lily has always been obsessed with balls. We have every type of ball imaginable. She started bouncing balls in our kitchen about the time she could walk. One day we were at Sam's Club and she saw a stack of basketballs that they apparently give away to people who get credit accounts with them. She saw them and went nuts. The staff their told us she could have one. Well, since then she has been practicing bouncing it. She has gotten fairly good. We don't know when kids first learn to dribble but Lily is well on her way.

Naked in earnest

This evening, I was standing in the family room with Lily, who had all but completely disrobed following our dinner. We were having a nice conversation, which is mostly new-ish and always filled with unusual information. Lily had decided that the puppy did not need to go outside. You see, there might be flies outside. I agreed that yes, there might be flies out there. So mostly naked Lily turned calmly to Bartlett and explained earnestly, “You see, puppy dog, the flies are outside and they might make you throw up.” She then turned to me, tugged her underpants up, and said very matter-of-factly, “If the puppy throws up, he won’t be able to catch Frisbees ANY MORE ever, ever, ever.” Which somehow, when standing with a naked child in the family room, didn’t seem like an odd discussion.

Gumbella Girl

Lily has been saying for WEEKS that she wanted 'a gumbella'. For awhile, we had no clue what she was talking about...duh, Mommy! She actually was saying how much she wanted a purple (pohpooh) gumbella and Mommy looked and looked and couldn't find one anywhere. Today though, we went to The Toy Store in preparation for going on an airplane trip next week and lo, there smack by the door was a gumbella! It wasn't purple, but it has purple in it! That totally counts. Lily was instanty smitten and stated emphatically that she needed that umbrella. Since it was raining, Mommy agreed and now, Lily has her very own umbrella. The world will remain spinning for another day.

Potty Watch 2008- the results!

For those of you waiting so eagerly the progress report from our home about our potty status…I think that we are potty trained! I don't know exactly how you decide for certain, as I know accidents will happen for some time. Her accidents are few and far between and when she does have them, she is really, truly chagrined. She had 2 in one day last week and the rest of the week was good. When she does have accidents, they are almost always "#2" and I think its being confused (easy to see how) with having to fart which she enjoys immensely.

She generally wakes up dry in the morning from the overnight, comes in bed with me while Daddy showers, and shortly after that, states her need to potty and goes into the bathroom and does the business. Oddly, there have been a couple of nights where she woke up and had to potty in the middle of the night (SOOOO not fun) but she goes, and eventually goes back to sleep. I think we doze off faster than she does, but then again, she gets a nap at school and at least at John's work, napping would be seriously frowned on. I think that maybe the night waking is due to her molars starting to come in. From what I understand though, once she gets these teeth, the teething is all done for a long time! YAY!

I believe that we had a taste of the 'two-year-old' yesterday. Lily was just a terror all day long. Tantrums galore. If there was something she was supposed to do, she didn't. If there was something she wasn't supposed to do, she did. She had umpteen timeouts which only barely fazed her. She was just NAUGHTY. I have to wonder if that’s the way that most two-year-olds behave in general and we have been lucky so far, or if it is an exceptional situation brought on by a great number of things happening all at once? Lets hope it was an aberration…yuck…

4th of July

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Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily celebrated Independence Day with family at Nana Lois's house. She loved waving the flags and watching the "fireworks" which consisted of a few smoke bombs, a couple of sparklers and some black snakes.

Wow. Seriously?

You know how you have to work and work at stuff to really make it happen? And you know how if something happens, like, super easy, you feel like you are missing something? Yeah.

So today Lily didn't have a single accident. Granted, we mostly stayed home, but Miss Lori came over to watch the kiddo while we finished picking up the house in prep for Auntie Jill, Cousin Lucas, Cousin Joey, Grandma & Grandpa O's arrival. Even over nap, while we put her in a pull up to be on the safe side, even then she didn't pee until after nap and until she told us that she had to go.

Now, while I know that this isn't it and she isn't done or anything, can you imagine that inkling of hope that this inspires in me? I am totally waiting for the other shoe to drop but in my own head I pretend like it was just that easy. Don't all spam me with the whole, "Delusional" thing. I know. But for tonight, I am pretending like she is the most brilliant kid ever.

Scatology and micturation: a primer

P1010518, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Today was the big day. Lily woke up in a less than joyous mood BUT nevertheless, once the first morning pee pee was out of the way, we did a little dance (literally) and put on her underpants! For the first of the day, she chose a lovely little princess pair. Day one accident count: 3. Not bad, I think for a first day! I do have to say also in her defense, one of them was totally our fault as we did not make any kind of bathroom suggestion for over an hour. Whoops. I also have to say that her friend at school, Jake, and his parents did us no favors as his birthday cupcakes had blue and green icing and thus we are enjoying a very green poop day. But that’s not yucky at all, right? See here a very happy girl. Day two is upcoming...lets hope it is even better than day one!

Lily’s Big Day

P1010521, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Do not only did Lily enjoy her first day of freedom from diapers, but she also rode her trike for the first time by herself! She went on the train with Mommy. She ate a taco for lunch. She went shopping at Sam’s. Lily was very tired by bedtime and so were Mommy and Daddy.

To pee or not to pee…

As you may or may not recall, recently we decided to try to push the potty training. It really didn't go well. So we took the potty away totally, pulled a 'Tom Sawyer' move and told her she couldn't use the potty. That seemed to work mostly. A couple of weeks ago, she started occasionally telling us that she wanted to use the potty. We got it back out, and she would sometimes go in and use it. Then, she started telling us more frequently (weekends only, not at school) that she wanted to go potty in her potty. We would go in, take off her diaper, and more often than not, she would be successful. She seems to really like pooping especially. Now, she is getting really good at it. She will sit down, get a very sly look on her face and say, "It's coming! Here it comes, pee-pee!" then when she potties, the potty makes noise and plays a little song. She looks very proud and of course we cheer and make a big hoopla. AND she gets to flush. Thats the big reward.

She kept improving on weekends, so last weekend, we told her that we were switching to pull-ups and that she wouldn't wear diapers anymore except at night. She was very excited and all the reports from school have been excellent! Her teacher was very surprised and said that Lily was really doing exceptionally well staying dry. Her daily report sheet yesterday indicated only once that she went to use the potty and was already wet. Sooo….this weekend, we are going for it. Lily will get to put on underpants for the very first time! I asked her yesterday if she was excited about that, but she was busy playing rocks and told me so in as many words. Not sure what to think about that, but we are going for it anyhow. I figure one of two things will happen:

1) She will be so thrilled to be in underpants, love the feeling, and she will do really well. I figure an accident or two and she will be mostly done. I have a feeling she will be really mortified by peeing her pants. She doesn't like going potty in her pull-ups so I think this will be a good thing.
2) She will be so freaked out if/when she has an accident that she will immediately want to revert back to diapers.


Fingers crossed its the first one! We will let you know how everything…ahem…comes out.

Papa goes airborne

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Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily's Papa got to go up in a hot air balloon this week. Lily was so excited that she couldn't stop talking about it for days. We thought that she would get frightened when they started lighting off the burners but she held fast. You see her pointing at the balloons as they were getting them inflated.

When Papa called after the flight, all he could talk about was their "crash." Let's just say that no one got hurt....not even the parrot. Check out flickr for the pictures.

How is this even possible?

P1010257, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

OK, I totally get the part where I am completely biased, but seriously people...Look at that girl! I have to admit though, that she would only consent to be photographed with the proviso that I show her the pics immediately afterwards. If it took me more than a fraction of a second to do so, she immediately would shriek, "I WANNA SEE LILY!!!"

This one was taken right after her last gymnastics class before summer break. Mommy & Daddy are going to have to figure SOMETHING out for the summer.

I don't think she will go into floral design...

As a child grows, Mothers and Fathers inevitably try to guess what the child's chosen path in life might be. They try to see where her interests lie, what her talents might be, what her strengths are, all to help shape her and mold her into an adult who will be happy in her work and enjoy her life to the utmost.

We have decided that Lily will likely NOT be a florist. Of late, she has been very interested in picking flowers. Her favorites, as with many (dare I say most?) other two-year-old girls are the ever present dandelion. Especially with my hurt foot, she has been desirous of bringing me flowers nearly every day. (You know, sadly its nice to get flowers once in a while) She presents the lovingly picked stems with the prounouncement, "Here Mommy. Make you feel better!" Foreshadowing? Maybe so.

Do you think it is the gorgeous yellow color that influences her? Well you would be mistaken. Perhaps the gorgeous, fluffy down that comes as the flower ages? Not so much.



Lily loves the stem. No golden yellow petals. No downy crappy seeds on it. Just the stem. And the more withered and greyish the better. Hooray for Mommy's new most beautiful flower...dandelion stems!

If she doesn't go into floral design, maybe she will marry into the Adam's Family?

Lily's "Mad" face

Lily's "Mad" face, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

This kid...shes so funny!

The while ago (pre-surgery) I parked at Papa & Yaya's house and walked over to school to get Lily. On the way home she was being VERY slow-pokey so I suggested that we run. She said, "No wanna run!", so I replied, "OK, we don't have to run. Lets just walk."

A few seconds went by and Lily looked at me with THAT face and said, "Mommy! I'm MAD!" I said, "Why? What are you mad about?" and she stated emphatically, "No wanna run!". I assured her we didn't have to run.

About a minute or so later, she said, "I'm done mad....lets run!" and she took off like a shot.

Anyhow, since that day, she has been very pleased that she has developed a 'mad face' and will gladly show us when we ask. She was reluctant to allow us to photograph it, but we told her we would show it to her on the camera and she willingly obliged.

UPDATE: Potty Watch 2008

So our big weekend of potty training was pretty much a bust. We had decided on a 'reward' based system. Sitting on the potty and giving it a go earned Lily a sticker. Sitting on the potty and peeing earned Lily a tiny snack bag of fruity Cheerios. Sitting on the potty and pooping earned Lily a toy out of my special toy sack filled with balls, rocks, and confiscated Happy Meal Toys. Long story short, at the end of the weekend, there were about 8937483298347 stickers on the board, all the special bags of fruity Cheerios were still intact, and not a ball, rock or Happy Meal Toy had seen the light of day.

We decided to wait a few weeks. My surgery was coming up and knowing I would have an "owie foot" for awhile, we thought it best to just wait until I had healed a bit and try again.

But Lily surprised everyone! Yesterday at school, she was out on the playground with her class. She approached Miss Melissa and stated that she had to go potty. Miss Melissa took her inside to the potty and "VOILA!" Lily sat down and pottied on the potty! Yay Lily!

Now, we have examined our situation and we know in our hearts that this was simply one incident. But in the back of my head, I have the lovely delusion that this weekend, Lily will decide that she is finished with diapers and will just be a potty kid all the time. That could totally happen. And she will have completely potty trained herself. In my head, thats what I am pretending.

Maybe its the pain medication?

Mommy's Owie

Mommy had to have surgery on her foot on Thursday. For the past few weeks we have been preparing Lily for this. Mommy wore her "owie boot" around the house and we told Lily that she would have to be especially nice to Mommy. At first Lily was scared of the boot and wouldn't want to touch it. After a bit she would ask to touch it and kiss it. Yes, kiss it. That is what she wants to do to everything she is afraid of....the vacuum cleaner especially.

The surgery went fine but now Mommy is some pain Lily wants to kiss Mommy's owie and has expressed sympathy. She asks about Mommy's owie frequently.

Lily knows that Mommy can't chase after her so has been getting into everything. I have done my best to keep her corralled but it has been next to impossible to watch Lily and help Mommy at the same time. Finally this morning we decided it was time to call our favorite babysitter to take Lily so that Mommy could rest and I could do some laundry while Mommy rests.

Mommy should be much better in a few days and will get rid of the boot in about 6 weeks.

See if shes smiling on Monday

P1010037, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

This weekend we took Lily on a long trip to visit Baby Alan, and his parents & sister in Iowa. It was 6 hours in the car with a two-year-old and Lily actually did really well! Provided we kept her in her seat. That of course, was a problem because apparently diapers aren't meant to be on a butt for 6 hours in a car seat. We had several leaky incidents, but I hope that it will be further incentive for her to potty train….this coming weekend.

While we were visiting our friends, we persuaded their 8-year-old daughter to tell Lily how exciting it is to use the potty, and to go poo-poo and pee in the potty and how it makes you such a big girl. Then we pointed out how Baby Alan wore diapers and that’s how babies go to the potty. We took the Elmo Potty video along with us and read the potty propaganda "Everyone Poops" when we got home. I hold much hope in my heart that we will get this potty training thing started this weekend and all will go smoothly. I'm sure she will get it right off… It'll be cake….right?

ROAAAARRRRRR

P1010054, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily is a very brave (and very imaginative) little girl. Behind our friend's house, was a big yard with a slide and a swing, etc. Also, there was a backyard barbeque grill across the fence at the neighbor's house. Apparently, that BBQ looked very much like a lion to Miss Lily. She pointed at it, and roared at it, and eventually made friends with it and waved.

A change in routine might be good!

This morning, John had to go to work EXCEEDINGLY early. So Lily's normal routine was a tad disrupted. She woke up about 6:15 which was great because Mommy woke up at about 6:00 and was able to perform her morning ablutions, let the dog out and back in, and get Lily's milk before she awoke.

After we watched the end of The Wiggles, we watched the "kids" on Hi5 before she said she wanted to go into the other room. I said that we would have to get her dressed first, so we picked out clothing for the day. Then, I offered her the choice of playing in her crib while I showered or watching Wiggles in the Family room and she opted for the latter. However, she attached the condition that I provide cereal in a snack cup for her, and more milk, to which I agreed. She proceeded to eat the cereal, and asked for more. I provided that, and she put it in her pumpkin and stated she was going bye-bye. Then, while I dried my hair and did makeup, she took all of the cheerios out of the pumpkin and carefully stuff them up her shirt. She was quite surprised when she stood up and all the cereal fell out of her shirt onto the floor and the dog leapt on it like a ravenous hound. It was VERY funny. She was so mad she scolded him, "No-no PUPPY! That’s my cereal!"

Where's Lily?

So I used to think that kids outgrew that whole "peek-a-boo" thing. For us, it has ceased to amuse her when we "peek-a-boo", however when she is the designated 'peeker' she really seems to enjoy it. In fact, when Lily hides her face, and we don't immediately say "Where's Lily? Have you seen her?", she starts giggling and says, "Where's me? Mommy, where's me?"

Yikey or no yikey?

Lily has discovered the world of Like and Don't Like. When shopping for faucets at the local Lowe's she will definitely express preference. "My yikey dis one, Mommy!"

When eating snacks at Yaya's house she says, "Mommy, me no yikey dis one." She has her definite favorite toys- "Yikey" and her un-favorite activities (taking her vitamin)- "no Yikey". More often than not, however, things are "my yikey". Yikey puppy, yikey kitty, yikey 'my boys'. So far, she's fairly easy to please. Yikey rice. No yikey bubbles in the bath (bubbles make the water messy). Lils yikey milk and she yikey skirts but no yikey pants and no yikey juice.

Our Lily Rose is definitely a girl with opinions.

"Tallow" youth?

Of late, our darling Lily has been having some exzema issues. The doctor had told us before that just about the best lotion around is by Eucerin and is called "Aquaphor". I hadn't tried it before, but we got a small bottle and it really seemed to help. So on Saturday we got a vat of it at Target and started using it on her. I can definitely see that it seems to be helping with the problem. Lily enjoys us putting lotion on her, especially after bath and before bed. I think she realizes it makes her skin feel better. Apparently her head has been itching too, and she didn't tell us. This morning when Daddy went in to get her up, we found she had decided to put some of the lotion on herself. In her hair. Lots of lotion. In her hair. It was basically glued to her head. Now she just looks like her Mommy and Daddy are lunatics.

What you see above is how she looked after two shampoos with dish-soap and one with shampoo. I have a feeling we will look this way for quite some time now. Lily has stated quite plainly, "I like it". She emphatically said, "Lily pretty! Lily funny!"

As for the vat of lotion, its about half gone. Her sheets, her little 'ba-ba', her big 'ba-ba', her cup of water, her halo bag, her pajamas, etc. are all soft and supple now. Another interesting note, Aquaphor in hair becomes something of the texture of rubber cement. Woot!

Sweetness

Lily Rose 2007, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Here's our Lily Rose at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Even though she didn't feel super (and Mommy felt far from it) she had a great time.

Lily and "Her Boys"

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Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily had a great time playing with her cousins Matthew and Nathan. She kept calling them "My Boys" and would ask for them every morning even after we got home.

Lily and Grandma

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Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily and family went to visit Lily's Grandma and Grandpa over New Years. She had a lot of fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa and her other relatives. Here Lily is having fun with Grandma. Lily was outside on the deck while Grandma was in the living room.

The Ice Storm Cometh

100_3771, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily had the day off from school and Mommy and Daddy didn't have to go to work either. Something about a little ice...I don't know, wasn't paying attention.

Lils and Daddy waited until the ice/rain stopped and went outside, carefully avoiding the trees and the snapping branches. Lily was VERY excited about the 'yice outside!!!' Not only is there ice, but there is snow as well and thats one of Lily's favorite things this year!

For anyone wondering, we're all safe, still have power (for now) and hopefully the worst is past. Family nearby fared well also, but we haven't heard a word from our Oklahoma friends...fingers crossed for them. For more ice storm pics, take a look at our flickr page (link on right).

Lily Jumping

Lily LOVES to jump. Here she is jumping along with her other love: The Wiggles!

Lily's 2007 Christmas Program

Sorry these videos are so dark. I will be editing them and making them easier to see in the near future.

All that counts...

Tonight, while bathing, Lily surprised Mommy with some excellent counting! Mommy was counting the cups that Lils uses to pour water from one to another.

Mommy said, "One...two..."
Lily said, "Two....tree"
"Three..." said Mommy
"Fouw..." answered Lily, "Fie."
"Five..." said Mommy
"Ick...ebenen" said Lily, and skipping ahead a bit she finished, "TEN!!!! YAY!!!!" and she applauded her performance.

Mommy got a little tear but she clapped, too. When Daddy came in, she repeated the performance for his admiration. Lily is definitely growing up!

Princess Leia...ready to "tik-r-eek"

Halloween was excellent for Lils this year. We went to the mall with her cousin Ike and Nonnie (Aunt Anna). Lily practiced saying "trick-or-treat" and did really well. She always said thank you, too. She discovered suckers. Her word for them sounds very much like her word for cracker and is unreproducible phonetically (by this author anyhow). A good time was had by all.

Check our Flickr for more great Halloween pics. A few of cousin Isaac, too.

The yox win the series!

Lily has a new semi-obsession. Socks. She calls them yox. This evening, as I was putting her to bed, she got in her crib as usual, and I was sitting in the chair and 'rock-rock', not wearing shoes or slippers but I had on my socks. She noted with great interest, "Mommy yox?" I confirmed that yes, indeed, those were Mommy's socks.

She pointed to her hamper and inquired, "Wi-wee yox?" Again, I confirmed that was where Lily's socks were. Suddenly, she caught fire and we went through a list of all the people who had socks. "Daddy yox?" Yes, Daddy had socks. "Papa yox?" Yes, Papa (Grandpa L) had socks. "Puppy yox?" No, puppies don't wear socks. "Tyittee yox?" No, kitties don't wear socks either. "Sawee tyittee yox?" No, the kitty who is sorry for scratching you doesn't wear socks.

Then she hit it...I swear she was using this whole thing as a set up for the joke. "Ya-ya yox?" Yes, Ya-ya (Grandma L) wears socks. She finally quit with a very satisfied "Yes, Ya-ya yox." *snicker*

Lily eats a cupcake

After
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily insisted that Dad buy some yellow cup cakes when we were at the store. She thought it was very funny to get the yellow frosting all over everything.

Grandma reads to Lily

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Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Grandma took some time out to read Lily a story. Lily really enjoyed the short visit from Grandma and Grandpa.

Lily and Grandpa

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Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily and Grandpa enjoyed a ride on the train at Gage Park while Grandpa was visiting from Tacoma. Lily sure does love the Choo-choo!

Teeth and more teeth

The past couple of weeks have been a time for new teeth. Mom and I were starting to get worried that Lily was going to go through life with only 4 teeth. All of her classmates and the other babies around her all had lots of teeth. Well, finally Lily has started to sprout teeth -- about 6 all at once. We can tell that it is just killing her. She is always sucking on her hands and has been exceptionally fussy. We keep reminding ourselves that this too shall pass.

Boo guys and other bad ideas.

Can it really be over a month since we last put anything in the blog? Good grief! Bad parents! Bad, BAD, parents!

Lily is doing really well. She moved up a class in school and the new additional stimulation is causing a meteoric rise in her vocabulary. We are constantly amazed at new words popping out of her mouth. Last Friday, she started saying, "yePPPP" with a very marked emphasis on the "P". Yesterday, she learned to say "cracker" which sounded more like "kakker" but was most definitely understandable. And when Mommy accidently said a bad word, her repetition of it was CRYSTAL clear.

Her favorite thing to do is to play "Boo Guys". One afternoon on a trip to Sam's Club, the Halloween decorations were out. I didn't want her to be afraid of the moving skeletons and such, so I said that they were funny guys who said "Boo!". She liked that. Later on, she pointed in their direction and said "Guys?" and I said, "Yes, thats where the guys are! Don't say Boo to them though!" She giggled.

Then, about a week later, we were at Target. Again, Halloween decorations abounded and she pointed at the 'guys'. I told her that yes, we could go see them, "But don't say Boo to them!" She promptly said, "Boo guys!!!" and now, everytime she sees ANYTHING that remotely resembles a guy (on a bike, at the store, in a truck, on the sidewalk, walking down the street, etc.) she smiles slyly and says "Guy! Boo GUY!" to which I am supposed to say "OOOOHHH!! Don't you say Boo Guys!" Even at night, when she is putting herself to sleep, I hear over the monitor, "Boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys" ad nauseum.

Great. What a super fun game!

Trains, Choo-Choo & Toot Toot.

Lily on the train in April

The train in the park has a really nice whistle. It definitely says "Toot ToooOOOT". So when Lily wants to go on the train, she says "Bye bye Toot Toot?" Well obviously we say, "Lets go!"

Last week though, in the 800 degree heat, the train derailed and was out of commission for a few days. It was supposed to be back up and running on Tuesday, so we figured by Friday it would probably actually be up and running. SOOOO after dinner, Daddy and Mommy took Lily over to the park for the last train run of the night. The engineer oiled the train up and said that he thought, if we wanted, he could get in an extra run just for us. We got to go TWICE and Lily was so excited she could hardly contain herself.

After the last train ride of the evening, we went up to the engine to thank the engineer. He offered Lily a shiny train token for his "ardent fan". Lily took the token and (after prompting) said, "Ta-tooo" which is Lil-ese for "Thank you". Then, of her own volition, she said "Bye bye! Ta-tooo" and blew him a kiss.

Awwwww!!!

Lily's Smile

Lily has started to scrunch up her nose when she smiles. We think this is so cute. It has been almost impossible to catch on camera but Mom was lucky today!

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

Yes, Lily is sick once again. This time it is the childhood ailment Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD). She started to show signs on Friday but we didn't recognize. In fact, we had never even heard of it before. At least it is not a serious condition. She will just be home from school for a few days. Lots of Mom time!

Lily smells the flowers

Lily stops to smell the flowers.

Heave Ho....not so much

Lily and Dad were suppose to go to Grandma's and Grandpa's 50th Wedding Anniversary party in Washington on July 15. We were going to fly out on Friday and back on Monday. Dad couldn't get any more time than that off work. Mom couldn't go at all because of her job. Dad was looking forward to seeing everyone at the party on Sunday.

Lily had been sick for several days leading up to the day we were going to travel. She had been running a fever and had a sore throat. Mom took her to the doctor who said that her ears and lungs were fine and that she could fly. So on Friday, Grandpa L. picked us up and we headed to the airport. Of course Lily slept most of the way there.

When we got to the airport, we checked in and went to find some food to eat. Before we were even able to order some food, Lily started to vomit.....all over Dad and herself. Two very nice ladies came to Dad's rescue bringing napkins and giving advice. Dad didn't really know what to do...do we travel and take a chance or do we turn around and go home. Well, we decided to keep going. Dad went and bought a t-shirt at the gift shop and went to change both Dad and Lily.

After getting cleaned up, we headed into the gate area through security. By this time, Dad was hungry so we went to get some lunch. Right after we paid for lunch, Lily started vomiting again -- all over Dad again. This time it was clear to Dad that we were not going to be able to fly anywhere. Our trip was over. Dad called Mom and tried to get Grandpa to come back and get us. Dad told the airline people that we were not going to fly and that we needed our luggage back.

Grandpa finally was able to get back to the airport to pick us up. Lily, thankfully, fell asleep in the car on the way home (we live about 1 and 1/4 hours from the airport.)

After we got home and got everyone changed again, Dad just held Lily on his lap. She did not feel like playing. All of a sudden, she started to vomit again.....all over Dad for the third time. Time to change clothes again. Back to the couch to sit. Then the dog started to vomit.

Mom was still at work when it was time for Lily to go to bed so Dad got her to bed. Then the cat coughed up a hairball.

Good thing we didn't get on an airplane. Dad ran a fever all weekend.

Poor baby!

Pathetic Baby 1, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily had a bit of a dust up today. She and Mommy had gone outside and Lily thought it would be great fun to take off running down the sidewalk. Before Mommy could stop her, the giggling fugitive got going too fast for her own little legs and took a tumble, JUST as she reached the part of the sidewalk that is only gravel. She spilled onto her knee, scratched up her hand and worst of all, scratched up her pretty face and bonked her head on the cement. Poor thing.

She was very brave though and didn’t cry very much. Mommy and Daddy cleaned her wounds (this time legitimate ones!) and put band-aids on her knee, around her finger, and on her forehead. Poor little baby all bunged up!

The best baby!

100_3333, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Well, really I guess I should say the best kid. After all, we have been saying all along that talking, walking and sleeping through the night are the criteria that make a kid and now she does all three!

Yes, thats right! Lily FINALLY slept through the night! From about 7:45 p.m. until 5:45 a.m. our girl slept and slept. For those of you counting, that is 10 hours and it only took 17 months, 17 days.

Lets hope it wasn't an anomaly and that it continues tonight! I suppose though, that even if it were an anomaly, it proves we are on the right road!

Dad has a job!

After being unemployed for more than a year, I finally have a new job! I will start my new job in a little more than a week. While it has been a difficult time for our family, this job is nearly a perfect fit. I will still be able to drop Lily off at day care everyday and will be home in the evening and on weekends. It gets me into a new industry (hospitals) and out of libraries. It takes advantage of my diverse management experience and technology experience. And besides everything else, it pays more than my last job did! I look forward to getting into the swing of work again.

More new words

Now she can say (or shout) "NEE!!!" which of course means knee. She is still calling elbow "bubble" but it is now followed by her pointing to her 'bubble', then pointing to your 'bubble' then kissing your 'bubble'.

She has also begun to say one of the most important words in the English language. Shoes. Its Lily pronunciation is "JOOSE" and of course it must be shouted at the top of her lungs. All the ladies in the shoe shop were tickled by that. She also points to everyone's shoes. Constantly. But hey, if she's going to have an obsession, I think shoes is a good beginning.

Sick baby follow-up

Well Lily's night in the hospital has come and gone. Her pneumonia is much better. For the first 24-48 hours, we did breathing treatments every 4 hours, night and day. After that, she had her follow up appointment with her pediatrician. He said that if we wanted to reduce it to twice a day (morning and night) it would be fine and once we thought it seemed under control, we could just do it as needed. Right now, we are doing only one treatment, and that’s right before bed.

John has been sick now. After I got over my sinus infection and chest cold (which I now question), John had to go to the doctor and was treated for Bronchitis and a sinus infection. Our neighbors are sick, my mother is sick, even Isaac has been a bit poopy. I wonder if some biological weapon has been unleashed on Topeka?

Lily in the hospital

Lily is spending the night in the hospital. She has been diagnosed with pneumonia. Mom is staying with her. Watch for the entire story soon.

Lily speaks! (If you listen very closely...)

Lily's Spoken Vocabulary-
Dog
Cat
Mommy/Mama
Daddy/Dada
Ball (CONSTANTLY! Everything round is a ball)
Num-Num (food - mostly accompanied by the baby sign for 'more')
Book
Uh Oh! (CONSTANTLY!)
Bubble (this generally means bubble, balloon and elbow)
Boon (this is only occasionally said and it means balloon)
Bow (this is only occasionally said and it means elbow)

Animal Sounds-
Elephant (Raised arms for trunk plus a high pitched squealing trumpet)
Cat (very high pitched meeeeeeeeow)
Dog (mostly just grunting but it could technically pass as a bark)
Giraffe (chewing)

Lily's devastating wound...

Lily has a terrible wound on her hand. We aren't sure how she received it but here, she points out the wound for all to see.....below...I have highlighted the wound so its full magnitude is understood.


As you can see, the wound is nearly the size of a pin head...or maybe a freckle. Lily has spent the greater part of the last several days walking around pointing it out to everyone. Its really terrible.....NOT.

Bedtime snack? Maybe not a good plan.

Lily hasn't been eating very well lately. We don't know if its teeth, or maybe a touch of the flu that Mommy had, or something totally different. Anyhow, we thought that maybe some sugar-free pudding would be a good bedtime snack and help her sleep a bit.

After her bath, we got her ready for bed and went to do snack. Turns out, that may not have been the best order to do that stuff in....for more Lily pudding pics, check our Flickr.

She was a MESS.

Lily is a great helper!

This week, Mommy hasn't been feeling all that well. Finally, on Wednesday night, Mommy finally came down with what she was going to come down with....the flu.

Usually in the morning, Mom gets Lily dressed while Daddy takes a shower. Then Daddy takes Lily to school while Mom showers and gets dressed for work. On Thursday, however, Mommy was too sick to get Lily dressed so she went and laid on the couch (conveniently located in baby jail) so when Dad finished getting the girl dressed, he could plop her in baby jail and she could talk to mom as she convalesced on the sofa.

It was pretty obvious to Lily that Mommy wasn't herself that day. She was just laying in one spot not moving or smiling, or anything. Lily knew that the only thing that made her feel better was her soft blankie. So she retrieved it out of the laundry basket (Daddy hadn't folded it yet) and brought it to Mommy and covered her up. Then Lily patted Mommy's arm reassuringly.

Such a thoughtful girl and a good helper!

Lily at the garage sale

Lily with grandpa at the garage sale
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily helped out at our garage sale last weekend. She had a very busy time picking the price tags off things. She was SOOOO tired after a busy day.

Lily slept through the night....or did she?

The debate about what constitutes sleeping through the night has begun. Last night, Lily Rose Opgaard slept through the night. That is, according to Mommy she did. Daddy, on the other hand, disagrees.

The Facts:
1) Lily went to bed and to sleep by 7:30pm
2) Lily woke up during Heroes (bad timing Lils!) about 8:30pm for a sip of water but went immediately back to sleep. Daddy responded. Up time: 10 minutes
3) Lily woke up at 10:30pm wanting water. Mommy responded. Up time: 10 minutes
4) Lily woke up at 11:30pm upset. Needed Tylenol and water. Daddy responded & Mommy assisted. Up time: 15 minutes
5) Lily woke up for the day at 5:05am.

That means that from 11:45pm until 5:05am (5.25 hours), Lily slept.

We encourage you to weigh in. Did Lily sleep through the night or not?

Lily lovers unite!

Remember a few months ago when we posted about Lily being such a ham at her Christmas Program? Well, apparently we weren't the only ones who thought so.

The other day, we were over at Sam's Club shopping. We were standing in line with Lily and an older gentleman was standing behind us. We were chatting with him, and he was admiring our girl (as people are so wont to do) and she was being silly and flirting a little bit with the 'grandpa guy'. All of a sudden, he got this look of recognition on his face and asked, "Did I see this baby at the First Baptist Church Daycare Christmas Program?"

John and I were astonished! I wouldn't recognize most of those kids there if I saw them out of context (and I see some of them almost daily), let alone one baby who I saw once 4 months ago! We confessed that yes, our baby was in that program. The man went on to say that she really made him laugh.

Lily has a groupie! Or….a grampy in this case!

Lily's fever

Lily was sick most of last week with a high fever. We took her to the doctor on Monday with a 102.4 fever. The doctor says that it was only an upper respiratory infection. By 10:00 that night, it had risen to 103.5 so we called the doctor again. The nurse told us to give her Tylenol to lower her temperature and call again if it went over 104. She was soooo miserable and woke up every 15-20 minutes most of the night. It made for a sleepless night for everyone.

Dad had to take care of her for four straight days. The first two, she just laid on him and slept. She wouldn't let him put her down for even a minute. On Tuesday night, in order for mom and dad to get as much sleep as possible, dad took her downstairs to our guest bed and slept with her. She slept better knowing that dad was right there.

By Wednesday, she was starting to feel better but was still running a fever. Because she still wasn't feeling 100% she was exceptionally fussy. By Thursday her fever was gone and she was even more fussy because she was starting to get bored with dad.

On Friday it was BACK TO SCHOOL!

We were concerned that the progress that we had made in getting her to sleep would have been lost but it would seem that we are still on track. Last night she woke up only once for about 5 minutes!

Lily on Easter

Lily is just kicking back on Easter Sunday morning.

Who is bigger?

You might have wondered, who is bigger, Lily or Darwin? Well, as you can see, it would appear that Darwin is still bigger but that is deceiving. Lily is heavier by a couple of pounds but Darwin is longer when he stretches out.

Want some?

100_3018, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily is very into "sharing bites" with Mommy and Daddy. On this particular evening, dinner was ravioli and bananas. As with all good babies, the palate is not as 'discerning' as that of Mommy or Daddy. Tonight, she liked to have the bananas and the ravioli at the same time so they mixed on the tray and made the ever popular food, "raviana" or "bananoli". I think she finds it odd that Mommy and Daddy don't really like the flavor of banana dipped in ravioli sauce....

Mommy!

Well it took me awhile to get to this, but Lily has finally called me Mommy. I mean, she has been saying "Mommy" and "Mama" and "Dad" or "Dada" for quite some time, but it was always in a sort of general sense. Sort of "I say Mama in your general direction" kind of talking. But this time, it was deliberate, definite and darling!

On our anniversary, Lily was not pleased that I was doing whatever I was doing instead of paying attention to her. She toddled over to me, stood right in front of me, planted her little feet, looked up, raised her arms, and said "Mommy!".

Well, it was the absolute best anniversary present she could have ever given me! Sounds totally sappy but I know now what all those other sappy moms meant when they said that was the big moment for them. It was a rush, thats for sure!

Lily was born!

On February 14, 2007 a certificate of birth was issued certifying the birth of our daughter Lily Rose. Apparently, she was born! With the arrival of this birth certificate, our adoption journey is complete! All the T's are crossed, all the I's are dotted. If we weren't parents before, we sure are now!

Tooth Update

Lily has four teeth now! She got her second upper tooth just in the past few days. She has found all sorts of uses for these new things in her mouth from prying open her lotion to biting off pieces of cracker to clicking them together.

We were hoping that once she had cut her first four teeth she would start sleeping better but so far not.

Lily playing with Mom

Mom making Lily laugh

Mom was playing with Lily and Lily thought it was great fun!

Video of Lily Walking

Finally, we got a video of Lily walking. Here it is!

Doctor's Appointment

Lily had her 12 month checkup yesterday. She is doing GREAT! She is now 29.25 inches tall and weighs in at 20 pounds 15 ounces. She is getting to be such a big girl.

Lily's First Birthday

Today is Lily's First Birthday! It hardly seems possible that our little girl is a year old. To celebrate, she slept in this morning...and let mom and dad sleep a little later, too.

Tonight we are all going out for dinner. We have a party planned for Saturday.

She is getting to be a big girl, now.

Here is a snapshot we took of her this morning before she went off to school/daycare. Notice her hair! Mom gave her a pony tail...sort of.

Lily
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Trip to Washington

Lily decided that it was time for her to visit her grandma and grandpa in Washington state. So what were we to do but to go with her. We decided to make it a quick trip over New Years.

We flew out on Thursday....yeah, direct flight! We had to keep Lily on our laps the whole time because as we expected there were no open seats on the plane. She slept part of the way and then played part of the way. She started to get fussy toward the end of the flight so we landed just in time.

Grandpa and Uncle Andy met us at the airport. We loaded all of our stuff, installed Lily's seat and drove the 45 minutes to their house in Tacoma. We probably saw the worst traffic of our entire visit on this trip and of course Lily was already very tired from the trip and it was past her bed time...at home.

Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Andy and Lily's two cousins Nathan and Matthew were over visiting Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days. They really came over to see us. It was really nice to see Lily interacting with the two boys. She really liked her cousins!

Nathan, Lily and Matthew

It was great that so many people came by to visit with Lily. On the first full day there, Martha, Iris, Mary and Laryn came down from Lynnwood to visit. Laryn and Lily spent the entire time playing together. By the time they left, Lily was more than ready for a nap.

Lily and Laryn play

Betty came over to visit on Saturday and Bill and Elaine came over on Sunday to visit for a little while. Everyone was thrilled to meet Lily.

On Sunday morning, we decided to take a drive around to give Lily a little nap and to show Lily some of the sights. First, we drove across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to a little park where you can see the new bridge being built.

Mom and Lily overlooking the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

We took the ferry from Pt. Defiance over to Vashon Island and back. This was Lily's first ferry ride.

Lily and Dad on the ferry

When we got back to Pt. Defiance, we took a drive down to Nisqually then back home through Steilacoom. Lily got a good nap.

We decided to celebrate New Years on East Coast time. On New Years day, we spent lots of time packing and getting ready to come home.

Our flight home left Seattle on Tuesday...again a direct flight. We were delayed some so didn't get home until 10:00 pm. Lily had to get up and go to school on Wednesday.

Grandma and Grandpa had a great time getting to know Lily better.

Lily with Grandma and Grandpa
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

I blame the education system.....

This evening, just a few scant days since Miss Helen and Miss Cathy predicted it, Lily Rose proved that she, too, can walk.

Over at Grandma & Grandpa Leamon’s house this evening, our little princess let go of Mommy’s leg and walked 5 WHOLE STEPS across the room. Very sturdy, steady steps too. This very day, when we went to pick her up at school, Miss Helen commented that she thought walking was going to be very soon. When I laughed and said that I thought (hoped?) it would be at least another couple of weeks, she said she thought it would be sooner. I mentioned that Lily really doesn’t stand on her own very much. Just bolt upright in the middle of the room, without hanging on to something, like I have seen Isaac do. Miss Helen looked surprised and said that Lily had been doing that A LOT today.

Then lo and behold, Lily showed us that she can walk just like Cousin Ike! Oh dear, she's a big girl!

Lily's first Christmas

Lily's first Christmas is past. On Christmas eve night, she gave her mom and dad a very special present, she slept over 3 hours at a stretch! This was amazing! Unfortunately, she was awake for a long stretch during Mom's shift. All in all, she woke up well rested at 6:45.

We had to get ready right away to go over to Grandma's and Grandpa's house for the traditional Christmas morning activities. Grandpa always make a very delicious Christmas Bread for breakfast. We then open our presents starting with what Santa has left in our stockings. Mom and Dad opened most of Lily's gifts but she helped with a few.

Everyone was so generous in buying clothes as she has pretty much outgrown most of her 9 month clothes and has moved onto the 12 month wardrobe. There were a few toys to add to the excitement. Lily was so well behaved and hardly fussed during the 3+ hour marathon unwrapping sesson.

Once we were done with the unwrapping of presents, we went home for a few hours so that Lily could take a nap with Dad. She and I slept soundly for almost 2 hours. It was then time to go back to Grandma's and Grandpa's for Christmas dinner -- turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, and cranberries. It was all DELICIOUS! Even Lily thought it was good, eating her share and then smearing her food in her hair.

By the time we got home, it was time for Lily to go to bed and she was more than ready!

Walking....oh, my!

Lily is getting sooo close to walking. She loves to walk holding on to Mom or my hands. While she doesn't have the balance yet to do it on her own, we expect that to develop any time now. While we were hoping that she would put off walking until much later, we are resigned to the fact that it will be happening soon.

UPDATE: Social Security Number

Hooray!!! We have a Social Security Number for Lily! The great woman at the Social Security Administration office worked some magic and got everything done so that we could get the number. A huge THANKS goes out to her. Now we can set up her bank account and file taxes come the new year.

Lily's Christmas Program

Last night, Lily had her Christmas Program at school. She is the baby on the left side of the lady with blonde hair. If you listen closely, as the camera pans away, a big laugh from the audience can be heard. Lily the Ham started kicking and jumping and dancing to the music. Everyone thought that was very funny. The more they laughed, the more she danced! I believe we have a performer!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Lily and Santa
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily received a surprise visit from Santa Claus at her Grandma's and Grandpa's house over the weekend. I am not quite sure what she thought be we got some great pictures for the memory book!

Social Security Number

As you probably know, everyone in the US needs a social security number. Well, we wanted to wait until we had Lily's final amended birth certificate before we applied for hers as this would make it so that we would not have to then do a name change later. Well, we still don't have an amended birth certificate because of how slow the vital records department is in making these amendments. They told me yesterday that it will take another 2-5 MONTHS to get it done.

Today, I went to the Social Security Administration office anyway. I took as much paperwork as I could: her original birth certificate, our adoption decree and anything else that I could think they might want.

The woman who helped me was very nice. So nice that I didn't even get mad when she said that there was not much she could do without the amended birth certificate. She also told me that Lily already has a SSN that was issued when she was in the hospital. Well, golly. No one bothered to tell us that! The woman said that she would request an amended birth certificate and that she would call me when it came in. She also said that she would do everything she could to get everything processed so that there would be no delay once they had all of the paperwork they needed.

Hopefully we will have her SSN by the time we need to file our taxes.

Help us save for college

It may seem very odd that we are asking people to help us save for college while Lily is only 10 1/2 months old. We fully expect that by the time Lily goes to college it will cost so much that if we don't start saving now we will never be able to afford it. We discovered a great way of saving for college that doesn't cost us a thing. It is called upromise. We did all of the research to make sure it is legitimate and we were thrilled to find out that it had the support of many people and businesses.

Here is how it works. You need to register with at http://www.upromise.com. It will ask you for your credit card numbers, your shopper card numbers for your grocery store or drug store, and who you want to save for. Then whenever you go to certain restaurants or shop at your local grocery store, a certain percentage of what you spend goes automatically to Lily's college fund. If you are interested in helping out, or just want more information, send me an e-mail.

Update: Laurel wanted to make sure you knew that this doesn't cost you a thing! The manufacturers, restaurants, and businesses make the contribution based on your spending. So far we have raised a little over $65 this way and it has not cost us a single dime!

Communication

Well, there are many schools of thought on baby speak. At our house it goes like this:

Pwee -- Lily sees something that is either a) yellow; b) shiny (like jewelery); or c) a button. She immediately looks to the wearer and says, "Pwee?" We always confirm that yes, it is indeed very pretty. We think "pwee" sort of means "I like that".

Dawdie -- Our dog, Bartlett. Or any dog. Quite often, but not always, Lily will point excitedly or merely gesture in the direction of the dog and state loudly, "dawdie".

Tyeatee or Ktyeetee -- Any cat. This is often shrieked loudly, using her very new and very loud shriek-voice. This is a voice she is quite proud of. Its very loud.

Mama and Dada of course. These are not always the 'discerning' titles, but more of an "I shriek in your general direction" thing.

Other communication indicators:

Lily has a toy frog she likes very much. When she is playing in the baby jail, we can say, "Lily, where is your frog?". She will immediately look over at the shelf where the frog goes to bed, drop to her hands and knees and crawl-run to the shelf. She pulls the frog down and hugs it and gives it a big kiss/bite on the nose.

She has started to give kisses. Very selectively and on her terms but if you catch her in just the right mood, she may respond favorably to a "Lily, will you give mama a kiss?". Then Mommy ends up slobbery too!

When Lily gets mad, everyone in the vicinity knows it. She is not a whiney baby about it but will definitely make her displeasure known. She makes an angry face and says "DYA DYA DYA DYA DYA!" and expects you to be appropriately chagrinned.

Thats the update for now!

Little girls and their Daddies

Well, if there was any doubt that little girls LOVE their daddies, its all been laid to rest around our house.

This past Saturday, Daddy went outside to work on getting some of the leaves out of the yard, since we were having company. Daddy was outside using his leaf blower/vacuum and Mommy and Lily were inside in the baby jail...erm...play room. Suddenly, Lily heard a noise outside. She looked over at Mommy with a very quizical expression and Mommy asked, "Lily, what do you think that noise is outside? You should go look!". Lily crawled over to the window and saw her absolute favorite fella (Daddy) outside with a machine strapped to him. She got very excited and squealed a bit and pointed out the window, looked at Mom and said, "DADA!"

She spent the better part of the next half hour standing at the window watching her Daddy. It was very exciting. He played peek-a-boo with her too!

Messy Girl!

100_2112
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Now that Lily has begun to feed herself, we have more and more nights where she ends up looking like this. You should have seen her the night we had spaghetti!

Sleep Update

Lily has never slept through the night. Mom and I have been splitting the night with Mom taking until midnight. I then take over and do the rest of the night until Lily gets up at about 6:00. For a long time, Lily would sleep an hour at a time then wake up and start to cry. Once she got her first tooth, this changed. She started to sleep 2-3 hours at a time.

This week, for some unknown reason, she reverted back to the one hour sleep cycle. That is until last night when she was back to three hours at a stretch. We have been reading the various approaches to getting her to sleep through the night and have decided that we can not just let her "cry it out" as suggested by many of the experts.

We have decided that we are going to try a method that will get her to sleep better but will not involve nearly as much crying. Wish us luck! We need the sleep!

Lily's first Halloween

100_2054-1
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

For Lily's first Halloween, she dressed up like Princess Leia from Star Wars. She was the hit of her day care's Halloween parade.

Tooth!

Lily has her first tooth! We first felt it several days ago and it is now clearly there. She has been drooling like a firehose. Since the tooth cut through, she has been sleeping much better. Perhaps we have turned the corner.

Lily crawling and standing

Here is a video that we took over the weekend of Lily pulling herself up and crawling like there is no tomorrow.

Lily Laughing at Mom

Mom was playing with Lily over the weekend. Even though Lily wasn't feeling well, she still thought Mom was rather funny.

Horror of horrors!

It finally happened. Today, our Lily Rose, the delicate flower, began to crawl. Oh yes, she is truly mobile. It didn't even take 2 weeks from the time she decided to sit herself up until the time that she decided that this lunging thing she was doing just wasn't enough. It seems the time that Mommy and Daddy spent working to get the family room semi-babyproofed last weekend was indeed time well spent. Its not totally finished, and we have yet to babyproof the kitchen (which adjoins the family room) but since Daddy isn't working just yet, we are fortunate that he can spend the next day or so working on that. Yippee!

We took some video and hope you are excited about this development as we are. YAY!

Sleeping Lily

100_1957
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Dad loves it when Lily takes a nap on him. This period of time won't last forever so on weekends this is how she often sleeps.

Lily & Daddy spend some quality time

Lily has been home sick from day care the past couple of days. She woke up yesterday morning with a fever of 101.9. Mom and I took her to the doctor only to be told that it was a viral infection and that we should just treat the symptoms (Tylenol every 4 hours). Consequently, Lily and I have had some quality time. She has not felt the greatest but the Tylenol has kept her fever down so it hasn't been that bad.

Today, when I set her in her crib so that I could do something real quick, she pulled herself up to a standing position. She looked surprised at herself. I only wish I could have gotten a picture. This is the first time she had done that! She has also been scooting around on the floor like a veteran. She doesn't really crawl, yet, but that will come very soon. Her new found mobility has Lily excited and Mom and I a little nervous. We still need to get the baby proofing done.

Mobility at last!

Lily, just prior to her 8-month mark, had yet to begin crawiling. In point of fact, she hadn't even been able to sit herself up yet, or she chose not to (perhaps believeing that was the peasants duty to place her in an upright position).

This, of course, led to me to an irrational albeit minor freak out (as mothers are wont to do). I tried to tell myself that if she wasn't crawling until 9 months, then I could legitimately melt down. Besides, the longer it took her to move around, the longer we could put off that 'babyproofing' thing. Somehow, John doesn't seem to carry the gene for needless worry. That’s why he is able to get to sleep so quickly. Nighttime is my time to obsess..erm meditate... about this.

Apparently, its time for me to adjust my focus onto something else because she; A) started sitting today and B) can crawl one step forward and inumerable bits backward. Along with her other skills of grabbing everything within reach, eating paper, chewing on carpet lint, my keys, bits of leaf drug in by the dog, dried dinner off the floor, slobbering on everything dry, and ripping chunks of fur from any passing dog or cat, etc (all of which are very marketable skills). It appears that she is moments away from a full bore crawl, as well as pulling herself up in her crib and on anything else. She stands so well already that I fear the crawling may not be long lived and that walking *gasp* is only weeks away.

All of the sudden, it’s a whole new ball of wax. It appears that this weekend John and I will be in the baby-proofing supplies aisle at Target or Lowe's, trying to keep Lils from eating the shopping list and trying not to sob too loudly at her getting so big.

Babies and Antiques

Lily went to her very first gigantaflea market today. Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa, & Michele accompanied her to Sparks and White Cloud for the day. When we got there, we met up with Cousin Isaac who was accompanied by his Mommy and Daddy, Lily's Auntie Anna and Uncle Pat. THEN it got even more exciting when Mommy's friend Ellen, her boyfriend Jeff and their baby Broden, who is 2 days younger than Lily but 1 day older than Isaac showed up.

Lily got very tired and ended up taking a little bit of a nap but her entourage perservered and finished up finally about 3:00, poorer, wearier, and yet very happy after a productive day of antiquing. Hooray! I think we were a bit overdue for this. Lily had her first antique show at 3 months, her first art opening at 5 months, so by rights, this flea market should have come about a month ago because she is nearly 8 months but technically, she is only 7 months now so it just barely slid in under the 'new every 2' wire.

What do you mean its not a real duck?

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Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

We just thought this picture of Lily in the bathtub was hilarious!

Lily in her new dress

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Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily loves to dress up. Her mom helps by buying some great clothes!

Sleep? What sleep?

Lily still is not sleeping well at night. Mom and I have been splitting the night so that we can each get some sleep. While she will go to sleep just fine to start the night, after a few hours of sleep she wakes up and then starts a cycle of waking up about once each hour. We are trying a new routine that we hope will break the habit that she has gotten into. We know that how we respond to her cries will affect how she sleeps so we are really looking at what we do when we go in to soothe her. We know that this will eventually pass and she will sleep through the night. We just hope that will come sooner rather than later.

Happy Baby

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Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily was playing in her crib today while Mom picked up her room. She was having such a great time that Dad took her picture.