One Year Pic

In less than one year...

We went from this...

To this...

I love how her face in the second shot totally sums up her attitude lately. Farewell to my little, happy-go-lucky, good-sleeping baby. Hello to my tantrum-throwing, picky-eating, nap-boycotting little booger. I'm hoping those darn molars make their appearance soon, because we are both bordering on looney tunes.

Transitioning to toddlerhood comes with a whole new set of expectations. We are still doing formula, because Lily *hates* milk -- I've been spiking it with Ovaltine to convince her to drink it. Milk also comes with a lovely side effect -- constipation. So, I have to give her juice to offset it. Either way, I'm stuck with a nasty poop diaper.

It also marks the end of an era for the pacifier. A week before she turned one, she started refusing it at naptime and bedtime, so all of our pacifiers now live in a small pile behind the crib where she threw them. I will clean them up one day. Maybe.

Food is another big change. I have to keep on my toes about feeding her finger foods that she will actually eat. I try to give her whatever I'm eating. Note to self: Baby is not interested in Thai food -- she prefers canned peas and sliced cheese. Or cookies. Or anything that she threw off her highchair the day before, which landed in a dust bunny that the broom missed.

Sippy cups. Do you know how many brands, shapes, sizes, colors, textures, etc there are of cups? Holy hell, there are tons! You can have rubber spouts, ones with straws, disposable ones, and the list continues on to infinity. If you find one the kid actually likes, then you have a 99% probability of never finding one exactly like it again. Lily's not too fond of sippy cups yet. What she IS fond of, however, is tossing them over the edge of the highchair, rupturing the seal and causing chocolate milk to careen across my hardwood floors. Don't worry, I swiffer.

And lastly, naptime. At some point around a year (give or take), babies can transition from two naps a day to one. Lily has been protesting naps lately, so I can't figure out if she's just teething and refusing to nap OR if she's actually ready to cut down to one nap a day. I'm hoping we'll figure that one our sooner than later. Before. I. Lose. My. Mind.

Lily is still a fun kid, just going through a weird stage right now. As exhausting as it is, it's still fun. Being a stay at home is by far the hardest job I've ever had. But at the end of the day, lying in bed and catching up on the shows I DVRed three weeks ago, smashed peas on my shirt, and ovaltine crusted in my hair -- I can honestly say: Its worth it.

See? She's irresistable :)

Pretty Pictures

These are courtesy of Neal and Jen and I LOVE the way they came out! These pictures were taken this weekend during a visit and Jen was nice enough to watch Lily while I ran some errands today (Jen, I'm in your eternal debt!). Lily loved playing with the dogs and exploring the house and also ate really well for Jen.

I still think Lily looks more like Jen than me -- but I definately can't be upset about that because Jen is so pretty :)

Snow Day!!!

The news has been saying it, but I didn't believe it until Lily woke me up screaming at 5:30 AM and I peeked outside and saw all the white stuff on the ground...it finally snowed!! Woohoo!

After breakfast, I bundled Lily up in her pink frou-frou best and out we went to enjoy the cold! Notice in this picture, you can see a boat in the background. That is Devin's other baby :)

She kept falling over in the snow, so her outfit was soaked within 10 minutes. I don't think she minded though, she was so happy to be able to explore!

Part of that exploration involved leaving Mommy in her dust. The kid practically RAN through the backyard!

Pictures of Lily

As her first birthday approaches, Lily is learning more and more things. She recently figured out she could give me "stuff" do do. She started handing me this book and demanding that I read it OVER and OVER again. If I don't get 'on task' fast enough -- she starts pouting!

Devin's Dad left a "Mr-Hanky,-The-Christmas-Poo" doll at our house and its one of the few things that makes noise that Lily can't figure out how to work. So, she drops it in my lap 50 times a day so that I can make it "sing" for her. It's disgusting, but she loves that thing!

She also likes to "brush" her hair -- or she'll hand the brush to me and make me do it :)


And she's running now -- still with the frankenstein gait, but MUCH faster. I will post a video when I have more time.

I took some cute pics and wanted to share:

Also, I'm just noting this for my own future reference, Lily can say the following words without being prompted (as in, she makes the connections on her own when she sees pictures or the actual object): Kitty ("ki-ee"), Doggie ("dah-ee"), Daddy, Mama, Baba (this is what we call her pacifier), Bottle (most days, she just points and calls it a "Bee"), shoe (soo), sock (saaak), Hank (my mom's dog, usually she calls him "kah"), Book ("buh"), Hi (she waves when she says it -- so funny!), Bye-Bye, Train ("tay" -- this one is not bc she's seen a train, but we have one that comes very close to my house and we talk about it when it blows its whistle), and All Done "Ah-Dah" and she makes the 'question' hands, as I call them. I think I ask her if she's all done and then she thinks it's a question. She definately says it and then spits her food back out. Anyway, that's all I can recall right now. My brain is functioning at an exceptionally slower pace than normal, it seems.

Sorry I made you all read that. I just feel like I've done a bad job at really recording her milestones. This talking thing is happening so fast and I really want to document at least part of it. I used to get really mad at my Mom for not remembering important details of my life and I"m 26 -- now, I realize how Mommy brain really makes everything one big ol' blur. I can't even remember when Lily hit some of her big milestones. It's only been a year, I think I'm losing my mind :)

New Pictures

This is baby Melina Christine! She is the new daughter of my cousin Kristina and her husband Cory. They live in Germany, so it'll be a while before we meet her in person, but we love her already. Isn't she beautiful?!

And here are some more pictures of my little one. Since her hair is finally growing in, she gets "bedhead" -- its so sweet!

Also, her top 4 teeth are finally through, bringing her grand total of chompers to 6!

I have to record Lily's new stuff, it seems like she learns new things every day. She now can point out nose, ears, mouth, and teeth. She sticks her tiny finger deep in my ear and says "Eee?" then she pulls my hair so my head turns to the other side and sticks her finger in my other ear and asks "Eee?" All very cute.

She has also started to say "Hi!" and wave to EVERY person we meet. I took her to the Dr the other day for a diaper rash gone bad and she spent the entire time in the waiting room saying Hi to everyone that walked by. The little charmer. (note: she weighed only 19 lbs 12 oz -- when will she fatten up?!).

Also, she is awesome at recognizing Dada. A cop on a motorcyle drove by the house yesterday and the looked at me and said "Dada?" It was really sweet. I explained that Dada couldn't afford a white Harley, so no, that's not him.

She is still walking like a bat out of hell. She rarely crawls anymore and when she falls, she can actually hoist herself back up into a standing position by sticking her butt straight up in the air and then lifting her torso to follow. Super core strength, that one.

She says "Thank You" but it sounds more like "Dad-En." Its actually become her favorite game. She gives something to you and you say Thank You and then you give it back and she says it. This game can go on longer than you'd imagine :)

Per Leslie's request, her is a video of Lily dancing. Check our her new moves!

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