Poostravaganza 2007!

Yesterday, Lily hung out with her lookalike friend, Claudia. The girls love doing the same thing at the same time -- like shrieking.



The girls also decided to do one other thing together: Poop.

Beth had gone outside to get ice cream from the ice cream man and the girls stood at the door to watch her. When she returned and everyone came back over near me, I got my first whiff. Beth and I quickly checked our shoes to see which one of us had stepped in dog dookie. That's when we noticed Claudia was awfully dirty. She had pooped and somehow managed to get some of it out of her diaper and all over her little body. My kid was no slouch either and had pooped and had scratch marks on her lower back from trying to dig for her own gold. The kids stunk and the moms were alternately laughing and gagging as we removed the clothes and offending diapers. Needless to say, they got a good bath after that!

Lily and Leah Catherine

Lily and I spent some time with Leah Catherine and Beth this week, as we are all trying to figure out this cloth-diapering thing. It is definately more challenging than I thought, but its actually kind of fun. I know, I'm a dork. I'm not afraid to admit it.

Lily and Leah Catherine model Bum*Genius diapers

Leah Catherine is 10 weeks old -- time flies!



And my 14 and a half month old loved getting reaquainted with her old swing!

So, Lily finally got those long-awaited molars the other day (two on top). Since then, she's gone right back on schedule with sleeping through the night and napping as well as regaining her appetite and her sweet personality. The past two months or so really took their toll on me, as I've had to get up with her every night, but the last weeks has been brilliant! Hooray for sleep!

Her language explosion is still continuing at full blast. It seems like she learns a new word every day. This week, we've heard a lot of "Yucky," "Messy," "Bear," and "Giraffe." There are so many others, it'd be impossible to list them all.

I love this last picture, it melts my heart :)

Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath...

So, can you guess what Lily and West did for their playdate today?!

They had their first official bath together at Mary's parents house in their amazing jacuzzi tub. As both kids are big fans of bathtime, we thought it would be a good place for a playdate. Although, to be honest, part of me wanted to kick the babies out and relax in there myself!

This is my favorite Westbrook face! Check out the hair :)

Lily did her version of "sharing" which entails her saying "Thank You!" and grabbing the toys out of Westbrook's hands. He was a really good sport about it!

Lovin' the jacuzzi jets!

Do you get the distinct impression that the kids don't like being posed in their towels? We had to work hard to get one shot of them sitting still.

Lily particularly liked exploring the house naked...she'd run around and then suddenly stop and start dancing. That kid can really bust a move! I will try to post a video sometime this week because it's really too funny!

Getting some sun after the bath...

Lily loved picking the flowers. Devin taught her how to do that this past week in our backyard and now she picks every flower she sees. Too bad these weren't the kind that could grow back. Sorry, Llew family!

It's a Date!

Lily and I went with Mary and West to a sling party today hosted by charlotte mommies. Although Lily is not too fond of being in a sling for more than a few minutes, we loved the opportunity to hang with our friends and get out and mingle.

Before we went to the party, we took the kiddos out to eat. Check out the cute pictures:

While they were playing together at the party, Lily kept lovingly stroking West's hair and then she planted a big kiss on his head. It's so cute, its like she knows that we've hooked them up. I've never seen her stroke anything so sweetly, not even the cats!

We didn't get any party pictures, but here's the kids pooped out in the back of Mary's car after our excursion:

They really are a precious couple.

Also, I'd like to direct everyone (especially in the Charlotte area) to Mary's page. Her family is sponsoring a blood drive in honor of her brother's 24th birthday. It's a wonderful cause and blood products are always in demand, so please come on out and donate! You can find details and directions on her page. Thanks!

A Day At The Library...

So, Lily and I finally made our way to *Imaginon* downtown, which is a library specifically aimed at children, with our friends Casey and Sophie. There' s an exhibit there now that has life-sized models of popular fairytales that kids can interact with. The girls had lots of fun and so did the mommies!

Meet the Princesses: Lily & Sophie

The girls got to ride in style in the Cinderlla pumpkin carriage.

Shortly after this picture, the girls were invaded by marauders! Okay, not really. They were invaded by two little hispanic boys. You can see Sophie is weirded out, but Lily was like "Hey! Latin Men! Awesome!"

Sorry, I just have to include this picture. She looks contemplative, dontcha think? Although, I'm sure is probably contemplating how much fun it would be to stick her finger in the fake candles if they were real.

Lily especially liked this chicken that layed the golden egg. When you lift its butt, it makes a cockadoodle doo noise. She thought it was hilarious :)

Riding the trolley in style...

Exploring a tunnel. Future spelunkers maybe?

Like lookin' in a mirror

On an entirely different note, a few of you have asked what to get Lily for her birthday. First of all, we will simply be happy to have you celebrate with us -- no gift is necessary. BUT if you insist, here are a few things I think Lily would like and/or need: Books (we have a reader on our hands!), 2T winter clothing for next year (on sale now), age-appropriate toys, stuff for the bath tub, and anything to do with animals (maybe a play farm or vet? I have no clue, she's just really into animals right now). I totally do not mind things that light up, make loud noises, or are possessed by demons, so bring 'em on!

Again, I'd like to stress that the most VALUABLE gift that Lily will ever receive is the love and support from all of her friends and family. You all are incredible and we are grateful for each and every one of you!

A Birthday and A Walk

On Saturday, Lily and I attended her friend, Banastre's, First Birthday Party. It was so cool to hang out with him and watch him scarf down his little cheesecake.

Lily and Banastre waving at eachother...

Lily really liked playing with all of his toys...

Today, since it was chilly but halfway nice outside, I let Lily walk around the backyard. Since our yard is totally uneven and covered in leaves and branches, she fell down a lot. She didn't seem to mind, though. She spent most of her time running away from me. I'm going to have to get that child a leash. And I'm totally not kidding. I couldn't let her play in the front yard because she kept trying to run out into the street. Good thing we have a big backyard (perks of living in the ghetto: property = super cheap), she got to run around and fall down without being close to traffic at all.

Finally We Meet!!!

For those that don't know the backstory, I spend a lot of time on baby chat boards. I used to belong to one (still check in there occasionally) called babycenter. It's a national forum, open to pretty much anyone who speaks english, I think. Anyway, one day online, I noticed a woman who spelled her first name exactly like mine: L-O-R-A. When we started private messaging, I found out that she lives like 20 minutes away from me! Lora and I (we both agree it's weird to refer to eachother with our own names) both had babies in February 2006 (Banastre was born Feb 1st and Lily on the 14th). Lora also has an older daughter named Elizabeth.

Anyway, we started emailing one another almost exactly a year ago (just checked my old emails -- we started talking on Jan 27th 2006!) , right before the babies were born. We've been meaning to meet up one of these days and we finally got around to it! It was totally worth the wait, Lora and her kids are AWESOME! She also has a blog, which you can check out here.

We finally met this afternoon at Charlotte*At*Play. Here's Banastre, isn't he darling?!

They took turns eating the screws. Banastre is so smart, he actually knew to put them in the holes! I was so impressed, I've never seen a baby that young have such amazing spacial reasoning skills. Go, Banastre!

Getting down and dirty in the plastic mulch...

"Don't worry, Banastre, I'll steer!"

Checkin' eachother out -- real close like

A modern day Sonny and Cher

Banastre, Elizabeth, and Lily jamming!

Lily and Elizabeth show us how to use the high-hat


I'm so glad we finally got to meet in person and Lora was just as awesome in person as she is online (I know you were wondering!). The kids had a blast and we look forward to doing it again soon!

Dear Westbrook,

My dear, darling Westbrook. You cannot imagine my pain when I saw the pictures of you playing with that other baby. Sure, she's got dimples and is a darling girl, but honey, we've been betrothed since our mommies were pregnant! You can't walk out on that kind of commitment! Allow me to take you on a walk down memory lane...

I cuddled with you when you were inside your mommy's tummy:

We met face to face the day after you came into the world...

I loved hanging out with you!

I even let you ride in my pretty pink stroller...

And let you play in my jumperoo!

One of my favorite times with you was that romantic hayride we took in the fall...

I've been chasing you from Day One ...

You're my best guy and I don't want to lose you :)

I love that you are trying to prove yourself to me, it's how any good woman should be treated! Please keep it up! I can see us having a lifelong relationship and I'm so glad our mommies are friends. Please come over and hang out more often...oh, and wear the bear outfit. It's totally hot.

Love Always,

your Lily-Pie