Best Friends

Here's another slide show my friend Becky made today of the kids! Thanks Becky! It's so sweet!

True Friends 8/28/08

Lily had her 12 month well baby doctors visit yesterday. She is 21 lbs 1 oz, and 30 1/2 inches long! That's quite a bit of growth in one year from the 8 lbs 1.9 oz, 20 inches at birth! I'm so happy to see that she grew so well these past three months, and has finally caught up to a lot of her peers. She did great with her shots. She cried for a while right after (which was of course heart breaking! I hated seeing her tiny little arms stabbed like that over and over!) but by the time we were in the waiting room making her next appointment, she was fine! What a trooper!

Lily's First Year

So here it is, the project I've been working on for a while now. It's a slide show of Lily's first year. Sorry it is so long, and the transfer isn't that great. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Lily!!

Dear Lily,
How can this be? How did a whole year pass so quickly! It seems like just yesterday we were driving to the hospital to get induced! I look back at how small you were then, and I can't help but be amazed by how much you have grown in such a short time! One day you are a tiny little baby, unable to hold you head up by yourself, and then I blink and you are somehow running circles around me!

Every month you never ses to amaze me with how much you are learning and growing. This past month has been no different. You've always had a big personality, ever since you were born. This month you really let that wonderful personality shine. You are really becoming independent, but you have also become such a sweet little thing! You love to give kisses (Big slobbery open mouth kisses like you are trying to eat our face!) and hugs all the time now, before running off on some new adventure. Your hugs a kisses aren't reserved just for Daddy and me though. You love to give your stuffed animals hugs, and you will hug the kitties at any chance you can! You also love to give our friends Becky and Kyan big hugs and kisses too!

Your really working hard on mastering stairs at the moment, so you are usually running off to climb a flight after giving me a hug. You're a smart cookie though, and will wait at the bottom of the flight until I'm right behind you before you start climbing. The last few days you've been attempting going down stairs too, with the help of Mommy or Daddy. You are so proud of yourself when you go down a few stairs!

This month you started drinking whole milk instead of formula. We started you out on the milk about 3 weeks earlier than most, but your doctor said at your nine month check up we could start any time, and you didn't have any problems with it at all. You really seem to like it! You've also been perfecting drinking from a straw. I think you love the freedom a cup with a straw gives you, because you don't have to wait for mommy or Daddy to hold a bottle up for you. You love to run around with your sippy cup in hand, taking a little drink whenever you want!

I can't believe how much we lucked out with you Lily. You really have been the easiest baby, since the day you were born. Thank you for being so good, so loving, and so healthy! I could not have asked for a better child. Thank you also for teaching Daddy and I how to be the best parents we can be. We've both learned a lot from you about patience and love.

I know we have so much fun to look forward to in the next year! I'm excited that this year you will enjoy Halloween and Christmas more! I'm also looking forward to you talking to us more, and following simple directions. I'm so sad though to know you are no longer a little baby. Though to your Daddy and I, you will always be our baby! We are so proud of you Lily! Keep growing and learning little one! We love you so much!

Love always,
Mommy and Daddy

Now onto the pictures! I thought I'd start out with a few pictures from the day she was born.
This is the very first picture ever taken of Lily:
Shortly after the last picture. Cleaned up a little more:
My little princess, less than 12 hours old:
These three are from yesterday. Good thing I took them, because I never got out today to do a nice photo shoot with Lily in her pretty birthday dress.


"Look at all my teeth!"
These are from a photo shoot a did this morning with a mini smash cake that we just let her go to town on!


"MMM...good frosting Mommy!"

Messy hand after she had enough of the cake:

Lily had so much fun digging into her smash cake! She was running around the back deck, and kept coming back to the cake for another handful of frosting!

After dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe (Yes, I powered through with being sick...yes, it was a bad idea!) , Lily opened her presents, and we had her real cake. We got Lily a couple books, a baby doll, and a Duck (or goose) hand puppet. She was so funny opening her presents, she would tear off a little piece of paper at a time, then switch presents to work on! In the end we of course had to help her, or it would have been dark by the time we finished! By far she loves the baby doll! As soon as she saw it she wanted us to take it out so she could play with it!

Here she is so proud of ripping off a piece by herself:
Again she loved the cake, and just dug right in. This time we gave her a much smaller piece though. We don't want her up all night!

So that was Lily's birthday! We had a nice time despite me being sick! Funny thing we realized today though...in the past year I got sick on my birthday, Sean's birthday, and now Lily's birthday! I hope that trend doesn't continue next year!

Check back tomorrow. I hopefully will have up something I've been working a pretty long time on. Sorry I don't have it in me to finish it tonight!

Please leave Lily your birthday wishes in the comments! I'll be printing this book out for her at some point, and would love to have your comments be part of it!

One Year Old

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY!! I can't believe my little baby girl is one today! We made it through the first year!!!

Later tonight I'll have her full 12 month post with pictures and such, and maybe a little surprise if I can get it done on time! I just wanted to be the first to wish my baby girl a happy birthday!

Also, update on the sickness. She has developed a rash all over her body. I was freaked out about this for a while, but with a quick call to the doctor we have found out there is a virus going around that causes the rash after a fever. I can't remember the name, but she said it was nothing to worry about as long as Lily is acting like herself, which she is! Also, I woke up today with a fever, killer headache, and body aches. Happy birthday Lily, do you mind spending it in bed? I'm pushing through though. I don't want to spoil her first birthday. I'm off to go make the frosting for the cake now!

Sick Day

Our poor little Lily has just had her first real illness. Up till now she's only had the odd cold here and there, nothing that has held her back from being a happy playful baby. Monday night though she came down with something. I noticed after dinner that night that she was warm, so we took her temp and it was 102.1. From that night until this morning my poor baby just hasn't been herself! She's been very lethargic and cuddly, and has slept a bunch. She barely ate yesterday too. Poor thing! The fever broke after a very fitful night of "sleep" last night. She still slept a bunch today, and has been really clingy, but I'm happy to say her fever is gone, and her appetite is back! I hated seeing my little monkey that way! We're still wondering what caused her to get sick. Part of me is wondering today if she is getting in a bunch more teeth...maybe even molars. Last night she would wake up screaming in pain every 20 minutes, and we're pretty sure it's not her ears (she doesn't have a problems drinking from a bottle, doesn't have a problems lying down, and isn't really pulling at her ears) and I did see that some of her gums are swollen today, and she will refuse to let me peak inside her mouth, and screams when I do try to feel around. We'll see in a few days if that was the cause. Or maybe it was just some 24 hour bug? Who knows! All the matters to me is that she is doing much better now!

Monday afternoon before she got sick, Lily and I had a nice time playing outside with the garden hose. I let her have her first popsicle all to herself out on the back porch. She really enjoyed the stick (groan), and ended up with more running down her chest them in her tummy. So I got out the hose to let her play (and the added bonus of cleaning herself off!). Here are the pictures from Monday afternoon.

Eating her Popsicle the right way:


Eating her Popsicle the wrong way:
"All done Mommy!"


"Time to clean up!"
My little thinker:

Only one day left before Lily's birthday! I'm trying not to think about it. How can she be one already?!?

FYI

I just wanted to post a quick update on Lily's birthday party. It is going to be held September 27th. I know I told some of you that we were planning on August 24th, but we couldn't get the site at the park we wanted for that date. This is great though, because it gives me more time to plan! I just wanted to fill you all in in case you were wondering where your invite was. I'll hopefully be getting them in the mail this week!

In other Lily news, she got her 8th tooth in over the weekend! This kid has a mouth full of teeth!

Summer Nights at the Play Ground

The other night we took Lily to the play ground by our house again. For the first time ever she really enjoyed the slide! Up till now if we let her slide by herself, she would be very unsure of it...not enjoying it, but also not crying. The other night though, she was really having fun! She'd laugh and clap when she got to the bottom, and would want go back down again! She even enjoyed trying to climb the slide! That's my little dare devil!

"You can let go now Daddy!"

"WHEE that was fun! Can I go again?"

New Shoes

Last weekend Lily got fitted for her first pair of big girl shoes. My little baby is already a size 5! It took her a while to get use to walking in the new shoes. For a day she was stumbling everywhere in them. Now she is as much a pro in her shoes as she is bare foot.

Lily learned to give kisses this week! She is so cute when you lean in for a kiss, she will lean in too, let you kiss her, then pull back really fast and giggles! She is so funny! She's also become really cuddly and huggy lately. She loves giving out hugs all the time!

Sorry I don't have more pictures from this week. I didn't get much time to play with my camera. Here is just one more from Friday. She discovered she could suck her thumb. She's not a big thumb sucker, but on Friday she thought her thumb was the best thing in the world!

Impromptu Play Date

"I wish I liked anything as much as my kids like bubbles." - Paul Rudd
Last night we were at Becky and Jon's for dinner, and our night turned into a mini play date! Becky's friends J. and S., and their 17 month old daughter J., came over to join us for dinner, and then Becky's neighbors K. and A., and their 10 month old daughter E. stopped by on their way home from a walk. The kids all had a blast playing together! Jon set up the bubble machine that Kyan had gotten for his birthday. The kids were enthralled with it! (As were the adults! This little thing really pumps out the bubbles!)

Kyan playing in the bubbles:
Lily and Kyan fighting over the communal water bottle:
J. Playing in the bubbles:
J. was so funny, she was passing Kyan's binky around to all the babies. She would take it from one baby's mouth, and put it in another's! Thankfully no one was sick with all the binky and bottle sharing! Here's J. giving E. the binky:
Now J. tries out the Binky:
E. making sure she is the only one using her own binky:

Hooray for bubbles!
We all had a great time getting together! I think we're going to try all getting together again at a mall with a play area, to let the babies play. It's great to having them socializing so well!

Day at the Park

Over this weekend, Sean and I have been on the hunt for the prefect place to hold Lily's first birthday party. We've been looking for a nice park with pavilions in case it rains on the day of her party. We think we've found the place! The park we found has some beautiful gardens, great play grounds, and several pavilions. We've put in the call to rent one of the pavilions, but haven't heard back yet. Cross your fingers for us that the site we like has an open spot for her birthday weekend!

While there, I of course had to do a photo shoot with miss Lily! We found this beautiful bench that I just couldn't resist using as a back drop for the photo's.

The cap to the camera lens was all that was keeping Lily from crying when I took this picture!

Daddy and Lily:

She started making funny noises with her tongue again while we were there. She hasn't done that for a few months, but she rediscovered the sounds, and was going "blab blab blab" most of the time we were at the park. The picture at the top of this post is her doing the same.

After the photo shoot on the bench we moved over to the nearby lawn to play.

In other news, I have a new little cousin!!! Kelly Violet was born on August 1st, 8 lbs 7 oz, 20 inches. Mom Maureen and baby are doing great! I can't wait to go meet her!