Walkin' Man

We had a pretty chill morning... ran a few errands, read a bunch of books. Then this afternoon, there was some fun news. Remember Fitz, Lily's friend and our neighbor? Well, as I was talking to his mom on the phone this afternoon, Fitz decided to take six steps!! It was pretty cool for me to hear all the excitement, and of course Lily and Fitz needed to play in celebration. Congrats to Fitz and his fam on the big milestone!

She's Not an Elephant, Folks

I took Lily to her 9-month checkup today. I had gotten so used to going to the doctor and seeing the nurses' jaw-dropped faces when they read the scale.... so imagine my surprise when Miss Lily only gained a pound! She's just over 20 lbs and a whopping 29 inches long. Since she's moving around so much lately, she's starting to become quite the bean pole. Our doctor's reaction was "She had to taper off at some point... otherwise she'd be an elephant."

So it seems even though she is still eating a ton (she had a rather healthy portion of pot roast, potatoes and carrots all smashed together for dinner just now), there's no indication she's going to develop her own konobaa just yet...

Nine Quick Months

Jeremy and I cannot believe that our baby girl is nine months old today. It feels like she just hit the six-months mark; since then, the time has flown by. At this time in April, I had just gotten my epidural (thank you, Dr. Tate!!) and my parents had driven into town. I had no idea at the time how wonderful and joyous having a daughter could be. These days, Lily just seems to be growing more and more into herself... and her awareness of what she does and doesn't want seems to be growing as well! Naptimes continue to be a challenge, but since she sleeps so well at night I guess I can't complain. Overall, we are just trying to enjoy these next few months before we have a toddler to keep up with!

The Grandparents' Dance

Last time I posted Lily dancing... here's her in action with her grandparents. Just to clarify, my parents never seemed to like the Red Hot Chili Peppers much when I listened to them, but I guess it shows how far they will go to make Lily laugh.

The Lily Dance

Our music teacher commented the other day that Lily "really responds to music well." I just assumed she was mimicking my bad dancing abilities, but apparently in humans under one year of age this is a positive thing and not a detriment. Check out the little girl getting her groove on as she plays with her piano.

Peekaboo, I love you??

So today Lily and I had the first of a series of music classes we signed up for at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. The title of this particular series is "Peekaboo, I love you"... no, I'm not kidding. Kind of cheesy, you say? That's what I thought. What would I have said if someone told me a year ago I'd be staying home full-time and attending Peekaboo I love you classes? But, on the other hand, Lily loved it! And it was fun to meet the other moms and give Lily a chance to interact with the babies. I guess it's all part of the transition into motherhood... discovering that you strangely enjoy activities that a short time ago would have made you cringe, simply because they are with your baby.

Let it Snow

Yesterday we were relieved to finally get some winter weather! I know it's crazy to complain about the mild weather since it means we can be outdoors much more than we normally are in January, but still... it was great to have some cold weather and a little snow, especially during the NFC and AFC championships. Lily enjoyed a short visit outside to play in the snow. She seemed to enjoy it, even though she had limited mobility in her snow gear. (As Jeremy commented, it was like that scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie says his brother "laid there like a slug... it was his only defense")

A Baby Girl's Best Friend...

As you can tell from the list of Lily's favorite things, George (our dog) is at the top of the list. When Lily started crawling last month, she literally crawled right past Jeremy and I and over to George. At first, poor Georgie was a bit overwhelmed that she could keep up with him! But lately they've gotten into a nice rhythm and are playing together more and more. They were so sweet this morning that I had to shoot some video... enjoy and have a great weekend!

Attitude is everything

Well, the heading of this blog indicates that I'll be posting all the highs and lows that we see in Lily... and today we had a little of both! This afternoon Lily finished the cheerios in front of her and usually if she wants more, I go and get her a refill and it's no big deal. But au contraire! I am not exaggerating here... when she realized they were all gone, she arched her back in my arms, got totally red in the face and Screamed. Is it just me, or is this not supposed to happen until the Terrible Two's hit?? Regardless, it was somewhat amusing because I'd never seen her act like that and she completely knew what she wanted. Wonder where she gets that from :)

On the other side of things, we went to storytime at our neighborhood library this morning. Lily has really gotten into it in the last few weeks...she stares intently as the librarian reads aloud and loves to watch the older kids clap and sing. At home, one of her favorite things is to stand next to her bookshelf and pull all the books from the shelves. Whatever works to encourage her to be a reader!

Signs, signs...

....everywhere signs! Lily's baby sign language is picking up. Mainly it's confined to mealtimes, but she will sign for cheerios, when she wants 'more' of something, or when she's 'all done'. She also waves to George in an effort to get him to come over to where she is, but he hasn't acknowledged her efforts yet, much to her frustration. He will come over to her when she's eating though, because she's figured out that dropping cheerios on the floor will keep George at her side for a short while. This video is from before the holidays, but I thought I'd share for those who haven't seen it yet. How great is YouTube??

Nap Accomplished

Had we had time to post over the 3-day weekend, the theme would have been Naptime Impossible. Our darling baby girl decided daytime sleep is overrated and went three days (that's right --3!!!) without a decent nap. Maybe it's because she can stand in her crib and move around now, but she finally gave in this afternoon and slept for two whole hours. Check out the BedHead.. and the two new teeth! Needless to say, it's a relief to have our easygoing daughter back again.

So Big!

There are quite a few things that Lily has learned lately. One of the highlights has been that she has figured out that when I ask her "How big is Lily??" incessantly throughout the day, her role is to raise her arms as if to answer "So big!" She is so proud of her newfound ability to communicate. Sometimes when not much is going on, she'll flash her trademark grin and raise her arms... just to make sure I'm paying attention. (Just click on the 'Play' icon to watch the video.)

Happy Birthday(s)!!

Today is a big day for a few of the boys in Lily's life. It's her cousin Merrick's birthday, who lives in Kansas. Lily hopes you have a fun day, Merrick!

It's also her friend Fitz' first birthday. Fitz lives down the street from us, so it's great for Lily to have kids in the neighborhood to hang out with.

Seems like before we know we know it, we'll be celebrating another first birthday...

Welcome to Lily's blog!

Hard to believe Lily will be 9 months old soon... she is so much fun, and doing so many things now that I can't keep up with all the stories and milestones. Sometimes I even forget to tell Jeremy about the things that can occur during our day! Hopefully this will help me to keep track of all the priceless little moments that happen throughout our days together, and as an added bonus will keep our friends and family updated as well.

On that note, she did the sweetest thing tonight as I put her to bed. Usually she falls right asleep, sometimes she cries a little, but tonight... she lifted her head up and looked at me and I said "Good night, baby. Sweet dreams." She smiled and then laid her head down in her crib and went to sleep. Awww.