10 Months

Well, our baby turned 10 months old yesterday! Where did the time go? How has it possibly been 10 months???? I can't believe how fast time is going by! I feel like she was only 9 months for a few days!? Well, Lilly, what are you up to at 10 months? Let's start with a little bit of mischief...... Yesterday, Lilly and I went to good old Wal-Mart for some grocery shopping. Any time we go alone, she sits in the front of the cart because it is no fun trying to push a stroller and a shopping cart around at the same time. So, to keep her entertained, and to settle her nosiness, I put certain items up front with her and she holds them while we shop. She has a good time. Yesterday one of the items I gave to Lilly was a good size bag of chopped walnuts....she likes to shake the bags. So she is playing with it and I am looking for a shopping cart cover for her when I start to feel several little things hitting my feet. "What in the world??", I think. I look up and she has managed to rip the bag in two and chopped walnuts are EVERYWHERE. In the above picture, all of the little dots on the ground are chopped walnuts courtesy of Miss Priss. Clean up on the baby isle. I was a little embarrassed as I tracked somebody down to let them know about our mess. Sorry again Wal-Mart! What else have little Lilly been doing?

Well, her shirt says "little firecracker" and it pretty much rings true. (Side note: Lilly wore this outfit yesterday and at least three people told me what an adorable little boy I had....we will never wear blue without a bow again!) Anywho, she is into everything these days. I am amazed at what she can get into! Her favorite two things these past couple of days have been the door on Tank's kennel and the fly swatter. I had to wash and lysol the fly swatter because she is obsessed with it.

Lilly, you are crawling like a maniac! You are also pulling up, or trying to pull up, on everything! I am pretty sure this is going to send your daddy into cardiac arrest because he is so nervous you are going to fall and hurt yourself. You did bump your head on Aunt CiCi's coffee table tonight as you were going from standing to sitting. Since I was only a couple of feet away from you, Daddy looked at Mommy like I pushed you down myself. How could I let that happen? I am sorry to both of you, but I have a feeling it will not be your only little bump or fall.

You and I also pretty much go in circles all day long. I clean up one area while you "play" (create a giant mess) in another....and then we switch spots. You are hilarious because as soon as you notice something has been put up, off you crawl to get it all back out again. In fact, we play with these toy animals in a barn daily...making animal noises, saying which animal is which, etc...and I put the animals in the barn while you grin really big and take it right back out. You really enjoy this and will do it for as long as Mommy is willing to play. Oh, you made your first animal noise. Tank was barking at something and you went, "woof". Then, you did the same thing when Chipper was barking. Mommy, on the other hand has made a fool of herself barking and you refuse to "woof" for me.

Today, you pulled up on Aunt CiCi's coffee table and then while holding on took steps around it. These were your first steps without holding Mommy and Daddy's hands. I feel like everyday you are doing something new that is huge! You will feed yourself puffs. I can only put one out at a time, though, because you pick up all that are laid out. You can only feed yourself one at a time...the rest just get stuck in your palm.

You are giving us a pretty rough time with the whole sleep thing. I think after being sick for three weeks, you kind of got in the habit of us coming in there all the time in the middle of the night and rocking and soothing you. We are working on getting things back to normal.

You are also eating more "real" food. You are a little stinker when it comes to baby food because you want "real" food instead. You ate a whole helping of mashed potatoes yesterday and a good chunk of GG Odie's fried potatoes tonight. I made you some Mac n' Cheese and mashed it up the other day, but you weren't crazy about it and one bite took forever for you to eat...we aren't quite ready for that yet!

You say "Mama" and "Dada" all the time and know which one of us you are talking to. If you need something (or want something), you whine "Mamamama". It is really sweet...you definitely know how to work us. You are also becoming a tad spoiled and strong-willed. You have a mind of your own and let us know when we are not pleasing you! All in all though, you are the sweetest (maybe a little partial) baby girl I have ever known. You are very loving and happy and we are just so blessed to be your parents. Oh, and you think you are bigger than you are! You keep trying to take off and walk...you kind of forget you don't know how yet! When you first started pulling up and would fall...you would get your feelings hurt like somebody was pushing you down. Now, you just giggle and start over. Like always, I am sure I am leaving something out, but I will add it when I think of it! We love you so much sweet baby girl!!!

Around Here....

Well, first off, Lilly is 10 months old today! I will be doing her 10 month post tomorrow since we haven't blogged in so long! We loaded up last Thursday and went to Benton...on may I say not much sleep...for the first time EVER Lilly woke up in the middle of the night Wednesday wanting to play! We turned all of the lights off so she would know it was bed time and she got like an inch away from our faces and was going "oh, ooohhh, oh"...it was pretty cute, but we did not play! DeDe and Lilly. Oh yeah, Lilly is feeling and sleeping better now! (Knocking on wood here, you go ahead and do it too!) We had a good time in Benton. We ate some grilled food, hung out at the pool, and Lilly sported several patriotic outfits.

DeDe trying not to get hit in the face by the wild jumper! We decided not to do fireworks this year...we were afraid it would scare her, it was past her bedtime, and Matt is just not into the fireworks. She did watch some on tv though!

Sunday we went to church. This is Lilly with Aunt Kay. Notice she is still on her tippy toes.

Thomas and Lilly at lunch after church at DeDe and Grandpa's.

Love this face. Love this girl!!!

" Watcha doin' Grandma Betty?"

Jennifer had little Colt. I forgot to ask if it was okay if I blogged about it or put pictures of him on here...so I am just posting this one and saying that he is too stinking adorable---and compared to Lilly...he is sooo tiny!

Uncle Bert and Lilly. Lilly loves Uncle Bert! She never hesitates to go to him and if he is laying on the floor, she believes that he is her own personal jungle gym and climbs (or tries to climb) all over him!

Eli and Lilly both open-mouthed. I decided Lilly needed a new picture with her cousin Eli since the last one I have of them together is him holding her as a new newborn! We came back home Sunday evening.

This is what I like to call, "Lilly's path of destruction". I clean it up a couple of times a day but that is pretty much only so she can mess it all back up again!

"Who, me???"

Yesterday, Lilly and I were on our way home from lunch with Daddy. As we turned on our street....Thank God that is where it happened", I felt like I hit the curb or something. We got home (like feet away) and the tire was completely flat with a hole in it! So, when Matt got home, we walked down to see what I had done to this poor tire. This hook-looking thing is what we found. I guess ran over it and never saw it! Thanks to Matt and roadside assistance (finally got some return on this investment), we are all up and running again. Well, Lilly has pulled up on the couch and is trying to help me type so I better go for now!

Lilly's Legs Gone Wild Videos

Well, Lilly has become quite the little speedster lately. This morning Lilly was playing in the living room. I literally left the room to put her pjs in the hamper in her room (remind you that we do not live in a large place) and came right back and she was nowhere to be found in the living room! She had made her way to the next room and was trying to free Tank from his kennel. Haha. They look like they just got caught, don't they? She also figured out that she can go all over the house...following you wherever you might go. All of the reasons we "child-proofed" the house are now in progress! Now for the videos I promised....these are actually different ones than I was talking about, but I had so many and didn't want to overwhelm you with videos so I will post the rest later. The following are too cute though! They are actually backwards in order...but whatever.

Blowing some raspberries! (VIDEO above)

Crazy legs!! (VIDEO above)

(VIDEO above) We took Lilly to the pool last night and she became a wild crazy splashing machine. She did this for at least 30 minutes....probably a lot longer. I don't know how she didn't just pass out from exhaustion. Matt and I both had sore arms just from holding her! Haha. Have a good 4th of July in case we don't post again until then!

Feeling Bettter

Lilly slept better last night. She woke up every four hours like clockwork for numbing drops and Tylenol, but was able to go back to sleep so we are feeling more and more rested. She also has taken both naps in her crib today....she put up a pretty good fight before the last one, but she does that every now and then anyway. She also has played today without watching my every move or insisting I be right there next to her--both of the above are things that haven't happened in a good two weeks. Yay! Now just because Lilly wasn't feeling well didn't mean she didn't start doing some new tricks!! She now pulls up and stands in her crib. She tries on lots of other things in the house, but we really don't have good "pulling up" furniture. She does, however, hang out on her knees like in the above and below photos. It is so cute!!!

Also, there have always been low open shelves around the house that I use for Lilly's things that way I don't have to always say "no" when she is getting into the low shelves. Until about a week ago, she completely ignored whatever was on the shelves, but recently she discovered that she could get into it...so at least 10 times per day I have had to put stuff back into the shelves. Another thing she does now is if she sees me putting something of hers away--she goes right over to it and gets it back out as if to say, "I had that where I wanted it, Mom!!"

She also enjoys getting into the diaper box (we have a box that has diapers, wipees, lotion, etc.) and the diaper bag. Our house looks like there has been a toy and diaper tornado regardless of how many times I pick it all up every day. I feel like I am fighting a losing battle there, but I am glad that she gets so much use out of her stuff! Oh yeah, she is also "normal" crawling. She just switched from the soldier scooting crawl to regular crawling one day.

We met daddy for lunch today and I forgot to pack Miss Lilly a bib so I put this napkin on her thinking "yeah-that is going to last?!", but she left it alone. I was shocked and pleased!

This is Lilly while we were going through the automatic car wash today.

"What is going on Mom??" After the first few seconds, she decided it was okay to be in the car wash and just hung out and watched everything-the soap suds, the scrubbing strings, the water rinse. I took a couple of videos of her today that I will post tomorrow. So glad to be posting a positive post!!!!

Monday

Lilly woke up at 1 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep or be put down. So at 2:30, I was on the phone with the after-hours call line for our pediatricians office asking the nurse why my baby wasn't better yet----it has been 2 weeks! She said to give it tonight and if Lilly's wasn't sleeping better to take her back to the doctor......for the fourth time in two weeks??? The sleep trouble is because with the ear infection it can be painful to lay flat-I guess even with the antibiotics and numbing drops. There is good news though!...... For the first time in a week, Lilly took a nap in her crib today!!! She slept for about an hour and a half. Hey, I will take it! Although she normally wakes up smiley and chatty in her crib, she woke up crying today so when I went in with the camera to get a picture of her standing up--I did not get smiles. Isn't that the most sad-sad face you have ever seen?????

She was trying whether to decide whether to keep crying or smiling in this picture because I was singing "Old McDonald". Pitiful sweet baby. She went down easily for bed so we are hopeful that tonight will be a good night!! Hopefully I can post an "all better" post soon!!!!!!

Tough Week

Well, although last weekend Lilly showed signs of feeling better, on Monday she ran a fever and was super clingy....again, you could tell she did NOT feel well. However, since she had just been to the doctor Friday and they tested everything including her ears we figured it was just the virus running it's course. So, Tuesday the fever was gone and she was happier, BUT then decided she was not going to sleep. Wednesday she was still on the not sleeping and added not wanting to be put down AT ALL. So, we made an emergency SOS call to DeDe. I figured out at some point that she would sleep in the car for short periods of time. Therefore, Wednesday and Thursday we spent a good amount of the day driving around. If she got her naps she seemed to feel better....so I was thinking maybe she had just gotten a little spoiled from being sick and held and cuddled. Thursday evening, DeDe arrived (praise the Lord). Thursday, Lilly woke up at 3:00 am....and couldn't go back asleep and lay down. Friday we went back to the doctor....drumroll please......EAR INFECTION! That was our 3rd trip to the doctor in a week and a half. Now, I know I shouldn't have been relieved to hear that my daughter has an ear infection, but I kind of was because she just had not been acting like herself ever since she caught the virus so I was glad to know that we hadn't officially just spoiled her rotten.

Daddy, Lilly, and DeDe. It was such a huge help to have DeDe here. These past two weeks have just been exhausting! We are so blessed, though, not only to have such a happy healthy baby most of the time, but also to have so much family that is willing to help us out! My mom babysat for us the Friday before and my Grandma Odie called Monday and offered to babysit for a couple of hours for a little relief and then watched her again for the boy's doctor appointment. (He looks good and healthy by the way....we are closer to a name!!)

Daddy, Lilly, and Mommy--Our little family!!

Okay, so Lilly has worn out her first outfit!! (Notice the toes poking out the hole in the footy pj's.) I could not stop laughing when I looked down and saw a little toe and before long there were 3 toes! Really, the outfit was a little small when I put it on her but I have a hard time putting things in the "too small" category when it comes to her....but she is wearing all of the toe parts of her clothes and socks because she is always on her tippy toes! Oh yeah, Lilly can now pull up. We walk in to get her out of her crib and we either find her sitting with her legs hanging out of the crib rails or standing and looking for us. I will eventually get a picture of this! Lilly seems to be feeling better and hopefully we are on the way to healthy!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day Daddy---from Lilly!! Thanks for being such a great daddy for me! I love you so much and can't wait to tell you in words you understand! This is Lilly and Daddy after she gave him the presents she got for him! As you can see in the above photo, she picked out a taggie ball for them to play with together and made him a frame with pictures, handprints, footprints, and a sign that says, "I love you Daddy!"

Now, I know some of you are skeptical about her writing, "I love you Daddy!" but she did with Mommy's help. The letters were really big in order to be able to read them clearly. These are a few of Lilly's 8 month pictures. You can view them all at 8monthphotos ----this is my FAVORITE batch so far!! Anywho, back to Daddy. Lilly, you should know that you are a very lucky little girl to have such a wonderful father! Here are some things that make him so great:

• To say he loves you would be the understatement of the century!!! Your daddy thinks you are perfect and that you do NO wrong. If you have been a stinker, he will tell me, "Now mommy, that isn't true--she's just little".


• He will not let you cry or fuss even for a second (even when you need to do a little fussing because you are being the above mentioned stinker). If you make the slightest little noise, he will go run and get you and do whatever it takes to make your cute little face smile.


• You have recently been sick and let me tell you if he could have taken it away and been sick for you--he would have a million times over. It just broke his (and mommy's) heart to see you not feel well.


• Before you, your daddy was laid-back about everything...NOTHING worried him. "It will all work out", he would say. Now, and this is the part of parenting I think shocked us both, is that he (we, but more so he) worries about every little thing. When you go on your first date at age 25, you can thank mommy for being able to eat solid foods and walk because if it were up to daddy-you would stay on pureed baby food so we would never have to worry about you choking! And walking---oh my goodness---you might fall down and scrape something, which I am sure you will, but Daddy just doesn't ever want to see you hurt in any way. (That isn't a joke--totally serious.)


• He is always thinking about you. He noticed the straps on your carseat were leaving marks on your shoulder and so at Wal-Mart he got strap covers for you. We still sterilize everything and boil your water for your bottles. He rushes home to see you at lunch and if he is busy and can't come home, he has us come see him. If he is home and you are napping he just paces back and forth until you make the smallest peep so he can run in there and hold you! The last time we were going to see DeDe, he tried to hook up the DVD player to hang on the back of your headrest but the cord wouldn't reach so he suggested that mommy could sit in back and hold it for you to see so that you could be entertained on the way there---I declined, but he is always thinking about and willing to do anything to make you more comfortable.


• Since Mommy became pregnant with little brother, Daddy gets up with you most of the nights you get up. In fact, some times Mommy tries to so Daddy can get some extra rest but you make it quite clear that you want Daddy. He lights up when you say, "dadadada".


• Lilly, although some of these stories are funny and the extremes, your Daddy loves you so much and will always be there for you no matter what! He will deserve every, "World's Best Dad" thing you and your brother ever decide to give him! (There are so many more reasons, but I think we will spread them over the years so Daddy doesn't get an ego...haha...just kidding about the ego.)

Matt, thank you for being such a wonderful father to our baby girl! You sacrifice and do so much to provide for our family and allow me to stay home and take care of our baby and we are so blessed to have you in our lives! You are also such an involved husband and father and I couldn't ask for anything more---We love you soooo much!!!!