Hello all.
Lily is sleeping under the Christmas tree right now and I am finally getting around to putting up an update from my last doctor appointment on December 2nd. The baby looked great and was right on track. We did another ultrasound because last time, our dates and the size of the baby wasn't adding up. I wasn't originally scheduled for one, but since the meds I am on can cause a heart defect so we wanted to make sure the baby was growing right on target and sure enough, it was. The baby was measuring perfectly at a June 1st/2nd due date and the baby was moving all around being so sweet. The heart rate was 156 bpm (Lily was ALWAYS 160+). That is one of the things that makes me think this one is going to be a boy. The second inclination is that I have been craving red meat. With Lily, I wanted any and all meat far FAR away from me. This one has me craving a hamburger a day. My third inclination that this one is going to be a boy is that I keep referring to it as a "he". With Lily, I always said, "she". Who knows. We shall see soon enough.
Another really great thing is that we saw during the ultrasound is that the baby was taking "breaths". It is kinda early to see that, but either way the doctor says that is a sign of good brain development. Here are some pics from the scan...
Profile shot
Face shot
A little bitty foot. So sweet!
Another profile shot
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a blessed new year. We leave on Friday or Saturday to go back to LA, but we will only be there till the 26th or 27th. We are coming home early this year because I have another doctor appointment on the 30th and it will give us a week to get things done around the house before Brandon goes back to work.
BTW, I know I may get fussed at for saying too early, but Brandon has gotten a job offer at Chevron! We will know more after the first of the year, but we are very excited and very VERY proud of him. He works so hard and does some pretty cool stuff. :) Great job, love!
Hello everyone! Well, on December 1st, the big day was finally here. Lily turned 1 year old! What a crazy road it has been, but it has been an absolute joy watching her grow. I just can't believe she is already a year old. We celebrated her big day on Saturday, December 4th and had tons of family and friends around to celebrate the occasion. The theme for her party was Winter One-derland. I thought it would be fitting because last year, we begged to leave the hospital on December 3rd so we wouldn't get discharged in the snow on December 4th. We had crazy amounts of snow here that day. That being said, on December 4th last year, we also took a few ambulance rides through the snow to get to Texas Children's. Today, Dec 7th, we are officially 1 year without any seizures! Yeayy! :)
When the snow first started falling last year. It got to the point where the grown was completely coated for hours.
My little one on December 4th last year. Sleeping through the snow.
My little Lily one year later playing outside at her first Winter One-derful birthday party (in 72 degree weather, mind you). :)
Here are some things Lily is doing at 1 year old:
Going up stairs
Going down the slide in her treehouse without any assistance
Does "Twinkle Twinkle" motions when we sing "Twinkle twinkle, little star"
Knows her belly button, hair, nose and feet.
Some firsts we have had this past month:
First stomach virus with vomiting :(
First fever (the day before her birthday)
Turned around in her carseat (Nov 18th)
Walks all the way down the street to the mailbox with me
Trip to Maryland (2nd plane ride)
First Thanksgiving
Will bring us books for us to read to her and will let us know if she wants a different book.
Things she has said:
Night Night (more frequently)
Bye bye
Nana
Mom
Daddy (da-yee)
Cat
Hungry (huh-eee)--did it once in Maryland, but she did it!
She is also using her head shakes (yes and no) more frequently when you ask her a question
What a joy this past year has been. I love this little girl so much. She is such a funny, sweet, happy girl . She has learned to make these silly little faces where she will lift her eyebrows and look at you out of the corner of her eye and if you smile at her, she can't help but to smile back. Sometimes, she will just laugh to get you to laugh and we laugh back and forth over nothing all the time. Her smile is contagious and her laugh makes my heart melt. She always wants her mom around, but would pick her daddy to play with any day over mom. Mom is not nearly as much fun as daddy is. :) She's so great. I am so lucky to be her mother!
Happy First Birthday, Lily! We love you sooo much! :)
I just realized that I forgot to post about our fabulous trip to Maryland for Thanksgiving! Everything was wonderful. Candice was a great hostess as always and Maryland was just absolutely beautiful. Lily THOROUGHLY enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner to say the least. She is an amazing eater and will eat anything and everything you put in front of her, just like her daddy. She loved it!
As you all know, Lil was supposed to be here on Thanksgiving Day last year, but decided she was waiting till all the leftovers ran out, so this was her first Thanksgiving.
Also, Hallelujah, Dave was back in the states this year to fry up a turkey right! Last year, Dave was on deployment and we had a few issues with the turkey frying. Nothing big, Brandon just dropped the turkey a foot above the hot grease because he couldn't find one of the pieces to the turkey fryer and then Mrs. Jerry almost fell in the fryer...seriously, like fell a foot away from the fryer. Thankfully, Dave was back for it this year to take over and the peanut gallery stayed inside far FAR away from the fryer! :)
The day after Thanksgiving, we decided to take a ride up to Hershey, PA (3 hrs away) to go to the Christmas in CandyLand up there.
That probably will never happen again. First of all, omg, it was absolutely freezing. I think it was 30 degrees or something like that. Second of all, it wasn't NEARLY as amazing as it sounded on their website. Now granted, I would love to visit Hershey again to go to the museum and to go to the Chocolate World (factory tour), but the park was not worth it at all. The Santa was ok, but they have a better Santa set up at the Galleria. Santa and "his reindeer" are almost a mile away from each other and this did not make for a happy southern girl when you have to walk from one side of the park to the other with a freezing cold baby. No me gusta.
Anywho, Hershey wouldn't be THAT bad if you did it in the spring and had time to visit the other things around town, but forget the park. It was pretty bad.
It was a wonderful visit though. I LOVE IT when the kids are able to play together. Lily just lights up when she is around other kids her age and she absolutely adores her cousins. I love getting videos and pictures of them together. These are just moments you can't get back.
Here is a video I love from the week there. :)
Well, the cat's out of the bag. Our families finally know so I can now make it public. We are expecting another little bundle of joy in June! We went for our first sonogram on November 4th and everything looked great. The heartbeat was a super strong 180 bpm and it was moving all over the place. Well, it wasn't moving all over the place till it's sister started screaming to high heaven. Then, it was everywhere... I don't know if it was because it heard her or because my blood pressure must have sky rocketed when she started acting like a hot mess. Either way, it was cute.
Here is a picture of the scan.
I was kinda worried because based on my LMP, my due date would be June 1st and I would have been 10w 1d. The baby was only showing to be between 9w 3days and 9 w 5days. With Lily, she always measured a week over, but the doctor said that as long as the heartbeat was strong, he wasn't worried about it. I guess this is just the beginning of the process of not comparing pregnancies/children. Instead of a June 1st due date, we are now June 5th.
I may have not been complaining about it to the public, but the morning sickness has been just as bad with this one. The only difference is that I throw up almost every night and not in the morning. Odd, but I now take my prenatals at night so I'm not a mess all day. A 2nd pregnancy with a 11 month old is no joke. It's freaking hard. I completely forgot the EXHAUSTION level. Boy...not fun, but thankfully the first trimester is almost over and THANKFULLY, my sweet Lily is now putting herself to sleep at night so I can finally relax in the evenings.
We waited 3 months to tell our families this time. Brandon wanted to wait till CHRISTMAS so we could tell everyone face to face, but I told him that wasn't going to happen. We called my mom the night before we left for Maryland and she made the big announcement to the whole family on Thanksgiving Day. Then, when we arrived at the airport in Baltimore, Lily was wearing a shirt that said, "A little birdie told me a secret..." (on the front) and on the back it said, "I'm going to be a big sister!". We just figured we would wait to see how long it took Grammy to figure out to look on the back of the shirt!!! It took till we had just about collected all our bags at baggage claim. I think it would have taken longer if Candice hadn't figured it out first!
Anywho, we are very excited about our upcoming arrival. This will make an age difference of almost exactly 18 months between Lily and the new baby. It will be tough at first, but when is it ever "easy"? Take care everyone! :)
Hello all! Here we are at 11 months old. Only 4 weeks to go till her 1st birthday! I know I say it every month, but I can't believe we are here already!
This month, Lily has just about perfected walking and is starting to run. She is all over the place and trying to climb everything. She has also started going from a sitting to a squat and then standing. That's pretty good. It usually takes them a while to get that type of balance, but she is really focused on her motor these days.
She has started saying "bye bye" and "no no" in addition to "mama" and "dada". We also think she is saying "cat".
I've always addressed how we have had problems getting this child to sleep, but I am happy to say, that Lily is FINALLY putting herself to sleep in her own crib every night and every nap with minimal fussage. She was just finally to the place where she was ready to and wanted to put herself to sleep.
As of October 19th, Lily is 25 lbs 6 oz and is 31 3/4" long.
Based on ECI's measurements, she grew 1 1/4" in ONE MONTH!
Here are a few firsts Lily has experienced this month:
Eating her first sushi roll (Avacado roll)
Clapping! Praise GOD this girl finally started clapping!
First Halloween!
Shaking her head "yes"
She is trying to jump. She isn't jumping yet, but she is trying!
This upcoming month, we have lots going on! Right after Halloween, we are putting up our Christmas decorations because we are going to Maryland to visit Candice, Dave, Abby and Drew for Thanksgiving and then they are coming back to Texas to celebrate Lily's first birthday! :) The theme for her first birthday is "Winter One-derland" and we couldn't have a Winter One-derland celebration without our Christmas decorations up, so... :) Christmas decorations are going up early this year! Yeayy!
I can't believe we are here already! Last month, I showed a video where Lily was taking steps, but this month she was walking all over the place! She seriously went from taking a few steps to walking across the living room in a matter of days. She was a big hit at Kindermusik walking all over the place. Everyone was just as proud of her as I was!
As of September 17th, Lily was 24.14 lbs and 30.5" long...She is my big girl!
Here are some fun things Lily is doing this month.
The beginning of this month, she was talking up a storm until she started taking more steps and then of course, she started concentrating more on that.
She is being a helper with simple things. I will ask her to give me things, or pick something up for me and she does it!
She is wanting to help out in the kitchen. When I am in the kitchen, she wants in and just stands by the dishwasher and watches me do my thing.
(We keep her out of the kitchen with gates because the cat food is in there and in the laundry room is the litter box....I would DIE if she ever got into the litter box!)
She is really trying to learn how to fall back asleep on her own when she wakes in the middle of the night. She is going through a little bit of a phase where she seems scared when she wakes up...odd.
Foods...she is eating anything you give her! First fast food experience was 9/24 at Chick-Fil-A.
NO MORE BOTTLES! We finished our last box of bottle liners and they are gone! We have finally found another sippy that she likes besides the Pamper's sippy cups. I think they are "The Learning Curve" They have Tinkerbell on the front and a firmer spout than that of the Pampers cups. We have tried so many types. We have quite a collection going on!
Lily had her first babysitter on 9/27/10 while I brought the cats to get their vaccines and check-ups...It gets a little out of control and there was no way she could be there. She also stayed with my mom, her Nana, when Brandon took me to see Chelsea Handler for my birthday! It was the first time someone else had put her down for the night and she did great! :)
Here are some things she enjoys this month...
Sesame Street (particularly Elmo), Barney, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Loves going to the park and playing on Buzz Buzz.
The bathroom??? Don't know why, but she is obsessed with getting in there.
Kindermusik. Best investment I have ever made!! We started back Sept 23rd with a new chapter and she was so excited and squeeling in her little squeel while going around and playing. I love seeing that!
As for Brandon and I...we have had a lot going on around here. We went to LA for the weekend of labor day for Mr. Mike's birthday. It was really nice because he was able to have all his grandkids there. Also, he and Brandon were able to go fishing on his bass boat for hours on end and I know they both enjoyed the quality time spent together. Meanwhile, we enjoyed going out on Mrs. Jerry's boat with the kiddos and a few glasses of wine...bliss.
When we got back, my friend Katherine came and stayed with us for the weekend and we were able to go to one of our mutual high school friend's baby shower. It was so great to see Katherine and it was wonderful to connect with our other friends almost 12 years later! The next weekend, we took on the huge undertaking of painting the interior of our house on the weekends. Will take a few weekends, but it's the only time we have to do it. It's looking great!
Brandon is working like crazy. He got on a year long contract with Chevron through his work and he has been super busy. On the plus side, he has his own office up at the Chevron office with a door and everything!
With Lily and I our playgroup has been keeping us busy during random days during the week. We don't go to everything...we usually just go to the same places because there is a lot for her age to do, but Lily loves getting out of the house and I enjoy talking to other moms with kids Lil's age.
We finally booked our trip to visit Candice, Dave, Abby and Drew in Maryland for Thanksgiving. We are so excited to go and then we get to bring Candice, Abby and Drew home with us for Lily's FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY! There are many more EXCITING things coming up soon. Too much to talk about right now!
Anywho, my little girl is getting so big and learning so much. The amount of pride we get when she does just any little thing is overwhelming. I never want her to forget how proud we are of her everyday. Watching her grow is so rewarding, it is unbelievable. The fact that Brandon and I share it together makes my life complete...she makes OUR lives complete.
Here is the link to the rest of Lily's 10 month pictures on our Picasa site!
Well, here we are, 9 months old! Little Belle is doing tons of fun stuff these days! First of all, on August 17th (Aunt Can-Can's birthday), Lily took her first steps! It happened like this...I was finishing up changing her diaper when Brandon walked in the door home from work. I stood her up and she was smiling and giggling. Brandon walked up to her and held her arms out and she focused on him and took 2 steps towards him! It was so cute, it brought tears to my eyes! We have spent the past few days trying our damest to get it on video!
Here is a little video of her walking...The best we could get for now!
When ECI came on August 20th, Lily was 23 lbs 15 oz and 29 1/2" long.
She LOVES Buzz-Buzz the bee at our park!
Here are some fun things Lily has done this month:
She has started making tons of strange sounds and enjoys freaking us out with them.
She is concentrating super hard on walking.
She is going from standing to squatting and sits squatting a lot.
She is doing "the ostrich" (standing on her feet and putting her head to the ground). Goofy loves looking through her legs and tries to grab things. I see a tumbleset in her near future. :)
Now, instead of putting her hand down and waving hello and goodbye, she holds it up and waves. She does this to everyone when we are in the store!
Mimicking lots...She is making kissy noises, clicking her tongue and pointing a lot at everything. She is still calling me "Emmm" and will call for "MaMa" if she is upset.
"Ba-ba" and "Ga" are 2 new babbles she has discovered.
She has been getting on her knees and dancing...
She has found out that she can whisper with her babbles.
Whenever her toys start "singing" she blah blah blahs the whole time.
Her two top teeth started cutting the gums on the same day. (August 14)
Lily stayed in a hotel room for the first time when we went with Brandon for a work trip to Lafayette...We then went and spent a few nights at my mom's house.
Lily is starting to come around to my mom and family. You still have to tread lightly for a day or so when we go, but she is getting better.
She is still drinking from a sippy 4x a day and just gets a bottle at night...this will be the last month for a bottle.
Here are some things she enjoys this month:
Doing "the ostrich"
The Barney phase is coming to a close and Sesame Street is becoming a favorite. She also loves "Word World"...this week.
Me singing songs to her in the bathtub "head, shoulders, knees and toes" and "ABC Song".
She LOVES the Hannah Montana theme song!
Daddy...she loves her daddy so much!
Running for the gate when it is open to get to the cat food and the whole time she is doing it, she is smiling.
She is eating mostly table food now and only baby food when we are on the go. She LOVES spaghetti (or anything that involves noodles), broccoli, peas, turkey and of course, bananas.
She is wearing 18 month clothes. We have pretty much grown out of the 12 month clothes.
She is now allowing us to lay her in her bed while she is falling asleep. We are doing a (somewhat botched) Dr. Sears method where you get them drowsy and put them in their bed. You then put your hand on them, and slowly move it away. It has made the seperation anxiety at bedtime much better. She is doing really well with this and now since those top two teeth have completely come in, she is sleeping MUCH better!
We have joined a playgroup through meetups.com. I have heard of it before, but since I didn't know anyone, I was skeptical to try it out. Well, one of the moms in Kindermusik mentioned that she signed up with The Treehouse Tots of NE Houston through the site and we should all sign up so we could get the kids together outside of music class. I signed up and then another mom signed up as well. It's fun to get to talk to them outside of class. We all are new moms with all the kids aged within a few months of each other. Kindermusik starts again at the end of this month. We miss it. Lily LOVES music class and adores Sandy (the teacher)! With the playgroup, se have gone to Kids In Action (gymnastics), Jumpalooza (they have a great <2 jumpy thing) and the Humble Baptist Church Indoor playground (such an amazing kids building). The only sketchy one was Kids in Action. It was older and had a lot of home made gym equipment. Of course, that was the meet-up Lily seemed to like most! It's ok...she just has to be watched carefully in there, especially with all the older kids running around. Jumpalooza is 2 minutes from our house and it is 3 bucks all you can jump. Super great. The indoor playground was amazing though. It is at Humble Baptist and the church has 3 stories devoted to bible study for kids and has a 2 story indoor playground with a separate indoor playground for little ones. There are murals of bible stories all over the building. It's amazing the church has put so much time and money into their children's area. They have a MDO program which I may look into putting Lily in the next year or two...the place looks really bible oriented which would give her a good foundation. The playgroup has so many more things going on. Holiday parties, Astros games, festivals, craft fairs, pumpkin patch trips...so much stuff. Each member (76) has to host 3 meet-ups a year so there is a lot of variety. We are really excited we have joined.
For awhile, I couldn't see past 6 months. 6 months seemed so old and I just couldn't see it, but here we are...8 months.
Lily is doing fabulous. When ECI came on July 13th, Lily was 22 lbs 9 oz and 29" long and working on her 9-12 month milestones.
Here are some of the fun things she has done this month!
She refers to Brandon as "ya-ya" and she is saying "ma-ma" in reference to me.
Dancing- July 15th after her Kindermusik class
Walking along the couch and her toys
Letting go while standing and balancing
Babbling lots- Almost like she is trying to hold a conversation with you
Crawling super fast!
Lily is drinking out of a sippy cup 4x a day and only gets a bottle at bedtime...I honestly think she will be fine if I take away the bedtime bottle, but I just can't do it yet! That's totally a mommy issue!
She is mimicking while playing...We play farm with her stuffed animals and pretend to feed them the farm veggies. She picks them up and mimics what we do.
She has learned how to safely get down from standing. For awhile, she was plopping down, but now she has the muscle strength to slowly lower herself into a sitting position.
She is loving regular food...just loving it. Girlfriend is a veggie baby. It's all I give her for meals and for snacks I give her fruit, yogurt or a fruit cereal bar. Last month, I started giving her sliced turkey and she loves it too.
Here are some of the fun things she enjoys this month!
Barney...Barney brings lots of smiles in this house. She doesn't care for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as much anymore, but still watches it first thing in the morning.
She is on a roll with independent play. She will play by herself for a good while. It makes things so much easier now that she can get around and doesn't need me for entertainment purposes!
Musical Instruments....since we have been going to Kindermusik, she has started liking to make noise with her xylophone and beating on other things. I need to get her more instruments!
Taking the majority of her balls out of her ballpit. Thanks to cousin Drew for teaching her this!!!! :)
Baby Mum-Mums...Can you say obsessed? We can't even say cracker to her until after she eats her food. She would eat them all day if she could!
Lily is in 18 month clothes...The 12 month clothing we have fits, but is getting kind of tight.
Here are a few videos!
In this video, if you will see how independent she is becoming...she is like, "I can do this. Let me go and I'll do it by myself!"
In this video, you can hear her starting to say da-da!
If you want to see more pictures, you can visit our Picasa site at: Our Picasa Photo Site
We also have 82 videos up on youtube now! Here is our page there:
We've been kinda bored around here the past month. Lil and I are spending a lot of time in the house unfortunately watching Disney Sing A Long dvds because it is just so hot out! We have those great pools, but it is just too hot and sunny to bring out little red. To top it off, we've had severe ozone warnings the past week here and they recommend staying indoors...especially with the little ones.
Lily is doing so many fun things. It is so exciting watching her discover herself and her world. Everything is new and exciting and she always greets new things with a smile. I wish I still had that innocence, or at least the ability to look at new things with excitement instead of hesitation. She really is amazing and brings a whole new light to life.
So, I hate to say it but I think last month, I started to go through a little PPD. I felt like I was losing control. I consulted the doctor though and they adjusted my meds. I have to say, it has made a WORLD of difference. I feel really good now. I feel like I am able to really enjoy and embrace the sweet moments instead of getting frustrated because she won't go to sleep or because she won't stay still! I had to do something about it and I"m so glad I did. Everything is going by so fast, I don't want to look back and regret being frustrated while putting her to sleep instead of enjoying it.
Anywho, she is doing great and we are all doing good over here. Brandon is working tons, but that's ok. I can't wait to do Lily's 8 month update. She is doing so many fun things these days and we are ridiculously excited about them. It's kinda pathetic that we video everything on our phones, but the iphones are great to catch all these moments. We are so proud of her...I think our youtube account has like 80 videos...
This past week, Jennifer brought us an amazing gift! 75 bottles of pre-mixed Similac Sensitive that was donated to ECI by one of the families she works with! Unfortunately, this family is having lots of problems. The family had triplets and two of them died and the other one is very handicapped. The mom then got pregnant with twins and both of them are very sick. One has her organs reversed and the other has severe bowel problems. They are on WIC and are trying lots of different formulas. They bought the 75 bottles of the Similac Sensitive and then had to switch to one with a probiotic as the last attempt before the one with the bowel problems gets a feeding tube. We are the only ones of Jennifer's clients that are using Similac Sensitive so she brought them to us! We are so very grateful. Formula is expensive and Lily is now drinking about 23 oz/day, so the 75 bottles will probably get us all the way through her first year! We may not have to buy formula again for her! Yeayyy!
Things are really changing for us around here. As I said in one of my last posts, Lil is crawling now and is all over the house. We have been childproofing everything....to say the least. I'll update around the 1st with her 8 month update!
It seems like just yesterday I was having to post about this for the first time and today, we have officially gone to our last neurology appointment at Texas Children's Hospital. The last one scheduled. Today (Thursday) we are starting the process of weaning Lil off of her medication and do not need to see Dr. Proud unless Lil has another seizure. We will go down a dose a week, so by the end of the month, she should be completely off of it. Dr. Proud prescribed us a DiaStat gel in case she has another one that lasts more than 5 min or she starts having clusters of them again. I hope we don't have to use it, and as much as I am over the moon that we over this hurdle, our appointment today was was kinda of bittersweet. It was seriously like we hit a huge milestone. Like these seizures are truly a thing of the past. Don't get me wrong, it's not like we walk around all day just completely unable to get over what happened, but today I had an odd feeling when Dr. Proud sent us on our way. I just can't explain it. It was sadness, mixed with fear but mostly a resolution. I think...I still can't pinpoint it.
Lil has been doing great. Crawling everywhere and really playing on her own a lot. I think we will be expecting a few more teeth soon because they seem to be bothering her a lot this week.
This week, Candice, Dave, Abby and Drew are coming to visit! They are moving from San Diego to Maryland and Dave is driving through and gonna stop by. Candice and the kids will be in LA, so they are going to come by too on Tuesday! Lily is going to love playing with her cousins. I am so excited to see them all together! Hopefully the weather cooperates and we can bring the kids to the pool. I am dying to bring Abby and Drew there!. I really think they are going to love it! Then they leave and drive through to Covington and then on to Maryland where they will be living for a few years. Hopefully, we will be able to get up there soon and visit. We are throwing around a few ideas...
Hello all!
I decided to wait and update till just a day or two before her official "7 month birthday" because last month, she did SOOO much the last few days, I had to edit my post like 3 times. Good thing I did because she learned to crawl yesterday! I can't believe we're already at 7 months and I can't believe she is crawling! It seems like just yesterday, she didn't move at all! So crazy. She has been scooting for awhile, but now she is everywhere. It's like it was overnight. The day she started crawling (June 28, 2010), she also started pulling up on everything. All her tables, the couch...EVERYTHING!
7 months already, I just can't believe it!
Jennifer came last week and she said everything looked good with Lil. She is working on her 9-12 month milestones. She also said that it looks like Lily might be an early walker...which I kinda agree with, but who knows.
Here are her stats...
Lily is now:
21 lbs 14 oz
28" long
Her weight has really leveled out since we have started the solids and she is now moving so much.
Here is a video of her crawling!
Here is another video of her pulling up!
She is doing so much these days!
Here are a few of the things she has accomplished this month!
Shaking her head "no"
Waving "hello" and "bye bye"
Pulling to stand
Crawling
Going from laying down to sitting
Picking up hands whilst standing against things
When she crys for me, she crys, "Mmmmm"
Started reaching for people
Touching people's faces
First trip to the beach
First time on a super long car ride (12 hours)
Learned to turn off the lights when she sees a light switch
Things she LOVES!
The Hot Dog Dance...all things stop when that song comes on and it totally soothes her
Disney Sing A Longs
Lily loves the water!
The cats....she squeels and gets so excited when they come near her!
Blowing raspberries...she does it to be cute and thinks it is funny
Favorite Toys
Her hairbrush
Her hangers
Activity Tables
Paper
Lily was also christened this month on June 27th 2010. My brother, Tim and my sister, Ali were Lily's godfather and godmother. We had family come in for her big day and had a small shindig at our house afterwards. It was really nice. Ann also came to the christening and took photos of the event for us. They came out great! Here are a few!
On the first of July, we go for Lil's neurology appointment. We haven't had a seizure since she was born so hopefully they will take her off of the medication, but who knows. I'll keep everyone updated!
EDIT:
I forgot to update everyone how my lower back healed...The next day, after taking that ibuprofin 3 that night, the pain went away! I guess there was inflammation and the ibuprofen helped it go away which made everything feel better. It was the weirdest thing, but it's gone and I am happy!
I know I am writing this a little early, but I have a spare second right now, and I wanted to get this in before Father's Day. This will be Brandon's first offical Father's Day. This time last year, we just had a little pea in the pod and honestly, HAD NO CLUE what being parents would involve. It seems like eons since last June, but I can't believe it was only 1 year ago. We have grown up so much since then. Brandon is, by far, the best father and husband that Lily and I could have asked for. He is so loving to both of us and goes out of his way to make sure his girls are happy. Right now, we are going through a time where Lily won't take to anyone but mom when she is tired. This makes it really hard to keep my sanity, but it helps to know that Brandon is there and so willing to help. He really wants to help and wants so badly to rock Lily to sleep and have her stay asleep! We'll get there. I promise, babe. She's just going through a phase right now.
Come 5 or 6 in the evening, Lily and I are both ready for her daddy to be home. We go outside a lot when we know he is on his way home and blow bubbles in the driveway or just watch the kids in the neighborhood play. The second he drives up in my car, she lights up! He gets out of the car and she squeals and jumps because she is so excited to see him! She laughs and cuddles him the whole way into the house. She is such a daddy's little girl, and it's just a matter of time till I'm chopped liver and he is the center of her world. I don't blame her though. I love him tons too.
Brandon, we've been through a lot this year. We've seen things that have scared the living hell out of us and we've seen the birth of a little beauty into this world. Everyday she grows, I look at you and can't believe that we made this precious little life. I'm proud of her and frankly, I'm pretty proud of us too.
Happy Father's Day, Love.
Lily and I love you more than words can express and we'll always be here for you.
"You can call me Flower, if you want to..." :)
You learn a lot as a new mother.
Time and time again, I heard "my baby is sleeping through the night" blah blah blah. Well, there needs to be a clarification for the benefit of other new mothers. Your baby may go through the night without eating and sleeps all night, but is that to say your baby will ALWAYS sleep through the night? Nope. They may not eat all night long, but when they are learning new things or anything for that matter, they don't sleep through the night.
It seems as if it's not one thing, it's another. For awhile, we figured it was Lily's teeth bothering her so it didn't surprise me she wasn't sleeping well. Well, we were proved right when she cut her first tooth the other day. Granted, it's only been a few days, so her teeth are still bothering her, but now she is cutting teeth AND she is learning how to crawl. She's really been trying to crawl the past few days. You never think this would disturb their sleep, but it does. It's kind of amazing. It is seriously like this. She goes to sleep and then rolls on her tummy. During REM sleep, she must briefly wake and realize she is on her tummy and her first instinct is to try out what she is learning how to do....crawl. She gets up into position, eyes still closed and starts rocking, but crying because she doesn't know how she got there. I pick her up for a second and she is fast asleep...for awhile till her next REM cycle. So weird, but it really makes you think about how much these little babies are going through and all the cool things their brains are doing. It's becoming instinct to them and it's like they can't keep up with all the cool things their little bodies are doing. It seemed like just yesterday we were super excited she was grabbing for things and now she's almost crawling. It all goes by so fast. She is learning how to do so much...and it's just been 6 months.
I have a funny story about Drew that I just have to tell. Lily is proving to be a lot like him in many areas. In November, Candice and Drew came to stay with us to help us out right before Lily was to be born. Well, Drew was super close to crawling. Really giving it his all to crawl, but it just wasn't happening. Well, one day all 4 of us (Bran, Candice, me and Drew) went to see "New Moon". In the movie, they have wolves who are running around and yadda yadda yadda, well when we got home that evening, Candice put Drew on the ground and the second he touched the ground, he started to crawl. We say that he saw the wolves do it and figured out how to do it! Seriously though, it was like he was thinking all day about how he was going to do it when he got home and he just did it. Days later, he was trying to pull up on EVERYTHING! It's amazing how just all of a sudden they get it and are on to the next thing.
I just wish I could slow her down a little. Just a little. It's going by so fast. She is already half a year old and it is breaking my heart. There are some moments I just want to stop time and just listen to her "talk" to me or times I just never want her to stop laughing. It seriously is the sweetest sound in the world and I can never get enough of it. Anywho, I need to stop writing, or I am going to cry. Goodnight all! :)
Today was a day. A stupid day as I am going to refer to it.
The morning started as this...I was taking the bumpers out and changing the sheets in Lily's bed this morning and apparently I did something to my tailbone area. The set up of the convertible cribs make it damn near impossible to change the sheets. Usually, Brandon would do it, but he was at a dentist appointment. Anyways, I don't know what I did, but IT HURTS and I can't sit down and stand up. When I am up, I am a little unsteady on my feet, but I am fine. It's getting up and down that is the problem.
This started going on and Brandon came back from his dentist appointment. The dentist thinks he has an infection in his gums so he has to go see a specialist. Great.. Not good, but we'll deal and get it taken care of as soon as possible.
Soon thereafter, we trekked out to the big Babies R Us to get a breathable bumper before Brandon's ENT appointment. Leaving Babies R Us, Lily starts to get irate. We just fed her in the buggy, so I don't know what's going on. She screamed just about all the way to Kingwood Hospital where Brandon's appointment was. We get there and she is STILL a mess. I can barely move, she is fussy and wiggly and you need to be quiet in these offices because they do hearing tests in there. I go outside the office and sit on a bench while she fusses. She calms down and I decide to go back inside. I can't get up. Lily is 20 lbs and I just couldn't do it. I was trying to send ESP messages to Brandon to get him to turn around and look out the window at me, but it didn't work. After a lot of scooting around, I finally get up, but the ordeal was so cumbersome, it made Lily fussy again.
I go back inside and we get called back. The doctor was amazing, but they move you around to 3 rooms! Lots of up and down. By this point, I am considering walking over to the ER to get them to figure this out, but I know all they would do would give me pain meds and send me on my way to make an appointment with a doctor. No thanks.
During the hearing test, I am sitting in a smaller waiting room with Lily. She is wiggling and fussy and I honestly just want to toss her out the window. I normally wouldn't care too much but I was in serious pain and she was supposed to be quiet because they were doing the hearing test in the next room! She drops a toy and I can't pick it up. A woman who is easily in her 80's hobbles by and kicks it across the room. Then goes over and picks it up. I feel like a jerk, but I did tell her just to leave it.
We move into ANOTHER room and the doctor comes in. Brandon's hearing test went ok, but not great. In one ear, his hearing is less. Still in the normal range, but at the line. The doctor says that he has a narrow something or another which makes it difficult for his ears to equalize. He gave him a prescription for Allegra-D (?) and wants to see him in 6 months to redo a hearing test so he has more information to compare the first test to. The Allegra-D tells me that his hearing is probably less when his allergies are acting up or about to.
We finally get home after a super long morning and Lil is still crazy ridiculous and I am trying to rest my...ass. Brandon is trying to answer emails and phone calls. Our evening finally starts to settle a little and it is time to give Lily a bath. Brandon goes and gets her tub ready and I am letting her gnaw on my finger and I feel something sharp. Not super sharp and after a little more prodding, I find the source. She has cut her first tooth! No wonder she was a pill today! Now it's little and it still has a good bit more moving till it is very visible, but it's there and its through the skin! She was feeding off of how excited we were and was very pleased with herself.
After a serious adjustment to our nighttime protocol, Lily is sleeping and so is Brandon. I took myself an ibuprofen 3, a pain pill from the c-section and I have been sitting on a heating pad all evening. It is feeling a little better thank God! If it's still acting up in the morning, I am going to try just taking the ibuprofen 3 and try to find a doctor.
What a mess of a day. I hope tomorrow is better, but who knows.
My little one is in bed so I figured I would update with Lily's almost 6 month update.
ECI came today again. They will continue to see her through her first year of life since she had the seizures at birth. Most of the babies in the NICU at TCH are a eligible for services. Since Lily had the seizures, she automatically qualified. Anti-convulsant medications are known to cause stomach problems and since we had so many tummy issues when ECI first started working with us, they decided to assign us a dietician who will work with us and only reference back to PT, OT, etc... Thankfully, Lily has not needed any of those. Hopefully, we will never need those.
That being said, here are our stats from today's visit...
She weighs 20 lbs 10 oz (up 1 lb) and she is 27 1/2" long (up 1/2") .
Here are her growth charts: (courtesy of Child Growth ipod app)
Ms. Jennifer went through the checklist for her milestones, she said Lily has mastered the 3-6 month milestones and on to the 6-9 month milestones. Yeayyy! Brandon and I are very proud of her. She definitly wants to move!
Here are some of the things she has learned to do in her 5th month:
She has become ticklish
Laughs deleriously when tired
Scooting (slowly commando crawling)
Rolling across the floor and everywhere
Raking objects with both hands
2 new birthmarks have appeared (one on her elbow and one on her jawline)
We have had to move the crib mattress down to it's lowest setting because she started pulling on her bumper. Honestly, we would have only moved it down one setting BUT apparently you have to take the whole bed apart to lower it, so we just figured to put it down on the lowest setting)
She has started sleeping on her belly
Has offically put her nuk all the way in her mouth so she only gets it at bedtime
She is pulling up on people
Still teething
We started her nighttime routine with an 8-8:30 bedtime
She is eating oatmeal in the morning and a vegetable in the evening.
EDIT:
She cut her first tooth on 5/26!
Getting up in position to crawl and rocking 5/30
Lightly saying "da-da". Does it very randomly, but she is starting to use more letter sounds.
Here are a few fun firsts my little one has done this month:
First trip to the zoo
First time swimming
First time down a slide (with daddy)
First time drinking from a sippy
First time eating real food (banana)
First time in a wagon
First time playing with a puppy (Fannie)
First time in a highchair at a restaurant (Olive Garden)
Either this month or last month she has started sitting in the shopping cart
EDIT:
First bloody nose! Was pulling herself up on one of her toys and it flipped over on top of her! :( 5/24
First time to the Children's Museum
It's amazing how fast she is growing. It is the strangest mixture of heartbreak, pride and excitement. Before you know it, I'll be doing her almost 7 month update!
This past weekend we were in LA for my brother Tim's graduation from SLU. We had a great time. Brandon and I were really worried about Lily's "stranger danger" that has been very prominent lately, but after the first initial day, she started warming up to everyone. Mom hung a swing up from the tree in the back yard and Lily loved it. She really enjoys being outside, so her and my mom definitly have that in common!
I love Mandeville, don't get me wrong. I love that everything takes 15 min to get there and I love that above all else, it is "home"....where I grew up. However, I was really aggravated to find that virtually NOTHING is open here on a Sunday. You can go in a chain store but really nothing else. So annoying. Ugh... Anywho, that being said, I am loving getting to spend time with my family. Saturday after Tim's graduation, we all came back to my moms house and were able to visit. I had a lot of fun playing with my nephew Jack. He is at such a fun age and he really wanted to play with me! I only see him a few times a year, but it was so nice to see that he remembered me and wanted my attention. He is so cute. A little Howdy Doody.
I am enjoying the change of pace around here. Sometimes, at home, things just get so monotonous. Here, there are people to talk to and other people to entertain Lily. So nice. Just sometimes at home, I run out of tricks to entertain Lily. I hate to put on the tv, but stuff has to get done and she'll sit and play longer if the tv is on. I am so glad that Lily warmed up to mom, Ali and everyone. Brandon and I were able to go on a date whilst here so that was really nice. In a few weeks, we come back to LA, meet up with mom and then go on our annual beach trip in Fort Walton. We are very excited to bring Lily. I don't think we will be going in the water with the oil spill and all,but it will be nice to get out there and visit with family.
Congrats, Tim!!!!
Lily has been kind of freaking me out lately. She insists on sleeping on her belly with her face in the matteress. I know it is normal and she is fine, but it still made me nervous at first! I just keep thinking that this was the way they USED to tell parents to let their babies sleep! We are thinking we are going to have to take her crib bumper out of her crib because she is scooting in her bed until she gets to the edge. Here is a pic of how she has been sleeping...
She has been scooting all over the place, but more about that when I update after June 1st for her 6 month update! I can't believe she is already almost 6 months!
So, on March 27th, I had enough. Lily has been a little night owl and not going to bed until about 11 pm. Normally, I wouldn't care. I would get to sleep in till 11:30 pm, but it is not a good routine for her to get into so we had to put an end to it. On the 28th, we started a very strict bedtime routine...White boards work well for Brandon and I, so that's where we started.
I am pretty proud of my daughter because she took to this like glue. She has been going down by 9 pm since we put this into play on the 28th. Now, she has been going down, but she still fusses for awhile(tonight was 10:20). Each night has been getting better. Brandon was saying tonight, that this time last week, she was just going down to sleep at this time and tonight she is fast asleep. It just takes a little getting used to and EVERY child does well on a routine so I am not worried.
Our problem started as this...we put her to sleep when she was tired. We never got out of the "newborn" routine which is to put them to sleep when they are tired. So, as ridiculous as it may sound, her last nap was at 8pm...I know. I have heard it from multiple people how silly that sounds! We are slowly cutting that nap out. I finally feel like she is at the age where she can roll with what we throw at her...I am also DONE with her 11pm bedtime!
Watching HP6. I miss the books everytime I watch the movies. I am going to pick them up again. I think it will do wonders for lifting my spirits! :)
Well, I have a few minutes and a hubby who is busy entertaining the little one so I figured I would put up Lily's 5 month update a little early.
So on May 1st, our little Lily will be turning 5 months old. This past month has been full of milestones!
As of April 16th, she is 19 lbs 11 oz and 27" long.
She is wearing at least 12 month clothes and a few 18 month clothes.
Lil is rolling from her belly to back non stop and is doing about a 3/4 roll from her back to her belly. She just can't get all the way over, but she is getting there!
She is also sitting up on her own! She started doing that early in April and is pretty good at it. Of course, she falls occasionally and we try to keep a pillow behind her head.
This past week, on April 20th, she started veggies (carrots) and yesterday she started oatmeal in the mornings.
Right now, she is working on her pushing herself up on her hands when she is on her belly. She is pulling those legs up underneath her when she is on her belly and scooting, but not crawling. She's doing the little windmill action in her bed. I put her in her bed one direction and when I get her in the morning, she is all turned around.
This past month she has definitely started teething. We can't keep the hands out of her mouth and she is sooooo drooly! She is also grabbing for everything. You put anything in front of her and she wants to hold it and explore it...with her mouth.
Lily has also started laughing daily! We love it! She has started talking and squealing pretty consistently.
She also has a very favorite character. She loves Mickey Mouse. In the mornings when I am making her breakfast, I put her on the floor and turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She sees Mickey and gets a HUGE grin on her face. I started putting her Mickey toys around her and she gathers them all up on her lap. It's so cute..
Here is a pic
She also loves the cats and gets super excited when they come around!
ECI is still coming to see Lily once a month. I am so so so so grateful to have Jennifer. She is really like a teacher for me! She shows Brandon and I lots of things to do with Lily to help her move along. Since she sees Lily once a month, Lily has gotten to know her and LOVES her! She is one of the only people Lily isn't doing the whole "stranger danger" nonsense with....
Speaking of which, we are starting Lily in a Kindermusik class. Her first class is on May 4th and then we will start the summer session in mid June. Since she doesn't see anyone but Brandon and I, she has started crying everytime she sees someone and doesn't see us. Like when she is in the store in a stroller. This has just started happening, but I know putting her in a consistent class with other kids and adults will help. I am also looking into a few playgroup type things in our subdivision.
Hi all!
Just wanted to give a quick update and let everyone know what we've been up to this month. We have been super busy around here! Last weekend, we had our first ever garage sale. Our neighborhood puts one on twice a year, so we decided to give it a try. We made about $200, so we consider it a success! That weekend, we also met up with our friend, Ann Millazzo who is a photographer and went and had Lily's picture taken in the bluebonnets. For those of ya'll who don't know, it pretty much is a MUST for all baby Texans. Of course, the bluebonnet is the Texas state flower and around here, they take their bluebonnets pretty seriously. Anywho, the pictures came out absolutely beautiful. Ann ALWAYS does great work and she takes so many pictures, she never misses that quick smile. I was ticked with Lily's last Sear's session and I don't think we will be going back.
Here are a few of Lily's bluebonnet pictures:
The past few weeks, we have also been working on turning the office into an office/playroom. We put up shelves and we have a few more things to do in there, but so far it looks pretty good. This weekend, we painted an accent wall in our foyer and also painted the art nook. It looks great! Today we went to The King's Orchard to pick strawberries and flowers. The King's Orchard is located next to the Texas Renaissance Festival Location and is run by the same people. They grow strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, flowers, figs, and tomatoes. The place is HUGE! Strawberries and flowers were the only things that are in bloom right now, so we picked those.
Here are a few of those pictures:
Like I said, we have been keeping ourselves busy!
On Monday, my sister, Ali is having her gallbladder removed so say a prayer that her surgery goes well and that she heals nice and quickly. Next month, we will be travelling to LA for Tim's graduation. We are very excited for him and can't wait to see him cross the stage! Till next time! :)
