When Lilly grows up.....

she wants to be a plumber!

She may (unfortunately) have inherited her dads ears.....

but she has also taken on her mom's cackle!

The "yicky" side of a cute baby.....Part 2

Lilly is really discovering her voice. We were at the mall on the Friday after Thanksgiving and "screeeeeeeeeeeeeeech" goes Lilly. It was horrible! It was the kind of screech that if this were 2 years ago, I would have mumbled to myself "that woman needs to put a sock in that kid's mouth!" --- I apologized profusely to my fellow Macy's shoppers, who all proceeded to the other side of the department and away from us. Now when she does this, Tom just looks at me to see my reaction because this is NOT a pleasant sound at all. Definately not my favorite LG entertainment! This video really doesn't do the shriek any justice. So, imagine this times about 4 SHRILL decibals!

The best Garage Sale purchase ever!

First day of hunting season.....

and look who shows up for morning coffee.....he came right up to our deck like my deer ladies do. Tom was so grouchy! His son Jon went hunting and shot a good sized buck. I don't get it, you know, like shooting Bambi's father and stuff, but I guess that's cool! Congrats to Jon. And Tom, DON'T YOU EVER BRING A DEAD DEER IN THIS HOUSE! :)

The "yicky" side of a cute baby.....Part 1

I'm not thrilled about every single thing that Lilly does. She has recently added a couple of "actions" to her behavioral repertoire that make me cringe a little. Here's the first one. Eeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!









The part that makes me go Eewwww is that her feet are always stinky! She definately gets this from her mother!

Lilly's first Thanksgiving meal

Tom, Lilly and I had a wonderful Thankgiving lunch with my boss/friend Lynnette's family. Plenty of southern cooking to tease her about and lots of chit chat with nice folks. Although we packed and took LG's first Thanksgiving meal, we decided to wait unti we were in our own home to put some new tasty traditions in front of her! After seeing the photos and videos, Lynnette will likely be grateful! Her home is full of beautiful flooring!

This first picture is of LG in her Thanksgiving gear: A comfy onesie with a turkey on it! It's hard to see, but on the bottom of her right foot the word "little" is embroided, and on the left, it reads "turkey!"


Here she is in her high chair, unsuspecting of the goodness about to be delivered.


A bountiful buffet awaits: Turkey w/gravy, sweet potatoes, carrots and peas!


Yummmmmmm.....


Mmmmmmmmmm


I only get this once a year? WHAT?


I'll do it myself, thank you!

A video explanation of the Thanksgiving pictures!

These videos will show exactly how she (and I) got so yicky-messy! Enjoy!

Turkey


Sweet Potatoes


Peas

Our Lilly Grace is 7 months old....

At 7 mos., LG:

Can stay sitting up for a short period of time...
Loves to play with her feet...
Explores everything...
Has "officially" cut her two bottom, front teeth...
Plays with her right ear while drinking her bottle...
Still refuses to drink any kind of juice...
Has a different Christmas outfit to wear for every day before Christmas
.....(thanks Joyce!)....
Is looking forward to meeting my aunt Joyce and then visiting Grandma, Grandpa, Alicia and Alyssa in Florida for Christmas...
Passes gas then giggles (just like her dad!)....
Always wants to be standing up...
Is meeting Santa tonight...
Tends to produce a lot of ear wax...?.....
Is getting very big (but we haven't weighed her!)....
Is wearing 9 month clothing...
Understands the cause/effect of most of her toys...
Still sleeps through the night.....Amen......

I WANT to talk to Grandma! Where are you?

Just about every evening, I put mom on speaker phone to talk to Lilly. I've always said that she recognizes mom's voice, because in one way or another, LG responds to the black rectangular thing emitting her grandma's voice. Lilly has, in fact, become very conversational. She truly will engage in conversation. Of course she doesn't actually SAY much, but she sure tries. And it seems as if she understands turn-taking. This video shows how frustrated she gets when she knows her Grandma is talking to her, but can't figure out where she is!

Lilly-speak....

A flower for you....

Lilly loves playing peek-a-boo with Mrs. Flowers.

Typical Lilly Grace

with all of her inquisitive looks provided by her eyebrows and the constrant stream of teething drool.

All the Baby Einstein "bells and whistles" -

Gma sent this Baby Einstein sitter/bouncer to Lilly a couple of months ago. She's now at the right size and curiosity level to start enjoying it. The seat spins when she pushes it around to place her in front of fun activities, like piano that plays classics, knobs that turn & crinkle, a mirror and a twirling frog. She likes it best when she realizes that she's standing! Although she loves listening to Beethoven from the various "lighting to the music" piano keys, her favorite part is the frog. Tom and I crack up at her because she tries so hard to get the frog in her mouth. (These days, everything is explored first by her mouth!) She leans foward....concentrating so hard...pushing just right, but that darn froggie evades her gums every time! LOL!

Lilly meets Uncle Robert

Tom's brother Robert was in town last weekend. LG gave him lots of giggles!

It's as if she has no arms ---

As I've posted before, LG does not want to use her arms. She always wants to be standing. And she's very strong. She can hold herself up against the couch. If you hold her fingers, she will move to a standing position from laying down by pressing her feet against your belly or whatever is there to assist her. We really don't care whether or not she crawls (I didn't and look how great I turned out!) but we do want her to build upper body strength. Tom and I were in Costco the other day and purchased this really cool belly toy made to motivate infants to use their arms (and legs) to move around. You lay the infant belly down on this disk that rotates when they move correctly. It is surrounded by colorful and interactive pictures of Pooh, Tigger, Eyeore and a Heffalump. Lilly? - NOT interested.

This is how she prefers to play with the belly toy!

After giggling at her about not wanting to push herself around, I laid LG on the floor next to the toy to stop/adjust the camera and find some new toy to entertain her. Thanks to Gma, that's not difficult. And here is what the little snot does!



Can you believe it? She won't spin it with her on it, but she will sure as heck spin it by kicking it! I swear LG is going to play soccer. Since in utero, she kicked up a storm. When she gets excited, she kicks. When we change her diaper. She kicks. She loves to kick her own feet together, especially when she has shoes on. Watching this video again, I'm thinking that she's trying to eat her feet. What do you think? She is quite taken with them. While they ARE cute little feet, they still resemble those concrete blocks at the bottom of her father's legs!

"Feeding time is special time...."

So says all of the infant food advertisements that I get in the mail!
For about the last week, Tom and I have put LG up to the table with us and fed her as we eat our dinner. The literature says that if she starts watching us eat, then she should become more interested. It's worked (a little). Here's a taste (no pun intended) of what our routine has become in the evenings. LG is not a fan of carrots; she is tolerant of bananas. Hope she doesn't notice that the foods we say "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" to when we eat them are not quite a squishy as her own. Would seem mighty unfair!

Halloween 2008

Happy that Halloween fell on a Friday and that we had already celebrated Tom's birthday, we spent all hallow's eve at Lilly's sitter's house! I work with Cecile (picture on the left in photo below); her mother-in-law, Ima Saty (which is the respectful way of saying revered elder/grandmother) watches Lilly in the day. Cecile made a wonderful dinner - we had a nice time visiting and getting excited about taking Toby trick-or-treating. Toby is Cecile's 9 yr. old son pictured below blowing out candles with Tom. His birthday was a few days before Halloween, so they shared a spooky birthday cake. Toby is such a great kid! I look forward to seeing him each day, especially in the afternoons when he greets me at the door to "REPORT" about Lilly's day. (how many times she pooped, passed gas, cried, tried to stand up, took off her own socks, etc.) Ima Saty is carrying LG in this picture. LG just loves her (and I think it's mutual! ) We are so blessed that LG has such wonderful people in her life.



Forever kids, Tom and I dressed up too!



We stopped at all of the houses in their Hope Valley Farms neighborhood. My feet were thankful that the houses are placed neatly, and close together in rows! :)



Garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhh! (Pirate less threatening when holding a lady bug, eh?)



Here are Lilly, Toby (as a zombie) and myself - (NOTE: Do not put white makeup on chin if you have more than one!) LOL!





The costume was perfect for Lilly. I was so thrilled when I saw this months back since I always call her Lady Bug, or Liddy Bug, or Bug, or Lady Buggers, or Buggers...LOL!





Exhausted bug and inevitable cavities!

New York City October 2008

Tom, Lilly and I recently visited NYC. We were there for a conference, but took Lilly to enjoy some of the sites that only NYC has to offer. I've broken down the blog into sections as opposed to chronology. ENJOY! Reminder - if you click on the picture, it will show it to you in full size! :)

New York City - Central Park

Friday, October 24th was supposed to be the nicest day during our trip. Tom, Lilly and I spent the crisp, sunshiney day strolling through Central Park. We had a delightful time! CP is gorgeous at this time of year!

Here are some pics of us in the park!

Tom and LG in "the mall" -



The 3 of us at the end of "the mall" -



This photo is one of my favorites and of particular sentiment! Tom and I danced in the same place, to the tune of the same sax player on our honeymoon. We were tickled to include Lilly in our dance!



Me and LG in the "sheep meadow" - To enforce the quiet nature of the “Green” as it was then called, a flock of sheep was added in 1864. A Sheepfold was built across the drive in 1870 and twice a day a shepherd would hold up carriage traffic, and later automobiles, as he drove the animals to and from the meadow.



After the sheep had been banished to Brooklyn, the Sheepfold was converted into what is now the world famous restaurant Tavern on the Green. Tom and I love eating at Tavern on the Green - another place that we visited for the first time on our NYC honeymoon. Here is the link! Check out the neat rooms! We like the crystal room the best; and the gardens are exquisite! www.tavernonthegreen.com

Different from the romance and fun dining experience of our honeymoon, this time we had LG! We took "shifts" in enjoying the delicious courses. The snooty people did not share in our enthusiasm of having LG with us. (I remember hating people who coo'ed over babies, brought 800 bags, strollers, to nice places, etc.! Now I am one of them!)





Here is Lilly deciding whether or not she likes New York Cheese Cake! We were never quite certain of her final verdict!



We enjoyed the carousel a lot! Lilly was fascinated with all of the bright colors, fun, very loud music and her mother's laughter in her ear!



A carousel had been in operation at Central Park since 1871. The original carousel was powered by a blind horse and mule. The current carousel was manufactured by the Stein & Goldstien Company of Brookyln, for a trolley terminal outside Coney Island. The carousel was moved to its present location when a fire destroyed the previous one in the in the fall of 1950. This carousel features the largest hand carved figures ever constructed. The outside horses are 3/4 the size of an actual horse, A Ruth Sohn band organ playing Wurlitzer 150 music roUs provides the music and is original to the carousel. To this day the carousel and its figures are hand painted.



I think this is the coolest merry-go-round EVER!

Miscellaneous Central Park moments....