Lilly meets her sisters....

Jackie, Alicia and Alyssa are here visiting. Lilly was so excited to get to meet them. Here are some pics of Lilly with her big sisters! I'll add more later, but chose my favorite 3!

Lilly....meet Alyssa...



Lilly...meet Alicia...



Lilly...meet Jackie...

Summer evening on the deck....

Tom and I were thrilled to look in our back yard to find two 6-point buck in velvet. We have typically catered to the ladies, but this night must have been special. They were exquisitely beautiful. So, we gathered camera, apples and baby to welcome them to our neck of the woods. Sitting out on the deck, Tom snapped pictures and I introduced Lilly to more deer family members. Until this last photo,I did not realize that Tom was snapping pics of Lilly and I as well as our new friends. Hopefully these pics show you a little bit of how much joy this little girl brings to my life.

Spidey Jr.

Tom has always called me "spiderman" when I sleep, claiming (not verified) that I have a tendency to sprawl out (much like spidey would do when scaling a building). We have a king sized bed, but complains that I never give him any room in it. It was especially bad when Elroy was with us; for those of you who have shared a bed with Elroy, you know that he became huge and heavy when he was snoozing. So, Tom was tickled to get this series of Lilly pics and calling her "spidey jr." tee hee.

Motherhood and miscellaneous...

Thank you to those of you who have tried to "comment" but were unable. I did not realize that I had to go into the blog settings to permit comments from anyone other than google/gmail users. Everyone should be able to comment now. Would love to hear from you all.

I've returned to work now for two weeks. My doctor permitted me to return to only a 30 hour work week for the first two. I came home exhausted every night. As my mom and I laugh about all of the time, all I've talked about for 3 months are boobs and poop; therefore, returning to the language of million dollar grants, contracts and clinical trials has proved challenging, to say the least. Tomorrow I return to my regular schedule.

Even more difficult than using my brain again has been the process of leaving Lilly behind. I am so incredibly fortunate to have a wonderful lady caring for her in her home...I do not worry about Lilly's safety at all. In fact, when Saty (sitter's name) greets her each morning, Lilly turns to her and grins! Saty is the mother-in-law of a woman with whom I work. They are a sweet, traditional Phillipino family with an 8 year-old son, Toby. He absolutely adores Lilly - Saty has to run him off b/c he always wants to kiss Lilly's forehead. They are the only 3 there in the daytime. Lilly is perfectly content there, but it makes me so sad to leave her. I'm not sure I could be a stay at home mom, but I sure would enjoy not having to drop her off every day. Most have told me that it gets easier each day - but I have found it more difficult with each passing day. Every day she grows and changes, developing more of a cute personality. It's tough to not be with her. I'm so afraid I'm going to miss something.

Missing her and being neurotic about being away from her doesn't surprise me, though. Remember how nuts I was about Elroy? Geeeez. Here are some things about motherhood that have surprised me.

How short 24 hours really is...
How natural it feels to want/have my mom around...
How important a single hour of sleep can be...
How spontaneous I used to be & how long it takes to prepare to do anything now...
How difficult it is/was to breastfeed (b/c she's preemie)...
How quickly Lilly's fingernails grow...
How everyone has advice and none of it is consistent...
How things that used to make me gag don't even phase me now - I wish I had a dollar for each time I've cleaned poop out of my fingernails, pulled ear wax out of an ear, picked boogers, wiped eye snot, caught poop in my hands, etc. I will, however, admit to still sticking my nose under my shirt for the worst diaper loads! I love my child, but P-U.

My health seems to be improving. Still having the high blood pressure, slow thyroid and too-rapid heart beat, but generally feeling better. My medicine cabinet looks like a pharmacy!

Thanks for reading! Love to you all! Here's another 3 month picture of my angel!

Conversations with Grandma

Each evening, I put my mom on speaker phone to let her and Lilly visit. Lilly immediately recognizes gma's voice, looks at the phone and smiles!



Here is Lilly's reaction when gma tells her she hasn't moved here yet!

What happens when dad dresses Lilly G...

I was not crazy about getting up early on a Saturday morning to go to a lot of garage sales (especially now that my mom, the QUEEN of garagin' is no longer here!), so I made Tom a deal: YOU get Lilly ready and let me sleep until the last possible minute. (I get her ready for the sitter on a typical weekday morning). He agreed and LOOK what she wore for the day! LOL! My wonderful neighbor kept her for us; we agreed that she looks much cuter in pink!

Lilly's Bumbo

Tom and I went to a huge community garage sale this past weekend. I was so thrilled to pick up this "BUMBO" for Lilly. Next to the "BOPPY" this is all the rage. There are multiple attachments for it, including a high-chair type table & and toy-topper. We got two cute snap shots of her. The first, she's not sure what to make of it! The second shows how quickly she learned how much freedom her head and neck have!!


There is a skylight in the corner of our dining room. Lilly has always looked up at it. No matter where she is in this room, she finds the skylight to gaze at!



Webb women: Notice the TOES!!

Playtime...

Here are some snapshots of Lilly enjoying the silly noises that her daddy & the zebra toy are making. This is the Lilly Grace that I get to enjoy every day! She is such an angelic and happy baby.

"Infant"ry take-over...

Our (already small) townhome has been overtaken! There is nothing about our home that does not scream "there's a baby in this house!!"

Welcome to our home:


Here is the living room; the one that was once home to a comfortable sectional couch, a soothing fireplace and a killer surround-sound system. The couch is now a make-shift changing tables and has been separated to create room for the bassinette. The surround sound is no longer, as we now listen to the multiple gadgets, swings, etc. that play anything from nursery rhymes to crickets chirping.





The entire upstairs of the townhouse is our bedroom. It is (was) quite large, so we decided to set Lilly's "room" up with us. There is another bedroom downstairs, but there was no way my OCD was going to let me leave her on another floor of the house. That room is full of school work, computer, books, strollers, treadmill, stationary bike, etc. (Would not dare post a photo!)

For about a month now, Lilly has been sleeping in her "big girl bed." She appears to be quite content about it! My wonderful aunt Joyce bought Lilly the crib - it amazes me how well it matched with our existing furniture. We went with very subtle, girlie decorations that could incorporate easily into what we already had, rather than themes of ballerinas or Winnie the Pooh. Thank you to Tom's family for the bedding! :)





You can also see where she gets read to and rocked. Both of Lilly's grandma's chipped in to buy me the lovely rocker. I anticipate spending much time there! It's so comfy!

Aunt Joyce also bought Lilly her changing table, which is her FAVORITE place to be! She loves her changing table - she looks around, kicks, giggles and has so much fun when she is there. We are not sure what it is about that particular location, but she adores it!



Although we are a bit cramped, the home suits our lifestyle. We also have an incredible neighbor, Judy, who is a delight, and of course, our deer family. We hope to be in a bigger house within a year. Until then, Lilly owns it and every square in in it!

Lilly misses her grandma...

I love this picture. It shows the wonderful connection between my mother and my child. .



My mom and dad returned to Florida Monday, July 7th (the same day that I returned to work). Lilly, Tom and I were so blessed to have had them here for so long. Essentially, they arrived the week before LG was born and stayed in the house that they rented through now. It amazes me how natural it is for me to have my own mother around while getting used to being a mom myself. Her acceptance, wisdom and laughter has been an integral and important part of each day for the last 3+ months. I miss her horribly and will count the days until there is not so much distance between us. When mom is on the phone, I put it on speaker and LG looks for her! She misses her grandma! LG is ready for you to move up here! You don't go to the beach anyway!

Lilly's favorite things...

Grandma bought Lilly tons of Baby Einstein toys; lots of bells, whistles, colors, rattles, spinning, shaking, crackling toys. The two things that always get a smile/giggle from LG, though, are her two favorite rattles pictured above. Grandpa gave LG the Duke Blue Devils rattle that she is holding. There is something about the way that one rattles that is especially exciting. To the left of LG is her other favorite toy - the Pooh Bear rattle. My boss Lynnette seated this little rattle in a lovely potted, pink plant when I found out that I was having a girl. Pooh is permanently seated next to LG's changing table downstairs. She looks at Pooh, smiles at him and even attempts to make conversation. In this picture, she has reached for him and knocked him down. Grandma thinks it's because Pooh has a face that she adores him so much.

Our Lilly Grace is 3 months

Adding to the list of wonderful things about Lilly at her 2 month mark, here are some more fun facts after a month-worth of experiences:

Lilly:
Loves baths...
Always falls asleep in Grandpa's arms...
Is ticklish...
Cries tears now...
Coos and giggles often...
Is starting to babble just a little...
Is out of preemie and newborn sizes...
Sneezes in three's & then sighs...
Will find a way to remove her socks...
Still sleeps for about 3 -4 stretches...
Knows that when the faucet is turned on that she is about to be fed...
Smiles when she sees her babysitter in the morning...
Occasionally has dry skin on her forehad (makes her look as if she has a uni-brow!)..
Is spoiled and insists on being held...
Shakes her favorite rattle & is excited to hear it...
Misses her grandma and grandpa.

You be the judge.....

It's funny - people who see Lilly's picture immediately say "She looks just like you!" OR "She looks just like Tom!" There is no in-between at all. So, I've posted Lilly's pic, my baby pic and Tom's baby pic. Would love some comments/feedback (just click on the comments link). BTW, as of yesterday, Lilly is 3 months old; we will have her 3 month old photos uploaded very soon, as well as details about her growth and development. Stay tuned!

Lilly Grace


Kristi


Tom


and another Lilly pic because I LOVE this one too!