Dearest Lilah -
You've been though your first "major" holiday this year now, and I'd say you passed with flying colors! We had dinner at your Uncle and Aunt's house with them and your grandmama and your cousin. Because I have been sewing all the Christmas gifts on planet Earth, I felt badly about not ever making anything for you, so I made you a little brown velveteen dress for the special day. Then I took an image of your hand and made a little applique hand turkey to baste onto it. It was adorable, if I do say so myself. Probably the best thing is - if I get upstairs and actually do it - you'll get to wear it again this holiday season with a gingerbread man applique on it, and then you can probably just wear it plain after that a time or two more before you grow out of it.
And boy do you grow. Your weight hasn't changed much over the past couple of months - you're still shy of 19 pounds - but you are definitely getting taller. I don't know how much taller (the growth chart I'm planning to make for you is not yet cut out, see above re: Christmas and All the gifts on Earth), but you've outgrown your 9 month pj's enough to make me feel guilty about stuffing you into them at night. So into the bin of baby girl clothes they'll go. This also means we get to go PJ shopping, so yea us! Sadly, I find very few that I like; I like you wearing pjs with feet because you pull off socks and then lie in bed with little ice bricks for feet. But you need some pjs that aren't just fuzzy fleece so that when the weather gets warm again, you aren't roasting in your own precious juices overnight. Dilemmas, dilemmas.
You've also been doing a lot more in your quest for mobility. You've now decide to crawl properly at all times (unless you slip on something in the floor, then it's as if you think someone made you get down to drag. This has only happened twice that I know of since you decided to crawl via your knees at all times). You also have started to let go of things after pulling up. It's so funny; you'll pull up on the coffee table, put a fun object in each hand and when you sort of "stand back" to admire them, you'll precariously wobble a few seconds before realizing you aren't holding on to anything and you'll either plop right down on your butt or you'll make a frantic grab for the closest solid object, the latter option often to the dismay of the family pets. I think the worst things about your new-found mobility and freedom are that you end up falling a lot and bonking your head or your mouth. Tuesday you fell forward a little while holding on to the coffee table and busted your mouth, resulting in blood and a lot of tears. Luckily, you recover quickly and I think I've been able to fake being ok with you nearly busting your head open so that you don't get too scared and continue crying.
You have also caught on to the one sign language sign I have used consistently: More. Although, you use "more" to mean "eat," it seems, so it's sort of a win/lose situation. I am working very hard to teach you that there are other signs for things, and you like to put your hands on your head when I say "Good," so I'm sure that I'm failing! But you have your own way of communicating, and you're not bad at it, so we get along pretty well most of the time.
I can't believe I'm getting ready for your first birthday party in just 30 days. 335 days ago, I never thought this day would come. I thought you were going to be that itty bitty floppy baby of mine until you were five and just suddenly grew up and went to Kindergarten. It still happens that everywhere we go, you make a friend. Today we were in JC Penney and you made friends with the lady in line behind me, the sales clerk and a woman checking out at an adjacent register. The clerk said you seemed like such a happy baby and asked if I stayed home with you. When I confirmed that I did, she said that she could tell because she thinks kids are happier in general who stay at home with their moms. Now, there's no way that this can be applied across the board, but I think when you have the right mom and the right baby, then it can be true. And we're just the right people for that job right now.
I'm sure I've forgotten a lot that I wanted to right down about this time. It's just that my days are very full with you (and all those Christmas crafts) and I just can't seem to fit it all in. But we're having a good time, you and me, and your Daddy, too and I just couldn't be more excited to watch you experience your first Christmas and birthday and then I think we'll just do it all again next year.
Love,
Mommy
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
Dearest Lilah,
The last couple of weeks have found you doing even more fun stuff. It's always amazing to me how one day you don't do something and then all of a sudden, you do! Your new thing is copying things. You have mastered "Giving five" and clapping and you are an absolute dancing fool, and now you have moved on to yawning. That's right: Yesterday, I yawned while you were in my lap, and you looked at me and opened your mouth REALLY wide and smiled like you figured me out. And it wasn't a real yawn that just got started because of mine, it was an honest to goodness copy. Because you laugh and will try to make yawn noises!
You also like to try and copy a snore. A snore sends you into a pretty good giggle. Especially a fake snore. I'll admit - it's a funny sound. But you not only copy Daddy's fake snore, but the dog's REAL one. It's neat to watch you watch us to figure out how to do it!
I can't believe how intently you watch us. It has made me - I guess with good reason - pretty self conscious of the things I say and do! There are plenty of things I say and do that you will be better off NOT copying, for sure. But we enjoy watching you learn so much every day! You are trying SO hard to walk...you don't even crawl properly but MAN do you want to stand up and go! Unfortunately, you don't understand the whole "putting one foot in front of the other" rule to walking and you just end up taking multiple steps forward with one foot until you sit down. But you are becoming a master of pulling up on the chair and the coffee table and the couch, and you are even really good at sitting back down again, but that doesn't mean you haven't fallen over a few times and conked your head. You shake things off pretty quickly, though, so the tears are usually pretty short lived, which is good because your crying face is kind of ugly!
You have eye teeth coming in now and they are giving you far more trouble than your front four. You are drooly and angry! Today you hardly ate anything. You only wanted carbs. You ate bread for lunch and then ate Cheerios for dinner. You drank a lot of your juice, though. I hope that it's just teeth bothering you and that you aren't getting sick! You've had a really bad stuffy nose the last few days that seems to be going away now, but it's been rough on you.
We're getting ready to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with you. I hope you enjoy your baby meal of butternut squash and peas. :-)
Love,
Mommy
The last couple of weeks have found you doing even more fun stuff. It's always amazing to me how one day you don't do something and then all of a sudden, you do! Your new thing is copying things. You have mastered "Giving five" and clapping and you are an absolute dancing fool, and now you have moved on to yawning. That's right: Yesterday, I yawned while you were in my lap, and you looked at me and opened your mouth REALLY wide and smiled like you figured me out. And it wasn't a real yawn that just got started because of mine, it was an honest to goodness copy. Because you laugh and will try to make yawn noises!
You also like to try and copy a snore. A snore sends you into a pretty good giggle. Especially a fake snore. I'll admit - it's a funny sound. But you not only copy Daddy's fake snore, but the dog's REAL one. It's neat to watch you watch us to figure out how to do it!
I can't believe how intently you watch us. It has made me - I guess with good reason - pretty self conscious of the things I say and do! There are plenty of things I say and do that you will be better off NOT copying, for sure. But we enjoy watching you learn so much every day! You are trying SO hard to walk...you don't even crawl properly but MAN do you want to stand up and go! Unfortunately, you don't understand the whole "putting one foot in front of the other" rule to walking and you just end up taking multiple steps forward with one foot until you sit down. But you are becoming a master of pulling up on the chair and the coffee table and the couch, and you are even really good at sitting back down again, but that doesn't mean you haven't fallen over a few times and conked your head. You shake things off pretty quickly, though, so the tears are usually pretty short lived, which is good because your crying face is kind of ugly!
You have eye teeth coming in now and they are giving you far more trouble than your front four. You are drooly and angry! Today you hardly ate anything. You only wanted carbs. You ate bread for lunch and then ate Cheerios for dinner. You drank a lot of your juice, though. I hope that it's just teeth bothering you and that you aren't getting sick! You've had a really bad stuffy nose the last few days that seems to be going away now, but it's been rough on you.
We're getting ready to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with you. I hope you enjoy your baby meal of butternut squash and peas. :-)
Love,
Mommy
Friday, November 6, 2009
Actually, it is you - sort of.
Dearest Lilah,
Oh, my my...you keep me so VERY busy! But I guess that's because you have so much going on! You have learned how to properly crawl, but still prefer "the drag" because you know how to get around faster that way. And NOW you are trying to pull up on EVERYTHING. Everything you see that is taller than you is just an opportunity to climb. It is going to be very hard to keep you out of the holiday decorations, I'm afraid. Oh my...how will we keep you out of the tree?
In the last two weeks, you've gotten your two top teeth through. They are giving you pretty bad fits, though. You are fussy and short tempered, and you are constantly looking for a way to soothe your aching gums. Luckily the second one is almost all the way through, so I hope that will give you a rest from the pain for a bit before the next teeth make their descent.
We celebrated your very first Halloween! Last year I bought your costume on clearance because I felt that - even if you weren't very cute - you would be cute in the costume. Imagine my delight when you were cute squared in the costume! You were a hedgehog!! We went to a party at Uncle Tripp and Aunt Gina's house as a Hedge, Hedgehog and "Texas" Jones (Daddy's funny ha ha version of Indiana Jones). We also went to the Harvest Fest at the Saturday market and had four complete strangers walk up and ask to take photos of you because you were so cute! Sadly, you did not win the costume contest (that honor went to a bee), but Favorite Farmer Amy said you were so cute she wanted to put you on a Ritz and eat you up, so that was as good as a win to me!
You have - somehow - learned to dance. You had lately done a little bouncy bounce when music you liked would come on, but now it's a full on wiggle wiggle shimmy shake. And you even through a hand in there from time to time. It is HILARIOUS. Today we learned that you give extra shimmy to Zydeco music. I'm sure it's the accordion. The funniest thing is that if I even say the word "dance," you start to wiggle your shoulders around. So you don't respond to "Mommy," but "Dance" gets us an audition for "So You Think You Can Dance." That is AWESOME on my self-esteem. :-)
You also have a fondness for objects of similar shape and size. You like to get them, stack them together, and then bang them together like cymbals. Your favorite so far has been a set of coasters at your Gramma's house. But you also enjoy two ring boxes, blocks and two tiny clear boxes that are not the same, but are relatively similar in shape and size. It's interesting to see your preferences develop that way!
You like to wave now that you realize it gets people to respond to you. In the mornings when I come to get you, and also after your naps, I walk in to your room and say, "Hey!" and you usually will grin up at me wave with both hands. When we go out, you wave at everyone. Today at lunch you waved and waved and waved at a man who was just trying to eat his lunch. He never waved back. You just found someone else to wave to. I like that it didn't hurt your feelings. You were just like, "Oh. Ok. Maybe YOU would like to wave to me!" And so you found a girl who was at lunch with her mom and she was more than happy to make squishy faces with you and wave. It was funny to watch.
So you still don't talk. That doesn't mean you don't communicate rather clearly. I'm trying to teach you some signs, but you have your own. When you want more food, you pat your leg (or mine, if it's close). You can say "No" as loudly as I can when you shove food, cups, toys and even faces away from you. I don't like that, so I am trying very hard to tell you not to push but to speak or sign.
You exhaust me, baby. And you're so big these days. You weigh 18 pounds, but I'm not sure how tall you are. Tall. I know that much. I can't believe you're practically 10 months old and soon you'll be 1 year old and my little bitty 7.5 pound squishy baby will be totally gone. It makes me feel a little panicked sometimes, like I need a new squishy baby, but then I chase you around for a little while and realize I'm barely hanging on with just one, so I think I'll keep it that way - at least for a while!
Now I'm going to go because you have a stuffy nose that is causing you problems - on top of those top teeth - and I probably should just go to bed right now while Daddy rocks you to sleep for the second time tonight. I hope you feel better tomorrow!
Love,
Mommy
Oh, my my...you keep me so VERY busy! But I guess that's because you have so much going on! You have learned how to properly crawl, but still prefer "the drag" because you know how to get around faster that way. And NOW you are trying to pull up on EVERYTHING. Everything you see that is taller than you is just an opportunity to climb. It is going to be very hard to keep you out of the holiday decorations, I'm afraid. Oh my...how will we keep you out of the tree?
In the last two weeks, you've gotten your two top teeth through. They are giving you pretty bad fits, though. You are fussy and short tempered, and you are constantly looking for a way to soothe your aching gums. Luckily the second one is almost all the way through, so I hope that will give you a rest from the pain for a bit before the next teeth make their descent.
We celebrated your very first Halloween! Last year I bought your costume on clearance because I felt that - even if you weren't very cute - you would be cute in the costume. Imagine my delight when you were cute squared in the costume! You were a hedgehog!! We went to a party at Uncle Tripp and Aunt Gina's house as a Hedge, Hedgehog and "Texas" Jones (Daddy's funny ha ha version of Indiana Jones). We also went to the Harvest Fest at the Saturday market and had four complete strangers walk up and ask to take photos of you because you were so cute! Sadly, you did not win the costume contest (that honor went to a bee), but Favorite Farmer Amy said you were so cute she wanted to put you on a Ritz and eat you up, so that was as good as a win to me!
You have - somehow - learned to dance. You had lately done a little bouncy bounce when music you liked would come on, but now it's a full on wiggle wiggle shimmy shake. And you even through a hand in there from time to time. It is HILARIOUS. Today we learned that you give extra shimmy to Zydeco music. I'm sure it's the accordion. The funniest thing is that if I even say the word "dance," you start to wiggle your shoulders around. So you don't respond to "Mommy," but "Dance" gets us an audition for "So You Think You Can Dance." That is AWESOME on my self-esteem. :-)
You also have a fondness for objects of similar shape and size. You like to get them, stack them together, and then bang them together like cymbals. Your favorite so far has been a set of coasters at your Gramma's house. But you also enjoy two ring boxes, blocks and two tiny clear boxes that are not the same, but are relatively similar in shape and size. It's interesting to see your preferences develop that way!
You like to wave now that you realize it gets people to respond to you. In the mornings when I come to get you, and also after your naps, I walk in to your room and say, "Hey!" and you usually will grin up at me wave with both hands. When we go out, you wave at everyone. Today at lunch you waved and waved and waved at a man who was just trying to eat his lunch. He never waved back. You just found someone else to wave to. I like that it didn't hurt your feelings. You were just like, "Oh. Ok. Maybe YOU would like to wave to me!" And so you found a girl who was at lunch with her mom and she was more than happy to make squishy faces with you and wave. It was funny to watch.
So you still don't talk. That doesn't mean you don't communicate rather clearly. I'm trying to teach you some signs, but you have your own. When you want more food, you pat your leg (or mine, if it's close). You can say "No" as loudly as I can when you shove food, cups, toys and even faces away from you. I don't like that, so I am trying very hard to tell you not to push but to speak or sign.
You exhaust me, baby. And you're so big these days. You weigh 18 pounds, but I'm not sure how tall you are. Tall. I know that much. I can't believe you're practically 10 months old and soon you'll be 1 year old and my little bitty 7.5 pound squishy baby will be totally gone. It makes me feel a little panicked sometimes, like I need a new squishy baby, but then I chase you around for a little while and realize I'm barely hanging on with just one, so I think I'll keep it that way - at least for a while!
Now I'm going to go because you have a stuffy nose that is causing you problems - on top of those top teeth - and I probably should just go to bed right now while Daddy rocks you to sleep for the second time tonight. I hope you feel better tomorrow!
Love,
Mommy
Thursday, October 8, 2009
It's not you, it's me...
Dearest Lilah,
Hm. So it's been 7 weeks since I last posted. That would seem to indicate that you haven't done anything in that time. But that's not true. In the past 7 weeks, you have turned from seven to eight months old, and as of today, from eight to nine. You've been on the outside for exactly as long as you were on the inside (39 weeks), and I have to say, you've had a very busy 18 months!
You are SO big! I don't have your exact stats, but I know that it's a struggle for me to drag you up off the floor when you used to be just a little feather I carried around. You are mostly wearing 9-12 month clothes, though the 9 month PJs are a little short on you these days. You wear size 3 diapers by day and size 4s at night to hold ALL the pee! You still only have two teeth...I would have thought that the top two would have come in by now, but they are apparently content to leave the bottoms without a matched pair.
You're still not interested in crawling properly. You toy around with getting on your knees to go, but you're far more interested in just getting places than getting there properly, so you always collapse and quickly army crawl yourself - pushing with pink little toes - across the room faster than I could ever imagine anyone traveling that way.
You have learned how to sit back up from being on your tummy. What a shock that was! The first time I suspected you did it was last week, but at the time I thought maybe you had just not really gotten all the way down on your tummy. But yesterday I knew for sure! You were crawling all around the living room and all of a sudden, there you sat like a big girl! You looked rather proud of yourself!
You also are practicing waving. You are not consistent, but when asked "Can you wave?" and shown an example, you will curl those little fingers up and down. Sometimes you throw your hand up and make it whole-hearted. Today, you got a wink from the very nice postman when you sleepily gave him a shy grin and a little bitty wave. Yesterday in Barnes and Noble, a man looking at travel books said, "Well hello!" and you smiled your sweet smile, and he said, "Boy, they just make you feel like a million bucks, you know?" and proceeded to tell me how his boys were both teenagers and he missed sweet little baby smiles.
You make people happy. It makes me happy. It makes you happy. Happy, happy, happy.
I'm probably just being a proud mom, but I also think you say the dog's name. "Nidney! Nidney! Nidney!" it sounds like you say whenever she comes in the room. I'm not really sure that I want you to be saying her name, since you never say "Mommy." That kind of works my self-confidence.
You're eating like a champ these days. Pears, apples, bananas, honeydew, cantaloupe, grapes, spinach, sweet potato, carrots, zucchini, and butternut squash are all high on your list of favorites. What do you hate? Green beans. They make you gag. Every. Time. You. Eat. Them. I've mixed them with squash. I've mixed them with spinach. I've mixed them with pears. You do not like them. Green beans are your eggs and ham. I keep giving them to you because I made so much. How was I supposed to know you'd hate them? You ate everything with a happy face until now. So I promise: After this batch, I'll be laying off the green beans. There are too many other yummy things for you to eat for me to force you to eat something you hate.
So, my big nine month old girl, that is what you've been up to. You bring me a lot of joy, despite being into EVERYTHING these days. And I even on the nights when I'm ready for you to go to bed, I end up missing you a couple of hours later.
Thanks for still being awesome.
Love,
Mommy
Hm. So it's been 7 weeks since I last posted. That would seem to indicate that you haven't done anything in that time. But that's not true. In the past 7 weeks, you have turned from seven to eight months old, and as of today, from eight to nine. You've been on the outside for exactly as long as you were on the inside (39 weeks), and I have to say, you've had a very busy 18 months!
You are SO big! I don't have your exact stats, but I know that it's a struggle for me to drag you up off the floor when you used to be just a little feather I carried around. You are mostly wearing 9-12 month clothes, though the 9 month PJs are a little short on you these days. You wear size 3 diapers by day and size 4s at night to hold ALL the pee! You still only have two teeth...I would have thought that the top two would have come in by now, but they are apparently content to leave the bottoms without a matched pair.
You're still not interested in crawling properly. You toy around with getting on your knees to go, but you're far more interested in just getting places than getting there properly, so you always collapse and quickly army crawl yourself - pushing with pink little toes - across the room faster than I could ever imagine anyone traveling that way.
You have learned how to sit back up from being on your tummy. What a shock that was! The first time I suspected you did it was last week, but at the time I thought maybe you had just not really gotten all the way down on your tummy. But yesterday I knew for sure! You were crawling all around the living room and all of a sudden, there you sat like a big girl! You looked rather proud of yourself!
You also are practicing waving. You are not consistent, but when asked "Can you wave?" and shown an example, you will curl those little fingers up and down. Sometimes you throw your hand up and make it whole-hearted. Today, you got a wink from the very nice postman when you sleepily gave him a shy grin and a little bitty wave. Yesterday in Barnes and Noble, a man looking at travel books said, "Well hello!" and you smiled your sweet smile, and he said, "Boy, they just make you feel like a million bucks, you know?" and proceeded to tell me how his boys were both teenagers and he missed sweet little baby smiles.
You make people happy. It makes me happy. It makes you happy. Happy, happy, happy.
I'm probably just being a proud mom, but I also think you say the dog's name. "Nidney! Nidney! Nidney!" it sounds like you say whenever she comes in the room. I'm not really sure that I want you to be saying her name, since you never say "Mommy." That kind of works my self-confidence.
You're eating like a champ these days. Pears, apples, bananas, honeydew, cantaloupe, grapes, spinach, sweet potato, carrots, zucchini, and butternut squash are all high on your list of favorites. What do you hate? Green beans. They make you gag. Every. Time. You. Eat. Them. I've mixed them with squash. I've mixed them with spinach. I've mixed them with pears. You do not like them. Green beans are your eggs and ham. I keep giving them to you because I made so much. How was I supposed to know you'd hate them? You ate everything with a happy face until now. So I promise: After this batch, I'll be laying off the green beans. There are too many other yummy things for you to eat for me to force you to eat something you hate.
So, my big nine month old girl, that is what you've been up to. You bring me a lot of joy, despite being into EVERYTHING these days. And I even on the nights when I'm ready for you to go to bed, I end up missing you a couple of hours later.
Thanks for still being awesome.
Love,
Mommy
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Movin'
Dearest Lilah,
This week you've gotten a lot more mobile - in more ways than one!
First of all, you are pulling yourself around now like a little army man on a secret mission. It's funny, because few things seem to warrant troubling yourself to get to them like a good magazine, piece of newspaper, or catalog. You will stop any and all play time if you spot the glossy pages of a catalog in your midst and immediately start your rocky descent from seated position to zombie dragging ready. You usually bonk your face. You haven't quite learned how to gracefully get from "seated" to "belly," and normally just lean forward farther and farther until -bonk!- you are on your belly. But once in this position, there is no reading material that is safe from your juicy jaws.
You also like to go after anything you shouldn't have: Mommy's nail polish bottles, the carpet (which, for some reason, pulls out so badly that we've decided against ever buying a shag carpet again) and bits of fluff. Your daddy has always wanted a clear coffee table, and as soon as you're crawling for serious, I can see that for a period of a few years, we will not be able to leave magazines, books, and papers out lest they become Lilah food.
You also have this funny way of scooting on your bottom, more like bouncing, really, to get from place to place. It takes forever and is terribly inefficient, but you seem pleased by the results. This technique is used more when you think I should nurse you. Sitting up, your face is pretty much even with your breakfast, lunch, and dinner when I'm next to you on the floor, so when I am playing with you for any length of time, you eventually look at my chest so long you make yourself hungry (I imagine for me it would be like playing with someone who had a cake strapped to their midsection) and start bouncing Tigger-style over to me, hands out to grab at my shirt and "tell" me what you're after.
Another way you're mobile is that you've learned to pull up to a stand from a seated position if I hold my hands out for you to hang on to. I'm thinking that we will probably go ahead and put your crib mattress down a level tomorrow, because I am having trouble sleeping at night for fear you are going to figure out you can pull up on the edge one morning when you get tired of waiting for me to come get you and you'll just propel yourself out onto the wood floor on your head. And this would be a much higher fall onto a less rugged area than when I let you fling yourself headfirst off the sofa. :-/
Finally, you are now legal to move among the neighboring countries of The United States. We went on Thursday to apply for your passport card! This is particularly exciting to me, who did not even go on real family vacations when I was a kid. The only family vacation we ever took where we did not stay with friends of Gramma and Grandpa was to Stone Mountain in Georgia, and that was only 2.5 hours from our house. That is not really a vacation. I'm not even sure why we had to spend the night. Anyway, I thought about getting you a for real passport, but they are quite expensive, costing nearly $90 and they only last for five years. I figured that you're not going to be visiting overseas before you're five, and possibly not before you're ten, but because your daddy works so often near the Canadian border and because Aunt Janice lives right across the river from Canada, we might actually want to go there. So we opted to get the $35 passport card instead of the $85 passport for now.
Here is your little application and your cute little passport card photos:
You did SO well for the picture! They don't want you to show teeth for your passport photos anymore, so we were lucky that you never smile for a photo until after the flash goes off (fashionably late, you are!) The manager at Walgreen's said you did better than any other kid he's ever taken a passport photo for. I was oddly proud. :-)
So that's it, baby girl! You are on your way, now! Soon you'll be crawling around eating all of my scrap paper and the kitty fur tumbleweeds, and one day in the not too distant future you'll probably go "international" for the first time!
So study up on those maps and globes in your room, baby. We've got a lot of trips to plan.
Love,
Mommy
This week you've gotten a lot more mobile - in more ways than one!
First of all, you are pulling yourself around now like a little army man on a secret mission. It's funny, because few things seem to warrant troubling yourself to get to them like a good magazine, piece of newspaper, or catalog. You will stop any and all play time if you spot the glossy pages of a catalog in your midst and immediately start your rocky descent from seated position to zombie dragging ready. You usually bonk your face. You haven't quite learned how to gracefully get from "seated" to "belly," and normally just lean forward farther and farther until -bonk!- you are on your belly. But once in this position, there is no reading material that is safe from your juicy jaws.
You also like to go after anything you shouldn't have: Mommy's nail polish bottles, the carpet (which, for some reason, pulls out so badly that we've decided against ever buying a shag carpet again) and bits of fluff. Your daddy has always wanted a clear coffee table, and as soon as you're crawling for serious, I can see that for a period of a few years, we will not be able to leave magazines, books, and papers out lest they become Lilah food.
You also have this funny way of scooting on your bottom, more like bouncing, really, to get from place to place. It takes forever and is terribly inefficient, but you seem pleased by the results. This technique is used more when you think I should nurse you. Sitting up, your face is pretty much even with your breakfast, lunch, and dinner when I'm next to you on the floor, so when I am playing with you for any length of time, you eventually look at my chest so long you make yourself hungry (I imagine for me it would be like playing with someone who had a cake strapped to their midsection) and start bouncing Tigger-style over to me, hands out to grab at my shirt and "tell" me what you're after.
Another way you're mobile is that you've learned to pull up to a stand from a seated position if I hold my hands out for you to hang on to. I'm thinking that we will probably go ahead and put your crib mattress down a level tomorrow, because I am having trouble sleeping at night for fear you are going to figure out you can pull up on the edge one morning when you get tired of waiting for me to come get you and you'll just propel yourself out onto the wood floor on your head. And this would be a much higher fall onto a less rugged area than when I let you fling yourself headfirst off the sofa. :-/
Finally, you are now legal to move among the neighboring countries of The United States. We went on Thursday to apply for your passport card! This is particularly exciting to me, who did not even go on real family vacations when I was a kid. The only family vacation we ever took where we did not stay with friends of Gramma and Grandpa was to Stone Mountain in Georgia, and that was only 2.5 hours from our house. That is not really a vacation. I'm not even sure why we had to spend the night. Anyway, I thought about getting you a for real passport, but they are quite expensive, costing nearly $90 and they only last for five years. I figured that you're not going to be visiting overseas before you're five, and possibly not before you're ten, but because your daddy works so often near the Canadian border and because Aunt Janice lives right across the river from Canada, we might actually want to go there. So we opted to get the $35 passport card instead of the $85 passport for now.
Here is your little application and your cute little passport card photos:
You did SO well for the picture! They don't want you to show teeth for your passport photos anymore, so we were lucky that you never smile for a photo until after the flash goes off (fashionably late, you are!) The manager at Walgreen's said you did better than any other kid he's ever taken a passport photo for. I was oddly proud. :-)So that's it, baby girl! You are on your way, now! Soon you'll be crawling around eating all of my scrap paper and the kitty fur tumbleweeds, and one day in the not too distant future you'll probably go "international" for the first time!
So study up on those maps and globes in your room, baby. We've got a lot of trips to plan.
Love,
Mommy
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Solid
Dearest Lilah -
Today, at age 7 months and 4 days, we gave you your first taste of solid food.
We gave you Avacado.
You weren't really sure what to do with it once it was in your mouth, and you made some funny faces we didn't quite catch.
But you were definitely excited and wanted more!
I am not going to lie and say this isn't one of those sad Mommy moments for me. You're not my tiny baby anymore. You'll soon be picking up little toddler sized bits of food and eating them by yourself. In fact, you tried to help yourself to the bowl today.
I'm also selfishly going to miss breastmilk only poopie diapers. They do not smell like full-grown man poop, and I am not looking forward to those. At all. And not having to carry food around? Yeah, I enjoyed leaving your diaper bag at home 90% of the time.
But I am glad you are growing up and growing well. And this is just a part of that.
I hope you enjoyed your first bite of for really real food. It's just the tip of the iceberg. I've got all kinds of things to make and share with you!
Love,
Mommy
Today, at age 7 months and 4 days, we gave you your first taste of solid food.
We gave you Avacado.
You weren't really sure what to do with it once it was in your mouth, and you made some funny faces we didn't quite catch.
But you were definitely excited and wanted more!
I am not going to lie and say this isn't one of those sad Mommy moments for me. You're not my tiny baby anymore. You'll soon be picking up little toddler sized bits of food and eating them by yourself. In fact, you tried to help yourself to the bowl today.I'm also selfishly going to miss breastmilk only poopie diapers. They do not smell like full-grown man poop, and I am not looking forward to those. At all. And not having to carry food around? Yeah, I enjoyed leaving your diaper bag at home 90% of the time.
But I am glad you are growing up and growing well. And this is just a part of that.
I hope you enjoyed your first bite of for really real food. It's just the tip of the iceberg. I've got all kinds of things to make and share with you!
Love,
Mommy
Friday, August 7, 2009
Thank goodness I remembered.
Dearest Lilah -
Mommy has a little problem with her memory. She means well; she lies in bed at night, composing great letters for this blog to help her remember all the cool things you are doing. She wants you to be able to know when things happened, and not have to live with "Hm...I don't really remember." No, instead she'd like to say, "Go read your blog. It has everything." This is because we assume you'll be curious about everything like me. It's a fair assumption; You should see how you sit and stare at people. People who are talking to you. People who are not talking to you. People who you think might need to talk to you. Nosey. That's what you are. But curiosity must just start out looking that way when you're a baby.
Anyway.
When you ask me when was the first time you got stung, I want to be able to say it was August 1, 2009. We had gone to the Saturday market and were enjoying our time there for the first time in weeks. I had just declared defeat with the crazy coupon project I was working and we went out for breakfast and to buy some veggies and meat from our favorite farmers, Amy and Chad. You were with your daddy while he talked to Chad and all of a sudden you started to scream and cry. Chad said maybe it was because his beard was a little longer than it should be, and we kind of laughed but I was worried. You are not the type of baby to burst into screaming tears like that. And you were inconsolable. I was sad. I couldn't help but feel like that was a hurt cry...the same kind of cry you cry when you get a shot. We got you out of the carrier and I just held you myself for a little while. Sometimes mommies do that; it's not that we can really DO anything to fix the unknown problem, but we feel better just laying hands on you and feeling you to make sure you're alright ourselves. You quickly settled back down as we headed back to the car. During the walk is when we noticed the big, red welt on the base of your thumb. You had been viciously attacked by some sort of insect. The next day it was a little blister and seemed to me like an ant bite, but I can't for the world of me figure out how an ant got on your thumb when you were being carried by your daddy. I guess we'll never know exactly what manner of evil insect got you, but now we have to be extra certain to keep an eye on you if you're bitten again, just to make sure you don't have an allergic reaction. It's mostly gone down now, and you never even acted like it hurt you after the initial bite. Never tried to scratch it or acted like it itched. That makes me wonder if babies don't notice things like that, or since you all don't have a frame of reference if you just don't know that you can do anything about it so you just suffer through it. Sad, really.
You had a good first on the first, too, though. Your cousin Seph had his fifth birthday party out at an equestrian center not far from our house, so you got to ride a horse for the first time!
I wish I could have caught a picture of your face the first time you saw that horse. It was as if you thought, "THAT IS THE BIGGEST DOG I HAVE EVER SEEN!" The pony let you ride him a few steps while daddy held you. You pet his neck. You were completely entranced. It was precious. We were going to go on the hayride to the petting zoo, but it was getting near dinner time for you and so we left after your horse encounter.
In a move that might just win me "mother of the year 2009," you experienced another bad first on Monday, August 3. We have always sort of propped you in the corner of the sofa and been able to run a plate to the kitchen or put laundry from the washer to the dryer. That's what I was trying to do when I left you on the sofa that day. I had put the little half circle pillow on the outside of you so that if you fell over for some reason, you wouldn't fall off the sofa. But I couldn't shake the image of you falling off. You were just too big now. You just seemed too nosey. And then there was the dog and there was the cat and they were walking around...but off I went to the laundry room to throw some clothes from the washer to the dryer.
That's when I heard it.
*THUD*
You hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Head first, of course, because it weighs the most of anything on your tiny body. And - of course - you hit your face on the power supply to my laptop.
You were crying so hard when I picked you up and I felt terrible. I just pet your head and told you I was sorry for being an awful, neglectful mom. That I would never leave you unattended while elevated again. I pulled you off my shoulder to check you out and make sure you were ok and your mouth was all bloody. You had hit your nose and lip, and the inside of your mouth, where your lip and gum joins, was bleeding.
I wanted to die.
I made my baby bleed.
I was pretty surprised I didn't end up crying myself. I certainly felt like I should. But I didn't, and I think I didn't because when I walked away and left you pushed securely in the corner of the sofa, I KNEW you were going to fall. So mentally, I was prepared.
But that doesn't make it better.
You bled off and on the rest of the afternoon. You even woke up with a bloody sheet when you took your nap, and when you turned your face, it would hurt the tender and bruised puffy lip you sported and it would make you cry all over again.
I gave you a little Tylenol to help with the pain and let you suck on some ice to help with the pain and the swelling.
You have since fully recovered.
Your grandfather was funny; he kept telling me not to let you go to sleep because you might have a concussion. I got mad at him for saying that, but I could only be indignant because I had already asked your daddy if I should worry about you possibly having a concussion. He said if you didn't throw up you were fine.
The last first to report happened yesterday.
Another good one. Well, good to me, anyway.
At least they seem to balance out, right?
I took you to Furman to see Miss Kay, Miss Helen and Miss Karen because it was Miss Karen's birthday. We had picked her out some pretty stripey purple carnations and I had wrapped them up in pretty paper. You can't show up at a party without a gift, you know. After the party wound down, you and I stayed to chat with Miss Kay and Miss Helen. You were showing off, making your funny squishy face and starting to babble. That's when it happened.
You said "Mmmmmmmmmmmama."
My jaw hit the floor.
Miss Kay and Miss Helen started clapping and cheering for you.
I just said, "Well, you've never said that before!"
It was nice to finally get some recognition after the two months I've been listening to you say "Dadadadadadadadaddydadadadaddydadadadadaddy."
I'm still not sure you associate the sounds you make with either of us, but when we got up this morning and started to walk upstairs you said, "Dada." and I said "He's upstairs" and you said, "Mama" and I said, "I'm right here."
It was so cute.
YOU are so cute.
Many people told us that tonight as we walked around town for First Friday. One woman said that you looked like a porcelain doll and were just beautiful.
As you can imagine, this is not a horrible thing to hear. In fact, I am always open to hearing how beautiful my child is.
And so now my task is to make sure you grow up to behave as pretty as you look.
Love,
Mommy
Mommy has a little problem with her memory. She means well; she lies in bed at night, composing great letters for this blog to help her remember all the cool things you are doing. She wants you to be able to know when things happened, and not have to live with "Hm...I don't really remember." No, instead she'd like to say, "Go read your blog. It has everything." This is because we assume you'll be curious about everything like me. It's a fair assumption; You should see how you sit and stare at people. People who are talking to you. People who are not talking to you. People who you think might need to talk to you. Nosey. That's what you are. But curiosity must just start out looking that way when you're a baby.
Anyway.
When you ask me when was the first time you got stung, I want to be able to say it was August 1, 2009. We had gone to the Saturday market and were enjoying our time there for the first time in weeks. I had just declared defeat with the crazy coupon project I was working and we went out for breakfast and to buy some veggies and meat from our favorite farmers, Amy and Chad. You were with your daddy while he talked to Chad and all of a sudden you started to scream and cry. Chad said maybe it was because his beard was a little longer than it should be, and we kind of laughed but I was worried. You are not the type of baby to burst into screaming tears like that. And you were inconsolable. I was sad. I couldn't help but feel like that was a hurt cry...the same kind of cry you cry when you get a shot. We got you out of the carrier and I just held you myself for a little while. Sometimes mommies do that; it's not that we can really DO anything to fix the unknown problem, but we feel better just laying hands on you and feeling you to make sure you're alright ourselves. You quickly settled back down as we headed back to the car. During the walk is when we noticed the big, red welt on the base of your thumb. You had been viciously attacked by some sort of insect. The next day it was a little blister and seemed to me like an ant bite, but I can't for the world of me figure out how an ant got on your thumb when you were being carried by your daddy. I guess we'll never know exactly what manner of evil insect got you, but now we have to be extra certain to keep an eye on you if you're bitten again, just to make sure you don't have an allergic reaction. It's mostly gone down now, and you never even acted like it hurt you after the initial bite. Never tried to scratch it or acted like it itched. That makes me wonder if babies don't notice things like that, or since you all don't have a frame of reference if you just don't know that you can do anything about it so you just suffer through it. Sad, really.
You had a good first on the first, too, though. Your cousin Seph had his fifth birthday party out at an equestrian center not far from our house, so you got to ride a horse for the first time!
I wish I could have caught a picture of your face the first time you saw that horse. It was as if you thought, "THAT IS THE BIGGEST DOG I HAVE EVER SEEN!" The pony let you ride him a few steps while daddy held you. You pet his neck. You were completely entranced. It was precious. We were going to go on the hayride to the petting zoo, but it was getting near dinner time for you and so we left after your horse encounter. In a move that might just win me "mother of the year 2009," you experienced another bad first on Monday, August 3. We have always sort of propped you in the corner of the sofa and been able to run a plate to the kitchen or put laundry from the washer to the dryer. That's what I was trying to do when I left you on the sofa that day. I had put the little half circle pillow on the outside of you so that if you fell over for some reason, you wouldn't fall off the sofa. But I couldn't shake the image of you falling off. You were just too big now. You just seemed too nosey. And then there was the dog and there was the cat and they were walking around...but off I went to the laundry room to throw some clothes from the washer to the dryer.
That's when I heard it.
*THUD*
You hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Head first, of course, because it weighs the most of anything on your tiny body. And - of course - you hit your face on the power supply to my laptop.
You were crying so hard when I picked you up and I felt terrible. I just pet your head and told you I was sorry for being an awful, neglectful mom. That I would never leave you unattended while elevated again. I pulled you off my shoulder to check you out and make sure you were ok and your mouth was all bloody. You had hit your nose and lip, and the inside of your mouth, where your lip and gum joins, was bleeding.
I wanted to die.
I made my baby bleed.
I was pretty surprised I didn't end up crying myself. I certainly felt like I should. But I didn't, and I think I didn't because when I walked away and left you pushed securely in the corner of the sofa, I KNEW you were going to fall. So mentally, I was prepared.
But that doesn't make it better.
You bled off and on the rest of the afternoon. You even woke up with a bloody sheet when you took your nap, and when you turned your face, it would hurt the tender and bruised puffy lip you sported and it would make you cry all over again.
I gave you a little Tylenol to help with the pain and let you suck on some ice to help with the pain and the swelling.
You have since fully recovered.
Your grandfather was funny; he kept telling me not to let you go to sleep because you might have a concussion. I got mad at him for saying that, but I could only be indignant because I had already asked your daddy if I should worry about you possibly having a concussion. He said if you didn't throw up you were fine.
The last first to report happened yesterday.
Another good one. Well, good to me, anyway.
At least they seem to balance out, right?
I took you to Furman to see Miss Kay, Miss Helen and Miss Karen because it was Miss Karen's birthday. We had picked her out some pretty stripey purple carnations and I had wrapped them up in pretty paper. You can't show up at a party without a gift, you know. After the party wound down, you and I stayed to chat with Miss Kay and Miss Helen. You were showing off, making your funny squishy face and starting to babble. That's when it happened.
You said "Mmmmmmmmmmmama."
My jaw hit the floor.
Miss Kay and Miss Helen started clapping and cheering for you.
I just said, "Well, you've never said that before!"
It was nice to finally get some recognition after the two months I've been listening to you say "Dadadadadadadadaddydadadadaddydadadadadaddy."
I'm still not sure you associate the sounds you make with either of us, but when we got up this morning and started to walk upstairs you said, "Dada." and I said "He's upstairs" and you said, "Mama" and I said, "I'm right here."
It was so cute.
YOU are so cute.
Many people told us that tonight as we walked around town for First Friday. One woman said that you looked like a porcelain doll and were just beautiful.
As you can imagine, this is not a horrible thing to hear. In fact, I am always open to hearing how beautiful my child is.
And so now my task is to make sure you grow up to behave as pretty as you look.
Love,
Mommy
Friday, July 17, 2009
Like a fish
Dearest Lilah -
Aside from the moment of your birth, you've never spent any measurable amount of time submerged in water. We have a little mesh chair that you sit in when taking your baths, and we just pour water over you as needed. Up until now, that's been the easiest thing to do. But lately you have started to get all "I want to sit straight up and not recline in my seat" on us, and that makes it more difficult since the chair tends to tip forward when you do, and I have had many flashes of the horror that would be you face-planting it into the side of the tub. But we have been reluctant to run the tub and let you sit in there, splashing away in the water because of the very sad crying faces you made at Jack's birthday party when Daddy held you down and let you put your feet in the baby pools. We had decided that you didn't care one bit for standing water and that would be that. Maybe you'd just grow up taking showers as a tiny person, who knew? But then we got the opportunity to go swimming this week and so I just decided if worse came to worst, then at least we could sit on the side and make vitamin D together.
Boy was I wrong to worry! You ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. You splashed. You kicked. You made like a duck in your little baby boat and paddled yourself in circles. It was HYSTERICAL how happy you were! Sadly, being the crap Mommy that I am, I had forgotten the camera at home. (In my defense, I had taken the battery out to charge it and forgot it because we were running late and I didn't walk past it in the mad dash out the door.) Luckily, Miss Beth - our hostess at the pool along with her sweet girls - had her husband bring out her camera to take a few snaps of your inaugural splash.
Kicking. Kicking. Kicking.
Big old grin indicates the pool <3!
On your own in your little baby boat! You tried to gnaw your way to the water below.
Here I am, just so you don't grow up thinking I abandoned you in a floaty in the pool all alone.
I think, baby girl, that we'll be able to start sitting you in the tub like a big girl now.
Love,
Mommy
Aside from the moment of your birth, you've never spent any measurable amount of time submerged in water. We have a little mesh chair that you sit in when taking your baths, and we just pour water over you as needed. Up until now, that's been the easiest thing to do. But lately you have started to get all "I want to sit straight up and not recline in my seat" on us, and that makes it more difficult since the chair tends to tip forward when you do, and I have had many flashes of the horror that would be you face-planting it into the side of the tub. But we have been reluctant to run the tub and let you sit in there, splashing away in the water because of the very sad crying faces you made at Jack's birthday party when Daddy held you down and let you put your feet in the baby pools. We had decided that you didn't care one bit for standing water and that would be that. Maybe you'd just grow up taking showers as a tiny person, who knew? But then we got the opportunity to go swimming this week and so I just decided if worse came to worst, then at least we could sit on the side and make vitamin D together.
Boy was I wrong to worry! You ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. You splashed. You kicked. You made like a duck in your little baby boat and paddled yourself in circles. It was HYSTERICAL how happy you were! Sadly, being the crap Mommy that I am, I had forgotten the camera at home. (In my defense, I had taken the battery out to charge it and forgot it because we were running late and I didn't walk past it in the mad dash out the door.) Luckily, Miss Beth - our hostess at the pool along with her sweet girls - had her husband bring out her camera to take a few snaps of your inaugural splash.
Kicking. Kicking. Kicking.
Big old grin indicates the pool <3!
On your own in your little baby boat! You tried to gnaw your way to the water below.
Here I am, just so you don't grow up thinking I abandoned you in a floaty in the pool all alone.
I think, baby girl, that we'll be able to start sitting you in the tub like a big girl now.
Love,
Mommy
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Where to start?
Dearest Lilah -
Hi, I'm your mom and I get sidetracked like REALLY easily. Do you know how many times I've written an entry for your blog in my head as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep? About a million + five. And now that I actually take the opportunity to sit here and write it, how much of them can I remember? About - million.
For now, you'll have to settle for my random and not very well written out thoughts. I hope that's ok.
Your six month check up was last Friday and the nurse practitioner declared you "Perfect." You weighed in at 15 pounds, 1 ounce and were 27 1/4 inches long. That makes you tall and thin, baby girl. Enjoy it while it lasts; that does not run on either side of our family, so if it sticks, you're destined for supermodeldom. Your strawberry hemangioma is nearly gone...just a faded patch where that scary red nuclear reactor sign used to be! And you've still got super blonde hair and blue eyes...for now. I'm still not sure the blue eyes are sticking, but your daddy is convinced. We'll just have to wait and see; some experts claim it can take up to a year before the eye color "sticks"! The NP also surprised me by declaring you had a SECOND tooth coming in! BOTH BOTTOM TEETH! And today, sure enough, the little jagged edges of two bottom baby teeth are showing through. Bless your heart; you've worn a blister on the nuckle of one of your fingers from rubbing your finger across your aching gums. You also wowed the NP with your fancy sitting alone skills. She said she doesn't even normally ask until 9 months, but thought she would ask us anyway. I guess because we aren't going in for a 9 month appointment? Anyway, she said that was really really good and she liked how strong you were. Then you had to get a shot, but we're so glad it's the last one until you turn one! And while that seems like it must be very far away, I'm sure it will be here before we know it. Lord knows this first six months has flown by.
You are still getting all kinds of attention everywhere we go. Yesterday we went to the mall, just to window shop. People in every store remarked on how good or happy or cute you were. Sometimes all three. And you are. And you seem to know when people are talking about you because you put on your little flappy happy dance show for them. One employee in the Gap said you were so "attentive," and I gave my pat answer that you're just nosey. And part of that is true - you are a very curious little girl and that is probably going to be keeping me on my toes over the next few months as you try to explore everything with your mouth! But mostly it's just something to say because what else can I say? "Yes, she's quite remarkably interested in the world for a child her age"? I mean, you just don't say that. Today we stopped by to see our favorite farmers, Chad and Amy. Amy just loves you! She has a little girl about a year and a half older than you are, but she says you are the happiest baby ever! You just let her hold you and you touched the embroidery on her shirt, and her face. You were learning her, as if you sort of remembered her and knew you might see her again.
You still really like the out-of-doors. Whenever you get cranky or upset, we go for a walk in the garden. When daddy is away, I take you outside and let you help me water the plants. You started reaching for the water yesterday, letting the spray from the hose touch your fingers. I was afraid at first you might cry, but you seemed more intrigued than afraid. I can't help but wonder if you equate that water with water in your bath. And tomorrow we'll experience an even different type of water when I take you swimming in a big pool for the first time. Oh, I hope you like it and don't cry! Swimming is so much fun!!! Being in the water is one of my very favorite things to do, and I so hope to share that with you one day, even though I hardly do it.
While we were watering today, I realized that carrying you around on my hip lends to me having to do a lot of bouncing and jostling, so I decided to put you in your carrier. As I was getting you strapped in, a butterfly came around the hydrangea bush near the car. I pointed it out to you, and you were stuck: That little white butterfly flitted all about the hosta and the hydrangeas and you watched it closer than any old bird. At one point, when you couldn't see it after it went behind a bush, you leaned yourself waaaaaaay back to try and see it. I couldn't believe it! You were so interested in that butterfly. Then it hit me: You had never seen one before. Sometimes - and it's so easy - I forget that every single thing on this earth is new to you. Sure, there is some stuff that you see every day: Cats, Dogs, Trees, Cars, People, Buildings, Grass, etc., but then there are those things that show up and it's just completely brand new. It makes each moment so special, knowing that I get to see you learn and discover these things. And then I'm ever more grateful to your daddy for working so hard so that I can be home with you to witness this. It makes it unbelievable to me that anyone could ever take this for granted - be it parents or daycare workers - because it is such a little miracle to watch you learn. And yes, when you puke on me or cry for no reason it is difficult, but for the most part, I am just so fascinated by little bitty you.
There are several words that I think you are trying to say. I think you are trying to say "Hey" and "dog" and "Lilah." One morning I would have sworn you said "Sully Cat." At best, I'm sure you're just copying our cadence and intonation and don't have much if any connection that the sounds you are making mean anything more than just being sounds. But maybe I'm wrong and you're a genius. I love you either way :-) I also thought you might have tried to give me a kiss, because you leaned forward when I was talking to you and put your mouth right up to mine, but maybe you just wanted me to hush. :-)
You still LOVE baby massage song. Whenever I start to sing it, you get a big grin. I think you definitely know that it means food is coming. One of these days I'm going to write down the lyrics, or record the song, or both so that when you're old you can hear how silly mommy is. But you like it, so I sing it, even when it doesn't make sense or rhyme :-D
You've started holding an and snuggling. That is awesome. You cling to me like a little monkey, and if I ask you do you want me to pick you up and hold my arms to you, you stick out your arms. So far, you also stick your arms out to any stranger who holds theirs out to you, too, so we've got to learn to be careful about that. :-) They all think you're giving them permission to pick you up means they can, but I'm still in charge of that, kiddo. At least for a few more years. :-)
Tonight in the bathtub, I realized you wanted to play with something because you kept reaching out for the body wash container. So I quickly gave you one of your little bath time squirty toys to keep you happy. You chewed on it's face for awhile, and then I filled it up and squirted it at you. Your face was HYSTERICAL! I can't even describe how big your little eyes were! And your mouth was hangning wide open! It was like you were thinking, "JUST LIKE MILK!"
Speaking of milk, you have gotten where you are very clear when you want to eat! You bury your head between my boobs and just kind of shake your head, as if that will magically make them appear. Of course, I guess it sort of does! The only thing that can distract you from eating is the tv, an interest of yours which I do not like but am guilty of using to my advantage. This morning I was trying to get something typed up quickly so I sat you down to watch the Today Show while I finished up. You sat there and laughed hysterically at Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera! It was just a regular little segment with them on the couch, and I don't even know if they were reporting on any news story or not, but you sure did think they were hilarious.
Daddy is working out of town, so yesterday he Skyped in to see you. When you saw him on the screen, you reached out to touch it. You ran your finger all around where his face was on the screen. It was very sweet and very sad for Daddy, who hates to leave us, but hates leaving you especially. You change so much, even over a few days, and he feels like he's missing a lot. But weekends are your special times together. I pretty much just show up when it's food time and let him catch up with you and get his fill of Lilah Love. :-) I guess people who see us on the weekend think I pawn him off on you or that I don't do anything, but they don't know how hard it is for me to even get my hands on you when he's home. :-) He does everything but feed you, and you love every minute.
And we love every minute of you.
Love,
Mommy
Hi, I'm your mom and I get sidetracked like REALLY easily. Do you know how many times I've written an entry for your blog in my head as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep? About a million + five. And now that I actually take the opportunity to sit here and write it, how much of them can I remember? About - million.
For now, you'll have to settle for my random and not very well written out thoughts. I hope that's ok.
Your six month check up was last Friday and the nurse practitioner declared you "Perfect." You weighed in at 15 pounds, 1 ounce and were 27 1/4 inches long. That makes you tall and thin, baby girl. Enjoy it while it lasts; that does not run on either side of our family, so if it sticks, you're destined for supermodeldom. Your strawberry hemangioma is nearly gone...just a faded patch where that scary red nuclear reactor sign used to be! And you've still got super blonde hair and blue eyes...for now. I'm still not sure the blue eyes are sticking, but your daddy is convinced. We'll just have to wait and see; some experts claim it can take up to a year before the eye color "sticks"! The NP also surprised me by declaring you had a SECOND tooth coming in! BOTH BOTTOM TEETH! And today, sure enough, the little jagged edges of two bottom baby teeth are showing through. Bless your heart; you've worn a blister on the nuckle of one of your fingers from rubbing your finger across your aching gums. You also wowed the NP with your fancy sitting alone skills. She said she doesn't even normally ask until 9 months, but thought she would ask us anyway. I guess because we aren't going in for a 9 month appointment? Anyway, she said that was really really good and she liked how strong you were. Then you had to get a shot, but we're so glad it's the last one until you turn one! And while that seems like it must be very far away, I'm sure it will be here before we know it. Lord knows this first six months has flown by.
You are still getting all kinds of attention everywhere we go. Yesterday we went to the mall, just to window shop. People in every store remarked on how good or happy or cute you were. Sometimes all three. And you are. And you seem to know when people are talking about you because you put on your little flappy happy dance show for them. One employee in the Gap said you were so "attentive," and I gave my pat answer that you're just nosey. And part of that is true - you are a very curious little girl and that is probably going to be keeping me on my toes over the next few months as you try to explore everything with your mouth! But mostly it's just something to say because what else can I say? "Yes, she's quite remarkably interested in the world for a child her age"? I mean, you just don't say that. Today we stopped by to see our favorite farmers, Chad and Amy. Amy just loves you! She has a little girl about a year and a half older than you are, but she says you are the happiest baby ever! You just let her hold you and you touched the embroidery on her shirt, and her face. You were learning her, as if you sort of remembered her and knew you might see her again.
You still really like the out-of-doors. Whenever you get cranky or upset, we go for a walk in the garden. When daddy is away, I take you outside and let you help me water the plants. You started reaching for the water yesterday, letting the spray from the hose touch your fingers. I was afraid at first you might cry, but you seemed more intrigued than afraid. I can't help but wonder if you equate that water with water in your bath. And tomorrow we'll experience an even different type of water when I take you swimming in a big pool for the first time. Oh, I hope you like it and don't cry! Swimming is so much fun!!! Being in the water is one of my very favorite things to do, and I so hope to share that with you one day, even though I hardly do it.
While we were watering today, I realized that carrying you around on my hip lends to me having to do a lot of bouncing and jostling, so I decided to put you in your carrier. As I was getting you strapped in, a butterfly came around the hydrangea bush near the car. I pointed it out to you, and you were stuck: That little white butterfly flitted all about the hosta and the hydrangeas and you watched it closer than any old bird. At one point, when you couldn't see it after it went behind a bush, you leaned yourself waaaaaaay back to try and see it. I couldn't believe it! You were so interested in that butterfly. Then it hit me: You had never seen one before. Sometimes - and it's so easy - I forget that every single thing on this earth is new to you. Sure, there is some stuff that you see every day: Cats, Dogs, Trees, Cars, People, Buildings, Grass, etc., but then there are those things that show up and it's just completely brand new. It makes each moment so special, knowing that I get to see you learn and discover these things. And then I'm ever more grateful to your daddy for working so hard so that I can be home with you to witness this. It makes it unbelievable to me that anyone could ever take this for granted - be it parents or daycare workers - because it is such a little miracle to watch you learn. And yes, when you puke on me or cry for no reason it is difficult, but for the most part, I am just so fascinated by little bitty you.
There are several words that I think you are trying to say. I think you are trying to say "Hey" and "dog" and "Lilah." One morning I would have sworn you said "Sully Cat." At best, I'm sure you're just copying our cadence and intonation and don't have much if any connection that the sounds you are making mean anything more than just being sounds. But maybe I'm wrong and you're a genius. I love you either way :-) I also thought you might have tried to give me a kiss, because you leaned forward when I was talking to you and put your mouth right up to mine, but maybe you just wanted me to hush. :-)
You still LOVE baby massage song. Whenever I start to sing it, you get a big grin. I think you definitely know that it means food is coming. One of these days I'm going to write down the lyrics, or record the song, or both so that when you're old you can hear how silly mommy is. But you like it, so I sing it, even when it doesn't make sense or rhyme :-D
You've started holding an and snuggling. That is awesome. You cling to me like a little monkey, and if I ask you do you want me to pick you up and hold my arms to you, you stick out your arms. So far, you also stick your arms out to any stranger who holds theirs out to you, too, so we've got to learn to be careful about that. :-) They all think you're giving them permission to pick you up means they can, but I'm still in charge of that, kiddo. At least for a few more years. :-)
Tonight in the bathtub, I realized you wanted to play with something because you kept reaching out for the body wash container. So I quickly gave you one of your little bath time squirty toys to keep you happy. You chewed on it's face for awhile, and then I filled it up and squirted it at you. Your face was HYSTERICAL! I can't even describe how big your little eyes were! And your mouth was hangning wide open! It was like you were thinking, "JUST LIKE MILK!"
Speaking of milk, you have gotten where you are very clear when you want to eat! You bury your head between my boobs and just kind of shake your head, as if that will magically make them appear. Of course, I guess it sort of does! The only thing that can distract you from eating is the tv, an interest of yours which I do not like but am guilty of using to my advantage. This morning I was trying to get something typed up quickly so I sat you down to watch the Today Show while I finished up. You sat there and laughed hysterically at Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera! It was just a regular little segment with them on the couch, and I don't even know if they were reporting on any news story or not, but you sure did think they were hilarious.
Daddy is working out of town, so yesterday he Skyped in to see you. When you saw him on the screen, you reached out to touch it. You ran your finger all around where his face was on the screen. It was very sweet and very sad for Daddy, who hates to leave us, but hates leaving you especially. You change so much, even over a few days, and he feels like he's missing a lot. But weekends are your special times together. I pretty much just show up when it's food time and let him catch up with you and get his fill of Lilah Love. :-) I guess people who see us on the weekend think I pawn him off on you or that I don't do anything, but they don't know how hard it is for me to even get my hands on you when he's home. :-) He does everything but feed you, and you love every minute.
And we love every minute of you.
Love,
Mommy
Friday, July 10, 2009
Six Months Old and Baby Firsts
Dearest Lilah,
Oh my goodness! My sweet little baby is now six months old! And you are so right on schedule with all your milestones. Such good news! You can now sit up for quite awhile unassisted. You could sit indefinitely if you never got interested in a toy out of your reach. And bless your heart, even when you tip over and fall flat on your face, you don't cry. You just look surprised, and then you flatten out and continue your quest for the toy that was eluding you. I'm not so sure that I'm ready for you to be mobile. Mommy has a lot of cleaning up and Lilah-proofing to do before she's ready for that!
Your first tooth is coming in nicely. At your six month check up today, the nurse practitioner said she saw your other bottom front tooth getting ready to join us, too. Oh my! TWO TEETH! I haven't even gotten used to the fact that you're going to have ONE tooth, let alone two! You weighed in at 15lbs, 1oz - exactly double your birth weight - and were 27 1/4 inches long. You are tall and thin, just like...well, just like no one we know! Where are you getting that from? Maybe you will even out when you start to eat real foods, but if you keep getting taller, you are going to dash my hopes of you ever wearing any of the clothes I bought for you to wear this winter! :-)
You also experienced your first Fourth of July this year! We headed out to the Saturday market that morning and you wore this little dress that said, "Miss Independent" along with a bib proclaiming that it was your first 4th. We then headed out to Target and then had to find Mommy some sparklers!!! You didn't manage to stay awake until it got dark enough to play with them, and surprisingly, our neighbors' bottle rocket wars right outside your window didn't seem to bother you, either! I decided it must be all that James Bond you help Daddy play! Daddy and I took some special long exposure pictures with the sparklers we had, though, and I wanted to make you something to remember the day by, even though you were asleep!
Another first for you was the super short trip we took to visit Aunt Jan Jan and meet her mama and daddy in Pigeon Forge, TN. I had not been to that area since about 1990! It was a lot different than I remembered. Also warmer, since I went around Christmas time :-) You are still not loving riding in the car, so it took us about 4 hours to make the 2.5 hour trip. But once we got there and out of the car, you had a pretty good time! When you needed to take a nap, Miss Curly took care of you and rocked you to sleep. I can't even do that! She has some special skills!!
You finally got cranky when it was past your bedtime, so we went back to the hotel after grabbing some dinner from a restaurant across the street. You were so tired, but you did so well! And I was SUPER proud of how well you slept in that hotel room! You had a little alcove where we put your bed and, though it took you a few minutes, you fell asleep just like you normally do, which I'm sure wasn't easy with Mommy and Daddy whispering just a few feet away!
This is you on the hotel bed!
The next day, we didn't get to meet back up with Aunt Jan Jan because she had all her family stuff going on. We missed her, but understood. I mean, afterall - she had come down to see them, not us! But we were glad for the few hours we did get! And we hope to go visit her in Detroit one day soon, maybe this fall if we can make it work :-) That might be your first plane ride!
Since Aunt Jan Jan was busy, we decided to poke around Gatlinburg a little. I bought you a few new things at the Carter's outlet and then we walked the main strip in Gatlinburg. I told your daddy we weren't leaving without an airbrushed t-shirt or an Olde Tymey photo, but he wasn't going for it. I was persistent, but he knew that sooner or later, I'd get tired and ready to go home and would leave without it. He's a smart man when it comes to me, Lilah. Remember that when you are looking for a husband: A man who is smart on you is a man who pays attention and cares. Even though we didn't get airbrushed shirts, we got matching socks, and I can't wait for us to wear them :-) We also got something better than an Olde Tymey photo: We got a photo of ourselves in the GENERAL LEE! It was the most badass car of the late 70's and early 80's, babygirl. Until KITT from Knight Rider came along, it was THE star car of television.
You might have even been as impressed as I was to be sitting in that awesome car!
And we actually got a family photo in, too. Well, sort of. Daddy was on a business call when a woman asked if we wanted our picture taken after seeing me take one of you with Daddy. I said sure and thought he'd tell the person to hang on, but nope, there he is, on his business call in our family vacation photo. That right there should give me argument enough for why I deserve a family Olde Tymey photo the next time we go there!
You have now been to all the states that surround South Carolina, so you're going to have to get right with traveling so you can branch out of the southeast! I can't wait to show you the world!
Love,
Mommy
Oh my goodness! My sweet little baby is now six months old! And you are so right on schedule with all your milestones. Such good news! You can now sit up for quite awhile unassisted. You could sit indefinitely if you never got interested in a toy out of your reach. And bless your heart, even when you tip over and fall flat on your face, you don't cry. You just look surprised, and then you flatten out and continue your quest for the toy that was eluding you. I'm not so sure that I'm ready for you to be mobile. Mommy has a lot of cleaning up and Lilah-proofing to do before she's ready for that!
Your first tooth is coming in nicely. At your six month check up today, the nurse practitioner said she saw your other bottom front tooth getting ready to join us, too. Oh my! TWO TEETH! I haven't even gotten used to the fact that you're going to have ONE tooth, let alone two! You weighed in at 15lbs, 1oz - exactly double your birth weight - and were 27 1/4 inches long. You are tall and thin, just like...well, just like no one we know! Where are you getting that from? Maybe you will even out when you start to eat real foods, but if you keep getting taller, you are going to dash my hopes of you ever wearing any of the clothes I bought for you to wear this winter! :-)
You also experienced your first Fourth of July this year! We headed out to the Saturday market that morning and you wore this little dress that said, "Miss Independent" along with a bib proclaiming that it was your first 4th. We then headed out to Target and then had to find Mommy some sparklers!!! You didn't manage to stay awake until it got dark enough to play with them, and surprisingly, our neighbors' bottle rocket wars right outside your window didn't seem to bother you, either! I decided it must be all that James Bond you help Daddy play! Daddy and I took some special long exposure pictures with the sparklers we had, though, and I wanted to make you something to remember the day by, even though you were asleep!
Another first for you was the super short trip we took to visit Aunt Jan Jan and meet her mama and daddy in Pigeon Forge, TN. I had not been to that area since about 1990! It was a lot different than I remembered. Also warmer, since I went around Christmas time :-) You are still not loving riding in the car, so it took us about 4 hours to make the 2.5 hour trip. But once we got there and out of the car, you had a pretty good time! When you needed to take a nap, Miss Curly took care of you and rocked you to sleep. I can't even do that! She has some special skills!!You finally got cranky when it was past your bedtime, so we went back to the hotel after grabbing some dinner from a restaurant across the street. You were so tired, but you did so well! And I was SUPER proud of how well you slept in that hotel room! You had a little alcove where we put your bed and, though it took you a few minutes, you fell asleep just like you normally do, which I'm sure wasn't easy with Mommy and Daddy whispering just a few feet away!
This is you on the hotel bed!The next day, we didn't get to meet back up with Aunt Jan Jan because she had all her family stuff going on. We missed her, but understood. I mean, afterall - she had come down to see them, not us! But we were glad for the few hours we did get! And we hope to go visit her in Detroit one day soon, maybe this fall if we can make it work :-) That might be your first plane ride!
Since Aunt Jan Jan was busy, we decided to poke around Gatlinburg a little. I bought you a few new things at the Carter's outlet and then we walked the main strip in Gatlinburg. I told your daddy we weren't leaving without an airbrushed t-shirt or an Olde Tymey photo, but he wasn't going for it. I was persistent, but he knew that sooner or later, I'd get tired and ready to go home and would leave without it. He's a smart man when it comes to me, Lilah. Remember that when you are looking for a husband: A man who is smart on you is a man who pays attention and cares. Even though we didn't get airbrushed shirts, we got matching socks, and I can't wait for us to wear them :-) We also got something better than an Olde Tymey photo: We got a photo of ourselves in the GENERAL LEE! It was the most badass car of the late 70's and early 80's, babygirl. Until KITT from Knight Rider came along, it was THE star car of television.
You might have even been as impressed as I was to be sitting in that awesome car! And we actually got a family photo in, too. Well, sort of. Daddy was on a business call when a woman asked if we wanted our picture taken after seeing me take one of you with Daddy. I said sure and thought he'd tell the person to hang on, but nope, there he is, on his business call in our family vacation photo. That right there should give me argument enough for why I deserve a family Olde Tymey photo the next time we go there!
You have now been to all the states that surround South Carolina, so you're going to have to get right with traveling so you can branch out of the southeast! I can't wait to show you the world!
Love,
Mommy
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Al Dente
Dearest Lilah -
Today I've mourned a little bit over the loss of a tiny piece of your babyhood: Your toothless grin. Oh how I've loved that little gummy smile of yours! So sweet. So precious. So cute and not like an old woman! I can't even imagine your mouth full of little white teeth but they're coming and the proof is in the sharp little shard of tooth on your bottom gum. Luckily, I didn't find out about your new gem the hard way - through breast feeding. No, I simply noticed as you laughed that there was a small discolored spot on your gum...it was pinker that the rest of your gum. So curious Mommy decided to feel it and lo and behold, it was as sharp as a razor! Oh how that must hurt your tender little thumb when you suck it! No wonder you've taken to putting everything in your mouth. I imagine having anything rub against that tender gum makes it feel some relief for just a moment.
I just can't believe you're going to have a mouth full of teeth soon. You're not even six months old yet? Sure, you will be in 6 days (please don't get me started on how unbelievable this is to me) but teeth? I just feel like your babyhood is slipping away, and I'm missing it...
I love you so very much I can hardly stand it. I never knew I was going to love you so much! I can't believe how incredibly blessed we are to have you in our family. I feel like I've been given such an incredible gift. I really didn't expect this at all. I'm sorry. I am sorry that I expected you to be difficult and a chore. Now I just expect that you'll keep me surprised for many years to come. Thanks for proving me wrong, though. I think your daddy especially likes that :-)
Love,
Mommy
Today I've mourned a little bit over the loss of a tiny piece of your babyhood: Your toothless grin. Oh how I've loved that little gummy smile of yours! So sweet. So precious. So cute and not like an old woman! I can't even imagine your mouth full of little white teeth but they're coming and the proof is in the sharp little shard of tooth on your bottom gum. Luckily, I didn't find out about your new gem the hard way - through breast feeding. No, I simply noticed as you laughed that there was a small discolored spot on your gum...it was pinker that the rest of your gum. So curious Mommy decided to feel it and lo and behold, it was as sharp as a razor! Oh how that must hurt your tender little thumb when you suck it! No wonder you've taken to putting everything in your mouth. I imagine having anything rub against that tender gum makes it feel some relief for just a moment.
I just can't believe you're going to have a mouth full of teeth soon. You're not even six months old yet? Sure, you will be in 6 days (please don't get me started on how unbelievable this is to me) but teeth? I just feel like your babyhood is slipping away, and I'm missing it...
I love you so very much I can hardly stand it. I never knew I was going to love you so much! I can't believe how incredibly blessed we are to have you in our family. I feel like I've been given such an incredible gift. I really didn't expect this at all. I'm sorry. I am sorry that I expected you to be difficult and a chore. Now I just expect that you'll keep me surprised for many years to come. Thanks for proving me wrong, though. I think your daddy especially likes that :-)
Love,
Mommy
Monday, June 29, 2009
I get no respect!
Dearest Lilah -
Well, well, well. As if it weren't enough to have you enter the world looking exactly like your daddy, but now you've decided that he has the best name in the world and you are going to say it and say it and say it and say it! Every morning at 6:00am, all I hear is "Squeaky squeaky, grunt DADADADADADADADADADADA." The funniest thing that has happened was yesterday morning: You woke up at 5:00 and I hoped that after feeding you, you would fall back to sleep until nearly 8:00am. Ha. Double Ha. You were up at 6:30, singing your little fuzzies songs and calling for your daddy "DaDaDaDaDaDa." Because you weren't crying and actually sounded quite happy, I decided to leave you a few minutes...just to make SURE you weren't going to fall back to sleep and give me the extra hour I so desperately needed. But you kept squeaking and "DaDa"-ing, and then all of a sudden another voice joined your choir: Sully Cat. He realized one of the "people" were awake and hoped you could help him out by putting food in his bowl. You said "Squeaky Squeaky" and he would say, "MEOOOOOOW! MEOOOOOOOW!" It was early, but I was lying in bed cracking up and wondering how long it would be before the two of you woke up your daddy with all that noise. So I after a few minutes I went in and got you to bring you into bed with me.
When I bring you into the big bed, you are always wide awake. It is so hard to get you to sleep, because you want to be AWAKE. I usually lie sleepily beside you and let you chatter away and poke me in the eyes and mouth and pull my hair. Occasionally I will nod off, and then you'll poke your finger in my eye and I'll say, "eye. Eye. You're poking me in the Eye." It's a teachable moment. I like to keep this supersoft fuzzy blanket on the bed and sleep under it instead of the comforter. It feels so good that I don't even care that it's 70 degrees in the room and I really don't NEED a king sized supersoft fuzzy blanket on my bed. And you like it, too. Daddy likes to wrap you up in it any time we end up in the bedroom during the day, and we say, "Oh-Wee! Look at the little bitty baby in her blankie!" and you LAUGH! This morning when I brought you into the bed with me, you thought it would be a good idea to puke all over both of us. So we got out of our pukey tops and just snuggled up in the blanket. I put you on top and wrapped it all around you to make you like a little baby taco, and I was under the big part next to you. We both got so comfy that within a few minutes, we fell back to sleep!
It was a good thing we got that extra sleep this morning since you took NO NAPS today! You dozed a few minutes at daddy's office and then a few minutes when you went out to the grocery store with me. I tried to put you down for a nap when we got home, but you popped your eyes open and started chewing on your elephant friend. I went back in because you were making so much noise, I knew you weren't going to fall asleep. While I stood there, you decided you were tired of looking at me from your belly and flipped yourself right over on your back! It's the first time I've seen you do that while you were trying! You seemed so pleased and surprised. You actually always seem pleased and surprised when you do something new. I guess that's pretty approrpriate :-) I probably look pleased and surprised, too.
You are just so much fun and we enjoy you every day. I cannot thank you enough for being the most awesome baby EVER.
Love,
Mommy
Well, well, well. As if it weren't enough to have you enter the world looking exactly like your daddy, but now you've decided that he has the best name in the world and you are going to say it and say it and say it and say it! Every morning at 6:00am, all I hear is "Squeaky squeaky, grunt DADADADADADADADADADADA." The funniest thing that has happened was yesterday morning: You woke up at 5:00 and I hoped that after feeding you, you would fall back to sleep until nearly 8:00am. Ha. Double Ha. You were up at 6:30, singing your little fuzzies songs and calling for your daddy "DaDaDaDaDaDa." Because you weren't crying and actually sounded quite happy, I decided to leave you a few minutes...just to make SURE you weren't going to fall back to sleep and give me the extra hour I so desperately needed. But you kept squeaking and "DaDa"-ing, and then all of a sudden another voice joined your choir: Sully Cat. He realized one of the "people" were awake and hoped you could help him out by putting food in his bowl. You said "Squeaky Squeaky" and he would say, "MEOOOOOOW! MEOOOOOOOW!" It was early, but I was lying in bed cracking up and wondering how long it would be before the two of you woke up your daddy with all that noise. So I after a few minutes I went in and got you to bring you into bed with me.
When I bring you into the big bed, you are always wide awake. It is so hard to get you to sleep, because you want to be AWAKE. I usually lie sleepily beside you and let you chatter away and poke me in the eyes and mouth and pull my hair. Occasionally I will nod off, and then you'll poke your finger in my eye and I'll say, "eye. Eye. You're poking me in the Eye." It's a teachable moment. I like to keep this supersoft fuzzy blanket on the bed and sleep under it instead of the comforter. It feels so good that I don't even care that it's 70 degrees in the room and I really don't NEED a king sized supersoft fuzzy blanket on my bed. And you like it, too. Daddy likes to wrap you up in it any time we end up in the bedroom during the day, and we say, "Oh-Wee! Look at the little bitty baby in her blankie!" and you LAUGH! This morning when I brought you into the bed with me, you thought it would be a good idea to puke all over both of us. So we got out of our pukey tops and just snuggled up in the blanket. I put you on top and wrapped it all around you to make you like a little baby taco, and I was under the big part next to you. We both got so comfy that within a few minutes, we fell back to sleep!
It was a good thing we got that extra sleep this morning since you took NO NAPS today! You dozed a few minutes at daddy's office and then a few minutes when you went out to the grocery store with me. I tried to put you down for a nap when we got home, but you popped your eyes open and started chewing on your elephant friend. I went back in because you were making so much noise, I knew you weren't going to fall asleep. While I stood there, you decided you were tired of looking at me from your belly and flipped yourself right over on your back! It's the first time I've seen you do that while you were trying! You seemed so pleased and surprised. You actually always seem pleased and surprised when you do something new. I guess that's pretty approrpriate :-) I probably look pleased and surprised, too.
You are just so much fun and we enjoy you every day. I cannot thank you enough for being the most awesome baby EVER.
Love,
Mommy
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Le Mort de le Roi
Dearest Lilah,
Ok, little did Mommy know that when she used the phrase "G'on" in her earlier post that she was experiencing some eerie foreshadowing.
Michael Jackson died today at the age of 50.
Why is this significant?
So glad you asked.
Michael Jackson was probably the BIGGEST star in music and even in all of entertainment when I was growing up. He had been singing since around 1964 - which is 13 years before Mommy was even born - so he had been entertaining people for a long time. But in the early 1980's, he really sort of coined a new sound and became very famous as a solo artist. Everyone liked Michael Jackson. He was the awesomest. He was called "The King of Pop." He's been a little reclusive in the past few years. He was a strange man. He had a lot of plastic surgery and was accused of doing bad things to some children. He had three kids who - honestly - they are not his biological children. But a lot of people still really liked him, and so a lot of people are really sad.
I have lived through a similar experience, though I don't remember it. When I was six months old, Elvis Presley died. He was called "The King of Rock and Roll." He had also become somewhat reclusive shortly before he died. He had problems with drugs and - like Michael Jackson - died from cardiac arrest. But he had made a much longer lasting impact on people and so there were a lot of very sad people. He was also not very old when he died.
Anyway - I wanted to write about it for you, because it'll be something that you hear people talking about, and you can say that you were 5.5 months old and that you had just rolled over front to back for the first time that day.
Love,
Mommy
Ok, little did Mommy know that when she used the phrase "G'on" in her earlier post that she was experiencing some eerie foreshadowing.
Michael Jackson died today at the age of 50.
Why is this significant?
So glad you asked.
Michael Jackson was probably the BIGGEST star in music and even in all of entertainment when I was growing up. He had been singing since around 1964 - which is 13 years before Mommy was even born - so he had been entertaining people for a long time. But in the early 1980's, he really sort of coined a new sound and became very famous as a solo artist. Everyone liked Michael Jackson. He was the awesomest. He was called "The King of Pop." He's been a little reclusive in the past few years. He was a strange man. He had a lot of plastic surgery and was accused of doing bad things to some children. He had three kids who - honestly - they are not his biological children. But a lot of people still really liked him, and so a lot of people are really sad.
I have lived through a similar experience, though I don't remember it. When I was six months old, Elvis Presley died. He was called "The King of Rock and Roll." He had also become somewhat reclusive shortly before he died. He had problems with drugs and - like Michael Jackson - died from cardiac arrest. But he had made a much longer lasting impact on people and so there were a lot of very sad people. He was also not very old when he died.
Anyway - I wanted to write about it for you, because it'll be something that you hear people talking about, and you can say that you were 5.5 months old and that you had just rolled over front to back for the first time that day.
Love,
Mommy
G'on with your bad self!
Dearest Lilah -
Well, well, well...guess you decided that you didn't want to be a one trick pony after all, since you rolled front to back today for the first time! I'm not sure how intentional it was - you were on your back on one side of the blanket and rolled to the front and I guess had enough momentum to just keep right on going until you were on your back again. You looked shocked but pleased. It was very funny.
As you had been playing, I saw you trying to pivot yourself back over onto your back, but you still don't quite have it down.
But that's ok, baby. You're growing up fast enough as it is. I'm in no hurry.
Love,
Mommy
Well, well, well...guess you decided that you didn't want to be a one trick pony after all, since you rolled front to back today for the first time! I'm not sure how intentional it was - you were on your back on one side of the blanket and rolled to the front and I guess had enough momentum to just keep right on going until you were on your back again. You looked shocked but pleased. It was very funny.
As you had been playing, I saw you trying to pivot yourself back over onto your back, but you still don't quite have it down.
But that's ok, baby. You're growing up fast enough as it is. I'm in no hurry.
Love,
Mommy
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
One "L" of a girl!
Dearest Lilah -
I am *SO* not doing this blog justice. My intention was to write something to you every day, even if it was just something small. And I do write something every day, it just doesn't usually make it out of my head. :-( I need to recommit myself to keeping up with your babyhood, because in just a minute, it'll be gone and then what? I'll have nothing for you to see when you are older and will forgotten all the great things I wanted to tell you.
But here is what I remember of the last couple of weeks.
You are getting QUITE chatty. One of your favorite things to do is practice with your tongue. There were a few days there where you just had it sticking out and stuck to your top lip on the side all.the.time. I can't help but think it has something to do with the fact that you like for me to do "Lizard Tongue" for you. You always smile and laugh. Not only do you keep that tongue stuck out, but you try to talk with it out. You are trying so hard to make the words you think we make. I don't think you're anywhere near ready to talk or say a word, but it's not from your lack of interest. You're definitely going to be a talker before a walker, I think :-)
You're a champion of rolling over back to front these days, though you still haven't tried to roll over from the front to the back. I think it's because you have no interest in being on your back, so you just don't try. If you wanted to be there, you'd roll. You don't, so you won't. It's simple, really. But you're doing very well holding yourself up on your elbows and you can drag yourself around in circles a bit. One day I put you on the floor on your back and when I came back from the bathroom, you had flipped over and dragged yourself to a pile of papers in the floor and started to eat them! This has lead me to dread when the true baby-proofing starts. Your daddy and I are just not really good about keeping all the danger off the floor. And everywhere I look in the house, I see the danger!
You continue to enamor everyone who sees you. After the week where you were toted around restaurants by the owners, your daddy took you to the bank where one of the tellers took you off to show you around the bank. Today at lunch, a lady at another table said you were the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. When we were in Tuscaloosa last week, a lady in the Supe Store said you were the cutest thing she had seen in the whole store. And so it continues, your spell that you cast on anyone who sees you. It's always the same, "She's so happy!" "She's so cute!" "Is she always like that?" and of course yes, yes, and yes are our feelings on those statements and questions. All I can say is thank you and thank God.
Love,
Mommy
I am *SO* not doing this blog justice. My intention was to write something to you every day, even if it was just something small. And I do write something every day, it just doesn't usually make it out of my head. :-( I need to recommit myself to keeping up with your babyhood, because in just a minute, it'll be gone and then what? I'll have nothing for you to see when you are older and will forgotten all the great things I wanted to tell you.
But here is what I remember of the last couple of weeks.
You are getting QUITE chatty. One of your favorite things to do is practice with your tongue. There were a few days there where you just had it sticking out and stuck to your top lip on the side all.the.time. I can't help but think it has something to do with the fact that you like for me to do "Lizard Tongue" for you. You always smile and laugh. Not only do you keep that tongue stuck out, but you try to talk with it out. You are trying so hard to make the words you think we make. I don't think you're anywhere near ready to talk or say a word, but it's not from your lack of interest. You're definitely going to be a talker before a walker, I think :-)
You're a champion of rolling over back to front these days, though you still haven't tried to roll over from the front to the back. I think it's because you have no interest in being on your back, so you just don't try. If you wanted to be there, you'd roll. You don't, so you won't. It's simple, really. But you're doing very well holding yourself up on your elbows and you can drag yourself around in circles a bit. One day I put you on the floor on your back and when I came back from the bathroom, you had flipped over and dragged yourself to a pile of papers in the floor and started to eat them! This has lead me to dread when the true baby-proofing starts. Your daddy and I are just not really good about keeping all the danger off the floor. And everywhere I look in the house, I see the danger!
You continue to enamor everyone who sees you. After the week where you were toted around restaurants by the owners, your daddy took you to the bank where one of the tellers took you off to show you around the bank. Today at lunch, a lady at another table said you were the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. When we were in Tuscaloosa last week, a lady in the Supe Store said you were the cutest thing she had seen in the whole store. And so it continues, your spell that you cast on anyone who sees you. It's always the same, "She's so happy!" "She's so cute!" "Is she always like that?" and of course yes, yes, and yes are our feelings on those statements and questions. All I can say is thank you and thank God.
Love,
Mommy
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Like a Rolling Stone -
Yesterday was HUGE.
You rolled over. Not for the very first time, but for the first time on purpose. Multiple Times. Three times in about 10 minutes, to be exact. I was so proud of you! I can't believe how big you are getting...you have almost grown completely out of your size 2 diapers, too. I'm very interested to see how much you weigh when we take you to your next doctor's appointment. I'm guessing 15 pounds. BIG GIRL!
We had a long week without daddy here, but we were able to do some fun things. You have been sitting in your Bebe Pod and actually playing with the toy that is on it for the past week or so. Before I would put you in there and you just fell over, having zero interest in that toy whatsoever. Your rapid development is absolutely stunning to me, and I can't even imagine if it went any faster, like some of your baby friends. You may not be ahead of the game, but I'm kind of ok with that. I want you to enjoy being a baby. I don't want to pressure you to do anything faster than the pace you are working at. It's too much fun to watch you learn.
You've also been sticking out your tongue lately ALL. THE. TIME. What is that? Is it because you like when I make the funny lizard tongue noises at you? Is it because you hear your name all the time and you're trying to figure out how to make an "L"? It is always stuck out and curled up over the right side of your lip. It's hysterical. And you lick EVERYTHING. "What's this? My toy? I will lick it!" "What's this? My bib? I will lick it!!" "What's this? A rock? I will lick it!" "What's this? The dog? I will lick it!" and so on and so forth. I know that they say that our tongues are the most sensitive parts of our bodies and that's why babies use them to figure out their surroundings, but it's just too funny watching that little pink tongue touch everything it can.
You are such a big girl. You turned five months old this week and I cannot even believe it. Everything is so different now. You have started taking regular naps in the morning and the afternoon, even if the times change a little bit from day to day. You go to sleep on your own most nights. I just put you down and you peek over the top of your crib at me and smile. I tell you "Night Night! I love you." and then when I leave, you have a little chat with your fuzzies and the next thing I know, you're out for your longest sleep cycle. I feel really guilty putting you to bed when you're asleep. I feel like I'm missing out on time that I could be looking at you or playing with you, but I know you are tired and you need the rest. It's in your sleep that your hair grows, I'm convinced. Every day when you wake up, it's longer!
I can't believe how much I miss your infancy. I mean, now you are a baby, but you aren't a newborn anymore. And that's wierd. To me, anyway. I feel like you're going to be grown up soon and I will have missed something very important. The first month or two you were here it was so much about just surviving...learning who you were as a new person and trying to keep you happy. As much as I would like to give you a sibling sometimes, I don't know how I could "survive" that time again with a new person and still give you all the love and attention and time that I want to give you. Of course, part of me can't even believe I'm talking about another baby but once you have one, it definitely is like a switch is thrown and you want another. Even if you don't want another. At least that is how it has been for me. I remember when you were two weeks old and I was sitting on the couch, holding you and looking at you and marveling at the perfection of you and I told your daddy that I wanted TWELVE MORE BABIES. I just could not imagine the rest of my life not having one of these little sleepy squishy precious dreaming babies in my arms. And that is still true, somewhere in the crazy part of me. But don't worry, sweetie. You will not have to contend with 11 brothers and sisters. I promise.
Love,
Mommy
Monday, June 8, 2009
Five Months
Dearest Lilah -
Wow...you are five months old today and I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. I feel like you've always been here and like you just got here. How can that be? I am positive that you were just that little squishy baby that we brought home in January, and now you are a big girl, sitting up unassisted for bits and pieces at a time and getting stronger at it every try; figuring out that crazy tongue in your mouth by twisting it up and down and around and touching it to everything; smiling and making friends wherever we go; chewing chewing chewing; holding a big girl cup and chewing on the spout; going to sleep by yourself in your crib, even if you were eyes wide open when I laid you down; petting your animals anytime they get within reach and so many other accomplishments!
I took you outside yesterday to commemorate your five months here with us "on the outside."
We braved the mosquitoes and ate outside on the patio Saturday night with your Uncle Zufall. You were tired but put on a good cute show for Z.
And finally, just to really make the point of your massive growth over the last few months, I want to share these pictures. This is you at 6 weeks old during your first bath.
This is you on Saturday night, looking like a completely different child, and obviously loving the bath!
You have been SO much fun, Lilah. We can take you anywhere. You smiled your way through five hours of farm tours, long days with just me as a care giver, long car rides, multiple trips to Target, multiple nursings in public places - Falls Park, Soby's on the Side, Target parking lot - and of course, countless "past your bedtime meals" including one tonight at Schwaben House, a new German restaurant in town. You, of course, were the hit of the joint, and one of the owners had to take you back to the office to share with his family.
You are an absolute dream baby. Everywhere we take you, people want to touch you and talk to you. It can be unnerving. It seems like people like babies. But not everyone reacts to babies the same way they react to you. And maybe we're just very proud parents and we obviously don't see other people's babies all the time, so maybe we're wrong, but it just seems like you have something that people are drawn to. And if nothing else, I hope it means you are destined for great, great things.
But you don't have to go do them so fast, ok? Because you're getting so big so fast and I feel like I'm missing it.
Love,
Mommy
Wow...you are five months old today and I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. I feel like you've always been here and like you just got here. How can that be? I am positive that you were just that little squishy baby that we brought home in January, and now you are a big girl, sitting up unassisted for bits and pieces at a time and getting stronger at it every try; figuring out that crazy tongue in your mouth by twisting it up and down and around and touching it to everything; smiling and making friends wherever we go; chewing chewing chewing; holding a big girl cup and chewing on the spout; going to sleep by yourself in your crib, even if you were eyes wide open when I laid you down; petting your animals anytime they get within reach and so many other accomplishments!
I took you outside yesterday to commemorate your five months here with us "on the outside."
We braved the mosquitoes and ate outside on the patio Saturday night with your Uncle Zufall. You were tired but put on a good cute show for Z.
And finally, just to really make the point of your massive growth over the last few months, I want to share these pictures. This is you at 6 weeks old during your first bath.
This is you on Saturday night, looking like a completely different child, and obviously loving the bath!
You have been SO much fun, Lilah. We can take you anywhere. You smiled your way through five hours of farm tours, long days with just me as a care giver, long car rides, multiple trips to Target, multiple nursings in public places - Falls Park, Soby's on the Side, Target parking lot - and of course, countless "past your bedtime meals" including one tonight at Schwaben House, a new German restaurant in town. You, of course, were the hit of the joint, and one of the owners had to take you back to the office to share with his family.
You are an absolute dream baby. Everywhere we take you, people want to touch you and talk to you. It can be unnerving. It seems like people like babies. But not everyone reacts to babies the same way they react to you. And maybe we're just very proud parents and we obviously don't see other people's babies all the time, so maybe we're wrong, but it just seems like you have something that people are drawn to. And if nothing else, I hope it means you are destined for great, great things.But you don't have to go do them so fast, ok? Because you're getting so big so fast and I feel like I'm missing it.
Love,
Mommy
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Ain't No Thang
Dearest Lilah -
Just a quick little tidbit that I wanted to get written down because it was funny, but I'll forget, and this is the kind of story you like to hear when you're my age about you when you were your age:
When I came to get you out of your crib this morning, you had pulled your arm inside your pajama top so that your elbow was coming out towards the end of the sleeve and your hand was up near the neck.
It looked like you had one arm and one chicken wing.
Love,
Mommy
Just a quick little tidbit that I wanted to get written down because it was funny, but I'll forget, and this is the kind of story you like to hear when you're my age about you when you were your age:
When I came to get you out of your crib this morning, you had pulled your arm inside your pajama top so that your elbow was coming out towards the end of the sleeve and your hand was up near the neck.
It looked like you had one arm and one chicken wing.
Love,
Mommy
Friday, May 15, 2009
It's all Greek to me!
Dearest Lilah,
We had another big week together this week, you and I. I finally feel like you know who I am and that you kind of sort of like me. And can I say, I kind of sort of like you back! I always feel more accomplished when we leave the house and go somewhere during the day, even if it's just for a little while. So every day when you woke up and helped Mommy get showered and dressed, we went out. A trip to the store here. A stop at the coffee shop there. Just to get out of the house. And I'm sorry to say that here, on Friday, I have totally forgotten what we did each day this week. But I do remember all the sweet smiles that you've given me this week. You have the best smile; people LOVE it when they talk to you and you flash that big, toothless grin back at them. And then I'm sure they look at me and wonder how this tired looking hag managed to give birth to such a cute baby.
You've started to cuddle. Put your head on my shoulder. It makes my heart melt into a big old puddle. It's just so...sweet. You just surrender yourself to me. You know I will hold you. You know I will take care of you, so you just put your head down and make yourself comfy.
Today we met Mary and Catie at the Greek Festival. Last year at the Greek Festival, I had just found out I was expecting you and I was looking forward to eating at the festival for all four days. But then, something happened. I didn't feel well after I ate there alone on Thursday, and then when your Daddy and I went back on Saturday, I didn't feel well at ALL. I ate and tried to ignore my nausea, but it didn't help. And that was the last time I have eaten a traditional gyro! For a long time, I couldn't even think about Greek food. The mere thought of a pita made me so sick I almost threw up. I finally got over that, thank goodness, because Daddy had a hard time avoiding driving past every restaurant in town that had anything greek in it. To this day, I am not ready to eat a traditional Gyro, so I tried the beef tenderloin version today. Holy moly, baby. I hope you enjoyed that second hand later this afternoon as much as I did. You were so well behaved while I ate. Just put that sweet head on my shoulder and sucked your carrier. :-)
We met Uncle Zufall for lunch on Thursday; we ate at our favorite buffet, Handi. You kept trying to eat the tablecloth. Before we got there, you totally pooped through your pants, so you had to go to lunch pantsless. Let me just tell you, baby, that is something you can only get away with now. As you grow older, it will become less and less acceptable to dine out without pants. And also it will be less acceptable to poop on yourself.
You had a big week for postcards this week, too. We got one from Aunt Tinita in New York, one from Miss Kim from London, and one from Uncle Zufall from his trip to the Grand Canyon. I really hope you like all of your postcards and that people continue to send them. I mean, if not, that's ok because I've gotten a lot of enjoyment from them. Mommy loves mail. :-)
Tomorrow, we're going to a party at the birth center, unless Midwife Linda's daughter is having her baby. Then it will be at Miss Mary's house. Then we're going to a baby shower for Daddy's friend Katie. She hasn't seen you in person since you were 2 weeks old. She'll be surprised at how big you've gotten! Daddy is looking forward to showing you off, I think.
Thanks for another good week, Lilah. I'm looking forward to the next one!
Love,
Mommy
We had another big week together this week, you and I. I finally feel like you know who I am and that you kind of sort of like me. And can I say, I kind of sort of like you back! I always feel more accomplished when we leave the house and go somewhere during the day, even if it's just for a little while. So every day when you woke up and helped Mommy get showered and dressed, we went out. A trip to the store here. A stop at the coffee shop there. Just to get out of the house. And I'm sorry to say that here, on Friday, I have totally forgotten what we did each day this week. But I do remember all the sweet smiles that you've given me this week. You have the best smile; people LOVE it when they talk to you and you flash that big, toothless grin back at them. And then I'm sure they look at me and wonder how this tired looking hag managed to give birth to such a cute baby.
You've started to cuddle. Put your head on my shoulder. It makes my heart melt into a big old puddle. It's just so...sweet. You just surrender yourself to me. You know I will hold you. You know I will take care of you, so you just put your head down and make yourself comfy.
Today we met Mary and Catie at the Greek Festival. Last year at the Greek Festival, I had just found out I was expecting you and I was looking forward to eating at the festival for all four days. But then, something happened. I didn't feel well after I ate there alone on Thursday, and then when your Daddy and I went back on Saturday, I didn't feel well at ALL. I ate and tried to ignore my nausea, but it didn't help. And that was the last time I have eaten a traditional gyro! For a long time, I couldn't even think about Greek food. The mere thought of a pita made me so sick I almost threw up. I finally got over that, thank goodness, because Daddy had a hard time avoiding driving past every restaurant in town that had anything greek in it. To this day, I am not ready to eat a traditional Gyro, so I tried the beef tenderloin version today. Holy moly, baby. I hope you enjoyed that second hand later this afternoon as much as I did. You were so well behaved while I ate. Just put that sweet head on my shoulder and sucked your carrier. :-)
We met Uncle Zufall for lunch on Thursday; we ate at our favorite buffet, Handi. You kept trying to eat the tablecloth. Before we got there, you totally pooped through your pants, so you had to go to lunch pantsless. Let me just tell you, baby, that is something you can only get away with now. As you grow older, it will become less and less acceptable to dine out without pants. And also it will be less acceptable to poop on yourself.
You had a big week for postcards this week, too. We got one from Aunt Tinita in New York, one from Miss Kim from London, and one from Uncle Zufall from his trip to the Grand Canyon. I really hope you like all of your postcards and that people continue to send them. I mean, if not, that's ok because I've gotten a lot of enjoyment from them. Mommy loves mail. :-)
Tomorrow, we're going to a party at the birth center, unless Midwife Linda's daughter is having her baby. Then it will be at Miss Mary's house. Then we're going to a baby shower for Daddy's friend Katie. She hasn't seen you in person since you were 2 weeks old. She'll be surprised at how big you've gotten! Daddy is looking forward to showing you off, I think.
Thanks for another good week, Lilah. I'm looking forward to the next one!
Love,
Mommy
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
More presents for me!
Dearest Lilah,
Bless your sweet heart - you have given Mommy a new holiday to celebrate! Mommy loves holidays that are just for her; just ask Daddy. He'll tell you about how I celebrate "Birth Month" for the entire duration of February because I think I'm just that special. :-)
For my very first Mother's Day, you were sweet enough to tell Daddy that I like to pick out my own presents. Luckily, Daddy ignored all the hints I dropped about wanting this necklace:
I wanted this necklace for mother's day SO BAD. I wanted silver January with a red jewel on your birthdate. However, the Friday before Mother's Day, it was featured on the Ellen show. So NOW everyone in the free world will be wearing this necklace. It doesn't make it less awesome...except that yeah, it does a little bit. Anyway, due to Daddy's negligence in attending to my every whim, I was able to pick out TWO beautiful necklaces at our local art festival, Artisphere. One is an oxidized sterling swirl with a pretty little chocolate diamond in the center. The other is a mixture of oxidized silver with gold and highly polished silver. So pretty, and so awesome to have them as a reminder of my very first mother's day!
On Sunday, Gramma and Grandpa came up for lunch. We showed them the garden and took a few pictures before they left
Later we had dinner with Uncle Tripp, Aunt Gina, Seph and Grandmama. You sat with Grandmama while we ate and laughed and laughed. You seemed to have a good day with all those people giving you good love!!
And the presents keep coming! Today, Miss Big Girl, I put you in the floor to play while I folded clothes next to you. And there you went, rolling over from your back to your front! You seemed so proud of yourself, like, "Hey - did you see that? I can move!"
We also went and visited your baby friend Hannah today. You were so sweet; you looked at her like she was the most amazing thing you'd ever seen. And when she started to cry, you started to cry. I hope this means that you have a great capacity for empathy, and will always think of others feelings, consider what they are going through, and how your actions may affect them. I feel that would be one of my great acheivements as a mother if you learn this.
You've had a hard day today; you're teething and having some tummy troubles. You went to sleep at 6:30 so I can only imagine that means another long/late night for us. I hope that you know that even when I'm so tired I can barely function, I still love you to pieces. I know you'd rather sleep all night and get good rest and that you're not doing this to be mean to me. But I would appreciate it if you'd start sleeping a little bit longer at a time. Mommy still needs her beauty sleep!
Love,
Mommy
Bless your sweet heart - you have given Mommy a new holiday to celebrate! Mommy loves holidays that are just for her; just ask Daddy. He'll tell you about how I celebrate "Birth Month" for the entire duration of February because I think I'm just that special. :-)
For my very first Mother's Day, you were sweet enough to tell Daddy that I like to pick out my own presents. Luckily, Daddy ignored all the hints I dropped about wanting this necklace:
I wanted this necklace for mother's day SO BAD. I wanted silver January with a red jewel on your birthdate. However, the Friday before Mother's Day, it was featured on the Ellen show. So NOW everyone in the free world will be wearing this necklace. It doesn't make it less awesome...except that yeah, it does a little bit. Anyway, due to Daddy's negligence in attending to my every whim, I was able to pick out TWO beautiful necklaces at our local art festival, Artisphere. One is an oxidized sterling swirl with a pretty little chocolate diamond in the center. The other is a mixture of oxidized silver with gold and highly polished silver. So pretty, and so awesome to have them as a reminder of my very first mother's day!
On Sunday, Gramma and Grandpa came up for lunch. We showed them the garden and took a few pictures before they left
Later we had dinner with Uncle Tripp, Aunt Gina, Seph and Grandmama. You sat with Grandmama while we ate and laughed and laughed. You seemed to have a good day with all those people giving you good love!!And the presents keep coming! Today, Miss Big Girl, I put you in the floor to play while I folded clothes next to you. And there you went, rolling over from your back to your front! You seemed so proud of yourself, like, "Hey - did you see that? I can move!"
We also went and visited your baby friend Hannah today. You were so sweet; you looked at her like she was the most amazing thing you'd ever seen. And when she started to cry, you started to cry. I hope this means that you have a great capacity for empathy, and will always think of others feelings, consider what they are going through, and how your actions may affect them. I feel that would be one of my great acheivements as a mother if you learn this.
You've had a hard day today; you're teething and having some tummy troubles. You went to sleep at 6:30 so I can only imagine that means another long/late night for us. I hope that you know that even when I'm so tired I can barely function, I still love you to pieces. I know you'd rather sleep all night and get good rest and that you're not doing this to be mean to me. But I would appreciate it if you'd start sleeping a little bit longer at a time. Mommy still needs her beauty sleep!
Love,
Mommy
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Average is the new AWESOME.
Dearest Lilah -
Yesterday I took you to your 4-month-old well baby check. You had to get a shot :-( I hate it when you have to get a shot. Luckily you won't have to get another one until June! You have grown so much since your 2-month appointment! You weighed 12 pounds, 14 ounces and were 24.5 inches long! You also have a 40cm head circumference, whatever that means. On the chart it comes out to being in the exact 50th percentile on each, so you are my perfectly average baby! And baby, there is nothing I love more than being average! I had a perfectly average pregnancy with you, a perfectly average birth and now you are my perfectly average baby. You know what I like about average? It's good. It may not be spectacular, but who needs that drama? You keep on being average, love. It's a good road. Besides, I figure if you stay mostly average now, it leaves you open to having some above average tendencies elsewhere. :-)
One question I meant to ask the nurse practioner while we were there was when you can figure out whether a person will be right- or left-handed. You seem to be exhibiting some left-handed tendencies...you usually are grabbing things with your left hand, but you do use your right hand from time to time. And you always are petting yourself with your left hand. I'm fine, by the way, if you are left-handed. I have long suspected that your Uncle Patrick was supposed to be left-handed, because he writes with his hand turned so far in, he might as well be writing with his other hand. Watch him some time if you have the chance - it's interesting. Just don't expect to be able to read anything he writes. He has horrible handwriting.
After your shot, we went to Target and wandered around for a bit waiting for Roly Poly to open. In the meantime, the bottom fell out and we got stuck running to the car in the rain. Luckily for you, you were zipped up in my rain coat, sleeping away. Then we went and I ate some soup and a sandwich. After the rain let up, we went out to Artisphere so I could scope the scene for our trip there today. I saw a lot of things I liked. :-) The shot and the travels must have worn you out; you went to sleep at 7:30 and slept until 5:30am!!! God bless you, little baby, for sleeping ten hours and allowing Mommy six straight hours of sleep for the first time since PROBABLY November 2008. I hate that you had to be pumped full of nasty germs to get you to sleep, but I hope it was a nice, restorative sleep for you. You certainly seemed in a good mood when you finally got up for the day at 8:30am. You were smiling and talking to your fuzzies.
We got up and went out to the Saturday Market downtown and got a local steak for dinner plus some pretty, fresh, still on the root spinach and some fresh ravioli and gnocchi. We love going to the market. Mommy always gets Shrimp and Grits on Saturdays for breakfast with an iced coffee or latte from our local roaster, West End Coffee. Then we walked on down to Artisphere. We used some gift money that Gramma and Grandpa gave us for our anniversary to buy a beautiful mirror made of enamel fused to copper. Then you and Daddy let me pick out two pretty mother's day gifts (because daddy did not buy them already for me to get tomorrow, but that's ok. What I wanted him to buy me was featured on the "Ellen" show on Friday, so now everyone will have one and it wouldn't be special anymore): Two, beautiful necklaces! One is oxidized sterling silver and has a chocolate diamond in the center of the swirl. The other is a sterling silver piece with different colors oxidized onto it, then an open cutwork piece of 14k Gold, and then another open cutwork piece but in sterling silver. It is so very cool! I am so lucky to have a very interesting and special jewelry collection thanks to your daddy. You stand to inherit a pretty awesome stash of sterling jewelry! (Mommy's not into the expensive stuff. LOL) Of course, I bought myself a little mother's day gift...sort of. It's for me now, but I will give it to you when you're older, probably for your 16th birthday: It's a sterling silver pendant that is a zero with a nine inside, representing the year you were born! I just think it is neat; I wish there was a cool way to creat a "77" for me. Then again, that might just clue people in to how ancient I am. :-)
Anyway, I want to thank you again for being an awesome baby. Your Gramma is going to come see you tomorrow and share my first mother's day with me. I need to figure out how to make myself presentable since I'd like a "3 generations" picture on my first mother's day :-) But since all my hair is trying to fall out (thanks hormones!) it's hard to feel pretty these days. Oh yeah, and my stomach pooch...(thanks baby!)
Love,
Mommy
Yesterday I took you to your 4-month-old well baby check. You had to get a shot :-( I hate it when you have to get a shot. Luckily you won't have to get another one until June! You have grown so much since your 2-month appointment! You weighed 12 pounds, 14 ounces and were 24.5 inches long! You also have a 40cm head circumference, whatever that means. On the chart it comes out to being in the exact 50th percentile on each, so you are my perfectly average baby! And baby, there is nothing I love more than being average! I had a perfectly average pregnancy with you, a perfectly average birth and now you are my perfectly average baby. You know what I like about average? It's good. It may not be spectacular, but who needs that drama? You keep on being average, love. It's a good road. Besides, I figure if you stay mostly average now, it leaves you open to having some above average tendencies elsewhere. :-)
One question I meant to ask the nurse practioner while we were there was when you can figure out whether a person will be right- or left-handed. You seem to be exhibiting some left-handed tendencies...you usually are grabbing things with your left hand, but you do use your right hand from time to time. And you always are petting yourself with your left hand. I'm fine, by the way, if you are left-handed. I have long suspected that your Uncle Patrick was supposed to be left-handed, because he writes with his hand turned so far in, he might as well be writing with his other hand. Watch him some time if you have the chance - it's interesting. Just don't expect to be able to read anything he writes. He has horrible handwriting.
After your shot, we went to Target and wandered around for a bit waiting for Roly Poly to open. In the meantime, the bottom fell out and we got stuck running to the car in the rain. Luckily for you, you were zipped up in my rain coat, sleeping away. Then we went and I ate some soup and a sandwich. After the rain let up, we went out to Artisphere so I could scope the scene for our trip there today. I saw a lot of things I liked. :-) The shot and the travels must have worn you out; you went to sleep at 7:30 and slept until 5:30am!!! God bless you, little baby, for sleeping ten hours and allowing Mommy six straight hours of sleep for the first time since PROBABLY November 2008. I hate that you had to be pumped full of nasty germs to get you to sleep, but I hope it was a nice, restorative sleep for you. You certainly seemed in a good mood when you finally got up for the day at 8:30am. You were smiling and talking to your fuzzies.
We got up and went out to the Saturday Market downtown and got a local steak for dinner plus some pretty, fresh, still on the root spinach and some fresh ravioli and gnocchi. We love going to the market. Mommy always gets Shrimp and Grits on Saturdays for breakfast with an iced coffee or latte from our local roaster, West End Coffee. Then we walked on down to Artisphere. We used some gift money that Gramma and Grandpa gave us for our anniversary to buy a beautiful mirror made of enamel fused to copper. Then you and Daddy let me pick out two pretty mother's day gifts (because daddy did not buy them already for me to get tomorrow, but that's ok. What I wanted him to buy me was featured on the "Ellen" show on Friday, so now everyone will have one and it wouldn't be special anymore): Two, beautiful necklaces! One is oxidized sterling silver and has a chocolate diamond in the center of the swirl. The other is a sterling silver piece with different colors oxidized onto it, then an open cutwork piece of 14k Gold, and then another open cutwork piece but in sterling silver. It is so very cool! I am so lucky to have a very interesting and special jewelry collection thanks to your daddy. You stand to inherit a pretty awesome stash of sterling jewelry! (Mommy's not into the expensive stuff. LOL) Of course, I bought myself a little mother's day gift...sort of. It's for me now, but I will give it to you when you're older, probably for your 16th birthday: It's a sterling silver pendant that is a zero with a nine inside, representing the year you were born! I just think it is neat; I wish there was a cool way to creat a "77" for me. Then again, that might just clue people in to how ancient I am. :-)
Anyway, I want to thank you again for being an awesome baby. Your Gramma is going to come see you tomorrow and share my first mother's day with me. I need to figure out how to make myself presentable since I'd like a "3 generations" picture on my first mother's day :-) But since all my hair is trying to fall out (thanks hormones!) it's hard to feel pretty these days. Oh yeah, and my stomach pooch...(thanks baby!)
Love,
Mommy
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Peaceful
Dearest Lilah -
We've been by ourselves this week while your Daddy is working out of town. You spend a lot of time with him when he's home, so I was concerned you'd get tired of me, me, and more me during his absence. Luckily, you are giving me the benefit of the doubt and - aside from your newly craptastic sleeping habits - are being a total angel.
We had a busy day today, one that resulted in my surely winning a nomination if not a win for the "Crappiest Mother of the Year" award. We went shopping in two stores (your mommy is now ever the bargain hunter and scours all the circulars for what she needs) and the bookstore. At the bookstore, you lost your right sock and a kind gentlemen found it and returned it. At BiLo, you lost your left sock...and it is never to be seen by us again. So my first nomination comes from letting you spend the rest of the day sockless.
It never ceases to amaze me how much attention you draw when we are out together. When you walk around with your Daddy, he draws attention with, "Oh, pretty baby, good Daddy." When you're with me, you get the crazy attention. Everyone wants to touch you, like you're a religious icon. I guess, though, that makes sense...babies are the sweetest, most innocent creatures on earth, and it's easy to think that you have most recently been touched by God. I can see why someone would want to be near that, to touch it, if just for a second. It's like touching the hem of Christ's gown; not the man himself but something that has touched him, and that's good enough somehow to feel blessed.
And so when a nice, older woman came up to me at Wal-Mart and asked how old you were, I could totally understand her interest. However, I do have to worry about germs. So when she started to reach for your face in your carrier - to pull it down to see your face - I froze. Strange woman reaching her in-need-of-a-manicured finger towards my baby's mouth = stand with face of horror. I didn't KNOW at first that she was just going to pull down your carrier...she kept asking what you were chewing on. I said, "She's cutting teeth. She's just trying to get some teeth." I was trying to block her with my shoulder, but she just kept coming. She eventually just walked off. But she wasn't the only one in the store who was enchanted by you. One gentleman remarked that perhaps you were tired of being worn around since you had spent nine months that way. Another lady squeaked with delight both times she saw you in the store and finally asked about you. She wondered off with her male companion, and I overheard her say, "OoooooIwantabaaaaaaaaaaaaabyyyyy!" To which he replied, "Do you want me to get you pregnant?" She had a very strong negative response, but I couldn't help but laugh. You are it. You are the crack baby of the neighborhood.
It's your eyes. No one can resist your big, blue eyes. I should know...I fell for a set just like them 5.5 years ago.
So, after our big day of shopping and enchanting, I brought you home, where you fussed a little towards 6:00. I knew you were sleepy; you didn't take a nap ALL DAY. So I gave you your bath (you stay so quiet during baths. It's kind of sad in a way) and didn't get a smile from you until I broke out the "Baby Massage" song. I got you dressed and fed but you were still fussy. I put you on my shoulder to burp you and you got so still, so quiet, so limp. You turned your head towards me and smiled. Your eyes were so tired - open but still. Your little mouth hung open and I could feel your soft little breaths on my face. I smiled at you and the corners of your mouth ever so slightly crinkled upward. Not a blink. Not a movement. I touched your face and you closed your eyes and fell into that happy place where your body grows and restores and processes everything you've learned for the day.
You were so peaceful.
And so, dear baby, at that moment I realized that when I die, I would like it to go just like that. Quiet contentment on my face as I close my eyes and fall into that happy place...
Love,
Mommy
We've been by ourselves this week while your Daddy is working out of town. You spend a lot of time with him when he's home, so I was concerned you'd get tired of me, me, and more me during his absence. Luckily, you are giving me the benefit of the doubt and - aside from your newly craptastic sleeping habits - are being a total angel.
We had a busy day today, one that resulted in my surely winning a nomination if not a win for the "Crappiest Mother of the Year" award. We went shopping in two stores (your mommy is now ever the bargain hunter and scours all the circulars for what she needs) and the bookstore. At the bookstore, you lost your right sock and a kind gentlemen found it and returned it. At BiLo, you lost your left sock...and it is never to be seen by us again. So my first nomination comes from letting you spend the rest of the day sockless.
It never ceases to amaze me how much attention you draw when we are out together. When you walk around with your Daddy, he draws attention with, "Oh, pretty baby, good Daddy." When you're with me, you get the crazy attention. Everyone wants to touch you, like you're a religious icon. I guess, though, that makes sense...babies are the sweetest, most innocent creatures on earth, and it's easy to think that you have most recently been touched by God. I can see why someone would want to be near that, to touch it, if just for a second. It's like touching the hem of Christ's gown; not the man himself but something that has touched him, and that's good enough somehow to feel blessed.
And so when a nice, older woman came up to me at Wal-Mart and asked how old you were, I could totally understand her interest. However, I do have to worry about germs. So when she started to reach for your face in your carrier - to pull it down to see your face - I froze. Strange woman reaching her in-need-of-a-manicured finger towards my baby's mouth = stand with face of horror. I didn't KNOW at first that she was just going to pull down your carrier...she kept asking what you were chewing on. I said, "She's cutting teeth. She's just trying to get some teeth." I was trying to block her with my shoulder, but she just kept coming. She eventually just walked off. But she wasn't the only one in the store who was enchanted by you. One gentleman remarked that perhaps you were tired of being worn around since you had spent nine months that way. Another lady squeaked with delight both times she saw you in the store and finally asked about you. She wondered off with her male companion, and I overheard her say, "OoooooIwantabaaaaaaaaaaaaabyyyyy!" To which he replied, "Do you want me to get you pregnant?" She had a very strong negative response, but I couldn't help but laugh. You are it. You are the crack baby of the neighborhood.
It's your eyes. No one can resist your big, blue eyes. I should know...I fell for a set just like them 5.5 years ago.
So, after our big day of shopping and enchanting, I brought you home, where you fussed a little towards 6:00. I knew you were sleepy; you didn't take a nap ALL DAY. So I gave you your bath (you stay so quiet during baths. It's kind of sad in a way) and didn't get a smile from you until I broke out the "Baby Massage" song. I got you dressed and fed but you were still fussy. I put you on my shoulder to burp you and you got so still, so quiet, so limp. You turned your head towards me and smiled. Your eyes were so tired - open but still. Your little mouth hung open and I could feel your soft little breaths on my face. I smiled at you and the corners of your mouth ever so slightly crinkled upward. Not a blink. Not a movement. I touched your face and you closed your eyes and fell into that happy place where your body grows and restores and processes everything you've learned for the day.
You were so peaceful.
And so, dear baby, at that moment I realized that when I die, I would like it to go just like that. Quiet contentment on my face as I close my eyes and fall into that happy place...
Love,
Mommy
Saturday, May 2, 2009
You spin YOU right round, baby -
Dearest Lilah -
First things first: Thanks so much for being an awesome baby. You must have sensed how desperately I needed a nap today, because not only did you actually TAKE a nap, but you took a LONG nap, and then still went down at your regular bedtime without a single fuss. You really are the best baby ever. You make me want about 12 of you. But the next one might be a nightmare, so I really am not favoring those odds. Congratulations on your only-childness :-D
We took you to your first Saturday Market downtown today! I spent my entire pregnancy eating Soby's Shrimp and Grits on Saturday mornings, and we went almost every Saturday until we had to take Miss Mary's classes on how to get you born :-) I had you dressed in the Reese's cup onesie I had made for you, and since it was orange and you had on brown pants, everyone thought you were a boy. I am so sorry that I dress you ambiguously. :-) You're just cute and I don't think you should be trapped wearing only pink or purple!
Tonight I realized that you don't ever get a chance to just lay around and play. Unlike the moms who actually pay attention to suggestions on how to help your baby get ahead in life, I ignore the mandated stomach play time for the most part. You used to hate it so much, and I didn't like for you to be sad, especially when you had great control over your head and neck anyway, so it didn't seem like you really NEEDED it...anyway - you don't do it very often. But tonight, I'm so glad I did!
I put you down and talked to you as you lifted yourself up so HIGH! And, even though you still don't really lean much on your hands/arms, you were holding yourself up SO well! And then you started to turn yourself to the left. Slowly, deliberately you worked your way around 90 degrees from your starting point. And then slowly, deliberately, you worked your way the other 90 degrees around to face your daddy! You squeaked and squealed and smiled and laughed the whole time. You are so happy. I mean, seriously, baby - you really only cry when you're super super tired or hungry. Who can complain about that?
This morning when I woke up, I just wanted to squeeze you to pieces you were so sweet and cute. It's weird - I've always loved you, but it seems like ALL OF THE LOVE hit me today, out of nowhere. I just couldn't get enough of you! You were very sweet all day.
Anyway - it's fun to watch you learn and figure things out. It's fun to watch you pay attention to the dog and cat now, where before they went unnoticed. It's sweet to see you turn your head to look at him when your daddy talks to you. It's sweet that sometimes while you're eating, you just stop and stare at me and smile big, big smiles. And sometimes, after you've finished and fallen asleep, you smile sleepy, dreamy smiles that make me so happy to know you.
I can't wait to see what fun we'll have tomorrow.
Love,
Mommy
First things first: Thanks so much for being an awesome baby. You must have sensed how desperately I needed a nap today, because not only did you actually TAKE a nap, but you took a LONG nap, and then still went down at your regular bedtime without a single fuss. You really are the best baby ever. You make me want about 12 of you. But the next one might be a nightmare, so I really am not favoring those odds. Congratulations on your only-childness :-D
We took you to your first Saturday Market downtown today! I spent my entire pregnancy eating Soby's Shrimp and Grits on Saturday mornings, and we went almost every Saturday until we had to take Miss Mary's classes on how to get you born :-) I had you dressed in the Reese's cup onesie I had made for you, and since it was orange and you had on brown pants, everyone thought you were a boy. I am so sorry that I dress you ambiguously. :-) You're just cute and I don't think you should be trapped wearing only pink or purple!
Tonight I realized that you don't ever get a chance to just lay around and play. Unlike the moms who actually pay attention to suggestions on how to help your baby get ahead in life, I ignore the mandated stomach play time for the most part. You used to hate it so much, and I didn't like for you to be sad, especially when you had great control over your head and neck anyway, so it didn't seem like you really NEEDED it...anyway - you don't do it very often. But tonight, I'm so glad I did!
I put you down and talked to you as you lifted yourself up so HIGH! And, even though you still don't really lean much on your hands/arms, you were holding yourself up SO well! And then you started to turn yourself to the left. Slowly, deliberately you worked your way around 90 degrees from your starting point. And then slowly, deliberately, you worked your way the other 90 degrees around to face your daddy! You squeaked and squealed and smiled and laughed the whole time. You are so happy. I mean, seriously, baby - you really only cry when you're super super tired or hungry. Who can complain about that?
This morning when I woke up, I just wanted to squeeze you to pieces you were so sweet and cute. It's weird - I've always loved you, but it seems like ALL OF THE LOVE hit me today, out of nowhere. I just couldn't get enough of you! You were very sweet all day.
Anyway - it's fun to watch you learn and figure things out. It's fun to watch you pay attention to the dog and cat now, where before they went unnoticed. It's sweet to see you turn your head to look at him when your daddy talks to you. It's sweet that sometimes while you're eating, you just stop and stare at me and smile big, big smiles. And sometimes, after you've finished and fallen asleep, you smile sleepy, dreamy smiles that make me so happy to know you.
I can't wait to see what fun we'll have tomorrow.
Love,
Mommy
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