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
Monday, June 29, 2009
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
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