Month 9

       It’s July and it is hot!  I can’t believe that I have already been on summer break for a month.  It is going too fast, I am already starting to miss Lily!  Lily and I have gone to several barbecues and parties.  She of course has been the hit of them all. 

 

       The big excitement of this month is Lily’s first camping trip outside of the womb.  She is so tough and loved it so much!  Unfortunately, fire danger was “Extreme” for most of the summer and the fire ban didn’t lift until midnight on the last night we were there.

       We spent a lot of time hiking while we were there.  Lily did phenomenal on the hikes and couldn’t quite understand why everyone was so tired.  She even napped on the way when she was bored of seeing us struggle.  On the hike to Nolan Lake we were all worried because we lost Fiji.  As we were slowly making our way up, we heard from other hikers (on their way down) that Fiji had “guided” them part of the way and then disappeared.  We eventually caught up with her.  When we got to the top, a little Spanish girl yells out “Fiji.”  We look at each other and ask, “Did she just say Fiji?”  Apparently she had been the Sherpa for that family before meeting back up with us.  Lily was not surprised, she knew the whole time that Fiji was safe.

       Grammie and Papa had invited us to stay in the cabins, but Lily insisted that she wanted to stay in the tent.  Lily, the dogs, and I were so brave we even stayed 2 nights in the tent without Rob. He had to go to work in the middle of the week and we were without him for about 2 days.  While camping we also celebrated Rob’s birthday.  Lily loved celebrating with him and helping him open presents.

       We also celebrated Kyle’s first birthday.  Lily made her debut as a beach babe.  Kyle’s birthday was a pool party.  Lily enjoyed showing off her new bikini.

       Lily and I spent a lot of time in Denver while Rob was working and working over time.  We enjoyed getting to see our family and friends so much.  We also got to take Auntie Jenna out to lunch on her birthday.   Lily had a blast showing off to anyone who would pay attention.

 

New Developments for Lily:

       She is definitely crawling now!  She is not super fast but she can get around much better than when she was just rolling.  She likes to hang out with older babies because it inspires her to try new things.

       She has also started to pull herself up on things.  She started by pulling herself up on the high chair.  She like that it had two bars to shimmy up.  She is getting quite confident in holding herself up on various things around the house.  Rob and I are getting much more confident in our baby proofing however, each new milestone Lily reaches we realize we have more work to do.

       Still no teeth.

Month 8

       I am officially out of school and loving spending my time with Lily.  We start out the month with a trip to Chicago to show Lily off to Rob’s family.  As I said in my last post, Lily only got a little sick and only threw up a few times.  The last time she threw up was on the way to the airport.  This made Rob and I very nervous for her first plane ride.  Luckily, Lily is the perfect baby and was just fine on the ride.  We actually got compliments from other passengers, who I am sure were not excited to be seated next to a baby!

       Chicago was fantastic, but very short.  We were only able to go during Rob’s 4 days off.  Unfortunately, we did not get very many pictures, I should just bring Jenna along on my trips to document what we did.  We arrived Wednesday June 13^th in the evening and then left around noon on Saturday the 16th.  We spent a lot of time eating all the wonderful Chicago food while we were there.  It was even more wonderful to see family and be able to show off Lily.

When we arrived we had Chicago Beef sandwiches, they were good but a little rough on my barely healed stomach.  (Still not feeling 100% after being sick.)  Lily, of course, was wonderful and entertained her Dzia Dzia and Busia (Rob’s parents) right off the bat!  Busia had an entire wardrobe for Lily for her visit out to Chicago, I shouldn’t have packed a thing for Lily, Busia had us covered.  Thursday was a pretty relaxed day.  We went out to a nice Italian restaurant for lunch.  Lily wore an adorable dress and sat in the high chair like a big girl!  We tried to mash some peas to feed her, but they were too thick and she hated it!!!

That evening a couple of Rob’s cousins and aunt came over and it was nice to visit with them.  Friday we spent the morning shopping around, which Lily loved!  We went to Cabela’s and Lily got to see the large aquarium in the store!  When we got back it was bath time for Lily (see funny story below).  Busia thoroughly enjoyed bathing Lily in the sink!  That evening Dzia Dzia and Busia threw a big party where family and friends stopped by to meet Lily and see us!  It was fun to see all of the little kids running around.  Lily is very excited to have so many friends when she goes to Chicago.  Saturday morning we were off to the airport.  Lily was wonderful again on the plane ride.

       Funny Story:  While we were on our way home from shopping (while in Chicago) Lily started to freak out in the carseat.  She has been doing this lately, not really enjoying being in the carseat for extended periods of time.  We tried to ignore it, but it was hard, because she cries so hard she chokes herself.  Dzia Dzia stepped on the gas in an attempt to get us home faster.  Rob decided it was just time for us to pull over.  I pulled her out of the carseat in an attempt to calm her down.  That’s when I noticed there was poop all over my arm and shirt because Lily had exploded out of her diaper.  Rob came back to help me change her and wipe her up the best we could until we got home.  While Rob and I were frantically cleaning Dzia Dzia and Busia… were laughing in the front.  I guess that’s one of the perks of being a grandparent, you get payback for all of the drama your kids put you through!

       Lily and I spent a lot of time at Grammie’s house while Rob was working.  It was fun to see her play with Grammie and Papa.  It was also nice to have some help with Lily.

       Lily’s new friend Trevor was born at the end of June, so we went and visited them in the hospital.  Lily got a big kick out of seeing another little baby.

       We finished off this month with the 4^th of July celebration.  Lily has so many cute clothes that we had a costume change half way through, to make sure we got all of her Holiday clothes on her!  Unfortunately because of all the fire bans we were unable to do fireworks, so we will have to see what Lily thinks of them next year!  Lily’s betrothed, Kyle was at the party as well.  We had a blast getting pictures of them and watching them “play” together.

New Developments in Lily:

Lily will get up on all fours now, but will not crawl yet.  She still drops her legs when she is ready to go somewhere, but let me tell you she can really cover some ground when she wants to!  Rob and I have been reevaluating how baby proof our house is.  I assume we will have to reevaluate every time she learns a new skill.

Lily is still trucking along with trying new foods, pureed of course!  She is also still waiting for her teeth to come in.  I keep thinking any day it will happen.

Month 7

        It is May now and we are nearing the end of school.  I can’t wait to be home full-time with Lily.  Lily and I are getting through the week spending a little bit of time together in the evenings and loving the weekends when we are inseparable.  Lily does love hanging out with her Daddy during the day, but is usually excited to see her Mama when she gets home.

We are still waiting for that tooth to come in.  I can’t feel the little tooth poking through anymore.  Many people have told me that it is normal to have baby teeth do that.  We keep hoping for her teeth to come in.

May brought us our first Mother’s Day.  What a special day to appreciate the beauty of being a mom.  Lily and Daddy spoiled me rotten with many different gifts.  They got me a mani-pedi, 2 massages, and some new shoes!  It was wonderful being able to spend Mother’s Day with the family!  Lily enjoyed celebrating her Mom, Grammie, and Great Grandma.  We also had fun making Grammies present.  Lily, her aunties, and I decorated some pots so that Grammie could grow her own herbs.  Lily helped decorate from inside Mommy’s jacket.  She loves to be part of a surprise.

Speaking of surprise, Grammie turned 60 this year and we were all gearing up for a big surprise party!  Everything was set-up perfectly, Grammie was still in the dark about it all, and then all of a sudden everything went south.  I had one week left in school and couldn’t wait to be done.  Unfortunately, I started feeling sick.  I was worried that it was food poisoning from an indiscretion at Wendy’s.  I made it through the whole day of school and home to my Lily.  All I wanted to do was go to bed.  Rob was at work so I would not have his help for the next two nights.  I fed and bathed Lily and got her ready for bed.  By the time I was ready to crawl into bed my legs were shaking and I was barely able to keep myself upright.  Being a Mommy when you are sick is tough!  Luckily, my Mom took pity on me and decided to come up and help me out.  

I made it through the last day of school with my kids and came home to my mom.  It was so nice to have her help and she was also going to help me the next day cleaning up my classroom.  My mom started feeling a little sick, but she still helped me out the next day, and luckily Rob was home to help as well.  By the next day when we were going to leave to come down to Denver, my Mom was officially out of commission.  I had to drive us home while my mom sat in the back and kept Lily company.  Mom spent her surprise party in the ER getting fluids because she was so dehydrated.  I guess the surprise was on us.  Oh well, Happy Birthday Mom. 

Luckily, Lily was mostly unaffected by all of this.  She threw up a few times, and had a little diarrhea.  It frightened me very much when she was throwing up though, because she would choke on it as it came up.  I was completely paranoid and wouldn’t let her out of my sight for at least a week, even when she was napping.

New Developments in Lily:

        Lily has officially started on solids.  She is hilarious when trying new foods.  She always takes the first bite and then makes a face like she hates it.  So cute!!!  Then, after that she will continue eating the rest of the food.  Sometimes she makes a face through the whole thing, but she still opens her mouth every time we have a bite coming.  She is very picky about texture so her “solids” have to be pureed to a liquid for her to eat them without gagging.  We also tried feeding her baby puffs, but she does not like them so much because they are too thick.  She has not really figured out how to chew, so we may have to try those again when she is a little older.

        Lily has also started to start pulling herself around in a little army crawl.  Now we have to watch her even more!  With rolling and the army crawl she is getting really good at getting where she wants to go!  This of course means that Mommy and Daddy need to take a good look around our house and make sure we are baby proofed.  With her newfound strength she also enjoys climbing all over Mommy and Daddy.

Month 6

We started out this month with Lily’s first Easter!  She had a great time dressing up in an adorable dress her Grammie got her.  It is purple with a cute little sweater!  She got to join the Easter Egg Hunt with the older kids.  She even found 5 Easter Eggs, one of which she picked up on her own.  Daddy held her over it and she was able to pick it right up and put it in her basket.  She also enjoyed getting to see all of her family.

We are still waiting for that tooth to come in.  She continues to put anything in her mouth, luckily she mostly goes for things that are in your hands, so you have some control over what she gets.

  

Lily has a little fissure in her bum bum.  This caused her to have a few diapers with blood in them.  They caused great stress for her Mom, but didn’t seem to bother Lily.  Her doctor was also not concerned, but was not opposed to seeing Lily.  (Her doctor loves her, as do all of the nurses). 

        Mommy got her last break until school is out.  Lily and Mommy had a great time together.  Of course it was hard for Mommy to drop her back off to get babysat when she had to go back to work.

        During this break we went down to Colorado Springs and visited Amy and Kyle.  We had a great time visiting, and ended our visit with a trip to the Garden of the Gods.  We got some great pictures.

New Developments in Lily:

        She is mobile now! She uses rolling to get herself around to wherever she needs to go.  This means we can no longer just leave her lying in her jungle while we go get stuff done.  She needs constant supervision, and we thought we got nothing done before!

        Lily has also started hanging out in her bouncy chair.  It’s a wonderful invention, you hang it in the door, put some toys on it, plop her in and it is fun for hours… or at least 30 minutes!  She is not really bouncing yet, but she will hang out and spin herself around.

        We are getting to the end of the time where I can plop her on the couch next to me for a little naked time before her bath.  She used to just lay there so peaceful and coo up at me.  She has gotten much more rolly and spinny lately, so is happier on the ground where she has more room to spread out.  Sometimes I can still talk her into staying next to me if I let her sit during naked time.

         The most exciting thing this month is Lily is starting solids!!  They told us to wait until she was six months old, but we cheated by about a week.  We just couldn’t wait any longer, and neither could Lily.  We started her with a little rice cereal mixed with breast milk.  It is not really a new taste so it went over well!  She is so happy to be eating “big people” food with us.  She loves sitting in the high chair during dinner and eating with her brightly colored bowls and spoons.

Month 5

               Lily just amazes Rob and I on a daily basis.  Sometimes it is still hard for us to believe that she is ours, and other times it feels like she has always been with us.  We are so totally spoiled because she is such a good baby.  She wakes up smiling and spends most of her day smiling.  Her giggles are amazing and she is always talking to us letting us know what is going on with her.

               I am still struggling with leaving her during the day.  She loves to be super cute in the morning which makes it hard for me to put her down and leave for work.  It does get me out of school earlier though, I just can’t wait to get home to snuggle her again.

               Lily got her second round of shots this month.  She was hurting a little more this time around, she is becoming a little more aware of her body and when things are hurting.  She still took it like a champ and made us proud of how tough she is.  She did need a lot more Tylenol this time to keep her happy though.  She also got really stiff the day after, so Daddy helped her work her little muscles.  She is doing totally fine now, but neither of us are looking forward to doing it again in 2 months.

Big Developments in Lily this month: 

She rolled over!  Mommy had to take a sick day and was rewarded with seeing her roll over on her own for the first time.  Mommy got a little too enthusiastic in her praise and scared Lily a little, so she took a break from rolling for about a week.  She would get close but not make it all the way over.  Then one day Lily was hanging in her jungle as Mommy and Daddy were getting ready for dinner.  We look over at that little girl and notice she is now on her stomach, even though we laid her on her back.  We played it a little cooler this time and did just a small celebration.  She has continued to end up on her stomach when placed on her back.  Lily has also ended up completely out of her jungle because she has then rolled back onto her back.  Mommy and Daddy need to be careful about where we put her and what is around because of this new mobility!

               She is continuing to work on sitting.  She continues to pull herself forward when sitting in the boppy.  She has also started sitting next to Mommy on the couch, there is still support from the couch and from Mommy’s side, but she is making progress. Daddy also got video of her holding herself in a sitting position by leaning on her hand for support.  Before we know it she will be sitting on her own!

               Lily has continued to put anything in reach into her mouth.  Anything that is in your hands she also makes an attempt for, whether it be a toy, food, or even paper.  She has gotten a lot more accurate with her hand coordination.  This is a good skill, because she has begun to teeth and needs something in her mouth to help her out.  She has one little tooth poking through on the bottom!  She is also very interested in watching people eating and drinking.  Often times she tries to grab my straw or the food in my hand.  If she is not close enough she just watches and is concentrating on learning how to eat like a big kid.  She loves to grab onto lots of different things, one of her new favorites is Mommy’s hair, which she also enjoys chewing on and of course pulling it.  She is so much more fun now that she has all of these new skills!

Month 4

 

Lily has been making so much progress!  I swear I drop her off with her babysitter in the morning and then pick her up in the evening and she is completely different.  I got used to leaving her and going to work…for awhile.   I had a weeklong break, which we spent in Littleton with the grandparents. Her Great Uncle Harley came out from South Dakota to visit and Lily absolutely loved staring at him!  Going back to school after that week was really hard.  I am struggling to leave Lily in the morning; I would rather just stay with her all day.  All week I look forward to the weekend when I get to spend 2 whole days hanging with my little girl. 

One amazing thing that happened this month was that Lily reached for me.  Someone else was holding her and I walked past and she reached for me!!  Love that she is becoming even more attached to me, especially because I have to leave her so much for work.  She is also becoming a little bashful.  Sometimes when people (especially men) look at her, she will snuggle into me and hide her face.  It is totally adorable!

Lily loves going to the babysitter!  Her babysitter has two teenage children that Lily just loves to talk to and hang out with!  She is well taken care of there and that makes leaving her that much easier.

Big Developments in Lily this month: 

She is, as always, talking more and more, we are going to have a hard time keeping this girl quiet when she is older!  Her sad stories are still continuing, but she has added a multitude of new sounds.  She is also getting a lot louder.  I do believe this is because she spends so much time with her Daddy.

Lily also loves to laugh.  She does, however, need you to keep your attempts fresh.  She does not necessarily laugh at the same thing that made her laugh the day before.  She is too smart and is easily bored by our repetitive attempts!!  Although, it has gotten easier to get her to laugh when she is in the mood.  Mommy and Daddy try to get as many of these giggles on video as we can, because they are so amazing to listen to.  Lily also loves to laugh at her Papa, he can get her to laugh so much easier than the rest of us.

               Lily is wearing size 1 diapers now and is getting close to growing out of them!  She is also growing out of her clothes left and right.  We need to head down to the basement and bring up some of the clothes that we deemed to big for her.  Hopefully, we don’t find a whole bunch of clothes that she has already grown out of.

               It’s started; everything she gets her hands on goes into her mouth.  She is really good at gripping things and picking them up.  She has lifted and held onto things that have surprised Rob and I.  Her strength is amazing.  She picked up a bag of chips that Daddy was eating and she also held onto her toy seahorse with just one hand when I picked her up.  The seahorse weighs almost a pound, pretty impressive for those little muscles, not to mention her iron grip!

               Lily has also been working on spinning herself around in her floor mat jungle.  We put her in facing one way and find that she has spun her little body around to better view a different toy.  She also found the mirror in the jungle and is completely entertained staring at her beautiful little face!

Back to Work

I am back to work now, and it has been quite the adjustment.  I have enjoyed getting back into my “regular” routine, but leaving Lily has been very difficult.  As many of you know my drive is very long to and from work everyday.  It seems twice as long now because I have ample time to just think about Lily and how much I want to see her. Luckily, my 3^rd graders keep me quite busy while I am at school.  They also love to look at pictures of Lily, which I am more than willing to show them!  It has been a little rough keeping up with my schoolwork and with Lily.  I have a hard time motivating myself to do work, when I have such a beautiful girl sitting next to me.  So far, I have just chosen to enjoy the few hours after school with her.  I have had to get way more efficient using my planning times and weekends to do my work.

I have had a hard time getting used to my new daily routine.  I have to factor in feeding time, usually a half hour before I leave, so she won’t have to eat again for a little while.  When she goes to her babysitter Mommy also has to change a diaper, change her clothes, and pack up the multitude of stuff that travels with Lily each day.  If she is staying home with Daddy he gets to take care of all the changing!!

Daddy has really enjoyed his time at home with Lily.  They have really been bonding and enjoying playing.  Daddy has gotten some work done, but has also found that Lily takes a lot more time than he thought!

Big developments in Lily:  She has continued trying to pull herself into a sitting position.  She can sit quite nicely while holding onto Mommy’s hand.  She has also started to roll her hips from side to side as well.  She will be rolling before we know it!  Due to these new developments she is no longer to be trusted on any elevated surfaces!!

She has also been talking a lot.  She has gotten more expressive and seems to tell sad stories as well as happy stories.  When she cries it also sometimes sounds like she is saying Mama.  Daddy noticed this when Lily was mad at him and missing me!!  I can’t wait until she says this and knows what it means.

Daddy also taught her how to pout, so she sticks her little bottom lip out, luckily she just does it for a laugh from Mommy or Daddy.

The best new development is giggles.  We have heard a couple recently when getting attention.  The other night with Mommy, Daddy, and Grammie around we got several minutes of giggles.  She was sitting on my lap facing me and I would kiss her feet.  She went wild!!  It was the most amazing sound I had ever heard!

Month Three

Lily is loving 2012, she just keeps getting more and more fun!  The holidays are over and Mommy finally gets some time to just hang out with Lily at home.  I have started back in the gym, trying to get my pre-baby look back.  I still have a ways to go, but staying active has kept me feeling good.  We also made some good progress on finishing painting our kitchen.  (Refer to Birth Story and late nesting to see when we started.)  Some exciting things have happened this month for me.  One night I woke up to Lily who was ready to eat.  I fed her and then handed her to Daddy so he could burp her while I used the restroom.  When I walked back into the room, Lily gave me the biggest smile and coo.  It was so amazing, and the first time I really realized that she does know me!  I knew that at that point she should recognize me, but that little extra confirmation of it just melted my heart.

Another exciting moment for me is that she is getting more attached to me.  Being born during the holidays she has had no shortage of getting passed from loving arms to loving arms.  Lately, when she is being held by someone else and sees me she gets a little grumpy to realize that someone else is holding her.  Being the trooper that she is the moment quickly passes, but that little look of indignation warms her Mommy’s heart.

I am heading back to work now that Lily is almost 11 weeks old.  I am really nervous about leaving her, since 5 hours is the longest amount of time that I have been away from her since she was born. It will be good to get back to work and see my kids, but I am still sad to not have her with me.  Luckily, we have a friend that will be taking care of her for us.  It is nice to know and trust the person that will be spending so much time with my little baby.

Rob is going on shift for the next couple of months.  This means that he will work 48 hours and then be off for 96 hours.  We will only have to have Lily looked after for at most 2 ½ days a week!  Daddy will get the chance to be home with Lily for the rest of the days.  Daddy is excited to get all that bonding time, and Mommy is excited for Daddy to find out how much work a baby really is.  With our current set-up I know Lily will be well looked after while I am at work.

Lily loves her jungle, a mat with animals, flashing lights, and music over head.  She loves to spend some time kicking and cooing in her jungle every day.  I have heard these play mats referred to as a baby amusement park!

Big Developments in Lily this month:  Increase cooing and smiling.  Just a little love and attention go far in getting a good reaction from her.  She loves to stand and kick and is getting stronger everyday.  Many people are amazed at the strength in her neck muscles.  She usually spends some time each day sitting in the boppy (round pillow) and has started to use her stomach muscles to pull her up into more of a sitting position.  She can’t quite do it yet, but is making some progress in strengthening up those little abs.  She has also had an amazing increase in the amount of drool that she has.  (Teething might be coming soon!)

Daddy spent some time with Lily while Mommy was out with some friends.  While I was away Rob taught Lily how to blow bubbles.  She has become an expert spit bubble blower!!  She loves to show off her new talent to people!

She has also been experimenting with her hands.  She has been trying to grab onto more and more things.  She loves to hold onto her monkey during naked time.  She also was holding some little stackable cups, playing is not that far off.  Another thing her Mommy loves is that she is starting to hold onto my shirt while she nurses.  Sometimes when being held she also grabs onto you to feel more secure, sometimes it is shirts she grabs and sometimes it is hair.  Hopefully, I don’t miss too many milestones while at work, but I look forward to having her show me all of her new tricks.

Month Two

Rob’s parents have come out and are ready to see their first little grandbaby.  Lily has a lot of fun entertaining and being entertained by her grandparents, Busia (Rob’s Mom) and Dza Dza (Rob’s Dad).  Rob’s brother, Timmy, also comes to meet Lily and I.  She is spoiled rotten the entire time they are out here!!

We decided to have an action packed week while the grandparents are visiting.  One thing we thought that was important to do while they were out was to get Lily baptized.  Our friends and family filled up one whole section of the church.  It was very special to have everyone there.  Lily slept through the whole thing, even the water on her forehead!  My mom gave me my baptism dress for Lily to wear and she looked so beautiful in it!  We also got to tell Mike and Christine that we would like them to be Lily’s godparents.  What a wonderful day it was.

Lily has gotten some really bad diaper rash.  To try and rid her of the discomfort, we do naked time during the day to get some air to her little bum.  She loves being naked, so this is a really fun time to interact with her.  She loves to talk and smile at whoever will pay her attention, and Busia loves to entertain her during this time!

This month also brings us Christmas!  We go down to Littleton to spend it with the family.  Lily and I go down a week early because Grammie and Pa Pa are really missing her.  Daddy has a tough time being away from his little Lily for so long.  Luckily, he had work to keep him busy.

As predicted Lily is spoiled again, she gets many cute new outfits, and fun toys.  She is also working on starting her college fund and is getting a good amount!  Thank you to everyone who got her all of the fun presents.

           

Lily had her 2-month checkup and is looking good; she is gaining weight well, but has not added as many inches as they thought she would.  It is also time to get her first round of vaccinations. 

On a similar note, I am finally starting to feel better.  I am able to walk around for longer periods of time.  I went in for my 6-week check up and I am looking good!  This baby making process sure takes its toll and I am glad that I am coming out of it!  I have already lost half of what I gained with her.

Big developments in Lily this month: She is starting to talk to us.  Mommy loves to have conversations with her and listen to all her cute little coos.  She also smiles with a purpose now, and especially loves to give Pa Pa smiles.  Talking to her is way more fun with the payout of a big smile!  She is getting slightly more coordinated and has learned to suck on her 2 middle fingers.  She also likes to rub her eyes when she is tired.  We are looking forward to the progress another month will bring her.