Chatterbox

I finally got another video online to show how much she's talking now! Here you go:


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Meeting the critters!

Saturday night the Freemans and us went to the Sonoran Desert Museum for night desert walk through the park. Certain animals are supposed to be more awake and active at night time. We walked around and although we were a little disappointed with the cat activities, we did get to see coyotes up walking around, beavers swimming, and and one cute little cat. The beavers were hilarious! One was hamming it up, swimming back and forth, doing twists and turns. I will have to admit that I was so giddy about the beavers that I was jumping up and down and giggling like a little girl with her first crush. Lilly thought it was pretty cool too, although I'm not sure which she liked better- her mom making a fool out of herself or the beaver.

This afternoon Lilly and the dogs played with each other. Lilly would make a noise (I think she sounds like a goat hehe) and the dogs would come see her. Piper has been her little buddy for a long time while Franklin has just ignored her a bit. Piper likes to cuddle up with her and stays right by her side. Franklin thinks that she can play so he gets down and wags his tails or brings her his toy, like she's going to play fetch! We find it pretty funny. She's also been enjoying tummy time a lot more now that her head and neck muscles are more developed. She expecially likes the floor which can be hard with hyper dogs running all around.

Rattle Rattle Rattle

This week has been hard on Lilly and I. I haven't really gotten much sleep, probably about 4-5 hours a night because Lilly has been getting up at 5 or 6 and sometimes even a couple times during the night. Usually I just have to roll over and give her the pacifier but around 6 in the morning she is ready to be awake for the day. Then she hasn't wanted to nap during the day so it's been crying and screaming and rocking and sucking and eating and crying. But of course when Daddy would come home she'd just be a happy baby. So it's been quite the week.

We did have some fun on Tuesday. I recently joined a mom's meetup group and it's been so much fun. It's nice for me to make friends and for Lilly to socialize with other babies. Tuesday we went walking at the mall for an hour, then we stopped at a coffee shop and had smoothies (it's WAY to hot for coffee!), and then we went to a movie with Uncle Brian and Cousin Benjamin. Lilly slept through a lot of it. :)

Lilly held and rattled her first rattle!! She took it out of Daddy's hand, held it, and shook it for several minutes. It was very cute. And we're very proud. She also rolled from her belly to her back 3 times on Tuesday! I couldn't find the camera. I looked all over the place. Logan wasn't there to see it either so we look forward to her doing it again.

Splish! Splash! I'm takin a bath!

It's Sunday afternoon and like most people on Sunday afternoons, this is what we did:

Yes, we do realize we were lazy but it was so nice to relax, all of our tummies full, and just sleeeeeep.

Ok, I know that Lilly is probably supposed to have a bath almost every night, or at least eary other night. But I will have to admit that although Lilly gets her diaper changed pretty much every time it's dirty, she never goes more than three hours without getting fed, and she gets to be held a total of probably 8-10 hours a day, we parents slack off on the whole bath time. I'm not even sure why. She likes bath time and it's not all that hard to do or all that time consuming. But nonetheless, Lilly probably gets a bath about once a week. We do probably wash her face daily. So, I have made Logan promise me that starting in August Lilly is going to get a bath everyday. Even if that means she gets a bath right after supper instead of right before bed, that's what we're going to do. We promise! With that said, Lilly got her bath tonight and it was lots of fun!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Lilly is no longer able to really fit into the sink. :( She's become to long and we will probably move her to the bath tub.

Also, Daddy is a VERY good bath giver. I will have to say that he is better than I am and give him props. Way to go Daddy!

Take me out to the movie!

Lilly went to her first baseball game Friday night. I'm not sure if she really enjoyed it though. It was really hot and she isn't used to eating in those conditions so that was hard. And then there were a lot of people around and I think she felt there was too much going on. She kept snuggling into Daddy's chest, which was quite cute I have to add. We ended up leaving a little early and both went to bed late. She then slept in until 12 (with a couple of feedings of course)! I couldn't believe the time. I personally think it was the heat from the previous night that just drained us both.

Today Logan and I had our very first date without the baby! It started out a little rough but three movie theatres later we enjoyed ourselves. :) I think Lilly had a lot of fun over at Uncle Brian and Aunt Pam's house even though pesky cousin Ben kept taking out her pacifier and then putting it back in her mouth. I will have to say that I wasn't too bad being away from her considering it's been the first time in over 2 months since I've been apart from Lilly. I did enjoy the cuddle time when I got home that night. She fell asleep in my arms and I didn't want to put her to bed.

Milestones

We've been keeping track of all the many milestones for a baby. Some milestones Lilly has met are lifting her head up at least 90 degrees and then moving it from side to side, cooing and gooing, giggles, finding out her hands. Now that last one has been the most fun so far. Sometime last week we noticed her staring at her hands with so much concentration she went cross eyed. Then came the realization that this new (new to her anyway) object attatched to her her body could be stuck in her mouth. So now all day long we hear "Slurp slurp slurp" as she sucks on her ENTIRE hand. What I want to know is at what age does your hand become to big to stick into your mouth? I mean I just tried and there is no way I could ever fit my entire hand in my mouth. Come on, try it, I know you want to.

Something I've come to realize that even though there are publicized milestones for babies, there should also be publicized milestones for moms. Here are just some milestones for the mommy: getting more than 4-5 hours of sleep a night, learning how to succesfully breastfeed, not feeling like a cow when pumping, taking daily showers, and breastfeeding in public. I will have to say that as of last night I have met all those milestones. I recently joined a mothers group and until meeting with those moms I didn't realize how much I had avoided breastfeeding Lilly in public! I always had a pumped bottle on hand-just in case. Well, seeing all these other women able to feed their babies discreetly and easily made me want to get out there and just do it. So last night Logan and I walked around the mall and although I could have easily gone home and fed her when it was time, I sat down in Barnes and Noble and successfully fed my little girl! I was so proud of myself.

I know that there is a lot of debate on breastfeeding in public but all I know is that sometimes we moms just got to do what we got to do. And for me, feeding her in public is what I need to do sometimes even if I get wierd looks or funny glances. :)

Houston, we have a monster...

Although usually Lilly is the perfect model of a happy baby, last night she wasn't. And I don't know if it would be considered really horrible for those people out there that have a colicky baby who cries and screams all the time but for two parents that normally expect their baby to coo and smile all night long, it was bad. For one whole hour Lilly just cried and screamed and was not happy. She finally stopped crying but then was fussy and you had to change positions every 30 seconds or go into another room every 2 minutes. I was so ready for bedtime to come.

Another thing I've noticed happening to both Logan and I is that when she naps we tiptoe around the house. Have you ever noticed how loud everything is?! I mean putting the dishes away was as loud as a bomb exploding! And the stinking refridgerator, who was the genuis who invented the loud buzzing noise? Then come the dogs going in and out of the doggy door. Everytime they do, Lilly startles and moves and I just pray, PLEASE don't open those eyes, give mommy just a couple more minutes to finish cleaning the kitchen or put another load of laundry in. And most of the time I get my wish.

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Swimming!

So Lilly got to go swimming on Friday afternoon. It was so cute. She had her little bikini on and it looked really funny because the top wouldn't stay down so it was pretty worthless except for "looks." I didn't have my camera on me so I was a little upset about not getting a picture taken. :( We will just have to get it the next time. So, I made a list of things today that Lilly has done and according to my readings, wasn't supposed to yet. This makes me laugh because in her case, she's been able to do them and has turned out just fine. Here is my list:

1. Gone to Walmart (a large public place) at 4 days old
2. Gone to a movie at a week old (and yes she quite enjoyed Mission Impossible 3)
3. Painted her toenails (they were red like moms for 4th of July!)
4. Gone swimming before 6 months ( and she loved it-smiled the whole time)

So that is the list so far. I'm sure there are others too.

I've come to the conclusion that if feeding her is my favorite time then changing her is my least. She stares up at me with the most frightened look on her face. Then when she relaxes and realizes why shes on that cold table she looks at me like one day I'll get what I deserve. And I laugh because she's right, one day I will but right now.... she's all mine and I can do whatever I want to. Hehehe. :)

Picture: The "I'll-get-you-one-day" look.

ZZZZZ

Yesterday was a running errands day. I think Lilly missed out on lots of snuggling. I believe she is used to being held a lot and when I spend half the day running around she doesn't get all of that. So she's making up for it today. She loves sleeping in my lap. She snuggles up with the pillow and her eyes get droopy and she just automatically goes to sleep. I finally was able to reach for the camera so I can take a picture because she really looks so sweet sleeping on me right now.

I was able to make out the word Gooo and Ahhh today. We have daily conversations and I believe she is telling me all kind of things. And I think in her mind she understands what I'm saying too. I believe this because when I say "I love you" her face lights up and a lot of the time she smiles. I still think her first word is going to be blessu because I say "Bless you" everytime she sneezes and that's a lot. Daddy tries to get her to say "dada" and I keep trying for her to say "mama" but she just stares at our mouths and thinks it's all funny.

2 months and 5 days

To Lilly,
As I sit here looking at you, watching Judging Amy, I think to myself how wonderful you are. Every time you look at me you give me a smile. I can see that you are starting to get hungry and I will probably have to feed you in about 10 minutes. Feeding times seem to be one of my favorite times with you right now. Although we've had our ups and downs with that! Sometimes I just don't understand your frantic moving and clamping down. Sometimes I feel like you will just clamp down and take half of me with you. :)

I remember when I found out I was pregnant with you. The whole week up until the time I took that home test I just knew. Somehow I could tell. But I still cried like a baby when I found out. I was in shock. I couldn't believe that Daddy and I were pregnant, especially since I could recall the only time it could have happened and we had used all the precautions- including birth control. It was early, like 4:30 in the morning. I told grandma because I was living with her. I'm sure she had quite a shock as well. And then at 7:30 in the morning I was pounding on the door of my mom, asking her to go to a pregnancy test appointment at the college clinic. At 11:45 that day I found out that my home test was confirmed and I was indeed pregnant.

I look back now and all I can do is smile. Here I was, one semester of college left, your dad living in a complete different part of the US. I had so many ideas in my head as to how life would be and then I found out about you. I'll admit it, I was scared. But then I got so excited. Thinking about you, wondering what you were going to look like, feeling like I knew you already; I couldn't wait for you to be here! And now you're here. My little pride and joy. I love you so much, I want you to know that. I enjoy every part of you. Whether it be being fussy or being the happy little baby everyone knows you as. It's all worth it. I just thank God for bringing us you- our little miracle.