Officially entering Toddlerville!

Lilly has decided she is a toddler and has gone into it full force. As the kids at daycare are now mostly potty trained, Lilly has become completely interested in the whole thing. She wants to sit on it all the time. She has actually gone peepee a couple of times but I can't decide if it was on accident or not. It is still very early to try and potty train, but it's still fun to let her try! This was her first time on the big potty.

For Labor Day weekend the Freeman and Garland family headed off to Payson for a camping adventure. Ben and Lilly had a blast. They loved playing outdoors the whole time. I was a little worried about how Lilly was going to do but she did great. We just had to drive around for 2 hours each day so they could get theirs naps. Here are a few of the great great pictures I took. Also, if you'd like to check out some more pictures, please go to
http://photos.google.com/legarland.

Lilly has really started to have a personality. She also has a favortie color, yellow, and loves to say it and belly button over and over again. Usually she says something like yellow bellybelly button and then pulls up her shirt and points to her tummy. It's very cute. For some reason she must think her belly button is yellow! Since I taught her what color yellow was she has wanted everything yellow. She had a yellow chair for camping and a yellow carebear. Her favorite book is "Biscuit," about a yellow dog that says "Woof Woof." I think she likes it so much because she can say most of the words in the book and point them out too. I'm amazed by all the words she can say. She is also repeating a lot of things. I'll be in the middle of a story and she'll repeat something that I said. One thing that has just driven me nuts and is costing a lot of money is that she is a bottomless pit. She constantly wants to eat. At lunch last week she ate 5 hot dogs. 5!! I couldn't believe it. That wasn't all that she had either. She loves yogurt and would probably eat 2-3 individual containers. I am always running out of ideas for things to feed her and she gets frustrated too. She has gained quite a bit of weight. The doctor was surprised again when we took her in last week for an ear infection. She had gained another pound in a month. I guess she is still playing catch up from not gaining anything for awhile. I'm starting to think that she just has my dad's metabolism cause she is still petite and eats more than I could. Maybe she'll be tall too.

Lilly is very big on saying hi and bye right now so we tried to capture some of that on video. Hopefully I can get it edited and uploaded soon. Hope you enjoy!

Lilly saying hi and bye

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Peaches N Lilly

Saturday we took a trip to an orchard called Apple Annies. It rained most of the way there but by the time we got there we had the only little patch of sun in the sky. It was pretty muddy and muggy. None of this seemed to bother Lilly. She had a blast! We walked awhile to get away from most of the mud so she could walk where ever she wanted. While mommy and daddy picked peaches she walked up and down the aisles of fruit trees picking her own off the ground. We let her pick one of her own and I told her to eat it. (Surprisingly she hadn't tried putting one in her mouth yet!) She walked around eating that peach for such a long time. It made a mess of her shirt so with the mud on her shoes and feet and the peach all over her shirt and face she was a mess! She also got to help pick green beans, bell peppers, and several others. For lunch she enjoyed roasted corn so much that she wanted more. Needless to say she was asleep in her seat before we got to the highway but I really think she had a lot of fun.

Lilly has really increased her vocabulary. She repeats a lot of words we say. We've been showing her our eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. The past few weeks she's been able to point to our parts if we say them. Last week Logan was playing with her in the play room and was laying on the floor. He said she walked up to him, pointed to her own eye and clearly said "EYE!" He was so excited. He taught her to sing "e i e i ooo" the other day too. She's really started picking up a lot of other words too.

Lilly had a check up last week too. We were excited to find out that she had gained 2 lbs and grew 2 inches in just 2 months! The nurses didn't believe how much she had grown and weighed her twice to make sure. The doctor was happy to see her growing so much and how far she was doing developmentally. We were told to move her to face forward in the car (Logan said he didn't mention that he had already done so :0).

Lilly the clammy clown

So we were able to get pictures sent to us of Lilly's birthday in Missouri since our camrea stopped working. We also got our camera working again so I have another video to post. Lilly had a blast in MO visiting all her relatives. This was by far the best trip yet. She was still quite grumpy for her and when we got back we found out she had ear infections in both ears, poor little girl, I'd be grumpy too! She was still very much the little show off and while opening presents made sure to say "ooooo" and "wow" at every one. She really enjoyed the cards. We had to bring a whole suitcase home filled with presents. Thankfully she recieved several 12 month outfits that she very much needed and is already growing out of. She just continues to grow and grow. I totally understand why my relatives used to say I grew like a weed. She does. She's already grown out of the shoes we bought her for the trip. In length she's grown a ton. She has also gained some weight and is now able to sit in a forward facing car seat. Daddy couldn't wait any longer and has me drive when we're together so he can play with her. I think she enjoys it too.

We enjoyed a very fun 4th of July with Aunt Pam, Uncle Brian, and Cousin Ben. It's so much fun as Lilly gets older to watch her play with Ben. They are able to play together more and Ben is very cute holding hands with her. I think that he finds her a tad bit annoying sometimes.... :)

We took Lilly to the mall play area for the first time since she is walking around and she had a blast. She loves the slide even though it doesn't really let her slide. We've gone to the play area 4 times since and she is starting to recognize the entrance to the mall and gets quite excited when we go.
Lilly at the Mall

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Lilly is constantly adding more words to her vocab. A few words she says are "mama," "dada," "doggo(dog)," "ball," "grraff(giraffe),"up," "down," "look," and many more. The other day she actually put two words together and we were very excited! Sadly neither Logan and I can remember what it was. I'm sure that she'll do it again soon and this time I'll write it down.

As she gets older Logan and I are constantly amazed how funny she is. She does things just to get us to laugh at her. We go to the mall and she'll wave at people and try to make them laugh. She's just a clown.

Video time!

The Lilly dance...

So, Lilly likes to dance and this is one that we can usually get her to do for us. I think it started with Ben dancing for her and now she joins in.
Daddy and Lilly dancing

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This makes me laugh...

Ok, so this isn't long and I wanted to post one of her walking but for some reason this video just cracks me up!

LIlly making me laugh

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Lilly turns 1

So I just wanted to add some birthday photos since I skipped over this time period in the blog. Lilly had a blast turning 1. We had some friends and family over and made pizzas, had a pool party, and she had fun devouring the cake too.

Look at me! Look at me!

Sorry it's been such a long time since a post. I started getting discouraged because I didn't think anyone was even reading it. Let me tell you, a tiny little comment will make me want to keep posting and you might just get a couple of posts a week!

So Lilly is walking a lot now. I'd say probably 90-95% walking and 5% crawling. It's so cute to watch her walk because she's so little. We got her 1 year old pictures taken at JC Penney last night and we didn't get in there for about 30 minutes so Lilly and I just walked around and around the store outside the portrait studio. I was quite bored after the 5th time but Lilly loved it. Walking has also brought on some other things, like her thinking that she's a big kid and should sit at the table with all the other kids. It has also brought a little monkey out of her. She's climbing on everything! I have to keep the chairs on top of the table or I will find her sitting on top of the table! She also has 6 teeth now. The top four middle ones and two bottom ones. She isn't eating any baby food now but wants maccoroni and cheese for every meal. Or anything else that mom and dad are eating. She actually is a very good eater and some days I feel like all she does is eat, sleep, and poop. Now I vaguely remember that she was supposed to grow out of that stage by now... Sometimes I think her eating so much isn't normal but I guess she just has a fast metabolism. She has grown quite a bit but is still small for her age. We are guessing she weighs around 18 lbs and at her last doc's appointment she was 27 inches long.

This picture is just for proof, that yes, she does have hair!! :) So let me tell you a little bit about her personality cause it is coming out very loud and vibrant! She loves attention. We go to the mall and she just waves and smiles and says hi. Tons of people stop or smile. She is very sociable. She also has a sense of humor. She tries to make people laugh and if you laugh she'll repeat what she did. Her favorite thing to do to get me to laugh is to blow a raspberry on my shoulder. At her pictures she had the whole studio cracking up. She has also started to protest and throw little fits. It's interesting to see a temper develop. She's still very easy going though and very happy. Her grumpy moods are really not that bad. Well I hope you enjoyed the update and the pictures. I promise to post more stuff within the next week or so. :)

I'm a big kid now!

Over the past few weeks Lilly constantly amazes me at how she is capable at doing the things the other bigger kids do too. If she can't figure it out right away, she works at it for 20, 30, and even sometimes 40 minutes until she can do it. She constantly amazes me at how long her attention span is. I feel like most kids her age would get tired of it and move onto something else. But no, Lilly has extreme perserverance and presses on until she accomplishes what it is she set out to do. This morning she decided she was big enough for the tricycle that all the other kids ride on. I watched her for probably 30 minutes trying to climb onto the tricycle and swing her leg over to the other side, so that there was a leg on each side. She could climb up onto the seat but then didn't know what to do next. Several times I tried helping her but my hands were swiftly pushed aside. If she could have talked she would have said, "no mom, I'll do it." So here is the final accomplishment of Lillian's morning:


Notice that there is a leg on both sides. Now that she mastered that, she felt she should move around on it too. She spent another 20 minutes trying to figure out what to do. She finally realized that if she pushes by her feet, the tricycle moves back. So the next thing I know, she's moving around all over the place by going backwards. I was able to capture her laughing and feeling proud about her accomplishment:
Of course after all that playing around outside and crawling around inside, Lilly was pretty tired. She has finally cut out her morning nap and is taking pretty much one long nap a day in the afternoon with all the other kids. She does get very tired at about 11 but I don't put everyone else down for a nap until 11:45 or so. So every morning I set her in the highchair with lunch and that usually helps her stay awake and happy until it's time to sleep. Today, I could tell she was really tired but I still needed to change diapers and lay everyone down. Lilly was in the other room in her highchair and wasn't crying so I figured she was happy until I could get her. Little did I know that this is why she was quiet!

She didn't open one eye while I took her bib off, carried her into the nursery and laid her down. I felt kinda bad that she had to resort to falling asleep in her highchair but not too bad to snap a picture before I took her to bed. :)

Well, I could go on and on about my little one but I think I've probably written plenty. I did want to add a couple of things. Lilly is such an affectionate child. Granted, both of her parents are pretty affectionate as well, so I wonder where she gets that from?! But it's so great to have a little girl kiss and hug you back. Her kisses consist of open mouth, drooling, snot nosed kisses, but who cares! She also gives Aunt Pam and Uncle Brian hugs and recently when Grandma B was visiting she was giving them out to her right and left. I really enjoy that. No matter how the day is going, when I get the little snuggle into my neck, all my worries wash away and I can't help but thank God for an affectionate little baby.




This picture is for you Logan cause I don't mean to leave out the cute pictures of you and Lilly!

Lilly-bean!

If you are wondering why this is titled Lilly-bean, I will explain. See, somewhere along the way both Logan and I started affectionately calling Lilly by the name of Lilly-bean. She crawls into a room and I yell, "Lilly-bean!" I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's because she reminds me of my favorite ice cream, vanilla-bean, who knows. Anyway, life has flown by since Christmas. I have been so busy with my new job that I barely have time to breath, let alone write for Lilly's blog.

Lilly is very little for her age. She is now 9 months old but still only weighing 14 lbs or so. She's still long and lean. I can't believe it but she is still wearing 3 month clothing. 3 months!!! That seems crazy to me and I actually am tired of seeing the same clothes over and over and wish that she would grow some meat on those bones! :) Ok, not really. I think her littleness makes her even more cute, if thats possible. We actually went to the doctor on Monday and he seems concerned. Lilly hasn't shown any growth since her 6 month appointment. We've done some blood work and some other tests but nothing, other than a little anemia, is coming out as abnormal. We're keep a diary of what she eats and we go to the doctor in two weeks. She eats a ton! So hopefully she'll start gaining weight.

Lilly loves to crawl around outside. If she doesn't want to be held, she wants to be outside. It's hilarious to watch her crawl around. She crawls so well now. The other day she crawled into the bathroom and then shut the door behind her. I could hear her crying but couldn't find her anywhere! I finally realized where she was and came to the rescue. Of course she wanted to be held for maybe 30 seconds and then she was down again crawling back into the bathroom!

Merry Christmas Lillian Mae!

Merry Christmas!! We all love you!

Pictures!

The top pic was Lilly with her first balloon at her first bday party! She thought it was the coolest toy ever! And yes Logan is giving her a sucker. She couldnt have birthday cake yet!

Also, on another note, I really did have a good time visiting everyone in Missouri. It was still worth the trip to surprise everyone! We were even able to take a 5 generation picture. Lilly got to spend time with many family members and we both loved it! Here are some pictures fromt trip: