A Winter Weekend

One of my favorite things about Lily right now is watching her learn and explore. She fascinates me.

So between Thursday and Friday when we got about 6 inches of snow, I couldn't wait to get her out to play a little bit now that this winter she's a toddler. Friday was FAH-REEZING cold all day, so no go on going outside. Plus, we knew more snow was coming, so we wanted to wait until the temp went up a little bit. I'm not exactly sure just when I became the girl who says excitedly, "It's going to be in the 40's on Sunday!" and that's warm. But, as marked by my going outside in only a sweatshirt (otherwise known in Pittsburgh as a "hoodie") and yoga pants, I think I have become somewhat acclimated to enduring living here in the winter.

Saturday, Andrew went over to his friend's house to play outside in the snow and play video and computer games while Daddy, Lily, and I had a lazy day at home together. I even took a nap! That never happens.

Before he headed off, he made sure to help out with the shoveling the walk.

The diaper bag got left in the car the other night and when I brought it in, the sippy that had water in it, had a popsicle instead.  Although I have experienced things like melted crayons in the backseat of my car and melted cassette tapes due to the Arizona heat, this was a first for me. I could barely get the lid off the sippy. THANKFULLY it was water and not milk.

Sunday, when it warmed up, we bundled Lily up and headed out into the snow!

We played in the backyard, just letting her walk, go on the sled a little bit, she went on her slide, threw a couple snowballs at Andrew and just walk some more. 

She had a little bit of trouble walking at first...

But she quickly got the hang of walking in the snow. :)

The weather was pleasant and we had a great time! Andrew is so good with Lily and just loves playing with her. I will take it as long as it lasts. :)  They were making faces at each other.



Andrew was trying to teach Lily to make snow angels and well, they didn't get very far:

I think it's safe to say, Lily enjoyed herself in the snow!

Life with Lily

Life with Lily is pretty much always on the go. 

I laughed the other day when one of my mama friends, Cari, tweeted about how taking pictures with her now mobile adorable baby girl is more difficult. It just gets more and more difficult. ;)

Lily is never still unless she's sleeping.  Even when she climbs up to snuggle and watch Mickey Mouse, she still is up and down to pick up something to hold, run around.  On. The. Go. Always.

I adore that little person!

George and Andrew have had some "man time," as they call it while Lily and I have been doing some girl stuff. :)  I have been fascinated just watching her play lately.  Her processing, how she tries something over and over until she does it and doesn't get frustrated. She just keeps trying. I love listening to her chatter as she's playing, carrying things, running, bringing me things. 

Her level of comprehension is so much fun and I am so very much enjoying her in every way.

This was a couple nights ago hanging out in her room:

She kept putting things in her rocking chair (that was her Daddy's when he was little) and had an Elmo movie on it too. She decided she needed Elmo from her bed to join the movie.

The stuffed Elmo was actually Andrew's when he was a baby that she swiped off of a shelf. It was the first thing their Oma bought for Andrew when I found out I was pregnant with him.

She's been carrying around these felt flowers that she took off the wall under her window. She left the stems on the wall though. :)  The funniest part of it is one of her "sounds" she says/does is, "What do you do with a flower, Lily?" and she sniffs in and out really quickly.  It's adorable!

I've really been soaking in the moments not trying to hurry up to make her grow up. Just teaching, encouraging, modeling and watching.

17 Months

Seventeen months.

Wow.

Lily is such a funny little person and I'm in such awe of her daily.

Some days that awe is pure blissful amazement and others that awe is disbelief.  You know, of course, the good with the bad.
~She climbs DOWN steps. (thankfully)

~When you say, "See ya soon!" She waves and says, "buh byeeeeee". 

~She had the worst teething and stomach bug poopy dipes at the same time...FOR A WEEK!

~She loves to wear her slippers. When you ask, "Where's your slipper?", off she goes to find it. Seriously I die from the cute of her crossing her feet while she's hanging out on the couch.

~She has this hysterical laugh that she's been doing forever...her fake laugh. Well, now it's gotten even longer and louder! We crack up every single time.  I can't even duplicate it, but when someone is really laughing she just joins in with that fake laugh and stretches it out until every last possible breath of air she's got.

~She says a cow says, "booooo", she sniffs when you ask her what a flower does, she pants for a puppy, says, "eeee. eeee. eeee." for a mouse, knows where her nose is and will show you by shoving her finger up into it. She points to her belly, her eyes, her head, her mouth, her teeth, her ears (finger goes IN on that one too). She says, "quack" and makes a quacking sound (more like Donald Duck's laugh) when you ask her what a duck says. She makes a fish face, well her version, when you ask her what a fish does. Says, "puckee" for monkey.

~Her new favorite words: "thank you" and "nooooooooo". She says, "bankie" (blankie), "uh oh" "hi guys" "go go" "howditgo", "cup", "down". She signs "more" and "milk" rather than saying them.  Calls a character named Pookie in her books, "Pookoh", says, "jump" and then jumps.

~If you say, "Lily, are you hungry?" She walks over and climbs in her high chair.

~If you say, "Are you ready for night-night?" or "Are you ready for a bath?", she heads to the steps to go upstairs.

~She dances by just swaying her hips back and forth really quickly. Sometimes there is no music. She just stops and dances. It's the cutiest ever! She

~She has started pouting with her bottom lip sticking out and crying real tears if you take something away from her that she wants. i.e. temper tantrum using her cuteness to try to get away with it. Mama doesn't give in.

~She's definitely mischevious and likes to grab things like phones or remotes and hide them if you don't catch her with them.  She has started climbing up the steps, running into Andrew's room, climbing up on his bed to get his cell phone off his desk, climbing back down, running into her room and climbing up into Reagan's bed to play with it.  It's hysterical. 

~She likes to knock on doors and try to open door knobs.

~She loves to watch Yo Gabba Gabba still and Bubble Guppies, Sesame Street and Blue's Clues. She likes to say, "Wow Wow" for Wow Wow Wubzy, when she sees it, but never watches the show.

~She is all about Mama these days. She follows me anywhere, wants me over anyone else, cries when I go to the bathroom. She loves to crawl up and sit behind my legs when I have them curled up on the couch or in the comfy chair.  Andrew used to do that too and I love it so much!

 

~She still loves books as much as ever! Her favorite still seems to be "Moo Baa La La La". She's changed which part she loves to "read" though from the "la la la" to the "no no" part of "no no you say, that isn't right."  It's adorable.

I'm just so amazed at the development of Lily and all babies and how she uses words correctly in context, comprehends, and responds.

We go for her 18 month --how is she almost one and a HALF? -- check up so soon.

~Food is so picky at this age. Some days she loves something and the next she wants nothing to do with it. She LOVES milk and that hasn't changed at all.  I just don't make food a battle and know she won't starve herself.  She's offered a variety of foods and some days she eats like she can't get enough and others she barely touches a thing.  Welcome to toddler feeding, the most annoying ever!  She does love to feed the dog though. ;)

~She loves to clap! When she hears clapping, she claps. When someone says, "yay," she claps. Always with the same sweet smile and joy on her face! I love it!

~She loves to get into the cabinet that has baking need items and snacks along with the tupperware cabinet. She goes into the kitchen, swings the cabinet doors open and then we'll find random items like powdered sugar, condensed milk, crisco and the like strewn all over.

~She has started smelling and then kissing EVERYTHING. Food, toys, anything she picks up. Takes a sniff, gives it a kiss.

~Our Lily is a climber. She's pretty much always tried. At 17 months, she successfully climbed out of her crib.  Well, she pretty much flipped out. She used her bumper pad as leverage to get her belly on the side of her crib and climb out.  SUPER scary. She seems to land on her head a lot. :(  We removed her bumper and there have been no more escape attempts. 

Seventeen months is such an amazing time. We are so in love with this incredible little person and so very glad we are blessed to be her parents.

Mama's New Buddy

One of mama's Christmas presents from the huz arrived a few days ago...

This was the final picture I took on my Blackberry:

After nearly six years with Blackberry, I've finally let it go and upgraded to the iPhone.  The huz got a Droid Incredible 2 and honestly, I really love that too! He upgraded from an old school flip phone though, so to hear him say he loves his phone makes my heart sing! Not that he's picky or anything. *sarcasm* 

It wasn't scheduled to ship until Jan 4th, but then I got an email a few days earlier it was on its way! I was super excited and stalked watched my email and kept looking out my door for Fed Ex on Tuesday. It was supposed to arrive by 3pm.  Guess what happened on Tuesday?  It snowed. And snowed. And cars were sliding all over the place because the snow came in quickly and it took some time for roads to get treated. 

3pm came and went. I know Fed Ex delivers until 7pm. So around 6:35pm or so, I got a couple tweets from friends asking where my phone was.

I tweeted back, "Ask Fed Ex." 

*knock knock knock* 

I clapped and jumped up and down like a cheerleader, running to the door. Told the FedEx guy I didn't think he was coming and was glad he made it!
Anddddddddd mama's new buddy had arrived.

I was still dealing with Lily her 8239852394 million diaper issues, so I didn't have too much time to play with it other than getting it set up and my contacts transferred.  ;(

Then yesterday the house of barf took over, so amidst laundry, lysol, medicine, crackers, poopy diapers, garbage bags, and powerade, I managed to play around some.  So far, mama is in love with this new little buddy and I'm just barely getting to know him! 

~Lily in her several days of teething, diarrhea filled diaper life has been eating very little. So, we've been ensuring she's hydrated and feeding her foods to help curb the messy outcome.  Double diapering has helped to save some clothes, but there's still been 131913093471386 loads of laundry. 

Last night she decided to let us know she was hungry without whining, crying or any words.

Ok big girl, get yourself in your seat and we'll feed you. :)

*Subjects tied together by photos courtesy of my new iPhone! hee hee