From Lily with Lof

Lily gave this paper to me two or three months ago. Of course I loved it and stored it away. After a while I thought about the fact that construction paper will fade and it won't last forever, so I scanned it. Once I scanned it I felt it was too precious to keep to myself. So now, I'm blogging it. She did this all by herself and surprised me. It was quite a surprise, too. She doesn't ever want to practice writing her letters and she really doesn't like to read any of the words at story time, except site words. I had a feeling she could do more than she was letting on, but I was so happy to see her taking an interest in writing. She did pretty well for stretch spelling and that's all they require in Kindergarten. She wrote her name at the top to indicate who it was from and she also wrote it on the back, but I didn't scan that. Then is says, "Momm I lof yoo." Which loosely translated means "Mommy, I love you. Love, Lily" So sweet. It's definitely among my favorite pieces of art at the moment.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Snow is coming! This is good news and bad news. It means that EVERYONE and his brother is out today either finishing the Christmas shopping they were planning to do this weekend or getting "I'm going to be snowed in for a week" supplies. I had to get Lily snow boots. If it snowed every year here I would have gotten them in the fall, but I've been burned by that plan before. When you are on a budget snow boots and snow pants don't make the cut unless there is going to be snow. Most of the time I just have the kids wear their sneakers, but all Lily's shoes have an open top. I guess she likes the Mary Jane look. This is all fine and dandy most of the time, but not in the snow. We got the very last pair of boots in her size. They were completely out of boy snow boots and had a very limited amount of girl boots left. It was a good thing we got there when we did! While we were there I decided to pick up some marshmallows for hot chocolate. The lines weren't so bad and people were generally pleasant. It was crowded and the parking lot was kinda crazy, but we made it out unscathed.
I also needed a few things from the grocery store, but my very thoughtful and wonderful mother called to ask if she could pick anything up for me because she was going to the store. I know how much she hates shopping and crowded stores, so this was a true gift. I am so grateful! Thanks, Mom! I have a friend who posted on Facebook from the line at the grocery store 3 times over more than an hour. I would have had a really hard time keeping Lily (and myself) in good spirits for that long in a line that didn't end with a trip on a flying elephant.
Lily also completed her potty chart last night, so we went to Chuck E. Cheese today, as promised. Getting there was a slow process. It's probably 2 minutes from our house on a normal day, but today it took me at least 20. I sat in the left hand turn lane through 4 cycles because traffic getting into the shopping center was so thick. There is a grocery store, a department store and lots of other smaller shops in the shopping center where our Chuck E Cheese is, so you can see why it was so crazy. Once we were there we had fun. Lily wanted my parents to come celebrate with her, so they did. They even played a game or two. They are such good sports.
Now that today's craziness is behind us, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. There is something magical about Christmas time snow. It really gets you in the mood to celebrate. I'm looking forward to watching the kids sled down the hill, build snowmen and try to catch snowflakes on their tongues. After they finally realize how cold they are and come inside we'll drink hot chocolate then cuddle under cozy blankets together. Well, that's my plan anyway. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Happy Birthday, Lily!

Lily is 3! Jay says she's not a baby anymore. I haven't thought of her as a baby in a long time, but 3 does seem like a big girl age.

Lily's First Significant Hair Cut

Those who know us or have been long time readers know that Lily didn't have much hair as a baby. She had kind of a baby mullet when it started growing in. When she finally had a measurable amount of hair it had the most beautiful curls. I've always loved her sweet curls, but recently they have started to look a little disheveled. I knew it was time to take her to get a real hair cut to try to even out all that short mullet hair from the top. In the picture below you can see the significant difference in the length of the back of her hair and the sides. The very shortest bit of hair is from when Sheri cut her bangs, but the rest of that side hair has never been cut. It was bittersweet taking her to get it cut. I could tell we would be taking off most of the curl, but I knew it would thicken up the look of it.

These two pictures are from today before we left.

These two are after.

She was in no mood to pose either time, so I had to take what I could get picture-wise.

Good News

I am now declaring Lily officially potty trained! I probably should have done it earlier. We had a great start and then she started having accidents. They were averaging about one a day for a while. It was probably a combination of me not reminding her as much and the novelty wearing off making her slip back into the old "I'm covered" mode. In the past 3+ weeks she has worn undies at all waking times and only had 3 mishaps. Mostly minor ones having to do with wanting to do everything herself. She's doing really well. I don't even worry when we go out anymore. We are done with the rewards and have been for a while now. It's just a part of daily life now. I can't wait to see how much we are saving on diapers!



Way to go, Lily! I'm so proud!

The First Cut

Lily got her first hair cut. I was really unsure about it because I love her little curls. She won't let me put barrettes in to hold back the front though, so I had no choice. I had to get some bangs cut. I wasn't brave, or foolish enough to do it myself, so I took her to my good friend, Sheri. Sheri is wonderful. She does my hair, she's done my mom's hair and Ryan has never gotten his hair cut by anyone else. When Sheri was on maternity leave she came to our house to cut Ryan's hair! She's always been great with Ryan and Lily was no different. She sat on the chair all by herself. She mostly did everything Ms. Sheri asked. She was still and patient. She even talked about how fun it was later. The bangs are really helping keep her hair out of her face. I even had a little bit taken off the back. I wasn't sure when i went in if I would. I my exact words were, "Okay, here's the thing...I don't want to be one of those moms who can't bring herself to cut her little girl's hair and it ends up being a scraggly mess,[insert knowing laughs from every hair stylist within earshot] BUUUUUT I do love her curls. If you think cutting the back will make her hair look a lot fuller I'll do it." She did think it would help to cut off about 3/4 of an inch to help the shorter hairs catch up. I knew it would help to cut it, but I was afraid how much would have to be cut to make a difference and I wasn't sure with her curls how much of a difference it would make. It did make a difference and it really doesn't even look much shorter. All in all I'm happy I was brave enough to get it cut.

Oh, you want pictures? Well, if you insist. I think I have a few.

Bangs first. Okay, just don't cut off all her curls.

All done.

We got a smile!
That's more like it.
This is how we got the smile;-)
Do you love the boots? She picked out her whole outfit.

After shot.

It's Lily...with bangs:-)

Lily's Potty Training Progress

Lily has had lots of highs and lows with the potty. She started using the potty so long ago, but she doesn't really care to waste her precious play time sitting on the potty. I've tried lots of different things. She is not motivated by a sticker chart, cheery songs or stories on the potty. I've tried the underwear only approach, but she doesn't care if she gets wet. She just tells me that she is wet once she's already left a little puddle on the carpet. Basically we were in a place where she used to potty, but only when she wanted to. Lately that was not very often. One might even say she was on a potty strike for a while. Feeling like I could no longer leave this up to my way too stubborn two year old and dreaming of all the money I'd save on diapers I broke down. I used candy. I told myself I would never use candy for potty training, so I got myself off on a technicality that make me feel better about the whole thing. The first day she got a sticker for using the potty and a lollipop for having dry undies when she did. I bribed her with lollipops often and she stayed dry the whole day. As I do not want to spend all the money I save on diapers paying the dentist I intend to cut the lollipops way back fast, so I've been using Lily's other currency. What's Lily's other currency you ask? Actually it's currency. She loves coins, any coins. She plays with them constantly. So I've been using a mixture of coins and lollipops for the past 3 days and she has not had one accident! She's doing soooo well. I'm really excited. She even tells me sometimes when she needs to go. I won't call her fully potty trained until she tells me every time she needs to go, but I think we are finally make progress toward that goal. Yippee!

Happy Birthday Lily!

Happy 2nd birthday Sweet Pea!

We had Lily's present waiting at the bottom of the steps when we went down in the morning. She saw it when we were at the top of the steps. *gasp* I told her it was her present. *GASP* down a couple steps, *gasp*, a couple more steps, *gasp*. Needless to say she was excited. It hasn't been as great a hit as I thought, but she does enjoy it. When we saw them at the store she didn't want to get off them, so I thought she would be riding it constantly, but I guess there are a whole lot more things to do in our house than there are in a furniture store. I love it.

[If you recently visited you may have noticed this post was gone. I was updating and meant to save the update as a draft...OOPS! It didn't work. I'll be adding more later when I finish the part about who Lily is at 2 or maybe I'll just make it a new post.]

Testing, 1, 2, 3

Lily counted to 10 almost all by herself yesterday. She got stuck on 4, but when I said it for her she went on to 5 and finished up to 10. Just out of the blue she started counting and since she can't quite get the word four I helped her out. Today she did all the counting by herself except the four was pretty unintelligible. The only reason you'd know it was a 4 is that is came in between 3 and 5. Still pretty good for 19 months old!

Lily's Potty Breakthrough

So, the other night (whenever I wrote that blurb, I knew I wouldn't remember and that's why I wrote that) Lily and Ryan were in the bath. Lily stood up, bent her knees and grunted a little. I asked if she had to use the potty and to my surprise she looked at me with a thoughtfully cocked head and said, "Yeah." It sounded like on of those in passing type yeah's you might get if you ask someone if they like their sandwich. For a second I didn't really believe her because she knows when you ask a question and usually replies with a "yeah" or a "no", but I'm not sure she always understands what she is answering. I believed her a little more when she reached her arms up for me to take her out of the tub. She hardly ever wants to get out of the tub. So I dried her off and held her on the big potty since I had not yet retrieved the little on from the basement. She didn't do anything on there, so I put a pull up on her and ran down to the basement to get the potty. I grabbed some cleaner and paper towels on the way back up. I sprayed and cleaned the potty as fast as I could whilst still making sure it was good and clean. [ a little aside: I sprayed the blue shield piece before I realized she wouldn't need it. It was a bit strange pulling it off since I've been through two boys who needed it before her, but I quickly threw it in the sink so I could get the parts that mattered clean.] I sat her on the little potty and Ryan realized he had to go too, so he did his thing. Lily got up and down, up and down. When Ryan got down she pointed to the big potty indicating she wanted to go there. I put her little seat on and she sat up there and produced. We cheered and celebrated, Daddy even ran up from downstairs. She LOVED all the attention. Maybe that's why she continues to love sitting on the potty.

She has used the potty quite a bit since then. She is no where close to not needing diapers, but she knows what to do. Most times I ask her if she wants to use the potty she says yeah. Every time she does she manages to do something. She likes using the big potty better than the little one. She has done all her stinkies on the big potty. Sometimes she will do peeps on the little potty, but if she needs to do more she will get up, take the seat and put it on the big potty. Then she holds her arms up and waits to be lifted to her throne;-)

Breaking News

Lily did a stinky on the potty! More later.

Oh the Milestones They Keep a' Comin'

We went to Ryan's preschool for the open house today. It was a nice classroom and the teacher seemed sweet. It was kind of crowded and very loud, but I think that was more because of all the parents and siblings. They had two classes in the same room and Ryan was a little overwhelmed. The teachers had made a scavenger hunt which was a fantastic idea because there was just so much to take in I think we would have missed a lot. Ryan looked right at the bookshelf 3 times before he found the books. That was with looking for one item at a time! He liked it and he can't wait to start Monday.

Lily can now climb into and out of her crib and she does it often. This girl worries me!

Joyous and Helpful Child

Lily is such a joyous girl. She finds great happiness in little things. Right now she is laughing hysterically at the "pop" sound her toy milk container makes when she opens it. She can't even hear music without swaying with a big smile on her face. There are always big smiles when she is proud of herself for accomplishing something new or doing something difficult. She laughs with delight when Daddy or her brothers play chase with her or tickle her. Her laughter is very contagious and once someone laughs with her it makes her laugh even harder. There are frequent "weeee"s when she slides or swings. She has so much fun outside on the playground or anywhere else. She just loves so much of life. I just love to see her joy and celebrate life with her every day.

Today she started really helping me with things. Sometimes she will hand me her shoes or socks when she wants to put them on to go outside or try to feed me her goldfish, but it's always something she wants to do. Today she and Ryan loaded the washing machine for me. I handed them clothes and they would put them in the basin. It was a lot easier for Ryan, but Lily did a great job. It took me a bit by surprise. I don't know why, she is very coordinated and loves putting things into containers. She is filling a water bottle with toys as I type this. Now Ryan is "helping" her. I'd better go make sure this doesn't turn ugly.

Almost 2 Weeks- In Bullets

-Ben's party was fun.
-I need to get another extra battery (since my old one is useless) so I don't end up carrying a 3 pound brick around all day.
-It's spring! Woohoo
-It's April! Double WooHoo!
-Lily is saying some things that resemble words now. Today I swear she said "brother" for Ryan.
-Ryan has been really excited to have "Jacknjees" for breakfast this week. To the rest of us that is a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit. I'll say it slowly for him and he repeats it, but then calls it "jack 'n' jees" again. It took me a few minutes to figure out what he meant when he was dancing around the kitchen singing, "Yay, jacknjees!" over and over when I got home from the grocery store.
-Ryan is "playing" the piano and singing right now and it is so cute.
-Lily had her first gymnastics class. She had a lot of fun, but I felt a bit aimless with little direction as to what to do with her. Mostly she just climbed around the equipment.
-I became a Creative Memories consultant. I'm excited, nervous, happy and unsure about it all at the same time. Does this make me a work at home mom? Hmm. I guess I'd rather think of myself as a stay at home mom with a little side stuff going on. At least I'll never have to get a babysitter since I can plan events for when Jay will be home and do all the other stuff at nap time.
-We decided to put an addition on our house. The contractor has already been here twice. This too is exciting, but a little scary. I have all sorts of plans for the addition rolling around in my head.
-Our whole family is sick...even Jay. It's just a cold, but it is still really annoying. It is especially annoying because it seems to be the reason Lily has been up half the night crying for the past 3 nights. No, we don't leave her to cry on her own, but she is often inconsolable. This means that at least one of the adults is severely sleep deprived the whole day. Usually both of us. This does not make me look forward to a whole day of holiday celebration. I really hope everyone is better by Sunday and we all manage to get a decent night's sleep before then.
-I am so taking a nap when Lily does today.
-I let Jay guess what his birthday present would be because I didn't think he would guess in a million years. He did. On the first try. So much for surprise. He seems to like it though, so I guess that makes it okay.

Mr. Sandman

Mark the date on your calendar folks. Lily slept through the night!!! We started Sleeping 101 with her last Monday. What possessed us to start right at daylight savings time I do not know, but we did. The first step was moving Ryan into the other room. It just wouldn't be fair to him to be in the same room with a sleep training baby. After much trial and error we discovered she likes singing. We successfully got her to sleep without nursing after about 2 hours of trying. There was some crying involved(I won't say who), but I think Lily and I both figured some things out. She woke up 1 or 2 times that night...it's pretty much a fog at this point. The next night was easier. I didn't think it would be since Jay had a meeting and I was on my own for bed time with all 3 kids. I managed to get the older two done by 8:30 and Lily was asleep in her crib by 8:45! She woke up twice that night, but went back to sleep fairly quickly with some singing and tummy rubbing. I guess she was wiped out from it all because she slept until 10am! Wednesday was pretty good again. She was asleep by 9 that night, woke up her normal 2 times and woke up for the day at 10:15. Thursday was really good Lily woke up once and fell back to sleep on her own before I even got to her. Friday and Saturday were fair considering there was so much excitement over having visitors and her birthday party. Last night she didn't go to sleep right away. We started at 8:30 and she wasn't asleep until 9:15ish, but on the bright side--the VERY bright side--she slept the entire night without crying at all. She woke up looking a little sleepy around 8, but perked up quickly. What a fantastic night! NONE of the kids woke up.
In case you are wondering our routine starts around 8 with stories. Lily picks some and Ryan picks some and we all read them together. Then the kids get songs all together and Ryan gets prayers. Then I take Lily to her room and we rock while I sing a round of songs. Then I give her a kiss, put her in her crib and sing the second round of songs. While I sing the second round I gradually withdrawal from her from rubbing her back to sitting in the rocker looking at her and finally to leaning back on the rocker where she can't see me. This progression sometimes takes 2-3 rounds of songs depending on her. Then I stop singing and sit in the chair and wait for her to fall asleep. If she starts to cry I revert to the previous step. If she keeps crying I go one more step back and so on until she stops crying. If she stands up and cries harder I hug her and if that doesn't help I pick her up and start over. This system has worked for us so far. Every once in a while she will only stay quiet if I hold her. After I pick her up and start the routine for the second time if she starts crying when I put her down and won't stop I will leave the room for 5 minutes and come back to start fresh. I have not had to leave the room more than once since we figured out our system. Which for all intents and purposes was the second night of Sleep 101 since the first night was full of trial and error. When she wakes up in the night we let her cry for 5 minutes(if we can stand it) and one of us goes in to do the routine. I know we are not in the clear yet, but last night gives me hope that there will be sleep in our future.

Jump, Lily, Jump

Last night Lily started trying to jump in the air. It was so cute to watch her crouching down building up all her strength to spring up and *almost* making her little body leave the floor. She was having so much fun trying over and over. She looked so proud of herself. I remember Ryan doing this when he was a baby too. So cute. I didn't have a video camera, but I did happen to have my regular camera right there, so I put together a little series of pictures to try to capture the different stages of the "jump".

It starts out something like the first picture, she spreads her feet apart. She braces herself. Then she leans forward like in the second picture. Next she squats almost all the way down to the floor, even closer than the third picture shows. Then she springs up in one quick motion and you get picture number four:-)

Happy Birthday Lily!

My sweet Lily Grace is one year old today! This year has flown by so fast. I will write a better birthday post soon.

Consider this a place holder.

Woohoo Lily!

Lily stayed in the nursery at church for the whole service yesterday! ::the skies parted and the angels sang, "Hallelujah!"::
Maybe next week I wont even watch the screen the whole time wondering why her number hasn't come up;-)

Lily Update

Lily has gotten no video play on my blog. Ryan got quite a bit as a baby, so I feel bad. In my defense, we did get a new computer and it didn't have a firewire card for a long time. It does now and I can bring you video once again:-) Without further ado here is Lily in her first web video showing off her walking skills.

In other Lily news...
Due to the crazy design of our split-level house and Lily's incredible desire to climb stairs we have been turning her backwards to do the tummy slide down the stairs herself(with adequate supervision of course). Today she turned around and got on her tummy at the top of the stairs all by herself!

Lily's Walking Status

Lily's walking is improving by leaps and bounds. Each day she gets better and better. She is walking most of the places she wants to go now. If she falls she usually gets right up and keeps going. That is unless she is in a hurry and the fall is usually forward and she lands on her hands and continues in her bear walk style because it's speedier than walking right now. Boy is she quick when she wants to get somewhere. Keeping her out of trouble keeps getting harder and harder to do. Christmas was interesting since one of her favorite things to do is eat paper. She has some kind of paper radar that allows her to hone in on any tiny scrap that might be good eating before anyone else knows it's there.