Journey to and Through Motherhood: Lily's 36th Week (11/2/09

Lily was really hungry this week. She must be growing. This is evident every time I try to pick her up or carry her as she is getting really heavy! She is so solid that even though she is pudgy, she still weighs a lot more than it looks like she should. On Monday, she ate a full jar and a quarter of baby food for dinner. On Tuesday morning, she was still hungry after nursing so I gave her some baby food and she ate almost the whole jar. We hadn’t implemented solids for breakfast before but her increased appetite had me decide to try it for the rest of the week. It worked out really well because she nursed at about 5:00am each morning then had solids for breakfast at about 7:15am before leaving for Kirsten’s house. One morning I gave her peas for breakfast which grossed out Paul but Lily doesn’t know what defines breakfast foods! I cherish my nursing time with her and miss our bonding time of nursing before rushing out the door but I realize that as she grows older, she has more of an interest in solids. She usually only wants to nurse now for comfort and nourishment when she is tired. So Lily now has solids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with breastmilk in between. She also has been having a lot more finger foods like Cheerios and Gerber Graduates Yogurt Melts lately. She loves to feed herself and it is great for us because we can all eat dinner together as a family now. She proudly keeps herself entertained in her high chair feeding herself just like we are. She always wants to be eating when we eat and it helps satisfy her independent streak. Thankfully, the increase in solids this week did not lead to any constipation issues as it has in the past.

On Wednesday, we had a disturbing visit from our neighbor, Amy. She told us that there is a registered sex offender unofficially living at a house right outside our neighborhood which is right by Rachel’s bus stop. Rachel is very responsible and leaves for the bus as we are leaving for work which is at about 7:20am so she is usually the first one at the stop and is always there at least five minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive at 7:29am. Most of the other kids that ride her bus live right by the entrance to the neighborhood so they stay inside their homes until about a minute before the bus arrives. Rachel is only at the stop by herself for a few minutes but this still makes her a prime target which concerned us and the parents of the other children who see her there by herself so one of the mothers volunteered to let Rachel wait for the bus at her house. That is so nice. We wish that we could stay with Rachel until the bus arrives but that would make us late for work so we are very grateful to have someone else look out for her. We had a long talk with Rachel reminding her about stranger safety and walking her through what to do if someone approached her. It is a scary world that we live in, even in our seemingly safe little haven of Hamburg.

My mom came to clean on Thursday but she couldn’t stay and have dinner with us like she usually does. My dad didn’t come with her this time because he had American Legion meetings all day. We were sad that we didn’t get to see her. We always greatly appreciate her help with cleaning the house but also look forward to our evening visits afterward. She was gone even before Rachel got home from school but she left us a surprise dinner in the refrigerator. It was Chicken Noodle Casserole which was my favorite meal growing up. I always called it Chicken Noodle Casser-oodle. That was so nice of her.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to Carol and Grant’s house for lunch. They are Lily’s godparents. We have been so busy that we hadn’t seen them since her baptism. We have been sending them photos of Lily but they were amazed at how big she has gotten. We were amazed ourselves at how much their kids have grown. We had a good visit with Carol and Grant while Rachel played really well with Grayson and Ally. We didn’t get any pictures as they were busy preparing a meal for a family dinner while we visited. Carol very kindly gave Lily a Winnie the Pooh walker that she had fun playing in.

Saturday was my grandmother’s 89th birthday. She hates it when her age is mentioned but I think she should be proud to have lived for so long. She definitely does not look or act her age. She is in good health, lives on her own, drives, and does almost everything for herself. She is such a strong and independent lady. We celebrated her birthday by having dinner at John’s Pizzeria with my parents and Aunt Robin and Uncle Lee so we headed over there after our visit with the Lumsdens. My cousins could not attend as Todd was studying for his CPA exam in East Lansing and Ashlee and Jeremy were on vacation in Florida. We had a nice dinner then went to Lee and Robin’s house for presents and cake. Lily slept through the presents and cake but then woke up and kept us all entertained. She almost crawled. It was so funny because everyone was cheering her on. It was too bad that she didn’t achieve the milestone in front of the family but she is definitely super close. Of course, I have been saying that for months now.

On Sunday, Lily did achieve the milestone of having her two top teeth come in. They have been close to breaking through all week but haven’t bothered her at all. Now she has four teeth! I love her crooked little smile and can’t wait to see what it looks like when they come in further.

Here are some pictures from this week.

My blue-eyed cutie playing with her fishy mirror on her playmat on Friday:

Hanging on daddy’s leg:

Lily playing on the floor with her new best friend, Amber, on Saturday morning. I would never have thought that Amber and Lily would become playmates as they got off to a rocky start but now they are great together: