Feeding Chipmunks (6/13/10)

Every day after work, Paul and Lily go out on the patio so that Paul can fill the birdfeeders and Lily can feed the chipmunks. Paul gives Lily a small bucket of birdseed that Lily dumps out on the patio and plays in. Our chipmunks have quickly gotten used to her and have no qualms about coming right up to her to stuff their cheeks with seed.

In this first video, you can see Lily playing in the birdseed that she put out for the chipmunks as one comes right up to her to eat. It isn’t very shy and comes up very close but does run away when she makes sudden movements. Lily seems somewhat oblivious as she practices picking up the small pieces and putting them in and out of the bucket. She then spots a bug and calls it a “bee” as all bugs are bees to her.

In the second video, she dumps out another bucket of seeds then focuses intensely on putting them back in. She only breaks her concentration to throw some seeds to a chipmunk that wanders up.

Uh Oh (6/12/10)

Lily had been doing this really cute chatter until I got the video camera out. (Of course!) Then she got kind of angry and ended up throwing her toy plate which allowed me to catch on tape her adorable way of saying, “Uh Oh!”

Lily: 1 Year and 15 Weeks (6/7/10 - 6/13/10)

My dad built a sandbox for Lily this week so my parents stopped by on Wednesday evening to drop it off. On our way home from work, we picked up a truckload of sand from Toot at Golden Septic and Landscape in Hamburg, they picked up Subway for dinner, and we met at the house to eat before assembling it. It took a while to put it together and fill it so Lily didn’t get to christen it until after 9pm. We let her stay up after her bedtime to play for a bit. She was absolutely delighted. It is huge and super nice with a good ledge around the sides to sit on. We are very grateful for my dad’s time, generosity, and skill in making the sandbox, especially Lily who absolutely loves it. One truckload of sand was not enough to fill it so we stopped by Toot’s again on Thursday for another. He gave us the second load for free. He is such a nice guy. For the rest of the week, Lily begged to go outside after dinner and rushed right to her sandbox to play until bedtime. She loved digging in the sand with her tools as well as with her hands but every once in a while, she got all bent out of shape that her hands were dirty and brought them over to us to wipe off. She then dug right back into the sand with no qualms about her hands getting dirty again so I am not sure what the sudden fuss was all about. Lily found it delightful to throw shovelfuls of sand into the air and roll around in the sandbox so needless to say, she went straight from the sandbox to the bath every night. I didn’t mind, though, because baths help her calm down and go to sleep faster.

Speaking of sleep, Lily was an absolutely horrible sleeper all week. She went down pretty well but would not stay asleep. Most nights she was up crying between 1-4am and nothing we did helped her fall back to sleep. We tried letting her cry it out but she cried hysterically for 2.5 hours straight with no signs of stopping. After leaving her alone didn’t work, I tried nursing her and cuddling with her. I tried keeping her in her crib, rocking with her in the rocking chair in her room, and taking her to our bed. Paul tried taking her downstairs to feed her. He also tried taking her down to watch boring nature shows on his lap which usually knocks her right out. Nothing worked. She just wanted to be awake and play but we wouldn’t let her. This severely ticked her off hence the hours of crying. Paul and I were beyond exhausted all week. I love Lily dearly but I am going to collapse from fatigue if she keeps this up much longer. My whole body aches and I keep doing dumb things because my head is fuzzy. These are all side effects of lack of sleep. Not to mention, I think that I can pack for our upcoming vacation in the bags under my eyes. I would give anything for a full night’s sleep!

On Saturday, we went to a Mom to Mom Sale in Davison. It was put on by an organization that my cousin’s former girlfriend, Felicia, belongs to. It was nice to see her. I got a few clothes and some shoes for Lily as well as a small tricycle that she can use right now. Lily found this adorable boat that she played in for most of the time that I was shopping so we had to buy that for her as well. Since we were in town, we stopped by after the sale to visit my dad. My mom was up north with a group of friends. After our visit, we stopped at Carol’s house to drop off her jewelry order from my Premier Designs party. I only got to visit with her briefly because Lily fell asleep in the car on the way to her house and I didn’t want to wake her as she had refused to take her morning nap and desperately needed some sleep. We also tried to stop by my Aunt Gloria’s house but she wasn’t home so we went back and left her jewelry order with my dad. We then went to Wojo’s Nursery to pick up more of the cool bicolor impatiens that we got from there last time we were in Davison. Paul shopped there for quite some time as I waited in the car with Lily. We tried to stop by Auto Ad Onz to look at toppers for Paul’s truck. Hardly any place sells toppers to fit double cab Toyota Tacomas but oddly, one exists in the small town of Davison. Unfortunately, they have very limited Saturday hours and were already closed. We then drove to Howell to drop off Laura’s jewelry. She wasn’t home but I chatted for a while with her husband, Chris. Again, I didn’t stay for long because Lily was still asleep in the car so Paul stayed in there with her. We then drove past home down to Dunham’s in Ann Arbor so that Paul could get some new running shoes while I waited in the car with Lily. She finally woke up after 3.5 hours of sleeping when we pulled into Once Upon a Child. I had dropped off some outgrown clothes there to sell on Friday so I had to stop by again on Saturday to pick up the clothes that they didn’t want and get my money for the clothes that they did want. While I was there, I did a little shopping for 18 month summer clothing for Lily as she is getting too big for some of her 12 month clothes. They were having a big sale that got even better each hour so we killed some time and paid for our purchase after 6pm so that it was 70% off. Awesome! We then headed home so that Lily could play.

After Lily’s morning nap on Sunday, we went to the Imagination Station in Brighton. I watched Lily play in the playscape while Paul fished in the Mill Pond for more fish to use as fertilizer in our vegetable garden. Our tomatoes grow so much better if they are planted on top of chopped up fish. After Paul caught his limit, we all walked along the boardwalk to Dairy Queen for ice cream which is an Imagination Station tradition that we started back when Rachel was little and we took her there all the time. Later that evening, I got out some stacking toys for the first time and was amazed at how well Lily instantly learned how to stack them. She wasn’t too good at aligning the blocks that were 2-3 units in length but was great with the single blocks and spent a long time playing with them with intense concentration.

Lily’s speech development has really come along this week. On Monday, she started saying “uh oh”. She says it so adorably with a high pitched “uh” and a long drawn out “oh”. She is very consistently saying “bee” whenever she sees a bug and “apay” whenever an airplane or helicopter flies over. She also started saying “baby” but I don’t think that she realizes that she is one, too. She loves to point at cars and now says “a ca” (a car) when she sees them. She hasn’t learned the “r” sound yet so she sounds like she is from Boston. She was very into the clock at my parents’ house on Saturday and kept pointing to it excitedly every time it chimed. We kept telling her that it is a clock and now she is practicing the “k” sound every chance that she gets.

Here are some pictures from this week.

Lily loves to stop and see the baby chicks at Tractor Supply Company:


Look, mom!:

Hanging out in her new carseat in the truck:

Sleepy girl with her beautiful baby blues:

Lily started playing in her new sandbox that Papi Tim made before it was even done getting filled with sand:

Lily loves her new sandbox:

It is nice and big with ledges along the sides to sit on. As you can see, we needed to get another truckload of sand to fill it:

Lily playing in her sandbox again on Friday. It’s her favorite place to be:

So happy:

Lily making a funny face while working with her sand tools:

Watch me, mommy:

Practicing with the shovel:

She was mesmerized as she picked up fistfuls of sand then watched it trickle back out of her hands:

Back to using the tools:

Sometimes she sticks out her tongue in concentration. It’s so cute:

My happy girl loves playing in her sandbox:

Every once in a while, she gets upset that her hands are dirty and holds them out for me to wipe off for her. Once they are clean, she digs right back in the sand with them so I don’t know what the sudden fuss is all about:

I was not too pleased when Lily flopped over and started rolling around in her sandbox, getting sand all in her hair, but she thought it was hysterical:

Lying down and playing with her tools caused Lily’s face to get coated in sand but she didn’t seem to mind:

Playing in her new boat from the Mom to Mom Sale while visiting with Papi Tim on Saturday:

Swinging at the Imagination Station in Brighton on Sunday. I get nervous because she loves to lean really far forward in bucket swings:

Driving the fire truck:

Lily loved wandering all over the playground:

Enjoying some Dairy Queen with Daddy after he finished fishing:

A crazy statue at the Imagination Station. There was chalk there to decorate his face with:

Lily loves stacking:

Intense concentration:

Lily spread out birdseed for the chipmunks on the patio then sat down to play in it. As you can see, the chipmunks at our house are not at all shy and come right up to her to eat:

Lily tends to stuff her cheeks when she eats. I have a feeling I know who she learned it from:

Lily and her little friend:

I put Lily's beloved new boat in her favorite hangout- the sandbox:

Steering the boat:

Thank you for my sandbox, Papi:

Lily: 1 Year and 14 Weeks (5/31/10 - 6/6/10)

Monday was Memorial Day which I blogged about on a previous post. Lily slept horribly on Monday night and was up crying for hours. It was the worst night we’ve had with her since she got over her colic. Lily turned 15 months old on Tuesday but we could hardly enjoy the landmark because we were so exhausted from the previous night. I had to take a little nap after work to sleep off my migraine triggered by the previous night.

Wednesday was girls’ night out for me which I desperately needed. I worked at the Brighton Health Center then went straight to Carlyle Grill in Ann Arbor for dinner and drinks with Julie, Meghan, Kim, Cate, and Kaitlyn. We then went to the movies to see Sex and the City 2. We had a lot of drinks (me especially) and a lot of fun. However, by the time I got home, Lily was already asleep so I missed hanging out with her. We only got a few minutes together in the morning before she left with Paul and that’s it. I know it was just for one night but I felt guilty for leaving her and for missing out on our quality evening time together. That was the first night that Paul did Lily’s bedtime routine with her and put her to sleep in her crib. Thankfully, they both did okay with it.

I had Friday morning off work to take Lily to her 15 month well-child visit with her pediatrician. I took advantage of the extra time I had in the morning before her appointment to use a $10 off early bird coupon I had for an oil change. My little girl is tall. She measured 31.81 inches in length which is in the 87th percentile for height. Unfortunately, she is getting too skinny. She only weighed 21.58 pounds which is in the 30th percentile for weight. She gained a mere 0.31 pounds in the three months since her last visit which, factoring in her height, dropped her BMI from 16.2 to 15. I can’t believe this is the same little girl who was in the 81st percentile and as chubby as the Michelin Man at 6 months. Her doctor still isn’t concerned about her weight because she eats well and eats a variety of foods. She is just so active that her metabolism is through the roof. However, I am concerned so now I am on ‘Operation Fat Baby’. She is still ahead of the curve on her gross and fine motor skills as well as her communication skills. I had delayed her MMR and Varicella vaccinations until this visit so she finally got those. Hopefully, I will not regret having her get them as the MMR is so controversial. On the way home from Lily’s doctor appointment, we stopped at Rachel’s old school to drop off some very overdue library books that we found in her room and pick up her yearbook. The appointment and detour on our way home took a lot longer than I planned so my parents had been at our house for quite a while by the time we arrived back home. I had them come and watch Lily after her doctor appointment instead of sending her to daycare because I didn’t know if she would get a fever or have any kind of adverse reaction to her immunizations. Thankfully, she did not and instead had a fun afternoon with my parents. They drove me back to work so they could have my car with the carseat. It was a good thing because some daytime lane closures made the trip back to work take forever. I would have been seriously late if I would’ve had to park in my normal lot and take the shuttle bus in. As it was, I just made it running in after they dropped me off at the door. After work, we all had a nice dinner together then my dad took some measurements in preparation of building a sandbox for Lily.

Our weekend was less than exciting. Paul worked on his outdoor gardening projects while Lily and I played and cleaned the house. Saturday was hot but Sunday was cool and rainy. Now that Lily’s hair is finally getting longer, it tends to get wavy in the humidity. I love it.

Lily continues to go to sleep in her crib without fuss but is still unable to settle down unless I am in the room with her. Otherwise, she gets hysterical then takes forever to calm down and even longer to fall asleep after the whole ordeal. She has been getting up twice in the night again which I am not too excited about. A few nights she was up between 1-3am and would not go back to sleep. Paul finally had to take her downstairs and feed her and watch TV with her because she would not settle down otherwise. Ugh! I was hopeful last week that she was getting closer to sleeping through the night but now she is worse than ever. Someday she’ll be a good sleeper. Right!?!?!

Here are some pictures from this week.

Lily hanging out on the patio with her favorite metal turtle on Wednesday evening:

Chillin' in her chair and seriously contemplating life:

My little cutie posing with a cup and our peonies:

For those about to sleep, we salute you:

A turtle laying eggs just off our patio on Saturday afternoon:

Paul taking a mid-afternoon snooze in his goofy straw hat after a long day of working in the yard:

My happy little girl loves her bubble machine:

A quick break to point out an “apay” (airplane) in the sky:

Back to bubbly fun:

Hamming it up with daddy’s straw hat:

My little goofball:

Yes, her mommy sure does love her:

Amber, Reiley, and Nolan hanging out together at the patio door on Sunday morning:

They are staring intently at a chipmunk on the patio:

Lily looking mischievous:

Seconds later, she flopped over and started giggling hysterically:

I don’t know what this look’s all about but I love how the humidity makes her hair wavy:

Closely examining her blender:

Lily with a baby snake that Paul found in the yard:

Paul showing her a bigger snake that he found a short while later:

He seems way more into the snake than she does: