Lily: 1 Year and 21 Weeks (7/19/10 - 7/25/10)

This was a very rough week because Lily slept horribly every single night. She woke up crying multiple times each night. Some nights it was as frequent as every hour. We tried to keep her in the crib but sometimes the only thing that would help was laying her down to nurse with me in bed. She would at least fall asleep that way but then would nurse intermittently all night long which kept me up. In addition to this fitful sleeping, she woke up around 3 or 4am every morning and decided that she was wide awake and raring to go for the day. We certainly weren’t! It took hours to settle her back down and we usually got her back to sleep a few minutes before the alarm went off. Needless to say, we were zombies all week. On most days, Lily wanted to go right down for her morning nap once she got to daycare but we did not have that luxury. I don’t know why Lily would not sleep well this week. All of her eye teeth popped through last week so she shouldn’t be experiencing any teething pain. She was a big eater all weekend so perhaps she is growing. We try to stuff her full right before bedtime but it may not be holding her all night and she may be waking up hungry. Who knows? Sometimes I really wish she could talk already so she could tell me what is going on with her.

On Monday, Lily started saying “no”. She says it in a really cute whisper. Usually when Lily first starts trying out a new word, she whispers it. Once she has mastered it, she says it much louder. However, she is still whispering her “no” which is just fine with me. I know that she will be screaming it soon enough seeing as how “no” is the favorite word of most toddlers.

Paul finally found the time on Thursday to get the door installed on the garden fence, at last sealing it off from the creatures that have been eating all of my vegetables. However, he was one day too late and the deer came on Wednesday night and finished off the rest of my zucchini. I was bummed because I just bought the ingredients and was excited to make a few more loaves of chocolate chip zucchini bread. Evil deer!

We wanted to go to the Ann Arbor Art Fair on Friday. It was ridiculously hot all week but Friday was a bit less steamy. However, the sky looked threatening so we decided to skip it. We made a smart decision because a big storm blew in and did some damage that evening. Apparently we will have to wait until next year.

Paul got the stringers up around the garden on Saturday morning to prevent deer from jumping over the fence. Lily took a long late morning nap then we hurried out the door for Grayson’s 7th birthday party. We were quite late due to Lily’s nap and our hunt for the perfect last minute birthday present so Lily missed swimming in the pond with the other kids. It was probably for the best, though, since she just recovered from her ear infection. We had fun at the party then headed over to my parents’ house afterward. We went with them to the Davison Festival of Flags so that Lily could ride on a carousel for the first time. She absolutely loved it and giggled the entire time. As we passed by the rest of the family watching her ride, I talked to her about daddy, grandma, and papi and she said “papi” for the first time. Lily rode once with me and once with Paul and then we wandered around for a little while. Lily kept pointing back at the ride but had to wait to ride it again because they had it down for about a half an hour for maintenance. She couldn’t understand why she had to wait but did well with it. She rode on the carousel a few more times then we headed over to my Cousin Ashlee’s house for cake and ice cream to celebrate her birthday. Lily had been acting so cute and sweet all day but got really tired on the way over to Ashlee’s so she was cranky and clingy while we were there. I got her to calm down by having her watch an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba on my iPod. As soon as she sat still to watch the iPod, she passed right out. She must have truly been exhausted because she slept in my lap through a lot of loud talking and laughing as we visited with everyone. She usually fights sleep when there is any stimulus present and hasn’t been able to sleep like that in my arms since she was very little. She was probably very worn out from a long fun day. Plus she only got to take that one nap in the morning due to our busy afternoon.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to Amy and Wynn’s house for a visit and dinner. We always have a good time with them. Lily had fun playing with the kids but didn’t know what to make of their big puppy that continually wanted to lick her face. She was a bit scared of the dog. She loves dogs but seems to prefer small ones. We have observed before that Lily and Mya look like sisters. At Lily’s birthday party, their eye and hair colors were identical. The summer has tanned up Lily’s skin and lightened her hair but they still look quite similar. This was even more evident when we changed Lily into her Dora pajamas before leaving and Mya ran upstairs so that she could put on her Dora pajamas as well. They looked so cute together.

Lily started making a bunch of animal sounds this week. They are delightful. She meows at everything and still grrrs like a dog. Her new sounds are mooing like a cow, saying “oo oo aa aa” like a monkey, and making a trumpeting sound like an elephant with her lips pressed together. The elephant sound is ingenious and I still can’t figure out how she does it. She is very proud of her animal sounds and does them all the time.

Here are some pictures from this week.

Happy girl watching TV in her Dora chair:

This is Lily’s look of concentration. I love how she sets her jaw and makes her cheeks look chubby:

Lily loves to put stackers on her feet. She even tries to walk around with them on and loves the clacking noise they make on the wood floor:

Lily enjoying lunch at Grayson’s birthday party on Saturday and asking, “Do I have any hummus on my face?”:

Yummy:

Lily loved sitting in the kid-sized chairs:

But her favorite activity at the party was wandering up and down the sidewalk petting all of Carol’s frog statues. She even got to pet a real frog that Paul caught at the pond which was a bit rough for the poor frog. Paul put the frog into one of Grayson’s aquariums to save it then Lily “helped” the frog by continually dumping cups of very cold water on it. I don’t think it was very happy:

Grayson’s cake:

Make a wish:

Lily and I on the carousel at the Davison Festival of Flags:

Riding with daddy:

Lily was so excited that she could barely contain herself as I got her strapped in for another ride:

So fun:

Pointing at grandma and papi who were waving at her:

Lily loved the ride:

Lily and Mya playing together on Sunday:

Lily loves ranch dip:

Then she decided to forgo the crackers and dig right into the dip with her fingers:

Wynn got this old toddler toy house out of the basement. Lily loved it as did Mya and Austin who haven’t played with it in many years. Everything old is new again:

Austin and Mya turned the top dial to the moon and were pretending like it was night-time and they were asleep. Lily’s a little too young to play along:

Mya and Lily playing with a grocery cart in their Dora pajamas:

Amy and I with our girls: