Journey to and Through Motherhood: Lily: 1 Year and 27 Weeks (8/30/10

On Monday, we took my first two batches of salsa over to Kirsten's house for a tasting session. I was glad to learn that they turned out quite tasty and it is always so much fun to hang with the Fredrick crew. On Tuesday, I made my 3rd and 4th batches of salsa. I used the chopper that I totally forgot I had which made cutting the peppers and tomatoes go immensely faster. Even though the chopper made me handle everything less, I still ended up getting chemical burns on my hands from the pepper oils. They hurt so bad that I could barely sleep. I tried every remedy that I could find online with limited relief. It hurt so much to write at work the next day and the burning under my fingernails didn't go away for three days. My hands never hurt when I made salsa a few days prior but they did feel a little numb the next day. I must have sensitized them or something because the burns occurred hard and fast this time. It didn't help that the jalapenos I picked from the garden for these batches were really hot. It's funny because the peppers I picked for the prior two batches were pretty mild. They were all from the same types of plants growing side by side in the garden but varied greatly in how hot they were. It was a very painful lesson for me to learn but I will definitely use gloves from now on!

Lily turned 18 months old on Wednesday. Where does the time go? We took her to Red Robin for dinner to celebrate. I posted pictures of it already. Lily loves their chicken fingers and fries just like her big sister but this time, she was also very interested in having bites of our burgers. The burgers are huge and are almost too big for us to eat. Watching her try to bite them was hysterically funny.

Lily is such a super observant little girl. We point out various landmarks to keep her entertained on our way home from daycare every evening such as the horse farm, red barn, red truck, and a few ponds. Now she anticipates the landmarks and talks about them right before we actually get to them. How smart is that? Due to traffic, we ended up taking a different route home on Friday evening which meant that we entered the roundabout near our house from a different direction. Lily still pointed to the correct spot in the roundabout where she couldn't even see the wetland and said, "pond." I was very impressed!

It was cold and windy out on Saturday but we bundled Lily up and went to Domino's Petting Farm in Ann Arbor anyway. I have wanted to take her there for months since she is so into farm animals and the sounds they make but we have been busy every weekend. As I anticipated, Lily loved it. She enjoyed feeding and petting all of the animals and had a blast making their sounds with them. Her favorite was baaing with all of the noisy goats in the barn. She had a great time and we had so much fun watching her. It is so interesting to see the world through her eyes.

On Sunday, we went to Red Robin in Flint for Todd's birthday. After dinner, we went to Lee and Robin's house for cake and ice cream. We had fun and it is always nice to hang out with my family. Lily enjoyed seeing grandma and papi but I feel bad because she continues to cry whenever Lee is near her or talks to her. I cannot figure out why she has such a fear of him. This has been an ongoing problem since Thanksgiving. She is also scared of Tammy's older nephew at daycare. Her nephews are only there for the summer but the older of the two ends up having to hide out in the back bedroom all day to keep Lily happy. He is 13 years old so he would probably steer clear of the little ones anyway but I feel bad, nonetheless. On the other hand, Lily absolutely loves his little brother who looks just like him. Odd!

Lily knows way too many words to count now and adds more each day. She repeats many things that we tell her so we really have to watch what we say around her now. She sometimes has temper issues when we cannot figure out what she is saying. One of her favorite pastimes now is to look for frogs on the front porch after dark. Paul leaves the porch light on all night to attract bugs for them to eat.

I am now asking Lily if she wants to nurse at bedtime. She always nods 'yes' but I am trying to get it in her head that it is an optional part of her bedtime routine. I have completely eliminated nursing during the night which has actually improved Lily's sleeping. She still wakes up a few times in the night but is much quicker to fall back to sleep with little or no help from us. Yay!

Here are pictures from this week.

Lily enjoying chips and blueberries with Kirsten and Nate on Monday:

Do I have food on my face?:

Feeding Kirsten:

I told Paul to strap Lily into the truck. Gee, thanks. Lily thought it was quite funny:

Lily gave Reiley a hug:

Then Amber gave her a kiss:

Helping daddy water the trees on Friday:

On Saturday morning, Lily decided it was fun to make daddy hold every single one of her stuffed animals:

Lily oinking at a pig at Domino's Petting Farm on Saturday:

Feeding carrots to the hungry goats:

Lily especially loved all of the chickens that flew around:

The crazy Jacobs sheep:

I loved Lily's reaction to it:

Lily fed a baby goat that got free outside:

Then the goat wouldn't leave her alone:

The rest of the goats were jealous of its freedom:

After a new found love of chickens was born, Lily was very excited to find the chicken coup:

I had no idea that chickens like to eat carrots:

The weirdest looking duck ever:

Lily watching the cows with daddy:

I couldn't figure out why there was a giant W in the sky. Paul had to explain to me that there was a Michigan game going on and that it was actually an M that was upside down to us. Duh: