Journey to and Through Motherhood: Lily: 1 Year and 29 Weeks (9/13/10

I worked in Brighton on Monday through Wednesday of this week. On those days, Paul has to take Lily to daycare 30 minutes earlier than when we work together in Ann Arbor. She didn’t really wake up at all when I took her out of the crib and handed her over to him on Monday morning. Paul said that she woke up slightly and said “pond” as they crossed the Huron River then went right back to sleep. He handed Lily over to Tammy and she put her to bed all without her ever waking up. After work, Paul took Lily to Toot’s place to see his pond and dogs while I worked out. Mary came over when she got out of work and colored my hair. She did an awesome job. She is definitely my new hairdresser as it looks a million times better than when I do it myself. Plus she uses a professional product which is so much kinder on my hair. Lily was very interested in her. She kept guiding Mary over to the couch so that she could pile all of her stuffed animals in her lap. It was very cute. We had a late dinner then I was exhausted so I crashed right after I put Lily to bed.

When Paul picked Lily up from daycare on Tuesday, she was happily playing with a drum. Apparently she and Jack spent the entire day with one of them banging on the drum and the other banging on the xylophone. Occasionally they would trade instruments. I hope Tammy had earplugs! Lily cried her eyes out as Paul had to peel the drumsticks out of her hands to take her home. I stopped at Meijer's after work so Paul suggested that I may want to see if they had a toy drum for her to play with at home. I got one and she was in absolute heaven when I gave it to her. I felt bad because working out and grocery shopping after work took a long time so I didn’t get home until almost 8pm. That meant that I only got an hour of quality time with my precious little girl. (Really it should have only been 30 minutes but I let her stay up a little late since she was having so much fun with the drum and then didn’t want to get out of the bath.) I feel so guilty because the things that I want to do for myself and the things that I need to do for my family frequently interfere with the little amount of time that I get to spend with Lily on weekdays. I wish that we could just win the lottery so I could stay home with her all day but that unrealistic dream is made even more impossible by the fact that we never buy a ticket.

The check engine light came on in my car on my way to work Wednesday. That ruined my day because it always equals a few hundred dollars down the drain. I won’t be able to take the car in until next Monday, though, due to the limited hours at the dealership. The car seemed to run just fine but I didn’t want to press my luck so I kept it out of commission for the rest of the week. This meant that Paul had to drive me to and from work on Thursday since he stayed home with Lily. Tammy had to close the daycare due to doctor’s appointments and all of our back-up caregivers were busy. Lily ate a cheeseburger happy meal on the way into Ann Arbor to pick me up from kickboxing after work that evening and was amazingly begging for another one on the way home. We got her another one and she polished off that entire happy meal as well. I was amazed! My hungry hungry hippo’s belly was enormously bloated for the rest of the evening.

I took Lily shopping with me after work on Friday at Green Oak Village Place. She was very good for over two hours of shopping and even stayed in the dressing rooms with me. I was stunned. I had to be creative to keep her entertained but that was fine. The only time I had a problem with her was when we went to DSW. I should have known that it would be difficult because the girl is obsessed with shoes. She kept running around, grabbing shoes off the shelves, and trying them on. It was like a mini cyclone went through the store. I felt bad leaving it in shambles but we had to get out of there before more damage was done because she was making the mess faster than I could clean it up.

Saturday was Vince’s wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony. I, of course, bawled my eyes out when Vince serenaded his bride down the aisle with a song he wrote just for the occasion. Lily did well throughout the ceremony but the festivities were scheduled right when she normally takes her nap so she quickly became cranky at the reception. At first, she enjoyed dancing and spinning on the dance floor but then took to unhappily hopping between my lap, Mary’s lap, and Paul’s lap before finally falling asleep on Paul. I knew she was exhausted because it was loud and she never falls asleep in the middle of an exciting event on our laps anymore. She slept for only about a half hour. Most of our co-workers left the reception early and we ended up vacating as well when Lily woke up. We drove around to let her sleep some more then went to Borders bookstore. Lily loves it there. She had a lot of fun playing in the kids’ section with various books and toys. She even made friends with a little girl there. It is so cute to see her interact with other kids.

Sunday was Paul’s day to work in the yard so my mom came over and we took Lily to Domino’s Petting Farm. When Lily woke up from her morning nap, she was elated to learn that her grandma was on her way over. She kept chanting “gwamma” over and over again but as soon as my mom arrived, Lily stopped saying it. We tried to bait her into saying it but she would only point to her grandma instead of saying the word. I know my mom would have loved to hear Lily say her name but I guess she will have to wait a little longer. It was a beautiful day and we all had fun at the farm. Lily took a late afternoon nap on the way home as she wore herself out running around looking at all of the animals. Later that evening, we dropped my car off at Waldecker for our Monday appointment.

Lily is now almost completely weaned from nursing. I stopped asking her if she wanted to nurse before bed and just started putting her to bed without it. Instead of nursing, we read a book together in her rocking chair. I will allow her to nurse when she requests it but that is usually only when Paul puts her in bed with me on the weekend. Otherwise, she doesn’t seem to miss it. I don’t miss lactating but I do miss that bonding time with Lily. I continue to be solely in charge of her nighttime routine so that we keep our special time together.

Lily is still not sleeping through the night but she is getting better about quickly falling back to sleep when she does wake up. Usually she just can’t find her binkie in the bed. I always keep a back-up binkie on her dresser by the nightlight and as soon as I give it to her, she falls right back to sleep. She sometimes skips her midnight waking now but still almost always cries at 4am.

My silly girl is still really into Yo Gabba Gabba. To Paul’s dismay, it is by far her favorite show and she frequently points to the TV and requests it, usually when he is trying to watch football or the Weather Channel. It is so cute because she always calls it “Yo Yo Yo” and sings along with the theme song in this adorable high-pitched voice. It is mostly gibberish but she does say the character’s names. It mostly sounds something like, “Muno… Foofa.. happy.. Brobee… Toodee… Plex… Yo Yo Yo…” It is adorable!

Here are some pictures from this week.

Me and my little drummer girl playing with her new toy on Tuesday:

Playing a song for Amber:

Such fun:

Lily hanging out with a frog by the pond on Wednesday:

Bye, froggy:

Lily trying on a silly owl hat at JCPenney on Friday. Whooo’s the cutest toddler?:

Self-portrait of Lily and me monkeying around in the store. In order to keep her entertained, I wore the hat the rest of the time we were there. I got some interesting looks:

Passed out on daddy at Vince’s wedding on Saturday:

The happy couple during their first dance:

Lily running around Borders later that evening:

Lily loved to climb the steps of the story-time seating area:

These toys were perfect for Lily. She is obsessed with school buses and gets so excited whenever she sees one:

Making a T-Rex and a chicken kiss. It could happen… Not:

Jumping off the seating platform:

Lily made friends with this little girl and they raced cars together:

Lily was happy to return to Domino’s Petting Farm with mommy and grandma on Sunday:

Again, she was very interested in the Dall’s sheep:

Feeding the rabbit:

Cluck, cluck:

Lily chasing a goose around the barnyard:

She never caught it but did get this feather that it shed while running away from her:

Lily and I on the hayride:

Feeding horses with grandma:

Lily was delighted to find this bunny sleeping outside:

I was amazed that it let her pet it and never ran away:

Exploring with grandma:

I love this sign on the barn:

Posing by the barn:

Lily and my mom petting goats together:

Lily and these two other kids were very close in age and enjoyed hanging out together for a bit. The girls liked collecting rocks and showing them to each other while the little boy ran around. You can really appreciate how tall Lily is when standing next to kids her age: