Journey to and Through Motherhood: Lily: 1 Year and 30 Weeks (9/20/10

The fix on my car was just as expensive as I anticipated. The “Service Engine Soon” light was apparently triggered by low pressure in the fuel system which was caused by a leak in the gas line. When they told me that they just needed to replace the fuel line, I thought, “Okay, that should be an easy fix. How much can a tube cost?” The answer would be $445! Ouch! What is it made of- solid gold!? Then I dropped my iPod on the cement basement floor while riding the exercise bike that night and cracked the face of it which I am sure will be yet another expensive fix. Monday was not a good day for either me or my bank account.

Tammy closed the daycare on Wednesday for another doctor appointment but thankfully Kirsten was available and gladly took Lily for the day. They both had so much fun but Lily barely napped due to the excitement of being at Kirsten’s house. Lily likes being at Tammy’s but her and Kirsten still have quite a special bond. It was a really nice evening so we took Lily over to the Brighton Recreation Area Riding Stables to see the horses after we picked her up. She loved the horses as well as the various farm animals they had. Her favorite part was watching the horses run out to pasture for the evening when they were closing the stables. Lily’s lack of napping caught up with her and she crashed on the car ride home. Even though it was 7pm which is very early for her, she was apparently down for the night. I felt bad because she never got dinner and kept expecting her to wake up hungry in the middle of the night but she did not. She sure was hungry on Thursday morning, though!

Thursday was a good day. It was my weekly weigh-in day and I have now lost 20 pounds on the diet I started on 8/11/10. Yay! I am very proud of myself and with the weight loss and daily exercise, I feel much better already. My parents came over while we were at work and cleaned the house. I greatly appreciated that. Because I had kickboxing class, we didn’t get home until almost 7pm. My parents had dinner waiting for us when we arrived. A clean house and a great meal- what a wonderful thing to come home to! Lily finally said “gwamma” for my mom that evening.

Paul and Lily had a daddy/daughter evening on Friday night while I hung out with my friend, Mary. Her brother coaches football for Temperance Bedford so we went to their game versus Ann Arbor Pioneer after a delicious dinner at Raja Rani. I love Indian food but never get to eat it since Paul hates it. It was a very good football game but it was cold and windy so we ended up moving over to the more sheltered Pioneer side of the stadium. We sat in the student section where everyone looked like babies. I felt so old by comparison plus it kind of hurt my knees to climb the bleachers. When exactly did I become an old lady!? Mary cheered very loudly for Temperance Bedford which the Pioneer students did not appreciate. It was pretty funny but I joked that we might get jumped by a bunch of tiny kids in the parking lot after the game. After Temperance won the game, we went to Live at PJs in downtown Ann Arbor to watch our coworker, Kiyoshi perform. He is a great singer. Our other coworker, John, met us there and we had a lot of fun laughing at all of the drunken people trying to dance. It was a really fun and eventful night but I was so tired when I got home even though it was only 1am which is super early for a Friday night out on the town. Again- when did I get so old!?

Lily’s naps have been very unpredictable lately as she is still transitioning from taking two naps per day to only one. I tried to time everything perfectly on Saturday due to her 1:30 appointment for her 18 month pictures with Two Angels Photography. She ended up going down late for her nap so I had to wake her up to get to Spicer’s Orchard on time to meet Christina. I hated doing that because I feared that she would be cranky but thankfully, she was in a really good mood. The orchard was crowded so I called Christina as soon as we got there to find a place to meet only to learn that our appointment was for Sunday, not Saturday. I put it in my calendar wrong! I was so bummed as we busted our butts to get her ready and there on time and it was all for nothing. It was kind of cold out but a nice day nonetheless. Since we were already at the orchard, we hung out for a while and took Lily in to the children’s area to see the various farm animals and activities. She got to ride on a tractor train which she thought was a blast. The girl loves trains! She also loved all of the tractors they had and kept talking about them. She pronounces it “track-TOUR” with a large emphasis on the second syllable. It is adorable. Lily also got to ride a pony which she found delightful. So even though we didn’t have her pictures taken, our time there was well spent. When we left Spicer’s, we headed up to Davison for my mom’s birthday celebration. We had dinner at John’s Pizzeria then headed back to my parents’ house for presents, brownies, and ice cream. It was a very nice evening.

On Sunday, we returned to Spicer’s Orchard in the same clothing for our actual photo shoot. Lily has cried a lot for Christina in the past but she did well and seemed to really like her this time. However, Lily was much more interested in wandering around and playing with everything than standing still and smiling. A year ago, Lily was Christina’s very first non-family member subject when she was getting her photography business off the ground. We took pictures at the same orchard. This year has brought so many changes in Lily and quite a boom in Christina’s business. But just like last year, when we tried to take pictures of Lily with the apples from the orchard, she wouldn’t keep them out of her mouth. Some things change, some things stay the same! It was colder on Sunday than Saturday but Lily didn’t complain even when her hands got icy and her nose turned red. She was such a trouper.

Lily did not nurse at all this week. I never offered it, she never suggested it, and I didn’t let Paul lay her down in the bed with me on the weekend to trigger the request. Sometimes it makes it harder for me to calm her back to sleep when she wakes in the night but she also seems to wake less without the possibility of nursing as a soothing agent. I think I miss it more than she does. I don’t miss being a food factory but I do miss our special bonding time and continue to be solely in charge of her bedtime routine to keep that time uniquely ours.

Here are some pictures from this week.

Helping mama with the endless task of removing cat hair from the furniture on Tuesday: