Lily: 1 Year and 17 Weeks (6/21/10 – 6/27/10)

I spent most of this week trying to do laundry, clean the house, and get everything packed and ready for vacation. I could really only concentrate on my tasks after Lily went to sleep so I had many late nights this week and was even more exhausted than usual. Thankfully, I got ahead of schedule so that we could take some time out to have some fun this week as well. On Thursday, we met Meghan, Ryan, Kaitlyn, and baby Abygail at Buffalo Wild Wings in downtown Ann Arbor after picking Lily up from daycare. We had a quick meal then headed over to the Rackham Stage of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival’s Top of the Park concert series to see our talented co-workers, Kiyoshi and Vince perform. It was the first time I’ve seen them in concert and they were great. Lily loved dancing to the music and was especially attentive and clapped her hands whenever Vince sang. There is something about his voice that she really loved! We had fun with the Nemeth/Williams clan. Baby Abygail is really growing and changing. Lily was very interested in her but was especially interested in Kaitlyn. She really liked Kaitlyn at Meghan’s baby shower and again took an instant liking to her. She wanted Kaitlyn to hold her many times throughout the evening which is crazy because it usually takes her quite a while to warm up to people enough to let them hold her. I was glad that it wasn’t quite as oppressively hot as it had been for most of the week because the concert was outside in the middle of the street. Lily snoozed on the car ride home but then woke up super perky and was very difficult to get down for the night.

We went to the Howell Balloon Festival after work on Friday. It took forever to get there due to traffic so we didn’t even get parked until 7:30pm. I was worried that we would miss the mass balloon launch as it was scheduled to happen between 6-8pm but, thankfully, they were behind schedule and the launch began shortly after we arrived. Lily loved watching all of the balloons launch and waved bu-bye to each of them as they floated off into the sky. She also enjoyed sharing an elephant ear with me (a carnival necessity). After the balloon launch, we wandered around the midway. Lily was fascinated with all of the lights, noise, and craziness. She was really interested in all of the rides but was too small to go on any of them. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay to watch the fireworks because we had to get back home to prepare for vacation. I was up late packing yet again, but was glad that we took the time out so that Lily could see the hot air balloons.

Saturday was a very busy day full of laundry, cleaning, and packing. There is so much to take on vacation at the cabin and little Lily’s list of necessities is double that of Paul’s and mine combined. How can one little kid need so much stuff!? I was on my own with Lily for most of the day because Paul had to go to Metro Airport to pick up Rachel. That took almost 5 hours to accomplish. Lily was really needy so I impatiently waited until her nap time to get most of my stuff done but then she refused to nap longer than 10 minutes. Instead, I was forced to accomplish my giant “to do” list with a crying toddler clinging to my leg which severely slowed me down. Unfortunately, this slow down meant that I was unable to attend the Roof’s party and couldn’t see Kassiana or meet Josh, Amy, and Auriel’s grandson. However, it was very nice to have Rachel home again, if only for two weeks instead of the whole summer (her choice). I was worried that Lily wouldn’t recognize her as Rachel has been gone for three months but Lily was instantly very excited to see her sister. I love the bond between them.

Since Sunday kicked off our Higgins Lake vacation, it will be included in the following week’s post.

Lily is so hard to diaper and dress now and thrashes around like a wild badger. What fun! Her knee was pretty itchy all week as it healed but she liked it when I gently rubbed it for her. She still adorably points to her knee when you ask her to show you her ‘owie’. The scab disappeared by the end of the week but now she has a scar. I had hoped that the poor girl wouldn’t scar really easily like I do but it appears that she does, darn it. Her new word this week is “shoe”. It is so cute because when she first starts saying a new word, she tends to whisper it as if she is testing it out. “Shoe” started in the whisper stage on Saturday.

Here are some pictures from this week.

Lily saying the word “car” on our drive home on Monday:

Sleepy girl didn’t want to wake up to go to daycare on Tuesday morning. Here is Paul holding her on the couch right before we left:

The previous picture of her with her arm draped across Paul’s arm reminds me of the following picture taken almost a year ago on 7/6/09. This picture was also taken as we were getting ready to leave in the morning on a day where she wouldn’t stay awake. I miss how chubby she used to be:

My big girl pushing a shopping cart around outside of daycare on Tuesday evening:

Silly Lily pressing her face against the screen, desperate to go outside. She does this on the door at daycare when we come to pick her up and it cracks me up every time:

Okay, stop laughing at the funny faces I am making and LET ME OUT:

Abygail and her Aunt Kaitlyn at Buffalo Wild Wings on Thursday:

Lily crouching on the table to get a drink:

Lily loves Kaitlyn and let her carry her to the Top of the Park concert alongside Ryan and Abygail:

Lily and I watching Kiyoshi and Vince perform:

Lily enjoyed clapping along with the music:

Cute little Abygail with Ryan in her giant sun hat:

Lily dancing:

Kaitlyn, Meghan, Abygail, and Ryan enjoying the concert in the street:

Kiyoshi dancing while Vince sang:

Lily wanted Kaitlyn to hold her again:

Lily, Kaitlyn, Meghan, Abygail, Ryan, and Paul:

Silly girl clapping and swinging to the music with daddy (while flashing the crowd):

Paul, Lily, and a giant gorilla that resembles Paul at the Howell Balloon Festival on Friday:

My cutie waiting in line for an elephant ear before the balloon launch:

Lily spotted the first balloon taking off:

She loved to wave as they floated off into the sky:

Some balloons:

We headed closer to the launch field for a picture but couldn’t tear Lily’s attention away from the balloons:

Notice that I dressed Lily in a hot air balloon shirt:

The sky began to fill with balloons:

Lily waving and saying “bu-bye” to more balloons as they launched:

Lily was mesmerized by something:

Reaching for mommy:

Sneaky girl stole my sunglasses:

A patriotic balloon:

Lily and mommy:

Playing peek-a-boo:

Laughing with delight at the balloons:

Lily stole my sunglasses again:

Back with daddy as she was getting too heavy for me to hold any longer:

My sweetie:

The cutest hot air balloon ever:

Lily fought her Saturday afternoon nap like a champ but sleep finally got the best of her and she fell over from a sitting position onto her bee pillow, fast asleep with her feet still hanging through the slats of her crib. So cute: