Lily's 36th Week (11/2/09 – 11/8/09)

Lily was really hungry this week. She must be growing. This is evident every time I try to pick her up or carry her as she is getting really heavy! She is so solid that even though she is pudgy, she still weighs a lot more than it looks like she should. On Monday, she ate a full jar and a quarter of baby food for dinner. On Tuesday morning, she was still hungry after nursing so I gave her some baby food and she ate almost the whole jar. We hadn’t implemented solids for breakfast before but her increased appetite had me decide to try it for the rest of the week. It worked out really well because she nursed at about 5:00am each morning then had solids for breakfast at about 7:15am before leaving for Kirsten’s house. One morning I gave her peas for breakfast which grossed out Paul but Lily doesn’t know what defines breakfast foods! I cherish my nursing time with her and miss our bonding time of nursing before rushing out the door but I realize that as she grows older, she has more of an interest in solids. She usually only wants to nurse now for comfort and nourishment when she is tired. So Lily now has solids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with breastmilk in between. She also has been having a lot more finger foods like Cheerios and Gerber Graduates Yogurt Melts lately. She loves to feed herself and it is great for us because we can all eat dinner together as a family now. She proudly keeps herself entertained in her high chair feeding herself just like we are. She always wants to be eating when we eat and it helps satisfy her independent streak. Thankfully, the increase in solids this week did not lead to any constipation issues as it has in the past.

On Wednesday, we had a disturbing visit from our neighbor, Amy. She told us that there is a registered sex offender unofficially living at a house right outside our neighborhood which is right by Rachel’s bus stop. Rachel is very responsible and leaves for the bus as we are leaving for work which is at about 7:20am so she is usually the first one at the stop and is always there at least five minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive at 7:29am. Most of the other kids that ride her bus live right by the entrance to the neighborhood so they stay inside their homes until about a minute before the bus arrives. Rachel is only at the stop by herself for a few minutes but this still makes her a prime target which concerned us and the parents of the other children who see her there by herself so one of the mothers volunteered to let Rachel wait for the bus at her house. That is so nice. We wish that we could stay with Rachel until the bus arrives but that would make us late for work so we are very grateful to have someone else look out for her. We had a long talk with Rachel reminding her about stranger safety and walking her through what to do if someone approached her. It is a scary world that we live in, even in our seemingly safe little haven of Hamburg.

My mom came to clean on Thursday but she couldn’t stay and have dinner with us like she usually does. My dad didn’t come with her this time because he had American Legion meetings all day. We were sad that we didn’t get to see her. We always greatly appreciate her help with cleaning the house but also look forward to our evening visits afterward. She was gone even before Rachel got home from school but she left us a surprise dinner in the refrigerator. It was Chicken Noodle Casserole which was my favorite meal growing up. I always called it Chicken Noodle Casser-oodle. That was so nice of her.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to Carol and Grant’s house for lunch. They are Lily’s godparents. We have been so busy that we hadn’t seen them since her baptism. We have been sending them photos of Lily but they were amazed at how big she has gotten. We were amazed ourselves at how much their kids have grown. We had a good visit with Carol and Grant while Rachel played really well with Grayson and Ally. We didn’t get any pictures as they were busy preparing a meal for a family dinner while we visited. Carol very kindly gave Lily a Winnie the Pooh walker that she had fun playing in.

Saturday was my grandmother’s 89th birthday. She hates it when her age is mentioned but I think she should be proud to have lived for so long. She definitely does not look or act her age. She is in good health, lives on her own, drives, and does almost everything for herself. She is such a strong and independent lady. We celebrated her birthday by having dinner at John’s Pizzeria with my parents and Aunt Robin and Uncle Lee so we headed over there after our visit with the Lumsdens. My cousins could not attend as Todd was studying for his CPA exam in East Lansing and Ashlee and Jeremy were on vacation in Florida. We had a nice dinner then went to Lee and Robin’s house for presents and cake. Lily slept through the presents and cake but then woke up and kept us all entertained. She almost crawled. It was so funny because everyone was cheering her on. It was too bad that she didn’t achieve the milestone in front of the family but she is definitely super close. Of course, I have been saying that for months now.

On Sunday, Lily did achieve the milestone of having her two top teeth come in. They have been close to breaking through all week but haven’t bothered her at all. Now she has four teeth! I love her crooked little smile and can’t wait to see what it looks like when they come in further.

Here are some pictures from this week.

My blue-eyed cutie playing with her fishy mirror on her playmat on Friday:

Hanging on daddy’s leg:

Lily playing on the floor with her new best friend, Amber, on Saturday morning. I would never have thought that Amber and Lily would become playmates as they got off to a rocky start but now they are great together:

Chewing on her washcloth after breakfast:

Lily watching her favorite show, Blue’s Clues. She loves it and gets so excited at ‘mail time’ and during the songs:

The birthday girl, my Grandma Marion:

My Grandma Marion and Uncle Lee:

Thankfully, the package only contained 7 candles, not 89:

Hope she made a good wish:

My little sweetie getting sleepy and cuddly after trying hard to crawl for everyone:

Happy Halloween! (10/31/09)

Today was Lily's first Halloween! It was a pretty busy day. Thank goodness that it fell on a weekend this year instead of a weekday. Rachel's best friend, Katelyn, flew in from North Carolina to spend the holiday at her dad's house and the girls have been planning their costumes and sleepover for months. Rachel could hardly contain herself all day until it was time to take her over to Katelyn's house. They planned their costumes to coordinate so Rachel went as an angel and Katelyn went as a devil. They changed into their costumes and trick-or-treated at Katelyn's house in Northville so we never got to see them in costume. Katelyn's parents are supposed to email me some pictures of them so I will post them when I receive them. Apparently the girls had a lot of fun. After we dropped Rachel off, we went shopping to find me a red plaid shirt and a straw hat so that I could be a farmer since we were dressing Lily up as a chicken. Plaid shirts are apparently very hard to find because I had to go to three different stores before I could find one and I never did find a straw hat, not even at a Halloween store. We were running out of time so we gave up the search for the hat and hurried home to feed Lily and get her in costume before trick-or-treating started. I was going to take Lily around to a few of our neighbors' houses but it was pretty windy and cold so we only took her to one house. She answered the door with me in costume to hand out candy to all of the kids. My parents came over around 8pm to babysit Lily while we went to a Halloween party at the Fredrick's house. She had already gone to bed but right before they arrived, she woke up crying and was really hard to console. That is such a rare event for her. She calmed down a little before we left but was still fussy. My mom had to shoo me out the door telling me that they would be fine but I felt bad leaving her with a fussy baby and felt bad that Lily didn't feel good. We had fun at the party but I worried about how things were going with Lily the entire time. I dressed up as a bee and Paul went as the farmer as my parents had brought with them a straw hat to complete the costume. We stayed until about midnight. When we returned home, Lily was still awake. Apparently my parents spent the entire time walking the house with her and my mom said that she was acting like she did when she was colicky, crying with a really tight tummy. All I can think is that her dinner upset her tummy. It was a new food, a combination of chicken and sweet potatoes, but she had eaten both items separately before so I wouldn't think that they would upset her stomach when put together. Poor thing. At the time, I was joking that my baby was a cannibal, eating chicken for dinner while dressed as a chicken. It was a pretty fun Halloween but I felt bad that it didn't end so well for poor Lily and her tummy. Thankfully, Lily's stomach apparently calmed down because after my parents left, we went to bed and she slept fine without any incidences of crying.

Here are some pictures from Lily's first Halloween.

Lily in her fourth and final Halloween outfit on Halloween morning:

Rachel and her Spongebob Squarepants inspired pumpkin:

All of our pumpkins:

Paul and his monkey pumpkin:

Lily and her matching baby with pacifier pumpkin:

Lily with all of our pumpkins:

I think that the cutest pumpkin is definitely the one in the middle:

My pumpkin family:

Me and my owl pumpkin:

Lily standing up with my pumpkin:

She tried to steal the pacifier out of the mouth of her pumpkin and put it in her mouth:

Me and my sweetie:

Farmer Kelly and her Chicken Lily:

Bawk, Bawk:

Chickens like toys, too:

So adorable:

My chicken passed out after a long day:

Lily's 35th Week (10/26/09 – 11/1/09)

I had to stay home from work on Monday due to our flu policy even though I felt fine and had been fever-free for a few days. I went to Employee Health to get a flu swab to make sure that the virus was out of my system so that I could go back to work early instead of having to take seven days off. The results take 24 hours which meant that I could return on Wednesday at the earliest. I don't mind taking time off of work and staying home with Lily but our sick days are the same as our vacation days so I would much rather spend my time off on vacation than sitting home doing nothing. I was going to leave Lily at Kirsten's while I went in for the swab but she was sick and had been feeling horrible since Sunday so apparently it was a good thing that I was home after all since she wouldn't have been able to take care of Lily. I took Lily with me then we visited Paul at work. The swab was horrible. I thought it would be like a throat culture for strep but it was much worse. The medical assistant stuck this bristle brush thing up my nose and down my throat to get the sample. It hurt so much and my nose felt like it was on fire for about three hours afterward. On our way home, I stopped at Lewis Jewelers to get my wedding ring fixed. I had my engagement ring and wedding band soldered together before our wedding but they just recently came apart and were driving me crazy. I took them in to be resoldered and resized as I have had to use spacers to keep them on my finger for a few years now since they are too big. Apparently my fingers were much fatter when I got married because I had to have them taken down a whole size. I need to have the same thing done with my right hand ring but I didn't want to give them both up at the same time. My hands would have felt too naked!

On Tuesday, I got a call from Employee Health telling me that my swab came back clear so I was allowed to return to work the following day. I realized that I had a dentist appointment scheduled for Wednesday morning so I called to move it to Tuesday since I was already off work. They fit me in so I called Kirsten to see if she was feeling any better which, thankfully, she was so she watched Lily for an hour while I went to the dentist. Poor Kirsten had gone to the doctor on Monday to learn that she had a sinus infection and two ear infections. The doctor gave her some antibiotics and she was feeling perkier. Paul got out of work early to take Rachel to school for her first orchestra concert- the Pinckney Community Schools Orchestras' Annual Halloween Concert! I had dinner ready when he got home, we ate, then he took her up to the school. Meanwhile, my parents came over and drove with me to the concert where Paul was holding some seats for us. It was at the Jane Tasch Theater which is adjacent to Navigator and Pathfinder Schools. It is a really nice auditorium. The concert was quite crowded as they had performances by the Navigator, Pathfinder, and High School orchestras. It was a really good concert. I was impressed by how well Rachel's Navigator Orchestra sounded, especially considering that they had only been playing their instruments for two months. The kids all performed in costume which was fun. Rachel's school went first then we stayed and listened to all the orchestras. Lily was very attentive during Rachel's performances, perhaps because she had heard all of the songs before. She was less attentive during the Pathfinder performance and fell asleep before the High School performed. Afterward, we met Rachel's friend Heather and her father. They invited Rachel over after school on Thursday which she is really looking forward to. We went home where we had cake, ice cream, and cookies to celebrate a job well done. We video taped the seven songs that Rachel's Navigator Orchestra performed in five separate parts so they would be short enough to post but cumulatively, they would take up too much space on this site so I posted them on YouTube. Please follow the links below to see each performance.
The first three songs they performed are Song for Christine/Natalie's Rose, Matthew's March /Christopher's Tune, and The Flintstones. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlf745nUkes
The fourth song they performed is French Folk Song. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQImTmer4KU
The fifth song they performed is UM Fight Song (The Victors). Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1AtOlGuTzU
The sixth song they performed is Lightly Row. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl1uJ1YSmP8
The seventh song they performed is Twinkle Variations. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzk7Qax3Qjs

I returned to work on Wednesday. After dinner, we decided to start on our Halloween pumpkins. We knew that we wouldn't have enough time to carve them all but we just wanted to hollow them out so they would be ready for carving on Thursday. Paul only got mine done then discovered that Lily's pumpkin was rotten so we had to buy her a new pumpkin after work on Thursday. Rachel had a party after school then went over to her friend Heather's house so after we got Lily a new pumpkin, we picked up Rachel and ran some errands. When we got home, I carved my pumpkin and Rachel carved hers. Paul tried to carve Lily's pumpkin how I wanted but we hated how the eyes turned out so he threw it out. This meant that we needed to buy Lily her third pumpkin on Friday. The third pumpkin finally turned out right because we had Rachel design the eyes and carve it while Paul finally got to carve his own pumpkin.

Saturday was Halloween. That day will be narrated in a separate post. Sunday was a pretty calm day on which Lily turned eight months old! My little baby is growing up fast. We picked up Rachel and visited with the Freydls for a while. While we were there, Lily ate some small pieces of freeze-dried strawberries. She made some incredibly funny faces but kept feeding them to herself and wanting us to feed them to her as well. She really got into eating finger foods like Gerber Graduates at Kirsten's house this week and loves feeding herself. She definitely wants to do things independently and will take a bottle away from you to attempt to feed it to herself. What a big girl! After our visit, we went home to do some housework and yardwork and prepare for the work week ahead.

Here are some pictures from this week.

Lily loves to suck on washcloths. It is hard to clean her up after a meal because she is always trying to grab the washcloth from you and she is super strong:


My happy little girl getting ready to go see daddy at the hospital (and get my H1N1 test) on Monday:

Hanging out in the yard while I vacuumed out my car on Monday afternoon. I thought that the Shop-Vac would scare her but instead she sang at the top of her lungs whenever I had it on. How funny:

The Navigator Orchestra performing at the Halloween Concert on Tuesday:

Rachel is in the back row to the left of the piano player:

Lily sleeping during the concert:

Rachel's congratulatory cake:

Rachel and her cake:

Getting a little too excited about cutting it with a really huge knife:

Lily is ready for her piece:

Lily ate some frosting. She absolutely loved it but you can't really tell by looking at these pictures:

Lily had four Halloween outfits (and three costumes) so I started dressing her up on Wednesday. Here is her first outfit:

Complete with pumpkin slippers:

Her second outfit on Thursday. It says "Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun":

Helping us carve pumpkins on Thursday night:

Mmmm. Tasty pumpkin:

So curious:

Her third Halloween outfit on Friday morning:

Paul carving his pumpkin and Rachel carving Lily's on Friday night:

Knife-wielding crazies: