First Foods!

Lilli and I went to do some grocery shopping this morning....and she actually had some things on the list today besides diapers, wipes and formula! (of course all those were on the list too!) I had some coupons for both the rice cereal and the first foods, so I ended up getting a box of plain rice cereal, a whole grains cereal (for later), sweet potatoes, squash and applesauce purees (also for later). It was really hard to pick her first fruits and veggies!!! The whole time we grocery shopped I talked to her about all the stuff I was buying, and explained to her why we buy all healthy and low fat stuff. And when I grabbed a bag of Fritos I also explained to her that is a RARE treat in our house and it would be used to make Turkey Chili Pies later in the week! Hopefully food is something she will learn by example and we won't have a picky eater on our hands.On a side note, Brent actually thought I was buying a true rice cereal. He cracked a joke with the pedi yesterday when we were talking about first foods about buying her Rice Krispies. And I seriously thought he was joking, but when I got back from the grocery store he asked me if I had gotten something like Rice Chex or Rice Krispies to soften down for her!!!I fed her her afternoon bottle around 2:45 and then afterwards Brent came in from working in the yard to document her first "solids". She loved it! I really don't think she noticed she was eating much of anything different than some formula with just a hint of something else in it. The first proportion is so watered down it was practically just milk. But, she did great and didn't push it back out with her tongue and had no problems with the spoon so we're well on our way to making giant messes at restaurants in the near future!

4 Month Well Baby Visit

Lilli had her 4 month well-baby visit today!
As always, we LOVE our pediatrician!! They hardly keep you waiting at all and everything is so modern and up to date. The nurse and doc each have laptops they bring into the room and record everything electronically. They also show you her stats and a graph to show where she's at and where she's come from. We had the first appt of the day at 9 am, and by 9:30 we were outta there! (Contrast that to our awful first pedi who kept us waiting for 45 minutes at her 2 wk appt - also for the first appt - in the waiting room - with a ton of sick kids, and we are VERY happy with the new pedi!)She did great except for the actual shots (but who can blame her there?). She smiled and laughed for the nurse and doc, and during the ear portion of her exam she started pulling her docs hair so we had to hold her arms so she could finish! We talked about some issues she's been having with allergies, a list of my other questions about things like sunscreen, insect repellent, swimming, etc AND we talked about starting some first foods! Sooooo, tomorrow we get to start rice cereal! Yay!!! And if that goes well we can start introducing the other first foods in a few weeks.She's right on track with everything. She was soooo close to rolling from her back to stomach while on the table. She's been close for over a month now, so I really don't think it will be too long. She just has to find the right motivation, I guess!And finally, here are her stats from today:

Weight: 13lbs, 1 ounce ; 35% percentile
Height: 23 7/8 inches, 30% percentile (prob what I am!)
Head: 85% percentile!!

Seriously, she is such a bobble head!!! At her two month she was in the 50's for height/weight and upper 60's for head, so we thought she was growing into her head - I guess not! Even so, she is very strong with that big head and has tons of head control these days.Brent stayed home with her the rest of the day so she could rest, and the rotov thing she has to drink upsets her stomach a little, so we didn't want her to have to go to school. She's been fine tonight, pleasant and happy, so she's recovered well. The day of her two month shots was actually one of the first times she ever laughed, so she bounces back quickly from her shots.
Have a great weekend!!!!

4 for 4

Allergies are running rampant in our house right now. Brent started feeling bad the first part of last week, and pretty much lost his voice Saturday. Lilli has been waking up congested, no fever or runny nose, just very congested. Sunday was her worst day, she was so stopped up at church Sunday morning we left after church since we didn't want to take her to her Sunday school class feeling so bad. Pippin's been wheezing all weekend....and now it's my turn. Scratchy throat last night and sneezing ALL day at work. Yipppeee! Thankfully Brent picked up some more Mucinex today and chicken fried rice for dinner. Some people want chicken noodle soup to feel better, but not me!

Too much time in the yard for all of us last weekend....but we got SO much done!
And now I think I need a little nap before my head explodes....spreadsheets and sinus problems don't mix. Maybe Lilli will let me borrow one of her 500 lovies???I was going to upload a cute video of Brent and Lilli playing but Blogger's not cooperating. And I still need to upload all the fun pics from our date night but some other time when I feel better!!!!! And it's time to put up a 4 month pic of Lilli and compare it to her birthday, 1, 2, & 3 month pics!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day from Lilli, aka Superbaby!
She woke us up bright and early at 6:15 am. Clearly she's waaaay too excited about the ribs hanging out in our fridge awaiting their final destination on our grill later tonight. What can you do but get up and start the day?? And hey, that's technically an extra hour and 18 minutes of sleep more than what I get on a normal Monday! So I guess in her mind I did get to sleep in today!

Since we were already up Brent made us some coffee and the 4 of us went out for about a mile or so walk. The neighborhood was so nice and quiet and I don't think we saw anyone else out walking so early. It was several blocks before we saw any cars! Even the neighborhood coffee joint at 11th only had a car or two outside. Then I finally got to finish working in my garden while Brent entertained Lilli (and Pippin). I've gotten all my veggies and herbs planted, and harvested the first round of my spring spinach crop. We'll be enjoying creamed spinach with our ribs later today!!

I brought Lilli in one of my first roses of the season.Which she promptly broke the stem, pulled the leaves off of, and then tried to eat. I guess we should feed her more often!
She is in loooove with Pippin these days. That crazy black and white member of the fam provides much entertainment for her. He was rolling in the floor so she wanted to be rolling on the floor, too. She finds him HIL-ARI-OUS. Lots of giggles and smiles are tossed Pippin's way these days, which he just eats up.Good times with big bro:


Have a great Memorial Day!

Date Night!!!!

Brent and I had our first date in exactly FOUR months tonight, and Lilli had her first date Ever!!!From the pictures Jennifer took, it looks like Lilli had a great time playing with her, her girls, and especially Jackson (he's just a few weeks older than her!)

More details (and pics) to come, as well as the story about how I surprised Brent with our night out!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Yesterday was Brent's birthday so this week has been declared "Daddy Week".In honor of Daddy Week, Lilli has worn a different Daddy themed outfit every day this week. Luckily she has a TON of clothes so it's been really easy! Monday was "Daddy thinks I'm Sweeter than Sugar", Tuesday was the simple "I Love Daddy" and today was a different I Love Daddy where the heart is a button. Tomorrow is "Apple of Daddy's Eye" and Friday will be another I Love Daddy outfit. I haven't even had to break into her long sleeve assortment of Daddy themed stuff.

Her teachers have greatly enjoyed seeing what she'll be wearing each day, and even got to help with some of the surprises. Brent can leave me surprise presents by leaving them in her carseat at school so I'm surprised with a gift in the afternoon. For me it's a little harder since he has drop off duties in the morning. Tuesday morning I hid a batch of brownies in her carseat underneath her lovies for him to share with his coworkers, and Tuesday afternoon I left a wrapped picture frame in Lilli's bottle bin in the fridge at school so he'd be surprised Wednesday morning with one more present! I did make sure to tell her teachers so they wouldn't wonder what in the world we were doing!
I cooked a big Italian feast for us Tuesday night, and of course there were presents and cake after Lilli went to bed. The surprises aren't done....I still have a couple of things up my sleeve for this week to talk about later! Since we normally take a fun and exciting trip this year I figured I would drag it out a little instead. I did find some Wisconsin cheese for Brent for his birthday to remind us of last year's awesome birthday trip (which technically was Lilli's first vacation with us, except we didn't know she was already with us!)She is still loving her Exersaucer:
Thankfully it's a great place for her to hang out while I cook dinner!

This week she has really discovered her feet (big time) and also started REALLY chattering and singing. A Lot. Today her "daily report card" had 'babbling' checked. I think that's code for "your kid talks a lot!" LOL. When I picked her up they said she'd been chattering away all day, and that really continued into tonight. She and I had about a 30 minute conversation while I was doing dishes.

Time to do some work on these abs and head to bed! 4:58 am comes WAY too early, thank heavens for coffee!!!

Exer-time

We got the Exersaucer out for Lilli for the first time yesterday and she LOVED it!!! She wants to be upright as much as possible these days, so sitting up in the Exersaucer is huge fun for her. I'll also have to post a hilarious series of pics of me, Lilli and good old Pippin and the Exersaucer later this week. And, only paying $7.50 for it at a consignment sale makes it even SWEETER!

Two and a Highchair, Please!

It's pretty much always been our tradition to eat out somewhere on Friday nights, kind of a treat for surviving the week and a nice time to catch up on our daily going-ons. While I was home we didn't eat out many Friday nights, sometimes Brent would get take out, or since I was home I would just go ahead and cook. (BTW, I was quite the little June Cleaver - I think there were only one or two days where I was so frazzled I didn't have dinner waiting on Brent when he walked in the door!) And, since I wasn't paid for part of the time I was off it was nice to save some money, too!

But, all former bets are off now and we are back to Friday nights out! Lilli is pretty portable, and the fear of public meltdowns hasn't kept us locked up for a second. They're going to happen, and at least right now she's young enough and cute enough that no one is really going to think we're awful. When she's two and laying down in the middle of the dirty mall having a tantrum will be a totally different situation.....

Last week we went to our fave Indian restaurant in Hillsboro Village to celebrate Brent's big Biggest Loser win! Indian is our FAVORITE! It's also the restaurant Lilli has been to the most. Hopefully by exposing her to lots of different foods she will not be a picky eater. I'll die if chicken nuggets are the only thing she'll eat one day. The first time she was there was Valentines Day - what a difference a couple of months make! So tiny!!!! She totally fills out her car seat now...and I doubt she could even wear that dress! Anyway, she slept through most of the meal and when she was awake she just took in the restaurant noise and ethnic music. We left fat and happy, I think we could eat Indian EVERY DAY!

Mmmm.......Garlic Naan:Enjoying the sights, sounds and smells at Cuisine of India, along with her piggy lovie:Tonight we went to Neely's BBQ in Metrocenter. We canceled cable a couple of weeks ago, and I honestly haven't missed it for a second except for FoodTv. There really wasn't anything I watched on there, but it's nice TV filler if you ever have a couple of minutes to just waste. We really liked watched the Neely's show, esp since they're from Memphis, and someone at Brent's work mentioned there was one here so we figured we'd try it! I got smoked turkey and Brent got ribs. Next time I will totally get the ribs!! My turkey was good, but Brent's was awesome. They have lots of windows and also an outdoor patio overlooking the lake, so we got to enjoy watching the lightning show tonight as storms passed through the city. Lilli was awake when we got there, chatty and happy, and drifted off to the sounds of the restaurant while we ate. We may have to start eating out all meals since she allows us to eat more out in public than at home!Sound asleep with her bunny and lamb lovies....she loves her lovies....Hopefully she'll sleep as well tonight as she did last Friday night. One of my greatest worries is that she'll start waking up at 6 am on weekends, since that's what time we get her up M-F. Gag. Last Friday night she slept from 8:30 pm until 9:45 am when we had to wake her up to load up and go visit Brent's family, so she proved us wrong and exceeded her longest sleep by nearly two hours. Maybe tomorrow will be a repeat of last week, or at least she won't wake up until 7:30 or 8! Last Sunday she slept until 8 am, so we went to class and second service. We won't be doing that again for a WHILE! She was awful the whole morning on that routine, so we'll be headed back to early + class this Sunday. Even getting up for early service gives me about an extra hour and a half of sleep versus the weekday routine, and I will take that versus the awfulness of a fussy, sleepy baby at later service.

Have a great weekend!

Someone found the faucet handle during bath time this week:
Reading time in the Bumbo....What size hat does Lilli wear? Oh, I dunno, a size 2 Tupperware.

How We Roll...

Since going back to work, mornings have become quite the sprint! I guess it's a good thing I'm a runner (and getting faster every day during my lunchtime runs!!!)

Every night we lay out an insane amount of stuff for the following morning. Since I have to leave at 6:15 to be at work by 6:30 the more I can do the night before THE BETTER!
I've got my gym bag, diaper bag/purse/carry on luggage, breakfast, lunch, my reusable shopping bag for running downtown shopping errands like picking up fresh bread or dropping off library books, our travel mugs for MUCH needed coffee and Lilli's bottles for the next day along with her lovie. Whew. Our kitchen island is full every night of the stuff needed to get us out the door the next day, and when I get home in the afternoon I've got ALL that stuff, plus whatever samples people send home with me from work!

I've always got room for cute samples like this in my bag, who wouldn't???
So far so good on working the earlier hours, and it really is nice to be back at work. Lilli is doing great at daycare. She's very smiley and giggly with her teachers and they are all just SO cute together. Right now there's 6 kids in her class (the max is 8). This afternoon when I arrived to pick her up she was out in the 4-baby stroller (2 in front, 2 in back) walking the grounds, and all 4 kiddos were sound asleep, heads konked to the side. It was SO cute, I wish I had my camera with me! She takes good naps at daycare, eats well, and comes home in a good mood. Her daily report is usually marked for happy, content, cuddly and playful as her "attitudes". And apparently she's a good burper - Miss Violet was telling another parent this morning (who apparently does not have a good burper).

I usually get Lilli around 3:45-3:50 and we're home by 4:15. The ride home will speed up once school is out, there's an irritatingly slow school zone in our neighborhood that lasts until 4:30. The kids hang out and play while I cook dinner:
And then they love to have some momma time after we eat:
We have our evening play.....And we end the day (on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) with tubby time - which Lilli is now loving!! It's hard to believe she used to scream and scream and scream during baths! Now she loves it and kicks and plays....And we practice our Elvis lip....Then it's time for one last bottle, and off to bed to do it all over again the next day. Speaking of, it's time for me to load the countertops with all of tomorrow's gear! It may take a village to raise a child but it takes an SUV to get all our stuff around every day!

Holy Roller

We have motion!!!

For about two weeks Lilli has been really close to rolling over, she's only had minimal assistance from us to make it from her stomach to back. And tonight she rolled over completely on her own - and took us by surprise!! I just so happened to be videoing. We've made sure to take at least (and usually way more) one picture of her every day since she's been born. I had the camera out to take some pics and happened to turn it to video when I rolled her over for tummy time.....and the rest is history!


One of her afternoon teachers just so happened to mention how strong she is in her upper body/head control versus some of the other kids her age in class today....and there's the proof! She's my little IronGirl in the making and hopefully one day we'll get to cross that Iron finish line together!

Giggle Box

Lilli is really starting to laugh (a lot!) and express her personality. Of course we ALWAYS consider her advanced but one of her teachers mentioned to Brent last week that she's a lot more expressive with the smiles and laughs than most babies her age. Good news!!!! And it's nice to hear that she smiles and laughs for them a lot, and seems to enjoy her day. And it's even better that she still has lots and lots of laughs to share with us in the afternoon, too!

This video is from tonight, apparently she finds me doing squats and jumping jacks to be rolling, squealing, hilarious!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day from Lilli & Pippin!
She says I love you with lots of drool these days....Of course she can't forget her THREE great grandmas!Special thanks to Gymboree for always making cute clothes to help us in sending out the cutest Mother's Day cards in town!

So far, Lilli has treated me to dinner at my fave Indian restaurant Friday night. I have tons of pics to dump from my camera, it will be crazy to compare how much she's changed from when we first went at 2 weeks old to yesterday at 3.5 months old! And she's also gotten me my fave dessert, so I will not be weighing anytime soon since I only made it to the gym 3 times this week! And her greatest gift so far was sleeping for about 13 hours last night. We put her to bed around 8:30ish, and we ended up having to wake her up around 9:45 because we had places to be! My greatest fear was that she would wake up at 6 am this morning, the same time we've had to get her up all week, but I guess she showed me! (Unfortunately big bro Pippin woke me up at 5:06 am, 1 minute later than my Mon-Fri alarm, to let me know it was storming. Thanks for that extra minute of sleeping in Pips!)

Have a great Mother's Day!

First Day of School

Here are some pics from Lilli's first day of school!

Here she is at drop off, playing with one of her teachers:
And here she is at noon when Brent picked her up - passed out in the floor with an unidentified blankie! LOL! Too cute!!! And how about the kid in the swing with all that hair!!!!And then she and Brent went to Home Depot for some good father-daughter bonding in the lumber aisle. What girl could ask for more?My first day back went just fine. It helps that Brent drops her off in the morning, that would've been tough. My cubicle was decorated with streamers, giant stuffed animal samples, signs and Randy Travis posters (long story - but the qty of weird samples we get does make work fun!). And of course there were cupcakes to make sure I can't fit into any of my clothes for a few more days! Mostly today I went through about 800 emails, figured out how to get my PC connected back up to all my networks thanks to a million expired passwords, and got visited by everyone in the world who all wanted to know if I was having a hard day (not really but thanks for asking and telling me it will get harder! huh????). All in all a big day for ALL of us as Pippin has a bit of an upset stomach, poor thing!

And now time for us to take our coffee outside and sit on the porch swing and relax! And MAN, am I sleepy - getting up at 5 am is a LOT earlier than our usual 7:30 am!

Have a great night!