Beauty Queens

Last night we were invited to a party our friend Katie's parents were throwing for her in celebration of her recent graduation from college and a "send-off" for her because she's competing in the Miss Tennessee pageant this weekend! The party was way out in the 'burb of Lebanon and didn't start until 7. Fortunately, Lilli took a nice nap on the way out there and was fairly refreshed when we arrived (it was about a 40 minute drive).

A couple of years ago on my 29th Birthday one of my friends at work gave me a little tiara (for some reason they always called me princess....hmmmm.....) that I had to wear at work all day that day. Of course I've kept it and knew exactly where it was as we were getting ready for the party. I thought it would be so cute if Lilli would wear it! I had also hoped to make a little sash out of paper and write "Good luck Katie" on it but that just never happened. Def will if she makes it to Miss USA though!

We were one of the first ones there (since we knew we wouldn't be able to stay late!) and Katie just LOVED Lilli in her crown! She was an instant hit! She grabbed her crown from winning Miss Southern TN for some pics with Lilli.

I love this one!

Action shot of Katie's crown falling off! It scared Lilli for a minute but she made a quick recovery!
The two ladies checking each other out and admiring each other's crowns!Brent, Lynda and their two boys Micah and Levi were also there. We borrowed Levi for a little while and got an updated shot of Lilli and Levi together. This was their last pic, they've both grown a lot! This was around 8:30. Lilli usually gets in bed around 8:15-8:30 and she was just rubbing her eyes, but not about to miss a thing!
Someone stole Lilli's tiara....

Lynette Cole, a former Miss Tennessee who is from Columbia and went on to win Miss USA was there to support Katie so I just HAD to get Lilli's pic with her. I'm sure I'll never see her again and she was very gracious to pose! This was right before we left, Lilli was WAY sleepy so there was pretty much no chance of getting her to look at the camera!
Right before we left, one last family photo op with Katie, who makes me look very pale! Everyone was so impressed Lilli didn't mind wearing her crown! Somehow we have our kids trained well at wearing strange costumes, but with Pippin we do have to load him up with treats!

Fortunately she slept most of the whole ride back, and then went right to bed after a little milk. Sometimes keeping her out late gets her past the point of exhaustion where she puts up a major battle when she does get to bed, so we were really happy last night went so well!

The Miss Tennessee pageant is Sat night and while we won't be there in person we are going to try to watch it streaming online and hopefully watch Katie win the title!!!!!!

Rain, Rainbows, Standing, Helping

Good evening!! Maybe the rain has FINALLY left us for a while! It seems like every day for the last two weeks has just been gross and messy until yesterday. We did get Lilli a new rain hat, which she loves!

She only got to wear it one day until the rain cleared up, which is fine with me!

One foggy morning commute, you could hardly see downtown from just 5 blocks away. It's SO dark in the mornings now when I leave for work at 6:15. You can tell fall is rapidly approaching!
That same afternoon Lilli and I got to enjoy a beautiful rainbow on our ride home. As we drove over the Gateway Bridge it stretched way over the stadium and across into the Caycee Projects. My picture doesn't do it justice, I was hoping to be stopped by a couple of prior lights so I could really get how wide it was.
A cute one of Brent and Lilli....she continues to earn her Little Monkey nickname. We got accident report # FOUR on Friday. She is nothing if not persistent on working on standing. This kid very much wants to stand and walk.
Standing in her crib....and ever so proud of herself.
Standing on the ottoman....
Standing with her favorite toy...She lets go for about 15-30 seconds now and can stand unsupported. She's learned how to fall, but a lot of times you'll still have to grab her before she loses her balance and hits her head. Her crawling is also getting really fast, and she's learned she can just keep on trucking past toys, out of the room, down the hall, really anywhere she wants to go. Her crawling can be somewhat inhibited by the fact that her pants are constantly falling down/or are too long. Her waist is pretty slim and her legs awfully short, a bad combo for someone trying to drag themselves around the house. So, I've often got her pants pulled all the way up to her armpits. Not exactly the most flattering look for a little girl but we're not exactly trying to attract the boys!
Her increased mobility has also turned her into Momma's Little Helper/my shadow. Here she is helping me hang up her clean clothes Saturday afternoon. (And sadly, her closet is PACKED. Those are all clothes she can currently wear, and I don't even have any long sleeves washed for her yet. I really have a problem with cute baby clothes, and it's pretty awful because she rarely gets to wear anything more than once!!!!)
Helping me with groceries....


(And no, we don't let her play with plastic bags unattended.)

That's all for now, I've got some cute ones of her posing on Sunday to post tomorrow, and a fun video Brent did of her FLYING in her Exersaucer this afternoon!!

Happy 8 Month Birthday!

Happy 8 Months of Lilli (yesterday)!

Your Birthday - January 24, 2009

7 lbs, 6.5 ounces 19 inches

One Month - February (first smiles!)

9 lbs, 1 ounce (45th %) 21.5 inches (55%), head: 70%

Two Months - March

10 lbs, 12 ounces (50%) 22 5/8 inches (55%), head: 65%

Three Months - April

(No official weight/measure)

Four Months - May

13 lbs 1 ounce (35%), 23 7/8 inches long (30%), head: 85%

Five Months - June!! And starting to sit on your own with a little help from Boppy!

Unofficial - Measurement of 25 inches and weight measurements - 14.2 pounds

6 Months - July Official Stats (which is actually 6months, 1 wk) - 25 3/4 inches long (50th percentile!), Weight: 15 lbs, 8 ounces (40th percentile), Head: 75th percentile


7 Months - Unofficial Statistics: 16.2 lbs, 25 3/4 inches long (probably not right, because measuring her is "like trying to catch a butterfly")8 Months - Unofficial stats: Weight - 16.5 lbs, Length 26.25-26.5 inches, you are a rapidly moving target.
At 8 months you have become our wild child. A LOT has happened this past month! You cut two teeth, and MAN ALIVE did you let us know about it! You've also been truly crawling for about 3 weeks, and are into everything! You want nothing more than to stand on your own, and you practice and pull up on anything and everything both stationary and moving all day long. You are absolutely persistent and determined - you fall a LOT but you get right back up and keep trying. You own the accident reports in your class (really not a record we are going for!) You're a great eater and you must have inherited your Dad's metabolism (lucky you!). Your favorite foods are still squash, peas, and apples, but this month you've become a carnivore and have started eating the chicken and turkey baby foods. Your favorite toys are your hammer (thanks again for busting my lip with it last weekend!), your Sing along Stage, your books, your horsey and your police duck. Your favorite person to see every morning is Pippin (thanks!). And this month you've added Dadda to your vocabulary, much to a certain someone's delight. I do have to agree that it's pretty stinking cute to watch you say it - it starts out as this funny little whisper until you know you have it and just let it loose! I can't wait to see what the next month holds for you!

Little Miss Adventuresome

Lilli at school this morning with Avery (the dads drop them off about the same time every morning and his mom and I pick up around the same time fairly often as well!)
Brent dropped her off near a bucket of toys, and she immediately started heading for the ball pit instead! Her sheet today said: "Lilli stood all by herself!!! The first time was for about 5 seconds. Every time she fell she got right back up! She had a great day and was in a wonderful mood." The next piece of paper in my stack was an Accident Report. This now makes #3. After reading her sheet and then seeing another report of her falling and hitting her head on something I just had to laugh. (This time she hit her head on a piano toy, no bruise this time.) This kid just wants to stand and walk, but she's clumsy like her momma! (Who, last night, totally tripped over the glider footrest in her room (in the dark) and hit my face/lips/teeth on the ground, scraped both legs and one hand. I made Brent sign my accident report.) I asked her afternoon teacher if any of the other kids get as many reports as Lilli and she's top of the class in that arena. It seems we really do have a little monkey. (Tonight she banged her head 3 times - once standing in her crib, once on the floor and once on a toy. Good times.)

Eating mashed potatoesOnce she tried it a few times she did like it. But she still got it everywhere. Pippin had a great time cleaning up for us.

Asleep in her crib at daycare in a rather unusual position.....

Nap time cuteness at home. I have to roll so many of her pants up. She's a shorty like me - those jeans are 3-6 month size!!!!
Still showing no signs of modesty.....(in the cry room at church Sunday. She was in a very chatty mood and had just started saying Dadda that morning!)
SHE DOES NOT LIKE ORGANIC TEETHING BISCUITS!!!!


A 3-paci kind of night, but a very happy morning!!!

Crawling.....

Lilli and her cute little 3-legged crawl....she's getting faster and faster and more and more curious every day!

Puppy Love

I'm pretty sure one day she's going to ask me if she can marry Pippin when she grows up. And the answer will be YES.

FFN: Tennessee State Fair!

For this week's fun activity my plan was for us to head to the State Fair! I ALWAYS went to the fair growing up, it was a HUGE deal in Memphis. For some reason people really don't go to the State Fair here, they all go to Wilson Co Fair, and that's actually the only one Brent and I have ever been to since we moved to Nashville almost 11 years ago. (And the only reason we went to that one was because we did the 50K Ride Across Wilson County Bicycle Ride in 2007 that morning and you got free admission to the fair afterwards.)

What I did not plan for this week was the tons of rain we've had, UGH! We also had so much going on the early part of the week, and Lilli was extra fussy on Wed and Thurs (poss teething), so Friday night we decided rain or no rain we were going to the fair! After we got home from work we fed her and then loaded up and headed over to the fairgrounds. The normal parking area was so soggy they had us parking on the middle section of the raceway. Kind of crazy and pretty cool to park in such a strange place, but much better than getting stuck in the mud in the grass.

There were a couple of times it looked like rain in the distance, but fortunately we were rain free, for a change. We walked the Midway and got heckled by all the game booths, then we walked around the rides and food vendors before picking a locally based one to spend our dollars at.


I got my standard corn dog and lemonade. Brent pretty much choked when he heard how much I spent on the lemonade, but the fair only comes once a year! And, I tried to remind myself how much attendance was off with the weather being what it had and that these people were struggling. (It's been so bad they cut the price of admission in half the second half of this week.)


Lilli hung out in her stroller and had a great time at the fair checking out all the lights and sights and sounds. Note the lovely bruise on her head. That incident produced Accident Report #2 for her - she was standing in her crib at school and fell and banged her head. We keep threatening to get her one of these if she keeps coming home with bruises. I'm pretty sure even 6-12 month olds would make fun of her in one of them!

After we ate I went over to the ride ticket counter to try and figure out how much a ride on the carousel or ferris wheel would set us back. It would've been $10 for the 3 of us to ride the carousel, so we didn't ride anything. (What a rip off!)

The highlight of the trip was the petting zoo! And thankfully it was free! Lilli LOVED it. When we first walked in a goat was being pretty mouthy and she grabbed onto me, but when we walked over to the first cow she just started laughing and reaching for him.

I think she thought all these animals were odd variations on Pippin or something. I didn't let her touch any of them, she has a tendency to put her hand in Pippin's mouth and while he doesn't do anything but lick these animals were starved and who knows what all has been in their mouth. We bought some carrots for a $1 and Lilli was highly entertained watching us feed them.
Nothing is hungrier than a goat....


Animals with horns make Brent sleepy and Lilli happy....


More smiles for the animals...


Brent and Lilli being silly....


Before we left I stopped and got some cotton candy. We've given her some this weekend and it's hilarious to watch her expression as it melts in her mouth. Her interest in table food is really spiking, she was actually drinking out of one of our waterbottles this afternoon (with the top you have to suck to get water out of) and she nabbed a big chunk of Oreo this afternoon, too.

We had a great time at the fair!

Little Mermaid

Today was Lilli's first swim class at the East Y! We signed her up for the Infant Parent/Child class to get her more comfortable with the water, and to be sure she's a swimmer and aware of water safety from a young age. We've taken her to the pool several times this summer, and probably would have more if it had not been such a wet, somewhat mild summer. (BOOO!)

She slept in a little this morning, so I got her up around 8 so we would be on time for her first day of class at 9 am! After breakfast we got her dolled up in one of her swimsuits and were ready to go! She wanted to wear her pool hat until I told her classes were inside!
I was a little concerned about the indoor pool, our swim adventures have been outside where the water is generally a little bit warmer. The Downtown Y's indoor pool is FRIGID, but it's primarily designed for lap swimming. When Brent and I took "Swim Technique for Triathletes" private lessons 1.5 yrs ago we would just SHAKE in-between instructions. Luckily the East Y's pool is a bit warmer and she didn't get upset at all when we got in!

There's only one other kid in her class, so really it's like semi-private lessons which is great! The little boy (Henry) is 2 days older than Lilli, so they're a great pair. His mom and I have zero in common. This was the first "exercise" she's had since he was born (and really, this was NOT exercise) & she was in the best shape of her life running a 13 min mile before he was born (oh dear). One thing I've learned over the past 8 months is that while having children may give you some things in common with other people with children, it really DOES NOT mean you have anything else in common.
Both kiddos did great and neither one ever cried or fussed. Their teacher (Sam) was THRILLED and kept talking about how great they were doing. Lilli laughed and smiled and splashed, and she and Henry would have little conversations. I'm sure she's had some classes where the babies just cry the whole time, but she's making easy money off of us! The only thing Lilli didn't like was "floating" on her back, but she's also in a phase where she hates having her diaper changed. I think she just doesn't want to miss anything by relaxing and laying down.


Her teacher was really happy that she had a very natural instinct to kick and paddle, she mentioned one lifeguard's two year old who can actually paddle and swim, and dive down for things. Hopefully by starting Lilli out early she can also be an early swimmer.


After class! I did it!


I'm a swimming rock star!

I can't remember if class is 4 weeks or 5 weeks, it lasts until Mid-October at any rate! We prob won't have pictures the next few classes because there really wasn't anything for Brent to do, and I geniously forgot to bring us any towels (except a robe for Lilli) so he didn't want to swim laps and not be able to dry off. (Since 99.9% of my workouts are at Downtown, where towels are overflowing, I forget they are the ONLY Y in town that provides towels!) He may come to the last class and take some pics, but I'm pretty sure every week will look like the above! And here's one video (there's a Water Aerobics class also going on in there!)