Dinosaurs!

No time to post tonight but I thought I'd put these pictures from Lilli's 15 month Well Baby Visit up. She is MUCH more apprehensive at the doctor's office these days, but they scored a major win when she spotted these dinosaur figurines in a basket near the scale.She LOVES dinosaurs and they kept her happy and occupied during our appointment. Our doctor's office is really speedy - we had a 3 o'clock appointment and were walking back out the door by 3:30. They are the best!!! (And that level of service is completely the norm.)
I'm not sure what it is about dinosaurs!! The only cartoon she'll pay any attention to is Dinosaur Train, which is fine with us. We hardly watch any TV and I don't want her growing up addicted to it and overweight like most American kids are. I checked out one of those Baby Einstein DVDs from the library once and thought it was about the dumbest thing ever.
She got 3 shots on Monday and will have a couple more shots at her 18 month appointment, and then we're all done with immunizations until she is FIVE! Crazy!!! I can't believe after her 18 month appointment we'll be "released into the wild" with her and only have to come in for annual well baby checks. (I know we will still be there often with her when she's sick, but this will still be a major milestone!)
Have a great night! We've been busy tonight cleaning the house so the babysitter tomorrow night won't know what slobs we are, ha! And Lilli didn't fall asleep until 9 - we walked down for ice cream around 7 and I guess the sugar rush just kept her up a bit late, oh well!!! It was delicious and totally worth it.

Fun Friday!

Last Friday Lilli's school was closed for teacher in-service. They're closed 4 days a year (once a quarter) for various teacher training - updates on things like CPR, codes, etc. Thankfully other than that they're only closed major holidays (unlike some other daycares that close for weeks around Christmas and have a week off for Spring Break - that would seriously drain our vacation time!) I took the day off and we had a TON of fun!She slept in until around 8 and I loooved getting the extra sleep myself! But once she is up, she is one wild and active child. I was clearing off her breakfast dishes in the kitchen and came back to find her climbing the file cabinet and hanging from the handles. Luckily Pippin was there to supervise and make sure she was didn't hurt herself.
From there we got dressed and headed over to Centennial Park. It was a gorgeous and perfect day for feeding the ducks. Last year she was always too small to really enjoy the animals, but this year she absolutely loved it!
Since I was there by myself I kept her strapped in the stroller so she didn't end up head first in the lake. She watched very intently the whole time and loved all the ducks who came up to eat the bread. We had a huge crowd gathered and shared our bread with a little boy who was a little older and enjoyed throwing it in for us to watch.

Here's a little video of her feeding the ducks....and herself. Anytime I'd give her bread to throw she'd eat it instead, ha! Good thing it was just slightly old and not actually moldy!


From there we did a lap around the lake (a nice mile walk for me!) and then headed over to their play area. I think their playground may be my favorite so far in Nashville. They had a GREAT toddler playground with a nice surface and it still had numerous slides and things for her to "climb" but much lower to the ground and a better size for her. There was a little boy about 6 months older and a little girl about 2 months older that she had a lot of fun playing with. They'd go down the slides together and just follow each other around.
One of the toys at the playground had dinosaurs on it so of course that totally captured her attention. Her love for dinosaurs is just hilarious. I think we may be headed for a Dinosaur Themed 2nd birthday party next year......
We played for a long time on the playground until she started getting a little more clingy and tired. She was completely uninterested in looking at the camera for a nice pic in front of the Parthenon - two huge dogs were directly in front of us.

I swung through the drive through at the McDonalds on the edge of the park and got us two Happy Meals. She was sooo tired! We ate lunch and then she took her nap. I could hear her talking for about 30 minutes before she fell asleep, so I went in later to check on her and she had pulled down both her monkeys from the back of her crib and even tossed one of her shoes behind her crib before finally falling asleep. Her crib looks like a tornado came through it!
I have more pictures from our fun Friday to post later this week, we had such a fun day!

Happy 15 Months of Lilli!

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.

9 Months - Official stats (9 months + 3 days) : Weight- 17 lbs 4 ounces (25th percentile), Height - 28.25 inches (75th percentile), Head: 65th percentile

10 Months - Unofficial Stats: Weight: 18 pounds, Height 27 inches. Obviously the nurse did measure you wrong at your 9 month appt as I don't think you've shrunk 1.25 inches over the last month, and this seems much more accurate.
11 Months (+ 6 days) - Unofficial Stats: 18.2 lbs Weight, somewhere between 27.5-28 inches tall. Very happy with the weight since she got down to 16 lbs 15 ounces when she was so sick this month!
12 Months - Official Stats: 18.4 pounds (10th percentile), 29 1/8 inches (50th percentile), Head: 18 1/4 inches (80th percentile) 13 Months (+6 days) - Unofficial Stats: 19 pounds, 28 1/2 inches tall (I think they ALWAYS measure her wrong - we measure as she stands and they measure through toe length).
14 Months - 19.2 lbs (official since we spent your 14 month birthday at the doc with your double ear infection), 29 inches (unofficial)

15 Months - Official - 19 lbs 13 ounces (10th percentile), Height - 31.5 inches (75%), Head 18 3/8 (75%)

Happy 15 Month Birthday! Time is really flying by. Today you had your 15 month well-baby visit and Dr Rauth declared you a perfect, smart little girl. No surprise there! You wow-ed her with all the words you know and things you can show her, although you were certainly apprehensive of being there as you've suddenly become a little more suspicious of unfamiliar surroundings and people. We even gave you a sippy cup of milk before you were weighed in but we still haven't hit that 20 pound mark! Oh well, I bet you'll be there for your 18 month visit. You got three more shots today and you were NOT happy. But the good news is you get some shots at 18 months and then you're home free (except for the flu shot - but that's ok, we get that one too!) until you are FIVE! Woo hooo! You are one active little girl and rarely walk anymore - why walk when you can RUN everywhere!! If you see something exciting - like a dog, especially Pippin - you squeal in absolute glee. You can throw a mean temper tantrum when you don't get your way. You want to know what EVERYTHING is, and LOVE books. Last night we read 36 books - I counted (and some of them more than once.). You love to go and if you're feeling a little bored at home you'll bring us your sweater and point to the door, or at the stroller. You're the world's slowest eater and are often downgraded to the high chair at school because the other kids will finish your food for you. You're a great napper and take about a 2 hour nap right after lunch each day, and then bedtime around 8. Left alone, you won't wake up until around 8 the following morning, we LOVE that! You're still in a Size 3 diaper, Size 4 shoe and are just now outgrowing most of your 6-9 month clothes. Your vocabulary consists of Momma, Dadda, Dog, Truck, Tree, Car, Moo, Uh-Oh, Wow (my fave), and Yeah. Other words come and go, but those are your staples. You will answer to Bug (your school nickname), and know that our names are Brent and Rachel. You are our little sweetie pie!!!

Visiting

Super fast post tonight, I still need to give Pippin a bath and we want to relax and catch up on a TV show before bedtime!

Lilli was EXTRA cute today in her little Western dress and boots, in honor of yesterday's Country Music Marathon. Every little good Nashville girl needs a nice pair of boots! Luckily for me the dress was $4 and the shoes $5 at consignment sales this spring!These boots are 100% adorable!!! Of course they're not her first pair of boots....
After church we drove straight down to visit Brent's grandparents south of Columbia (prob about an hour and a half or so.) Lilli napped until we pulled into the Burger King lot, where she enjoyed her chicken tenders and apple "fries" until a fly landed on the window near our table. The excitement of this little bug pretty much distracted her from the rest of her lunch as she is the world's slowest eater.

Brent got lots of cute pictures of Lilli with his parents and grandparents, but I'll post more tomorrow or later this week as a)Pippin smells and b) it would be nice to have a couple of minutes with my feet up before this weekend is over!

Here's Lilli with her great grandparents....
She was ready for another nap (and was asleep in the car literally before we'd even gone a mile) so she was being bribed with cookie to sort of smile (or at least not fuss about being held still!)
And with Brent's parents!
More pics to come!

Country Music Marathon 2010

Today was marathon day in Nashville! The one and only day annually that most of Nashville runs or even realizes that it's something people do for fun.The weather this year was way, way, way less than stellar. Predictions were for lots of rain and possibly severe weather throughout the morning, so when alarm clock Pippin woke us all up a little after 8 I was kind of surprised that it was nicely overcast and a perfect temp. We ate some breakfast and then headed down to the race about 9:30.
Since we live within the marathon course it's pretty much impossible for us to really leave our neighborhood or get around the course via car much at all. The storms were still coming, so we didn't want to park & run too far from our car, either. In years past we've gotten close and then just run around on foot, I think last year we logged about 5 miles with Baby Lilli.
We found a great spot around mile 21/24 of the marathon course where we could see them headed into Shelby Park and then coming back out. It was incredibly overcast and breezy at this point. She really got into clapping for the runners and had fun with the tambourine, maracas, pom poms and other noisemakers I have for race spectating!
It's always easiest to keep track of her when she has a hoodie on! It's an extra leash....
And we got our first skinned knees!
She had a great time just wandering around. A family was blowing bubbles and she was all about that.
This guy was juggling the 26.2 miles....
And then she got distracted by a hill to climb....
Go runners!!!
We saw the 3:30 and 3:45 pace groups come through and a little bit after that it started sprinkling. I was ok with the sprinkling so we got her in her stroller with the hood up for a couple of minutes, and then it started pouring so we ran back to our car. We were going to try to get under one of the pavilions in Shelby Park but they had the park completely shut off and none of the entrances are very close to where the race actually runs. At this point lightning had started, so we decided to head home. They actually ended up diverting all the runners slower than (I think) a 4 hour pace, how disappointing!!!! The rain really starting pouring around 11, and it's been storming off and on since then all day.

We did get a TON done inside today of just little projects and cleaning out closets while Lilli took a long afternoon nap. Sometimes a rainy day is nice to keep you inside and getting some things accomplished! (Of course it would be better if it didn't conflict with people's marathon plans and attempts for Boston!)

Having her Cake

I got my hair cut and highlighted yesterday. I think it turned out so cute!Tamara added blonde streaks to it, just lots of nice subtle color. It's been a LONG time since I had color and considering how much it costs it will prob be a long time before I do it again, but it just looks so nice!
Today Brent brought us home some leftover cake from a work-anniversary party people had today. He's always so sweet to sneak some out in an office coffee cup for us. (Sweet but also bad because I'm trying to lose 10 pounds right now in 10 weeks and am doing great so far with 2.2 pounds in 2 weeks!)Obviously Lilli shares my complete and total addiction to sugary frosting. She was my little baby bird eating it off my finger!
And it seems the sugar rush is immediate! Or at the very least it's safe to say cake makes her dance!

Pizza Night!

Tonight was pizza night at our house! Yiiiipeeeee!I think someone enjoyed it! By the end of the meal she had pizza, broccoli and rice, oranges, and marshmallow in her hair. Success!

We had turkey soft tacos last night, and she gobbled up some "mini" versions of that I made for her, so I guess I'm doing something right for dinner this week. We've also started her on plates at home. She's been using a plate at school for about 3 months now, so it's really no biggie - I'd just like to get her used to that at home and then change her high chair over to the booster type and have her sit at the table normally.
We've been having several contractors/designers out over the last week bidding on building a new outdoor deck for us (probably covered, we're not sure yet). This is completely the type of project we could easily do ourselves, but just no longer have time to do and would like to have it finished in a more reasonable time frame than our schedules allow. And since we would like to have it covered that (of course) involved permission from the Historical Society because of the age and historical significance of our house, and just adds an extra level of red tape we don't want to mess with. Today the 4th contractor came out at 5:30, so we needed a dinner we could eat quickly before he showed up and pizza worked out perfectly.
And just for reference, here's our little lady exactly a year ago - a camera ham both this year and last! Some things just don't change!