1 YEAR OLD

We are amazed every day at how our lives have changed, as Jared says you have no idea until you have one how much they will change your life. We both agree that our love for her is so strong and so special that it has deepened and changed our love for one another. We are also amazed at how much she is changing, every day we laugh or marvel at something new.

Her biggest thing is talking, she is VERY verbal---Jared can't imagine where she gets it from. He can already tell he's in trouble with two of us in the house, with the two of us girls and the two girl dogs he is feeling a bit outnumbered! She started with saying Daddy then it progressed to doggie, duckie (this has since been absent for a while but it was clear at the time my speech therapist friend said that is very normal), mommy (finally), then STOP which she heard because we are always telling dogs to stop and she DOES use it correctly, unfortunately. She also says bye-bye and she is starting to say tickle (though it is not consistent yet so I wouldn't count it) it is so funny and sounds more like "toockle-toockle".

She is a very independant little thing. She doesnt want to be held and coddled, she would rather be put down and run around. You can also see her independance when trying ot feed her, she will take the stuff off of the spoon and eat it herself alot of the times and not want to be fed. Her favorite foods are fruit, she especially loves kiwi and now clementines.

She is walking now, she has been taking steps for some time but she now uses it as her rpimary form of transportation. She was doing about 15 steps up until the weekend before her birthday and then it just seemed to all fall into place and she started walking from room to room and didnt stop. She will still crawl when she falls and is a bit wobbley but its pretty amazing to see her go!

Shaking her head 'no-no' is a new thing with her too, she has been doing it for a while but now she does it consistently with intent. If I tell her no not to mess with the plant for instance, she will look at me and shake her head. Now if she is full and doesnt want to eat anymore she will do it--which is a welcome change from just spitting it back out when she was full, which was her old habit. Her newfound but not welcome habit is to try and pick your nose, she has long been fascinated with teeth but she has now figured out her finger is just right size that she can try to hurry and stick it up your nose! Her other new less than pleasant habit is a screeching thing she does when she's happy, or not, the intonation tells you which it is.

She is still a very happy easygoing kid but her attitude is starting to surface just a bit. She lets you know what she wants and what she DOESNT want! As she gets better at expressing herself and we can tell what she wants more hopefuly this will diminish as right now it seems more a frustration thing than anything but we continue to discourage it.

The nickname of the moment from Dad is honey bear and mom calls her her 'lovebug'. That's about all for now.

11 Months

11 Months came with alot of developments for little Ms. Lillian, also known as: Lilly Lou, Big Lil, Big squirrel, Lilly Billy, among others.

She is starting to take steps, just a few in between objects maybe the most would be 4-5. She is starting to cruise whenever possible.

She has also developed a love for pointing at everything, clapping, waving bye-bye, and blowing kisses.

We are unsure as to whether her words are truly 'words' or just really good babble. Her favorite is still dadadada and any derivitve thereof. She also says mamama but only when she is upset, hurt, hungry, or just in general need of something. She is also in love with her doggies and 'talks' to them and about them all the time. She will point and babble at them when she is mad if they knock her down or something and she uses correct intonations and wags her finger back and forth as if she is telling them off--it is very cute.

A big change in her little life is her daycare. Before she went to a center daycare called Appletree Christian Learning Center which was very nice, clean, educational etc However, she was not sleeping because there was always so much going on, they had a crib room that was glass so she could still see and here what was going on out in the other room which resulted in about 45 minutes worth of naps all day. This was clearly not enough naps for her and she was grumpy at night. We did our research and interviews and settled on a small home daycare with one provider whom she could bond with and a room where she could nap separately from all the other older kids. The ladies name is Sharon and she is a Godsend. Her prices are very low, she "does it for the kids and doesnt need alot of money". She loves kids, has pictures of her daycare kids on her walls and is just as nice as can be. Her husband is also there during day because he works 3rd shift and all kids they watch call them "grandpa and grandma" they also dont seem to loose anyone as there is a 12 year old in their care that they have had his whole life and a teenage girl who comes to help on days when their is no school.

In the food arena Lillian has decided she is done with babyfood so she is almsot exclusively on table food. She does pretty well. When she decides something doesnt feel right in her mouth or that she is full she still has a bad habit of spitting it out--with force!

All in all she is getting to be such a big girl and is so much fun. We cant imagine our lives without her and still cant recall what it is we did before she was around.

Halloween

We had a nice time picking out pumpkins the weekend before Halloween. We were going to go to the zoo boo at Binder Park Zoo where kids dress up, see animals, and get candy but it was a cold and rainy weekend and didnt sound very appealing to either of us. So, we went to pumpkin Gene's, a local farmer who has for the past 50 years grown an enormous amount of pumpkins for the area. He currently has 50 acres, everything around his house is orange, he and his wife get very into it, dressing in orange, they have an orange cadillac, orange motorcycle etc. Since this was their 50 year anniversary they were offering a free orange cook book that had the history of their farm and the gourds in it and of course a million ways to cook...you guessed it pumpkin. It was actually very interesting. Pumpkin Gene even gave Lillian a free 'first halloween pumpkin', evidentially it is a tradition.

On Halloween we took her to trick or treat at one house, our neighbor, then we spent rest night handing out candy. Cousins Darryn and Aylanna came over and helped too. Darryn decided that everyoen needed a hand full of candy instead of just one! Of course everyone loved the dogs being dressed up too, as bees. I tried to dress them as the same thing but I could not find a bee costume that was warm enough. Overall it was a very nice night, she was so tired by the end of it I had to take her in and feed her but then she wanted back outside but collapsed into sleep soon after being brought in, just a bit after her normal bed time.

10 Months

Well this has been a rough month for us all, noone more than Lillian. 4 days before turning 9 months old she came down with her first case of Roseola which as you may have read was unpleasant. Then for about a week she felt better and wouldnt you know it she caught something 'roseola like' again about 10 days before turning 10 months old. Poor sweetie. The two illnesses back to back like that really set her back in her eating schedule and temporarily stalled her walking progress. She was back to herself in time for her 'birthday'.

She had only just turned 9 months when she started walking aroudn furniture quiet well, then about a week after I got out one of the baby push carts (pictured) and we thought for sure she would only be able to take a few steps around the area rug in her room but despite having Roseola #1 she loved it and could keep it under control and walk all over the house even on the wood! The first night she kept using it to go back and forth to Jared and I and even when she was so tired she started falling down regularly she would grab handler herself, pull herself back up and continue on. Eventually I had to put a stop to it and take her to bed. The next morning she saw it and crawled right over to it and started again. Evidentially noone told her that 9month olds werent supposed to be walking around! This weekend just a day before turning 10 months she was using it to walk and always gets frustrated because she will get to a wall and just shake the handle pushing it back and forth trying to get it to go again. So, I took her outside and let her walk down the sidewalk. She walked 1/2 length of our block before i picked her up because she was slwoing down, she was so distracted by the falling leaves, it was a long distance that she went even with me stopping her, I was so surprised. She was tired after that!

On other fronts she has learned to clap and will do it somewhat on command, the command being "yeah", though she does it more for Daddy than anyone else. She is refusing baby food and when you try to feed her some to fill her up since she is still inefficient at 'big girl food' she will let you know how much she dislikes it by spitting it back out or blowing it all over you. We try telling her "No, No, not a nice girl, no thank you" but she only proceeds to smile.

She is fitting into size 1 clothes already, though most of them are long for her in the legs they fit her belly! She has recently hit a bit of a growth spurt, her arms dont look quiet as chubby as they had (with the rolls with creases in the middle of her arm).

She is also a big talker now. She says things with the right inflections, intonations, and emotions, it is all very cute. She babbles really complex words and while we are still not sure that she knwos what Dadda and doggie mean she gets them pretty right on. It should be any time now that she really gets to talking.

She still has 3 teeth, bottom two and the one to the side of it, the other side you can see the hole where something is tryign to poke through but it has been that way for a long time.

We enjoy her so much right now it is hard to believe. As everyone says we truly cant imagine our lives without her and Jared often comments on how 'lame' we were without her and how empty our lives were. He is such a great dad and truly wonderful with her. I cant think of a better dad around, it makes me appreciate him all the more.

I have inluded pics of her 'walking' (as promised above) she was sick at the time so note the sweaty hairdo and flushed face--poor dear. Also one of her in an asian outfit that my vietnamese friends sister made (who lives in vietnam), their children also wore it and it is so adorable. I really got soem good smiles on her that day, too many to post. Last but not least another of her favorite times, bath time! I am sure she will appreciate this photo later.

Doggies!

Lillian is such a dog girl, it is so funny. We tease that her first word will be dog. Actually, I am pretty sure her first word already is dog. She very consistently says adg doga dga dog when she sees or hears our dogs, we tell her 'doggies, good doggies' all the time. I need to get some pics of her with our dogs again and post them but these pics from yesterday are too cute! My friend is a huge dog lover and has a newfy, great dane, and a rescue mutt--in enter fiance with 2 labs so now they have 5 dogs! In addition to her 4 cats! YIKES.

Anyway, Lillian visited yesterday and was SO excited. My friend was so nervous to introduce them all and amazed when Lillian just yelled and waved and kept trying to crawl to them all, while crawling around and ignoring the cats. She has shown interest in cats (but they dont take as kindly to her grabs and licks) when we are at someones house with just cats but otherwise she could care less and wants the dogs, the bigger the better! This big guy, newfy is the calmest dog (lazy) I have ever met. I am pretty sure she or anyone else could jab him with a poker and he would be ok with it. She enjoyed using him for a romper room, she kept trying to kiss him and would get a mouth full of fuzzy newfy fur which was a bit gross! Anyway she had a blast and since my friend wants kids she is happy to see that babies and dogs can coincide and be ok and her animals all did great.

I have included some pics of her with our dogs. EVery morning when she wakes up she looks for them, it is so cute. She uses them as a jungle gym and grabs their collars to help herself up. Occasionally they forget she is underfoot and tumble her but for the most part they are great. A couple days ago one hurt her with their toenail, probably the first time they have truly hurt her and she was so mad she kept looking at the guilty party and screaming and crying and carryign on even after she was fine she woudl still do that when looking at Nala (the dog), Nala looked sullen and went upstairs and laid on her bed, as if she knew she was in trouble and we never said anything to her.

Roseola!

I got a call from daycare on Tuesday September 18th that Lillian was runnign a temperature of 101.5. They reported that she was fussy off and on during morning (very unusual for her) and didnt really want to eat so they put her down for a nap and when she woke up she was very hot. So, I left in middle of my experiment to pick her up from daycare. I fully expected it was her teeth since she had been drooling alot lately. When I showed up she seemed unphased and was playing and smiling. I asked them if nothing developed overnight and her fever went away if I could bring her back next day since I didnt think she seemed sick.


BOY was I wrong! I could tell within an hour she was definately sick. She was so cranky. That night once she woke up at her normal first rousing time of the night (11pm) she came to bed with us and then about 3am she was nursing I thought oh my gosh she is on fire! We took her temp, 104.6! Of course I had to drag out my 'what to expect first year' book, what a lifesaver that is. I read about fevers because i was trying to decide if I should call doctor, by this time she was awake so I took her PJ's off and let her play in her room with me until 4:30am and I watched her temperature drop alot right after giving her tylenol so I did not call.


The next morning I called Pediatrician who said if fever lasted more than 3 days or got above 105 to bring her in. Everything is goign around since kids just started school so a fever is no big deal to them but it surely is to the new parent!


The fever lasted tuesday, wednesday, thursday and was peaking close to 105 but not quite, I got a reading of 104.6 a number of times though. Thursday the fever went down so I thought we were through the worst of it. She was still feverish friday so we took her in. Of course, by the time they took her temp it was normal and she seemed better. Shortly after we got home from the doctors office her rash came out. She was still out of sorts the rest of the weekend and too crabby to go to daycare on monday. She went to daycare on teusday but Jared had to leave to pick her up half way through the day as she was so tired and fussy off and on. She slept most of the day, went back to daycare on wednesday and did fine.

The worst part of it all was about three weeks later when verbatim same thing happened except it started on a thursday and Jared was stick as well. He toook off thursday friday with her and I took off monday tuesday wednesday. I took her to the doctor and they though Roseola but since you cant have it twice and they never saw the rash come out last time they said hard to know which time was or was not roseola and lots of viral illness's can make the young ones get rash's. Fun it was not! Thought it did not seem as severe the second time around.

First Haircut!

On Friday September 7th, 2007 Lillian got her first haircut. It works out absolutely perfect that cousing Caitlin cuts hair, who better to give the first haircut than family?

Mommy needed a haircut too so we went after work on friday to visit with Aunt Jenny, Grandma, and Caitlin and get our hair cut. It was a regular girl's night out, since friday is video game night for Daddy.

I went first then came the real fun. Trying to convince a wriggly 8 month old to sit in one spot long enough to snip the back of her hair. Of course she was much more interested in the mirror, the scissors, and especially the comb! She loves combs and every night after her bath I comb her hair and I let her play with the comb afterward so I have enough time for lotion, diaper, and dressing; in hindsight maybe that wasn't the best idea?

We don't intend on keeping her hair short. She had a few wispy strands in the back that were super long compared to all the rest. Those extra strands would get stuck in her lovely little 'neck roll' and they looked a bit stringy. But they were long and so cute so I was sad to see them go, now that it's done it does look better and it will all be able to grow long at the same rate now. Of course I saved them and intend to keep them along with other firsts: first boootie, first picture, first outfit for coming home, first tooth etc and then I will do a shadow box of them.

Our little girl is getting all these 'firsts' out of the way too quickly!



I like this chair, now what?



Mommy got her hair done, now's my turn.

Better be quick cousin Caitlin, this comb won't last forever!

Yeah! All done, what a proud cousin.

9 Months Old

Well, it seems this month that Lillian is set on making each weekend a weekend full of accomplishments. I like her timing since it seems that we get to see so much development in such a short period of time, and I am afraid we miss so much being away from her all week.

The weekend right after she turned 8 months she started crawling more than 2 steps; she did 5, then 7. She still drags her left leg behind her a lot and isnt fast though. She also started playing peek a boo earler in the week, looking out from under her standing toy that has toys hanging down and doing peek a boo, it was self iniated but now we do it with her all the time at home and at daycare. Started sayind a dogdagdagdagdog sound when I say doggie and play with stuffed dogs sounds VERY close to dog.

She stayed at this pace of 5-7 crawl steps most week then the following weekend I set her down and opened kitchen door since I was cooking and she crawled aross kitchen 3x in a row to get to the door I had opened (not fast yet).

Now she is also standing and pulling herself up on everythign--even things that she shouldnt even try, before it was hit or miss as to when she did it, now its constantly and the kicker is that she is letting go with one hand then she even held on and walked the length of DH today while he was laying down--my eyes about bugged out of my head and I asked DH "DID you see that, did you see that???? He was like UH, yeah, layin right here remember" LOL, anyway it was sad but happy and amazing.

As I sit here typing she has terrorized the room and all the toys I have layed around for her and managed to crawl under my chair and is ripping apart a magazine. She loves paper!

This week (September 8th) she says DG consistently when excited around the dogs. She is babbling up a storm all time, when I read her evening book I dont think she can hear it!

She also started solids 3x a day on weekend after she turned 9 months, started solids 3x a day at daycare too the week before turning 9 months.

Aren't I beautiful?

Mommy & Me - next month maybe we'll get Daddy too

They caught me mid-laugh, how embaressing!

8Months

Well yet another month has passed and she is now 8 months old. 8/12 = 2/3 of a year as parents. We have changed more in that 2/3 a year than perhaps we, as adults and as a couple, have ever changed but it dims in comparison to how much Lillian has changed. I was organizing pictures the other day and I was amazed to see this strange, wrinkly, tiny, hairy little baby looking up at me from the pictures.

Thankfully, she has started to eat her baby food with an interest now. Before she would eat a bit when it was time but not really too interested in it nor did she eat anything substantial. She is loving her food now and often times we cant shovel it in fast enough. If we go too slow she cries. I have made most all my own baby food so far and she has done well, we are trying to introduce her to wide variety of flavors and textures now in the hopes she wont be a picky eater later. Breastfeeding also helps with this since she has already tasted those flavors in my breast milk and I eat a wide variety of foods and a pretty healthy diet.

So far she has tried and liked: sweet potatoes, squash, zucchinni, carrots, spinach, corn, potatoes, black beans, pumpkin, and asparagus.

We have not done as wide a variety of fruits but she has tried: bananas, blue berries, raspberries, apples, pears, peaches, and watermelon.

I have also started introducing spices, very mild spices come first in very small quantities and then you work your way up. Many countries have their children eating spices right from the beginning with no problems. It is a good way to add flavor and get her introduced to flavor early without adding sugar or salt. So far she has tried and liked cinnamon that I mixed into pumpkin and applesauce.

The only item that has not went well is rice cereal which seems to cause her to have massive issues of vomiting, not every time she eats it but every time she has had one of these marathon vomitting sessions where she will vomit 8-12 times until all the contents are out and she is just heaving. It is so sad and had me really worried for a bit, the only thing I could figure out as a link on each day was rice cereal. I stopped feeding her rice cereal and no more vomiting. Of course rice has a very low allergenic potential so I dont htink its that, I dont know if it coudl have been perhaps something wrong with that specific box. I will wait a bit longer and try it again to see what happens since I doubt we will be able to avoid eating rice unless its necesaary for her because we eat it all the time. She has done well with barley, and oatmeal.

Aside from all the excitement in the food arena she has achieved the following milestones: pre-crawl stage on all fours where she used to do a tripod and get one leg stuck. She now says
mamamammamam occasionally instead of just daddadadad and she also throws in dg variation.

She also loves pulling on doggies eyes, ears, tail etc while laying on carpet, they are very good and at the most lick her off of them and then move over a bit--much to their future dismay it wont be long until she follows them! She is also a jumper and jumps all the time when you are holding her, I was told I did this too and also loved my johnny jumper so she doesnt get that from a stranger.

Where did the time go?

Lillian at Gma & Gpa V's Property

Seven Months

Wow, it's official, we have been a family of three for the majority of a year! Time really does fly.

The scientist in me has been extrapolating, here is what I figure: If the first 6 months seemed like 6 weeks then she should be 18 years old in 6weeks/26weeks=0.23 18years x 0.23= 4.14 years=4years 7weeks 1day & 8 hours!!!! AND if what everyone tells me is true and the time goes even faster once they get older then I had better really cherish these baby days huh???

I must admit that I am writing this post way way late so I wont coment much on milestones--there will be alot of description for 8 months since that was what I was going to start today (early) when I realized I forgot last month.

She is starting to eat her solid foods a bit better, so far she has not rejected anythign we have tried: sweet potatoes, rice cereal, carrots, spinach, squash. I have been making her baby food thus far and it is pretty easy.

She loves to jump in her jumpee or now in her excersaucer as she is strong enough to make it bounce up and down. She is also a pro at sitting up and leaning to get what she wants though she will take a tumble while doing this still at times. On a funny note she also loves to be on Daddy's shoulders, it gives her a nice viewpoint plus she loves to lick his head while grabbing his face and ears to hold on; it's adorable.

One of her favorite thigns is to be outside, she especially likes to swing on our front porch and if the wind blows she opens her mouth like she is trying to taste it. Another thing she loves to do is take a bath, she will also open her mouth and catch the water sprays. She splashes alot and smiles. She will drink as much of the water as you will let her. I have been trying to make sure to dribble water down her face alot so she will get used to it (making bath time much easier) and so she will like the water and not be afraid of it--she does great, blinks her eyes or rubs them and keeps on smiling and playing. She also loves the kiddie pool, I have even used it in the kitchen one day with a pitcher of water in it so I could get some work done in there, that with a few dishes thrown in and she floated them around and splashed for over an hour (with a splash radius of about a foot which I wasnt expecting!).

She also really has 'awakened' to the dogs. Before she was occasionally noticing them and liking them. Now she always seems to be on the lookout for them. She will scream and scream is she sees them walk past, utnil they come up to her then she will smile and usually pull away because they are inevitably licking her in teh face. They are very good with her, seh is also starting to tug, pull, and poke them in the face and they never bat an eye--even when I saw her sticking her little finger into their eyes, Sachi moved her face and licked Lillian (good distraction technique).

that is all for this months edition of Lillian's world

since I posted her 6 month pictures last time and I dont have 7 back yet here are some snap shots.

Wobbler Room Blues

Today I have the wobbler rooom blues. I knew it was coming but wasn't prepared. I have been feeling like Lillian's infant'hood is racing by and I sometimes feel I am missing it while at work. I know no matter what choice you make you will have days you want the other and for me yesterday was one of those days. To compound matters I got a notice saying that the daycare will start transitioning her to the wobbler room on July 30th.

They used to do this by development level, then they went to a straight 6 months which I disagreed with so they are going by development, at least for Lillian I dont know about others. So on July 30th she will be 7months1.5weeks.

At first I told Jared she absolutely is not ready, then I started thinking and we talked. She is scooching around now and rolls but not to a destination. In 12 days-July30th, she will be doing more of that and it is a 2 week transition period spending progressively more time over there so she will be over 8 months old. Oh my where does the time go?

They also said that when they are at Lillians stage, right on the brink of major mobility, they will go over there and see all the mobile kids and will be very mobile themselves within 2 weeks because they try to start keeping up. In the infant room all other kids are stationary so there is not a big need for her to move around so she sits instead. Jared likened it to being the senior in school and not having anyone else ot look up to for your next learning curve. I guess it is the right thing to do but AHHHHH!! already? seriously? wasnt I just in labor like last week??

Ok, seriously protective, sad mother signing off now :-)

6 Months-Hard to believe!

Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday Jared and I were discussing whether we should have children and then even more recently that we wondered if we would be able to have children. I cannot believe it has been 1.5 years since we decided to do IVF to make our dreams of a family come true.

milestones:


sitting up & well


reaching for everything

everything in the mouth


squeels and has yelling competitions with Dad

looks for a toy when she drops it (sometimes)


started goign to bed earlier and sleeping 8 hours!


loves the bouncey which has a foot pad that animates when she kicks


stopped rice cereal after ~1.5week trial period so exclusively breastmilk until 6months which was our goal


loves to smile


start saying dadadadadadad mostly and a few variations whie moving mouth in various ways


had first bout with stomach, throwing up etc

This parenting journey has been more rewarding and complex than I had ever imagined. Sometimes Jared and I just look at each other and wonder how we got here, how did this perfect little person come from us, how can we enjoy her so much, how can we have imagined not having her, how did we get so lucky to be blessed with such an easy going baby, and how can it get any better?



Jared and Nicole--loving being parents



6 month pictures 4th July theme


I fell and bonked my head and now I am VERY sad



My first 4th July, like the bathing suit?


I love taking baths!

Mother's Day

Well I ended up having to work on my first mother's day which was a drag but it ended up being a very nice mother's day weekend overall.

Saturday after I got out of work we had my mom and sibling's over for a bbq. We had all conspired to take a professional photo for my mom and she was none the wiser to our scheme though she almost caught us in the act when she came home early from work and starting calling all of us to see what we were doing! The bbq went great and mom was overjoyed to see the photos of her children and grandchildren since she didnt have any photos with all of us. I knew if she cried my mission had succeeded and, well -- it was a raging success!

Saturday night of course Jared broke down and gave me the gift he had gotten me, he can never wait until the day to give me a gift. I was so overjoyed to see that he had printed up a nice poem and it is about hcildren's handprints being on the wall and he had the daycare dip Lillian's hands in paint and put handpritns on the poem, he then matted and framed it. I love it so much, I will cherish it forever. He also bought me a mothers heart pendant with mother and child in the center and it is beautiful and classic. I am so fortunate, I still can't even believe I am a mother sometimes. It is hard to believe at this time last year I was just a bit pregnant and hoping to start feeling kicks soon!






All 5 kids and 3 grandkids

5 Months Old

Wow how things can change. Lillian is getting so big these days and really beginning to be a little person. She is so sweet and good natured. She is starting to stick her tongue out when she smiles which is cute. She is loving her baths and has learned to kick to get water all over.


She still loves to yell. The daycare still uses her as bait to get the other babies attention which is cute, now one of the otehr little boys has learned to yell back to her, much to the dismay of his mother! She is meeting all of her 4 month and some of ther 5 month milestones. She can now roll from back to the belly pretty easily and loves spending time on her tummy.



She is getting very interested in the dogs and likes to watch them pace around however she gets tempermental if they dont pay attention to her. A typical scene goes like this: Lillian standing in the exersaucer and watching the dogs walking around then starts squeeling in their direction, they take notice and come over to her and proceed to lick her face, now she reaches out her hands and holds their face while they continue to lick her while opening her mouth and sticking out her tongue! Oh I wish I were kidding but I can't make up something that disgusting. If you are picturing a dog french kissing a 5 month old you are right on. I am documenting this so that I never forget it and we can tease her for the rest of her life with the image. I have tried getting it on video but havent been successful yet.





For whatever reason she slept great up until her 4 month shots and now she can get up between 3-4 times a night no specific pattern. I thought perhaps I woudl try cereal and the first night she was not a fan at all, she seemed to enjoy it but woudl scream if the spoon wasnt in her mouth. The next time I tried when she was a bit full already and it went better but she shoved it all back out of her mouth which indicates she still has the tongue thrust reflex and is not ready for solids so we will wait a while before trying again. So for now I am stuck getting up alot more at night, Jared to as he still gets her and brings her to me. Breastfeeding is still going well so I am happy for that. She is gaining weight well so for now there is no real need for additional food.



So much has happened it seems impossible to remember and detail it all. I will have to start keeping track of thigns throughout the months as they happen instead of trying to remember the past month since my memory is not so good since becoming a mom!

Lillian 5 months old--she really enjoyed trying to eat all of the flowers.

Job Front #2

Well now I have my own bit of good news. I too have landed a new job. I applied to two different positions within the Pfizer site and really had my hopes set on one in particular that I did not think I could get, I honestly didnt think I would get either of them. SUrprise! I got the one I really wanted.

I will now be an Associate Chemist working for the cleaning validation group. I will be working to develop methods to ensure the tanks/reactors are clean in between batches of different medications. The job is very diverse in the different groups that you get to work with and should stay challengig and interesting for a long time.

Job Front

Well Jared got a new job about 2 months ago. He went from deskside support to Intel. Intel is basically where he does all the server administration for our site and remotely supports some other sites as well. This is what he went to school for and wants to do so we are excited. It will take him a while to get up to speed so that is of course stressing. I just got a promotion to a higher level of my same job, basically levels 1-4 and I got promoted to a 3. I am in process of applying for a new job as well, hopefully something will pan out this year.

We're 4 Months Old!

Well how time flies when you are having fun! Each monday I thinl "oh boy, it's monday, gonna be a long week" then next thing I know it's friday! I dont know where all the time is going but as it is speeding by our daughter is ever changing and growing. I sometimes think if I blink she will be all grown up.

Well it seems that one day an outfit will fit her and the next day it doesn't! At her 4 month appoitnment she weighed in at 13lbs14oz and 24.25'' long both of which are now in the 50-75% range. Since she has went up a curve each visit at birth, 2mo, and 4mo and she is on about same place for height and weight the doctor is very happy with her growth--as are we! She is getting so chubby she has arm and elbow rolls and I call her legs her quadriceps because she has 4 rolls just from the knee up!

She is really starting to blossom in the personality department. She smiles ALL THE TIME! She still talks alot. Her daycare teacher says she will fixate on one child who interests her and yell and scream at them to try and get their attention. She is very alert and looks at everything, she preferrs to stand up so she can interact more and see more, try cuddling her to limit her view and she will let you know she is not happy! She can laugh and giggle now which I love.

In the milestones department she is acing all her tests. She can sit up holdign your hands and do wonderful or you can just hold a hand on her to keep her from going forward and she does the rest. She has been rolling from belly to back for a long time and now goes from back to belly though she does this best when angry (usually about getting dressed) and she still ends up with the one arm pinned under her. She can track and grab objects, which immediately head towards mouth! She is also getting some more complexity to her 'talking' with different sounds added in there. She does the laughing with occasional giggles or squels which are the best!

On the teething issue we were afraid she was teething for a while. She woudl scream in pain and not be herslef at all and if I put orajel on gums she would calm down and be happy again. She has a white spot on her gum but it is not on the ridgeline like a tooth would be. Doctor said it might be a cyst which some say are related to teeethign and others deny but it is very common and can cause pain like teething. So at this point it might be signs early teethign or it might not! Hopefully for my sake not!

We are so in love with our darling daugther. We just cant imagine our life without her. Sometimes working full time can seem like a bit much but I just look at her and melt. I know this is exactly what I wanted and I dont htink I have ever been happier with my life.

Lillian featured in Jeans dress and t-shirt that we picked for all the grandkids to wear for mothers day photos that we got done for Grandma Tanya. She had a great time hamming it up in front of the cameras, cousins Darren and Aylanna were not as thrilled to be there . The photos turned out great.

Easter

The changes are daily and dramatic. Have to post these darling pictures. Easter this year was spent with me cooking a small meal for Jared's mom, grandma Jan, Coop, and Steve. It was a nice evening and everyone loved the pictures

3 months old

Just before easter, showing what a happy baby she is - even after being woke up from a nap when we arrived.

Ear Infection

Well we had our first true illness. Jared picked Lillian up from daycare and they had been trying to give her a bottle for about an hour and she wouldnt take it for them or Jared and was a bit fussy which is very unusual for her. That evening I was not coming right home so I called to check in before running my errands and Jared sounded flustered but said all was fine and don't hurry home. I knew something was wrong so I cut grocery shopping short and came home. She was asleep in swing but Jared said he had to leave her in there while she was crying because she was so inconsolabe no matter what he did and she woudlnt eat.

Within 5 mintues of my arriving home she woke up screaming and Jared said that is what she sounded like before I got home. I took her temperature because her cheeks felt cold as ice and her head hot, it was 99.5 and normally she runs about 97 so we called the pediatrician who told us how much tylenol to administer.

That night her fever spiked to 103 but with additional tylenol went down. We paged the doctors office and were instructed to bring her in the next day. In the mean time Jared had noticed whenever he picked her up she screamed and he realized he woudl always pick her up with his hand under her left ear. Sure enough when the doctor examined the right ear she did not have a problem but when he examined the left ear she screamed and cried unconsolably. The doctor said it looked red and inflammed and sometimes picking up a slight cold at daycare (which she had a cough for a couple days) sometimes will settle in their ears. He recommended antibiotics to clear it up instead of waiting to see since seh was so young and in pain from it and because of the way it looked he did not think it woudl clear up on it's own.

Previously we had given Lillian antibiotic drops in her eyese for her clogged tear ducts/conjunctivitis so on the way home from the pharmacy Jared asked if we would have to give her the medicine in just the one ear or both! I was laughing so hard I was crying. The medicine was of course a pink solution administered orally. LOL He will kill me for documenting this but it was so funny I have to.

She recopued well and did not run any additional fevers soooo one down X to go. Knowing the germ factory they call daycare X is goign to be a very high #! Now we just hope that she gets Jared's immune system since he gets sick for a day or so maybe once a year. Hopefully the breastfeeding continues to help as well.

3 Months Old

Wow!
Wow!
Wow!

Three exciting, sleepless, wonderful, fulfilling, rollercoaster months have passed and I can't believe it. Am I comfortable in my new skin yet? Well, yes and no. I am comfortable being a mother, perhaps in part to the wonderful example my mother set. Yes becase taking care of Lillian is 100% natural to me now and I love it. No because if I were to use 5 words to describe myself mother wouldnt immediately pop into my head as I am sure it will later. While I strive to be that 'perfect' mother I realize that being a good or great mom is a bit more realistic though the perfectionist side of me still hasnt caught on to that yet. I hope to embody the role of a mother while striving to not loose sight of 'Nicole', I am sure some of you mothers understand what I am referring to--boy what you can learn on Oprah! kidding - partially

I cannot believe how our little girl has grown and developed. She was swimming in newborn clothes when we brought her home and now some of the 0-3months are getting snug. It is as if I blinked my eyes and she was bigger. When we brought her home you had to keep your face close to her to be sure she could seee you properly and even then of course there was no reaction. Now she will swing her head to whatever part house she hears your voice coming from and smile and can see you from a good distance (if she isnt too busy checking out something else).

At three months old she is very alert and active and loves to talk. She is stronger than the average 3 month old according to everyone who has had kids befor eand the daycare ladies and since they have so many other specimens to compare with I believe them. She can use a bumbo seat and sit up and look around or sit in the excersaucer and marvel at the toys. She loves have Jared hold her near the fish tank so she can stare at the lights. Her favorite item is to lay in her cradle swing and look at the animal mobile and mirror. She has now perfected eating and doesnt have too much problems with gas. Our favorite thing is how happy she is. We just can't believe how lucky we got, she is very happy and content 95% of the time. Rarely is she crying and never unconsolable. SHe laughs if you play peek a boo and smiles at everyone willing to make a funny face. She is really getting to like bath time as well and kicks her feet alot.

I knew I wanted to be a mom and Jared wanted to be a Dad and we thought it woudl be great but it has definately surpassed our expectations. I never knew you could feel this much love and fulfillment from someone so small. I honestly never expected to like the baby stage as much as I do, I had always been a fan of 1-3 year olds so now I am just wondering can it really get any better? I love my life and my family and I thank God for keeping my health good enough to enjoy both.

above: 2 days old-see my skinny chin?

Above: Where'd my chin go? (2months1week)

1 month -in Daddy's hand 2months-how precious 3months-in her easter dress

Talker

Well it's official, she's a talker! Jared can't imagine where she gets it from --wink wink. Lillian was talking what we though was alot before but now she is really talking & YELLING! She will 'talk' so loud that we cant hear TV over her. Her daycare teachers will comment on it and on each day's report card they mark happy and talkative, some days they write VERY in front of talkative! They report that she is so good, such a happy baby, very observant and VERY talkative.

Daycare is going well, she is starting to take longer naps there which tell me she is adjusting well. When she is there she is very engaged and interested in everything.

We got her 2 month pictures back. I just love them. I may take them every month as with the coupons I have (they give you more every month) you can get 2 sheets of pictures for $8.50 plus a free 8x10. Not bad at all.

Two Months Old & Getting So Big!

Firsts

First Cold
Well Lillian caught her first cold on 3/2 her and I both were a bit stuffed up and a little cough. It was very mild as she only coughed a few times a day over the weekend and a bit of stuffy nose though nothing enough to suction. Thought it was small it was our first and Jared and I both had to take her temperature and fret over her. By monday she seemed back to normal.

First Daycare Experience
Well Aunt Amanda was feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to watch Lillian - rightfully so with her 24month old and 11 month old in addition to Lillian. So, we took her to a Christian Learning Center which is 1/2 mile from where we work they have great security, brand new facility so nice and clean, they have a good cleaning policy and they isolate the infants so as to reduce germs from the older kids (the infants have plenty on their own though), it is nice and cheery and the infant ladies are specifically for that room becuase they love infants. It was still hard to leave her though. Jared and I went together on the first day since there was so much paperwork and things to bring in. I was teary leaving her but it got better because I was able to access the website and log into the webcam to check in on her plus since it is so close to work I can visit her on both of my breaks and I have enough time to feed her at lunch. She is starting to adjust after first 2 days but it will take a week or so, I think it is harder on us than her! Benefit to her not sleeping well while there is she has been sleepign through the night, now only if that continues!

Daddy's First Daycare Visit
Evidentially, I am not the only one who likes to visit her at daycare. The 1st day I visited her on both my breaks and Jared razzed me a bit for it. Then the 2nd day the director accidentally mentioned Jared had been there and got 'shooshed' from all other ladies. He had been to visit and said not to tell me! He knew I woudl give him a hard time after the razzing he gave me but he siad it is not only me who finds it hard to leave her there!

Lightbulb Week!

Well it is as if a connection has suddenly been made in our baby girl's brain--her lightbulb moment. She went from just 'regular' crying of an infant to around perhaps 6-7 weeks starting to make different sounding cry that was actually a bit more 'pleasant' sounding kind of not a real cry almost animated. Well now she talks, she has been doing a bit of 'other' types of sounds for a bit but only occasionally. Now at eight weeks old she is going crazy with baby talk and even yelling. It is as if she just figured out she could do it and now she is doing it like crazy! Jared said we spent first 2 months of her life wishing she could talk and now we will spend the next 18 years wishing she would stop! She will lay in her bouncy and talk to me and she talks the most if she is in her crib watching her mobile she loves the zebra on it and will stare at it and follow it around. I have also managed to video tape her rolling over, in actuality the first half is more of a flop where she pushes herself so high up with her arms she rolls to the side and then she kicks her legs to get rest of the way over. She doesnt like it when she cant see her mobile so she rolls over best in her crib, I only wish the thing had a battery so I didnt have to keep winding it.

Also new as of past week or so is bath time. Jared now does the baths each night for the most part to get in some 'daddy time' and she now likes her baths too. We were using the water too cool I believe is why she didnt like it at first and she was not used to it. A friend got us this little temperature duck that shows if the water is too hot and we use water just before it is too hot and she loves it plus I bought some lavendar baby soap to get her nice and drowsy before bed and the routine seems to be working as she is sometimes going 7 hours between her nighttime feeds.

7 Weeks Old

Well I can't believe it has been 6 weeks since my last update. It seems just like yesterday but at the same time Lillian has changed so much (& so have mom and dad)! We have learned so much over the past few weeks, not all of it was learned easily but it has been a great time and so rewarding.

We have learned that . . .
4 hours is ALOT of sleep (and you can live on less than 8 hours of sleep, really)
cat naps are wonderful
I am not as big a fan of cloth diapers as I though I woudl be
breasts have a real purpose--they are not just decoration! LOL
the amount of poo is not proportionate to the size of a baby, nor are the decibal level of the farts
real peace is looking into the face of your content child
Jared's favorite way to sleep ever is with Lillian on his chest
the love for your child is amazing and beautiful
being a parents IS a full time job

Lillian is now 7 weeks old and is very alert. She is able to track a toy with her eyes and turn her head, she is better at turning her head to the left than to the right. She will smile or stick her tongue out in response to us if we do it to her. She is also very strong and able to straighten her legs and push up when on her stomach on the boppy or when Jared holds her he puts his hands under her legs and she will push up. Also today believe it or not she rolled over--twice! I dont know if it was just a fluke or not since it is so early but when she is on her stomach she can hold her whole upper torso up and she then flipped to the side, kicked her little leg and was over onto her back. She did it twice before I thought to grab the camera which died while I tried to film her 3rd attempt which she did not complete.


















1 month pictures: growing into daddy's hands & pretty in pink