new seats

the little girls in my life have gotten used to some new seats lately.  lily is feeling like a big girl in the shopping cart seats and is loving it.  maggie has found herself stowed in the storage basket of the stroller when our walks are longer than her little legs can accomodate.  

love her serious expression; she's so intent on her new seating arrangement.

she's so cute peeking out from her little seat.

hanging in the hometown

Since both my parents work for the schools and they had Presidents Week off, I grabbed Lily and headed north to visit my parents, with Vanessa and Ren along for the ride.  It was an extremely lazy few days with no plan and mental rest.  And Lily and Ren had fun playing with each other.  I can't wait to go back.

Taking in the sights

Cuddling with Grandpa

Red Panda at the Sequoia Zoo

The llama and alpaca forgot they were in public

Mom helped Vanessa get crafty

At the petting zoo with Grandma

Playing with Ren

Shamrock shakes on the way home

Bath time fun at the end of a good trip

Patty Nichols Came to Town!

Vanessa, Shaine, Patty, Julie

It's not the best photo.  At all.  But it does show that Patty was here and those of us now living in NorCal were able to gather together to welcome her back to the Golden State.  We celebrated her arrival with Mexican food (apparently Seattle doesn't have great Mexican food--sadness) and Marianne's Ice Cream, conversation, and good times.  It was a fun evening.  And best of all, Patty will be coming here at least once a year to visit the clients in the area.  Yay!  

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's this year, Lily received her first flowers (from her Daddy) and a "cell phone" from Cupid.  I'm hoping her new toy will keep her from reaching for our electronics.  It looks like the iPhones sitting around the house, and she is fascinated by her personal one.  Here's hoping.  

In addition to her gifts, Lily had her first date with Ren.  Hand-holding occurred.  Ren was a perfect gentleman, and Lily, well, she tried to undress him.  We're going to need to work on ladylike behavior.  

Young love (sigh)

She's totally taking advantage.  And Ren is just staring her down, trying to be cool with the situation. She's not shy about going after her man.  

desperate times, drastic measures

Due to Lily being able to do this...

Stand on her own

And this...

Crawl around the house and grab things she shouldn't, like shoes, cords, electronics...everything, basically.

 We've resorted to this...

Baby jail.

Sometimes she loves it.  Mostly she hates it.  But we're keeping it.

The Lily Chronicles

Pulling herself up to stand like a big girl.

Lily has hit her six month mark today and is growing by leaps and bounds.  She had her well-check appointment today and impressed the doctor with all her little tricks and skills.  Apparently, she is doing things most 9 month olds don't do yet.  He said that he's never seen a six month old sit   up and hold her bottle on her own like she does.  My girl's an overachiever.  As of today, Lily's stats are:

Height: 26.5" (75th percentile)
Weight: 17 lbs. 5.2 oz. (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 16.5" (50th percentile)

In addition to the numbers above, Lily:

*Pulls herself to a sitting position from laying down
*Pulls herself up to stand
*Crawls forward and backward
*Recognizes something she wants to play with and moves towards it (toys, electronics, cords, etc)
*Hates to be contained; she wants to move all over the place
*Has no stranger danger whatsoever
*Hates silence and squeals the loudest when things are the quietest (like in church during the sacrament)
*Is entertained by looking at herself in the mirror.  She talks to herself and and makes faces for hours during a long car trip (I love having a baby that travels well!)
*Is especially enamored of the stuffed elephant my Mom made (Mr. Elefunte, as I've named him) and sucks on his trunk constantly


It will be interesting to see what this next month brings.

a little maggie time

Maggie hasn't gotten enough attention lately.  She's been (slightly) neglected since Lily was born, and has been letting us know.  She jumps on our bed in the middle of the night to curl up with us, trying to get a little attention.  And she seems to think that whenever we go somewhere, she gets to come along for the ride.  We try to accomodate her as much as possible, and Maggie has perfected the dejected face when we leave her behind.

Lily has learned about the animals, and is fascinated by them.  Maggie gives her a wide berth, since Lily is still in the grab-and-pull stage, but we're working on the whole "gentle" thing and hopefully they learn to love each other.  I think when Lily starts dropping food for her, they'll become fast friends.

I can't wait to watch that happen.

the different positions of lily marie

Lily learned to pull herself up to a standing position. We're in trouble. 

Lily-bean fell asleep sitting up and then collapsed faced down on her bed. Hilarious.  

We're mean parents and took some photos before we shifted her to a more comfortable looking position.  

She flipped herself over, started to wiggle out of her chair, and then fell asleep.