Lily Update

My sweet little Lily has been getting bigger by the minute, sometimes I just can't keep up! She's learning new words everyday, and putting together two and three word sentences. She's even telling up when she has pooped or peed... I can feel our potty training days getting closer and closer. The other day, I took her to Babies-R-Us to pick out ANY potty she wanted. Can you guess what she picked?? ELMO of course!! She LOVES Elmo. She thinks DJ's laptop is an "Elmo machine" because of the countless times the two of them have watched it on YouTube.

My Lily has just been a light in our family. She's bright and cheerful (except when she's not), she has real passion and is the best little Mommy. She dotes on her dolls, giving them milk (a fake bottle) and wrapping them up for bed. Her new favorite game is to play "Night Night", forcing any willing adult to lay on the ground while she gives you "milk", a baby, covers you with a blanket, gives you a kiss, and bends over you with her pointer finger over her month proclaiming "shhhh shhhh".

Her hair is getting longer and thicker every day! She is, however, still sporting the rockin mullet. I've been trying since day one to put bows in her hair- but she just wont keep them in!! But, the other day, she had me put every bow she could find in her hair. I'm all about self expression, so I put 'em all in with a big smile on my face.

Lately, Lily has started throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way. I'm hoping this is a quick stage- but like I said, she's got passion ;)

Little Daddy

Logan is the best "little Daddy" to his sister. I'm constantly hearing things like "please don't put that in your mouth;" and "you're sooooo pretty Lily."

He has a tender touch, and gentle heart. He tells me that Lily is his best friend- and he's ALWAYS looking out for her.

He'll play, "read", and even sing to her. She's very blessed to have him :)


And we're blessed to have them both.

Happy 10 months Lily

Dear Princess Lady Lily Lou (that's her full name... okay it's not, but I think it's cute),

What a sweet treasure you are! You are so full of life and energy, and everything about you makes me smile (well almost everything). You eat absolutly everything I give you, from avocados to black beans, you're a trouper and I love cooking for you. You love shoes (wonder where you got that from) playing with your brother's toys, going for walks, and watching Baby Einstein (you call it "baby"). You're all over the house these days, which is a challenge- especially when you and your brother go in different directions- but I love every minute of it.

You're fitting in 12-18 month clothing, but you mostly wear 18-24 (Daddy likes to make sure you have lots of room, cause well, you have a rounded bell- and "baby boobs"). You laugh and play all day long, it's (almost) impossible to be in a bad mood when you're around! You like to play with things you can't have- like the phone, wires, hair, etc- and you're always trying to steel food off our plates (go figure).

I feel so blessed to call you my daughter. I prayed and prayed and prayed for you, and God answered my prayer and more. You're the perfect addition to our family, and I couldn't ask for more. I look forward to celebrating your first birthday, going on mother-daughter dates, and taking you out for tea.

I look forward to teaching you about Jesus, and His immeasurable gift He has given us. I'm excited for all your firsts- but mostly I'm focused on today. Today you're a loudish, funny, cute little sister that has brightened my day. Thank you.

Love,
Mommy

Another Tooth...

Or two!

Lily's two canine teeth broke through last night- and her front two are right behind. By Christmas she'll have six teeth- not that she needs them. Gumming food has not slowed her down one bit! I seriously think she eats more then me.

Tonight she had black beans, rice, a quesodilla, AND about 1 1/2 cup of butternut squash. That girls crazy- but totally cute!



Where did my little newborn go?

Christmas Cards- the Outtakes.

We went to the local mall to take pictures for our Christmas cards.


They went... as expected.

Lily tried to steel Logan's candy cane.

We* couldn't get them both to look at the camera

*my Mom and I

They both found interesting "things" on the ground.

But they're still stinkin' cute.

If I do say so myself.

Out of 146 photos-

We only got one good one.

But we got some relief

at dinner.

and the Second One gets that shaft.

Lily is such an awesome baby- for the most part. She has her moments (and her days) that make me wonder "we planned this one, right?".

But all-in-all she's a great young lady, and the perfect second child. She rolls with the punches (sometimes literally) and goes with the flow. But while I was feeding her a nutritious breakfast of graham crackers and organic puffs, I got to thinking...

With my first I did everything "by the book":

• He ate only jarred foods (which, at the time, I thought was best)
• He was on a very strict sleeping and eating schedule
• His bed sheets were changed EVERYDAY (a little OCD on my part I know)
• He played with the safest, most up to date toys (although he would have been happy with a twig- or a phone... go figure)
• He was changed often, always had his face wiped, and his clothes never had a stain or mark on them. If they did, his clothes were promptly changed, and the stain treated.
• He was only exposed to Baby Einstein on DVD

Not to mention I:

• Cleaned the whole house- top to bottom everyday
• Did laundry everyday
• Exposed Logan to friends, play dates, and "outings" often
• Wiped down his toys with Clorox wipes, and made sure if his cup hit the floor it would be properly washed (I always had a back up)
• Wiped the cart, restaurant high chairs, and tables. If his hand so much as grazed any of those things- it was wiped too
• My diaper bag was sufficiently packed with everything I might need- and I had a back up in my car

With my second child, most of that junk went out the window. I don't have a rigid schedule, my house is nowhere near that clean- seriously- her sheets get changed once every week (or two- hanging my head in shame), I rarely bring a diaper bag let alone a well stocked one, I forget to bring food with me so we resort to pancakes (something I NEVER would have given Logan before his first birthday), she's never ridden in a grocery cart, I always "wear" her, I can't remember the last time I wiped her toys, she's never had an official "play date", and she watches Nick Jr.

Please don't call CPS on me- I'll put a Baby Einstein on today.

Guilty Pleasures

Well friends, I wanted to write about one of my favorite subjects: FASHION. Not for me of course, I look like the before picture on the show "What Not to Wear", but fashion for my kiddos. 

When Logan was a baby (0-12 months), I loved to dress him in Carters, Baby Gap and Gymboree. As a toddler (1-3) he wore mostly Gymboree. But now, I like to dress him in clothes from JC Penny's. They are one of the few stores that offer "slim" sizes, and for those of you that know my son, knows he still wears 24 months shorts (in fact he's wearing some now and they're literally falling off as I type this).

For Lily, I love Carters and Gymboree. Gymbroee is my number one favorite, BUT she has some dresses from Carters that I love. Lily usually wears dresses, because they're easy to throw on, and really cute. 

One of my favorite things to dress this kids in is PJs (we call 'em jammers). I love to bathe them, put lotion/oil- organic, essential oils only, of course, but that's a different post- on them and put some cute jammers on. I get those anywhere and everywhere, from Walmart, Target, Outlets and- of course- Gymboree.

As a child I always dreamed about being a Mom. I played with dolls all through adolescence, and even in high school. I loved to dress them up, and pretend that they were real. Now, I get to dress up my real babies... and I love every minute of it.

Isn't She Lovely

I wrote a lot on this blog about our journey with Logan. I don't want to forget an important piece of our lives- the long awaited arrival of our beloved Lily Faye.

When Logan turned one years old, I started thinking about adding a baby to our small family. My husband and I discussed it, and decided it would be better to wait. He is an only child, and thought that's what he wanted for Logan. I knew that wasn't the path God wanted us to take, and I began to pray. I asked for wisdom, guidance, and clarity- and for God to change my Hubby's heart :)

Then, when Logan was 2, we decided to "not take precaution" and see what happens. Well, after waiting what felt like a lifetime (only six months) we fell pregnant. We were over the moon, and couldn't stop planning and preparing for our new little bundle of joy.

When we found out Logan was going to have a little sister, we were so excited! God knew what He was doing all along, and gave us the perfect addition to our family. A sister for Logan, and a daughter for us.

Now, I'm the Mommy of a Prince and Princess.

Lily is six months old, and it's gone by so fast.