GUESS WHO IS 6 MONTHS OLD?!?

We can't believe it's possible. "It goes by so fast... enjoy every moment." Now & then I am reminded of these words from friends & family, and as it sinks in, my eyes fill up with tears. I look at Lily & am overwhelmed with love. I wish it was possible to capture every moment & place it in a jar. She brings us so much joy, every single day.

One morning I was in the kitchen & Lily was in the living room playing on her Rainforest mat. I walked over to take a peek and found her off the mat (see photos above). She was SO proud of herself for scooting off the mat.

Isn't it nice that babies are okay when you laugh at something they do? I realize this will not always be the case. I can remember getting in "trouble" so often from my sister Mariah when she was little. She would do or say something so silly/cute, causing me to burst into laughter, which she DID NOT appreciate. 

Anyway... there have been a couple of moments in the last week when Scotty & I have laughed to the point of tears... I think we were tickled by what she was doing and proud at the same time. 

First, she is LOVING her Jumperoo. Scotty said she looks like a DJ, using her right hand to roll the gecko and her left to play with the elephant, monkey & parrot. She has been interested in all of the toys on her Jumperoo from day one. However, the jumping part came later. Once she discovered this "feature", there was no turning back. One night it was like a light bulb went off in her head.... she was bouncing high, and bouncing fast.... for a long stretch. We told Lily she was doing the "River Dance". Too funny! It won't surprise us at all, with her fancy foot work, if she becomes a tap dancer some day. She is so proud & loves the reaction she gets from us... bouncy, bouncy, bounce!

Second, Lily was introduced to her first baby food (other than cereal) last Saturday. What a fun experience! Although we had a feeling there would not be a problem, we decided to go with a not-so-desirable veggie first... sweet peas. She did extremely well, but had Mommy & Daddy in stitches. In fact, the sight continued pop up in my head on Monday at work... and I had to giggle to myself. While eating her peas the first time, it was like she had a fur ball stuck in her throat. She is definitely getting used to the texture & taste now. I would even say she likes them.

A very popular question seems to be "how much does she weigh?" Lily's last weight was 12/23, and she was 15 lbs 3 oz. Her next appointment with the pediatrician is on 2/24. Any guesses? Scotty said "I think she's 21 pounds. Believe me, I know... I've held her."

In my last post, I mentioned that Nana Jo was coming to stay with us for a while Scotty was out of town. However, she didn't end up coming due to ice/snow in Missouri & Connecticut. What a bummer.... we were SO looking forward to her visit!! 

Lily's new "words" as of last Saturday... "ahh-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa"...

Today was a beautiful day... 53 degrees. Lily & I went for a walk & stopped to listen to the birdies. Spring, we're ready for you.

Okay, that's all for now. You'll hear from us soon!

ROLL OVER, TIP OVER, STAY...

Meg & Jack Molloy with Lily

Bryan & Asia Rowe with Lily

Lily in Daddy's hat

Hi everyone. Wow! The blog updates are way past due. :) As you can see, I have many entries "under construction." It made sense to me that everyone would want to see current events first, so I'll start here...

According to her Daddy, Lily is "the smartest girl in the world." Now I'm not sure about that, but it is pretty incredible to witness all of the changes & new discoveries that seem to appear every day.

While Lily has mastered rolling front to back (the EASIEST way to get out of tummy time), finding the motivation to roll from back to front has been challenging. The concept doesn't seem to make sense to her. Why would she want to roll onto her tummy, anyway?? We try tempting her with toys out of her reach, but she seems to find other ways to get to them.... scooting on her booty, and doing what her Daddy calls "the crab walk" (we'll try to get photos of this so you have a visual). She does roll onto her side very well, but then immediately rolls to her back.

We have also been working on sitting up. She is definitely making some progress. She can stay up for a little bit, mostly only in a "pike" position, before tipping over (use google images for this one, if you are unfamiliar... my fellow cheerleaders know what I'm referring to here). 

Laughter used to be something we only heard once in awhile.... and it seemed to be pretty random. However, in the past couple of weeks, she has been giggling quite a lot. Certain things cause her to giggle... silly faces, the ball popper, and most recently her stackable rings. On Thursday, Lily laughed for the first time at her stackable rings, as Jill tossed them onto the holder like horse shoes. :)

Lily's also been dancing lately, which usually involves a lot of shoulder shimmying. Most likely thanks to Jill, as they have "sing-a-long and dance parties" every Thursday. In reference to the first dance party, Jill said "naturally, she stole the show."

Lily is grabbing EVERYTHING in site. She is especially interested in toys (of course), and whatever the person holding her is drinking. The first time she went for my glass, it clanged on my teeth. You have to watch her... she's quick, that Lily. She loves textures. If within reach, her hands are constantly in Mommy's hair or Daddy's beard.

I'm sure Lily will thank me later for mentioning this in her blog. She had a MASSIVE poop the night before we left Missouri (12/29) to head back to Connecticut after Christmas. So massive, that Mom, Mariah & I had to tackle the situation together in the bathroom at Nakatos Japanese Steakhouse. It was everywhere... her largest ever. ANYWAY... the point is that after this poop, she didn't go again until 1/9! We had many suggestions from her pediatrician (who said she wasn't concerned), friends, family & co-workers.... needless to say, we were happy when she finally went after 11 days!! Everything is back to normal in this department, thank goodness.

Karen Molloy & her family babysat a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to have a night out together.... thank you, Molloy family! 

Also, our friends Bryan & Asia stayed the night with us last Friday night. Lily loved meeting Asia & was happy to see Bryan again. Notice in the photo how relaxed she was, sitting in Bryan's lap. :)

Nana Jo will be here next week, while Scotty is in Houston for an Adventure/High Ropes conference for camp. We will miss Daddy, but are excited to have Nana Jo here!

OSILKA FAMILY VISIT (January 2008)

Under construction. :)

LILY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS! (December 2008)

Under construction. :)

ROCKIN' AND ROLLIN' WITH GRAMMA DI (December 2008)

Under construction. :)

NEW EXCITING ADVENTURES... (December 2008)

Under construction. :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (November 2008)

Under Construction. :)