Love Bug

The Love Bug says, "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!"


Today was Lily's 9 month well checkup and she's doing great! She weighs 21 lbs, 4 oz. (85th %) and is 30.5 in. long (99th %). She is eating up a storm and we haven't come across a single thing that she doesn't like to eat. She loves feeding herself and always wants to try whatever we are eating. The doctor told us to ditch the baby food and just give her cut up pieces of veggies, grilled cheese sandwiches, meat, bread, etc...the sky's the limit! She's going to be SO excited!



Lily's personality is continuing to develop and she is so much fun to be around. She giggles all the time and is into everything. She is SO close to crawling and every day we think is going to be the day that it happens. She gets around by rolling or scooting backwards but now she can go from sitting up to crawling position or lying down really easily, so she's pretty mobile.

She's outgrown her infant carrier so last weekend we bought a Britax convertible car seat and now she seems much more comfortable. It was a lot easier to get her in and out in the snugride, but at least now my back is not breaking from carrying that thing around.



Another thing that Lily loves is the water. Mr. C gives her a bath every night and she goes "swimming" (lying back in the water with her ears under). She splashes and plays and has a great time. She just moved into the big bathtub from her little plastic tub.

I can't believe that the outside world has known my baby as long as I knew her on the inside. Time is flying and I'm trying to savor each wonderful moment.

Snow Days!

It's been snowing in South Carolina! We hardly ever get snow, and when we do, the whole town shuts down! It's day three of "Snowmegeddon 2011" and school is still out, even though the roads are clear and the snow is starting to melt. It was so much fun to wake up on Monday morning to a white wonderland with huge flakes coming down. Mr. C built a fire and worked in the living room all day so we could all be together in front of the fireplace. We took Lily outside to play in her snowsuit and she looked so cute!

Actually, it isn't the first time it's snowed this winter. It snowed the day after Christmas, but only a little, and it melted almost as soon as it stopped coming down. It was fun to take Lily out in her first snow that day, though. Of course we had to capture the day in pictures!

Look, Mommy...snow!


"Sledding" on the cooler lid.


Ummmm, snow doesn't taste as good as I thought it would!

In other news, today is Lily's 8 month birthday! I can't believe time is going so quickly. I bought a book called If I Could Keep You Little at the bookstore today...it is so sweet and is written from the point of view of a mother telling her baby how she wants to keep her little and do all the fun baby activities with her but then she would miss out on her becoming independent and choosing her own friends and becoming her own person. I can't describe it, but it is so sweet and poignant and I cried when I read it in Barnes and Noble. The author is Marianne Richmond if you want to check it out.

Lily now has two teeth and is starting to eat puffs! She also can clap her hands. (Soon I'll post a video of her clapping.) She weighs almost 21 lbs. and is wearing some 9 month clothes and some 12 month. Yikes! Stay tuned for more updates...I'm going to make it my New Year's goal to post at least once a week. We'll see how that goes!

What a difference a year makes.

Remember the left photo from this post last year? We took the same one this year, except this year, Lily is on the outside! Here is what Lily was up to at this time last year:

21 weeks gestation:
-Lily weighed almost 1 lb.
-She was about 10.5 in. long
-She was kicking lots
-Had developed
eyelids and fingernails

Here is what Lily is up to this year:

7 months, 2 weeks old:
-Lily weighs about 20 lbs.
-She is approximately 28 in. long
-She can roll over from front to
back and back to front
-Can sit up
-She waves hello/goodbye
-Sleeps 12 hours straight at night
-Babbles mama and dada
-Is so inquisitive and curious
-And SO much more!

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Miss Lily! We've been having a wonderful time celebrating the holidays and Lily's first Christmas. Here are some of the family traditions we started this year:

-Leaving cookies out for Santa and carrots for the reindeer
-Lily opening one gift on Christmas Eve
-Reading "The Night Before Christmas" and "Santa Mouse" on Christmas Eve
-Everyone getting an orange in their stocking (from the days of the Depression when that's all people could afford to give for Christmas)
-Making goodies and delivering them to the neighbors

We used to do a service/volunteer project or adopt a family at Christmas, so we'll probably begin that again when Lily is a bit older. I want her to know that it's so much more important to give than to receive.

Here is our holiday in pictures:

Reading Mary Engelbreit's The Night Before Christmas.


1. Lily sees carrots for reindeer.
2. Lily tries to eat carrots.
3. Lily sees cookies for Santa.
4. Lily tries to eat cookies.


Unwrapping packages is harder than it looks!


Our Christmas miracle.

Celebrating Fall Holidays

I've been such a slack blogger...thank you if you're still reading!

I can't believe that Lily is already 6 1/2 months old, sitting up, eating solid foods, and developing more personality each day. We had a wonderful Halloween and have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Here are some pics from our last two holiday celebrations.


Lily's first Halloween costume...a ladybug!


Happy Lilybug!


Lily's first Thanksgiving.


Guess what we're thankful for!


My little turkey!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Happy October! Lily is doing so well and growing so fast! I can't believe she's almost six months old. She has graduated from rice cereal and started eating veggies last week. So far we've only tried sweet potatoes, but we've got carrots, peas, and squash in the pantry, so we'll see what she likes best.

We've been having lots of adventures lately (as usual). Our latest were trips to the apple orchard and to the pumpkin patch. Lily loves being outside!

Here we are at Morgan Orchard:



Here is Lily's first visit to the pumpkin patch. I got her outfit from etsy and I love it! I'm addicted to that site.

Hello from Lily!

Hi there! It's been WAY too long since Mommy has updated her blog! I've been keeping her very busy but we're having so much fun!

I am now 4 1/2 months old and my parents love watching me grow and change each week. Here are some things I've been up to lately:


I'm eating rice cereal! I don't like it very much, but I love eating with a spoon.


I figured out how to put my feet in my mouth. YUM!


Mommy and Daddy got me an exersaucer! It's so much fun to play with all the toys.


Sometimes all those toys can be a little overwhelming, though.


I love going on trips, like up to the mountains in Asheville.


Whew, all these activities wear me out!