Jolly Old Saint Nick

Friday night was our ward Christmas party, and as promised there was a "special visitor" in attendance. Gus and I had been prepping Lilly for days hoping that she would enjoy her experience on Santa's lap this year. I figured she would do okay because she has a special love for old men and grandpas. Fortunately, I was right. She didn't mind sitting on Santa's lap one bit, and she loved the candy cane (kee kane) that he gave her. She talked about Santa (Ta Ta) all weekend long, and on Sunday when we told Lilly it was time to get ready for church she could hardly contain herself. She ran around the house yelling, "Ta Ta! Ta Ta!" She was pretty disappointed when Santa didn't show up at Sacrament Meeting.

Santa giving Lilly a "kee kane" with a card.

Lilly's not sure about Santa touching her arm...

A Day At The Park...Finally!

The weather warmed up just enough yesterday for us to get out and go to the park. It's been so cold lately! Here are a few pictures from our outing.

Lilly's House

Last week Lilly started climbing out of her crib - the end of naps and my alone time as I knew it. I had a good cry and then I had Gus convert the crib into a toddler bed. We moved everything out of Lilly's room except for her bed, rocking chair, lamp, and noise machine.

The next four days involved a lot of yelling and crying from both me and Lilly. I asked friends and family for their advice on how to get Lilly to stay in her bed. Nothing seemed to work. I would leave her in her room for hours and she never cried, she would just talk and play with everything that was left in her room.

She stripped her sheets off her bed and made a bed for her and Kat on the floor. She played in the blinds. She made a fort from the cushions off the rocking chair. You name it, she did it. Everything except sleep. Even though I baby-proofed her room I was afraid she was going to get hurt.

So, on the third day during nap time I started putting her back in her bed every time she got out. Four hours later and 75 times back in bed I knew it was going nowhere and so I gave up. The fifth day was more of the same with multiple trips back to bed and still no nap. As the days went by, she got more and more tired because of the lack of naps.

I finally told Gus that he was going to have to eat $80 and buy Lilly a crib tent. I would have spent $800 on the stupid thing. It was exactly what we needed. We call it "Lilly's house" and she loves it. The first nap time we put her in it she seemed relieved and fell right to sleep. It has been bliss ever since. Now maybe we can keep her in a crib until she is 10.

Oh Christmas Tree

Gus and I have never had our own Christmas tree until this year. I can't decide if it's because Gus is so cheap, or because we've never had room for one. Well, this year we have absolutely NO room and Gus is cheaper than ever. Honestly, I don't know how I suckered him into buying us a 6.5 ft pre-lit Christmas tree for $35 from Walmart, but I did. Come to think of it, it may have been because it was so darn cheap!

Well, Lilly absolutely loves it. She helped us decorate it (until she started throwing the ornaments everywhere). Now that it is decorated the way I want it she continues to redecorate it every day. Every morning she wakes up, plugs in the tree, and claps yelling, "Yay Ni Ni!" I know I shouldn't let her plug it in, but what the heck? She would do it anyway no matter how many times I yell at her. Alas, I give in and hope that she doesn't electrocute herself.

Thanksgiving

I have always celebrated Thanksgiving at either my parent's house or Gus's parent's house. So, I was a little nervous about Thanksgiving this year. I honestly thought I would have a couple nervous breakdowns without my family nearby, but it turned out just fine.

We drove down to Richmond and spent the day with Gus's Aunt Patty, Uncle Glen, and cousin Amy. Also in attendance was KA, MJ, Jake, and their friend Laura. We had a great time with everyone. We talked, chased Lilly around the house, ate delicious food, chased Lilly around the house more, played the player piano, tried to keep Lilly's hands off the gingerbread house, and played cards while Aunt Patty played with Lilly (thank you so much Aunt Patty!). Gus's Grandpa "Pop Pop" and his wife Betty Sue even came over later for a little pie. It was wonderful.

Amy, KA, and MJ

Playing the player piano with Uncle Glen

Making necklaces with Dad'n

Being snugly with Jake

All day MJ tried to make Lilly say her name. When we ask her to say MJ she says, "KA".

Lilly LOVED Pop Pop. When he got there Lilly followed him around the house yelling, "Pop Pop", and wanted to show him everything.

Preschool Time

Lilly is a little too young for me to be sending her off to a preschool but I wanted to start teaching her the alphabet and other school things just to get her excited about learning. So we have been having "Preschool Time" every morning. My preschool and daycare experience have definitely come in handy over the last couple of weeks. We sing songs and do a craft.

Craft time is definitely Lilly's favorite thing. She loves to squeeze glue everywhere and cut paper with her little scissors. She can make a HUGE mess in no time.

She can also sing the ABC song. Well, kind of. She sings, "A B C B E F J" and then stops because she cant remember the rest. Its very cute and amazing to me that she learned it so fast.

So we have been working on our alphabet and hadn't quite made it to numbers when I found out that we may not need to. On our way to the grocery store on Saturday Lilly started counting and made it all the way to 10. She didn't even make any mistakes. I have no clue where she learned it.

Cookie Making

Last weekend Lilly and I made sugar cookies. She loved to help measure the ingredients, roll out the dough, and use the cookie cutters. But her favorite part was frosting her cookie and shaking on the sprinkles. She sat on the kitchen floor for about an hour playing in the frosting, tasting her cookie, and pouring sprinkles EVERYWHERE.

From Fall to Winter

I love winter. The cold air, puffy coats with fur, beanies, boots, snow, snowboarding, snowmobiling, I love it all. I guess that's what happens when you grow up in Idaho and winter lasts forever. Me and Lilly are thoroughly enjoying the colder weather.

Baltimore Harbor and Children's Museum

On Friday Gus had the day off, so we decided to drive up to Baltimore. First, we went to the Port Discovery Children's Museum. There was no one there and Lilly had a great time going through all the fun exhibits. They had a huge maze that was 3 stories tall, a scary Indiana Jones exhibit, and tons of other amazing things for kids to do.

In this room Lilly picked out fruit and had a picnic with her Dad'n. She of course tried to eat the fake fruit.

Lilly could have stayed in this room all day. She loved running through the water, pouring water everywhere, and washing windows.

My favorite exhibit was the Diner. Gus and I sat in a booth while Lilly made us dinner and served us on trays. It was so cute!

Lilly loved the room with all the ball pits

After the museum we went across the street to the Harbor. Lilly had fun feeding the seagulls and trying to jump into the water.

Halloween

For Lilly's very first Halloween she slept on the couch while Gus and I handed out candy. She was only two weeks old and had just come home from the hospital the day before. We didn't get a costume for her that year because I was still a complete wreck.

The next year, for her second Halloween, she was a skunk. She couldn't say "trick-or-treat", or even walk for that matter. Her Aunt KA was nice enough to carry her around to the neighbors and do all the work for her so that she could have some candy.

This year for Halloween Lilly was a witch. Except her costume wasn't black, it was colorful. So she became a "good" witch, or a fairy as some people thought.

She had a great time walking up to all the doors, listening to the kids yell "trick-or-treat", grabbing HANDFULS of candy, and running off to the next door. She was a bit shy at first but caught onto the game real quick. It was fun to see how big she has gotten.

At one house Lilly noticed a little dog inside. When the woman opened the screen glass door, Lilly attempted to dash into her living room to pet the dog. The woman wasn't too amused, and it was a little awkward. Since Lilly couldn't pet the dog she simply stood on the other side of the glass yelling and pointing until the woman finally shut the door. We really need to get her a dog, or maybe just a sibling.

We had a great time and came home with way too much candy.

Halloween day Lilly wore her cute cat shirt from Grandma

BIG Girl

Yesterday I took Lilly to the doctor for her two year check up. You know, it's really hard to find that perfect pediatrician. We loved Dr. Wilcox in Utah, and I guess this doctor was okay. I think we'll keep shopping around though.

Anyway, Lilly was her typical charming self at the doctor's office. We didn't have to spend long in the waiting room (always a plus). When they took us back to our patient room I stripped her down naked as instructed by the nurse, and before I knew it Lilly was out the door and down the hallway to the reception desk and back to the waiting room again. Everyone laughed when they heard the "pitter patter" of her tiny feet carrying her nude body from me. Those in the waiting room quickly covered the eyes of their innocent. Thanks for that awkward moment Lilly! Sure, I was a little red-faced but I got a good laugh out of it too.

When the doctor finally came in, Lilly thought it would be fun to throw her sippy at her. She threw it three times. I think Lilly was letting out some bitterness toward doctors in general. You see, Gus tells her the same story every night about how the doctor gave him a shot and hurt his arm. Nobody hurts Lilly's Dad'n and gets away with it. The doctor was a little annoyed, but fair enough. Gus - please find a new bedtime story for Lilly.

Then the wonderful old nurse came back in to give us our shots. I went first. She gave me my flu shot, and I seriously didn't feel a thing. I was impressed. Then it was Lilly's turn. She got two shots in the right arm and one in the left. Lilly watched in awe for the first two and didn't even flinch. On the third she screamed. It must have burned because Lilly let everyone know about it.

I also found out that Lilly's rather big for her age, which I kind of already figured.

Here are her stats:

Height: 36 1/4 (95th percentile)

Weight: 29 lbs (70th percentile)

Funny Stories

Lilly sometimes says and does the funniest things. As she gets older and can talk more I know it will get even better. Here are a few funny things she has done lately.

Today, while eating breakfast, Lilly realized that she could see herself in her spoon. She stayed in her high chair for an extra 20 minutes after she had eaten her food and made faces at the long faced little girl on the other side.

About 80 times a day, Lilly asks me, "Mommy, Pay?"(Mommy, Play?) in her sweetest voice while smiling and shaking her head yes. Even if I REALLY dont want to, I feel SO obligated.

When Lilly wants something that I have such as scissors or candy she will get right up in my face and say, “Hi Mommy”. She says it in the sweetest highest voice she can. I of course give in and give her what she wants, but only when she uses that voice.

She also does this to her dad’n when she finds his wedding ring, phone, or something else he never lets her play with. She uses that same voice she uses with me and touches him lightly on his leg or shoulder and says, “Ke Ke Dad’n”, which means, “Thank-you Dad’n”.

The other day I gave Lilly strawberries as part of her lunch. A few minutes later I found them crunched in her hand with red juice dripping everywhere. I of course freaked. I yelled and she was sent to time-out. Hours later after her nap I asked her if she would like some strawberries. She yelled “OH NO, NO!” I had to laugh because I had totally forgotten about the strawberry incident earlier that day. It’s interesting how she remembers everything and how easily I forget them.

Lilly has gotten into the habit of sitting down and taking off her shoes and putting them in the shoe basket every time we walk in the door. I don’t even have to remind her. So the other day we all walked in the door and Gus kicked off his shoes and didn’t put them in the shoe basket. Lilly yells, “Dad’n, Shoes, NO NO!” Then she walks over and picks up his shoes and throws them in the basket and glares at him.

Poor Sick Baby

My little Lilly is so so sick! She has the stomach flu and has puked SO many times! She is finally in bed and I am hoping and praying that she wont wake up and puke again. I am really sick of washing sheets and cleaning up vomit. Lilly is actually really sweet when she is sick. She doesn't cry or whine; she mainly just lays around and stares at the air.
I have a hunch that she caught it from someone in nursery last Sunday. It's always awkward when Tuesday rolls around and your child gets sick. I guess that's when you know they brought it home from nursery. I am tempted to keep her home during this sick winter season, but Gus is the nursery teacher so I guess that would be weird. What is even more frustrating is that Lilly will likely pass it on to me and Gus. With my luck I will probably get it tomorrow on my birthday.

Its a Party

The Happy Birthday Girl

First, we put up the Happy Birthday banner.

Second, we hung cats from the ceiling.

Third, we opened presents.

Gus and I gave Lilly some extras for her dollhouse and a tutu that I made

Grandma Henshaw gave Lilly a cute PINK outfit and a book

Grandma Arnold gave her a super cute dollhouse

Fourth, we blew out the candles.

Lilly loves it when we sing Happy Birthday to her
Blowing out the candles, with a little help from Mommy AND Dad'n

Fifth, we ate the cake.

Before we could cut the cake Lilly went to work eating the frosting

Feeding her Aunts

Sixth, we played with our spoils.