Why can't there be 30 hours in the day?

So it's been a while, I know! The school year has ended for me and I took a summer job with the Town of Jupiter as a Summer Camp Counselor. I was nervous at first because we take A LOT of field trips, but it's actually a lot of fun. I'm working about 44 hours a week, so I'm not getting a lot done...but good nonetheless. How is Lily you ask? Lol

Lily started full time at Oceanside Academy. One of the reasons I got a summer job was because I knew I was going to substitute next fall before my Afterschool job and I would need Lily in full-time daycare. We have been so fortunate to have my mom stay with Liky thus far, but she got an awesome chance to work (possibly temporarily) with Jim's company while one of the women is on maternity leave. Since we aren't positive exactly how long this will last or if she might work their part time when she returns, we needed a plan. Lily is of course missing her days with Nana, but def loving school. She is her teacher, Mrs. Shawna's shadow lol. She is in the 8 months to 18 months class. She plays outside, paints, made Daddy some Father's Day art and even sleeps at school! The sleep part really shocked the hell out of me lol.

Unfortunately she has been a bit sick since starting school. The first week she got the throwing up flu...followed by myself getting it. Even poor JF had some stomach issues that week. She has had a stuffy nose too for about a week. I figured it was just part of day care and kept an eye on it. She came home early on Friday with a fever and today she started getting gunk in her eyes, so JF and I took her to Urgent Care. She has an ear infection :( She is a bit cranky at times, but overall being her normal happy self. She of course is still eating normal ;) Hopefully she sleeps well tonight. She is so stuffy, it keeps waking her up.

She is talking TONS. She repeats the last word of almost everything you say. Mrs. Shawna says she talks the most out of the class. She said "shit" today at the doctors office after her water spilled on the floor. We tried not to react. Inl def need to watch that lol. As I'm sure most saw, she has been asking to use the potty. She has pooped and peed a few times on it. My phone has pretty much recovered from the dive and swim she helped it take in the toilet. I'm not sure how long it will last, but for now it's mostly working. She swims tons and loves screaming at the neighbors (the Bakers) from the pool.  She always scams food from Aunt Jamie over there (have I mentioned she never misses a meal and eats about everything).

Sorry no new pics this time, but I'm blogging from my phone and it doesn't allow me to upload pics unless I have some Google app that is only for androids (bullshit) lol. Plus if you read my blog, you probably have Facebook...where I post a gazillion pics and videos lol. Hope everyone has a great week!!

A Year with Lilyan

So it has been a while since I posted, sorry! Lily's party was a great success and she definitely seemed to have a great time. Thank you so much to everyone who could share it with us and we greatly missed those who couldn't! We are hoping to make a trip to Jacksonville soon and would LOVE a trip to Canada this summer. JF? Are you reading this? Make it happen? ;) We have finished the pool and Lily and JF are in it everyday! Lily is tanner than me... She and JF are working on swimming and floating. I was a little nervous at first, but she even enjoys going under water. (I will have to try to get a video of that). That kid is a fish! (with some crazy hair!)

Lily had a great one year appointment. She was a champ with her shots. She was just over 20 pounds and 28 1/2 inches tall. She has mastered walking and attempting running lol. She has been climbing a lot too. She attempts to say most words that come out of our mouths (which isn't necessarily good right now haha). She also answers with "yeah" and "no no no". She still rarely kisses people. Although she hugs or "squeezes" a lot and loves to blow kisses, she will rarely kiss you. She will turn her check to you so you can kiss her though. She will also kiss inanimate objects, such as her babies or toys and the mail (?) haha.
Girl also loves to eat! She is attempting to use a spoon more and more. She is pretty good at it actually, just not great at getting the food on the spoon yet. Here she is eating two of her fav foods, Chicken flautas (top) after a swim in the pool and bananas (this morning making a scrunchy face).

She still loves going on bike rides. Luckily for her, Nana finally tried the bike and also likes it. So now instead of a walk everyday, she sometimes goes on bike rides too! She is testing her limits and trying new things all the time...this of course means the occasional bumps and bruises! I cringe when I see her do certain things and my heart skips a beat, but I try to keep my mouth shut. I try to let her explore and find out her own strengths and weaknesses rather than me limit them! Plus JF remembered an amazing bruise remedy from his mom, vanilla extract! It heals the bruise faster so it's not as noticeable or as sensitive!
The girl has WAY too many toys! Most are all wonderful, educational toys though. They sing songs with her and practice letters, etc. She got some great Minnie toys (who she is obsessed with), puzzles and books for her birthday. She also got some adorable outfits! I withheld from buying any 18 month clothes and hinted to many that she needed some. JF and I have hardly had to buy any clothes for her. Here is a cute outfit she got from our great friend, Dana. I believe this is a belly shirt, she is just a bit too short for her it still haha.

 I have been working on a photo album/firsts book throughout this year. I finally finished it and had it printed. Here is a link (hopefully that works) for you to view it on the website.
 http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BZNmrdu5bMXJg

Well...I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a wonderful week! I will finish with a video I took of her this morning. She finally found the popper I had hidden in the corner of her room today. She was chasing poor Gracie around the house with it...Gracie is not impressed with this toy haha.

Its been a while...

Ok.. so let me start out by saying I have been sick a few times since Christmas. Ugh! I got a horrible stomach bug when we got back from Canada and now I have a double ear infection. I got two ear infections while I was pregnant with Lily and this is my second one since having her. Suggestions? This stinks! haha..

So on another note.. Lily had a wonderful first Christmas!! I'm fairly sure everyone on my blog is on Facebook, so you have seen the fifty thousand pictures either myself or JF has posted...so I will spare you and only post a few haha. Our vacation started in Jax for a few days. She had a great time at her first Cousins Present Exchange. She got an adorable outfit from Logan and spent some quality time with cousin Ava. She got to open presents with her Mimi, Pepaw and uncles. She got a firetruck rideon that has since Christmas pretty much taught her to walk lol. Before you ask, no she isn't walking on her own (taking a few steps frequently this past week) but she is pushing this firetruck around everywhere! She sometimes carries it too...so its clear she can do it on her own!

When we came back she spent Christmas Eve at our place celebrating Pop's (Jim) birthday and opening presents with Aunt Faye, Uncle Pete and all the McAllister Clan! She got some great stuff! Christmas day was also at our place. Nana, Pop and Aunt Jamie and Uncle Jeremy came over to open presents. The amount of books and DVDs the kid got, is unreal lol. She had a great day playing on her school bus playground. She couldn't quite climb up it that day very well, but has become a champ now. She gets up in the drivers seat and steers that thing like she is the driver from the movie Speed lol. We went to Aunt Faye and Uncle Pete's later that afternoon to visit.

 (Christmas morning)

 ( Feb 1)

Lily then took her second plane ride to Canada! She was great on the flight. We got a direct flight and she slept most of it. She was so excited to see everyone! She loved the cold weather. She slept so good. Most nights she didn't make a peep all night! She got to meet so many family members and spend so much quality time with Grand-Maman, Grand-Papa, Uncle Dan and Aunt Julie (Max and Dija too of course!). It was so hard to leave, but I know she had so much fun. We of course get to Skype with them often and Lily loves it!

We have had a few adventures since returning home. She is trying her hardest to walk...well without really trying lol. She will take steps, but knows she can go much faster if she crawls and just seems overall nervous to let go. She will soon I'm sure :) We had a great visit with Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa Harting. I'm pretty sure Lily even got some pool time in! We went to the South Florida fair with some friends. Although she is still too young to get much out of it, she loved watching the older kids. We started building the pool. Again, she doesn't really understand what it is yet...but she has loved watching the guys work with the machines and she has already gone in it several times haha.

Some funny videos... the first is in Montreal. Daddy and Grand-Maman practicing her noise making. The second is just today. Nana is trying to feed her lunch while she is letting me know she is not happy I am leaving for work!

9 Months & Pre-Christmas Fun!

Lily was 27 inches and 17 lbs, 10 ounces at her 9 month appointment. She just got one shot and she seemed pretty happy about that! She has changed so much in the last month, it is nuts! I think she was mostly army crawling last time I posted? She is crawling around on all fours now and does it about as fast as I walk! She really moves! She started a few weeks ago holding on to things and taking steps. Now she tries to run while she moves from object to object. Sometimes the objects she chooses aren't so strong. She has landed in funny situations several times. She stands up for a few seconds on her own and seems to have much more control over her movements.

She is obsessed with bike riding. She doesn't even mind the helmet so much anymore. She looks around at everything and just giggles. Sometimes she puts her hands down by her side to touch my knees as they peddle. Her little laugh is so infectious!

A few weeks ago Lily got to play with Nana & Pop while JF and I went to lunch with some friends. They got to take her to play day at MyGym and they signed her up for the Christmas Party. JF and I took Lily this afternoon. There were a lot of bigger kids there and she was mesmerized by them playing. She did get some hardcore playing in still though ;) She even got her first gingerbread cookie! Like always, she had a blast in the balls. I wish I could have sanitized her mouth though. She has this new thing sticking out her tongue real far when she laughs. She kept getting way too close to the plastic balls with it lol. She also got some great walking practice in while pushing around a large ball. Thank goodness we got that on video ;)

She got to see her little uncles, Mimi, Pepaw and all of her Bailey family peeps for her first Thanksgiving. She stayed home while Pepaw and I went Black Friday shopping :)

Some of the things she has enjoyed this month are getting into anything and everything she can and walks with Nana! She even found one of her Christmas presents while crawling around the house.
She saw Santa Clause at the mall. She didn't cry, but she wasn't too impressed with him. She also got her first pair of shoes at Stride Rite! She wants to walk around everywhere we go and doing it in her socks or bare feet in public isn't going to cut it for me lol.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Will I ever be able to sneeze without peeing a little again?! ;)

So as the title hints around...I'm sick again! Shortly after we got back from Ohio, I was diagnosed with bronchitis and a lung infection...apparently I waited too long to get checked out haha. I have been feeling pretty good for about 4 or so weeks now, until last week I started getting stuffy again and a sore throat. I thought it was about over with, until Monday I woke up with a 102 fever and felt like crap. Went to the doctor right away this time and she told me I have a viral flu and a double ear infection. My ears are already feeling better, just crazy stuffy. I really hope my immune system was just down from the bronchitis still and this ear infection thing isn't becoming a habit! Of course the real reason why most follow me on this blog, Lily haha. Surprisingly, she doesn't seem to be sick. She is a little congested, but that has been off and on...the doctor thinks its just allergies. JF is congested, along now with my mom and Jamie. Hopefully no one stays too sick :)

Not much has been going on. Lily went to her...fourth birthday party this month. We celebrated Jake and Samantha's birthday at Aunt Faye and Uncle Pete's where she had a little bit of pizza crust for the first time haha.
She had a visit from Mimi, Pepaw and her Uncles this weekend. She really practiced her standing and walking with all of them. After the weekend, she is now walking very well along the couches and even reaching out to grab onto my hand while letting go of any crutches for a brief moment. Jess & Ty really worked with her! :)
She has also had several visits this month from "Uncle" Dan across the street and her Aunt Jamie. I think they have figured out coming over right at or after bath time is when she is the happiest in the evening haha.

We got a membership at MyGym for Lily. She loves it! Her favorite part of it I think is circle time. She loves seeing all the other kids and singing and dancing. Nana even came with us last weekend!

Of course this was her first Halloween. Lily, Gracie and I were ladybugs. JF was a bug catcher haha. We didn't get around to too many neighbors, but she had lots of fun. I think some people didn't understand she was too young to eat candy, because they kept trying to have her pick out candy haha.

Lily had some time with Nana & Pop too last week when we went to some friends home to celebrate an early Thanksgiving. Pop always gets shafted for the babysitting nights, because he gets to spend about 6 minutes with her before bedtime haha.
She loves most of her toys. I cut up a wrapping paper tube yesterday to make two "swords" and she loved it! Of course I spend all this money on a toys and her favorite ones are cardboard swords and a $1 beach ball Aunt Jamie picked out for Mom's 55th birthday!
One last picture from last Tuesday when we voted. We got in trouble in line because Lily was trying to persuade a friend of ours in line in front of us ;) haha  Oops!

Hope everyone has a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mommy is a Slacker

So it has been a bit since I have updated on here! Oops! Lily's most recent trip to the doctor was at 7 months (October 6). She went in for her follow up booster of the flu shot. She was 26 1/2 inches long and 15 lbs. Her eczema has gotten much better. We finally found that Cetaphil works best for her, which we use twice a day.

She is sitting up completely on her own. She army crawls all over the house. She will get on her knees and hands, but starts army crawling again once she decides she isn't going fast enough. She also still rolls sometimes to speed things up haha. She definitely knows what the word "no" means. Sometimes she laughs when you say it, but once you say it a few times and she realizes you mean business, she may cry. At what age do babies start throwing temper tantrums and become defiant because Lily is totally there! Even though the kid is a total piggy, she arches her back and pitches a fit most of the time when you put her in the high chair. At times she does the same when you put her in her car seat. Usually if you just let her throw a fit for a minute, she will calm down and let you buckle her in lol.

She is really enjoying the finger foods she has tried. We started with Gerber Puffs. Within a month she had tried most of the flavors and was loving them. When she started shoving two and three in her mouth at a time and chewing them down like a champ, we knew it was time to upgrade a bit. She just started eating the Gerber cheese and veggie sticks. She REALLY loves them. She takes a bite or two of them while she holds it. They are really great at helping her develop her fine motor skills! We tried out a schedule we saw on a blog and she is really doing great on it. It has really helped her sleep through the night and take consistent naps. It is great knowing when to not schedule things at certain times because she will be sleeping. She has moved to the 3rd stage food a bit early. Because she is chewing and eating so well, she really likes the small pieces in the baby food. She was constantly spitting the 2nd stage food out and seems to appreciate the switch. She has eaten a few of the mushy fruits and veggies cut up also. Her favorite grown up food seems to be refried beans lol. I read they aren't great to feed, but when I mentioned it to her pediatrician, she said they are the fattiest of the beans, but as long as they don't have a lot of spices to them...they are perfectly fine. We go to Tijuana Flats about once a week and she practically eats a whole order now haha. She also tried frozen yogurt at Sweet Frog for the first time and loved it!

Lily took her first plane ride to Minster, Ohio for the Oktoberfest! She shared Aunt Jamie's first legal 'fest with her! She got to meet some aunts, uncles and cousins and had a great time! She actually had the sniffles right before we left and I was worried how she would do both on the plane and in the cold. She was great and happy on the plane and slept the best in Ohio then she has at home! It was too windy to keep her out long, but we would go up in the evenings and walk around before bedtime. her sniffles went away after the first day too! The doctor said she thought it was due to allergies and the cold air might help her, she was right!

We took Lily to a Pumpkin patch today for a few pumpkins and pumpkin bread. She had a lot of fun crawling all around. She loved playing in the grass, hay, dirt...you name it! I don't feel like posting them all to Facebook and over crowding everyone's news feed, so you blog readers get the privilege :) Lily has a night at our place with Nana and Pop tonight...so I'm sure they will be posting pics later on Facebook haha.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!