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.