She just keeps growing

Our girl is so big she can get up on the couch without assistance. It's a recent achievement and still takes some effort as this clip reveals.

Very pregnant

Here is my latest belly shot. This was taken last week at 32 weeks pregnant. Currently we are 33 weeks, only 7 weeks remaining. Holy crap. Scary and exciting.
PICTURE REMOVED!!!!!


Overall I'm feeling good. I have little complaints like heart burn, restless legs, difficulty turning over and getting out of bed, etc. Nothing too major at this point. Some days this kiddo makes a very good effort at escaping, by clawing at my cervix or hoping if he bunches his knees up good enough and pushes with his butt somehow he'll get out. Other days he's quiet and only moves enough to reassure me he's okay. Soon enough we'll meet this little guy and we are very excited about that. I can't wait to see what he will look like. Lily looks so much like Randy with his skin color (thank goodness!), darker hair color, eyes, etc. In quite a few recent photos and in some on her facial expressions she is starting to resemble our niece, Sydney. So now that we know what our girl looks like I can't stop wondering what our boy will look like.

Lily signing

One of Lily's favorite books is a basic sign language book. It has approximately 8 signs and each page shows a infant/toddler signing. She used to sign apple all the time but now she is signing all of them. Check her out...







To note...most weekends are spent in just a diaper with a onesie. Today it was just a diaper and shoes. Per request of toddler of course.

The Grandparent Fix

I was talking to my mom-in-law and she said how grateful she was for the Lily pictures I put on my blog. I could tell by the tone in her voice she was more than grateful because they don't live close and this is their connection to Lily. Photos are the only way to convey Lily growing up. That is the main reason I started my blog, to communicate frequently with family and friends and get them as many pictures of Lily as I could. My side of the family also tells me how much they like seeing and hearing about our lives. We aren't that interesting to the general public but it's special to me that my family can check in on us 612 miles away.

Randy was just telling me how much space (20 gigs out of 60) was being used for Lily photos. I believe photographs are of extreme importance. Randy has also taught me that not everyone moment can be photographed and the importance of the moment is more meaningful than missing that precious moment to grab the camera. Based on my taking many photos and trying to also live in the moment you can tell we have quite a few moments. I have recently looked back to a year ago or longer and am reminded of a place we visited or a silly face Lily used to make but doesn't anymore. It saddens me that I will not remember every single minute of Lily's life. Photos are my way of keeping these moments precious and alive in my memory.

To provide the grandparents with their Lily fix for the week here are some recent photos...

20 Months Old!

Our little girl is 20 months old today. It's so crazy to think back to 20 months ago and how much our lives have changed. In a good way. As she gets older she becomes more and more entertaining. Her little personality is emerging more everyday. When she says "mama" or "poppa" we melt. Her little voice is so sweet. She will repeat anything we ask her to. Last night she told Grandma McG. "luv uw" a few times. She also tried saying happy birthday but it didn't come out as clear. She still loves playing with her baby dolls. Yesterday she wanted to open one of her boxed cabbage patch dolls that have sat on her floor since she was born. Not sure what made yesterday the day to add to her doll collection. Last weekend we spent some time with my friend, Kris, and her girls, Syd, Taryn, and Brooke. While I was giving Brooke a bottle Lily helped by putting her hand on the bottle and smiling. It was nice she didn't get jealous that I was holding another baby. I'm hoping her mama instincts will help once her brother arrives. In the meantime we are enjoying our time together as much as possible. This time is so special and is limited. I know she won't remember it but each time she hugs me and kisses me I am reminded she loves me. After we read our bedtime books and I sing to Lily she will reach her little arms around my neck and hug me. That is the best feeling in the world. I love you Lily.

We have one sensitive little girl. Lily is starting to show her sensitivity a lot more these days. For example, the daycare lady asked Lily to come out from under the table because she didn't want the little boy sitting at the table to kick Lily in the head. Lily replied with sticking her bottom lip out as far as possible and with huge tears in her eyes as if she had done something horribly wrong. Yesterday at the mall playground a girl (approximately 4 or 5 years old) dropped a toy right next to Lily. When Lily reached to pick it up the girl loudly shouted "NO!" and grabbed her toy away from Lily's hand. Lily looked to Randy and I with her lip starting to shake and huge tears welting up in her eyes. This reaction, of course, breaks my heart. These are 2 completely different situations and if she is in the line of getting hurt I can handle seeing her lip extend and some tears. But when a mean, little girl is rude and causes this reaction I don't like it. It still breaks my heart when I am reminded of her reaction.

Father's Day was fun but similar to many other days. I wanted to prepare a nice, hot breakfast for Randy but he insisted on doing the cooking. Then he proceeded to mow the lawn and fix his boat motor. Not the relaxing type of day I envisioned for him. He did get two Father's Day gifts...





I'm not big into video games but I have to say Guitar Hero II is very addictive. I'd also like to say I jammed out really hard but Randy would would dismiss this notion rather abruptly. I tried, that's about all I can say. Our first encounter with Guitar Hero II occured a few months ago during our date day. (Date day=skipping work and leaving child at daycare). Anyhow, while in Best Buy I decided to try this guitar game and I was pretty bad. There might have been some booing (from the game of course and not other customers) and the screen might have flashed the word FAILED across it. Randy picked it up and went through an entire song as if he played this game many, many, many times before. I was a bit shocked and had to capture the moment...

Lily Video

Sorry this video is sideways. I forget to keep it upright when taking video sometimes. I thought this was cute to share. Lily enjoys singing in the car. You can't really hear her much but she usually repeats the last word or two. This was taken on the way home from Joy's last Sunday so she was getting pretty sleepy.

Weekend Recap

We had a great weekend. I especially enjoyed the weekend because Randy was with us all weekend! Saturday morning we watched our niece, Sydney, play a game in her soccer tournament. They lost that game but Syd played excellent like always! Afterwards, Randy hung out with Lily while I ran some errands and got home in time to put both of them down for their afternoon nap. Randy won for being the easiest to put down but Lily didn't put up much of a fight either. I decided to soak up some rays (with sunblock of course!) and started a new book. Both Randy and I have been reading nightly thanks to getting rid of our cable. Lily and Randy were both sleeping when I had to leave for my hair appointment. While I was gone Randy and Lily went to the community pool to meet Joy and the kids. Afterwards they ate dinner with everyone while waiting for me to get home. My hair appointment (full highlights) took 4 hours! My stylist keep telling me I had a lot of hair but 4 hours later I was done! My uncle Larry should be happy that I returned to blonde.

On Sunday Lily and I turned into cheerleader mode at Randy's ultimate frisbee tournament. Here is Lily watching while sitting in someone else's chair. It was the perfect size for her!
















Lily wanted in on the action so she tried to join Randy when possible...




















After Lily's afternoon nap (we snuck in a movie--Dejavu--it was good) we all went to the community pool for a dip. Lily remained on Randy's lap most of the time but she did walk around the pool with assistance. Once she decided to walk on her own but lost balance and dunked her head. She was a little shocked but wasn't too upset. Lily is a people watcher and liked to climb into her stroller and watch everyone else.






















To end our fun weekend we hung out at Joy and Bobby's house. We jumped (I took pictures!) on the trampoline, picked strawberries, and ate burgers. We had a great time with our nieces, nephew, and Joy and Bobby.

Internet is B-A-D

As if I didn't have enough distractions, I am now addicted to this site...

A quick hello

Sorry I have been neglegent with posting lately. We changed our internet service and were without access until yesterday. I typically post at work anyhow but I left early yesterday for a doctor appointment and I'm leaving any minute now!!! I'm off to spend the day with my little girl.

My doctor appointment was great. Normal. Quick. I waited about 35 minutes to be seen by my actual doctor for approximately 2.5 minutes. I don't mind, I get caught up on reading magazines.

Maybe I'll post more tonight. We also cancelled our cable so I have more free time in the evenings. I actually organized my greeting cards last night. Randy commented he thought only grandmas had a collection of greeting cards. It's nice I can still surprise him almost 13 years later.

Photo Post

Lily and Randy at the Boulder Creek Festival last Sunday.



First jumping castle experience, not too excited about it.


Chowing down on watermelon.


Checking out a new playground.


When a tiny pebble gets in her shoe she won't move until we remove it.

You win some you lose some

Our favorite TV shows have come to their season finales. I voted for (before hearing my mother in law's request--we were totally on the same page) Apolo and Julianne to win Dancing with the Stars. I didn't consistently watch the show but I saw them perform a few times and loved them. I always loved watching Apolo during the Olympics. And they won, so I won. But...I also voted for Blake to win American Idol. And I lost this one. I hope he goes on to have an amazing career because he will always have a fan in me. I tried to be like Blake and was beat boxing for Lily. She told me to stop.


Today is my sister in law, Joy's, birthday. We are both the only girls amongst our brothers and the middle child. Because neither of us have a sister we formed a strong bond right away...almost 13 years ago. I remember meeting her for the first time. I was at Randy's parents house during the day after we just starting dating, maybe 1 or 2 weeks. Joy came in with her son, Payton, who was just a few months old. She was beautiful, young, carefree, and laughed at everything. If you don't know Joy she is the type of person that makes you feel welcome IMMEDIATELY. Her personality is amazing and she is full of energy. She has raised 3 amazing kids and has over came many obstacles many people her age haven't even faced. Happy Birthday Joy!!

Our weekend plans are pretty boring--which is PERFECT! Tonight we are taking Joy to dinner for her birthday. Tomorrow we might check out the Boulder Creek Festival and run a couple errands. Sunday will be chore day and hopefully we can make some head room on the spare room. Monday will be a relaxing day for Lily and I but I think Randy will be working. Maybe we will go to the zoo with our snazzy zoo pass. It's fun not having set plans and flying by the seat of our pants.

Bubble & Bath Time

Our little man can't talk yet (or cry for that fact) but he communicated that I was over doing it. On Saturday I skipped breakfast in order to get to my niece's basketball game on time. Immediately after her game Lily and I drove to Boulder for Randy's frisbee games. As we were sitting in the hot sun it hit me. I wasn't feeling very good. Not good at all. I didn't drink as much water as I should have for 2 stupid reasons...I already pee a lot and peeing in public places with a toddler isn't easy. Yes, I already mentioned this was stupid. Luckily I had packed our lunch and filled up with some food immediately. It didn't help much. Lily and I left and went straight home where she was a saint and took a nap. I was drained. Thankfully I recovered by Sunday and had no residual effects. I'm thankful that my pregnant body was able to communicate that I was over doing my activity and under doing my nutrition. I'm thankful that my mind listened. It won't happen again.

As I was in the Target check out lane a headline grabbed my attention. Every parent's nightmare...a little girl was kidnapped. Unfortunately kidnappings happen too frequently and that now scares the daylights out of me more so than ever before. I bought the magazine and looked at the family's website. Unfortunately they haven't found her yet. I have an overwhelming desire to help this family but how? I kept thinking I should put her link on my blog to get her name and picture out there. I wasn't sure how much that would help and almost didn't link to their site until I thought about my own family. I would want anyone and everyone to do as much as they could so here is the site...

I was directed to a website (for fun only) to get an idea what to expect about my labor. Check it out...

Your labor prediction quiz results are below.....

"I know you were hoping we weren't going to say this, but don't expect this baby to come early. Your baby is nice and comfy tucked away in your womb and has no interest in joining the rest of the world. We predict your baby will be born after its due date. Your baby will most likely be born in the morning. Justmommies predicts that your baby will weigh approximately 7.7 pounds and that your labor will be about 7 hours long."

Of course I'm not surprised this website thinks my baby will be late. I pretty much think the same thing because Lily was late. I will prepare my hospital bag before the due date just in case. It's all so unknown and I have to give up any expectation of control. It's not happening. I am happily surprised to hear the weight prediction. I was a little over 8 pounds and Lily was shy of 8 pounds. My OB has already said boys tend to be bigger than girls and our boy is measuring ahead of the game already. I'm hoping he isn't over 9 pounds but by the time we know how much he weighs the damage will already be done (so to speak). If I found out he weighed 9 pounds or greater before I delivered then I'd be sweating bullets.

Speaking of the little guy he was very active during my day long meeting today. It's hard to focus on people talking when my belly is twitching and moving all around. Thankfully he stayed quiet during my presentation. Probably because I talked about my job responsibilities and it bored him to sleep. My job isn't boring to me but when I briefly describe my job to other people (who ask about it) I have to keep it short and sweet. Otherwise people start to look away or excuse themselves for another drink. I don't have the same basketball size abdominal oozing wound stories I once had. That story was a dandy and I'm stopping myself from describing the ooze. Although if anyone asks I'll share.

Our Morning

This morning I was able to spend time with Lily before jetting her off to daycare and myself off to work. She was in a talkative and fun mood. I made a hot breakfast and she even let me put piggie tails in her hair. You can't tell from the picture but she's wearing a pink and white IA Hawkeye shirt and shorts. She's too cute.

Enjoying every moment

People frequently say that kids grow up too quicky or they regret not enjoying their children more. I am taking this advice to heart. Everyday matters. Every smile matters. That is my goal...to make my children smile. I just want them to know they are loved and feel it everyday.

Our latest evening activity is exploring new play grounds. Randy is still busy writing his thesis and this keeps him from our evening routine and will for the next few months. After I pick up Lily from daycare we find a new play ground in our area. We have been to 4 different play grounds in the past 4 explorations. It's very important to find a play ground that is appropriate for Lily's age. A few play grounds don't have bars her level to assist with walking, or the stairs are too big that she can't crawl up herself, or the slides are built for older kids. One play ground had a bridge to cross and the first few times she held onto my hand while crossing. She would reach up for my finger before stepping on the bridge. Then she starting getting gutsy and decided to use the bar instead of my finger. She seemed very proud of herself.

Lily is starting to put multiple words together. She will ask "where is it?" or "where did it go?" Today she was looking at a flap book and she would ask "where is the baby?" while holding her palms up to exaggerate the question. Once she finds the missing object she will respond with "there it is."

Last Sunday (Mother's Day) Lily and I went to the zoo. Randy had 2 frisbee games so he couldn't come along. We left early morning to try to beat the rush and the heat. Lily loved it. She loved seeing the animals and would wave good bye to each one as we moved onto the next area. She walked on her own for a while but would request to get back into the stroller when her little legs tired out. We ate lunch in a shady spot while some squirrels chased each other and birds chirped. She was a very happy child that day. The whole day. She was constantly smiling and offered up many hugs and kisses. She took a great afternoon nap. I relaxed and Randy napped too. After she woke up we shared a fruit smoothie and hung out on the front step. For dinner we ordered a pizza. The entire day was awesome. I hope I always remember how wonderful it felt.

Dude...

did anyone notice I posted every day this week? Hopefully Randy did. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope every kind of mom has a wonderful weekend. I know Mother's Day is only Sunday but why not count the whole weekend. Randy counts the entire month before his birthday as his "birthday month." I don't think a weekend is too much to ask.


Also, congrats to my little cousin who is not so little anymore cuz he's graduating from high school. Congratulations Cody!!! Wish we could be there. I would give a speech at your graduation party and tell everyone how I taught you to say "neener, neener, neener" as your first words. That was cool.



Shout out to Gram...it's her birthday today even though she says it's not. I mean "Happy Friday Gram for no reason at all."

Our new swing set

Thanks to Staci and family for our new backyard addition. It adds life to the rather dull back yard and Lily loves it. Luckily Randy put it up in just the right spot...where Lily can't see it easily from any window. This wasn't planned but ended up working quite well. Otherwise we wouldn't leave our backyard. Ever.