Another lovely weekend...

I know I usually say our weekends were nice but I really couldn’t tell you that we have any bad weekends. Weekends do not include work which pretty much means they are fun filled. Anyhow, we did have a very nice weekend. On Saturday our routine was a little messed up. Lily normally wakes up at 6AM, thanks to her parent’s work schedules, but she decided to sleep in a bit. She woke up at 6:45 only to fall back asleep while breast feeding until 9AM. This meant I was able to snooze a little longer snuggling with a warm little girl in a comfy recliner. My day was already going well. I made a warm breakfast for myself, Lily and the dogs and we played and cleaned until nap time. After nap time we went to Staci’s house and hung out with her 2 girls and Carolyn and her 3 month old girl, Emma. It’s always fun to watch Lily interact with other kids. She loves to watch them, keeping a distance while playing with their toys. Sunday was a laid back day. Our breakfast plan fell through so we hung out, played, watched football and napped. It was a gorgeous day so we went for a stroller ride and had our dinner at the park. Lily has developed a new smile for strangers. When someone says hello to her she will initially act shy and but proceed with flashing a super cheesy smile, showing all her teeth and wrinkling her nose. Of course, it melts my heart and makes me laugh out loud. Our nice elderly neighbor got a kick out of her smile. I was hoping she would smile at him since last time he came close to her she started crying.

Halloween is coming up and I am trying not to decorate too soon. I attempted to put up fake spider webs (first had to remove the real ones) but couldn’t get much done since I’m short and all of our ladders were mia. Probably a good thing since it’s only September. But I love Halloween and foresee Lily having many costume birthday parties with her parents in full costume mode. Regarding the decorations, I don’t want the cutesy decorations but I opt for the really scary kind. I want the house the kids are scared to trick or treat at. But hopefully not too scary that they don’t approach the door.

Most likely everyone that knows us knows that Randy has a major lactose allergy. Many of you probably have heard an interesting story associated with bowel issues secondary to milk intake. Lily may have an allergy, not necessarily milk since she’s tolerated a few sips here and there. It may still be dairy related because she yakked up yogurt on one occasion when given a whole baby serving and may have reacted to cheese lately. On Saturday I noticed her left lower lip was swollen when eating. A few days before I noticed a bump (like a small blister) on the same lip area after eating dinner. Both events lasted a short time with her lip returning to normal within 45 minutes or so. Still strange. I didn’t note exactly what she ate the first time but cheese is the only food I can almost definitely relate to both events. After chatting with the ped’s office we will back off on most dairy until after she’s a year old. We may do some allergy testing too but I am waiting to hear back from her doctor. Since the second swelling involved eggs (which she’s eaten, mostly yolks, on numerous occasions) she probably won’t get a flu shot. Good for her, bad for me. I hate flu shots but have been instructed to get one, especially if she cannot. I will not complain again since it’s for the well being of my daughter but I do hate shots. I loved giving them just not receiving them.

Recent Lily changes lately involve stair climbing. She amazes me with her ability to climb stairs. She’s quick and quite capable with no guidance from her parents. Of course she has no fear or understanding of the implications of going down the stairs but that’s where her parents and gates come into play. Lily is also letting go of one hand while standing. Her balance is getting better all the time but I do think it will be a little longer before she’s walking. When I walk with holding her hands she only tolerates it a short time before refusing to put weight on her legs. Lily is also into singing and dancing lately. If I am singing (likely you will never hear me, I only perform vocally for my daughter and husband) she will start making sounds to mimic me. With dancing, if she hears music, she will start moving her upper body and waving her hands. I keep telling Randy she will be a dancer but he’s pretty against it. He wants to “dork” her out as much as possible. Overalls and flannel shirts are his idea of her future wardrobe.

For anyone interested...

I am participating in the Komen Breast Cancer Walk in October. I decided to try and raise a few bucks, I figured even a few dollars could help. Much to my surprise, people responded more gratiously than I ever expected. I sent an email to a few people and so far have raised $160!!!! WOW!!! I am so excited. The process to donate is pretty darn easy so for anyone that is interested...here is the link.

http://www.raceforthecure-denver.com/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1020&px=1286262

For people that cannot donate, spread the word! Spreading the word about breast cancer, encouraging yourself and people you love to do self exams is just as important as donations.

Lily is 11 months old. Here are some tidbits about Lily:
She doesn't care too much for toys but would rather open and close cupboards, drawers and doors. Lily entertains herself by pulling off the refrigerator magnets and pulling pots and pans out of the cupboards. She is pulling up on everything and will walk with us holding her hands. She likes to feed herself "adult" food and also likes to share her food with the dogs. Lily is getting better about not testing what I mean when I say "no" in my stern voice.


Lily's favorite word is not mommy or daddy but...dog. She will say "dowg" over and over, of course, causing laughter from everyone around (which is why she says it over and over). While Grandma McEntaffer was feeding her last week and she kept saying "dowg" only for Grandma McEntaffer to discover the plate had a picture of Scooby Doo on it.


Can't think of more to write...I think I've been out of the blogger world too long. I will try and get better with more frequent posts and even checking other people's blogs. I probably could just post pictures and people would be happy. :)

4 Things

This is a fun way to share some things about myself with you. In case you didn't already know. I added a few extra tid bits.

4 JOBS I HAVE HAD:
1. Bean walker-I grew up in SD what more can I say.
2. Receptionist at a hair salon-great discount!
3. Orange Julius-most of college, Randy and his friends benefited when I worked till close and bought home goodies instead of throwing it away.
4. Waitress at Bob Roe's-best tip money ever.

4 MOVIES I COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
1. Sweet Home Alabama-I've watched it so much my DVD is worn
2. Sex and the City-okay, not a movie but I seriously could watch it ALL the time.
3. How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Randy's favorite too. just kidding.
4. Bourne Identity/Supremacy-my favorite action/suspense movies

4 PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. SD
2. IA
3. CO
4. That's it, haven't lived anywhere else.

4 OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Starbucks white chocolate mocha
2. Mandu and Bulgogi, made by my mom-in-law.
3. Broccoli-I swear I love it.
4. Sour gummy worms-almost always accompany me on car trips to SD/IA.

4 PLACES I'D RATHER BE:
1. With Lily and Randy anywhere (my previous post indicated our family time is minimal these days)
2. New Mexico in November, celebrating a rocket launch.
3. Kauai, HI-if I could only pick one vacation spot for the rest of my life it would be here.
4. Day spa with unlimited massages, facials, pedicures and manicures.

4 THINGS I WANT TO CHANGE (and can change):
1. Stop being indecisive
2. Lose weight-yada, yada, yada
3. Sending cards late-it's really not genetic
4. Start volunteering-yes, it was a New Year's Resolution but hasn't occurred yet.

4 THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR:
1. My husband and daughter, they have taught me so much about myself and I strive to repay them with happiness and my love.
2. My SD family including extended family, in-laws and friends that I have known long enough to be considered family. You guys rock.
3. Caffeine-I don't considered myself hooked but it helps keep my house clean.
4. Growing up in a small town with a large family.

4 CHILDHOOD MEMORIES:
1. Sunday breakfast and dinner with McGuire family
2. Getting awesome hand-me-down clothes from my cool cousin Erin
3. Melissa and Kerry-too many memories to name one.
4. Birthdays-my mom always made the best of them.

4 HIGH SCHOOL MEMORIES:
1. Being late to dance squad everyday with Melissa (even though school was 2 blocks away).
2. Meeting Randy at the mall.
3. Teepeeing (sp?) and hill jumping(I hope Lily never tries hill jumping) :)
4. Sports (volleyball and soccer) dance and cheerleading, kept me out of trouble for the most part, well except for hill jumping but I never got caught and never used my own car.

4 COLLEGE MEMORIES:
1. The boys-meaning all of Randy's friends. I was the only female with about 10 guys for years. They provided lots of crazy memories.
2. Two drunk, okay, very drunk occasions. The first was the night before my mom picked me up at the end of my first year. Luckily she laughed knowing I learned my lesson or at least until my 4th year after a very hard pathophysiology final.
3. Working hard with usually 2 jobs and maintaining a good GPA.
4. Going through the different changes with Randy and getting engaged.

10 Months Old

Our little missy is now 10 months old and her first birthday is nearing. Hitting 10 months has brought about crawling and learning the word "no" which seems to go together with crawling quite easily. She loves to explore and doesn't sit still for very long. She likes to play with pots, pans and utensils. We bought her a walker that moves. She is pretty good about going backwards and figuring out how to go forward everyday. When she is headed for a plant or an electrical outlet (yes, of course, it's covered) and we tell her no, she looks at us and smiles. Then she tries again and when we say no again her smile fades just a little. Too avoid saying no too much we usually re-direct her at that point. The dog's water dish is another issue. It's located on the kitchen rug but repeatedly is a possible source of fun for Lily. When we forget to put it out of her reach and she spots in from across the room she will start crawling normally and when she is closer she will speed up, as if she knows she only has a few seconds to reach this pot of gold. As I grab her before she reaches it she squeals and laughs.

Biting is another issue. Biting me and another girl in day care. The day care kids tend to hug her and really get in her face all the time (they mean well). A 2 year old girl at day care learned the hard way to stay out of Lily's face. Lily bit her right on the cheek. Luckily the mom was very nice and said she had biting issues with her daughter too. We fixed the biting during breast feeding (ouch, yes, it really, really hurts) and changed from being around the TV and noise to a quiet room where I can focus more on her. The biting has stopped and I am able to focus a lot more on my baby. It probably helped that her 8th tooth broke through and there doesn't appear to be any more teeth coming...at this time anyway.

On the job front...I am changing jobs and found a nice job with great benefits. I had time off for the past few weeks and plan to start my new job on Tuesday. I have enjoyed my time at home and was able to be with Lily a lot. Since we still had to pay for day care I was also able to run errands, cook and clean while she hung out at day care. Thanks to Staci we ventured to the Denver zoo and Denver Children's Museum. We also visited Randy at work a few times and went to the library. Speaking of Randy, he has been incredibly busy with his rocket. Going to work early and leaving work late has been our story for the past few weeks. It will pay off soon, his launch is scheduled for November. Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly over the next few months.

I am hitting my own milestone tomorrow...the big 3-0. Yes, it's a little sad to leave my 20's but I won't dwell on it. Onto the next phase on my life and I look forward to it. Bring it on I say.

Lily, Lily, Lily

Lily is now 9.5 months old. She has 6 teeth total. She likes taking baths, going swimming, riding in the stroller, especially outside, playing peek a boo and she loves her blanket. She is doing great at the babysitters, they treat her very good and she gets excited to see them. Our daycare provider has a 10 yr old daughter that loves Lily and Lily loves her. I'm planning on having her be our Friday night babysitter in a few years, although she doesn't know this yet.

Lily is not crawling but like the last post (almost a month ago) is very close. She gets up on her hands and knees and somehow propels her body forward. A few days ago she did crawl a few steps but fell to her belly because I scared her from freaking out with cheering and laughing because my baby was crawling. I have learned to keep my mouth shut. Here is Lily crawling, scooting or whatever it's called...

6 Years!!

Today is our 6 year wedding anniversary! It's fun and crazy to say we've been married for 6 years. It also means we have been together for 12 years. Our dating anniversary is August 2nd and yes, it really was the date Randy asked me to be his girlfriend.

The past 6 years have been filled with moving to CO, Randy started graduate school, I experimented numerous times in my nursing career, sharpened our snow boarding skills (to be truthful Randy has sharpened his, I remain at the beginner level), traveled to Chicago, California, New York City, Hawaii, Scotland, London and Paris, purchased our first home, became parents first to puppies, Max & Cali and later when ready to Lily, our beautiful and always entertaining daughter. The past 6 years have been wonderful and I am very lucky to have an amazing man in my life.

Rambling blog ahead

This blog will help me catch up on the Lily updates, otherwise I don't have much to report. Lily is getting her top 2 teeth, 1 is still trying to come through the gums. This makes 4 teeth total. She is eating cheerios and veggie/fruit puffs. She is entertained for quite a while picking up each bite and putting it in her mouth. Her little pincer grip is quite developed. Day care is still going well. I was a little worried she wouldn't remember the day care provider and kids because she was not there all last week. No worries needed, she did great. Lily isn't crawling yet but she's close. She will tuck her knees under her and can lift up on her arms but hasn't put the 2 together. She does get places though. She can roll and roll and roll. It's scary to imagine that she will be mobile soon. It will be kind of nice at the same time since she is sooooo squirmy when holding her. She is antsy to get moving and not with any help from her parents.

Last night I held a teeny, tiny baby. Our friends delivered their new baby girl on the 4th of July. She is a whole pound less than what Lily was at birth. Now that I'm used to holding a 17 pound infant anything less would seem tiny. But this little girl was super cute with long legs and arms. I could have held her all day and not tired out. Can't say the same about holding Lily anymore. :)

A few posts ago I commented on the X-Men movie we saw. I said I would provide more movie critiques but forgot. Anyhow we did see the DaVinci Code and the Breakup. Both are definitely rent-able. Don't see the Breakup with any expectations and you might enjoy it more than I did. The DaVinci Code was way too long and the book is more entertaining. Plus Tom Hanks (normally I like him) didn't fit the main character for me. Harrison Ford would have been better. So save your money and go bowling or see Pirates of the Caribbean, which is our next movie to see.

Our summer vacation (if you can call it that)

was spent in the great states of Iowa and South Dakota. We had a very nice time with family and friends. We saw most everyone a few times but never, not once, went to see a movie. We giggled and joked about how many movies we would see since we would have plenty of babysitters. But no, not one movie did we see. We did have plenty of babysitters but once Lily was asleep we weren't too interested. Here is the low down of our trip:
Left Friday night at 8PM, arrived in IA around 6AM. This worked well since Lily slept the whole time. Both Randy and I shifted into driving mode and only stopped once for gas and to change drivers. Good CDs and caffeine helped. After napping Saturday and seeing the in-laws we spent the afternoon at my family's house. My bro, sis-in-law and baby nephew were visiting too. Lily and Connor hung out until we went to Randy's bro's BBQ. Sunday Randy played paintball while I hung out at my family's house and visited with my friends, Mel and Kerry, and their little girls at the pool. Sunday night was enjoyed at Grandma McGuire's house for the weekly dinner but also celebrated my cousin Courtney's b-day. Lots of b-days, right? Well Sunday was also my sis-in-law's and Kerry's b-day too! Geez, there must be frequent snowstorms in November or something. After Lily went to sleep we went to Roni's house, Kerry's moms, and played board games. We love board games! :)

Monday was busy with visiting my mom-in-law for breakfast, visiting with Brophy and his mom, hanging with Randy's family and then taking a family picture. The photographer was very good and patient (8 adults and 6 kids!!)and the pics turned out pretty good. We went to dinner that night for bro-in-laws b-day. Tuesday was the 4th and filled with hanging with in-laws during the morning then BBQ at my uncle's in the afternoon. We played the bean bag game and badminton, which was a lot of fun. Lily enjoyed watermelon and being rocked by her Grandma McGuire. She had a cute July 4th outfit. Pics to come, forgot camera at home today. :(
Tuesday night after Lily went to sleep we went to my aunt Sue/uncle John's house for fireworks and home made ice cream with Grandma McGuire's yummy chocolate sauce. I'm happy to report that Randy, my bro and cousins all survived the fireworks display in one piece, but did provide some good laughs when we thought they should be moving faster then they were.

Wednesday included breakfast with mom-in-law and some shopping. Wednesday night Randy played paintball while I hung out in J-town with my family. We went to the Whitehorse for all you can eat sweet corn. If you have never eaten SD sweet corn you have missed out. It's so good! Went back to IA until Thursday. I met my mom, Mel, her husband Josh and Gracie for lunch at Casa in J-town. Best Mexican food around! Lily was sleeping when we were supposed to go so she stayed with Randy and his family. Thursday night I dropped Lily off with my mom while I joined Randy's family to cheer on our nephew, Hunter, for his tee ball game. Back to IA until Friday morning when I spent the day with my mom and aunt Joleen. Lily hung with Randy and his family all day. We had dinner with Jim and Braden (randy's friends from high school) then hung with the in-laws until Lily went to sleep AND then left for CO.

Wow, that's quite a trip. It helps to write it out otherwise it all seems like a clouded memory. I probably missed some things here and there but you get the big picture. Maybe you understand why it's not exactly what I call a vacation. But I wouldn't choose a sunny beach over visiting family. But it would be a bonus to visit family on a sunny beach.

I just finished a nice long entry and it was erased. I'd like to blame the website but it very well could have been my fault. Oh well.

Long story short, our weekend was filled with World Cup Soccer, jogging, scrap booking, cleaning and cooking, grocery shopping, naps and a BBQ. I also used my Mother's Day pedicure gift certificate. My toes are much prettier now.

We are getting ready for our vacation to SD/IA. I love spending the 4th of July in my hometown. My family has a BBQ and lights up a fireworks display. You can legally light fireworks in SD. It's kind of sad that we cannot light them in CO but I completely understand and don't want the entire state to burn down. Anyhow, my cousins, brother, uncles and Randy all run around lighting off fireworks and running for cover. It's quite a scene! I wonder how Lily will react to the fireworks. I would imagine she might not like the loud noise but she might be captivated by the pretty colors in the sky. I need to buy some bug spray. I'm sure the SD critters would love taking a bite outta her.

Lily switched day cares last week. Our new day care lady is working out lovely. We really like her and Lily does too. Lily took a few days to adjust to the new house and kids but now is doing great. With one exception...she no longer takes a bottle. She would take 2-3 bottles a day from the old day care lady but she would refuse from anyone esle, including any family member that was babysitting her. We increased her solid feedings and offer the sippy cup, which she hasn't mastered yet, but other than that she will refuse a bottle. Our pediatrician said not to worry. Yeah right, new parents...don't worry. Ha. Not much we can do...oh wait I could stop working since she still breast feeds. Sounds great to me!

My mom is going through Lily withdrawl(I'm sure my in-laws are too). She watches her videos over and over again. So here are some more Lily photos to keep you all satisfied until Saturday!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Well I am a little belated in my blog wishes since her birthday was yesterday. I did call her on her actual birthday I swear! This blog will be dedicated to my mom and Randy's mother-in-law and Lily's grandma.

My mom is a tough cookie with a huge heart. She would do anything for her family. She provided a loving home and fun childhood. During a birthday party, around age 10, my mom and little bro, Brian, jumped out from a hiding spot and scared the daylights out of me and my friends. We were playing hide-and-go-seek, by the cemetary, in the dark so we were already scared! For all of our birthdays she did everything possible so we would have a great time. She tried to plan a surprise party for me, around age 12 I think, but ended up having to tell me about it since I was pestering her. She set limits, for example, I wasn't allowed to watch Fatal Attraction even though my older cousin, Erin, was allowed. Now that I have seen the movie I am thankful, even if I threw a fit back then. :) I'm still terrified of the bunny scene. She wanted all of her kids to do well in school and life. She came to our sporting events, which was a lot, and was overjoyed when we made the honor roll, lettered in sports and were nominated for homecoming/prom royalty. She gives me the calico bean and meatball recipe over and over again without telling me to write it down. She has waited, patiently isn't the right word here, maybe against her wishes, to become a grandma for over 6 years (since Jay and Cheri were married and 5 yrs since Randy and I were married). Her grandbabies are her world. Her dog, Sadie, is pretty close behind the grandbabies, then come her kids, then comes Dad. He has accepted his place graciously. :)

My mom has been faced with tough situations all through her life. She has beaten every challenge and came out tougher than she started. She is a very good role model and I am very thankful she is my mom, Randy's mom-in-law and Lily's grandma. She is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I love you Mom! Happy, Happy Birthday.

What is she thinking?

I frequently wonder what Lily is thinking about. When she sees something for the first time, what goes through her little brain? She loves to feel things and touch different textures. Most times she will have a huge grin when I give something to her to touch. Other times she will be so serious...like below...



She is all about exploring and it's so fun to watch her. Things we see or feel everyday are brand new to her. It's an amazing process.

Brita Minda

What a name. Although it's pretty easy to pronounce it's still rather weird. Brita Minda was my first cabbage patch kid. I was about 9 (I think) when the cabbage patch craze began. My mom had a friend buy Brita Minda in MN and mailed it to SD. I remember she called me to the bank (where she worked) and gave her to me right then. She couldn't even wait until she was finished working. Probably with the look of pure excitement on my face my mom knew this purchase was worth it. I filled out Brita Minda's birth certificate and became a proud mother of a new baby with a signature on her behind. A few years later I also adopted David Michael. David Michael is a pretty common name but he didn't come with that name. Oh no, it was some bizarre name that I couldn't pronounce. I changed his name on his birth certificate. I took these things really serious, can you tell??!! Well last night was the ceremony...the handing over of Brita Minda to Lily. I was so pleased to see Lily's reaction was a huge smile and squeal. I don't know what I would do if she didn't like dolls. Although Lily didn't treat Brita Minda too kindly (lots of hair pulling), I know Brita Minda will be around for many, many years.


Lily has already received her first cabbage patch but it's still in the box. My mom got one for a Christmas present. Want to know her name???? It's Lily Joy! My mom special ordered it. I neglected to mention above that I adopted a 3rd cabbage patch kid. My mom bought my 3rd one when I was in college for a present. Too funny! I think my mom has the cabbage patch kid craze and is passing it onto me as I will pass it onto Lily.

Our weekend

We had a lovely weekend. Saturday, Randy played paint ball most of the day so that left Lily and me to hang out. Our friends, Staci and her 2 girls and Heather and her little girl came over for a pool party. We also met Joy, Kelsey and Sydney at the pool. The community we live in has a really nice, big pool.
This was Lily's first pool experience and she loved it. She sat in a baby floaty for a while and later we hung out in the baby pool. She enjoyed splashing herself and her cousins Kelsey and Sydney. It was a little more than she could handle since she fell asleep as I was spoon feeding her while we were still at the pool. Saturday night we journeyed to Dave and Sara's new house to play games. Lily entertained everyone for little while then went to bed. This was a good thing since the board games came out. When board games come out the craziness begins! Not only is there way too much trash talk but the guys can never admit when the girls win. It's quite sad. Sara and I have won many, many times against Randy and Dave. Since I am the only one with a blog, the world now knows the girls RULE! hahahahaha to the guys.

We stayed out way too late Saturday night but did fit in a nap before waking Sunday morning bright and early to play in our frisbee tournament. We won the first 2 games! This is even more impressive after you find out we only won, maybe 2 games, all season long. We did lose the 3rd game but the team that beat us won the entire tournament. Needless to say, after 2 hours of sleep and running around for 5ish hours on a hot day we were wiped out and went to bed early.

Splish Splash

Lily likes her bath. I have tried about every possible method for bathing a baby. I've gone through 2 baby bath tubs (first without a incline, second with an incline), bathroom sink, kitchen sink, and last I purchased a ring thing that suctions to the sink/tub. I keep changing because nothing has satisfied me...until now!

It's a laundry basket! It's perfect! A co worker told me about it. I do put a sponge thing in the bottom that prevents her from moving around. It also keeps her toys within reach.

We traveled to SD last weekend. It was nice to see my family. My mom, aunt Joleen and Gram babysat Lily and her cousin Connor while we went to see X-Men with my bro and sis-in-law. Our first movie since Lily was born. We used to be quite the movie goers. Sometimes we saw 2 movies in one day. X-Men gets 2 thumbs up. Next on our list is The DiVinci Code and the Break Up. Stay tuned for more movie reviews.

I'm trying out this video feature. I'll see how it goes...

A new goal...

The longest time in between posts. Sorry Y'all.


Lily is 2 days shy of 7 months. She is sitting up really well. Almost too well, if that's possible. I still put pillows around her since she never fell much. There was no in between stage of sitting with some falls to help her learn. We also tried a sippy cup which she loves. Not so much to drink the water but to chew on the silicone spout. Lily had her first outdoor swing experience last weekend. She enjoyed it so much it almost put her to sleep. For an adult it might sound boring since it almost put her to sleep but as a baby that means it works! Other than watching our baby grow before our eyes we have been slacking a little on home renovations (painting one room=a month long project with a baby), playing frisbee on Sundays and working during the week. Randy is crazy busy with building a rocket and I have been under typical stress at my job. Usually work stress remains in my work building but it's been following me home on occasion. My ideal situation, besides winning the $115 million lottery that I didn't buy tickets for last night, would be a work at home job. I will continue dreaming...

My "first" Mother's Day was lovely. Funny that my mom, in-laws and Randy all said Happy First Mother's Day and gave me presents since they did the same thing last year. No complaints here though! The difference with this year was that Lily also gave me a card and signed it with an outline of her hand. What an amazing 7 month old, goes shopping and uses a pen. :):) Thanks Randy, that was really sweet. Besides spending our lovely day outside playing frisbee we came home and took a nap. All 3 of us and it was at least a 2 hour nap. Sleep/cards/baby=a lovely "first" Mother's Day.

I threw in the towel, or camera in this situation. I took Lily to get professional pictures. It was an experience, let me tell you. First went to Walmart since they had a super cheap package deal. Walked in, first pic taken was cute. Long story short we had to keep that first pic or it would be forever gone. To add to the package since I have an enormously large family, and to take another pic in a different outfit, the costs continued to rise. So...I decided on a whim to do another round of pics at Kiddie Kandids. No Randy wasn't with us or this would have NEVER happened. Kiddie Kandids took some cute pics with props. The photographer was weird, asking why Lily wouldn't look at her. Duh, props all over and she barely whispered her name. I helped out by making noise and jumping around which would have made anyone laugh (at me).

Check these out...



Sorry for the weird photo layout. I can't figure out the picture blogger thing for the life of me.

Green Beans

Hello,
Sorry for the absence...again. Anyway, we back to SD/IA last weekend for a wedding so most of you got an update in person. :)

Lily Update:
She is now 6 months old! Actually tomorrow she will be 6 months and 1 week. She has moved on from orange veggies to green ones and isn't too thrilled. I don't blame her, the only green veggie I really like is broccoli and I didn't even like it until a few years ago.







She has also found her toes and can grab on. Not for too long yet but everytime they are around she reaches for them.








At her appointment yesterday she weighed 16.4 pounds. Right on track. She also got 2 more vaccinations but did great. Cried a little but cheered up for the rest of the night.


To show how much she has grown here is her hospital pic:





And here she is now:

It's 11:30PM Saturday night and I'm blogging. I'm not sad or embarrassed I'm home on a Saturday night but excited I'm still awake! But I have Starbucks to thank. This weekend has been fun but hectic. For example I went grocery shopping after putting Lily to bed tonight. I really didn't want to go but had no other time to shop. I have to prepare food for Easter get togethers tomorrow and have a frisbee game at 10AM. So not only did I grocery shop but also prepared food for the past 2 hours. My husband tried to stay awake but is passed out next to me with 2 sleepy dogs too. In addition to Starbucks I also have to thank my aunt Julie for getting me to blog. She's a loyal reader and I need to keep her entertained with Lily updates.

Speaking of the angel...Lily is doing great. She is rolling tummy to back on both sides now and occasionally back to tummy. She hasn't put them all together to get anywhere but that's probably coming. She did great with her carrots and moved to squash. She makes the bitter beer face but still eats it. Next is sweet potatoes, green veggies then fruit. Our pediatrician recommends that order of introduction to minimize food allergies. She is fascinated watching us eat. It keeps her content for a while. It's been great weather and she loves being outside. I even fed her outside one day since she was not happy with the kitchen for whatever reason. I put her walker chair outside and she watches while I play soccer with Cali (our dog). Another fun thing about warmer weather is less clothes, then we get to see her cute, chubby legs and arms more.

Here are some photos:

Rice cereal, first feeding~

















Carrots~

















Lily and cousin Connor~
















Bath time~

Carrots! This past weekend was filled with carrots! Lily ate her first vegetable and she liked it. She still made a sour face but she kept opening her mouth and actually ate really quick. Carrot covered baby pictures to come in the near future.

Otherwise we had a pretty fun weekend. Randy was busy, again, with home renovations. Kind of feel bad for the guy. He about went nuts yesterday cuz I wouldn't let him use the drill since Lily was sleeping. Everything he needed to do required loud noise and I wasn't about to wake her! I pretty much had to force him to sit down and watch TV for a while.

Yesterday morning was our first ultimate frisbee game. Our last 2 Sunday games were cancelled due to high winds. Imagine that, windy in Colorado. Our friend, Sara, babysat Lily while Randy and I played. Lily enjoyed her time going for walks and hanging with Sara. I can say I enjoyed my first ultimate frisbee game, although got tired of running about 1/2 through. I even dove and caught the disc. Okay I call it a dive, Randy called it something like falling on my knees. Anyhow, I caught the disc and that's all the matters. I was quite proud though since I have witnessed my husband throwing himself on the grass game after game. I thought I was too much of a scaredy cat to dive. In practice I wouldn't think about diving but in yesterday's game I did it and didn't think twice about fracturing something.

Not time to write a lot. The only time, since I'm a great employee, is to write on my lunch break and not during work hours. I'm not the type of person that can get to work early and blog. I have a hard enough time waking up to make it to work exactly at 7:30AM, not a minute early. My 2 alarm clocks don't help since I just shut them off, everyday. A few days this week it was really warm and sunny outside and it's hard to eat lunch at my computer and desk. Therefore no blogging on sunny/warm days. Then other days, like today, I have a lunch date. It's nice to get out of the office and meet my friend, Staci, for lunch but then I don't have time to blog. So if I'm blogging at lunch you know I won't leave my office much, it's cloudy or Staci hasn't asked me to lunch. :) Or...I'm being bad and blogging quickly to say hello before the weekend comes.

I'm here I swear!

Sorry for the long absence. I didn't realize how many folks actually read my blog until they kindly reminded me that I haven't written in some time.

My family had a health scare with my mom. Now we know everything is going to be just fine but it's was really hard to hear that my mom was sick. She means so much to me and is truly an inspiration. I always knew she was a tough cookie but her positive reaction to everything thrown at her is amazing. Not sure where she got the strength but she has more than anyone. With blogging there are certain places to draw the line when writing. Most people that read this are family and friends and understand what has been happening lately. I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. My family comes from a small town and there are many things to complain about with a small town but in this situation a small town is awesome. People pull together and really support each other. I know my mom's house is filled with cards and flowers and people call her all the time. What she doesn't know is how many people are thinking of her that she never met. From my coworkers, Randy's co workers, Lily's babysitter to our friends it really means a lot to have your support. Now go hug your loved ones and let them know how much they mean to you! :) LOVE YA MOM!

Lily Update:
Lily is growing at a astronomical rate. In the past 2 weeks she has cut 2 teeth. Yes, if you read my post about 2 months ago we "thought" she had 2 teeth but we were wrong, very wrong. We're new parents, what do we know anyway? These teeth are definitely there and pretty sharp little boogers. She hasn't acted much differently with teething. Occasionally she won't eat much for a feeding or we will apply Oragel but that's about it.

Two weeks ago she had her first solid food experience. Not solid food as some people may think like apples or meat but solid food that is barely thicker than breast milk. She's been eating this yummy meal (yeah right, rice cereal isn't so yummy) once a day and plan to advance to twice a day soon. She's getting the hang of it and so are we. Again, Randy is the better feeder than myself. But last nights feeding didn't prove this. :) He fed her in her bouncy chair and the bouncing didn't help get food to the place it needed to be.

About a week ago she started rolling over from her back to her tummy. She has rolled tummy to back a few times but nothing that stuck. Now we put her on her back and in seconds she's flipped. It's a truly scary thought!

Lily went on her first airplane trip to Sioux Falls, SD. Randy was busy building a rocket (kind of funny that isn't a joke!) and doing home renovations so I was sole parent for a few days. I was pretty nervous about the plane ride and getting the car seat/stroller/baby through the airport without problems. After careful consideration I opted to leave the stroller at home and use my mom's once we arrived in SD. I baby bjorned her through the airport and it worked really good. A very nice man, in his 50's, sat next to us by choice. He actually should have been across the aisle. He just vacationed with his wife and teen son. He said he always wanted a "Lily" but it never happened. He helped keep her content by loaning his goldfish pretty colored packet for her to smash and drool on. To back up a little, as the plane was taking off she started to fuss pretty good. Not long but long enough for me to start sweating, imagining the whole 1.5 hours would be filled with unhappy baby and mom. But...she ate, then slept and woke up happy with about 30 minutes left. That's when she was entertained with the goldfish. The ride home was even better. Well, that's if I don't count the poop episode. As I was putting her in the bjorn I noticed a spot on the back of her outfit. I knew this spot represented poop that escaped the diaper but I hoped it was just a stain. As I took her out of the bjorn to go through security I found it wasn't a stain but a extremely full diaper that was bursting with liquid brownish poop. Sorry for the details but I need you to really understand what happened. :) The security lady yelled for some napkins which I kindly declined, put on my shoes and grabbed the diaper bag while hustling to the bathroom while my pants were about to fall down. In case you wanted to know I couldn't put on my belt since one hand touched the poo and the other was holding the poo soaked infant. Anyhow, Lily was excellent on the return home flight, slept all but the last 15 minutes then was occupied with the bratty kids in the seat ahead that were beating up on each other and squealing, which was what woke her up to begin with. :)

Just time for a quick post. I was late to work but totally not my fault. The first day of spring in Colorado is filled with slushy roads, blowing snow and bad, bad drivers. My normal bus trip is 25 minutes, today 60 minutes!

Big news! Lily is eating rice cereal! First feeding was Saturday. She did pretty good. Not much cereal probably reached her digestive tract since it was on her bib. She seemed to catch on or maybe Randy was a better feeder than I was. I started out while he took a picture of every spoon to mouth movement. Then we switched and I captured every 2.5 seconds of pictures/movies while he fed her. For whatever reason he can feed her better with a bottle and spoon. I give myself props for breastfeeding but that's it. I have fed a gazillion babies when I worked in the NICU so I know how it works but geez, feeding my own baby is more funny than nutrition filled.

I also went to my friend, Kris' scrap booking get together Saturday night. It was so much fun! I got quite a bit done with Lily's book. I haven't even started her birth yet but getting there! Thanks Kris for being the hostess and providing us with space, awesome creative memories equipment and chocolate covered strawberries!

I won! I won!

I won the leprechaun contest! It's prettier in person but here is the winner:


In case you're dying to know I won a $10 Starbucks card. It will buy me 2.8 marble mocha macchiatos. They're so yummy!

Drink green beer!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Erin Go Braugh! I tend to get pretty "into" St. Paddy's Day since my family is absolutely crazy! Don't want to call my family crazy so I will give a few examples and you can be the judge:

1.) My cousin dyed my dad's and grandpa's hair green.
2.) My family takes off work and goes to the bar at 8AM
3.) My brother made McGuire's (my maiden name) Tavern sweatshirts for the family. (yes, I am wearing it today)
4.) I am wearing green colored contacts.
5.) I got up early to dress Lily in her St. Patrick's Day attire so I could take pictures.
6.) I pinched Randy cuz he wasn't wearing green but was still dressed in his pjs.
7.) I pinched 2 people at work for not wearing green.
8.) I took part in my company's leprechaun decorating contest and enjoyed glittering up my leprechaun.

Okay some of the reasons indicate I may be the crazy one but I swear I get it from my family. And it's my duty to pass it on...


This may be a surprise but I did a whole St. Patrick's Day photo shoot. I included one pic above but if you want the link just email me. I just sent them to my family and to the Dillings since I know they are just as crazy about St. Patrick's Day!

Thanks to Lily's great grandma McGuire for the bib!

We watch too many home decorating shows

Here are before shots:







Dining room before shots:









After many strenuous hours of hard work by me (I mean by my husband):







And dining room almost done shots:

Our sweet baby has a new talent.

Spitting. Yep, she now is spitting and I'm slowing learning not to have my face so close to hers during these spastic arms/legs flailing spit filled moments. I never imagined seeing someone spit would be so much fun. I couldn't wait to tell Randy when he got home from class! I'm a proud momma what can I say!

To keep with my crazy baby theme for this post I have attached a funny picture. I named it rightfully so "Crazy Baby." I just put it on my desk today and it makes me laugh every time I look at it. Her hair is crazy, her eyes are so big and her mouth is opened like she wants to eat you.

As I was falling asleep last night I told myself to bring the camera to work so I could upload pictures of our floors. It was a good thought but for that to happen I would have to be relaxed and sane in the mornings to remember to pack the camera. I never have a calm weekday morning. I will try and post some pictures tonight. Ya know since I'm not busy at all with a 4 month old, a husband, 2 dogs that demand treats/water/outside/attention, a trip to home depot to pick out a kitchen faucet since the 50,000 we examined at Lowe's won't work, additional grocery shopping since I didn't get everything I needed at my Costco and SuperTarget stops last night and make lunches/dinners for the next week. Oh yeah since I will have plenty of time I need to do the laundry that has piled up to the ceiling. If anyone is betting, put your money on me going to Home Depot (since my hubby will enjoy that and we really do need a sink) and me watching American Idol and Real World-Key West. All the other fun things will still be there tomorrow. (I will let the dogs outside, get them water and a few treats as well as play with and feed Lily:)

This past weekend was filled with really hard work. Our new bamboo floors don't lay themselves! A lot of pieces needed to be cut to fit around corners just right. It was so hard and strenuous. Or at least that what it looked like! Lily and I shopped while Randy and his friends installed our new floors. I had it pretty rough. heehee. I am very lucky to have a husband that likes to do things around the house. And the icing on the cake is that he does an excellent job! Thanks baby!

Lily is a wonderful shopping assistant. She slept most of the time but when she was awake she was very happy. When she slept I kept the stroller and car seat covers over her to keep out the mall germs as much as possible. A sales lady asked to peek at her so I pulled back the cover and Lily flashed her an enormously sweet smile. The sales lady said it made her day.

Might sound a little strange but I was excited to feed Lily at the mall. Staci had told me about Nordstrom's nursing lounge and I wanted to see for myself. When I first entered I sat down in a really nice area with a few sofas. I was getting ready to change Lily when I noticed a sign indicating the nursing lounge was in another room. The designated nursing lounge had a sofa and 2 nice chairs and was out of the way of normal bathroom traffic. Plus there was a nice diaper changing area with a sink. It was everything I heard of and more. I never shop there since I don't have $100 to spend on a t-shirt but I will be back to feed my baby there. Hopefully they won't catch on to my secret. I do shop at Nordstrom Rack but don't know if that counts.


Lily's head control is getting better everyday. We decided to try out her walker chair thingy. Not sure what the appropriate name to call this thing is but she likes it. Thanks Grandma McG. for buying it!

We also can put her in the baby bjorn facing out. This is nice since she loves to see everyone. She is also getting a little too social when breastfeeding. She will be eating well, hear a voice and stop and look around for a few minutes. Then back to business until she hears another sound, stops and looks around again. Our feeding times are getting longer and longer.

We got to meet Connor last weekend. He is so cute and very tiny. Lily is twice his size! It will be fun to see them grow up together, being so close in age. My mom has been planning Christmas 2006 since she found out she would have 2 grandbabies. The more I think of it I get excited too. Lily will be over a year and Connor will be 10 months. It will be fun to see them open presents and interact together.

We also visited with all of our family. Even my cousin, Erin, from OH was there. My in-laws live about 15 minutes from my parents so we get to see everyone. Most visits are crazy busy with us driving all over visiting as many family members and friends as possible in 2-3 days. But this visit was different in a very nice way. Everyone came to us! Thank you everyone! We still ran around a little, trying to get equal Lily time between the families but it was worth it. Lily did great on the drive to IA/SD. We left at 10PM and she woke up around her normal morning feeding time which was around Omaha. She ate, we stopped and changed her diaper, let her stretch, then she fussed for 10 minutes and went back to sleep. We planned to drive back to CO on Sunday but left Saturday night instead. Very happy we decided that. I imagine from now on our trips to visit family will be during the night. Sleepy baby is much better than fussy baby. Would you want to sit in a car seat for 9 hours? I wouldn't. I have also mastered the breast pump while traveling. Makes me even happier with our mini van purchase. Haha, I hear the mini van laughs out there. Just wait, I was laughing with you at one time. Mini vans ROCK!

Lily had her 4 month vaccinations yesterday. She was supposed to get them 2 weeks ago but was sick. She did great! I expected a repeat of her 2 month shots where she arched her back, looked directly in my face with that what are you doing to me look. Then was pretty fussy that night. Not this time! She cried for the 3rd and 4th shot but only for a minute. The rest of the night she was happy baby.

During our trip to SD I got to visit with my dear old friends, Kerry and Melissa. I'm not implying they are old in age rather old in terms of how long we have known each other. We can't recall when we first met. Pictures show us together as babies. We all lived on "Kid's Street" in our 500 person town. I have so many stories of the 3 of us that I could post daily for 20 years. Kerry has a 4 year old daughter, Karigan. Karigan is a mini-Kerry, same personality and little quirks. Karigan loved to hold and play with Lily and Lily enjoyed her too. Melissa also has a daughter, Gracie Mae, 7 months old. Gracie was very interested in Lily and Lily was very interested in Gracie's toys! We try to get together yearly for a girl weekend. The first trip was 2 years ago to MN. It was very memorable, at least I think!??! I clearly remember flying back to Denver with a major hang over, keeping the vomit bag close by. Poor Mel (heehee)was working that weekend with her dance studio. She had to wake up early and instruct her teams. Wouldn't have been that awful if we didn't stay up until 4AM drinking and acting like teens ourself. I think one day Mel had to coach at 7AM. Ouch. Last year we met at Kerry's house. We shopped a ton, had a spa day and hung out with Karigan. She introduced us to Free Willy, over and over again. What still blows my mind is that she still watches that movie! This year we will hang out with all of our girls, maybe get in a little shopping but no spa days or karoke bars. Can you see the progression as we get older? From wild drunken weekends to hanging with our kids. None of us would trade that for the world. Plus we always have our MN memories. Don't worry Mel, if you forget like you're known to do, Kerry and I will remind you. :)

I've decided to post pictures!! Yay!! As Staci says "A blog without pictures is one boring blog" or something like that. Probably shouldn't have used quotes, oh well.

I figure pictures like this will keep my readers interested!!!

Sorry for my blogging absence. Last week I was busy with a sick husband and caring for Lily since our babysitter's daughter was sick. I didn't work a lot. :) Plus we drove to IA/SD Wednesday night to visit our families until Sunday. We've been pretty busy!!

Regarding my blogging game, here are the answers:

1. I rode the tilt a whirl at Six Flags for 9 hours for a radio competition but didn't win the final prize. True and very proud of it. Randy also joined in the fun but was the first person off. :) He didn't throw up though. I did win 4 season passes but not the trip to California for the American Idol finals. Oh well!

2. I belong to the mile high club. True, very true. Enough said.

3. We secretly found out Lily's gender but never told anyone. FALSE!!! Our families would have disowned us. Plus I'm not good at keeping secrets.

4. My first car was a 2 toned yellow Ford Fairmont. True. I drove the 3 blocks to my high school and ran out of gas along the way at least once a week.

Thanks for those that played. I guess the right answer was pretty obvious. I still haven't told Melissa she read the rules wrong and that I really didn't know Lily was a girl! Oops. After my co worker, Kim, read it she demanded I tell her which one was false. I think she would have hyperventilated if I did know about Lily and didn't tell anyone. heehee.

Goal Met!!!

2nd Post Today!!
It's so nice here, 58 degrees!

I decided to give my answers on Monday. Just in case anyone else wanted to comment. My fingers are crossed.:)

Lily is doing much better. She hasn't coughed much in the past few days. Her nose is back to normal, sometimes clear and other times snotty.

We've been letting her nap longer in the evenings and she has been a lot more happy from 7-9PM. She continues to wake up around 4AM but also continues to fall back asleep after about 10 minutes.

I just have to say that I'm thankful I'm married and don't have to date. I have 2 friends that are single and experiencing the dating world. It's fun to hear about their first dates and butterflies but when I try to give advice I feel so goofy. I really have no clue, so don't take what I say too serious girls! What do I know anyway, I haven't dated since 1994 and I was 17! Plus what does a 17 year old know about dating! Back then it was a lot of prank calls and drive bys.

Goal: 2 posts today

I know I always start each Friday post saying I love weekends, but I just can't help it. I haven't always understood the importance of a weekend. When I worked 3 12hr shifts at the hospital my days always changed. It wasn't until I worked at the clinic that I had a better understanding. Not a complete understanding since I worked 4 10hr shifts and did call one weekend a month. My current job has provided me with a greater appreciation for a weekend since I work Monday-Friday.

This weekend will be filled with Donny. He arrived last night from California. Donny is one of our college buddies and have known him over a decade. Probably most of the people reading this know Donny. Even if your a stranger to me. Donny knows everyone! His personality is amazing and his ability to strike up a conversation is like no other. One of my fondest memories with Donny, includes Uncle Dillhole as well. We got a little wasted, okay a lot wasted, during one of our ski trips and pretty much terrorized the rest of the condo that was asleep. We were on a rampage. But had so much fun doing it and will always be a memory that can make me laugh out loud. And have the pictures to prove it. Oh those silly ducks.

I also seem to comment about being late to work frequently. I do make up the time and it's usually only 5-10 minutes late. BUT, I have to comment today cuz I was early!! I got to work 15 minutes early. Thanks Randy for feeding Lily!

Why work when one can shop?

Couldn't write at lunch time, had to shop instead! It's so nice working within walking distance to shops. Didn't buy anything but enjoyed escaping my office. It's very nice outside, over 50 degrees. Much better than the single digits that haunted us most of last week. Just to give you all out of staters an idea of this crazy Colorado weather, Sunday until later next week it's expected to be in the 60's! Not a big surprise that everyone around me is sick with the weather going from one extreme to another.

Talk about being sick or in my case staying healthy, I had my first shot of wheat grass today. My friend got one and they had extra so I tried it. Not horrible but the orange slice afterward helped a lot. Sadly but responsibily that was my first shot in well over a year.

Last night was filled with entertaining Lily, baking cookies for her day care and cleaning like a maniac! Lily was a good sport. At one point I put her in a stroller, not the cheap umbrella one and not our big travel system-something in the middle of them. I pushed her around the house as I cleaned. It worked pretty well for a while. Everything works well but there is a stopping point. Or as my husband calls "The hashbrown limit." He is referring to eating but I suppose it works for most anything. It's stopping right before you reach the point of no return. Once Lily starts fussing I know to change her environment before it's out of control. She can take the swing for about 30 minutes, hang out on the pak-n-play changing pad for about 10 minutes and now be strolled around the house for about 20 minutes. It's so not about me anymore.

Our friend, Donny, arrives tonight. He is loads of fun and a very happy person. Can anyone guess what Donny and Randy will be doing tomorrow? Or maybe I should ask if anyone can guess what I'll be doing tomorrow? First answer is DingDing!! snow boarding and second answer is working. Yay for me.

I'm addicted to blogging

I love blogging. If I didn't worry about getting fired from being on the internet I would blog all the time. Including writing on my blog and reading others. It's too much fun. Anyhow, today should be even more fun. Staci invited me to join in a blogging game. I changed it a little. Here are the rules: I give 3 true statements and 1 false statement. You guess the false one. Yes, this means you have to leave a comment. Please! I really enjoy comments. Here goes:

1. I rode the tilt a whirl at Six Flags for 9 hours for a radio competition but didn't win the final prize.

2. I belong to the mile high club.

3. We secretly found out Lily's gender but never told anyone.

4. My first car was a 2 toned yellow Ford Fairmont.

Heehee, I am laughing here in my little office. How much fun can a girl have???!!!!! Comment away!!! I'll post answers Thursday or Friday.

Just a quick update since I surfed the web on my lunch break. :)

I think Lily is doing better. Last night she was fussy around 8PM but I think it was because she didn't take a very long nap in the evening. When she's fussy (not counting when she's sick) it's usually cuz she needs to sleep. Easy to fix, just let her sleep unless it's a hour before bed!!! Ever since last weekend when she was pretty sick she has been waking up around 4AM. Usually we can hear her on the monitor fussing and she will fall back asleep by herself. That first night she was sick I did feed her at 4AM and now it seems like she wants to continue but I sure don't! It's hard when you're used to sleeping most of the night and then all the sudden you're waking up at 4! Not fun when I have to get up at 5:30AM.

Today I had a presentation at work. I was a little nervous since I haven't talked to a group since I taught CPR. At first I could tell my voice was shaky but halfway through I was really enjoying it. My topic might have been a little boring to my co workers but it's what I do and I like it!

Last night when Randy was teaching Lily and I did another photo shoot. I have to do it when Randy's not there or he will make fun of me. He still makes fun of me but it's easier to take when he's not witnessing the photo shoot! She was a good sport! Good thing we have a digital, I think I took about 30 pictures. Only about 4 of them were any good. She's getting good at smiling for the camera but turns her head when I take the picture. I still need to work on that darn scrapbook!

Guess who's 4 months old!

That's right, Miss Lily is 4 months old today. To celebrate, she got a cold and Randy is sick too. Hopefully we can celebrate in a healthy way in a few days. It started last Thursday night and we took her to the pediatrician on Friday. He said it was a cold and we pretty much had to wait it out. We had already been treating her chronic stuffy nose for weeks by raising the head of her bed, using the humidifier nightly and saline drops. Now we added Tylenol and lots of TLC.

Our weekend was filled with lots of couch lounging, walking the baby and watching the Olympics. I am totally into sports I never imagined I would ever like. We watched woman's curling forever and I love to watch Apollo in the short distance speed skating. Besides being sick, Randy's weekend was busy with researching wood floors and counter tops. We decided to do some home improvements with our tax return. Randy is Mr. Handyman and is enjoying this process so far. Hopefully the excitement will continue!

Diapers, this is my next order of discussion today. We have tried them all, Pampers Swaddlers, plain Pampers, Huggies Supreme, plain Huggies and Target brand. Okay, we haven't tried Luvs and likely never will. We love the Swaddlers, they're by far the best. The Target brand actually surprised us and do work pretty well, better than the Huggies anyway. We have purchased the Target brand the last few times since they are half the price of the Swaddlers. But this weekend I purchased the wrong size or at least the higher end of the weight limit and we have had so many blow outs it's crazy. I changed her outfit approximately 2.67 times a day. After we use up these diapers I will be buying the Swaddlers again. Spending a little more money will be worth not cleaning poop from leg crevices, feet and back. Yes, I said her back, somehow the poop moves around and works its way up.

Another funny poop story...I thought she might be getting constipated since I hadn't changed a poopy diaper for 4 diaper changes. This was at the start of our weekend, before the blow outs mentioned above. Anyhow, I kept telling her to poop. She loves to hang out in her birthday suit while chilling on her changing pad in the bathroom. I like to expose her bottom to air to prevent diaper rash. All of the sudden I heard an explosion. She had pooped so much! I had a spare diaper under her but it didn't help at all. Her legs were covered, her feet were covered, the changing pad was covered. Randy came to help but we didn't know where to start. We ended up washing her bottom in the sink which she enjoyed! At least it didn't shoot across the room. Better not jinx myself!

Lily is getting very ticklish and I'm having so much fun with it! I can tickle her neck and she will laugh out loud. If she's like her pops she's in trouble, he's ticklish everywhere. I can just say "tickle, tickle" and he will freak out.

Since I am posting today it's probably obvious that I'm at work. Posting on my lunch hour of course! I noticed the bus lot was really empty, I got a great parking spot and the bus ride was really quick. It wasn't till I got to work that someone mentioned it was President's Day. Why?Why?Why do I have to work today when no one else does? Okay that's a little dramatic, there are people out there working. But still it's not fair. Oh well, guess I'll just enjoy my quick bus ride home.

Oh by the way, Lily's 4 month check up was done last Friday as well. She weighed 13 pounds 14 ounces and was 24 and a quarter inches long! We declined the vaccinations since she was already sick. We'll have to do them in a week or so but it was nice not to deal with her getting poked 4 times! He said she's doing great (which we already knew!)

A story to tell the grandkids...

Since Valentine's Day was yesterday I decided to talk more about my love, Randy. I'm going to start at the beginning. Over a decade ago.

It was a hot and humid summer. I was 17, not a care in the world and working at Vanity. A fun and cool teen girl's clothing store. My paychecks were spent before I could cash them. Randy was 18 and tan. He worked at Charlie's Novelties and Beer Collectibles. Our stores were located in the same mall, 3 stores apart. I had my eye on him. I was single, no harm done. I called him my "Bud Man." Due to the beer collectible part of his job. I had to walk by his store to get to the mall food court. Of course, every time I walked by I would check to see if my "Bud Man" was working. This continued for the beginning of the summer. Then I opened my mouth. I told a co worker, we'll call her Becky, about this hot, drop dead gorgeous guy that worked at Charlie's. My co worker and possibly considered friend, Becky, said she knew him, his name was Randy. She decided to go talk with him, I thought to put in a good word for me. I am still puzzled by the following events that took place. She didn't put in any word of me, instead she bought a beer coozie and got a date with him. Yes, Randy was going on a date with Becky. Anyhow, only one date occured, thank goodness! My mind gets a little blurry, this was almost 12 years ago. I do recall walking by the "Bud Man's" store on one fateful night in June 1994, returning to Vanity from my dinner break. This dark haired and extremely tan fellow said "Hello." From there he asked me to a movie that night. I said no. Wondering why a gal would say no to a guy she dreamed about all summer? I couldn't go out on a date without preparing! I was in work clothes and work hair and work makeup. I needed time to plan! I said yes to dinner and a movie for the next night. I borrowed some clothes from my friend, Mel and met him at the mall. We ate at Garfield's, shared chicken strips and fries. Our first movie was "True Lies." If anyone has heard us talk about this night we tend to argue about what happened at the end of the movie. I'm the girl, girls remember everything. As the credits rolled and people were leaving, Randy leaned over and kissed me. Not a peck on the cheek but a full fledged kiss. It definitely took me by surprise! After that night we were inseparable. He left for college about a month later, I followed him to college a year later, we moved in together 4 years later, got married 6 years later and had a baby 11 years later. That's our story. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is a strange day. I like it Valentine's Day and I hate it. Why pick one day a year to really show someone you care. What about the other 364 days? Why buy really, really expensive flowers today when you can get three times the flowers for less money tomorrow?

My day started off like normal, I woke up late. I normally have 2 alarms but forgot to set the second one. I woke up when I should have been leaving for the bus. Oops! In my morning rush I found a card from my husband. He picks some great cards but what was better were the things he wrote. Very sweet and touching. Of course I cried, silly people. I always cry! Tonight will be our usual routine of hanging out. I couldn't be happier! That's what I love, the 3 of us together, doing nothing.

Last night Miss Lily...rolled over 3 times. Yes, I said 3 times! She was naked on her tummy (before bath time:) rolled over and smiled really big. Then again and finally I got the camera out and she cooperated with the 3rd roll. Two teeth and rolling, that's our big girl.

I have been so busy working I forgot to take my lunch break. That's why I am posting at 3:30PM. I don't get my normal hour since I have to make up for my tardiness this morning. :)

My mom sent Lily a ducky toy that makes quack-quack noises. At first she liked it but now when she hears the quack-quack she starts to stick her bottom lip out like she will cry. I remove the ducky from her view so she doesn't end up crying but it's kind of funny how something can elicit that response and it's only a ducky! Thanks anyway mom!

Reflect on the past, look ahead to the next...

I'm talking about weekends! I love'em! Randy and I decided someday when we have the means, we will take Mondays off. I can't wait! Might not be for another 10 years but still, I imagine when that day comes it will be awesome.

This past weekend was nice, peaceful, quiet. We hung out a lot. Did the usual cleaning, laundry, cooking, errands but mostly we relaxed. Watched the Olympics which Lily really enjoys. Randy decided her future...gold medalist in snowboarding and first female on Mars. Not too much expected, huh??

Lily is really what her middle name is all about...Joy! We had a lot of fun this weekend. She's chatting up a storm, getting louder and louder. She's chewing on her fingers so much they are red! We can definitely see 2 teeth but she hasn't acted fussy like that night we first noticed them.

My boss has 2 kids and decided that's enough. Him and his wife have been very gracious and gave us a ton of baby stuff including a bassinet, mobile, baby sling and as of yesterday-toys! We picked up a few bigger toys, one is a tigger ride thingy and another is some big contraption that is very bright and has interesting nooks and crannys. Another was a mirror with bright colors, that thing entertained her for at least a 1/2 hour! Nice to get toys, especially free toys. Now we just need to figure out where to put them all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY NIECE, KELSEY!! It's her 10th birthday on the 10th! Her Golden Birthday! Last night we went out to dinner with the family to celebrate. Then we went to SIL's house, gave Kelsey her presents, watched Beauty and the Geek, sang Happy Birthday and made it home in time for Lily's 9PM feeding. It was a lot of fun. Lily was in a great mood, smiley and just very content. I took a lot of pictures, a cute one was the in-laws lying on an air mattress with Lily, all 3 watching tv. I'm glad she was in such a good mood since it was the last night the in-laws were staying. They are driving home today and I know they will be sad to leave her.

My nephew is doing well. Last night was their first night home. I'll have to call later to see how things went. It's scary to not have the nursing staff around 24 hours! My mom figured out her digital camera and emailed pictures. He's a cutie pie!

Randy and I have a date tonight with our couch. Probably not till after Lily goes to sleep since we have to entertain and keep her awake till 9PM. We taped all of our weekly shows and have to catch up.

It snowed last night and my bus ride was 45 minutes, 15 extra minutes. Ugh! Normally I don't mind cuz I can cat nap but today I was holding a coffee drink and didn't want to fall asleep and spill it. People are grumpy on the bus as it is and would be even more if I spilled on them!

We invested in some Oragel and a teether. Lily really liked chomping on it, especially when it was cold. I also purchased a nursing privacy wrap. It was $10 at Target and I knew I had to feed Lily at the restuarant last night. I have fed her in public before, always with a blanket covering and as out of the way as possible. I'm not 100% comfortable with it but that's not the important part, it's feeding her that matters. We could give her a bottle but since we're in public I don't get to pump, have to warm up milk and well, it's just easier to breast feed. At my husband's x-mass party I was feeding her when she threw up... a lot. She kind of gagged and I had to act fast. I didn't realize till after I cleaned up her mouth that I totally exposed my breast. Not sure who saw, no one said anything. It was a brief flashing, but still a flashing. Hence the need for a privacy wrap. It worked pretty well. Probably shouldn't have pulled it out of the box and used it for the first time in public. It will take a few times getting used to but should come in handy.

Lily came to work!

My in-laws, Randy and Lily came downtown to eat lunch with me. After lunch I brought her around my office to show off. She changed back and forth between being smiley and fussy so she didn't stay long. My co workers enjoyed seeing her though. I last showed her off when she was 8 weeks old and she slept the whole time. At least this time she was wide awake. We ate at Blake Street Tavern. Mainly bar atmosphere, not smokey at all for the lunch hour and really good food.

Last night Lily was pretty fussy. She had the cry where something was wrong, like she was sick. At one point my SIL and I saw inside her mouth during a cry and we both saw 2 whitish teethlike areas. I've been feeling for teeth for the past 2 weeks since she's turned into a waterfall with drooling. Still can't feel any teeth but they seem to be making an appearance. Makes sense why she would be fussy. Plus she comps on her hands all the time. I'll be investing in some oragel and teethers soon!

New Mom Syndrome

I want to talk a little about new mom syndrome. I have it, I completely admit it. Will it ever go away? Will a second kid help? My friend, Staci, is my mommy idol. She is very laid back with her 2 girls. I am not that way. When it comes to Lily I want to protect her. I know this could be dangerous. I don't want to overprotect her, she needs to experience life without me looking over her shoulder all the time.

My first new mommy issue is handwashing. Is it really that hard to wash your hands before holding a baby? This is my dilemnia...in my mind it's not hard but I get very uptight when others don't wash their hands or think they don't need to when asked. Do I need to take it down an notch and hope they didn't just pick a booger before holding Lily? And what if they just picked a booger, would it really hurt her? Now if someone is sick, yes, it's very important to wash their hands. But she's getting older and maybe strict hand washing isn't such a necessity. Her immune system is up and running unlike when she was first born.

Just to give my background and try to make you understand why I'm so anal about hand washing. :) I used to work in the NICU and had to instruct families ALL the time to wash up before visiting their premature and/or sick babies. Even though they just walked past the sink with a huge sign reminding them to wash. As I'm writing this I am adding another reason to change my strict hand washing mind set. Lily isn't a sick (besides chronic boogers) or premature baby.

Another smaller new mommy issue--I don't think anyone but Randy or I can take care of her. I'm learning a lesson on that one! Not only does our babysitter do great with her but with my in-laws watching her this week I realize others really do know how! I should have caught onto this sooner since our babysitter has been doing her job for 20+ years and my MIL has 3 kids and 6 grandkids. Everyone is probably thinking what does she know? It's her first baby! Anyhow, I now realize it's about letting go. I could totally write a book about how to care for Lily- what position to burp her, when to do tummy time, etc. If you've dog sat for us you've seen our lists. They get pretty long and that's only for our dogs! I know other people can handle her just fine. Big deal if things aren't done MY way, my lesson learned is that other people love her and take great care of her.

I fully admit to new mommy syndrome and admission of the problem is the first step to recovery, right?? I will add that to my New Year's Resolutions (never too late for resolutions!) and try to rid myself of being overly anal!

We don't have a Dylan...

We have a Connor!! My new nephew was born last night, weighed 6lbs 11oz and was 19.5 inches long. He has lots of brown hair. I haven't seen pictures yet but my mom is working on it. Okay, I was very wrong with his name. Randy and I tossed around Connor once or twice so good thing we didn't pick it! I really liked Cooper so it would be cute to have cousins named Cooper and Connor.

Last night was family filled with my in-laws and BIL/SIL and their 3 kiddos. We had dinner and then the girls, minus Lily and I, went shopping. Don't get me wrong I love shopping but after a day's work I was too tired. The guys, Lily and I stayed home and watched tv on our big screen. My BIL loves sports and since we have a big tv we used to watch a lot of Hawkeye football at our house. Unfortunately I had to ban my BIL from watching it at our house. He's quite the "talker" even though the referees and players can't hear him! He's getting better so I might have to un-ban him!

My niece, Kelsey, is turning 10 on Friday. I always want to be the aunt that buys fun things for birthdays. I try not to buy clothes since kids don't get too excited about clothes. I love when they are too young to notice, then I buy them since I love shopping for cute little outfits. But now she's growing up and a little more into clothes. I decided to buy a toy and an outfit. It's funny how kids are these days, it seems easier to just give them money which they would love, but where's the fun in that?? I might give them money for Valentine's Day. The only other option is candy really and that's not the greatest gift to give.

After the first of the year, Randy and I started a budget. We tried budgeting before but this is different. We figured out how much went to bills, house, etc. and then set up different amounts to be spent on groceries, gas, misc., etc. It's hard but fun at the same time. Like a little challenge to spend within our means! It really is true that you spend what you make. Or occasionally spend more, hence the budget!

Lily has been laughing a lot lately. Grandma McE. can really get her going. It's been nice having them watch her during the day. Tomorrow the plan is to visit me at work with Lily and go to lunch. I am very excited about it!

"Dylan's" Birthday

Today is the induction for my bro and SIL to have their little boy. We will have a new nephew today!! They started at 8AM, central time. I will write back when I hear the big news!!!

Last night we went to my oldest nephew's band concert. It was fun to see 6th graders learning to play. He's pretty shy and we were waving like dorks trying to get him to wave back. He finally saw us and gave us a very discreet wave. Enough to satisfy us anyway!

On my husband's side we have 2 nephews and 3 nieces. "Dylan" will be our first on my side. We have enjoyed watching our nieces and nephews grow up. I have been with my husband since Payton, our oldest nephew, was 2 months old. I am happy I could be there to see them all from the beginning. They don't know life without Randy and I together. Kelsey, my almost 10 year old niece, once said she didn't think we'd ever have kids. Little did she know I was newly pregnant when she said it! They were quite excited, especially Kelsey. She was very attentive to my growing belly and they all nicknamed the baby "Fartso." They were also very excited once she was born and were even right outside the room when we delivered Lily. Now it's old news and the excitement is pretty much gone. Once Lily is responding more to people, laughing more and getting mobile I think they will take another interest.

Lily did well at the band concert. She started getting fussy after 30 minutes but was happy to be walked around. Grandma McE. was more than happy to hold her and walk her. I was a little worried about the noise, if the concert would be too loud. It wasn't at all. Plus she's used to some loud noises since we have dogs that bark for no reason and we even vaccuum under her while she's asleep in the swing.

My poor husband...he's a Seahawk's fan...enough said. We're big superbowl party hosts and have been for years. This year was a family party since the in-laws arrived and SIL and BIL with 3 kids came over. I am not a Seahawk fan but as a supportive wife I do feel bad for my hubby.

My weekend was filled up with cleaning but my house doesn't seem that clean. Not sure how that happened. On Friday night we went out on a date!! We dropped our 2nd cat, Holly, off at our friend's house. She was exploring the whole time we were there. Our friend, Money, was very excited to get her so that helps me adjust. Then we went out to dinner. It was fun to be alone together. I also had my first strawberry daquiri for over a year. It was yummy! My SIL reported a fun night babysitting so overall it was a great first date.

On Saturday we went to our niece's basketball game. She's 8 so it was very entertaining! The kids would double dribble and seriously run with the ball in their hands. Quite hilarious! Saturday night we went to our friend's house for board games, food and drinks. Not sure if it's because half the people are astrophysicists or something else but they like to play "weird" games. I normally reject trying these "weird" games and opt for Cranium, Taboo, etc. We had fun as always and the girls beat the guys in Taboo pretty bad. Lily did great, she went to sleep at their house at her normal bed time and slept through the ride home at 2AM and transfer to her crib. It was a little rough when she woke up for her normal feeding at 6AM and I only had a few hours of sleep but we made it.

Lily was very happy when her grandparents arrived. She laughed quite a bit for them. She is home with them today and probably will be for the rest of this week. Maybe I can talk them into visiting me at lunch time so I can see her during the day!

I think I fixed it...

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I LOVE Fridays!

Thursday nights are generally fun, we have a few really good shows we like to watch and pretty much "veg" out. Our Thursday night shows include The OC, Beauty and the Geek and now Survivor. Thank goodness for DVR. Anyhow, last night was pretty relaxing, just the 3 of us hanging out.

We're noticing Lily's eyes are changing. They have a hint of brown to them. Before they have been various shades of grey with a hint of blue. Before ya know it we will have a brown eyed girl. She officially has the bald spot on the back of her head. A few weeks ago when we first noticed it wasn't so bad. Since her hair is pretty long we did a comb over and it covered the bald spot well. Now it's bigger and very obvious. Mostly since her hair is dark and the bald spot is white. We noticed a hint of baldness on the left side of her head too! At least her head is nicely shaped. Randy worried about her head shape since his is kind of flat in the back. I never really noticed it until he shaved his head completely about 3 years ago. It was alcohol induced and I can home from working the night shift to see this white bare head poking up from under the covers. It was a sight to see!

Tomorrow night we are getting together with friends to play board games. We do this pretty often and have a lot of fun. Most have little girls, no boys yet, so it's become a family/friend gathering. I tend to have a little competitive side and with Randy's trash talking, it gets interesting!

Randy took the 6AM feeding this morning so when I woke up (late) for work I found him in the recliner with Lily sleeping on his chest. Very sweet. They had a big comfy blanket keeping them warm.

Is it really Thursday??

Seems like this week has taken forever! Only one more day till the weekend! We have a lot to do this weekend. Randy has projects, I need to do Lily's scrapbook. Most importantly spend time staring at our little girl. She is so darn sweet. She is starting to hold onto toys. We will put a toy out in front of her and she will try and touch it, occasionally grabbing hold. She even did a switcharoo, from one hand to the other.

For those of you that don't know we are giving our cats away. Kiki has been in her new home for a while now. We keep in contact with her new owner and sounds like Kiki really likes it there. To top it off it sounds like her new owner really likes her too! Holly's departure was delayed and as Randy informs me will be in the very near future. Saying goodbye to both cats is hard, Kiki was difficult since i had her for 11 years but I knew it had to be done since she was marking her territory in spots where Lily had laid. Holly is very sweet, bulimic, but sweet. The dogs have really enjoyed her bouts of puking but it's wearing on the ones who clean up, mostly Randy. :) Our goal is to have a cat free house. This will be really great when our family and friends that are allergic come to visit. So get visiting people!

Lily still has a boogery nose. I think she holds the world's record for having a snotty nose. Most likely it's because of day care. It's too bad she is exposed so young but at the same time it's good for her to be exposed and build up her immunity.

Just a reminder that Randy's rocket is set for launch on August 22, 2006 in New Mexico!! Sounds like a lot of people will be making the trip so it will be a lot of fun. There are tons of hotels and even campgrounds so if anyone is interested, come on down!

Okay I remembered one really, really important thing I need to do this weekend and it is...Thank you cards! I have been really bad and want to apologize to everyone! We are very grateful for all her adorable outfits, books, toys, etc. but I just can't get my act together. Unfortunately, guys don't seem to do Thank you cards. What's with that??? Kind of like remembering birthdays and anniversaries, I'm told those are girl things! Which I am pretty good about with the exception of my father in law's last birthday. Which I am still SO sorry about!! Anyhow my goal is to finish the thank you cards. I tried to think of lots of acceptable excuses, in the very beginning-- I used the excuse of having a newborn and that my spare time was filled with sleep. Pretty understandable, right? Then as she got older I figured returning to work AND having a baby was a good excuse. Then last night I thought of the best excuse....I could say I had the thank you cards all ready to be mailed but then Lily threw up on them ALL. But she didn't. So again sorry to all and the thank you is in the mail, on Monday!!!

So much for writing daily!

Okay, so I haven't been so good about keeping my blog up to date. My lovely husband reminded me to write today. Sorry for anyone that checks daily, if there is anyone that checks daily!! Our weekend went well, it was fun to spend time with Dilling, or uncle Dillhole as I now call him. I think he took more Lily pictures than I did! Monday I stayed home from work and was able to spend all day with Lily. It was very nice but also reminded me of what I miss Monday-Friday. I fooled myself into thinking that returning to work would be okay. Doesn't seem so easy these days. I have a DVD of Lily cooing and smiling that I watch all the time at work.

Lily continues to sleep through the night!! Yay! She has her dad's sleep habit of falling asleep early in the night. Cute story...last night I was in our bathroom dyeing my hair and Randy was keeping Lily entertained or so I thought...I found them both sound asleep on our bedroom floor with the space heater keeping them nice and toasty!

By the way for those that haven't seen me for a while I am now a brunette! It's fun but I will be returning to blondish hair in the near future.

My in-laws are coming to visit this Sunday. The only time they saw Lily was a few days over Thanksgiving. I hope I get to see her that week they are here! Not sure they will let her go once she smiles at them!

We will be traveling back to the midwest in early March. My nephew (who I named Dylan but they aren't sharing his name just yet) is due to be born on Feb. 6 and we will need to introduce Lily to her new cousin. My older bro called last night and said my sis-in-law was having some contractions but was still smiling. Unfortunately I didn't help much since I told him the same thing happended to us but the contractions stopped after 6 hours and I still needed to be induced 11 days late!!! I told him when he calls from now on, the first words need to be baby or no baby, even before "hello." I learned that quick with my mom. For the longest time my mom wanted grandchildren and now she is getting 2 within a few months!

My sister in law (Randy's sis) has offered her babysitting services this weekend. We might be having a date night but no definite plans. We'll see if we can leave her for the first time for a date!