1st Haircut!!

Back home in Indiana, I went to the same hair dresser (Mariana) for a LONG time.  She did my hair for my first Freshman dance and I stayed with her until she did my hair for my wedding.  In Illinois I haven't found anyone to replace her.  I'm always happy when I can find time in my visits home to go back to her and get a good haircut. 

The timing worked out well over Christmas because I got a much needed haircut and Lily got her FIRST hair cut!  Lily went first and did very well.  She was a little squirmy, so poor Mariana had to bend and twist all around to finish the cut.  A few little snips made her look so much older!

When it was Mommy's turn, Lily helped wash my hair.  She's very into bubbles right now!

More Christmas Photos

I found a few more Christmas photos that I wanted to share.

We put this one on our Christmas card to help announce the new baby and that Lily will be a Big Sis.  I haven't gotten her to smile that well in a long time.  She was playing peak-a-boo under Daddy's hat and I snapped the picture at the perfect time.

On Christmas Eve.  Looking at Lily pictures/videos on Papa's phone

Christmas Eve with Uncle Matt

Taking care of her new baby (one of her favorite Christmas presents)

Christmas Day, in her pretty dress, playing with my Aunt's cat.  Cats usually run away from Lily, but this one stayed around for a little while (and then ran away!)

Christmas Day with cousin Allyson.  Lily loves it when she's around!

Big Girl Bed

I knew this day would come, but I thought it would be a few months from now.  Not one week after her 2nd Birthday!  On Sunday night, Lily climbed out of her crib.  So Monday morning we bought a twin mattress and set up her Big Girl bed.  I've been very anxious about saying goodbye to the crib, because I thought it would mean saying goodbye to naps.  But (knock on wood) so far, so good.

On Sunday night, she climbed out around 8:30 pm (shortly after being put to bed).  Luckily, there was no thud and she didn't hurt herself.  We just heard her knocking on the door and called for us.  The timing was weird because we had just been mattress shopping earlier that day, but hadn't bought anything since it was our first day shopping and thought we'd have more time to look.  So Sunday night we scrambled to get her crib taken apart and just put the crib mattress on the floor.  It took some convincing, but she finally fell asleep at 9:30 pm and slept all night until 7:30 am (her usual wake up time).  Not too bad for the first night.

Sunday night/Monday morning we made a quick decision on which mattress to buy and Lily and I went to the store when it opened.  I brought it home in the SUV and set it up by nap time.  She really likes the new bed and especially her princess sheets.  At 1 pm, she told me "I go night, night".  I fully expected her to spring back up 5 minutes later, but instead was shocked when she slept until 3 pm.

Last night, to avoid a fight at bedtime, we let her stay up and play in the living room until she showed signs of being tired.... which was 9 pm.  A later bedtime that I'd like, but better than 9:30 the night before.  She went down without a problem.  Around 2:30 am I heard her wide awake, talking to her friends (she sleeps with about 10 animals/babies).  She was also messing with the light switch since she can apparently reach that while standing on her bed.  I went into her room, found her pacifier for her, changed her diaper, and told her to go back to bed.  It took about 30 minutes of laying there and talking to her friends, but she finally went back to bed and slept until 9 am.  I'd consider that a pretty successful 2nd night.

Today, nap was only 1 hour, but at least she still took one and it didn't involve a battle.  We'll see how bedtime goes tonight and maybe I can eventually get her back to a 7 or 8 pm bedtime.  I guess as long as she sleeps 11-12 hours, I won't worry too much about the start and end times.  And I'll keep crossing my fingers that nap time sticks around for a while longer.  That's my only time to get stuff done.... and sometimes Mommy needs a nap too. :)

It finally hit me that my Baby Girl is basically a Big Girl now.  Diapers and her pacifier are really the only two "baby" things she has left.  In the last month we packed away her high chair, packed away the crib, rotated her car seat to be forward facing instead of reverse, and switched from whole to 2% milk (not as big of a milestone, but still counts).  Everyone says that "time flies" and I feel like it goes even faster with kids.  The last 2 years have been blur... but a very happy and exciting one.  When the next baby is born, I'm guessing his/her first 2 years will seem even faster since it will be a bit more hectic.  I hope I can enjoy each day as it comes and savor all the special moments for Pumpkin like I did for Lily.

Happy Birthday to Lily!

Christmas 2011

I'd like to get Christmas posted before I move on to Lily's 2nd Birthday (which was yesterday).  Here are a few pictures from Christmas weekend in Indiana.  It was very nice to spend time as a family and Lily had lots of fun with opening presents, dancing to all the Christmas decorations that make fun noise.

Christmas Eve with Mommy

 Our very good present opener

Coloring at her new art desk from Grandma and Papa

 Chrismas dinner: hummus!

Playing by the tree.  Pigtails are long gone.

Family photo on Papa's Birthday

Popcicle!!  Lily's favorite treat :)



Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

We had a great time over Thanksgiving weekend.  We celebrated in Illinois with Matt's parents & siblings.  Matt's two brothers live in AZ and CA, so it was great to all be together.  Matt's older brother, Jason, and wife Millie had their first child in October.  This was our first chance to see Charlotte (aka "Baby CeeCee") in person!!  She is VERY cute and she did great on her first plane ride.

Lily was excited to see her Uncles, Aunt, and new cousin.  She could all them all by name because we practiced for several weeks.  "Millie" is tough to say, so Lily called her "Auntie Meme".  I think her favorite phrase over the weekend was "Auntie Meme, where Baby CeeCee be?"  It was so cute!

All of a sudden, Lily has started putting words together to form sentences!  I'm getting good at understanding her and her pronunciation is improving too.  To my astonishment, she's also using "please" and "thank you" without being prompted.  She is such a sweetie!!

Lily meeting CeeCee for the first time!

Thanksgiving Day... being silly with Daddy

Family photo of Aunt Millie, Uncle Jason, and CeeCee.  This 6 week old baby had a very cute dress for her first Thanksgiving.

Lily, watching CeeCee sleep

On the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, the ladies (including Lily) attended a bridal shower for one of Matt's cousins.  It was nice to see family that we normally don't get to see.  Lily made an instant friend with her cousin Carlie.  Lily dragged her around the room and told her stories, which of course Carlie couldn't understand.  She was nice about it and I'm sure she was glad to not be the youngest at the shower.

After the shower we went back to Nana and Grandpa's house.  They had their Christmas tree up and showed Lily the ornaments that play music.  I think Lily stood their for a solid 20 minutes playing the songs over and over!

Nana and Lily

Lily and CeeCee again.

Lily kept wanting to touch the baby, but we only let her pat her head.  Lily was nice and gentle.  I think she'll be even better in May when she becomes a big sister.

Close up of CeeCee.  She has so much hair!!

Uncle Mike's Birthday was Sunday and Daddy's Birthday is 12/1, so we had dinner, cannoli's, and presents to celebrate.  Lily was good at opening presents.  She's going to have LOTS of fun this Christmas :)

An extra pumpkin in our patch

To reward those who still read our blog, here's some news that hasn't hit facebook yet....

One pumpkin for each of us: Dad, Mom, Lily, and BABY!!

We are expecting our second bundle of joy on May 29, 2012.

This past weekend we went for my first prenatal doctor's visit and got to see "Pumpkin" for the first time.  The doctor heard the heartbeat and said everything looks good.  Although, he/she was hard to measure because he/she was flipping the whole time.  This is such an amazing process and we are so happy to be experiencing it again.