Lilly 10 months

This post is coming a few days late...we have been in survival mode this week.  Lilly learned to pull up the day after she turned 9 months old and she isn't slowing down.  Lilly has added a couple of words to her vocabulary this month.  "Up, up, up" is one of her new favorite phrases to say.  This month Lilly is okay having dairy through breast milk!  Yay!  This has been a game changer with nursing.  It's so nice to be able to have food at group events again.  This past week I took Lilly to the doctor to get her eye checked out, it was a bit gunky with a foul odor.  Never would I have guessed that she would leave the appointment with a diagnosis of ear and sinus infections and have to be on her very first antibiotic.  I was hoping we could avoid these for a bit longer, but when baby is sick you do what the doctor recommends.  Lilly started having fevers around 24 hours after starting the antibiotic, which I found a bit strange seeing that she had not had any prior.  After four days on the antibiotic and three days with fevers Lilly developed a rash.  Most likely an allergic reaction to Penicillin.  No big surprise there as Tyler and I are both allergic.  Poor kid, with her parents genes she may end up with quit the list of allergies.  So back to the doctor she went today.  They had to draw a bit of blood and Lilly was "very brave", as her cousin Jacob would say.  She did not fuss at all..definitely one of those that was harder on momma.  With a new antibiotic we are hoping we will make a turnaround soon.  

Lilly 9 months

This was a very fun month for us!  Lilly started saying MAMA, and she uses it several times a day to get my attention.  Lilly has two more bottom teeth, for a total of four on top and four on bottom.  Lilly's personality continues to shine; she is an easy going, loving, talkative, LOUD, happy, sweet, attention loving girl.  She has been quite the momma's girl this month (mostly in the morning and before bed), but is still happy to be held by anyone. Lilly learned to clap, wave bye-bye and CRAWL this month.  She is getting around quicker by the day.   Lilly has formed quite the attachment to Tyler's old baby doll.  She loves reading; we read between 5-15 books every morning after nursing, we also go to story time on Thursday mornings.  I do believe she is going to be quite the chatter box.  She has already begun to mock words Tyler and I say.  We are still working on getting up to three meals a day, Lilly is content with just milk.  I have introduced Lilly to the potty, in hopes that when the time comes it will make the transition a little easier.  I would REALLY like to have her potty trained before (if ) we have another little one.  We had her nine month checkup this morning and she is PERFECT :).  She weighs 18 lbs 8 oz and is 28.5 inches long.  Grow baby grow!  This month pictures were more difficult to take, she is a baby on the move!

 

Honey and Poppa

Honey and Poppa came to visit this past Thursday for a long weekend.  Friday we all went to Tate Farms to pick out a pumpkin.  Honey did a lot of painting for us while she was here.  Our doors look so much better, thank you!  Poppa and Tyler helped some of our friends from our missional community move.  All while Lilly and I stayed indoors with a cold and watched a bit of football.  Honey and Poppa were able to attend church with us for the first time, and after we went to lunch!  We love having them visit.  I REALLY wish most weeks that we had at least one family member closer.  I have tried getting almost all of my family to leave NC to no avail.  Maybe soon?

Lilly 8 months

Just like that we are 2/3 of the way through Lilly's first year!  What a busy month we had.  Tyler was out of town this month for work, so Nana came and spent a week with us.  It was wonderful having her.  Lilly attended her first Auburn football game where she caught her first stomach virus (Mama and Dada also had it!).  My mother, Nanny, and my cousin, Stephanie, came for a visit from NC.  They caught the stomach virus from us, sorry guys! It was so wonderful to see my mom.  Lilly loved every minute with her Nanny, we all wish we could see you more.  Lilly got two more teeth this month, thats six total...slow down little one.  This month Lilly began rolling her wrists, pulling up, pushing up to all fours, turning 360 on her bottom, going from seated position to tummy, started creeping, and scoots backwards.  Our little one is so ready to be on the move and shows her frustration when she isn't getting what she wants.  We love you sweet girl.  I have a feeling you are going to give Mama a run for her money over this month.  :)

Lilly Brag Post

I'm pretty sure we have the easiest baby there ever was.  I sometimes forget how easy it has been adjusting to parenthood with such an easy going bundle of joy.  Lilly has been sleeping 12 hours through the night since she was 13 weeks old, but if we need to keep her out late, she's perfect.  She only cries when she bumps her head on something or isn't feeling well.  Lilly has the most contagious smile. She loves Tyler and I, but never puts up a fuss to go spend time with anyone, so far she hasn't met a stranger.  We started BSF a few weeks back and every week when I go pick Lilly up from the nursery (6-12 months) her teachers want to know if Lilly has siblings.  There is no way an only child can be content just sitting on the floor for two hours?? Today when I went to pick her up she was sitting on the blanket playing with a ball and a toy, apparently how she had been the entire lesson.  Per usual I get the same comments/questions: is she the only child, is she always so content, she is so happy if you just sit her down and let her play, you should have another!  I love my happy baby!  My only concern is that she could potentially get less attention in situations, because it's easy to forget about her when she is much less "needy" than other children, but hey that's what I'm here for...to give her my undivided attention.  That's the wonderful thing about having an only child, at least for now.


Update:

I am no longer doing the couch to 5K.  After completing 6 weeks my knees were giving me a lot of problems.  The OHOH 5K was canceled in September.  I am now back to doing group fitness to try and tone up this postpartum body.  I am back down to 115 pounds (wasn't sure how long that would take seeing I ended up at 160), only 10 more to go to be back to my pre pregnancy weight.  I can wear my size 0 (NEVER thought I would be in those again), pre pregnancy, clothes again!  I can't imagine as long as I'm nursing that I will lose much of the last 10 pounds, but who knows.

My goal this week has been to be intentional about planning my weeks.  Each week I wish to include: BSF, grocery shopping, exercise, story time at the library, a play date and of course the usual list of chores.  Organization has never been a strong suit for me, so learning how to be a SAHM and be productive is proving to be most difficult.  Thankfully my husband shows me A LOT of grace!!

Told you guys this was a brag post. :)

Lilly 6 month pictures

I'm a little late, seeing that in two weeks Lilly will be 8 months old (REALLY, 8 months?!), but here are a few of my favorite shots from her 6 month session!

Ladies Night

Friday night we had a Ladies Night Out at our church, and I am so glad I made it.  It was a night full of worship, community, and the chance to listen to our lead teaching Pastor's wife, Brandi, speak on God's grace.  Brandi did a phenomenal job!  Her talk was on Isaiah 6:1-8.  What I enjoyed most about her speech was that she tied in Luke 5.

"5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything.  But because you say, so I will let down the nets." 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!""

One of our table discussion questions was " How are God's holiness and his grace intertwined? And why do we need to see God's holiness in order to see his grace? LOVED this

The night was so good for my soul.

P.S. Tyler kept Lilly all day Friday!  I was able to get out for a massage that morning and Ladies Night.  I think I will keep him ;).

Lilly 7 Months

August was a busy month for our family.  I will try and post an update of life later today, or this week.  For now here's a little about Lilly over the past month.

What a wonderful month we have had!  It is so hard to believe Lilly is already 7 months old, I seriously feel like she was born yesterday..I know all mom's say this! This was a big month.  Lilly learned her first words, or at lease her dad and I think they are words.  When we are out shopping she looks at everyone and will say "HEY".   So adorable she is a social butterfly.  She also is a fan of saying Dada.  It started off as a babble, but now when she sees Tyler she will greet him with a big Dada.  I'm a little jealous that she didn't say Mama first, but it's so incredibly adorable that I'm only slightly jealous. Lilly learned to drink from a sippy cup, but she is still not a fan of solid foods. I have started doing baby led weaning.  I cut up strips of baby appropriate food and let her eat at her own pace; sometimes she eats nothing and just explores the food.  Lilly was not a huge fan of puree's so I'm hoping this helps the transition from nursing to solids (I'm in no hurry to give up nursing).  Lilly has TWO new teeth!  That's four total, and two more on top look like they are close to making their appearance.  Also, after taking a beach trip with our nieces and nephew a couple of weeks ago Lilly found a new fascination.  She loves all big kids, she thinks they are the coolest and is ready to be one.  This Mama is glad she is still little for awhile.

GI visit

For those that may not know, Lilly has a dairy/soy allergy that was diagnosed when she was 6 weeks old.  Over the past several months I have had to cut out the top 8 allergens and corn.  Today was our first visit with a local GI specialist and we received the best report we could have!

First off, Lilly's poop was negative for occult blood (the first time since she was born)!!!!!  This was enough to make me jump with joy. Secondly, they told me that I could add back food groups to my diet just to wait and add dairy and soy closer to her first birthday, since there was obvious discomfort and many symptoms from these two.  You mean I can actually eat peanut butter again!?!?  Ah-what a relief! 

I can not tell anyone how hard eating an allergy free diet over the past 6 months has been, but so worth it for L.  I can't imagine trying to raise a child with so many sensitivities to food.  It is especially hard when you live in a culture that associates food with everything!  I can't wait until we can add dairy back, but for now there are plenty of alternatives to dairy and soy!  Being able to use eggs and gluten again will make baking so much easier! Gluten free baking is no fun!  

The doctor was also concerned that I was not giving my 6 month old, 17 pound 3 ounce, child solid food yet!  Look at her doc, she isn't starving from the breastmilk ;)  We experimented about a month ago, but with this news we will begin again tomorrow! 

The doctor is hopeful Lilly will outgrow the allergy to dairy and soy by her first birthday. Wooooo!! All of this good news couldn't have come at a better time with a family beach trip and lots of tailgates coming up.  We will have a follow-up appointment in October just to make sure everything is going well.  

Lilly's 1/2 birthday!

That's right, Lilly is 6 months old!  It's hard to believe, I feel like I just found out I was pregnant yesterday. What a fun month it has been. This month we played around with some solid foods, but decided we would wait to really start them after Lilly sees the GI specialist.  Lilly has been such a funny baby this month with SO MUCH personality. She demands your attention and found this month that fake coughing is a quick way to get it.  Lilly finally decided to roll over for the first "official" time; she still isn't a huge fan of rolling from tummy to back, but she rolls all over her crib from back to tummy.  We are working on sitting up, and she pushes up to hands and knees (crawling soon??).  Lilly loves tags, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, You Are My Sunshine, water, her dogs, and sticking out her tongue.  She has learned the sign for "milk", but can not sign it back yet.  Lilly is still the easiest baby to care for; she enjoys her 12 hours of sleep at night and most weeks 2 naps a day.  Can't believe we are halfway to her first birthday!

(Lilly refused to give me a smile for pictures, but as soon as her Dada was in the room gave plenty. I'm pretty sure she's going to be daddy's girl)

And for your enjoyment a few from this month:

My personal favorite :)

Life

Whoa! Life is flying by! Lilly will be 6 months old next week, SIX MONTHS! My little one has not been napping again recently, so that doesn't leave much time for dilly dally or blog posts :). Hopefully this week we are back to at least one nap a day. Hard to force Lilly to nap when she sleeps a wonderful 12 hour span at night!

Anyway, I am about halfway into my couch to 5k training. I finally hit the "I don't hate this anymore, I actually kind of like running again" mark this past week. Maybe it's the cooler temperatures in the morning and the beautiful sunrise, or maybe my body is finally getting use to physical activity again. Either way I am really hoping that by the end of this I will actually be able to run the entire 5k.

The next several months could hold a lot of changes for our family, but we just wait patiently and pray for the possible changes to come. Even though I am extremely nervous about this possibility of change, I know if it falls into place it is surely a call we must answer.  More to come on that later, just pray for our family, and my brother to make some life altering decisions.

Date Night

Tuesday night my MIL visited from Birmingham to watch Lilly for Tyler and I. Our plans were to go serve in our community with our missional community, but because of some unfortunate events this had to be rescheduled. Tyler and I took advantage of this rare opportunity and had a date night. We went to a local Pizzeria, Pane E Vino. They have the best gluten free crust anywhere and their pizza is amazing (even when it doesn't contain cheese). We were able to take a short stroll around downtown and enjoy a nice dinner outside without our precious little one. We had a great time!

To all my mommy friends. A friend of mine shared this and it's a must read. I must admit I had to fight back tears through this post. "And while everyday my selfish desires try to shout at and consume me, I find God’s grace, given me through my children, is so much louder and all consuming."


http://storylineblog.com/2015/07/21/lose-yourself-have-kids/

Lillian 5 months

Our precious little one is 5 months old today! Not a lot of huge developmental milestones reached this month. She must get her hands on everything Mama and Dada hold. Lilly gives lots of smiles and has the most adorable laugh. She is very close to sitting on her own, it won't be long. I am still her favorite :) but Dada is catching up quickly! She sleeps from 7p-7a and takes two naps a day. We will probably start solids in the next week or so, she is very interested in food. Overall Lil is the easiest baby to care for and to love.