All Dressed Up

I was so happy to find that Lily is now big enough to fit into some of her Sunday dresses rather than just wearing Onesies and sleepers each week. Her nana bought this cute, Winnie the Pooh dress for her while I was still pregnant, and she and Aunt Ashley bought her these cute little shoes.

Adam says this is proof, that like most kids, she does not like to get dressed up. I think she was just ticked off that day.

She was a little happier the next time we went to church. I got this dress from my mom and dad's when we were in Utah--it was actually one of my dresses. I wore it so much that once I outgrew it as a dress, I wore it as a shirt.

Dad and Bean: Mortal Enemies Forever?

I should mention that Lily is still referred to by Adam and I as "Bean", which we started calling her when she looked like this (it should be obvious why--we haven't been able to move past it). It's got to the point where I need to consciously make an effort to call her Lily.

Anyway, there are a lot of little quibs that Adam says to her over and over again, such as, "What a good baby!" (usually in a baby voice), and "I'm not going to lie--this is a pretty cute kid." One of his favorites, however, which I assume came about due to the stress of adjusting to life with a frequently fussy baby is, "Bean and Dad...mortal enemies forever." It is, of course, the exact opposite of my frequent expression, "Bean and Mom...friends forever." Then again I do get to spend all day wit her when she's cute and playful, while Adam often gets the nightime fussiness of a baby who's ready to be put to bed. I had noticed, a couple of weeks ago that she was starting to get a lot more smiley during the day. I kept telling Adam this, but he never saw the evidence of it because it usually takes place in the afternoon. Then, one Sunday during Sacrament Meeting, she started a smiling, cooing and laughing-fest. Adam was enamored--he just couldn't believe it. As Lily continues to mature (she's just shy of 3 months), she gets less fussy and more friendly. The other day when Adam was holding her he started his rant, "Bean and Dad...." to which I quickly interjected, "...friends forever." He agreed, so it looks like they are friends...for now. I decided I would post some of the cute pictures of the two of them together. I keep telling Adam that we only have pictures of him with Lily--probably because I'm always the one behind the camera--pretty much everything she does I deem picture worty--it's like an endless photoshoot at our house.

Adam's first pictures with Lily

This is Adam's idea of taking care of the baby

Twins

Bathtime

The Pacifier

The pacifier, which in this household is known as Binky, had been a losing battle with Lily...until about a week ago. Initially we were told that we shouldn't introduce a pacifier to her for at least a month because it might cause her to develop "nipple confusion" and she might have difficulties breastfeeding because of it. Whatever. While we were still in the hospital, the nursery brought her back to us one morning with a pacifier in her mouth and we figured if they gave it to her, then we wouldn't be the ones to take it away.



Well, she did pretty good with it for about 2 weeks. After that, she decided she didn't like it anymore and would only chew on it or push it around with her tongue. It only stayed in her mouth if one of us held it in for her. Let me tell you how much fun that was--especially when I would take her to the grocery store and she would start fussing. My trips consisted of me pushing the cart with one hand while holding in her pacifier with the other and getting virtually no shopping done. That led to Saturday shopping trips where Adam could accompany us and push her around while I did the weekly shopping. My mom kept telling me to try a NUK pacifier, but I was told that the Soothie pacifier, like the one the hospital had given us, was more natural for babies to suck on and was supposedly more like a real nipple. My dad's smart remark to that, "I'd hate to run into that woman on a cold day."



Regardless, we decided to experiment with the various pacifiers I had received at baby showers. Alas, it was to no avail. They all produced the same result.


I was resigned to the fact that she just wouldn't take a pacifier. Even her doctor tried to get her to take it and told me that some babies are just very opinionated and know what they like and don't like, and, apparently, the pacifier was something she did not like. Well, when we went to Utah for a quick trip, my mom had bought a NUK for her to try. A miracle happened. She started to suck on it! I was elated--it was the highlight of my day! However, it came with a catch. As she was a novice at it, she kept dropping it, so you still had to hold it in her mouth. I had a "brilliant" idea one day. There were two little holes on the side of the pacifier, so I came up with the plan of threading some elastic through them and strapping it around her head like a mask. Well, the holes were a little high, so it kept pulling the pacifier up and out of her mouth--it made for a good picture at least.


Like I said, it's been about a little over a week since her pacifier was introduced to her and I'm proud to say she's doing much better with it. We don't really need to hold it in for her anymore, though she does drop it still, but she's getting better at it every day. I was actually able to go grocery shopping without Adam this week and she did great! And doesn't she look so cute with it? Now if we could just get her to like tummy time.

Meatball Sub Night

So two Sundays ago Adam had to work at the International North American Auto Show all day. Lily and I went to church and got home around 3 p.m. I was starving because I hadn't had anything to eat before church so I wanted something quick to fix. We have some frozen turkey meatballs from Costco (we got suckered into buying them by the sample ladies), and I had just bought a loaf of French bread, so I decided to make a meatball sub. It was sooooo good! I think I talked about how good it was on the phone with Adam that night for like 5 minutes. Well, this last Sunday Adam voted for meatball subs for dinner since I had been talking about it all week. This picture actually makes it look absolutely disgusting (some might think that regardless...) but I assure you it was great. I made them kind of big because we weren't having anything else with them, and Adam couldn't believe I would actually make something like that for him to eat--I'm usually trying to force vegetables and stuff down him. I don't think he minded the change--of course now we have to eat salads for the rest of the week. :)

Lily had her 2 month well baby check last week and though it was fun to see how much she has grown ( she is now 10 lbs 11 oz and 23 inches long), it was not a fun visit because it was shot day. She got four vaccinations--two in each thigh and she did not like it. The nurse had me hold her hands while she gave them to her. Lily did alright for the first one--didn't even seem to phase her, but as the nurse was about to give her the second one she said, "This one will hurt." and it did! Lily instantly started screaming, turned bright red, and just clutched my fingers in her little fists. I confess I started to tear up watching it. She spent the rest of the afternoon napping and being held, because I felt so bad for her. This is the next morning--she's displaying a couple of her bandages and you can see she feels much better.

One of the things her doctor stressed we need to vigilant about is doing tummy time. We haven't been the best with it because Lily seems to hate it. Alas, it is for the best. She needs to develop those muscles, plus it keeps her off her back--you can see the developing stripe of hair loss on the back of her head from where it has been rubbing off when she lies on her back. She still hates tummy time, but she gets in about 30 minutes a day.

A couple of things that have been recently introduced to her--a vibrating bouncer--she stares down the toys and likes to hit the one on the far right.

Also, her new friend, the fish rattle. Usually I'm the one holding it and shaking it for her, but she held onto for a few minutes.

Yesterday was a bittersweet day because as we were getting Lily dressed for the day, we found that with all of this growing, she has finally outgrown her first outfit. We can button it up, she just can't straighten her legs out all the way.

I also found that she can now wear a few of her 3 month outfits. This is her frog outfit. I had to buy it when I saw it because she always does frog legs--especially when she is getting her diaper changed.

Goober

Here are just a few random pictures of Lily--she's kind of a nerd. I promise eventually I'll start to post something other than pictures of her, but I don't have a lot going on outside of her right now. The first picture is from Christmas Eve--she was horrible all day, but there was about a 30-40 second window that night where she smiled and was just so cute and I managed to get this picture--note the baby vomit all over Adam's shirt. The second picture is of her in her new hat. My Visiting Teaching companion bought this for her and I just love it. The final picture is one Adam took last night. It's kind of blurry because she was swinging, but she looks like a little sumo wrestler with her cheeks puffed out.

Lily's Blessing

This weekend was great because Lily was blessed and we both were able to have family come for it. Adam and I were anxious that she would be a screamer (because she does that so well), but she did a great job. In fact Adam's dad said she was smiling through the whole blessing. I gave my dad the pacifier as he was getting up just in case things took a turn for the worse. Adam gave her a beautiful blessing--it was a good day. She looked so cute in her little dress and bonnet--she kind of looks like a Puritan or something.


It was her debut at church as well, and she did okay through the Sacrament, but after that I had to continuously entertain her with a variety of bounces, swings and constantly changing positions to keep her happy. She was pretty fussy during all of Sunday School so Adam and I traded off walking her around the halls. She finally slept for the last half hour of Relief Society. I think this is just a shade of things to come. She was kind of ticked off and ready for a good, long nap by the time we got home from church, as is evident in our picture with her.