Having Fun!

Lily and I were playing for a while before dinner and she was in one of her (rare) non-fussy moods, so I recorded it on our camera. Don't ask me why the color is weird--I haven't figured it out yet. The background noise is a little overbearing--I was watching a documentary for the John Wayne movie The Searchers at the time, so try to ignore it.

At long last.....

So I've been getting crap from about every person I know about not updating my blog, so you can all finally sleep at night knowing that I have at long last put up a new post. :) In spite of the wintery weather, we had a great Easter holiday.

Here is a picture of Lily in her pretty, little Easter dress. I had an Easter dress as well, but it was too cold to wear it--what's with Easter being in March!?

Adam's sister, Ashley, came to stay with us for a week and we had a lot of fun. She was gracious enough to babysit for us, so Adam and I went out on a date for the first time since Lily was born! As mentioned, it's been a while since I've posted anything, so there have naturally been some new developments, as far as Lily is concerned. She is a week shy of 5 months and has passed several fun milestones in the last month. Allow me to illustrate a few of them for you:

Lily has discovered she has feet. Every time I put her on her changing table she instantly grabs 0ne of her legs or feet (she tends to favor the right). It wasn't long after that, that her mouth also disovered her feet, as you can see.

Lily has started eating rice cereal. It didn't go so well at first, but she's got it down now and enjoys it (I think). She looks like a spastic little bird when she eats, and though it would appear otherwise, she does get more in her mouth than she does on her face.

Miraculously, Lily will now take a bottle! Sweet freedom!! She only gets one bottle a day, but I can't even begin to tell you how much of a relief it is to know that I have a little more leeway with leaving her with Adam to go to the store or somewhere and not have to be back within 2 hours. If she's in a reclined position, she can give herself the bottle--she does a pretty good job of holding it.

Lily has an occassional moment of tranquility during tummy time. Usually she is red-faced and screaming, but she is starting to have sessions where she will just play and even smile!

Lily has also learned how to drive a car. Okay, not really, but she did have a fun time at GM World at the Renaissance Center, where Adam works. She particularly liked the Corvette.

Sadly, she has had a bout of acid reflux, and wasn't putting on much weight. She was about 11 1/2 pounds at her 4 month check, so I had to take her back every week for several weeks so they could keep weighing her. She is taking some medicine to help with the reflux and she now weighs in at 12 pounds 4 ounces!

Other things that have transpired: I celebrated my 27th birthday last week. It was a fun-filled day of doing laundry and packing clothes for my Utah trip and trying to keep Lily happy--it didn't go so well. I flew out to Utah the next day for a 3 week trip. It was my first time flying alone with Lily, so I was a little nervous, but she was so good! It was a nonstop flight (about 4 hours) and she was as happy as can be. The flight attendants were just fawning over her and a woman sitting in the row in front of us asked if she could hold her to give me a break. Let's hope she does okay on our return flights. Adam got to go to the New York auto show a few weeks ago and then went to a conference in New Jersey last week and then will be in Arkansas this week. In spite of the cold weather I've decided that it is spring in my book, and have hence started wearing flip flops every day. It's my small way of protesting this unrelenting winter season--doesn't it know that spring started on March 20?! Anyway, I solemnly swear that I'll do my utmost to keep the posts coming.

I'm not doing it!

Poor Adam--he's so good about switching out Lily's diaper trash bags, but the other day fate dealt him a cruel hand.
I just looked at him and said, "Have fun with that." He squealed after touching the first one to find it was wet, so I told him where he could find a rubber glove to finish the job.

Tagged

It was bound to happen eventually. There are so many of these tags going around, I can't keep them all straight--this is the first time I've seen this one, though, so here goes:

What is your husband's name?
Adam (isn't he handsome?)















How long have you been together?
married for 1 1/2 years



















How long did you date?
We dated for 6 months, got engaged, and were married 3 months later.















Who eats more?
Usually Adam, but I think I surpassed him while I was pregnant

Who said "I love you" first.
Ha! Definitely Adam! We had only been dating for 2 weeks, so I was taken aback by the suddenness of it. And I'll just tell you my oh-so-clever-reply, because I know he'll just post a comment if I don't. No, I didn't say "I love you" back, but rather stammered as I replied "Ummm...I think I may be feeling something similar..." What can I say? I'm nothing if not eloquent.

Who asked who out first?
Adam asked me out after I dazzled him at Family Home Evening one night.

Who has more speeding tickets?
Um, we may have the same number--I recently received my first ever speeding ticket, which I'm still really ticked about!

Who is smarter?
it depends on the subject. (I am)

Who is more sensitive?
we're probably equally sensitive--if the question was 'Who is more emotional?', then it would be me, but only since the pregnancy

When there is a fight, who usually wins?
I can hold my own in a wrestling match, but I assume this question refers more to arguments rather than coming to physical blows. I guess I'm one of those saps who thinks no one wins in a fight, but if you mean who is usually right? Me. :)















Who does the laundry?
Me.

Who does the dishes?
Both of us--Adam usually clears up the table after dinner and will wash up.

Who sleeps on the right?
From the viewpoint of laying on the bed, Adam sleeps on the right side

Who pays the bills?
Adam

Who mows the lawn?
Adam

Who cooks dinner?
Me

Who drives when you are together?
We alternate who drives

Who is more stubborn?
Uh, I don't know. I don't think either of us is exceptionally stubborn

Who kissed whom first?
Adam--we had just watched Rocky IV at my apartment in honor of Dolph Lundgren's (aka Ivan Drago aka the Russian) 48th birthday. My roommates made themselves scarce (kind of--my roommate Elizabeth was getting ready for bed when she realized what was going on and tried to slip into her room unnoticed). :)

Who proposed.
Again, Adam. Almost everything he had planned went wrong. The ring, which we were having custom made, almost was barely finished on time (he proposed on our 6 month anniversary), the spot he had planned on doing it at had to be changed because of rain, and my roommates, who were helping him, didn't get his text messages to go and set things up until we were already on our way to the spot! It all worked out though--he took me to a park in Orem I liked and had a pavilion set up with a hundred tea lights and some Calla lilies (my favorite flower) and asked me. He surprised me with the ring, which he had been lying to me about for weeks, saying it was going to be a lot longer until it was finished, much to my angst, so I slapped him around a little when I saw he had had it that whole time and had fabricated the whole thing!

Who has more siblings?
Me, by 1

The End.

I'll just throw in a quick summary of our Valentines Day. Adam surprised me with some beautiful calla lilies and some Godiva chocolate truffles. Then we (meaning the three of us) went out for sushi. We were kind of nervous to take Lily out to eat with us because the last time we attempted it she screamed the whole time--she was an angel this time, so it was fantastic! We also stopped at the library to pick up a copy of Somewhere in Time to watch--Adam says it is pretty much the worst movie ever made, and reinforced his opinion of it by mocking it all the way through. It was a pretty low-key Valentines Day, but it was fun.

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.