Christmas Morning Pics!

The pictures from Lily's first Christmas morning are in! Many thanks to Aunt Brenna, photographer supreme! These are just a few, but I think they capture the mood quite nicely!

New Friend, Bernard

Hair Accessories A Go-Go

Matchy Matchy with Great-Grampa!

Lily's First Christmas!

Lily celebrated her 10-month birthday by having Christmas festivities on the same day! Wasn't it sweet of the rest of the world to join in?

We began the festivities on Christmas Eve with the whole family coming to our home for a huge dinner - 10 place settings! On the menu was everything from beef tenderloin to mac n' cheese and it was all too delicious. The evening ended with coffee and a spice cake big enough to ground Santa's sleigh 'till Easter. After all went home, Lily set out her cookies for Santa and fell asleep enjoying a nightcap of chocolate milk (Mommy put a bitty bit of cocoa powder in the bottle just for the occasion!)

Baby's First Christmas!


We love Great Grampa!

Lily LOVED the frosting!

End of the night. Barefoot and ready for bed!

Christmas morning came a little late. Apparently Lily's Christmas gift to Mommy and Daddy was sleeping in until 9:30. This would have been wonderful, except 9:30 was the time we were supposed to be arriving at Kiki's house for breakfasts and gifts - oops! Baby Girl also woke up with a petite cold - luckily, her Rudolph-inspired nose fit right in with the decor of the day, and she kept herself in high spirits! My little trooper!

Despite the late start we made it and thoroughly enjoyed our morning with Kiki, Po, Aunt Brenna, Uncle William, and Great-Grampa. It wasn't until about 10 minutes after arriving we realized, in our mid-morning madness, we had forgotten our camera - oops! Luckily, Aunt Brenna came to the rescue and documented the morning. Those pics to come later! Mowgli stayed behind at home this year - too much eggnog from the night before.

After a quick pit-stop and a costume change, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Heather and cousin puppy, Tally.

Everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We all ended the day with full tummies and warm hearts. We all gave and received some wonderful gifts, too! Our loves include: Jason's new telescope and night-vision gear (boys and their toys!), my cookbooks (both new and vintage!), all the wonderful household items that no one really likes to give but I love to receive (too many to name - think towels, kitchen supplies, etc.), some beautiful pictures of Lily taken by Aunt Brenna, and Jason and I are both looking forward to taking full advantage of our new membership to the Florida State University Center Club!

We are so lucky we are able to have (most of!) our family so close by. Christmas this year was so special. I can't wait to do it again next year! Merry Christmas, y'all!

MAMA!

She said 'mama'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doin' The Crawl

It's official, y'all! Lily is crawling. No more of the step-and-scoot maneuver, baby girl is hands-and-knees mobile! Mommy's tres excited about the built-in exercise program involved in chasing after her! Any excuse not to go to the gym, right?

9 Month Check!

Quick update pour tous les Lily fans! Lily had her 9-month check-up today! She weighs in the 25th percentile at 17lbs 13oz and measures up in the 50th percentile at a stunning 27 inches. Supermodel baby! No shots this trip, just a toe prick to check her iron and hemoglobin levels - all checked out beautifully!

We are now eating 6oz of formula per meal with a solid food item (fruits or veggies) at every meal but dinner - four meals per day. Lily's only complaint: she still has at least another 3lbs to gain before we can turn her carseat around to face the front. Baby girl is getting tired of riding backwards and isn't afraid to let us know!

Nine Months And Thankful

Lily is 9 months old on this Thanksgiving Day! Nine months later Lily Elizabeth:

~Has TWO teeth! Front bottom gum, one right after the other. Shortly after the arrival of the first we had a pretty rough weekend as the second made itself at home, but once the teething pains cleared Lily was proudly sporting her stunning new pearly whites! Tres chic!

~Crawls! Kinda. It's more of a step-and-scoot maneuver. Not officially "crawling" but getting around nonetheless. Her preferred method of transportation is still carriage.

~Gets really bored REALLY fast! This little bit likes to go go go. Putting her in one place for too long results in a shame fest.



~Pulls Up! On everything! Tables, chairs, legs, you name it - she climbs it.

~Is no longer a snob to strangers! The Stranger Anxiety has passed making Lily a little social butterfly and hostess with the mostess when we have visitors. However, she is in a bit of an "All Mommy, All The Time" phase, making things a little hard for Jason. Can't say that I mind too much...

~Thoroughly enjoys playtime in the kitchen! She's discovered the pots, pans and spoons, y'all! Luckily, today being Thanksgiving, we've spent a lot of time cooking!



Thanksgiving this year started yesterday with a pie-baking fest. Pecan pie was the treat du jour and Lily and I had fun messing with recipes and making them our own. This morning we began the festivities with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Heather and cousin puppy, Tally. Pie in hand, we completed the menu for an early Thanksgiving brunch!

A quick costume change later we grabbed another pie and headed off to have dinner with Kiki, Po, Aunt Brenna, Uncle Will and Great-Grandpa. Dinner was absolutely amazing and we all went home feeling like this:


This Thanksgiving we have so much for which to be thankful. Our beautiful daughter is a happy and healthy little girl. We have a difficult time separating our family and friends because the wonderful people in our lives often play both roles. We are so very blessed and lucky for too many things to number. Here's to tipping the glass and the scales....Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Leapin' Lily!

My oh my, Lily fans, November is turning out to be a stellar month for updates!

This morning, as usual, I woke to Lily's gentle call and went to greet her. What I found nearly stopped my heart. There, with the concentration of the finest athlete, was Lily standing and poised to swan dive right up and out of her crib with this crazy look in her eye like I get when I smell a funnel cake. My reaction? I think it's this kind of moment we hear about when a mother sees her child under a car and lifts the thing with one arm and uses the other to pull the baby to safety... 'cause it felt like that. I gave the most adorable shriek and swooped the little lady up into my arms before any harm was done.

Tonight, as I rocked her to sleep, I remembered the incident and my earlier vow to lower the crib mattress to a more secure setting. Pushing the thought aside (it's been a long day, y'all) through some mildly stretched logic I put her down and didn't think much of it. And then she woke up about thirty minutes later.

Answering her gentle call, I skipped upstairs and what do I see? The Leaping Lizard strikes again! Again, my precious little scream and about five minutes later I had a party with a wrench, some screws and a can-do attitude.

As I write this, the little lady is still trying to adjust - after all, I did interrupt her beauty sleep. At this point I don't even mind the tears - as long as they're sobbed from inside the crib.

Clear As A Bell

So tonight Lily looked her doting daddy straight in the peepers and proclaimed him "Dada". Naturally we all pitched a giddy fit and frightened the little angel to tears. It's like the man who lights a match for the first time and upon jumping for joy at the achievement the fire is blown out. Lesson learned. We'll see if it happens again in the next 8 months...

Up And Out!

Dear Lily,

Today before I left for work I spoke to your Kiki about my concern for your lack of teeth. I was doubting that they would ever come. We have seen hints of teeth for months - just the tippy tops of one or two - but none had yet to breach the surface...until now.

In a matter of hours, you have willed your first pearly white into existence - I am not surprised. You have always done things your way in your own time- I fear you are far too much like your mother - and this is no exception. From now on, darling girl, I, to the best of my ability, will try to always remember that you need your time and space. Some people are easily molded and influenced- you are not. No amount of coaxing has ever gotten you to do something before you were ready; whether it be crawling, sleeping, even your first breath on this earth - all of it was achieved by your own will. I will remember that though I want many things for you I cannot force them into being. I will try to always remember that you will do as you see fit, and that the best I can do for you is be a set of arms to help you as you rise, catch you if you fall, hold you when you hurt, embrace you when you smile, and hopefully, let you go when you are ready. I'm sorry I ever doubted you. It will never happen again, darling girl.

Get ready for a world of toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, dentists, and one very special little fairy. You sure are growing up fast.

I love you. Always
Mommy

My Fair Lady

This past weekend, Lily and Braidan continued their courtship with an outing to the North Florida Fair (and yes, I've been planning the title of this blog since the dates of the Fair were announced last month - guilty). I have always loved the fair and last year I was not able to really partake in the fun (eating the supremely nutritious food, riding the calming and therapeutic coasters, socializing with the lovely, well-mannered and soft-spoken gentle-carnies...) so this year I was all too excited to introduce Lily to the carnival atmosphere! With Mommy, Daddy, Ms. Elise and Mr. Mike along as chaperones we all headed to the Fairgrounds to take in the festivities. The weather was perfect, the food was fatty, and we all had a fabulous time!

Petting Zoo is a must!

Not too sure about the Alpaca

All is well in Daddy's arms

A girl's first experience with deep fried Oreos! A big day for Lily...

MMMMM Sugar!

Lily's First Halloween!

Happy Halloween, y'all! We have all been anxiously awaiting this day!

Her first of the major holidays, (read as: holidays on which it is not only appropriate but necessary to rack up a rockin calorie count and not require a Come To Jesus meeting after - basically all but Flag Day and Earth Day) Halloween and its preparation has taken up much of this little ladybug's time during the past few weeks!

First things first - HOME DECOR!

Handmade crafts are a must

Next comes Pumpkin Pickin

Then pumpkin carving! We're not a fan of Mr. Pumpkin's unmentionables...

Halloween Eve - does anyone else remember when this was called "Mischief Night"?

Brunch? Bien Sur!

Family Shot!

Happy Halloween, y'all!

OPA!

The family has just returned fat and happy from the famous Tallahassee Greek Food Festival! This is a Tally tradition - I've been going since high school! We look forward to it every year and this year we got to introduce Lily to the scene! We sampled fabulous Greek delectables while listening to authentic Greek music and chatting with friends. Probably my favorite part about the whole event is you run into so many people! We bumped into so many old friends we hadn't seen in ages. It was great to be able to catch up and introduce them to Lily - I wish we had gotten pictures with everyone!

Lily with Ms. Mary!

Taking it all in!

Flashback! Greek Food Fest of 2006 - Greek Groovin'

Making The Call

Little Lily came down with what seemed like a cold last night. No biggie. It stuck with her this morning and throughout the day, resulting in the most pitiful little soggy angel face you could ever imagine. Poor little thing was leaking from her nose, drooling out the mouth (then again - she always does that) and her usually sparkling eyes had this funny glazed-over look to them. Pretty cute actually. Like a Basset Hound. Anyway, long story short (too late) things took a turn for the worst around 7:30 when she spiked a fever and re-enacted a famous scene from The Exorcist as we were welcoming Daddy home from his trip (welcome home, Honey!). Tonight, for the first time, we paged the good doctor.

Now, having a nurse for a mama has really been a blessing. We've had fevers before without issue, so when Kiki tells us to call the doc - we call the doc. Lily is sleeping now and will hopefully sleep most of this away within a day or so. This is not a particularly exciting event (after all, fevers and throw-up are kind of a given when it comes to babies) nor is anyone overly concerned; but again, this acts as our baby book and I want to make sure every "first" is documented. Necessary? Absolutely! Silly? Very.

Outdoor Adventures!

Daddy left for Miami this weekend to cheer on those dreadfully tacky orange and green Hurricanes in their battle against the beloved FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY SEMINOLES - needless to say, the 'Noles won and I'll have a nice big heapin' helping of Humble Pie warm and waiting for when Daddy comes home tomorrow with his tail between his legs (I think I'm enjoying this just a little too much!)

Anyway, to pass a lovely Saturday afternoon, Lily and Mommy met up with Ms. Elise, Mr. Mike, Ms. Crystal, new friend, Brandon, and fan favorite, Braidan for an outdoor adventure at the Junior Museum (which is now going by a much more fancy-shmancy P.C name, but for those of us who grew up here in Tally Town, it will always be the "Junior Museum" - so there).

This place has served as such a large part of my childhood I was just giddy at the thought of sharing it with Lily. It's as close as Tally can get to its own zoo, featuring all kinds of native Florida wildlife and historical exhibits. We saw birds, wolves, bobcats, bears, deer, panthers and one very large, lazy, ugly, tacky GATOR (my oh my I sure am showing my school spirit in this post!) The grown-ups had a blast, and I think the kids enjoyed the trip, too!

Looking out onto the water

Deep conversation about life and love...

Get Ready, Daddy

Ever the Southern Belle, Lily successfully charmed her way through her first date this past weekend at the ripe ol' age of seven months! She was dressed in her pink seersucker best and had been looking forward to meeting her beau all week.

It all began with a rendezvous in the park on a cool autumn afternoon when Mommy and Lily met up with Ms. Elise and her handsome son, Braidan...

GOSH she's pretty!

Mommy! He's SO cute!

Eyes are windows to the soul...

While the youth enjoyed each others' company, Mommy and Ms. Elise got to have a nice long catch-up chat. We talked babies and hubbies and job(ies), and just had a fabulously familiar gossip fest. We were positively tickled at how well the little bits got along (whether or not they truly fell in love at first sight or if they were just flabbergasted at the sight of another baby) and have already made plans for next week! Ahhh...autumn is a magical time, y'all.