Oh How Quickly They Grow

You know that annoying saying that everyone tells you when you first have a baby, "I feel like I just brought my own home from the hospital now they're 5, 10, a teenager, in college, etc"

I think I heard that several times a day for two months. Now I find myself thinking all too often, I feel like I just brought her home from the hospital.

Lillian is in the incredible age of learning right now she is picking things up so quickly. Sometimes I put her in a chair and buckle her in while I shower and when I'm done I put lotion on my face. A couple of days in a row after I was done lotioning myself I put some on her legs which tend to be dry. After just two days of this, on the third day she was there during my shower (which wasn't even consecutive to the other two) as soon as I put the lotion on my face she held up her leg.

It is also incredible for me to see how much she understands, even though she can communicate so little. Like any parent, I like to test what she knows so I'll ask her to do something and see if she will do it. I think the most recent thing is helping to put her toys away. We asked her to put her legos in their place and she picked them up and started to put them away. She also used to play with the dishes in the dishwasher while I was loading and unloading, but now she pulls them out and hands them to me to put away. She even takes the tupperware to it's spot, which is her free reign cabinet in the kitchen.

It's hard to believe that a baby that couldn't even look me in the eyes two seconds ago can now understand, follow instructions and learn things so quickly. Even some of the signs we haven't talked about in months (because I slacked off) she is starting to use.

Even though I know you aren't supposed to compare your child to others I was beginning to think she might be a little behind with how many words she knows. It is hard to tell though, because most of her friends are a few months older. We had a play date with a mother of eighteen month old twins who do not communicate at all, no signs no words. It was nice to have that perspective that all children develop at their own pace (and btw mine is a genius)

There are some things I really wish she would pick up faster. Most notably come here, we don't hit, we don't throw our food and please stop fussing. Oh and I will pay you one million dollars if you'll do the dishes

About as saggy as her momma

Lillian brought my bra over to me to play with so I put it on her. She thought it was hilarious and it made me laugh so hard. I kept thinking, ya mine sag about that low too.

Texas State Fair 2011

Travis and I decided to take the train down to the state fair a couple of weekends ago. I've come to realize we aren't really fair people. We don't like games, rides and we don't know how to find anything else cool to go to so we end up just taking a lap around and leaving. It was still fun to get out of the house and go do something different for a change. The fried autum pie made the trip worth it.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

We finally did something as a family! I wanted to share pictures for my family that is not on facebook so sorry for the repeat for those that are.

One of My Favorite Daddy/Daughter Pics

10 Months Old, My favorite Things

Lillian loves books. I mean LOVES. She will be in a room full of toys and will make a B line straight for the nearest reading material. She even has a favorite book, and a favorite page in that book. She will dig out the book from the bottom of a basket of toys, turn to the page and play with the page. I really hope this is a foreshadowing (is that the right word?) of a future love of reading. It would make my day if she was "one of those kids" who loves the library and can sit in the corner and read.

Other things she loves right now, her sippy cup: she just learned to drink out of a straw and she got her own cup with a straw so she doesn't have to drink out of mine. She loves "cheerios" (really organic gluten free o's, because I'm no fun), and any solids that she can feed herself.

Watching her feed herself is quite another thing that thoroughly impresses me. For so long she has depended on me for all of her nutritional needs, but now she can pick it up and feed it to herself. Amazing!

She crawls with authority. You always know when she is on the move. She stands up on anything she can pull herself up on. She loves to pound her hand on different things to hear what noise they make. Especially my face, the bathtub and her crib railing.

She says, "mama" and sometimes, "dada" and, "buh buh". She can wave and clap, but will not do so on command, after all she is a stubborn little sucker.

She loves library time and swimming. I tell everyone who will listen that I plan on signing her up for the 2028 Olympics. When we get in the pool she goes crazy with excitement. She kicks her legs like a frog the whole time. Most babies we hang with just chill out in the poo, then tap out pretty early. She is non stop kicking and smiling every time we have been.

I think that is all I have to report for now. Like I said before, I am hoping to keep up with what we are doing. Mostly so Lil can look back and have a little reminder of what was going on and when.

So, Yeah About the Blog

I haven't had a chance to write a bit about what is going on in my life in the last 10 months. For months 1-4 I was adjusting to life with a new baby. Months 4-7 I was spending the entirety of my day trying to get her to go to sleep, stay asleep and go back to sleep. Then when she finally started sleeping the computer died and blogging from my phone is not awesome so that was out of the question.

If I were to describe the last 10 months I would say they were an adjustment. Maybe that is understatement of the year though.

When we were trying to get Lillian to sleep I was spending four hours a day in her room working on getting her to nap better. It took about 20-40 minutes of rocking to get her to sleep. She would nap in her crib for about 20 minutes, and then I would hold her for the rest of her nap which could be up to an hour. I was so angry and depressed all of the time. I spent those hours trying to figure out how I could take myself out of the situation almost daily. I finally tried to refocus that time and pray for patience, and that worked, but then nighttime would come around and we would do the same routine every 1-2 hours.

Now that she only wakes up twice a night, goes straight back to sleep, and naps twice a day, I feel like I have come out of a fog. I feel like a new person. Best of all, I actually like my precious daughter.

I know it seems weird to talk this much about sleep, but it really was my life for so long. We gave up so much in a effort to keep her patterns straight, but it out efforts were futile.

Anyway, I hope to blog about all of the different fun things that we are doing on a daily basis. Lills is constantly amazing me with the new things she learns and discovers.