Baby Signing Time

I wasn't sure I wanted to teach Lily baby sign language for a couple of reasons. First, we want her to learn Portuguese and I'd rather spend my time teaching her that than sign language. Second, I've heard of too many kids who delayed speaking because they could sign and I didn't want Lily to have that problem. A few weeks ago Dusty asked me to teach her baby sign language because it worked for his youngest brother Cole and he thought it was cool. He doesn't usually question my parenting or ask me to change what I do with Lily so I felt like I had to comply. Lily loves the Baby Signing Time DVD that we have. It's actually been really nice because she will watch it while I cook dinner or do something else around the house. We've only watched it a couple of times so she hasn't picked anything up yet but she gets excited when she hears the music for it. 

Planking Baby

I think Lily has watched one too many Jillian Michaels workout DVDs with me. She has started planking all of the time. It's her new mode of transportation. She planks and then pushes off of her toes to launch herself forward. It's so funny to watch. She can move all of the way across the living room this way.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Dusty LOVES Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It's the only musical that he will watch willingly and sings songs from it to Lily all of the time. I on the other hand, remember being a kid and being appalled by their costumes because I didn't understand that the actors had bodysuits under their outfits. So when for FHE Dusty wanted to watch Joseph, I was a little hesitant. It was OK but I wouldn't choose to watch it unless someone else requested it. Lily wasn't into it at first either but when Donny Osmond came on, she tuned in. She jumped up and down to it and cooed at the screen. I should have taken a video because she was darling! 

Spring Break 2014

Spring Break is so nice to have. We don't miss BYU when it comes to break time. It's always just about the time that Dusty is starting to get burned out on school and when my brother Christopher has a swim meet in Seattle. We get to go visit Dusty's family and see my mom and Christopher. This year we also go to see Jake and Maggie because they'd gone with Randy, Susie and Cole to Hawaii for Spring Break and they overlapped a couple of days with us. I love Jake and Maggie! I was so grateful that we got to see them for a few days. This Spring break we went to a swim meet, the temple and did some shopping. It was nice a low key which was what we needed. Here are the highlights of our trip:


The Swim Meet:

Lily loved my mom, I was so grateful that she hadn't forgotten who she was. 

Lily is the only person I know that can sleep at a swim meet

Lily was a trooper, we went out to dinner way after her bed time and she played quietly until I picked her up and rocked her to sleep in our booth. I was so impressed with how well she handled getting her schedule completely thrown off. 

She loved eating the orange slices our waiter got for her

Saying goodbye at the hotel. Good thing we'll see them in a couple of months for AnnaLee's babies blessing. 

Little People:

Susie has kept all of the little people that have ever crossed her path. Some of them were Dusty and his siblings when they were kids and he thinks that some of them might have even been hers. We took the time to clean all of them and then Lily and Cole played with them. Cole made the cutest video of Lily being a monster and terrorizing the Little People town but unfortunately it's too long to put on here.

The Ocean Room:

The shades in Randy and Susie's house don't block out any sunlight so Susie put huge blue sticky notes over the window in Lily's room. It looked like and aquarium in there and it was just dark enough for Lily to nap. 

The Park: 

Hanging Out:

Lily Teresa

Recently Lily's favorite game has been Lily Teresa. We put a blanket over her head and she laughs and tries to eat it. She can go almost five minutes like this before she gets the blanket pulled off and wants it back on again. We called it Lily Theresa because the blanket over her head like a shawl reminds us a little of Mother Teresa. It's darling, and I hope she always can find joy in little things like this. 

6 Months

Lily can't be six months old already, time can't move that fast! She really is the best baby in the world and it makes me sad that she is growing up. She started eating more solids, and if she doesn't like them she's learned to gag herself to throw them back up. This usually only happens with the baby meats and I can't blame her for not wanting to eat those. She started screaming when strangers come close to her. It's a little annoying in the grocery store but besides that we're dealing with it. She gets excited when she sees the stroller because she knows its time for a walk. She loves her feet. Nothing can get between her and her feet. She rolls over just so she can suck on them. She loved going to the pool, I think she would be happy to live in the water forever. Spitting seems to be her new favorite thing to do when she isn't sucking her toes. She gathers all of her spit in her mouth and then shoots it out. I'm not sure where she picked that up but right now its mostly amusing. She isn't crawling yet but she rocks a lot. We love her so much and are so grateful for her every day!

Dancing with Daddy

Lily adores Dusty. She gets so excited when he comes home and wants nothing to do with me. It's the best! I am so grateful for a little girl that loves her daddy so much. Last night while I was getting ready to head out to a relief society dinner Dusty and Lily were dancing together. It was such a tender moment that I had to take a picture. 

Basketball Baby

Originally we thought that Lily was just obsessed with football but it appears that she loves all sports. When the Olympics were on we would watch hockey in the morning and curling in the afternoon. She loved every second of it. Now she and Dusty have started watching basketball together. Dusty only watches basketball during March because he thinks its boring besides that. She stares so intently at the tv and hates all commercial breaks. I guess we have an athlete.

Dress-up

Lily's had a little bit of a fever since getting her 6 month shots so today while I was trying to clean out her dresser and move her from 3-6 to 6-9 month clothes she just wanted to sit on my lap. Eventually I couldn't work on my project anymore because she just wanted to play so we started playing dress-up. I tried all of her hats on to see which ones still fit and then we tried out a few outfits. It was like having a human doll, which was pretty fun! I can't wait for her to be old enough to play dress-up with me. 

Lily Loves Feet

Since discovering her own feet a few weeks ago Lily has decided that all feet need to be sucked on. It's kind of gross but amusing at the same time. If Dusty and I weren't both clean freaks I wouldn't let her anywhere near our feet but since they get washed more than most peoples we're ok letting her suck on them while we laugh. 

Day to Day

When people ask me what I do with my day I usually mumble off a few things lamely and then trail off. What do I do all day? I'm sure that one day when I have a few more kids I'll long for the quiet days that Lily and I have now but currently they feel overwhelming to me. Lily and I are both creatures of habit and don't like it when our schedule gets messed up. When her routine gets messed up, she can't function, I'm the exact same way. This makes me nervous about traveling next week for spring break but we'll see how it goes.

Here's what our typical day looks like:

5:30-6:00: Lily wakes up. The only way you know she is awake is that all of the sudden there is heavy breathing on the monitor. She pants and kicks until someone goes in to get her. Dusty goes in to get her and change her diaper. He brings her back to our room and we all play together for a little bit. I'm reluctant to leave me warm bed so I drag this out for as long as possible.

6:15-7:45: Dusty and I play hot potato with Lily while we both try to get ready. She doesn't seem bothered by it. They usually come into my bathroom and talk to me while I do my hair and make-up. I don't mind the company and Lily loves sucking on my mascara tubes and looking at herself in the mirror.

7:45: We pack up and take Dusty to school. Lily falls asleep on the way back from school  around 8:00 so that saves me from having to put her to sleep. When we get home I transfer her to her crib. She's gotten so used to this that she doesn't even stir anymore. It's super convenient!

8:00-9:30: Lily naps while I finish prepping for the day. I eat breakfast and pick up the house. Then I work on my projects or blog. Currently I'm working on gifts for my new niece. I'm so excited that AnnaLee and Aaron are having another baby girl!

9:30: Lily wakes up and we snuggle for a little bit. She wakes up slowly, just like me, so it takes her a while to get going after a nap. When she's finally awake she gets food. She loves rice cereal so I give her that and we try new foods. She hasn't liked any of the baby food we've tried yet and that doesn't bother me. I love eating her leftover sweet potatoes. It's a perfect 80 calorie snack.

10:00-12:00:  We run errands. This usually involves going to Moscow to Winco, the bank or the mall. I typically wear Lily in our homemade Moby Wrap and that always causes a stir. People never stop me to talk if she's in the cart but when she's strapped to my front everyone seems to want to talk to me.

12:00: I eat lunch and play on the floor with Lily. We try to get out the last of her wiggles before her afternoon nap.

12:15- 2:30: Lily naps while I exercise. I'm currently doing the Jillian Michaels's 30 Day Shred and Yoga Meltdown back to back. By then end I'm exhausted but it's totally worth it! When I'm done exercising I start on laundry or other household chores that need to be done.

2:30-3:00: Lily wakes up and we play on the floor. She is really into a vanity that Santa brought her for Christmas. It sings the ABC's to her and she cooes back to it. She also tries to crawl. She rocks back and forth as hard as she can and tries to move her legs. She can get them going sometimes but her arms can't keep up so she face plants it into the ground. It's much cuter than it sounds, I promise.

She loves eating the Laundry while I fold it

3:00-4:15: We go for a walk with our neighbor Samm and her two boys, Boston and Brock. The boys are 3 and 1 and Lily adores them. Sometimes they come over to play and she loves to watch them. Samm also cuts my hair and while she was doing that yesterday Boston (the 3 year old) tried to entertain Lily. It was adorable. After Brock woke up from his nap he came out and laid on the floor with Lily. He put his hand on her arm and they looked into each others eyes forehead to forehead for a couple of minutes. Kids are the cutest! Sometimes on our walk Lily naps and other times she swings her legs back and forth and stares around. We have a polar bear suit that I bundle her up in so she can't move very well but she loves being in the stroller.

4:15-4:50: Lily and I pick up any remaining mess and throw together dinner before we go get Dusty. Lily loves sitting in the kitchen in her high chair and watching me cut food. As long as she feels involved in what I'm doing she is a happy camper.

4:50: We head out to get Dusty. Lily know's its time for Dusty to come home because for once she's actually excited to get in her carseat. We sing songs the entire way there. Currently its a toss up between Wicked and Frozen. I have always loved Idina Menzel and cant get enough of her!

5:15-6:30: We sit at the table and try to feed Lily while Dusty and I eat dinner. She is good with her rice cereal just like she is in the morning but doesn't like the other baby food. I have carrot stuck to my wall from a few nights ago when she threw her spoon.

6:30: Bath time, scripture study and family prayer. Lily still loves the bath and this is her favorite part of the day. I'm always impressed by how quietly she sits during scripture study and family prayer. I feel like she kind of understands what is going on.

scripture straight face

7:00: Lily's bed time. One of us rocks her to sleep while the other one does the dinner dishes and tidies up the house.

She always wiggles out of her blankets

After Lily is in bed we finish picking up any leftover messes in the house and maybe watch an episode of Modern Family. After that I shower and practice my portuguese and Dusty plays Pokemon until we decide to go to bed. Lily usually wakes up once or twice a night to eat but sleeps great besides that. The next morning we repeat.

I love my life with Lily and wouldn't trade it for anything! I've gotten a couple of calls from the Health Department asking me to come back but I can't imagine leaving Lily. This last time they even said I could bring her with me but that wouldn't be the same. I love staying home with her and wouldn't want it any other way.

Tied Together

Lily discovered Dusty's tie before we left for church this morning and It's all that she's wanted to play with all day. She's starting to discover new things and become super obsessed with them. It's interesting to watch.