Where did Lily go?

This is too funny to hang on to until I have something witty to share.

I have also posted a random collection of holiday pics here that haven't made it online yet.

Lily's first New Years Eve

This year we took a trip with the family to Florida for New Years, as we have done in years past. This trip would create quite a few "firsts" for the Lily-monster:

• First plane ride
• First ride in a rental car
• first night in a hotel
• first time to wear 3 of her 4 bathing suits (what baby has 4 bathing suits, some two-pieces!)
  
• first time seeing the ocean
• first time on the beach
• first time in public swimming pool
• first time to throw up in a hotel room (unrelated to the swimming pool)
  
• first time to wear shoes for any length of time

All in all it was a great trip. Lily tolerated the plane ride very well. Carrie also had the opportunity to change Lily's pants in an airplane bathroom. Lily loved the sand, and surprisingly attempted to eat very little of it. I think she was OK with the ocean. It was a little frigid so we dipped our toes in and that was about it.

The swimming pool was a whole different story. The water was actually warm, and she loved flopping around in it, like a giant bath. She seemed to know just what to do as she kicked her feet and waved her arms.

I have posted some pics here.

Lily's First Christmas

I know this is late, but many people have asked about Lily re: 1st Christmas. Carrie and I were really looking forward to Christmas with Lily for all of the usual reasons, including new toys. Santa was sure to bring Lily a crate full of new toys, and we could hardly wait. We've spent 8 months playing with the toys she had when she was born, and I think that all three of us were getting a bored. Lily's new Christmas toys were much more interactive, with their singing,and dancing, and music, and lights, and noises........so many noises.

It was hard to predict what she was going to like, so we got all sorts of different things. Here is a rundown of the highlights:

Foam blocks-loves them, as long as they are stacked up and ready for her to knock over. If she sees you building something, she drops everything, and army crawls like a wounded soldier across the room to knock it over. She then expects more clapping. I think this is the after effects of playing with stacking cups for so long.

Gumball Machine- this is a toy that looks like a bubble gum
machine and dispenses very cool little balls that are filled with things that move, shine, rattle. It lights up and plays music while in the act of dispensing. Lily has learned that there is no need to wait patiently for each ball to come out when she can just turn it over, and get them all at once.








ELMOte-Like her father, Lily loves remote controls. Any shape, any size, any function, if it has buttons and makes things work without causing you to work, she loves it. It is no surprise that her favorite toy at the moment is her Elmo remote. It has the added benefit of being portable, so we can take it with us wherever we go, and just like a real remote, we are certain to lose it between the cushions of a restaurant booth before too long.

I have posted some pictures of Lily's first Christmas here. I particularly like the picture of her in her Christmas dress. Coincidentally, we went to dinner Christmas Eve with the whole family, and I happened to see the CEO of my company at the same location. I thought I would take this opportunity to capitalize on Lily's Christmas-dress cuteness, by introducing the two of them. Let's just say, I won't be getting that promotion any time soon, as my lovely daughter went straight for my bosses eyes, before moving on to her broach. Nice.

If your happy and you know it...

This video was taken shortly after Christmas, and I have dubbed it Clapping Redux. She has a much better coordination, and has learned that by opening both hands, you get a very satisfying thwack sound. I believe this is also the first documentation of her FABULOUS new hair style. Typically we use tiny little butterfly clips to pull her bangs out of her eyes. Due to the discovery and subsequent chewing on one of these clips by a fellow classmate, her teachers have asked that we not send her to school with the clippies, preferring the more stable rubber band. Ironically, Lily was never really bothered by the clips, nor did she really try to take them out and eat them. I like to keep it nature, so her little ponytail sticks 3 inches, straight up (like Cindy-Lou Hoo). Carrie likes to add a little water to it, so that it curls in to a very fashionable "palm tree" look.

YAY!

I have sort of taken a hiatus from the blog posting, but since it has been over a month, I need to hop to it!

I'll keep this short, and just post one of Lily's improving skills-mockery. Some say she is just mimicing what carrie and I are doing. I chose to believe that Lily is more advanced than that, and she is just mocking our foolish behavior. This could lead to trouble down the road....