Oh Christmas tree...

We're a little late since we're leaving to visit Grandma and Grandpa on the 24th, but we got our Christmas tree this evening and got all of our decorations up. Lily loves it of course. She loves the lights and she loves glass ornaments on the tree.

And we got Lily's little corral set up because she's officially crawling! Yesterday she took her first forward crawl. She's still figuring it out so she only goes about a foot before she gets distracted but she's definitely crawling now.


So now she can be confined if necessary. There are toys on one of the panels so she has a lot of fun playing with the toys and turning on the music. And she's even starting to pull up on the walls.

7 Months!

Miss Lily Renee is 7 months old already. She is growing up so fast. She's going to be a year old before we know it. She's advancing in leaps and bounds and is so interactive and playful and just an all-around happy baby. She adores playing with other kids. She was playing with a 3rd or 4th cousin at Thanksgiving and she just thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. There were several other kids there but Blake was her clear favorite. He made her crack up laughing for at least a half hour.

She's starting to imitate us more. If we show her how to comb daddy's hair with her little brush, she'll do it on her own. She loves books. She likes to look at them herself. Her favorite books are the ones with animals that have fake fur on them so you can feel what the animals feel like. She also loves to look at herself in the mirror. We're pretty sure she still thinks it's another baby and she'll even give herself kisses.

She's getting to be a big girl too:

Weight: 18.5 lbs
Length: 28.5"

-Favorite food (not counting breast milk): apples
-Least favorite food: green beans
-Can sit up on her own without any help.
-Can go from her hand and knees back to sitting.
-Likes to dance.
-If she's upset in the car, turning on her CD will make her happy.
-Thinks puppets are funny.
-Loves to splash.
-Says "ma-ma-ma" when she gets upset.
-First trip to Disneyland (11/21).
-First trip to Sea World (11/29).


We found a long string. That was fun.

Watching Shamu.

Cheering for the black and white knight at Medieval Times.

Hanging out with Uncle Grant waiting for the parade to start at Disneyland.



That rabbit is going to get her to crawl.


Watching the parade at Disneyland.


Playing with her new friend at Thanksgiving.

The next adventure...

So the life of an academic is to never be settled I guess. It looks like our next adventure will take us all the way across the country to New Haven, Connecticut. It's a short 2,881 miles away.


Daddy has gotten a Postdoctoral Researcher position (aka "postdoc") at Yale University. It goes without saying, but Lily and Mommy are very proud.

The schedule for moving is still a little tentative but Daddy may finish his PhD sometime this spring/early summer and then we might move in late summer/early fall. It is pretty clear that this time next year we'll be in a different city, on a different coast, and certainly in different weather (it was chilly in the 60s today in Los Angeles).

The life-goal is for Daddy to get a job as a professor at one of the University of California schools (perhaps Mommy & Daddy's alma mater?). This is a very lofty goal but we are sure it's within reach.

1st Trip to Disneyland and fun with Uncle Grant

Lily got to take a visit to Disneyland with mommy, Uncle Grant and Grandma Sue. Uncle Grant and Grandma Sue came down for a visit for a few days and Uncle Grant wanted to take a trip to Disneyland, so off we went.

Riding on the merry-go-round.

In front of the castle with its Christmas lights decked out in Mickey ears.

Her first ride was It's a Small World. She fell asleep while waiting in line (oddly, that was the longest line of the day); but she woke up as soon as we got on the boat and got going. She loved looking around at all the lights and moving parts and listening to all the singing. She was enthralled and just kept looking back and forth.

It's a Small World and the Carousel where the only rides she went on. We also watched the holiday parade and she enjoyed that as well. It was pretty loud in certain parts but she was pretty entertained watching everything go by.

Lily had a great time playing with her Uncle Grant. She like sitting on his shoulders and pulling his hair. She loves pulling everyone's hair, actually.



Uncle Grant leaves tomorrow for his mission. He is going to the Dominican Republic and will be gone for 2 whole years. We are all very sad to see him go.

Close to crawling

Lily is officially up on her knees and rocking back and forth. She hasn't figured out how to move in a forward direction but she's getting closer and closer every day. Time to babyproof!

Grandma Sue and Uncle Grant are arriving for a visit today!

6 months old

Happy half-birthday Lily!

Lily is 6 months old already. Can you believe it? We can't. Her personality is starting to come out more and more. She's such a sweet girl and we're so lucky that she's so easygoing. She loves to play. She's having a lot of fun now that she can really interact with toys. She loves picking them up and swinging them around. She love slapping things with her hands. She loves holding the book while we're reading to her. She loves to read. She watches the books intently but sometimes looks back at us to see what we're saying. I can tell she can't wait until she can do it all on her own.

She loves her friends at daycare and they love her. One of her friends, Abby, can only say about 5 words but one of them is Lily and she calls her name all the time. She loves to watch the other kids play. At the end of the day she sits in a high chair and watches over the rest of the kids. She does start to get upset when the other moms come before I get there. She knows when the other kids start to leave that I should be there too. Noushi, her daycare provider thinks she is so smart for figuring this out.

She is getting so big! She got weighed and measured and is still going strong.
weight - 17 lbs 11 1/4 oz (90th percentile)
height - 28 1/4" (off the charts!)
head circumference - 44.2 cm (75-90th percentile)

Milestones
1st solid food (10/22 - rice cereal & 10/25 carrots).
1st trip to the zoo (10/26).
Can sit up for about 5-10 minutes unassisted (has a little trouble falling over when reaching for something).
Can stand while holding onto something unassisted.
1st hike.
2nd cold.
Slaps everything!
Kicks everything!
Grabs everything!
Scoots all over.
Wears size 3 diapers.
Wears 12 month clothes and even 18 month clothes in some brands.
Has a very long torso and normal length legs.
Loves peekaboo.
Still loves toys that talk/play music.
Loves it when mommy says "Yummm" & "Yummy", when emphasis is placed on the mmm's.
Got up on her hands & knees (11/4/08)!
Moved up into her big girl carseat (11/5/08).

Waiting in line to vote.


The very long line we waited in for an hour and a half so we could vote.

Just after she got up on her hands an knees for the first time. Daddy saw her do it the next day too.


First ride in the big girl carseat!

She's so happy!

New picture of Jennifer and Lily

For my first post I would like to post a beautiful picture of Jennifer and Lily that I took recently.


She is doing great, playing with everything, moving around, just perfect.

Happy Halloween!

A cute little mouse heading to daycare.



A sleepy mouse after taking a walk to go see daddy in the lab.

The LA Zoo

A week ago we took a trip to the Los Angeles Zoo. It was their special "Boo at the Zoo" celebration so all the kids were in costumes and a lot of the animals got pumpkins to smash and eat. Unfortunately it was about 90 degrees outside so Lily could not wear her costume. She had a really good time. Some of the animals are still a little boring because they don't do a lot, but many of them were very exciting. Lily especially loved the flamingos. They are bright pink, noisy and were moving all around. And now we're annual members of the zoo so we'll be making many return trips.

Looking at some animals.

Sitting in the grass at the zoo. She wore her elephant t-shirt to see the elephants, although she fell asleep by the time we made it to see them.

Lily's first "solid" meal

Lily had her first solid meal on the 21st. Her 6-month well baby visit with her pediatrician is coming up so we wanted to start solids just before her visit in case anything came up. We've wanted to wait to feed Lily solids until 6 months because it lowers her risk of developing an allergic reaction to something she eats, she'll be less likely to develop diabetes and plus several other positive outcomes.

We decided to start her on an organic rice cereal just because it's easy and there's really no chance of an allergic reaction. Plus it's fortified with iron since she'll no longer get enough iron from me starting at around 6 months. Her cereal is mixed with breastmilk.

We're glad we waited until we did. Lily didn't have a tongue thrust reflex at all (younger babies will push the food back out of their mouths with their tongue because they don't know how to swallow yet). Lily figured it out from the first bite--in her typical over-achiever fashion.

Lily is eating one "meal" of solids right now. For quite some time, the solid food she's eating will just be to learn how to eat and won't really provide much for her. For her first year of life breastmilk will still be her main source of calories and nutrition, as is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Lily's first vegetable was carrots and her first fruit was bananas. She has also eaten pears. I will be making as much of Lily's food as possible. She is eating jarred carrots because carrots have a tendency to be high in nitrates which is dangerous for babies. Jarred carrots are tested to make sure their nitrate levels are safe. Lily is also eating an all-organic diet. We eat as much organic food as possible so it only makes sense that we'd want the same for Lily. We are especially concerned about keeping nasty pesticides and other chemicals out of her little body. Tests have been done on babies' blood looking at contaminates and the results were scary. No thanks!


Yum-O!

Messy face. Lily loves the Cat in the Hat.

Lake Arrowhead

On October 17th we went up to Lake Arrowhead for two nights. Daddy had a retreat for his department up at UCLA's conference center. We all decided to join him. The weather was perfect and we had our own little 2-story cabin with a fireplace and everything. The conference center is right on Lake Arrowhead and all of the cabins creep up the side of the mountain. It was even more beautiful because the fall leaves were changing (yes, bright orange and gold leaves only an hour and a half from downtown LA).

We also got to hear Daddy present his work at the conference. We had to stay up past bedtime since the talk didn't start until 8:45 PM but we made it without causing too much disruption.

We had a lot of fun playing outside with some leaves and talking a walk near the lake.

5 months

Another month gone by. It's hard to believe. Summer was just beginning when Lily arrived and now it's officially over now that we've had our first fall rainstorm. Last week was hot but now its in the 60s and 70s and it really feels like fall.

We were much more interested in the bunny this month. We liked to pet him and then pull a handful of his hair out and then push him off the chair. Thankfully, he was understanding.

Updates

-Sits up! (9/27/08)
-Can sit in highchairs at restaurants and in the cart at the grocery store.
-Has been going to daycare 5 days a week for a month.
-Still 100% breastfed.
-Drinks 16 oz of milk at daycare and nurses an additional 5 times/day.
-Beginning to grow out of 6-9 month clothing (she's too long in the torso).
-Big feet, sometimes needs 12-24 month socks or larger.
-Wears a size 3 diaper in Seventh Generation.
-Prefers to be rocked until she's almost asleep instead of going to sleep on her own like she used to.
-Loves to kick her legs, especially kicking mommy's stomach while she's getting her diaper changed.
-Loves picking up her stacking blocks.
-Also loves a pink stuffed cat.
-Loves being outside.
-Bedtime is around 7:30 PM and she wakes for the day at about 7:15 AM.
-Can stand only with her hands held.
-Loves to talk and likes to see how high pitched she can yell.
-Prefers to sleep on her side and sometimes her stomach.
-First tried to drink water out of a sippy cup on 9/28/08 (can hold the handles correctly and put the spout in her mouth, but can't tip it up alone yet).
-Loves feeling new textures--must touch everything!
-Squirms when she's getting diaper changes. Rolls to the side and grabs everything she can reach on her changing table.
-Rolls from her back to her belly and back to her back more regularly now.
-Getting closer to getting up on all fours. Scoots her butt up into the air. Can push all the way up on her arms so her hips barely touch the ground.
-Teething. Eye teeth are on their way in. Chews on one finger at a time (and sometimes gags herself accidentally).

Sitting in her highchair at a pizza restaurant. Loves her bugs!

The whole family nearing the top!
Lily fell asleep a short while later.

A pumpkin patch and a hike

This past Saturday we went on our first real hike with Lily. We bought a backpack for Lily to ride in and she loves it just like we expected.

Daddy carried her for about 3 miles (and all the uphill portion):
And mommy carried her for the last .6:

Lily loved, loved, loved looking at all the trees and plants and just looking around. She even took a nap for about 45 minutes--she missed the top!

In honor of the beginning of fall we visited a pumpkin patch. Nevermind that it was over 100 degrees outside!

I bet that pumpkin's bigger than all its cousins too.

Lots of pumpkins!

The straw is much more interesting than the pumpkins.

A sheep, a goat and a llama.
I like pigs! My Aunt Melody would approve.


Look what I can do!


I love the grass. I can grab it and I can pull it out.
I also started to try and drink from a sippy cup this week. I know how to hold it and get it in my mouth but have figured out how to tip it up yet and don't really care for what's in the cup yet.

Lily wants to be a vampire for Halloween.

Tooth #1:

Tooth #2:
Nothing down here yet:

Teeth are officially on their way! Lily was a little upset at daycare yesterday. She didn't want to take any naps and was fussy; which is not like her at all. Anyone who has seen her in the past month or two knows that she's been leaking like a sieve from the mouth area for quite a while. I've been feeling her gums for a while but never really felt anything that seemed like teeth. Yesterday I took another look because of her fussiness and she didn't seem to be sick at all; low and behold two teeth are coming in.

These look like they are her eye teeth so she could have some vampire fangs for Halloween. I guess usually the bottom front teeth come in first, then the top front, then the others but some babies do get their eye teeth first. Unfortunately just because I can see them coming now doesn't mean they'll break the surface and stop being painful anytime soon. They could take MONTHS to come in all the way. Let's hope for all of our sakes that they come in quicker than that. In the mean time a walk to the store for some Baby Orajel is in the cards for our evening tonight.