New Baby, new blog

With the addition of the second Pope baby, we thought it only fair to move over to a new blog where baby #2 could be fairly represented. We're sure the blog space won't be entirely even, but the title should at least reflect to expansion of the Pope family. Please follow us now at: http://popekiddos.blogspot.com/

No worry's all of the posts from this blog can be found there as well.

Our little sailor!

It's quite shocking that it took until Lily's 17th month before she sailed in a sailboat. Especially since her grandpa has a sailboat--but life (and a nervous mommy) get in the way sometimes. She had sat on a sailboat before but I don't think it really counts if it's still tied to the dock.



She liked looking at everything. She liked waving at the boats passing by. But most of all she wanted to go swimming in the ocean.





But most of our time in San Diego Bay sailing around was actually spent down below. Sailing time overlapped with napping time and it didn't take too long to figure out that it was time to go to sleep.



I had hoped that it would be fairly easy for her to fall asleep due to the rocking. But if I'm with Lily she has a hard time falling asleep, she's just too distracted. So I had to hold her and rock her to sleep. At over 26 and half pounds, this is getting harder and harder to do. But somehow the things that are necessary just get done and eventually she did fall asleep.

We laid in the Captain's quarters in the bow of the boat. My foot is propped on the side of the boat because, although I requested a flat ride, when it comes to sailing, flat is relative and that port tack kept trying to throw me around the front of the boat. Now picture my foot on that wall rocking Lily back and forth for 20 minutes. And tell me why I don't have Angelina Jolie's arms yet? Thank goodness for Google Reader on the iPhone and that my mother-in-law keeps at least a dozen pillows on that boat at all times.





Lily steering us back home. No one told her we were aleady back at in the slip.

Lily with Bauby and Captain Grandpa.

Gymnastics class

Lily took a 5 week gymnastics class during the month of August. It was Friday mornings but I'm lucky that my bosses like me and are flexible and don't mind me coming in a little late for 5 Fridays.

And so Lily started her Foxes & Pups class Josephson Academy of Gymnastics. It was supposed to be a group class but only one other kid showed up and to only one of the classes, so Lily got a private class. She was a little hesitant about her teacher, Lindsay, for about 5 minutes and then loved her.

She loved running so fast she'd fall down on the trampoline.

She loved stacking the foam blocks and then knocking them all over.

Throwing blocks into the foam pit.

Jumping, jumping, jumping.

Lily loved gymnastics. All of the floors had mats on them so she could run and do crazy things without getting hurt. She learned a lot in her class actually. She learned how to jump! By the end of the class she was getting air on the trampoline. She also got a lot better at safely climbing down off things and just a better awareness of being near the edge of things. And she just had so much fun. Plus the end of class meant she got a stamp on each hand and the top of each foot and she found that incredibly exciting.

16 months

We are quickly approaching a year and a half--how did that happen? The first year went by fast but the second is going by even quicker.

Lily is a little animal lately. She has so many opinions and wants every single thing a certain way. She just told daddy last night that babies, mommies and daddies don't need to go to sleep. But puppies do and she gave daddy her puppy to put to bed instead of her.

At her 1-year checkup we told her doctor that she really only knew 2 words that she used a lot and we were sure she knew the meaning of. He said babies her age usually knew about 3-5 words and probably somewhere around 18 months-2 years she'd have a real word explosion. We can see now that this explosion is starting to happen. She understands basically everything we say. She responds appropriately to just about everything that's said to her. Sometimes she says "NO!" but she definitely knows what we're saying and that she doesn't want to do it. "Mine" has also crept into her vocabulary. She can't really say "bunny" or "Charlie" yet, so she just calls him "mine". She says this to basically everything else that she wants too, food, remotes, shoes, etc.

She's also becoming pickier about food (thanks Daddy!). If she has something in her mouth that she doesn't like she spits it out--like sticking her tongue out and spitting until it comes out. This happens several times during a meal. She's decided that she doesn't really like red meat any more, or really meat in general. Sometimes she'll eat a few bites of a kosher hot dog but she doesn't even really care for that. She would eat an entire watermelon and baskets of raspberries if you let her though. She has already figured out that food in season tastes so much better, at the height of their season those are her two current favorites. And always cheese. She usually does a pretty good job of grocery shopping with me at Whole Foods because they have a lot of cheese samples, we try at least one of each.

She's also testing out her vocal chords. She can't make all the sounds yet but she tries so hard to repeat what we're saying. It's so cute to see her trying so hard and she's so proud of herself when she gets it. A lot of words sound the same right now because she doesn't have all the consonant sounds down yet. So "baa" might mean "ball", "bath", "bird" and any other number of things.

We also have some of Lily's favorite books that we read frequently (usually daily) where we do certain actions during the book. Like she has a "first words" book that has a picture of an item with the word underneath it (ball, shoes, hat, face, hands, etc). She'll sit and go through the book on her own now and say the words she knows, or the signs if she can't say the word and she'll even do the action on her own. So in this book, for all the body parts, you have to touch the book with that body part, so you smash your face in the book for "face", slap your hands on the book for "hands" and put your feet in the book for "feet". She does all this on her own (if she doesn't just skip to the feet page because that's her favorite part).

She has a bit of an obsession with her feet. I think she gets that a little bit from her mommy, my toes are a bit more dexterous than most and I've been known to pick things up with my toes. But Lily as taken it to a whole new level. She's always doing something with her feet, she's always washing them with paper towels and holding onto her blanket with her feet. It's quite funny. And of course she prefers to be barefoot.

She's also learning how to count. She likes to walk up the stairs on her own just holding onto mommy or daddy's hand. When we do this we count each step (just 1-5 and then start over). She'll now say "two" and "five" with us (and before we even say it).

We went on another trip on a plane this month. I swore I wasn't going to fly again alone with her until we were forced by FAA regulations to buy her a seat (at 2 years old) but I did it anyway. Somehow I convince myself that it won't be that bad. We just flew to Redding, which isn't that long of a flight but on our way there we had a brief stop in Arcata (turning a 2 hour flight into 3 hours). On that flight we actually got a nice flight attendant that asked the woman seated next to us if she'd move to another seat so we could have more room (since there were a couple extra seats). That made the flight a lot more bearable. Lily had her own space to squirm, throw toys, etc. She looked like such a big girl in the seat buckled in.

She wasn't so sure about the seat belt keeping her in place but unlatching it 800 times was fun.

On the way back we weren't so lucky (even though there were extra seats). Lily of course did not want to sleep. She also did not want to sit still. At least it was a direct flight on the way back though. And she had a fun time with her Grandma and Papa, all her Aunts, Uncle Dusty, and her cousin Bella. She was a little clingy on this trip and didn't really want anyone except Aunt Kellie to pick her up. I think she might have been a little uneasy since her daddy wasn't there and she wasn't sure why. She was QUITE happy when she saw him at the airport and sprinted down the sidewalk to greet him. She does love her cousin Bella though. They are at the stage when they only want to play with whatever the other one has and they get very jealous if one of them is getting more attention, gets the snacks first, etc. But they also want to hold hands and give each other kisses; it's very sweet.

A few milestones:
Wearing a size 6 or 6.5 shoe.
Still wearing 18 month or 24 month clothes and 2T shirts.
Wearing a size 5 diaper.
Knows a lot of body parts: eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, head, hair, cheeks, belly button, hands feet, toes and probably a couple more
Starting to play games like Simon says. She'll play along with me if I say "put your hands up!" then "put your hands down!".
Words: up, hi, baby, ball, bird, bath, hat, hot, mine, mama, dada, papa, octopus (opt-o), two, five, down, boom, shoes, bye.
Still knows a lot of signs and signs a lot. Baby and bye are the only words that she can say and sign.
Knows a lot of animal sounds: dog, cat, cow, sheep, fish, monkey, duck, snake.
Two new teeth, she got two new molars, one on each side, so she has 3 of 4 1st year molars.
She will try and repeat anything you say to her.
Favorite toy: a stroller from Bauby, you could definitely say that she's obsessed with it. We have to hide it sometimes.
Favorite books: One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish; Where is baby's belly button and First Words.

Riding in the grocery cart car at Ralph's.

She must carry one of her bags to daycare each morning.

Refusing the admit the diaper bag was too big for her to carry.

In a park in downtown LA walking to the Central library.

Reading books at the library. She loves books!

She's getting so good at eating with a fork. She still switches between using her right and left hand.

Snack time on the plane. This was right before she ripped the napkin into a million little pieces sending cheese everywhere.



Waiting for our bag to come off the plane. Lily knows the drill.

She can swim just like Aunt Kellie.


This is an old picture, but it was just too funny. Grandpa had the lawnmower out and Lily thought it was like her push toy, so she told Grandpa to go get it and they pushed their toys together down the street.

First bike ride!

We went on our first bike ride with Lily over the weekend. She had a blast. Every since she turned one we've been going wanting to buy a bike seat to take her on a bike ride. We've been hemming and hawing between two different front-mounting seats, we finally decided on the iBert. We knew we wanted a front-mounting seat because they're more stable and we'll be able to have a conversation with Lily while we're riding.


Lily loved it as we expected. She liked pointed at things. Although she did get a little upset if I got too far in front of her and daddy. Like she was telling daddy to catch up.

15 months

You can imagine how loud this is.

Official stats:
Weight - 24 lbs 11 1/4 oz (75th percentile)
Height - 32 1/2" (95th percentile)

Lily had a doctor's appointment this morning to celebrate her 15 month birthday. This visit was particularly difficult. We think she remembers the exam room. She wasn't happy to be there. Even before the doctor came in she kept trying to get on the ground and was pointing to the door trying to get out. None of the procedures went very smoothly. She didn't like the nurse or doctor touching her and she had particular disdain for the two shots she got. She was happy as soon as we got out of there. She's growing wonderfully and symmetrically. She's still long and lean. Hopefully she'll be blessed with that figure her whole life. She's a little below normal on her words (has 2, average is 5) but she has so many signs to make up for it. Signing with babies and toddlers has been shown to help vocabulary not hinder it so I'm not worried that she'll catch up and catch up quickly.

Lily has finished her swimming lessons and has now moved on to gymnastics. She loved swimming so much. Although Daddy couldn't stay and watch otherwise she just wanted to wave to him the whole time and show off. I was pretty impressed that she could hold onto a kickboard and keep herself above water. Then I could hold her feet to show her how to kick. She prefers to kick both legs simultaneously like a frog though. She's gone underwater a couple of times (me dunking her very briefly). She's surprised but she doesn't hate it or cry at all. She likes to put her face in herself, probably mostly to lap up the water like a dog. Gymnastics is going well too. She has a private class since no one else signed up for her session. She likes jumping on the trampoline, she's mostly just bending her knees but she can make the trampoline move. And she likes the big foam block pit and just exploring and climbing on things.

She's a real jabbermouth. She's talking and babbling all the time ("daba-daba-daba-daba"). Her signing has really taken off too. She made up her own sign for cat (tipping her head over so her right ear is touching her shoulder). I'm not sure how she came up with it, but she consistently does it whenever you ask her to show you "cat" or she sees a picture of one. She still only says three words "hi" ("eye"), "up", and "apple" but she says those a lot (especially "up"). She actually just learned "apple" on her birthday. We were looking at a book together and she just said "apple", while pointing to one. She's been practicing saying it a lot since then, it's very cute. She tries to mimic a little bit but not much yet. Hopefully that will be coming soon. I really look forward to hearing what she has to say. Although it's amazing how much content we can get out of a few signs and grunting/pointing at things.

She understands most of what we say to her. She's very good at following directions, "get your shoes", "take this to daddy", "where's your milk?", "let's go outside", etc. She responses appropriately to almost all those cues and a lot more. If only she'd listen to "stop throwing food on the floor" and "stop dumping milk out of your cup".

She's taken a new liking to her stroller. Whenever she sees it she gets really excited that she's going to ride in it. So excited that she jumps up and down, pointing and grunting. I'm not sure why that fascination started.

Her papa, grandma, Aunt Melody, Aunt Anna and cousin Bella recently visited for 9 days. Lily had a blast with them. While they were here Lily was able to go to Disneyland twice, the aquarium, the zoo and the beach. She loved all of it of course. And she loves her cousin. She's pretty good at sharing things with her and she likes holding her hand (more than Bella would like) and they even danced together (until they somehow toppled over--see below). Lily is pretty much obsessed with the water, we have to watch her carefully. She'd jump right into a pool or walk right out into the ocean--she doesn't have any fear at all. When we were at the beach she kept wanting to go deeper and deeper into the waves and enjoyed them splashing into her. When I let go of her hands she just walked right back out into the surf.

She had her first night away from mommy and daddy the first weekend of August. It was a little tough on mommy but we all survived. I'm not sure how much Lily even noticed. Mommy and Daddy went up to Santa Barbara wine country for a wedding (congrats Kelly & Mike!) and bauby and grandpa came up to stay with Lily. Lily enjoyed being the center of attention and showing off all her skills--especially her dancing skills apparently.

Milestones
Wearing 18-24 month pants and dresses, 2T shirts
Wearing a size 6 shoe
Wearing a size 5 diaper
Has 6 teeth (got a new molar on the bottom left below her other molar)--still so many teeth to come, hopefully they'll just get here soon.
Words: hi, up, apple
Signs: milk, more, food, water, cat, alligator, elephant, bath, brush teeth, dance,
Animal sounds: dog, cow, monkey, fish
Can point to: nose, mouth, tongue, hair, head, belly, eyes, ears, hands, feet. Loves pointing to others' features too.
Favorite book: One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish by Dr. Suess
Favorite toy: Elmo

Aunt Melody, cousin Bella, Lily and I in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle.

The carousel in Fantasyland.

Dumbo ride.


Lily loved Its a Small World, so interested in everything and threw in some dancing every once in a while.

Lily was trying to show her cousin Bella some sweet dance moves.

Playing in the water at the park.

The end of an era

I didn't mention this in Lily's 14 month update because I wasn't entirely certain we'd passed this milestone at the time but it appears now that we definitely have.

Lily is officially weaned.

She actually hasn't breastfed since about a week before she turned 14 months old but she had gone a couple of days without breastfeeding previously so I wasn't completely sure she wouldn't still nurse again. This was a bittersweet transition for me. She's growing up and that's hard to face even though it's exciting and I love seeing her grow and learn. But this was a major physical bond between us. It was the one major thing that only she and I shared. No one else could provide that nourishment and comfort to her. There are still times when she only wants comfort from me but those are becoming fewer too and the connection isn't as tangible. The actual process of weaning wasn't terribly difficult and almost happened on it's own.

We didn't attempt to start weaning at all until Lily turned one. Breast milk (or formula) is supposed to be her major source of nutrition until she turned one. Other food is just for practice and fun--not for it's nutritional value. I think parents/people are often in a rush for babies to grow up. I'm excited about things to come but I'd be happy to keep Lily as my little baby as long as possible. Once she turned one, whole milk was OK. Adjusting to that took a little while but she adapted quickly. We switched to whole milk and dropped bottles all in one swoop. I thought it might be easier to go through one difficult patch rather than two (by switching to whole milk and then switching to sippy cups later). My next step was to just stop offering breastfeeding as an option. If she asked I let her but I didn't offer it. I kept around our morning feeding/cuddle time the longest but eventually I just stopped that as well. She never really put up a fuss about it. She can't say she wants milk or wants to breastfeed verbally but she has been signing "milk" for months and months. Fortunately for me probably, that's a generic "milk" and I don't know when it meant breast milk or whole milk. So if she signed "milk" I gave her milk in a sippy cup. She didn't seem to mind. About a week before she turned 14 months she nursed for the last time (although we didn't know for sure it'd be the last time then).

Overall it went about as best as I could have hoped for. I don't think it was particularly rough on her or me. I don't think we rushed things. We didn't stop the day she turned one. These were all things that were important to me. Before Lily, I was always concerned about her getting to the point of being able to "ask for it" and knowing that was too old to nurse. I don't feel that way any more. I wouldn't feel like a bad mother if we were still nursing now or even 6 months from now. I feel like it was a slow transition for us over almost two months and it was the right time for us.

Breastfeeding was a wonderful thing for me. It was difficult at times but rewarding and convenient too. I had hoped not to have to give Lily any formula at all but in the end she did get formula at day care for a few months when I decided to cut down and then completely quit pumping at work. It wasn't what I hoped for but it was fine and she (obviously) is fine. I am definitely proud that I supported most of her nutrition through her first 12-14 months of life.

14 months

Lily is getting so opinionated lately. She really lets her voice be heard. When she wants something she points and says "uh-uh" until she gets it. Frequently she could get the thing she wants on her own but she prefers someone to do it for her (not sure where she got that idea). Some times she just doesn't want me to do what I'm doing and she gets mad at me. She was playing on the playground and I was sitting behind her on the ground and she kept swatting at me to move away. She just didn't want me to be behind her or to touch her. She wants to play on her own. Lily and I flew up to Portland to go to her Aunt Melody's college graduation this month. While waiting to board our flight Lily decided to walk around. I let her walk on her own. When she got too far and I went to get her, she started running (not real running yet, but fast walking), then she turned around and threw her sippy cup at me (I was still about 10 feet away). Then she realized that she didn't want me to have her sippy cup so she ran to get it before I could. She thought this was hilarious.

She always tries to play with the bigger kids wherever we are. On the playground kids will be shouting across the play area to each other and she'll yell right with them. She likes to be a part of the group. Then she'll try and follow them when they climb the playground equipment. She's not quite big enough to do this but she tries. There's one step she can climb onto and she's so proud when she gets up on it.

She's also fond of "helping" me carry our gear up to and from the car. She likes to carry her little lunch box. She's very cute walking down the hall with her lunch box and a big smile. It is much easier now that she can walk part of the way between our house and car. It's slower but it's much easier on me. For the past few weeks my shoulder has been sore from carrying her so much in my left arm. It's good to get a little break. She's pretty good at going up the stairs. For the first flight she can do it only holding one hand but for the second flight she starts to get tired and needs to hold both my hands. She's getting better though.

--Wears 18 month and 24 month clothes.
--Wears a size 5 diaper.
--Wears a size 6 shoe.
--Loves stuffed animals and books the most. Also loves phones and ride-on toys of all kinds.
--Loves fruit: bananas, strawberries, watermelon, grapes, blueberries, mango, apricots(!).
--Loves dairy: milk, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese.
--Eats meat occasionally, but not a lot. Likes meatballs and raviolis with meat.
--Still love peakaboo.
--Loves an animal sounds game on mommy's iPhone. Thinks she's really special for getting to play with mommy's iPhone.
--Favorite things to do are listening to music and reading.
--Knows as many signs as we've tried to teach her: milk, baby, water, food, more, elephant, alligator, bath.
--Loves bath time. She wants to get in the bath when she hears the shower come on in the morning when mommy or daddy take showers and signs "bath" like crazy. She starts signing "bath" when she's done with dinner because she knows it's time for her bath.
--Love to help clean up. If given a rag she'll wipe off tables to help.
--Hates getting her hair fixed and likes to pull out hair ties and clips.
--Started swimming lessons this month. Adores it. Loves water in general. Is really good at holding onto the kick board on her own while mommy holds her feet only to show her how to kick. Much better than the other kids her age at this task.
--Loves being startled and surprised. She especially loves it when I hide around corners and jump out and scare her.
--Is ticklish on her thighs and stomach.
--Can point to her nose, belly, and eyes.

4th of July - Lily loved waving her flags!

Lily swimming at Bauby and Grandpas.


With cousin, Bella, riding in her wagon.

Congratulations Aunt Melody, Bella didn't make it to the end.

Lily also took a nap at the graduation.

Language

Lily's language is exploding lately. I think she understands quite a
bit of what I say. This morning I said "take this to Daddy" and handed
her something. She took it turned around found Daddy and gave it to him.

She also learned two new signs today. She learned "crocodile"-
clapping your hands together like the jaws of a crocodile. She also
learned "brush your teeth"- brushing your teeth with your pointer
finger. She loves to brush her teeth so this an important one.

She's a genius if I do say so myself.

13 months

Notice the new set up for her monthly picture--a little more informal. And Lily's new chair, that she loves and loves to use it as stepping stool to get into things.

Another month for the history books. Parenting a toddler is so much different than a baby. It's a lot less watching and a lot more doing. Once she hits the hay between 7:30 and 8 I hit the couch to decompress for a little while. It makes keeping the house picked up during the week very challenging.

Lily often seems more like a typical little boy than the typical little girl. She's not very dainty, although sometimes she'll grab the ends of a dress she's wearing and turn side to side a mix between a curtsy and a twirl. Until she pulls her dress up over her face to play peekaboo. She's a climber. She's a sneak. She's a jumper and a tumbler. She's wild in the pool and bathtub. She throws her body as wildly as she can and splashes. But at least she doesn't mind getting her face wet. She's starting swimming lessons in about 2 weeks and I know she's going to love it.

We can also see glimpses of what Lily will be like as a teenager. Even now, she talks all.the.time. Never stops. Most of it isn't words yet but she's always talking, talking, talking. In fact, silence is a pretty good indicator that she's either sleeping or getting into something, usually getting into something. She's also beginning to try and repeat what we're saying to practice talking. A few days ago she was stepping up onto a box and then down, we'd say "up" and "down" as she stepped up and down. After a few times she started saying it with us. Another day I was talking to her about how she was happy that day and she was trying to say happy with me ("hap-e").

Milestones
-Wears 18 months, 24 months or 2T clothes. She wears smaller sizes in pants and larger sizes in t-shirts and onesies. She's very long-waisted.
-Wears a size 5.5 shoe. She got her first pair of real shoes this month a Stride Rite. They measured her little foot and she tested them on in the store. Hot pink of course!
-Wears a size 5 diaper. We're considering adding some cloth diapers in while we're at home. We're feeling the guilt of the cases and cases of diapers we have contributed to the landfill.
-An exclusive walker. If she's tired now, she just refuses to walk and makes us carry her.
-Obsessed with her tricycle and Cozy Coupe walking toy. If she sees them she MUST have them.
-Loves her bunny, Charlie. She can open his cage and let him out to play. She also knows where his treats are and gets them out. She can't get a treat out on her own so she gives him the whole bag--he doesn't mind! If you hand her a treat she likes to give them to him though. He's so gentle with her.
-Loves puppets.
-Loves interactive books ("Where's the bone?" where you hide the bone somewhere on each page and "Where's baby?" where you lift up a flap on each page to find the baby, she's particularly fond of the page where baby's feet are behind the cat).
-Knows signs for: milk, all done, baby, good job, hello, bye bye
-Learning new words but it's still unclear if she knows their meaning completely. She knows "mama" (or "mom-mom" sometimes) , "dada", and "hi" (or "hi-ya") for sure. Seems to understand "up" and "down".
-Makes a dog sound when she sees dogs "woof" but sometimes woofs for other animals too. Makes an elephant sound and puts up her arm like an elephant when she sees one.
-Loves to read. Loves to be read to and will "read" through books on her own too.

Look a bird! In the aviary at the zoo.

Swimming in the pool in Bauby & Grandpa's backyard.

Throwing herself back into the water in the pool.

Playing with Uncle Gary & Aunt Cat at Bauby & Grandpa's house.

Getting too big for her crib.

Watching a cow at the farm. She notices pictures of cows everywhere, on milk cartons, painted on the wall at Trader Joe's. She loves cows.

Signing "baby"

Read this book

Riding in her Cozy Coupe at Bauby and Grandpa's house in San Diego.

She always has to see what I'm looking at lately--especially the camera and my cell phone.

It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to...

Lily was a very agreeable baby. She'd let anyone hold her as most babies do. In the past two months or so she's started to resist this a bit. She's very aware of strangers and cautious. If someone comes up to her while we're out, she'll stare with her big beautiful eyes but she won't crack a smile at all. She's loves to be out watching other people (especially young, rambunctious kids) but she likes to do this slyly. So what does this have to do with her birthday? She was a bit overwhelmed. Usually when she sees someone she doesn't see every day (even people she knows like her grandparents) she takes a few minutes to get warmed up. But in under 5 minutes, she's your new best friend and will bring you book to read her and puppets to play with. On her birthday there were over 40 people that she doesn't see that often. Plus she didn't get a morning nap before the party. So she was a little unsure about what was going on. For the first hour or so she just wanted to be held by mommy or daddy. And she completely refused to show off her new walking skills! Thankfully lunch warmed her up a little, and opening presents brought out her regular self (she's a spoiled little girl already).

It was a wonderful party. Despite running a little late, we managed to get everything set up and the food out pretty much on schedule. Thanks to my mom for keeping an eye on Lily while she was "resting" and getting her dressed in her birthday attire and to my dad for carrying supplies up and down the stairs, manning two grills for a while and washing every last dish from the party after I crashed on the couch. Thank goodness my parents and Anna arrived a couple days before the party because I would not have been able to do it all on my own. Simple things like running to Costco to pick up the last of the perishable items is so much more difficult after getting home at 5 and having to get a little girl fed, bathed and in bed by 7:30 PM. Thankfully my dad picked up the slack on that one and got the last of the food for the party too.

It was a great day though. So busy that I didn't have time to feel nostalgic about how big she's gotten so quickly. We were so glad to be able to share our joy over the past year with all of our friends and a lot of our family. This is the only birthday Lily will celebrate before we leave so we were glad that so many people were able to come, hang out, and eat. It was wonderful seeing so many of the friends we've made here in one place.

The death grip on Daddy.

Papa Jerry manning the grill.

Strawberry cake. Really yummy.

Lily's cake.

A little concerned about all the singing.

Eating the her cake.

A year of Lily.

Lily's loot.

Part of the crowd.

Opening gifts.

The favorite gift of the day? A giant gift bag!