Danielle's last day

Yesterday was Danielle's last full day here and we are already so sad to see her go! Lily fell in love with Danielle right away and she even wanted to be carried by Danielle instead of by me a few times! These pictures are from a little photoshoot they did together.

Zona Rosa

This afternoon we finally made it out of the house and decided to spend the afternoon walking around Zona Rosa. It was nice to be out shopping and Lily had a blast in the fountain!

10 months old!

Lily is 10 months old! Seriously, where has the time gone?!!

I can't imagine not spending every day of the last ten months with her--playing, dancing, napping together! I am the most blessed mom in the world because I have been here for all the incredibly special, happy, nervous, lovey-dovey, cranky, sleepy, spit ups, naps, hungry, cuddly, poopy, bath time, baby-ish, big girl-ish moments!! Being Lily's mom is the BEST "job" in the world!!

Today we spent another day at the pool! This time she wore her new swimsuit from Grandma Minnie! She really liked the strawberry embellishments!

Tonight we're going to dinner with our friend, Jesus, and our cousin, Danielle, to celebrate all the joy she's brought into our lives over the last ten months! I wish our families back in Washington could be closer to share in our celebration!

Splish, splash!

Its been so hot here, I am grateful our community has a pool! Lily just loves being in the water and watching the other kids play!

Danielle has been in town for a few days now but we haven't left the house very often because of the humidity! Having her here has been so much fun! We are so blessed to have all these visitors this summer!!

Sunday morning

Last night at 10:30 I picked Danielle up from the airport for her first trip to the Midwest! It is so exciting to have another guest in our home...I almost can't believe she's here! All our visitors this summer have been more reasons why I am grateful to be a stay at home wife and mom!

Today was the first time I left Lily at the church nursery and I am pleased to report that it went well! I talked with the nursery ladies a few times already...but I just wasn't sure if I was ready to leave her in the classroom. This morning, Lily went into the arms of one of the workers in her class and didn't look back! In service, I kept the church issued security pager in my hand, anxiously waiting for it to go off...but it didn't!

I took comfort in reading the message attached to the pager: "Now is the time to start praying for your child, that they will experience the love of God through the care of our nursery staff." It was a great reminder for me that even though I really want to provide everything Lily needs in life, I can't. Eric can't. Her grandparents can't. In this life, she needs God and the earlier she learns about His love, the better! Fortunately, a portion of that knowledge will come through the children's ministry at our church.

When we went back to the nursery to pick Lily up, all the ladies said she had a great time--playing with the toys and other kids, eating cheerios at snack time, and (although they didn't say it) not noticing I wasn't there! I missed her during church, but also enjoyed being able to relax and enjoy the message without worrying if she was a distraction to others.

I can't believe she's so grown up--she's all ready for a social life of her own!

Update on Walking

Tonight Lily took 4 more perfect steps in a row...followed by a series of wobbly, assisted steps. Her new theme song is, What would you do with a drunken sailor?

Goodbye Grammy!

Dropping off our guests at the airport, especially grandparents, is always difficult! We usually spend the next day or two catching up on sleep and getting back into our routine. This time was no different...except that it also included eating lots of ice cream! We've all been so spoiled by grammy's extra love and attention!!

It was a wonderful visit for us and I hope my mom feels the same way. She will certainly be missed until next time! It will only be a matter of time now before Lily adds "Skype" to her vocabulary.

A walk in the park

More pictures from our day...

Walking through the rose garden

Lily giving mama kisses

Snack time!

Grammy & Lily..."Matchy, matchy"

Loose Park

Today after church we drove to Loose Park for the afternoon--it was such a beautiful, relaxing day!

At the duck pond

A random house I fell in love with

Lily didn't really like her new sun hat

But we got a few pictures anyway!

She looked so sweet!

Zona Rosa

Today we walked around Zona Rosa and enjoyed the warm weather. While there, we bumped into our friends, the Webbs--it was such a pleasant surprise! After an afternoon of shopping we decided to stay for dinner to enjoy the live band. Even though our day ran long, Lily was such a little sweetie!

Royals game...sort of...

Our big event for today was supposed to be a Royals game. We like to arrive around the third inning because Lily can only sit still for so long, but after dinner we were running late, so we actually arrived during the seventh inning! This was good and bad for several reasons...

Good: Because we were so late, we didn't have to pay the $9 parking fee...and we were able to park in Season Ticket Holder parking--right up by the Kauffman entrance!

Bad: When we arrived all the ticket counters were closed! So we tried to purchase tickets from the automatic vendor near the gates, but we couldn't find three seats together for less than $25/ticket...with only two innings left in the game it didn't make sense to pay more than $75 for seats!

Good: Oddly, we actually brought a cooler with beverages--we have never done that before! So, we returned to the parking spot to "tailgate". Being so close to the entrance (and because of the new HUGE outfield screen) we were still able to see and hear all the action!

Bad: There were only a few beverages in the cooler...and we didn't take snacks.

Good: It was a beautiful night! Lily loved playing in the back of the Jeep while we watched the game. And we had a perfect view of the Fireworks after the Royals won!

I was worried the whole night would be ruined after we couldn't get seats...but it turned into a great memory for us all!

Now we have an extra girl to get ready before we can leave the house!

What a day!

Last night Lily warmed right up to grammy and wanted to show off all her funny faces and latest tricks! Today we had lunch at Panera (where Lily already has a little fan club), we went shopping, and then we went to Eric's game. Since grammy's last trip to Kansas City was only a few months ago, we don't really have a lot planned for this visit. We look forward to relaxing together and really enjoying such great company!

At daddy's game

Up from a nap!

Entertaining her fans

Showing her tonsils to grammy

Grammy visits today!

We pick my mom up from the airport at 2:30 today and we are super excited for her visit!

UPDATE: Sophia missed her flight in Minneapolis so her arrival time has been delayed. We will now pick her up at 3:45.

Vintage Lily!

Recent development: Lily's special talents also include removing all tissues from the Kleenex box!

I was looking over old pictures and wanted to share a few. I hope you enjoy them! I'm know I say this all the time, but I just can't believe how quickly time has passed! Seeing these photos brings tears to my eyes because I wish we could go back and re-live the last nine months all over again! My baby is growing up...Awww...

A little update

Here is Lily updating her Facebook status:
"I am SO into The Fray's Heartless cover right now!"



There is so much to write about Lily, I don't know where to start! Each day she continues to amaze me with how much she has grown!

We are still successfully nursing, but we also started introducing more solids into her diet after her nine month "birthday". For breakfast she eats fruit and Multi-grain Cheerios or scrambled eggs. At dinner she eats vegetables and she really enjoys chicken! We love having dinner together as a family! We pull Lily's highchair over to the dinner table so she can participate in our conversation and she does a great job of feeding herself! She also takes water in a sippy cup and a bottle, which is interesting because she never liked bottles before!

Her interest in music continues to grow and she does her little booty shake move even when slow music plays. Her most listened to CD is a Worship CD from Grandma Christy, but she even recognizes me banging on a pot as "music" and does her little baby dance. Recently she started waving her arms to Black Eyed Peas, Boom Boom Pow. I'm not a huge fan of the band, but now I love the song because Lily likes it! I wonder if she will play an instrument when she gets older? Or if she will want to take dance lessons? Or maybe she will become a DJ?!

Her special talents at the moment include removing clothes from her little hamper, her dresser, and from the dryer. She just learned how to close bedroom doors and open the tape deck on the stereo in our living room. She's an old pro at removing the cd from her own cd player so we had to move it out of her reach, but she's replacing that interest with removing stuffed animals from the cubby where her cd player used to be.

Surprisingly, Lily is comfortable navigating the layout of our house to search for me. A month ago she didn't really leave whatever area we were playing in, but now she knows where she's going! Yesterday, she and Eric were in the living room and I left to use the restroom. A few seconds later I heard her coming down the hall and then a pounding on the door. After washing my hands I opened the door, and she was just sitting there outside the guest bathroom...waiting for me. It was so sweet!

A few weeks ago Lily learned how a mirror works and would look at the mirror, then turn around and look at the same object behind her over and over. Now if she's near a mirror, she knows exactly how objects are oriented behind her. What still fascinates her is shadows! She watches our shadows as I rock her to sleep and she plays with her own shadow when she can find it on the ground. Its so funny to watch her try to pick up her own shadow...she sort of pinches at it for a while before moving on.

Perhaps the best of her latest special talents is that she is starting to call for Eric and me by "dada" and "mama". I know she doesn't completely understand how it works yet, but curiously, she never calls us by the "wrong" name. When she sees Eric she always says "dada" and when she's getting sleepy at night, even if Eric is rocking her, she calls for "mama" and looks around until I come. Oh, its a wonderful feeling, being wanted by her! I do look forward to the days when we start to have little conversations together!

Before I was pregnant, my friend Eva described motherhood in a way that I couldn't appreciate at the time: She said if she could give one gift to the people she loved most, it would be the gift of being a mother because it is so beautiful and special! Now I know exactly what she meant and why she feels that way: Parenthood changes us and allows us to become better than we were before! Children make our lives more meaningful and more lovely!

I thank God daily for Eric and Lily because He entrusted me with such precious treasures!

Look who's talking!

I should know better by now, but she's so darn cute, it's hard to say "no"! I let Lily play with my phone again last week while I folded laundry and this time she called Auntie Marissa! I think that puts her count at 6 calls completed! Thankfully, she hasn't figured out how to send text messages yet!

Music class!

When we first got to to music class today, Lily was a little unsure about all the new people so she sat in my lap, watching everyone, and tapped her foot to the music. By the end of class she felt comfortable moving around and even began to clap her hands against her leg without help! We had so much fun with our friends Tara and Parker!

Go daddy!!

Thursday nights Lily and I cheer on Eric's Softball team, Paroled. His team has only won 1 game so far, but he's the best player on the field and we are so proud of him!

cell phone video clips

Cell phone pictures

I uploaded 382 pictures and videos from my cell phone to our computer today. These are a few of my favorites: