Gremlin

Alright, Miss Lily isn't quite that bad. She was shaking her treat container this morning and it sounded like the lid was one but as you can see, she had removed it. Pedro said she didn't eat all of her mini waffles so I guess she was still hungry. :)

I left this picture sideways so it's easier to see how much fun Lily is having. Daddy was peeking her head around the door frame. We've had sort of a quiet weekend. But quiet times will be over soon as I need to figure out Miss Lily's birthday party!

Bookworm

Miss Lily loves her books. Here are some pictures of her playing. I could move her books from the corner where my dresser is but she seems to like to watch herself play. Yes, she puts the books on their edges like that. Pretty good dexterity for a little crib troll. :) I can call her that because she's started having little tantrums. I kept her away from daddy's keyboard today and she cried and threw her head back. I don't rescue her and I don't berate her. I'm really trying to follow a middle ground that will hopefully make her a normal person. Of course, that's going to be a little tricky for a weird person, such as myself. :) And no, there's no ghost in the second picture. Those are my pasty white legs. I should use that self-tanner on my dresser. :)

Holy Smokes

I always thought Lily was a big baby. The baby on the left was 17.1 pounds. She was the 12th child for some woman with an expanded pelvis. I love the look on the face of the baby on the right as he stares at the behemoth on the left. :)

In other news, Miss Lily walked on her own today for 2 steps. Oh boy. And she just did it again. Sigh.

Waffles!

I should have called this post "Sleep". We all got some sleep last night. phew. Lily had been waking up at 5am for a while. I think it might have something to do with daddy's snoring, but you didn't hear that from me. Grandma and grandpa visited yesterday. Here grandpa has been teasing Miss Lily with a cookie. You can see that her body language is saying, keep your stinky cookie!

Lily was a little traumatized - she hasn't had visitors in a while. She called a truce for lunch when she gobbled down everything in sight, except for the pickle. :) This morning she had waffles. They were organic ones with a sprinkling of organic maple syrup. :) She ate most of it. I think she was happy to get away from the baby cereal. I'm trying to get her geared up for toddlerhood. Is that a word?

Look at Miss Lily. Eating her waffles, drinking her milk. She doesn't need me anymore. *sniff* Well, it was kind of nice. Pedro and I were able to do things while she ate her breakfast and watched Shaun the Sheep. I like how there's this slow reclaiming of time for me. Sigh. I hear her getting into something. Lily!!!!

Fuzz Knocker!

That's what I yelled when I tripped over a root. I try very hard not to swear in front of Lily and so I yell things like "Fuzz Knocker" in public. Well, it was an interesting hike. It was called the Frazier Discovery Trail and I discovered three things.

1) I'm really out of shape.

2) I'm not particularly good at reading trail markers.

3) A little rum and red wine makes the trail go a lot faster.

The trail was supposed to be around 1 and a half miles. As we went the wrong way for half a mile, that kind of extended it a bit. Did I mention, a half mile downhill, which means we added a lot more uphill to an already steep trail. Fun!

It was fun and I'm thinking of going again this weekend with Pedro. And Lily. :) Although, who gets to carry a 30 pound baby in the snuggli has yet to be decided.

I almost got a picture of Stacy checking her make up before we went on our hike. :)

Yes, I stuck the cheerio on Lily's head.

UPDATE: I'm such a dork, I forgot to include the picture of the bears, yes BEARS, that Stacy took. They were on the side of the road but I swear I saw bear poop when we took the wrong trail. Then Stacy's cellphone went off and wouldn't you know that she has to have wolves howling as her ringtone??? Cue Sonia's reaction to run up the trail....

Mountains

I'm going out hiking a little bit today to celebrate the fall solstice. Stacy and I wanted to be somewhere cool that felt like fall. As it's going to be 88 today, I'd say we made the right decision! Good grief! 88 is roughly 31C for my Canadian peeps. :)

So probably no new Lily pics today. :) We're celebrating with mother nature today so hopefully I have enough rum! Just kidding. :) I know I do.

Phriday Photos

I was going to try and makeup something interesting to read but I haven't the brain power and what the hell, no one cares what I have to say anyway. So roll out the pictures!





















































Well, alright, I will say that Lily is fascinated by her sneakers.

Sleep

Guess who slept through the night last night??? I had trouble getting Lily to sleep last night but I guess what I did worked cuz she didn't wake up. woohoooo! I was clearing out some old emails and I was reading about how tired I used to be earlier this year. And that was so bad. I never thought I would sleep again. Of course, Pedro was driving 4 hours a day and he needed his sleep so I never got a break.

These pictures are from last night. I was too slow reading to Miss Lily so she started on her own. :) hmpf Lily is resisting her nap today. I don't push it. If she doesn't fall asleep within 5 or 10 minutes I let her out again to play. I figure she'll tire herself out some more. Right now she's yodelling to herself. Sigh.

I'm waiting for another video to load and watching my neighbour across the street take his leaves to the empty lot right beside his. Tsk tsk tsk. He's a pillar of the community and all.

Alright, the video isn't working again. PEDRO!

Another Day...

Miss Lily and I went out for another walk today. I walked to the beach and back which is over 45 minutes of walking. But my body isn't as sore as Tuesday. Yay! Oh and I missed commenting on Miss Lily turning 11 months old. :) She's almost not a baby anymore. :)

I'm trying to load another video, but in case it doesn't work I took some still photos out of it to show Lily's serious bedhead from yesterday. We saw lots of wildlife on today's walk. The squirrels are such thugs and they are EVERYWHERE. I used to feel so sorry for the ones I'd see dead on the road. Well, I'll still feel sorry for them but something has to thin them out. And they're so huge!

The pic above is of a deer that didn't even run away as we went past! I guess the wildlife ain't so wild! Oh well, I am. :) There was also this crazy squirrel on the beach. I guess they forage wherever they can but it was weird.

Gosh I still have lots of pictures. Maybe I'll save some for tomorrow because, guess what??? The video worked. Pedro thinks he had a slow router or something. So this is of me trying to video Miss Lily walking.

OW

Well Lily and I went on our first walk in weeks. It was SO hot and humid I had a humidity mustache at 7 in the morning. Okay, forget that last part. Anyway, it's been cool and dry lately so I decided to venture out. Oh and taking away Miss Lily's pacifier after she fell asleep this morning, worked well. Let's hope it keeps on working. I know I'm in for a LOOOOONNGGGG night.

Anyway we walked 2.5 miles, to the dam and back. There are some good sized fishies in there! Okay, the first picture is just of the lake about 1 mile from our house. The second picture is of the marina, sometimes I see herons in the water there.

Argh, some little flies hid on me and now they're in the house. Well, guess what suckers??! I have 3 cats. Okay, only 2 are in good enough shape to catch a fly, but IF one happens to land on Daphne, they'll probably get caught up in her fur and die a slow agonizing death. Sorry, I need to eat some lunch and get some happy calories in me! You should be able to spot a couple of fish in these pictures. Some of them are almost a foot long.

Of course, here's Miss Lily doing HER thing. Oh and daddy, if you're reading this at work, she has just demolished your pile of CDs you were going to get rid of. I know it doesn't really matter, but it was funny watching her methodically scatter everything to the winds. :) Uh oh, now she's going after bigger things. I'd better hurry this up and give a hungry baby lunch!

Okay, this is a sign that there once stood a town (?) of Bernardsburg, Incorporated 1796. There's an old chimney that I didn't get a picture of and I think that's all of Bernardsburg that's still standing. Pretty neat though. And there's a creepy little graveyard. We'll have to go and check that out on Hallowe'en. :)

Oh yeah, and the OW is for me because I haven't been for a long walk in a while and parts of me are very, VERY, sore. :( Oh yeah! I forgot to say that I'm 6 pounds lighter. I started using splenda instead of sugar. Go me!

Progress Report

I guess some of you might be wondering how the sleep training is going. Lily no longer wakes up at night for 2 hour stretches and that is AWESOME. However, she does still wake up when her pacifier falls out of her mouth. I was trying to wait to break her of that habit but as she woke me up 6 times last night, I think sooner is better than later. So I started today with nap #1. I had to do a lot of PU/PD, I think cuz daddy was late leaving for work and she wanted to know what was going on. But as her little eyes fluttered closed, I took the pacifier out of her mouth. She made a little noise but slept on. whew This is the habit that's going to be really hard to break. Or maybe it won't be. I hope it won't be.

Sigh

I almost don't want to own up to this because I don't want to be teased about it. Everyone should know by now how Lily says dada but not mama. I mean, she says mama but not in the right context like she does dada. Well, we finally figured out what she calls me. She banged her head last night and she started yelling "Num num!". I asked Pedro why she'd be hungry. I walked away for a minute and she started yelling Num Num louder! Sigh. So I am Num Num. I'm like the really hungry panda.

Blossom

Or blossoming? Lily is a trip. Daddy said she woke up a few times last night and he had to put her down about 3 times and she went right to sleep. So we're definitely on the right path. I know there will be ups and downs but I'm so glad that I found a way to get her to sleep that didn't involve letting her scream her head off for hours!!!!

The above picture is her napping today. Actually, this one is as well. Daddy took her to bed with him, although that's against the rules. I mean, while sleep training. She needs to get used to falling asleep in and staying asleep in her crib. But I forgive him, she's pretty darn cute when she's asleep.

Lily has been hilarious today. I've let her have the run of the house. She's been crawling from one end of the house to the other for most of the day. Now she's all in chatter mode. I have a video of that and I hope it works this time!!!!!!!!!

Let's see. Today she was on the floor and close to daddy so she held up her arms and said "da da". Smarty pants! She's also been standing on her own for longer and longer periods of time. Sigh. Walking should be just around the corner. :)

Alright, the video didn't work AGAIN! I'm going to have to email the gods at blogger. :P

No Jinx For You!

Alright, I'm tired. I spent almost an hour with Lily, picking her up when she cried and putting her down when she stopped. Then finally, she stopped getting up and grabbed a blanket. This sleep training isn't about getting her to sleep, it's getting her calm so she can teach herself to get to sleep. I left her awake, fiddling with a blanket and staring at the wall. WHEW

Now this isn't over, by any means, but I think we're off to a good start. I'm trying to make sure she stays on schedule, and drinks and eats lots during the day so I don't have to give her anything at night. I don't want her to think she has to fall asleep after she finishes a bottle. The hardest part was keeping Pedro out of the bedroom. Daddy wanted to save his crying princess. I understand - it's hard to listen to a baby crying.

Anyway, I didn't want to jinx myself saying this method worked already. I know I still have a long way to go but at least I put my foot on the path. :) Oh and I forgot to mention Lily took about 4 steps yesterday. She was trying to get to BG and Riley and I think she forgot she doesn't know how to walk on her own. :) Also, tonight while I was picking her up, she started pointing. She's never pointed before. Isn't that funny that she started tonight? She'd point to a lamp and I'd take her over to it and she'd run her hand over it. Smart baby. :)

Well, I'm going to run and jump in bed before I have to pick up and put down baby 50 more times. :)

books

Well, I got a couple of baby sleeping books. Unfortunately, it's hard to study books when you're tired. But I have some ideas. I was able to get a couple of books that are non-crying. whew I was fortunate to get some funny picture of Lily today. She was wearing her overall dress out. The schazzy clothes weren't dry.

Check out those teeth! Pedro and I just finished watching the Devil Wears Prada. It was cute. I have been watching a lot of thrillers and horror movies and I needed to lighten up. :)





I also got Lily a new book. You can see it in the picture. It's smaller than most with thicker pages so little Lily fingers can turn the pages easier. :)

Ack

I think I'm going to rename this "Sleep Deprivation Blog". I've been reading more and more online and gosh, when you see people writing about their 20 month old not sleeping through the night it's disheartening.

I'm going to Barnes & Nobles today to get some baby sleep books I've already researched. I've got my list printed out and and my 10% off coupon. Lily woke up again at 1 and kept Pedro up until 3. Bless him for not coming in and waking me up. But we can't keep functioning like this. Yes, we switch nights but that means one of us is always cranky. The phrase most uttered by Pedro this morning was, "Suck it". This isn't happiness. And, most importantly, it's easy to see that Lily isn't getting the sleep SHE needs.

So off to the Bat Shower to get ready for the day. Peace out, sleep hombres. (See how tired I am?!)

PS As it's a little cooler today, Miss Lily can wear her schnazzy outfit into town. :)

Argfh

Oops, that was supposed to be "Argh". Oh well. Miss Lily kept me awake from 1 until 3 this morning, when I finally went and asked Pedro for help. Again, she was flopping around on the bed trying to sleep but just couldn't get there. It was hot in the house so that could have been part of it. She also has some bug bites. I watched her, blurry-eyed, as her little fingers ran over her blanket again and again. As if, looking for something to busy herself with. Should I sew something on her blanket? Today I had trouble getting her down for a nap and watched her do the same thing. Except this time she used the edge of her blanket to run her fingers along and that put her to sleep.

I don't want to do the cry it out thing. Lily is pretty headstrong and I don't think she'd give in. And I would feel like a monster. I have to figure out what's preventing her from sleeping and help her learn to fall asleep on her own, when she wakes up at night. I'm amazed reading some of the parent postings online that so many kids wake up at night. I just think that it's better to figure out why Lily can't sleep instead of letting her cry herself to sleep. On the other hand, I haven't yet figured out why she thrashes around for 2 hours and I need to sleep! argh

Has anyone tried the cry it out method? Did it help? I guess I am getting desperate. Well, as you can tell I took some new pictures of Lily. In her new duds that Auntie Nicole sent! You can't tell me she doesn't look cute! Lily says, thank you!



Anyway, I'm getting tired of rereading all my baby books on why Lily can't get back to sleep. I believe there's a solution and I keep talking to Lily as much as I can so she learns "thirsty", "hungry", "ow" and then might be able to tell me what's wrong. Sigh. There might be a lot of baby books out there but there isn't one especially for Lily!

Sorry

Sorry, I haven't posted recently. Pedro and I have colds. So far I've been able to keep it away from Lily. Much more hand washing and much fewer smooches. Sigh. Let's see. I was telling Lily "no" this morning (I can't remember what she was getting into) and every time I did, she said "yesh". Isn't that 2 year old stuff??? She also had grown up food last night, I gave her a portion of our food and she ate it!!!! I keep wondering what happened to my baby. Everyone told me that infancy goes so fast and so I tried, really tried, to slow down and enjoy it and it still flew by! Oh, in other news, I finally figured out how to get Lily to go to bed and sleep well. I had to consult the handy Baby Whisperer for help. Basically, I make sure Lily is in bed by 7. Her little butt is asleep in minutes. Pedro and I were trying to keep her awake longer in the mistaken attempt to get her to sleep through the night. But we let her get so overtired that she just couldn't fall asleep and when she did, she didn't sleep well. It takes a little more discipline on my part, to get everything done on time, but it's well worth it. Oh and Baby Whisperer is really a book, not a figment of my imagination or anything. :) Well, all my blathering was for a good cause. I've been waiting for a video of Lily to upload. Lily is 4 months old and laughing. It used to take a lot to get her to laugh but now she has started to instigate the giggles. :) I love my pumpkin.

Oh and a shout out to Auntie Nicole - I got the package today, thank you!!! I love the little pants that go with that shirt! I'll try and take pictures tomorrow so everyone else can see what I'm talking about. :) Hopefully, Pedro and I will be feeling better by the weekend so we can come down to visit and go to Busch Gardens. weeeeee!



Alright, I'm not sure what happened but the video crapped out on me. I waited over 2 hours for it to load so that's it! I give up!!!

The Other Side

of Miss Lily, that is. Here she is playing with newspaper yesterday morning. She spends more time in the study on the weekends because that's where daddy looks after her. Don't worry, the paper shredder is unplugged. :)

Here, Miss Lily bumped her pacifier into her upper lip when she landed face first on daddy. That's quite the picture, no? She was okay in a few seconds. See?














So now onto the big story. We had lasagna last night for dinner. Lily refused to eat it off of her baby spoon, so I put hers on the tray of her high chair. I think the photos speak for themselves....