Fri-tur-day Facts

I'm a little late but I was wiped out last night. We went out to look at beds but the sale wasn't all that. So I came home to think about it. We went to the Shebeen for dinner. It was packed! Lily did really well for a hungry tired toddler. :)

1. A whistling sound woke me up last night. My lungs are full of gunk and I was wheezing.

2. Lily woke me up at 4 am or so. I brought her to bed and massaged her. I finally figured out her restlessness was her making sure I didn't miss any spots. I stopped rubbing her once I figured it out and she regretfully fell asleep.

3. The Baby Grace story has provoked a lot of my own childhood memories of abuse. If you're a parent and you have to tell your child that their punishment isn't so bad because some parents burn their children with cigarettes - please reassess your discipline cuz you've crossed a line somewhere.

4. When you're out for dinner with a cranky husband and a hungry baby, a glass of cold white wine tastes really really good.

5. Even though I have a cold (or something) I'm not missing my massage, I have been looking forward to it for weeks!

6. Lily has recently discovered that she'd rather squish her food than eat it.

7. This is going to be a short list cuz I have to run to get ready for my massage!!!!

If some of you are wondering who Baby Grace is here's a link. It's not a happy story.

Interference!

We had a ton of errands to run yesterday (5-ish) and we got through them okay. :) It's not the running around that I mind but getting Lily in and out of the car each time we have to stop and go in. She's almost 30 pounds and that's a lot of lifting! Anyway, I decided to interrupt Pedro's business lunch and drop off some paperwork. I lined it up so that Lily would be able to "run" to him in the restaurant. And boy, she sure did. BUT the hostess saw her and thought Lily was just randomly running so she scooped her up! Poor Lily was trying to get around the woman. Pedro and I kind of rolled our eyes at each other and Lily finally made it to her daddy. All that effort for naught!

It is weird how people don't mind picking up small children or touching them. How about a little respect for personal space??? Lily doesn't mind some people but others just set her off. She seems to do better with women than men (daddy excepted) as Nicole noted.

PS (tomorrow might be buy a new bed day - there's a huge sale at one store in town. Wish me luck!)

This is a video of Lily walking around with her "jingle" bell. She broke it yesterday at the bank. SIGH.

Cutie Pie

I took a picture of Lily at lunch today. At first she was kind of bored but then I made her laugh and I think I got a nice smile out of her. :) She crashed again tonight but aside from one nap she was going allllll day. I think she likes having more of the house to roam in. I'm glad Pedro got her that jingle bell. It helps me keep track of her. :)

Oops

Gosh, I thought I had posted something yesterday. Oh well. I've had other things on my mind. The diet thingie isn't going so well. For two nights in a row Pedro and I have been starving after eating dinner. Sunday night, after dinner, I made us sausage gravy and biscuits. We were THAT hungry. Last night I made myself a chik pattie and Pedro a black bean pattie, which he liked. I'm obviously going to have to eat some more protein. Tonight we're having some sausages. woohoo!

Anyway, I know Lily is the big draw. She's been sleeping until 8 in the morning. I thought maybe she wasn't getting enough sleep at night but now I think she's just so active she needs all that sleep. Pedro got a Christmas tree yesterday (I ain't calling it a holiday tree, so deal!) so I've opened up more of the house so she's not picking on the tree. She's ignored it thus far. She's had a great time stomping around. Just before 11, I was trying to walk her back to the livingroom for a snack and she cried when I didn't let her walk to the bedroom for her nap! That's never happened before. :)

Let's see.... Pedro (who was dragged kicking and screaming into eating more veggies) is now wearing his skinny jeans. We won't talk about me. I've been vicious about trying to clean out the house. Now that I can't leave stuff lying around, I can see how much stuff I don't have room for. It's tough love time for my crap. :) And no, I haven't taken any new pictures of Miss Lily. I do find it fun going through old pictures. And I don't really have the time snap photos while cleaning up and running around after her. :) Yes Mary Lou, you were right. And she's not even really running yet. :)

Nooooooo!

The change has finally happened. I no longer see Lily as a stumbling little baby. I see her as a little girl. Sigh. She got off of the bed by herself this morning as daddy slept. ha! She can get off and on the sofa, no problem. She can even get from a sitting position to a standing position without pulling up on anything. She has a much more sure-footed walk. Sigh. I'm happy she's progressing well but I miss my wee baby. Not that she was ever all that wee.

I think that I used to crave her getting older and more independent. Now I miss the good old days. :) At least we have memories and lots of pictures. I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend and that grandpa got some serious sleep!

Turkey Pics

No, I don't actually have any pictures of the turkey. :) We were too busy eating it. But I do have pictures of MY turkey. She put herself in that little box. Before I forget I need to mention that Lily stood up by herself in the tub. I was right there in case of an accident but she was really good. She got up on all fours and then slowly, slowly pushed up onto her feet. This means that she no longer has to crawl to a wall or a chair to get back on her feet.

This is almost a picture of Lily with grandma and grandpa. G-pa came home after a 12 hour shift and working 8 days in a row. He ended up on the floor. Not dead, just needing foot rubs, hence the feet in the photo. :) I still think it's a cute photo.

Here is our future piano player. The piano is in Miss Lily's favorite room. I guess it's the front parlour. There's an extra thick rug on top of the carpet and it's very serene. So in she goes and bangs on the piano. :)

She was trying to get her foot up to bang on the piano as well. She was so funny this trip. She trudged through the house on her own little mission. Grandma and grandpa's house is way bigger than ours and I'm always worried we're going to lose track of her! Fortunately, she's on Chico's level. He loves to lick faces and she is in his range. :) Plus, I'm sure even a spoiled, I mean, pampered dog like Chico could find a Lily smelly diaper. :)

I LOVE this picture. G-ma has some beautiful dolls in a case. No doubt to protect them from sticky baby fingers as much as dust. Lily has such a look of determination on her face. One day, she's saying. One day....

This is the only way we can be sure that Lily isn't going to cry around grandpa. We wait until she's asleep and then hand her over. She takes a day to warm up to him. I swear an hour before we leave, she decides to be sweet. Anyway, a big thank you to grandma and grandpa. The turkey and trimmings were yummy! We all enjoyed ourselves and I'm looking forward to Christmas! Miss Lily gets so excited when she sees all the ornaments. I don't think she knows who Santa is yet but I don't think she cares. I let her wear her jingle bell out today and she was shaking it!

Friday Facts (late version)

It's still technically Friday so I'll sneak this in under the wire. :) We had a great visit with grandma and grandpa and Auntie Nicole and Uncle Todd. Lily and grandpa were friends again just before we left. (I won't mention what they were before they were friends again) I have some cute pictures which I will try to remember to post tomorrow. The camera is too faraway and I'm sore from shopping!

1. I've just discovered that my favorite soy milk has more calories per cup than whole fat milk. Granted it has less fat but I've been guzzling it like it's the path to eternal life.

2. Lily does NOT like being in the car for 2 hours straight. She had a meltdown on the way home. We're going to need to invest in a (hopefully) cheap dvd player. The toys she just kept on throwing in anger!

3. I'll be raking lots of leaves tomorrow.

4. Lily has so much fun when she's out that her enthusiasm is catching and strangers laugh at her and say how pretty she is. :) I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but watching her walk as fast as she could through Dilliards without (much) help was awesome. :)

5. My body is really getting used to the new diet. I'm finding it easier to be satisfied with veggies and rice. :)

6. My first pet was Hopie. I'm not really sure how to spell it. It's pronounced hope-ee. I think I was hoping pretty hard for a kitten. Apparently, I only had her for a few days because she pooped on my parent's bed and then she was gone. I don't even remember her, I just remember the story.

7. I know I told some people that I wouldn't dress my daughter all in pink well, you know what?? Lily looks really good in pink so I'm going to keep on doing it!

Gosh I'm losing some steam here. I have to have more than 7 facts!

8. I was extremely pleased the other day to discover that I'm not a boring mommy after all. I had the chance to go out by myself and as Pedro has hidden away 99.9% of our cds I was desperately searching the radio for some industrial/alternative music. I wanted to rock out, man! I thought maybe that part of me had been steamrolled by diapers and 2am feedings. Nope, I'm still me. :)

9. Lily will eat almost anything you give her as long as you don't expect her to sit down and eat it. :) I was all stressed that we haven't been sitting down to family dinner and then I thought, you know what? this is MY family and if we eat dinner in front of the tv, or in front of the computers that's just fine cuz it works for us. When Lily's older I'll teach her table manners (if I still remember them) so she knows how to behave well in public. :)

10. You get to pick a fact out of #9 cuz there are a lot there. :) ha!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're all going to be at grandma and grandpa's place tomorrow, so no posting. Hopefully, I'll have a treat for you in a moment. I apologize in advance for filming Lily holding the camera sideways. It's so easy to rotate pictures but you can't rotate video. At least, not with the cheapie software I have. So Miss Lily is the Queen of the Sofa now. I did keep a lot of things along the back of the sofa to keep them out of reach. That's no longer an option. She can get up and down by herself and she does so repeatedly. I know she's practicing. I'm just blown away. I was complaining to my aunt that my sweet baby is almost all grown up. Lily had a little bit of trouble falling asleep tonight. I think it was to be expected. :) Anyway, make sure to watch the last 5 or 6 seconds of the video. Miss Lily "celebrates" in a strange way...

Dang!

Okay, it's the day before Thanksgiving and it's going to be 70F (21C). I mean, COME ON! There's a cold front right behind this warm front (so maybe I should shut up and enjoy it) but still. The asian ladybugs have been swarming and they are not like the gentle ladybugs some of you may remember. They bite! And they land on the floor where it's a constant struggle with Miss Lily Pants to keep them out of her mouth. Luckily, they don't taste good as she spat one out the other day. I thought my heart was going to stop. Who knows what kinds of diseases the little harbingers of doom carry.

In the pictures, Miss Lily managed to get a baby toy around her ankle so she was jingling while she stomped around the living room. I was trying to get some action shots but she moves pretty quickly. :) I saw her trying to run after BG this morning. She had a pretty spectacular fall, but I think I know in a month or so I'm going to be running after her little chubby butt.

And no one has asked how my food regime has been going, but it's been going quite well, thanks. (note sarcasm) I made Pedro sausage gravy biscuits this morning. I smelled it and turned my stomach. So I had one biscuit with apple butter (I usually have 3!) and a grapefruit. yummm! Although, I'll probably be hungry in 30 minutes! :) I have been getting frustrated with Pedro because I make him dinner and then he comes home and says he wants some meat. And that's fine, but I made dinner, be happy! And it was really good - egg noodles tossed with garlic breadcrumbs and broccoli. yummmm ;) Yeah, what happened to me, who am I? :)

Gosh, Lily just screamed blue murder so I ran to make sure she was okay. Her favorite show (Super Why) came on. whew My heart can slow down any time now. Anyway, hopefully this video will load. You can hear her jingling as she stomps around. :) Oh yeah! Lily had her own package of oatmeal for breakfast. Daddy made it and fed it to her. Isn't he a good daddy? (sometimes)



** Is it just me or does Lily seem to stomp her right foot a little harder in the video??**

*Stunned*

I don't even have the words for this... The earliest episodes of Sesame Street are being released on Dvd and they are NOT recommended for children. This is an interesting article. I'm still stunned. I'm shaking my head in disbelief. Anyway, I need to gather my wits about me there's a lot more to tell.






Lily managed to climb up on the sofa today. Are 13 months old supposed to be able to do that??? She also managed to climb off of the bed by herself. I feel like I'll just be setting the alarm soon and she'll be able to get up and get her own breakfast. :) She did not sleep well last night. She woke up at 4am and kept me awake until 6:30. At least she occasionally patted my back. I think I'll be able to train her to give back massages pretty soon. :)

Let's see.... I'm on Day 4 of my regime. Gosh, that kind of makes me sound like a dictator. (Shut up, Pedro!) Anyhoo, I'm doing okay. I still find it hard to eat all those veggies although I've discovered that chocolate soy milk is really good. :) I think I'll see more improvements in my body once I stop eating bad stuff. I'm not going to throw out good food, you know? Anyway, I smell my Chik patty so I'd better go!

Day 3

Well, I'm kind of into day three of the diet change. I hate calling this a diet because I don't want to go back to my old ways in 6 months. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good. I had the energy to go for a little walk today. I haven't felt the low blood sugar thing either. I guess veggie proteins are digested more quickly than animal ones. I've been feeling good. :) Although I keep on violating the soy milk. Okay, I get the flavoured kind and it's sooooooo good.

This is really different than what I'm used to. I usually "try" to eat healthy. Now I have to eat a lot more veggies. A LOT MORE. I had a humungo salad for dinner, which I'm sure got me past today's goal. :) I almost ate 3 servings of fruit. :) It's going to take a lot of switching around to buy what I need and remember to eat it. I'm addicted to those Chik patties. I try to just eat one, on some toasted sprouted wheat bread. Don't I sound like a veg head????

I think the hardest part is the lemon water in the morning. My body wants nothing more than a hot creamy rich cup of coffee and I give it some luke warm water with half a lemon squeezed in it. Then the hot creamy rich cup of coffee. :) I'm so glad Pedro doesn't see me drink the lemon water because I'm quite sure he would laugh off a certain body part. :) The pictures are of Miss Lily putting herself into the boy box. I love her. Have I mentioned that???

Sleep!

Sorry, no new pictures but baby pictures are adorable, right? Lily slept from 7 pm until 7 am. With some minor noises around 2. That's pretty good, right? Well, Pedro beat her. He went to have a nap at 6 and didn't get up again until this morning at 7. I feel pretty good myself as I made myself go to bed before 10. It was luscious having all that time to myself last night. :)



Right now I'm waiting for the breakfast casserole to finish. I made it last night and let it soak overnight in the fridge. It's 5 slices of bread (buttered and cubed), 1 lb of sausage (cooked and crumbled), 3 cups of shredded cheese (I think I used 4 cups), 4 eggs mixed with 2 cups of milk, 1tsp of hot sauce and some salt. It smells divine! And fattening. :) Hey, I said I'm starting that diet change slowly!

A+

That's my blood type. I found out when I was pregnant. My dad had always told me that I was an O. Because he is. Little things like blood transfusions aside, it is nice to know what your blood type is. I have the book, Eating Right for Your Blood Type. I'm sure most of you have heard of it. I thought I was an O, so at first I was eating for that type and I wasn't so impressed. But I've heard from a few people now, who swear by it. So I'm going to give it a try. For two reasons:

1. How can eating more veggies be bad for me?

2. When I was pregnant I lusted after all the things the book says are good for me. Fresh fruit, especially pineapples, and I hated eating meat. It felt so "dead". I ate a lot of yogurt and cheese for my protein. (I actually used to go to a grocery store for lunch and buy a bag full of fresh fruit for lunch - and a big container of chocolate milk for "protein". Ha!)

I can't go all the way into this yet because we still have a lot of groceries and I'm not going to throw them out over a fruity diet. (Pun intended) But I have started introducing the things I "should" be eating. I bought some more soy milk today and I had a Chik Burger for lunch. I feel good. Not stuffed, not lethargic. Good. :)

Fortunately, (or unfortunately for him) Pedro is also an A+ blood type. He's always complained that he didn't get enough veggies although he let himself be sucked into my meat eater's diet. This should be good for him too. Don't panic!! I don't know Miss Lily's blood type but I won't take her full fat milk away from her. Oh, and this isn't a vegetarian diet. It just cuts out all meat and some dairy. I'll still be eating poultry and fish. :) So it's just a lighter, hopefully healthier diet.

And everyone can wish me luck!!!! :)

Here I go again...

Lily and I had a fairly busy day. I was going to make Pedro some sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast but he was up at like 5:30 this morning and out the door by 7! I don't know who he was trying to impress. So then I was like, whatever, I want sausage gravy and biscuits. Man. That is one filling dish. It kept me full until lunch at 1. woot!

I don't remember what Lily was doing this morning, except for not napping. BG came and was bugging me so I decided to pair up the two urchins. Cute, no? BG loves attention and Lily was just the right human for him. :) I love the picture where he's looking at me. Oh yeah, we bought her the green frog recently from Whole Foods. The nice part about toys from there is that they're made in the States without any toxic ingredients. Who knew you'd have to be so careful about toys. Sigh.

Anyway, we dropped off our donations and then met a friend for lunch at a Thai restaurant. It was pretty good. :) Then we went over to Whole Foods who tripled charged us on the food bill! We got it all straightened out but no-nap Lily was starting to become a handful. :) Then we came home and I was tired so I heated up the leftover sausage gravy and biscuits. Pedro ate what I couldn't eat when he got home. We got 3 meals out of one dish, not too bad!

I can't believe it's American Thanksgiving next week. Where does the time go??? I know that Lily did a lot of cute stuff today but I can't think what it was. She talks more in her "language". :) She is also just so funny. Oh, I remember. I put her in her daddy's chair to watch Shaun the Sheep. When he got back, (daddy not Shaun), she clapped her hands together a few times then opened up her arms wide so he could pick her up. Little things like that just crack me up. :)

Friday Facts (early version)

I have a super busy Friday planned so I'm going to do my list whilst I have a free moment (Pedro and Lily are asleep!)

1. I drank a whole litre of soy milk today. I think it was pumpkin spice. I was looking for an alternative to egg nog and milk, since milk has gone up over a dollar a gallon this year!

2. I like to complain about the price of milk.

3. Lily loves the train thing her grandparents bought her. If you look closely, you can see a piggy clutched in her hand as she clutches the rest to her chest. Yes, she was walking.

4. I have a fear of failure and a fear of success. Fortunately, I do not have a fear of sitting and doing nothing. :)

5. Oh yeah, the soy milk was good.

6. I've learned how to make sausage gravy and biscuits. Pedro and I are sure to gain some more weight. :)

7. When Lily was born, she had a few birthmarks. But this year she's developed a lot of smaller moles. I hope that's normal. :)

hmmm, it's getting tougher - I am trying to make these interesting!

8. Lily likes the Ellen show. She starts dancing as soon as she sees it. She also likes, Clifford, Caillou, Super Why and Elmo. (I know Elmo is technically Sesame Street, but she only pays attention when he's on - what is it with him???)

9. I have been craving a big juicy, slightly bloody hamburger. (shiver)

10. I wish I had a dog.