Wednesday, January 30, 2013

'Mama'

As I mentioned before, Lily loves to mimic sounds and facial expressions. She watches you so fiercely and you can just see her piece it together, coordinating her lips and tongue to blow a raspberry back at you. It's amazing to watch.

Last week she was in her high chair making a ruckus. If she starts making a consistent noise we'll repeat it back and use words with that sound, etc. To my pleasant surprise ma-ma-ma-ma was the sound of the day! I have this adorable video from that night! At the time she was just exploring sound and not making any associations.

Today I was home a bit early and needed to make a call for work. She was quietly playing in her crib while I stepped into the dining room. A few minutes later she starts to fuss and before I can wrap up what I'm doing, she cries. How did this cry start? "Maaaaaamaaaa" you bet your sweet tush I hauled it to her room.

That's right, baby girl! Mama's here!

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Smiles

I took these photos a couple weeks ago and love them. They are my desktop background and the photos I show off when asked about Lily. Yes, she really is that happy 90% of the time!


5 Months

I've been meaning to post this for over a week and I've just found a moment to do so!

Lily is 5 months old now and the time had just flown by. We are establishing a pretty good daily routine and each day is a tiny but less chaos than the one before it. While she isn't sleeping well during the day, daycare is going wonderfully. She loves watching the kids (hence the not sleeping!) and playing with her toys. The providers already tell us how much they'll miss her over the weekend. We made the right choice and we feel so good about it.

Developmentally, of course, Lily is a genius. Doesn't every mom think so?? She's doing very well and I can already see she's learning at daycare. Lily is making tons of sounds... ma-ma, ba-ba, blowing raspberries, motorboat lips, singing-cant think of what else to call it, squeals, and my favorite - her laugh. The real giggles and the fake laugh she does. If she wants attention and you're not giving it to her, she'll squawk at you!

Lily loves her jumperoo. She gets in that thing and jumps like a maniac. Not always the most convenient thing for a baby that still spits up quite a bit, btw. She sings and laughs for up to 45 minutes. People, I was able to paint my nails while I was home alone. Yes, gasping was the appropriate response. Jumperoo, FTW!

At daycare they have an exersaucer. While I haven't seen it yet, I guess she's motoring around pretty good! But, only backwards. It's those strong jumping legs that propel her back!

A couple weeks ago Lily rolled over (tummy to back). I am thrilled to have gotten this on video. We didn't do it for a couple days and I feared she had forgotten how, but she's back to doing it again. "You mean this gets me out of the dreaded tummy time?? Hell yeah!" Tummy time is going better. She'll do almost 10minutes before she starts to protest. She's starting to spin as she tries to figure out her hands and legs. She's sooo very close to rolling from back to front. It's the silly lower arm that's always in the way!

She's grasping toys, putting absolutely everything in her mouth, and her recent favorite... Chucking things out of her high chair or car seat, exersaucer, jumperoo...

Lily absolutely loves our phones. She grab for them, hitting the screen, and she'll snuggle in for a good slides show of photos of herself! The phone is beat out only by books and her dogs. She's started reaching for them, grabbing at their faces and ears, and they love it. Lacey will hit the floor, roll on her back, and stare at Lily while she does tummy time. They're going to be best friends.

Lily loves her daddy to pieces. She can't take her eyes off of him when he's in the room. She'll hear him while she's nursing and stop to find where he is. He'll dance and sing for her and she just giggles at his silliness. It's such a blessing to watch their relationship grow.

In just a couple weeks we are going to be starting real food! We are considering Baby Led Weaning(Feeding). I would love to hear any experience/resources you may have!

I am perhaps the luckiest Mama in all of the world. My girl is smart, sweet, so happy, and simply beautiful. I didn't think I could ever love to this capacity. Boy am I happy to be wrong.

I love you, Lily Bean.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Finally.

After 5 months to the day, I have finally experienced that blissful moment that you always find pictured in an article about breastfeeding.

It was 7:00 a.m. and Lily and I were getting up for the day. She was all smiles and not at all demanding of her breakfast. We were chatting with her daddy and kissing her sweet cheeks before we settled in to the glider in her nursery. She snuggled in and latched on without much interference from me and got right down to business.

Like a pro, I could barely feel Lily at all. She's gotten good at this, I thought. Not a moment later, she started sighing. I tilted my head so that she and I could see eye to eye. It was only a month or so ago that she even noticed I was up there while she was eating. We locked eyes and she smiled. It was a brief moment, one that she ended by reaching up, touching my face, and returning to the task at hand.

It was effortless, we connected, and I choked back a tear. This is what I fought all those weeks for. That one moment. I hope to never forget it.

This time is ours. It's private and only for us. It's part of our bond. Our foundation together. Part of what makes us, us. For only she and I truly know what it took for us to find this place.