Monkeying Around

This cold weather is taking a toll on my children. Every night we have to wrestle, or ride horsey, or climb all over Daddy. Please winter, go away!

Riding Daddy. For some reason, when he wants to ride on Shawn's back, he says, "ride the cow." Hil-arious! Unless maybe you are Shawn.
Riding Nana Horse.

This may seem like torture for Lilah, but for some crazy reason, she enjoys every minute of it!
Okay, back off buddy, or I'll eat your ear...


Climbing on Nana and Daddy...
See, I told you they are stir crazy...
And that's what Lilah thinks about that...

Hair

No, not for Lilah. Sadly, her hair growth is still very slow. It's still a beautiful shade of red though and we can't wait for the rest to come in!

In the meantime, here are some pictures of my kids trying to stimulate hair growth for their elders...

My Week In Numbers

Nine.

Nine hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. Heaven.

Three.

Three whole dry nights and three whole dry days for Brian. Three Maisy books as a reward. Still wearing a pull up at night, but he's in underwear all day!

Two.

Lilah has her first ear infection. A double ear infection. Poor baby.

Three Hundred.

The number of tickets we sell for the Family Dance, our huge preschool fundraiser.

Seven.

The number of tickets we still have available. And the dance is Saturday. Can you say sell out?!!

Lilah, 6 Months

Oh how I have been avoiding this post! 6 months already?! I know it's cliche, but it just doesn't seem possible.

Lilah continues to be a joy at 6 months. She smiles easily and laughs often. She has (knock on wood) improved somewhat in the car, but still has her days. She is a snuggler and a cuddler. She LOVES her big brother. He is the funniest guy on earth. And in spite of himself, he loves her like crazy too! He struggled for awhile when he realized she was staying, but he's gotten over it and is really enjoying his role. He love making her laugh!


Lilah is (and has been for awhile) rolling both ways, scooting wherever she wants to go, turning full circles on her stomach and sitting unsupported for quite a long time without toppling over. Just when I think she's getting the hang of plopping over gracefully, she tips backwards without warning and bops her her. So we still have to watch her! I don't think crawling and pulling up are far off. God help us!

Lilah is still a pro nurser and eats all that I have most days. She is an eater in general. We have moved through all of the cereals and veggies and are onto fruits. She gets to try pears tonight! She has a routine when it comes to eating. She makes an awful face at first and the proceeds to eat every last bite. We've even moved to 2nd foods for lunch because she is such a hungry girl! We added lunch last week when it occurred to me that she had been fussy for a few days. I had a feeling she might be hungry. Yep! And it wasn't long before we realized she would easily eat double what we were offering her, and thus made the switch to 2nd foods.

All that eating makes her quite the chunk! I love it that way!! Her rolls are just adorable. She is adorable in general if I do say so myself!

We visited the doctor today for her 6 month appointment. Her stats are as follows:

Head:17 inches
Height: 27 inches, 89th percentile
Weight: 17 lbs, 14 oz, 83rd percentile

So, yeah, a chunk indeed!

Lilah was NOT a fan of the nurse or the doctor today. She was a crying mess as soon as the nurse touched her and threw a fit when the doc touched her too. He said she's just advanced as stranger fear is more of a 9 month skill. Ha! He also said he thinks she will be an early talker because she "just has that look about her." We'll take it! We've been through enough talking woes with her big brother!!

I am so sad that our baby is already 6 months old! But I can't wait to see her continue to grow and develop all the same. Happy 6 month birthday, baby girl!

Lilah's chair picture, 6 monthsAnd just to compare, Brian's chair picture, 6 months

Play Offs

Who Dey! We're ready! Are you??

Tree Tradition

Much to Shawn's dismay, we continued the tradition of buying a bulbed tree for our kids for their first Christmas this year. He's right, it's a pain in the youknowwhat. They are heavy and a little scary to care for. They have to be planted in the dead of winter. BUT they are something our kids will always have as a memory of their first Christmas. And I like it. Thankyouverymuch.

Lilah with her tree.

This tree is going in the ground tomorrow. Luckily the temps have been in the 50s so it should do well!

Brian with his tree at 7 months.

Brian's tree is in my parents' yard and Lilah's will be too. Maybe someday we will cut them down and reuse them. Who knows?!

The Magic of Christmas

This year for Christmas, we gave my Dad something special. This is his all time favorite picture of Brian. He loves it!So this year, we took this picture of Lilah and framed the two side by side.

Here is a picture of Dad opening the gift.

He didn't believe us at first that the picture of Lilah was actually Lilah! He had even mentioned on Christmas Eve that he didn't think her legs were nearly as fat as Brian's were in his tree picture. Wrong!!

Oh the Chewin' You are Doin'

Miss Lilah has become quite the cannibal. If her feet are bare, she's munching away on those. And if she gets anywhere near my chin or cheek, it's all over! Mom's too. I guess we have similar skin. She's not a huge fan of Shawn's chin though...we think it's the stubble.

Hmmm, this seems familiar. Wonder why...

Christmas 2011

Below you will find a photo dump from Christmas and the days leading up to it. Enjoy!

Making cookies a few days before Christmas. Mama apparently lost her mind and decided this would be a good idea with a 3.5 year old and a 5 month old. Brian had fun. Me, not so much. Okay, actually it wasn't terrible if you don't count the fact that Brian fell off a chair and got a huge knot on his head. And the huge mess. And the fact that we forgot the vanilla!

Oh and we also painted that day. What was I thinking??!


Lilah is in that "I see a camera, so I must flash my best smile" mode. I love it! This is what she did every time I pointed the camera at her while we were baking.

On the 23rd we made a run to Georgetown to meet up with Kristal and family. Lilah had slept really well the night before, so we were anticipated major screaming on the way there (we had planned the timing around a possible nap). However, the sleep apparently did her good and she played happily the whole way there. She slept on the way back and didn't start crying until about 20 minutes out, so we felt like it was a pretty good trip!


Ah, the highlight of my Christmas and the 'reason for the season.' The St. Patrick Christmas skit. Lilah played the baby Jesus! She got a collections, "Awwww," from the those in attendance.
Brian was supposed to play a mouse, but got scared when he saw the crowded church. He did model his ears for me on Christmas morning though...
Christmas Eve dinner with the kids dressed up in their Christmas outfits!
Christmas morning. I love Christmas jammies!
Checking out Santa's half eaten cookies and the note that he left for the kids.
My little thumb sucker.
Unwrapping gifts!
The big gift! An indoor jungle gym and rings!
The unexpected hit. Elefun! And I promise Lilah does not have that net over her face. She is just peering through it.
Some Christmas lovin' between cousins! Lilah and cousin Gavin.
Eating baby food for the first time. At first we weren't so sure about squash...

But it grew on her...
Hope everyone had a very, Merry Christmas. I have a bunch more pictures to download off my camera, so more posts to come!