ode to january joy

as we soak in these moments of life with just Lillian, we can't help but be captivated by our little star. this has been a fabulous january full of projects (we doubled the square footage of our house), IKEA & Home Depot has been frequented more than the gym (but thanks), and our house has been filled with music (Moby is a Lillian dance favorite, plus we now have a piano)- JOY!

dancing queen.

fashionista who loves boots.

hide & seek with baby (her new favorite spot= wedged between the wall & pantry & "OW"= new favorite word)

our newest addition to the family- Justin's Piano!

under grammy & grampa's watch

a few things happened today...

• Justin left for a work trip & Lillian noticed he was gone for the first time... she was not happy. She searched the bed- sure he was hiding under the pillows. Yelled his name at the front door & then the tears.... DADA. Thank God it is only one night- see you soon love.
• The fever that was hovering over Lillian finally lifted and left us alone for a whole 24 hours... which hopefully is gone for good.
• Grammy & Grampa came to play with Lillian and when I say play... I mean play! This is one of the highlights of Lillian's life. They truly play with her, with no agenda or pending obligations they give her undivided attention AND she LOVES it! Here is the photo I received from their time together...

while this play time was going on I was enjoying a yoga class, running errands, happy hour with my best friends and taking a few moments to make me a better mom. i love being a MAMA and especially coming home to my little one... so excited to see me- her one and only MAMA!

pink potty

"pooh-pooh", says Lillian as she pulls her pink potty out from behind the toilet. "do you have to go poop?", I ask with some hesitation. "yeah", Lillian says with assurance. "okay, that is what the potty is for" and I leave her to sit on her potty in the bathroom (fully clothed). she comes around the corner about 1 minute later saying, "pooh-pooh" and I ask "did you go pooh-pooh?"... "no" and she runs back to her potty.... 1 more minute passes with her sitting on her potty and then she comes into my room- beaming- "pooh-pooh!" and this time the smell confirms her proclamation. "did you go pooh-pooh on the potty?" I ask in disbelief. "yeah!" i look at my baby and then rejoice with her that she truly did go poop on the potty. i changed her diaper, doted over her accomplishment and gave her a big butterfly sticker. it was a big day for both of us... i am certainly not taking on fully potty training my 18 month old, but i still am extremely proud of my little potty pooper and had to take note of this event.

my favorite

this picture is a thousand words for me and a thousand times i love lillian...

picture taken by: Jessica Utterback

date: 12:31:2009

my baby is back

it may be hard to believe, but all of these pictures were taken when Lillian wasn't quite herself... these were definitely her best moments of our time in AZ, but the unphotographed, well... God does promise to only give us as much as we can handle & so I savor every one of these smiling moments.

a few things that are very Lillian... she sucks her thumb, loves to sleep (and since birth has done it without much of a fuss), talks a lot, is always up to play a game ("A BOO" being a favorite), plays by herself and can be pretty well entertained in her car seat... from snacks, to reading to herself, talking on the phone or just being okay.

so after a week at home we have our delightful child back in the swing of things. thankfully life is peaceful once again & our joyful child has us rolling in laughter & kisses once again- oh yes she loves giving kisses.

Happy New Year!

we had a fabulous time in AZ with an overwhelming amount of familiar faces & the joys of being extremely busy. we are home now exhausted and nursing our spinning memories with a bit of mundane. it is amazing how good the routine feels after a full dose of holiday vacation. it is funny to find that in our home we each come back from vacation a bit different:

• justin is filled with ambition and a list full of projects that will probably all be finished by the end of the week- his current location is refinishing out basement & i don't put it past him to finish it by the weekend... he has already knocked out walls, removed all our storage and relocated it to the garage (by himself- that included moving a highboy dresser up our stairs alone- not to mention all our stuff), mopped the floor, and is now priming the walls.... we got home Friday night & yes he works all day. i love my husband- he amazes me.
• lillian is playing with her toys as if they are all brand new, not quite sure she wants to go to bed at night or take a nap and really excited about SHOES- mine, yours & hers... testing the limits and just checking to see if I really meant NO when I said no.
• me well i am exhausted. i realized that i base the bliss of vacations on how well I sleep... which actually means how well Lillian slept. and to be honest Lillian didn't sleep to well in AZ- she never quite figured it out after the ear infection... so that means that every day I awoke feeling like I had just had a slumber party & no slumber. i still had a great time, but running on 1/2 a tank brings you home burning rubber... so I am sleeping a lot and trying to slow down the pace since I already feel like my baby within wants to jump out... hold on we have 3 more months.

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now to new years...

life- i want to soak it all in, like sunshine or rain

love- focus on it & ask for it to be like mercy... "new every morning"

lillian- smile. be patient. cover her in hugs & kisses. guide her to make good choices. enjoy the bliss of every childish moment. be there.