Apple of My Eye

Doesn't she look so old in these pictures? Crazy.

Material Girl

For me?

What could it be?

It's....

...shoes!

Yay for shoes!!!

Daddy had to study today which presented the perfect opportunity for a Mommy and Me Shopping Day. Clothes and shoes are tax-free in Maryland this weekend, so we had to stock up. It's a good excuse for a shopping spree anyway.

Happy 60th Grandma Meyer!

Happy Birthday to the Queen Bee! We love you!

Lily's Latest

Lily continues to change and grow at an amazing rate. These are a few of her latest tricks:

• Dancing. Whenever she hears music, she starts bobbing her head & body and is about the cutest thing ever. Judging by her impeccable rhythm, she has some strong Pellerito genes in her.
• Kissing. She is clearly trying to kiss us now. She starts out with an open mouth and then closes her lips around our cheeks. It comes off more as a bite, but it is clear what she is trying to do. Adorable!
• Talking. She has been saying "da, da" for a while, but she has added "ba, ba" and finally "ma, ma". Of course, she doesn't associate any meaning to these sounds, but I still love it when she says "ma, ma" - what an incredible feeling.
• Smiling with her tongue out. Need I say more?
• Peek-a-boo. I haven't really played peek-a-boo with Lily that much, but she has started playing the game with me. She first did this by holding a blue see-through lid in front of her face and moving it away while smiling. When I changed Lily this morning, she put her onesie over her face and moved it away very quickly. She had herself and me rolling! She is just so much fun.
• Standing. Lily now stands in the middle of the room while holding onto nothing for long periods of time. This is probably the most amazing development to me. I honestly just sit in awe of her sometimes.

So, I'm clearly a new mom, but I feel so lucky to be able to witness all these developments in this awesome little baby.

I also had a first today. We have Teacher In-Service days today and tomorrow, and so I had to get a babysitter for Lily. I was pretty much a wreck yesterday, but everything went off without a hitch today. I was apart from Lily for 10 hours (the longest time yet in her 9+ months of life), and I missed her like crazy. But, I am relieved that we have this experience behind us, and now I feel much more comfortable being able to leave her with a sitter once in a while.

So, everything is great with us. We have two trips coming up that we are very excited about - our first family vacation to the Chesapeake Bay and a trip to St. Louis to meet Lily's cousin Katie. We can't wait.

First time on a swing

I'm not sure about this, but I guess I trust you.

Swinging rocks! I love it!

I can even swing and sing at the same time.

What was I worried about? Swinging is awesome!

Again! Again! How do I make this thing move?

They say change is good

Lily is definitely feeling much, much better today. I did not realize how fussy she had become, how much her sleeping was off, or how taxing it has been until Lily changed back to her old giggly, happy, playful, engaging, wonderful self again. I don't mean to imply that Lily has been horrible over the past week, I just didn't realize the drastic change that had taken place within her. It seems that everything is constantly changing with her. Once we get used to one routine or reach one milestone, something new awaits right around the corner. It is hard to tell whether a new behavior marks a new phase or is just a bump in the road due to something like an illness.

One area that seems to change with lightning speed is her eating. Right now Lily is eating mostly pureed fruits, vegetables and cereal. We haven't tried anymore pureed meats because she just doesn't seem to like them, and we can get some protein in her diet with tofu and beans, so meat can wait. But now that she is 9 months old, we can begin to give her more table foods. The world of table foods is a very uncertain world for me. Pureeing foods is straight-forward and very easy, not a lot of guesswork. I know that she needs the gradual exposure to "real" food, but how to navigate through this new territory is a mystery to me. So far, she has had peeled & quartered grapes, slices of kiwi, and teething biscuits. (Peeling grapes is a really fun task, by the way.) The teething biscuits make me a little nervous because she can bite off a pretty large chunk. She has done pretty well with these things though, and soon we will introduce her to bits of soft pasta and other mashable foods. It's just hard to imagine that in the not-so-distant-future, I won't have to puree her food anymore.

The other area that seems to be progressing quickly is her attempts at walking. As I've stated before, she pulls up on everything and will walk around things while holding on to them. More and more, she is letting go of these objects and just standing on her own. Her teachers clocked her and found that she's standing for 10 seconds at a time. I don't think that walking is far off in her future. This is one milestone that I am really looking forward to, but 9 months is really early even for the things she's doing now, so I'm trying to appreciate this time of relative 'containability'. (It's my blog, and I can make up new words if I want to.)

We are also experiencing yet another phase in the ever-changing MD/PhD Program. Every part of this process has been so different from the one prior that sometimes it is hard to get your bearings. When Carl was working in the lab, we were able to check in with each other a couple times a day just to see how things were going. His schedule was so much more flexible, and I knew that he would be able to adjust his schedule if we really needed him to. Now that he is working in the hospital, we can't really check in with each other, and I know that is schedule is absolutely, positively inflexible. This is going to be a roller-coaster of a year because each rotation lasts one or two months, and each one will be very different in terms of hours, duties, level of stress, and even location. I think that this will be our most challenging year thus far, and we'll just have to do the best we can to get through together.

9 Month News

Lily and I had an impromptu Mommy and Me Day yesterday when she woke up with a fever of 102.1. I gave her Tylenol through out the day in addition to a cool bath and gradually her temperature came down. When we called her doctor, he said that it sounded like a virus and since she had an appointment scheduled for the next day anyway, we could just wait until then unless it got worse. He also said that, generally, they don't worry too much unless a baby's fever is over 103 or lasts for 5 days or more, which was surprising to me. This is actually the first time that she has had a fever, and the first time that I have had to take her temperature rectally - fun. We have been very fortunate with Lily in that she hasn't really had more than a cold in her nine months of life. But, when I was taking her to the doctor's office this morning, I noticed a rash on her legs and around her diaper area. When the doctor saw her and the rash from across the room, he had an "ah ha" moment. Diagnosis: Roseola. Apparently, this is a very common virus for children her age and especially during this time of year. It explains the cold-like symptoms, the fussiness, decreased appetite, and subsequent fever. The fever was gone by this morning, and the rash is apparently the sign for the virus having run its course.

Otherwise, all is well. Lily is progressing nicely. She weighs 18 lbs. 4 oz., is 26 1/2 inches long, and her head is measuring 17 inches in circumference. This puts her at about the 25th percentile in all areas. As the doctor said, "She is very proportionate actually." He likes the word actually, and he actually uses it a lot.

Carl, naturally, had his first nearly 30-hour shift at the hospital yesterday in the midst of all of this. But, he is home and resting now and will not have to have any overnighters for the rest of this month. Lily, Terra, and I did pretty well, considering. I would be remiss if I did not give props to all those single parents out there. In just one night of going it alone, I feel out of sorts. I was not really together today at work, and I have a feeling it wouldn't be long until I wasn't all there as a parent either. I would also be remiss if I didn't express my gratitude for having such an amazing partner in parenting and in life. Sometimes it is good to be reminded of how good you've got it. And I definitely "got it good".

As sort of an odd side note, Lily and I will probably be on the local news tomorrow. One of the t.v. stations is doing a special on vaccinations, and they are going to interview our doctor. They asked him if they could do an interview with one of his patients, and he asked me if I would do it and bring Lily with me. Crazy fun!

The Perfect Storm

Our little girl has not been getting much sleep lately due to three forces that have collided within her: sore gums (from teething), a cold or cold-like symptoms, and gas. The first two are related, I think. We are pretty sure about the teething, judging from the drool and fairly continuous chomping on her fingers and various other objects that she finds soothing, including her pacifier, a small rubber ducky, and a little plastic envelope that came with her play house. I think that the runny nose, drainage, and subsequent sore throat/coughing are actually due to the teething. I have definitely seen other children in our center develop similar cold-like symptoms when teething, so I'm guessing that is what's going on with Lily. The gas, I fear, is my fault. We had take-out Chinese food on Friday night, and I don't think her stomach (or mine) has been the same since. So no one has gotten much sleep this weekend, which makes for a difficult start to the work week.

Even though Lily was under the weather this weekend, the skies were sunny and beautiful. We even managed to go on a family walk this weekend, which was so nice. We went to our local park with Terra and Lily in tow and enjoyed a lovely afternoon talking and walking together while Lily slept in the stroller and Terra got to sniff some new territory. Just what the doctor ordered. Speaking of doctors...

Carl went to see his doctor this past week for his yearly follow-up exam, and the receptionist called into the waiting room for "Dr. Deetz" when it was his turn. I think that is the first time he has been called "Dr. Deetz" by someone other than friends and family. It still seems very funny to me that Carl is a doctor. Although I will be very honest, it is a little sexy. (All went well with his exam, by the way.)

Carl is one week into his psychiatry rotation and has confirmed that this is not the field that he wants to go into. Can't say that I blame him. Otherwise, all is well. Lily is going to the doctor on Wednesday for her 9-month check-up (can you believe it?), so I will update with more info then.

Pictures at Home

It seems that all Lily wants to do these days is pull herself up on everything and anything so that she can stand big and tall. Crawling is still the preferred method of mobility, though.

Fun at Tiny Town

Lily had a great day playing at Tiny Town, a little play area inside of our mall. She had loads of fun crawling through tunnels, climbing on structures, going down the sliding board, and watching the older children run around. Our little girl is growing up so fast!

Turkey Torture

Lily tried meat (turkey) for the first time today. Lily may not be able to talk yet, but there is no doubt how she feels at any given time - no poker face here.

Love Hurts

Let me just give the dirty details straight up. Today I received my first Incident Report as a parent. This is how it read, "While fighting over a toy, Lillian got a little angry and bit her friend. We separated her from the other child and told her "no biting; please be gentle". She went on playing."

So, yes, I am the parent of the bully in the classroom. The worst part is that the parents have to come to me to sign the Accident and Incident Reports. So, the little boy's parent has to come to me to sign his Accident Report. How embarrassing. I really hope that this does not become a trend. I don't want to be known as the mommy of the biter. The only semi-redeeming thing about this incident is that she bit the other bully in the classroom. What goes around, comes around, I guess. And, I'm sure her turn will come around too.

I do have a strong suspicion that she actually likes this little boy, judging by their interactions throughout the day. I also saw Lily backhand another little girl in her class earlier this week. Maybe the girl was making moves on her man. Oh no she di 'nt. One thing is for sure - Lily is no pushover.

Carl was definitely no help with this situation today. When I told him about it, he starting rambling on about being the ultimate fighting champion and what not. I can see right now who is going to have to be the disciplinarian in our household.

Party Time

"Mom, I would help you get ready for the party if only I were a little taller."

"But I can help out with the wine selection."

Lily debates whether to go with a nice Merlot or Riesling.

Lily with her French teacher, Jean, then...

...and now.

We had a party over the weekend with Carl's lab mates to celebrate the completion of his doctorate. We were very happy to have such a great turn out. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures because we were busy playing host and hostess. Carl has this week off to prepare for his return to medical school on Monday. He is starting with his psychiatric rotation - should be interesting...