First Halloween

Lily was Apple Dumplin' (from the 80's line of Strawberry Shortcake dolls) for Halloween this year. Above you can see her with her pet, Tea Time Turtle.

Back from the Big Apple

So, I just returned from a long weekend in New York City with Tori to celebrate her 30th birthday. It was an awesome weekend filled with memories to last a lifetime. Here are some of the highlights:

• Two Broadway shows: The Producers and Hairspray
• Going to the weekend edition of The Today Show and seeing Campbell, Lester and the gang do their thing, in addition to seeing some cutie patootie dogs in costume. If anyone watched the show this weekend, we were actually on tv during the weather segment!
• Going on a tv and movie tour of the city (one of my favorite activities)
• Spotting Alan Rickman (Die Hard, Harry Potter, Love Actually) on the street
• Shopping in Times Square
• Having cocktails after going to the theater
• Sampling some delicious rice pudding at the only gourmet rice pudding shop in the world, Rice to Riches
• Enjoying some sliders at Ellen's Stardust Diner where they have singing waiters and waitresses
• Having some tasty soup at one of the Soup Nazi's stores (the original closed down)
• Late night talks with a great friend
• Surviving driving in the city, especially the Lincoln Tunnel!

Thanks to Granny Janny for coming to Baltimore to help Carl with Lily while I was away.

This was the first time that I was away from Lily for more than 24 hours. I think that I did pretty well, all things considered. Although I thought about her a lot, I kept my calls to a minimum. I knew that she was in good hands with her daddy and granny.

I think that I'm feeling the effects of being away more now than I did while I was gone. Because I work full time and don't get home until around 6:30, I only get about an hour and a half with her each night. So, weekends are my main Lily times. Without my time with her this weekend, I'm feeling deprived. Needless to say, I am anxiously awaiting the upcoming weekend. (Although, I wouldn't trade this past weekend for anything.)

It didn't help that she started doing something new over the weekend that I was not there to witness firsthand. She started blowing kisses!! It's so sweet. My heart ached because it was so sweet and because I missed her doing it for the first time. Right before I left, she started a new game of picking up lint or tiny thing off of the floor and handing it to me, and when she runs out of things to pick up off of the floor, she hands me imaginary things. When she gives it to me, I say "thank you". She has started saying something during this game that she does not say at any other time that is clearly an attempt to say "thank you". Although it is not quite clear, and you would have to hear it in context to know what she is trying to say, it is still pretty cool.

We are very excited about Lily's first Halloween. There is a Halloween parade tomorrow at her school, and I can't wait to see all of the little ones dressed up. Of course, I will take pictures to share. I hope that everyone enjoys their Halloween!

C'mon. You know I'm cute.

School Pics

Our little pumpkin sharing at school

Having some fun at the mini pumpkin patch

We made a little pumpkin patch for all of our infants, toddfants, and toddlers outside of our school today. All the little ones had a good time enjoying a taste of what the older kids experienced on their field trip to the pumpkin patch earlier this month. Lily even made a scarecrow to take home. What fun!

Lil' Tidbits

Lily is now waving hi and bye. It is a whole-arm, very exuberant wave that is absolutely adorable. Her new favorite game is to hold out her hand to signal that she wants to go to whomever is closest to her. Once she is with that person, she wants to go back to the first person, and then the fun game of musical people begins. Her favorite activities at home are playing with the tupperware, splashing in Terra's water dish, and going up and down the stairs. On Saturday, we went to Whole Foods, and she discovered how to open the freezer doors. On Sunday, we went to Safeway (our local grocery store), and she started screaming and reaching out when we were finishing up our shopping. It took me a minute to realize that she was screaming because she wanted to open the freezer doors there. Little smarty pants. I could not believe that she learned something like that so quickly and then remembered it the next day. And so we had to open, not one, but all of the freezer doors all the way down the aisle. Looks like I might have to go back to ordering groceries online and having them delivered to our house (one my many favorite uses of the internet).

Carl finished with his surgical oncology rotation and is now on to transplants. His typical day so far has been about 13-14 hours long. At our school, we have many parents who are doctors. One of them called today to tell us that he was coming straight from the hospital to join us on our field trip. When I talked to him at the end of the day, he said that he had been on-call the night before and had about 2 hours sleep in the past 2 days. He even sounded upbeat about that. When I told him that Carl was in the middle of his surgical rotation, he just kept telling me to please be nice to him. It was a nice reminder for me to remember that we never know what other people may be going through, from the stranger driving on the road to the co-worker sitting next to us. We never know why someone may have a short temper or just seem out of sorts, but it reminds me to have more understanding and more patience with others. As for Carl, he is handling the schedule remarkably well. But, I will take the opportunity to add some extra affection to the day - even if it is through a rather impersonal venue: Lily and I love you and are so proud of you, Carl! Rock on, daddy-o.

Bad hair day

Some days are just hat days

Fun with Tupperware

Peek-a-boo!

I see you!

For you

Eleven Exquisite Months

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I currently have an ear infection that is nothing short of horrible. Apparently, ear infections in adults are worse than they are in infants. Even so, I can see why infants go into complete meltdown when they have an ear infection. I find it amusing that Lily is nearing her first birthday and has never had an ear infection (knock on wood), but instead I get one. Go figure. Anyway, I'm on about 4 medications and haven't been very coherent lately. You know that you're really having some fun when you have to take medications to deal with the side effects of other medications. Sweet.

When I went to my doctor after being on two of the medications for a couple days, I explained that I kept vomiting about every hour, food intake or not. Of course, his first question to me was could I be pregnant. And the answer is....are you crazy?! Really, like I need to add to the chaos in my life right now. I love my Lily, but I'm so not ready for another. I'm not sure how my sister, Suzanne, manages with two that are 22 months apart, but it definitely deserves the utmost respect and admiration. And, I won't even get started on my brother who has three, albeit spaced a little farther apart.

So, Lily is now 11 months old and on the countdown to the big numero uno. It's hard to put into words how surreal that is. It blows my mind that in less than 30 days, we will celebrate her first birthday. I want to freeze time, and at the same time, I'm anxious for the next stages of her development.

Lily had a big start with walking but has since lost all interest in it. Can't really say why, but we're not in any rush. She'll start up again when she's ready.

The latest new thing for Lily is her fake, very maniacal laugh. Scary really. Also, she currently enjoys mimicking our tone and inflections. Nnoooo is her favorite.

At school, she has become a trip. She likes to put her arm around her friends, pat their shoulders and then their heads until the pats become full-out blows. Naughty girl. I watched her in the crib room today chatting it up with her friend across from her. She was going to town on some story in her little mind while her friend smiled and watched her antics. Pretty amusing. Her class had their first official sensory experience today with green jello. Of course, Lily sat in front of the jello and shoveled it in like she was sitting down to a meal. For being so small, she can really pack it away.

Carl is doing well. He is surviving the surgical rotation. It's not so much the work as it is the hours. Carl is actually fascinated with wounds and the surgical process; he simply loathes the hours. I miss grad school too...those were the days. (A little shout out to the Pauza lab - we miss you guys!) But, we have to go through this phase to reach the ultimate goal.

So that's life in a nutshell with us right now. I will update with more pictures of Miss Lily later this week.

A trip to the toy store

First time on a carousel

Lovable Lily

QT 3.14

Lily now shares her belongings (toys, pacifiers and such) with us - and Terra. Of course, she wants them back immediately, but it's still pretty sweet.

Help!

Sometimes it seems that the forces of nature collide in such a way to suggest that the gods must be enjoying their own little comedy that is my life. So, here are the current circumstances. Carl started his surgical rotation today and found out that he has to be at the hospital by 5:30 am every day. At my work, the Head of School announced today that her maternity leave will commence tomorrow, which means that the "Assistant" part of my title will be nonexistent for at least 8 weeks. Then, the staff member that currently opens our school will be out for next 2 weeks for her wedding, which means I'll need to rise before the crack of dawn, and I'm really not a fan. Now for the cherry and whipped cream: Lily's top 2 teeth are cutting through, and her current favorite nocturnal activities include body slamming us, usually on top of our heads. Awesome.

Weekend Pics

Lily: she's one bad....shut your mouth!

My big little girl

Lily's greatest fascination at the Taste of Baltimore: the very large inflatable, walking crab.

We had a great time at the Taste of Baltimore this weekend. We have not missed this event since we moved to Baltimore, so this was our fifth one. It's weird to think that we will probably only go to this one more time before we move. Here Lily is enjoying a taste of banana at the Taste of Baltimore.

A couple of Lily updates...

• Lily now likes to say "no, no, no". She has also come up with a very fake and dramatic cry when she is told "no".
• She has a very sweet ritual with one of her little friends at school: they kiss every time they first see each other for the day. It happens almost every day, and it is so cute!
• She is eating more table food that is cut into small pieces but still seems to prefer pureed foods.
• She loves clapping and seems to know when it is appropriate to do so (usually for herself but sometimes for Terra).
• Lily often stands on her own and takes isolated steps. The most consecutive steps to date is seven.
• She is teething like crazy right now, and I think it won't be long before her top 2 middle teeth break through.

In general, everything is good with us. Our computer died last weekend, and I was going through some serious withdrawal until we got another one this weekend. Our old computer was ancient in the world of laptops (2001), and I am very happy with the advancements that have taken place in the past 5 years. Everything from scrolling to downloading pictures is now much easier.

We are loving and taking full advantage of this awesome fall weather with a lot of outdoor activities. Carl starts his surgical rotation on Tuesday, so we are gearing up for that. We are looking forward to Lily's first Halloween and her first birthday; I can't believe that it is actually next month! Then the holidays will be right around the corner. What a busy and exciting time of year...