Lily and Cousins Mary and Katie

Triple trouble: Lily, Katie, and Mary

Cute little monkey, Mary Mackenzie, wearing her Christmas gift

Out and about, shopping with the pro, Grandma Meyer

Sleeping on the plane back home

In general, Lily does really well with all travel and does especially well on the plane. On the flight home, she fell asleep 2 minutes before take-off and woke up about 15 minutes before landing. Perfect!

The Big Bash

The hall pre-party

The guests of honor

Grandma Meyer and Lily

The entire family

Back row (left to right): Tim, Katie, Zach, Angela, Mom, Mary, Dad, Me, Lily, Carl

Front row: Suzanne, Nick, Susie, Jeff, Abby, and Courtney
There are now (unofficially) 16 of us, and we seem to just keep growing!

Meet me at The Magic House

Lily and Nick

Water Lily

Lily is fascinated with all things water - from soaking her hands/arms/body in Terra's water dish to splashing around in the bathtub. I think that Lily would have stayed with this one activity the entire time if we would have let her.

Lily had a blast in the play area for tots.

Abby and Nick as news anchors...I believe Abby is receiving some breaking news from her co-host.

Courtney, Abby, and Nick taking care of business at the pretend Pizzeria

I have really fond memories of going to The Magic House, a children's museum in St. Louis, when I was a kid. My mom, Carl and I took Lily and her three cousins there this past week, and it was even better than I remembered. They definitely have expanded and added a lot of new exhibits. Usually children's museums don't have a whole lot to do for toddlers, but I was very happy to find that they had an entire section of the museum dedicated to toddlers called Baby & Me. Needless to say, we had a great time, and we will probably have a membership to this (and many other) museums when we move back to St. Louis.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning at my mom and dad's house.

Laughter and fun rule supreme at the Pellerito celebrations. One of the traditions of the Pellerito Christmases is to give our own rendition of the "12 Days of Christmas". You would think that after all of these years, we would have improved, but what fun would it be if we were actually good? Above you can see my mom and Aunt Chris doing their part as the "8 maids a-milking". It really is a lot of fun - and comfortable, as we all come dressed in our holiday pajamas.

Christmas with the Meyers

Lily with Grandma and Grandpa Meyer

Lily with her Godfather, Uncle Jeff

Let it be known that Lily does not play equally with all children. She definitely has her favorites, and her cousin Gannon is definitely at the top of her list. Here Lily is giving Gannon some lovin'. He was so sweet to humor her. They played together so well, and I really wish that we lived closer so that they could get together more often.

We're back, baby

Okay, so I have a lot of catching up to do. We just returned from a week-long visit with my family in St. Louis. So many good times - I don't even know where to begin. I'll try to make a brief timeline of events here. We flew into St. Louis on Christmas eve and had a celebration that night with my dad's side. The next day we went to my cousin's house to celebrate with the Pelleritos (my mom's side). Unfortunately, my sister-in-law had to have surgery on her gallbladder which resulted in a few days in the hospital, but my this meant that my nieces and nephew spent a couple days at my mom and dad's house; so Lily got to spend more time with her cousins (yay!). The big event of the trip was a surprise party for my mom and dad for their 40th wedding anniversary, 60th birthdays, and their retirement (all of these events happened between August and December of this year). It turned out to be an absolutely wonderful party, and we were able to keep it a surprise! Really, it was the best, and we had sooo much fun. Like all good things, the trip has ended but left us with the greatest of memories. Thanks to everyone for making this one of the best Christmases ever. We love you and miss you so much! (Of course, many pictures are to follow.)

Let the festivities begin!

These are a few pictures from our first Christmas gathering this year with Carl's sister, mom, and grandma. We actually had 4 generations here all together - Lily is one lucky little girl! Our next Christmas celebration will be with my dad's side tomorrow night. We can't wait!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The good: Everyone is okay. Our little clan is happy and healthy and at home.

The bad: On Wednesday, Lily had her first tumble outside which resulted in a knot/bruise/scrape on the right side of her forehead. She also has a considerable abrasion on the right side of her nose. Luckily, she had her pacifier in her mouth which I think is the reason that we avoided a busted lip as well. Lily has been walking everywhere and crawling is becoming a less frequent way of getting from point A to point B. With this in mind, I thought that I would let her stand next to my car while I got our bags out for school/work. Mistake. She took approximately 5 steps and promptly face-planted on the concrete. She is a tough cookie though. She cried for about 15 seconds and then was over it. Putting on the ice (and later that night, the peroxide) on the boo-boos was far more traumatic to her. Even though I know that more incidents like this are sure to follow, it is still hard to forgive myself for letting this happen (especially right before Christmas pictures!).

The ugly: Last night Lily and I were in a car accident, not a fender-bender, but a full-out accident. I was waiting to turn right onto a very busy road, and there was a car coming down that road with the right blinker on. The car slowed to turn into the area that I was turning out of, so I proceeded to go, and the same time, the driver of the other car changed her mind and decided not to turn and proceed straight. Ultimately, the front left side of my car collided with the front right area of her car. Like all accidents, it happened in an instant. Fortunately, it was a very cordial experience. The other driver, a middle-aged woman, and I immediately hugged when we got out of our cars, checking to see that everyone was alright. She had an 18-year-old daughter in the passenger seat that was pretty shaken up and asked if I could give her a hug to calm her down. An odd request, but it worked. Lily was entirely unphased by the entire process. She very calmly sat in the back seat in her carseat, looking around and smiling when the other driver and her daughter came over to see her. We were very close to home when the accident happened, and Carl came to pick us up while the car was towed to a nearby auto shop. We won't hear back from the insurance company for a little while about the ultimate fate of my car, but I think that the odds are against the car being repaired. My 1998 Pontiac Sunfire, while having been a very reliable and good car to us, does not have a lot of monetary value anymore, and the car has some pretty significant damage. (The entire front of my car is pretty much toast. Even though the hit was to the driver's side, I could not open the passenger side door of my car). So, it looks like the car that we were planning to get in March may have to be moved up to January. We may end up getting a different car than we were planning on since we potentially have $0 trade-in value, but we'll see.

It goes without saying that I am very thankful that the only things damaged were the cars. I have played this accident over and over again in my head, imagining the 101 ways it could have been avoided and the 101 ways it could have been worse. Ultimately, it is what it is, and I am grateful that it was nothing more. I will take this experience as an opportunity to remind myself that during this season of hustle and bustle, I need to slow down and remember what is important.

Silent Night

All is calm and peaceful while our sweet baby slumbers. Night, night, daddy; we love you.

A shock to the system

So we are half-way through the much anticipated and dreaded Shock Trauma rotation. As expected, it is not a lot of fun, but we are making it. Carl is "on-call" (meaning definitely working) every third night, which in essence means that he works for 30-hours straight every third day. In the two weeks of this rotation, he gets one day off (no weekends off). Thank goodness that this rotation does not last that long; knowing that is about all that gets us through this time. I am extremely thankful that Carl is not considering any sub-specialties in medicine that would require this kind of schedule. I'm not sure how families cope with this schedule long-term. (As a side-note, there is a show on Discovery Health that follows the Shock Trauma in Baltimore where Carl works called The Critical Hour: Shock Trauma. Warning: Not for the faint of heart!)

I am thankful that Carl's mom, grandmother, and sister are visiting this week. Unfortunately for our families, we are not able to have "guests" right now. Anyone who comes to visit has to be help for us to make it through, and we are forever grateful for it. I've said it before, but it truly can't be said enough, that there is nothing like having family around to help you out!

Anyhow, we are close to being done with this semester, and we are both thankful. We are looking forward to a wonderful (and relaxing) holiday break in St. Louis. When we return, Carl will begin the second half of the third year of medical school, which will include rotations in OB/GYN, Pediatrics, and Family Medicine...should be interesting!

Curly Q

Visit with Santa

Let me get a good look here. Oh, I don't know about you, Mister Claus.

Mommy, do you see the concerned look on my face?

Someone, anyone, help me please!

Oh, I am so outta here...

The most wonderful time of the year

Lily and mommy get ready to go to their first holiday event of the season: a cookie exchange at our neighbor's house.

A few of Lily's favorite things

Helping de-trim the tree

Come and get me

In light of the holiday season, I thought I would list afew things Lily would add to the list of raindrops on roses and such...

• In the food category, it's blueberries or bust. You have never seen anyone down blueberries like this child.I worry that if she maintains her current pace, the same fate may befall Lily as Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
• In the song category, Tone Loc's Funky Cold Medina - no joke
• Favorite toys change on a daily basis. She likes her puzzle that makes sounds, her Leap Frog Learning Table (from Aunt Ingrid), her baby, her riding toy, and the always popular Laugh and Learn House.
• Favorite book: Still Clifford's Peekaboo
• Favorite activities: Opening and closing doors, especially the glass ones on our cabinet that holds the pots and pans. Hiding and having someone find her (see picture above). Pulling ornaments off of the tree (see picture above). Climbing up and down the stairs. Taking a bath. Eating. Dancing. Laughing, laughing, laughing.

It's the little things that make you smile.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

House photo with flash

Without flash

Side view of door

That's our Lily!

Once again, Lily finishes a meal with more food on her body than in her tummy.

Lily has really seemed to grow leaps and bounds over the past couple of weeks. She now is a fairly steady walker. Before, if she fell, she would revert to crawling, but now she gets right back up on her feet and keeps on going. Also, we were watching the Eukanuba Tournament of Champions dog show (looking for Terra's dad), and Lily said "dog" while we were watching the show. She then did the sign for dog. Awesome! She just seems much more aware and receptive to learning lately. Currently, her favorite book is Clifford's Peekaboo. I don't know why she loves that book so much. I have worked on trying to build up our children's library with the classics, and she takes to one of the free books that we get on our visits to the doctor. Go figure!

The World According to Lily

For those who have not seen Lily in some time, I figured that a few updates were in order. In Lily's one year of life, she has accomplished some remarkable things.

• First and foremost, she is officially a walker. She sometimes reverts to crawling and it is not uncommon for her to fall a few times, but she is able to walk across the room fairly easily and chooses walking as her mode of transportation more often than not.
• She has several words in her vocabulary including duck, ball, mama, dada, and her all-time favorite NO!
• She signs "more" and "Terra" (dog) but only when she's in the mood.
• She will sit and look at books with us and loves to turn the pages, but again, only when she's in the mood.
• She enjoys bath time but does not enjoy changing her clothes (usually requires continual distraction to reduce the squirminess).
• She still has not really noticed the tv yet, and we are very thankful for that.
• On a typical night, Lily goes to sleep around 8:00 pm and wakes up around 7:00 am. Lily rarely wakes up during the night, but she does sleep in our bed. If she stirs at all, she reaches out and touches one of us and immediately goes back into a peaceful sleep. It is so endearing but makes the challenge of switching back to her crib a very daunting one (maybe that is why we have been delaying it).
• Lily is a great traveler and usually falls asleep immediately in her carseat when we go out.
• Lily is an excellent eater and rarely refuses any type of food. She has transitioned to mostly table foods, but we still give her jar or pureed food every once in a while. I think that it has been harder for me to transition her to table foods because it seems like so much less food compared to the pureed foods, but I know that she is gaining weight well. (Have you noticed the impressive belly in the photos?) At her one year check-up, she weighed in at 21 1/2 pounds - right around the 50th percentile.
• We are totally weaned off of breastfeeding - yay!! It was a very natural and gradual weaning, involving no hardships on either side. I began around 9 months offering one bottle a day and increased the number of bottles by one each month until 12 months. Our last breastfeeding moment together was within a few days after her birthday, and we have not looked back since! I am proud for having breastfed Lily for a year (even if not solely for the last few months), but I can't say that I am going to miss it terribly. In those last few months, I did get a glimpse of how expensive formula feeding would be and "wow!" is all I can say to that. I think in the end months, breastfeeding was often used as a comforting tool, and I think that it is very important that we now begin empowering Lily with other ways to comfort and self-soothe.
• We are gradually making the transition from formula to whole milk. Within the next couple of weeks, I think that we will be done with formula entirely (definitely by Christmas). I don't anticipate any problems with this, as she has been doing quite well with the formula/whole milk mixes so far. However, the temperature of the milk seems to be the bigger issue. She definitely enjoys a warm beverage and has no qualms about telling us that she is wholly unsatisfied with cold milk. Lily just recently started accepting juice, so maybe cold milk is not far behind.

Overall, we are just enjoying this little wonder. She is so good-natured and has been so kind to us as new parents. And, just like everyone said, parenting continues to get more fun each and every day. I still very much appreciate those cuddly baby days, but I also look forward to her increasing communication skills and watching the everyday discoveries unfold. She truly is our delight.

A day at the zoo

Polar bear, polar bear, what do you hear? Mary calling to you!

Looking out into the zebra/rhino area

Hey, giraffe! Over here! Come and see me.

In Gustav Klimt-style: Aunt with baby and dog

Lily's version of The Kiss

Grandma and Her Girls

Mary, Grandma, and Aunt Angela

Grandma with Katie Grace

Lily "helping" Grandma

Lily trying jello for the first time with Grandma

Cousins

Katie Grace

Kate and Lily

Lily and Mary

Rotavirus Lily: The New Typhoid Mary

Carl and I were reminiscing the other day about how getting sick used to mean days of resting on the couch, drinking hot tea, and eating chicken noodle soup in order to nurture ourselves back to health. Those were the days... Now we do not have the luxury of being sick. Carl, Lily and I have just recovered from the stomach flu. Our symptoms began late Monday night and by Tuesday morning, it was difficult to even lift our heads off of our pillows. But we did, and we both went into work. I only made it 3 hours before I had to go back home. Carl lasted the day, but I think he was worse for the wear. I have to say that taking a sick day (or half day) just is not what it used to be when you have a sick toddler to take care of, but we managed.

Luckily, my parents and sister, Angela, arrived Wednesday night, and as my dad said, "The troops have arrived and now you don't have to worry about anything." I think that I could have cried. There is certainly nothing like having family around, especially when you're sick. (And, I actually did get that hot tea and chicken noodle soup!)

Our plan was to host Thanksgiving this year for my mom, dad, my sister Angela, my sister and her husband Suzanne and Tim, and their girls Mary and Katie (by hosting I mean providing the house while my parents cook and basically take care of everything else). Unfortunately, within 24 hours of their arrival, we managed to infect both Angela and my dad with the bug and had to delay seeing Lily's cousins until after Thanksgiving Day. So our Thanksgiving table was a little smaller than expected, but we had a very nice time nonetheless.

My parents and Angela are back in St. Louis today, and we miss them terribly. Fortunately, Suzanne and her family were able to stay a little longer so the girls can get plenty of cousin-time before heading back to Missouri. I will update with pictures soon. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Birthday celebration with friends

Lily having a slice of birthday cake

I decided to make angelfood cupcakes for Lily's birthday party. However, I proceeded to burn all 24 cupcakes, and not just a little bit. It's probably generous to say that there was a 1 inch square of edible substance on each cupcake. Luckily, I had leftover batter and was able to do a very small cake and added the frosting and fresh raspberry topping to it. I think that Lily enjoyed the raspberries the most. She didn't seem all that interested in the cake, but that could be because she had just stuffed herself with a delectable combination of humus and Cheerios. Really, why did I bother baking at all?

The burnt cupcakes were just the topper to my morning. Naturally, I had a few errands to run in the morning, and one item on my list of things to purchase was a bottle of cleaner with bleach (requested by Carl, I might add). This bottle of cleaner (Clorox - be on the lookout) happened to magically come unscrewed and spill its contents into my trunk and all over the things I had just purchased. Really, sometimes you feel like this guy, having insult added to injury. However, everything turned out great, and we had a very lovely day.

Watch mom, I'll show you a great way to open presents

Oh mom, I'm just kidding. I know how to do it.

After party rest time

Notice Carl's contribution to "cleaning up" after - clearing the vegetable/cheese platter