Big Sister Status

Well, Mama made it another week. I just left the doctor's office. I am 4cm dilated. Again they don't think I will make it another week( yea, ya said that last time doc). I am scheduled for another appointment on Tuesday. If Molly doesn't make her appearance by then, we will schedule for induction. They last thing my doctor said before leaving the exam room was, "If real contractions start, waste no time and RUN to the hospital. It won't take long to bring her into this world". Comforting!

Last week Lily and I were still quite busy. We went to the park with the "baby gang" (the cousins). We thought we would be there only and hour or so. NOT! We got there at 11:30 and didn't leave till 3:30. Some how Lily still had energy after we left. Lily also aquirred a new accesory at her Gran's house. A Rollercoaster! I thought she may be scared of it, not the case. On top of her toy, she is quite obsessed with Pop's lawnmower. Just the other day I was letting her sit on it while she was waiting for Daddy to come outside to take her for a cruise. They little smarty britches grabbed straight for the key and flipped the switch to turn-on the mower. Yes, the motor turned over in effort to start. Luckily it takes more than just a flip of the switch. That's all I need is my 1yr taking off in the back yard on the mower while I'm 9mos pregnant! I thought Molly fell out when I jumped to the sound of the motor!

Thanksgiving and more

I haven't posted anything is a while as we have been pretty busy these days. Ryan, Lily and I are settled into our (new to us) apartment. We celebrated Thanksgiving and I must say I am very excited about next years holidays already. Its been a while since there have been so many little ones in our families. Next year they will all be MOBILE!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Lily is growing like a weed. She is into everything and has more energy than I know what to do with. I do my best to take her outside for walks or to the park as much as possible. She is not one that likes to be indoors or to sit still. She is officially obsessed with "Toy Story"...she has all 3 movies and they come in handy when nothing else can contain her attention. Lily is expecting yet more teeth. This week she has done her very best to shove as many fingers as possible in her mouth at one time. I glanced over at her this morning and droll was rolling now her fists as she contently gnawed on her fingers. We were able to enjoy our first real "cold snap" of this winter/holiday season.


Last week I took Lily to see Santa with Aunt Katie and Billy. She IS NOT A FAN of Santa, just as I suspected. But we made a valid effort to try.


Christmas is fast approaching and apparently so is the arrival of Lily's little sister, Molly. I am now 37wks pregnant. I had my weekly doctor visit yesterday; I am 3cm dilated. He told me to schedule another appointment in a week but doesn't seem to think I will need it. So after sharing the news with the family it dawned on me that I really have nothing prepared for Molly's arrival ;). I pulled some clothes out of boxes but that was it. So now Lily's bag and the dog's bag is packed. I still have mine to put together. Nothing like a little procrastination ;)

Trying to master skills

Here lately Lily has been working with eating utensils and using some of those fine motor skills. Lily has been eating table foods on her own since she was about 10mos old and mainly because she didn't like us to spoon it for her. It's safe to say the stubborn independence comes from her Mama. The learning process was very messy but the hand shoveling technique has been master for quite a while. The fork and spoon is interesting to watch but she is getting the hang of it more and more each day. And after sounding like a broke record, Lily now puts her arms out or up when I ask if she's "All done eating?"


Back to the fine motor skills.....Lily did some arts and crafts for her Aunt Katie's birthday - PAINTING. She didn't tell me how it tasted but the blue and purple were licked several times. Later that day the family came over for some pizza and cake to celebrate. Of course there were babies everywhere. Lily and Josie even shared a bath before their bedtime.



Her Daddy has been working crazy long hours - both days and nights, so she hasn't seen him much in the past week and a half. Today was his first whole day off that he was home and not sleeping. They spent the whole day together and when I mean "together" you can tell in the picture below what I mean.


OHHHH and I can't forget to mention Lily's most recent accomplishment. We ditched the "Nuk"/pacifier. We only had one day of tears and it has been a week without- I'LL TAKE IT! I went ahead and threw them in the trash so there was no going back.

Another Funfilled Weekend

Lily and I kicked off Friday night at the Rodeo with Aunt Katie. Unfortunately Daddy's schedule just changed and is working nights so he missed out but on the upside we are thankful he has a job. Saturday we went to the mall so Mommy could purchase a pair of maternity jeans since we were blessed with some chilly weather. While I tried on clothes, Lily schmoozed Daddy into a new toy purchase. Later that night we attended round 2 of the Circuit Finals Rodeo, this time Daddy came. Lily sat for the entire 2.5hrs AGAIN! I think its safe to say she shares the same interests as Mommy.

Today we took Lily to her first carnival. We pushed the envelope a little by going when she usually takes a nap but overall was happy. We waited till the afternoon so that the her other cousins could join. Since Mommy is now 7mos pregnant Daddy had to take Lily on the rides. Lily rode the carousel twice; once with Daddy and again with Aunt Katie. She also went down the BIG SLIDE....woah - talk about fast! As all 19 of us (yes 19, and that's not even everyone) were sitting at the food tent, Sharon mentioned this was probably the only way all of us could even share a meal together. People couldn't help but look at us and try to figure out which babies belonged to who.



Its a little blurry but you get the idea...
(Top Left: Billy, Katie, Steve, Bonnie, Johnel, Sharon, Grandpa Larry, Grammy Ann, Ryan, Sara, Andria, Nick Bottom Left: Hannah, Hunter, Grace, Zachary, Alexander, Lily, Josie)

Halloween

Yesterday we celebrated Lily's 2nd Halloween. Last year she was under the weather and we weren't able to even dress her up. This year was a completely different story. We woke up and began the day by carving our pumpkins. After lunch and a nap we headed off to Lily's friend Gacie's 1st birthday party. That is where she wore herself slap out. She ran all over the place for a good 3 hours. Lily even got to meet Mickey Mouse and Elmo. She was not thrilled if they came any closer than 5ft of her. When we got home it was time to go trick-or-treating. By this time Lily was all tuckered out. We attempted the costume but she was ripping it off after 5 minutes. So we switched to regular clothes and tried to go collect some candy. She seemed to love following the other kids until it was time to put candy in her bucket...she would turn and run in the other direction. She didn't quite understand that it was suppose to be fun. Needless to say, she was bathed and in bed by her regular bedtime because she was quickly turning into a "witch".

Lily's cousins came over to Grammy's house and WOW.....next year is going to be crazy! Between my 2, Nick's 1, Sharon's 3, Amanda's 2, Bonnie's 2 - we will need volunteer chaperons to help keep track of them all. Since Lily was so "on-the-go" I couldn't even snap a photo of all of them on Halloween. I guess it a good thing there will be many more holidays to come.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Pumpkins, Parks, Parties, Petfrified of Dr.'s

So far this month we have been quite busy. Last weekend we grabbed breakfast to go and took Lily to the park bright and early. Later that day we took a trip over to the Pumpkin Patch with cousin Josie. Lily didn't do too much sitting for pictures. She was full speed ahead the entire time. Of course her cheeks were beat red by the time we left both places.

I plan to make another trip to the patch in hopes to catch better pictures of Lily.

Middle of last week, Lily came down with with a horrible infection that had her burning up with 105 fevers for 2 days. After cold showers, ice packs, rotating meds, 3 doctor visits, 2 injection shots later....our little girl is on the road to recovery. The cause was a urinary track infection. The doctor raised the level of concern slightly because of how high of an infection she contracted. We follow up in 2 weeks where we will discuss where to go from here to eliminate any under lying issues. Lily is offically petrified of the dr.'s office. By the time we leave she is so upset and passes out in the car from all the crying :(

Just a couple days ago we attended Lily's second cousins' 3rd birthday party (Dominic and Carmine) at the Seminole Native Village. It was a beautiful day and Lily seemed to LOVE it. There are alligators, birds, reptiles, panthers, and a baby deer (Lily's fav)- all at the village. Luckily we were able to snap a shot of Lily trying to grab a feel of her pretty spots. We ended the day by playing in the dirt next to the gator pit with her friend Gracie - Girls will be Girls.

Weekend Away in Sebring

Ryan, Lily, and I just returned from a much needed weekend away in peaceful Sebring, Florida. Aunt Katie and Billy invited us up to Billy's parents house on Lake Istokpoga. We could not have had a better time or asked for more beautiful weather.

When we arrived Friday night. At first Lily was out of sorts from her nap in the car and then awaking in a strange place. Once we settled in we took a cruise on the golf cart which is where Lily put herself soundly to sleep for the evening.

Saturday morning we hit the lake on the pontoon boat; this was Lily's first time on a boat. She loved every minute. The life jacket was a challenge in the beginning but as long as we fed her cheetos she was a happy camper.

Billy's parents were most welcoming and made us feel right at home. I do believe they also enjoyed hearing the pitter patter and babbles of Lily during our visit. The only downfall of the whole weekend was having to return home. We relaxed so much that we were slightly depressed leaving.

Thank You Kelly family - for inviting and showing us a great time!

September Fun

To kick off this month Lily was joined by 3 more cousins on the September 2nd. Aunt Sharon and Uncle Johnel brought Grace, Zachary, and Alexander into the world. I am happy to report all 3 babies are at home with mommy and daddy and doing wonderful. Then...on September 15th my cousin Bonnie and her husband Steve brought Hunter and Hannah to join in on all the fun. They too are doing fantastic and are scheduled to all go home together from the hospital this afternoon.

Mecias Triplets

Feldman Family

As most know, Lily has developed quite a fondness for FISH. So Ryan and I took her up to a really nice fish store to purchase a fish of her very own. This store has huge tanks for salt and fresh water fish on display. In the center of the store they have a shark and eel tank. On Tuesday evenings is when they do the feedings. I hope to take her back up to watch day.

Lily's Very 1st Fish

Last weekend we took Lily to yet another rodeo. This one was a bull riding championship. Daddy joined us for this one along with Uncle Nick, Aunt Andria, cousin Josie, and a few other friends. Ryan was amazed at how much she was into just watching the event. Unfortunately we cut the night short due to the awful heat. The stands were so packed it just added to south Florida's summer temperatures. Lily's cheeks were beat red and she was just sitting.


Yesterday we joined some girls after we were done babysitting Kailyn for a stroll to the park. Aunt Andria and cousin Josie were able to make it which was nice. So this was Lily's 1st of many adventures to the park. I'm not kidding when I say this, "She was NON STOP the entire time!" She was walking everywhere and as fast as she could go- it was... up the slide, in the grass, through the swings. Her little cheeks were beat red and she was out of breath but it didn't slow her down. When we got home Ryan picked her up for his daily hug and said she smelled like a sweaty school kid. So we topped off her belly and in the tub she went. She fell fast asleep to say the least. It was the perfect opportunity for me to trim her finger and toe nails - now her toes are a painted a fresh color of pink (just for you Great Aunt Kaka)!