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