The Queen and Her Advisors

(no explanation necessary, right?)

Triangle

Here is Lily's latest thing: making a triangle with her hands. It's a weird one. She makes it when she's happy, sad, nervous, excited... All the time!

(With her feet, too!)

I turn my back for one second...

...and this is what I find. Good thing we aren't overly concerned about germs around here!
Maybe it tastes good. I'll go find out...

and meet our new pet, Mickey (Mantis). We rescued him from inside, let him solve an aphid problem in one of my potted plants, and now he resides happily outside in my flowers. We can usually find him every time we look. Lily thinks he's pretty cool, but I don't think she understands that he's a pretty unusual pet.

The Most Fun Age

These are a bunch of random pictures and videos that I am so behind in posting! There's no structure except for the consistent cuteness of Lily! Enoy.

We've been doing a lot more fun things with Lily. It's sad that she'll be TWO in a month, but we are able to do a lot more stuff with her now! These pictures are from a day I took to Lily to one of my favorite spots: "Magness" River. Its a really beautiful place with neat rock formations and lovely greenish water. She wasn't quite coordinated enough to play on the rocks, but

Message for YOU!

This is my new favorite video!!

Lily is saying a new "word" today (not on this video)- "uh-oh" - and now says "sssssss" and puts her finger over lips...like "shhhhhhh". Also, she puts both hands over her face and makes raspberries....yes, she is imitating us blowing our noses. We have had colds in this house for the past 2 weeks!! She is so observant.

This one's for You, Grandma

Jeremy and I love this video for 2 reasons: 1. When she looks at the camera and explains who she is looking at, and 2. (this is the part the Grandma will love :) when she accidentally gags herself with the spoon. That may sound mean, but she does it all the time.

Silly Lily (11 Months...)

Here are some of Lily's latest new things....

She has started to realize that she can have an opinion about food. She refused two of our "old faithfuls" today - peas and pears (not mixed, of course). Things she does love to eat? Peaches, Bananas, blueberries, plain bread, veggie booty, and I am sorry to say, random items on the carpet - mostly dirt and grass. This was an interesting thing that happened this morning: I walked in her room to get her up from her AM nap and noticed something was missing....her pants. Somehow, she took them off and threw them out of the crib, onto the floor. I didnt know she was capable of removing an item of clothing by herself. She is.
Have I mentioned that she is into EVERYTHING??

Lily LOVES phones too. It is the only thing she has wanted enough to throw a mini-fit about. Whenever my phone rings, she starts saying "da-da" since it is usually him that is calling and I sometimes put him on speaker phone - pretty cute :) In the absence of a real phone, she enjoys talking on remotes, random toys, teething biscuits, and the occasional stuffed animal.

Lily climbed in this swing all by herself the other day - it was a little awkward, but she was pretty proud of herself.

Lily Mae will be 1 in 3 weeks....I dont want to talk about it.

What is she Doing?

This is one of those random things I dont want to forget:

What is she doing??? :)

Please VOTE for your favorite picture or video by clicking on the comments button at the bottom of this post. This also lets me get an idea of who is watching Lily grow up on the blog. Thanks for humoring me.

Picture #1: "Little Miss Piggy #1"

Video #1: "the sniffer"

Picture #2: "Rolly Polly Arms Plus a Yawn"

Video #2: "Gasper"

Picture #3: "Little Miss Piggy #2"

Video #3: "Eating Bananas"



Video #4: "Raspberries and Spacing Out"

Picture #4: "Stuck under the Swing"

Video #4: "Kicking in the Door"

Video #5: "Rolly Polly"

Picture #5: "Little Miss Piggy 3"

*New Best Video EVER*

Wiggles

Here is a new thing Lily is doing: we call it the wiggles. She squirms and shakes her head back and forth when she is really happy and excited. In these videos, I believe she was interacting with our ceiling fan. Who doesnt love a quality ceiling fan?

A Musings....

Here are some highlights from this past week:

Lily has learned how to bang toys together...it gets a little loud around here at times. She can also pass toys from hand to hand, and throw to hit a target...kidding.

This game (above) is a new one she likes to play, especially with dad.

She has also figured out how to move this toy across her gums to make it squeak! (above) Its quite humorous.

We had our first day with Elijah on Wednesday, and it went great! The two of them do a lot of staring at each other...

Sarah came over one night and helped with Lily's bedtime routine.

The above video is a little long (and boring), but hang in there for some crazy mouth smacks at about 40 seconds.

Lily's lucky pink Duke onesie did not help the Blue Devils today in their second round game. :(

We love sippy cups and stretchy faces.

Smarter Than We Think

New Expression

The highlight on this video is the funny face she makes towards the beginning...the squinty, puckery one. She does this often, as of a few days ago. Applause, fun games, singing, bouncing, and dancing all have potential to give us the pleasure of this expression. Oh, and also notice the fake cough. She does that too.

Enjoy.

Body Slammin' (Update)

Lily's physical activity level has increased by...wow, alot. She is sleeping WELL, and doing it more often. She goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 7 now!! Amazing.

Still rolling all over the place - its almost time to get out the outlet covers, and hide the floor plants. We are trying not to worry about the books on the bottom shelves, they are our least favorite ones - mostly theology. :) She won't be able to reach Anne Lamott, Wendell Berry, Jane Austen, Eugene Peterson, Henri Nouwen, or our gardening books for years.

Of course she is still putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, but she most enjoys her teething toys currently. She has a little white bump coming up on her bottom gum, though the tooth hasn't broken through yet.

Does anyone know of a good website to help you learn how to make baby food? If so, leave a comment below.

Lily Mae's 6 Month "bday" is next Tuesday!?!?! It's true what they say: dont blink, or you'll miss it....

Almost Got the Idea....