Finally a new blog

http://ohiopenners.blogspot.com/

This is the link to our new blog.  I apologize for how long it has taken.  The new blog is still a work in progress, but I will get to to the way I want it shortly hopefully.

News and a new blog

The sign says "I am going to be a big sister!" and from Lily's expression she is a little shocked. :)

That's right, we are expecting another in the beginning of December. We are all very excited and couldn't wait any longer to share the news with everyone.

I am going to be making the switch to a new blog in the next few weeks since I will be posting about Lily and this new little one (who does not have a cute nickname yet) and think the blog should be titled something more about our family than just "Peanut". As soon as I get the new blog up and running I will let everyone know. Don't expect it for a couple weeks though as this pregnancy has been very different so far (might be because I am chasing Lily around too) and I am constantly tired and nauseous.

Now that it is after 10pm, and that is after my current bed time, I am going to go. Just wanted to share the news with everyone.

Lily update

Wow, I have been slacking when it comes to blogging recently. I'm sure I could come up with a million excuses, but the real reason is that I actually forgot about it. Oops!

Anyway, Lily had her 15 month well visit the other day and the pediatrician is very happy with how she is doing. She is now 18.5lbs (2nd percentile), 30.25 inches (42nd percentile), and her head is 17.5 inches (13th percentile). It is great to see her start moving up on the weight chart again. I will admit that we haven't really been doing the high fat diet like we were supposed to because she won't eat most of those foods. I decided it was better to feed her stuff she would eat rather than just sit high fat stuff in front of her and have her push it away. Yesterday she did surprise me though and ate a whole plate full of stuff and then asked for more (any by more, she wanted some dessert). She is now able to eat everything except peanut products which makes it so much easier when going places with her because I don't have to pack her separate food.

Her personality is really starting to show up. She is a little ham. She loves when people are watching her and will give you a big smile when she knows that you are. She also likes to tickle us, start to hand us toys and then pull them away, and be chased (especially when mom is trying to wipe a runny nose!). Lily is also a climber. She has figured out how to get on the couch and also the kitchen table. If something is too high for her she will pull over a footstool, or anything else to stand on, to try to get up.

I will try to get some pictures and video up this weekend because I have a three day weekend.

Pictures

I finally got some pictures to upload. Hopefully I will be able to get more up later this week.


Playing in the snow.


Daddy buried her in it but she didn't seem to mind.


I didn't get the picture taken fast enough and she got distracted by something else.


Possibly our newest family member, Bella. We are fostering her this weekend to see how things go.

Grumpiness

Lily has been grumpy for the past few days. I figured it was just the winter time blues coupled with a runny nose and a bit of a cough. Well I figured out what might really be causing the grumpiness...teeth! And lots of them. This morning she was laughing as I was changing her diaper and I saw that she has 2 more poking through on top and the rest of her gums are very swollen and bumpy (like the teeth are right under the surface). This makes a total of 6 teeth on top and 2 on the bottom. She might have more on the bottom, but she really won't let me look and I really don't want to feel since she has learned that you can bite with teeth. I have been giving her some motrin and that seems to be helping with the mood a bit. I'm sure having sharp little teeth pushing their way through your gums can't feel pleasant.

Weight check

Lily had her weight check today. She is up to 17.35lbs. She is still under the first percentile for her age, but the doctor is happy that she is gaining weight once again. Right now we are still keeping her on the high fat diet, but no other changes at this time. He said that if she doesn't gain more at her next appointment at 15 months old then he might do some blood work, but he sees no reason to expect to have to do that after this visit.

She definitely makes up for being physically small with her personality. She has learned how to run and chasing the dog is so much fun. She will scream, squeal, and laugh while chasing the dog. I feel bad for Selene because she hardly gets a chance to lay down all day when Lily is awake. I guess I should feel so bad about not taking her out for walks in this horrible weather, the baby is giving her lots of exercise.

Lily is also starting to say more and more words, does some baby signs, and loves to imitate us. The other day she was watching me get ready in the morning and was imitating me washing my face, brushing my hair and putting on my make up, it was adorable.

I am going to start looking into other blogs because I am still having problems uploading pictures and video here. If I do make a switch I will make sure to let everyone know.

Update

Now that the holidays are over we are getting back into the routine of things. It was great to see the friends and family that we were able to see over the past couple weeks and to enjoy a few days off from work, but all of that has messed up Lily's schedule. I am glad that we are going to get back into our normal routine.

Lily had her 1 year well visit with the pediatrician last week. He is so happy to see her starting to walk and talk more. She is in the 11th percentile for height and only the 1st for weight. She only gained about 1/2 a pound since her 9 month check up. He said he isn't worried, but he does want to watch her weight a bit. Instead of going back in 3 months for her 15 month check up we are going to go back in 6 weeks. We are also putting her on a higher fat diet to see if we can pack on the weight. She seems to be enjoying getting cheese added to most of her meals and loves that we end dinner with dessert now (ice cream seems to be the favorite so far). Since she is eating whatever we are eating it is going to be hard for me to keep eating healthy myself and not gain a lot of weight too. I have realized that is it about portion control for me and putting the "good" stuff on Lily's plate and eating a lot of my food plain. For example, today for lunch Lily and I had hamburgers and a baked sweet potato. I made one hamburger and then cut about a third of it off for Lily, that part got cheese on it. She also got some bread to make hers a sandwich and I just cut up my burger. For the sweet potato I scooped some out for Lily and put butter and sour cream on it and my part I ate plain. While her lunch looked amazing, mine tasted really good. I know I will be able to get Lily to gain weight without gaining it myself.

I will get pictures up sometime this week. I got a new computer for my birthday and I am trying to be selective with what I put on it and where so it doesn't become a disorganized mess like my last one. This has made me a little slow at getting pictures off the camera though because I don't know exactly how I want to organize them yet

Birthday Pictures

Opening gifts. (Her shirt was made by my mom and says Lily and has a cupcake with a single candle on it)


Very excited about her Grouchy Ladybug stuffed animal and watching Mommy open the next gift.


Mommy helping Lily open another gift.


Rubber Ducky cupcakes.


Singing Happy Birthday.

Licking the cake off her face.


Thoroughly enjoying her cake.

First Birthday

Today is Lily's first birthday! We had a great party this weekend for her and she did great at it. She loved opening her gifts and the cupcake she got ended up everywhere. I will put up picuters probably this evening, or maybe earlier if she takes an afternoon nap.

The other big news is that little girls that are one walk, don't crawl. She is still more comfortable, and faster, crawling, but can walk. She walked across the family room earlier and when she got to the other end she squealed and clapped her hands!

20 Days

I knew Lily's birthday was coming up soon, but I just logged into one of the baby websites I am a member of and it told me that my baby's birthday is 20 days away! 20 days seems so soon. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was complaining about how uncomfortable I was and how I just wanted to hold my little girl in my arms instead of my belly. This year has gone by entirely too fast. I'm sure the next 17 years are going to go just as fast.

A couple updates. Lily loved Thanksgiving. Although I think she enjoyed playing with the food more than eating it...pictures to come.

She now has 4 teeth. And she likes to grind them. And bite with them.

She still isn't walking. I think she just doesn't thinking about. Crawling is just so much faster and something that she knows so walking doesn't even come to her mind. I know that as soon as she does learn how to walk though she will be running. She is constantly moving.

Teeth

Yes teeth, as in multiple. Lily has teeth! I noticed the other bottom tooth had broken through on Thursday. Then yesterday she was trying to chew on my finger and something sharp got me from the top of her mouth too. I'm sure getting two new teeth while fighting an ear infection and high temp does not feel good. I do not blame her one bit for being fussy this week.

Ear infection

Lily has her first illness...an ear infection. :(

It started on Tuesday when the babysitter said that Lily was being really fussy (which she hardly ever is) and that she felt warm. She took her temp and it was around 102. I picked her up early and gave her some ibuprofen and the fever broke. She was still not quite herself that evening and slept more than normal.

Wednesdays she goes to my mom's house so we were lucky that my mom still agreed to watch her so that neither Sean nor I had to miss work. She was a little warm when I dropped her off, but nothing like the day before. My mom called at 10:30 saying that she wasn't really eating, slept a lot more than normal, and had a temp of over 103. I called the pediatrician and they got her in. While I wanted to be with her so badly but I knew that my mom could handle this (she had done alright raising me at least) and therefore she took her to the appointment. When the nurse took her temp it was 105.1! They checked her over and said that she has an ear infection and gave her some antibiotics. She was super lethargic all day with my mom, barely even wanting to open her eyes.

We have been giving her ibuprofen and acetaminophen every few hours and she hasn't had a fever since yesterday. Sean was able to work from home today so he stayed with our little sicky. She is still not herself completely (especially if the meds are wearing off) but overall is doing much better. She is playing on the floor and "talking" just like she always does. She is still a little bit more cuddly, but that is ok by me :)

Halloween!

Here are some pictures from Halloween festivities.


Lily found the pumpkin she liked

But she didn't like her bare feet in the grass!

Just Lily's size

Having fun being a scarecrow

Mommy and Lily as pumpkins



Getting ready for trick or treat

"I don't like this"

Trying to get the mohawk to stay up

but it kept falling over

We went as a rock band

Personality

Lily's personality is really starting to show. She loves to play tricks and make people laugh. The other day she was holing out her puffs for the dog to take. I wasn't sure what the dog was going to do so I just watched for a bit. The dog very gently tried to take it and Lily would not let go! And then she started giggling. The dog just looked at me confused. Selene tried to take it again and this time Lily let her have it. This whole cycle continued through about 5 puffs.

Lily also loves to start to crawl away from you quickly and if you say "I'm gonna get you" then she squeals and crawls away even quicker. She keeps stopping to look back at you though to make sure you are still coming and then laughs again and crawls away.

She has also started laughing when she is doing something wrong. She is now tall enough to reach everything on the entertainment center by the tv, such as remotes and our Netflix dvds. She kept going over to them, looking at me, giggling, trying to get them and then when I told her no and moved her away she would laugh really hard. It is very hard to not laugh too.



10 Months old and smiling


"Does this diaper make my butt look big?"


Helping Mommy make dinner

We have a tooth!

Her first tooth is officially here. On Monday both Sean and I could see a little bit of it, but now there is no mistaking it. It is sharp when you feel her gums and it is very visible. Her tongue keeps twirling around over it. I'm sure it feels quite weird to her.

New Gross Motor Skills and Food

Lily has had a couple big accomplishments in the last week as far as gross motor skills go. Firstly she went up the stairs at my parents' house last week. That time only my mom was around and she said it took her a little while to do it. Last night we went over there for dinner and she did it again, very quickly. It is like she has been doing it forever.

Just a few minutes ago she stood up all on her own. Without holding on to anything. I saw her do it and when she was fully standing I kinda squealed and said "good job" and she promptly sat/fell back down. I'm not sure when she is going to attempt this again, but she is a lot closer to walking now than she was this morning.

She has been trying all sorts of new foods. My work had a get together the other night and she swiped a lemon wedge off my boss' plate and started sucking on it. At first she made a face like she didn't like it, but when we took it away she screamed. When we gave it back she just kept sucking on it. She also had pot roast last night for dinner. My parents had us over for dinner and instead of feeding Lily her own stuff I just cut up some of my meat and veggies real small and she loved them. After a while though they were a bit more fun to play with than actually eat. It is nice that she is starting to eat the same things we are eating and trying to feed herself because it gives me more of a chance to eat my own food while it is warm.

9 Month Update

Lily had her 9 month check up last week and she is doing great. She did get two shots that she didn't like very much, but was done crying as soon as we left the exam room and all the nurses starting making a fuss over her. She just loves attention.

So here are the stats:

Weight: 15.41 lbs. (4th percentile)
Height: 26.5 in. (16th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17 in. (26th percentile)

So she is really tiny, but the doctor isn't worried at all. She is hitting all of her milestones on time if not even a little early and she is eating the right amount.

She had a lot of fun at the office crawling around everywhere and pulling herself up on everything. She was also talking up a storm.

She now says 4 words. "Dada", "Mama", "Buh buh" (bye bye, it is usually accompanied by waving), and "Duggy" (doggy). She says them a lot and at appropriate times, just not when we try to get her to say them.


Lily and "The Beans". All future Buckeyes!


She wouldn't leave the 9 alone for her 9 month photo shoot


So I put it on her head!

Blabbermouth

Lily has been making so many more noises and sounds the last few weeks and has now said some words!!! She has been making sounds such as babababa, mamamama, and dadadada for awhile now, but never using them in anyway to make me believe they are actually her first words but rather just fun sounds to make. A few days ago she started saying "baabaa" and waving whenever you said "goodbye" to her. Other times she would make other sounds when you said goodbye so I'm not confident that she actually understood what she was saying when she did say it correctly. It has now changed slightly and sounds more like byebye, but still not very clear. Then yesterday I was doing laundry and she was in her excersaucer playing. When I came back into the room and she saw me she very clearly said "mama" with a huge smile on her face! I couldn't get her to repeat it. Then later I went to do something in another room again and when I came back she said it again! Again, I couldn't get her to repeat it. Then today when I was leaving her at my mom's house to go to work I guess she started saying "mama" again. I have not heard it since though. I think she is just going to be one that will only do things on her terms. I believe I may have been like that as a child so I guess it is only fair.

Independence

Independence is already a hard thing for me to let her have at times and I know it is only going to get worse as she gets older and wants more and more.

Right now it is feeding herself. She wants to be independent while feeding herself with a spoon which takes a lot longer and is messier than if I would just feed her. I know she needs to work on this skill though so I am trying to be better about letting her do this. I would love for her to be more independent while feeding herself with a bottle though. Sometimes when she is really hungry she will hold it herself, but most of the time she will just wait for me to hold it up for her. This morning she did hold it for her whole feeding though.

I am also trying to remind myself to let her crawl a lot more. She gets plenty of time to crawl around and explore on her own, but I almost always pick her up and carry her if I need to go to another room. I need to remember to slow my life down and wait for her to do somethings on her own so she can learn to be independent.

Independence is also a sign that she is growing up. Growing up way too quickly. She is going to be a year old before we know it. I think back 8 months to when all she wanted to do was sleep in my arms and wonder where the time has gone. I'm sure she will be 18 and moving out in what will seem like next week.

8 months

Dancing with Daddy

Lily's new favorite thing to do right now is push buttons, like the power button on my computer while I am typing blog posts! It usually takes her a little while to get her thumb lined up with the button so I have a little time to distract her into doing something else, but sometimes she is quick.

She is doing great with sleeping for Sean and me, but on the days that she goes to my mom's house she rarely takes naps. I think there is just too much going on for her to want to calm down. There are different toys there and 2 dogs that absolutely love her.

Lily wants to walk so badly. She pulls herself up onto everything and will walk along the couch or the wall. Sometimes she will even do this step/fall thing from the couch to the ottoman. My back is getting sore because she really likes to walk in front of me while holding onto my hands.

She is also starting to eat so many more things. She absolutely loves baby food whether it is homemade or from a jar. She also likes getting some more solids such as some cereal pieces and yogurt bites. She even tries to eat my peach whenever she sees that I have one.

Feeding herself mashed potatoes


They ended up everywhere


"What is this 8 doing on my belly?"

"It must be there for me to eat!"

Swimming in the back yard