7 months of squishy, adorable, ooey, gooey love!

This girl continues to take my heart every day.  I cannot go very long without holding her, wearing her or having her very near.  Officially, somehow she is now closer to 1 year old than she is closer to a newborn.  The days continue to race by and everyday I say I need more time.

Rowan continues to be happy most of the time.  I still think she is going to be a little more of an introvert as she is not quick to warm up to everyone - as her sister is - she needs more time huddled in close with mom or dad, she talks only when she is focused by herself or you are 100% engaged and she giggles only if something is really funny as opposed to at just about everything!

She takes everything in, watching it all, wanting to be close to the action and glaring at the action with a judgmental "huh?"  Her fine motor skills are superb.  I made all of this wonderful food for her and she will not eat a bite of it so I decided to start cutting it up for her.....finally she is eating some things.  She will work on putting food in her mouth and just hum to herself.  All she wants to do it pick things up and put them in her mouth, she wants to play with tags and strings, and she has an obsession with ears.  She is sitting all of the time and cannot be bothered with being on her stomach or back, quite honestly there is too much to see and the stomach is a terrible vantage point.  Her friends are all crawling and she is NO WHERE close. She will prop on her arms and that is about it. She loved watching Colin play guitar.  She has recently learned to "dance" while saying 'ah-huh, ah-huh, ah-huh' over and over and over again.  She sits and  alternates between arching her back and flexing and making these noises simultaneously.  She just learned ba and da.  She is sleeping terribly.  She yells once an hour, yelling is not an exaggeration.  She does not cry, well it takes a lot for her to cry, instead she yells!  I think she is growing right now on top of just getting over a bad cough that lasted a month (this round).  But we are at the point after holding her for over an hour at 2 am last night where I finally said that I cannot do this 24 hours a day.  Mommy needs to sleep.

She still melts my heart as every time she sees me she lights up as if I am the only one that makes the world go round.  The day will come when she realizes I am not and so for now I am soaking these days up.....'yes Rowan, the sun is a close second but number 1, whelp, that is me, yours truly, your mom.'

The things that are big and funny enough to make this one laugh you ask.....well obviously swinging! and her dad (another obvious) and her sister- who does not love a whirling derby of sparkles, giggles, squealing and fun?

Overall we have had a wonderful two weeks with me home more often.  The girls have transitioned beautifully.  Lillian was having such a hard time with many melt downs, poor language and with me home she is the little girl she always has been, sweet, well spoken, kind and full of great positive energy.  My milk supply is finally where is should be- that was  a challenge in and of itself but right now we are on the other side of it.  I have enjoyed watching them, holding them, laughing with them and just being.  I start back to work in June but I am hoping this will be a good place for right now in our lives.

So far these 7 months have been full, lovely, hilarious and just about perfect.  We love you Rowan, thank you for completing this journey.

Happy 3rd Birthday Lillian

May 10th 2010.  A feeling I could never imagine, a feeling so large and so full that I felt like my heart was going to explode when I first heard her squeal.  Our lives changed forever.

May 10th 2011. 1 year old.  A year of growth, learning what a  truly special and selfless act motherhood is.  Learning what it meant to be a family.  Learning that this little girl had a personality that could not be contained.  A year of learning what love really is.

May 10th 2012.  2 years old. So much awe, inspiration, excitement, joy and laugher.

May 10th 2013.  We have a 3 year old.
This big, little girl is  so many things, it is hard to sum her up in even a paragraph.  It has been amazing to watch her grow this year. Lillian has a personality that fills up the room.  She is either laughing, joking, dancing, singing or talking and it is hard not to appreciate her love of life. She needs to lead, needs to be the center of attention.  She is on her best behavior when she is learning or being challenged.  Colin and I have had to learn some creative parenting.  She has so much drive, determination and emotion that we have had to learn to direct it but not smother it.  We do not claim to be good at this by any means.
This year at her party all of her 4 year old friends ( there were 3 there) wrote their names in the cards they brought her.  It is truly amazing the growth that happens in a year.  This year compared to last and next year compared to this.  How is it that she will be going to preschool soon and learning to write her name.  A change I both welcome and shy from. Our little girl is not so little.  And so I write to both share her with those all around the world now that cannot see her from week to week and to reflect on the changes of a year or a month or a season.
All things Lillian:
1.  She loves to jump, hop, gallop, dance and climb ALL of the time.
2.  She loves to read.  She will memorize a story within the first few times of reading it and then tell it back to us, page by page and frequently sentence by sentence.
3.  She sings.  Just like books she will ask you to sing a song repeatedly until she memorizes it.
4.  She plays the uke with Colin.  She used to sing along to many different songs but now she plays and dances and just plan looks cute.  Lets face it every band needs a figure head, right?
5. She can count to 20 but fourteen is the new thirteen......twelve, fourteen, fourteen, fifteen......
6.  She knows many of her letters.  She frequently asks us.  "Can you find a S in this area?"  She loves finding the letters, figuring out what words start with the letters and the sounds.  So far she knows L, I, Y, Q, S, M, W, R, T, O and many more 70% of the time.
7.  She can write the letter L.
8.  She is the best big sister.  She loves on Rowan all of the time.  Snuggles her, asks for her and helps take care of her when there is a problem.
9.  She has amazing vocabulary. "The stars twinkled loudly." "That is not an option." "
10.  She still needs to be loved and snuggled and held more often than one would think.  She has always wanted to be cuddled and that has not changed and I suspect never will.

New birthday bike and helmet.  Thanks Mimi and Poppy and Aunt Bri and Uncle Dermot.

"I don't know where the candy on the top of the cake went."

The already wrestle all of the time.  They both just laugh.

Thank you Lilybean for 3 wonderful years of laughter.  You have taught me more than you will even know.  I am sure I  needed you in my life more than you me.  You are stunning in every way.  My prayer is that you will continue to show not only me but also the world a thing or two about love and laughter.