The Joys of Life

First Food

Here she is getting ready for her first bite of rice cereal, in her brand new bib Brian brought her this weekend. The event was more of an emotional milestone for me than anything else really. All week long I prepared myself silently. Thinking about the last 6 months, the changes, what rice cereal really means and how rice cereal can be correlated to many other bench marks in life. Bench marks like getting your first car, leaving for college and finding a life partner; bench marks that symbolize a change or a different level of independence. Many of you are laughing now.....oh if rice cereal has been this tough then heaven help them when she really does become more independent. But please induldge me for a second with this. She has survived for 6 months in the flesh and 9 months in the womb on just me. She has brought the most perfect baby smell to our house. Her diapers and spit-up, though a little gross at times, all purely natural phases of breast milk. Now all of the sudden enter rice cereal and I have a whole new baby. I thought about what this next month will bring for her; exciting new flavors such as avocados, blue berries, and peaches and for me the fun of making baby food for my little girl and seeing the look in her eyes as she mouths something new for the first time. So after a week of deep thought of what rice cereal really means it came down to this moment in time. This moment when she smiled at Colin and I out of the corner of her eye and tried her first bite of cereal. I don't know what I was expecting, balloons to fall from the ceiling maybe or her to cry out and say, 'mom I still love you and need you', but instead we got a baby who acted quite ambivalent with her teaspoon of food in total that took 10 minutes to actually get in her mouth. After it was over I thought to myself, well that wasn't so bad, I don't know what I fretted about for so long....... until I woke the next day. When she woke up Sunday morning she no longer smelled of my sweet little girl, she smelled of rice cereal and cried/screamed/fussed from the indigestion the 3 servings of rice cereal in her system. I was right, this was a change......maybe not as large as going away to college but an emotional milestone non-the-less.

Lillian finally found her toes and she tries her hardest to get them in her mouth every time we change her.

Thanks Alex for sharing this great toy. Lillian LOVES it already and has already figured out how to bounce in it and spin around in her seat in it.

Brian came to visit this weekend and spoiled Lily with a great blanket, burp towels, a bib and a sea horse. It was pretty cute watching Lily warm-up to him, about an hour in to his visit she was all smiles every time she saw him.

Halloween

Lillian's first Halloween.

Two kitty cats. One just a little happier than the other to have their picture taken.

Their first Halloween together. Harper is a frog and Lillian is a kitty.

We made many Halloween stops, of course one to see Rosabel as a mermaid.

Harper's grandma Carol has been visiting from Howell for 3 weeks. She spoiled Harper, her folks and us while she was here. Thanks grandma Carol for all the good cooking!

Lily was a trouper today and after all of the trick or treating
she was ready to get her hot costume off and play.

A little something to melt your heart......

Lillian has a few new things.....this is one of them that just melts Colin's heart. She loves to sit on your lap and turn and look glaringly into your eyes above her whilst reaching for your face. It is one of the sweeter moments of our day.

Airplane with or without toys. Good for baby and good for mom's abs!

Finally a full back to stomach roll and ending propped up on her elbows to complete the roll. We are so proud. Look at those buns with that outfit....how can you not just want to pat them right there?

A wave while on her tummy. Ok not really, she is actually reaching for toys while on her stomach.

Lastly and very sadly she is too big for this tub. Remember when we had to hold her up in it to keep her safe? I ask the question every mother has asked the universe, 'how can I bottle her up and keep her safe in my arms at this size?' Instead of waiting for an answer I will embrace her ability to explore, learn and grow and I may possibly shed a few tears of joy and sadness to celebrate her along the way.

Go Michigan State (speaking in Raspberry language)

Lily frequently entertains herself now with endless
raspberries.

5 months old!

5 months old and a trip to the pumpkin patch. Doesn't everyone show up in costume to the pumpkin patch? I love the goat eating Colin's shirt in the back.

A contest between us and my parents and sisters to see who came up with the best pumpkin patch/apple orchard pictures. I am sure we won. Chelsea and Marty were in town from North Carolina, Rosanne thought it would be best if we all went in costume and so she was sweet enough to bring us a few things to wear. (Left to right- Colin, Julie, Lily, Uncle Jim, Count, Mark, Rosanne, Chelsea, Marty and Aunt Sarah.)

Holding hands after a rough game for Michigan. MSU won for the 3rd year in a row (finally).

Colin had the best day ever.....an MSU game on TV, watching it with his daughter and wife and later that night a big show.

Lily is doing many new things.....touching our faces, shaking everything as if it were a rattle, giggling and putting the binki in her mouth all on her own.

So cute in the Ergo with her way too small pumpkin-hat-hand-me-down
that Katie knit for Rosie 4 years ago. We still don't know if her eyes will stay blue because some days they look so dark.

So big!

We were able to get all the babies together this weekend to watch the Duck game....well the dads watched the game. Lily wasn't feeling well from her vaccines so there was a bit of baby juggling going on. Quinn, Lillian and Harper (front to back) are all getting so big.

Who doesn't love baby buns? If only there was a way to reach out and pat them in this picture.

We finally had our 4 month doctors appointment which entailed more vaccines so this weekend was a bit rough. Our almost 5 month old little girl now has a few new stats: 16# 7 oz (86%tile), 25.5 inches long (75th%tile) and 17 inch head circumference (88th%tile). Colin and I are both floored that we have a little girl who is now 6 inches longer than her birth length. So much has changed for all of us and we have loved every step of this journey. Here she is wearing one of the onesies made for her at my baby shower.

Last weekend we celebrated Rosabel's 4th birthday! She had an amazing party with a real pony! It was a princess, pony and yellow submarine birthday party- a theme she came up with on her own. Of course we could not resist getting Lily on her very first pony, she loved every second of it.