Uh Oh!

We went to MacArthur Mall to see Santa today. We thought this was a wonderful idea. It was Mike's day off, it was a Monday (no lines, yeah right!), Nana is here what a great time to go see the guy in the big red suit!

Plus, they have a winter setup here geared around the Polar Express and they had snow falling inside a snow globe, how fun!!

Until Lily became paralyzed with fear! and didn't want to leave the red velvet rope.

And then we got "THE" pictures that every parent has of their child...the ones that we will never forget and the ones that get looks of pity from walkers by in the mall! Yep...Lily SCREAMED the ENTIRE time! But at the end she stopped crying and waved Bye-Bye to Santa :) at least she knows when the torture is over.

Lily is in Love...

...with her Nana!

Lily is a lucky little girl that was able to start Christmas early!

We are very fortunate that Nana is able to spend the entire week with us and she already has rocked Lily to sleep for naps and bedtime :)! How wonderful!

Beach Time

This morning we met our friends at the oceanfront to take some pictures of our families and it was absolutely gorgeous! A little chilly but we had lots of fun!

Our Little Explorer

Progression of Lily's Sand Throwing :)

and yes, she ended up in Time Out :)

Lily with her friends. We just love that they all end up doing something different and a picture seems impossible...but that's what makes memories :)

Here I am with my two friends Elizabeth and Melissa (who is 16 wks pregnant and due a mth after us!)

The Day After Thanksgiving

Let the decorating begin...

Thanksgiving

Our day began by eating breakfast and waiting for the Parade to come on tv. Since baby girl has taken my brain far earlier than Lily did, I forgot where I put the camera. Thankfully, Mike found it in a random fleece coat pocket so we were able to capture at least a few pictures of our day together.

But...the parade was a HUGE hit! She danced along with all the Broadway performers, sang and danced with the bands and squealed when the balloons went passed. She got very upset and concerned when they broke for commercials and every single time we had to promise her it was going to come back on. By around 1130 she had had enough of the tv and the parade and turned the tv off by herself and went into play in the playroom :).

The meal was wonderful and thankfully all finished at the same time. We all slept the afternoon away and ended the evening with a special movie treat for Lily, Space Buddies. Interesting enough, the movie kept her interest but I'm sure the talking puppies had something to do with it.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! And, we couldn't help think of last year with it being Lily's First Thanksgiving and next year having two little girls at the table :).

Thanksgiving 2008, Lily almost 8 months old

From Start to Finish

And...

From one weekend...

to the next.

This season we added the lights that outline the brick on the lower part of our house. Next year, who knows?

Very Cute

Guess my shoes were easier to get on than hers :)

Work Smarter Not Harder :)

Grand Illumination Parade

Front row seats to our first Norfolk Grand Illumination Parade, compliments of Brad and Elizabeth who went early and claimed prime seats on the curb! Thanks guys!!

We were on Granby down the street from Kelly's Backstage Tavern. Here Lily is with her friends Kira, Chase and Lorelei.

Lily enjoying the parade.

As you may know the parade is the kickoff for the holiday season here in Hampton Roads and the countdown of turning on the lights that outline the city's buildings. There were many local businesses that decorated floats, high school and college bands as well as dance studios in the hour long parade down Granby street. As the parade got started I texted Trish to see if Leah was in the parade with her dance studio and not long after here came Trish walking down the middle of Granby as a chaperone with the girls in their nutcracker costumes...but no Leah :(. It was a wonderful surprise!

We had a wonderful time and this quickly became a tradition we would like to continue, especially with two little girls :). Next year, there will be four of us!!

All Bundled Up

and having fun at the park with friends!

Hair Milestone

Yep, we can do a ponytail!

A mother's dream!

And next week, we will be getting a haircut.

Not a huge one but one to tame the wild child's mane!

Milestone

This week Lily tried on a pair of Cinderella panties and Loved them! She lasted all evening, the entire dinner and all the way until bathtime without needing a change!

The BIG Day

Today was our routine Dr's appointment, at 19 weeks, plus our 2nd trimester ultrasound for Baby Check #2. We always have our appointments scheduled for Tuesdays since the office is open late and all three of us can attend, so we had to wait until 530!

The ultrasound tech called us back as soon as we got there and after 10 minutes (what seemed like 10 minutes) of taking measurements and making sure all was well with Baby we found out that we are having a...

GIRL!

(our scanner/printer combo is out of ink so it won't let us scan anything..ugh. So you can double click on a picture to see it larger. The first four look exactly the same to me, just love them all :) and then the bottom two show the baby girl parts and her adorable feet, with a close up of one with all five toes :) )

Going into this ultrasound I definitely wanted to find out what we were having but of course above all things I wanted to know that she was ok and completely healthy. After that, it was all a plus. Once I heard and saw girl I got so excited to know that I was going to have two daughters. But, what made me tear up was knowing that my Lily was going to have a sister. How GREAT!

Bring on the PINK!

Leaves and Sticks

As the huge November Nor'easter came to an end our job just began...cleaning up our yard! Last weekend we filled 18 39-gallon leaf bags and today we continued to fill 12 more! And, the trees are still full of leaves, yikes! Plus all of the sticks that we couldn't put into bags. The pile doesn't look too impressive but for a three day storm it's pretty significant.

Quality Time

This weekend Lily and Daddy have been attached! They get up and play, have snacks together and play some more. Though I love being able to breathe I do miss my little shadow and I love watching Mike and Lily have quality time together!

Ring Around the Rosie I can handle but not sure if I approve of Lily's new obsession with being a trapeze artist. Does anyone else see gymnastics in this girl's future?!?

Dinner with Friends

Our friends Brad, Elizabeth and Lorelei invited us over for dinner tonight and it was delicious! Elizabeth made their favorite brisket, cheesy potatoes and corn. YUM! Lily and Lorelei had fun playing together as usual and this time Lily wanted to grab a ride from her. It was so funny there wasn't much room so Lily would just wrap her arms around Lorelei's waist like they were ready to take a ride on a motorcycle. It was a lot of fun and can't wait til we make our next family date!

Passing the Time

Today we were inside waiting for the November Nor'easter to pass us by so I decided to get some color pictures done. And it was exhausting. These are some of the pics that didn't make the cut for her poster but thought I'd share in my frustration of saying, "Lily, Smile :)". The ones that I chose for the poster did come out great but took about ten pictures per color to get there. Elizabeth had a better idea, do these while they're immobile! Once they are it takes ten times as long to get the picture you want. Oh well...another learning experience the next baby will benefit from :).

Stages

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about Lily and how much she has accomplished in such a short amount of time. I'm sure it's because I'm trying to remember everything and when it happened so I can be that much more prepared when Baby comes in April. Plus, I'm loving the fact that I can be prepared for each month and almost know what to expect,I'm sure it will be completely different but I can try to anticipate every move, right?

So, what am I thinking about today? Eating.

This morning I made Lily a scrambled egg and some pancakes with syrup, she LOVES syrup. But anyway, I also gave her a big girl spoon which is now a metal spoon! It has only been recently, in the past month, that she has been done with the plastic utensils that have lasted her a good 6 months and now needs something with more weight and substance to get a good mouth full :). Then I realized how many types of spoons we have gone through in the past 18 months! I looked at them all and figured that there are three main stages in baby feeding/eating, four if you count bottle only. But once they begin solids and wanting to eat by themselves there are a good 3 stages and of course you need to be equipped to handle all 3. Geez...who knew a little person would require so many different types! I'm not sure what will come after the toddler fork and spoon, but I'm sure there's something out there for us parents to buy our preschooler! GASP...preschooler?!?!?! weather update: November Nor'easter, Day 2 of 3. Mike came home early to avoid high tide. Levels approached Hurricane Isabel status, all schools are closed, there is a river going down our street that is creating a small lake, chairs are being blown around, tree branches are all over our yard and not to mention the HUGE amount of leaves that came down, and our power was out for almost three hours.

Progress

Today Mike has off from work, Happy Vet's Day!, so it was easier to begin potty training as soon as she got up this morning. And...drum roll please...on day *3, Lily went poopy on the potty!!! During our trip to Kohl's this morning she also went on the little potty in the family bathroom and stayed dry the entire day, even during nap time!! I attribute this to Mike and I both being on top of the training routine. Seems as though one of is always asking her if she needs to go or reminding her where her potty is, yep we even got a few eye rolls from her through the day. Guess we were beyond annoying :). Oh well.

Lily is very proud of herself every time she goes on the potty and shuts the top with authority while she sweetly waves and says bye-bye. I think her favorite part is when we let her wash her hands or use hand sanitizer. I've even had to get her a travel size sanitizer that she can put in her purse that she carries around the house, too funny.

Other note for today: the November Nor'easter began, Day 1 of 3.

Family Night

Tonight we joined the Mom's group at the Chick-Fil-A up the street from us for a family night. Kids got a free meal, had a table set up for them to color, their play area was open and they had a clown there making balloon animals. The line was extremely long but we decided to tough it out so that Lily could get her monkey, oo-oo-oo (what a monkey sounds like as per Lily).

And thank you to Elizabeth for taking a picture since we forgot our camera. Hope everyone likes the first belly shot :)

Well, This Is It

The BIG day! The day we started potty training. I will spare our kind readers of the "rough" beginning to our training but it ended amazingly well! Four successful trips to the potty! To top it off Lily wore big girl pull-ups this afternoon with her new favorite Princesses. Yep, Lily now recognizes the princesses and gets excited even though she has no other reference than the toy bin from Grammy and Poppy.

On a pregnancy note...today we turned 18 weeks and at our appointment next week we get to find out who joins our family! And you ask, how am I feeling...well saw this cartoon on my babycenter update and had to add it cause it shows and says exactly how I am feeling... pregnant? fat? pregnant? No one knows but me :)