Day Two of Snow

This morning we braved the roads and went to Walmart of all places, figured they would have stuff even if people did go out of their minds crazy to buy everything that they saw because of the storm. The side roads were horrible still snow covered and we thought there was no way Lynnhaven Pkwy would be that way so out we went. Yep, same way. Looked as though no plows had gone down. A main road in VaBeach, not plowed?? And people in Mustangs wanted to go 50mph on it too?? We realized that we didn't live up north anymore and that we are definitely in a beach town thru and thru!

So after we returned, had lunch, and we got ALL of our layers on again to go out and play. Who knows when it will happen again, right? Lily had a blast and it was nice that it wasn't that cold out and the sun was shining. Lily walked around the entire back yard more than once. So funny when you bundle your kid up so much that they have to realize they need to turn their entire body to see you otherwise their hat will cover their eyes. HaHa.

We got out her "sled" too. She had so much fun in it yesterday we thought we had to do it again. She wanted to pull it around herself but didn't realize how long it would take her to pick up the rope with the mittens on! When she finally got it, oh so proud! Same with the top picture, proud that she was able to scoop up some snow to participate in our snowball fight.

As you can see, not that enthusiastic about going fast in her sled today. I had to pull her around after this and took some convincing to get back in :).

Lily's first attempt at her own snow angel, after Mike demonstrated...too cute Miss Lily!!

Reattempt 2

Well the first reattempt of our video seems to be working so thought I'd post the sledding video again to see if it works, cross your fingers :)!

Reattempt

for the Snow Video of our first day in the snow.

Hopefully this will work more than a couple of times for us?!?

Best Snow Day Ever

Since Thursday we have been warned about the upcoming snow storm ready to hit Hampton Roads. But, as Mike always quotes the local weather people we readily said to ourselves, "We've dodged a bullet". However, this morning we were pleasantly surprised and super excited to wake up to a blanket of white stuff and it still snowing!!

After waking up our girl at 9, having breakfast we started to get dressed around 10. Mike and I had both forgotten how LONG it takes to get dressed and that's without a toddler and a pregnant lady! It was quite a process so, we finally got outside at 1045!

We measured and at this point in the morning we had 5 inches and it was still coming down not scheduled to stop until late this afternoon.

Lily's First Snow

Lily's First Snow Ride

We got inside around 1230 and threw everything into the dryer so our layers would be ready for our next venture outside, whenever that may be. Lucky for Mike and I that next trip out would be at 230 when Miss Lily decided to sit at the back door to try and get her boots on. The second trip was A LOT shorter, it was colder, the wind had picked up and we quickly got inside once it started to sleet. We had fun nonetheless.

Until tomorrow...

Lily and Mama Day

Our first day this week that we were able to just play!

And what did we do??

We played Dress Up!!!

Introducing...

...the newest member of Lily's Entourage, Rufus.

He made his debut in Charlotte courtesy of Nana and Pa. Rufus is the name of the Clt Bobcat mascot however, our Rufus is actually a Kohl's for Care Kids Dr. Seuss character. The similarity between the two: they're both orange and that seems to satisfy Lily!

Welcome to the family Rufus!

S'mores and Hot Chocolate

This morning we had a s'mores and hot chocolate event for the mom's club.

Thank you, Melissa, for having the event at your house :)! The kids loved being able to have a snack and so did the moms! Elizabeth, thank you for showing us how to really roast marshmallows, on a wire hanger!! We never would have thought of that :).

Lily didn't have any "s'mores" but definitely got in the action of roasting some marshmallows and eating plenty of them. She even got in the spirit of having an infant carrier around! The one pictured above is for the newest Bonfiglio member who will arrive in the middle of May!

Lily not only sat in the infant carrier but got some one on one time with babies! She played with 8 month old Julia and was very sweet and careful with her. She showed her toys and sat down with her many times. Then Lily rocked 3 month old Grady to sleep in his car seat. She loved saying hi to the babies and I was very grateful to see the nurturing side of our daughter!

Every Two Weeks

Today began our every two week Dr appointments. Mike took the morning off since we were to meet the new Dr of the practice. I tried to have Lily take the picture with me but she didn't want to cooperate so me is all you get.

The appointment was noneventful but I did measure 30cm instead of 29, so either I'm HUGE or Emma is HUGE. We'll see how things sort out the next month or so.

Next appointment is on my *GASP* 30th Birthday and then an ultrasound the week after. Will keep everyone posted on how Baby Emma is doing!

A Girly Morning

This morning was great. Lily slept in til 915 and was in a wonderful mood and so was I since I had time to have a few cups of coffee before she got up! After she had some milk we began to color together. Lily has been getting super close to the paper as if to draw something really intricate so, I decided to see if she could manage controlling her crayon by giving her objects to fill in. Of course I chose hearts to help decorate the kitchen for Valentine's Day and she did an absolute wonderful job! She did two papers like the one above and by the third she had lost interest. We'll see in a few days if she'll gain interest in doing this again.

After coloring so well and taking pictures next to her artwork she wanted her picture taken with the Princesses. Too cute not to share.

Our Family Book

About three weeks ago we received a copy of our blog yearbook in the mail courtesy of Blurb (THANK YOU ANDREA!!). I managed to include both of our blogs, added picture pages throughout the book as well as pages in the back titled; 'Daddy Remembers 2009' and 'Mommy Remembers 2009'. (Mike and I wrote a page each of things that we remember about the past year. We did this without reading what each other wrote..a wonderful addition Mike thought of!)

Since we are now in a time that huge photo albums are not on our shelves but in our computers we felt the need to have a hard copy for our girls to go through when they're older. We're very excited to have our first edition completed and many more years to fill up our shelf.

Home and Friends

We left NC this morning and arrived home in record time AGAIN! Yep, under 6 hours with our little car traveling girl which included only one stop! Way to go Lily!!

When we arrived home in VaBeach we unpacked the car and had to vacuum up the dirt tracked in since the ground takes FOREVER to dry out after a rainfall. Lily had been scared of the vacuum for quite a while and I could only do it while she was in the bath. Lately, she waves hi and bye to it but this afternoon was a different story. She actually wanted to help out and vacuumed the doorway! Oh...how bright my future is if my daughter likes to vacuum!

Tonight we were on Lorelei watch while Brad and Elizabeth went into Norfolk to see Bill Cosby. This was the first time that someone babysat while Lorelei was awake and not in her own house and we feel very privileged to have been the first ones to watch her! Lorelei was quiet and sad at first when she noticed mom and dad weren't with her but soon started to play and was just fine for the rest of the evening. Can't wait til we are on duty again!!

Wonderful Visit

We had a terrific visit this week with our Nana, Pa and Mol.

So terrific that even after being home four days she still calls out for Nana and Pa when she wakes up in the morning. I have to remind her that they are at their house and need to take care of Molly.

Thanks Mom and Dad for all the help through the week!

Can't wait to see you in April! *Yikes*

Nana, Pa and Mol

Lily's Three Favorite People...

My Nana

Lily has been able to say Nana for a few months now but definitely used her quota of Nana's during this visit. But instead of just saying Nana since we've been home it's been My Nana.

Pa

When Lily was born we had a list of names for Dad to go by and Grampa turned out to be the winner. But, as first grandkids know they set the name for the rest of the grandkids to come and Lily has done just that. She has shortened Grampa into Pa. So there we have it, Lily and Pa, took a few short days but now they are best buds.

Mol

Another shortened name that we are trying to get into a full one but Mol seems to be sticking instead of Molly. Lucky for Lily she answers to pretty much anything.

It's Official...

We are now Charlotte Bobcat fans!

Today was our second game with Nana and Pa and we both had a great time. Mike left this morning on his trip to upstate NY for work and will be back Friday morning so Lily and I just went.

We saw a band play at half time, which Lily of course loved, we met Rufus the mascot again and even got a picture with him, and had the opportunity to get a picture with one of the cheerleaders too. Lily danced right along with them during the game, not the same kind of dancing but appropriate toddler dancing :).

This is probably the funniest I have seen Lily. I began taping a few minutes after she had started doing this and just had to get it.

Where my parents sit there is a sort of an extension which is metal and very loud if stomped on. But, in this case Lily dropped her huge Gerber sippy cup on it and it made the loudest boom ever. There just so happened to be a couple (which it looked like maybe they were on their first or second date) sitting below us right where Lily dropped her sippy. Yep, scared them to death. They seemed to be in deep conversation until Lily's cup interrupted them. This is what Lily thought of the whole situation...Hysterical situation. If you can't tell, she's laughing and putting her head into her hands as if to say, whoops..my bad..can't believe I did that..how embarrassing.., you get the drift. Lily is definitely beyond her years.

Taking a Walk

Today we took a walk with Pa, Dada and Molly to the playground. It was an absolute gorgeous day and we had tons of fun!

First NBA Game

Nana and Pa have season tickets to the Charlotte Bobcats, which are a team in the NBA. They love going and this is the first time when visiting that we have been able to join them. We were sure that Lily would like it, just how much she would like it was up in the air. Well, you can come to your own conclusion from watching our minimovie...but she LOVED it.

The Bobcats had a considerable lead so at the end of the third quarter we decided to leave and beat the crowds out of the stadium and the parking garage. We did this knowing that Lily could have lasted the entire game, a game that started at 2 with no nap!! Yep, no nap!! She loved it so much that Nana and Pa got us another set of tickets for later in the week. Go Bobcats!

Christmas in NC

Lily celebrated her FIFTH Christmas with Nana and Pa!

(One: With Nana in early Dec, Two: With Mama and Dada in VaBeach, Three: With the Checks in Dec, Four: With Uncle Mark in Springfield and now Five: With Nana and Pa in NC. What a busy two months we have had!!)

She has become a Pro at realizing that gifts are for her and that she should open them one after the other and then sit down to play. She absolutely loves all of her gifts; a doctor set, Princess Belle Tea Set, Mr. Potato Head, Sticker Book Set (made me nervous, but she's great at it!), and Snow White and Belle dolls!

On The Road Again

This will be a picutreless post since the battery died in our camera and have to wait to get to NC to charge it.

This morning we packed up the car, including the car top carrier, dropped Maci off at the kennel and headed to Huntersville, NC to visit Nana and Pa for the week. We didn't need the carrier on top of the Trailblazer but needed to test drive it before our next trip which will include a lot more stuff and Miss Emma in the back. Luckily, it worked like a charm and all of the "gear" will fit just fine for our summer travels.

We packed a lunch, the dvd player with plenty of Elmo dvds, books and Lily's favorite sing-a-long cd and we were on our way. We only made ONE stop and made it to Nana and Pa's house in under 6 hours, which is a record!!!!

Lily has become an absolute car trip girl and will sit and just watch the trees and cows go by, even though she'll hide her eyes when she see cows: traumatized by the Chick-Fil-A cow forever I think! We couldn't be more proud of our Lily!

New Favorite Show

Lily now L-O-V-E-S a new show!

Sid the Science Kid

Yes, we know...BUT she loves it and it's not a bad show other than the catchy tunes stay in your head ALL day long! She could love something that isn't educational so we're pleased that she has latched onto something that could possibly sink in and be useful one day. I mean they use words like investigation, explore, discover, question, experiment...words that I have to admit are not in our regular day to day vocabulary :).

She now asks for Sid while she drinks her morning milk, at lunch and after dinner. She has even watched the same show twice in one day without complaints and as if she had never seen it before. Needless to say our dvr is now being flooded with Sid shows. Watch out NCIS LA and Idol, you have a new competitor for space in our recording list.

Words

So I can officially post that Lily has started to talk, at 21 months old.

It's so exciting that Lily is now able to say words and communicate other than pointing and nodding. Though most words are incomplete (usually leaves off the ending) we can definitely understand what she is saying. Here is the list of words that Lily says on a regular basis without regular prompting:

Mama, Dada, more, again, Maci, baby, Nana, Pa, Kaylee, Irene, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert, Belle, Snow White, Lily, tree, Sid, Molly, Mark, night night, bye bye, hi, water,

Words that she can say but definitely needs prompting (seems as though she's not quite sure what she can say so until we ask she doesn't try, we now ask her constantly...can you say..?)

Please, star, heart, red, one, bath, cup, milk, Lorelei, Kira, Chase, help, car, kitty cat, dog,

This will be an ongoing list...so, to be continued...

Toddler Mocktail

Since we had a rough night and yesterday no nap due to the amount of coughing I called and made an appointment with Dr. Wick, our pediatrician.

Here is what we came away with: an ear infection in her right ear, a confirmed case of the Adenovirus (which she has every symptom) and a possible case of sinusitis or allergies. No wonder the poor girl couldn't get some sleep. She is now having a toddler mocktail twice a day of 1.5 tsp of amoxicillin, 1/2 tsp of zyrtec, 1/4 tsp of delsym (but only at bedtime) and children's tylenol when necessary. She will be on this for the next 10 days and we have a follow up appointment in three weeks.

Dr said she should be feeling better by the end of this week and we only hope that she will let us give her all of this medicine!!

Rough Night

We had a rough night last night.

Lily woke up, which she NEVER does, around 130 coughing and coughing. So, I sat up with her for a bit in the rocker. She fell right back to sleep, snoring as loud as she could, but me on the other hand can not sleep sitting up in the glider. Mike got every pillow in the house to help prop me up in our bed so I could get comfortable with Lily sleeping on my chest. That lasted until 430 and I had had enough. In order to get Lil back into her bed, Mike had to use two pillows under her mattress to help prop her up. Thankfully this worked and we all slept until 7 when she awoke coughing again.

Colds and allergies are definitely not new to us when it comes to Lily. We have our routine of vapobath, vaporizer with vaposteam, babyvapo rub, an elevated mattress with usually only one pillow and of course her usual dose of benadryl. This instance was very different due to the fact that she couldn't stop coughing even though we did our routine to make her comfortable at night.

Lily, the Master of...

...the spoon and the "bowl tip".

That's our girl!!

Wonderful Husband

As the weeks creep up on us and Emma's impending arrival becomes more real Mike has been even more incredible than ever before! He vacuums and even does the baseboards, he sweeps, and swiffers, he cleans the bathroom not to mention he does the dishes every single night and lets Lily help unload the dishwasher (which is a task in itself).

Thank you babe, you're absolutely wonderful!

I Above Love You!