Trying to be Productive

Lily's knit longies came in the mail today. They are adorable on her. :)

We had a busy day around the house today. We had Josh paint the hallway/stairway/entryway area earlier this month but we had never finished the trim. The walls are the same color we have in the living room (the very pale yellow):
And today Benjamin (finally) got around to working on the trim. It's the same light, silvery green color we have on the trim in the living room and the walls in Lily's room:
It's definitely a huge improvement on the poopy brown color that was there. The pictures don't really show the color well, though. Now we just need to refinish the stairs. And fix the railings and bannister. Ugh.

Today I made a diaper. It was kind of a total disaster. Here it is:
The elastic's a bit wonky. I would blame it on the fact that I was wearing Lily in the Moby wrap while trying to sew it (today was one of her days to refuse to nap unless I held her, hence the wearing whilst sewing), but really I think I just had no idea what I was doing. It is super soft and squishy though! I'd wear it. You know, if I needed that sort of thing. :)

Jungle Bird

I don't know why I'm including the above newborn picture. I guess because Lily is suddenly really big and old and Benjamin and I are both just blown away every day by how fast she's changing. And it was February 25 last year that I first found out I was pregnant. I felt like I was pregnant FOREVER but now seeing how big Lily is and how much she's changed just in the last 3 1/2 months is mind boggling. Anyway, here is a very poor quality video of her making her new sound (as featured in the last video, only this one is a much better representation):

The Trouble With Girls

Sorry for the lack of pictures recently. It's awfully hard to keep Lily fed, changed, napped, not drowning in cat hair in a filthy house, and entertained well enough that I get the opportunity to find the camera (assuming it's charged), take a picture of her doing something, remember to post it, yada yada...

Anyway, I was just thinking about how I wish I could knit. I think I knit a small scarf once, when I was maybe 12. My grandmother taught me how. But I never learned how to "cast on" or whatever is needed to actually start a project. And I'm sure I could learn. But then I realized that I'm insane to even think about this. I have a million sewing projects going at any given time, so many of which will probably never be finished. I have an embroidery machine that doesn't get nearly as much use as it deserves. And yet I want to knit? It's crazy! But I see things like this and I go nuts! There are just way too many cute girly things out there. I did order this cute outfit from a nice lady in Montana who gave me a great deal on it:

Also, I meant to wish everyone a happy Fastnacht Day on Tuesday but never got around to it. My mom celebrated by making her awesome potato donuts. We were going to go down to her house to join in the fun but I knew they wouldn't be finished until nearly 11 pm (and with Lily's recent sleeping pattern of waking every 2 hours or so from 9 to 4:30 and then being up for the day!) I just knew we couldn't do it. Zoe sent me some great cell phone pictures though of donuts rising on nearly every surface in mom's kitchen. Maybe next year Lily will get to eat one. And I'll eat five. :)

Naked Lily

Sorry for the graphic content... I just couldn't deprive the world of Lily's adorable nudity any longer. :)

And here she is hanging out in her awesome new wool diaper cover this morning (direct from Amherst! And it arrived with chocolate included for the extravagant mama that purchased it!)
And my more practical and frugal side made these wipes this weekend:
Super cute cotton jersey knit on one side and bamboo velour on the other. Let's pretend we don't notice all the frayed threads on the corners- this was my first serger use. :)

It looks like she's just picking her nose or something, but this is actually Lily sucking her thumb while sucking on her paci. This baby is fierce. :)

New Sound

Lily learned to make a new sound. (It's the screech at the beginning. Around the 14 second mark she goes back to her usual digestive grunts.) Also, sorry for the bad angle, etc. I had to kind of hide the camera because every time she saw me get the camera she stopped making noise and just stared suspiciously at the camera. :)

Whoa, diapers!

While hanging these (out in the cold) I realized that this is less than a day and a half worth of diapers. Crazy!

Happy Birthday Pop, Zoe, and Lisa!

Yesterday we went to Nana's to celebrate the February birthdays in the family. Pop turned 51, Lisa will be 32 tomorrow, and Zoe turned 15 on Friday (wow she's getting old!) Everyone was there (and it's crazy that the family is now almost 20 people). We even got to meet Aunt Lindy's new friend, Mike.

Anna showed off her pictures from her trip to Costa Rica. Check out the awesome matching hats on Zinnia and Lily. I told Dayna I want about 10 more for Lily in different sizes so I can wear one on her every day of her life. :) Lily spent some time in her Bumbo seat, which everyone loved. The toy she's staring at is her favorite. It's one of those carseat attachment toys, an Eric Carle (Hungry Caterpillar) ladybug I picked up at Target one day when she was bored-fussy while I was shopping.

And on a much less festive note, Addy is not doing well at all. She's having a lot of breathing trouble and she's now barely able to even move. Just typing that brought tears to my eyes. :( We're all very, very sad about it. But Anna and Addy have always been peas in a pod, so it's especially hard on her...

Bumbo, Boo-boo, and Blankie

So Lily made out like a bandit this Valentine's Day. We ended up getting her this Bumbo seat (awesomely discounted at Target because the box it was in was very torn), and she looks awesome in it! It's hard to describe her typical behavior, but it's basically just that she's always trying to do more with her body than what she actually can. So putting her in something that helps her sit when she's still small was perfectly hilarious. :)
*Sidenote* The above picture really shows her strawberry hemangioma. I don't think I've mentioned it before, though. Anyway, yes it has grown a bit and is really pretty prominent. I did talk to her doctor about it at her 2 month visit and the doctor confirmed that it's a strawberry hemangioma and that it will "get worse before it gets better" but should be gone by about 18 months of age. Worst case scenario: it doesn't go away and she ends up looking like an old Russian man. Kinda cute and funny, I think. :) Some babies get them near their eyes or mouth and I think if that were the case for Lily I'd be a little sad about it. But I've come to think hers is a little bit cute. It's just sad when people (especially kids) ask what the "boo-boo" is. >:(

Anyway, I also (finally) finished her blankie:

Happy Valentine's Day!

This morning Maya and Megan came over for a few hours. Maya loves to hold Lily but has a pretty intense fear of spit-up. :)

Lily got lots of Valentines in the mail. She got a package from Gogo and Grandpa and cards from Kelly and Grandma Vollmer. She was really quite taken with the box, though.

After opening the box we were amazed at just how much was in it! Thanks so much! :)

Peaceful Friday

What you see here is AWESOME. :) Lily just spent some time laying on the bed, staring at her hands, sucking on her paci, playing with a blanket, and then fell asleep. I know other mothers will think that they can understand how happy and relaxed this makes me, but I doubt it. This is really not an easy baby. She's awesome, but not easy. This is the first time she has ever really fallen asleep without being held. It's kind of freaking me out. Last night she slept from 10 pm to 5:15 am, then went back to sleep until 7. Again, never happens. And I'd like to think it's because she's getting older and just generally better at soothing herself, but I don't think so. Yesterday she barely napped at all (maybe 3 short catnaps), leaving me feeling insane and miserable by the time Benjamin finally got home. Then last night I tried to go grocery shopping around 8 and apparently she started screaming soon after I left and didn't stop until she fell asleep (still wimpering and crying a little in her sleep) a few minutes before I got home. I was only gone 40 minutes! And I had fed her right before I left! Ugh. Anyway, I think in the end it was harder on Benjamin than it was on her. But I've found that the really awful days are usually followed by relatively calm and peaceful nights and/or days, so I am just thankful that today is a peaceful day. :)

Ugh!

We had another puking incident this morning. I'm not sure what's going on. Anyway, other than that everything is going fine and relatively boring. The only excitement is we may be getting a water softener soon. :)

Lily (and Lanie) got a rough start on the morning; this mess, which continued down her pant leg, is from two spit-ups in a row:

Anyway, that's why she didn't post today.

Addendum: Lanie says that it was "puke, not spit-up" and when asked for clarification on the difference explained that it had to do with the force and volume. (Clearly, this episode was both forceful and voluminous.)

I found these pictures on the camera:

Apparently Lily really enjoys Ian and Zoe. :)

Busy Birthday

This afternoon I looked out the window and saw my mom's car parked in the driveway. When I went downstairs Pop and Zoe were hanging out in the kitchen. I found my mom out in the woods pulling vines. We have BEAUTIFUL weather here today (60°!) so I thought it would be the perfect day to hang my new clothesline (for diapers, mostly).

Peanut napped in her carseat while everyone worked in the yard:

Benjamin finally got around to raking some of the leaves that have been sitting since November:

And Zoe and I hung the clothesline. We used the rusty old flagpole and the two telephone poles in the yard. Ha! :)

At some point my mom did this to poor Lily:
Mom got Lily the cutest little pink pearl bracelet. I'll try to post pictures of it later.

Birthday Girl

Lily is 3 months old today! She seems to be taking it pretty seriously. I, however, am not. :)

Nothing Much

We had kind of a lazy day today. The weather was beautiful (50°!), so I thought we'd spend a lot of time outside but we never really got around to it. We went out to Isaac's for lunch and then walked over to Border's for a bit. Then Peanut and I took a nice nap and Benjamin took a picture of Lily being snoogily. :)
(She's been a paci girl for the last week or so.)

Tonight I finished the diaper bag I was working on. I think every time I make something it fails. I don't know whether it just doesn't turn out as well as I had hoped or whether I just screw up the dimensions horribly. Anyway, Benjamin isn't much of a fan of this one:
I think the straps are too wide and the purple pocket just isn't quite right. Ugh.

A Little Bit of Everything

Oh man, sorry again for the lack of updates. This time I kind of know what's kept us busy. Josh has been working on painting our entry/stairway/upstairs hall this week. We're painting it the same "Lotus Flower" light yellow that we have in the living room. Partly because I like the color, and partly because we had about 3 gallons of it leftover in the basement. Also. I have a million little projects started that have kept me away from the computer. I'm making a diaper bag in a really great Alexander Henry print that I hope to finish this weekend. Yesterday at Joann's I picked up a great vintage felt baby booties pattern, so that will be next. Only I'm also working on (finally) making a blankie for Lily. I've made Meg at least 4 blankies, and have been told I should/could make them to sell, but it is so much harder making one for my own baby for some reason. I thought Lily would be a pink and pastel girly, but I'm having some serious doubts about that. So I started a purple, yellow, and green blankie for her that just still didn't seem right. So I think I've finally figured it out and I'll be making her a red, white, and black blankie instead. Yeah, she's funky like that. :)

And now for some pictures...

Here's a pretty good picture of what we wake up to every morning:

Somehow she ended up looking kind of tiny compared to her cradle, which is definitely not the case. My mom said Zoe slept in the cradle until she was 6 months old. I seriously doubt Lily will fit in it that long.

Today is Friday, so we went to market for lunch with Anna. Lily wore the knit hat that Dayna made her before she was born. It fits perfectly now and is just so cute on her. :)
Also, please note the face. She loves her carseat when she's already sleeping, but not so much when she's awake. Taking her for drives is not an option for calming this baby.

And this was her when I sat down to write this:
Since then she's done a good amount of fussing and is now falling asleep in my left arm as I type with my right.

Also- random side-note: my hair is falling out in clumps. Ugh.

Where does the time go???

Sorry, everyone, for my lack of real updates lately. I've been trying to at least post pictures lately, but I think it's clear that most of the recent posts have been kind of hurried. We've been busy but I'm not sure with what. Lily will be 3 months old on Sunday :O and she is growing and changing at such a freakish pace it's just mind boggling. And I have to say that this is definitely my favorite baby age. Lily is just all sweetness and fun (with a few of her trademark tragic episodes thrown in here and there to remind us that she's still just an itty bitty).

She seems to love bathtime more all the time. During her bath today she was kicking and splashing so much that I thought I may have to move bathtime from the kitchen sink to the bathroom (more room to splash without worry of flailing into things). Anyway, I'll try this weekend to get Benjamin to get a video of bathtime so we can post it.

Her new playmat is getting a lot of use. I have a diaper changing station set up on the floor near where the playmat is and she stares at it excitedly while I change her diaper. And we're now cloth diapering full time (finally!) and I love, love, love it. Benjamin thinks I'm nuts, and I guess I probably am. It's really like a hobby for me and I'm not sure whether I should admit that publicly or not. I've bought tons of different diapers to try, and have actually already sold some online (and made a profit). Benjamin tells people I'm becoming a diaper broker. :)

I'll try to post pics of the girly later if I get a chance.

Exhausted Lily

We put Lily in her Jumparoo for the first time today. I think it was more fun for us than it was for her. :)

We had a pretty warm day today, so this afternoon Benjamin took Lily out for a walk in what's left of the snow.
When they got back she was sound asleep. (Benjamin looks hilarious in this picture!)

And she's still sleeping. :)

The Joys of Diapering