17 months old

Today Lilly is 17 months old. It was 2 years ago this month that we started sharing the news that we were expecting. Back then my days were consumed with eating the right things, researching cribs, carseats, strollers and all those other big purchases, sitting in the nursery admiring every detail of the room and even continuing to personal train and teach classes. Now, 2 years later my life is so very different. Instead of trying to eat the right things I'm often trying to remember the last time I ate. Instead of admiring the nursery I'm crawling around picking up books and toys off the floor. Instead of teaching and encouraging others to exercise I'm having to work really hard to fit it in myself. I honestly had no idea that my life was going to change so much and that there would be days that I would question whether or not I was cut out for the job but I am so grateful that God gave me the opportunity to become a mom and even though I often wonder why he chose me to take care of his most precious gift, I sure am glad He did.

This afternoon we decided to go for a picnic and bike ride.

Lilly enjoyed sharing her food with daddy.

A quick picture before hitting the trail.

Ready to go!

Do I really have to wear this?

At first Lilly didn't like having the helmet on but about half way through we finally got it adjusted properly and she was able to enjoy the ride.

Sitting back here sure was a lot of work!

A little this..a little that

A beautiful Sunday morning

Lilly is getting more and more mobile each day. She can't quite get from a sitting position to a standing position so she has to crawl over to something to pull herself up. She is much more adventurous now and often tries to take off walking before she has even turned her self around. That typically ends in a disaster but at least she's learning and trying to figure it all out. Lilly still tends to crawl a lot as she's finding that it is definitely her quickest mode of travel. Daddy is off from work today so we have enjoyed getting to spend some extra quality family time.

A while back Lilly invented this fun game of biting down (and not letting go) of her spoon while eating. Of course it can make feeding her quite a challenge. So, I have come up with a new strategy. Not only does she think it's fun but we can complete the process in 1/4 of the time.

Ready for takeoff

Thanks to my good friend Mikaela, I was able to catch a clip of Lilly walking down the hallway.

Officially walking

At 16 1/2 months Lilly is officially walking. She spent the weekend with my parents and came back in full walking mode. How does that happen in such a short period of time? She was walking 6-8 steps at a time on Friday and by Sunday she was walking 20+ steps with ease. She still tends to get over confident or really excited and often falls down when that happens but otherwise she can now pull herself up to the table or couch and will then take off walking. Of course we cheer for her hysterically at each attempt and the smile on her face is priceless. It seems like we have waited so long to get to this point and I can only imagine that there will be days ahead that we will wonder why we ever wanted her to start walking.
On another note, Lilly learned 4 new words over the weekend: yes, papa, zombie and oh-no. That makes for a total of 44 words in her vocabulary. Personally, I'm just glad she can finally say "yes" since it seems like she has been saying "no" to everything over the last several months.

If at first you don't succeed...try, try again!

Lilly has recently started taking a few steps. She won't let go of my hand when she's walking but on occasion she will walk back and forth between Mike and I. She is still pretty wobbly and has a habit of lunging or falling forward so we catch her vs. actually trying to take steps and walk. It's been a long time a coming but I'm thinking that mobility in the upright position might be around the corner.

Half-way through this video Lilly discovered the camera. She kept saying "cheese" and trying to crawl towards it. Needless to say, she has had her picture/video taken a time or two.

Where did my baby go?

It's amazing the difference a year makes...

July 1, 2008

July 7, 2009

Our sweet baby

Pearly Whites

Now that Lilly has a mouth full of teeth (12 total including 4 molars) I decided it was probably time to start brushing her teeth. Here was our first attempt.