Aunt Rachel's Birthday

Today was Aunt Rachel's birthday celebration (her actual 30th birthday is on Monday but she will be on her way to New York). We got to start our day by going over to Grammy & Pepar's house for breakfast. There were some high-quality pictures of Aunt Fancy on the door and then we had breakfast tacos together. Then, we opened presents and got to see a fashion show. Mom and Rachel had to head up to Journey Fellowship to help and put the final touches on the design for the new worship area. I spent the afternoon with Grammy while Dad did some work around the house. Then, we came back home and Dad and I took a nap together (he on the couch, me in my swing) before heading off to dinner at El Chapparal (dressed in the title that Mom once won: homecoming queen). I pretty much slept through dinner and then now we are home and about to go to bed.

This week has been quite exciting. Monday, I got to show off for dad and let him see how good I am. I was a bit fussy throughout the day but I generally was able to lay down and take a nap for at least a little while when I was supposed to. Dad and I started reading through the book of Exodus and hearing about the story of Moses. He also made me watch his favorite movie of all time, Empire Strikes Back. I saw Yoda in action for the first time and also got to see some really good space romance dialogue (or not, being a George Lucas film). Here is the link to me watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0opGyJMsqM Mom had to go to Weight Watchers on Monday night, and Dad and I took her over there, and then he took me down to see Brockman grandparents and I spent the evening with them while Mom & Dad went to see Wall-E; they got to see a bunch of cartoon previews for movies I might one day own on video.

Tuesday, Dad was off work yet again, and we went up to New Braunfels to see Susan and Karen and Mom got a haircut; Dad was there to show me off and take care of me while Mom was busy; they sure did love having me up there. When I was about 4 weeks old, Mom had a haircut and she didn't want to have to worry about me up there, so she let me stay with Grammy and when she got up there, boy, did she get in trouble for not brining me alone. So, she won't make that mistake again, and it was good that Dad was there to watch me. We spent some time at the Outlet Mall in San Marcos after that, and then we came home. The last few days, I have got to see some rain for really the first time in my life. It rained for about 30 minutes a day for about a week, and while that does not seem like much, it does intrigue me as I have not known rain before with the weather here being so dry lately.

Dad was back to work on Wednesday, and I went with Mom to Spectrum and played (or slept) in the nursery while she ran. We did some errands to get ready for Aunt Rachel's and Grandma Patty's birthdays next week. We headed over to Community Group and then I came home thereafter. Thursday, Grandma Patty came over for most of the day while Mom and Grammy went shopping for Aunt Rachel; Grammy stayed over late in the afternoon so Mom could do some things on her own (Dad had to stay at work late). Friday, I was a bit fussy and did not want to settle down and take a good nap. But, I was good later in the day as Mom had a shower for Sylvia and her soon-to-be-born baby boy, and Dad didn't have to see my fussy. He dressed me in the below pink & brown attire for bed, telling me that this color scheme is what Mom and him had at their wedding.

(Note from Dad): A couple of other things from Lily's week. First, she started to suck her thumb this week (see below). Not sure what that means, besides the potential for future orthodontic bills. But, we normally lay her with her head to the right in her bed, so we found her a few times like this when she awoke--sucking that left thumb. Once we put her to the left in bed, and we awoke her with the right thumb in her mouth. Thought this thumb-sucking might tell us if we had a right-handed little girl or a southpaw (aka. left-handed), but I guess not.

Second, although we can't hold this against her, Lily did start to develop some particularities when it came to feeding this week. We had read somewhere that it is a good practice not to warm the bottle when you give it to a baby because they get used to it being that way and then you have to always do it that way for them. So, we have never really done it (we even had a bottle warmer that has been used just 2-3 times). Lily had never complained and seemed ok with cold bottles, so we were all happy. Well, lately she has been rejecting or struggling with drinking a cold bottle. A feeding that would normally be 10-15 minutes has been 20-30 minutes if the bottle is too cold. So, we have had to take it out and let it warm up a bit before giving it to her. I can't blame her for now wanting it too cold, but we were all proud of ourselves for the way we had trained her to not be too particular; I guess she really is going to decide for herself how she wants certain things: just like we would expect of a princess.

Here is another video to enjoy, this one of Lily waking up from her nap and showing some signs of hunger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEsDao5WC-E