Eight Months Old

Well, I think we can all tell that with the time that has passed between posts, Lily's mom and dad have gotten extremely busy, so we are now having to report Lily's goings-ons in summary. How to describe what has happened in the past month?

Well, developmentally, Lily has started to become much more active. She is constantly curious, wants to see everything going on around her. She has started to show some interest and sense of recognition in certain things around us and on TV (when we put on the 'Backyardigans', she immediately recognizes the theme song and you will notice her start to smile and laugh when she sees those characters. Along with this, Lily grabs for any and every thing. We've begun to sit her at a normal high chair when we are at the grocery store and at restaurants. We have to move everything so it is not within her reach. If she can touch it, it is gone. Eating out is not as easy as it was when she didn't move too much. Of all the things she likes to get her hands on, she seems to like the most remote controls (maybe, it is because she sees us operating those things constantly). But, along with this grabbing for things, we have had to say no to her a bit more, and she definitely knows what that word means---and she does NOT like it one bit. She'll let out a bit of a moan when we do that. Physically, Lily continues to thrive. She still doesn't like being on her tummy--we're trying to be more diligent at putting her there so that she can get on to crawling. But, she has never really rolled over on a regular basis. She likes standing when we hold her up or when she is holding onto furniture, but she doesn't seem like she wants to learn how to crawl. We'll stick with it and see what comes out of it. Eating, Lily has been on solid foods now for about two months. She'll now finish about 2 small cartons of veggies/fruits at the two middle meals of her deal. Still having cereal in the morning, and a bottle of formula after each of those three meals (and just formula before bed). She will eat veggies but definitely likes the fruits better (applesauce, pears, peaches); but you definitely take your life in your own hands if you dare to give her any green veggies (green beans & peas are not high on her list) as she will just clench her jaw and refuse to open up. Because of these solid foods, there has also been a change in the diapers, but no need to elaborate on the details.

Let's see what Lily has been up to this past month:

- Sun, Nov 16: Mom and Dad ran the San Antonio rock & roll half-marathon. Lily stayed with Grandma Patty and Grandpa Bo and cheered them on in the race

- Week of Nov 17: Mom was in Austin most of the week for Junior League show. She came home one night but Dad got a bit of a feeling of what it would be like to be a single dad. (Answer = hard enough and I even had a lot of help from the grandparents)

- Week of Nov 24: I was home the whole week and got to spend some real valuable time with Lily. It reminded me a lot of the time I had off after Lily was first born, but now it is even better since she is so much more interactive. Lily had her first Thanksgiving as well. It was a hard day for her. She did not get a good nap in the morning and the whole day suffered after that. She still was good for the company, but she put on a nice fit for Mom & Dad. But, it still was a fun and memorable day. Lily did get to enjoy the Aggies game (though it wasn't much of a game). She was all dressed up for it, and then they stunk it up.

- Week of Dec 1 & 8: Nothing too terribly exciting as Mom and Dad were both hard at work. Mom & Dad had a date night on December 12 and Lily spent the night with Grammy. We also spent a couple of days during this time getting pictures made for Christmas.

- December 13: Dad left Mom & Lily for a week in Europe. Left on Saturday, arrived in London on Sunday, stayed there until Wednesday morning. Then, onto Paris and stayed there until coming back home on Saturday

- December 20: Dad's 32nd birthday. Lily got to watch us fall off the wagon big-time with our Shipley Donuts explosion. Then, the grandparents, Uncle Roy, and Aunt Rachel were over for dinner that evening.

- Yesterday: Lily was too social and missed her nap before/during church, so she stayed with Mom during the service. She took a good nap thereafter and then got to go out with Mom & Dad for Christmas shopping at the Forum. Then, Mom and Dad stayed up to watch Prince Caspian (new Narnia movie).

- Today: Lily was back to her somewhat regular schedule, spent the day with Grammy as Mom & Dad worked to finish off their pre-Christmas work schedule. Mom had Courtney, Shelley, and Aunt Rachel over tonight, so Lily got to hang out with Dad in the evening.