Lily @ 5 months & Hannah @ 2.5 years! Our Octopus and Biiiiig Tiger

Lily @ 5 Months!

Our sweet Lily @5 months!

My sweet, snuggly, demure baby will be five months old in the morning and while she has been working towards it for a while, all the pieces have rapidly come together in the past week and she has truly shifted to the next phase of baby - a baby who is an ambi roller, who won't be in the same place she was when I put her down to grab my water.  A baby who doesn't just sweetly smile but erupts into a huge, expressive gaping grin that seems to stretch through her entire body as she reached out towards her big sister today in the hall this afternoon as I picked the girls up from daycare/preschool.  A baby who can sit up on her own for increasing periods of time and who loves to stand in the exersaucer, emphatically grabbing anything she sees and frantically trying to shove it in her mouth.  A baby who suddenly wants to reach for so much beyond me as she transforms into what I only semi-lovingly refer to as the octopus phase, which means I better have a lid on anything I ever want to drink and that if her dad and I are going to split a salad, I should expect her to rip things off my plate and dunk her toys in my lemon vinaigrette unless I eat across a great canyon kind of distance, holding a fifteen pound baby with one arm while I crookedly hunch-stretch to my plate in an attempt to gracefully shovel food into my mouth so I can continue to nourish my growing baby.   

*snap* - heyyyyy

she loves being outside!

and still sleeps harder than any of us.  ...Daniel texted me this picture from one morning while they were getting ready, with the caption "who IS this child?!?!"  She was happily playing and had just rolled over to nap while he was making breakfast for himself and Hannah

70% of me is so excited for her and the new adventures this will bring and what this means for her, proud of how far our family has journeyed together, thrilled that she is so healthy and strong and bright eyed.  8% of me has seen this coming all along and has knowledgeably spoken of this period and how once they are 5-6 months old it suddenly seems possible to leave them to work because they have suddenly become more interested in the rest of the world than dependent on their mommy to entertain them.  But 10% of me is devastated - I LOVE babies, omg guys, I LOVE the early baby phase, the mystery of it, the discovery in it, the beautiful simplicity of their needs... they may be demanding needs, but they are simple, and the thought of the snuggles-for-days that comes with it takes my breathe away.  8% of me is devastated and chokes up as I type that this unbelievably sweet early mystical baby phase has passed.  And 4% of me knows that part will still resurface over the next year or so, and I will find it in the quiet moments when my baby wakes in the night and needs me, when she doesn't feel well and wants to be snuggled, when she nuzzles in and naps in my arms, when she slowly wakes up on weekend morning, and that will have to be enough....because I also know all of the beautiful things she is gaining as Lily grows and blossoms.

our blossoming baby!

#dimplesfordays

Hannah and Lily have their own language now.  They speak in tongues.  Literally lol.  They “thuppppp” back and forth and squeal with delight when the other mimics it back.

Through the month, Lily learned to roll both ways more and more smoothly.  She loves blowing bubbles with her tongue and squealing.  She has really started to enjoy tummy time and has air-swims on her tummy.  Her face has really changed - suddenly seems much more that mid year, quintessentially cute and responsive baby.  And just at the end of the month, she was able to sit up on her own.  I knew she was working towards it...and on a Saturday morning she was sitting, back a little too rounded to fully support herself.  The next day, Sunday morning, her back was straight and tall and she was sitting up all on her own!  So amazing!

Hannah makes Lily laugh more than anyone else can.

Hannah expressions has coined some fun expressions/phrases lately -

• "House is making a mess!!!" = earthquake scene in TV
• "Holly kiss chocolate" = Holly licking chocolate ice cream off of Hannah

She's also been OBSESSED with her penguin matryoshka...this is "TINY" (which she will say in an extra high pitched voice for emphasis)

apple picking and climbing trees, a child after my own heart 

At 2.5 years, Hannah is vibrant, spirited, and amazing.  Her flavor of the month obsession is the Jungle Book - she LOVES the movie.  She has been talking more and more and more - she repeats almost every word you tell her and is continually asking “What's that?” “Who's that?” and “What're you doing mommy?”  She talked through the entire Jungle Book film asking us about the animals and what they were doing, repeating their names over and over.   On the way home today "noo nooo Lily kay-ing (crying), lily (should get) mommy milk ok?"  Her favorite character is "biiiiiiiig tiger" and we are pretty positive that is who she will be for Halloween...if the obsession keeps up, we're definitely going for it.

the cutest toddler in Harris Teeter

playing with a nearly walking baby Logan!

There’s a set of colored rounded objects that stack up vertically from largest to smallest.  Hannah can usually put a little of it together, but usually needs help.  Recently, when she asked for help, I showed her that the pieces were numbers 1-10 and would ask her what number comes next and we were able to put the whole tower together with numbers, it was really cool!

The is the most Hannah-esque pose ever and captures a glimpse into her daily spirit and activities

before even 2.5 she can pedal her tricycle independently

Hannah has also been enjoying puzzles.  My sister Alison had gotten her a book with 12 piece puzzles inside.  She needs help, but it holds her attention and we can spend time putting them each together.  At first, I had to do most of it, but would spend time explaining to her the logic behind how I placed each piece.  But frequently, as she fumbled through and did things her own way, I felt like she was never actually listening to my logic (like straight edge pieces go along the sides, two edges is a corner piece, etc).   The night Hannah turned 2.5 years old we did puzzles together (and I was paying special attention to all of her abilities since it was such a special, landmark day).  Not only did she initiate , but she started immediately evaluating all the different things I tell her (“there’s grass!” and then put it at the bottom of the puzzle, etc)  I was a proud humbled mom.  

Apple picking...while Lily tries to eat the leaves LOL

This pretty sums up the daily juggle...holding on with healthy, happy kids...but nearly losing my grip and laughing at myself all.the.time.

This month we also flew to SC for Emily's wedding.  The wedding itself went beautifully and Emily was a gorgeous bride!  But for our little family of four, flying down there and back and surviving the weekend was catastrophic.  ...Like...movie level ridiculous and probably merits a post all of its own or I will never believe it myself.  Let's just say delays, missing planes, traffic jammed runways, stomach bugs, eye infections, sprained wrists, and ZERO sleep...  But for now... here are a few quick highlights of the beautiful weekend -

On the tarmac bus heading to the plane

Meeting Grandma in the airport

snuggling with Uncle Michael

Heading to the rehearsal...ready to roll

Rolling to the rehearsal

Hannah's face says it all...it's been a rough rainy rehearsal evening and her injured wrist has left her less than happy

wedding day prep!  behind the scenes - Dr. Papa is wrapping Hannah's wrist, I'm topping Lily off before I get dressed, and we are all getting ready to roll

Hannah, sweet flower girl!

ZOMG we are FINALLY in the car at Reagan, heading home...

Lily @ 4 Months!

Our sweet Lily Kate spent the month growing from a 3 month old to a 4 month old as she steadily worked on rolling over and mastered this key skill.  Through the month she has started to grab toys more and is more observant and aware of the world around her. She slept well from 2-3 mos, but the exact day she hit three months we dove into an enthusiastic growth spurt and she hasn't slept well since as she was trying to roll over in her sleep or after she had learned to roll over, she would turn over in her sleep and then wake up screaming because she didn't know how to roll back.  *sigh*  To Lily's credit, she learned to roll from back to front first - which is a far more difficult skill than front to back (babies usually throw the weight of their head around).  She very quickly adapted a trick of pulling her knee towards her chest and then twisting her body and boom, tummy time.  She loves tummy time more and more now that she can actively choose it and I think she really likes seeing the world from the "right side up" view she gets when she is on her belly looking out.  

Lily is a little chatterbox who loves to softly coo and babble.  She throws in shrieks for good measure on occasion, but they are usually happy or excited shrieks.  And she frequently opens her mouth as if she is talking.  She smiles when she sees Hannah and gets very excited when we pick Hannah up from her classroom down the hall at daycare.  

Lily also loves it when I hold her up and sing her songs, while helping her dance.  She has the biggest, goofy, open mouth grins.  So much so that I strained a tendon in my thumb doing so and had to completely rework how I was holding her and get a brace for a week!  It has thankfully resolved on it's own, but is the issue affectionately referred to as "mommy thumb" - I was a textbook case of it and have majorly adjusted how I hold and pick up both girls!
  

She has an obsession with ruffles and stuffing them in her mouth.  

The puppies are falling hard for Lily - they continually try to snuggle up to her and are her "watch dogs"

Lily has more and more of a sense of humor - and the number one person who can make her laugh more frequently and harder than any of us is Hannah!  

Hannah is still our force of nature child - it is so much more apparent now that we have a more laid back child as well.  Hannah is still so quick and ready to laugh and her sense of humor is becoming more sophisticated.  She has an infatuation with popsicles this month and with telling you things are "yummy tummy!"  We have all failed in love with the Outshine Fruit & Veggie popsicles that are really delicious and manage to contain pumpkin juice, cauliflower juice, sweet potato juice, etc.  

Each morning when her dad wakes her up, he says "wakey, wake!" and she now repeats that frequently too.  Hannah has been very interested in small puzzles lately, provided she has lots of help from me.  I continually try to verbally explain my logic of why a piece would or wouldn't fit together/where to put it but really wasn't sure if it was making an impact at all, until one day Hannah was like "grass, so this goes on the bottom, and this one has legs," etc.  Her speech is steadily getting clearer and she is stringing more words together than before.  She has frequently been asking "What's that?  Who's that? or What are you doing?"  At bedtime she intently studies my facial features and will continually practice the names of smaller things, like eyelashes, temple, eyebrow, etc.  She still can't pronounce "R's" and it melts my heart when she says "mommy!  Lily "kai-ying" (crying)"  

  

This month also included some fun events as well!  My parents came to visit for a weekend and we spent the weekend hanging out, catching up, and enjoying the pool at their hotel.  We also threw a Sip 'n See to introduce Lily to our friends, really enjoyed the county 4H fair, and managed to squeeze in another relaxing day down at the river.  

One of my favorite former students meeting our sweet Lily at her Sip and See!

Proud Mom of these two sweet girls!

Lily loves other babies!

The sign our friends helped us hang for the party!

Work has been busy for both of us - I'm in "crunch time" interim between summer school and the beginning of the new school year "launch."  Daniel's programs are steadily progressing.  And the whole family is preparing to head down for Emily's wedding in just another week!  

Our sweet family of four @ 4 months!  :)