Happy Birthday Lily

Tea anyone?

Opening presents

She didn't quite know what this was at first but then when she found out it was play-dough and tools she was thrilled!
Chad doing his amazing balloon animals for the kids
Her little tiny pink cakes

Getting excited to blow out her candles
Make a wish

Happy Birthday to my sweet Lily girl! She started off the day with breakfast in our bed and when we sang to her, she followed up by saying "Happy Day! Happy Day" "Santa Presents?" We've been telling her she would get some presents from mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and her friends, but everytime she still says, "santa bring presents!" And after a party at our housw with friends Claire, Cora, Grant, Ethan, Kylee, and Cade, balloon animals, butterfly shaped sandwich, strawberries (her favorite), cake, and presents, we headed over to Chucky Cheese for Ethan's party. Besides FREAKING out when she saw the real Chucky walking around, she had so much fun playing on the rides. The she came home collapsed for a nap and woke up to play with all her fun new toys! And to top it off Unlce Nick came over for pizza while mom and dad went to SLC for a date night. What a great day!

Big Girl/ Bed Situation

So the past few weeks have been interesting in the development of my ever growing toddler. She has gotten out of her crib 4 times in the last few weeks and after some scariness for her and Chad and I we decided to make a change. Now all of you moms can understand my reluctance to give up the crib completely (a-almost total containment b-safety c-she is still your baby). But after reading in a childcare book I have it said most children when they reach 35 inches in height can get out of their crib and therefore need to be moved. After measuring Lily, she is 37 inches tall, whoops! So I thought I have 2 choices one being a crib tent to keep her there and not have to deal with the transition to a bed or to just bite the bullet and start it now because we will need the crib for the new baby. So here is our journey in about 10 days time.
Step 1: Add a pillow to her crib to get used to sleeping one direction, take off bumpers (should have been done a long time ago), lower guardrail to lowest position, raise mattress to highest position, put matress on the floor to ease falls, and lastly threaten her NOT TO GET OUT OF HER CRIB or else she will have a time out.
Step 2: Worrying for her safety, and despite the time out threat you also teach her how to climb out and in her crib safely, although not much teaching was involved as she had already figured out this process but the lower railing, and mattress boost did help.




Step 3: Paint over weird splotchy yellow in the guest bedroom with a nice bright green to begin transformation into Lily's big girl room. (Thanks Chad)
Step 4: Two days later Lily says, "Mom I'm big girl", "I sleep big girl bed". Okay, a little earlier than I wanted (my plan was to get the room all cute and decorated first) but let's follow her lead and do it while she's excited about it. So I thought I would just let her fall asleep in there and then put her in the crib, but she did great the whole night so I thought maybe this will work permanently. This first night was so weird for me though knowing she could wake up and just walk out of her room, so I made sure all doors to other rooms were closed and locked and that the hallway was well lit with a night light and that our door was open so I could hear her.
Lily posing so proud of her "big girl" status, and don't ask about the forks in her hand, and she posed herself!
Step 5: After 7 days of sleeping and napping I think it might be a success and she has only gotten out of bed once (I will keep you posted though as I'm sure more trouble is to follow). And as of today she has started telling me when she's pooping and wants to go on her potty, so who knows what the next few weeks will bring, but I feel like saying slow down and let me have my little girl a bit longer!

Friends

I am so happy to see Lily start to develop friendships and I'm lucky because at this point they are all my friends' kids.

Deersitting

Well, today right before Lily's nap we looked out the kitchen window and what did we see? As Lily called it "A baby roo" (as in kangaroo), close but I tried to explain that it was a baby deer. After Lily went to bed I went outside and it was coming to the front of the house probably trying to run away but the neighborhood kids playing outside scared it, so after a few attempts it settled in the space between our side fence and garden shed. I called animal control because I didn't think it was safe for the deer or neighbor kids to have a deer running about, and they said oh sometimes moms just do that and leave the baby while they go get food for like a day but don't worry they'll come back to get it. What? Anyway after Chad telling me I absolutley couldn't take it some carrots, I guess I will just wait and see and hope that the mama deer didn't get run over or we may have a permanent resident. But hey I don't mind babysitting, when it involves absolutely nothing on my part, so take your time mama deer because the look on Lily's face as she was talking to it was so priceless.

Harmonica

Just in case you ever wondered what a 2 yr. old playing the harmonica sounded like. Chad got this one for Christmas and ever since has had to find it because Lily has taken it as hers and hides it in her secret hiding spots around the house.

Getting Comfy

These positions were just in the first five minutes of watching a show.

Little Tiny Tutu

So this has to be the smallest tutu ever made, just 6 inches long and with a 15 inch waist and extra poofy. I just had to try it on Lily before mailing it off to Holiday, UT.

The Lily Dance

Gingerbread House

What got started on Christmas Eve by Dad and Lily, was finished a few days later (and when I say finished I mean decorated and eaten) by Lily. YUM!

Christmas Jammies

I had to post a picture of our Christmas Jammies, and yes even mom and dad got in on the pajama fun. We wanted to all wear white shirts and match but I couldn't find one I liked so red it is. And I had to show that after owning our camera for about a year now I just finally figured out that it had an automatic button so I could be in the picture too, imagine that!