Year in Review...

Another year has come and gone...I have no idea where the time has gone. So much in our lives changed in 2008.

Jessi spent the first 8 months of 2008 pregnant with baby #1. She also completed 21 more hours towards her Master's degree (halfway there!) and worked as a preschool teacher until the very beginning of August.



Brandon has continued working at Dick's Sporting Goods. He's in charge of the Lodge department. You should go see him for all your hunting & fishing needs. :)

As of August 2008, we are the proud parents of beautiful Lily Anne. She is amazing, perfect...basically every word you could ever think of describe the best thing that's ever happened to you. We went from being a family of 2 to a family of 3 and honestly, we couldn't be happier.

Lily has grown from a precious newborn into a beautiful infant with an awesome personality & smile. She's rolling from belly to back, sitting up on her own and talking up a storm. She moved from her bassinet in Mommy & Daddy's room to her crib in her nursery and made her first friend in Ellie. She loves people and is so curious about everything around her. Her fingers and toes provide a ridiculous amount of entertainment, and she loves toys that make music and light up. So far, the first 4 months of her life have been busy and filled with lots of new things
8/19/08


12/27/08

It's been an amazing year and we are looking forward to all that 2009 has in store for our family. Jessi has her fingers crossed that it's not quite as eventful as 2008, but still full of fantastically amazing things.

Here's wishing everyone a beautiful new year filled with lots of love and laughter.

This time last year...

Exactly one year ago, Brandon and I found out we were going to have a baby. Not only were we shocked & surprised but we were also a little freaked out. However, it was also the best Christmas gift I have ever received (even though we had to wait 9 months before she arrived!).

This year we have an amazing 4 month old daughter and we are so thankful! She is beautiful and perfect and we couldn't have asked for a better Christmas gift. We are truly blessed.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

A New Mode of Transportation

We bought Lily a Snugli (I suppose this is part of her Christmas present...lol) and decided to try it out last night. She was actually pretty content while she rode along with Brandon and Jessi. Then she decided that it was pretty tasty and proceeded to chew and drool all over it. Guess it's a keeper!

South paw?

Turns out Lily won't grab things with her right hand. She just kind of fumbles with her rattles and toys. But as soon as you hold anything towards her left hand, she grabs it in a death grip. Now, it's obviously too soon to know if she's going to be a lefty or not but for those of you who know of my random obsession with left-handedness, I couldn't be happier...lol.

Sitting up

Lily is growing so fast. She loves to sit up, although actually staying in an upright position isn't so easy. She tends to tip over on her right side after a few seconds. However, she loves to sit up and she's getting better at it everyday.

Kickin' it!

This is Lily's new favorite position to sit in while she's in her bouncy seat. She wiggles her way down so that her bottom is close to the edge of the seat and then lifts her legs in the air. She stares at her feet and bounces her legs up and down....it's so cute! Now that she's big enough, she's learned that if she kicks her legs, the seat will bounce and that's her favorite!

Buddies!

Lily has her first friend! Jen & Jon brought Ellie over on Friday and Lily loved her! Lily couldn't stop smiling at Ellie. Every time Ellie would play near Lily, she would give Ellie such a big grin. It was so sweet.

I can't wait until Lily is big enough to actually play and keep up with Ellie!

Lily & her Lovey

Brandon bought Lily her first lovey! It's a small square of fleece fabric, with silky fabric on the other side, and a bunny head/arms attached to the top. She loves it! It goes everywhere with her...in the car seat, in her boppy, in her exersaucer, on her activity mat. They have serious conversations and major snuggle time. It's adorable!

Yummy!

Apparently when Jessi is in class, Lily decides that's when she doesn't want a bottle. Poor Brandon has to deal with a screaming baby who refuses to eat. Last Wednesday, he counterattacked by feeding Lily her cereal. She made such a mess! But she ate every bit and was content when Jessi got home from her late night class. She's growing so fast!

The holiday season is upon us! Lily had her first Thanksgiving, which was pretty uneventful. Jessi cooked a pretty fabulous Thanksgiving dinner (including 2 homemade pies!). We enjoyed spending the day together and our first Thanksgiving as a family of three. It's hard to believe that this time last year, we weren't even thinking about having children! Now here we are with a beautiful little girl!

In other news, Jessi is practically finished with her 3rd semester of graduate school! Half way there folks! It's a relief that her schedule will be less stressful for the next few weeks.

Brandon is working those crazy holiday hours at Dick's. He's gone every Saturday until Christmas, so feel free to stop by and visit Jess and Lily!

Lily is growing and changing everyday. She has discovered bath bubbles, so bath time is extra fun now. She's trying so hard to sit up on her own, but has yet to roll from back to belly. While trying to sit up in her bouncy seat today, Lily noticed her feet! She spent a brief amount of time just staring at them. It's only a matter of time before she's grabbing for them. For now she's still intrigued by her hands and she loves talking to Mommy, Daddy and her favorite toy Lion. They have some seriously deep conversations!

She goes in for her 4 month shots on Dec. 15. It's so hard to believe that she's going to be 4 months old!

The Sweetest Thing...

I love to hear Lily laugh. It's the sweetest thing. She has this amazing laugh that comes straight from her belly. Sometimes she squeals and sometimes she giggles, but it's always just so happy. How could anyone even think of having a bad day when they get to hear something so sweet and amazing everyday? I'm pretty sure we have the happiest little girl I've ever known...we truly blessed. We are so thankful to have such a perfect and amazing daughter.

So close!

Lily is almost able to roll over from back to belly! Brandon was home with Lily while Jessi was in class tonight and while he was watching Lily play on her activity mat, she attempted to roll from her back to her front. Although she was unsuccessful, she did manage to roll on her side and stay there for close to 15 seconds. Since she's already mastered the belly to back roll, it's only a matter of time before she's rolling from back to belly. She's getting so close!

Simply fascinating...

Lily has officially discovered she has hands. She's spent a majority of her time today moving them around and staring at them. She is fascinated by them...it's absolutely adorable!

In other news, Lily has grown out of her bassinet and is now sleeping in her crib. Which is in her nursery. Last night was Lily's first night in her room and Jessi had a harder time with it than Lily did! She's growing so fast, you almost want to slow time down just a little bit.

New to the whole blogging thing...

This should be interesting. I figured it would be an easy way for family and friends to keep updated with Brandon, Lily and myself. We'll see how it goes!

The latest on Lily-she's rolling over from her belly to her back! Brandon and I are of course proud parents and think she's a genius! It's amazing how quickly she's growing. Soon she'll be all over the place and I'll be chasing her around. She's such a happy girl...hardly every fussy and always ready to greet Mommy and Daddy with one of her beautiful smiles.

The latest on Brandon-he's still working at Dick's Sporting Good, in the Lodge department. The holiday season is soon upon us and with that comes long hours at work. He'll be working every Saturday from Nov. 29th until Christmas and many hours in between. We'll both be happy when the holidays are over!

The latest on Jessi-she's busy with school and staying home with Lily. Classes are starting to pick up and papers are due! She's ready for Christmas break (and to be finished with graduate school) neither of which could be here soon enough. Her days are filled with Lily, watching her grow and change all the time and her nights are full of class and homework.

In other news: This will be the first year that Brandon and I are staying in Bloomington for the holidays. We've decided that we'd like to start our own family traditions (aka, Jessi fixing Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner) instead of traveling down to Springfield with Lily. We have no desire to split time between our two families (which would mean missing out on our own family time together) and would rather stay home and experience the holidays with our own little family for the first time. It should be an interesting holiday season! We're really excited about spending Thanksgiving & Christmas with our daughter and each other!