A Song About Family

Lily is a pretty creative almost 3 year old. She has an imagination that just won't quit. Whether she's climbing a mountain (the mound of laundry currently sitting on the floor in my bedroom), pretending to be a dinosaur, waddling like a penguin, helping Diego & Dora rescue animals while avoiding crocodiles or imagining that she's Rapunzel in 'Tangled', her mind is always active. I absolutely love it.

 Last night I listened to her making up a song. Nothing new for her, but this one was pretty darn cute. She sang a song about her family members.

"Papa, Papa, Papa. Magaw, Magaw, Magaw. Uncle Wes! and my Shanna. Uncle Schuyler and Nana."

Cute, right? There was more, but I lost track after the rhyming.

Good to know she loves her family so much.

2 is NOT my favorite...

Let's just say that Lily Anne has developed a very eccentric personality since she turned 2. And now that she can express her ideas and opinions-look out! She knows exactly how she wants things done and lets you know when you aren't falling in line. 2 is definitely not my favorite, but it is still a fun age.

We're currently working on potty training. This has felt like a never ending battle! BUT, something seems to have clicked in the past two days and we're finally having some big success on the potty...yay!! Yes, there are still accidents & mishaps along the way, but she's learning to be proud of going on the potty and that's a step in the right direction. :)

She has the most amazing manners for a 2 year old. She says please & thank you for nearly everything, bless you when someone sneezes...it's the cutest thing. She cracks me up. In addition to these sweet manners, her favorite thing is telling whoever is bothering her to "hush your mouth". Don't know where that came from, and it shouldn't be funny, but it is. Lily is a trip!

She's still very much a Mommy's girl & requires me to Corduroy at bedtime each night...twice!

Our most recent adventure? We were on our daily walk just a few days ago, and Lily dropped the garage door opener. I didn't think anything of it, until we got home and couldn't open the garage door! So we were stuck outside (thankfully it was gorgeous out!) until Brandon could take a break from work to come home and let us in. Anyway, Lily kept our neighbor company as he worked in the yard for awhile and we were back inside by the time an hour had passed. As a reward for Brandon, I made him my special peanut butter cookies. So all in all it was a fun adventure. But not one we'll be repeating anytime soon!

A lot has happened in a year...

I love to color!



Playing in my sandbox!



Playing my in "waterpark"



Papa Harold showed me how to trace my hand!


Wow, an entire year has passed since I've posted. Kind of crazy. Now let's see...where to begin?!

Brandon-He's still working at Dick's Sporting Good's. He's moved up from Lodge Lead to Receiving Lead in May. Yay! :) With this new position, he no longer works nights and has every Saturday off. It's a nice change to be able to spend more time with each other!

Jessi-I completed my internship ship in May and graduated on May 13th with a Master's Degree in Human Development Counseling (emphasis on School Counseling). Finally! I started back to work at Shining Star in May and have spent the summer working with school age students. Due to lack of available job openings for school counselors in my area, in August I will continue work at Shining Star as a 2's teacher. Yes, that means I will occasionally have Lily as a student in my classroom (since her teacher has director responsibilities when needed up front). It should be interesting! In other news, I'm scheduled to have my gallbladder removed on August 12th. I am very much looking forward to enjoying food without it bothering me.

Lily-She goes to Shining Star with me every day and she absolutely loves "school"! When it's time to go home at the end of the day, she literally runs away from me. It's annoying, but I'm happy she enjoys spending time with her friends. She's growing like a weed and will be 2 (!) on August 19th. I can't get over how fast the past 2 years have gone by. She can count to 10 (with the exception of 8), knows some of her shapes (circle, heart, star & triangle) & loves to sing songs and color. She also talks about her friends at school. Two of those friends were born in August of 2008 as well, which means she'll be moving to the 2's room with kids she knows from her current room. This is always a helpful transition tool! :)

I'm currently in the process of planning her birthday party. We've decided on a 50's malt shop theme. Turns out she adores the music of that era and we just couldn't resist. So not only will be she be a poodle girl for her birthday, but for Halloween as well. I'm looking forward to seeing how cute she is in her little outfit!

It's been awhile...

In my new room...I'm keeping an eye on all the stuffed animals in my closet.


Sleeping with my two favorite things...Brawny and my blankie.




Playing with my super cool Disney Fairies toy box. I love it!



Swinging is my favorite!



There's so much to do in my new home, it wears me out!

Hmmm...time has been flying lately! It's been 3 months since the last time I posted so let's see what all there is to talk about.

First, and probably the biggest, is that we bought our first home! It has 4 bedrooms, a large utility room (complete with a full bath), a downstairs living room, an upstairs living room, a dining room, kitchen, full bath, master bath, a fabulous yard, a great tree where we hung up a swing for Lily...it's pretty great! Brandon and I have been extremely busy working on things but it's really starting to come together.

Lily's actually able to play in her room now, which is a nice change. She was terrified for about the first week and half. I think there was just to much space for her to adjust easily. But she's so excited whenever we come home after being gone for the day...needless to say she loves her new home too!

I've been busy with summer classes (which end next Thursday!) then Brandon and I are getting away for a small handful of days the third week in July. It'll be the first time we've been alone since before Lily was born AND the first time we've ever left her for more than a few hours, so we'll see how it goes. I'm looking forward to getting away, but I'm also already looking forward to coming back home to my baby girl.

My practicum & internship start in August. I'll be helping register students for school beginning the second week in August and my internship will begin full throttle on the 19th (yes, on Lily's 1st birthday! I can't believe it!). Graduation is just around the corner. Oh, in case I forgot to mention it, I'll be graduating with HONORS!! No small feat considering I spent 1/2 of my first year pregnant (all day morning sickness/nausea included!) and started my second year 1 week after giving birth to Lily Anne. I have to say it, I'm so proud of me!!! :)

That's right, Lily Anne will be 1 in August as well. It's going to be a busy month for us around here! It's so hard to believe that she'll be turning 1 so soon. She's such a big girl now. She has 7 teeth, only drinks from a sippy cup & she feeds herself (everything except for yogurt, that is). She is constantly on the move (which is fine now that we have all this space!) and she'll be walking before we know it. She really loves to use her push walker-let me tell you, that kid can move!

Brandon is still working at Dick's, I'm still busy with grad school, but we definitely make time to spend with one another and Lily. We make a pretty awesome threesome, if I do say so myself. :)

We've been super busy, but hopefully with things calming down I'll be able to update more often. I guess we'll see how that goes!

A Big Day...

Lily's first Easter was a lot of fun! She spent a ton of time at Nana and Papa's & Grandma and Grandpa Patrick's. Not only did she wear herself out but she got some great Easter baskets from Nana and Papa, G-ma and G-pa & a super cute bunny from GiGi Susie. She "played" with Leighton (by play I mean roaring at her, crawling up to her and staring her in the face and roaring some more) and had a lot of fun crawling around after Wiggles and Marigold. She also started clapping-which is a new trick!

At Grandma and Grandpa Patrick's, she played on the floor with Aunt Heather, April and everyone else with a bunch of toys and a ridiculously large bear. Before the night was over she was waving to everyone-another new trick! She eventually wore herself down into exhaustion, but it was a great day! Looks like I'm going to have to get her baby book out again and write down her two new tricks! It's hard to keep up with her sometimes!

So many changes...

Here are some new pics of the little ham!


So pretty in my Easter dress.


Making a mess with a biter biscuit.


Standing up in my crib for the very first time!


I'm so darn cute!

Lily is growing so fast! She is crawling all over the place, pulling herself up in her crib (and occasionally around the front room), loves playing with shoes and garbage cans, roaring at everything and entertaining Brandon and I as usual. She throws fits like a champ when she's told 'No' or has something taken away that she shouldn't be playing with.

She loves to watch 'The Backyardigans' and 'Dora the Explorer'. In fact, we're considering buying tickets to see Dora Live! in June.

She's still working on those top 2 teeth. They just aren't coming in as easily as the bottom two did. She's going to turn into a Tylenol junkie if they don't come in soon!

Separation anxiety is our newest challenge. If I leave her sight, she immediately starts crying. It's the worst with Mommy, but she does the same with Brandon. Poor girl is super attached. Hopefully she grows out of it this summer, when she goes to spend time with a few different friends while Mommy is in class. She'll be visiting new friends Emma and Addison for a couple of weeks and old friend Ellie.

Ouchie #1

Lily's on the move now and the time for ouchies has finally arrived. She was sitting on my lap (while we were on the floor) yesterday and decided she absolutely had to have something off to the side of where we were sitting. She reached for the toy, fell out of my lap before I could grab her and proceeded to smack her head into our "entertainment center" (I use the term loosely). So now she has a scrape on her forehead and another one on her nose. Poor girl screamed her head off for a few minutes and I felt awful! She bounced back quickly and it doesn't appear to be bothering her, so that's good.

Looks like we should start investing in kiddie bandaids soon, though!