Growing Gormans

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Week 40, 41, & 42

WEEK 40

On Saturday, the 20th, Dan and I found out that Lily loves shadow puppets! It was so funny. Lily always climbs up onto our pillows to touch the wall behind our bed. On this occasion, the only light shining into the room was from the hall which was the perfect light to cast shadows on the wall behind our bed. I didn't mean to do a shadow puppet, but when I lifted my arm up and it cast a shadow on the wall, Lily started laughing really hard. So then Dan and I started making animals with our shadows. Lily liked it the best when the shadows tried to grab her hands. She's too cute!
On Monday, the 22nd, I brushed Lily's teeth for the first time. I figured since she does have 2 teeth now, it's a good idea to do so. Dan and I bought her a "tooth brush" and toothpaste. THe brush, if you can call it that, is a rubber thing I put on my finger. The bristles kinda tickle so I bet it feels good on Lily's gums. She seemed to like it. I did it while I was giving her a bath after her breakfast. I had Dan do it after her last bottle just before bed. Now it is a routine. Brush after breakfast and again after her last bottle at night.
Lily's baby babble is so fantastic! Dan and I L-O-V-E her mouth when she talks. OMG! It's the best.
We got Lily a sippy cup so she can start practicing using it instead of her bottle. It's a work in progress. She'd rather bite the handles than drink from it.

This week in pictures

All bundled up to meet Daddy at the train station

This week in video

WEEK 41

On Saturday, the 27th, we went to my brother K.C. and his fiance Cici's bridal shower. It was a "Jack & Jill" shower so guys and girls were there. Lily was so good. She actually slept for about an hour in her stroller. Just enough time for the gifts to be opened.
On Sunday, the 28th, we went to Dan's mom's birthday party. I won't say how old just in case she minds, but she sure doesn't come off as being in her #@'s. She belly dances and put on a belly dancing show, with 2 other women, as the entertainment. Lily was fascinated by the tambourines. I have a tambourine but am waiting to take it out for Lily to play with cause it might get annoying real fast if that's what I hear all day. Headache anyone?!
Also on Sunday, the winds were picking up for Hurricane Sandy, the Super Storm.
On Monday, the 29th, we lost power and heat. It was about 1:15pm. Lily's first power outage.
The rest of the week was spent over Dan's parents house and a few day at my parent's house only to come home at night to sleep. Dan's parents never lost power, but their maple tree in the backyard was uprooted onto their garage. My parents lost power Monday night.
On Tuesday, the 30th, Lily discovered the stairs at Dan's parent's house. She climbed them without any difficulty. Thankfully we do not have any stairs at home!
On Wednesday, the 31st, it was Lily's first Halloween. We didn't let the destruction of Hurricane Sandy interfere with us getting dressed up and going to both our parent's houses to Trick or Treat. Lily looked so cute in her costume. She was Cookie Monster.

This week in pictures

Climbed the stairs for the first time on 10/30

Grandpa made Lily a cave

In the dark at home 10/31

This week in video

WEEK 42

On Monday, the 5th, at night, we finally got our power and heat back. 7 days without both of them and a baby was something Dan and I didn't want to have to go through again. It was bad. Lily's schedule was all off because every day we had to leave our apartment and go somewhere else. We were so happy to finally have some normalcy back.
On Tuesday, the 6th, I took Lily to Babies R Us to get a few things for her. Afterward we went to Dan's parent's house to pick up our frozen food we dropped off there the week earlier. Lily was great during all of that travel but when we got home, she was so fussy. I think she just needed a day, or two, or three to not go anywhere. That's what I planned to do the rest of the week but the weather had other plans for us.
On Wednesday, the 7th, we got that nor'easter that blew in with snow. While feeding Lily around 10am, the lights started to flicker. Not again! While Lily was napping (a 4 hour nap BTW) the power went out again. It was about 12:30pm. Because the weather was bad, I decided to stay home with her. It was a cold night. Colder than the week before.
On Thursday, the 8th, when I got up with Lily in the morning, the temperature in our apartment was 60 degrees. I could only imagine what it was in the middle of the night. I decided to bundle Lily up in her snowsuit and take her to my parent's house and stay over there that night if we didn't get our power back. Luckily for us the power came back on around 7pm!

This week in pictures

"I can't put my arms down!"

Friday, October 19, 2012

Week 39 - 9 Months Old

Everything is "Umm." Lily will now look at something and say "Umm" or "Aumm." It's her new favorite word. She says "Mom" only when she's upset. Any other time I'm just "Umm" like everything else.
Lily is now crawling under and through things. Particularly Dan's and my legs (see the video below). She will actually make it a point to crawl under or through something if she sees an opportunity to do so.
Lily has gotten her 2nd tooth! It's right next to her 1st one on the bottom.
Lily turned 9 months old on Sunday, the 14th. I know I say this every month, but our baby girl is growing up so fast.
On Monday, the 15th, Lily had her 9 month checkup at the doctor's. She now weighs 20 pounds, 6 ounces, and is 28 inches tall. Yes, I am replacing "long" for "tall" with her height now. Since she can stand up I figured it was time. Lily dropped from the 97th percentile in weight to 56. She is 54th percentile in height, and 67th percentile in her head circumference.
Lily got her first flu shot Monday during her checkup. She did great. Only cried for a couple of seconds. Afterward, she passed out in the car and didn't even wake up when I took her out of her car seat to go into the stroller.
If I forgot to mention it last week, Lily is now in the regular car seat instead of the infant carrier. Still facing backwards though until she turns one. It was more roomy for her to be in the bigger seat when we went upstate and I decided I wasn't going to put the other one back in the car when we got back since it was a major pain to get it in. The only thing that sucks about having the regular car seat is that if Lily does fall asleep, there is a great chance that she will wake up when I take her out of the car. With the infant carrier, we could just leave her in it until she woke up, and move her anywhere we wanted. Oh well. We knew it wasn't going to last forever.
On Wednesday, the 17th, we started giving Lily snacks that she can pick up and eat herself. Yogurt melts, cheese doodle type looking things, wheel things that smell like maple syrup. Lily likes to eat them and gets extremely excited and happy. We're also starting her on meat, which she isn't too excited about.
On Thursday, the 18th, I brought Lily with me to my Lymphedema doctor's appointment. While waiting, an older woman kept saying that Lily was a boy. I kept correcting her, but she kept making the mistake. Her explanation of calling Lily a boy was - 1: "All baby clothes these days are the same for boys and girls." Lily was wearing a pink and yellow flowered shirt. 2: "Oh, I guess it's because of how short her hair is." Uh, DUH! She's a baby. Babies don't have long flowing hair at 9 months old you idiot!

This Week In Pictures

I absolutely L-O-V-E Lily's sweater!

"Who are those cute boys on the vase?"

"OH! They're my cousins Greg Jr and Garrett!"

Who's on the phone Grandpa?

Choices, Choices. What to play with? (she picked the wooden spoon)

This Week In Videos

This is a long one, but well worth the watch - especially after the 3 minute mark!

The loud noise you hear is the landscapers outside.

My MIL is too funny. Listen to the very last thing she says before I decided to end the video.

I love it when Lily gets excited about something. She breathes really hard in and out through her nose!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Friday, October 12, 2012

Weeks 37 and 38

Week 37

On Saturday, the 29th, we dropped Lily off at my parents house for her first sleepover so Dan and I could have a night to ourselves to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary. Dan and I had a nice dinner at Sakura, a hibachi japanese place on Main Street in Farmingdale. Then we went home and relaxed. We were very tired from Friday night. Lily kept us up ALL night. She just wouldn't stay asleep. So, good for Dan and I that we got to sleep peacefully Saturday night even though I missed Lily terribly. Bad for my parents and sisters who were up all night with Lily.
On Monday, the 1st, Lily said "Mom." I swear she did. I would point to myself and say "Mommy" and Lily would respond with "Mom." Dan heard it so I'm not making it up! It feels good to hear, but it will feel even better when I know for sure that she actually knows I am Mom.
Also on Monday, the 1st, Lily started giving things to us. She reached out her arm to me as she was holding a toy. I took it and she laughed. She did the same thing Monday night with Dan. She reached out her arm to him as she was holding a water teether. She put it to Dan's mouth and laughed when he took it.
Sometime this week (I forgot to write down the exact day) Lily started making raspberry sounds with her mouth.

Week 38

On Saturday, the 6th, Dan, Lily, and I went upstate to Hamburg for a wedding. An 8 hour car ride that took 11. It started out bad as we were stuck in traffic near the G W bridge for about 1-1/2 hours. While stuck in traffic (non moving BTW) Dan got sick and threw up. Luckily we had a plastic bag in the car. Lily was terrific for the ride. We stopped about every 3 hours to feed and change her. She never complained, except when we were about 20 minutes from our hotel. By that point it was almost at the 11 hour mark strapped down in her car seat with little activity all day. Dan and I are so proud of her!
Because Lily had little to no activity for the 11 hour car ride Saturday, she did not want to go to sleep. She was a little delirious by that point and was laughing for no apparent reason. She would stand up in the pack n play to see Dan, then she would move to the other side to see me. She did this about 20 times in a row. Lily did have a first that night: She walked a bit holding onto the edge of the pack n play! She's gonna be walking in no time - Oh No!!
On Sunday, the 7th, since the wedding wasn't until 5pm, we decided to go to Niagara Falls. A 45 minute car ride seemed like a breeze after the 11 hour one we had the day before. It wasn't the best weather upstate. It was cloudy and cold with a light drizzle from time to time. For some God awful reason, we decided to go on the Maid of the Mist boat ride. For those who don't know what that is, it's a boat that takes you into the horseshoe of the waterfall. They should rename the boat to the Maid of the Downpour. Seriously, what a bad parenting mistake by us. Even with those rain bags over us, we still got drenched. Poor Lily. She cried the whole time. All I could do was give dirty looks to Dan while trying my hardest to hold onto Lily and not get swept away by the wind and water. I know it was not Dan's fault and I wasn't mad at him, but I was pissed that I agreed to take the boat ride with Lily. After it was over, I removed Lily's drenched socks and I wrapped her in my arms with a dry fleece wrap I had. Almost immediately, she passed out. All of her crying and being on that boat going through the Falls really exhausted her. She was wiped out!
Sunday night was the wedding in Orchard Park, NY. Dan's cousin Kathleen's son, Keith, got married. This was Lily's first wedding. Her second will be her uncle K.C.'s in 5 months.
Monday, the 8th, we headed home. This time it took us a little more than 9 hours. What a difference from the ride up.
On a side note, why is it that once we got off the Island, there was absolutely no changing stations for babies in any of the places we stopped at. We stopped at a couple of Mc Donald's, an Arby's, and a Wendy's. There wasn't even a changing station in the rest room of Niagara Falls information center. WTF is up with that? You go anywhere here on Long Island and even the men's rooms have changing stations (or so I am told). When I asked a worker at each of these locations we stopped at if they had one (after not seeing it in the rest rooms) They all said no like it wasn't something that they would even think to have. The only place that said they were trying to get one installed but their corporate office keeps saying no was Arby's. I hated changing Lily's diaper right in the middle of the restaurants with people around, but what else was I to do? Now I was "one of those parents."
On Tuesday, the 9th, Dan took Lily to her Tots-On-Track class. Dan had taken off from work was part of his mini-vaca for this wedding trip. Since he was off, I suggested that he take her to class so he could see Lily interact with the other babies her age. I enjoyed the time to myself. I did the laundry - and folded it! And I even scrubbed the tub. All this without any interruptions. It was nice (how sad is that?).