It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The decorations have been up since the day after Thanksgiving and now EVERYTHING that needs to be wrapped is wrapped and under the tree! We are really looking foward to Lilly's first Christmas this year. She loves balls and keeps walking up to the tree saying ball and reaching for ones hanging on the tree. She also finds the tissue paper in the bags and the bows very interesting, but she knows that she isn't supposed to touch them. It really hasn't been too bad keeping her out of things, but she may be hesitant to open her presents since I have been telling her "no" when she messes with them. Her Grandma and Grandpa will be in town Wednesday through Christmas. It will be nice for her to get to see them again. They probably won't believe how much she has changed since they last saw her. It seems like she changes every day. She literally runs around the house now and has pretty good balance now. She loves trying to take things apart and put them back together. I finally got her to stack the rings instead of just pulling them off tonight. She loves just about any food we let her try. When I am making food for her she will say mmmm mmmm if she is hungry. She also loves animal crackers. My Mom always keeps some at her house and Lilly will walk over to the counter, reach up and say "ki-kie" wanting someone to get her one. (My Mom calls them cookies.) She says even more words now. Her favorites are ball, mama, and duck-duck
Some new words are:
cup
shoe
apple
bottle
dog
bird
duck-duck
bow
poo-poo (when she goes potty on the potty)
cookie (pronounced more like I wrote above)
Thank you (not perfect but pretty good)
baby
hey (while holding a phone to her ear)
eye (while pointing to someone's or baby doll's eye)
nose (while pointing to nose)
no (especially when she is done eating and she shakes her head)
I may be missing one, but it's hard to keep up.

She loves to talk! Her Sunday School teachers talk about how much she talks to them. Maybe she is getting that a little from the Godwin side of the family. Sometimes instead of no I tell her "ah-ah" because that is what my Mom and Grandmama did when I was growing up. The other day I was trying to take something away from her that she shouldn't play with and she told me "ah-ah" while shaking her head no. She also tells the dogs that sometimes when they bark because she is used the me scolding them when they bark. She doesn't miss anything and always tries to copy us so we have to make sure we set a good example.

I also have everything except the balloons for her 1st Birthday party. It is going to be very small and mostly just family. I did go with the Minnie Mouse theme and I found some cute first birthday Minnie Mouse supplies. I am going to make her a cake. I will of course post some pictures after her party January 1st, but for now here are what the decorations look like:


It comes with matching plates, napkins, and cups. The invitations also match:


Well, I guess that's all for now. I will post some Christmas pictures later. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!
"...Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'" Luke 2:11-14
What a wonderful Christmas gift to the World and he wasn't born in a nice home, but in a barn and his only bed was a manger. This helps to remind me that sometimes the best gifts aren't the nice ones wrapped up in fancy paper, but the ones that come from the heart. Today, we get caught up in material things when there are much more important things in life. I think spending time with my family and just sitting back to enjoy the spirit of Christmas is one of the best gifts of the season. As a child you are most interested in the presents under the tree, but as I have gotten older I would much rather just spend the time with the people I love. This year I am going to make myself forget about trying to make everything perfect and focus on the things that really matter and enjoy this next week.

Thunder Road Marathon-Charlotte, NC

This past Friday I rode up to Charlotte and stayed with my sister for the night for the Thunder Road Marathon Saturday morning. Since my knee has been bothering me I was just planning on running the half marathon until Friday morning. I knew I would be disappointed in myself if I didn't do the full. I made the decision to just go for the full. I figured that worst case I couldn't do it and I would just turn off with the halfers. Brendan had Lilly for the night by himself for the first time. I think he was a little nervous, but she went to bed for him no problem and he just put her in the bed with him when she woke up around 3am.

I rode to Charlotte with my brother and his wife. We went to the expo first to pick up our packets and buy some gels for the race. It wasn't a very big expo, but they had what we needed. Then, we met my sister and my brother's friend a Olive Garden for dinner to load up on carbs. We woke early Saturday to get ready for the race. Brendan drove up that morning with Lilly to watch the race. I was so excited that they were coming because Brendan wasn't able to come to my first marathon because of an exam the same day. It was pretty cold out, but it was good weather for the race. My brother was nice and slowed down to run with me and his friend who was also battling a knee problem. The course was beautiful and it was nice to see so many supporters out cheering us on. It was hilly though. My knee wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bothering me too bad until around mile 11 after a down hill. I could tell that something wasn't exacty right with my knee, but I tried to ignore it to see if it would just work itself out. Running up the next hill the pain dulled some and I felt confident that I could do the full. From there I was doing well until after mile 20 when my right IT band and my left calf were getting really tight. My calves never bother me, but I guess it was the way I was running because of my knee. I had to stretch out a couple of times through the finish. I was disappointed because when I ran Kiawah I didn't stop at all. Not even when drinking water. I was going really slow though because I also got an injury about a month before that marathon due to wrong shoes. My brother and I finished together in 4 hours 36 minutes. It was the worst run of my life, but I finished. The medal was a good incentive to get to the finish line. I guess I will wait until Lilly is a little older before trying to train for my 3rd marathon. That way I will have more time to train and hopefully won't get injured. Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Around the halfway point:

Lilly all bundled up:

Coming in at the finish!

Checking our watches (not planned!):

With our medals:

Give Thanks!

I know this is a little late, but better late than never...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went to Cheraw, SC Wednesday night to see family. We have been going ever since I can remember and probably before! This was Lilly's first year. It is always nice to get together and to get to see distant cousins. Not as many are able to make it anymore as our families grow, but we still look forward to it every year. We had wonderful BBQ as we do every year. Then, Thursday we went to my parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner with my Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and sister. My Mom cheated and cooked her Turkey 2 days early and fed some to Lilly then. So she got it a little early, but she loved it. On Thanksgiving she had more turkey and sweet potatoes. She liked the turkey the best because she could feed it to herself.
Brendan was off Friday so we took Lilly to the zoo for a little while to see the penguins especially. They are her favorite. Then we came home and Brendan helped me get the Christmas decorations out the attic and I went to work. I think it took me about 10 times longer than usual to get everything done because Lilly was "helping". All the decorations are up and now I just have to find some time to wrap presents.
Lilly walks most all of the time now and has gotten quite fast. She loves baby dolls and will hold the baby close and pat her back when you tell her to love the baby. She can also find the babies eye and say it. She tries to say dog and said apple the other day after hearing me say it a few times while feeding her apples, but I think she was just copying me because she hasn't said it anymore. She also tries to say shoe when I tell her I am putting her shoes on. She is such a sweet little girl and loves to pat everyone. Today we were in the almost deserted mall by our house so Lilly could see the singing and dancing bears near the Santa Claus display. There was a little girl older than Lilly that goes to our church watching also. Lilly walked over to her and patted her back. Then the little girl pushed Lilly. My poor baby! She didn't know what to think. She couldn't understand why the little girl did that. The mom apologized and explained that she has older siblings that she has to defend herself from. Then, at My Gym a little boy Lilly was playing with hit her. She was okay and just looked at him confused. I hope she doesn't pick up those kind of things. At least not yet anyways.
Sorry this is so long... Last few things... It doesn't look like I will be running my full marathon December 11th. I will have to do the half instead due to IT band issues. I was so frustrated! I have never had any problems with my knees and I have been running for almost 14 years. I was running with Lilly the weekend before Thanksgiving and about 3.5 miles into a 10 mile run my knee started to bother me. I finished 5 miles and could barely walk the rest of the day. It has gotten better, but still bothers me some. I feel like I wasted so much time training. Oh well, maybe one day when Lilly is a little older I will train for another full marathon.
Here are some pictures:
Lilly helping me do laundry:

Lilly with her Great Mama and Great Papa:

Lilly checking out the birds at the zoo:

Lilly training to be a Starbucks Barista:

Enjoying some turkey on Thanksgiving:

Sweet Lilly:

Potty Time!

First, I want to make it clear that I am NOT trying to potty train her now, but I saw on the show "The Doctors" that one Mom was putting her baby about Lilly's age on the potty when she knew she was about to go to the bathroom and she would go. I thought that may not be a bad idea because she would start learning and it would be less to clean up. So I tried it and she does pretty well. She seems to know what I mean when I tell her to "go potty". She has done it several times over the past few days. Sometimes she just tinkles, but that is good, too! After she goes she seems so proud of herself and I do praise her, but when she doesn't go on the potty it's not a big deal and she doesn't get scolded or anything. I do have to pay close attention to her to know when she is about to go, though. She is also walking EVERYWHERE now. She knows what no means, but usually continues with her whatever she is doing anyways. Most of the time now she will say "aah-aah" and shake her head no when she is doing something she knows she isn't supposed to do. The noise is because that is what my Mom and Grandmama told me and my sister instead of no-no. I guess I picked it up and use it most of the time myself.
She has been getting up at night some and waking up about 4:30am and won't go back to sleep until I put her in the bed with us and nurse her. Last night Brendan had to go into work to help out. So, when she woke up last night in the middle of the night I let her cry it out. It took her almost an hour, but then selpt until almost 7am! At least 10 hours! Hopefully she won't wake up for long tonight, if at all. Tonight, when I put her down she said nigh-nigh (night-night)and then started talking to herself (in her own made up language). She is constantly talking now, even though we can't understand most of what she says.
Some words she does know/say are:
cat
book
night night
mama
dada
ball
mine?
bye bye
uh-oh
puff (gerber puffs)

She also knows what the cow, cat, and sheep say when we ask her and knows where her nose is along with other people's and even the dogs' noses. I have tried to teach her ear, eye, and mouth, but she doesn't seem too interested in them yet. She tries to imitate things we do and say and expects us to imitate her back. I see what they mean when they say a baby is like a sponge. She picks up on so much more that I realized. I will add pictures once I upload them to the computer.

Just Dance!

Lilly now loves to dance! When she hears music from a commercial or TV show she starts bouncing up and down. Her favorite is the "Hot Dog Dance" on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She also likes the opening song. Her favorite place to dance is right in front of the TV armoire holding on for better balance. She is getting more confident with walking every day, but once she loses her balance she is content to crawl. She is a VERY quick crawler! She also thinks that it is funny when someone sneezes (or fake sneezes). She giggles and then pretends to sneeze herself. She loves to copy things we do. She is interested in everything that we eat now and would much rather eat that than any of her food. I share with her the things she can have, but when I'm eating something she can't have she looks at me so sad and sometimes starts smacking her lips just to make sure I understand that she wants me to share. I usually give her a couple of Cheerios to snack on and she is content. She also likes to share here cheerios with everyone, including the dogs. Even if you don't want to eat one she keeps trying to push it into your mouth until you eat it. We call her the cheerio monster because she loves them so much. She could probably eat them all day long and not get tired of them. It's hard to believe that this time last year she was still in my tummy and now she is walking, talking (well, some words), and has a mind of her own. She is absolutly amazing and we love her so much!

Brendan and I have been getting some things done around the house to make it more desirable to a potential buyer. We got the exterior powerwashed, replaced a cracked storm window, and adjusted a storm door that was hard to shut. So hopefully it will be ready to go when the right buyer comes along. Our lot in the new neighborhood has been cleared and we have finalized our selections. I am really excited about moving to a more family oriented neighborhood and as long as everything goes well we should be there just in time for late spring to enjoy to neighborhood pool!

I have also been trying to figure out what we will get Lilly for Christmas and her Birthday since they are only 3 days apart. I have picked up a few little things, but I don't really know what bigger items to get her that she will use the most. I hate to have stuff taking up space that she really won't use. I like the concept of the 3 in 1 smart trike so she can use it for a while. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Trick or Treat!

We finally got our pumpking carved this past week and Lilly helped. She mainly just played with the pumpkin guts. She was too cute! This past Saturday we took Lilly trick or treating with her cousin Cason. Cason was so sweet and really looked out for Lilly. Lilly was a pink butterfly and Cason was a Carolina Football player. What a good day for it since we beat Tennesee earlier that day! She really enjoyed watching Cason and his friends. She also kept digging in her Halloween bucket and pulling out her candy (even though she can't have any). Then, Sunday we took Lilly to the Fall festival at the church. She got to participate in a few activities and she got to sit on top of a big horse with Mommy. Of course I left the camera in the car and didn't get a picture of it.

Last night Lilly really started walking more. She is now up to about 8 steps and doesn't hesitate to walk as long a her destination isn't too far away. Her top 2 teeth have finally popped through, too. My parents went on a cruise last Saturday and will be back Thursday. My Mom will really be suprised at her progress. We are also planning to go to the beach this weekend and meet up with some of Brendan's friends from work down there. It should be fun, but I do have to make myself run at least 18 miles one day while we are down there. I have really had a hard time fitting in my marathon training. It gets really boring running by yourself for hours at a time. I am hoping that my Mom will want to watch Lilly while I run and maybe Brendan can join me on a bike. Even if it's just for part of the run so it won't be so boring. I WILL RUN THE WHOLE MARATHON December 11th. I just know not to sign up for another one unless I have someone to train with and until Lilly is a little older so I don't feel guilty for being away from her for so long on the weekends. I am really looking foward to November and Lilly's first Thanksgiving!

Two Steps

Lilly took her first 2 steps tonight! I was sitting on the couch and she was standin in front of me. Our cat jumped up on the ottoman and Lilly wanted to get to her so she took 2 steps all by herself and then grabbed on to the ottman. I think she was very proud of herself. I am giving her a week before she will be walking more regularly. Usually once she figures something out it doesn't take her long to get her confidence up.

Speaking of getting on the move... We are moving! (Well, hopefully... soon!) Our house was put on the market this week. Our House We found a neighborhood that we really like that should be a good neighborhood for Lilly to grow up in. So we picked a lot and floorplan that we liked this week. The will start building while our house is on the market. The house should be ready sometime around March or April 2011. Hopefully our house will be sold by then, because if not they can sell the house to someone else and refund our money. We went this morning to pick colors, upgrades, ect... I hope this will be a smooth process and we will be in our new home next Spring! The neighborhood is The Preserve at Rolling Creek and we are going with the Chapin Elevation C floorplan. I am really looking foward to the extra closet space and I know Lilly will enjoy having a walk in closet for herself when she is older. I will try to update more often. We have just been so busy getting our house ready to sell.

Boo at the Zoo

Last Friday night we took Lilly to Riverbanks Zoo for their Boo at the Zoo. She was a pink butterfly. She liked seeing all of the other children and getting attention from the adults. They had a cute "corn maze" made out of dividers with cute decorations. I think next year she will really have fun.

I also forgot to mention a few new things for her in my last post. She holds just about anything to her ear, especially a phone, and pretends that she is talking on the phone. Everytime she hears a cell phone ringing she crawls to it and if given the chance she will pick it up. I guess she really pays attention to absolutely everything. Also, whenever I tell her "night-night" she will repeat "nigh-nigh" and lay down on the floor. Too bad she pops right back up and won't do this in her crib, but it is very cute! She will usually only do it when she is tired. Here are some pictures from Boo at the Zoo:

Fall Festivities

Saturday I took Lilly to the Oktoberfest in Newberry where my Grandparents live. She got to pet the bunnies and see a pig and a few other animals. She also got to dance to the polka music they were playing. My cousin was there with his little boy. So Lilly got to see her cousin Max who is almost 4. We took Lilly to Harmon's farm Monday for a hayride. She really enjoyed herself and loved picking up pieces of hay and playing with the pumpkins. They also had a petting zoo and she got to see the animals. Friday one of my best friends from college came into town for the USC vs. Alabama game. It was so good to see her and she got to meet Lilly. I hope I will get to spend some time with her again soon. Yesterday, Lilly went to a 1 year birthday party for my friend April's little boy Nicholas. It was a sock monkey theme and she had everything decorated so cute. Lilly had a good time seeing everyone and watching Nicholas open his presents. She was worn out by the end. Next, we went to Lilly's cousin, Cason's house to watch the Carolina game. We enjoyed some good Barbeque and watched the gamecocks defeat the #1 Alabama! GO GAMECOCKS! This morning Lilly started her new Sunday School class since she was moved up. She did very well and didn't cry! We will probably be taking it easy the rest of the day after a very busy week. Here are some pictures from Harmon's...

9 Month Appointment

Lilly had her 9 month appointment September 30th. She weighed in at 18lbs., 2 ozs. (43%) and was 28.5 in. (84%), and her head was 44 cm (57%). She got one shot and a toe prick to check her hemoglobin. She didn't mind the toe prick at all and didn't cry too bad with the shot. Her iron levels were on the lower end of the normal range so her Dr. recommended a multivitamin with iron. That didn't suprise me because she still won't eat a lot of solids to get her iron. She does well to eat a half jar of baby food mixed with some rice cereal or baby oatmeal. Her Dr. was impressed with how well she is doing especially with her words. She knows cat, ball, puff (for her Gerber Puffs that she loves to eat), book, and bye-bye (usually while waving). She says Mama and Dada, but doesn't say it to call us. Since she already knows the 3 words they like by 1 year, she is supposed to work on 6 words by 1 year and walking. She does well standing alone now for about a minute before she slowly squats back down. She also walks all around the play pen and furniture while holding on with 1 or 2 hands. So I will probably be chasing her around even more very soon. She was cleared to start eating a lot more foods except for eggs, shellfish, peanuts, and round things she could easily choke on. I made shrimp and grits for dinner the night after her appointment so I let her try some plain grits. She wasn't too sure about the texture, but prefered to pick them up with her fingers to feed them to herself. She mostly just made a big mess for me to clean up, but I think she had fun. Poor thing didn't even get any cheese in her grits though so maybe she will like them better then.

Lilly feeding herself Bananas:


Lilly destroying her room:


Lilly trying grits for the first time:

9 Months!

Lilly turned 9 months old yesterday! She has been out as long as she was in my tummy. I can't believe how big she is getting! She is good at standing by herself now and she continues to stand and keep her balance after she starts wobbling a little bit. I guess we will have a walker before we know it. Crying it out has definatly been worth it so far. She is sleeping much better at night. She usually cries for a couple of minutes when I put her down, but then is out for the night! Thank goodness! I was getting desperate for some sleep! Nap time she isn't doing quite as well. I have been trying to make sure that she doesn't nurse herself to sleep so we don't have a problem at night. She cries longer before her naps and sometimes I feel guilty and will get her to play a little longer. She actuall just woke up from a short nap a few minutes ago and is now asleep in my arms. Oh well... sometimes it is just nice to hold her. She is too busy when she is awake.

We are enjoying the cooler weather, but not the rain as much. It would be nicer to go on walks and runs now that it is cooler, but not in the rain. It is also a good thing because Lilly will soon be out growing her 6-9 month clothes and most of her 9-12 month clothes are for cooler weather. I am usually a summer girl, but I am ready for the fall now. I am looking foward to all the first holidays for Lilly. We have a cute pink butterfly Halloween costume for her. There really aren't a lot of great choices out there for babies, but at least next year there are a lot more possiblities! She has plenty of little Christmas outfits, but she still needs a good Thanksgiving one. We have started thinking a little about her Birthday and since it is so close to Christmas I think we are going to have her little party on her actual Birthday, December 28th. Right now the plan is to keep it small with some family and maybe a few friends. She really likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so we may go with a Minnie Mouse theme. I will update after her 9 month check up tomorrow. Wish her luck!

CIO night #1

So this past week I finally got Brendan all the way on board for crying it out. It was starting to get out of control. I was getting up more with her now than when she was 6 weeks old! Usually the fourth time I got up I just put her in the bed with us because I needed some sleep, too. Brendan wanted to wait until last night so he wouldn't have to work the next day. We knew she was going to be very stubborn with this as she is with everything. Once she is determined to she doesn't give up. We decided an hour was the max time we would let her cry (We knew she wouldn't be the 10-20 min. cryer, unfortunately). When I put her down she was almost asleep, but I didn't want her completely asleep because that would defeat the purpose. The second she realized I was putting her in the crib she started waking up more and of course crying. She cried for 1 hour and 1 minute. We didn't go in and check on her because when we attempted to try it in the past I realized that it was only making it worse and when we left again it was like starting over. So we would just go to her door and listen. After she was good and asleep I went in to check on her and make sure everything was okay. She woke up once in the middle of the night, but only whined a little for maybe 5 minutes. She woke up this morning at 5:45 and was ready for the day. A little early for me, but much better than getting up with her all night. Hopefully tonight she won't cry so long.

This morning Brendan had plans to play golf, so I took Lilly to the Irmo Okra Strut! She liked watching the girls dance in the parade. Then we walked around for a little while until she had fallen asleep. It was already 90 degrees out so we left then. Maybe we will go to the Vista this afternoon for the Viva la vista event. There is so much to do this weekend In Columbia! The mud run is also today. I did it the year before I got pregnant with Lilly. It was a lot of fun and very messy, but I hope to do it again one day! I hope everyone else is having a great weekend, too!

Time to Move!

Wednesday evening Brendan and I were about to start our walk with Lilly when our next door neighbor told us that he was waiting on the police to arrive because their house had been broken into while they were at work. I was gone from about 9:30-1:30 that day running errands and taking Lilly to My Gym so I apparently wasn't home when it happened. After the police finished at their house they came over to our house to make sure we didn't see anything and to tell us how to prevent becoming a target. He also told us that there have been 30 break ins in the surrounding area in the past week and a half! We were completely shocked! That was the first we had heard about it. You would think it would have made the news at least. We are researching our options for home security. We have already talked about moving within the next year, so maybe we will make that move sooner rather than later. I know break-ins happen everywhere, but the large number shocked us. The police also said that they "almost caught them" the day before our neighbors break in. I don't understand how someone can do something like that over and over. One of the main targets are flat screen TVs and fortunatly we decided not to get one until we move since our old TV works fine. Hopefully they will catch them soon and it will at least give me a little peace of mind.

Last night we went to the 75th anniversary celebration for Forest Acres. We had a nice time and Lilly really enjoyed herself. She waved to everyone and was so excited the whole night. Lilly is also getting better at standing by herself, but she still can't do it very long. She does great drinking water out of a sippy cup by herself and she can cruise around everywhere. Instead of only crawling around one room she will go wherever she pleases so I really have to keep an eye on her. We go for her 9 month check up next Thursday so I am curious to see how she is doing.

Zoo Trip!

Yesterday I took Lilly to the zoo and we met my Mom there. Lilly loves going to the zoo now. She watches all the animals so closely. Her favorites are the brown bear, anything like a "Kitty Cat" (so she can say "Ca" for the next hour or so), the birds and fish. She also loved the metal statues of the animals, so we took her picture with most of them. She is also getting better at standing by herself. She still has to use a wall or something to help her stand, but once she gets her balance she will let go and stand for a little while. When she gets tired or starts losing her balance she will very slowly squat down to sit. I'm sure she will be able to stand up without help soon. Her version of peek-a-boo is probably helping to strengthen her legs. At night we let her play in the pack-n-play in the living room with us. She thinks that when she is behind the mesh we can't see her so she pops up and down wanting us to look for her. Here are some pictures from the zoo:

Busy September

This is starting out as a very busy month! We watched the first Carolina Gamecock football game of the season this past Thursday. Lilly was awake for the first touchdown and she started clapping because she knew we were excited. She was so cute! Labor day weekend Lilly and I went to the beach with my Parents, brother and his wife, and sister and her boyfriend. I think Lilly is teething again and her nose started running a little while we were there. She also didn't want to sleep because she didn't want to miss out on anything. Did I mention there were also 5 dogs in the house (not including my 2 that stayed at home). Whew! It wasn't much of a vacation for me. The most enjoyable part was my Sunday morning run. My brother, Luke and I ran 12 miles from Harbor to Fripp and back. The run wasn't as difficult as I expected and was actually relaxing. I realized on the run that it's time for new shoes though because I could feel the road too much. I think Brendan is the one that got the vacation. He stayed in town to dove hunt.
Lilly has been saying Ki Ca for kitty cat. "K" is definitely her favorite sound right now. She has also started saying Papa a lot more. I know that makes my Dad happy because that is the name he picked for himself. Over the weekend I was trying to entertain her while I was feeding her and I was telling/asking her what the different animals said and she tried to imitate meow a few times. It was so funny. She did it for about a day and then lost interest in it. While we were at the beach she also got her first chance to practice climbing stairs. We don't have any in our house, but there are carpeted stairs at he beach house and she is really good at climbing them. I now know to watch her closely around them because she goes right for them.
We went to My Gym again this week and Lilly really likes that she can crawl around and climb on things and I don't have to worry about her getting hurt so much. Last night she was up a better part of the night. I guess it's teething. She isn't running a fever or anything, but she has been fussy. I will be glad when the top teeth pop in and she will be over it for a little while longer. She wasn't so bad with the bottom 2 teeth. I finally ordered new running shoes today and plan to do another long run tomorrow. We are going to watch the game with Brendan's brother's family tomorrow night. I made some "Cocky" cupcakes! Yum!

Beginning to cruise

As I am writing this Lilly just picked up one of her socks, put it in her mouth and proceeded to crawl with it still in her mouth. (Of course I took it right out.) I guess she thinks she is a puppy dog. This morning I noticed her finally starting to move around the ottoman once she pulls up. I'm sure in the next couple of days she will have it mastered. She has also been doing a really cute facial expression when she laughs sometimes. She crinkles her nose and breathes in and out of it really fast.
This morning we are going to My Gym. My sister-in-law is one of the owners of the 2 in town and asked us to come. I am looking foward to it because I think Lilly will really enjoy it and then probably take a really good nap! Tomorrow Mom's Time Out starts so I am a little nervous to see how she does in the nursery. I hope she will do fine and enjoy her time seeing the other babies. Then, tomorrow night is the first Gamecock football game of the season! GOOOO GAMECOCKS! We are looking foward to cheering the Gamecocks on as a family! Lilly's first game was the bowl game when she was just a few days old, but we didn't play so well. Hopefully this game will be better. Then, this weekend Lilly and I are going to the beach with my Mom, brother, and sister-in-law. Brendan is staying in town to dove hunt.
Lilly and Brendan watching the bowl game



She thought it would be fun to crawl in the bottom of her exersaucer:


Helping me "cook":

Fruit Basket

Last week I was eating some blueberries and Lilly kept acting like she wanted some too. So I peeled the skin off and gave her a little piece. I'm not sure she actually like the blueberries, but she wanted to keep eating them because I was eating them. Then a couple of days later she wanted the grapes I was eating so I had to share my grapes. If I didn't give her a piece when she was ready she would let me know by grabbing for the grapes herself. I have also let her try a piece of strawberry and banana since then. She seems to like them all. She absolute loves to feed herself the Gerber puffs and she gets mad if you put them away before she thinks she is done. I try not to give her too many of them because I would rather her eat more of her vegetables.

We went to the river for a run this morning and there was a small festival going on so we walked around for a little while for something to do because Brendan went in to work today. When we got home I knew she was tired, but she didn't want to take a nap yet. I fed her some fruit and oatmeal and then tried to get her to go to sleep, but she just kept playing. Then, I tried to rock her to sleep since she was getting fussy because she was getting too tired. That wasn't working so I figured I would give the cyring it out a try since there wasn't much else I could do for her. She crys so loud and then starts coughing so I ended up leaving her door cracked so I could peek in without her seeing me. I did have to go in twice to lay her back down and she eventually layed herself back down and went to sleep after about 30 minutes. Whew!

8 Questions

I was tagged by Sweet Southern Prep to answer 8 questions of her choice. She has a super cute blog with lots of cute ideas and tips. If you haven't already checked it out you should! The questions are about favorites:
1. Food?
I am definately a sweets person. hmm... so hard to choose just one... I'll go with Coldstone Creamery's Cake batter ice cream with a brownie mixed in.


2. Book?
The Twilight Saga. I know it's actually 4, but you can't read just one of them! I am actually reading through them for a second time right now before the movies for the last book come out.


3. Movie?
Gone with the Wind. Such a great movie to watch on a rainy day.

4. TV Show?
I don't know why I've gotten into this show, but I think it's because Kourtney had a baby around the same time as I did. Kourtney and Chloe take miami/Keeping up with the Kardashians. Brendan hates them so I don't always get to watch them.

5. Designer?
So many I like, so many I can't afford! I guess you can never go wrong with Lilly Pulitzer and it's affordable.

6. Actor?
Leonardo Dicaprio. There are plenty of others that I like, but he is probably the best at actually acting. If we're talking about looks I would have to go with Robert Pattenson (probably just because he plays Edward) or Matthew McConaughey.

7. Actress?
Keira Knightley- I love that she does a lot of movies that take place in the past.

8. Place?

Anywhere with my family. I guess one of our favorites is Beaufort, SC

Story time!

Lilly has started to love books in the past week or so. She is always crawling to her basket of books and pulling them all out. She likes to flip the pages back and forth and will actually listen to me read her a story as long as it isn't too long and has lots of colorful pictures. We went to the library this morning for baby story time and she really enjoyed it. At the end she started getting a little fussy but I knew that was because it was close to nap time. Unfortunately, the lady leading said that it is the only baby storytime they are doing, but we could check the other libraries to see which ones may be offering one. I checked the website, but it says that the same library is having baby storytime starting back up in Sept. even though the librarian said they would be starting toddler storytime then. hmm... I guess I will have to check again closer to time or give them a call. When we got home she ate then went right to sleep and is still asleep. I'm sure she will wake up soon, but at least I am caught up on house work for the most part!
I have also signed up for "Mom's timeout" at Riverland Hills Baptist Church. It is 2 Thursday mornings a month. There is a Bible study for us Mom's and childcare for Lilly. I'm nervous about leaving her with new people, but I know it will be good for me to have a little break for myself to meet some other Moms. Tomorrow we are meeting a friend and her baby boy to hang out. So that should be fun!


As far as the "crying it out"... It is very hard for me, but Brendan doesn't even see the point (of course he isn't the one who has to put her to bed or get up everytime she wakes up during the night). He makes me feel so guilty so it really hasn't worked for us... yet. I did try it for her naptime Monday and she did go to sleep after crying for about 30 min. I went in at about 25 minutes into it and she was of course standing up crying. So I layed her back down, covered her up, and left the room. She was asleep just a couple of minutes later. Then at night after about 10 minutes Brendan went in and picked her up... Maybe eventually it will work out for us.

Crying it out?

Lilly's night time sleeping has gotten worse and worse... I am now getting up between 2 and about 4 times per night for about 30 min. each time. She nurses and won't let me put her down until she is good and asleep or she wakes up screaming. So I told Brendan that we have to do something different and we said that we would finally try to let her cry it out. We have attempted to try it before but it has only lasted about 5 minutes at the most. Tonight, I read her a story, but she still wasn't quite ready for bed so we played with her a little, I fed her, rocked her, the put her in her crib. We could hear her playing for a little while then eventually the crying started... So we waited 5 minutes and then I went in to check on her, but did not pick her up. Then 7 minutues... Then 10 minutes... She was still screaming so Brendan couldn't take it anymore so he is in there rocking her and she is still crying. She is a very stubborn little girl. I have a feeling I will be in there nursing her in a couple of minutes. I know she is tired, but she won't go to sleep on her own. Maybe anothern night.

Lilly's personality is coming out more and more every day. She is very sweet and very stuborn. If she wants something, she won't give up until she has it. If you tell her no and take it away she gets furious. She is crawling better now and pulls up wherever she can. I feel like I spend my whole day chasing her around the house and standing behind her so she doesn't fall. We went to the library Monday for something new to do and checked out a few books. We also found out that they have a reading day for babies on Wednesdays, so we went to that today. Lilly really just wanted to crawl around the whole time, but they had a lady play a flute this morning because it related to the stories and she actually paid attention to that. This morning I was playing with her on her mat in her room and she was trying to pick a toy up that was apparently stuck on the side of the mat and when she did she bopped herself in the head with it. Poor thing now has a little bruise on her head and I have to explain to Brendan how it got there. She doesn't even know it is there and she only started crying when she could see that I was worried. I met a nice Mom at the library this morning and she told me that her little girl who is 11 months always has bruises from playing. So I guess I better get used to it. I know I can't prevent everything, but I wish I could.
Here are some of the latest pictures I have uploaded of our little princess:

Racing through the milestones!

We went to the beach this past weekend and before we left Friday I told Brendan that we need to lower the crib when we get back because she is trying to pull up and she can almost sit up on her own. Well, we did it just in time because when we got back Sunday evening she started getting to the sitting position on her own and saying gaga and making a "K" noise. She loved her crib being lower and that she can actually sit up when she wants to. She thinks it's a big game. Then Tuesday on our way to be we peeked in her room like we do everynight to check on her and she wasn't asleep at all. She was standing up holding onto the crib! I have come in the nursery to her standing a few more times since then. We just worry about her hitting her head. She still hadn't crawled yet, until yesterday afternoon. She wanted to get my shoes so I moved them a good ways out of reach. She decided that the only way she was going to get then was to crawl to them. Sure enough, she crawled over to them on her knees. She doesn't really like to crawl yet. She would much rather stand up. I'm sure she will get the hang of it more soon and be all over the house. We better do some more baby proofing! One thing she hasn't done yet is say Dada. She has moved all around it but just won't say it. Brendan thinks she is playing a trick on him. I also ran 6 miles pushing Lilly Tuesday. I was so proud of myself because that is the farthest I have run with her by 2 miles! I would like to be up to 10 miles by myself be the end of the month for my long runs. I will keep updating as Lilly is doing new things. I think we are going to go to the zoo this morning even if we just have to see the indoor exibits! Have a great weekend! I will post some pictures later.

First Tooth!

Lilly has been a terrible sleeper and eater lately. She hasn't had much interest in her solids and I dreaded trying to feed her. She was also waking up 1-2 times per night and some nights didn't want to go to bed. Sunday night she slept all night. Then, last night we found out what her problem may have been. We felt a little tooth poking through. It is her bottom right tooth. I didn't notice it earlier that day, but it was certainly coming through last night and she slept again all night last night. Hopefully this means she will continue to sleep and eat better... at least until it's time for more teeth. She is still such a sweet little girl and loves to patty cake for her Papa. She also entertains herself well in the playpen with her toys. She loves anything that makes noise. It has been too hot outside to do much other than our morning runs and it has been 80+ degrees then! I hope it will cool down soon!

Marathon training: I am sending in my form TODAY for the Charlottle marathon. This past Saturday I was able to run the 5 miles that I told myself I needed to do by August to be able to complete the marathon. I pushed Lilly for the first mile, then Brendan ran/walked with her for a while. It was so hot, but other than that the run wasn't so bad. I wish I could say the same for my pace. I only averaged 9:30 pace. I have a long way to go to be back to my "normal" times. I hope everyone has a good week!

Patty Cake, Patty Cake...

Patty Cake, Patty Cake, bakers man, bake me a cake as fast as you can!... Lilly can now Pattycake! My Mom and I have been showing her how to pattycake for a while now, but she hadn't done it all on her own until last Friday when may Dad was holding her. He out of the blue asked her if she could pattycake and she started clapping. Of course she did it for him since he has never played it with her. Then she came into the office and did it with her Uncle Luke! She sure is a show off and knows how to get attention. She only pattycaked a few times over the weekend, but as soon as she saw my Dad Tuesday morning she started clapping... Then did it again when she saw her Uncle Luke Wednesday morning. I guess she associates them with her first time clapping. Now she does it a lot because she knows it gets her attention. She is just a mess and expects everyone to devote all their attention to her.

The BIG 2-5

I now dread Birthdays because it means that I am getting older... Now I am half way to 50. My Birthday was this past Tuesday and we went to my parents for dinner and cake. I didn't expect much for my Birthday, but Brendan got me a beautiful necklace with a diamond key pendant and a cooler bag that I wanted. I also got money from other family members. I will probably have to use it to buy a new pair of running shoes and pay to sign up for the Charlotte marathon. I have decided that I just need to go ahead and register for the race in December so I will have to train for it. I should have plenty of time to get my mileage up by then. My brother plans to run the marathon also. This will only be my 2nd marathon, but Luke has run several now so he will be much faster than me. Since my sister lives in Charlotte now hopefully I can stay with her. Wish me luck with training!

Lilly started saying bababa Monday night, but she still mostly says Mama. No Dada yet. She also rocks back and forth when she is on her knees. She wakes up at night now and practices crawling and eventually gets so frustrated that I have to go in there to get her back to sleep so we can get some sleep. She can move herself around in a circle really well and backwards, but not foward yet. I'm sure she will figure it out very soon! My Mom showed the the trick of putting her back up against a wall to teach her to practice balance and she can stand that way for a couple of minutes. Here are some pictures:

Lilly with Granny (one of her Great Grandmothers)


Lilly trying to pull up in her crib


Lilly helping me blow out the candles