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

First Word!

Lilly's first word is..... Mama! (actually more like Mmmmama!) She started making her mmmm noise last week and Friday I thought I heard her say mama, but I thought maybe I just imagined it. Then I was pretty sure I heard it again Saturday. Sunday she said it a couple of times but she always says is mmmmama. Brendan still wasn't sure about it until this morning when we were getting ready for work. Brendan was holding her and I was standing right beside them when she said it again. He finally had to admit that she was infact saying Mama! I felt bad for him because everyone told us that she would say Dada first. We will have to work on that now. She now waves all the time at everyone. I unfortunatly have to work a full week this week to fill in for someone. I hope she doesn't do anything new without me!

Trying to pull up!

Yesterday, Lilly and I went to Charlotte with my Mom, her longtime friend, Patty, and one of her boys. We visited with my sister and saw her new apartment. Then we headed to Southpark Mall to show around. When we got home I sat Lilly up in her crib while I was unloading things. The next thing I knew she had grabbed one of the bars on the crib and her bumper pad and had almost pulled herself up. Then last night about 3am we could hear her playing in her crib. I let her play until she started fussing a little. When I went into her nursery she was on her stomach with her chest raised trying her best to scoot or crawl. She was just fussing because she was frustrated that she couldn't do it. I guess she will be getting around anytime now!

Lilly's first mountain trip!

We had a great trip in the mountains with our friends Derek and Rachel. We visited the Linville Falls, Linville Caverns, Blowing Rock, and Brendan, Lilly, and I did 2 trails at the Upper Creek Falls. Lilly loved the trip and especially loved the caverns. When she gets excited she makes a hooo hooo (like an owl) noise and she did this and kicked her feet the whole time. Even when the tour guide was talking. The trails at the upper creek falls were very steep in some places so I carried Lilly in the baby bjorn and it worked perfectly. I also got a great workout! We were able to make smores by the fire and really enjoy the mountains and cooler weather. I hope we can go again soon!

Lilly has also learned to wave and play peek-a-boo. Last Wednesday I noticed that she was waving to 2 different people in a row, but I thought it was just coincidence or by mistake, but this weekend she waved to almost everyone that came over to talk to her. Then last night when she was supposed to go to bed I could hear her playing in the crib then she started to fuss. I went in to check on her and she was so excited to see me. She immediately put her blanket over her face and I thought she may be trying to play peek-a-boo so I said, "Where's Lilly?". She then pulled the blanket down with a big smile and I said, "Peek-a-boo. There's Lilly!". So then she put the blanket back over her face. We did that a few times and then I picked her up so I could try to get her to wind down enough for bed. She was so proud of herself!

At the Gamecock Parade:


Here are some pictures from the mountains:

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

I went to see Eclipse yesterday with my sister. I was skeptical of reading the books, but once I started I was hooked! I enjoyed the movie and I liked that it followed the story line of the book for the most part. It's kind of hard to squeeze that long of a book into a movie. I have always been "team Edward" especially since I read the books, but this movie made "team Jacob" very appealing. Taylor Lautner did a great job. Of course Edward (Robert Pattinson)looked great and Bella (Kristen Stewart) was awkward as usual. The one thing I didn't like about the movie was the new "Victoria". I don't know why they replaced the original actress, but she fit the part perfectly and the new actress was to put together and clean. Victoria is supposed to be a nomad vampire. One part I especially liked was when Jasper was training the Cullens and the wolves to fight her army. Jasper's southern accent really came out and you could tell that he was once the perfect gentleman. Team Jasper anyone? I guess I am a little biased since I tend to prefer a southern man. Great movie to see, but I suggest reading the books first!

On another note: Lilly and I went to the Gamecock Parade today and had a great time. Tons of Gamecock fans showed up to support the baseball team after their National Championship win. We also tried to go to the welcome home party, but there was no parking so we just came home and watched on TV. Of course after I took one picture at the parade my camera battery died without any warning. We are leaving the the morning to go to the mountains with our friends. It should be a great time!