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":