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...