Learning New Things

Just a quick little update before I call it a night - Lilah has finally learned to sit up from a laying position, which means she is no longer dependent on me to help her out once she reaches her destination. It is really cute to watch, I will try to get it on video. She sort of presses her face into the ground to do it. She started giving kisses too, about two weeks ago. I can't remember if I mentioned that already. She usually kisses Jonas, but today she kissed me. Out of the blue, just because she is sweet. So very sweet.

Lilah's New Game

So it took us a few days for her to pick it up, but Lilah now gives us an answer (most of the time) to the great ol' question, "How big is Lilah?". Pretty cute and I have the video to prove it. I also have a couple of pictures of her mouthful of teeth, which took me a while to get. One is a cute picture and the other not so much. When Jonas saw the goofy picture he said, "I love you, Chunk" - can you name the movie? The quote is from the goofy looking guy named Sloth from Goonies. What a silly daddy.

Our cute baby with six teeth!

"I love you, Chunk!"

Super Sonic Lilah

Lilah has been moving so quickly with just an "Army" crawl it makes me laugh. I think she got in a lot of practice with Jonas this past weekend - she has really picked it up! Just today she has learned the fun of being chased while she is crawling away. Pretty cute. The days of leaving her on the floor alone for a moment and expecting her to stay there are long gone. The clothes help her with the sliding, but she got away from me tonight while I was changing her diaper and into her pajamas and she made it a good distance naked. So much for bare skin on the hardwood slowing her down...

How Big Is Lilah?

We had our 9 month well-baby check today, and I have Lilah's new stats. She is now 20 lbs 5.5 oz, which puts her at 75% for weight, and 29 inches long, which is 92%. She got her 6 month shots today too, and her poke for the anemia test. What a eventful day! She just went down for the night at crashed hard. Hopefully she will sleep through the night.
After we got home she was having some sort of energy burst and was working her way back and forth across the room at lightening speed trying to catch up with Shelby (the cat). Pretty funny.

One Little Monkey

Just as Lilah has finally healed fully from the sore throat and congestion she had all last week, she had her first big oops. More of a mom's first big oops really, but Lilah took a header off the bed last Monday. I heard the thump and my heart just sank. Her face was scratched up pretty nicely, but now it looks almost back to normal. It didn't seem to bother her too much - the picture is taken about thirty minutes after the fall. I was really glad we didn't have to make an ER visit, I don't know what I would have done if they had to suture her up. I am SO incredibly thankful for just the scrapes and have learned a tremendous amount about what I can and can't let her do.
Her increase in mobility is impressive. She still does an army crawl, but is pretty fast on the carpet and super quick on the hard wood. She even has little rug burns on her elbows and just keeps on going. What a tough girl!
Just as I post a note on Lilah's five teeth, she gets a sixth that actually makes her look normal. No more pirate or vampire baby. Hollywood, you had your chance.
And finally, we have finally made a move to have her take naps in her crib. For those of you that don't know, for the last nearly nine months we have been just snuggling with her on the sofa for those naps. Holding her in our arms like the sweet little baby she is. My reasoning is that I won't be able to do this with a second child, so I should do it while I can. I was expecting this transition though to be a really tough one, but it hasn't. It has been getting harder and harder over the last week to get her to sleep on the sofa (sometimes I curl the boppy pillow around her instead of holding her) or the boppy and I am ready to have more free time during the day. Lilah is typically a thirty minute napper too, left to her own, whereas she would sleep for an hour or more if I held her, making us both happier. She has made a change to sleep longer in the two naps she has taken on her own. She fusses a bit when she goes down, but is asleep within ten minutes - today she slept almost two hours!!
Our 9 month well-baby check is on Tuesday, and I am eager to see her numbers. She looks so ultra tall to me, so we'll have to see. I suppose I could just measure her myself, but it seems more official when they do it. I'll let you know!

And Teeth!

I forgot to add a bit about Lilah's new teeth. She's got two new ones, making a total of five. I'll try to demonstrate with a diagram, the letters being teeth.

__________
U UU Top
OO Bottom
-----------------

Okay, so the diagram stinks, and it makes her mouth look like a pirate's, but you get the idea. The two bottom teeth are supposed to be in the middle in the picture. They are all crooked and not in proper pairs, and I was really hoping that top middle tooth might not come in as quickly as it did so that we could have a little vampire baby, but it doesn't look like that's going to work. There is still hope though, as that upper middle tooth is still surrounded by swollen gum and you can't see it straight from the front just yet. The others though, are hard to miss. I'll try to get a picture - that will make more sense. Vampire baby or not, she is still so stinkin' cute!

Thermometers and Ibuprofen again

Lilah's got another illness. The fever started yesterday morning at five, at least that's when I noticed it first. I brought her to bed with us then, and she slept restlessly for a few more hours. I can keep it at bay with ibuprofen, but her fever spikes again as soon as it starts to wear off. She has been ultra fussy too, and not eating any solids. We went to see the doctor today and he says her throat is very red and her tonsils are swollen. Her ears look good, but her throat probably hurts quite a bit, which would explain her poor eating. She is still nursing though, so I try to do that every few hours. What a way to build back up my supply! (It had diminished quite a bit with the introduction of seasonal allergy medicines into my system).
She slept with us last night and no one slept well. Tonight at least she is in her own room so far for two and a half hours. She cries out every once in a while, but goes back to sleep. Poor baby. She will probably end up with us again before too long tonight. I like to have her close by when she feels crappy, and I am sure she enjoys too. We have a king size bed and I try to place her squarely between us as there is plenty of room, but she really is good at scooting right over against me. By morning I am usually going by the way of my pillow, over the edge of the bed.
Anyway, the doctor says she should be better by Friday, at least no more fever after then. We did make it to the grocery store today, my grumpy baby and I. I let her sit in the "big girl seat" in the cart and in the check out line the lady in front asks, "is your baby always so even tempered and smiley?". Haha. I told her that this was the grumpy version of my normal baby, which reminded me that hopefully soon she will become again that sweet baby that she was just a few days ago.

Adventures in Whatcom County

Lilah and I have been out walking most days this week. The weather has been amazing, and I am trying to boost my tan a bit, so we have been hitting the streets around our house. On Wednesday we were walking home and passing the cow field across the street when I noticed a cow acting funny. I could tell she was struggling with something, and then she laid down and looked like she was bearing down with belly contractions. Lilah and I hung out and watched for about twenty minutes, and we got to see a baby cow being born! It was really pretty amazing.
The next day, Thursday, we were walking down the street next to ours and there was a brahma bull next to the fence. I walked up to say hey and then another one joined in along the fence. In just a few minutes, the whole crowd of bulls ended up against the fence to say hello. I pet a couple on the nose, as they seemed friendly enough. Of course I had to take the opportunity to take a picture of Lilah with them. With as much excitement as we've seen the last two days, I need to start bringing my real camera with us on our walks!