Hair Bows!

I have been waiting and waiting to put bows in Lily's hair, because they never stay. Her hair is too fine, so they just fall right out. So for awhile I tried using headbands, with the bow clipped to the headband. That would work just fine if Lily would leave the headband alone... But then a couple of weeks ago we saw Sophie at church, and she had a cute bow in her hair! Lindsay told me the secret -- It's VELCRO!!! It's possible that I'm just way behind the times and all little girls these days are using velcro with their bows, but I had no idea! So Lily and I ran off to Babies R Us in search of velcro bows, and this is what we found!

Pink, purple, white, and blue bows! Sometimes Lily leaves the bow in her hair for an hour or so, but usually she pulls it out and says, "Pretty!" as she tries to put it back in her hair. She likes the bows, but she wants to do it herself. Go figure. She wants to do everything herself.

Yes, I know that her hair is not really long enough. I don't care. I'm still putting bows in her hair!

Lily's Playhouse

July 19, 2008 -- Daddy made a playhouse out of a cardboard box, complete with windows!

Jumping in Bed

This video is from June 11, 2008. Lily had been saying "Up!" each time she woke up from a nap, so I thought I'd try to get it on camera. Well, of course Lily didn't want to say it with the camera rolling, but she was jumping in her bed for the first time! So cute.

Video - Throwing the Ball

Lily loves to throw balls. She used to roll them on the floor, but then she learned how to throw, and that is so much more fun! So now I'm trying to teach her that we don't throw other toys (especially not blocks!).

New Video of Lily Walking

This video is from last Friday, July 18th.

Looks familiar...

Remember when Lily first learned how to climb up onto the bottom step and couldn't get back down? Well, she's bigger now, and she can climb into her chair - but for some reason, she thinks she can't get down! (She can, she just won't.) The grumpy face reminds me so much of this photo from just a few months ago...

Lily Does Laundry

I was around the corner sorting laundry, and Lily was just cracking up with laughter. So I took a peek, and I guess Lily's puppy needed to be washed! It was so cute to watch her play like this - she obviously understands how the process works: put the laundry in the washer, turn it on, watch the clothes spin around, take them out. I guess my photo snapping skills were a little slow that day, though, because I didn't get any of the big smiles on camera. Hmmm.... Maybe pretty soon she'll actually be able to wash her own laundry, not just her puppy dog! (Mommy might be living in a dream world...)

Ouch!

My dad told me a few weeks ago that when Lily started walking, that's when the growing pains would begin. I didn't realize how quickly that would happen! Lily has smacked her chin in the same spot twice within a week, all because she still loses her balance when she's standing up and walking. The first time, she stumbled and hit her chin on the coffee table (that was bound to happen eventually!). Then today she lost her balance when she was trying to stand up, and she hit her chin on the steering wheel of her beloved Dora car. She also scraped the side of her head by falling on a block the other day. That one actually required Neosporin. Poor baby girl! er, I mean, poor big girl! She is soooo not a baby anymore!

Cutie

The day after Lily started walking, she also figured out how to stand up all by herself, without using furniture or my leg to pull herself up. What a big girl!

First Steps

Original Post Around 12:3o:

Lily is walking! She took 3 steps today, while we were having her pictures taken. She's taken one step a few times before, but you can't really call that walking. Three steps is WALKING!
I am so proud of her! I know that millions of babies before Lily have learned how to walk, but this morning when she took those 3 steps, it felt like she was making some huge, novel discovery that the world has never known before. What a thrill!

Once again, sorry, no pictures of the excitement quite yet. But like I said, my friend Kelly was taking Lily's 18-month pictures when she started walking... So when the images are ready, I'll see if she'll let me post a couple of them here.

Updated at 5pm:

She took 4 steps at a time, twice in a row! And then she actually let me get this teeny tiny video clip - enjoy!

Holiday Weekend

Despite the rainy weather, we had a great holiday weekend!

We had great seats for watching fireworks on Friday night. I wasn't sure if Lily would be scared of the noise, but she didn't mind at all. She watched for awhile, played for awhile, and then watched some more. It was a late night, but lots of fun.

On Saturday, we went to Willie Nelson's Family Picnic, which was held at the Showgrounds at Sam Houston Racepark this year. Dusty and I went to Willie's picnic a few years ago, but that year it was in Fort Worth. Some of the same bands were at this year's show, and we had a great time! We did get rained on, but one of the security guards brought the three of us into the media tent, out of the rain. That's right, the three of us - yes, we took Lily to a Willie Nelson concert, and she loved it! We forgot her hat in the car, though, so Daddy bought her a do-rag to protect her head from the sun. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of it yet because cameras were not allowed at the concert. But trust me, it's CUTE!

And then on Sunday afternoon we played at a spray park close to home. It was a busy few days, but we all had fun!

Watching Fireworks:

Happy Independence Day!

When I went to the grocery store today, I saw a cake just like this, for $25!!! My homemade version was only about 5 bucks, it was fun to make, and it probably tastes better, too!

I hope you all have a fabulous 4th of July!

18-Month Well Check

Lily visited Dr. Dickerson today for her 18-month well check. (Can't believe she'll be 18 months next week!) The doctor visit was fine, with nothing terribly exciting to report. Remember a few months ago when I said I was looking forward to an appointment like this? Well, it's here, and it's awesome! It's so easy to take our health for granted; I hope we've learned enough through the past year and a half that we'll appreciate it more. We are so very blessed!

Lily is now 29 inches tall - she grew 1 1/2 inches in three months! Interestingly, at the pulmonologist's office on Monday she weighed 19 lbs 13 oz. Today at Dr. Dickerson's office she weighed 19 lbs 3 oz. I'm guessing that Dr. Dickerson's scale is more accurate, but who knows? At any rate, she's growing, and that's what counts!

San Antonio Zoo

Here are a few of my favorites from the San Antonio Zoo. The butterflies were attracted to Rayden's red shirt. He got a lot of them to sit on his finger, and several landed on his shirt!

Camping in San Antonio

Here are a few pictures that I took at the RV Park in San Antonio.