13 days until Lilliana is ONE!

We are officially on the countdown to Lilliana's 1st birthday bash. There are still a lot of little details to iron out but for the most part everything is done. I originally wanted to applique penguin's on turtlenecks for all the kids that are coming to her party but I quickly realized that it would take WAY too much time to complete so I have decided upon other take home gifts. You will just have to wait and see what I came up with until after her party. I don't want to give away too many details just yet :)

I really thought Lilliana would be walking by time her birthday came around but it has not happened yet. She loves to walk all over the house with her walker in front of her and pretty much push anything around the house that she can get her hands on. She loves it when I do laundry because she usually runs off with the laundry basket! I feel like she has gained a little weight lately because I think she is filling out her clothes a little bit better but overall she is still such a petite little girl. I have not started her on whole milk yet and plan to wait until after I speak with Dr. K. at her 1 year appointment.

I can't believe that my little girl is almost 1. This time last year, I was still on bedrest and counting down the days. I had just had my first baby shower for Lilliana and I was watching Clay put together all of Lilliana's goodies that we had received. Clay had put the final touches on her room with the perfect shade of yellow and her bedding was in the process of being washed and placed on her crib. All of this reminiscing makes it so real. I realize how much I went through to get her here and what a miracle her life is. I thank God for her everyday and I have enjoyed every single day I have been given with her so far. All 352 days that is!

2 weeks until Lilliana is ONE!!

Well, 2 weeks from today, my little baby turns 1! I just can't believe how quickly time has gone by in the last year and I know it is just going to continue to fly by. We are in full swing of preparing for the birthday festivities and I do believe that I have allowed myself to get a little out of control :) The invitations are on their way, the paper products have been purchased, gifts are wrapped and penguins have been adorned with hot pink hairbows! I have received her smocked dress in the mail along with her banner for the door and so far things are all coming together.

It is all very bittersweet. This time last year I was completing my last week of complete bedrest and I was about to go stircrazy. It is amazing how quickly the last year has gone by compared to the 9 months that I was baking her in my belly. During those long 9 months I counted every single day as a milestone. My ultimate goal during pregnancy was 36 weeks, and were blessed with that, plus one day with her inutero.

My life over the past year has been spent with ...

2,190 feedings ( 32 of which were from a sippy cup, no bottles in our house :)

1,300 hours of rocking

232 loads of Lilliana's laundry

24 playgroup's

16 trips to the church nursery

4 car trip vacations

3 ear infections

2 scratches

0 teeth!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

Birthday Bash Countdown!!

We are officially on the countdown until Lilliana's first birthday bash. It is 18 days from today!! I received the final proof of her invitation earlier tonight and I hope to get them in the mail this coming weekend. The dress has been purchased and hand smocked by a wonderful lady from www.etsy.com and I have purchased her the cutest little shirt to wear at another amazing store I found online. Her banner for the front door was shipped today and pictures are on order. We are having family pics made on Friday and the proofs will be back in time for the party so they can also be on display. We are doing a penguin and candy cane themed party and I just can't wait. Actually, I can wait ... I can't believe my baby is turning ONE! It just brings tears to my eyes as I type this.

This last year has gone by soooo incredibly fast and I just wish I could slow things down sometimes. I love every minute I am given with her and I just can't wait for all the fun times ahead. I feel this has definitely been the best year yet! It is crazy for me to remember what things were like this time last year. I was laid up on the couch, laying mostly on my left side and praying so diligently that Miss Priss would just stay put at least another few weeks. I was trying to figure out who was going to give me my 17 Hydroxyprogesterone shot the week of Thanksgiving since the office was going to be closed and thanks to my great friend Sarah, that worry was quickly placed aside. Clay and I did not attend dinner last year for Thanksgiving because of me being on bedrest, but it was soooo worth it.

My birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving this year and wow do I have a lot to be thankful for! Lilliana has changed my life in more ways than I can even place into words and I hope that she will always be my little girl. I have always heard the saying that "A son is your son until he takes a wife, a daughter is a daughter for the rest of your life". I really hope this is true and that she will always want to have a close relationship with me as I do with my mom.

I love you my sweet Lilly and I can't wait for all the special times we are going to share together.

26 things about Lilliana!

A - affectionate
B - beautiful, babbling, baby
C - caring
D - darling
E - exceptional
F - funny
G - giving
H - heart outside of my body
I - indescribable love for her
J - joyous
K - kind
L - loveable
M - mommy's girl
N - nice
O - obedient :)
P - petite
Q - quintessentially the best thing in life!
R - remarkable
S - smart
T - terrific
U - understanding
V - valiant
W - wonderful
X - xanity
Y - yummy
Z - zanny

The box won!

Lilliana fought the box and the box won!!

This is what happened while Daddy was in charge the other day while Mommy was attempting to get a couple hours sleep after a long night at work! The pictures aren't that clear but Lilliana has her first official scrape on her forhead, and a couple on her nose. She was playing in the living room and fell on her wooden toy box. Of course, she screamed her head off at first but now doesn't even seem bothered by it. I hope it clears up soon as we have family pictures on Friday!

11 month's young!

Wow, another month has passed and that just means we are 1 month closer to Lilliana's first birthday! I just can't believe it!! I know I say it all the time but she is growing up WAY too fast. Sometimes I wish I could just stop time, or at least slow it down some. A lot of things have changed with Miss Lilly in the last month and she is getting more beautiful and carefree everyday. This month she started using her new walker, courtesy of her Daddy, all the time. She walks everywhere with it and is unstoppable!! She is so funny and laughs all the time at her Momma and Daddy. She is really starting to eat her first bit of table food and her newest favorite is whole grain rice. I think her favorite part is that she can feed it to herself. She is quite messy in the process but at least 10% gets in the chute :)

Naps are going a little better. She is finally giving in at times and allowing herself to sleep more than 20 minutes! Usually I can rock her to sleep but as soon as I lay her down she decides that nap time is not for her!! Clay and I really think that she just really doesn't like to be by herself. Maggie, (our yorkie) is this way. We used to kennel Maggie when she was younger and she would cry constantly until she was in the room with either Clay or I. Clay thinks that we must be fun people :)

Things Lilliana is doing these days are; calling Clay and I Momma and Dadda, sometimes to the correct person. She loves her sister Maggie and every now and then we swear she says "Aggie" to call her. She loves to sing "The Wheels on the Bus" and do the hand motions along with "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and many more. We have started going to story time at Davis Kidd Bookstore here in Memphis and she absolutely loves it. We start out by singing a ton of songs and then finish up with a book. She is typically very interested the entire time and will sit in my lap listening, laughing and watching all of the older kids. She is officially drinking out of her sippy cup and I am just so proud of her. When I have been going to work at night I will leave her a cup of milk for Clay to give her and she does great with it. I guess one advantage to her not taking a bottle or a paci is the fact that it is one less thing we have to break her of. She loves to read books and dance to music, and just makes Clay and I happier everyday.

We feel so blessed to have had 11 month's with her so far and can't wait for what's to come!