A very SWEET week

Last week was the week of Valentine's Day and what a SWEET week it was! We started off the week with some wonderful weather and were able to enjoy a picnic lunch outdoors and make a couple of trips to the park down the street. Lilliana just loves to swing on the swings and go down the slide. She also enjoys going back up the slide the wrong way but we are working on getting her to stop doing that. :)


my little love ready to head to the gym


too cute :)


enjoying some lunch with Maggie and Mommy outside


loving the slide :)


with the wind through her hair on the swing!


wrong way little love

On Wednesday after heading to the gym we decided to make some cookies for Lilliana's nursery workers at church and her teacher at the gym. Maybe not my best idea yet, but we had fun otherwise. I think the cookies turned out pretty yummy and everyone appreciated us thinking of them. Lilliana had a great time helping me and we made quite the mess! Maggie enjoyed helping us clean up some of the mess that made it to the floor!


After her nap, and allowing the cookies to cool we made homemade icing and went to town decorating the cookies. Lilly was in desperate need of a bath afterwards and we got all cleaned up and ready for church in our Valentine's attire to hand out our goodies.


just getting started!




such a beauty, even covered with flour!


the finished product, all wrapped up and ready to hand out

On Thursday we had Wilson over to play and ate some heart shaped goodies and enjoyed a Valentine's episode of Mickey Mouse. Mommy had to work Thursday night so we spent most of Friday trying to recuperate and catching up on sleep.

By time Saturday rolled around, we were glad to have Daddy home for the day and decided to spend it together as a family. We started the day off with breakfast at Blue Plate and then it was off to run a couple of errands before heading to Davis Kidd for Story Time at 11:00. We celebrated with Miss Marjorie at storytime and Daddy got a taste of what our day is like on a typical Thursday. His opinion of storytime is a little different from mine, I guess all the chaos of kids running around and screaming doesn't bother me anymore and I just tend to tune them out unless it's my own.

We really had a great week and enjoyed our weekend as a family.


such a big girl!


Lilliana and Dadda


Lilliana and Momma


working on her putting with Dadda at the golf store


walking back from storytime with Dadda

Happy Valentine's Day





With love,
Lilliana

14 month's young!

Well, another month has come and gone. My little sponge is still soaking up most everything that I throw at her. She is picking up on more stuff and is, I think, such a smart little stinker. I have been blessed to see more of her little attitude lately. She has become quite the little prissy pot and at the ripe old age of 14 months has started to sass just a bit. ☺ We have started to implement more time-outs and hopefully they will begin to work soon. Clay doesn’t understand the whole time-out policy but I just don’t really want to spank her unless necessary. I just don’t think it’s right to tell her no hitting and then hit her as punishment.

She loves to do her animal noises and has picked up on even more. The one’s she can do now in addition to those she previously knew, are… cat, meow; lizard, tongue goes in and out; monkey, ooo, aaa; pig, oink; horse, neigh; fish, she does fish lips; and probably others that I can’t think of now. She loves to say choo choo when we talk about trains and is just the happiest little girl.

We have gone another month without any sicknesses and hope to continue on that trend. I have been putting her in the church nursery for just over a month now and so far so good. She cries each time I leave her but quickly stops, as I stand outside the room to be sure. ☺ We are working on eating more finger foods and things she can feed herself. Her newest favorite is macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. Of course you don’t really think I feed her Tyson do you? I found these at Whole Foods and have just been baking one every once in a while and she LOVES them. We are still toothless but you can see the outline of some teeth at the top so I guess time will tell.

Better late than never ...

Finally, I have updated pics from Lilliana's birthday party and updated the post. Click below to view it ...

1st Birthday Extravaganza

Look what came in the mail ...

Today we got Lilliana's precious Valentine's outfit in the mail. I blogged about it earlier here. I am so excited for her to wear it and I think it turned out cuter than I thought. Isn't she going to look just precious in it?


Especially with her new white Keds Mommy bought her the other day.


We also made some Valentine's on Saturday. I bought her some finger paints and we went to town! It was so much fun and I think I am going to start doing projects with her at least weekly now. I think she is old enough to enjoy it now and hopefully not put whatever she is working on in her mouth! We will just have to see. :) I will post a pic of her valentines when they are done, I think they turned out precious and I can't wait to send them to all her little friends. I thought we would do some kind of Valentine's Day party at our house the week of and I have been racking my brain to try and come up with some cute crafts and other ideas for the big day. Any suggestions are welcome.


not sure what to think at first


she quickly caught on and had a blast!


Wow Mom, this is soooo much fun!!


of course we were in much need of a bath afterwards :)

Thanks for all of the suggestions on the juice subject, I do think we will hold out a while longer since she is taking water and milk so well at this point. I did buy some though so we will just see if I cave. I guess if I do I will definitely mix it like 1/3 juice to 2/3 water since that seems like what most of you suggested. There are so many things that I just don't know about being a first time mom and every time we go to the pediatricians office I leave forgetting to ask him something. I think I will make a list for her 15 month appointment so that maybe I will get everything answered I have on my mind.

Question?

Ok, I have debated back and forth about whether or not to give Lilliana juice just yet. Does anyone have any suggestions or thought on it? She has been drinking water for about 5 month's now since we started the sippy cup so early and is still doing pretty good with that but all she really wants is milk. I know she isn't supposed to be getting as much milk anymore these days, because of the possibility of becoming anemic so I was trying to think of another idea. I put a poll on the side to also get some opinions. :)

Thanks.

Davis Kidd

For the last couple month's Lilliana and I, along with Amanda and Wilson have enjoyed Thursday morning story-time at Davis Kidd. It is so much fun and there is lot's of singing, dancing and reading to be had. Lilliana will follow along with some of the motions and loves laughing at Wilson while he spins around and does crazy antics all while singing along some himself. We typically start the day out by heading to the gym and then around 10:30 head over to Davis Kidd. It is about 30 minutes long and so worth the hassle of getting them there. I have really thought a lot about putting her in Kindermusik but it is just so expensive we just haven't been able to justify it yet. I really feel like this is the next best thing and it is FREE! How much better does it get?



watching as Miss Marjorie reads a story about Cats!


My little love :)

Wordless Wednesday!

I know, I know ....

I have been such a blog slacker, I have just been so busy lately and working at night 1-2 days a week is really starting to catch up with me! Anyways, enough with the pity party, here are some updates with more to come, I promise :)

1st haircut

Trip to The Children's Museum

13 Month's Young!!


Walking Everywhere!!

Weekend in Birmingham (pics to follow, don't have time yet)

Wedding Pics

The fab FIVE Melody, Melissa, Katie, Michelle, and Jenn


Mommy and Lilliana


Melody, Jenn, and Michelle


family pic :)


Daddy and Lilliana ready to head to bed


Melissa and Jim


seeing off the bride and groom




lot's of fun with Rock Band


Jenn and Lilliana just before we left

Wedding Weekend in Birmingham

4 down 1 to go!

This weekend Clay, Lilliana and I headed back down to Birmingham to celebrate Katie’s wedding weekend. I felt like this trip was more special than some of the other’s because it was the first time that all of us were going to be together with our significant other’s! We have all met before but our husbands have not had the opportunity to really get to know each other until this trip. We had such a great time together and I look forward to at least yearly beach trips with the 11 of us!

We left Saturday morning and all met at Melissa’s house (minus Katie of course). After showering and getting ready we all loaded up and headed to the wedding at Briarwood Presbyterian Church. Clay was a real trooper and stayed in the foyer with Lilliana so that she wasn’t a distraction during the ceremony. Of course, the wedding was incredibly beautiful with an even more radiant bride! I mean seriously, I don’t think I have ever seen Katie glow more than she was as she walked down the isle towards “Stik”. It was a very personal ceremony filled with lots of personal touches by the pastor and ended with a passionate kiss where Stik tipped Katie backwards!

Afterwards, we headed over to Ted’s Garage for a great reception that included great food, a candy station and a great band even Lilliana enjoyed dancing to. ☺ We were able to get a picture of the 5 of us girls from nursing school just like we have done at each other’s weddings and then even got one with all of our husband’s and Lilly in it.

When it was time for Katie and Stik to leave we threw lavender at them, which I thought was the most creative idea. It smelt great and since Katie’s colors were eggplant and green it fit great with the theme.

We headed back to Melissa’s house after the reception and partied the night away with chocolate chip cookies, and lot’s of Rock Band. We each took turns playing the guitar, drums and singing a few melodies. I do believe that Ben found his calling as a singer after repeatedly getting booed off on the guitar and drums! It was pretty hilarious and we stayed up way too late enjoying ourselves. I think Clay and Jim were trying to show off their mad guitar skills by playing songs on hard mode but they aren’t fooling any of us! Clay’s brother has the game and he has played quite a few times along with the fact that Jim is the one who owns the game! All of us girls took turns on the microphone and I don’t think any of us were brave enough to be challenged by the drums. We really had a great time together and I am glad the boys were able to get to know each other better themselves.

We woke up Sunday morning and all the girls helped make a great breakfast with waffles, blueberry muffins, eggs, bacon, cream cheese and pepper jelly (thanks again Jenn) and lot’s of other yummy treats. We just all sat around and talked some more before everyone heading back home around 10:30.

I really love these girls and I am so glad that we have all found someone to spend the rest of our lives with. I can’t wait till some of yall start having babies so that Lilliana will have some lifelong friends like I have found in the four of yall. I love you girls and can’t wait to see you all in March for the annual beach trip. This year we are forgoing the men and just us girls plus Lilliana are heading down. Hopefully next year we will all be able to go and maybe there will be another little one there or at least on the way for someone. ☺

Walkin Talking True Love

Well, it’s official, Lilliana is walking EVERYWHERE! It started the Monday after her first birthday when she took her first unassisted step, and by the following Wednesday she was taking anywhere between 5-7 steps unassisted. She has been gradually increasing the number of steps within the last couple weeks but as of this week I would officially consider her a WALKER. She would rather walk than crawl and only does a very limited amount of crawling these days.
Since she started cruising around 8 months I really thought she would be walking sooner than this but with the increased mobility also comes less independence for this Mommy so I am not complaining that she waited until she was 13 months! ☺

She is still so petite so she kinda looks silly walking around everywhere and we are constantly asked how old she is. The part I enjoy most about her walking is that her hands aren’t on the dirty floor constantly. I mean, when we are at the house I know that my floors are clean but when we were out I never would place her on the ground because I didn’t want her crawling around on the nasty ground. I know I am crazy but her hands always go straight for her mouth afterwards so I think I have good reason to be concerned. I also feel like she doesn’t pick up tiny pieces of dirt or just whatever her little fingers could find from the ground that much anymore. It is such a relief because I was always worried that she would pick up something and choke on it. Of course I still have to watch her extremely closely but I feel like she is maybe a little more trustworthy these days. ☺

13 month's young!

WOW! That’s all I can say about the number of changes in Lilliana within the last month. There are so many things that Clay and I have been teaching her and it seems like all of a sudden a light bulb went off. I mean, we started teaching her some sign language around month 6 and within the last month she has just taken off. We have started eating lots of new foods, consisting of fruit snacks, pasta, blueberry bread, and lots of other things she can use to self-feed. She is really big into this, and trying to be such an independent little lady.

Of course, she started walking and is also talking up a storm. I feel like she is extremely loud when she talks and jibber jabbers but according to my mom I was the same way. People used to tell her “for such a little girl, she sure does have a set of lungs!” I feel the same way about Lilly, but I guess she get’s it honest. ☺

We are working more and more on her taking whole milk by her sippy cup and that is also going well. I placed her in church nursery the other day so that Clay and I could both enjoy a nice day at church without having to keep control of a toddler and when I went to check on her between services they had all the kids in one of those little tables that the seats are built into and she was just sitting with all her little friends enjoying some goldfish and drinking her milk like a big girl. It was a quite a realization for me about how grown up she is getting. I just can’t believe she is essentially a toddler! It just blows my mind all the time how quickly the last 13 month’s have flown by. I don’t understand why when I was pregnant with her it felt like time stood still but since she entered this world it has just been a whirlwind. Maybe the next time we decide to have a baby it will go by quicker since I will have her to keep me company. (Oh and never, fear, that thought is very far from our minds at this point.) I am really enjoying Lilliana and watching her grow-up. Unless the good Lord has other plans for us, we plan to wait a while longer. ☺

Here is a list of the signs that Lilliana currently knows and uses frequently …
More
Please
Milk
Touch-down (of course this was taught by her Daddy and is not official ASL)
All-done
Cup
Up

These are the one’s we are working diligently on …
Thank-you
Book
Jesus
Momma
Dadda

Here is a list of things Lilliana says …
Momma
Dadda
Aggie (AKA Maggie – our yorkie)
Bye-bye
Up
(Of course there are a lot of things that come out of her mouth that I have yet to discern!) I guess it will just take some time, because it always seems like mothers are able to understand most anything that comes out of their children’s mouths.

She also loves to blow kisses and even did so for the waiter at Huey’s the other day. She waves bye-bye at everyone and loves to kiss and hug. I love it when she kisses all the babies and animals in her books when I read to her. Typically, I can’t get through one of her books without lots of kisses for the characters on the pages. Her love for Maggie has also grown tremendously in the past month. She loves to give her kisses and hugs and of course Maggie enjoys this herself. We usually have to stop Maggie because I think she would lick her all over if we would allow it!

She LOVES to sing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and will follow along with the motions herself and her other favorite top vying for the top spot is “5 Little Ducks”. She always likes to chime in on the part that says, “… Mother duck says, quack, quack, quack, quack …” and she does this precious (sometimes sick sounding) duck noise and moves her hands to look like a duck’s beak quacking. We have also been working on animal noises and some of the one’s she can repeat to me, and sometimes get on her own the first try are … a cow, mooooo; a dog, ruff ruff; a duck, quack, quack; and a tiger, roarrrr. She also loves to point out her nose, eyes, mouth, ears and hair if you ask her to. I am so proud of her and of course I think she is such a smart little stinker but doesn’t everyone think their kid is smart? I just hope that I am teaching her what she needs to know especially since she isn’t around other kids at daycare of MDO at this point. It is a lot of pressure to know that you are molding a child into what they are going to become. I just don’t want to mess this up!! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. ☺

Overall, it has been a great month, we have continued to be sick free this month and we are so thankful for that. We love her more and more each day and feel so blessed that God has allowed us to be her parents.





Oh yeah, she still doesn't have ANY teeth. Lot's of drooling going on over here and fingers are constantly in her mouth so who knows. I will talk with my Pediatrician at her 15 month appointment if they aren't in by then. We will just see what he has to say.

Children's Museum

Today Lilliana and I ventured over to the Children’s Museum for a couple fun-filled hours. We received a 1 year membership for Christmas so we decided to go ahead and put it to use. Clay had a meeting that morning so it was just the 2 of us and I think Lilly had a great time. One of her favorite exhibits was the huge model of the human heart. There were buttons you could push to hear different types of heart rhythms, from a normal adult, normal child, an adult smoker’s heart, and one with an arrythmia. It was pretty neat and she would just giggle each time she heard the beats.

We played in the under 4 play-area for quite a while and met a sweet little girl named Naomi and her parents. Lilliana really enjoyed playing with her and they shared pretty well considering they were both almost the same age. She tried out the slide for the first time and wanted to go down it over and over again. We played in the pretend kitchen area and Lilliana whipped up a great lunch with her mad cooking skills. ☺ I guess she is going to take after her Mommy with her love for the kitchen.

We then headed to the reading nook where we sat together and read some great books that Lilliana doesn’t have at home and then played with some great big knob puzzles. Of course all she wanted to do was place the puzzles in her mouth and since I wouldn’t let her she got a little upset and threw a slight tantrum so I decided it was probably time to head home and us both get a well deserved afternoon nap.

On the way home we stopped at The Village Toymaker so I could look for her one of the jumbo knob puzzles and I found a great wooden one by Melissa and Doug. It has three farm animals on it, a sheep, a cow and a pig and she just loves it. We are working diligently on our animal noises so I think this will help us out some.

When we got home we both took a great afternoon nap and then afterwards Daddy came home and we had a great night together as a family. I really look forward to being able to use her pass a lot during the rest of the winter season and this summer when it’s too hot to head to the Zoo.

On a side note, I know that a lot of you who read my blog may be very surprised that I ventured out to the Children’s Museum with Lilly since I am so germaphobic but you didn’t really think I would go without my Clorox wipes and my new most favorite item do you? What is it you may ask … well none other than a travel size of Lysol! I am sure some people thought I was crazy spraying down everything before Lilly played with it but if you know me you are probably not surprised. I have already seen too many kids in the unit with RSV this season to take any chances. ☺

First Haircut

I took Lilliana to get her haircut for the first time on Friday. We went to the lady that does my hair and actually, Me, Lilliana and Maggie all had hair appointments that day! Maggie, has been placed on the back burner when it comes to this area over the past year so she was WAY overdo for grooming herself so after dropping her off at the groomers house, Lilly and I headed to Gould’s in Collierville to see Alisa. First, I got my haircut and Lilliana sat with Nana and played with the other stylists that weren’t busy at that time. Then, it was her turn and we thought she did pretty well. She was really interested in the scissors and wanted to check out what Alisa was putting so close to her head! We placed her in my lap and put the cover over her and she seemed more interested in trying to get that thing off than anything else.

We just did a little trim all over and I think she looks so cute with her new bangs. Alisa recommended that we try and get her hair trimmed at least every 3 month’s to help it thicken up so we will have to make sure we get in there at least that often. They gave me her first little cut’s of hair in an envelope to place in her baby book with the date on it. It was a great experience and I think my little love was such a big girl ☺

Wordless Wednesday!

Have you seen anything cuter?

Check out this precious outfit I just ordered for Lilliana to wear on Valentine's Day. This is the cutest little outfit from Tiny Sprouts! I can't wait until she can wear it. It was such a great price that I just couldn't pass it up!!

I will post a pic of it when it comes in the mail. I am having trouble getting my mac to save the pic that is on the website so you will just have to check there to see it :)

New Posts

UPDATED WITH 1 MORE POST!!!

I am trying really hard to get caught up on all that has been going on here in the Burchett household. Here are some new posts for the time being. There are more on the way!

Weekend in Birmingham

Happy New Year

Zoo Light's

1 Year Update

Weekend in Birmingham

This past weekend Clay, Lilliana and I headed down to Birmingham for one of my good friend’s bachelorette party. We headed down on Friday after Clay got off work and arrived just a couple hours before the lingerie shower. It was so nice because all of the girls from my nursing study group were able to attend so it was a great weekend of relaxing and reminiscing. Michelle and I are from Memphis and she rode down with us, then Jenn came from Baton Rouge, LA and Melissa and Katie both live in Birmingham.

On Saturday we woke up and Michelle, Clay, Lilliana and I headed over to The Summit where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at P.F. Chang’s and then did some shopping. Unfortunately, it was during Lilliana’s afternoon naptime but she was quite the trooper. I think she already enjoys shopping almost as much as her Mommy does which could be a very bad thing for Clay in the future!

That evening we headed to Cocina Superior for drinks and dinner and rounded out the evening at The Rare Martini where we danced the night away. It was quite a busy weekend but one that I thoroughly enjoyed although I am going on only about 15 hours sleep over the past 72 hours thanks to the fact that I worked on Thursday night before we left Friday afternoon! I guess I will get caught up on sleep one of these days, maybe when Lilliana starts high school and she starts sleeping in until around 11!!


Katie, Jenn, Me (with Melissa'a corduroy bear that Lilliana wouldn't put down)
Michelle and Lilliana


Katie in her attire for the lingerie shower


Michelle and Melissa


Katie, Jenn and Melody


Melody and Melissa

I can't believe that we didn't get a single picture of all 5 of us. We will definitely have to do better at Katie's wedding the weekend of January 24th. Only 3 more weeks until Katie is married and we are all together again! Yay, I CAN'T wait!!!