Lily is a year and a half old today, and she continues to surprise, amuse, and enchant us. It’s been a really fun July and August for her with Stephanie on her usual summer break, which is great since I’ve been busier with work than usual lately. But Lily is as wonderful as ever – she expands her vocabulary daily, and astounds us with what she hears and understands. I’ll be the proud daddy and brag for a moment: she knows many of her shapes, colors, animals, and objects around the house, and never misses an opportunity to point everything out to us! That little smarty-pants is clearly going to William & Mary.
After just three months in our new house, Lily is completely comfortable in her surroundings and tears around the neighborhood with glee! It didn’t take long for most of our neighbors to meet her, as she’s apparently more interested in running down the sidewalk and into people’s yards than she is listening to mommy and daddy call out to her. What a monkey.
It’s also a load off our mind to finally find a child-care provider for Lily during the coming school year! Her babysitter from last year, Lyndsay, was blessed with the recent arrival of her own second child – so isn’t able to continue watching Lily. Fortunately, we found some availability with another local provider who came highly recommended, and we look forward to getting back into the routine come September. We’ll certainly miss the incredible care Miss Lyndsay provided, though, and wish her tremendous happiness with the new addition to their family!
We’ve taken a ton of photos and videos lately which I still need to get online – stay tuned!
Chasing down seagulls on the beach in Corolla, NC. (July)
As in years past, we’ve just returned from family beach week in Corolla, North Carolina. It was another great time, and although Lily only really enjoyed the water on the first day, she was completely content playing in the sand for hours at a time. Luckily, she was also okay with being hosed down afterwards. Check out Lily’s latest album for other beach shots.
Besides beach time, we didn’t do a whole lot. We’ve done most of the touristy things already, so this trip was all about relaxation, family time, and a bit of beach shopping for mom and Lily. We did get a chance to sneak out for an incredible date night, though, at a great place called the Fin and Claw. The menu was way more pricey than we would typically go for, but the opportunity was there and the food was delicious. Not to mention, we don’t really get a lot of occasions to fill Stephanie with over-priced cocktails these days.
Back in April of 2003, Stephanie and I were one month away from getting married. We found a great little townhouse in Alexandria and were able to buy it amid the chaos of wedding plans. That settlement was fun and exciting: first-time home-buyers, about to get married, the quintessential “first day of the rest of our lives.” “Ha ha – look at all the papers we’re signing! Derp be doo be doo!”
Just over seven years later we were back at it, and everything was a tad more “real.” It’s not to say it wasn’t exciting – we are truly and absolutely ecstatic about our new house! We’re just older, wiser, and not as quick to giggle about signatures and dollar signs. Regardless, settlement(s) day went off better than we could have hoped. Sure there were little hiccups here and there, but our agent smiled about how nice it is when things go so smoothly. It was a big day, though, and one we’ll certainly never forget.
And we must give a very heart-felt thanks to both sets of parents! While Lily is a load of fun every minute of the day, her antics weren’t going to pack boxes. Having her out of the house and well-cared-for for those three days was essential to us getting through closing and completing the move. We are truly grateful.
So now the slow and steady process of unpacking and settling in begins. Lost and broken items, putting everything away, hooking up televisions, computers, and stereos. It’s fun and annoying, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
It what seems to be the blink of an eye, Lily has gone from crawling, to taking assisted and very clumsy steps, to walking independently. She walks everywhere now, and it’s honestly weird for us to see a little person casually strolling around the house. She’s still got the little T-Rex/Frankenstein arms, but her balance and coordination are getting better every day.
And speaking of moving, this is it. In two days we go to settlement, then will move over the weekend. The stress of the entire process, plus a baby, plus both of us working long hours lately has really worn us down. But many thanks to our family and friends who have helped out in so many ways over the recent weeks! We’re keeping our fingers crossed for a smooth weekend, and should be enjoying our new house before we know it!
Lily had some follow-up blood work done recently (just the RAST test – not that awful scratch procedure down her back) and we were elated to see some encouraging results. Of her formidable list of allergies a few months ago, it appears that she’s down to only three now: eggs, wheat, and peanuts. While this will still require us to stay on our toes about what she eats, it opens up all kinds of great new food possibilities for her – things like oats, rice, dairy, soy, and corn. We’ll just need to keep a close eye on her as we slowly introduce those previous allergens into her diet.
And this comes at a good time – Little Miss Opinions is starting to get very bored with her limited menu. Perhaps now more food will go into the mouth than thrown onto the floor.
Over the past few weeks, Lily has been teasing us with her slow and steady progress in learning to walk. She’s been able to stumble around for a while, but she’s always needed to hold our hands. Well after tons of practice, she finally took a few steps on her own last night! It was probably due to mommy and I cheering at her, but she thought the whole milestone was just hilarious.
We couldn’t believe how much more carefully we needed to watch her once she started recklessly crawling, so I’m not sure we can fully appreciate how crazy it will be once she really starts running around. Yikes.
Walking has also coincided with another fun milestone this week. She’s been babbling like crazy for months, but has only recently been articulating genuine words (with real meaning). Well rather than waking up each morning with her usual nonsensical discussions, we’ve heard a loud and sing-song “DAAAD! DAAAD!” for the past few days. Ug. Why not mommy? Daddy’s not ready to wake up yet.
