6 Months

It is so hard to believe our baby is six months old. I say that every month, but something about half a year old really makes me feel that way! So much has changed in this last month as far as her development. She is so aware of everything around her! She is smiling and laughing all the time. I could not love her little laugh any more, I am obsessed with it! Brian and I are in competition on a daily basis to see who can get the bigger laugh from her. When we went to Stanton last weekend people would ask us, "Is she always this happy?" It really melted my heart, knowing what we went through her first three months...what a big change! Hooray!!

Lilian's new tricks include...rolling over both ways (tummy to back and back to tummy), and several rolls in a row, her newest accomplishment is being able to sit up on her own without help. She is babbling so much, I keep hoping to hear a "ma ma" or "da da" but nothing yet!

Lilian's favorite things include...Ralph (and any dog for that matter, she giggles and smiles and puts her hand out to pet any dog she sees), her musical toys that light up, she still chews on EVERYTHING (but no teeth yet)...she loves jumping in her jumperoo, looking in the mirror, being tickled on her neck and tummy, watching baby Einstein (our savior for the long car rides), and being outside. She truly just loves being in her stroller sitting up or in the baby Bjorn and watching people (especially kids) and walking around. She loves bearing weight on her legs, sometimes she will NOT sit down, she just wants to stand all the time. She can scoot around a little bit but mostly just rolls to get what she wants. We try and put her toys further than an arms reach away while doing tummy time to promote crawling but nothing yet! I think I am good with her being stationary a little while longer!

Now that she is 6 months we are really going to start trying all the different baby foods. Right now she eats rice cereal (2-3 tablespoons) in the morning and oatmeal
(2-3 tablespoons) at night. We have tried sweet potatoes (did not care for) and carrots (made lots of funny faces but still wanted more!) Next on our list is squash and then we will move on to the green veggies and see how she likes those. We have also introduced the sippy cup to her (with water). She loves it but gets super frustrated because she cannot hold it up long enough to get anything out for the most part. See picture below of this new endeavor.


She had her 6 month check up on Tuesday and everything checked out great! Below are her stats compared to other babies her same age.

Height 25 1/2 inches (42%) We were pretty proud! :)
Weight 16 lbs. 3 oz. (56%) She likes to eat!
Head 17 inches (72%)
Although this sounds big, I don't feel like her head is extremely disproportionate to her body!

Stanton Homecoming

brian is from a small town in iowa, stanton, and every five years they have a big homecoming celebration for all the past and present residents. i think b has talked about this since we started dating! needless to say he was VERY excited about going back and spending time with his family and friends and reconnecting with people he doesn't get to see very often. we got in thursday night and were greeted by brian's parents and leanne and the twins. lauren and andrew gave their sweet kisses and hugs to cousin lilian! lauren wanted to read her books and hold her of course...little teacher at work. it will be so fun to see all things they will teach lilian in the years to come.


lauren blowing kisses on lily's tummy, she loved it!

friday during the day we met up with two of brian's good friends, adam and nick, that both have babies around the same age. we took all the kids over to adam's house and let them play. lily was "talking" to them and reaching for them, it was really cute. they both are walking everywhere and it made me excited for those milestones to come but also appreciate being able to sit her down in front of me and have her stay put, those days won't last too much longer!

friday evening we went to town for a dinner under a big tent and met up with brian's sister, andrea and husband, brian. we ate dinner with the two of them and brian's grandmother. after dinner there was a stage show on the high school football field. brian's mom was part of the show too!


after the show we took lilian in to see some of brian's friends and then put her to bed and grandma was nice enough to watch her while we went out to the street dance to hang out with friends.
brian's sister, leanne, and husband, mark

b with his high school buddies

saturday leanne had organized a kids' fun day at anderson park. the weather could not have been better...overcast with a nice breeze which was perfect for the kids. we watched andrew and lauren do some of the activities and then went to lunch with a group of friends.


that night we went back to the big tent for dinner again. it was fun to introduce lilian to brian's aunts and uncles that had not met her yet as well as some of his parents' friends.
grandma and grandpa

family pic


saturday night we went to another street dance and had fun hanging out with friends. three nights of going out was a big change for this family...wow! brian had to keep reminding me it only happens every five years!
brian's sisters and husbands with us at virginia's (local pub)

my first stanon homecoming was so much fun. we kept saying how funny it was to think about the next time it rolls around in five years and how different our lives will be...lilian will be running around, almost 6 by then and hopefully our family will be even bigger :) thanks to brian's family for a wonderful weekend in iowa!

Sitting Up

we had been working with lilian on sitting up for the last several weeks and this week she really got it down! before she could only sit for a few seconds before tumbling over but she is definately getting the hang of it now. she is able to do and see so much more now. she loves sitting up under her play mat and grabbing at the toys from a different angle. brian set up a little tent for her with pillows around her for when she does tip over! another great milestone for our little sweetie.

Days 3 and 4, Cousin Camp

wednesday morning was perfect weather to enjoy the outdoors so we took curtis and lilian to burr oak woods nature center. we walked around the lobby showing them the different animals and letting curtis fly the helicopter, he loved it! after that we walked the trail together.

curtis checking out one of the snakes


on the bridge during the nature walk

curtis inside the helicopter
thursday we took the kids to paradise park in lees summit. lilian was in the baby bjorn the whole time and enjoyed watching curtis play the big boy games. brian took him into the foam factory and then we played the arcade games. brian and i had fun too playing skeetball and winning tickets for curtis to spend! his favorite of course was driving the cars.


thursday was our last day watching him since we were leaving for iowa that night. we had so much fun spending time with him and i loved that lilian was able to spend some quality time with her cousin. cousin camp might have to become a summer tradition!

Day 2 Cousin Camp

curtis came over this morning dressed in his mizzou attire so i thought i had better put lilian in hers as well and snap a few pics of some future tiger graduates!



this morning we took the kiddos to deanna rose farm in overland park, kansas. it is a wonderful place for small kids. they have tons of animals from goats, cows, turkeys, and birds. they have a petting zoo and tractors for kids to ride as well as a big playground area. it was SUPER hot again but still nice to get out and enjoy the day and take them to see all the animals and explore the farm. here are some pictures of our trip!

Cousin Camp

brian and i are testing out what being parents of two is like this week...we have our nephew, curtis, for the week since his babysitter is on vacation. this has been good practice for us (and it's only been a day!) he is 2 1/2 so he definately keeps us busy, not to mention miss lilian who is getting more mobile on us. curtis is definately great entertainment for her! between him and ralph she doesn't know who to look at and laugh at. yesterday we took the kids swimming at our neighborhood pool in the morning which was perfect because it wasn't too crowded. after that we had lunch and then went to the mall to look around, look at the puppies and let curtis play in the kids' play area. they were both so tuckered out by the end of the day, success! here are pictures from our first day together.

one of curtis's favorite things, playing with cars

lilian helped me whip up muffins for breakfast

the three amigos


DEAR time (for all my teacher friends)


puzzle time with uncle brian

pool time

staying cool at the mall

Foot Fetish

Lilian discovered her feet a few weeks back. It is hilarious to watch her stare so intently at her little feet wondering, "Where did those come from?" She LOVES to lay on her back and hold her feet and toes. When we put her in the bumbo seat it's all she can do not to lean over right away and try to put a toe in her mouth! We put these socks with rattles on the top on her feet the other night and she went to town!

Close to the BIG ONE

today i turned 29...crazy that a year from now i will be 30! most days i just feel like my friends and i are all still around 25...just starting out after college or something, although i know that is not true. :) we had a wonderful day today going out on the boat with ashley, bob, colleen and drew. it was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday...sunshine, water, and good friends...i am blessed! i woke up this morning with two sweet cards from b and lily and am reminded again of what an amazing family i am blessed with. i know they always say the only way to make your dreams/goals become reality is to write them down to make yourself accountable, so here goes...before my next birthday here are a few things i hope to accomplish...
-take a photography class
-become certified in cpr
-take a fun vacation with my husband
-learn to make baby food
-be the best mommy i can be
-stay in better touch with my long distance friends
-make a point to have date night once a week/every other week
-put in 100% at my job
-find time to relax and enjoy the blessings in life

Surprise!

i have the best husband in the world! last night he sruprised me with a little birthday celebration with several friends at one of my favorite bars, sol cantina! the whole week i knew we were going there for drinks, but i thought it was just with our friends, nick and jill...little did i know he had been organizing this little surprise for several weeks. i cannot believe he kept such a good secret! we walked in and walked towards the back and i was greeted with great friends waiting to surprise me. it was so much fun! b said he knew a 30th surprise would have been more likely to expect so he did a surprise 29th instead, and boy was i caught off guard, it was perfect! what a fun birthday that i will never forget.
the college girls

my sneaky husband

ashley and hillary

jill helped b organize everything

hart came down from omaha, what a sweetheart!

great friends