1 and a quarter!

Upside Down!

Daddy was spinning her around and around so she got super dizzy and crazy eyed!

Her cousin Kaden throwing her up in the air!

Lily is 15 months old! This month was much better than March. Lily wasn't sick! So everything was so much better, sleeping, eating, etc. She was ornery a few days because of teething, but that was a lot easier to deal with than ear infections and colds.

Eating: Lily decided this month that she is ready to be independent! This makes me sad! I want her to stay a baby forever! But I guess it is good she is on track developmentally. She tries to use a spoon, and sometimes succeeds at getting the food into her mouth. We tried lots of new food this month because we needed more high calorie food that she could feed herself!  It has been a messy adventure so far. I make these really high calorie drinks for her that are part whole milk, part cream, part carnation mix to help pack on the pounds. She loves crackers of all kinds: animal crackers, goldfish, graham crackers, soda, Ritz, Nips, you name it!

Sleeping: Lily slept awesome through the night, 11-12 hours every night! She always took one really great long nap for about 3+ hours and then the other nap would only be like a half hour or so or none. I guess she is transitioning to just one nap a day. We got a wonderful new sleep monitor that has zero static! And it is small and easy to carry in your pocket.

Playing: Lily is so smart and imaginative already! She likes to feed her babies and stuffed animals and give them drinks, as well as Michael and I. She is starting to get better at the shape sorter thing. She loves to "read" books to herself. She also loves to play with us and cuddle on our laps while we read a book. She giggles so hard with her daddy and is very ticklish. She loves when he tickles her armpits with his whiskers. She loves to go to the park and swing! She squeals with delight and likes to say hi to me when she swings toward me and bye when she swings back.

Blanket Time: I read about this in Babywise where you have your baby sit on a blanket with a few toys for a certain amount of time (build up to 30 minutes) and they aren't allowed to get off the blanket until the timer stops. Its supposed to teach them about boundaries and self-control and comes in handy if you are at a place where you need them to stay in one spot. I started about halfway through the month. The first day I set the timer for one minute and she was great. She tried to get off the blanket once but I just said, "stay on the blanket, Lily" and she sat back down. When the timer went off she still wanted to keep playing, but I put it away for the next day. Then we went up to 2 minutes, and so on. I forgot on most days. I will have to keep working on it. We only got up to 6 minutes ha ha. Has anyone ever done this and found it helpful? I guess I'm not a strong believer in it yet. They say to choose your battles and I don't know if getting her to stay on a blanket while we are at home is one I want to fight. But then again, if it helps later than maybe its worth it? Any thoughts?

Teething: Lily is getting another tooth on top! You can feel it but not see it. So when it comes in she will have 3. Update: the doctor said at her check up that the top teeth weren't even close to coming in! He said the gums could have swelled up around the teeth again. So only 2 teeth still.

First Night Away: Michael and I got to spend a night in Park City with our pals! It was free to boot! Lily stayed with Michael's sister Kim and her family! She had a lot of fun there with her cousins, Ryan and Emmy and her aunt and uncle and it was nice for Michael and I to have some time off of being responsible parents even though we did miss her. We stayed at Westgate. It was pretty neat! Our room had a double jet tub and a steam shower. It was more like an apartment with all the appliances! We ate at The Edge Steakhouse for dinner. I found an ant on my plate! So they gave us free dessert, took off a side dish, and gave us 10% off. We went swimming and sat in the sauna and the hot tub. Earlier in the day we went to the outlets and main street. It was a nice little getaway.

Sign Language/Talking: Lily still signs all the signs I said before. Some new ones she does now are clouds, cry, laugh, sleep, apple, pear, happy, feel, carrot, nice, cracker. She combines signs a lot now. She does all done thank you down please when done eating (or just screams and becomes a food hurricane) one or the other :). she will say more please a lot and sometimes put what she wants in there. Like more cracker please or more milk please or more outside please. Its adorable.

She says: dadda, mama, Jesus, mamamam is grandma, outside, please, ball, banana, baby, dog, kitty, fish, all done, milk, hi, bye.

Going up the stairs! Lily likes to walk up stairs now. She will either hold on to the wall or our hands. She almost always uses her left leg to step up and then she will level out and step up again with her left foot. She must be left legged like her mommy!

Nicholas and Lily. Cousins are fun!

Well Check Up: Lily now weighs 20 lbs. 2 oz. (10%) and is 31 inches long (75%) and her head was 45.2 cm around. She is doing great! She didn't even cry when they gave her a shot. She is one tough cookie! She is doing great developmentally.