Rough Times

Poor Lil has had a rough time of it lately. She had a cough/cold that led to her getting a double ear infection. Yesterday she had a couple of little goobies in her eyes, but nothing that worried me too much. And here she is when she woke up this morning: bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. She is, like her mother, chipper in the morning. (In case you're wondering what the gray things are on her crib, they're the strips I had to stick on because Lily has developed a fondness for gnawing on her crib when she wakes up. The strips prevent her from ingesting splinters and damaging the crib.)


Fast-forward twelve hours and poor Lily has pink eye in both eyes. Another baby in her room had it this week, so now Lily has picked it up. We're doing warm, wet compresses on her eyes until she sees her pediatrician tomorrow, who will hopefully be able to give her some antibiotic drops or ointment.

With Lily's ailments, Jason's car wreck, the whole family's cough/cold, Bailey's cellulitis, and the move (which starts tomorrow), it's been a rough week and a half in the Jackson/Perry household.

In and Out

One of Lily's favorite things to do these days is put things into other things, then take them out. And repeat. I have a plastic cup in the bath that I use to rinse her hair. When she's in there, she takes her rubber ducky and puts her in the cup, then takes her out, puts her in the cup, takes her out. You get it.

This behavior has extended out to the rest of the house. For example, Lily likes to "help" with laundry.

Lily has a few toy boxes in the living room, and she likes to take her toys and books out of the boxes and put them back in.

I must warn you, though: if you're ever in my living room and any of your personal effects turn up missing, I suggest you look in Lily's toy boxes. The other day she took everything off the side table (my phone, my camera, two magazines, and two remotes) and put it all tidily away in the toy box that's tucked under that particular side table.

Sick

This hasn't been the healthiest house lately. Jason and Lily both had a cough, but Lily's had some accompanying cold symptoms (like a very runny nose). On Thursday, just when it seemed like she was starting to get better, I got a call to pick her up early from daycare because of a low fever. I took her to the pediatrician, where they diagnosed a double ear infection. Poor Little Miss.

Thursday night was a rough night. She got started on antibiotics before bed, but woke up screaming at about eleven o'clock when her fever spiked. I got her up, got her cooled down, and got her calmed down. We sat in the recliner in the living room for about an hour, rocking and rocking while I held her and she clung to me and moaned a little. It was heartbreaking.

She's been getting better, but now I'm getting worse. Chills, aches, a headache, and a throat that feels like daggers going down every time I swallow.

It's a rough time for the Jackson girls.

New Cousin

Lily has a new cousin! Benjamin Bradley Tammaro was born at 1:27 a.m. Wednesday morning. He was 7 pounds, 12 ounces and 20 inches long. Here's my sister and her husband during delivery.


And here's Jaysa with Ben just after delivery. (Note how she looks way better than a woman who just had a c-section should ever have a right to.)


And finally, here's the happy family when Ben was a couple days old (picture taken from the Bella Baby website).


Congratulations to the new family!

The Bio Park

Yesterday was President's Day, so Jason, JJ, and Lily didn't have school. I took the day off so we could all hang out together. We ended up taking a family trip to the Albuquerque Bio Park, which includes the aquarium, the botanical gardens, and the zoo.

We had a blast. Lily seemed to be especially interested in the aquarium.


She was a little less amused by what Jason did to her in the gift shop.


Fortunately he was able to make it up to her with an impromptu puppet show.


JJ also had a pretty good time. I have a long, rich history of taking very campy posed pictures with things like statues, signs, artwork, and other objects and attractions. I was able to get JJ in on the fun so we could pose for pictures like this one:


Jason thinks JJ and I are a little strange for being such complete hams, but I defend our hammy selves by saying we just know how to have a good time. By the end of the day, Jason told me I had "created a monster" as JJ ran around begging us to take his picture while he posed for shots like this one:

Quality Time with Jason

We're not married yet, but already Jason is a fantastic stepdad to Lily. She adores him, and they are pretty cute to watch together. Lately he's been teaching her a lot of new things.

He taught her a little guitar.


He's been working on her reading skills with her.


And now he's taught her the important skill of using the remote control.

Puppy Love

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that this Valentine's Day, Lily's heart has gone to the dogs. Man, that kid loves dogs. It's pretty adorable. The last time I took her to Emily and Thomas's house, she was staring at their dog Smokey and trying to talk to him. I got down on the floor with her and Smokey came over to say hello, and she got so excited she was actually trembling.

Yesterday Jason and I went over to tour a potential rental home. Jason was holding Lily and standing in the eat-in kitchen, which had sliding glass doors out onto the patio. Lily saw that there were two dogs standing out there with their noses pressed against the glass and started shouting, "Oh! Oh! Oh!" while pointing at them, grinning, and kicking her feet.

Discoveries

Lily is becoming much more aware of her face these days. As such, she has a new favorite thing to do: pucker her lips. It's pretty hilarious. After every word or sound she makes, she finished by puckering her lips very dramatically, sticking them all the way out. This works especially well when making sound that end with "oh."

Also, today Jason and I had lunch at a buffet establishment that serves real baked mac 'n' cheese, so Lily had some. It was the first mac 'n' cheese I'd given her, so I was curious how she'd respond to it. Like most other kids, she loved. Each bite got an enthusiastic "Mmm!" and a lick of the lips. It's strange for me to be giving her real food at restaurants, but it's certainly more convenient than baby food. Yesterday at breakfast we actually ordered something specifically for Lily (whole wheat toast with some homemade berry spread). That was a milestone.

Accomplished

In Pride and Prejudice, there's a scene where Elizabeth talks with Darcy, Bingley, and Bingley's sisters about what it takes for a woman to be considered truly accomplished. Bingley's sister says a woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages. Darcy says she must have all that and also improve her mind via extensive reading. Lily's drawing skills aren't fantastic (when I give her crayons she just puts them in her mouth) and she's not great with modern languages. However . . .

She has mastered music and and dancing.


She is a talented and enthusiastic singer.


And she is definitely committed to extensive reading.


I'd say she's well on her way to becoming "truly accomplished."

Lily, Auntie Emily, and Cousin Connor

When I was about eight months pregnant, my good friend Emily confessed to me that she was also pregnant. I was thrilled! While I would have loved to live close to a sister and have kids at the same time, sharing the mommy experience with Emily felt just as exciting. (She is, after all, an honorary Jackson girl.)

Emily was incredibly supportive of me during my pregnancy. When I first found out I was pregnant, Emily was the one with me at Costco as I white-knuckled the bottle of pre-natal vitamins. When I had no one to do my baby registry with me, Emily and her husband Thomas came along and helped me pick out what I'd need for Lily. When I was seven months pregnant, Emily threw my baby shower. When I had some false labor and was put on 24 hours of bedrest, Emily came over with sandwiches and conversation. When I was in labor with Lily, Emily and Thomas came to the hospital to chat with me to pass the time. When I had given birth and Lily was in the NICU, Emily and Thomas showed up with sushi (my favorite food and the first I had been allowed to eat since finding out I was pregnant) and listened to me cry. And the first night I brought Lily home with me, Emily and Thomas came over to help celebrate the occasion.


Since that night, Auntie Emily and Uncle Thomas have really earned their honorary titles. Here's Lily -- 13 days old -- taking a little nap on her Auntie Emily.


That was a familiar sight for a while. Here it is again at one month old.


It wasn't all just snoozing, though. There have also been some party times. In this one you can see that Emily's belly was starting to grow, but she didn't let it get in the way of good times with Lily.


And it was Auntie Emily's lap Lily sat in when she got her very first bite of solid food (and Auntie Emily's face she stared up at when she initially didn't like the food).


It's not a one-sided relationship. Lily has tried to be there for her Auntie. Here she is at Emily's baby shower, helping celebrate.


On November 24, 2009, Emily gave birth to her son, Connor Patrick. The next morning I went to visit the new family in the hospital. (Lily and her germs stayed at home with Gammy and Gampy.)


Once Connor was around, I started getting excited to see him and Lily grow up together. I imagine them running around in the sprinklers together, playing in the park, going to storytime. I told Lily all about her new friend Connor. How he has the most perfect little red mouth, big gray eyes, and one of the cutest smiles I've ever seen. I told her how pretty soon he'll be starting in her daycare classroom and she'll have to show him the ropes and make sure he feels welcome. And I promised her that eventually he'll get bigger and they'll toddle around together, running around with droopy little diaper butts.

I think she's pretty eager for him to get out of his car seat and start playing.

New Use for "Uh Oh"

Lily has found a new use for saying "uh oh." Before she said it when she dropped something. Now she seems to understand that it's a more general term indicating that something is wrong, so she uses it to let me know that she has pooped. That's right.

She first did it last weekend while we were at a funeral. (That one was a leaky poo.) Then she did it again this morning. I was in the kitchen getting her bottles ready for daycare and she was in the living room "reading" some books. I heard her saying "Mama! Mama! Mama!" and when I looked over she was crawling into the kitchen as fast as her chubby little legs would take her. She came in, said, "Uh oh!" and held her arms up to me. I checked her diaper, and sure enough, she had just pooped and needed a change. It was as cute as a moment can be when it involves poo.

Up, Up, Up

Today we experienced a little milestone. Lily had been sleeping in her crib, but woke up and started babbling as she waited for me to come get her. I opened her bedroom door and went in and discovered (for the first time) Lily standing up in her crib, holding the rails and smiling out at me.