Trendsetting

Yesterday Jason, JJ, and I sat down to play some Yahtzee while Lily napped. JJ quickly discovered the following formula:

Glasses + Pens with clips on the side = Instant fashion statement

Cowgirl Lily

Sometimes a girl just wants to put on her Mickey Mouse jammies, grab her cowboy hat, and watch a little Elmo's World: Wild, Wild West.

Giving In

This past Friday evening we were all out in the front yard hanging out. Jason and Lily were playing basketball and Frisbee and JJ was riding his bike with the kids from down the street. Noticing what fun the big kids were having, Lily went and stood at the bottom of the driveway, watching them go by. Finally she ran over to me and announced, "Lily bike too! Lily need bike!"

Jason and I had agreed that we weren't going to get her a bike until her birthday, so we did not run out and get her one. Later, I told my mom that story and she implied that I am the coldest, cruelest, most heartless mother in the world for refusing to buy "that poor little baby" the bike she so desperately wanted. Tonight I told Jason that story and he said that he kind of agreed and that he would have gone down and bought her one that night except that he knew I wouldn't approve.

Tonight we were out running errands and we popped into Wal-Mart because Jason just wanted "to look."

Guess who caved?

Fifteen minutes later, we came walking out of Wal-Mart with a brand-new Radio Flyer tricycle. Lily already has a helmet, but Jason felt that her tricycle needed accessories, so he also personally selected a white, pink, and red Hello Kitty basket and bell to mount to the tricycle. We're intending to give it to her Friday after work/school. Stay tuned for the full report.

Aquarium Trip

On Saturday Jason was at work and I had both kids. Looking to get out of the house for a while, we headed down to the aquarium to check out the fishies.

JJ makes a pretty good captain, with his tiny first mate.



(Note: Lily picked out her own outfit. She insisted on wearing that hat for almost the entire time we were at the aquarium. That girl loves her accessories.)




Another thing Lily loves? Hopping instead of walking. Here she is hopping up and down the dock.


We had a pretty good time.

Haircut

On Friday Jason took Lily to get her very first haircut. I've cut her bangs several times in the last 22 months, but she's never gone to a salon or had a real haircut. Jason told me I need to stop cutting her bangs. (I'll be honest. I don't do a very good job. I really need to get some real haircutting scissors.) Jason wanted to take Lil for it, so I made them an appointment at MopTops for Friday afternoon and told Jason to take tons of pictures.

Here they are arriving at the salon. She looks nervous.




All the haircutting chairs are shaped like different animals. They let the kids pick which animal to sit on, and Lil chose the horse. (She's kind of obsessed with her Elmo "Wild Wild West" movie right now, so she's pretty into horses, cowboys, cowboy hats, etc.)


She was doing ok until her hairdresser (Shannon) put the cape on her. Then she got very upset.


Fortunately, Shannon was a pro who knew just what it takes to make kids happy: candy.


Once the tears dried, she cheered right up. For the rest of the cut, she kept that sucker close at hand, constantly nodding her head at Jason and saying, "Candy! Candy!"


What a sassy new hairdo!

Science Project

JJ is doing a science project on the effects of alcohol on plant growth. After only about a week, one of five plants (the one with no alcohol mixed into the water), was thriving.


Three days later, it was even higher!

Chack-Chick

Anyone who knows Jason knows that he has a thing for Chapstick. He carries at least one in his pocket at all times, and applies pretty frequently.

Lily seems to have inherited Dada's passion for Chapstick, which she refers to as "chack-chick." If you leave one where she can reach it, she'll immediately snatch it up and carry it around with her, stopping to reapply roughly every 30 seconds.



If you couldn't tell from these pictures, the Chapstick rarely makes it onto her actual lips, and is usually smeared around her chin instead.

Story Time

In honor of Valentine's Day, here's a post about love. There's a lot of love in these pictures -- the love between JJ and Lily, the love they both have for books, the love Lily has for Elmo, and the love Lily (just like her mama) has for contorting herself into strange positions while relaxing on the couch.

Sick House

Sunday night, right at the end of the Super Bowl halftime show, Lily threw up all over me. Over the next 16 hours, she threw up on Jason, me (a few more times), herself, the floor, and her crib. It was a fun night.

Here we are at about six o'clock Tuesday morning. Lily's hair is wet because she'd just thrown up all over herself again and gotten a quick shower.


Shortly after Jason took this, he left for work and Lily and I went back to bed for a couple hours. When we got up, she did some of this.


From there, it was a short trip to this.


Which wound up as this.


By 10 o'clock, I had made a full bed for Lily on the couch, where she stayed -- pretty much completely lethargic -- for the rest of the day. Every hour or so she'd look over at me and ask for something. Although she almost always talks in complete sentences, she reverted back to one-word statements that day. "Cracker." "Rock." "Song."

At one point she asked for a cracker and when I handed it to her, she very feebly said, "Thank you, Mama." I cried. That's right. Cried.


Fortunately her faithful hounds took turns keeping a close eye on her.



When you're that well-protected, you can fall into a deep, deep sleep.


Lily really didn't want to let me out of her sight, so she took her naps on the couch. By nighttime, the vomiting had stopped but she had a fever of between 101 and 102 and could only sleep very fitfully. I told Jason there was no way she could sleep in her room -- she was waking up at least every hour or so, and would freak out if she woke up and couldn't see me. Jason suggested we move the mattress from the guest room into the living room and sleep on it while Lily slept in her little bed on the couch, so that's what we did. It kept us very close by while also keeping Lily in her own space with room to flop around. By the next night, she was feeling a little better and ready to snuggle.


The dogs liked it so much that they were pretty sad when Lily didn't just need to lie in bed all day.


Fortunately for them (unfortunately for us), JJ got sick a few days behind Lily.


Unlike his sister, JJ expressed displeasure at having his picture taken when he was flopped across the living room, fevered and nauseated.

The good news is that everyone is feeling better now, so sick week is over.

Clown Mama

Sometimes when you're taking care of a baby, you just need to put your clown hat on.

Foxy Lady

After Lily's romp in the snow last week, we took off her hat, coat, mittens, shoes, and snow bib, so she was stripped down to just a pair of leggings and a turtleneck. Apparently she thought it was a good "going out" look, so she gathered up her purse and her Mr Potato Head glasses and told us "bye-bye."

A Little Entertainment

The other night when Lily put Baby Kate to bed, she very thoughtfully tucked in a book of crossword puzzles. Perhaps she was worried Kate might wake up bored in the middle of the night?

Working Girl

Feeling swamped, Lily participates in the old standby of the busy professional woman: a working lunch.