Tummy Time

Lily Grace has been spending a lot of time on her tummy lately. When we first started she HATED it and would just cry every time we put her down. I think part of the reason she hated it was because she didn't have great head control. She would keep her head up as long as she could and then would do a face plant into the floor when she got tired. How annoying to keep smashing your face into the ground. Well she is a whole lot stronger now and her "upward dog" is awesome.


So tummy time has become fun especially because she is rolling over. YEAH! It started by accident, but now she is figuring out that if she pushes with that arm and lifts her leg in that direction then turns her head, she rolls! It is so fun to watch her.

After getting over being sick, Lily is back to sleeping 6-7 hours at night. The trick is to give her 2 ounces of formula then nurse her and put her straight to bed. She has got me so conditioned that I wake up most nights before she even starts crying. Since I get to give her formula, Bob gets to help with the feeding time.



As funny as it might sound, when Dad is feeding her I miss her. I know it is silly, but I love that kiddo.




She is growing out of her clothes and quickly approaching all of her 6 month outfits. It is a blast having a little baby because you get to change her wardrobe every 3 months or so. The hard part is making sure that I put her in everything before she grows out of it. Her little feet are almost out of some of her booties and we are quickly moving towards shoes. Those shoes are so hard to keep track of too. You need some sort of duct tape shoe suspender contraption.

Here is her latest cuteness.



I know that the butterfly on her head is vastly disproportional, but it is so adorable. Wouldn't you agree?

Love is in the Air

Happy late Valentines day to everyone out there! Lily, Bob and I want to send hearts and hugs to all! It is such a treasure to experience each and every holiday with the little one and we wish that you could too! At least we can share her with you via pictures. And boy do I have a lot of them this time. Jill and Steve came down for the weekend and we had a blast trying to catch every cute thing that miss Lily Grace did.





The main goal of the weekend was to catch her with a big smile on her face which is much easier said than done. She loves smiling when people smile at her, but she hides that smile when the camera comes out. Soon she will be wanting us to take her picture especially because she will be able to instantly see her smiling face!

The Valentines weekend was celebrated with family near. Grandma got to take a bath with Lily and snuggle her all night long.




Lily and I showed Grandma how much we love Fox in Socks and our special game on the floor.






We also got to see Aunt Darcie and Uncle Brent in Charlotte. Bob offered to help them wire up their new super sized TV and get it mounted on the wall.


It was a long day on Saturday, but he did it and the TV was mounted and working! Lily spent most of the time in Grandma's arms watching all of the guys work. She was concentrating so hard that she fell right asleep.



Between watching and sleeping she did what she loves the most EATING and of course we had to play Earthquake so that everyone could see how adorable she really is, not that we needed a reason.




All of us got to share a church service with Darcie and Brent on Sunday and I passed another milestone, I left Lily Bear in the nursery!








It was harder than I thought it was going to be to leave her. Of course it was a new church and I didn't know anyone which made it harder, plus the childcare was in a separate building. I am not going to lie, it was a little nerve wracking! Everyone made it through and Lily did great. That just shows me for worrying!


Valentines Day brought a wonderful 4 mile run in the morning followed by delicious crepes from our favorite little shop (the girls in there finally know me...such fun). Lily was a trooper during the run, but most assuredly wanted out when there were things to see and people to smile at.


We sat there for about 30 minutes just trying to get her to laugh at us.





She smiles, but getting laughs out is proving to be quite the challenge. Oh well, every moment with her is precious and such a blast.

First Quarter Lessons

Well we are through the first quarter of baby's first year and still have a happy, healthy thriving baby. It seems like the learning curve for Mom and Dad is as high as it is for Lily. Here are some of the latest lessons we are learning on our parenthood journey.

1. Just when you think you have a routine going, the little one WILL change it up on you. Unfortunately, babies don't understand the concept so the application goes right over their heads too.

2. Nothing is consistent about baby clothes and their sizing. One man's 3 months is another man's newborn. And one man's 3 months is another man's 6. I have been saving an adorable little 3 month dress and couldn't wait for her to hit 3 months. I put it on her the other day and the onsie is way to small. I have crammed her in it twice, but just can't bear to stuff her in it again.

3. Buy a pacifier clippy thing. Our first pacifier had no attachment method and just when we needed it we could never find it. That little $5 clip is the best thing we own.

4. No matter how many feedings you do or how much weight your baby gains, you will always have the worry that you are not producing enough. If you are lucky to over produce then you will worry about your baby being overweight. I does sound silly, but it is so true.

5. You learn quickly that yes, your baby will cry and no, it doesn't make you a bad mom to let them. Note: The sound of the shower drowns out the crying, if only for a couple of minutes, offering you a few moments of rejuvenation.

6. As hard as it is to decode sometimes, your baby does have a language and they will speak it loud and clear especially if you misunderstand them and put them to bed instead of feed them.

7. Being a mom and dad to Lily is important, but being a wife and husband is even more so. Don't ever let your baby make you forget what it is to be a spouse. Babies are supposed to enhance the marriage, not detract from it. Remember you were a wife/husband first, mom/dad second.

8. Number 7 is easier said than done.

9. If you can, avoid living in a second floor apartment. You say it is only 19 steps, but 19 feels like 50 with a baby in the car seat (blankets included), your purse, water bottle, mail, jacket and baby bag. Then you have to bring in all of the groceries. I bought two boxes of diapers on Monday and they are still in my car.

10. Learning to juggle a baby and her needs, me and my needs, Bob and his needs, laundry, ironing, grocery shopping, doctor's appointments, paying the bills, feeding the animals, taking Rocky out, vacuuming, planning dinners, making dinners, cleaning the dishes, emptying the dishwasher, making the bed and all the other chores is the best job in the whole world!

That Tongue!

The Longmire family has been sick, sick, sick this past week. It would appear that our little daughter has thoroughly infected us all. So far I am the worst and boy do I feel awful! My nose is running literally off of my face, when I cough it is like my throat is on fire and I sneeze so hard that now I am the one blowing snot bubbles. It is definitely different being sick when you have a little baby to take care of. All that I want to do is curl up in bed and sleep for 8 hours. That is most definitely not in Lily Grace's plans so I am just going to have to push through. Oh well, this won't last forever right?

In my last post I shared that Lily has started to explore the world with her tongue. It is somewhat challenging to catch on film because her little tongue moves in and out of her mouth like a lizard.



Bob and I laughed so hard the other night because we put her in the Bjorn and she started to lick the side of it like it was covered in sugar. I whipped out the camera and managed to catch a few shots of her.


Every now and then you can catch a great shot. Don't know what it is about that side of the Bjorn, but she licked it until it was a big wet pile of drool.



Her latest thing is that unless we are running or in the car for a long period of time she does NOT want to be in her carseat. There is just so much of the world to see these days. I used to be able to take her to the grocery store and she would sleep like a rock in her seat. The other day she fell asleep on the drive to the store and then was promptly awake once I took her into the store. She wanted to see everything. Watching her look at everything up and down the aisles with such fascination made me think about how exciting life must be for her. Wouldn't it be nice if we could find such satisfaction and fascination walking up and down the grocery aisles?


We also discovered last week that she is old enough to go into our church's child care. For some reason I was under the impression that babies could not go into the child care until they were 6 months or so. I just found out that she could have gone in there 2 weeks after birth. Wish I would have known that. I haven't sat through a whole sermon for a while. Bob and I are looking forward to our next Sunday at church. We will see how she does!