here are a few pictures of lily's first christmas


merry christmas, lily!

lily laughing with her dad

batting her eyelashes and flashing her big smile

charlie thinks lily looks like a tasty candy cane

tiny elves

charlie takes after his dad- tormenting the girls already

tasty wrapping paper

i was giving lily a bath tonight and kevin was about to head to the airport to go on a 4 day ski trip and he came in to say goodbye to us and right at that very moment lily figured out how to really laugh.

the huge, biggest smile ever, so proud of herself for figuring it out, deep belly laugh.

kevin and i were laughing AT her laugh and she was laughing AT us laughing until both kevin and i were crying and my cheeks hurt from laughing.

then we all still laughed some more.

he was late leaving for the airport because he just couldn't tear himself away from that laugh. i am SO glad she learned how to do it at that exact moment. i will never forget that sound.

anyone thinking about getting a new tatoo? here's a great design that i think would look very klassy when you are 80...

walkin in a not very wintry wonderland...

its not beginning to look a lot like christmas...

the weather outside is not very frightful, and the fire isn't so delightful...

christmas tunes made appropriate for 80 degree weather aren't quite as fun. come ye, oh come ye cold front!

lily and i are headed outside to enjoy this gorgeous weather at town lake, but before we leave i wanted to share two of her new tricks!

i can sit up!

and i can suck my thumb!

only little kids truly know the unique torture of being dressed up, told to be on your best behavior, and made to stand in line for hours at the mall only to be forced onto a strange old man's lap with a big scary white beard while your mom and dad stand behind a stranger with a camera saying "smile!! its SANTA!!"

sweet lucy and charlie were not fans of this tradition:

amy and ame came to town again this weekend to love on sweet ava trull. they just can't get enough! ava is the newest addition to what i'm referring to as "spring pledge class 2026". it seems like all of my friends having babies this year are all having girls, so of course they will all be roommates at baylor :)

amy brought her 4 month-old, anna kate and it was so fun to see her with lily again. they are a mere 9 days apart in age and have been friends since they were about a month old!

oh how much they've changed in the 3 short months since their first picture together... from this awkwardness:

to this total cuteness:

here are more pics from the visit:

introducing sweet ava

lily can't believe how tiny ava is!

lindsey and lily

amy with ava & lily

anna kate and ame

i might have to stop talking crap about lily on here. i have the sinking suspicion that she reads this blog...

my morning in pictures:

it all started innocently on the play mat...

then she rolled over to show me what she did...

so i changed her clothes and made her help with the laundry...

we had a good time...

(click above for larger view)

i'm finally fumbling my way around photoshop to make things other than just playing with pictures and removing blemishes, etc. i asked so many questions to kevin last night that he had to politely leave the room to get some peace and quiet. i guess i should get myself a photoshop book for christmas :)

i just scared the bejeezus out of my child.

i am sitting here next to her on her playmat and she has been trying so hard for about 30 minutes to roll from her back onto her belly (she mastered stomach to back a few weeks ago).

and she did it!! and i yelled " YOU DID IT LILY!!!!" and she started crying laying on her belly with her arms pinned beneath her. ooooops! :)

a few pics from a lazy saturday morning:

oh the excitement!

lily tries to play a chord

casey and bea harmonize

i'm sure you've heard the very classy phrase "opinions are like assholes... everyone has one". (hey, i warned you that it was classy!) but i have never found that to be more true than with a baby.

i've heard opinions on pretty much everything i have done or planned to do- from the natural birth to when to start her on solid food everyone suddenly feels like you are open game for their thoughts on how they think things should be done.

i just read this article and while i'm not convinced, it does make me even more comfortable with our goal to not incorporate television into lily's daily life until she is 2. (as recommended by the AAP)

the basic jist is that a connection has been found between television watching and autism. again, i didn't say its gospel, i just think its interesting.

the funny part to me is that people have an opinion on the fact that we have made it our goal to not watch tv regularly with our child. even if we change our minds in the future i will never regret not watching more television with her.

then again, this is just my asshole... i mean opinion. :)

how could you be in a bad mood when this smile is waiting for you every morning?

i think i'm in love.

i didn't plan it and i never thought i'd feel this way, but i have developed serious deep feelings for dr. richard ferber, author of 'solve your child's sleep problems'.

after only 2 nights of following the plan in his book, lily woke up just once last night for the first time in over 2 months. i'd say on average i was getting up 6-8x a night with her while she cried for her pacifier and had to put it in her mouth 2-3x to get her to go back to sleep. let's do the math, shall we? that would be me out of bed putting a pacifier in her mouth 24x a night.

last night was the first time i've slept comfortably in my own bed (rather than the guest bed upstairs by her room at least half the night) and i don't feel like a zombie this morning either.

so you can see why my heart flutters a little bit when i think about the good doctor. bless that man. bless him.