This morning...

Playing with Daddy before he left for work...

These pretty 'shoe socks' are from Great Auntie Peaches!

Seriously... how precious are these?

Gettin' better at lifting my head!

Lia's Night...

Lia spent most of the time I was making dinner craning her neck to stare up at the mobile above her swing. I thought her expression was funny...
"Now, how does that work...?"

She later abandoned the mobile to try to unbuckle herself...
"If I can just unbuckle this... I can be free!"


Slight disclaimer: Yes, we are semi-bad parents. We let Lia watch American Idol. I figure she won't remember that we plopped her in front of the TV when she is older and I think that she is just attracted to the color and pictures, so I don't feel TOO bad about it. :) Plus, she likes the music! :)


Chillin' and watching the singers.


"Oh my! She hit that note wrong! Oh no!"


"This can't be good... she's singing flat!"


"Oh no. Now she's done it. She's out. She can't sing at all."

Miscellaneous Pictures

Wearing a dress! She made me take it off a few minutes after these pictures were taken... but it was cute while it lasted!

I put Lia in front of this mirror so that I could check my email and I looked over a few seconds later and she was cooing and chatting to herself and touching her hand against the mirror. She stayed that way for probably about 20 minutes, just trying to 'touch' herself and talking to the other baby. :)

She's so cute...

If you don't get to actually see Lia on a regular basis, there really aren't any words to describe how cute she is. Sure, the pictures are adorable- but holding her and playing with her and watching her... its so different. She's gotten to be such a cute little person now, huggable. Before I was always afraid I'd hurt her or squash her by hugging her, but now I just wrap my arms around her little warm body and squeeze tight. When she's happy, she grins and sticks out her tongue. When she's happy, she'll hold onto her toes and rock back and forth. She's got the most kissable little tummy, arms and legs. She squeals and chatters all the time. She'll sing in her carseat when we're driving. She is so interested in everything lately, gazing out of the car window, beaming at random people in the grocery store, laughing her head off when Daddy flaps his arms like a bird. She's a little girl now... she cries when someone surprises her. She'll hear a loud noise and then her bottom lip will curl under into this absolutely sad expression and then she'll start howling. She's got a neck now too! She really is just the most kissable little baby ever. Right now she's lying on the ground next to me, blowing raspberries and bubbles. If you talk to her, she'll talk back. She's just the most wonderful baby in the whole wide world (yes she is!!! She's better than any baby!) and I love her more than anything. (this whole happy post might have to do with the fact that she only woke up once to eat last night... LOL)

excuse the drool :)

Just a picture

Doesn't she look old?

SUNGLASSES!

Kate and I took Lia shopping and we bought her a few pairs of sunglasses...

These are my favorites :)

New Diaper Bag!

This is my old diaper bag. Its roomy, tough and overall a great diaper bag. I think I'll just keept his one ready to go. Chris can also use this, because I'm sure he won't want to use...

The NEW Petunia Picklebottom (yes, its really called that) diaper bag! I LOVE IT! Its pink, and satiny and pretty, and its deceptively smaller looking than my first diaper bag. These bags are generally really really expensive (more than I could ever afford to pay for a diaper bag) but I got it on sale for about 1/3 of what it originally costs. YAY for pretty pink diaper bags!!!
And yeah, can you picture Chris walking around with this?
...

Its a good thing we're keeping the other diaper bag. :)

Happy Girl!

Lia's been napping now for almost three hours. She woke up to eat and have her diaper changed and now she's back down... I hope she's not going to start confusing her nights and days... yeeks. I took these pictures yesterday when she was in a good mood. Click to make full scale.

Lack of sleep

Its a growth spurt...

Yeah...

That better freaking be it.

This will be my seventh night of very little sleep. My darling daughter was sleeping for six hours after she was put down, waking up to eat and then going down for another two, eating and going for another two. It was wonderful. Her mother was happy, on top of things and loving life.

She has ceased to do this. Last night she went down for three hours and was up every hour and a half to two hours after that. Mom contemplated just crawling under her bed and crying. Poor Dad has been snapped at and neglected by sleep deprieved Mom. I wonder when I certifiably will go insane? Okay, so the sleep deprivation isn't THAT bad yet, but its getting there. I can't seem to get a grip on my sleep at this point. I'm always tired it seems like. Even when Chris was watching her this morning to try to let me get some more sleep (he is such an awesome husband...) I had an ear propped open. What IS my problem? When someone offers you sleep darnit, YOU TAKE IT! And now, here it is at 10:24pm, and Lia went down at 8:56pm. I have probably another hour or two of peace and then she'll be up. Maybe I shouldn't go to sleep. I've taken to doing that awful thing where you go to bed and you look at the clock. "I now have four hours left to sleep." An hour later, you look at it again. "I now have three hours left to sleep." And so on. I can't remember what it was like when I used to get a full eight hours of sleep, what a novel concept. Because in the last part of my pregnancy I wasn't getting a full night sleep either since every two hours I'd have to get up to use the bathroom. See, I knew that nature had a reason for doing that. It was just preparing me for waking up to feed the little person every two hours. Lia weighed 12 lbs, 11 oz last Wednesday. At the amount she's been eating for the last week, I fully expect her to weigh 14 lbs this upcoming Wednesday. SOMETHING good better have come from her CONSTANTLY feeding!!! And now, having vented some, I am going off to bed.

...

Two hours of sleep left...

...

Gift from Katheryn!

Katheryn sent Lia a very special gift to welcome her, and while Lia didn't really know what they were, Mom was terribly excited to get them. :) I actually looked at Katheryn's blog a few days ago and was wondering where her little sisters got their adorable hair accessories, and now I know! :) Thank you so much Katheryn, we both love them!! :)

"Yes, I know I'm beautiful."

"Would you look at the BEAUTIFUL flower in my hair?"

"I'm all happy and sunshiny. And I love Katheryn!"

Poor baby!

Lia has been really cranky and sad the last three or four days and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I thought maybe she was going through a growth spurt so I just let her fuss. Yesterday it got really bad to the point where she wouldn't let me set her down, would only nap in my arms and was just completely not herself. In exasperation I called my mom (aka Nana Duck) and asked her what she thought. My mom's first question was, "Does she have a cold?"

"Yes... but a little one. I don't think that's making her so mad."

"Its an ear infection." The positive tone in my mom's voice made me feel better already. I called and set up an appointment first thing this morning. Lia and I went to the Dr, and lo and behold! Lia has an ear infection! On one hand I feel badly that it took three days for us to figure it out, but on the other hand I'm so glad that we found out the reason why she's so sad and unhappy. And thank god for my mom!!! Lia's on antibiotics now, and the Dr said she should be doing fine in a few days.

Pretty Dress

I found this dress in Lia's closet, not quite sure where it came from but since it was actually warm today I thought we'd give it a try.

Outside Shoot

Chris has been gone almost three whole days at the racetrack and both Lia and I were getting pretty darn sick of each other. Thank the good sweet Lord that Kate decided to come over and hang out with us. I got to take a SHOWER!! :) AND I emptied three garbages, cleaned and put up these pictures. Bless her. Bless her a thousand times over. :)

I love this picture. Darn Kate for being so photogenic...

I was a little bit miffed when Lia cried while being in my arms, but stopped when I put her in her Aunt Katzies. :) She loves her Aunt Kate.

QUICK! Take the picture! She's not screaming!

These pictures are courtesy of Kate. Aint' she a great photographer? People have told me that I should have some more pictures of me and Lia, and Kate happily obliged.

My guess is Lia is thinking... "Mom, your SQUISHING my face!"

As I'm typing up this entry, Kate is sitting in the living room holding Lia as she takes her nap. I feel like a Queen or a lady of leisure. Kate ROCKS. :)

Lia Lately

I think that her middle of the night feedings is one of my favorite times with her. Granted, I hate waking up in the middle of the night and hopping out of my warm bed, but once I'm holding her in the middle of the night, I can't help but love her. At her first night feeding (generally six hours after she was put down) she's completely out, and I go in just because I hear her stirring. She never opens her eyes, just is a limp little warm bug. After I'm done feeding her, she just sort of falls off, smacks her little lips and cozies a little more into my arms as she drifts back into deep sleep. She's just such a little darling at 4:30am. Yes, when she wakes up later on she can be a loud, aggravating terror, but at 4:30am (most of the time!) I just want to sit and cuddle her.

She's also go the softest skin on her cheeks, and neck and tummy. She's started smiling when I blow raspberries at her, and yesterday she was laughing hysterically as I tickled her under her arms. Its funny because as she's getting more demanding, she's also getting funner. When she's tired, she will scream bloody murder and refuse to go to sleep. But once she's woken up from a good nap, she is just the cutest, happiest little baby. When she's happy in the tub, she'll splash around, kicking her legs and waving her arms until we're both soaked. When she's mad in the tub, she'll arch her back and howl. Lately she's also started to stick her lower lip WAY out when she's sad. Her little face will just get the saddest expression. She's starting to get startled too. Yesterday I sneezed really loudly and she jumped, then for a split second lay really still, then her lower lip turned upside down and she started bawling. She's just becoming such a little person and its both incredibly fun and tiring to be a part of it. :) When we go for walks now, her head looks like its on a revolving stick. She is constantly turning to and fro to see what's going on. She's started smiling at strangers. I was in the grocery store yesterday with her facing outward in her carrier and apparently she was flirting with this elderly woman because as I was looking at milk, the lady approached me and said, "You have the most adorable baby I've ever seen. She's beautiful." Lia proceeded to positively BEAM at this woman.

Its funny because lately, I've been going out and doing more than I ever did before I had her. Before my life would consist of waking up, going to work, coming home, lounging around, watching television, eating dinner, going to sleep and starting the whole process over again. My days now are busy and crazy. I'm constantly trying to entertain her. Every day we go somewhere. We always go for a walk. We meet up with other mom's. We sit out in our backyard (which I don't think Chris and I ever spent any time in for the past three years) and I talk to her. My day isn't timed out by my meals anymore. Its timed out by when she needs to be fed, diapered and put back to sleep. Even when I don't feel like going out, I have too. She's keeping me on the go, even at three months. I can't wait until she gets bigger! Until she can walk. Until she can talk. Until she can entertain herself for longer than 2 minutes. :)

Anyways, she's waking up now in her swing. I'm off to go keep going on with my day. :)

Lots of pictures

Lia in her new Bumbo seat

Concentrating and cooing to her toy

Asleep on the couch in her Boppy

Yesterday I was using the computer while she was taking her nap, and I peeked to see how she was doing. She was just sitting in her swing with this funny little expression on her face. I wonder what she was thinking. She ended up just swinging for about twenty more minutes before she decided to let me know she wanted to be picked up.