Sunday, May 10, 2009

Lots of Growth and Change...

that is the theme of our lives these days! Lillian is now 4 months old and weighs in at 14 lbs and 9 ozs which places her in the 75-90th percentile for weight. Our girl is 25 1/2 inches long and that puts her in the 75th percentile for heigth as well. We gave her rice cereal for the first time this past week and I swear, she has "fattened up" more already from it. We decided to add this when we did because our wonderful child that was sleeping 11-12 hours every night since she was 10 weeks old (yes, I realize this is amazing!), suddenly started waking around 2:00 am each morning. As I believe in moving forward and not backward, this needed to cease and QUICKLY - of course it had nothing to do with my frustration at no longer being able to sleep through the night! :) We still haven't quite gotten our angel sleeper back yet, but are making progress so keep your fingers crossed for us.

Lillian was invited to her first birthday party on Saturday for her sweet friend Hannah Claire, and we had such a good time. We also went on Saturday to meet our cousin's newborn little girl (and Lillian's future BFF :)), Avery. I cannot believe how tiny she is and it makes me realize how much and how quickly Lillian is growing. Another highlight for Lillian (and for us) was the trip we took to Pensacola to visit my dad that DID NOT end up in the hospital - Hallelujah! All of these events were made even better by the fact that Lillian did not scream the whole time and showed the "happy baby" side our herself that we MUCH prefer. I will spare the details, but let's just say we went through a very rough patch where she "freaked out" every time we went somewhere where there were people other than Brad and I. This was especially hard for me and I left a few events in tears thinking poor Lillian hated people and would not be able to handle any social situations (a little dramatic I realize). I believe that we have worked through this little "phase" however, and I couldn't be more relieved!

While Lillian has certainly done amazing amounts of growing and changing, I can see that I have as well. I feel that this little girl has pushed me (sometimes to the breaking point :)) to become a much better person than I was before she came along. Through her I have gained the patience I used to pray for, the self-sacrifice I never even thought to pray for and mostly, a level of love that can only come as the ultimate answered prayer. So even though there have been hours and even days along these past 4 months that I felt I might be in over my head, I realize that with His help, our little family may just continue to change and grow closer to God and into the people he wants us to be!


Here are some pictures from the last month:



My first Mother's Day...
Lillian with Grandmother Lee...
Lillian with Grandmother Ruth...


Lillian relaxing on HC's pillow at the party. For sweet Emma Kate, notice that she has her paci in :)...

Our niece Carson meeting Lillian for the first time...
first Sunday to go to the church nursery (she did great!)...

Just hanging out on her granddaddy's deck...

Our attempt at a family picture including Emily...

Family picture at my dad's...

I love this picture of my sweet girl!...

This picture cracks me up! I picture Lillian saying "what you talking 'bout Willis?"...


I can't get over how blue her eyes still are and have no idea where they came from!...


7 comments:

John and Brooke said...

Hey Heidi,
Glad to hear yall are doing so well! It is so fun for me to compare blogs with you since Will is just a little younger than Lillian. We have not started rice cereal yet, but wanted to tell you that He did the exact same thing with waking up at 2ish during his 14th week. It was driving me nuts. He did it 7 days in a row, woke up like clock work, and then the next week just fell back into his routine of sleeping from 8:30-7. We just made him cry it out (it really wasn't a cry, just a whine). Sounds like you are over the hump, but several of my friends told me this happened with them multiple times. Maybe she was growing :) I would love to put Will beside her....he is 16 lbs. and I don't know how long but I can't rock him anymore because he is so long...he can't ball up anymore :) He is going to be a big boy!!

kristen elaine said...

Heidi, Lillian is beautiful!!! I can't wait to see her soon. Happy Mother's Day - glad to hear your first one was a great one:) Thanks for calling today - it was good to catch up! Let's definitely all get together soon - let us know when you find out what B's schedule is. Have a good week & enjoy your days with your sweet girl!

Natalie-John+2 said...

Great pictures!! She is so cute..again, I want to meet her in person sometime soon. We need to arrange that! Happy first Mother's Day.

Brandi said...

We were so honored that you guys could come the the party. I love her laugh. That was priceless. I would have to say she does seem to be over her fear. I don't think she fussed once the whole party. You can tell she is hitting that stage where she doesn't look like an infant anymore. I love the picture with Emily!

Cile said...

Lillian does have gorgeous blue eyes! Emma Kate is ecstatic about the pacifier pictures, of course. When I mentioned that she had been given the paci shout out, she said "it's not especially for anybody else." You are her hero, Heidi!

The Hamiltons said...

Lillian is incredibly beautiful! Love the update! Seriously, Lillian & Micah need to meet each other! : )

Cile said...

By the way...I love your cute stiped dress from the P'cola trip!