The Good, the Bad and the REALLY Scary!

So, let's start with the really scary and get that out of the way. Lillian made it abundantly clear on Saturday that she can no longer be left alone for even a minute and proved to me that this parenting business is not for the weak of heart! I had her laying on her changing table after putting a clean diaper on and had knelt down to get something out of the bottom drawer when I heard an awful thud. Oh yes, my future gymnast had flipped herself over the side of the table, where she hit the door on the way down, and landed on her belly on the hardwood floor. Needless to say there was lots of screaming and crying (from both of us!) following this fall. We immediately called our pediatrician's office and were given a list of head injury symptoms to be on the lookout for. For humor, I would like to share these symptoms... 1. Vomiting (Lillian spits up so much after each feeding that it's hard to distinguish it from vomiting) 2. Sleepiness (When she fell, it was 30 minutes past her nap time so she was barely able to keep her eyes open) 3. Fussiness (Seriously, have you met Ms. Lillian?!? :)). Let's just say I spent the remainder of the day convinced that my child had a traumatic head injury - thank goodness for my calm and rational husband!!!
While we are on the not so pleasant topics, we will address "the bad" as it relates to what toys Lillian likes and does NOT like. Many of my friends with children around Lillian's age have the doorway jumpers that their little ones absolutely love. We didn't have one, so after church today Brad and I headed to Babies R Us where we bought this item that we were sure would provide her/us hours of entertainment - Ha! She hated every second of it and I have the pictures to prove it. :)
She does however LOVE her exersaucer, which leads me finally to the good. This is one toy that I can always depend on to make her happy and give me a few precious moments to get some things done. As she is teething, EVERYTHING is going in her mouth these days and her very favorite is the pig from the exersaucer. Lillian is beginning to love being around other children and we had two great opportunities over the past few weeks for this to happen. First, my friend, Cile, brought her precious little girl, Emma Kate, over to meet Lillian. It was so cute to watch how Lillian couldn't take her eyes off EK and listen to her trying so hard to "talk" to her. Secondly, we got to go to Alex City over Memorial Day weekend for a Carter family reunion and a birthday party for our niece, Carson, who turned 5 years old. She is getting to be such a big girl and is so sweet - hopefully Lillian can follow in her footsteps!

The changing table that was the scene of the fall...

Lillian loving her exersaucer...


Did I mention that she HATED the jumper?!

She has started sleeping this way and I think it is adorable...

She also enjoys sitting in her Bumbo...

Lillian also loves this doll that her granddaddy got her...

Lillian and Emma Kate...

Not that you can tell by this face, but she loves her oatmeal cereal...

Carson's birthday party...

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!...

Life with Lillian

Lillian turned 11 weeks old on Monday and is really getting to be a big girl! She is already easily wearing 3-6 month sized clothing and jumped up to size 2 diapers. She is becoming so expressive and does A LOT of laughing and smiling. She is extremely happy in the mornings and is always grinning from ear to ear when we go in her room to get her up. One of her favorite activities that always gets a smile is when her daddy and I make animal noises. She especially likes it when daddy makes the piggy sound and mommy makes the moo cow sound (April, good thing I practiced it so much in Anniston - HA!). She has also started to notice Emily and Riley which has been hilarious to watch. Her eyes get so wide and she starts flailing her little arms and legs every time she sees them (I wish I could say they shared her enthusiasm!).
One of the things that Lillian already does not enjoy is being restrained in any way. She absolutely hates to be swaddled, strapped into her car seat or put into the stroller! It is quite the sight to see me strolling the neighborhood on a beautiful day with a screaming infant in tow (yes, I am aware that most children love this activity!). She may look exactly like her daddy, but I have found one way that she is completely my child... she stays hot. Poor thing can break a sweat at room temperature and like her mother, this can cause a meltdown. :) Finally on the list of things Lillian is not a fan of... naps! As someone who loves to sleep, this is a bit devastating, but we are working on it and I have high hopes that she will come around and embrace this activity.

Brad really likes St. Patrick's Day and insisted that Lillian have an outfit to celebrate!

Lounging in the bouncy with her St. Patty's outfit on...

This is the face we get when we make the animal sounds...

She loves laying on her changing pad...

Sometimes things are so bad that not even Emily can make it better! :)

April and Trent came to visit...

Seriously, could they be any cuter?!?

This snuggle time could only happen since daddy wasn't here - HA!

Lillian LOVED April's mom and grinned every time she talked to her!

What A Weekend - Part 2

The Carter family has had another exciting weekend! Brad and I took Lillian on another road trip on Saturday and went to visit his family in Alexander City. Lillian got to meet her other great grandmother (Brad's grandmother) for the first time and it was super sweet to see them together. We then went over to Aunt Pat and Uncle Fletcher's (aka - Mimi and Pops) where miss Lillian got LOTS of love! Her uncle Chris came over and let's just say that Lillian is crazy about him. Maybe it's because he has raised a little girl of his own, but she couldn't get enough of him. Not a good sign for daddy, but she may just really like boys because she also took a liking to Brad's cousin's little boy, Dylan, and kept trying to hold onto his finger. :)
We had to hurry back to Birmingham because that night we had a birthday party for my friend, Bethany, to attend - SANS Lillian! Yep, Brad and I left Lillian for the first time with a sitter and went to an "adult only" function. I can't say that we weren't a little apprehensive about leaving our little girl for the first time, but our friends, Lauren and Jason, hooked us up with the most fabulous babysitter ever. I would like to say for the record that I only checked my phone twice the whole time to make sure that I hadn't missed a call from her! I can't however, say how many times Brad may or may not have checked his phone or that he didn't have it sitting out on the table throughout dinner. Ha! I am just thankful that we survived (and it wasn't too painful) this first milestone because I know how important it is for Brad and I to still do things as a couple.

Lillian and her Great Grandmother Carter...
Lillian with Mimi, Penny and Dylan...
Getting loved on by Uncle Chris...
Lillian and Mimi...

What A Weekend

This has certainly been a very fun, event-filled weekend for us! We took Lillian on her first road trip and went to Tuscaloosa for her to meet all of her family on my side. We started by going to the assisted living home where her Great Grandmother Ruth (my mom's mom) lives. This was very special because this was the first time they were able to meet. Also, we were lucky enough to have her Uncle David (my mom's youngest brother) come meet her and spend some time with us.
Next, we were off to her Great Grandparent's house (my dad's parents) to celebrate her Great Grandmother Lee's 81st birthday with the WHOLE family. I had been warned that my aunt and cousins were already fighting over who was going to get to hold her first and most, but nothing could have prepared me for how much love she got! In the 4 hours we were there, I did not hold my child one time - except for the times she needed to be changed when strangely, people were glad to give her up. HA! I must admit that I enjoyed the break, but I'm not sure her daddy (who is a wee bit protective :)) felt the same way. In fact, I think he was more than ready to get home and have his "daddy time" with her.
Finally, we woke up this morning to see SNOW!!! The excitement here at the Carter house left no room for doubt that we are true Southerners and not used to the white stuff. We made sure that we did all of the mandatory activities... build a snowman (Brad went with a snowBABY), make snow ice cream (SO yummy!!!), and take no less than 50 pictures (just to prove that it actually did snow in Alabama). An absolutely fabulous day made better by the fact that I never took off my pjs! :)

Lillian with her Great Grandmother Ruth...

Lillian and I with Uncle David...

Lillian with her Great Grandparents...

Our family...

Lillian and her Granddaddy...

Brad's Snowbaby (complete with one of Lillian's hats, bib and paci)...

Lillian and daddy...

Lillian and mommy...

Emily (did not enjoy the cold snow!)...

Lillian in the PRECIOUS hat her aunt Fay sent her...

Another cute hat picture...

1 Month Old!

Our little girl is officially one month old! I am torn between feeling like Lillian has been with us for so much longer than one short month and disbelief that she is already that old. According to my dad, she has already experienced a "birthday" and came to visit this weekend baring LOTS of gifts to celebrate. The humorous part is that since I have an actual birthday (the yearly kind!) coming up on the 14th, I assumed that the large bag of gifts he brought were mine and got quite excited. You can imagine my surprise when I was informed that they were all for Lillian's one month birthday. Luckily, I love her so much that I am more than happy for her to get all of the attention - which is probably good as I have a feeling that will be the case for a long time to come! :)
We went to the pediatrician on Friday for her 4 week checkup and everything looked great. Lillian is already up to 9 lbs and 5 ozs from the 7 lbs and 6 ozs she was when we left the hospital! She is in the 50th percentile for weight and head size (I never even knew this was something they rated) and in the 75th percentile for height. Not that I think she will be tall, but coming from such a long line of short people, I do find it funny that she is above average in the height category!

Brad is already the most amazing dad and loves her SO much! Her little feet sticking out the bottom cracks me up.

Finally, I couldn't resist getting on the bandwagon and posting our results from the look-alike meter. I find it interesting that it says Lillian looks equally like Brad and I because I still see so much more of her daddy than me when I look at her!