Vacation... Not for Sissys!

A mother recently shared this quote with me and I love it! Probably because "The Carters" just went on our first family vacation and I now understand how true that statement really is. It's amazing how a four night trip can actually be a two week event with the planning, packing, unpacking and trying to return Lillian to her normal schedule (this is still a work in progress). For 35 years, vacations have been relaxing events that revolved all around... well, ME. I have come to realize however, that the days of sleeping in (we were up by 7 every morning), lounging with a pina colada by the pool all day (the one virgin pina colada I did get melted while I tried to make Lillian stop crying) and dinners at nice restaurants (the words "kid friendly" were used to discuss any and every dining option) are long gone. Let's just say that the torch has now been passed to the new queen of the house - and I wouldn't have it any other way!
Thanks so much to the Reeds for the fun trip to the beach and lots of great memories!!!

Family Picture...

Getting ready to try the pool...

So, she didn't instantly take to the water...

Things went much smoother with Trent... Us with the Reeds at the pool...

At least she enjoyed chewing on the float... Sometimes a girl just needs to nap... I think she really liked this hat...

Not as much as she likes her daddy though...
Day two went much better at the pool...

Our big girl can now sit up...

The kids patiently waiting on their dinners...

Fun Pictures

We bought a Praise Baby DVD and it turns out that BOTH of my girls love it! (If the truth be told, Emily may enjoy it even more than Lillian:))

We went to Tuscaloosa for Father's Day and let's just say that Lillian was a hit with her cousins. I even overheard them arguing over who would get to sit next to me at lunch since I would be holding her- too cute!

Her granddaddy thought that she needed some shades for when we come back to the beach to visit. The sunglasses were funny looking enough, but the look of confusion on her face when I put them on, priceless!

We bought a highchair this weekend since Lillian's legs have gotten a bit too "meaty" for the Bumbo, but I'm thinking she's not quite ready for it yet. Ha!

This onesie is what Lillian wore on Father's Day morning for her daddy.

Good times!

Lillian may look just like her daddy, but she has a love for food that comes straight from her mommy! Over the past few weeks, Lillian has had peas, green beans, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes and bananas and seems to really like them all. She now gets very excited every time that she is put in the Bumbo because she associates it with time to eat (not so good for the times she isn't getting to eat!). She is not exactly a neat eater so it is a good thing that she still LOVES her baths since it is pretty much a necessity after a meal.
She is now a rolling fool and turn your back for even a second and she will be half way across a room. She is getting VERY close to sitting up on her own and I cannot wait for that. Life will be so much easier (especially on my back!) when Lillian can be carried around without the bulky/heavy car seat. She is also teething and everything goes directly into her mouth and there is an unreal amount of drool - yuck! I can feel two little "buds" on her lower gum line so I believe we will have teeth very soon.
Lillian has made a few trips lately and done fabulously! First, we went down to my dad's "fishing place" in Miller's Ferry which is on the Alabama River for the weekend. Thank goodness she was so good because Brad and my dad fished the whole time, there is no cable or Internet and lots of heat and bugs... not necessarily my dream situation! :) Next, we went to Tuscaloosa to celebrate my granddaddy's 85th birthday with the whole family and Lillian let everyone hold and love on her (huge accomplishment!). Finally, Brad took her to Alex City this past weekend to visit with his grandmother and Mimi and Pop. Yes, you are reading this correctly, BRAD took her by himself for the whole day on their first "daddy-daughter day". Things went extremely well and I was so excited that they had so much fun together. I grew up getting this special time with my dad and know how much it means to a little girl. A humorous side note is that even now at 35 years old, I remember like it was yesterday that on our "d-d days", I always got to get a grape slushy and a bag of sugar babies. For a kid who was already off the charts with energy, I'm sure this made for very interesting times for my poor dad. :)

Just a sampling of Lillian's meal-time look...

Relaxing in the tub after a messy meal...

Everything goes in her mouth these days...

Did I mention she was teething?...

My men - the pro bass fishers (I think those are bass)...

A view from the boring - I mean relaxing - porch at the river...

Lillian's aunt Tracy bought her this adorable tutu...


This one cracks me up. She woke up from a hard nap with the paci mark on her forehead...

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!...