Another FotoFly Experience

We went back up to FotoFly in Draper for Lily's 6-month pictures. They are amazing!! If any of you reading this blog live in Utah, I highly recommend them. It's seriously the best deal you can get. The photographer this time was just as incredible as the one for her 2-month pictures, and Lily thought she was the funniest person in the world! She never fussed during the 45-minute session even though we changed her outfit 3 times. The pictures we got were amazing...the truly captured Lily and her personality. I'm including some pictures here (b/c along with great pictures, you get the copyright too!), but it's hard to choose because they are just that awesome. Enjoy!

1/2 a year...already!!

Lily turned 6 months old on Friday, January 13th (she's destined to have lots of those "bad luck" days for birthdays...sorry bug, but it's your fault...you came early). She is just growing like a weed! She weighs 16 lbs 4 oz and is 27 inches tall. She's in the 90th percentile for her height! We celebrated by going to dinner at the BYU creamery...we hope to make this a long-standing tradition for our little ones :) While Lily couldn't eat thefood there, we did give her her first vegetable - peas. She made some funny faces, but ate them really well. I'm sure they have more flavor than rice cereal! I'm so happy that she's eating solid foods and getting to the point where she can try new things, but I'm also sad that the days of nursing her will be over eventually. I think back to when she was first born and how hard it was for those first couple weeks...it hurt and I felt like that's all I was doing!! Now it's a special time for me to be with her. I'm glad she's growing up, but it's happening so fast (although I agree with my sister-in-law that it doesn't always feel like it's going fast!).

Some things Lily likes:

-bath time (she has started splashing the water!)

-peas!

-Daddy (this has always been true, but I love seeing her light up when he comes home from work!)

-playing in her pack-n-play (thanks Papa Noyes!)

-rolling over

-pushing up on her hands

-looking at herself in the mirror

-light switches (she thinks they're awesome!)

-riding in the car

-snuggling with Mommy

-playing with Mommy and Daddy

-looking at the tree on her wall (thanks Paola and Carlos!)

-sleeping (she's a great sleeper)

-her musical Lily doll (Leap Frog Lily...thanks Grandma Irvin!)

-Daddy's phone

-sitting up

Here's to many more great memories!

Happy 6 months Lily Bug!

A new addition

There's been a new addition! No, not to our family. Our wonderful friends Carlos and Paola welcomed their adorable little boy into the world on January 2nd. He was heavier and longer than Lily...and has tons more hair than her! He is just the cutest thing!! We're very happy for them and wish them the best on their new adventure.

Lily and Martín...destined to be great friends!

Christmas

This Christmas was the third Faiver and I have spend together, but the first with our little princess. We were so excited to go visit my family in North Carolina! It had been a while since I'd been with my family for Christmas, so I was very much looking forward to it. Let me preface our trip little: Lily is a very calm, mellow baby. She doesn't fuss very much and usually just goes with the flow. Even so, I was a little worried about howshe would handle flying. It wasn't just the fact of taking off, spending hours in one position, or landing, but we also had layover times, and let's face it, that's not fun for anyone. However, I shouldn't have worried. She didn't mind taking off or landing (I tried to time feedings so I could nurse her during those times to reduce the ear discomfort; but even when it didn't line up, she was not phased by it at all!), and she slept almost the whole time we were in the air. She was an angel! If traveling with all our future kids will be this easy, bring it on!

Posing for a picture...what a happy baby!

When we landed in NC, the flight attendant let us take a picture of Lily in the cockpit

For those of you who have never experienced a winter in the South, temperatures do not get too low. However, this Christmas was exceptionally warm! It stayed in the 60s the whole time we were there, except for the last day where it dropped into the 40s with lots of rain. I hardly even needed to wear a light jacket. It was heaven! Usually I would be devastated that there wasn't any snow (never had a white Christmas before), but after leaving the frigid temperatures of Utah, I was basking in the Spring-like weather.

It was good to have almost the whole familytogether (Nathaniel and his family couldn't make it) and I was especially excited to spend time with my nephew Alexander.Lily was super excited to meet him! When we went over the Phillip and Heather's house, as soon as Lily saw Alexander she got excited and made cute baby noises and touched his face. Alexander wasn't sure what to think about this new little girl who was touching him, but he just went with it. You should've seen the faces of confusion! It was the cutest thing to see them together! Hopefully these cousins will be able to get to know each other well in the future.

Playing with cousin Alexander

Christmas is definitely not the same with little ones around; it takes a lot longer to get through presents! Lily was interested in playing with the paper and the bows...she liked her presents ok, but what are they compared to things NOT designed for babies?! It was a great day!

opening some presents ... thanks cousin Trey for letting Lily use your Bumbo chair ... it was a great help!!

On the last day of our trip, we were able to visit Muriel's neck of the woods. She is finishing up her college degree this year at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro. We went up on Monday evening and stayed at the house where she lives with 2 other girls (they weren't there at the time). She showed us some of her favorite spots (a yummy restaurant and the international food market) as well as the beautiful lights in her neighborhood. I wish I had taken pictures of it because it was incredible! It was great to spend some special time with her!

Lily and Aunt Muriel!

Now we're back to normal every-day life, but it was a wonderful, memorable first Christmas with our daughter!

Merry Christmas! (I can't get over how cute Lily is in her red dress, white socks and black shoes!!)

5 months!

I think I say this every time, but I can't believe how fast timeis going by...my Lily is 5 months old already!! A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. We started introducing Lily to solid foods...so she had her first rice cereal a couple weeks ago! She definitely didn't like it the first day, but she has gotten more used to it as time goes by. Now she eats almost the whole tablespoon of cereal!

she made really funny faces as Daddy tried to feed her...it was not her favorite the first time around!

She has also really gotten the hang of this rolling over thing. It used to take her a long time to roll over, but not she does it almost as soon as I put her down on the floor. She only rolls on her left side, no matter what I try to get her to roll over the other way too (like put her toys on that side of her). One day I got out of the shower and she had rolled over and fallen asleep without making any noise. She really likes it, and I just know that when she discovers mobility, I'll never be able to stop her!

look, Mommy! I did it! She just loves to roll over. This was the sight I came out of the shower to. What a sweet sleeping baby!

A couple of weekends ago, BYU was hosting this Christmas activity for families, complete with activities, crafts (for older kids), entertainment and Santa! I really wanted Lily to have her first picture with Santa...we had bought her a cute Christmas outfit and the pictures were free. The event went from 9-12 which we thought was perfect since Lily usually wakes up around 9:30. Well, of course that particular morning she decided to sleep in so we didn't get up to campus until 11:15. We thought it was still ok because the event was going until 12; however, when we got to the area where Santa was, there was a sign and a young lady standing at the entrance prohibiting anyone from entering because the line for Santa was closed. Closed?? Seriously?? It was only 11:15!! Faiver asked why and she said it was because Santa was supposed to be gone at 12. Why didn't you say that on the card?? We would've been there sooner if theyhad said, "you need to be in line by ____ time if you want a picture with Santa." But no! I walked away because I was so angry. My baby's first opportunity to get a picture with Santa and they turn us away? Argh!! Faiver, however, being the wonderful person that he was, stayed and argued with the girl until she finally let us in. I have no idea what he said to her, but we got in!! We then stood in the line for almost an hour before reaching Santa. Of course, Lily got sleepy, so she took a 20 minute nap before her picture, which we woke her up to get. And Santa looked completely wiped! So, the pictures didn't turn out perfectly, but they were ok for Lily's first time. Maybe next year will be better, although she'll probably cry next year. We also took some pictures around a nice Christmas display they had...Christmas card? I think so!!

First picture with Santa!! Potential Christmas Card pic Lily likes the presents!!

We went up to Temple Square last Saturday to see the Christmas lights with our friends Brian and Cassie. Apparently it was the wrong weekend to go! There were two concerts going on, so it was packed!! It was like General Conference crowds! Still, the lights were beautiful, and it was fun to spend some time with our friends. Lily liked looking at all the lights, too!

Ah, the lights! It was so pretty!! It was quite cold...but Faiver likes to feel it (crazy guy!)

All in all, Lily is a sweet, happy baby. She's so cuddly and so lovable. We're so lucky to have her. She definitely keeps our life happy :)

Big, beautiful smiles!!

First snow and feet

Lily has discovered her feet! She loves to play with them and put them in her mouth. She is so stinkin' cute!

She also experienced her first snow. It didn't stay past the night, but we went out and let her feel the snow on her face. The next day we put some from a bush in her hand. She held it for a few seconds and then let go. The look on her face was priceless!

4 Months!

Holy cow! Where does the time go? I can't believe that my little girl is four months old!! She is such a blessing in our lives. We went to the doctor on the 14th and she's looking good. She weighs 13 pounds 10 ounces and is 25 incheslong. She's in the 50th percentile for her head and weight and the 75th percentile for her height. My mom asked me how in the world we got a tall baby because neither of us are very tall...maybeshe'll grow into it or maybe she got the recessive gene. I guess only time will tell :) Lily is a brave little girl...she only cried a little when the nurses gave her 3 shots all at once. As soon as I picked her up, she was fine. What a trooper!! She did get a bit of a fever, but it was gone in a day. She is growing more hair which makes me very happy and her smiles can just melt away all the bad stuff or stress of the day. She's our little angel.

Trying to bring her fever down...poor baby

She has come to like tummy time a lot more and is holding up her head much higher now. She's rolled over a couple times, but it's not consistent yet. She smiles and laughs a lot and talks up a storm! She's super wiggly and likes to stand on our laps (with lots of helpof course). She continues her amazing sleeping habits and is so stinkin' sweet that it makes it soooooo hard for me to want to go to class! I know it's all worth it though. She likes to put everything in her mouth and has a favorite toy, Señor Cintas, which she plays with much longer than any of her other toys. And when I say "play" I mean put in her mouth. She loves getting in the car and usually falls asleep depending on how long the trip is. She makes funny faces and just lights up our lives.

Here are some more pictures from a few other fun times we've had lately:

We were BYU fans for Halloween! Lily loves her Daddy!!

Fun in the fall leaves