The BIG 2-5

Yes, I'm now a quarter of a century old. Kinda crazy to say that. Really, to me it's not that big of a deal. All my family thought it was but I really didn't. Maybe it's because my circle of friends are older than me and my husband is 6 1/2 years older (do the math people!) or maybe it's because I'm a mom so birthdays are starting to get less important. Either way, 25 still seems really young! Some days I wish I was a bit older so people would stop saying "You're only 25? You're just a baby!" And I know there are those of you out there who are saying "You should be happy that you look younger!" But I'm not-maybe when I'm 30 and people say those words then that's when I'll be happy! :)

Anyway, I did have a fabulous birthday weekend! My mom (she's the best) wanted to throw me and some of my girlfriends a tea party! There's this cute, little tea house in Dallas and my mom, sister, sis in law, mom in law, and some gals from the small group we're in at church were there to help celebrate my birthday on Saturday (which was a day early!) Lots of fun, great tea and yummy food! My mom even had quarters layed out on the table (get it, because I'm a quarter of a century!) Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera there but my mom did so when I get those pics scanned in I'll post one!

Then my wonderful husband had the rest of the evening planned out. Before that though, we did some yard work. It was so nice outside and Lily took a super long nap, we actually had more than 30 minutes to get stuff done! Lots of weeding was accomplished...I do love having a nice looking yard! Now I'm just needing some pretty flowers or a hanging basket or something (maybe for Mother's Day?!) So for dinner, my parents and siblings and AJ's parents and siblings headed over to Padington's Pizza and then we came back here for presents and cake! Here's all of us at the pizza parlor:I know it's hard to see everyone-but they're all there!She looks guilty! But she's focused on those raisins!Ahh...aren't we cute?Here I am with all those presents-I'm spoiled! Or just blessed with giving family members!
Look at those chubbers! I LOVE the rolls on her legs! My brother Joel and AJ being sillyAJ bringing me my cake-with TRICK candles! Meaning when I blew them out, the re-lit! Those things were so scary! They were like miniature sparklers and were sparking every where!Blowing 'em out-look at the sparks on the candles! And of course there HAS to be a picture of Lily riding her car! Holding the cake he picked out! Still can't figure out how to rotate pictures! Any ideas?Leandra, Joel, Jeff (Andrea's fiance') and Andrea-AJ's sisMy adorable parents

AJ's adorable parents with Lily

And on my actual birthday I went to church then my brother, sister and I went to Best Lil' Roadhouse for lunch (while AJ stayed home with Lily and they napped) and then we went to Old Navy to do some returns and buy more with birthday money! Joel was so nice to treat me to lunch and coffee! All in all it was a fantastic birthday weekend and I was spoiled! Thanks to everyone for helping me celebrate!

Playdate with Zoe

First of all....I know it's been a whole week since I've last 'blogged.' I've just been either busy or basically lazy! I just have to be in the right mood to do it. And I haven't really done anything or taken any pictures to blog about. But now I've got some time and a few photos to share since Lily Mae is napping so here it goes!

Last week my good friend Tara needed me to watch her little girl Zoe. I think I've posted pictures of her before. Zoe is 4 months older than Lily so we try to get them together to play every once in a while. I guess they are little gigglers in the nursery together-at least that's what they tell us when we go to pick them up!

I was trying so hard to get them to sit next to each other so I could take a picture! But since Zoe is walking (Lily is NOT!) she would always get up and walk away before I could snap it! Oh well

Playing with the ball together-sorta!

She wants the ball now!

And since Zoe is walking she loved 'smelling' the flowers. And then I'd find her picking off the pretty little heads of them! She's too cute though

I do love her
They have a good time together and Zoe would walk around our house while Lily would follow her and ride her 'car'. I know, I know, I've got to get that girl off her car and on the floor walking!

And then the other day Lily was eating lunch and I find this on her face:

A piece of cheese! This girl had no idea it was STUCK to her cheek! Oh she makes me laugh!

Sunny weekend FUN!

Oh my...what a BEAUTIFUL weekend we had! I can't believe how nice it was-80 degrees! I so wish it was here to stay, but as I write this post it's very gloomy outside. And I hear it could snow this weekend?!!! Seriously? I was just about to pack up Lily's winter clothes but decided not to thankfully. I swear, that girl is gonna grow out or run out of warm clothes before nice weather is here! She's got TONS of spring/summer clothes...oh well! So on Saturday we had our good friends, the Steiners, over for a BBQ lunch. It was so fun and HOT. We were able to finally sit out on our new patio furniture (that we bought at the end of last summer!) and enjoy food and fellowship. I was wanting to plant flowers but glad I didn't considering the freezing temperatures we could face this weekend!

This actually wasn't during our BBQ lunch, but later that night we sat outside again for dinner! Lily had already eaten so we just set up her playpen and put some toys in there. She was so happy to be outside! That's my wonderful sister, Leandra, who stopped by real quick to say hi. She was playing peek-a-boo with Lily. She's such a good auntie!

Holding her beloved 'princess' ball. And looking quite serious!

Our self portrait!

I love this picture! Charlie, our dog, just decided to lay right next to Lily. They didn't notice each other at first, but then she did and pressed her hand against the side for Charlie to sniff or lick! So cute. He's such a good dog too.

So that was our fun weekend. Now, on to news about AJ's health. I actually wrote a mass email to family so I'm just going to copy and paste it on here for you all to read (and I don't have to type it again!) Sorry for those of you who will read this twice!

Thanks for all your prayers regarding AJ...it's so nice to have that support as we go into unknown waters! As most of you know, AJ had his first neurology appt. today. I thought it'd be easier to do a mass email instead of calling everyone-not that there's much to say, but it saves time :)

Today's visit was just a consultation (as I thought it'd be) no testing, just talking about AJ, how he's feeling, what he felt when he experienced his 2 seizures, etc. The doctor (Dr. Wynn) was super nice, he's tall and skinny like AJ and is very friendly. AJ explained all that's happening and the doc. is 'concerned'. Meaning, he's not thinking it's just the 2 seizures and it's just random that they happened, but that it's a good opportunity to look at everything and get to the bottom of this. I'm personally thrilled with that decision. I was hoping the doc. would understand these 'weird' things going on with AJ and want to find out why. So, he wants him to have an MRI done (which I thought he had done in the ER, but that was a CT scan we found out) The MRI place will call us to schedule, so I'm unsure of dates for that. Apparently it'll give a more detailed look of the brain that the CT scan can't show. He also wants an EEG done (measures brain waves and probably other stuff too) and that will be happening Monday, April 28th at 9 am. The night before (on a Sunday when AJ is always exhausted!) he has to stay up until 1 a.m. and then sleep only until 5 a.m.!! Only 4 hours of sleep! I don't know how that's going to happen. Maybe we could get some high school boys to help keep him awake?!! Cause there's no way I can do that-especially with dealing with Lily the next day! They want AJ to fall asleep during the EEG at the office because maybe he is having little seizures in his sleep or something. Anyway, still lots of unknowns, and it's kinda scary. But I'm glad they're investigating his head =) We'd appreciate your continued prayers through this trial and we know God is faithful and is in control. Thanks for your support and I'll keep you all updated if you want!

Rub - A -Dub -Dub....Lily's in the Tub!

I just love bath time. Lily especially loves it! She's so easy to clean because she enjoys it! Her new thing is looking down at the water and then putting her mouth in it which ends up being bad because she chokes! She's fine though and then she'll do it again! It's like she's noticing the water for the first time and wants to see what it tastes like! I just had to make her hair stick up! It was fun and she seemed to enjoy it too!

Check out the curls on top of her head! And I love her baby 'blues'!

I had another really cute picture of her laying on her back in the tub (don't worry, the water isn't that high) and she ALWAYS kicks her arms and legs and does it really fast because she's so excited! Anyway, the picture was cute but showed 'too much' if you know what I mean and I wasn't sure how to edit it out! You just never know what creepies look on blogs! Anyway, after her bath she went to bed all clean. I tell you, there's nothing better than a sweet smelling, clean baby! And yes, she's still my baby even if she is 14 months! This is how I found her sleeping and I just had to take a picture!

Look at her cute little bum sticking up! I love love love it! It reminded me of when she was a newborn and would always have her bum sticking up like that-it's so sweet! And she didn't wake up when the flash went off-this girl was worn out from her bath :)

My night off!

Ever since we watched the movie "No Reservations" my husband and I have wanted to expand our cooking skills! No, I don't mean taking cooking lessons or anything, but just trying out new dishes. I tend to find myself in a casserole rut. I've got my main dishes and we all like them and I forget to add new things! So, AJ suggested once a week trying a new dish. At first, I was very scared! Mainly because I don't want to ruin a perfectly good meal and money buying special ingredients, but also because I'm a chicken when it comes to trying new things. It was also AJ's idea for us to alternate weeks. He'd cook something new one week, me the next. I thought "Great! I'd love a night off (which I always get off, he's always willing to help cook dinner.) Anyway, Tuesdays seemed to be the day where nothing was going on and we were all home. Tonight was my turn to relax while he cooked. He's so funny when it comes to these things. He orders me to stay out of the kitchen and if I have to walk by, to close my eyes! He's very secretive and loves to wait and show me the final presentation. So I had a FULL hour to myself (with Lily) to sit and listen to him cooking away! Lily sat on the floor with her toys while I browsed the web-my favorite thing to do! Here she is playing:

Yes, she's playing with medicine-but it's child proof and I always watch her! It's the weirdest thing-that girl loves to carry those little things of medicine around wherever she goes! (please don't call child services on me :)

Here he is preparing our meal-not sure what it is at this point but he's very focused!

Ta Da! He even added a candle-so sweet!

Garlic bread and twice baked potatoes!!! He did them all by himself and can I tell you that they were AMAZING! I've eaten them before but I've actually never made them-crazy I know. But he did it and it was soo good!

And T-bone steak! Look at how huge those things are! And there were 2! I only ate a tiny section-but we've got enough leftovers for more nights!

I'm so blessed to have AJ as my husband. He treats me so well-especially when he cooks and cleans for me! Thanks AJ for a fun night of not cooking dinner!

And I came across these 'old' photos of Lily-she's so little!

Look at that dark hair and chubby cheeks! So pinchable and kissable!

She's trying to sit up on her own-can't tell you how old she is...maybe 4 months? How terrible am I not to know?!

Day at the Track!

As I've posted before, AJ is the high jumps coach at North Salem High and they had a meet this past Wednesday at West Salem High. I've been wanting to go with Lily to hang out with AJ, but the timing and weather hasn't worked out. Until Wed. when it was beautiful outside! So after nap time I loaded her up and away we went. Unfortunately, it was so windy and kinda cold for a sunny day that we didn't end up staying long! Lily's got a cold and her nose was just running like a faucet! Hopefully the next couple of meets we can actually watch for more than 20 minutes! Here's just a few pictures from that day:

She's chillin' in her stroller!

Helping his boy jumpers get ready to start

Talking with one of the other coaches....isn't AJ cute?! I do love my man in a uniform :)

And the family shot-Lily's actually smiling, just not at the camera like usual! Oh well!

LILY CAN CRAWL!!!

Oh my, Lily FINALLY crawled! I honestly thought she'd bypass this milestone and go straight to walking, but 2 days ago she did it and hasn't stopped! I took video of it and tried to load it on the computer, but couldn't figure out how to do it (those computer savvy people...if you can easily explain how to I'd love to know!) Anyway, we had some friends over for dinner and they were like "Let's get her crawling." So we went into our living room, set a 'toy' (which was a plastic tupperware container of formula, but if it's new to Lily than it's a toy!) and put it far away from her and got her in the crawling position. After a few times she got the hang of it! I couldn't believe it. I mean, this girl is late in the game, but at least she's more on the normal side! YAY! Of course I didn't get a chance to take a picture because I was recording,so I'm sorry about that. She hasn't mastered that she can crawl anywhere...like to follow me around the house. I'm not sure how long that will take, but she can move around to get her toys. With some time she'll be a pro! Now of course she's on the move and growing to be a big 1 year old, so her morning nap is officially GONE! That's so sad to me because I could always use that time to get ready and just be sane for an hour or so. But it's like in the last week she's changed completely! No morning nap, crawling, growing more teeth I think because she's snotty, etc. But that last couple of days she's done a really good afternoon nap-2 hours! So great. Anyway, because she can move there are times when I lay her down to nap and I hear her playing, talking, etc. so I go in there and find her like this:Don't you just love the pigtails?

Now, I know to most of you moms, this isn't new. But to us it is! Lily was always so easy to lay down on her back and she'd lay there and talk and eventually fall asleep. But now she's mastered rolling over and sitting up in her crib, it makes it a while before she falls asleep! At least she's happy in there. In fact, today I went to check on her and she was in that sitting position, except her upper half of her body was doubled over and her head was laying down on the mattress-and she was sleeping! She couldn't figure out how to lay down normal! So I moved her of course and she was out. We're learning together these new tricks and schedules!

The other day we invited our friends, Josh and Lynn and Kelsie and all their kids over for dinner, (the ones to help her crawl!) and it was so fun for Lily to interract with them. She just loves playing with others! Here are some photos from that night:Tucker being cute for the camera (it's nice to say "smile" and have them know what you mean while you take the picture!)

Brody-isn't he adorable?! He is 4 months younger than Lily and is walking along furniture, mastered crawling forever ago, and can walk behing things (like pushing Lily's car around!) Amazing-and kinda depressing for us!

Check out that hair! No matter what you do to it, it sticks straight up!

Playing together-well, sorda. I moved Lily to stay by him while I held something above my camera to get them to look at me!

And cute Carly -she is 8 months old (and Tucker and Brody's cousin)

The girls playing together.

All in all it was a fun night of friends and firsts!