Flip Flop

We were discussing at dinner tonight how we've become flip-floppers. Not like a wishy-washy politician, more like we constantly alternate what we're doing. Whose turn is it to change Lily's diaper? Who wants to carry her in the ergo carrier? Whose turn is it to feed her lunch? Whose turn is it to work out during her nap? Whose turn is it to blog? Nicole gets her Monday evenings with the girls, I get my Tuesday nights with the band... and on and on. Sometimes it does feel like we're doing half as many personal things as we used to, but fun times with Lily is a good trade.

On the other hand, there are several things that have belonged to only one of us from Lily's arrival until today. Nicole always does the ponytails or pigtails. I always hold Lily while we sing her bedtime song and then put her into her crib. Nicole trims her nails (though for the first month or so it was all me). When the three of us go out, I always drive the car. And only one of us has boobs that do anything....

I guess it's been a couple of weeks since the last blog, and we've been having fun in general. We've fought off yet another cold (will they ever stop?), but we pushed through and have been enjoying the great Spring weather with plenty of walks and trips to the park. There are a couple of playgrounds within walking distance and we're just starting to get to the point where Lily can enjoy them. She would rather try to climb up the slide than go down it, but she enjoys the baby swings. And last weekend she got to crawl around on a play structure and really liked going back and forth through the tunnel. Not sure how much Nicole liked crawling around in there too, but it's all about Lily.

Here are a couple of videos of her latest antics. (If you get the blog in e-mail and the videos don't show up, just look online at matherblather.blogspot.com)

Double Digits

Lily is kicking off her 10 month birthday with quite a bit of entertainment for us. I will choose to ignore the pain in the butt she is during diaper changes and meal time these days. Here are a couple recent videos of Lily's latest joys, climbing the stairs (over and over and over again), standing on her own, and vacuum cleaning....yup, you heard right, she likes the dustbuster. Mom, I know this makes you so proud. :)

Again? and Other Random Blather

We always heard that kids get sick a lot, but come on! Lily's in the midst of her second cold in a month. Seems like there was only a week of health between the two and now the messy nose and irritability is in full effect again. Oh well, seems a bit lighter this time than last. Either that or we're just resigned to dealing with it.

Nothing too eventful going on here, just a few new little signs that Lily is figuring out new things. She seems to understand more and more of what we're saying, whether it's "let's climb the stairs to go to bed" or "where's Mommy's nose", she responds. On the physical side of things, she's clapping her hands a bit and has stood on her own for a couple of seconds at a time. She's kind of particular about standing. She doesn't like to have her hands held, so we can't really do the traditional hold-her-hands-while-walking-along thing. But she's interested enough in letting go while holding onto our leg or furniture that she seems to be making progress towards walking. And of course with walking we'll get into the next phase of her getting into new trouble.

We're all excited to have signed up for our first athletic event of the year, Race for the Roses. Even Auntie Sonya is coming out for a visit and running with us. Nicole will push Lily in the BOB stroller, we'll see how she likes moving at a faster pace. It's funny, we love the BOB for its versatility and maneuverability, but we've never actually jogged with it.

Our house hunting adventures continue. We've basically figured out that we are really picky. Really, really picky. Highlights over the past couple of weeks have been looking at the prototypical upper-middle class house in the suburbs and a haunted house/mansion in the city. The suburbia place was very nice but just didn't feel like THE place for us. The mansion was just crazy, 120 years old and 6,000 square feet. It was perfectly livable as a 2-bedroom, but the rest of the 2nd and 3rd floor looked like they were about to vaporize into dust and the basement was truly a dungeon. Regardless, out of our price range and effort level. Onward!

That's about it for now, but I'll leave you with a pic of Lily showing her excitement that spring training has started...

Fashionless

I got a kick out of a realization the other day, it has to do with fashion. Before Lily, I would ask Nate "does this look good?" before walking out the door. Since Lily entered the world, that question has been replaced with "does this look too ridiculous?" Don't worry, I'm not taking walks with Lily in my nightgown and with curlers in my hair but let's just say I'm hoping my smile really helps cover up my fashion choice for the day. I now get why there are so many makeover segments on shows with moms who got stuck in a certain decade. I look forward to my surprise makeover in the future orchestrated by Nate and Lily.

Lily is nearing 10 months in a couple weeks. Even though she only took one nap today, she was busy making me so proud. She now points out the lion and panda pictures on the wall and roars like a lion when I ask her what a lion says. All the stopping I do on my walks with her to point out flower, tree, and leaf, like a broken record is paying off. Thanks to the early bloom this year, she has had a lot of practice with flower and now points them out. I'm just so amazed by the connections she's making in her brain right before my eyes.

The last couple weekends have been a real treat for us because a friend of ours took some amazing pictures of Lily with a few family pics thrown in too at the park. I love them, can't stop looking at them. Here are a couple of them, I think you can guess what my sentimental favorite is...and yes I get misty eyed.