10 months and some change

Gigi (derived from Seth's rendition of our little friend Maddie trying to pronounce "Lilly Jo" by saying "Ji Jo") turned 10 months old a couple weeks back. The girl is in full swing I tell you. She's all over the place these days - crawling up the stairs (with someone watching her), cruising along everything, taking a few steps here and there, talking non-stop (especially if we're not paying attention to her!), finding anything on the ground to put in her mouth, getting into Wilbur's dog bowls, standing up chatting in her crib when she should be napping (and chewing on the crib railing. nice.), eating some big people food (when I'm feeling brave), signing 'more' when she wants more food, and giving Seth some lovin' (thanks to Lilly's wonderful caretaker Carol for teaching our non-cuddling daughter this one!)...

Lilly Jo is what I would call a headstrong little girl. Maybe this will change as she grows up, or maybe it won't. But it suits her just fine! We love her spunky and sometimes challenging little personality. When she does something she knows she not supposed to do, she'll hear us say "no no", pause briefly, then go right back to doing it again. She's definitely learning to listen quite well, but she has her 'let-me-see-if-I-can-get-away-with-this-one-more-time' moments. I have to say most times Seth and I would rather laugh than swat her on the leg and tell her 'no' again. She's just so darn cute:)

One thing we've noticed recently is that Lilly Jo is pretty afraid of the vacuum. While we hope she eventually outgrows this fear, it does make for some great cuddle time with Seth while I'm cleaning. She'll sit in his lap and put her head on his shoulder the entire time I'm vacuuming. For a child that doens't cuddle much with anyone, we take this very seriously:) This is quality time! Maybe this means the house will get cleaned more often?

Ah, who am I kidding...I'm about to have a 1 yr old and a newborn.

No way jose.

:)

Mommy, Lilly and Jack

We're excited to meet Jack...he's coming soon!

shopped till she dropped...

This morning my friend Austin met up with Lilly Jo and me for some after-thanksgiving-sale-shopping. Lilly Jo was such a trooper and she did AMAZING. She loves having lots to look at and watch, so being out among the crowds and in crowded stores was her kind of thing. She really didn't fuss much except when she was hungry. She didn't get a morning nap, so by 11am the girl couldn't keep her head up! While I was checking out at the register in Khol's, Austin summoned me over to take a peek at LJ, who had originally fallen asleep over the front of her stroller, and then moved her head over to the side, like the above pictures. Her paci was barely in her mouth, and she was completely out of it! It was the first time I've ever seen this happen. If you know Lilly, you know she's a girl on the go...never likes to stop, especially for sleep. So this was a rare event and I couldn't pass up taking a few pictures:)

Thanks for coming with us Austin...might need to start a new tradition:) Because goodness knows I won't be doing this on my own next year, with 2 kiddos!

step by step...

the walking stage!!

i'm sure it will still be awhile before she's walking long distances on her own, but last night she took 4 steps at one time. that was right before we decided to get the camera out...so here's a couple of steps for you to watch:)

Jack's shower

My sister and mom threw us a shower for Jack on 11/13...it was wonderful! Nat arranged for us to have two magnificent chefs (Seth and John) to make to order omlets for all the guests! It was quite a show, and I have to say, the omlets were delicious. It's actually the first time I've ever eaten an omlet. Is that strange? Anyways, they were great!!

We had lots of fun mingling with everyone, and it was a great opportunity for people to meet Lilly Jo if they hadn't already! We also had to cousins at the shower - Milana (Nat's daughter) and Christopher (Seth's brother's son, who was there with his mother Tasha!)

We were so blessed to have family from both sides come and share in this special time for us. Two of my aunts were able to come as well as Seth's mom, grandma and brother's girlfriend Tasha! Thanks you guys for making the trip to Raleigh!!

Nat decided to let us go solo on the baby train this year, so no sister-baby-bump picture this time:)
I'll find it at some point, but we have a similar picture to this one from last year when Faith was feeling LJ move in my belly!

My mom's two sisters, my sister and my niece:)

Seth's mom, Tasha, her son Christopher and Seth's grandma!

Uncle Seth and Christopher

Uncle John and Binanas

KB (preggers as well - I always find someone to be pregnant with me!) and Bethany - two great friends from HS and college!

Floss and Brooke - 2 more great friends from college! And who have supplied Lilly Jo's closet with some of the cutest clothes a girl could ever have:)

me and sweetpea

LJ taking a look at Jack's new shorts for next summer...check out the mesh shorts...like father, like son. Thanks Nat!

Faith helped watch these munchkins while I opened gifts...

Part of mom's cute decorations for the shower. She's got such a creative mind...I love it!

Some of the delicious food

Chef Extraordinare! (really, this was his first time making omlets, but John did a bit of coaching I think. John's our italian chef of the family.)

Jennifer and Karis doing a little baby food taste-testing...yuummmy!

Austin and some good friends from work - Abbey and Jess:)

Punkins

A little late, but nevertheless, still adorable.

mommy-daughter day

As I mentioned below, Monday I took the day off and got to hang out with peanut:)
I loved every minute of it, even though my back was killing me.
I've had much more back pain w/ Jack than I had with Lilly Jo, but alas, he'll be here before we know it!

We had our morning cereal/oatmeal. Lilly's looking for the truck that went by the house just as the timer on the camera went off. Lovely:)

Yes, we talk a lot while we eat...

We met Seth at the park for lunch and looked at the fishes as we strolled around the pond...

And really just hung out at the house playing, snacking, watching our favorite Baby Einstein - Baby MacDonald on the Farm, and of course had a late afternoon photo shoot in the yard:)