Vacation

This past Thursday we all drove down to Buellton, CA for Matthew and Kit's wedding reception. Between the baby and my pumping it took us 10 hours to drive down there. But all things considered, Lilybelle (LB) did amazing in the car. We started out by leaving at four in the morning figuring that if we left early little LB would sleep longer. We stopped at Stockton where we fed the baby and I pumped in the parking lot of Raleys. We got gas and then got back in the car, and headed on. We had planned to stop in Paso Robles, but my bladder didn't make it that far. We stopped at a rest stop, went to the bathroom, fed the baby, and while I pumped in the parking lot Tim and LB played on the grass. We then continued on our way. We settled into our hotel, took a nap, had a nice dinner, and went to bed.

The next day we spend the day in Santa Barbara where we went to the Santa Barbara Zoo, saw the Pacific Ocean, and did some shopping. At the zoo we saw the standard zoo animals, but the highlight was seeing the baby giraffe. So super cute! Lilybelle wasn't impressed as we were, but she enjoyed being pushed around in her stroller.

After we were done with the zoo we went to Stearns Wharf which is the oldest working wharf in California. We had lunch and enjoyed breathtaking views of the ocean.  We then moved onto downtown Santa Barbara and did a little shopping. Like her mother, LB enjoyed looking at the clothes. Our day didn't end there though. We made quick stop at a beach to look for tide pools (no such luck) and to dip our feet in the ocean. LB was taken by surprise by the coldness of the water, but did good. We then met family for a nice dinner. LB enjoyed hanging out with family.

The next day we went to Solvang and spent the day looking at shops with Minden and my parents. After some shopping, we went to Mission Santa Ines. It was an impressive sight to see. The history person in me enjoyed looking at it and trying to construct how people who built the mission would have lived there. The day ended with the wedding reception at a Peruvian horse ranch. The views were amazing, and Matthew and Kit put on a beautiful wedding reception.

We drove home that night, and didn't have to make any feeding stops or pumping stops. A nice change from the rest of the trip.

This trip taught me that my daughter does very well traveling, but change in routine is never easy for a baby. I also learned that you can pump anywhere. I pumped in many many parking lots, and even a horse ranch.

7 Months

Question for Lilybelle

Question: Lilybelle, who do you love?

Answer:

I guess I know who Lilybelle loves. She does spend a lot of time with her daddy, especially since it's tax season.

Tim took the 7 month picture. She looks so different in it. It's the first one that I really see a change in from the previous month. 

Also, Lilybelle sits up now. We have sit her up, she doesn't do it by herself, but once she's up she's good to go. It's not a great photo; we probably need to buy a camera instead of always using our phones.

I wish I had more to say, that I was more witty, but it's tax season and I just don't have the brain power to accomplish that. Maybe next month.

Happy Easter!

I love holidays. They are a perfect excuse to eat chocolate, do fun things, and spend time with family. Easter is no exception. Since this was our first Easter with a child I wanted it to be special for Lilybelle. The Easter Bunny came and brought her a new toy and some chocolate for Mom and Dad (woo hoo!), Mom and Nana each got her an Easter Dress, and we dyed Easter Eggs. The last part Tim didn't think was necessary, but he had fun anyways.

First the Easter Basket. She liked her new toy, but I really think she would have liked to have the chocolate dipped Peep that I ate. She watched longingly while I ate them, yes all three because they don't taste as good the next day. Got to get them while they are good I say.

Next came the Easter Egg fun. I put her in her cover everything Ikea bib, that's actually still a little big, put her on Tim's lap, and then let her chose her color. She chose blue and made a really pretty egg.

Look how excited she looks to dye her very first Easter Egg. I can't wait until she can actually do it.

Here she is getting ready to put that egg in the blue dye. You can also see that her bib is just a little too big for her still.

She was very interested in how Dad put the egg in the dye. Guarantee that by next year she'll have this process down and will want to do it on her own.

Dad couldn't resist "decorating" her when we were all done with dying the eggs, and I couldn't resist snapping a picture of it. The stickers came right off because it was time for her Easter bath, which was like any other bath.

Next came the Easter dresses. She actually wore the sailor dress last Sunday, and it made me wish that I had waited until Easter Sunday for her to wear it because she looked so adorable in it, but she couldn't wear the bunny dress a week early.

 I couldn't believe that she left the hat on the whole day, but she did. All through church and her great-grandma's birthday party.

And finally her actual Easter dress that I bought back in December. So cute!

Happy Half Birthday Lilybelle!

 I'm going to admit that I probably got a little too excited about my daughter's half birthday. I kept telling everyone today that it was Lilybelle's half birthday. If I wasn't working crazy hours right now I probably would have thrown her a mini birthday party. The thought did cross my mind. But since I am working crazy hours, I contented myself with the following: I made her 6 month onsie, I got her peas all ready, and dressed her in her cupcake outfit today.

So to sum up her half birthday, Lilybelle is six months old today. She has gotten so big, and the time has gone by so fast. Some of her more recent accomplishments include sitting up by herself (she did it for a little bit on Sunday, hasn't repeated it yet), expanding her vocal range, and trying new food. On Sunday I made her a pea puree and a banana puree. In honor of her 6 months, we broke out the pea puree and fed it to her. At first she didn't seem too impressed by it, but she ate it all, and by the end she was excited to get it.

Tim also took the standard 6 month photo. It gets harder each month to take the photo because she doesn't sit still. This month she had an obsession with her feet. Most of the pictures that Tim took she was holding her feet up close to her face. If only I were still that flexible. I leave you with a video of her today. Happy Half Birthday Lilybelle.

All Better

Lilybelle is feeling much better after her illness. She gave us new parents quite a scare two weeks ago. It started with a simple cold. She had had a cold before so we knew the drill and didn't worry about it. When she woke us up with a cough Sunday night we made sure she wasn't sleeping horizontal and ran the humidifier. But by Wednesday she was running a fever and was super fussy which is unusual for our baby. By Wednesday night Tim and I were very worried about our baby because in addition to the cough, fever, and fussiness, she didn't want to eat. I took her in to the pediatrician the next day and it turns out that in addition to her cold she also had an ear infection. Poor baby! We had to give her ten days of antibiotics  (which we finished today woo hoo!) for the ear infection. Although I appreciate how much better our baby feels, I did not enjoy trying to get her to take the medicine. I can only hope that when she goes to the doctor next she doesn't still have an ear infection.

On a happier note, she's also big enough for her big flower headband. I always said that if I had a girl she would have a big flower  headband. And today she wore it. Super cute! The photo is not that great, but you get the idea of the size of her flower headband.

Baby Likes to Eat

Lilybelle has taken to rice cereal like a fish takes to water. She gets so excited when we put her in her high chair and bring out her small bowl of rice cereal. My mom has even gotten her a special bowl for her rice cereal. Below is a video that Tim recently took while he was feeding her. Our little one even wants to try to feed herself.

Happy Valentine's Day

Tim, Lilybelle, and I all had a good Valentine's Day this year. It was low key and busy, but fun nonetheless. Tim got me flowers that arrived at my office early Thursday morning, and they were gorgeous! I love it when he sends me flowers.

Lilybelle wore her special onsie that Nana got her just for the occasion. I got home that night and we had dinner and then opened up all the cards and Lilybelle her puppy. I had to go drop some stuff off, and when I came home, I put Lilybelle to bed and Tim and I had chocolate fondue. I also made a triple chocolate cheesecake that turned out quite nicely for a murder mystery dinner that Tim and I went to last night. If you've never gone to a murder mystery dinner, I highly recommend it. It was a lot of fun.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! (three days late)