3.5 Month Check-Up

Today was Lily's 3 1/2 month check-up, and she's doing great! She now weighs 13.6 lbs and is 24 3/4 in. long. She's consistently in the 75th percentile for both. Her head circumference is 16 in. which is in the 50th percentile. The doctor said she looks fantastic, is very alert, and is focusing very well on various objects. I talked to Dr. Vacca about starting Lily on formula to get her ready for when I go back to work in February. He suggested starting with 1 formula bottle a day for 2-3 days, so we started today! When Lily took her first sip and stuck out her tongue and looked at me with the funniest expression, like what the heck is this?!? She quickly got over it and downed the bottle.

Lily is on a great schedule now. I love bedtime!! I take her up at 8:30, feed her, read books, and she's in bed by 9. Some nights we have to go up a few times to put the paci back in, but nights like tonight are wonderful when she just stays asleep. :) Lily takes at least 3, sometimes 4, naps a day, and they are all in either her crib or her pack n' play. It's so nice to be able to finally do things while she's sleeping instead of being confined to the couch.

Lily is growing up so much. She smiles constantly and loves looking at pictures while we read to her. She now grabs for toys when they are near her and loves holding onto stuffed animals. Lovees are her new best friends. When she is holding one at nap time she snuggles it next to her face and it puts her right out. It's adorable! Tummy time is becoming more bearable for her. She lasts longer and actually pushes herself up like she's doing a push-up. I am having so much fun at home talking and playing with her and I'm really not looking forward to having to leave her in a month for work.

We have been keeping ourselves very busy lately. On the 18th we went to Lily's "daycare" to see their Christmas play. She will be going to Mrs. Russo's house in February when I head back to work. Mrs. Russo has two other women who work with her, Ms. Karen and Ms. Barbara, and 5 other children - 2 four year olds, a 3 year old, and 20 month old twins. Lily will get lots of one-on-one time from Mrs. Russo since she's the only baby. It will be like being with a grandmother all day, so that makes me feel better about leaving her. And Mrs. Russo is an ex-teacher, so she knows just how to get Lily ready for school. Anyway, she invited us to their Christmas play and it was adorable. They sang songs and reinacted the manger scene. It was nice to see the kids in action and meet the other families.

Lily also had a playdate on Friday! All of the schools had snow days on Friday, so Jen and Dylan came over for a playdate in the morning. Dylan will be 1 in February, so he'll be around to show Lily the ropes. Who knows, maybe he'll be her first boyfriend! :) We had a great time hanging out with you guys and can't wait to do it again!

Aunt Meghan came Friday to hang out before the Baptism

Lily and Dylan on their playdate

Sucking on those fingers! Yummm

Would you expect any less? :)

Lily's Baptism

This past Saturday was Lily's Baptism and it could not have been more perfect. Friday we were hit with a HUGE snowstorm, so I was little worried about people coming in from out of town on Saturday, but it all worked out. My sister Meghan and Ryan's brother Jesse are Lily's Godparents. Aside from a few mishaps with the Our Father, they did a great job! Father John was nice as could be. He was very impressed with Lily and said she could come back and be baptised any time. She was a perfect angel during the ceremony. Lily was wide awake and watched every move the Father made. It didn't even phase her when we poured the water over head. I was very proud to have Lily wear the baptismal gown that my dad, his brothers, my brother, and all of my cousins wore. To have a family heirloom be a part of this ceremony is very special. The gown was gorgeous and now it's my turn to keep it in tip top shape for the next child in the family to be baptised. Who knows, we might be next again! :)

After the ceremony we went to a restaurant that Ryan and I have eaten at many times with his family, Casa de Giovanni's. The food was excellent and the company was even better. Lily slept through almost the whole party. She woke up in time to cut the cake though! She's definitely my daughter if she's waking up for dessert!! It was so nice to share this special day with all of our family. Thank you so much to everyone who was able to make it and we missed those of you who weren't able to make the trip.

Parents and Godparents

Father John and Lily

The Grandparents

The best Godparents :)

The Star of the Day

A Few Pics from Denise's Wedding

Santa!

On Friday the 12th our clubhouse had their annual Christmas Party complete with a visit from Santa! We had Amy, Chris, and Madelyn over and headed to the party. A lot of our friends from my mommy and me group were there so we had a great time. We brough Bailey with us because we really wanted to get a picture of Lily and Bailey with Santa, but she was so excited/nervous/scared by all the people that we had to take her home before Santa got there. Lily wore her Baby's 1st Christmas outfit and everyone loved her reindeer hat! After the party we came back to our house for a gift exchange with the Pohlmans. They gave Lily her very own keyboard to use with our computer when she's a little older and they gave us a fabulous night in with gift cards to one of our favorite pizza places and blockbuster, and of course all the candy to go with it! Thanks Pohlmans!!

Since we didn't get the pic with Lily, Bailey, and Santa at the clubhouse party, we headed to Willowbrook Mall Pet Night on Monday. We got some great pics so we were finally able to make our Christmas cards. Sorry if they get out a little late! Lily has been great with Santa. I guess right now he's just another person holding her. Hopefully we won't get tears next year!

Lily and I are still going to our weekly Mommy and Me meetings. We really enjoy our time with the other mommies and babies. Last week the mommies went out without the babies to see Australia. Even though it was a long movie we enjoyed our night out! Last night we had a Secret Baby Exchange. We brought appetizers, wine, and of course, the babies. Lily got adorable clothes and a musical teether from Sydney. We had a great time, but forgot the camera! See you all in the New Year!

Denise's Wedding

On December 6 my friend from college, Denise, got married! I was in the wedding so Friday Lily and I went to Denise's mom's house and had a girls' day with the bridal party. We got manicures and pedicures and had a delicious lunch while Lily was passed around. Thanks for all of the hospitality! Aunt Meghan came over Friday night to babysit Lily on Saturday. While we were at the rehearsal dinner (with Lily) Meghan was home with Bailey and bonding with Denise's dog Brandi, who I forgot to tell Meghan we were watching for the weekend, oops!

I was sooooo nervous about leaving Lily for the entire day for the wedding. I knew Meghan would do a fine job with her and Lily loves Meghan, but I have never left her for 12 hours before! I defrosted tons of milk for Lily so she had plenty of bottles and I wrote out friend's phone numbers for Meg if she needed help, and of course, I checked my phone every chance I got! When Meghan sent me a text at 9:30 saying Lily was asleep, I finally relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the wedding.

The wedding was fabulous. We met at the Bethwood, in NJ, at 11:00 and got ready together and then went to the ceremony. After the ceremony we went back to the Bethwood for pictures OUTSIDE. I don't know if you all remember the weather that day, but it was FREEZING! When it started flurrying during the reception and Denise wanted pics in the snow, we were happy to hear her say she only wanted pics of her and Philip. :)

Denise, you looked beautiful and we wish you and Philip a very long and happy life together! Send pics soon so I can post some.

Thanksgiving

For Lily's first Thanksgiving we headed to West Chester to spend some time with my family. We were there from Wednesday until Saturday and we had a great time! Lily was very excited to meet her Great Grammom Skippy for the first time. Wednesday night Ryan and I left Lily and had our first night out by ourselves. We headed over to the Gruner's for some festivities with my friends from high school. We headed back home in time to put Lily to bed while all of my friends headed to the bars. Oh how life changes when you have a baby!

Thanksgiving day was very busy with lots of cooking and relatives. My dad's family came to our house and it was Lily's first time meeting a lot of them. She was a little overwhelmed by all of the noise and all of the new people holding her, but she was a trooper and hung in there.

Friday was filled with lots of visitors all day. We were so happy to see Carrie and Jenni again and some friends of my parents and sister came by to meet Lily. She let everyone pass her around again but had had enough by the time we went out to dinner and made us stand and hold her throughout the whole dinner. She's already learning the meaning of payback!

Saturday we headed back home because we had an engagement party to go to that night for one of Ryan's high school friends. We brought Lily with us and everyone at the party was very happy to meet her. We didn't get to stay for too long because Lily was exhausted and wanted to be back home in her bed, which, by the way, she has been sleeping in by herself since the week before Thanksgiving!

When we went for Lily's 2.5 month check-up I talked to the doctor about moving her into her crib and they said it was fine to do it now, so that night we made the move! She has been doing great in there. I was a little nervous about doing it right before we went to West Chester because I thought she would be thrown off by sleeping in her crib and then moving again to the pack n' play, but she did great. This child has no problem sleeping!