These are not the photos you've been waiting for.

I FINALLY got around to painting our bedroom, I have had the paint sitting here waiting for me since this fall. I got it all done in one afternoon and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Some Before pics:

After Pics:

I still want to repaint the doors and the bottom trim to match the other trim. When we bought it the doors and bottom trim were painted and the trim around the windows and doors were not painted. I just want them all to match.

I also have a painting that will eventually get hung above the bed.

Also I did lily's 9-month photos today too, I'm working on editing and hoping to get them posted today yet. What a busy day.

And The Stats Are In...

Height: 28.5" (75th Percentile)
Weight: 16 lbs 8 oz (12th Percentile)
Head Size: 17.72" (79th Percentile)

She is growing normal and looks great! Sat still when she was supposed to and everyone at the Doctors office just LOVES her!

She's doing just right developmentally in doing what she is supposed to at her age and has the perfect amount of teeth.

We were pleasantly surprised with the fact that she did not get any shots this go round. She will again at 1 year though.

And as a reward for her great behavior we got her an Elmo book. (the girl is in love with Elmo.)

9 Month Pictures tomorrow!

L-Mon is 9 Months Old Today!

I can't believe it. I really can't. I know everyone says it, but it really is true. It does seem like just yesterday my baby girl was born, and yet, it seems like she has always been here. Being a parent is a funny thing.

Anyway.

L-mon still doesn't crawl or walk though she does seem to be trying to learn how to crawl now so I'm hopeful she will learn quickly like everything else she has learned. She can't do it one day and the next she is just doing it. I have no clue how she does it, but she does. So tomorrow we will wake up and she'll be crawling around her crib. Ok maybe not but you get my point.

Tomorrow she has her 9 month check-up and we are ALL anxious to see where she is sitting on the charts. She seems hefty to me, but then she kinda always has seemed that way and I'm usually wrong. At her 6 month appointment she was 13 pounds 15 ounces. So I am curious where she is now. I'll wager my bet at 17 pounds. We'll see how close I am.

Tomorrow we will also be doing her 9 month photos as I am off work and so it will just work out nice that way! Debating on doing her Easter pictures now or waiting until next month for them. Hmmm. Choices choices. So I'll post her stats from her appointment and her photos once I get them!

Happy 9 months big girl! Mommy and Daddy Love you!

The Famous Head Banging....

And a video for your pleasure!




PS Sorry the camera is so shaky, I was shaking my head at her trying to get her to do it. LOL.

Of Course This Post Will Jinx It.

This is what we do when we don't have anything better to do, Bury Lily with stuffed toys!

So I took Friday off. Just decided to take a mental health day and relax. So Thursday we put the girl down for bed, I thought well at least I don't HAVE to go anywhere tomorrow if it's a bad night. She was fantastic. Went to sleep easily, slept all night and let us sleep til 7:15 which was a miracle! Then we relaxed a bit and decided to go out for breakfast. So we did that, where of course Lily was a big hit. I also wanted to get her Easter dress. So we ran some errands and headed home. She took a nice long nap for us and I got some housework done while she napped. Then she was a dream the rest of the night too. So I thought we were in for it for last night. NOPE she was a dream again. we slept til 6:30! She took a nice morning nap, a nice afternoon nap and now we are blogging and working with some photos! I haven't done any bath ones since she moved to the big girl tub now. SO here they are.

Money Money Money Money......Mon---eeeey

Awe Money, as fast as we earn you we spend you.

When we finally think we have some of you saved for a rainy day, it pours out.

Bills come in faster than they paychecks do.

Stupid vehicles won't run forever

Who needed a new alley anyway?

I should just not have dental work done...having no teeth works for L-mon.

I am not a poet. Nor do I normally try to be one.

I have been uninspired by money since we don't have any.

No I am not drunk.

What I Actually got done...

Um yeah, it's always something.

I went and picked up the baby like normal and when Adam got home he was so excited about his new shift he got at work (starting March 2nd he'll be Monday-Friday) that he wanted to go out to eat to celebrate. So Lily was taking a cat nap since she had only had ONE 45 minute nap...ALL DAY. (that's a whole other story though) So after she woke up I fed her dinner and then we got ready and headed out. She was a star in the restaurant. I was so proud to call her mine. Though she did scream the whole way home. So we got home about 6:30ish. I HAD to get some medical paperwork done otherwise it would expire and we would have to pay out of pocket for it (yes I procrastinated as long as I could on this one) So I got all that done and by the time I finished that up it was 7:30 so it was time to head up and get bath going and get ready for bed.

So I NEVER get what I plan done. It almost always works out that way. I have thankfully learned to mostly accept that and just do what I can.

Today I will probably take it easy on purpose, I seriously hurt my neck/shoulder and so it hurts to look to the left (I'm sure you've had one of those kinks too) So Relax is what I shall do.

A Typical Night

TO DO

Pick up baby from daycare---Check

Make Dinner---Check

Feed baby---Check

Workout

Cuddle and play with baby---Check

Get papers in office straightened out

Dishes

Bath time (baby)---Check

Have adult conversation with Husband.

Laundry

Work on Scrapbook

Vacuum

Toss the Baby

I SWEAR these are smiles and not looks of Horror! She Loves to be tossed and flipped and turned!

Thank you Jade for the adorable outfits! Here's Lily modeling one with her new "Beary"

Crab People, Crab People

So this past weekend was Valentine's weekend. We really didn't do anything special. We decided no gifts to save some money and since I had a gift certificate for Sunday brunch we didn't go out to eat either.

Saturday was rough. She's been such a crab lately, I'm sure she is getting more teeth but I wish she would just get her teethers already. Lily had a really bad night on Friday and I ended up on the couch with her all night. And my parents and my friend Danielle came over. We headed over to Goodwill to check out baby clothes and I wanted to get a black backdrop for some photos for Lily's 9 month pictures (9 Months!) And then Mom and I ran to America's Best to get her glasses and we stopped and got Burger King and brought it home for us and the guys. (Danielle left straight from the Goodwill)

Then after everyone left we just relaxed and didn't do a whole lot. Sunday we got the baby and laid in bed for a while, it was nice. We used to do that all the time when she was first home. She actually went back to sleep, I was surprised and happy. Then we all got ready and headed to brunch. Lily is always a big hit at these things, I had no less than 5 people stop and talk to her. People love babies. She was a good girl. Then we did some shopping. Went home and Lily took a nice LONG nap. 3 HOURS! That is a record for her, she never naps that long, but she hadn't had much of a morning nap. Her newest thing is that when you go in to get her from her nap she is on her tummy. So the girl won't roll over for you just anyway, but leave her along in the crib and she'll flip over for you. The rest of the day we just relaxed and watched TV, watched some Baby Einstein on the computer and relaxed. I got some housework done during her nap which was nice.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone has a fantastic day! Hug the people you love today!

My Husband and Me.

Here's another one going around on Facebook and I figured it would be kinda fun since some of you may not know much about Adam and I. Plus Valentine's Day is right around the corner and I'm bored at work so why not?

♥ What are your middle names? Louise and Christopher

♥ How long have you been together? 5 years in April

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? Well we met on the Internet and chatted through email for a few weeks before we went on a date

♥ Who asked who out? I guess I sorta did. I asked through email if he wanted to meet in person.

♥ How old are each of you? Right now we are both 25

♥ Whose siblings do you see the most? Adam's for sure, I see her on a daily basis

♥ Do you have any children together? Yup, the Lily-Mon

♥ What about pets? We have a dog and two cats. As Adam says to people "they came with the wife."

♥ Which situation was/is the hardest on you as a couple? Probably division of labor in our house. LOL

♥ Did you go to the same school? Nope

♥ Are you from the same home town? Nope

♥ Who is the smartest? Probably Adam.

♥ Who is the most sensitive? Do I really need to answer this one? Of course me.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? Well we don't eat out a ton anymore but I think one of our favorites is IHOP.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? South Dakota, Black Hills for our honeymoon!

♥ Who has the craziest exes? Neither of us really had a serious relationship before so I guess neither.

♥ Who has the worst temper? I do. :-(

♥ Who does the cooking? Me unless it's pizza, spaghetti or mac and cheese

♥ Who is more social? Adam for sure

♥ Who is the neat-freak? I am, though I would not consider myself a neat freak UNLESS comparing to Adam.

♥ Who is the more stubborn? I think we are equally stubborn

♥ Who hogs the bed? Adam, but I hog the blankets

♥ Who wakes up earlier? Probably me, I don't know, neither of us is a morning person.

♥ Where was your first date? We went bowling. And I felt bad cause he paid and it was WICKED expensive.

♥ Who has the bigger family? Adam

♥ Do you get flowers often? Not sent but he brings them home for me occasionally. We both agree that we have better things to spend our money on, but I do love it when I get them. I know I'm such a hypocrite

♥ How do you spend the holidays? We try to break it up pretty even between my family and his. Or should I say I try to break it up, He just goes with the flow.

♥ Who is more jealous? I don't think either of us is the jealous type.

♥ How long did it take to get serious? I don't know what people consider serious.

♥ Who eats more? This is a close one. I'm not sure.

♥ Who does/ did the laundry? I don't think Adam knows we have a washing machine. ;-)

♥ Who’s better with the computer? Adam

♥ Who drives when you are together? Adam

I can't hold back any longer.

I know I'm probably not helping the situation but I just COULDN'T resist posting about this. So a woman in California gave birth to Octuplets, they are all doing great. The thing is. She was on Dateline doing an interview and her logic doesn't make sense. I can't seem to 'understand' what this woman is thinking.

Here are the facts

She is single, living with her parents

she ALREADY has 6 other kids

She is living off student loans, disability and food stamps.

She knew she had multiple babies but was against selective reduction (her reasoning being that it's not man's decision which babies get to live and which die)

She could NOT get pregnant without IVF

Now really don't get me wrong, I personally have NOTHING against IVF and think people should do what they wanna do. But here is where my major problem is, besides the whole money thing, and having 14 kids alone. She thinks that it's not up to HUMANS to determine whether the babies live or die. But she could not get pregnant on her own. Wouldn't one conclude that God made her that way and it's not up to humans to go around that and get her pregnant anyway. Wouldn't that be a human playing God? I just have a really hard time with her rationalizing that this is what God wanted for her when she went above God and had IVF.

So if anyone could just explain that to me that would just be terrific.

So the Whole Organization Kick....

Why does it have to be so dang expensive? I mean I can make due with what we have and so I guess I'm really in no real hurry to pick stuff up but man do I have a bad case of the "I wants". Now that I have more room in the living room I really want a long low storage piece for under the window for the baby toys. OH Lord the baby toys. And rumor has it, it's just going to get worse. So I want something neat and cute that doesn't take up a ton of space. And if it happens to keep the cats from peeing on the carpet then it'll be a bonus. Cause I really have to say, I am SICK AND TIRED of cat pee. I'm sick of cleaning it up, I'm sick of smelling it even AFTER I clean it up. That smell just never goes away. As a matter of fact I'm pretty sure we are going to start putting them in the basement during the day so they are contained to where the liter boxes are. That'll teach them. Or maybe not. In my dream house there will be NO carpet at all. But I digress.

For now I have the living room cleaned and we have more room without the desk there.

In the Lily-Mon front, she is eating more and more table food now. In fact I don't plan to buy any more entrees for her in the baby food, there isn't much for selection and it's super expensive. SO I figure I'll make more food in the crock pot and she can eat that just fine without any trouble why NOT give it to her right? So tonight she gets steak and potatoes! Seriously. I have some steaks in the crock pot with some taters and carrots, she'll love it too I'm sure!

What a Weekend!

Lily helping mommy clean the basement.

Can we all take a minute to work on one word. BUSY. That is the word that describes my weekend. Now, normally I like to keep my weekends pretty low-key since during the week I feel like a chicken with my head cut off. But sometimes you don't get much say in things.

Friday I had errands to run, grocery store, boring boring. Saturday we got up and had to head down to my Parent's house to celebrate my mom's birthday. Then on the way home (lily napped and was an ANGEL all day) we stopped at Sam's Club and spent a small fortune. (we always do there) Then we headed to Best Buy to pick up some ink cartridges and then home. Sunday I got up when Adam did for work since the monster was awake (hey I'm not complaining she slept all night otherwise) And her and I had breakfast and watched some Mission: Organization, which always gets me motivated to organize. Then while Lily was taking her morning nap I relaxed and got some laundry started. Then my friend Nicolle and her baby Kayden came over and we went down to the basement (shudder) It was a scary place. Boxes strewn all over the place with no rhyme or reason as to where or what they were for. So I dug in. Here are photos for proof of the before mess:

So I just get going and then Kayden had to eat, and Lily saw the bottle and it was all down hill from there. So we took a break, fed the kiddos, I got L-mon down for a nap and then we headed back down. Managed to get some stuff sorted through and actually put the boxes of stuff ON the shelves we had down there. So there is a lot more room down there now. So here is the after:

And this is after I picked up a rug and brought the other computer and desk downstairs. Lots of work but hopefully it will result in more room upstairs.

Then after a nice day with Nicolle and the babies I got Lily down for another nap and got ready. When Adam got home we headed over to his grandma's house for a combo Valentine's/Birthday party. Lily of course was a big hit with TONS of comments about how cute she was and how little she was and of course, how Smiley she was.

So all in all a great weekend and I can't complain about that.

PLUS I weighed in this morning. Down another .6! Yippee! That made me pretty happy. .6 may not seem like a lot but it's way better than gaining or even maintaining. All those little amounts eventually add up to BIG amounts!

It's Finally Friday!

Busy weekends. I am definitely the type of person that would prefer to have no plans. To just take the day as it comes is probably my favorite way to spend time. Do I feel like cleaning? Do I feel like watching a movie? Really anything. But this weekend...oh goodness, this weekend is super busy. Tonight I get to go grocery shopping. Woo-hoo. (hope you could detect my sarcasm there guys) Tomorrow we are headed down to my parents house for the day. Sunday Adam works all day and then in the evening we are headed to his grandma's house for a valentines day party. Weird? yes but they love get togethers and it's always nice to see everyone.

So really my only free time this weekend is on Sunday. And I will be with Lily alone all day which anyone who has a baby will tell you that it's near impossible to get anything really done when you are strapped with a kid all day. Hopefully she will take a nice long nap (or 2) and I can get some stuff done. My newest thing is I want to get the basement cleaned so I can make room for scrap booking stuff down there. I want to have space to spread out and make room for all my stuff. I have a pretty good plan and hope to at least make SOME progress on it this weekend. For some reason Lily loves the basement, so hopefully this will work to my advantage and I can bring down some toys and let her play down there while I clean and sort stuff to make room. Of course I'll update with my progress on Monday. We'll see how much I actually get done.

PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Some Would Describe The Girl As Willful

It seems in the past week or so she has changed. I don't know what happened to her but she wants to GO GO GO. She is no longer satisfied with just sitting on your lap unless she is stretching and craning to try and reach something that is just out of her reach and most likely something she should not be playing with in the first place. Oh and if she can't reach it...or heaven forbid you move it or take it away from her she throws a holy fit. *sigh* She also has been trying like crazy to crawl the last few days. We really thought she had no interest in it since we would put her on the floor and the girl would never really even try to roll over. Now you put her down sitting and she can get onto her tummy by herself and she tries to crawl. Thankfully she hasn't gotten the hang of it yet. I'm so not ready for that, though I am sure it's right around the corner.

She learned how to chew her food this past week. SO now we are up to 3rd stage foods and she is getting some of the Gerber graduates but I think we'll move on to cheerios since they are cheaper, and probably healthier for her. And last night she finally learned that when she picks them up she can put them in her mouth herself so I don't have to do it for her. I'm still uber paranoid about her choking, but she's doing great with the food and so I'm starting to relax a bit. And I'm happy with the progress she is making. She is well on her way to that 1st birthday cake!

On the Flipside.

Since Lily slept like a dream last night I feel OK about posting my top 5 things I DON'T like about having a baby. I'm only doing 5 cause honestly I think that's probably about all I can come up with.

1. I hate cutting her nails. She is so squirmy and I'm worried I'll cut her. Sure it was easy when she was littler but now that she is big she won't sit still for it anymore.

2. I hate getting up in the middle of the night. It also wouldn't be so bad if she would go back to sleep and you could put her down but she wants to be held.

3. When she is sick or in pain. It just breaks my heart, you really can only do so much for them and that makes me sad.

4. I do miss being able to do what I want WHEN I want. She always wants you to be in the room with her now so no cleaning, and she's always talking so no watching a movie without her yabbering through it. And no just going out when you want.

5. I hate it when she scratches, I'm sure this goes back to number one. I don't like cutting her nails. But dang those things are like claws and she has no idea how to be "gentle" (as I always tell her).

All things considered I'll keep her. And most of those things don't bother me often and so the positives completely outweigh the bad things.

Plus, the girl just finally got her first tooth! She's over 8 months already, I was beginning to think she would be toothless forever.

The things I love about being a mom...

1. Her smile, no matter how grumpy/sad/rushed/angry you are, that smile just melts my heart 5 times over.

2. Bath time. That girl loves her baths. She would play and play and play in there forever if I let her.

3. Her giggle. Yeah, it sorta goes with her smile but her giggle is the most intoxicating sound on the planet.

4. How when she turns the music on her excersaucer she looks at it like she has no clue how it is making that sound. Utter disbelief.

5. Feeding her. I love to feed her, she loves food and will gobble up anything you give her.

6. How she reaches for me when she wants to come to me.

7. How she works SO hard to get to a toy or remote or anything she sets her sights on. I originally thought she had no interest in crawling but I'm starting to see that she'll be up and moving before we know it.

8. How happy she is, sure I suppose you could group with with her smile and her giggle but really in my mind it's completely different. She is always happy and always smiling.

9. How she jumps in her excersaucer facing the wall and just goes to town jumping like she is trying to jump right out.

10. The way she talks. She is a little chatterbox and for the most part I love listening to her talk and say Mama and Dada and whatever else comes out of her mouth.

I write this list of my top ten things I love about her because after a really bad night sometimes I just need some perspective and to realize that this is just a stage and soon we'll look back on these days and remember how easy we really had it. Despite a few bad nights now and then due to teething or being sick, I really can't complain. She is an amazing baby and I love her so much.

But she better sleep better tonight.

I made these up and sent them out for Valentine's Day! Enjoy!

A good week despite yesterday...

Food wise that is. I did good on plan all week and then yesterday I gave myself some leeway as we watched the game and relaxed, I mad some chicken tenders and onion rings along with cupcakes. It was good. But knowing that today was my weigh in I expected a gain. I'm not stupid, I knew last week was mostly a water loss of 6 pounds and I wasn't going to get my hopes up too high for my weigh in this week since 1. I ate like crap with salty foods yesterday and B. I hardly drank any water.

But despite all that I still managed to pull of a 1.8 pound loss this week! Yippey! I am so excited. And now I feel even MORE motivated to stay on plan. I am only 1. 4 pounds from my first 5% goal and I am determined to hit that on Monday!

25 things, Mommy Style.

1. Were you married at the time? Yes

2. What was your reaction when you found out you were pregnant? Excitement. I was shaking.

3. How old were you? 23

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? I was late, but had only been off the pill for the first month and so I took a test to put my mind at ease. Woah. I never expected it to happen so fast.

5. Who did you tell first? Adam

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Nope

7. Due date? May 20th.

8. Did you deliver early or late? 6 days late.

9. Did you have morning sickness? Um, more like all day and night sickness. and it lasted forever too.

10. What did you crave? I don't think I really craved anything but fresh fruit was good.

11. Who irritated you the most? I don't know if I was all that irritated by anything other than puking all the time.

12. What was your first child's sex? Girl

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? Ugh, Somewhere around 40

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Not really.

15. Where did you give birth? St. Cloud Hospital

16. How many hours were you in labor? Not Long. Went into labor around 5 in the evening and she was born at 1:44 in the evening. I had epidural for most of it.

17. Who drove you to the hospital? Adam

18. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Epidural.

19. How much did your child weigh? 8 lbs. 8 oz.

20. Did your child have any complications? Not one.

21. What did you name him/her? Lillian Grace

22. How old is your first born today? 8 Months and some odd days

23. Who does your child look like? Adam mostly, though as she gets older I think she is starting to look a bit more like me.

24. How much hair did your child have? She had a lot on the sides and back but it was short and stubby on the top, Yes She had a mullet.

25. What do you think they'll be when they grow up? Whatever makes her happy and makes enough money to support her parents...(Ok so I'm kidding about supporting her parents)

Why do I even try?

Once again my plans have changed. I really need to learn to be more flexible.

I had planned great things for this weekend. And while the weekend has gone pretty well it's not exactly how I planned it.

Yesterday I planned to clean clean clean, catch up on laundry and spend some time outside since it was suppose to be warm-ish. It ended up with my parents coming up and doing some chasing. Sure we did get a walk in outside in the fresh air. But as far as cleaning. absolutely nothing got done. When the baby did take a nice long afternoon nap I sat on my butt watching a movie. Then there was Saturday night. I had figured Lily would keep up her usual pattern of sleeping like crap for me and I would be up on the couch by 12:3o or so but she slept great until 5 when I got up with her so Adam could sleep since he had to work this morning. And today I had hoped I would get the cleaning done that I didn't yesterday. Alas the girl is being a pain...albeit a cute pain but a pain nonetheless. She won't nap without me holding her, and while it's OK cause I don't HAVE to really get anything done I would LIKE too.

Now I'm watching her in her excersaucer as she tosses toys over the edge and tries to find them by craning way over the edge to see where she dropped all her treasures.

She finally has something poking thru to show for her endless months of teething. In fact she bit me. I'm pretty diligent about checking in there for teeth and this time when she bit down it hurt. Though I guess I had it coming. I suppose if someone was sticking their fingers in my mouth I would bite down too.