Good Vibrations

Do random song lyrics ever pop into your head? Or do you ever hear a song that makes you think of a certain memory? We love music at our house and we sing songs all the time. Music makes everything better! Here is a list of songs that play in my mind on a daily basis. 

Sometimes Lilly doesn't like getting in her highchair (espically at a crowded resturant)... Cue the song "Aaaahhhhhh Freak out! Le Freak, C'est Chic"- Chic

Sometimes Lilly goes stiff as a board when getting in her car seat- "SOLID... Solid as a rock!"- Ashford and Simpson

Lilly loves her bath tub time- "Splish Splash I was taking a bath!"- Bobby Darin

Whenever Lilly sees stairs she wants to climb them over and over. I'm sure she sings this song in her head... And I'm sure she would love to try it without any help!- "Here I go Again on My Own!" -Whitesnake

Sometimes Lilly wakes up before I leave to go to work and this usually ends in tears (for both of us)- "Cry baby cry,

Make your mother sigh"- The Beatles

I hear this song when I change her diaper when she's not in a sitting still kinda mood- "I wanna rock and roll all night!!"- KISS

Picking her up from daycare.. My favorite time of the day!- "I Run to You!"- Lady Antebellum 

Riding in the car can go either way. - "Slow Ride, Take it Easy..."-Foghat. She's usually pretty chill on our trips. But sometimes it's more like "Highway to Hell" -ACDC

Time to nurse! -"If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands!"

Lilly loves it when Daddy gets home from work! Or maybe this is the song Daddy sings!- "Get up, stand up, 

Come on throw your hands up

If you've got the feeling jump across the ceiling... Jump Around, Jump Around, Jump Up Jump Up and Get Down.."- House of Pain

When she wakes up in the morning and I see that pretty face- "Pretty Little Angle Eyes..." -Curtis Lee

When we are having a meltdown- "You Can't Always Get What You Want"- The Rolling Stones

Lilly probably falls down 800 times a day... But she always gets right back up! - "Big Girls Don't Cry!"- Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

And this song sums up how I feel about Lilly growing up WAY to fast- "May God bless and keep you always 

May your wishes all come true

May you always do for others 

And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars 

And climb on every rung

May you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young 

May you stay forever young." - Bob Dylan

Don't forget to dance to the music and ROCK ON!!' 

Silent Night

There is nothing sweeter than seeing Lilly asleep on her daddy as he carries her into the house. This is what I saw last night. Her face all tucked into his neck and his arms around her, as if he's holding on to that moment for dear life. And instead of putting her in the crib he gently laid her down in the middle of the bed where she slept all night. 

Our life is so busy right now. We travel here and there. We both have full time jobs. Mike is in grad school. And to top it all off our house is for sale. Trying to keep a house clean with a toddler is like trying to keep a snowflake off your car in the middle of a blizzard... IMPOSSIBLE! Everything I pick up and put away is pulled right back out. Lilly has a new fascination with pulling things out of cabnits and bags. Our dog is shedding so bad that I'm a millisecond away from having the worlds biggest anxiety attack and shaving him bald. I could literally vacuum the house 3 times a day and there would still be dog hair... Not to mention that there is no time to vacuum 3 times a day.. Or even 3 times a week.. Or dare I say 3 times a month!!! 

But we try our best to just go with it. Clean a little bit here and there. Let Lilly pull things out of the cabnits and destroy her room. Take her to the park instead of folding laundry. But it's still so easy to get wrapped up in all the hussle and bussle of every day life. So when we have a moment like last night, when everything is quiet and still, I try to take a deep breath and remember what is really important. And suddenly the laundry and tumbleweeds of dog hair that are floating around my house are a distant memory and my heart is overflowed with the love I have for my family (yes, even the dog). It's moments like that that bring me back to reality and destroys any little bit of anxiety I'm feeling. I have a beautiful and healthy daughter and a husband that loves us both. I am very very blessed. 

Miss Independent

My 13 month old has a new favorite word. 

NO 

Oh boy! Lilly's little personality is really starting to show. I think I have to use the word "toddler" now. But this isn't a bad thing. A little bittersweet.. Well A LOT bittersweet... But she is SO much fun right now. And all of this "NO" talk is really cracking us up. I might as well laugh now because it might not be so cute later down the road. 

"Lilly, put down your phone and come eat dinner with your family" ... "NO!" ..... Nah, Lilly will never be like that. Right?.. RIGHT!!!??? 

So, I saw this blog recently about reasons why my son is crying and thought I would come up with my own variation... 

Reasons Why My Daughter says NOOOO!! 

I put her in her highchair.

I won't let her play in the fireplace. 

I put the baby gate on the stairs. 

I picked her up. 

I put her down. 

I put her socks and shoes on. 

I took her socks and shoes off. 

I won't let her play in the dogs water bowl. 

I took her out of the tub. 

I put her clothes on. 

I offered her a greenbean. 

I put her in her carseat. 

I wiped her nose. 

I took a bite of her pickle. 

I laugh every..single..time!! She is Miss Independent right now and wants to do things her way. She is saying so many words and I just love her little voice. She said hey to every single person at the grocery store yesterday. She is my free spirited child and I wouldn't have her any other way. Cheers to the toddler years! 

Just Zoo It

Lilly's asleep. I desperately need to get up and shower but my legs feel like jello. I think that's a sign that our trip to the zoo was a success!

Lindsay, Addison, Cole, Lilly, Mom, Dad, and I all piled into the car with two strollers, a cooler, and some diaper bags. We were serenaded the whole way there by my nieces. This was great entertainment for Lilly and Cole. 

The forecast called for rain starting at 4:00. It started pouring down rain 10 minutes before we arrived at 10:00. The weather man sucks. 

We sat in the car at the zoo parking lot with 4 very VERY squirmy children and waited for the rain to stop. If you ever want to torture a child I highly recommend doing this. Did I mention that the weather man sucks? 

We decided to brave the rain and go on in after we ran out of goldfish crackers. They were our saving grace. We unloaded the kids and quickly made our way to the entrance. 

After buying 6 ponchos at the gift shop it decided to stop raining. 2 diaper changes later and we were off to explore the zoo! 

We saw lions, zebras, elephants, monkeys, and birds. Lilly and Cole took a snooze in the stroller. I nursed Lilly on a bench while looking out at an ostrich. We waited in line for the tram to take us across the zoo to the food court for lunch for about 30 minutes until we were told that the trams were not running at the moment. If I had to guess I would say that we walked about 7 million miles. Ok I'm exaggerating... It was more like 4 million. But it was so totally worth it and so much fun! I just love being a mom. It is the best thing in the world!!! 

Gas to fill up the car full of children- $50.00

Snacks and drinks for the trip- $20.00

6 unused ponchos- $12.00

1 kids sized sweatshirt so Lilly wasn't cold- $24.00

Hearing Lilly call every animal at the zoo a dog- PRICELESS!!! 

And thank you mom and dad for taking us to the zoo. Lets go again next weekend!! :-) 

It's A Jungle Out There

Every time I look at the news I always tell myself I will never look at the news again! But then I always do and I'm usually left with the same feelings of disgusts and heartache. There are the occasional stories that restore your faith in humanity but those are few and far between. There have been so many tragedies that have happened already worldwide since Lilly arrived last April. I can't imagine how many more will have happened by her 5th, 10th, and 20th birthday. And I dread the day that Lilly sees one of these tragedies on the news and I have to explain to her what evil is. Children are so innocent. That is one thing I love about teaching. Innocence is such a precious thing that we only have for a short while.

It KILLS me when I hear kids talking about that R rated movie they saw last weekend, their new video game that is super violent, or their favorite song that only has 127,497,469 cuss words in it. Seriously!? The only question I'm left with is WHY?? Why do you think it's ok for your child to watch that movie or sing that song? Let them be children. Let them get dirty. Let them sing their ABC's for the hundredth time. Let them do things that interest them and be supportive about it. Mike and I were discussing this the other day. We were wondering about the kinds of things Lilly will be interested in and his response was priceless... "If Lilly wants to play the trombone then I want to play the trombone too." Ummm yeah... It melted my heart too!

But on the other hand, there is such a thing as being overprotective. When Lilly was first born I had a lot of anxiety about different things, as any new mom does. Putting Lilly in the car those first few weeks was very scary for me. I dreaded her first fever or cold. Chocking became a concern when she started eating food. The first time she rolled over and slept on her tummy was the worst night of my life. I felt like I couldn't close my eyes for 1 second. But as these different things happened we got through them and realized that it was not the end of the world. My anxiety became less and less and my confidence as a mother grew. Now I don't think twice about Lilly sleeping on her tummy or eating a goldfish or going for a ride... And it's not because I don't care... It's because I REFUSE to live like that. Scary things happen every single day. But you know what!?... We are still going to leave the house, play outside, go to the pool, walk on the beach, swing at the park, go out to eat, go on walks, and take trips to target.

I researched some statistics recently that help put this in perspective:

62 people in the US get struck by lightning each year. That's a 1 in 5 million chance.

You are more likely to be struck by lightning two and a half times than to be kidnapped as a child.

1 in 18,585 people are killed in car accidents.

A person's chance of getting attacked by a shark in the United States is 1 in 11.5 million.

There will always be evil in this world. I hope that never holds Lilly back from doing what she wants to do. Because she can do anything her little heart desires. Even if that's playing the trombone.

There's A New Doctor In Town!

What an eventful week! And it's only Tuesday!

Lilly woke up Sunday morning with a rash on her back and face. It didn't seem to bother her and she went on with her usual activities of walking, pulling things out of cabinets, trying to climb the stairs, and of course nursing! But by Sunday night the rash had spread to her tummy and was starting to look bad. She didn't have a fever and she hadn't tried any new foods. The only thing I could think of was that it came from her new shirt she wore the day before. She still seemed ok though so I tried not to worry. After all, it's not the first rash Lilly has ever had. Well that all changed at 1:00 am. Lilly woke up miserable.. And stayed miserable for the next 3 hours. She finally settled back down around 4:00 am. By 6:30 that morning her rash was 10x worse and now covered her entire body.

Thank goodness she already had a doctors appointment scheduled with her new doctor at 1:45 that afternoon. And thank goodness my cousin/best friend is a nurse who reassured me all day!

The doctor took one look at her and knew right away that the rash was a reaction to her shots she got recently. It is completely harmless and not contagious. The reason she was so miserable was because she had a double ear infection... Poop. The hardest thing about being a parent is when your child is sick. Breaks.. My.. Heart...

On a positive note, the new doctor is FABULOUS! She charted Lilly's growth using the WHO growth chart and get this... Lilly was in the 30% for weight! Big difference from "failure to thrive". I guess being charted as a BOY and not a girl on the wrong chart matters after all! (Excuse me as I take some deep breaths and count to 10)....

Dr. Morgan was very supportive and caring and made me feel so much better about everything. She was happy with the progress Lilly was already making with trying new foods. We go back in a month for a follow up. So we will just keep encouraging Lilly to try new foods. She was finally perking back up this afternoon and returned to her daily activities that kept mommy on her toes. What a little blessing our Lilly Grace is!

Peace of Mind

God really does work in mysterious ways. I've said a lot of prayers over the past week and God has truly comforted me and taken my worries away.

After my last blog post about Lilly being labeled "failure to thrive" (ugh, that still makes my blood boil) a lot of people reached out to me. And I mean A LOT!! Some people I didn't even know sent me private messages about their little ones being picky eaters as well and shared a lot of helpful advice. But perhaps the coolest thing that happened was a text I got about a girl that had read my blog through a mutual friend on Facebook. She is a pediatric occupational feeding specialist and she lives in Greenville... As in Greenville, NC.... AS IN THE SAME TOWN I LIVE IN! Coincidence? I think not... That's God answering prayers.

I called Emily Monday afternoon and we talked for a long time. She had loads of advice! We think that Lilly is sensitive to textures and we talked about sensory things I could do to help her. These were just a few of her suggestions:

-Brush the insides of Lilly's cheeks and the back of her gums to desensitize her gagging reflex. Lilly only has 2 front teeth so the back of her mouth is an area that we haven't brushed. (back story- Lilly started gagging on pacies and bottles at 3 months old and this was part of the reason she hated bottles. She also gags on foods that she doesn't like).

-Let Lilly play with things like pudding in her highchair to get her use to touching and feeling foods. Lilly is very picky about things being on her hands.

-Put some dry pasta in a shoe box and hide things in it and let Lilly dig through it. Again, this will help her feel different textures.

-Start mixing some foods that Lilly likes with other foods, slowly at first and then add more over time.

-And of course, just keep being patient and keep trying.

Emily even offered to watch Lilly eat and said I could call her whenever I wanted to. She also said that this was very common... something that the doctor did not seem to think! I felt a huge weight being lifted off of me after I hung up the phone. God had answered my prayers.

So, here is what has been going on this week with miss picky pants... She's refusing to eat any table food at school but is eating all of her oatmeal and baby food. They even caught her putting her table food on another babies tray! Ohhhhh that makes me giggle. Only Lilly!

At home she has spit out peas, potatoes, carrots, bread, and chicken. BUT she did taste them so that's a plus.

And lastly, this is what she did eat this weekend... Cheerios, gold fish, Cheerios dipped in bananas (yay!), strawberry yogurt, Cheerios dipped in strawberry yogurt (ha!), cheese, chocolate pudding, chips, and french fries..... The last three items were her favorite. Uh oh! I obviously only want Lilly to eat healthy foods but right now getting anything in her mouth is an accomplishment! Maybe she will like sweet potato fries! This is probably the most she has eaten on a weekend. I have found out that she is more accepting of food if she is not strapped into her highchair. So we ate while playing and while holding her. It's harder for her to swat food away if her hands are occupied. Overall I think we had a very successful week. Thank you to everybody who reached out to me. Your words of kindness and reassurance were just what this momma needed.

2 Thessalonians 3:16
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.