At the Bay River for Memorial Day weekend

Hanging out at the Bay River for Memorial Day weekend was a lot of fun. Lillie's increasing interactivity was fun for everyone to experience. She was in a good mood the whole time we were there, as were we because she decided to begin sleeping through the night while we were there!Lillie also got to spend time with her namesake. It's so awesome to be able to spend time with both of them at the same time. They definitely know how to make each other smile!
Lillie enjoyed visiting all the fishermen and women on the pier. She'll have lots of people to learn how to fish from in the coming years. Fishing is definitely in her blood!
Lillie found that hanging out with Uncle Chris was lots of fun too. He likes to call her "LJ", which was her nickname when we were pregnant and didn't know that we were having a girl.
This is obviously one of my favorite photos from our vacation - four generations of happy mothers, daughters, grandmas, and one great-grandmother!
Lillie discovered her toes while we were there, although it took her a while to do so. She spent about an hour figuring out how to bend over to get her big toe in her mouth. Apparently her left big toe was captivating and tasty at the same time!
Lillie also got to see Lora's cousin's son, Tyler. Tyler was born about 3 weeks before Lillie.
Tyler's sister, Abby, had to check out what the big fuss was about...
as did everyone else! It's hard to ignore two cute babies.
Lillie also got to experience her first boat ride! The pink life preserver was a little big but she'll grow into it. She definitely enjoyed the cool breeze blowing through her hair once we got going. Seeing as how she's a true Annapolitan, I'm sure this won't be the last time she's on the water. I bet one day she'll be taking us on sail boat rides.
After leaving the river we headed back to Grandma and PaPa's house to spend the night before driving back to MD the next day. We met Lillie's cousin Greyson at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Lillie enjoyed some chips and salsa while we waited for our food. She said the salsa wasn't spicy enough for her taste so she decided to forgo eating and drink milk instead.
Back at Grandma's, Lillie watched the goldfish eat out of Grandma's hand. Only Grandma could convince a goldfish to jump out of water for some food!
All in all, our NC vacation was a much needed break and a good time. Lillie made some big milestones: her first swim, her first boat ride, her first big toe tasting, and her first time sleeping through the night. Life keeps getting better and better...

The next week in May we went on vacation to NC. The first part of our vacation was spent in Corolla with the Rothrock's who invited us to stay with them at the house they were renting. After living with Mike for 7+ years it was nice to finally have Lillie meet Damian. Obviously they are both cute and Damian was very excited to hang out with Lillie, or as he called her, My Lillie.
Jess Rothrock took a bunch of really nice closeups of Lillie while we were there. Here, Lillie is enjoying playing with Damian's soccer ball.
Another nice perk to the house the Rothrock's rented was the pool table. Amazingly, Lillie is quite the pool shark. She might not look like much, but she will take your money on the pool table.
We went for several walks with Lillie along the sound. If you look closely you can see the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in the background.
We also took Lillie for her first swim in the pool. We could not get her to look at the camera because she was so fascinated by the water. She really enjoyed splashing around.
This is my favorite picture of us as a family. Lillie is 4.5 months old in this picture and this is her first visit to the beach. As amazing as the beach was, it was basically just a different place for Lillie to play with her toes, which she was just beginning to do at this point.
Of course we took her down to the water, but it was very cold so we did not get Lillie's feet wet.
This is us on our last day at the house with the Rothrocks on the back porch of the house. Lillie is sporting her sunglasses that Damian, Jess, and Mike gave her.
After leaving Corolla we made our way south to Manteo and the Elizabethan Gardens, where we had our wedding. So far we have done a pretty good job of visiting it almost every year, but this was the first time with Lillie. I have a picture somewhere of me beside this sign before heading in to the ceremony.
Lora and Lillie are posing at the site where we stood for ceremony. It was a lot of fun to bring Lillie back here to one of our favorite spots in the world.
We had a to take a quick stop by one of the magnolia trees for this picture. The flower is almost as big as Lillie. She had a really good time in the Gardens. After this stop it was off to the Bay river to hand out with Lora's side of the family.

Mid-May visit to PA

In mid-May we traveled up to Lancaster to see Grammy, Pappy, Aunt Jess, Uncle Jason, and Cameron. Before we left we had a chance to show Lillie the flowers in our front bed. She really enjoyed the purple irises.
As soon as Lillie and Cameron saw each other they grabbed each other's hands. It was very cute.
Although Lillie has caught up in size Cameron is still a little bigger. Here he puts his arm around his little cousin.
However, he quickly tired of that cute stuff and started throwing elbows.
Lillie fought back by chomping on his arm.
In the end though, they have each other's back.
Lillie showed Pappy her new favorite game. She likes to be taller than everybody so that she can look down at everyone. However, I'm not sure who had more fun with Lillie's game, her or Pappy.
Despite the elbow throwing incident of 2009, Lillie showed Cameron and Aunt Jess how to use her new seat.
Cameron thought the seat was pretty sweet.
Before we left for home we went out to eat in memory of Great Grammy, who passed away just before Lillie was born. Great Grammy would have loved these two very much and she is missed a great deal by all of us.

Lillie is growing like a weed and really starting to become aware of her surroundings. We are having a great time growing with her. She started daycare two weeks ago, which was hard on us and tiring for her. She is used to getting her beauty sleep between feedings but at daycare she has plenty of stimulation to keep her awake all day. So we are all learning to deal with this new change in our life. Other than that, Lillie is now beginning to sleep in her crib opposed to her vibrating bouncer. She now knows what her hands are and how she can use them to her benefit. She is also aware that her feet exist but she isn't really sure what they are there for yet. It's fun to watch her learn these lessons.

After eating Lillie loves to hug Mama and look around for Daddy. This activity makes her become all smiles.

Lillie is also becoming aware of Iris. Iris has begun to rub her head on Lillie's hand if it is out there and she will even give Lillie a sniff from time to time. Lillie hasn't yet reached for Iris but she does like to watch her.

This week we tried Lillie's seat. Being upright without Mama or Daddy holding her was a little confusing at first.

However, Iris came by to assure Lillie that all was good and Lillie relaxed and began to enjoy her new lounging option.

Lillie is also a champ at eating from her bottle now. Daddy no longer gets the angry-red eyes when trying to stick this rubber milk source in Lillie's mouth. In fact, Lillie goes after it when she sees it. It took a good deal of patience and persistence from Lillie, Daddy, and Grandma in NC, but she was ready and fine with the bottle when she started daycare.
While the new seat is a lot of fun, the old activity mat is also increasing in fun value. Monkey is always following Lillie around and has established himself as Lillie's #1 go-to friend for smiles and laughs (after Mama and Daddy that is).
Now she has the hang of the new seat and really likes her time in it. No problem holding that head up. In fact, the manager at Lillie's daycare asked what we feed her because her daughter who is a month older still doesn't hold her own head up when on her tummy. Lillie continues to pack weight into her cheeks and legs. Daddy has begun calling her "Stay-Puft Marshmallow Baby", and Mama calls her "Chunky Muffin". Of course, "Chow Monkey" is still the name we both use.
She has really become interested in those feet. Not sure what they do or why they don't function like the same as the things on the end of her arms, but she sure has fun checking them out.
Last month Lillie visited PA and hungout with her cousin Cameron.  They got matching outfits at their baby showers and obviously had to try them on. They are too cute for words.
In NC for Daddy's birthday Lillie and her big cousin Greyson helped blow out the candles on the volcano birthday.
Lillie really loves to suck on her fingers now. Not a big fan of the pacifier, but the fingers work magic. She is very opportunistic and will also make use of anybody else's fingers that happen to be in the area when needed.

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks to go with the last post.

Lillie and Lillie sharing some of life's secrets. It is truly wonderful to see these two people together.

Our little cup cake flashing that smile.

Now-a-days Lillie seems to be quite content in her bouncer, especially with the morning sun helping keep her warm.

Putting Lillie up on our shoulders to burp is no longer working so well. She wants to see what is going on all the time and facing the wall just won't cut it.

A good head scratch is worth a baby's smile, or at least Lillie seems to think so.

Tummy time is starting to get exciting. Again, this girl needs to see what is happening around her so as soon as she hits the floor her head comes up.