Is summer really winding down?

I'm a little late on this month's update, but at least I'm doing it. :) Erik was home for two weeks earlier this month while he worked at his new "home" store in Brigham. It was so wonderful to have him home again. We didn't do anything too exciting, but just having the company was nice. Now he's back up in Idaho, but as of Friday, he will be done with training. He starts on overnights on September 1. I guess one good thing about this training period was I got used to sleeping alone, so it won't be such a weird adjustment once he starts his new schedule.

Lillian is learning so much lately. She's a champ at sitting up now and rarely falls over when doing so. I picked up a stacker toy the other day so she'd have something new to play with. She can't stack them by herself yet, but she sure has fun tipping them over if I stack them for her. They can also connect to make balls of different sizes, which she likes to push around. It took a little trial and error to get where she could actually pick the balls up, but once she figured out she needed both hands, she was doing great. She's tried to play tug with Laddie a couple times by taking his toys, but Laddie usually just gently takes them from her and puts them somewhere safe for his enjoyment later. I played a little devil's advocate with a water bottle by giving it back to Lillian after he took it away just to see what he would do. He walked back over and took it away again...even though he didn't want to play with it at the time. Possessive little bugger!!

Even though Lillian still fits in her infant carrier, we went ahead and bought her a convertible car seat (converts to forward facing once she's a year old). I was getting sick of lugging the carrier around, and now that she can sit up, I don't need it when I go to the grocery store. Plus, the base had to be reinstalled about every other day because we could never get it to stay completely tight. I guess we were pretty lucky, though; most people only get a couple months out of their carriers because the kid gets too big pretty fast. We got to delay the purchase of a new seat for a long time.

She seems to be enjoying the babysitter. When I pick her up, she's usually playing on the floor with the sitter's son, who's about 4, maybe 5, months, I guess. Lillian tries to interact with him and he's not quite interested yet, but she looks like she's having a good time. The sitter always says how good she is and how well she naps...sometimes I wonder if it's the same person we're talking about...

It's hard to believe the summer is almost over. Lillian is 7.5 months old, and last month was the 1-year anniversary of moving into our house. It's flown by. I'm kind of hoping that the coming year will be a little less exciting. A lot happened in the last 12 months and I'm ready for some slow times...but I'm not going to get my hopes up.

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Check-up

Don't fall over...two posts in such quick succession...

At any rate, I just wanted to give an update from Lillian's check-up yesterday. She now weighs 11lbs 3oz. Erik was sure she was 12lbs and I said 11lbs, so I won that debate. She is 25.5 inches. She's still not on the curve for her weight. The doctor asked if she was eating well, and I told him yes, so he said he's not too concerned that she's still so slender. He also said she looks great. She had another round of shots, and I think she cried worse at these ones that she did with the 2-month set. She's been kind of sleepy the last two days and had a little bit of a fever last night. But I gave her some Tylenol and it went away pretty quick.

Today we went to get some pictures taken. I tried to make the appointment for a time she's not generally hungry and made sure she got in a nap right before we left so she would be happy for it. And she was great when we first got there, but they were running behind (of course), so by the time it was our turn, she wasn't too thrilled. I think it was a combination of starting to get hungry and still being a little irritable from the shots. But we ended up with some good smiles even though you can still see a tear in one. They forgot to put the CD in the bag, so I can't post any yet, but once I go pick it up, I'll be sure to add them to the blog. And of course we'll be sending real ones out.

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Busy Month

Doing these updates on Lillian's "birthday" each month seems like a good idea. More often would probably be better, but one step at a time...Plus, I had two requests for updates in two days. I can take a hint.

So this has been a pretty busy month. Erik received that promotion. He is currently doing training in Idaho Falls. The training is 8 weeks total: 4 weeks in Idaho Falls, 2 weeks in Brigham City (his new store), and 2 more weeks back in Idaho Falls for follow-up. We're nearing the end of week two. He gets to come home for the weekends, and if last week is any indication, they're going to be busy weekends. Lillian and I are getting kind of lonely...well, ok. Maybe it's just me. Lily seems perfectly fine. Although Laddie, I think, is starting to miss Erik more. I just don't romp the way Erik will. For one thing, I'd like to keep all my appendages. But I try to make sure I play with him a couple times a day so he doesn't get so mopey. Lily and I just do what we'd probably do if Erik were here anyway, but it gets wearing after a while when the other person in the room doesn't really contribute anything to the conversation.

With the promotion came a nice raise, so Erik decided he needed a new truck. He was driving a '93 Rodeo that, really, is still in pretty good shape, but he'd been wanting a pickup for a while and something that could tow a little more weight. We ended up with an '04 F-150. I call it pritty pritty truck truck. (If you don't watch King of the Hill, that will mean nothing to you.) Getting it in the garage the first time was quite the adventure. Erik didn't believe me when I used to tell him he had too many tools. I'm stuck driving the behemoth this week because the dealer needed to resurface the rotors. So Erik took my cute Passat to Idaho and left me to drive this thing that I can't park for anything so I could drop it off for the work.

Lillian is doing great. Like I said, today is her 6-month birthday. I can't believe she is that old already. She is getting so big. I was looking through some pictures the other day of when we brought her home. I don't even remember her being that small. Our neighbor had a baby 3 weeks ago who was the same weight Lillian was at 2 months...and that baby seemed so tiny compared to Lillian now. We go to the doctor on Monday to see how big she really is. She's doing great on solid foods. She likes everything we've tried so far and seems to really love green beans. Now that I'm mixing a little fruit in with her rice cereal, she does better with it. Have you ever tasted that stuff? I don't blame her for not being too stoked about it...it's not too impressive.

With Erik gone all week, we had to put Lily in daycare for the two days a week I go into the office. Some friends of ours recommended someone, and that's who we went with. She's in Hyde Park, which is about 15 minutes away. We could have found someone closer, but we felt better that we got the referral from someone who actually new Angie, not just a list provided by the state. And she's a little cheaper pricewise. Everything seems to be going well. Lillian always looks happy when I get there, and I haven't had any calls about Lillian going crazy and to come pick her up. :) When Erik starts his normal schedule, he'll be on overnights, but he'll have three days off a week. It depends on what they are, but we're hoping to work it so he can still have at least one day when he gets to be with her while I'm in the office. I think it's nice for them to spend some time together and get their own relationship figured out without me there all the time.

Compared to Erik and Lillian, my life is pretty boring. Work is busy with conferences, but that's not really that exciting. But I don't mind leaving the excitement to them. They can have it. Just seeing their excitement is about all I can handle right now. Except that the final installment of Harry Potter should be delivered on Saturday. Erik may get to spend the day with Lillian and Laddie while I curl up in my chair and read all day. Except for the few hours I'll take off to go see the new Harry Potter movie... ;)

I'll leave you with a picture of Lillian playing with her new favorite toy...paper.

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