Thankful Indeed

This is perhaps the easiest post to publish since Lily was born. This submission is simply, in the spirit of the season, an outlet for us to be thankful for everything we have. While we too often focus on the things--and they're always things--we don't yet have, this time of year is special because of the way it forces us to turn our attention toward the good in our lives and just how incredibly fortunate we are to live how we do.

First we'd like to say thank you to our parents. Both the local and Chicago-based set are exceptionally loving and generous, and we couldn't be happier for Lily to have such caring grandparents. Some days it's hard to tell if we or they love the little one more. Thanks, P's, for all you do for us. Please know that we appreciate everything and love you very much!

Secondly, a big thank you goes to our siblings. Like our parents, they have loved Lily as if she were their own child, and we feel very fortunate to have brothers and sisters (and those in-law) who we consider friends as well as relatives.

Next, we are blessed with genuine friends who support us each and every day. If you're reading this blog, you're almost certainly someone we value greatly (or you're some computer hacker attempting to steal our identity online). Seriously, thank you for being part of our lives. The number and diversity of those who check this blog fairly regularly is indicative, at least to us, of the quality of people around whom we've surrounded ourselves, and it makes us feel good.

At the risk of sounding a bit too sappy, we wanted to write something to just say thanks this time of year. And we are obviously thankful for the health and welfare of our little family too. We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and we look forward to seeing you all soon on Valentine Drive!

Snuggling Time

Waking up with Lily is one of the best things in the whole world. She is so cute and funny when she first gets up in the morning. Anywhere between 3:30 a.m.-5:30 a.m. we hear our little booger stir and bring her in to sleep the rest of the morning with us. When she finally decides to get us up for the day, she first rolls around with her eyes closed and babbles a little and then sits up so she can whack her dad on his back and wake him up. She always gets him up first. If he is already up and out of bed, she crawls on top of me so she can look out the bedroom door to see if he is done showering in the bathroom. She yells for him and waits for his response. Usually, the bathroom door swings open and his face lights up and then she giggles. Then we turn on the Disney channel to watch her favorite morning shows. Her arms flap up and down once she sees Mickey's face on the screen. Such a silly happy child.

Meet the Robinsons

Sweater and hat, lovingly made by Jo Porter

Lily is quite the character these days and is getting into everything. She is always on the move, and it is hard to slow her down. Nothing keeps her attention for long and because she is not much of a napper, entertaining her all day can become exhausting. Luckily, we have found something that will keep our wild woman seemingly sedated for a few minutes. She absolutely loves the Disney movie Meet the Robinsons. We have owned the movie for about two weeks, and she still loves it day and night. Today I really needed to get some work done so I thought I would try out Finding Nemo instead, and she didn't even take a second glance. The minute I put Meet the Robinsons on, she didn't move a single inch for about 15 minutes. Thank you, Disney!

Other Lily developments would include the emergence of four teeth, crawling at the speed of light, pulling up on everything, laughing when other people laugh, and being strong as an ox. She loves to eat Cheerios by the Lily handfuls. She talks all day long. She tells stories and says "uh-oh" every chance she gets. PrairieThunder hockey games have become her new favorite pastime. Every time the Zamboni comes out, she goes crazy and gives it her beauty queen wave. Jeff and I couldn't be happier that she enjoys the games so much. Jeff gets to see the games, and I get to see my baby while I am at work.

Over the past couple weekends we have been packing up our house here and there in preparation for the big move right after Thanksgiving. We close on our new house November 26th and will move all our big furniture the following weekend. We purchased all the paint this past Sunday, which Jeff will be throwing up on the walls before we move. Thankfully, his dad has generously volunteered to come down and help him paint that week. We are so excited to get in there! I can't wait for everyone to see it too!

Trick and Treats

Lily had so much fun on her very first Halloween. She made a quick stop at the home of neighborhood friends, then continued on to both of her babysitters' houses, the Seibrings' house, and her cousin Alexander's. At Alex's house, she encountered her first Halloween scare when she saw her great-grandma Dorkie in full costume. Dorkie took her beautiful mask off to try and reassure Lily, but it didn't help much. Aunt Molly swooped in and saved the day though, cuddling Lily until she recognized Dorkie and gave a big smile. Lily was a trooper in her big, fluffy costume all night and seemed--for the most part--untroubled as we took her in and out of the car several times. Most of the time I took her out of the costume completely, but on our short trip to our neighbors' house a block away, I kept it on, and as you can see from the photo, she wasn't too happy. After showing all of our friends her tricks, Lily was treated to a nice bath and new jammies at her final stop at Grandma O'Rourke's. Grandma O'Rourke had bought a really neat blow up ducky tub--that actually quacks--just for the occasion. The tubby was just what Lily needed, and once she had her cute jams on she was ready to go. In fact, she was a wild woman! She bounced around the walls as though she had consumed a whole bucket of Halloween candy, despite having none at all. Lucky for us, she settled down a little at home, and soon after she had a bottle--her only real treat on Halloween--she crashed for the night. So ended a very successful first Halloween experience for our little, pink poodle!

Lily had so much fun visiting some of her favorite people!