Letter to my Little Lily: 9 Months

Lily,

What a month it has been! It was full of so many firsts and fun. I really loved this month. 

We celebrated your first Christmas, which was SO fun. You were oh so cute, enjoying the decorations and parties and people and wrapping paper. I had a great time dressing you up in Christmas clothes that Claire wore when she was a baby. It was a fun little nostalgic exercise for me. You were just the sweetest little spirit to have with us, bringing so much joy to all of our celebrations.

Another first that was in conjunction with your first Christmas was less exciting; your first cold. It was so sad. You were so congested and tired and generally feeling yucky. I was really sad for you. And also sad that so many family members who had never met you or who rarely see you were going to see you in a not-normal-Lily form. However, even though I could tell you didn't feel good, so many others continued to comment on what a wonderfully sweet baby you are. Aunt Jenny and Nikki were having a conversation about how sweet you are, and Aunt Donna told them that they weren't even getting to see the "real" Lily in her normal disposition. She's got your back, Lil. 

I couldn't pick just one...

January also brought your first snow day! We didn't get out in the snow too much (because Claire wasn't here to thoroughly enjoy things), but I did sit you in a sled and let you play for a couple of minutes. You liked it!

Watching the snow from inside the front door.

Your mobility has increased so much and it is killing me. You are quite adept at army crawling. You are FAST, and we've had to up our baby-proofing game. You can shimmy across the floor in no time, and you really love to pick up fuzz balls off of the rug and eat them as you go. This is prompting me to vacuum more frequently than usual...which isn't a bad thing. You're not crawling on your hands and knees yet; it's more of an elbows and toes game. It's hilarious.

Oh, and on January 6 (Happy Epiphany!), I was trying to take your weekly picture in your crib, and you PULLED UP. I was in the middle of snapping a shot of you, and the next thing I knew, you were STANDING. So happily! And you were so not happy when I sat you down. In fact, you were so frustrated that you would not sit still for your weekly picture. You've become super wiggly for your weekly pictures as it is, but after the Pulling Up Incident, it was nearly impossible to get one. I told Daddy that we had to lower your crib pronto. As soon as he had seen with his own eyes that you could pull up, he lowered that sucker. You are keeping us on our toes.

A couple months ago, we started setting little bits of food on your high chair tray to see if you'd be interested in picking them up (and working on your pincer grip). You would mostly lean over as far as you could with your mouth wide open, trying to eat it right off the tray. There was very little effort going into pincer development. And then one day, you just decided to do it. Lo and behold, you were boss of that pincer grip! Now you pick up Cheerios like a pro.

This past month, you've also developed a deeper appreciation for your Wubbanub pacifiers. You used to be really intrigued by them, but you would, more often than not, pull them out of your mouth to look at them. Now, you really enjoy hugging the bunny or elephant while sucking on the paci. You genuinely seem happy to see them when we put you in your crib. It's very cute. Your love of bath time has intensified, too. We started trying to give you and Claire baths at the same, and it is such a WORKOUT for us. You love baths so much and have zero fear in the water! You'd be totally happy to completely submerge, if we'd let you (which we won't). You try to stand at the side of the tub, you lay on your stomach and seem to try to swim, you don't mind getting water in your mouth or on your face. It's funny and frightening all at the same time. You get up to all kinds of bath time hijinks.

We've had some changes on the Sleeping Front (but not in a bad way). We finally transitioned you to sleeping in the same room with Claire. It was time, but boy, were Daddy and I sad to lose you as a roommate. You really are the absolute sweetest, and unlike the stereotypical baby, you very rarely disrupted our sleep (after the first 2 months). In fact, we started trying to transition you the week after new year (when Claire was spending some time with Nana and Poppy), and we missed you so much that we rolled your crib back into our room before we went to sleep. Yep. We're suckers. But...we did finally gather our resolve and let you sleep in there. And you know what? You were a champ from the get-go. That makes me happy (and also a little sad that you didn't miss us).

Oh, also on the Sleeping Front: you've stopped sleeping so well on car trips. This is a less-than-happy development. 

We've been having so much fun with you. You're a performer, which is hilarious. You love to shake your head back and forth, and if anyone laughs, you stop for a second, look at them, and then do it again so you can get another laugh. I absolutely love it and definitely try to get you to do it as often as I can. Blowing raspberries is still a favorite past time, as is rolling your tongue. You have also started doing "back bends" when we're holding you. It's really funny unless we have no warning, in which case we scramble to keep from dropping you. Yikes! You love it, though. 

Raspberry blowing

Back bend in action!

And one of my favorite things you do these days: you can identify Mommy, Daddy, and Claire. If we ask you, "Where's Claire?" you will look around until you find her. This is a favorite game of ours, and we like to get you to play it daily. 

You are still one of the greatest joys we could possibly imagine. We love you so much and are so grateful for what you bring to our family, Lily.

Love you so very much.

Week 36

Week 37

Week 38

9 Months

And now, some outtakes:

This was taken seconds before you pulled up.

So we moved to the bed, and this is what happened.

And when I wouldn't let you dive head-first off the bed.

And I loved this squinty-eyed face.

Snippets and Stories: Fall Edition

I realize that it is, in fact, no longer fall. But I've never claimed to be terribly prompt with blog updates. This is just a little collection of small Claire stories that I'm treasuring in my heart...and on the blog.

I really love to listen to The Piano Guys' mash up of "Fight Song" and "Amazing Grace." Claire does, too, so I'll pull it up occasionally for us to listen to. This fall, we were listening to it while I was taking care of some household-y tasks. Partway through the song, Claire was twirling to the music, so I picked Lily up and twirled with her, which thrilled Claire. She looked up at me, smiling SO big, and said, "Mommy, we're princesses!"

Claire has a few sets of the magnetic dolls that are basically like modern paper dolls. She really enjoys playing with them, and over the past few months, her imagination and creativity has really expanded while she plays. One day, she was playing with them, and I couldn't quite tell what the conversation between the dolls was about. After I asked, she said, "Oh, I'm just being the Good Samaritan."

Back before the semester began, Brad's program hosted a dinner up on campus. We went, even though it was a rough afternoon for the Boswell girls. There were some cranky attitudes, and the weather was HOT, so on our walk from the car to our destination, we were sweaty and hungry...just not ideal situations with little people. In the midst of this sweaty, hungry walk, I realized that Lily was also unhappy because she had pooped. And then I realized that she had POOPED. It was so bad. No wonder she was upset. It was everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Brad and I found a shady spot on the sidewalk and proceeded to do all the things necessary for dealing with a blowout (all the diapers/wipes/clothing changes/etc). It took forever and was gross and there was a yellow jacket hovering the whole time. Bleh. When we finished up that two-man undertaking, Claire said, ever-so-casually, "Lily tooted." 

At the same Duke dinner, Claire was struggling to be happy with the food or the lack of other children or with the amount of attention she was getting. It was just not a terribly pleasant meal (which was especially unfortunate, as it's the kind of meal where you have to talk to people you see once a year/make lots of small talk/fielding frustrated 3-year-olds is particularly difficult). Eventually, she was so frustrated with how I was handling the situation that she looked right in my face and roared. Like a lion. In my face. 
What??
Yep. Roared in my face. I had to discipline her, obviously, but I really just wanted to laugh. Because honestly? I felt a bit like roaring myself.

Brad labeled this interaction as a "near miss," given it could have gone so badly, had we not investigated her true meaning. Claire was playing one day, and out of, seemingly, the clear blue, she came up to us and said (oh-so-dramatically), "Get rid of Lily, please!" We were stunned. And horrified. Until we questioned her a bit and realized that she had been playing "Madeline" and quoting parts of Madeline's Rescue, during which Lord Cuckooface tells (asks?) Miss Clavel to get rid of Genevieve (the dog). From there, she had expanded her imagination and substituted "Lily" instead. WHEW. This was such a relief.

We were playing with Claire's Disney princess dolls one day when Claire started thinking and talking to me about the various characters from Tangled. I found it so fascinating to listen to how her mind processed various qualities that she had identified in the characters, determining whether their behavior was good or bad and why that was the case. For example, Mother Gothel ("that lady") was not very nice to Rapunzel. "Is she bad, Mommy, because she's not very nice?" "Is Flynn Rider good or bad?" This is a tricky one, given his evolution over the course of the story. "Rapunzel is a good girl because she takes care of Pascal and works at her house." It's nice to see that she's taking time to be thoughtful and reflective, even as a little girl.

I know that I've mentioned Superbook before. It's a favorite around here and introduces lots of wonderful conversations about the Bible. At the end of each episode, there's is a video montage recapping the story, and there's a song (called "The Salvation Poem") that goes along with it. It's a song about the gospel/salvation. Frequently, when Claire is falling asleep at naptime and bedtime, we'll hear her singing it in her little voice over the monitor, and it is so very precious: "Jesus who died upon the cross/ and rose again to save the lost/ forgive me now of all my sin/ come be my Savior, Lord, and Friend/ Take my heart and make it new/ Help me, Lord, to live for you!" I pray she always sings this.

This past year has brought such an awareness of Jesus and His importance in the life of our family. So, whenever she sees a cross (or anything that looks remotely like a cross), she asks, "Is this the cross of Jesus?"

Barbara has been building Claire's collection of Otis books over the past 6 months or so. Otis is a little tractor who has adventures and is a kind soul with excellent character qualities, and we love him. One of the books is Otis and the Tornado. I'd never talked to Claire about Union's tornado before or shared any of my tornado anxiety with her (although there was a tornado warning back in the spring last year, and she was impressed with how fast I whisked us and a tornado bag into the closet), but she picked up from the story that tornadoes are very dangerous. She started asking me if a tornado was going to come through her room and was a little anxious about going to bed because of this concern. After a day or two of answering these kinds of questions, I decided to pass on to her one of my coping mechanisms for anxiety-inducing situations: make a plan. So, we sat down and talked about tornadoes and, more specifically, how we prepare for and act during a tornado. We talked about how to stay calm, put on shoes, get a quick "tornado bag" put together, go potty very fast, grab our pillows, and go to our safe place (the coat closet). And we also pray. It definitely stuck with her, because she continued to talk about tornadoes for the next couple of days, but she would talk about them in terms of how we act if one is coming. She sounded confident and calm, and I could not have asked for a better response!


Around October, Claire had a bit of a relapse regarding church nursery. It was very stressful for all of us and made doing church things rather frustrating and difficult. We're still working on recovering her comfort level. But, one thing we discovered that helped Claire to cope with being left in nursery was that she would calm down if they would let her go in the "Lambs" room with Lily. It warmed my heart to know that being with her sister brought her comfort and peace in a difficult situation (although I'd prefer that she be ok with her age-appropriate room, generally speaking).

Our whole family sings "Sweet Baby James" to Lily on a regular basis. It's become her song, and she really seems to love it. Claire has learned a lot of the words and will often sing it to Lily when she senses Lily is upset. The last time Lily had a check up and was crying after her shots, Claire jumped up and started singing "Sweet Baby James" immediately. And Lily stopped crying pronto.

Claire has seen quite a few people use their fingers to whistle/cheer folks on. We were at one of Brad's intramural soccer games once, and I looked over to see Claire with her fingers in her mouth, making noises. I told her to take her fingers out of her mouth, and she looked at me so seriously and explained that she was "whistling for Daddy's team."

I have a post about our trip to Universal (back in October! I'm a little behind.), but this story was not included. Our last morning at Universal was a little hectic getting out the door. We had to do some clever arranging of our schedules in order to accommodate naps and check out from the hotel. Sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) we skip naps, but that is just asking for a meltdown when you're at a theme park. So, that morning, I was in quite a hurry trying to get all of our ducks in a row, and I sent Claire to potty before we headed out. She'd been in there for a minute when I heard her frantically calling, "Mommy! MOMMY! I fell in!" I hurried in and, sure enough, Claire's skinny little self was stuck down in the toilet. Now, I didn't stop to take a picture, but I did double up laughing about it. I'm not proud of that moment, but it was just a little funny. I got her unstuck and comforted, and we eventually laughed about it together. A little later that day, we were riding "The Cat in the Hat" ride in Seuss Landing, and at one point, the fish who is advising the children to avoid the Cat, is seen spinning around in a toilet. Claire pipes up with, "I did that today, too! I was trying to get the toilet paper, and daddy didn't want me to fall in!" Not at all sure where Brad figured into the story, but we all laughed at Claire's assessment.

Hope you enjoyed some glimpses into life with Claire. It's always an adventure!

Christmas in Alabama 2016

We drove down to Alabama on the 28^th and immediately began celebrating all over again!

My dad got MY Cozy Coupe down from the attic for Claire to play with. She LOVED it!

After the girls’ naps once we arrived in Alabama (because our children do not sleep in the car, and that is SAD), we did family Christmas and had a blast. Mom, Dad, and Amiee were so very generous and thoughtful with their gifts for the girls and us. Some of our favorites included our Costco membership renewal (WE LOVE COSTCO), our museum membership renewal (THIS IS THE BEST), piano music for Brad, Lauren Graham’s new book for me, Boston-themed candles, protein shakes, a massage (for Brad…he’s a runner, you know), and Vera Bradley goodies (for me) among other fun things. The girls also got some Vera Bradley luggage, wonderful book collections, the collection of the Madeline cartoons, a Noah’s ark (for Lily), and Superbook figures and collector’s cards for Claire, again, among other fun treats. They both had such a blast opening their gifts and enjoying them.

Christmas Baby

Madeline!

Superbook collector's cards!

Watching her new Madeline cartoons, wrapped in her new blanket.

Brad took this picture. It was supposed to be of Claire getting waaay up in my face to tell me something, scaring me a bit...but it actually makes me look all Crazy Eyes.

The next day, I had an appointment in Florence that only Mom and I were planning to go to, but everyone decided they wanted to tag along. So, we loaded everyone into the van and took off together. After the appointment, we went to the Rosie’s in downtown Florence for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. That evening, we celebrated Christmas (and Auntie Val’s birthday) with the Brassart side of my family, which is always fun. We now have 6 littles among us, and they had the best time playing with one another (and by playing, I mostly mean running laps around the house, while Claire led them in “running through the airport like Kevin’s family.” We may have let her watch Home Alone with us one too many times…). They rest of us had lively conversation and a lot of laughs. We very much missed Grammy being in the middle of the fun, so it was great that we could all enjoy each other’s company. 

Mom, being a great Nana while we waited on our table at Rosie's.

Believe it or not, this is one of the two pictures we took with the McPhersons. I guess we were having too much fun. This is Lily and Cheyenne, who were born 3 weeks apart! Lily was born in April and Cheyenne in May. They are the sweetest babies.

We had breakfast at Blue Plate Café (a Huntsville FAVE) the next morning and had a restful day of hanging out…until Brad and I went on another date! It’s so nice to be around family that is more than happy to watch your children so you can go to dinner with your husband. I chose Shaggy’s for dinner (!), and then we ran a couple of errands (not romantic but much more convenient without littles in tow) before wandering around Bridgestreet. Any time spent with Brad is good for my spirits. (#toocheesy #butstilltrue)

Next up was New Year’s Eve partying! And by “party-ing,” I mean, eating food we like and going to bed early. It was awesome.

New Year’s Day was spent with my mom’s side of the family who drove up from Pell City. We did barbecue chicken along with our black-eyed peas, greens, and hushpuppies (it counted as our cornbread). Is it a Southern thing to eat this or does everyone do it? I love black-eyed peas, so eating those for luck was awesome, but I really REALLY don't like greens, so eating those for our finances was less-than-awesome. I ate it anyway. 

We opened even more lovely gifts, and Claire had the best time! Auntie and Uncle Paul gave her a brand new princess dress and tiara, and she has barely taken the dress off since. They brought her an Anna and Elsa princess nightgown back in May, and that kicked off her devotion to "princess dresses." Auntie made her life by adding a new one to her collection. 

Elphie (Amiee's cat) got up in the window to watch the world, so Claire joined her, of course.

Hanging out with Rosemary!

Elphie got in this bag to play for a while, and the next thing we knew, she'd fallen asleep! In a bag, in the middle of a room full of people. And she stayed that way until we were done.

Modeling her new dress. She could NOT have been happier.

By the time Monday rolled around, we'd been gone from home for 13 days and needed to start the journey home. Mom and Dad had asked if Claire could stay with them for a solo visit, so only Brad, Lily, and I headed off to Johnson City. I'm so glad that Claire is old enough to enjoy solo visits, but we do miss her when she's not with us. More about her visit later.

Our visit home to Alabama was so wonderful. Thank you to all of our Alabama family for such a home-y visit and a lovely Christmas celebration!

Shenanigans with Bo. Buckets (bags?) of fun.

Boswell Christmas 2016

This year was a Tennessee Christmas for us, so we packed up and headed off to Johnson City! When I say "packed up," of course I mean that we had one million items in our car, which made me feel SO overly materialistic before we even did Christmas stuff. Oof. But I digress.

Goodness. Life with Claire and Lily.

We got into town on the Tuesday before Christmas because of all the festivities. Oh, the festivities, guys! So much fun to be had. Rachael was already in town (from Knoxville), and Tim got in on Wednesday (from Minnesota), so things were kickin' before too long. 

Snuggles with Ray Ray

Kisses!

Brad, being the diligent soul that he is, actually went up to the library at ETSU and put in some pretty serious hours of work all day Wednesday and both mornings on Thursday and Friday. Go, Brad! The girls got in some really good play time, and Barbara and I got our Christmas puzzle (2000 pieces, y'all!) up and running. By "Christmas puzzle," I don't mean a Christmas-themed puzzle; we do a puzzle every year at Christmas-ish time. So fun.

Thursday night kicked off our evening festivities with the annual "7" party; Brad's dad, aunts, and their first cousins (there are 7 of them...thus, the "7" party) gather every Christmas for a fun catch-up. Pizza, wings, cake, gifts, and a slideshow. The past few years have added several babies to the crew, so it gets more and more fun every time. Brad, the girls, and I could only stay for a little while, as my children are heavily scheduled and really do best when they keep to their sleep routines, but we had fun seeing family that we rarely get to see (and Claire enjoyed pizza for supper).

Gifts for the littles at the 7 party

Claire was having the best time!

Friday night was actually Christmas Eve Eve, but we went to the Christmas Eve service at church. It really helped to have the option of a Christmas Eve Eve service, given all of the family events that were scheduled. The format was a little different this year than in previous years; there was actually a full-length sermon, which was a little surprising and tricky, since we had both of the girls in the service with us. But, they did a FANTASTIC job. We were so proud of them.

Because Christmas Day was on Sunday and we would be going to church, we did our "Christmas morning" on Christmas Eve morning, taking away the stress of trying to do it and church on the same day. It worked out so well! We got up, did breakfast, and exchanged gifts like champs. Claire and Lily both had a blast, and we were given such thoughtful and generous gifts. Some favorites were Claire's alphabet floor puzzle (which she take SO seriously), Lily's fun stuffed hippo, Brad's Ludovico Einaudi sheet music, and my glass snapware container set (that's right- I was pumped). 

Claire requested to wear her "beautiful dress" for Christmas morning. Thanks, Nana!

Christmas sweet rolls for breakfast!

Enjoying Bill and Barbara's new couch. It sits so many of us!

Claire was trying so hard to be patient in waiting on her stocking.

Lily and Gran

Wearing her Lightening McQueen house shoes and listening to Uncle Tim read the Christmas Otis the Tractor book. We love the Otis books.

Rachael planned to pay for Tim some new boots (hello, he lives in Minnesota), so she wrapped up Claire's boots as a stand-in. It was hilarious.

Alphabet mat!

Fun hippo!

Grandpa and Ray Ray

Gran and Aunt Sue

Christmas Eve afternoon, Brad and I spent some time putting the finishing touches on the Home Alone game for the Boswell family Christmas Eve party, while everyone else sat down for one final viewing/study session. We partied it up later that evening. More on that here.

Christmas day, both of the girls were under the weather, so I ended up staying home with them while everyone else went to church. This was a good decision, although it felt a little strange. Both girls needed some rest and down time, so that's what we did. Then, we settled in for a big, fancy Christmas lunch...which both girls had to leave early because they needed yet more rest (ahem...naps). Bless it.

The turkey!

The boys cleaning up.

Even though we ended up not going to church, we had already gotten dressed, so I left them in their pretty dresses. "Them" = Lily and Claire, not Lily and Madeline.

We squeezed in several more activities, like Christmas Day ham sandwiches with the rest of the extended family, date night, double date night with friends, building a gingerbread house with Takia, puzzling on the 2000 piece-er, eating too much fudge...you know. Normal things. Very fun and restful.

The Fun Box!

Kitchen floor shenanigans

Hanging with Uncle Tim.

Laughing with Aunt Jenny (wearing the jammies from Jenny and Chris)

Playing in the kitchen floor.

Gingerbread-ing with Takia! He's a good sport.

Early morning snugs with Daddy.

We had a great visit and thoroughly enjoyed time with our family, celebrating the birth of Jesus. 

Our Christmas morning greetings (belatedly) to you all!