My Little Lily turned 3

The spring is full of birthdays for the Boswell ladies. It's both very fun and exciting, as well as hard on me- watching them grow up in RECORD TIME. It really is shocking how quickly it happens.

Lily turned three a couple weeks ago, and she had the best time with all birthday festivities. Claire's birthday at the end of February kicks everything off, birthday-wise, and Lily waits very excitedly for her birthday over the intervening 6 weeks. As much as I'd like to be a good birthday party mom, I'm just really not during this season of our life. We don't have themes, an organized plan, or goody bags. Generally, we have some food, friends, *maybe* an activity, and general running around play time. Under those terms, Lily's party this year was solidly in my sweet spot. 

The weekend leading to her birthday was very rainy and stormy, so my plan to have her party in the same park as we had Claire's was shot. We ended up inviting three families (only two could make it) over to the house for food and a few games. The girls have been really into The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Birthday recently, which includes several classic children's birthday party games, so I tried- very loosely-to model Lily's birthday on that (i.e. they played Twister and Pin-the-car-on-the-racetrack). She had a blast, so I count it a victory!

The food...I had plans to make a cake from scratch, but I couldn't make it happen. I did, however, use my fancy piping bag and tips to put the icing on all fancy-like.

The party started with a rousing game of Don't-Let-The-Balloons-Touch-The-Floor. It's always a winner around here.

Posing with her party snacks

Claire found a lone candle in the silverware drawer!

So, unlike Claire who had to pretend to blow out a candle, Lily actually got to!

The girls have been so fascinated by the games played in the Berenstain Bears book, so we played the Lazy Mom's version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey: Stick the Car on the Race Track. We have this fun sticker book of Cars scenes and characters, so I taped it up and had them play this. They loved it!

Brynnie got herself wrapped up in the cord of this old school phone that we have. My friend, Katie, said that she "got tied up on the phone." Ha!

We had the party the day before her actual birthday, which means that we partied all over again the next morning!

Brad made cinnamon rolls for breakfast

She had a fabulous haul of fun treats and goodies. It was quite a lovely day (couple of days) for her! Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate our Lily!

Lily Lou,

Happy birthday! What an incredible 3 years we've had with you. It is beyond me how three years have already passed. The day you were born was such a transformative day for me; I had so many anxieties and fears about having a second baby (not the actual baby- but the whole experience of pregnancy and delivery). I was so scared after the craziness of Claire's birth that I couldn't imagine anything less stressful or scary. But your birth was one of the most redemptive experiences of my life. It was so peaceful (for me- I was asleep), and when I came to, I was able to meet you. It was one of the best moments of my life. Even though I was extremely fuzzy-headed, I remember it so clearly. 

Before you were born, Claire regularly said we should name you Joy. Obviously, we didn't, but we could have named you Joy, and it would have been so very apt. You are so joyful, happy, loving, tenderhearted, and kind. You are also spunky, independent, and opinionated. I love listening to you share your thoughts with me or talk to your animals or pretend to read books, making up your own stories. You have the sweetest heart and care so much about everyone and want to be everyone's friend. I often really wish I was more like you.

This past year has been so fun and funny. Your vocabulary has sky rocketed, along with your imagination. You and Claire play together so well (and also argue with the best of them), and she is your best friend. You take care of Brynna (mostly...unless she's trying to touch something you don't want her to) and are obsessed with your stuffed cat, Trumpkin. Trumpkin is like a sixth member of our family these days. You find so much joy in eating foods you enjoy, you love to help me in the kitchen, and you've started doing a few chores, like making your bed and helping unload the dishwasher.

People comment regularly on how cute/sweet/funny/spunky you are. Teachers from church, strangers at the store, our mailman...You have a magical way of connecting with any and every one. I love the way you crawl onto the couch next to me and ask to read a book. Or want me to sing one more song ("Baa Baa Black Sheep" or "You Are My Sunshine") at nap or bedtime. You love to recount stories from your day and talk enthusiastically about things you want to do later. You truly and deeply love your life! And I love watching you do it.

You bring us so much joy, Lily. I never could have imagined before you joined us all that you would bring to our family. Thank you for being you and please never ever stop.

Love you so much,

Mommy

Letter to my Little Lily: 1 Year

This post is two weeks late, but I finally got it done! The tardiness on my part in no way reflects how much we love you, Lils.

Happy first birthday, Lily!

Goodness gracious. I can't believe that I'm already writing this letter. Every month of your first year has zoomed by! While the adage "the days are long but the years are short" hasn't even felt to ring fully true, as my days with you haven't (usually) felt all that long. Of course, some days are more difficult than others, but generally, your disposition is so sweet and fun and happy that I haven't felt that long-day-short-year phenomenon. I thank you for that.

You have become such a fun and lovely little person over the course of this year. You are still so very sweet and happy, laidback and easygoing; at the same time, your personality has really begun to shine. We've seen you turn into quite a little ham who loves to be the life of the party...but only after you've had a few minutes to warm up to your surroundings. Before you were born, I genuinely worried that you would be overshadowed by Claire's big and engaging personality. I look back on those thoughts and feel so silly; you are your own girl and can keep up. We love watching you! 

Over the past month, you have kept us on our toes with your growing capabilities and antics. Yes, antics. Your coffee bar antics, for example. In our house, we have a section of our kitchen that is somewhat blocked off to the rest of the first floor and is where we have our "coffee bar." This area is, as Daddy says, "restricted floor space," and you know that you aren't allowed in there. Nevertheless, you take every opportunity to skitter in there and begin foraging for leftover Cheerios of Claire's. Or just to reach up on her table and pull off coloring books and crayons (even though it's our coffee bar, Claire's craft table is also in there). Or inspect coffee paraphernalia. No matter what you're searching for, you know you aren't supposed to be back there. We regularly have to set up barricades just to have a few moments of peace from protecting your well-being. A few weeks ago, I sent this text to Daddy:

Your mini-me evaded my coffee bar barricade, popped a coffee bean in her mouth, and pulled the French press off the shelf before *I* could evade the barricade to retrieve her.

That totally happened. My barricade was efficient enough to keep ME out but apparently not you. You are a tricky trickster.

The coffee bar area. I FINALLY discovered that if I turned Claire's craft table sideways like this and lifted the total restriction from the coffee bar (while effectively keeping you from the actual coffee), we could reach a happy medium.

You absolutely know how to get a laugh. We think you're hilarious, and you seem to think so, too. The faces you make are out of control, and your ability to imitate sounds is impressive. You are SUCH A HAM. And we love it.

We're discovering that you are a much more physical child than Claire was. You crawl very competently and are, unfortunately, really into climbing. It keeps us on our toes and is rather stressful. You can make it halfway up the stairs in the blink of an eye. Or, you crawl over barricades or up on chairs. It's exhausting. Like Claire, though, you're not very into walking. Claire didn't walk until 19 months; I fully expect you'll be walking before then, but you're not just chomping at the bits yet. 

Not the intended use of this swing, Lily. Also, you did this while I turned around for ONE MINUTE.

And here, Daddy looked away for ONE MINUTE.

All the climbing. All the time. *Note: I was standing right next to you here. You weren't in any danger.

You still don't have any teeth. I feel like I'm waiting on edge for a balloon to pop, waiting to see how you handle teething. I'm hoping for the best but preparing myself for the worst.

We've seen you really get into playing recently, and it is the best. You love to play kitchen at our play kitchen (and, incidentally, you really love unloading every kitchen toy we have onto the floor) and also to play "Where's Lily?" That's essentially peek-a-boo. It's fantastic! You cover your eyes and become oh so coy. My very favorite, though, was when I asked you "Where's Claire?" one day just wanting you to show me where Claire was sitting. You covered one eye like you do when we play peek-a-boo and you looked at Claire with the other eye. It was so precious. We also love to read Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? with you, because you love to join in when we get to "BOOM BOOM BOOM!" You go "buh buh buh!" and join in the fun.

Speaking of speaking, you say "Hi" all the time, say "da" happily to Daddy, and say "ma ma ma" when you are upset and want something. I love all of it.

Oh! Dancing is your jam. You will dance to anything remotely rhythmic: a song, a chant, whistling, clapping. Anything. And, your sense of timing is actually quite good. We're very impressed.

You're still eating everything we give you, and you usually tend to think we aren't feeding you enough or fast enough. You actually double fist when eating. Apparently, eating is your favorite. Also, you LOVE drinking out of reusable water bottles. You kept sneaking Claire's kids' Contigo bottle, so we got you your own. It might be your very favorite thing ever. When you first started drinking water, though, you'd take a big swig, smile because of how proud of yourself you were, and all the water you'd just drunk would dribble down your shirt. You've gotten better at it by this point...but you still do it for fun on occasion.

You are still just so sweet and easy going. Everyone comments on it (including Daddy and me almost every day). In fact, there's a nursery worker at church who often asks if you're going to be in nursery because she so enjoys holding and playing with you.

Lily, we could not possibly have imagined how much joy you would bring to our lives. You have been such a gift, and we could not be more grateful for your place in our family.

Happy birthday, Lily Cate. We love you!
Mommy and Daddy

Week 49

What most of our weekly pictures began to look like...

Week 50: the week of not one normal picture

The only non-blurry shot.

Week 51: the week of no sitting pictures

One year!

You may be bad at taking pictures, but you are SO CUTE, Lily.

Letter to my Little Lily: 11 Months

My sweet, sweet Lily,

You only have one more month before your first birthday, and I can hardly handle it. This year with you as a part of our family has been such an overwhelming blessing to us (especially me), and I find myself grieving that it's almost over. But then I think...it's just the beginning! No need to grieve! And that is such a happy, happy thought.

This month you've actually been crawling (a normal crawl, not just your army crawl) a little bit, and it's so cute. What's not as cute is that you are into everything. And you're really stealthy and fast, so we have to watch you all the time. You are always trying to get into the coffee bar, which you know is off-limits, and we are always having to drag you out, you stinker. 

You not only pull up now (on anything and everything), but you also cruise. You cruise all around the house. Oh, and another super fun little trick you've developed is pulling up and cruising around your crib. We've had to lower it twice in the past month because of this. The funniest part is that you can both sit and stand up in a mostly-asleep sleep state...but you can't lay back down in the same state. Sometimes, we'll come up to see why you're crying, and alas, it's because you've gotten yourself up and can't reverse that process. And you're crying because you just want to sleep and can't understand why that isn't happening anymore. It's sad and funny all at the same time. Also, a personal sleepy time favorite of mine is that you sleep on your tummy with your booty up in the air. It's the best.

Pulling up everywhere. Even when I corral you in my tub.

Cruising around your room. Forced into queendom by your sister. You weren't quite sure how you felt about it.

Cruising.

Bottoms up.

Oh. You've also learned to pull up and CRAWL ONTO the bottom step. We had to break down and put up the baby gate. We really hate using the baby gate, and yet here we are. We also had to start using the cabinet locks again, as you have discovered those suckers open and have such interesting things inside. You are a curious little learner and want to know what cleaning supplies taste like and how plastic containers work.

Some fun little developments (actually fun) are that you can now drink from a straw! And hold a bottle! And suck from our reusable fruit/veggie/yogurt pouches! This has revolutionized snacks and meals for us. The best part is watching how proud of yourself you are. Daddy also got you interested is getting your own Cheerios out of the little Munchkin snack cups. You still make a massive mess with them, but you at least have some autonomy over your snacks, which makes us all happy.

Eating your yogurt like a champ!

Using the snack cup! And wearing Claire's chosen accessory for you.

Unfortunately, you've had several colds this winter. Fortunately for us, though, you LEARNED TO BLOW YOUR NOSE. It's awesome. You don't do it every time we hold a tissue to your nose, but you do it regularly enough that we know it's not a fluke. Praise hands!

This month, you've also learned to clap, cross your fingers, make a fish face (although I think this one just happens to you- I'm not sure you know how you do it), and you've started trying to give us (open-mouthed, very slobbery, not-really-well-aimed) kisses. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. You usually go for my chin. It's precious. You are also a Master Mess Maker. You can make a massive mess in such a short amount of time; it's disheartening how quick you are in destroying the living room. Bless us. On a cuter note, you still try to mimic sounds or silly faces that we make (so, obviously, this is how we spend a lot of our time). This is something you and Daddy do a lot. And...drum roll...your first word was "hi!" You say it often when you wave. It's not always very distinct, but you're pretty consistent with it, so we're recording it as the first.

Mess-making in progress.

A favorite story of mine from this past month: I came in to get you up from a nap one day, and when I walked in the room, you were laying on your side, waving at your little bunny Wubbanub. Maybe the bunny is your first pretend friend. I kind of hope so.

The Wubbanub in question.

We love our life with you. You are such a funny, darling little cuddle buddy. Or a dragon-muffin (ragamuffin?), which your sister called you the other day.

XOXO,
Mommy

Week 45

Week 46

Week 47

11 Months. Literally the best I could do. And this is with Claire sitting in the crib with you HOLDING YOU DOWN. 

And now, this month's weekly picture outtakes:

Oops. Don't know how Koala fell over.

Whirling dervish.

RAWRRR!

BWAAA!

ARGHHH!

The uncropped picture for this month's "official" picture. Note Claire holding you down. LILY. We can do better than this, girlfriend.

Buckets of fun. :)