Where do I begin!? This week has been full of milestones and wonderful memories. During the end of the week last week Lily cut her first tooth! Front bottom right and the one next to it is about to poke through any day. She keeps touching it with her first finger. It's really cute, but she is LOVING all the biting she can do with it. She gnaws on my fingers whenever she gets a chance and it hurts! She's a little snapping turtle. She has also learned how to sit up all by herself. It just happened one day. She's been able to sit up for a little bit with help, but one day I didn't get to her in time to keep her from falling over and she caught herself. I was so grateful...but ever since then she's been doing really well and hates to do much of anything else. She feels like a big kid, I can tell. We started learning how to make music this week as well. She has started taking toys and banging them on other toys to see what happens. I have been showing her the different sounds that different materials make and oh, you guessed it. She likes metal on metal. EEsh. Shouldn't have been so gung ho - now it's biting me in the butt...or ears I should say. But she's happy as ever. Her napping is still going well, but she's testing me. She has started talking really loudly whenever I put her down (by talking I mean jibber jabber) and it fools me into thinking that she's really not that tired. I will cave after listening to 20 minutes of sweet little girly sounds and go in there just in time to see her smile really big and even giggle a little. Ha! I got mommy in here! Oops wait, YAAAAAWWWN. Dang. Fell for it again. She IS tired, but she's learning how to fall asleep on her own. I'm just glad she's so happy. She really is a joy and a blessing to us. Sean and I really feel more strongly in love every day about our little family. He's a wonderful father and she is so flirty with him. It's almost sickening how much she gazes at him. She loves to touch his face and he just lets her do whatever she wants. I guess that's the fun part about all this. We don't have to say no just yet. We both know that's soon changing. In fact, I think her little brain is very quickly getting the hang of life. It won't be long till I'm writing about time outs and public breakdowns I'm sure. But for now, all is quiet on the homefront.

Everything, everything, everything, everything EVERYTHING goes in her mouth!! Nothing is safe anymore! Look out magazine, look out toys, look out hair, look out clothes, hands, and especially hot bowls, cups and plates...you are all going to get slimed my my daughter! Although it's been hard to keep her little monkey paws from grabbing onto just about everything and cramming it into her little toothless abyss, it's so cute and so much fun watching her experiment and discover things all by herself. It's only the dangerous things that I need to watch for. And why does she love the sharp, hot, dirty stuff so much? Go figure. Human nature I guess. We have to try it out before we learn. To add to this mouthwatering business lately, she is teething so much right now. I can see the little white tips of her bottom two teeth trying to punch their way through her little gums and I do not envy her. I remember what it felt like for my wisdom teeth coming in and I know she's in a lot of pain. The Oragel stuff doesn't keep her suffering at bay long enough and since you're not supposed to use that so much I have had to resort to infant Tylenol drops. I don't give it to her a lot, only when she's really needing it, and boy does it help. It's like magic. I am so excited for her teeth to pop through. She's going to be so cute - and 10x more dangerous, but I don't mind. Let the baby-proofing begin! Meanwhile, for all you who are following my hopeful plight into independent and harmonious naps, I have good news to report. My little coconut is napping like an angel. Sometimes she fusses for a little while, but there's no more screaming or murderous cries coming from her room. She's off to dreamland very quickly now and I'm so proud. She's so much happier now and I've even caught her waking up and playing in her bed for 5-10 minutes before asking to get out. She's content and I am too...just hoping these teeth come soon!

I seriously can't deal with this crying...it sounds like there's blood all over the walls in there from some massacre! It's ok though, she only cries for a short time and when she wakes up she's all smiles. Whoever thought a nap would be so hard for such a little peanut? I love her so much. I'm only doing this because I love her. She's really been thriving because of regular naps lately too...I just hope that this gets better soon. I found a gray hair today and I'm sure more will be popping up if this napping routine doesn't stick. Oh wait! She's quiet! God bless America I'm so glad! Gotta go. If I don't enjoy the peace and quiet then my hair will all be white by the time she's a year old. By the way, I found out today that I can't wear baseball caps around her. Serious, serious baby flip out took place. She looked at me like I was the scariest person ever. We're going to have to ease into this I guess. She's quite girly sometimes...

As I type this very moment, my sweet daughter is learning to put herself to sleep. She's so amazing at night. She sleeps all night and has zero wakings (at least that I've heard). However, it's a different story during the day. She had issues with feeding very early in her existence and was held a bunch...by a bunch of us. She got into a groove. And honestly I don't feel bad holding her a bunch. I'm not of the mindset that too much holding will make a rotten little girl. She's quite sweet! Anyhow, naps have been awful. That is, until today. I am determined. And those of you who know me know just HOW determined I can be. She must learn how to put herself to sleep. It will boost her confidence, her moods and help in her overall development. She only cried for a little bit. She knows what's happening. We did this already for night time sleep. So, even though my hair has turned completely white and the juices in my tummy are bubbling violently...my baby is sleeping. (sort of - she's making these little birdy noises, but I think she's almost out).
She's had lots of new experiences this week (her 20th week of life) and I think she's about sacked out. She's tried cereal for the first time and by the look on her face I know you can see she thought it was pretty odd. She didn't turn away - the kid loves food as you all know - but I think she's a little wary of the whole texture of it all. We'll try once a day for a while and see how it goes. She's a little sponge, so I know it won't be long till she's trying to do it herself. Our little clone...
I really couldn't ask for much more right now. Contentedness has set in - this really is the best job I've ever had...even these hard days.

Today it really hit me. We've come such a long way in these last four and a half months! My baby is no longer a newborn and she soaks up everything like a little sponge. She smiles and jabbers and drools and sqeals with delight. She almost sits up on her own, she rolls over, she loves to stand up and she's eager to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. I look at her and almost don't even recognize her. She's a little cherub with her rolls and her pearly pink skin. Her eyes are clear and they dart to and fro looking for the next interesting object. My parents came to visit yesterday to see our new place and we all just played and laughed at her all day. She's quite entertaining. I could go on forever about all the little things that she does, but it may take all day. Ok, well just a few. She has started touching faces. She wants to study just about everyone's face with her hands (and if you're not careful, her mouth too). She loves my Dad's mustache and my Mom's big eyes and shiny fingernails. But the sweetest thing of all is when you're holding her and she looks up at you, only inches away, and just softly touches your face and smiles. It melts me. So, today as I watch my little budding baby, no longer and infant but not yet a toddler, I wonder what the next stage of her development will bring. I know we will travel to uncharted lands like solid foodville, crawlingtown, and separation anxiety city (oh how cheesy was that)! And I look forward to all of it. This picture is in honor of how far we've come. I'm proud of her, but I knew she could make it. It was ME I was worried about...