10 Months of Lil: A Walkin' and A Talkin'

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Our precious LilliAnn is now 10 months old! She's actually been 10 months old for a couple of weeks now, so I decided that I better do this post before she hits 11 months! I can't say enough about what a joy she has been in my life. She definitely has her daddy's personality! Everyone loves her. She makes friends with everyone she meets. She's easy to please. And most of the time there's always a smile on her face. LilliAnn loves to give kisses! All you have to do is say, "Can I have a kiss?" And she'll give you one...right on the mouth! Sometimes you don't even have to ask for one. She'll just plant one right on your lips! In the mornings when she wakes up she usually gives me a kiss to try and wake me up. She's so sweet! This past week she sure has been a mama's girl. She'll walk around the house looking for me, saying, "mama? mama?" It just melts me heart to hear her call me name. And yes, I said walk around the house...she is quite the walker these days. It's not even a challenge for her anymore. I feel like I don't even remember her crawling. That time in her life passed all too quickly for a mommy trying to hold on to the baby stages. This month is the first month that I've really noticed her actually playing with Reid. She follows him everywhere and he loves it...most of the time. They wake each other up in the morning with kisses and giggles and go to sleep at night with snuggles and hugs. He definitely watches over her and I frequently hear, "no no sis," "sissy put that in her mouth," or "sissy's trying to get that!" Reid is such a great big brother and he's learned that if she has one of his toys then he needs to give her something different to play with before taking the toy away from her. This little trick used to work, but now she's gotten old enough to know what she wants. Now when he takes the toy she had away, this is usually followed by a little temper tantrum until I make Reid share. 

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I never thought Jeb would be this crazy about a little girl, but he absolutely ADORES his little sweetheart. He brushes her hair and she flirts with him. She already has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. Jeb's not a big spender, especially on clothes, but when it comes to LilliAnn he does not mind me buying her cute little outfits and tutus. I went in the Tulip Tree in Norman the other day to just get a headband and came out with an outfit and some shoes. I got in the car and said to Jeb, "I should not have gone in there! I always want to buy everything in the store!" He said, "You should've bought her a few more outfits. Doll my baby up!!!" I started cracking up laughing. I never thought he would want her to be such a girlie girl! And man do I love shopping for her! I can't imagine not having a little girl to shop for! We went to the cutest children's clothing store in Vegas and I got a little carried away buying things for LilliAnn. It's not that Reid is not fun to shop for, it's just that there's so much more of a variety for girls...especially baby girls! This is one reason why I think that we're done having children. I love just having one boy to give all of my "boy attention" to and one girl to give all of my "girl attention" to. I would be completely overwhelmed if I had two girls to shop for! Especially since my personality is to always overdo! 

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LilliAnn's 10 Month Vocabulary

-mama

-dada

-nana

-papa

-bubba

-hat

-hot

-drink

-ba ba

-ball

-backpack and map (from watching Dora)

-that

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LilliAnn takes naps in her crib and sleep in her crib, unlike her big brother. About halfway through the night, however, she ends up in bed with us. I'm still breastfeeding and she usually wakes up once or twice to eat (or use me as a pacifier), especially since she's been teething. Speaking of teething...LilliAnn seems to have a lot more pain with her teething than Reid. As a matter of fact, I don't even remember much about Reid teething because it never seemed to bother him that much. Poor LilliAnn's little cheeks turn red and she just wants to nurse or to be held. She'll chew on her fingers and grab at her mouth and just cry. It's terrible! If they're really giving her fits, she doesn't even want to eat, but only wants to breastfeed. And sissy will NOT eat her baby food! It's like she went straight from rice cereal to eating off of the table! I've tried and tried to get her to eat the jars of organic baby food that I've stocked up on. A couple of months ago I was able to distract her and give her bites until she ate the whole jar, but not anymore! I'm lucky if I can get her to eat even one bite of her baby food! She thinks she has to eat everything that big brother is eating. She loves all kinds of fruit, especially blueberries, strawberries, and oranges, and loves chicken & dumplings, any kind of bread, sausage, turkey, macaroni & cheese, broccoli, and green beans. I haven't given her juice yet...other than the drinks of it that she gets from Reid's sippy cups. She still loves drinking water, and I'm very thankful for that!

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Last night as I was nursing her to sleep, rocking her and patting her chubby little thigh, I looked at her sweet face and couldn't imagine what my life would be like without her. I almost started crying because I felt so overwhelmingly blessed by God. I thanked my Lord and Savior for giving me such wonderful children to love and to share His love with. Since the moment they put her in my arms, as they wheeled me to the recovery room, I've felt like all was right in the world. Reid is the handsome, first born son that I have always wanted and LilliAnn is the beautiful little girl of my dreams. I've been getting very emotional at the thought of her turning one in just a few short months. Before long there will be no more breastfeeding, no more bottles, no more jars of baby food, no more Baby Einstein. Then not long after that, there will be no more diapers and no more goos and gahs. But for now, I have it all...my soul mate, a gorgeous, healthy BABY girl and an adorable toddler boy! And then there will be new things. Purses will replace bows, designer jeans will replace tutus, and make-up will replace baby drool. There will be Proms and dance recitals, homework and hissy fits. I'll have new things to be crazy about. I'll have to find out where to buy the best prom dress instead of where to buy the best tutus. And I'll still love her...as much as I loved her on April 6, 2010....and probably even more.

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