The Grays

Happy Halloween!  We celebrated all weekend long with homemade cut-out cookies, a family brunch, and trick-or-treating.  Lilly LOVED her costume and even tasted chocolate for the first time (bad idea).  She made a super cute bumble bee even though she was a bit apprehensive of going door to door asking for candy (we went to 2 houses).  Looking forward to next year when we hope she will enjoy it even more!

For the complete set of photos, click here.

16 Weeks

Here we go again!  16 weeks today…the days and weeks are going by much more quickly than they did with Lilly.  I am feeling great.  Zero complaints aside from the fact that my running has slowed waaay down this week.  Guess I should get used to it!

Get a glimpse of what Bill and Lilly were up to when Mom was out of town! This must-see pretty much explains itself.

Mark and Leela at the Wild Animal Park

Tevin's first trip to a nail salon

 I just returned from a whirlwind weekend in San Diego!  Bill stayed home with Lilly (with a little coverage from Nana Judy due to B’s flight schedule) so that I was able to visit Mark, Pinata, Leela (32 months), and Tevin (4.5 months) for a long weekend.  This was my first time meeting my nephew Tevin and he is a CUTIE PIE!  I like to refer to him as Cheeky McCheekster because he is one well-fed baby boy!  Leela has grown up so much since I last saw her.  She loves all things ‘girl’ and will only wear dresses or pink tutu’s.  We can’t wait to spend more time with the whole family in Phoenix at Christmas!

For the complete set of photos, click here.

Mile 17

At the finish line!

Congratulations to Bill, who completed his second marathon today!  He finished the Detroit Free Press Marathon in 3 hours and 43 minutes (8:32 mile), shaving 11 minutes off of last years time (even better than his goal time and with negative splits)!!  Grandpa Bill and I saw him at the start, mile 9, 13, 17, 25.5, and the finish.  I have to say he looked cool and relaxed at every point in the race, perhaps with the exception of the very end.  Bill and I went downtown yesterday to spend time together before the big event.  We stayed at the Westin Book Cadillac hotel while Grandma Judy watched Lilly.  It was a great event and I am SO proud of Bill!  More marathon’s to come, I’m sure…

For the complete set of photos click here.

Weight:  21 pounds, 9 oz. (25th percentile)
Length:  31-3/4″ (90th percentile)
Head:  45.5cm (75th percentile)

Our 15 month old is hitting milestones left and right and her vocabulary is building very quickly.  Lilly has become very demanding, especially with her mama, and she tells us exactly what she wants to do and when.  Never any doubts with her!  Hard to believe how much she’s changed in these past few months and what changes are soon to come…

The time has come:  Lilly is down to one nap.  I was hoping she’d continue with her morning nap for awhile longer but after a week of no morning nap and one or two days a week with one nap for several weeks before that, the morning nap has been officially dropped.  It’s nice in some ways because we have longer stretches of time to do things together, but taking a shower is more complicated than I ever imagined!  She typically sleeps from 1 until 3pm-ish.  The afternoons have been nice but the mornings are long and I find myself getting out with her every day as she can be quite the handful.  🙂

We took advantage of a beautiful Fall morning to go apple picking with the Gee family at Long Family Orchards.  Lilly went on her first hayride, picked out a pumpkin, and devoured several apples right from the tree.  Not sure what we’re going to do with the apples yet – I’ll have to find a good recipe for apple pie!

For the complete set of photos, click here.

9 Weeks

12 Weeks

So excited to announce that we are expecing another baby!  Lilly and her sibling will be 21 months apart.  ‘Lumpkin’ (thank you, Uncle Todd, for the name) is due on April 15th – hard to forget because it’s also Tax Day!

I am 13 weeks along today and things are going very well.  I was feeling nauseous accouple times a day from weeks 7 through 11 but it was never very bad and seems to have subsided.  More tired with this one than I was with Lilly – probably because watching a 15 month old seems to be more work than watching 150 high school students!  Definitely have occasional food aversions (my favorite green curry is a thing of the past) and have been craving SALT:  salads with ranch dressing are my new favorite food and -gasp- white rice (we normally only buy brown) is a common lunch.  This is definitely a change from my pregnancy with Lilly, when I craved nothing but fruit and sweet stuff.

We are ‘undecided’ as to whether we will find out the baby’s gender.  Ultrasound is scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving.

This is an especially exciting time because FIVE of the moms in our parenting group are expecting between March and May.  Lots to celebrate this Spring!

Keep posted for changes to our blog and updates!

It is amazing how much of what we say Lilly comprehends.  The past few weeks especially she has just blown me away with what she understands.  When I tell her that we are going ‘outside’ she goes to the door and tries to open it; if it’s time to go ‘upstairs’ she heads towards the stairs; when I say we’re putting on her ‘jacket’ she holds up her arms; her left shoe and she’ll hold out her left foot; if we’re going to take a ‘bath’ she’ll walk to the bathroom or to ‘Lilly’s room’; she waves goodnight to Roary when we go up for naps and for ‘sleep’; and she puts items in the ‘bag’ when I ask her to do so (and much more).  We have already resorted to spelling Lilly’s favorite items instead of saying the word out loud (like k-e-y-s and f-r-o-g-g-y).  When I sing her lullabies now it makes me a bit sad because it’s obvious that she is no longer a baby.  She’s growing up so fast!