The Grays

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.

The days are getting colder and we have a whole new schedule of Fall classes to keep Lilly and me busy.  Mondays we continue with our playgroup, Tuesdays are daycare, Wednesdays we go to My Gym with some friends, Thursdays we have Music Together with a bunch of our friends, Fridays are reserved for errands and spending time with Daddy, and Sundays Bill and Lilly have Goldfish swim classes.  Whew!  Think we’ll be busy enough?  We also do dinner with Nana and Bapa and Aunt Terry comes over Thursday mornings with a new library book to read with Lilly, not to mention various playdates.  I have to admit that the classes are as much for me as they are for Lilly – lots of fun!  Bring it on!

Playdate at the Beach

Fun with Chase and Sean

Picnic with Arbor

Dinner with the Gee's

With Bill travelling during the week we are especially thankful for the good friends and family we have here.  Lilly and I have multiple classes and playdates scheduled throughout the week and have playtime and dinner with Nana and Bapa accouple nights a week.   Aunt Terry’s beach and Barb’s pool have also provided lots of splish-splash fun for us this Summer.  We are so busy during the week that we look forward to having ‘down time’ with dad over the weekend and not planning so many activities!

This weekend we decided to stay home and enjoy the great outdoors with Lilly.  We had dinner with our friends Reena & Matt and Tracey & Aaron Saturday night in downtown Birmingham and took Lilly to the zoo with Billy on Sunday.  Monday we went to Aunt Terry’s beach and had a picnic by the water.  It was such a fun weekend!

Beaumont Moms Group

Today was the last ‘official’ Beaumont Moms Group, but we look forward to many playdates in the future with the friends we have made.  We plan to meet every other week for a scheduled playgroup and more often informally.  I am so thankful for the women I have met in this group, and Lilly seems to have fun with the other babies.  It has been so fun to share stories and watch them grow!

Lilly and I have been enjoying lots of playdates with friends.  Today the Beaumont Moms Group met at our house.  Here is a photo of the babies in the group – they all range from 6-8 months (click on image to view larger).

Lilly is a busy bee!  Mondays we meet with the Beaumont Moms Group (either a formal meeting or to walk the mall), Wednesdays we take a Kindermusik class, Fridays we go to Gymboree, and Sundays are reserved for daddy-daughter swim classes at Goldfish.  Since she stays home with me I try to get her out for ‘social time’ once every day.  We also see Grandma Judy and Grandpa Bill and try to meet up with Laura & Arbor and Karen & Heidi whenever possible.  Next week I’m going to start taking her to the daycare at the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays so that I can work out.  I feel like the first 4 months went by rather slowly, but now that she is so busy and moving about the weeks go by sooo fast!

Over the holiday break we were able to catch up with some of our good friends from Darden who happened to be visiting family in the Phoenix area at the same time.  We miss the friends we made in Charlottesville and it was really nice to see them again.  We plan to see both couples in Chicago in March.

Bill and I woke up at 6:25 this morning to Lilly crying out for us and quickly realized this was the first time she woke up!  Normally she wakes up once between 2 and 4 and then is up for the day around 7am.  This meant that I got 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep for the first time in 5 months!  It was absolutely divine.  She has definitely been sleeping better in general – still has the occasional night where she wakes up and wants to be soothed several times (once or twice a week), but she is always easy to put back down.

I thank Heidi Gee for the fact that Lilly slept through the night.  Just before putting her to sleep Jerry, Karen, and Heidi were over (Ethiopian carry-out…yum!)  and Lilly was absolutely enamored with Heidi.  She became really quiet and didn’t want to take her eyes off of her.  I think watching a toddler run around really wore her out!

The past few days I have been trying to push her schedule back by about an hour so that the transition to Mountain Time is easier on all of us.  She now goes to sleep around 8:45 and has been waking up at 8am.  The plane ride will likely mess up all the advanced work we are doing, but hopefully she will adjust to life in Arizona quickly!

Sarah, my best friend from college, came in from Charleston to spend the entire week with Lilly and I.  Alexis drove her up from Ohio and was able to spend all day Monday with us as well.  It was so nice to catch up and spend time together.  We are already planning a Miami University reunion for April.  We miss you Sarah!!!