Week 46, Dec. 14-20

We're going to my parents' house in Ohio for Christmas this year. Other family members that we won't see sent Lily presents, so we opened them up early this week. She got lots of great stuff! Those of you who look at the web page and say we spoil our daughter with toys, you no longer have any room to criticize! You guys are all spoiling her too!!


After being married 11 years, this is the first year we've put up a Christmas tree. (It's plastic.) Lily immediately started grabbing the low-hanging ornaments and branches, so we put a gate around the base of the tree. Notice our cute Christmas stockings on the mantle!


Grandma and Grandpa Blackwell sent lots of presents, including outfits, socks, shoes, and a baby bracelet. They also sent a shawl that their friend Karen knitted for Lily (third picture), and a necklace from Michelle's cousins Cocok and Flora (fourth picture -- you can also see the bracelet on Lily's hand).


Michelle's parents also sent a baby roller coaster for Lily to ride on! We'll put this near her train, and she'll have her own amusement park at home.


My friend Axel, Lily's godfather, sent her a big stuffed teddy bear that's really soft. Michelle's cousin Missy and her family sent a puzzle, a stuffed penguin, and a yellow outfit (the outfit's not in the picture).


My cousin Demarie and her family sent lots of loot too! The pictures show a jack-in-the-box, musical dolphins for the bathtub, and a piano.


We had some last-minute Christmas shopping of our own to finish. While Michelle shopped around, I took Lily to a furniture display and gave her a chance to move around. (Okay, I actually just wanted to sit down because I was tired of shopping!) She walked all the way around the table (holding on to it while she walked). She wanted to play with a green box of cheese she picked off a shelf, but she chewed on it a lot, so we had to buy it.


I spent Saturday boxing up presents and shipping them. Lily helped!


Michelle went out with her friends one night this week, so while I was on dinner duty, I gave Lily her first Oreo cookie. This turned out to be a big mistake! She sucked on it for a while, but when it got soft enough that I thought she might be able to bite a chunk off, I took it away from her. She was not happy about that at all!! She also wasn't interested in eating her other food after that. So maybe I better wait a while on the Oreos!


Michelle gave Lily a grape popsicle. It looks like a fourth tooth is coming in, so the cold ice probably feels good on her gums (and tastes good too). She wanted to hold it herself, but didn't like the cold touch. Eventually the desire to eat the popsicle won out and she held it.


I gave her some pumpkin pie on a spoon, but she wouldn't let me feed it to her, because she wanted to hold the spoon herself. I let her, and she got the food into her mouth. A little messy, but she got the job done!