Week 47, Dec. 21-27

This week was Lily's first Christmas!


I unpacked the roller coaster that Grandma and Grandpa Blackwell sent and charged it so Lily could ride it before our trip to Ohio. It's pretty cool! The two "hills" look like speed bumps, but that's probably all a 10-month-old can take! The third image should show a Quicktime movie if you click on it. If you have any problems, you can download the movie here.


This trip was Lily's first plane ride! We were dreading taking an infant on a flight, but she behaved well the whole time, and didn't cry during take-off or landing (when the pressure changes). We bought a car seat for the airplane that converts into a stroller, which was very handy. The biggest problem was finding an elevator every time we had to go up or down a floor, because of the stroller.


Lily got plenty of presents for Christmas from everyone. The ones shown here are a bib that says "My first Christmas", a pig-shaped flashlight that oinks when it lights up (heh!), a game for learning the alphabet and numbers, and a doll made by the Amish. Sorry if this offends any Amish people out there, but these dolls look creepy. They have no faces! And hey, I thought you Amish people weren't supposed to be here surfing the Internet anyway!!


She got several books as presents, and showed a greater interest in them than she used to. Before this she would look at a few pictures and then play with something else, but maybe now she's ready to listen to the stories.


Michelle picked out a holiday head band for Lily!


My dad has an old children's rocking chair that Lily had a great time with.


Most of our time was booked with family gatherings, but we still had some time to relax and play with the baby.


Grandma and Grandpa were excited to see Lily again. They visited us a few months ago (Week 21), shortly before she started crawling. She has more stranger anxiety now than she did back then, and wouldn't let them hold her the first couple of days, but here you can see she warmed up to them.


One surprising exception to Lily's stranger anxiety was our niece Rachel, who Lily has never met before. Rachel held her a long time without any objections from Lily. She's obviously good with children. Michelle and I enjoyed a brief break from parenting while Rachel babysat.


We got to meet our cousin Becca in person finally! She is young enough (2.5 months) that she doesn't mind being held by strangers. The fourth picture is Becca with her mom Carrie and dad Frank.


My sister Carrie scheduled Becca's baptism for this week so Michelle and I could attend. Highlights of the ceremony were when Carrie forgot her own daughter's name, and when my Mom interrupted a solemn moment with the exclamation "Oh crap!" (Her camera flash wasn't working.) Afterward my parents had a party at their house. You can see that Becca partied a little too hard (fourth picture).


These are all new outfits Lily wore for Christmas and for Becca's baptism ceremony.


Our daughter did not sleep well at night in her unfamiliar surroundings. She'd sleep in a crib for a couple of hours, but spent part of every night sleeping on Daddy in a recliner. During the day, she took some long naps on Mommy and Grandpa.


Lily's first exposure to dogs was at Cameron's birthday party (Week 25), and she cried when one came near her. She slowly warmed up to my parents' labrador Chelsea on this trip. At first she was afraid to touch the dog, but on the last day she started poking at Chelsea more than Chelsea wanted!


We got to see my cousins Demarie and Tom on this trip. Lily exists partly because of their daughter Josie! Michelle tried to persuade me for years to have a baby, and after seeing Josie cling to her dad Tom like glue one Christmas, I thought, "Well, maybe that wouldn't be so bad." Tom and Josie are in the first picture; their youngest son Andrew is in the second; and Demi and Lily are in the third. Their middle son Christopher (not pictured) was playing with his cousin Cody at great-grandma's house.


Here's a photo of the three of us.


Lily had Jello at Grandma's for the first time, and ate a lot of it. You can tell from this picture that we haven't yet taught her about keeping your mouth closed when you're eating!


She also did a good job drinking from a sippy cup this week. Practice for college, Lily -- chug! Chug!


Lily played on the floor a lot, just like she does at home. At first she didn't move around much, but as she got more comfortable, she zoomed around the floor as usual.


This is an old photo my Mom found of me when I was about 10 months, Lily's current age. We look pretty similar. We think some of her facial expressions look like Michelle's, though.