8 Months
Lilly is 8 months old today! The picture for today is of her getting ready to take a nap because she has a cold. In fact, everyone in the house is a bit under-the-weather.
At 8 months, Lilly is trying her hand at some more finger foods. Bananas and teething crackers have been added to the cheerios menu. Sitting up has become second nature and she can get to that position from tummy or back. She is still army crawling everywhere she goes. It seems that she is trying to straighten her legs when she wants to get up. I am not sure what road this will take us down but we’ve been helping her stand holding onto things that are at her level.
“dadadadada, mamamamama, woooo”, Lilly has become extremely vocal the past few days focusing on the classic dada and mama. I could have sworn she said “Uh Oh” the other day but I might have been trying to hear it in her sounds.
Tooth Watch 2009 has commenced. We think she might be teething. We feel no bumps but drooling has increased and this cold could be a result of the oncoming chompers. I’ll miss that toothless grin…….
Wil put up a safety gate at the top of stairs and we have been putting the plastic plugs in the outlets, looking for any cords dangling from curtains, and keeping everything we can off the floor. Her favorite thing to do in our bedroom is to take the socks out of the sock bin but not before putting each one in her mouth. Nothing like putting wet socks on in the morning!
Christ’s Own Forever
On All Saints’ Day which was this past Sunday, Lilly was Baptised at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Lookout Mountain, TN. The weekend started on Thursday with the arrival of Catt, Rob, Gifford, Ellie and Wick= the Courtney Clan! As soon as we saw them and gave a round of hugs we were confirmed in our decision to ask them to be Godparents. They have been some of the best friends of my lifetime and were there when Lilly was born.
Wick was taking a nap when the group photos were taken. Church wore him out!
Lilly wore the Baptismal gown that has been handed down for over 100 years in the Keith family. She also wore a necklace made by Lynda from Grandmother Keith’s pearls. The Rev. Robert Childers blessed Lilly as I sobbed my way through the whole thing…I didn’t even get to say my lines!
We had a house full love for this occasion: Nana, KeKe, Daddy George, and Grandpa. Jim and Sue attended all the way from Greensboro and so did Aunt Patty. It was so wonderful having everyone here in our home.
After the Baptism and the photo shoots, we all kicked back and enjoyed each other for just a few more minutes before the house cleared out. Lilly sat in the middle of the flowers that were around the font earlier in the day. We took her picture with the Baptismal banner that Bar and KeKe made for her which will be cherished for many years. Finally, Lilly and Wick kicked back and played with some toys…..such babies!
Play Time
Quick Change
On Thursday afternoon, we drove down the mountain to town and by the time we headed back up the mountain, the leaves had all changed to beautiful reds and yellows. It really did happen that quickly. The weather has been less then nice around here so I bundled Lilly up, and took her to see some leaves stopping off at a nearby park to take some photos.
Sounds Dirty
It has been a basic sort of week in the Keith household. We are still in about the same place when it comes to Crawl Watch 2009. She does mysteriously move from one place to the other when I’m not looking but I think it is more of an army crawl then an all fours crawl but we are still very close to seeing that classic baby movement.
Our friends, the Mathis’, have let Lilly borrow a walker. Lilly was at first distracted by the bells and whistles but she soon figured out that she could move around the room and although she isn’t all that great at it yet, she entered the kitchen for the first time and played on the porch too.
As you can see, it makes her VERY happy. 
The next picture is something to see and has become the norm at dinner time. I took Lilly to the Doctor last week (LOVE our doctor by the way) because she kept pulling on her ear and I just knew she had an earache. Well, she didn’t, think goodness but the explaination was one of either teething (but no teeth are felt just yet) OR she just plain ol’ found her ear for the first time and likes to touch it. Problem is, she likes to touch it during dinner and that’s when she has food all over her hands! Behold:
Yikes……and she hates to be cleaned up afterwords but as you can see, there’s no getting around a bath most nights after dinner.
Okay everybody, we need to talk. Wil and I haven’t been out at night in a very, very long time. I haven’t had dinner at a restaurant when it was dark outside in months so, we are trying something new and we…HIRED A BABYSITTER! We plan on going to a nice restaurant where I can slowly chew my food and not worry about a thing…..except for the fact that my baby will be with someone else! You should see the instructions that I have been slowly preparing for a few days. It leaves nothing to question….I wish you luck babysitter.
Turn, turn, turn
To every season……
The adventures continue to take place in Lilly’s world. She’s been exploring a few new things this week like when someone tries to get her to smile at them and I’m holding her, she will at first look at me to make sure it’s okay and then she’ll usually flash them a wrinkled nose smile and then turn her head quickly in embarassment. It feels nice for her to want my opinion.
Cheerios!!!! Yes, a baby diet staple and at the beginning of the week, I put a few on her high chair tray. She kind of batted them around, most ending up on the floor to Sylus’s delight but today, she grasped one and put it in her mouth! (only to gag a bit and push it back out with her tongue.) Next, we’ll conquer crackers…………..
In Crawl Watch 2009, we are still getting on our knees momentarily and then face planting or going back to tummy time. Lilly has learned that she can pull the blanket towards her to get what she wants and it’s a lot less work for her. Smart girl but that will only strenghten her brain, not her legs.
Finally, she can turn over both ways and so she does that a lot when she finds herself on her less favored side of the moment.
Her favorite story right now is “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?” and I tell it to her while we look at the quilt Jo Rosenthal made for her. She smiles when I lift the flaps and looks curious at what is coming next. Eventually, the book will be memorized and recited by her little voice.
I have found, in the spirit of Halloween, that Lilly loves to be surprised by the turn of a head and an excited burst of “Boo!” She is ready for the cold weather and now, if I could just get her to snuggle!
A House Full of Love
It has been a great few days. Wil, Lilly and I made our way out of town to IKEA on Friday and had some family fun. We realized Wil hasn’t left Chattanooga in 5 months! We needed to change that so we did.
Saturday, we cleaned house, put together the stuff we got at IKEA and played with our girl (who is SO close to crawling, she’s getting up on all fours but just not going anywhere).
Today we had our house blessing. It was so great! I had no idea I would have so much fun or enjoy so many people being at our house. Lilly was the hit of the party until she got cranky and I realized it had been awhile since she’d eaten so that solved the problem and she was ready to party again.
Before the house blessing, Lilly and I were making sure we got all the cobwebs off the porch when she discovered the windchimes. She would get her scrunchy face, toothless grin when they chimed and then of course she wanted to eat them!
The 7th month photos
Well gang, our girl is 7 months old this week. What can I say? She’s so sweet and cute and smart and happy and finally healthy again and getting more of these things everyday. When I bring her to any gathering she’s the bell of the ball….I mean, who could resist wanting to be near her? Until she has a poopy diaper anways…..
I just can’t seem to get enough.
Bless you, my puppy
Today was the Blessing of the Animals at Good Shepherd. It was a rainy, cold day but we all bundled up and headed out so that Sylus could have his day at the church.
I dressed Lilly as a mouse which seemed adorable until someone brought their cat!
It was fun to watch Wil go around with Father Childers and hand out dog treats as they blessed each animal.
It’s Fall Y’all!
Right in front of our house a tree has turned colors for fall. It is the first one we’ve seen this year and it will make the first fall Lilly has EVER seen. “Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.” – Albert Camus
With the beautiful weather that fall brings, we decided to get Lilly a swing for the yard. She is still just a tad bit too small for it but she was still all smiles while Wil pushed her.
Crawling is in the near future for Lilly. She’s managed to get her legs up off the ground but not at the same time as her arms. I keep waiting, holding my breath, during tummy time for the day she crawls off the blanket.
