The Week of Firsts!!

This has been a hugs week of first for Lilly!!

To start off, Lilly slept in her crib for the first time last Friday night. After some grunting and whimpering, she fell wistfully into a good night's sleep. She woke up once that night and once Saturday night. Since then she has slept all night every night. She is sleeping better and so are we! She wakes up happy and cooing every morning.

Lilly also celebrated her First St. Patrick's Day with her Daddy on Tuesday. They spent the day hanging out. As you can see, she has found her thumb and is quickly losing interest in the paci. Oh no!! I swore I wasn't going to have a thumb sucker! I can always take a paci away but never her thumb. Oh well! It looks like I will have to come to terms with it sooner or later.

We had her 4 month check up on Friday with Dr. Onal. She flirted with him the whole time! She is growing like a weed and according to Dr. Onal "She hasn't missed many meals". She weighed 14.10 (75%), she was 25.5 inches long (90%) and her head measured 16 inches (50%). It looks like she is going to be tall and have a skinny head like her daddy! The doctor listened to every minut concern that we had and calmed our nerves about a lot of things such as her feet turning a very dark red and almost purple. Apparently this is normal and her blood flow is fine! Our biggest concern was her skin. Originally, we thought it was cradle cap that had made its way to the rest of her body. Upon closer examination, Dr. Onal determined that it was eczema, not what we wanted to hear. He said it would be an uphill battle to get rid of it but he was optimistic that we could beat it. He perscribed a stronger hydrocordizone and that has helped. She isn't scratching nearly as much. He also suggested that we keep her fingernails cut shorter. To which I replied that our fingernail cutter is out of town (Gigi) and they would be cut when she returned! He also thought that she may have some allergies to indoor allergens, specifically pet dander, since I mentioned that she sneezes and has watery eyes at Mom and Dad's house. He said it is very possible that her skin problems could be a symptom of allergies. Hopefully this is something she will out grow until then we will keep her lubed up with Aquafor!!

Lilly's first bites of food were eventful, especially for our little drama queen! We got some looks when we put that food into her mouth! It was like, "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT???" We gave her bananas by themselves which she promptly pretended to gag on. Today was better in that she is getting the hang of this swallowing thing. After she got used to it a little bit she started to enjoy it and even let out some "mmmmm's". Check out the video from her first meal!

You may want to turn up your speakers and turn the radio off at the bottom to hear the video.

Lilly also had her first trip to church this morning. She was wide awake most of the time. She was fixated on our friends Billie and Robbie while they danced to the music. She was attempting to talk over the pastor so we had to keep "plugging" her with the paci. All in all she did a great job and caused very little disruption. She was stylin' in her dress from Gigi!

To cap her week of firsts off, Lilly experienced her first Bridal Shower. We went to Kelly's shower that Brad and Chris' aunts threw for her. Everything was lovely, as usual, and it was great to see everyone and catch up. Lilly stole everyone's heart when she wasn't crying! She was a tired girl and not real happy with mommy for having her out all day. However, Angie had the magic touch and she sat very contentedly on her lap for a long time. Kelly received some wonderful gifts and it made the reality of the wedding set in even further!

All in all, things are great for us. We missed Gigi and PawPaw this week while they were enjoying the RV Rally in Perry. Luckily, Brad's schedule worked out so he could keep her this week. However, we couldn't have done it without the help of Ellen, Billie and Grandpa Steve! Thanks you guys! We enjoyed a wonderful evening having a cook out with friends. It was nice just to get together and hang out with the people we wish we could see more often. Brad's surgery is scheduled for April 7th so we're gearing up for that...please keep us in your prayers!

Finally, a HUGE congratualtions to Matt and Theresa!! They found out on Friday that they are expecting their first child (or children) which they couldn't be more thrilled about!! They have been trying for a very long time and God has finally blessed them with something they have been praying deperately for. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers that everything will go well and Theresa will have a relatively easy pregnancy!