Thank You Baby Whisperer!

Lilianna is an absolute joy. She is always smiling and always happy...until 6:00pm comes around, and then she's a different kid. At least she was until I discovered the Baby Whisperer. Oh my god, that book has saved my sanity! It was like clockwork, 6pm would hit and she'd become fussy, whiney and very noisy. Putting her to bed took 2 hours most nights as she'd fall asleep only to wake up 2 minutes later screaming and then I'd have to rock her to sleep. Then she got up evey 2 hours to eat. I was running on empty for a while there! Now she naps regularly, sometimes for 2 hour stretches, she goes to bed all on her own and it usually takes about 10 minutes for her to fall asleep, she only wakes up once in the night and now she's a happy kid all day. Not to say that she never gets fussy, but it's 1000 times better! Now instead of crying when she wakes up cause she didn't get enough sleep, this is the baby I find...

Good morning mommy

No rush mom, I'm just talking to my toys

What?! I slept through the whole night! Lambie, why didn't you wake me up?

The sweetest sound

While I was putting lotion on Lily after her bath tonight, the lotion bottle made a funny bloop noise. I imitated it and Lily laughed. So I did it again, and she laughed again. Jason came along and wanted to play too and I had to film it!

Sitting pretty

Last week I decided that I didn't want to lay down in the tub anymore, laying down is for babies! But mommy was getting a very sore back at bathtime trying to hold me so I wouldn't slip and wash me at the same time. I suggested she go on eBay and look for a bath seat for me. A nice delivery man dropped this off to me the other day and I love it! Now I can look around, splash and play with the wind up bath toys I got at Christmas! That internet is pretty handy.

Look what I can do now!

We woke up today and Lily had a surprise up her sleeve for us. She spotted some toys on the sofa while I had her on my shoulder and started reaching trying to get to them. I stood her up next to the sofa and I slowly backed away and she stayed there, happy as can be. It's getting to be baby-gate time I guess, not much longer now and she'll be motoring around the house!

See bear, these are what I was telling you about earlier.

I wonder how I get over to the other end of the sofa...

Daddy, I'm still your little girl... daddy, stop crying, college is a long way away.

Fun with Clapping!

All Better!

Lilianna's over her bout with pink eye and happy as ever. Daddy's still sick though and mommy feels it coming on... we're all in trouble now!

A Tale of Two Sickies

Poor pud-pud has come down with her first childhood illness, and it's a fun one, Pink Eye.

Jason noticed something in the corner of her eye after dinner last night and when stuff just kept coming out I called telehealth and they confirmed it was pink eye.

But our brave little trooper has been handling it really well. She's a little more clingy and wants to be held more, but that's to be expected.

To make life extra fun for me, Jason came home from work this morning with a bad cold and is milking it worse than Lily is.

I'm sure it's time to give someone some medication. A mommy's work is never done.

I'm 6 months old..6 days ago! (Mommy's been busy!)

Here's Lily, 6 months old and so pretty in the dress Great Grandma Brown knitted for her. Our beautiful blue-eyed girl has been up to so much over the past month. She's mastered rolling over from her tummy to her back (1 way only) and now it's impossible to keep her on her tummy. Guess she won't be a crawler! She "talks" incessantly, but we're still waiting for the first mama and dada. And now that she's gotten a little taller, she can lift those chubby little legs of hers and walk around the room, provided we hold her up under her arms of course. She had her first christmas and made it through her first Brown Family get-together. As anyone at the reunion can attest to, Lily's eating solids like a pro now. She's working her way through all the fruits and veggies with only Turnips causing her to turn up her nose. It's been a busy month, I think I can safely say I'm not the only one glad that we have a bit of quiet at-home time for the next little while. It'll give us a chance to work on that whole mama thing!

What is girl's night out and what do you mean Daddy's in charge?!

Mommy, Erin and Melodie

All the gals
L to R: Jessica, Auntie April, Sara, Allison, Kelly, Lori (cousin Kyle's girlfriend), Mommy, Melodie
[2nd row] Keira, Erin, Mia and Keri [cousin Pat's girlfriend]

Mommy went out for a Cousins-night tonight and left me with daddy grandma and grandpa. While they took really good care of me, Mommy had her first evening away from me since I was born. Mommy said it was great to see everyone and catch up away from all the noise and chaos of New Year's Day. She's looking forward to the next time she can go out with all her female cousins, and I'm sure grandma and grandpa can't wait to babysit again either!

Great Uncle Dave and Raphael

I got to meet my great uncle David and his partner Raphael today. I fell asleep pretty early though so I didn't get a chance to play with them too much. But mommy says this is good cause uncle Dave used to tickle her a lot when she was a little girl.

Me and Great Uncle Dave

Me and Raphael

New Year's Day with the Brown's

Mommy and Grandma Hewens come from a huge family and today was my first big get-together. I was a little freaked out at first by all the noise and all the new faces, but after a little bit, I warmed right up to everyone and had a great time!

Me and grandma enjoying the calm before the storm

The menfolk watching sports

The womenfolk in the kitchen

Everyone was so shocked when in walked Aunt Sharon and Uncle Pat from Edmonton. No one knew they were coming. It was a great surprise!

Uncle Pat is in the red shirt, look how surprised Great Grandma Brown looks!

I needed a little nap, it was exhausting trying to remember everyone's name!

Apparently daddy needed a nap too!

Daddy and Great Grandpa Brown

Great Grandpa is mommy's Grandpa? Wow, that's neat!

I love you Great Grandpa!

Victoria and Liberty helped mommy feed me dinner

Mommy says that it's been a long time since the family's had so many toddlers and babies all at once and she wanted to get a picture.

Left to right: Victoria, Foster, Lilianna, Joshua, Riley, Abigail, and Liberty
(Victoria and Liberty may be mixed up, mommy has a hard time telling them apart!)

Note from Mommy ~ This picture took about 7 trys with a whole lot of people calling names and re-seating the kids....my hat goes off to child photographers!

Cranium, martinis and "actors" don't mix!

Mommy and Daddy left me for the first time tonight so they could go to a New Year's Eve party at Aunt Julie's house. Grandma and Grandpa were so excited to babysit. I had a really good time with them. Mommy hasn't told me much about their night...and the only pictures she's releasing are these. I can't wait until I'm older and I can understand what's going on!

Me and Auntie April

I love you Aunt April!
Thank you for playing with me and taking such good care of me.

Mommy, step on it...

I have a manicure I can't be late for!

How many aunties do I have!?

Today we went to visit auntie Michelle and auntie Julie and her new apartment. We brought Marty to live with auntie Julie cause he wasn't getting all the attention he'd like at our house anymore and mommy said Julie would love him to bits. We're all kind of sad but auntie Julie promised to take good care of him. I had a lot of fun visiting, especially when I got to open my christmas present. Mommy was afraid that auntie Michelle was going to steal me, it's a good thing auntie Michelle's boyfriend isn't ready for babies!

Boing!

Bring on the toys!

This thing is fun mommy!

Lily and her new Animal Train

Mommy, the animals are singing...that's not right...

I wonder what this tastes like

What does spoiled mean mommy?

They Fit Grandma