Lily's First Birthday - Part 1

Lily will officially be one on Tuesday. We celebrated a bit early though because Papa Kapaldo was in town for the weekend.

I really wanted to do a pumpkin cake again, like Sarah's first birthday, but figured it might be a cop out. Instead, I made pumpkin cake (a different recipe), but made a small one for Lily and cupcakes for everyone else. It ended up being a cross between Sarah's first cake and Abigail's first "cakes".

Lily didn't know what to make of everyone looking at her and singing to her. She also didn't know what to make of the cake. She dragged her hand through the frosting a number of times and then proceeded to wipe the frosting on her leg and high chair tray. She finally ended up tasting it, but didn't get all that into it.

After making a mess of herself we gave Lily a quick bath before she opened her presents.

It's funny to see Lily do more big girl things as she approaches the one year mark. Before our guests arrived Lily would push herself into a standing position using the floor (versus pulling up on a piece of furniture).

It's hard to see the baby of the family turn one. Before we know it she'll be a walking, talking, giggly little girl. Happy early birthday Lily!

Visiting the Dentist

What better way could you start off your birthday weekend than with your first trip to the Dentist! On Friday I took Abigail for her third check-up and Sarah for her first one. Oh, and Lily came along too to see what all the fuss was about.

Abigail went first and she looked so confused. She must have thought we were only there for Sarah because she wasn't interested in having her teeth cleaned. Plus, she noted, "I brushed my teeth already."

I was a little worried that Sarah would get anxious because Abigail didn't seem to enjoy her experience all that much. She was cute though. At one point she said, "It's gonna be fine, Ada [what she calls Abigail]."

Then it was Sarah's turn. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from her.

Sarah did great! The light bothered her a bit, so she got to wear cool shades. She looked so comfortable-almost like she was ready to take a nap.

I was anticipating an hour of craziness, but it was a stress-free hour of a wiggly Lily, a talkative Abigail, and a calm Sarah.

Six Flags

Our main outing while visiting Uncle James and Auntie Dawn was heading to Six Flags Great Adventure. This was the girls' first amusement park experience. All of the adults were pretty excited for the girls.

Abigail spotted the carousel first. Nonna went with Abigail and I excitedly headed to the carousel with Sarah. Papa and Daddy had cameras at the ready. I lifted Sarah up onto her horse and she suddenly had a change of heart. She did NOT want to ride the carousel. It turned out that she didn't want to ride much of anything.

She did ride the teacups with Nonna, James, Mommy, and Abigail. What an experience. I had a giggly Abigail on my left and a terrified, kicking and screaming Sarah on my right.

Abigail got her fill of rides during the day. She had a blast! She even rode the log flume ride with Daddy, Mommy, and Papa. Papa was in the front, with the rest of us in the back (I think it worked out well that she couldn't see what was ahead of her).

 

Sarah did a lot of watching. She was happy to beat the heat by running through some water while waiting for Abigail to finish her rides. She also ended up riding a mild stagecoach ride with Abigail and also drove a car with Daddy and Auntie Dawn. 

As the day went on the girls succumbed to exhaustion and the heat. We left the park with two whiny kiddos and a baby who benefited from a nice afternoon nap in her stroller. All in all though it was a great day. We're looking forward to maybe doing it again someday.

Visiting The Garden State

This past weekend we joined Nonna and Papa for a road trip to New Jersey to visit Uncle James and Auntie Dawn. This was Lily's first road trip. She didn't fair too well on the way down since we were on the road for around eight hours (I've never seen so many fender benders). The way back was much more bearable.

 

 

We headed straight to the hotel to regroup and then headed over to James and Dawn's apartment for dinner. The girls were very excited to be there, mainly because Baby was there (James and Dawn's cat). We headed back to the hotel past the girls' bedtime, which was delayed even more because the girls were so excited to be sleeping in a hotel.

Sarah was the only one to really sleep in on Saturday. Lily and Abigail were up before 7:00.

 

Saturday brought firsts for all three girls. We went to Six Flags Great Adventure. I'll do a separate post on that because we took loads of pictures. After a long day at the amusement park we headed back to James and Dawn's. The girls got a nice bath while James grilled our dinner. I figured since it was such a long day that all three girls would crash on the way back to the hotel but not one of them fell asleep. Thankfully though, they were all down and out shortly after we got back to our room.

All three girls slept in on Sunday! It was nice to get an almost full-nights' sleep. We met James and Dawn for a huge and yummy breakfast before going on the road again. The trip home was SO much better than the trip down. We made good time and the girls were pretty pleasant most of the way down.

Thank you so much James and Dawn for hosting us! We had a great time seeing you both again. And thank you Nonna and Papa for letting us join in on the fun!

Lily's First Veggie

In an effort to save money I thought I'd give homemade baby food another try. Last night I made butternut squash and sweet potatoes. I got a lot of great information and "recipes" from momtastic's Wholesome baby food website. Here's what Lily thought of the squash.

 

 

I think she really liked it. I was surprised we didn't get more of a reaction from her though.

We'll see how things go with the whole homemade baby food thing. I tried making food for Abigail back in the day but didn't stick with it. At the moment I am pretty determined to go this route because it will be such a money-saver.

Time for Solids!

Lily had her first experience with solid food this week. She had a modest helping of rice cereal. I'm not sure what she thought was more strange: the taste, the consistency, or four crazy people hovering over her while she ate. It was quite the event!

She did a great job. Towards the end though she started playing with her food by blowing raspberries. I'm looking forward to trying things with a little more flavor in the weeks to come.

Oh, and I just wanted to let you all in on a little secret. Really, I just want to dispel a myth that I have known to be false since Abigail. Rice cereal (or any solids for that matter) does NOT equal better or longer stretches of sleep. I'll leave it at that.

Kind of, but not Really

Today has been a laid back day so far. I decided to have a little fun with Abigail's hair and gave her pigtails since it has been a while.

So Sarah wouldn't feel left out I thought I would attempt to give her pigtails as well. The hair in the back of her hair is growing nicely. The hair on the top though? Not so much. I managed two pigtails in the back, then Abigail suggested I put one on top. So, I can kind of put Sarah's hair up, but not really.

It's funny because when I was finally able to put Abigail's hair up I had to leave her hair in the back down because it wasn't long enough. I guess Sarah just wants to be different.

Christmas Day

I figured we'd get to an early start on Christmas morning, but the girls were so wiped out from the day before. Abigail woke up at 6:40 and we woke up Sarah shortly after. The girls were excited to see their goodies.

Jonathan gave me an awesome stand mixer. It's one of those things I've always wanted but didn't need. Now that I have one I'll use it every chance I get.

We got to church a bit late and then headed to Nonna and Papa's for more Christmas festivities. Our girls got plenty of new toys to play with. Abigail was especially excited about her roller skates.

The girls also got cute animals from Auntie Laura and Uncle Nick. They each came with books that gave responses when you read certain phrases.

Oh, and remember the cross-stitch pattern I gave my Mom two years ago? I finally finished it.

Here's Grandpa holding a content Lily:

Auntie Cathy got the girls matching jammies. We made several attempts at getting a decent picture of the girls wearing them.

We had a great weekend celebrating Christmas with our little family and our extended family. It's been fun seeing Abigail understand a bit more about why we celebrate Christmas when we lit our advent candles. Sarah doesn't quite get it, but she does know about baby Jesus. I'm looking forward to celebrating again next year when all three girls are older