playing at the pond - pt. 2

the other day we went to play at the pond again, but this time lilyanna was all about searching for flowers. she found one here:

she has to smell them! mmm mmm mmmmmmm!

mommy, you smell it! 

searching for more.

off again to another spot.

i think she's pointing to the ducks.

my big girl! not looking much like a baby these days!

she discovered pine cones.....and they are prickly!

and also found a feather!

playing at the pond - pt. 1

these are a few photos from yesterday's play at the pond. here lilyanna is looking for feathers to chase in the wind:

 here, she is telling me she wants to touch the ducks:

 and as i tell her that they won't let her and they were running away from us, she decided to blow them kisses instead! so cute!

 always has to pause for some thumb action!

 taking one last look at the ducks before we go.

feathers!

we went for a walk to the pond again today. lilyanna loves picking up the feathers and watching them blow in the wind. she's not as animated in this video as she was yesterday, but still just as cute!

the nutcracker dance

lilyanna loves to listen to/watch/dance with this nutcracker musical box. this is her spinning like some of the ballerinas:

 pausing for a thumb suck and just watching:

 watching some more:

we'll have to get video of her dancing. she stops all action when the camera comes out, though, so it may be hard to get on film. she is getting to be quite the dancer with some fancy moves. i hope we can show you soon.

breakfast nap!

 i was preparing breakfast this morning, just the same as every other morning, and had been interacting with lilyanna as i fried her an egg. i turned my back to plate it and bring it to her and when i turned around this is what i saw:

she was off to dreamland! i guess this is what happens when one wakes at 5:15am! by 7:45 it's nap time. i packed everything up in hopes we could both catch a little nap. not so! she woke up as i got her to the crib. darnit! oh well. she ended up eating a good breakfast, then we played a bit and lilyanna is now down for her morning nap. i'm about to join her for an hour or 2. byebye for now!

pretty curls and teething

lilyanna has the prettiest "post-bath" hair. i tried to capture it to show you on here, but the photo doesn't do it justice. by the time we get to bath time, she has had 3 or 4 meals and a snack or two which inevitably, something (pieces of the food, grease from an egg or sticky juice from some fruit) ends up in her hair at each session. so, when we wash it each evening it looks so nice---soft, shiny (red tones of shine), and curly.

 lilyanna also seems to be teething, again! she is biting her toys harder and screaming out most times she takes a really hard chomp. 

 of the 15 or so photos i snapped, trying to get something cute, we did manage this little grin. what a beautiful doll we have been blessed with!

sleeping and walking

but not at the same time! not yet, anyway.....

the only thing near as good as your newborn sleeping on your chest, is having your 15 month old asleep in the carrier, on your chest. if i wasn't so tired myself, i'd love to stay like this for the duration of her nap, just like i did when she was a newborn. back then i could sleep with her on my chest, though.

 then we went for a walk after that nap. it got chilly out this afternoon. but i'm sure the fresh air did her cold some good. we're so ready to be done with the runny nose and coughing. look at that pretty girl!

big girl!

it seems like everyday i notice lilyanna acting more and more like a little girl and less and less like a baby. for instance she sat cross-legged to look at books more than once today. she looked so grown up, compared to when she sits with her legs out straight.

another thing is that her sense of humor is growing. she loves to play trickery. for example: she'll walk over to you and act like she's gonna give/share/do something, and then as close as she dares get to you, she says "no.", then u-turns and walks back to where she started, laughing on the way back. another example happened this evening when i asked for a hug. she'd walk ever so close and then turn on her heels and walk away, laughing, of course! these games are so funny and cute. i just remembered one of the funniest times it happened. i was eating dulse (which lilyanna LOVES) and she asked for some. we shared it for a bit and then i suggested she give some to daddy. she jumped up and down saying "daddy, daddy, daddy!" looking so excited to share some with him. as i handed some to her i reminded her that it was for daddy, which she repeated while shaking her head, "daddy." well, she walked over held it in front of his mouth and then with a grin said "no." and ran back to me for more, eating it on the return. i love how much joy lilyanna brings to us and the people around her. she is a sweet girl!

playground fun!

lilyanna has been a bit under the weather the past few days, so we took advantage of this beautiful warm sunny day to help fight the bugs with sunshine. i hope the bugs thought that the chance at freedom sounded like a great idea, and that they flew right out her nose!

time for a ride down the slide:

 wheeee!

 a go in the little plane? not so fun.

 the car was better.

 ooohhhh! some noise makers. trying to ignore mommy taking photos.

 but letting her get one good face on one!

 is she still at it??!

uugghh! enough photos already!

 me an' my girl!

 time to go home. daddy, hand in hand with his baby! 

it was a great playground! there were lots of interesting things, from noise makers, to digging things (for older kids), to separate equipment for little kids and bigger ones. we will definitely go back!

spaghetti!

lately, this is the meal lilyanna eats best.

yummy, yummy spaghetti!

winter wonderland!

this is what we woke up to this morning! i was so excited i threw up the blind in the bedroom and woke up teddy to show him. this is the view from the front room, upstairs.

 of course we had to go out and play in it! lilyanna wasn't too fond at first. i was quite surprised given her love of everything frozen to eat. 

 i made a simple little snowman. 

 a view of the backyard.

 then we had to taste some snow.

 taking a big bite!

 just 4 hours later this is the same view as the photo at the top of this post. 

snow doesn't last long here. i'm just glad we got some at all. and note that blue sky and SUNSHINE! this is so awesome, given our last 2 weeks+ of gray, rainy skies. lilyanna has a great chance of seeing the moon tonight. she's only been asking for it every night since the rains began. she's gonna go crazy!