Lila 's First Christmas

Part II: From Her perspective

The drive to my uncles house was nice. I was all cozy in my blankets and I got some poop out which felt good! When we got there I stayed content in my carseat for a little while as everyone ran around like usual. After a while they took me out, and I stretched out on the floor and just enjoyed the moment. I like being around people and I like going places. Then everyone sat around in a circle. Every single adult had a one of those silver things that sometimes burst with light, it was crazy! Then all this red, green, and silver paper started getting torn apart. I mostly ignored it.

My cousins were pretty excited about all the funny colored paper boxes. I'm not sure why. Mommy and Daddy tried to sit me down and stick one in my lap but that didn't make me very happy. And I started remembering that my mouth hurts for some reason. So I decided I wouldn't be happy without my mommy. She sat down on the floor and let me sit on her lap. Then she let me tear some paper! Normally she steals the paper from me and puts it in a plastic bin. I tore it a little, but then I just wanted mommy so I started whining. She tore the rest of the paper off for me and there was a surprise inside! I wanted to play with it but it was stuck to the box so I whined again. Then mommy took it out and I pushed the buttons and looked in the little mirror. I'm so cute! For the next little while the cycle continued. I don't think my mommy knows what I like because she kept stealing away the things I was playing with and making me mad. As soon as I would find another thing to play with, away it went. You would think she'd learn!

My mommy left me for a while with a pile of stuff that she had just put in front of me. I thought that I might be able to play with some of it for a minute, but then I realized my teeth hurt and I wanted my mom. She came to my call and I snuggled with her, only occasionally looking around to make sure I wasn't missing anything too exciting. I love her. She also tried to feed me some food but I didn't want it. She gave me to daddy for a while. I like him too, but I wanted mommy so I squirmed and cried until daddy gave me back to her. Everyone was in the kitchen doing weird things so we watched for a bit. After I had been with mommy for quite a while I started getting tired. Gramma Itri picked me up and I was too tired to fight it. Finally I couldn't stay awake anymore. Gramma bundled me up in a blanket and laid me down to sleep. Maybe sleeping isn't so bad after all.

Lila's First Christmas

Part I: I love tylenol!

Lila woke up early. My plan had been to get up at 7, get ready, and wake her up at 8 to feed her and get her ready. Lately there have been a few days I’ve had to wake her up at 9 to eat because she has been sleeping in so late. So when she started stirring just after 7, I thought she would go back to sleep. But she didn’t. She kept crying and crying. So finally about 7:20 we got her up to eat. I fed her on one side, then she was too mad to eat on the other. She was crying with tears streaming down her face. She is teething, she’s got three teethers coming in on the top. So Todd got the tylenol and I sat with her in the recliner in her bedroom and rocked her. It was probably about 15 minutes before she was willing to finish eating. But eventually she did, and slowly got more happier through the morning. I told Todd how happy I am to live in the post-tylenol (post any medicine!) invented days.

Her first present she didn’t get to open because it was too hard for Santa to wrap. A big pink ball! You can see how much she loved it!

Then we all got ready for the day, and she puttered around on her hands and knees as usual. She even found an old toy mommy had tried to hide from her.

She also got into some chocolate. Luckily mommy was there to take the chunk away and carefully navigate a small chip into her mouth. Therefore no cute chocolate faced pictures to show. Now we are on our way to Todd’s brother Scott’s house to open the rest of her presents. She is happily cuddled in 2 of her warmest blankets in the back seat! Tune in later for more about Lila’s first Christmas!

A fun toy

Lila sure likes to make toys out of non-toys.

A good Idea Gone Bad

The hardest thing to do with Lila is shower. She can't be alone in a room, even a baby safe room because she freaks out when we leave her alone. I have tried leaving her in her high chair or pack-n-play at the bathroom door so I can poke my head out of the curtain at her, but even then as soon as I get back to my shower she is crying again. So we recently finished(ish) remodeling our bathroom, so the floor and the toilet weren't all gross and peed on. So I had this great idea to let her play on the floor in the bathroom since she loves drawers and had already spent some time happily playing on the floor. So I put some extra toys on the floor, closed the door so she couldn't get away, and hopped in the shower. A few minutes into it this is what I saw:

So I kept putting the shower curtain back over her face, she would get mad, crawl back to the end of the shower to get the edge of the curtain again, and slowly move it out of the way so she could get down closer to where I was. It was a terrible cycle. She was sopping wet by the time I was done showering. But to her, when she was rewarded by cuddling with mommy once I was all wrapped up in my towel, it was all worth it.

Lila is 10 months old!

Wow. As a kid I always went crazy when people told me how fast I was growing/growing up. But as I get older I see the wisdom in those who came before me. Lila is huge! Here are some things about her:

loves blowing raspberries. still pretty bald. has a killer smile, still with just two little teeth. LOVES mommy. likes daddy if mommy isn't around. likes most people as long as mommy is still holding her. only gets antsy at church instead of ornery. pro crawler. flies up stairs. doesn't like to walk (with help) as much now that she gets around so well by herself. wears size 9-12 month clothes. some of her favorite toys-whether we actually let her play with them or not-include: mirrors, spoons, chapstick, keys, cell phones, lotion bottles, outlets, cords, paper, books, and sometimes washcloths. finally has a set bedtime. likes going out. sometimes hates having her diaper changed and sometimes is ok with it. stops what she's doing when mommy says "no no" in a soft but warning tone. sometimes even completely stops what she's doing and doesn't go back to it (but sometimes she just wants to do it too much to leave it alone). still loves being outside even when it's freezing. wears size 3 diapers. always recognizes and loves her grandma Faber. definitely has mommy's eyes. most people thinks she looks like daddy more. has figured out how to open the kitchen cupboards. loves to play on the dishwasher or dryer when it's open.

11.11.11

Today is a special day. Lila is 9 months old! It is crazy how much we love her every day and the joy she brings to our lives even though she is basically just an inconvenience to the rest of our lives. (Only from a totally objective point of view, of course). In reality she is the most wonderful little responsibility we have ever had. Here are some things about her:

suddenly hates diaper changes. her sparse hair is just a bit thicker. graduating to size 12 month clothes. will laugh every time you throw her in the air. pro crawler. will stand against anything that will hold her weight. loves cups and spoons. learning how to use a sippy cup- currently bites the transitional sippy cup nipple, feels the liquid come out, and pulls the cup away to play with the liquid in her mouth, to later bite the nipple again for another taste. wears size 3 diapers. won't take a bottle or a binky. decided not not like any food except her grain cereals. much of the time is only happy when mommy is holding her. scared of her grandpa Faber. does her sway dance when standing on just about anything. loves mirrors. licks her reflection in the mirror. still scratches like crazy. is learning that when mommy feeds her there are 2 sides. puts her arms through sleeves. has had some mini tantrums. loves holding chapstick, hasn't figured out how to take the lid off yet. loves pulling at mommys jewelry. likes going places and watching new things. loves cords and outlets (we finally got outlet covers, whew!) just gets cuter every day.

Lila's new thing is to freak out when we try to change her diaper, flip over, and hang over the side of her changing table to try and touch the diaper genie. On her back, screaming bloody murder. Once she flips over, totally quiet. crazy lady!

Something exciting

We have something exciting brewing. I have been thinking a lot about it, while at the same time not thinking about it because I don't want to get my hopes up. A lot of things have to come together in order for it to work out. But it would be oh, so glorious.

I would be happier, and get to do something I really want to do.

Todd would be happier, and get to try something he really wants to try.

Lila would be happier too.

We would learn new things.

We would make good (even best) friends.

We might be able to make good use of our home.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, that is because either I don't want you to know since it is not official and I'll be crushed if it doesn't happen, or because I just haven't told you yet. Or you just aren't smart enough to figure out that what I told you about is what I am referring to in this post... If you do know, wish us luck!

Halloween

Aside from the sore lack of trick-or-treaters, Halloween was pretty good. Todd's brother Scott and his wife, Lisa hosted a great Halloween party on Saturday night. There was a lot of good food and costumes and we played some fun games. Lisa even thought of a GREAT idea and made a little wall where we could all take pictures of our families. We played mafia and the mafia won every time. Good thing I won twice! I guess I have an affinity to draw the evil roles. Lila was adorable in her costume.

Usually it is like pulling teeth to get any of the Itri boys to dress up. So Todd assumed this year was the same. I tried to tell him that at a recent Itri wives girls night we all vowed to make our husbands dress up. But he didn't listen. So when he found out I was right and he looked like a goon as the only one not dressed up, he let me take a makeup crayon to his face. He was Star Burns from Community. Oh and I dressed up as a flapper. I also have some pictures of me in my Halloween scrub top before work on Friday night. It's the only festive scrub top I own. I don't even have a Christmas one.

Dance Dance Dance

Lila has become quite the little dancer. Want a taste? here you go!

Happy Halloween.

Well. It is now 10:12 p.m. Our door has been graced all of 4 times by masqueraders looking for a sweet treat. I guess it's time to turn out the light, and soak my depression up in the remaining chocolate.

I had high hopes for my new home.

The girl

Sometimes that's what we call her. Here are some of the latest:

She sucked on her thumb a few times. It hasn't really become a habit though.

She wakes up with bedhead:

She smiles:

And frowns:

Sometimes Husbands are Nice

Look what Todd bought for me.

Dread Callings

So remember how I posted a while back about dread callings? Well Todd got out of his. Got a new calling. A little more busy but much more his kind of calling. But me? Well I'm just getting into the thick of it.

I put off my choir directing duties until September. A lot of wards take the summer off so don't judge. Anyway, so far we have had 5 rehearsals. A total of 1 male has come. Luckily he has come every week, but we had to make practice at 9:30 a.m. just to accommodate his meetings. Pretty sad when you have to change your whole choir time for 1 male voice. Besides that we had 4 ladies. 4 gals and 1 guy doesn't make for much of a choir. And then there's the thing where my pianist can't play the piano. I love the woman, I really do. And I am so grateful that she practices the songs. But it is just hard to teach a choir their parts when they can't even hear the piano play it right. So now my dread calling is a little more dreadlier.

However, I have seen a bit of light today. So the first several weeks we were working on "This is the Christ." I am so smart that I thought it was a hymn and we were just singing a different version of it. I thought it wouldn't be too hard because the notes and the print was big. Ha Ha. Shows how much I know! There is a nice little acapella section, we change keys I think 3 or 4 times, and the sopranos end on a high F. I guess I should have looked at it a little closer! So the good news is that we will probably sing it for Easter (yes, I typed that correctly), and we moved on to a hymn from the hymnbook. My pianist is playing that beautifully, and we had 3, yes 3 new ladies join us today. And one of them can comfortably hit that high F in This is the Christ. We sounded so much better. One of them is going to bring her husband next week. And there are 2 members of the bishopric that will sing with us. We might have a choir after all!

Welcome home, Elder Darren

My little brother came home! He was on a mission in Canada for 2 years. He got back 1 week ago today. It was weird, I wasn't sure what to do since I have never been there for anyone's actual homecoming before. And there is a possibility I might never have another sibling go on a mission, so the pressure was on to get it right!

Here we are anxiously waiting. There was one missionary who came down by himself about 10 minutes before Darren did, so we were all worked up over that for a while.

Then later, we finally saw the group of black suits through the very small area that we could see people walking before they got to the escalator, and then down he came!

So I love this picture because of my dad. I wish you could see his face a little better, but I watched him for a few minutes and it reminded me what a wonderful dad I have. He had tears in his eyes and you could see that while I'm sure he was glad to see his son, that's not why he was so happy. I know my daddy was so proud of his son for completing an honorable mission, and thats where his real happiness was.

Lila Meets her uncle! A little rocky at first, but when mommy got close she warmed up.

Mommy and Lila hangin out while everyone else gets to say hello to Darren.

Lila is 8 months old!

Here are some things about her:

loves to crawl and roll. stopped taking a bottle. still no hair improvement. still in size 2 diapers (until we run out). likes to swing and slide with mommy at the park. loves her daddy. curious. can't sleep if it's too cold. climbs up on furniture. still loves to pull hair. starting to turn her nose up at any food but grain cereal. stayed in the chapel for a whole sacrament once. is always loud (happy or sad) in sunday school. met her uncle Darren! squeals with glee any time you help her walk. loves other kids and trying to grab their faces. mommy is her favorite. still doesn't sit more than 5 seconds. when she wants to be held she will try to follow mommy around a room, changing directions every few seconds as mommy runs around cleaning or getting ready. probably still hates binkys but we stopped trying. can play with electronics, cords, CDs, paper, or other no-no items forever, but gets bored of her normal toys in less than a minute. wears size 6-9 or 6-12 month clothes. tried a sippy cup- no luck. Won't put small items in her mouth. parents say HALLELUJAH! to that. doesn't like baths but stays quite and mostly holds still during them. we think she is starting to recognize mommy's voice on the phone when she calls from work. still loves the outdoors. brightens every single day in our home.

I worked today, so my pictures are limited to the short time I've been home, but here's what I got. Please take note of her playing with my lunch for tomorrow. A burrito in a baggie. That kept her entertained for at least 10 minutes-we had to take it away from her- while her toy landed on the floor only a few moments after she stuck it in her mouth.

Addendum: after posting about my little lady, I was feeding her some applesauce (not very successfully), and she started clapping! It was so cute. I love her.

Bum Sleeping

One of the cutest things babies do is sleep with their bum in the air. It is just so dang adorable.