Perfect summer day

This morning we went to the green city market by the Lincoln park zoo. We found a beach ball and played for hours after sampling all the free treats. What a great day :)

So photogenic. Haha!

Lillian is 8 Months Old

I say this every month, but man does time fly! This little girl is such a sweet part of our life and I am so happy to have her. She is flying through her milestones quite quickly and any day I expect her to look over her shoulder at me, laugh with joy and then run after her brother to play.

1. She crawls everywhere, usually with one foot and one knee. For a week or two she did a happy noise and a lunge/belly flop as she got close to her target which was totally adorable, she has already stopped doing this and is super fast crawling and able to transition to sitting with no issues..  
2. She can pull up to standing easily and on anything. (Watch out for small chairs or empty laundry baskets which will tip over!)
3. She will walk when you hold her fingers, but she hasn't figured out cruising yet. When she tries to cruise she steps on her own foot and tumbles over. I give it another week before she has this one figured out.
4. She falls all the time, especially when pulling up on something that isn't quite enough weight to hold her, and is usually a trooper about it. I think she's going to end up with more bruises than Simon ever got at her age.
5. We dropped her crib to the lowest setting. 
6. We did sleep training and she usually goes down around 5:30 every night - about half the time she'll happily play in her crib for an hour or so before falling asleep. She still wakes up once in the night, any time between midnight and four, for a nursing session and then sleeps until between 5:30 and 7:30 depending on how loud Simon is in the morning. 
7. She takes two naps: First around 9:00 and second around 12:30. 
8. She is eating a bunch of foods and really enjoys eating. We started with purees but now have her eating pieces of banana, super steamed carrots and puffs. She has had yogurt and prunes, but everything else she has had has been a vegetable. 
9. Still nursing and taking a bottle as a primary source of nutrition. Unfortunately we are running to the end of the freezer stash of breast milk and since I'm not pumping at work there isn't a way to keep it up. This week we started to introduce formula and she is getting 1/3 BM and 2/3 formula for her bottles during the day. I plan to continue nursing in the evening/night/morning. 
10. She has started trying to clap and will happily wave at you for goodbye or hello. 
11. She will have whole conversations by growling. SO CUTE!
12. She cries when I walk by but don't pick her up. 
13. She is the happiest darn baby I've ever seen. She has a smile for everyone and laughs with joy often. She will cry when she's hungry or if she wants to be picked up, but it's a communication method. 
14. We are starting with baby signs (to nip crying as communication in the bud!)
15. When she is on the floor and Simon walks/runs by she laughs with joy and starts crawling after him, not infrequently he then starts running away from her shouting "no, Lillian!"  We always remind him it isn't his job to take care of her and he can't yell at her, but it's a totally funny interaction and a little glimpse of the future.

Lilly day

Simon had a doctors appointment today so I just had Ladybug and this afternoon Simon is taking a monster nap so it's girl time. 

Food is tricky!!!

"If this is how to get him to play with me"

I walked into the room and found this today......

Lillian follows Simon around the house now and if she could talk she would be begging him to play with her. She is really only interested in his toys and what he is doing so today when I was warming a bottle the house got quiet....I knew something was up. I walk in to the play room to find Simon "cutting" her hair. Haha!! She couldn't have been happier since her brother was FINALLY playing with her. :)

Park morning with daddy

Alan has had the kids in the morning the past few months. He has occasionally packed them up and gone to the park to wait for Jenn. It's cool and the park is empty and sometimes it's nice just to get out. 

Licking the Beater

He ran in just in time to ask to eat the beater... who could resist watching the fun? 

VIP Passes to watch Batting Practice at Wrigley

Simon and Alan went to the baseball game on the Friday of Jenn's vacation. I stayed home and watched Lillian, who cooperated nicely by sleeping for 3 hours so I could get a bunch of work done.  Joe some how managed to get them VIP tickets to go down onto the field during batting practice. 

Simon whacked Tom Morello on the arm while we were all hanging out on the warning track at Wrigley Field."

This is how you throw the ball, watch!