When I was about six months pregnant, I decided that it was of the utmost importance that our weed-ridden yard be cleaned out and sod be lain. I couldn't very well have a baby without grass in my yard. Don't ask me why this was so important for me, but it was. And Ernie, being the wonderful, and rather intelligent, man that he is knew that

Everyone told me it was just "nesting" and "pregnancy hormones", chuckling under their breaths. Turns out it was rather ingenious.

Bend it like Beckham

What do you get when you mix an hyperactive toddler, a hyperactive 37-year-old and a giant ball?

Why, a soccer tournament, of course.

I believe I've mentioned how much Ernie loves to torment Lily. What I haven't mentioned is that Ernie has a complete and utter inability to keep still.

Playing soccer with Lily satisfies both needs. He gets to torment her by waiting until she runs right up to the ball before kicking it away from her then laughing uproariously when she says "Heeeeeeeeeey! Stop, Daddy." He also gets to run around with her, thereby appeasing his incessant desire to stay in motion.

Lily loves playing soccer with Daddy. As soon as he comes home from work she asks "Backyard?".

She's gonna go pro and makes loads of money so she can keep me and Ernie living in the manner in which we intend to grow acustomed.

And now some extra shots for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy the Queen of Cute.

Storytime

Lily has a ton of stuffed animals. Seriously, she has so many that not only does she have a toy box full to overflowing with them, but they are cluttering up every single room in our house. The other day I went to check on her because she had been napping for an unusually long time and I found this:

She had lined up several of her animals and was reading to them.

Here she is pointing out the shark in The Little Mermaid (from our collection of disney stories). She kept saying "look, look. Right there. Shark. Look teddy bear/froggy/rabbit/etc. Then, of course, she noticed me with the camera so she wanted to show off her toys.

I have no idea how long she was in there reading to her toys before I came in, but I came in about 45 minutes after she normally wakes up from her nap. I was telling Ernie just last night how much fun I am having with this stage. Her imagination is just starting to make an appearance and I love seeing it. As someone who always had imaginary friends and turned the living room into a tropical island/castle/lava pit/etc. on a daily basis, I love to see how imaginative she is. Is it possible for every stage with her to be my favorite?

Monkey

A few days ago I set Lily up at the kitchen table, as I do most days, to color her little heart out while I took a quick shower. I came out to find her like this. This is why her nickname is Monkey. She climbs on everything (though her favorite thing to climb on is me. I'm her own personal mommy-shaped jungle gym)



I know someday she'll hate me for saying this, but look at that cute diaper bottom. She's so sweet.

Did you notice her super cool hairdo? It is a mess in these pictures because it is the day after I did it, but you should have seen it. I did five little braids around the edge of her hair and pulled them all together with the hair in the middle to form a ponytail. It turned out looking really pretty. Lily kept going into my room to look in the mirror. She'd pat her hair and say "princess". And it stayed pretty tight for the day.

Wouldn't you just love to have her eye lashes? I know I would. And I love her expression in this last picture. She's making silly faces to make Mommy laugh. You have to meet her to truly appreciate her personality. She is a complete and utter goofball. If something gets a laugh she will do it over and over again.

Isn't she just adorable???

My little Picasso

Do you see the picture on the left? That is a picture of Lily's pet puppy, Rocky (she named her all on her own). The picture of the right is Lily's crayon rendition of Rocky. I was pretty impressed.

F-A-M-I-L-Y

If you don't have a toddler (and maybe if you do), you may not know what Noggin is, so let me tell you. It is a cable channel devoted to people of the bite-sized variety. While I try very hard to keep the television off during the day, after dinner we let Lily watch this channel. They have this show called Jack's Big Music Show. It is fantastic. Lily loves it, it teaches her some great stuff about music and imagination and Ernie and I don't cringe when it comes on, as we do with almost ever other kids show we've seen. Here is a little clip for you:

Lily loves this song. Every time it comes on she runs up to me and wants to dance. Then she gives me a big hug and says "family". Last night Ernie joined in the fun and at the end of the song she pulled us both in for a group hug and said "family" with a bit grin on her face. My heart almost burst, it was such a sweet moment. I couldn't ask for a greater family than Ernie and Lily. Words can't express how much I love them. They're pretty amazing.

Paparazzi

A friend of mine accused me of being Lily's own personal paparazzi. I told her that was utterly ridiculous.

Then again, maybe she's onto something...