I got baptized last weekend!

Last weekend was VERY special! I got baptized! The Monsignor says this is a special ceremony where I get welcomed into the Catholic faith. I think that basically means that now there's even MORE people that love me (and that I can love back), so that seems like a pretty good deal.






The day started off much like any other. I got up around my usual time (after sleeping VERY well like a big girl, I might add), and after invading Nono and Nana's bedroom to say good morning, I had a delicious meal of pureed carrot. Yummy! After breakfast, mama and dada brought out a very special present from my Po Po and Gung Gung. I helped open it! Check me out!



Inside there was something very cool...a beauuuuuutiful music box! But that wasn't all! Inside the music box was a gold cross and chain, and a small Virgin Mary medallion on a pin. Well, we called Po Po and Gung, and Po Po explained that that cross and medallion were given to her when she was a young lady, and she was very happy to have someone to pass them on to. How cool is that? Thank you soooo much, Po Po!


Well, after hanging out with all my peeps for a while I took a short morning nap. Good thing, because it turned out to be pretty much the last nap I would have all day!


A little before 1PM, right when I was starting to think about catching another catnap, Dada shows up and he's got this funny thing tied around his neck. I'd never seen him wearing such a thing, so I immediately know something was up. Anyways, after a few more pictures, mama, dada and I loaded into the car and headed out with Toto Kevin and Uncle John. I kept staring at mama and Toto Kevin to try and get them to explain to me what was happening, but eventually I gave up and tried to catch a nap, but wouldn't ya know, not five minutes later we get to this church and they wake me up again.






Well, we go inside, and here's where I REALLY realize something must be up because they put me in this HUGE dress! It's super pretty! I think it belongs to my cousins Madi and Mallory, but they let me borrow it. Anyways, turns out it was my baptism! Lots of people came to cheer me on! I did really good, considering I hadn't had my nap...I fussed a little, but mama and dada and Toto Kevin and Tata Rina helped a lot to soothe me. The ceremony was very beautiful, and even a little funny because Monsignor Mac gave Nono a suprise quiz on the religious symbols on a wall hanging. (He did pretty good, but he needed Nana to help him on the last one...) So I got blessed, and I got oils rubbed on me, and water poured on my head (candidly, not my favorite part but I was very brave), and now I'm baptized! And Toto Kevin and Tata Rina are my godparents, which means they're supposed to set a good example for me. I'm waaaaatching you, Toto Kevin and Tata Rina!




Well, after all this we got back in the car and I figured I'd FINALLY get my nap. But nope! I got to snooze in the car a little bit, but it turns out we were going to a PARTY!
See? Welcome to my party!





Inside it was soooooo beautiful. See? And LOTS of my friends were there.





See? Here's Aunty Char again. Hi, Aunty Char! She gave me lots of good snuggles that day. (But what's Toto Tom doing to Mallory? Hey! Show some respect to us babies!)







Look at all this food! But would you believe, with all these trays, not ONE of them had pureed squash in it? What kind of restaurant is this? What's a girl supposed to eat? Oh, well, there's always my ba.









Over here, mama and dada (and later, Godmama Rina and Goddada Kevin) are posing with me and my cake! Doesn't it look yummy? It was strawberry, which doesn't really mean anything to me because I haven't tried strawberries yet but mama says it's good. But hey, I know I can't spell yet, but I think Lily is only supposed to have TWO "L's"...







Whew! What a day, I'm wiped out! One last picture with mama and Nana and I'm outta here! Gotta catch some z's.




And that was it! My big day! What do you think?







Love,
Lily

Talking with my mouth full

Check out Lily having a delicious meal of squash. Please notice how delicate and ladylike she is when she eats. A bit long, but we think it's worth it!

(oh, and for those of you who think the noises she's making sound like she's trying to, um, "do something"...you would be correct. Our little girl likes to keep her input and output more or less net-zero)

Lemme tell ya 'bout Brandy

Hi, everybody...Lily here!

A lot of you probably know that I have a new nanny, Miz Norma. She's been taking care of me since the beginning of September, and she's already one of my favorite people. She's been helping me learn about solid food and sitting up and pooping every day and stuff, so I'm sure we'll be talking a lot about Norma as time goes on. But for now, I wanna tell you about Brandy.

Brandy was my FIRST nanny, and she took care of me since I guess about May. We did a lot of cool things together. When we weren't hanging out at home, she's take me places like the mall, and the park, and the zoo, and this cool lake that I really like.

All these pictures were ones from her camera that she gave to mama and dada, so you can see how much fun we had together. She also helped me learn how to do things like roll over...remember the blog where there was a video of me rolling? Remember the person putting me down to do that? That was my Brandy!

We always had a fun time together, whether it was playing in my bouncy or the swings (she tucks blankets in my belly so I'll fit!), or just chillin' on the front lawn. And even when I was sad, she took really good care of me...for a while there, she was the only one who could get me to sleep during the day (at least until dada got trained by Po Po), and she was always willing to bounce me on the yoga ball if I ever needed a little help to be happy.

Anyways, Brandy met a very nice boy and they're getting married this weekend, so she moved to LA and can't be my nanny anymore. That made me kind of sad, but her family lives in Temecula so I hope we can still visit sometimes! In the meantime, I always have my "Brandy bunny" that we made together at Build-a-Bear so I can remember her.

Hope you have a great wedding, Brandy! I miss you and love you.

- Lily xoxo

Visits and sleepovers

When I posted the piano video, I promised a longer report on the weekend... sorry I took so long to get around to it! Anyways, Lily is getting to be quite the sleeping champ...not only is she often sleeping thru the night (somewhat to her still-breastfeeding mama's dismay), but she's gotten more flexible about where she'll do it. Remember when we reported from the San Francisco trip that she had a hard time sleeping out of her normal environment? Well, since then, she has demonstrated her willingness to sleep ALL kinds of places...she's now allowed us to put her down a few times at Michelle and Charlie's place (in boyfriend Andy's crib...yes, I know, slightly scandalous, but rest assured they have not shared a crib...yet!). And two weekends ago, she not only slept over at Nono and Nana's, but napped there too!

But I'm getting ahead of myself: before we went to Nono and Nana's, we went to visit Aunty Char!

Lily was REALLY good at Aunty Char's place. This was partly due to mama and dada being extra careful to make sure Lily got her naps before we went up, but she was a perfect angel and didn't fuss hardly at all! As you can see, she even let Char and Andre snuggle her! Uncle Andre hadn't met her before, and I think he was quite taken with our little girl. As for Aunty Char, it's been over 4 months since the last time she held Lily, and as you can see from this picture we took of that visit, there have been quite a few changes since then! Lily is both quite a bit bigger and much more willing to be held and loved by people who are not her mama. Andre and Char even called her an "easy baby", which should give you some idea of how much Lily was on her best behavior. :-) Anyways, we had a really great visit (including a delicious feast of mexican food...yuuuuummmmmmmy tacos!), and we can't wait to go again!

Afterwards, we went and spent the night at Nono and Nana's. We were a little bit nervous since Lily hasn't spent the night there since we stopped co-sleeping, but she was a star...she only woke up once to nurse, and she didn't even have her white noise to help soothe her! Good baby! So she slept great, and had a very good disposition all the next day. She even let us take her to church! Later in the day, mama and dada needed to go to an orientation for Lily's upcoming baptism, and she was sleeping so nicely we left her with her grandparents. When we got back, Nono proudly informed us that he held her lots and she didn't cry. Of course she doesn't cry, Nono! SHe LOVES you! Aunty Rina got lots of good cuddles in too, as you can see.

And, of course, she learned to play the piano. Wow! My goodness, Lily!

Lily's Piano Concerto in A Minor

Lily had a GREAT weekend, which I will blog about at greater length at a more reasonable hour. But before I go to bed, I give you Lily's first improvisational piano performance:

Julliard, take note. We anticipate the competition for scholarships will be heavy.

Conquering the elements

Let's see...earth: check! I can roll in both directions, back, front, whatever, so THEORETICALLY I can go anywhere. Although I admit crawling might be more efficient (and I'm working on that)

Air: check! I'm sure you have all read about my airplane flight!

Fire: what, are you crazy? I can't play with fire, I'm a baby.

Well, gee, that just leaves water! And guess what! CHECK!!

This weekend, I went swimming for the first time! Some of the preliminaries, I could do without. Mama spread this white stuff all over me...yucky! And then mama and dada put this funny shirt on me, and it went over my head and I don't like that very much. But supposedly this shirt blocks yoouvee rays, whatever they are, but mama and dada seem to think it's important so okay.

Actually, dada looks like he could use some more of those yoouvee rays...he's pretty pale under his shirt!

Anyways, once I was in it was pretty cool! It's like a bath, except bigger and not so warm. Mama and dada had been getting me used to the idea all week by letting me kick-kick my feet in the pool, so I was totally at ease when the time came. Water is pretty neat! Mama and dada are thinking of having my nanny take me to swim classes. Will I get to wear my cool hat?

The best part, though? Swimmy snuggles with mama!

(my hat is almost as big as hers!)