I babble better than anybody else!

ba ba ba a WAH beh!

Do you like my Christmas dress?

Just a quickie! These were taken at Auntie Michelle and Uncle Charlie's Christmas Ornament Exchange...

Posing with Mama and Dada

What? I'm just cleaning this table...

Dada, what are you doing on the floor?

Race For The Cure

We all know that Lily is expert in all manner of baby sports, like swings and slides. But a couple weekends ago, Lily did her first 5K run!

Lily, Mama and Dada all participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, benefitting breast cancer research. Since our good friends Matt and Jennifer had walked 60 *miles* for the same cause just a few weeks prior, it seemed like the least we could do. :-) As you can see from this picture, Lily was an honest-to-goodness registered race participant. In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that, unlike her parents, Lily was officially a TIMED racer. We think there's a decent chance she won in her age class (although riding in the Baby Bjorn is probably considered cheating).

Anyways, the event was very cool...the course wound its way through beautiful Balboa Park, and we couldn't have asked for better weather! We were there as part of a team from IvyHour, and the whole thing was coordinated by Mama and Dada's good friend Christina (shown here giving Lily a congratulatory snuggle at the end of the race). Christina and her team did a really great job recruiting a big team, setting up the IvyHour tent, making sure there were yummy snacks for all the big people, even arranging for a massage chair complete with masseuse! Yay Aunty Christina! I don't think she had anything to do with this dude threatening people with scissors during their massages, though. What's up with THAT, Uncle John?

Lily's Best Baby Friend Forever, Zoe, was also a race participant (albeit untimed, presumably because she had heard what a good crawler Lily is, and assumed Lily would be unbeatable). Here you see Zoe posing with her daddy alongside Lily and Mama. (I think Zoe and Lily may go to the same hairdresser...)

Lily was an absolute trooper, and I think actually enjoyed all the fresh air (not to mention the attention and snuggling), so we'll probably do more of these in the future. Good exercise, great company, and a wonderful cause...who could ask for anything more?

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...*

I mentioned in the Thanksgiving blog that Lily achieved one more milestone during the holiday, but that I wanted to wait for a better picture. Well, it's still not TOTALLY clear but here goes. Lily, give us a smile!

OK, now, let's take a reeeeeeaaaaaallllly close look at that lower gum:

I realize it's still not all that evident, but take my word for it, that whitish patch just left of center is Lily's very first tooth! And the dark line right next to it is the second one, close behind. Lily is making very nice progress towards having a full-on toothy grin. You can feel them very clearly if you stick a finger in there (still pretty safe because there are no opposing upper teeth, although them things are SHARP! Dada does not envy mama when the top ones start coming in...)

* disclaimer: Lily would like me to make it clear that, while dada is making a musical reference in this title of this blog entry, she most assuredly would like presents in addition to her two front teeth. Toys preferred.