Lily's Happy Day(s)

We survived the running of the December/January gauntlet!

When I was growing up, I'd occasionally hear my mom groan about November/December/January being so expensive and busy because it was Thanksgiving, my dad's birthday on or a few days later, my little sister's birthday two weeks later, Christmas two weeks later, New Year's a week later, then my birthday a week later, and then my sister's birthday about two weeks after that. I sympathized, but mostly didn't pay much attention because it was a fun time of year for me.

Well, now I have an intense December/January in my own family. Ignoring the plethora of extended family birthdays/anniversaries in those months (8-9 more of those), ours goes something like this: Christmas, New Year's a week later, my birthday a week later, our anniversary four days after that, and Lily's birthday two weeks to the day after mine. And finals and the beginning of a new semester sprinkled in (although this is the last year EVER of that!!). Whew! You have my sympathies, Mom. :)

It is crazy and we're trying to settle back into normal life after mega party OVERLOAD for the past couple of months, but it is really, really fun. I love this time of year. I love January. I always feel sorry for people who hate January. It is a glorious month - the excitement and fresh start of a new year, the winter season still feels"fresh" and not overdrawn yet, and then I have the excitement of birthdays and happy days to top it all off.

Since Lily's birthday also ended up on a Sunday this year, we took two days to celebrate hers as well. Taking a lesson from last year's birthday success, we decided to forego the big party and celebrate by doing something Lily would really enjoy. So Saturday, we headed up with some family to The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. It was packed, but Lily had a blast.

Two excited girls waiting to go in

Some of the creatures...

And speaking of creatures...

Lily touching the ray

And then there were the penguins! They were so neat!

Lily thought so, too...

For Lily's actual birthday on Sunday, Eric and I wanted to cover the ground with balloons for Lily to wake up to in the morning. As we were headed to bed after blowing up all those balloons, we heard a really loud POP! Upon investigating, we found that one of the balloons had popped, but we couldn't see anything near it that would have caused it. Then as we were laying in bed, we heard a few more POPS! We went out and looked around again and it appeared that the balloons were just spontaneously bursting. It was so weird. And loud. And annoying after we (and by we, I mean Eric) had JUST blown them up. Throughout the night popping balloons would startle us awake and in the morning, we went out and found what looked like a balloon battlefield. We had about 7 or 8 out of the original 30 left.

Oh the carnage...

Luckily though, toddlers aren't too picky and the few balloons left were still exciting. :) We opened a can of glow sticks and turned on our super sweet disco ball and the girls had a fun time dancing and partying and being silly.

After a little while, Lily decided she needed to break for her morning beverage and she reclined back on the couch...

... and watched while Elena entertained.

Later on in the day, it was time for a birthday brunch with some of Lily's favorites: clementine oranges, p'ut buh-er and graham crackers, and rice milk (the rice milk was new that day, but she was pretty excited to be drinking "milk" like the rest of us).

Later that evening, Eric's parents and brother came over for dinner and to have cake and presents with us. Lily knew exactly what to do with the candles when they came her way.

It was a super exciting night for Lily because she got to try chocolate cake and ice cream for the first time! Well, sort of... I found a recipe for a chocolate cake that was dairy free, soy free, egg free, etc. and I also found some rice milk ice cream that was dairy and soy free.

And let's just say the "Rice Dream" ice cream was not so much of a dream for most of us. Those of us who are used to dairy. And the cake was pretty disgusting - I mean you could get it down, but it did not taste like a good hearty chocolate cake. But Lily thought it was all fantastic! And that's what mattered. :)

She really enjoyed her treats!

Then it was time to open presents:

Peeking out from her new Winnie the Pooh sleeping bag

Snuggling the "bee-uuhr" from Grandma and Grandpa

Many thanks to all who helped make her day(s) special! Happy Birthday to our Lils!

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p.s. And since we're talking about Lily turning two and random food intolerance things, here's a little update which is pretty obvious just by looking at her. :)

• Height: 10th percentile. Yeah, Lily! she's finally good and solidly on the charts - this is up from about 3-5th percentile it has steadily been for a long time.

• Weight: -50th percentile. Yes, I just made that up. But seriously, she's way not on the charts, her weight has actually taken a slight nose dive recently. She weighs 19 lbs, 14 oz. Isn't that insane?? Kids are supposed to be 20lbs at a year old! She is still insanely tiny - grow little girl, grow! Grow into that forward facing car seat. You can do it! Finding pants for this girl is also an interesting affair. She fits perfectly in 12 month pants waist-wise. But they are like capris on her. The 18 month pants are long enough, but slide right off her bum and drown her legs. I've got to figure out how to use my sewing machine good and proper and learn how to take pants in.

• Head Circumference: holding steady at 50th percentile. :) She has a good sized head. So she has the head of a two year old on the body of a less than one year old. :) Eric and I like to jokingly quote between us, "It's like an orange on a toothpick! It looks like Sput-nik." We think she's pretty darn adorable. But those numbers sure are comical. Her doctors are really happy though that she's consistently maintained her head circumference in the 50th percentile - they said that's a sign of good development and such. So, we'll take it.

Other than that: still on Elecare. Only restrictions in her diet are: dairy, soy, fish, and a few berries and melons that we haven't taken the time to introduce yet. We have the go ahead to work on the fish and berries soon. We'll try dairy or soy again in March because it will have been a year from the last introduction. If it doesn't go well, then we'll have to wait another year to try those again. We'll see. She keeps us on our toes, but it is SO nice to have so many things allowed in her diet again. It really helps! So, there's the latest on Lily.