Lily Mahler

Sorry everybody, I know it's been months since we've posted an update, we've just been too busy watching our little girl grow! Today, Lilian Penelope is 11 months old- I can't believe I'm already planning her first birthday party! I'm sure I've said this before, but it's worth repeating- Lily is such a joy. She melts my heart and cracks me up on a daily basis.

An example of this, from just today: Lily loves to dance, and this is manifesting itself more and more in daily life. A few months ago, Lily started dancing to the music on her activity table, just bouncing when the music played. Lately she’s added some arm movements or clapping to go along with her signature bounce. Tonight Brad and I took Lily out to dinner with us, and at the end of the meal the song "Smooth" by Rob Thomas and Santana came on over the speakers in the restaurant. Lily seized the moment by bouncing in her chair and actually bobbing her head to the beat! Brad grabbed his phone and recorded it, so perhaps you'll get to share in our humor, but suffice it to say that Lily's got rhythm.

Other things Lily loves lately are her cats. Her first word outside of mama and dada was cat, which makes a lot of sense seeing that there are more cats in the house than mommies and daddies! Today she and Thomas had a very enjoyable game of peek-a-boo, though Thom was likely behind the curtain because he was hiding from her. Luckily, he's a very even-tempered animal, and puts up with Lily literally crawling all over him, sometimes without even waking up! Bean and Poe are a bit more cautious and tend to keep their space from her, but Lily still gets lots of exercise chasing them around.

Lily is an extremely active baby, and I spend most of my day chasing her around and keeping her out of trouble. One of her favorite daily activities is pulling all of the DVDs out of the shelves that she can reach, and just today she figured out how to reach the buttons on the stereo! At about 28 inches tall, her reach is ever increasing, and she doesn't hesitate to stand on her tippy-toes to get what she wants.

Brad and I are also having fun buying Lily presents for her first Hanukkah- with Lily right there of course! One advantage to this age is that we can take her to the toy store to test out the toys before we buy them. This year Lily is getting Elmo Live (which she loved at the store), a Cabbage Patch Kid, her first big Winnie the Pooh and 5 other presents- one for each night!

Lily is all but done nursing, which may be too much information for some of you, but it’s something I feel I have to touch on. Nursing Lily has been such a great experience and I’m sad that it’s almost over. These days, I know she gets most of her nutrition from bottles (I felt like my milk was decreasing, so I began supplementing months ago) and solid food, but we still have one nursing session in the morning when Lily first wakes up. It’s a gentle way for both of us to ease into being awake, and I also think it’s also nice for us to have that close moment before she crawls away to spend the day exploring.

Before I had Lily, I knew I wanted to nurse. I wondered if it would be weird or awkward. It was neither, and I honestly wish I could go on nursing her longer. I suspect it will be a while before we give up this last nursing session.
This is just one of the first reminders that she’s growing and becoming more independent. She’s a long way from being on her own, but this kind of thing just reminds you that it’s going to happen. I know one day I’ll remember laying side by side in bed feeding her and wish I could go back, while at the same time being proud at all that she has become. I already am.