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Here’s a family portrait.  Gee, this is so much easier than taking my own pictures.  I wish I could have Sara on permanent contract.

No need for amateur photos for awhile — my friend and professional photographer, Sara, spent some quality time with our family to create some fabulous photographic images.  Sara is also responsible for the new blog banner, which is one of my absolute favorite images from our session.  The best thing about Sara’s photography business, Photogazelle, is that she gives her clients the rights to their images, so they are free to get prints, email, and post pictures as they wish!  So, since our camera is out of commission for a bit, I may be using a few of my favorite photos from Sara in the blog.  Here’s one that Sara aptly named “Lil in Tulips:”

Our camera has been taking fuzzy pictures (as evidenced by the out-of-focus shots to follow), so we are sending it back to Sony to diagnose the problem.  Since we will be without a camera for a bit, I thought I’d post some previous shots of Lily on her birthday.  When presented with her cake, Lily performed as every parent hopes for great photos.  Here’s the sequence:

And here were the “before” pics of the cakes.  We did a barnyard theme (E - I - E - I - O), so the main cake was a cow (which some guests mistakenly referred to as a pig, when it clearly has horns to distinguish it as bovine).  I made the cow cake first, and at the last minute decided Lily should have her own cake, so I threw together a little 6-inch cake for her.

Both cakes were yellow cake with white buttercream frosting.  Both were devoured.  Angus especially enjoyed the cake, as he was able to freely sample a large quantity which rained down on him from Lily’s highchair.  Lily went directly from highchair to tub after this fun.  I call the cakes a success!

For basically the first year of Lily’s life, she called the shots as far as schedule…or lack thereof.  I would say there was a basic structure to our day, with lots of wiggle room.  Over the last couple of weeks, things have really been topsy-turvy around here.  I have heard that sometimes babies will start waking in the night when they are on the verge of a new developmental skill, so maybe that explains why Lily has been waking up once or twice nearly every night — since she’s starting to walk.  I don’t know.  But we are exhausted.  Not only has she been waking up, but she has been very difficult to get back to sleep.  And difficult to put down to sleep in the evening, often taking 45 minutes or an hour to finally go to sleep.  Enter: New routine.

After several days of putting her down and letting her cry for several minutes before going back in to soothe her, repeating until she was asleep, Lily is now going to sleep on her own with little to no fuss.  If / when she wakes in the night, she has been getting the same treatment, so she is going back to sleep much faster now.  Once she even woke and went back to sleep all on her own!  So here is how we are spending our days now:

5:30 - 6:  Lily wakes.  (Actually, lately it’s been as early as 5:00, which is just not acceptable.  Oh how I miss those days she slept until 7!)  Daddy (BLESS him), usually gets up with her and lets me sleep a little longer.  He is a better morning person than I am, plus he knows I will have her pretty much non-stop for the nine hours after I get up, so he graciously takes the first shift.  He changes her, plays with her a bit, and sometimes they watch a little Sesame Street together.

7:00:  Breakfast.  Bill feeds her, usually a smoothie of yogurt, berries, and a little baby oatmeal cereal for iron.  Sometime around this time is when I trudge wearily down the stairs with a sleepy Angus, and Bill hands me a cup of coffee.  (Did I mention what an AMAZING husband I have?)  I have to remain out of Lily’s sight, or she will screech until I take her.  Staying hidden buys me a little coffee time and Lily is able to finish breakfast.

7:30 - 8:30:  We play, I try to wake up, and I get ready for the gym.  Bill usually dresses Lily.  (Okay, seriously, now that I type this I’m starting to feel like Bill is a single parent…at least during the hours of 6 to 8 a.m.!)

8:30 - 10:30: Lily and I go to the gym, most days of the workweek.  Lily is doing great playing with the other kids in the child care room.

10:30: Morning nap.  This either occurs as soon as we get home or, if we have somewhere to go, it may occur in the car. 

On Mondays, we visit my Grandma Graves until lunchtime; on Wednesdays, it’s Grandma Barker’s (where we always have oatmeal — yum!)  Other days of the week it’s just a nap at home while I try to get a shower in, then playtime until lunch.

12:30:  Lunch.

1:00 - 2:30:  Typically an afternoon outing, like the park or zoo.  Or we may just play in the backyard or run errands.

2:30: Afternoon nap.  Lately she’s been sleeping close to an hour, which doubles her previous nap time and doubles my happiness!

3:30 - 5:00:  This is the trickiest time of day, because she may be a bit cranky depending on how well she’s napped.  Also, I hit an energy low and have to reach for my second dose of coffee.  We typically run errands and, if I’m particularly ambitious, I’ll be trying a new recipe for dinner, so we’ll hit the grocery store for ingredients.

5:00:  Daddy shares some father-daughter time.  If I’m cooking, this is when.

5:30:  Dinner for Lily.  If I’m still making dinner, Daddy feeds her.  Sometimes we try to eat while she’s eating, other times we wait until she’s in bed.  Lately, it’s grab what you can in shifts while dealing with Lily.

6:30: Bathtime (every other day).  Yep, Daddy again.  I spend this time cleaning up after dinner or just doing my own thing for a bit.

7:00:  Jammies, books, winding-down type activities.

7:30:  Bedtime is nearly always my job, which I really like.  I rock her, sing songs, and then put her down.  Tonight it was just one or two squeaks, and she was out.  Yay!

Lately, the hours between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the next day are pretty much a toss-up.  When she wakes in the night, Bill and I both do the “I’m still asleep” act until we are both undeniably awake.  We make some deals, sometimes money changes hands, and someone finally goes downstairs.  This person may or may not return to bed, as the guest bedroom is closer to Lily’s and a good place to rest while waiting to see if she will stay asleep.  It’s wearing on us both, but we know this is probably just another phase.

Maybe it’s too soon to tell, but I think a more structured schedule is helping us all.  We spent a long time kind of “going with the flow,” and I think that worked for us.  But it seems there is a lot of adaptation in parenting, and lately it was clear we needed a change.

Bear with me, blog readers, as I recap Lily’s latest accomplishments.  Not only is this blog an opportunity to display adorable photos of my sweet baby girl, but it is also a written record for our family, for posterity, of Lily’s development.  So, although it may seem mundane to outsiders, I must get these notes down in writing.

At 12 months, Lily:

• Gives real kisses now, though not on request.  And the action and sound do not always match up.  But when she spontaneously puckers up and leans in to kiss you, it is the most perfect show of affection imaginable.
• Gives hugs, complete with a pat-pat on the back.  Precious.  These displays of affection are new to us.  Lily has never really been a cuddler, so these new hugs and kisses nearly bring tears to my eyes each time.  At last!  A return on our investment!
• Has truly bonded with her lovey, her woobie, whatever you call it — her blankie.  I think it’s healthy and often handy to have a security item, so we have been giving Lily her blankie since she was tiny.  Now she sees it and gets all excited, pointing and “Ooh ooh”ing.  When you give it to her, she buries her face in it.  She likes to have it when she’s nursing and when she goes to sleep.  Funny thing — We bought a second, identical blankie to have as a back-up, so sometimes they are both out and circulating around the house.  So now Lily wants to have both blankies at the same time, if she happens to catch sight of them both.
• Is starting to throw mini tantrums.  Actually, they’re getting not so “mini.”  For instance, today at the grocery store, I picked up a package of tortillas.  As with most items I pick up, Lily was insisting on holding them, reaching and kicking and squealing.  So, to placate her for a bit, I handed them over.  A few minutes later, I could see she was starting to bite through the plastic, so I tried to gently pry them from her hands.  Illogically loud screaming followed.  I tried the old bait and switch with another item — no dice.  I tried to pick her up to soothe her, and she was thrashing around and screaming.  This only ended when she got ahold of a bag of chocolates in the check-out line, but soon started up again when I had to take those away, too.  So is this the terrible twos?  At one?
• Bites.  With her eight teeth.  To be fair, she only bites when you stick your finger in there.  Why would a sane person do that, you ask?  Typically it is to fish out some small, dangerous item that she has shoved in her mouth.  But, man, those teeth are sharp, and she bites down hard.
• Pats Angus, and gives him kisses, too.  She also knows where his treat jar is and will point to it until you give her a treat, which she will immediately turn to give to Angus.  They are good friends, though Angus the warier of the two, as Lily still occasionally likes to grab his feet or yank his fur.
• Has taken up to 10 steps, but is still too cautious to start really walking.  She instead searches for an adult’s finger, then grabs it and starts leading that person around.  Tiny little person that she is, she knows where she wants to go, and she has things to do.  Always.
• Speaking of tiny little person, she topped the scale at 15 lbs, 6 oz at her 12-month check-up.  And she’s 26 3/4 inches tall.  Something tells me she will find herself in the front row of her class pictures, just like her mama always did.  The tall kids are always in back.  I remember being picked up a lot as a child.  I guess there’s just something irresistable about a petite child, because random other children — even ones relatively close in age – would pick me up and carry me around, and I was seemingly powerless to stop them.  Lily may realize the same fate.
• Says Da-Da.  All the time.  (Bill wanted to be sure that I got this one written down.)  That girl loves her daddy.  I have rationalized that, since she is with me nearly all of the time, she simply has no need to ask for me.  I’m sure “Ma-Ma” is coming and, when it does, I’ll never hear the end of it.  Ever again.  But for now, I can’t wait!
• Loves to swing.  Likes the slide, too.  And climbs like a monkey.
• Dances anytime there’s music playing.
• Likes to “talk” on the phone.  She holds it up (approximately) by her ear and jabbers.  She will also hold it to our ears, presumably if the call is for one of us.
• Has blonde hair and brown eyes.  It took pretty much this whole first year to figure that out.  Her hair was light brown early on, but has gotten progressively lighter until it is now undeniably blonde.  Her eyes, conversely, grew darker and darker until they are now (mostly) brown, but still with a hint of something…hazel?  Blue-brown?  I don’t know, but they’re dark, and we’re calling them brown.

So there you have it.  A snapshot of Lily at one year.  Inasmuch as mere words can describe someone so dynamic, so full of life, so full of energy, so full of potential.  I can only hope that these words will help spark my memory, years from now, so I can hold onto these baby girl memories always.

I have a quick proud mama moment to share.  Lily has been loving her new Foogo sippy cup that she got for her birthday.  (The Foogo is a Thermos-brand stainless steel sippy cup, for those of us trying to avoid bisphenol-A in plastics.)  Anyway, she carries this cup around drinking water as much as we’ll let her, and woe to the person who tries to remove it from her clutched little hands.  So today, she’s standing at the coffee table with her sippy cup, and I guess she decided to take a brief break, so she REACHES FOR A COASTER and, with some difficulty, manages to set her cup on top of the coaster on the coffee table.  I think tears of pride came to my eyes.  She has always been infatuated with the coasters.  Little did I know it was because she was just waiting for the day when she could set her drink on one of them.  **Sniff**  It does a mother proud.

Now if she could just teach Bill to do the same…

Lily is officially one!  Here are a few quick pics from today.  It was a crazy day, and we are hitting the hay early, so I’ll have to post more pictures and details later.

On Thursday, May 3rd, 2007, Bill and I loaded into the car to head to the doctor’s office.  Following another sleepless night and continued “not labor,” we had contacted my OB’s office first thing in the morning to ask to be seen.  As we left the house, Bill grabbed my hospital bag, just in case, but I told him I was sure we’d be home again within a couple of hours.  On the trip to the doctor, I noticed the contractions were getting stronger.

My OB seemed surprised to see me (since I’d just had a regular appointment a few days earlier and he had assured me I still had a bit to go), and he seemed even more surprised to announce I was in labor.  He said he would meet me at the hospital because I was going to have this baby today!

Lillian Pearl Tice was born at 5:34 p.m., weighing 5 lb, 7 oz, measuring 17.5 inches long.  She was perfect then, and she still is.  What a crazy first year we’ve had.  Of course it has flown by, as veteran parents warned it would.  Little Lily is such a big girl now! 

On May 2nd, I awoke at 2:30 a.m. and, after some deliberation, woke Bill, saying, “I think I’m having contractions…”  We timed them for about 30 minutes and, since they were irregular and more than 10 minutes apart, Bill suggested we go back to sleep.  He did, and I didn’t.  Tough to sleep when you’re having strong cramps every 10-20 minutes, dragging you from your slumber.  After a sleepless night and with the contractions still coming, I called in to work to say I wasn’t going to make it in.  A phone call to my OB’s office ended in mild frustration, as I was only able to speak to the phone nurse, who assured me — the novice first-time mother — that I was not in labor and the contractions would eventually relent.  Apparently it is uncommon to go into labor three weeks early with your first child.  All day the contractions continued, sometimes 5-7 minutes apart, sometimes 30, but never ceasing.  By nightfall I was getting pretty exhausted.

A second call to my OB’s office yielded the same result: “Don’t worry, honey, you’re not really in labor,” from the phone nurse.  She continued to say that contractions were normal at this stage of pregnancy and may continue off and on for the remaining few weeks.  This was unwelcome news.  The lack of rest and moderate discomfort took its toll, and I began to break down emotionally.  I tearfully spoke with the mother of a friend who is a labor and delivery nurse, and she recommended I contact my OB first thing in the morning to be checked out.  Another L&D nurse friend suggested my doctor might be able to give me something to knock me out for awhile and finally get some rest.  I agreed to call again in the morning, and vowed not be bullied by the phone nurse anymore.  I tried to settle in for some sleep…