Happy Birthday Sunflower!

I cannot believe my baby is a year old. This past year flew by so quickly, it felt much faster than Lily's first year did.  I knew this was my last first year and how fast it goes, I tried to pay more attention and slow it down, but life just keeps speeding up.

At 1 Sunflower is still a little peanut. At just 17 pounds, 11oz she is below the 5th percentile for weight but her personality is huge. She runs the show around here with a voice that can out yell and boss around her big sister. You would never know it by her size but her appetite is bigger than most full grown men and she only likes food that is full of flavor - spicy black bean soup is a particular favorite.

She has little interest in her baby toys, she prefers to play Barbies and My Little Ponies with her sister. She took her first steps before her first birthday, but still prefers to be carried around while she points to where she wants to go.

She is a snuggler when awake and and gives the sweetest hugs. She is still shy around new people and will bury her head in my lap while sticking her bum up in the air, but once she is comfortable with you she is a little ham. She loves peek-a-boo and has an infectious laugh.

The First Lost Tooth!

I was having a hard time adjusting to how much older Lily's new haircut made her look. Last night she lost her first tooth, adding to the big girl appearance. It's amazing how much one tooth can change how old they look, whether it was Sunflower looking less like my newborn and more like a baby when she got her first one or Lily looking less like my little girl and more like a big girl when she lost her first one.

The tooth has been wobbly for a couple of weeks now, she first noticed it when she bit into an apple at school and it started to hurt her. While she was brushing her teeth it loosened up the rest of the way and was just hanging on by a thread. She was a little nervous to loose it, but not as nervous as I was at the thought that I would have to pull it out the rest of the way! Luckily nothing really phases Lily and she reached in and gave it a quick tug, depositing the teeny little tooth in my hand. She must have noticed me trying to hold back tears, gave me a big hug and told me that she is still my baby.

We put the tooth into her little fairy pouch, read her story about the tooth fairy, then placed it under her pillow. The tooth fairy came overnight and left her $5 (since it was the very first tooth, and the tooth fairy wasn't quite prepared since it wasn't that loose earlier in the day!)

Who is this big girl?

Before



After



ETA: I didn't know when I posted these that they would be my last photos of Lily with her full smile, a couple of hours later she lost her first tooth!

Conversations

Lily is the best big sister. She dotes on her baby sister and always wants to be where ever she is. Sunflower is currently asleep and Lily just asked me,

"When is Sunflower going to be awake? I miss her face."

I Love Fall

It has been a busy fall. Kindergarten, a 5th birthday for my first baby, 5 more birthday parties to attend, apple picking, school, Girl Scouts, Halloween, etc. So the blog fell behind for a little bit. But I'm back and hope to catch up a post or two at a time while staying current. In the meantime, here are a few fall shots of my two favorite flowers.

Kindergarten!

Today was Lily's first day of kindergarten. She was thrilled to finally be going back to school and all her friends and could not wait to be one of the big kids upstairs. She started off the day with a nice breakfast with Sunflower and a phone chat with Nana and PopPop while she told them all about the big playground she would get to play on in the mornings now too.


She let me snap a few photos, insisting on one with Sunflower, before dragging us over to the car to get on the road. She remembered the long drive to and from school and did not want to be late and miss anything.





When we got to the school, Lily's new teacher, Mrs. L met us at the car. There is no drawn out goodbyes or wandering around the school, they know it is harder on the parents than the kids scoop them off before we can start to cry. Mrs. L did pause just long enough for me to get 1 picture. She actually had to stop Lily for me who was ready to take off without a second glance.



Sunflower wasn't too happy though, she continued to look around the backseat for her big sister until she finally fell asleep and throughout the day would look around like something was missing.

Lily bounded into the car at pickup time, ready to continue our tradition of the park after school. She was in a wonderful mood, excited about her friends, the turtles in their room, and the lessons they had on turtles and fish that day.

This is my new comparison picture, I have decided to take one in front of the fence at the beginning and end of each school year to see how much they have grown.

The Last Normal Day

Normal is about to take on a whole new meaning for me. For the last 4 years and 358 days, normal has meant having Lily by my side. Last year she started full day school, but it was only 3 days a week, so we still had normal days in between. I loved those weekdays with her home,  we had parks and entertainment places to ourselves, playdates with friends, and the freedom to travel on easy days.

Today was our last day of "normal". Tomorrow is the weekend, Monday is a holiday, and Tuesday Lily starts Kindergarten. She will no longer be home with me all week, or even the majority of it. I will drive her to school and drop her off for 6 of her waking hours 5 days a week. I'm in tears just thinking about it. For our last day of normal we left Sunflower with daddy so we could run to the store together to pick out fabric for new crumbcatchers, took some pictures, had some "tea", took a walk, went to the playground, and picked up dinner so I could just put Sunflower to bed and spend some extra time with Lily.

Next week my baby leaves me for school and turns 5 all in the same week. I know it's a cliche, but the time really has flown. Half the time I think I still imagine her as a 2 year old who needs mommy for everything, not this independent girl who can do so much for herself, be a big help to me, and has already started worrying about what her friends will think . Some days I feel like I am dealing with a teenager. One day she will ask me how I know everything, the next she will tell me that I am wrong about everything.

Right now I am just hoping to make it through the drive to school and drop off on Tuesday without tears, at least not until I am back in the car and out of view of the school. I will think about how to adjust to the new normal after that.

5 Months Old

She loves:


Her Toes


Spitting
My water glass

Sitting up


Being outside

Going for walks in the stroller

Standing up


Being worn in the Baby Hawk
Watching her diapers dry on the clothesline

Reaching for everything


Forster, Max, and Molly
Sleeping on her belly now that she can roll

Her big sister


Yelling
My knuckles

Her knuckles


Her pacifier at bedtime
Watching the world out the car window

Her fingers


Waking up Daddy in the morning
Peek-A-Boo

Laughing


Chewing on anything that gets near her mouth
Rolling over

Scooting around




And did I mention her toes?

It's a bird, it's a plane....

It's PopPop!
(Can you find him in this photo?)

Big congratulations to PopPop who got his Sport Pilot license last week. The plan was for him to fly to the beach house for the end of our vacation, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we had to come home before he could make it. But yesterday he finally got a break from the storms and made his way out east in his little (and I mean LITTLE) StingSport.

We decided to surprise Lily and Sunflower, so I didn't let them know that he was making a layover in the little county airport the next town over. I told Lily that we were going on a Letterboxing hunt (there is one at the airport that we have been waiting for until just this time), packed them both into the car, and started giving Lily the clues. She solved the clues I have her to narrow it down to airport and restaurant and got out of the car ready to hunt.

While she was pulling her letterboxing bag out of the car, PopPop walked up behind her and said something. She turned around with a puzzled look on her face, it probably took about 30 seconds for her to realize what was happening before she launched herself on him for a big hug.

First we headed out onto the tarmac for a look at PopPop's new toy, um I mean plane. Lily enjoyed climbing up onto the wing and looking into the cockpit but when we told her she could get in and be a pilot she told us it was too small. Too small for a 4 year old but PopPop just flew from Oklahoma in it? Well, judge for youself.

I guess when a plane isn't twice as tall as a 4 year old it is a little small!

After checking out the plane we headed into the restaurant for a little ice cream and a letterbox hunt. We enjoyed spending an hour with PopPop before he had to take off again for the final leg of the trip to the beach and Nana.

Lily ran along the fence waving goodbye as far as she could, then she, Sunflower and I all watched as he took off into the sky until we couldn't see him anymore.

Peek-

A-Boo



I See You!