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After about a week of a step here or there, Lilah can officially walk now. She can go at least ten steps, as well as creep sideways. She's still doing the zombie walk but crawling less and less.

My little baby is getting so BIG!

taryl | General | 1 October, 7:45pm | Comment on this

Sorry we have been so terrible at updating the sites for the girls, it has been a busy and technologically challenging summer. To make up for the lack of pictures, at least, some professional shots and DVDs of the girls will be going out to family members on all sides quite soon, if they have not already arrived.

Quick Lilah notes:

- She's creeping along furniture and can balance and walk a few steps, but rarely chooses to.

- Her babble is starting to sound more like words

- When she shakes her head 'no', she actually means it (not just random silly movement)

- Lilah learned how to clap and can throw a ball better than big sister.

Highlights from her 1 year appointment:

- Weight: 21 lbs, 1 oz

- Height: 29.5"

- Head circumference: 45 cm

She's super healthy, very bubbly and active, but shy around strangers. She won't scream her head off anymore, but rather just prefers to check things out thoroughly before opening up. She is VERY observant. Lilah does seem to think she's just as big as Callie, and therefore should do all the things Callie does, but I do not see this changing anytime soon. As always, no news is good news in the our household, and Lilah is no different. She is growing and thriving, and has quite the personality.

Hopefully the next update will include pictures, and not be several months out!

taryl | General | 15 September, 12:02am | Comment on this

Lilah has started trying to babble out actual words, though, other than "mamamamMA!" in my direction when she's mad, they don't make much sense. "Ah GAAAAA!" is a popular one, especially. But she's definitely trying.

The biggest new milestone she's had is crawling, though she does it a bit funny. She'll crawl almost pigeon-toed and with her legs under her bottom, so she can return to sitting at a moment's notice. She also tries to lift herself off the ground completely, moving from a crawl to a plank position, almost identical to the start of a push-up. She'll grunt and hold herself up on her little toes for as long as she can stand it. She's pulling up in her bassinet, which puts acquiring a big-girl crib very high on our familial priority list.

Overall she's doing very well for her age and will be 1 year old before we know it! She's still quite bald, though with a good downy blond covering over her whole head, and consequently despite any amount of bows and pink outfits the most common compliment is still "My, what a HANDSOME one you are! He just has the most gorgeous eyes!". I usually don't bother to correct them, but here's to hoping for hair. Bald babies are cute and all, but she'll have to grow some EVENTUALLY!

Lilah still has some major stranger anxiety, mostly when she is tired or needs to be babysat, but she's slowly getting over it (the screaming, shrieking jags are getting shorter). This doesn't bode well for VBS coming up, where she will need to be watched in the nursery for three or four hours during the day while I do snacks. Here's to hoping she decides to behave and not howl the whole time, otherwise I am screwed. Lilah is super cute as always, though, which assuages our damaged hearing somewhat. Both girls, in fact, manage to be just cute enough that we don't ship them off to relatives permanently when they decide to be obnoxious ;)

Hopefully pictures and more videos are coming soon!

taryl | General | 21 May, 10:22pm | Comment on this

Well any failure to update pictures now rests with Peter, as he has all the kid pictures for the past few months!

Not much news here other than that Lilah has started dragging herself across the floor with great speed, and over this past week went from dragging hind quarters to getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. She's extremely close to crawling, and I suspect her motivation for doing it earlier than Callie is an effort to try and keep up with big sister!

Lilah has proven a great fan of most transportation methods - from front pack, to stroller, to back pack. She also seems to love the infant swings at the park, and gives happy shrieks and two-toothed smiles when she gets in one.

She is also still a fan of all things Food. Turkey lunch meat, beans, cheese, peas, pretty much any leftovers - Lilah likes them all. I haven't noticed any allergies to things like eggs, but I am keeping nut products to a minimum as Callie is showing a mild allergy (rashes and bumps) to peanut butter and cashews now. Nothing severe, but if Callie has it and Peter's side is prone to it, in general, I'd rather play it safe with Lilah.

Pictures SHOULD be coming soon. So sorry for the lack of updates, we have been boring and crazy at the same time, if you can believe it!

taryl | General | 20 April, 9:07pm | Comment on this

Lilah was healthy and happy, at least up to the shots. Normal, developing on track, no concerns from me about her, so the appointment was really just the plain old basics. She took the shots like a pro, and only shrieked bloody murder for maybe half a minute. Callie was quite well behaved at the appointment, as well, which makes the whole thing more pleasant.

Despite Lilah looking super chunky to Peter and me, especially compared to Callie at the same age, we still have a skinny girl on our hands. Lilah weighed in at 17 pounds, 2 oz, which puts her at the 35th percentile. She was 28 inches long and that puts her at the 75th for height (the first nurse measured her wrong and the second remeasured and got an extra half inch out of her). Her head is still fairly petite, at 42.5 cm or 20th percentile, so overall her basic dimensions have not changed.

Yay for the healthy big girl!

taryl | General | 19 March, 8:29am | Comment on this

Yes, Lilah popped two bottom front teeth this past week. She did so with minimal fuss and crying, too, I didn't notice she had them until I happened to have my finger inside her mouth fishing for a piece of paper she was trying to swallow. But one broken out all the way and one with only a corner out are her new claim to fame.

We're not nursing anymore, sadly, thanks to the trip to California, so she can't bite me... but she does try to bite everything else!

Lilah has her (belated) 6 month checkup tomorrow afternoon so I'll get some vital stats from that, but from all appearances she's happy and healthy. Within the past two weeks she went from topple city to mastering sitting up in VERY quick fashion, and she is also starting to babble with syllables, the current favorite being "bababababa... BA bababa.... BAAAAAAAAAA!" and variations therein. Her tuft of hair on the top is getting longer too, but the sides are still bald, and our term for the look is the "Reverse Monk".

She gives a BIG smile when Callie comes into the room, and Callie proceeds to give her kisses and then wipe the little sister drool off of her face. The two get along great thus far, no jealousy present.

And so life goes on. And YES, Peter still needs to update the baby pictures badly. Our apologies. Here's a quick and normal one of Lilah - covered in drool, food, and very curious. Oh yeah, and big blue eyes for the Grandmas to enjoy :)

taryl | General | 18 March, 12:25am | 1 comments

.... otherwise known as the nickname she'll cringe at beyond the age of, oh I don't know, three?

But it's true, she earned it - Lilah is such a lovable, smily, sweet baby with the cutest little cloth diapered bum, thigh rolls, the whole deal. I may be partial but she and her sister are so beautiful and sweet, I am ridiculously and endlessly blessed to be their mother.

It's been quite a while since the last update but nothing of note to report - Lilah's growing and changing daily, and right now is having fun rolling all over the floor (and yelling when she gets stuck on her belly), trying to stay seated upright, gobbling solids as fast as we can give them to her, and showing *everyone* within a ten mile radius her happy shriek. Lilah doesn't really talk, per se, but she does regularly exercise the higher end of her range. Callie always preferred to yell loudly, Lilah doesn't care about the volume as long as it's a screech. She could probably shatter glass if we got her to resonate enough!

Some other points that she differs from her sister on is laughing. If you toss her up in the air or tickle her chin she'll chuckle, but Lilah is remarkably short of actual laughs. But what she DOES do is smile these beautiful, gigantic grins almost the entire time she is awake. She is such a mama's girl and a real cheese, she'll squeal to catch my attention and then grin big time, or start hyperventilating and crying until I come over, when she proceeds to give a HUGE smile through the (obviously melodramatic and fake) tears. She's an absolute peach and I adore her.

Fortunately for her, so does her sister. Callie is a very good helper, giving Lilah kisses, fetching her pacifier for her, patting her head and mimicking Lilah with her own baby doll. Lilah is fascinated watching Callie run around, as well, and I think they'll be very good, close sisters as they grow.

No crawling yet, though Lilah stands like a total champ, better than almost any baby I have seen around her same age. She's VERY long and still somewhat skinny, but healthy and bright. Perhaps her only downside is that she is the exact opposite of her sister in one key area - other people.

Callie never had much of a preference for me over anyone else - in fact she is a total Daddy's girl and Peter is her favorite. But she is great in nursery, with the grandparents... she loves other people.

Lilah, on the other hand, is a total mama's girl and has been wonderful with me from the start, but the very first time I EVER heard her shriek like she was being murdered was ten minutes into nursery. She HATES strangers and has horrible stranger anxiety, and has for months. She used to pull this with her dad and I had a hard time believing it wasn't him doing something weird, because she was always adorably sweet with me - but the bloodcurdling death knell from the nursery confirmed that she's very different with others than she is with me.

Now that she is getting older it is getting better - Peter has been forced into holding her more, so she has gotten used to someone's arms other than mine, and now she is good for him too. Now that her naps are spreading out more she is happier in nursery provided she has lots of toys to distract her. She's much more challenging than Callie (who is regularly reported to be the 'best' kid in nursery, in terms of being happy, playing contentedly, and not tantruming) but getting better with age.

I do have TONS of Lilah pictures from the past few months that need to be uploaded, please excuse the lack of updates. We have been very, very busy and the pictures have just been shuffled onto iPhoto and left there, but we DO have them and they WILL be up.

Lilah Loverbum is yelling from upstairs for her midnight snack, so this will have to be cut short. Updates are forthcoming!

taryl | General | 7 February, 11:59am | Comment on this

Otherwise known as Lilah's opinion of her pediatrician. She does NOT like him, though he's as sweet and gentle as can be with her. Oh well.

We still have welts from the shots, but other than those Lilah is doing very well - she's 13 lbs 9 oz and 26 inches long, otherwise known as 40% for weight and 90% for height. Her head is 40 cm, or 20%. What does it mean that those are vastly different groups? Not a whole heck of a lot, it's her body shape and she's staying along her own curve quite well.

New pictures of the super cutie are up. She's happy and observant, often just looking around the room or babbling to herself for hours, and even with a growth spurt is still a very good sleeper. She's rolling over, but not consistently, and definitely hates extended tummy time, so no crawling yet.

taryl | General | 6 December, 4:17am | Comment on this

Yes, Lilah is officially a laughing, squealing babbler. She'll play with her toys and talk to herself, or 'say hello' when I go to pick her up. She is also showing some basic recognition of her name

Getting bigger every day! 3 months old and some change now :)

taryl | General | 28 October, 10:19pm | 1 comments

Well it's that time of year - the sun comes up later and goes to sleep sooner (if only Peter could be so lucky), the temperature drops, the driveway gets slippery, the worst drivers on earth flock to the freeways en masse for their chance to drive backwards at 4 mph AAAAAAAND....

.... the little girls begin their Vitamin D supplementation.

Lilah had her first dose of PolyViSol today, which unfortunately contains iron. It's basically a vitamin/mineral cocktail that's been soaked in spoiled grapejuice and week old blood, and used to flush a radiator or two.... or so the taste would suggest. Her face was... interesting. She didn't cry, I don't think she wanted to open her mouth and let the waft of the vitamins hit her nose! The bigger problem with the stuff is that for a baby that spits up as much as she does this stuff stains like nobody's business. Let the clothes ruining commence!

Big sister doesn't need iron, as she can eat kale and steak if need be, so her supplementation tastes just like strawberry lipgloss. Lilah is glaring, she really is.

taryl | General | 20 October, 7:48pm | Comment on this

New Lilah pictures are up. She's ten weeks old already, I can hardly believe it. DESPITE Peter's commentary on the images she's a very sweet, happy baby (more so than even her sister, who was also a pretty easy keeper) and is cooing, gurgling and 'talking' all the time. She's learned to smile and it's absolutely adorable. She'll readily smile at just about anyone to get a reaction.

She had her two month appointment, though sadly I can't remember any of her specific stats other than thatg she was over eleven pounds and long and skinny - about 25th percentile for weight but 75th for height - and was nice and healthy. She had her shots and cried for only a few seconds (big sister cried a LOT more, but she also has the presence of mind to be offended when the nice nurse 'pretends' to be her friend and then jabs the heck out of her legs!) and had no reactions to them, thank goodness.

The only concern is that, like her sister, she spits up really badly. I have cut almost all the dairy out of my diet and it doesn't seem to be helping, but Dr. Hepler said that since she was gaining weight that it didn't need to be medicated. We're keeping a close eye on it right now, as it's fairly disconcerting to feed her and have her then spit up half a cup or more of what was fed to her. Fortunately I am not having supply problems, unlike with her sister, and she eats all day long to make up for it.

She's a very good sleeper still, and sleeps through the night most nights. Oftentimes when she wakes up at night it is because I have come to bed and the noise jostles her awake, but she can definitely make it from 10-8 and that is QUITE nice.

Nothing much more to share, a few new pictures should be up in the coming days in addition to the current images.

taryl | General | 14 October, 9:51am | 1 comments

New pictures are up.

Lilah has been growing in leaps and bounds, already! She has GREAT trunk strength and can lift and turn it. She's also pushing up with her arms really well, but isn't *quite* there. When she's been fed and changed and we lay her in the bouncy chair she starts cooing (and fussing) at her toys.

We're also getting real smiles now. Not too frequently, but more every day. If you smile at her she just *might* smile back.

Six weeks old already!

taryl | General | 5 September, 7:58pm | 1 comments

Today was the first time taking them both alone out the door and to an appointment and it took me only maybe ten minutes from waking Callie up to pulling out of the driveway to do it all. Pretty good, I'd say! As long I coordinate like crazy before they wake up it seems to go smoothly - I didn't forget my PKU paperwork, Callie's snack, an extra pacifier for both... and I managed to get to the appointment with time to spare too, which made me quite proud of myself!

Peter came to the appointment from work to watch Callie so I could deal with just Lilah, which was good because even though I fed her before we left the house she was a bit... malcontent, shall we say, with the entire appointment.

Screaming for boobs aside it went very well. She is up to 8 lbs 8 oz, so she regained her birth weight and then some right on schedule which I was worried about because of how little she feeds at night (she will literally sleep 6-8 hours, eat a bit, and sleep another 5 which is very unusual for a newborn!). She's 21 inches long now (Callie wasn't 21 inches until she was 3 months old!) so Lilah's 50th percentile for weight at this point and 75th for height.

No jaundice anywhere, she's completely normally colored now, she's also doing GREAT with muscle tone. She can roll herself around on the bed and lift her head really well already, I am so impressed!

One thing that WASN'T fun was the PKU stick. We were EARLY for our appointment and of course the office was running late so Callie was crabby and running around giving daddy a hard time, it was about two hours from getting there to leaving the lab since the lab portion was the main hospital's walk in lab (they won't do it at her pediatrician's office for some reason!). Lilah, of course, had finally stopped rabbling and was asleep in the front pack but I put her in a zip up footed outfit and warmed the foot OPPOSITE the zipper for the test. Needless to say we couldn't get the stick and still keep her in the Baby bjorn asleep.

She didn't wake for the unzipping but she CERTAINLY awoke when the squeezing of the heel began, poor baby. She got over it quickly but when I went to change her diaper before her nap, two hours later, her heel was still bleeding fairly freely with the band-aid off. I was a bit surprised it hadn't clotted better, I am keeping an eye on it just in case.

Overall it was a good appointment and a good day. I still can't believe I have MORE time than I did with just Callie but having two has made scheduling and coordinating a priority, whereas with Callie I was able to play it fast and loose with the day, not getting much done and doing things with her as needed. Now I am planning when to feed Lilah to not make Callie wait too long and keep both happy, coordinating naps with waking periods, chores with sections of time Callie is playing and Lilah is napping... I probably SHOULD have done this with Callie all along but I am a bit inherently lazy.

Either way things are going smoothly, we'll see if that holds up. Peter is going to Chitina to dipnet with Rich and another and will be gone from Friday afternoon to late night Sunday. I hate being left alone with just CALLIE for a DAY, so this is going to be a bit nightmarish. I don't think it will be difficult, per se, just stressful. We'll see.

taryl | General | 8 August, 9:34am | Comment on this

In response to Katie's comments on Lilah's hair and how Callie's adjusting:

Nope, her hair is definitely a bit on the red side, though the flash of the camera makes that much more obvious. Callie's was a little red too, but this is lighter and there's less of it.

I'd say Callie is adapting pretty well, she barely notices Lilah at all and when she does she just says "baby" over and over and wants to touch her. Thing is, she's not at the age where she understands to be gentle yet, so we have to keep her from touching Lilah or guide her hand and she gets mad. But she is fascinated watching her, I think she thinks Lilah is just another adult toy (like the computer) that she can't play with. We weren't sure how Callie was going to do at night when Lilah DID cry (like during diaper changes, she HATES being cold) but the monitor doesn't even blip, she doesn't stir even when Lilah's screaming her head off. It's amazing, but it's like the cries don't even register. Several people told me that would happen, but I had to see it to believe it. The two really don't bother one another, the shuffle happens when Callie needs something and then Lilah fusses and vice versa, and then one has to wait. Other than the days that one isn't feeling well and the other is fussing (like today, for example) I'm actually not too worried about taking care of both at once. I am not sure how much else will get done during the day, but the two of them, at this point at least, shouldn't be too big of a problem (knock on wood). It's just going to be taking it one day at a time, as it always is.

Speaking of illnesses, at least in this house it has NOT been a good baby day. We were given a lovely dish by a lady at church that was a chicken casserole. Very tasty indeed. The problem, as I identified later? It had broccoli and cauliflower in it. This wouldn't normally be an issue, and not even an issue with an older baby, but with a breastfed newborn who is VERY bad at digesting certain compounds and even worse at elimination of gas. Cruciferous vegetables are NOTORIOUS gas producers and (un)lucky for me both veggies are members of that particular family. Thus, poor Lilah was unknowingly given contaminated milk that she happily slurped up and rather UNHAPPILY got to spit up later, in FOUNTAINS, and that gave her lots of burps, painful poops and tons of farts. The poor baby would be sleeping, or trying to sleep, and all the sudden would grunt, writhe, turn bright red, yell, and spasm for a few minutes until she finally passed gas in SOME form, often accompanied by a little poop (thus soiling many many diapers). She'd then settle back down, try to sleep again, and then be interrupted by the same thing a few minutes later. All afternoon this went on, and by the end the poor baby was fussy for OTHER reasons than just the gas. It seems to have tapered off and she's napped for a good three hours now, but it was quite the ordeal for the littlest member of the family. Who knew poop could be so mean?

Several more nights of good sleeping have been had, so I am thinking this is more her natural habit than just a newborn sleepiness. She's more wakeful during the day but still sleeping well at night. YAY!

taryl | General | 31 July, 3:30am | Comment on this

Last night Lilah slept early in the evening well, then we woke her to feed and diaper change around 10:30 and she went down without a fuss (as usual) around 11 pm. She didn't stir for a feed or change until almost 4 am! Then she was good until her sister started fussing around 7:30 am. And from there she slept until after 11 am.

Yeah, I was shocked. She met the technical definition of 'sleeping through the night' at four days old! She's a VERY good sleeper, for naps and bedtime. I hope this continues.

taryl | General | 29 July, 6:28am | Comment on this

After some stops and starts with lazy nursing initially, Lilah is feeding much better now that my milk is in, though she still can't drain even one boob per feeding without her overflow valve kicking in (spit up I can deal with, at least it's not reflux!). We were also dealing with some jaundice and the doctor told us to stick her in the sunlight and come back in two days. At that appointment, when he walked into the waiting room the first words out of his mouth were "Wow, she looks great! Her color is so much better!" so that was very reassuring. Between the breast milk and the (somewhat diffuse) sunlight it seems to have kicked her jaundice pretty handily.

She also gained four ounces in two days, which is twice what he wanted to see - so despite the latch pain (which is, thankfully, not getting worse) she is feeding very well.

We chatted a little while he took her measurements and everything looks great. He doesn't even want us to come in for a one week check - Lilah graduates straight to the two week appointment from here.

For the time being I seem to have more than enough milk and unlike with Callie I think I can get away with one-sided feedings so she gets more hindmilk. The feeding issues seem fairly mild, though they annoy me, so unless something comes up I am not bothering with talking to the lactation consultant at this point.

One fascinating thing about Lilah is her temperament. Callie was and still is SUCH an active, fiddly baby. She never liked to be held, hated every carrier, you name it. Lilah, on the other hand, is the quintessential lap baby. While she'll sleep on her own she loves dozing in ANYONE'S arms, she doesn't fuss when I pick her up, and I can finally use my Baby Bjorn I got for Callie. Big sister screamed bloody murder every time I tried to put her in it and if I wasn't swaying back and forth watch out! Lilah not only didn't fuss when she went in it, she fell right asleep and STAYED asleep even as I stood still to talk to a friend at the store. I was rather shocked.

Her general lack of fussiness in terms of holding and sleeping makes my life a lot easier. The only time of day she's less than ideal is, of course, 3-5 am. She seems to get gassy/poopy/fussy and dozes on and off between fussing, never settling all the way and I can't figure out why. Hopefully it will resolve itself soon, but considering she'd cried maybe a whole two hours since birth I think I'll just enjoy her calmness.

taryl | General | 29 July, 6:23am | 1 comments

Pictures have been posted. See the link on the right left, or click this direct link.

peter | General | 23 July, 2:25pm | 2 comments

3750 grams, 508 mm long!

peter | General | 23 July, 1:50pm | 4 comments

At 4:27 AM (AKDT) Lilah Aubrey made her appearance into the world (via VBAC)!!!

peter | General | 23 July, 1:09pm | 4 comments

We can see the baby's head! Taryl is pushing really well.

peter | General | 23 July, 12:15pm | Comment on this