7 Months and randomness.

My Lily girl turned 7 months last Tuesday! She is such a big girl. According to our scale, she is nearing 20lbs already! I know her weight will taper off when she starts crawling and getting more active.

Man, she's heavy though. I can barely carry her car seat carrier anymore so we're looking into new convertible car seats already. It seems like last week that she looked like she was swallowed up in her carrier.

Here's what she's been up to:

• She is totally sitting up for how ever long she wants to. No more falling over or face planting.
• She likes to make whistling noises.
• She "studies" things when she's tired, mostly blankets or tags on toys. She makes and interesting grunting noise when she does this. I should capture it on video.
• She is crawling backwards and scooting, trying desperately to crawl.
• She sits in the big girl portion of the shopping cart now and LOVES it.
• She wants anything that we have in in our hands, no matter what it is.
• She likes it when I wear hats so she can take the bill and play with it.
• She's fascinated with all types of textures.
• She's drinking out of a sippy cup but has not realized that she needs to lift it up to get the contents.
• She is trying all types of purees...but sticks with her plain favorites for the most part. She'll give a nice big gag if she isn't happy with our choice.
• She has her top 2 teeth now, so we're up to 4 and PRAYING for a teething break.
• Her sleeping habits have gotten a little better since her teething slowed down. Still not napping well, but we'll take the 10-11 hours at night with just one feeding in there somewhere.

We're so excited for her first Christmas. We'll be having Christmas Eve here, hosting 14 people, and then Christmas day we will be splitting the day between families. I'm wrapping her presents, just for shits and giggles...and hopefully a cute video.

My friend Jessica made her a tutu, which I asked her to do because that's why I had a girl, to play dress up.

Speaking of having girls, my friends Jaime and Susie, (both friends from high school and are due 3 weeks from one another. Susie is due on Lily's birthday) are both having GIRLS! Also, my friend Jessie (a FIF), who is due the same day as Jaime, is also having a girl! It's such a good thing because Lily has some awesome hand-me-downs! I am so excited for these new babies!

Well, I highly doubt I will post again before Christmas, since it's only 5 days away, so I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. Santa better be good to everyone! I am so thankful for my wonderful family and my wonderful friends that make this time of year so awesome. Love to everyone!

My car life.

I thought this would be a nice diversion from my regular attention whorish posts about my child.
This post was inspired by my friend Melissa. I loved her post about her string of cars because I'm often teased by my family about how many cars I've had. Melissa has had 6, so I'm beating her by two (she is 3 years younger than me though). I'm not proud of that number, actually.

So, here is my car life (none of these are actual pictures of MY cars, but you need the visuals)...

Ahhhh, my first car. A 1985 Chevy Celebrity.
I turned 16 my junior year in high school (so, just about 7 years ago:) and obviously I EXPECTED a car. Duh. I was a little spoiled and the rules were that as long as I kept my grades up and worked a few hours a week, I would get a car. What I didn't realize is that I would get THIS kind of car. It was enormous, compared to all of my friends' sporty little jeeps and dodge daytonas. Nope, mine had to SCREAM safety. That it did. People made fun of me endlessly for this car, but it was all in good fun. I remember my friend Chip used to stand in my parking space in the morning and act like an airplane taxi man. Funny. I also received this HUGE front license plate as a gift to go along with the car. It read, "NESS-1". It was green with white letters (school colors) and, I love you mom, but it was atrocious. My friend Bart used to try to back into my car with his little Nissan to try to break the plate. Again, funny. I could fit a lot of people in this car though. I do have fond memories of this car. It was a conversation piece, to say the least.



My 1987 Honda Accord Hatchback.
My dad promised me that if I did realllly well in school, I would get another car after one year of having "NESS 1". To this day, my Accord was my favorite car. It had a manual transmission and a sporty look. It was considered "old" at the time, but at least it was small! It was a fun car to spin around my senior year in.


My 1993 Acura Integra.
After about 2.5 year, my Accord was giving up on my, carrying 110K miles. The clutch went and things just started to fall apart, so on to the next one. This was a total stretch for my parents, being that my first two cars were very inexpensive, but "dadddyyyyyyy! I LOOOOVE it!", I was such a brat. I was in love with this car, only it was automatic. I missed my stick shift but THIS had a sunroof. This was the car that brought me to Florida State and I have SO many memories in this car.


My 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse.
I got into a wreck with my Intergra, when someone hit me in Ocala, when traveling back to school one weekend. It wasn't totaled but it was enough to knock the snot out of that car and ruin it.
So, my Eclipse was my college graduation gift. Because "dadddddyyyy, it's SO pretty".
Seriously. Brat.
Loved, loved, loved this car. Stick shift, so fast. Just loved. This would be my longest running car at the time, a whopping 3 years. This is the car that Bear came home in. Such a fun car to drive.


Ugh. 1998 Ford Explorer Sport.
Hate.
From the moment I bought this car, it was just a piece of shit. It had all these little quirky problems that no one could figure out. I bought it because...ummm, well...I burned the engine up on my Eclipse. I said I loved it, I didn't say I knew how to take care of it. I did want an SUV though because this was in the height of the SUV craze. It was practical, but it sucked. It ruined my whole image of American made cars. Sorry, but that's the truth. This was MY first purchase though. I was 23 when I bought it and so proud that I did it on my own, even the haggling.


My 2001 Nissan Pathfinder.
Love.
I sold my Ford to...my dad. God love him, he bought my problems. I needed something dependable because I was living on the east coast of Florida and traveled a lot. The Pathfinder was my favorite "grown up car". I loved the space and it ran like a charm. I had this one for 4 whole years! This was my longest run yet!


My 2006 Nissan Altima.
My Pathfinder was getting old, mileage wise, and costing me way too much in gas because of how much I travel for work. The Altima was strictly about fuel efficiency. Liked the car, but way too small. Had it for exactly a year.


My 2008 Honda CRV.
Fuel efficient+ Honda + more room= good idea.
When I found out I was pregnant with Lily, the Altima had to go. Between my boxes for work and kid stuff, I needed more room. I like this vehicle just fine...for now. Since I have some issue with keeping a car for too long, we'll see how long this lasts.

Ridiculous, I know. My dad is going to love this post.

My Village: Part 3

It's so difficult to sit down and write these posts because words don't do a justice as to how much all of these people mean in our lives so I hope it's coming across well!

My non-mommy friends.
I don't have too many of them left but the ones I do have are amazing. Specifically Tiffany, Tammie and Nicole. I only have named these three because they are the ones that either a.) see Lily on a weekly basis and/or b.) talk to me on the phone several times a week and listen to me brag/bitch/babble about baby stuff that they have never experienced.

I'll start with Tiffany.
Tiffany and I met through Dustin's friend Derek. They started dating almost three years ago and the second I met her, I loved her. She has become one of my very best friends and is genuinely like a sister to me. She reminds me so much of myself in certain ways and the bond her and I have is so wonderful.
Since Lily was born, Tiffany has been such an active part of her life. Lily recognizes her and loves her already. Tiff is a natural mom, even though I know having a child scares the shit out of her, and is so comfortable with her. She has made Lily a part of her extended family and brings her a gift almost every.single.time we get together (which is obviously unnecessary).
Tiff listens to my every detail of Lily's adventures. If she is sick of hearing about it, it's hard to tell! She is amazing at supporting me and listening to things that she hasn't experienced yet. She's just amazing and I am so lucky to have her...and so is Lily. I know Tiff will always be a staple in Lily's life, which is so comforting.

Tiff, Lily and . July '09

Tammie.
Tammie is one of my far away friends (even though she just lives in the east coast of Florida) but she is such a wonderful person and a cherished friend.
Her and I met in 2003 when Dustin and I lived in Boca Raton. Her and I worked together waiting on tables. The funny thing about her and I back then is that we actually didn't spend that much time together when I lived there. We built most of our friendship after I moved home, through telephone.
We've seen each other through so much, and even though our lives are so different, she is such a great friend with a beautiful spirit. She was one of my bridesmaids and is one of the best listeners I know. Her first question during our weekly telephone conversations is always, "How's Lily??", with such genuine enthusiasm. I just love her.

The day of my baby shower, March '09.

Nicole.
Nicole is one of my newer friends, who happens to be about 7 months pregnant. Nicole and I met through Tiffany, actually. I've known Nicole's husband for years but we all connected through friends and all spend a lot of weekends together.
Nicole share the obvious bond of her impending child but she is one of the sweetest, most honest, genuine women I have ever met. We've actually only have been friends for about 8-9 months but it seems like a lifetime. She is so wonderful with Lily (as is her husband, who has actually been known to get Lily to sleep when Dustin and I have not) and she listens to my endless unsolicited advice about motherhood. Somehow, I have not scared this girl away from me! She is incredibly supportive and has such positive energy.

Me, Tiff and Nicole at Nicole's baby shower. November '09

One of the most amazing things about all three of these women are that our friendships have actually gotten stronger since Lily has come into the world, which is a tough thing to accomplish since having a new baby makes nurturing friendships more difficult. These women do not shy away from the baby conversations and actually love to hear about boring things, like sleeping through the night, teething, eating pureed food, etc.

I have been so fortunate to find women like these in my life. I know each of them will be amazing parents someday (Nicole, in only 6 weeks or so!) and I hope to return the support they gave given me.