So far this new year...

Greetings! I apologize that it's been awhile since my last post. The past two weeks have been busy with many "new" adventures. Levi started college a week ago and attends Monday and Wednesday evening. He is a part of an accelerated business program at North Hennepin Community College. We are lucky that he is able to come home for a few minutes before rushing off to class. By the time he gets home at ten, Lily and I are in bed. This will definitely take some getting used to. Monday of this week, Lily and I decided to venture alone to Brainerd to surprise my family. It was my brother Dan's birthday, and we wanted to help celebrate. I was nervous to take Lily alone in the car for such a long ride, but she did AWESOME! She slept the entire way to Brainerd. We drove back this(Wednesday) morning, and she slept the whole way from my parents house (2.5 hours). We were so lucky to have auntie Lindsay stay with us for a few weeks before moving to Denver. Her and Lily were best of buds! Lily's newest obsession is her feet. She has discovered them and thinks they are pretty cool. When she's not grabbing for them, she is chewing on all her toys. Her favorite toy to chew is 'Sophie the Giraffe.' I'm waiting for the first peek of a tooth, but so far, nothing! Lily watches us eat and drink everything. She is so curious and always thinks she needs some too. When my mom was here she had a popsicle and Lily would not stop looking at it. Of course grandma let her try it! Lily is SOOOOOO BIG! Lily still enjoys taking a bath, and now she loves to play with her feet and splash all over the place.

Eating Solids, Rolling Over, Almost Sitting Up, OH BOY!!!

2011 has already brought many new milestones for Lily. Lily's reflux was continuing to get worse, so the doctor asked us to try some solid food with her. From the first day, she Loved eating from the spoon. She is still going strong, with her favorites so far being sweet potatoes and squash!




Sunday night, Levi was home with Lily while I went out with some friends. She rolled over for the first time from her back to her tummy while I was away. I have yet to get a good video of her face, but this will do for now.


Lily continues to get stronger and stronger and is pretty close to sitting up by herself.

These are a few of my favorite things ...

Playing in my activity jumper.



Sucking on my hands.


Riding forward in my stroller.



Drooling on everything.


Falling asleep in the car holding my toys.


Eating solids off of a spoon.

Christmas Celebrations

My first Christmas



We are so blessed to have such wonderful families. The weekend before Christmas, we went up north to celebrate with the Ebert's. To our surprise, Lily tore the wrapping paper off her first gift and was ready for more. I forgot my camera there, so I will post those pics soon.

I brought Lily to the mall to see Santa, and as expected, she wasn't too excited. We were able to get a picture taken before she started crying.




Levi's siblings and mom came for Christmas and stayed for the week. We had so much fun together playing with Lily and making YUMMY food.

Uncle Justin and Lily hanging out while Meg and I got pedicures.


Jake and Courtney cooked a wonderful meal for all of us, thanks again !



Lily took a few days to warm up to many new faces, but then loved all the attention. Her and Aunt Meg enjoyed singing lots of songs together!


Lily Opening Gifts



Grandma Ida and Lily


Four Generations

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow !

For those of you who don't live in Minnesnowta, we got a huge blizzard over the weekend. At our house, we got around 15" of snow. Levi spent a total of 5 hours over the two days snowblowing our driveway, what a job!!


Bella didn't seem to mind the snow, she enjoys eating it.

We've got a roller :)

Last Wednesday, Lily rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time. I had just set her down to play for "tummy time" and she rolled right away. Of course, all day I tried to get it on video and kept missing her doing it. Finally, I captured it happening a few times over the weekend. She is really trying hard to get from her back to her tummy, it won't be long...stay tuned !!

Lily "Talking" to her stuffed animal, Violet!

Lily is 4 months old

Bella is back to our house for the winter, and Lily loves to laugh at her.

Bella doesn't pay too much attention to Lily, but gets a little jealous.

We were at Spirit Mountain in Duluth over the weekend watching my brother Dan race; Lily was his biggest fan!

We were at my parents for Thanksgiving; Lily and her great uncle Greg had a serious conversation going.

Lily finds her thumb once in a while, and when she does, she loves to suck on it.


Her hair continues to grow longer and longer, and can be spiked up just like Dad!

Weekend Update

The past 5 days, Levi has been hunting in ND. Lily and I have been pretty busy while "daddy" is gone. On Wednesday, our friends Angella and Tallula came over to play. It's so fun watching the girls interact, by interact I mean Lily watching Tallula!!! Tallula was very interested in trying to get Lily's sock off, and Lily had no problem with that.



My mom came down on Friday and was planning on babysitting Saturday while I took a class. We got a pretty big snow storm that night (about 7 inches) and I only made it about 10 miles from home when I had to turn around and come back. The roads were awful, there were cars in the ditch everywhere, and I didn't feel very safe being on the road. We took Lily outside and she seemed to enjoy her first trip out in the snow.



Lily continues to amaze me the way she is developing. She loves to hear her voice and uses her kicking legs to move all over the floor. She is going through sleep regression right now, which means mom is very tired from her getting up 5 times during the night. We hope that it will only last a few more weeks; fingers are crossed.

Our Hunting Trip

Last weekend was the opening of MN Deer Hunting. My dad has a hunting cabin up north near Thief River Falls that he has been going to since he was young. Levi wanted to try deer hunting in MN as it's different than what he's used to in ND. In MN, people sit in a deer stand all day, where in ND, most of the day is spent walking in the woods pushing the deer out. (I learned all about this last weekend)
We drove to my parents Thursday night and left Friday morning. It's a 3.5 hour drive so I was a little nervous how Lily would do in the car, but she slept almost the entire way...what a trooper!! We spent the afternoon scouting for deer and looking around the land. Saturday at 645 a.m. the guys headed out to their stands. Lily wanted to join them as she was wide awake. Levi saw a few does on Saturday, but was waiting for the BIG BUCK. Unfortunately, the BIG BUCK didn't appear this weekend. Next weekend, he will be hunting in ND, and hopefully he will get one then.

3 Month Pictures

I decided today that I would shoot some pictures of Lily. Levi bought me a really nice camera last year, and I hardly ever use it. Part of the reason is that I'm intimidated by all the features. But...after 450 pictures, 5 hours, and multiple changes, I found a few that I really like. Of course, the day I decide to shoot, Lily didn't want to give me many smiles. She was very serious today, and wasn't too sure of the big black camera in her face. Overall, she was a great sport.
Enjoy !!