One week until we load up a truck with all our possessions. We started packing up the office today... a daunting task that made me want to hyperventilate. We have packed away so much PAPER in our life. I let a lot go. I should go to FlyLady and post the pounds lost from my life. At least we don't have to move it. We're trying to slim down... heck I found stuff in there from High School! Tomorrow we're going to have to finish up the office and then take on another room. Mark claims that the other rooms will go faster but I am definitely feeling the stress on getting this place packed while chasing a curious infant. Lily is into everything and if we don't keep an eye on her, everything is in her mouth. As long as a taste won't hurt her, we let her have a go.

Anyway, must get myself off to bed. Am so tired these days. Lily's teeth want to come out and say hi but as of yet... nothing. Apparently, I got my first tooth at six months but hit all my other milestones at about the same rate Lily is.

BED.

Lily learned to clap! She sits and rocks and claps her hands together with a big grin on her face. Although, sometimes she claps while crying... so sad.

Check this out when you can. Random enjoyment for a tired mind.

What to see where I've been?



create your own personalized map of the USA
or write about it on the open travel guide




create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Monday and Thursday are my days off and I usually spend them running around, girly in tow, trying to get all the errands done that I can. Yesterday, Lily and I spent a day taking it easy and enjoying each others company. Granted, I did three loads of laundry and a grocery trip, but other than that, we just chilled. While she napped, I lay next to her and read The Da Vinci Code while occasionally transferring laundry lazily between washer and dryer. We played with toys in the living room and "talked" about what we'd buy at the store. We cranked up the music and danced wildly and with many shouts of joy and waving of arms from the girl. There's something about dancing wildly with a baby in arms that makes you understand the term "full of joy". I felt this amazing warmth flow upwards from my root chakra, filling me with this overwhelming happiness that made me want to weep. Lily expresses joy so openly, honestly... no worries about how she may look in the process. Made me feel free to just let go, jump around like an idiot and feel her joy fill me.

I had a perfect moment of happiness.
Nice.

In these days of teething and cranky tears at 4am (hers and mine) this perfect moment of joy renewed me... made all this worth it. One look into her amazing toothless grin and I know that I will never be "just me" again. I am so in love with this child; with her ability to love and evoke love; with the wonder of seeing the world anew; with the simple act of dancing your joy and calling out in wonder.

If you've never done it, you really must. Hold a wonderful baby in your arms, crank up the music and just dance! It will get you, every time.

7 1/2 months:
Lily's having a blast these days, crawling, pulling up to stand, bouncing, and trying very hard to balance on her own. When I try to help her, she pushes my hands away, insistent she figures this out on her own... although to her credit, she rarely falls on her head anymore! She can even go up and down a couple of stairs now, although the down isn't nearly as pretty as the up! She babbles all the time, is fascinated by faces and will pull at noses, cheeks, ears... whatever she can sink her finger into. She loves it when Mark or I read to her and would eat up the books if we let her. We know this because she actually consumed some of the California Primary Supplemental handout… I could still read the politics after she digested it (ick). We've started some solids although she's still nursing like a champ. Overall, life seems pretty grand and while we have yet to see a tooth in that smiley mouth, our randomly cranky baby says one may be on its way.