Time Lapse

To say I have 'slacked' on my blog is a TOTAL understatement. Instead, I have just enjoyed reading others updates.

But in all honesty, I am upset with myself, because I usually use my blog to update on Lily and her new activity. Well new activity has come and gone, and she has developed even newer characteristics...

She can sing her ABCs....about a month ago when we went to the beach Mike was able to get a Mini Van from work that had a built in DVD player. I decided to buy her a new DVD..."Preschool with Elmo, the ABCs" She was instantly enthralled. And even though we had been working on her letters periodically while reading and using fridge magnets, the DVD now became her new teacher. In the 5 hour trip we made, the video may or may not have been repeated 2 or 3 times wink wink, and she was singing along her ABCs. So proud! Not to mention super cute when she is blurting it out all day long!

For the rest, I will just display by pictures.....it is my best storybook!

We kicked off the skins season with the Reese's. Summer came to an end and we went the Capital for a concert on the lawn. It was awesome and Lily really enjoyed herself. Oh and by the way, I am officially looking pregnant. I may not be documenting it as well as I did with Lily but this was a rare moment I felt like showing off my belly.One of my sorority sisters was married to her lovely husband Adam. It was a beautiful ceremony in Gloucester Virginia. Mike and I enjoyed the night away. It is always a blast to be with my girls from college. We are such a close knit group and I do wish we all lived a bit closer!This made our second wedding of the summer, but surely not to be our last.

Not only am I pregnant, but I am happy to say my best friend Christie is too!! She is expecting her baby girl Elsie, any day now and I am so excited we will be having little girls together!There is always a good reason to take a good picture of Lily :)Third wedding of the season...Mandy and Ryan. It was right on the Chesapeake Bay and GORGEOUS. Mike and I had a great time dancing at this particular wedding. And the food was phenomenal!FOURTH wedding of the season.....our great friends Cara and Phil. Mike was in the wedding and we had a great getaway to Virginia Beach. I was honored to do Cara's make up for the wedding. It was great to see her before the ceremony. Mike and I were so excited for them to get married. It had been a long time coming :)
Why not take a trip to Nags Head when we are more than half way there. We were hoping for the last hoorah of summer at the beach in September, but instead we got the cold and rain. It ended up being a great weekend though and having friends there with us made more the merrier. Lily and Kage cuddled close for some pics. My great friend Lindsey travelled from Texas to be with us, and Mike's friend Matt was with us as well.

Last but not least....our FIFTH wedding of the season. Lori and Rob! How wonderful to add another sister-in-law in the family. It was a gorgeous fall day! Alicia and I, of course, used this special day to dress the girls up in matching outfits :) This is a sure sign that I will have fun with having two girls!!!

The CW

So I try to squeeze in blogging when I can! But now a days it seems as though I have to keep an extra eye on Lily. Back in the day, she was just a blob on the floor who cooed at me every now and then. Those daily blogging days are over....as you can tell by my last post which was ONE month ago! She then turned into a 'on the go' babe when she began crawling but I was surely able to catch her before she fell down the stairs. NOW.....

well she gets into almost everything. She isn't too destructive and there isn't much she could hurt herself with, BUT putting the same clothes away daily because she has taken them all out of her drawers gets a little old, AND although washable, it isn't pleasant to look at my carpeted stairs which have been drawn on.

Right now? how am I blogging?? Well since our love for Mickey, I am almost guaranteed an hour of peace in the morning. I have already started on laundry, picked up from breakfast and even browsed on facebook for a while. Oh and I have a nice cup o' joe in hand.... I figure I should finish my latest post....

I hear Mickey in the background, giggles from the Lil' and the little stamper of her feet as she dances to the 'hot dog' dance. We're still good....

Okay, so we are not on the set of "One Tree Hill" CW (although Mike knows me well enough to ask if I wished I was..i love 'one tree hill')..but, in fact, we have visited super cool Colonial Williamsburg! And this my friends is the drama in my life....Here this girl lies for 'nigh nigh' after a stroll through the square. I had drug her up early out of bed so we would beat the heat...eh not so much....and we went for a run/walk up and down the streets of Old Town Williamsburg. It was delightful, but Lily seemed to be pooped!

Last week I was lucky to have spent some time with my friend Liz, her two precious boys and her Mother at their time share in Williamsburg. The weather was torturous, but we made the best out of every day! The hot, humid, heat index of 110 days meant that we had to get an early start on the day beat the sun, and it meant we actually spent a lot of time inside. With all the little ones we had, two years, 20 mos, and 6 mos it wasn't worth overheating them!

A couple mornings ran through the quite streets of Williamsburg, and exercised in the 'Sunken Gardens' of William and Mary campus. It felt great to release the sweat so early. Although not super hot, the humidity got to us!

One day, with the help of our babysitter NiNi (Liz's Mom), Liz and I got away to the outlets. I managed to pick up a few Christmas gifts for Lily....I am trying to start a stash, so I don't spend a ton of money during December.

On Thursday evening we ventured back into CW to see the Colonial Fife and Drum March. It was great, and short lived for the kids! Just long enough for them to get excited then not too much of a let down when we left. I would have loved to see more things in the CW, but the weather was not permitting. I haven't been down there since I was maybe 10!! I would love to get back there in the fall when the weather is cool, the leaves are falling, and we could actually tour the Capital, the Govenor's Mansion, etc. It is really a beautiful little city and well preserved for the time period!

Lily and Walker had a GREAT time playing with each other and really enjoyed the company. Lily has a true love for babies (lets hope it stays for when she has a baby sister!) and she was all over baby Carter. He, too, enjoyed her smiles and playfullness. She's kinda what you would call my little model.....

When she looks this cute, it is hard not to take pictures of her (I know I know I'm bragging!)

the apple is not far from the tree

While eating her 'cici' (cereal) this morning, I noticed....she has learned well.

Cereal milk is the best!

a smile a day

Most days I try and pick up my camera.

Whether it is to shoot a quick video, or to snapshot the life of my child, I like to capture Lily. Plus, I am really trying hard to keep in the habit of having the camera around, so my second child doesn't feel picture neglected! I also try to teach myself more about the Nikon that I have owned for nearly 2 years. I am always trying new angles, color settings, etc to try and get the best photog look.

Here are just a few of Lily last week. I often find her in my bathroom. It is definitely one of her hot spots. She enjoys climbing onto the tub then reaching over to the vanity to turn on the left side sink. For her....pure enjoyment! of course, until the time she soaked herself and the tile that she slipped backward into the soaking tub. Luckily I was there to quickly grab her up, but this is just a blink of an eye compared to the many falls she has already taken.

Anyways, here we are playing in the bathroom....Not quite sure how you go from this....to this.... but I was able to capture itThis past weekend Lily's cousin Savannah was in town, and our family had a nice BBQ on Sunday. Here we are with our first 'kid' table. My mind slips back to my childhood of the 'kid' table and how much I couldn't WAIT to be a part of the 'grown up' table!!!

So I admit the vertical striped, ruffly bottom bathing suit cover-up may not be my best look, but as I drifted by my closet mirror I couldn't help but notice my small baby bump.....
...it is by no means big, and by experience it will get MUCH larger, but it was just another thing I thought I should capture. Pay no attention to the disaster of my closet area. I am in the middle of sorting my winter, summer, and maternity clothes out, PLUS purging some unnecessary items that have been looming around for years. Needless to say, after this picture I took the cover up OFF and into the purge pile it went. Out for grabs anyone...hehe

Mino Mouse

Lily has a love....a love for one Mickey Mouse. Gosh those ears and soothing voice of his really gets me too!

I believe it comes from our morning hours of watching tv.

Correction...not hours! Please, what kind of parent do you think I am???

...well I admit...the type who does allow some tv to distract my 18month old from me cleaning the kitchen after breakfast, vacuuming, etc. Oh, and we do watch tv for enjoyment at times too. I am only so creative and so patient. Plus, it can calm both Lily and my sanity. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Lily doesn't LOVE tv, but I do know that she now LOVES Mickey Mouse!

I usually opt for Disney, Nick Jr. or Sprout and for the past months that tv has really caught Lily's eye I found there wasn't much she cared for. Until one day, when the catchy Mickey Mouse tune struck a key.....then...she was allllll his.

Mino, is what she refers Mickey. Not sure why, because I don't think the letter 'k' is so very hard to say. But her heart is stuck on Mino. She talks about him daily, now asking for him. SO much even, that Mike and I went to the extreme of offering her a movie of Mickey Mouse today at Wal-mart and she about blew a gasket. I almost think her heart stopped...

When she saw the cover of the DVD her mouth dropped and she let in a big sigh! Wow, the drama has already begun!

I hate feeding toooo much into an obsession but we did buy a Mickey/Minnie Mouse plate with feeding utensils as well. Plus, I'm not too sure how long this will last, BUT........before this even started I was brainstorming a super cute costume for Lily for Halloween and I came across a Minnie. I feel as though her cuteness and attitude fit Lily quite well. Just imagine....pink polka dot bow, dress, black patent shoes, white gloves, oh yes, it suits Lily well!

Until a later date I will review Lily's catch of the day, but for now it is Mickey.

it's not a new thing...

So here we are again, trying to play catch up. Our summer has been full of fun festivities, and it isn't a new thing that the Peterson's are constantly on the go...

Lily has been giving us her best shot at handling the traveling, the sleeping, and the adjusting that comes with us. Sometimes it has not been easy, but I am learning to take joy in the times that are good!!

I on the other hand have not been handling things so well....I have been quite anxious with all our activity, and I hate to admit that I have been wishing for the lull of the fall when I can just be home every weekend with Mike and Lily and enjoy the last couple months as our family of three. This pregnancy has brought out many 'o hormones and at times I feel a little crazy. To say the least I am very excited to welcome a new baby to our family! Things are beginning to feel a little more real as my belly gets a little bigger, I feel small bouts of movement, and, of course, when we find out the sex :)

To capture a few of our travels...

A few weeks back, Lily and I, along with my parents flew to South Carolina for a family reunion. Mike unfortunately could not join us! I hate being without him, but it was a great feeling to have my parents along my side! This was Lily's third time on a plane and she did great the way there, horrible on the way home.

In South Carolina, we visited my Grandmother who has recently been moved into an assisted living. It was a great thing to see her, but difficult at times to take in her new surroundings. The circle of life starting with my Mom Mom may soon come to end and it was the first time this really hit me. I was so excited for Lily to see her again, and to see the smile on my Mom Mom's face when she saw her. We were at her home for a small celebration for the Fourth. They were giving out festive yogurt parfaits, but Lily ate the hole thing!Then she decided to steal the whole show (seriously!) by standing on the stage to lead a sing a long (seriously!). All the old people joined in singing 'head, shoulders, knees and toes', and ' if you're happy and you know it'. It was hysterical and such a touching moment to see the joy that a little baby can bring. For our family reunion, we were celebrating my uncle Bill's 70th birthday. We all dressed in red, white and blue in preparation to the fourth. We also got a professional photographer to capture the day. With no Mike or Craig, this is all our family consisted of :)Love my Poppa Bear!Our flight was on July 4th, and it was great to be home to spend the day with Mike! We enjoyed the day at home, then joined our friends for a bbq in Arlington, THEN ventured to fireworks on our own as a family. It felt great to be alone! Herndon Community Center was where we ended up and the firework show was GREAT! And we had amazing seats and found perfect parking!

We laid on our blanket until dusk anxiously awaiting for the firework show to begin! Once they started.....Lily quick ran to my lap, clenched my neck like she never has before and began screaming. She hated them! boooooo, because I LOVE fireworks. With little attempt to keep her there, Mike finally took her back to the car where she was safe :)I hope someday my kids will have the appreciation for fireworks like I do! There is nothing like them! During the show I can't help but get emotional (well maybe I could if I wasn't pregnant). I feel so blessed to live in the USA, and to have my freedom. God Bless! Enjoy your families this summer. They go by quick. And even in small moments that I have with Mike and Lily together at once, there is nothing like the bond of a family!