One whole year with Lillie Ann and what a year it has been. If I had only known how our little world would change in the months after she was born. Of course, our world was rocked in all of the normal newborn ways but in mid-March, the world fell off its rocker!! While things have seemed in a complete mess if you turn on the news, there have also been really sweet times that resulted from the rona. Because of the complete fear whenever the news of the coronavirus broke and the social distancing requirements, we slowed down A LOT. No dance so no dance recital. No work for me for several weeks. No church. We didn't see our family for over two weeks. Some of those things were no fun, but it did allow a lot of quality family time for us. Even in the months since March, things are still slower than normal. Lillie Ann's first time to go shopping anywhere, including Wal-Mart, was whenever we started Christmas shopping in November! She was eleven months old! Callie had been to Disney World twice at that age. It has just been an unusual and weird year, to say the least.
Whenever we found out Lillie Ann was on her way, I was a little overwhelmed. Maybe even a lot overwhelmed! Callie was just sixteen months old and I knew that adding another baby to our family was going to take my attention away from Callie and lock me down. I was right, but since life was basically canceled for a big part of this year, being locked down wasn't so bad. There was nothing to miss!
Lillie Ann was a fairly easy baby. She has not always been a great sleeper, but in comparison to Callie as a baby, she hasn't been so bad. Lately, she has been going to sleep around 9:30pm and will sleep until around 5:00am. She takes a bottle and will sometimes sleep as late as 8:00, if I am not working. I normally have to wake her up to put her in the car seat whenever I am working.
She is getting a little personality and learning to communicate with us without saying a word! She lets Callie have it whenever she takes something from her, so I think she is going to be able to take up for herself! She has learned how to give sugar, waves bye bye and in the last few days has starting "smiling" with her eyes closed whenever we take her picture! She is SO CUTE. I tell Austin all the time how darn cute she is. I could just eat her up!
Over the last month or so, she has become quite a mama's girl. She especially wants her mama whenever it is bedtime! For a long time, Austin would lay down with Lillie Ann and I would lay down with Callie. We have somewhat swapped.
She has a fake whine that is something to see. If she falls down, or doesn't get her way, she crinkles her nose and whines but there are no tears.
She is not a good eater. She likes hot dogs and toaster strudels-- that's about it. I do not eat hot dogs! She would also eat her weight in cheese puffs. She likes to drink sweet tea from a straw and will fight Callie for a Capri Sun. We switched her from formula to whole milk about a month ago and she has handled that like a champ. I did try to give her milk from a cup the other night instead of her bottle, and that did not go well. We will try that again soon.
She weighs twenty pounds and has six teeth with one on the way. She is pretty petite like Callie was as a baby!
She doesn't really have a favorite toy, but she really likes the Woody Callie got for Christmas. She also loves to play in laundry. She is very entertained whenever I fold clean clothes and I even caught her last week putting some of her clothes in the dirty clothes hamper! Another favorite for her is unpacking her bag!
I knew having Lillie Ann two years and one week after we had Callie would have its challenges. For several months after she was born, I would have told anybody that having kids that close together was not a good idea. I didn't know what I had gotten myself into! BUT. Now, I would not trade it for anything. I think the hardest year is behind us, and they are already so much fun together. I spent a lot of this year feeling torn between them, but now that Lillie Ann can walk and is starting to play, it is a lot easier and so sweet to see them together. Before Lillie Ann was born, I honestly didn't think I could love another child as much as I loved Callie but that just is not true! I think I love them both more everyday. Lillie Ann is the perfect little addition to our family and I truly cannot imagine life without her. She makes us more complete! Happy 1st Birthday, Lillie Ann! We love you so much!
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