Anniversary of our first date...

Last night was the annual Bar Association's Presidents Reception. It was nine years ago when Chris asked me if I would join him for this event. It is tons of free food and drink so of course I said "yes." Every year when this event approaches we know it is time to celebrate the anniversaryof our first date. Last year I didn't go because I was pregnant and couldn't stand to be around a bunch of drunken lawyers. This year was different. Chris and I got dressed up and left Lillie with Draven. That was scary, but he has babysat a little at a time before and this was only going to be an hour and a half. We left around 7:15pm. We arrived at 7:30 and had lots of food and two drinks each. By 8:45 we were out the door and done. Usually the dinner ends then everyone heads to the party suites of the hotel for more drinking till sun up. Not us. We just wanted to get out of the house and be together as a couple. It was so nice. We held hands, laughed, talked, kissed. Just perfect. Draven did such a great job babysitting. He didn't call me at all and only called Auntie Lo once. He even discovered that Lillie loves water in her bottle. Pretty clever! When we came home we put Lillie to bed then watched Top Chef with Draven. By 10pm we were all in bed. I have to say it was a great evening!

THis year the theme was "Life's a beach." Pretty lame. We did bring home some drink umbrellas, beach balls, and leis for Draven.
Chris favorite part of the party... Shrimpzilla!

And of course a whole roast pig!

Lillie... meet Christmas

I am so excited for Lillie to discover Christmas. I thought that maybe she was too young to get it, but I was wrong. Well... She may not get the true meaning of Christmas, but she knows there are a lot of shiny pretty things starting to appear in her world. Today I decided to go with my father for some pre-holiday shopping and introduce Lillie to Christmas. We started small with the Christmas ornaments... She loved each and everyone of them. Then we moved over to the dancing Santas and Reindeer... Rudolf was her favorite. Then on to the big yard decorations... She just smiled and laughed. Even the little snow globes made her face light up. This is just the beginning. She has no idea that Christmas will soon appear in our house. I can't wait!

Rachel and Kevin's Party...

Chris and I threw a party with the help of our friends for Rachel and Kevin's engagement. The party turned out so well... The food was all buffet style and the drinks were served by a bartender and kept simple. You had your choice of beer, wine, or champagne. Chris and I were able to enjoy the party without having to worry if we needed to do anything. We even got everything set up and ready hours before the party started thanks to our co-hosts. The next morning I had a full on staff help me clean up. My house looks better than it did before the party. Nice work everyone!
Here's the cute cake. Doc is his dog and Moxey is her cat. I hear they don't get along.

Terri and Lo

The happy couple before the toasting and cutting of cake.





The buffet.... it looks a little bare here. We had tons of food and drinks, enough to last from 7pm-3-am!

The video confessional room. This will be a great keepsake for the couple. I have watched a few of the confessionals... pretty funny stuff.




The view coming down the stairs...

There was a lot of girls wearing sweater dresses, leggings and boots. We tried to take a picture but it didn't turn out so well.

This was a few minutes before the cab came to take the last of the crew home. I think we had about 6 people left standing (not including me and Chris) at 2:30 am. That is late for us, not so late for everyone else. Our old parties would last till 4 am!

Looking at these pictures it looks like there were only about 20 people there. Chris and I think there was at least 40-50. It seemed crowded. Everyone stayed around the bar and food. No one sat down in the living room until after midnight. Strange. I guess it is weird to be in someone else's house.

All about Lillie...

This post is just to catch up with Lillie. I told everyone last week how we were working on sleeping and eating. Well, it is going a little better. We bought her a bunch of food she can feed herself. We bought Mum-Mums (baby rice cakes) cereal bars, yogurt bites, apple and veggie wheels, and ravioli which we haven't tried yet. She plays with it mostly and gets a few bites in her mouth. She loves her Mum-Mums, but we already knew that. As far as the sleeping goes, well... it is better. Not great, but there is a slight improvement. We are trying to do better and let her fuss herself back to sleep. We let her get up once a night to eat then we put her back down. She woke up about 4 times last night but we only picked her up once. The other 3 times she fell back asleep on her own. Supposedly, she will learn to sleep without waking up. She definitely sleeps better in her crib then in our bed. We sleep better with her in her crib too. On Saturday Lillie stayed at Aunt Sis's and Uncle Bear's house. She ate baby food and an avocado. That night she slept through the night. I think this confirms my theory that more food = more sleep. We just have to get her to eat.

We went to work with daddy and had lunch.

Yesterday Aunti Lo and I took Lillie to the park to go swing. She could swing all day. She is just getting so big. She is even taking steps behind her toy. She is growing up!

9 month check up...

Here's a pic of Mommy and Lillie before her appointment. We don't have many pictures of the two of us. Thankfully I have a timer on my camera.

Lillie had her 9 month check up today. Here's the info.
She is exactly 17 pounds and 26 1/2 inches.
She is in the 25-50 percentile. Woo-hoo!
We spoke to the doctor about our two concerns: eating and sleeping.
First eating, she suggested that Lillie is bored and done with baby food. She recommended switching her over to table foods. We are to cut her food into small pieces she can feed herself or mash the food. Basically, Lillie is becoming more independent and wants to feed herself. Second sleeping, if you didn't know... our precious little angel doesn't sleep more than 2 hours at a time at night. Chris and I have just gotten used to it. The doctor told us to go in when she wakes up and tell her to go back to sleep even if she is standing up and screaming her crib. Do this every 10 minutes. Sounds like we will never sleep again. We are to only pick her up if she needs a diaper change. This is going to be rough.
As far as her developmental stuff she is right on schedule according to her pediatrician. We have Sooner Start coming out tomorrow so Lillie gets to show off her "tricks." Here are a few new things for Lillie at 9 months.
She has two bottom teeth.
She crawls and explores the house.
She can get into sitting and standing position on her own.
She can walk around furniture.
She pushes a walking toy and takes steps behind it.
She makes a bunch of noises, but is not talking.
She growls and makes baby monster noises all the time.
She fake coughs.
She remembers people.
She loves to swing at the park.
We took these pictures right before Lillie got her shots. Chris got her a santa outfit and wanted her to wear the hat at the doctor's office. Pretty cute!


Yesterday we took Lillie to her NICU reunion Thanksgiving dinner. It was so much fun. Great food and great people. Tomorrow we have another March of Dimes event. They are doing a slide show with cake and punch honoring the babies. There is also some kind of press conference at OU medical tomorrow, we might attend. We just have to be back in time for sooner start. I am going to have to come up with some Mommy stuff to do with out baby. She has a busier social calender than I do. I guess that will all change when I start school. Hopefully, I can enroll next week. Not going to happen this week. I have to do it without Lillie. I will need Chris off work so he can watch her while I meet with a counselor. I am loving the stay at home mom life. It is a lot of work, but it is all for me and my family. I am working to keep my family happy and healthy. Not working for someone else. yay!

My funny friends...

Tonight we had Patrick, Lo, Al, and Rusty over for soup and football. The game was pretty boring but company was awesome. Rusty tried to teach us his Deniro impression. He has it down, the rest of us need to practice a bit more.

What the hell???

Last Thursday was my last day of work. Woo Hoo, right? Well I ended up sick with strep and so did Draven. I had to leave early and go to the doctor on my last day. I started feeling better, then on Sunday worse than ever. I had a headache that wouldn't go away. I tried a dark, quiet room, Tylenol, sleep... Nothing worked! The pain was so bad that I couldn't see, think, walk, I when I stood up I just wanted to throw up. I have NEVER been in so much pain! Finally Monday afternoon I couldn't take it anymore. I called my sister to take me to the doctor. They sent me to the ER. After a spinal tap and cat scan they told me I had spinal meningitis. Once I got to the hospital room I was still throwing up and dehydrated. How does that happen? I spent the last four days in the hospital. After days of Morphine and Antibiotics I now feel great. I am home and trying to take it easy. I missed my family! Lillie couldn't even come and see me. I was stuck on the floor filled with infectious people. Glad to be home!