Boo!

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted! We've been busy! We had a great time with Fred's grandma visiting (pics and videos will be uploaded soon from her visit) and we've been busy with appointments and running around enjoying time together as a family. From now on though, we're going to try to post at least once a week (if not more)!

Happy Halloween to everyone!!! Here are a few pics of our little pumpkin!

We carved pumpkins at Val & Andy's last Saturday- Fred did the Egor (Frankenstein's mad chemist) and I did a bat (which Fred pointed out just as I'd finished that I've carved it sideways on the pumpkin...oops!).

We took some photos of Lily in front of the hay bales and pumpkins that Val had set up in their backyard. The outfit she's wearing is from my mom and it says "Baby's 1st Boo" on the sleeve... so cute!

Tonight, Fred pulled out the flower costume that we'd gotten as a hand-me-down from our friends and we had a lot of fun taking pics of our cutie.

Mommy and her little Lily :)

How could you not love this face???

Pooped out after a walk around the neighborhood!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!!! Tomorrow is November and (I think) the return of the gingerbread lattes at Starbucks. Yum!!! The holiday season is definitely here!

Baby Smiles!

Lily has started giving us some smiles and I was able to capture one of them yesterday. There is nothing better than seeing her sweet little face smiling back at us! :)

$29 E-Z Up Sportster Instant Shelter

Katie, Lily, and I went out shopping today and found a few good deals. The deal that I want to share with everyone is the E-Z Up Sportster Instant Shelter that we bought at Academy for $29.99. The last marked price was $39.99 and list is $79.99.
I have been wanting some sort of instant shelter type tent for a while, but as always I am not willing to pay full dollar so when I stumbled across an E-Z Up brand shelter for under $30 I thought how could you go wrong.
Once at home I opened it and the first time you open it you have to attach the top, after that it collapses around the frame, thereafter you just pull the legs out and up it goes. It is 8'X8'X8' and has a steel frame and total weight is 17lbs. As you can see in the pictures it has a nice looking blue and yellow top. There are two adjustments that you can make by telescoping the legs in or out. In the lower position it would be great for the times that you want to get out of the sun while at the beach. The other is to extend the legs out so you can walk around under the canopy.

Happy Day!

Today is Fred's and my 5th wedding anniversary! It's hard to believe it's been that long since our wedding (the memories are still so vivid in my mind), yet as Fred and I were talking about earlier, it feels like we've always known each other. I can't imagine my life without him as my hubby! Here's a picture of the beautiful bouquet he surprised me with tonight. The berries in the bouquet remind me of our wedding flowers...

Since we couldn't go out to dinner (we're not ready to leave little miss Lily yet though we had offers to babysit by both Moms - if only they lived closer!), to celebrate Fred picked up takeout from a great Italian restaurant (we split two entrees - lasagna and mezzaluna pasta) and we had the pumpkin pie Fred made last night for dessert. Although the pie was good, we decided that it wasn't worth all the cooking time and we'll be picking up a store-bought pie the next time we have a craving for one. :) After dinner, we took a walk around the neighborhood with Bella and once again, the weather was amazing - cool and crisp. Fred tried out our baby carrier and he and Lily looked so cute! I think she really liked it... she spent a lot of time looking around and looking up at Fred and by the end of the walk she was sound asleep!

4 weeks old!

I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since Lily was born! The days have seemed to fly by so fast and she has changed so much in such a short period of time. Everyone told Fred and I that the depth of love we would feel for our child would be indescribable and it's completely true. The new love of Fred's and my life is this little brown-haired, blue-eyed baby girl... my heart sings every time I look at her, hold her, and hear her little noises.

We had a great day yesterday - a quick trip onsite at JSC, lunch with Amy at our favorite Mediterranean restaurant, and stops by Babies R Us and Sam's Club. Lily did great and wore this cute little outfit (unfortunately, her time in the outfit was short-lived due to a major diaper blowout which Daddy was nice enough to clean up!):

This morning we gave Lily a bath and then Fred took her outside to air out in our beautiful fall weather while Bella sniffed around for a bit.

After all that excitement, it was nap time!

We just got back from a walk around the neighborhood and it is a beautiful night tonight. Fred is about to make a pumpkin pie... now it really feels like fall!

4 1/2 hours!

Last night was a great night! Lily slept for her longest extended period between feedings (4 1/2 hours) and then went back down in her cradle pretty easy and slept for an additional 3 1/2 hours. Whoo-hoo! It doesn't sound like much but those extra few hours of uninterrupted sleep have made a huge difference in how I felt during the night and my level of tiredness today. Hope she can keep this up!

Yesterday was my birthday (last year in my 20's) and we took Lily into the office to meet my co-workers and have birthday cake (carrot cake... mmm!) that Hilary made for me. I was a little nervous beforehand about how Lily would do at her first "social function" outside of the house but she ended up doing really well. She even let Amy hold her for a long time - I'm thinking she probably recognized her voice from hearing it every day while in the womb (since Amy sits right next to me). It was really nice to get out of the house and see everyone at work and catch up on what's been going on there. After our office visit, we took Lily on her first trip to Target and Starbucks! She pretty much slept the entire time we were there but I think she enjoyed the trip... :)

My sister Kelly took this picture of Fred holding Lily and I love it!

First outing

Today we took Lily on her first outing. Up to this point, her only outings have been a few walks around the neighborhood, two pediatrician appointments, and a car ride to drop off Auntie Kelly at the airport. Today, we took Lily to lunch at a Japanese restaurant, then picked up a few things at the grocery store, and then stopped by a jewelry store to drop off my new ring to be sized. During the entire outing, Lily slept with only a few minor peeps here and there. She did great! We timed the outing perfectly - we headed out right after her feeding at 11:30 and walked back in the door at 2:30, just in time for her next feeding. She had the cutest outfit on today - a denim jean dress with little flowers on it - but unfortunately, no one had the chance to see it since we kept a blanket on her the whole time we were out. Oh well! It was so fun to be out in the world with her today - we can't wait to take her more places! It was also fun for me to be back out in the world... I think this was the 5th time I've ridden in the car since we came home from the hospital 2 1/2 weeks ago!