A Day in the Life of Lillianna

Life is becoming more exciting every day with new sights, new sounds, new abilities and now new tastes! I thought I would share some of my daily activities with you - I'm such a busy girl now.

I have a new toy! I can now sit and play in my exersaucer. It is so much fun because all the toys are so colorful and they make noise and spin. Doesn't this look like fun?

Whew! I worked up an appetite. Now I think it's time for lunch - and how exciting, I get to eat rice cereal! I really like my new cereal. Mom says I will get to try some vegetables soon - she says I'll really like "sweet potatoes", whatever those are. Sounds good to me!

Mmmmm..yummy! That was good! I think I'm ready to go lay on my pillow for a while. I really like my pillow because I can reach my feet easier. I love to play with my feet and toes now. It's like I never knew they were there before! As you can see, I still like to blow "raspberries", too.

All this playing is hard work! After playing on my "worm" for a while (and completely destroying it by kicking down all the toys), I am exhausted! Zzzzzzzzz....

Now that I'm done with my nap, I think I'll help Mommy with some laundry. She says she managed to get some done while I was sleeping. That laundry basket looks awful comfy ... and those clothes smell so good fresh from the dryer! I'm a good helper, don't you think? Mom says I am.

Wow, that was a very full day. I'm tired. I think it's time for bed. My favorite place to fall asleep - Mommy's arms. Goodnight everyone...I'll write more soon. Zzzzzzzzzz.....

First Day with the New Mouth?

This morning was an exciting time in the Archibald household as Lily had her first taste of solid food. At least as "solid" as runny rice cereal can be. Lily actually did really really well. At first she shreaked with excitment, seemingly anticipating each next bite. She couldn't chew (or just swallow) fast enough.

It didn't take long before she became frustrated at not being able to take it in as fast as she was accustomed to with her bottle. Still, we are proud, excited and can't wait to try it again. Next week, we will advance to real flavors. MMMM...sweet potatoes!! Cant' wait!

It wasn't more than 15 minutes after the "Big Feeding" before she settled in for a "3 HOUR" nap. That about 2 hours and 45 minutes longer than usual.

'Nuff Said...

But, I'll add a few words anyway. Tom has finally figured out his lighting kit that we bought over a year ago. Here are the "basement studio" results....

It's a Giggle-icious VIDEO!

Our Lily-Bug has discovered her voice. Just this week, she has learned how to scream, squeal and giggle. We don't know what it is that has tickled her funny bone, but suddenly the world is hilarious.

Of course, with this newfound skill comes the drama queen! She has already learned that if she coughs, screams or squeals really loud, she gets immediate attention - and the coughs are so obviously fake. What a ham! Did she inherit Daddy's acting skills?

Enjoy this video of our little giggle monster. It's a little long but worth every second (at least to us).

Nakey Picture Time!!

It had to happen sooner or later. Every parent must have that incriminating photograph of their precious child with the "nakey butt". After all, how else are we going to embarrass her on her 16th birthday?

As Mommy was changing little LilyBug today, inspiration struck and the nakey photo session began. I (Joy) must admit, I am TERRIBLE at taking pictures. No matter what I do, my pictures always come out blurry. For every 1 picture that is in focus, about 300 are blurry. So..these aren't the best possible pictures, but they're the best out of all the pictures we took today. I'm impressed - Lily was not fussy at all - although she didn't want to look at me, she kept looking away (I guess she was shy about having her nakey little behind on camera!). Here are a couple more (and one with clothes on so no one thinks we are completely sick).

The last picture was taken on her "worm". It's a mat that lays on the floor with toys hanging above her. She LOVES to lay on her worm. I also took some video of her playing on the mat and will hopefully get it online soon, if Daddy can show me how to do it!

We love and miss you all!!!

Say, "Hello Kitty!"

They start so young, these women of today. Shopping that is... Lily couldn't resist modeling her new "Baby Kitty" outfit she picked up on a recent shopping trip with Mom.





We know what really happens after a big shopping trip don't we? ...She becomes a bit more like Dad.

Happy Valentines Day!

We are so in love with our Little Lillianna. We couldn't help but capture this golden nugget on the compact flash card. While watching our regular boring political tv programming we happenned to look over and see this....

Baby's Got New Wheels!

Thanks to the grace of God, and the amazing finance guy at Luther Honda in Hopkins, Minnesota, we have another new addition to our family. Meet the 2005 Chrysler Town and Country "MINI-VAN" ...that's right, we are now the proud owners of a mini-van!


Of course this excitment could never match the excitment of our first addition to the family...but we are none-the-less very excited and still a bit in shock (not sticker shock), but good old fashioned "I can't believe that really just happened" shock.

We started out Saturday morning thinking we would just "go look" and perhaps ask a few questions for clarification. Then we decided..."maybe we should wait"..then we thought, "ok...but we know we're not going to get one today"..."we don't have enough down"..."we don't have the proper paperwork together"...etc..etc. Finally we decided to head to the dealership and just get our questions answered. You can guess the rest of the story. Before we knew it, they were handing us the keys and saying "Congratulations". Except this time (thanks to our having both worked at a Honda Dealership in Tennessee) we knew what we wanted and how to not get taken. Yes, we got exactly the deal and the price we wanted.

We are still in a period of serious disbelief. We are LOVIN' the vehicle and now baby Lily can travel in style with all her gear. Now we just need to make four more friends, or have four more kids.

Mom & Dad Portraits

During their recent visit to Minnesota, Tom shot these portraits of Mom & Dad Archibald. He's been keeping them a secret and not sharing them because they are being given as Christmas Gifts. Though they haven't actually been given yet (they're on the way), we figured we would share them here. Don't worry, there are more Lillianna videos on the way too.

Put Your Head On My Shoulder

Having a little late night fun with the Lily Bug...

More Camera Fun on a Saturday

Here's a few fun Lilli shots...

"Archibald Studios" is Online

Our new Photography web site is online! The link is listed at the right of this blog (Green box near the top). It is probably obvious that we are new to the Photography as a business, but thought we had at least get a site out there so that it can begin attracting the search engines. The site is fairly basic right now, but will grow and improve as we get additional clients and more weddings under our belt. I'm excited about the availability calendar!

Please check out the Portfolio link on the left side of the new home page to see our latest image gallery. I've tried to gear it for those that would be interested in weddings, special events, and portraiture so I've left out much of the scenic and abstract stuff. I'm open to criticism and suggestions about any images that should be removed, or that might make us look like beginners. Also - any marketing ideas or suggestions are more than welcome. James...I need your creativity! (Or is Desta the creative one)

2 Month Checkup

Wow, has it been two months already since our little girl was born? Lillianna is growing too fast. While I'm very excited for her to be at the stage where she is walking and talking, I don't want her to grow up too fast either.

Lily had her 2 month checkup yesterday. Basically it was a review of her development so far. They checked her weight (a whopping 8lbs., 4 oz.), length and head circumference and we discussed how she's doing as far as awareness, interacting with others, tummy time, breastfeeding, etc. We also talked about what to expect at this age and in the next 2 months until her next appointment at 4 months.

As for the shots, she got the following, which were combined into 3 injections and 1 oral: - DTaP (Diptheria, Tetanus & Pertussis) - Polio - HepB - Pneumococcal Conjugate - Hib - Rotavirus She did REALLY well with the shots - she only cried for about 30 seconds right after they gave her the shots. She's such a little trooper. :) Though after we got home she became pretty fussy and remained that way for the rest of the day. The Doctor warned us that would probably happen.

Tom is still on a break from Photography school which will allow him time to get the web business caught up. Classes begin again on January 16 with "Portraiture II" and "Critical Thinking" The latter of the two is an online class and will allow Tom to have more evenings at home. Since almost all of the General classes remaining are offered on-line, we have decided that Tom will pair up one general class with one photography class for the rest of his schooling. (another couple of years).

Meanwhile, Tom has also been given a one-year extension on his "New York Institute of Photography" courses. So, he will be working hard to get those assignments knocked out as well.
You can see we didn't post any pictures today. I think we have posted most everything we have, so we will have to get shooting again. I think the video camera is getting a thin layer of dust as well. Time to blow it off and roll some tape! (James and Desta have inspired me!)

That's it for now...Have a great Day!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2008 is gonna be a great year!

Must have been a funny dream...