Happy Birthday Tommy!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Tom celebrated his first birthday with Lily today ... well not HIS first birthday but the first one since Lily was born .... okay, it's late, you get what I mean! You'll have to ask Tom what birthday it REALLY was, I don't know if I should reveal the secret (hint: look at the cake picture below).

Mommy and Lily spent the day running around town getting cake ingredients, some decorations, wrapping paper and, of course, the gift.

Being that I am completely inept at anything requiring the smallest amount of creativity or artistic talent, I decided to attempt to make a "camera cake". After completely destroying the kitchen and being up to my elbows in cake, frosting, food coloring, fondant, icing - and trying to entertain Miss Lily at the same time - the final product SLIGHTLY resembled a camera. I made the camera out of one cake (cut it up into several pieces and "glued" it together in the shape of a camera and lens using frosting and covering it with black-tinted fondant) and then put the camera on a separate round cake with white whipped frosting and red icing around the edge. It wasn't as pretty as I had hoped, but hey, at least it didn't completely collapse and looks a teeny bit like a camera...maybe??? Okay, not really - it looks like a big black blob on a white cake. It still tasted good!

After the cake, it was gift time. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new rock star in the making ... or should I say a "Guitar Hero" in the making. Lily and I decided to do something a little crazy and bought Guitar Hero III for the Wii. Lily was just as interested in the new toy as Daddy was. Somehow I think she will master the art of Guitar Hero before we do!

WOW - Mom, have you SEEN this?!? It ROCKS!!!

Lily is already learning the art of playing the guitar with her mouth - rocker chick!!

Lily Has a New Toy!

Now that Lillianna is standing on her own and likes to "walk" with help, Mommy and Daddy went shopping after church today to find a new walking toy. We found it! Lily LOVES to walk behind her new toy, pushing it across the living room. Daddy says he's getting her prepared to mow the lawn next summer!

Uh-Oh ... look out Bella! Kitty tails are no longer safe now that Lily is mobile!

And back to some more crawling and posing for the camera. She KNOWS when a camera is around and likes to smile and pose. What a ham! Now who does she get THAT from?!?

Lily Update

Since it's been so long since our last post - and Miss Lily grows and changes so fast - we thought a "Lily Update" was in order. So...here's the latest on our little Lily Bug...

Teeth

Lillianna has a total of 4 teeth so far - 2 bottom and 2 top. She has 2 more top teeth that are starting to poke through....and that has NOT been fun!

Crawling/Standing/Cruising

She has quickly advanced from crawling (which she now does at warp speed) to pulling herself up, standing (even on her own with no support!) and cruising while holding on to furniture, couches, etc. She's testing her balancing skills by letting go and standing on her own for longer and longer. At this rate, who knows, she may be walking before long!!

Talking

No real words, yet ... at least not that we can identify. She repeats sounds and babbles a lot - things like "Dat", "Babababa", "Mamamama" but I think these are just sounds and not actual words because she says them randomly and they don't seem to be associated with anything in particular. It's still adorable, though!!

Growing

While still our tiny little peanut, Miss Lily is still growing by leaps and bounds. At her last appointment a couple months ago, she was just over 14 pounds and 24" long. She's in the 15th percentile for weight and the 60th percentile for length. She has another appointment at 1 year (in a month) so we'll see how much she's grown!

Of course we HAVE to end a Lily post with some more Lily pictures!! Here are a few of the latest Lily photos...

Chapin Family Reunion

Wow...it's been a while since our last post, hasn't it? Summer is flying by way too fast - is it really almost the end of September?

This summer kept us really busy as my mom and I planned the first Chapin Family Reunion. This was a reunion of all the decendants of my maternal great-grandparents (my mom was a Chapin). We planned a large reunion in my mom's hometown of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. Almost 100 relatives came from all across the country!! It was a lot of work and took many months to plan, but it was definitely worth it - we had a blast!

Lily was, of course, the hit of the reunion. As the youngest member of the Chapin family, she basked in all the attention.

We had a great time in Pequot and loved meeting so many family members we didn't even know we had! Hopefully we will do this again!

Chapin Family Reunion

August 23-24, 2008

Pequot Lakes, Minnesota

Decorating and getting ready the night before...

The Reunion - Day One

The Reunion - Day Two

Look Who's Crawling!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a crawler!!

Miss Lillianna Mae Archibald has mastered the art of crawling. She took her first "shuffles" last week and in just the past week has ramped up to warp speed. Her favorite activities are chasing after the dogs and pulling herself up on any surface she can find.

And now a lesson from Miss Lily. How to pull yourself up using any household object (even a cardboard box):

STEP ONE: Locate the object. In this case, a cardboard box. Initiate warp crawling speed toward object, getting as close as possible - perhaps even run into the object.

STEP TWO: Assess the height of the object. This is done by getting your face as close as possible and then looking up to the top of the object. Pressing your nose against the object can be helpful.


STEP THREE: Reach up and place hands on top of object, then pull up legs into kneeling position. Careful, this gets tricky!


STEP FOUR: Pull up and wobble a few times while moving from your knees to your feet. Don't worry if your balance fails - Mommy has pillows placed strategically all over the living room - and that diaper is pretty cushy, too. If you fall, get up and try it again!

TADA!! Look at what I can do!! Yes, it's okay to brag.

Wanna see that from another angle?

Now that I can crawl and pull myself up, I'm getting ready for my ballet lessons. I've already learned to point my toes - see? Prima Ballerina!

And of course one last Lillianna picture, just because....