lily loves...

...avocado. In her mouth. In her eyes. In her hair.

...the Beach, crawling through the hot sand, eating it like it were sugar.
...driving. She takes this very seriously, and has also learned how to honk the horn with her belly.
...getting into boxes she is NOT supposed to get into, to open presents that are NOT for her.


...her DADDY!

DOGGIE

Lily is doing new things every day lately and we're just working to keep up with her. She LOVES her "Doggie" and from the moment she wakes up, she will look at you, look all around, and say, "Doggie? Doggie! Doggie!" The search is on. Even when we pull in the driveway now to the house, she starts: Doggie! Doggie!

Shay is super patient with her pulling at her lips, bopping her on the head and picking at her teeth :) There is no doubt that Shay is Lily's favorite thing right now.

A close second is my i-pod, which she has recently learned how to change songs, up and down the volume, and make the albums switch. In a 2 minute period I'll hear Christmas music, sermon lectures, the Mama Mia! soundtrack and Beethoven. She LOVES it!

Today she began standing up, without the use of a wall or piece of furniture, but all by herself from sitting. When I got home from class, she and Gerta were standing face to face, Gerta singing, both of them clapping, and Lily 'dancing' up and down...so cute!

She is finally becoming accustomed to the new house, our visitors, and being transported back and forth. I'm thankful again for such a flexible baby!

goat-whisperer and first steps!

Lily's absolute favorite thing right now is to help Mommy work. I put things in boxes to move. She takes them out. I put clean laundry away in the drawers. She takes everything out. I move a box to one side of the room, she pushes it to the other side of the room, opens it, and takes everything out. She is not interested in playing with the things, just in taking them out.

Then Thursday, as she, Micheline and I were down working at the new house, she was walking all over the place, holding into my fingers and pushing forward, walking as fast as possible with her big belly in the lead :) I let go of her fingers so that I could get back to work, thinking that she would stand still or plop down and take off crawling like normal. However, I caught her off guard, and she this time she just kept on walking! She took three entire steps, realized that I was NOT holding her up, and immediately sat down. I clapped and cheered for her, and she was so unaware of her accomplishment that she just clapped and grinned, and then every time after that I TRIED to get her to walk, she just sat down immediately. Before we know it...oh my.

The most exciting element of her life this week, however, has not been the big move. Little Nut Brown Hair, the goat in the church yard joined to the compound, has been very pregnant for a LONG time. Every morning walk with Daddy she is very excited to see Little Nut Brown Hair, and often tried to mimick her Daddy and shove fistfuls of grass through the chain link fence.

Tuesday, Little Nut FINALLY had her babies, two adorable little gray goatlings. Now, she is more fascinated than ever, clapping and talking rapidly to her little friends, plucking grass to feed them and chatting excitedly and wide-eyed to Little Grey and Hazelnut.

Her obsession with animals continues, though where she used to say "Doggy" every time she saw a dog wandering by, now every chicken, goat, cow and cat is "Doggy!" too.

One of our favorite things about this spunky, happy child is her sensitive heart. She doesn't mind when people yell, when they laugh, when they are angry or if they are singing at the top of their lungs. But she cannot STAND when someone cries or is sad. ANY time another child cries, her face just crumples and she bursts into sobs and tears. It is quite heartbreaking.

Tonight, however, it was Daddy that made her cry. Anytime she bites, she gets a stern NO and a swat to her hand. She always stares wide-eyed, and then moves on to something different, understanding but unphased. But tonight, when she bit Daddy's finger, HARD, he made a dramatic sad face, and said, "Owwww. Owwww, Lily. Lily, that hurt!" very sadly. She stared, and then her bottom lip started to quiver and before I knew it she was inconsolable with big fat tears running down her round cheeks!

ah, this precious gift with SO much personality already...

growing like a lily...

Our little Lily sprout is growing and changing at an out-of-control speed. She is daily learning and trying new things, cracking us up frequently and constantly reminding us and teaching of us of unconditionally loving Father.

Tonight she got to stay up extra late and have a party with the "big kids". She LOVED it, watching them all run and play and laugh, crawling as fast as she could from room to room after them, and begging at each persons feet for some candy corn or carmel popcorn.

Brianna, the princess fairy (with goggles so no bugs would run into her eyes while flying) played ball with Lil quite patiently. The Bundy kids are all so especially good with Lily...not fussing at all when she pulls there hair, bites their noses or tackles them.
Lily just HAD to be right in the middle of everyone, and almost got stepped on several times...couldn't have been happier.
Aunt Lisa sent in her awesome bib :)
And Aunt Patty sent in her awesome candy corn. Which she quite likes. Not that I've let her have any :)
Showing off her own jack-o-lantern teeth :) two more on the way makes 8!

She was in a hilarious mood this day, hamming up all of her favorite faces and talking up a storm.



Always pullin' up on her tip-toes so she can be just a little bit taller.
Chasing golf balls (the more the better) across the tile is still one of her very favorite games. This golf ball she has conquered.
This afternoon she was SO tired when Daddy got home for lunch, but wouldn't let herself fall asleep. Daddy started dancing with her to their favorite song, and in 2 minutes she was out!
Lily has also JUST discovered that she can crawl through grass the same way she can crawl through homes. Though her knees and wrists are now covered with tiny scratches, she had SUCH a ball taking off all through the yard at full-speed until Daddy kept making her come back :)


Aunt Patty sent a care package the other day with a pepperoni...which Lily apparently loves. She worked on it like a beaver until Dad saved the poor thing!

The "inward bent" in the heart of us each toward ourselves has started to become apparent :) Lily absolutely loves pictures of herself, and frequently talks to her photos, kisses them, and takes little rests with herself...

Please continue to pray for Lily, as SO many of you do (THANK YOU), that she would grow in wisdom and stature and that we might be an example for her: not of a good mommy or daddy, but of Christ. She is precious!

dust bunny, dog whisperer

Any dreams we head for our "little princess" have been shattered by Lily's extreme love of dirt, mud, bugs, dust bunnies, the toilet, etc. On the weekends we've been working down at the new seminary compound, and Lily blissfully goes from dirt pile to dust pile, shoving dirt in her mouth as quickly as possible before we catch her. She is never happier than when she has found a chunk of dried mud or dust. I can't even imagine how much dirt she ate yesterday alone...we are working on that healthy immune system!

"YUCK, Lily, YUCK!" we keep saying, washing her hands over and over. "Yug!" she always says, grinning.

Lily's new shoes are ADORABLE, and entertaining, because she spends the entire church service trying to take them off! We never make Lily wear shoes, but on Sunday mornings everyone was appalled that she was barefoot in church, so we've been putting shoes on her to make everyone happy and a band in her hair to keep everyone from asking, week after week, "Boy or Girl?"
"Doggie" is Lily's clearest and most consistent word...My sister taught it to her when she was here, and now every time she sees a dog, or a picture of one, she kicks and flails and squeals "Doggie! Doggie!" The new seminary compound has this huge resident dog, whom Lily just adores.

Lily's newest "trick" is pulling everything out of everywhere, solely for the purpose of pulling it out. Pulls all books off shelves, all toys out of her baskets, all clothes out of her drawers, not paying the slightest attention to any of it once it's hit the floor (except for her beloved cow, Daisy, whom she now like to carry around in her teeth while she crawls).