Kelly's Corner: By the way...we used to call you Clarence

I have been thinking...eventually Lilly will be interested to hear about the day she was born and it may just come up that her Mimi called her Clarence pre-March 25, 2011. I wonder what she will think. Do I just say: Oh Lilly by the way we thought you were a boy and called you Clarence. Will she be mad? think it's funny? What boggles my mind is that I can't remember even thinking for one moment that the baby growing inside me wasn't a girl. Once we found out it seemed like we always knew and cannot imagine it any other way!

It has been 4 months since this bright eyed girl came into our lives. Where IS the time going? She is growing up right before our eyes and every day it seems she is learning something new. It's amazing to see her learning and developing each and every day. She does this thing when she's excited-her eyes get big and she purses her lips and kicks her legs and waves her arms. You can almost see the wheels turning in her head. Here is what she's been up to the past 4 weeks:

Lilly has had many firsts this month as you know if you follow my blog. She had her first road trip, attended her first wedding reception, celebrated her first 4th of July, and cheered Tony on at her first triathlon. My favorite (and I think Tommy's too) is that Lilly attended her very first concert. Not just any concert but her daddy's band, Dropping Sully! I think she may take after her daddy. I caught her playing the Djembe with Tommy. You can see her hands blurry-she was playing it!

She also met a few milestones this month. Lilly rolled belly to back! It was so exciting. She still isn't too mobile yet but I can see her kicking when she's doing tummy time. She's just practicing for the big one-crawling! She's also found her feet and think they are the coolest thing. They haven't made it to her mouth yet but in time.

Lilly is loving a lot of things too. She loves her blankie. It's a plain pink waffle weave receiving blanket and when she's tired she loves to snuggle with it and is out like a light once she has it between her fingers.

She still loves the bouncy seat and her gym but she's starting to love her jumperoo and bumbo. She is also becoming really attached to her paci. We thought for a while she was going to suck her fingers or her thumb and every now and then she will do this to soothe herself but she actually 'asks' for the paci by opening her little mouth.

Lilly is growing! We think she is hitting her 4 month growth spurt. She is on her way out of size 2 diapers and will be in 3's very soon! She still wears 6 month clothing but is already wearing some 9 month clothes-mainly onsies and rompers and dresses-anything with crotch snaps-she's long! She has a long skinny torso but she's getting chunky arems and legs-I just love them. Only at this age can chunky arms and legs be cute-trust me I wish my chunky arms and legs were cute!

At her 4 month well check she was 14lbs 12 oz and was 25 inches long. She did so well. She loves Dr. Minton and when Dr. Minton and I were talking she participated as well. Dr. Minton said she was a very interactive baby! She is right on track and is happy and healthy. Of course she had to get 2 shots. She cried a bit but was soon smiling and happy again. All of the nurses loved her and kept saying how cute she was-especially her beautiful bow!

Lilly is beginning to learn consequences. She knows what to do to get our attention and has even developed this fake little cough. It's funny! One night as I was putting her down to sleep for the night she was crying out. I let her go until she appeared to be upset. As soon as I peaked over the rails of her crib her eyes lit up and you see that smile-that little bugger. The second time it happened I knew she was just testing me. She is a smart little bugger. I did get it on video the second time.

Lilly is such a happy baby. She is always smiling. There is nothing better than to see her HUGE grin in the morning when she gets up. She seems to be a morning person and I love that! Not only is she smiling but she's starting to laugh. And it's not just the small giggles- she has started belly laughing. It's hard to get her to laugh when you want her to but every now and then I will do or say something stupid that gets her going. It's contagious because it makes Tommy and I laugh too! We're trying hard to get it on camera but she seems to realize when we're trying to video her and won't do it for the camera.

She definitely seems to be teething. No signs of teeth yet but the drool is coming out in buckets and she is always chewing on her hands. We recently bought some teething rings for the fridge and she loves the feel of the cold on her little gummies.

Lilly got one thing from me (other than her good looks haha!)-she loves to talk. It's so fun to hear her babbling and 'talking' to us.

Lilly has a healthy appetite. She is eating 5oz bottles with a few 4 oz ones sprinkled in. She's doing 3-4 5 oz and 2-3 4 oz bottles so she's eating 5-6 times a day. Dr. Minton even said we can start doing 6-8 oz every 4 hours or so now. She has become VERY interested in our food. She leans in when you are eating something with her mouth open like a little bird. I was eating a fruit roll up one day and she looked like she would eat it up if I gave it to her. I did give her a little lick and now every time I get one and I am holding her her eyes get wide and her little legs starting going wild. I think I may have started something! Because of this we did give her a little taste of rice cereal. I wanted to wait for her 4 month check up but I was so excited to see how she would do I didn't think it would hurt. I really watered it down with formula so it wasn't really lumpy. She seemed to like it although she wore more than actually went in her tummy! Dr. Minton did give us the go ahead to start trying solids-just for practice really-and that we could introduce 1 fruit or vegatable per week and have about 6 that we give her. once she hits 6 months we will get her more on a schedule with her solids but Dr. Minton thinks that for now we can just give it to her whenever to get her used to it.

We have been so blessed. Lilly is an awesome baby. And we think she loves us just as much as we love her.

For her 4 month photo shoot we actually had an outfit change-ok it was because she spit up but both outfits are too cute! Some of my favorites have been sprinkled throughout this post. Here are some more!