New Routines

In a moment of complete irony, we were making breakfast together last Saturday, in-between sessions of conference. I was telling Ryan about how I wanted to start conference weekend traditions. Things like making a special breakfast, having to pick a favorite talk, making it fun for when we have more kiddos...Ryan looks at me and says "Pssh, traditions are stupid!" Jokingly, of course. I think it was the next session of conference, when one of the speakers said that tradition was vital to having a happy home. Ha! I elbowed Ryan pretty hard, just to get my point across. Anyway, we've started up some new routines lately. Not because of the talk, but because Lilly's getting big enough to understand them...well, most of them.

First, and not having to do with Lilly in any way, is our ice cream and TV show nights. When we first got married, I had lots of catching up to do, where TV shows are concerned. Ryan and I sat and watched a few hours of shows each night, while eating ice cream. When the shows went on hiatus, we were both pretty bummed. We've lived a pattern of shows/no shows for a while now. Well, all of our favorite shows just started back up, so we've enjoyed getting to break into the ice cream again. 

(Left) Ryan's vanilla with chocolate sauce. (Right) Chocolate marshmallow swirl with caramel...MINE!

Second, bedtime routine. The water pressure in this place SUCKS! If you want decent pressure, you have to put up with the fact that you're going to get scalded. Since it takes forever for Lilly's bath to fill, I've started reading to her while we wait. I've been wanting to start reading her bedtime stories for some time now, so this fits right in. She loves to look at the pictures and grab at the book. I made Ryan do it tonight, since he really likes doing voices...I usually feel pretty silly when doing voices. I guess I'm going to have to get over that. 

I loved how tightly she held the book

"I know what milk is, but what are cookies?"

Third, baby sign language. Go ahead and laugh. I'm very passionate about sign language. I took it every year in high school, was at the top of the class, and was the president of the sign language club. Sadly, it was also the reason I didn't get into Notre Dame. I received a very disappointing rejection letter from Notre Dame, saying that I was very qualified, but wouldn't be accepted because "sign language isn't a foreign language." I could rant for days about how ignorant that is, but I'll be the bigger person. I want to teach all of our kids sign language. So far, Lilly grasps "more," "milk," and "finished" or "all done!" She gets pretty dang excited when I do the sign for milk. I can't wait until she starts to sign back. 

 This picture doesn't have anything to do with this post, but there is a funny story behind it...haha, speaking of "behind," look at that cute baby bum! So yesterday Lilly was introduced to sweet potatoes. LOVED THEM! Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be feeding them to her any time soon. They went right through her...over and over again. She blew out 5 outfits! The best was the one Ryan had to change. It's the sad reality of a baby blowout, that you have to get the clothes off of them somehow, and usually you end up covering them in poop in the process. I walked into the room to find Ryan precariously standing Lilly up on the changing table while he cleaned out her armpits. I took over while he went to start the bath. Once the bath was ready, I went to scoop her up, only to realize that while she was laying there, she'd peed. So now she was covered in baby poo, and laying in pee. Great! Ryan's gotten to the point of being so terrified of all baby goo, he carries her like this when she's naked. Is it just me, or does she look like she finds it funny?