A blast from the past

Lillie at 6 months old.

These boots are made for walking...

Lillie has mastered the art of walking at 10 months old. In fact, she doesn't even crawl anymore. Ever. If she wants something that is 2 feet away, she will get up, and walk to it. My baby is no longer a baby. She is a full-blown toddler. Wait. What?

Here she is in her sweet red moccasins helping mama water the flowers:











Although I wasn't completely prepared for her to be a bipedal prodigy, I have to say it is an awesome sight to behold.

Beach Day

The water has been pretty warm lately so we decided it would be nice to take Lillie for her first beach trip. I drenched us in sunscreen, and we went down to dog beach and let Lillie crawl around in the sand and put her feet in the water.





She absolutely loved it. Wasn't scared one bit of the water or the waves. She completely trusted that her daddy would keep her safe.







Lola had a pretty good time too.

Little Dutch Girl

I told Lillie it was about time she started pulling her own weight around here, so she got a job as a waitress in Solvang.

And so the power struggle begins...

Playground

We took Miss Mae up to the park last week and let her crawl around in the sand.





She loved it. Until she ate said sand. Turns out that sand is not actually ground-up cheerios as she had previously thought.





Then we took her to the playground where she got to swing on the swings...







And go down the slide...




And then she wowed us by doing twenty pull-ups. With her teeth!



Lillie has made such amazing progress in her physical development over the last couple of weeks. She went from being totally stationary, (which, by the way is awesome if you want to get anything done around the house) to zooming around on her hands and knees to pulling herself up on furniture, or the dog, and cruising along. This morning I had to make a phone call so I set her in her activity center (the go-to place to keep her occupied and contained). She always makes a lot of noise moving and kicking in it, and today was no different except for the fact that when I came back into the living room, she was no longer in her activity center. She was sitting on the floor, next to the activity center, playing with the remote. I would pay $50 if I could have seen how she managed that one. I'm pretty sure there must have been some pretty impressive gymnastics going on. Sure it's hard having a baby whose goal in life is to taste-test and/or climb everything single thing on God's green earth, but with all of the inconveniences comes the fact that she is growing, and thriving. Having a crawling baby is a whole different ballgame, but one that I will happily participate in.

Lillie crawls!

Best if viewed with sound...



And yes, I used fireplace matches to entice her. Again, I am awesome like that.

Baby's first soccer game

We took Lillie to her first LA Galaxy game a couple weeks ago. (Yes, I know...I'm a bit behind on this whole blogging thing.) We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Krenzin, and Lillie showed her team spirit by wearing her cool Galaxy scarf.



She did get a little startled when the crowd would make collective loud noises. Mostly "OH!"'s and "Boooooo!"'s because The Galaxy wasn't really bringing their A-game that day. This face pretty much sums up how they were playing that day:



Later, Lillie got to meet David Beckham. She thought he was dreamy.



All in all we had a great day. Looks like I'm already a soccer mom.

29

29 Reasons why I love my husband

In no particular order...
1. He tucks me in every night.
2. He brings me flowers for no reason. And remembers that I don't like red roses or gerber daisies.
3. He opens jars. And kills spiders.
4. If I've had a rough night with the baby he gets up in the morning with her so I can sleep in a little bit.
5. He makes me laugh harder and more often than anyone I've ever known.
6. Soft skin.
7. Strong arms.
8. He never complains.
9. He is an artist.
10. Though he may not look it from the outside, he is totally old-fashioned and conservative.
11. He does his own laundry.
12. He looks adorable in hats.
13. He wears red shoes.
14. The thought of any and all future Junior Krenzins.
15. He believes that men should not wear flip flops unless at the beach.
16. He doesn't like sushi.
17. He wants to live in the country.
18. He is a good person.
19. He eats my cooking and even likes it most of the time.
20. Ron
21. Michele
22. Kerry
23. Kenny
24. When I say "I love you", he says "I love you more".
25. He appreciates good music, architecture and history.
26. He knows how important it is for me to stay at home and be a full time wife and mother, and does everything he can to make sure I get to do that.
27. He believes in God.
28. He makes me a better person.
29. He is a better father to Lillie Mae than I could have ever hoped for.



Happy 29th Birthday. You made it.
I love you.

Cole

6 months

How is this possible? How is it possible that HALF of your first year of life is already behind us? This milestone serves to remind me to really take the time to take every one of your days in because each day you are so different...changing so very quickly. This morning you sat quietly on my lap, head on my chest playing with my hands. I realized that you weren't going to do that for very much longer; realizing soon that there were much cooler things to explore and play with than mama's fingers. Like the toilet and electrical outlets. I just sat there and smelled your head and took it all in, wanting to remember that moment forever.



Last month I packed away all of your newborn clothes, and cried the whole time. Each piece I folded up looked so tiny, even though it seemed for the longest time you were swimming in the 0-3 month size. Now, and even before your half-birthday you are almost able to fill out the 12 month size! At your 6 month check-up this morning you weighed 17 lbs. 4 oz. up almost 4 pounds in just 2 months. People often tell me that you look much older than your age. Cut that out.



I fed you your first "solid" foods a few weeks ago, and although we got off to a rocky start, you have taken to eating like you are your mama's daughter. So far you have had pureed butternut squash, sweet potatoes, avocado and peeps. Just kidding, the recommended age for artificially colored, sugar-covered marshmallows is 9 months. But just you wait.



You are a very smiley baby, but you reserve your laughs for things that are really funny, like Daddy and Lola. Sometimes you laugh me, but that laugh is more like a "heh. heh." Like, "Yeah, I appreciate the effort and all, but your really not that funny. But I'll give you this fake laugh so you don't feel bad."



Just recently you have learned how to sit up on your own. You are quite good at it already, but sometimes your giant super brain gets a little heavy and you topple over. That's where the peeps come in handy. They will fill out the bottom half of your body to support that genius-sized head of yours.






(I think you may have been a little mad that instead of picking you up and taking the leaves out of your mouth, I snapped this photo. You'll look back on it one day and laugh. Or use it against me in therapy.)

Now we can take you to the park and set you on a blanket so you can watch your second favorite person in the world: Lola. You love this dog. Sometimes she will just walk by and you let out this laugh and look at me like "Did you see that?! That smelly, furry thing just walked by again and I think I'm going to pee my pants. Hilarious!" In fact you seem to like all dogs. As long as they are not small, yappy chihuahuas named Samson. Case in point: The following picture is of a very large dog who you had never seen before. This dog came right up to you and licked you square in the mouth. You loved it.


* Yes, we let a huge, strange dog walk up to our baby and lick her face. We are awesome like that.





I cannot begin to tell you how much your Daddy is enamored of you. He is totally smitten. And you are quite the Daddy's girl in return. Your face literally lights up when he walks into the room. He throws you into the air and flips you upside-down and you eat it up. He makes you laugh harder than anyone else in the world. That makes two of us. He makes up songs about you, complete with choreography. And the nick names! My favorite: Lillie Mae Chubbybuns, I presume? Seriously. Anyone who knows your Daddy won't believe that, but you melt his heart and is a new person because of you.



We are all new people because of you. You have filled our hearts to beyond what we thought was capacity. Even in the middle of the night, Daddy will volunteer to feed you and put you back to sleep just so he can see you. And even I find myself holding you a little bit longer after you've closed your eyes, just to admire your sleeping face. You are an amazing little girl and we are so excited to watch you grow. Just do me a favor, grow a little slower please.



So, Miss Mae, my doodlebug, monkey-moo...Happy half-birthday to you.

Love,
Mama