I'm a Mother again!

Well, this time it's a Godmother.  I have the honor of being the Godmother to our beautiful niece, Taylor Anne.  She was born exactly one month prior to Lill, by the same doctor and in the same hospital room, to top it off.  The baptism was held after the 11AM mass at Mary Queen of Peace (the same church that Meredith and Kyle were married a little over 4 years ago) and was followed by a little celebration at their home.  It was a wonderful day with family and celebrating Taylor Anne.  Lillian managed to sleep through the entire ceremony and celebration.  That girl can sleep through anything.

Taylor Anne with her parents and Godparents (myself and Meredith's brother, David)

Big brother, Carter, and Kyle

The entire Bruno gang

Our little Bruno fam

Kyle, Meredith, Carter and Taylor

Carter and Grandpa Jim

Lill in her beautiful outfit from Aunt Kelli Mac

Lilly's One Month Old

Lill had her one month check-up this past Saturday.  Newborns usually go straight from the 2 week check-up to the 2 month check-up.  However, Lill had some weight issues from the start where she lost more in the first week than the doctor would have liked to have seen (right around 10% of her body weight) so she wanted to check progress at one month.  We're proud to report that Lill surpassed our expectations and gained a whopping 2.5 pounds in the last two weeks.  My mom joked that I "have cream, not milk".  I can now nurse less often and I no longer have to wake her up to feed at night.  She's filling out beautifully and getting more of a personality every day.  She celebrated her first month birthday by only waking once to eat during the night.  Momma is very happy about this and did her own little celebratory dance as a result.

At one month Lillian is 10 lbs, 8 oz and 22.5 inches long.  This puts her at about the 75th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for length.

Likes: Lying on the changing table, mornings, sleeping in my car seat once I'm strapped in, going on walks, black/white/prime color toys, sleeping, nakie time

Dislikes: Getting my diaper changed, evenings, getting strapped into the car seat, being hungry or swaddled

Corey suggested I add "mom" to the likes and "dad" to the dislikes.  This is not the case, but since he spends most of his time with her in the evenings after work, he gets her at her fussiest time.  She's a morning person which is when momma soaks up all the smiles, coo's and big bright eyes (as well as any photographs) she can.

"The days are long, but the years are short"

Lill will be 4 weeks old tomorrow.  Where has the time gone?!  She's already growing so fast.  Last week was our first full week just the two of us with Corey back at work (and no mid-week holiday to shorten the week).  We're very lucky that Lillian is such a good baby; a good sleeper and generally very happy and easy going which has made it very easy on me.  We've gotten into our own little groove.  She essentially wakes twice during the night to eat, around 1 am and 4 am, and goes right back to sleep after.  After the morning feeding, she's fine going back to bed a bit longer and letting her mama catch a few more zzz's.  So, I'm thankful to her for keeping me from experiencing the new mom exhaustion. (And thankful to Corey and my parents during the first two weeks while we worked out the kinks).

The days are spent playing (ooh'ing and aah'ing at each other), sleeping (while I either stare at her or get things done around the house), and walks with Tyler.  We've ventured out a few times, to run a quick errand or to hang out at her cousins while Meredith is also on maternity leave.  We've also made it out to meet some friends for lunch. Lill's basically the perfect partner to run errands, meet friends, or go out to lunch with as she essentially just sleeps the whole time.  Others basically don't believe me that she is ever awake.  I promise that she does wake up and show off those beautiful eyes to me from time to time; especially in the morning hours when she's happy as can be!

We've had a few more visitors on the weekends to meet Lill.  Corey's roommate from college, Benny, and his wife Lorinda came by for an afternoon while they were in town to see his sister.  Another buddy from college, Chris, and his wife Paige (who actually only live 15 minutes from us) as well as their two daughters, brought over lunch and hung out for the afternoon this past weekend.  It will be fun to watch the girls grow up together!

Josie LaRose (4) holding Lillian

Lilly and her buddy, Tyler

Like I said, she sleeps A LOT.  How can you not want to just stare at that face :-)

The 1st 4th

This past Thursday was Lilly's first 4th of July.  It was also a first for Corey and I; our first 4th of July in our town of Webster Groves.  America's birthday is quite the ordeal in our town.  The day starts with a big parade down our main street and is followed by BBQ's and parties all over the neighborhood until the carnival and big fireworks display at night.  There's even a house decoration competition of which the prior owner of our home was the proud winner.

Our first annual 4th of July tradition started with Kyle, Meredith, Carter and Taylor (our brother and sister-in-law, nephew and niece) coming over and walking up to watch the parade.  A few of Corey's aunts and uncles, as well as some of his cousins, their significant others and children also met us for the parade viewing.  We then walked over to Uncle Mike and Aunt Joan's for their annual BBQ and pool party with the fam.  Corey, Lill and I then came home to rest for an hour or so before heading out to yet another party.  (Lill is quite the party gal...though she did sleep through the better portion of the parties)  Our neighbors block off the street behind us for the day.  The kiddos play in kiddie pools and slip-n-slides while the adults BBQ, have some cocktails and socialize.  They even put off their own fireworks display that nearly rivals the town's big display (Tyler was not a fan of this part!)  Everyone was very excited to meet Lillian (though we were sure to keep her close in the baby carrier to avoid all the touchy hands).  Three of the ladies self-proclaimed themselves honorary grandma's to Lill and made it clear that they're happy to babysit whenever.  We'll have to keep that in mind for the future ;-)

It was a fun-filled but very exhausting day.  Just another reminder of how lucky we are to have found a home in such a great community surrounded by such wonderful neighbors.  We're already excited for next year and for Lill to be able to enjoy the parade and pool party a bit more :-)

My cute outfit compliments of Mardale

Family photo - Lilly at 2 weeks old

Carter keeping occupied, waiting for the parade to start

Carter so intrigued by all the trucks and horses and cars, oh my!

Uncle Mike and cousin Henry

Kyle, Meredith, Carter (18 months), and Taylor (6 weeks)

Lill taking a break from the pool party with Grandma Carolyn

Did I say it was an exhausting day?!

Strike a pose

Or in Lill's case, "just lie there and let us pose you".  We've all seen the adorable newborn photo sessions posted on Pinterest, Facebook, etc.  As Lillian's arrival approached, I started looking into photographers and quickly found that it was going to be difficult to convince her father (and, quite frankly, myself) of the 'investment' required, especially only a year after I convinced him that I should invest in a nice Canon camera 'so that we can take great pictures on vacations and of our kids'.  Therefore, I got it in my head that I could DIY it with the help of my mom.  About a week after Lill's arrival, Corey was back at work and my Dad headed out for the morning to golf which left all of us gals at home with our creative juices flowing.  When my Dad returned and caught the tail end of our photo session, he joked that he was going to report us for torturing her.  All it took was a few looks at the following pictures of our perfect little model and he was 'oooohhhh'ing and 'awwwww'ing just like us.

Introducing Lillian Layton

After 16 hours of labor, Lillian Layton Bruno blessed us with her presence at 8:01 pm on Thursday, June 20th.  She was 8 lbs even, 21 inches long, and is absolutely perfect.  She is named after two of her Great Grandmothers; my Grandma Lillian who will t 96 this coming December and Corey's Grandma Bruno (whose maiden name is Layton).

Overall, labor was pretty uneventful and I was kept comfortable.  The delivery was a team effort.  My mom and Corey's mom were in the delivery room with us.  I have my mom to thank for feeding me ice chips, Carolyn to thank for being my own personal cheering squad and Corey for counting and helping me focus (and stop making jokes) on breathing and pushing.  Once we were all cleaned up a bit, our dad's joined us in the delivery room and got to meet Lill as well.

We headed home on Saturday and have been getting adjusted to life with our little gal.  My parents were here for the week which was a huge help in easing me into weekdays with just Lilly, Ty and I.  It was wonderful to watch her get snuggled and loved by her Grandma and Grandpa for a week straight.  I think they enjoyed it quite a bit as well.  I often had to break up 'fights' over who got to hold her next or who had held her the longest (practice for the future when Lilly gets a brother or sister? Perhaps :-) )

Lilly  with her cousins Carter (18 months) and Taylor (1 month).
They have all been born on the 20th of the month.  

Not a fan of the large bow

Much better.  Heading home!!