We sure do love this girl!!  How could someone not, with those cheeks and adorable smile?  She is just so much fun and we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect daughter.

Lillian has enough hair to put in a bow!  If I put it in the middle of her head this is what we get…the Pebbles look.  I have found that putting it on the side looks much better.

Lillian was in a great mood today!  I was even able to get a few of the things on video that I had been wanting to catch her doing.

This video is of her her talking and clapping.  She really just started clapping today but will only do it on her own not on demand.  She was also very chatty today.  She says mamamama a lot as well as babababa, sometimes there is a dadadada thrown in there.  We think she is starting to know what mama and dada means because she will say mamama even more when she is upset and will look around for me.  She will also look for Daddy when I ask her where dada is.

This video is of Lillian clicking her tongue and screeching.  She has started this new screeching thing to get attention or sometimes just because.  Right now it’s cute but we try to ignore it so that it doesn’t become a habit. 

Here is a video of Lillian giggling. 

Lillian, like most babies, enjoys playing peek-a-boo.  She gets a smile on her face as soon as we start to put something over her face to play. 

Since we play a lot at home, I have more pictures of Lillian playing.  For Christmas from Aunt Ashley, Lillian got a Jungle Zoo which she loves.  She hits the keyboard part on the top, grabs the monkey, moves the monkey with the ball, and even turns the thing onto it’s side.

Lillian is getting close to crawling, my guess is within the next month or so.  She will sometimes rock back and forth when on her hands and knees.  From sitting she can almost get onto her knees, but tends to chicken out before she actually gets there.  She is turning herself while sitting, meaning if she is facing the couch she can turn so that her back is facing the couch but she is still sitting.  She even scoots back while sitting but it’s mainly because she leans forward and then moves backwards when she sits back.

We got more snow this past week so I bundled Lillian up so she could watch Daddy clear the drive way.  She was very intrigued by the snow and the snow blower but when we came inside to get her out of the warm clothes she cried (as you can see in the pictures).

Lillian is officially eight months old now.  She is still tiny weighing 12 pounds 10 ounces and around 25 inches long.  She is just now getting to where she is outgrowing her 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers but can still fit into both.  Almost everyone including her doctor and the daycare ladies call her a little peanut.  She can sit by herself and is starting to roll around the floor to get to different toys.  When she sits she moves her hands in the crawling motion and lifts up her butt but doesn’t get into the crawling position yet.  Lillian is so much fun right now.  She giggles and squeals a lot and is just very interactive.  The two pictures on the left are eight month old and the one on the right is her seven month picture.

The last month or so has been pretty interesting to say the least.  Right before Christmas we started Lillian on amoxicillin because she had an ear infection in her right ear.  We went back to the doctor on January 20, 2010 for her booster flu shots and for the doctor to recheck her ears.  Well, she still had an infection in her right ear so we started her on Augmentin. 

The 20th was a Wednesday and that weekend she just wasn’t herself but never had a fever over 100.  So on Monday we checked her temp again and it was in the 98’s so we went ahead and took her daycare even though she wasn’t fully acting like herself.  Around 1 on Monday I got a call from daycare that she had a fever of 101.  So I went to pick her up, we got home and I gave her Tylenol and she was decent the rest of the day. 

The next morning, she still was not herself and had a temp in the 99’s so I stayed home with her.  She continued to get worse even though she never really had a high temperature.  Around early afternoon she was just sleeping and laying on me with no emotion at all.  I got really concerned so I called the doctor and they wanted to see her to check her ears.  We took her in and she had an ear infection in both ears.  She was 6 days into the antibiotic so it obviously wasn’t working.  The doctor said that we would need to give her Rocephin shots.  So she got one that day and the next two days we had to take her in again to get each shot.  She actually handled them really well.  She was much happier by the weekend and it was fabulous to see her smile and giggle again. 

Wednesday we had to take her back to the doctor to make sure that the ear infection was gone this time.  Well, both ears still had fluid in them so the doctor prescribed Omnicef and gave us a referral to an ear, nose, and throat doctor.  Her appointment is on February 17.  We are pretty sure that we will go and have to schedule an appointment for Lillian to have tubes put in her ears. 

At first, the thought of having her go through surgery, yes minor, but still surgery and still put under, was really scary.  Now that it has settled in and I know that it will probably be easier and better for her than to continue to get ear infections that don’t go away I’m taking it better. 

We have been meaning to get some pictures of Lillian after her bath wrapped in a towel because she always looks so happy.  Instead of just getting after pictures we thought we would do the whole bath experience.  We even have a video.

Mark got some music recording equipment for Christmas and his birthday.  These pictures show his set up which include a keyboard he had as a kid, the computer including monitors (birthday gift from Phil, Sue, Lillian, and I), and guitar stand.

Mark made the guitar stand out of PVC and then spray painted it black.  I think it turned out great.  Jeff was kind enough to get him a bass guitar for his birthday and a microphone for Christmas .

Here is Lillian doing a little recording.  I think she might be a DJ when she grows up.

I took some pictures of Lillian playing on Wednesday.  She still likes her stacking rings and shape blocks.  She was in good spirits despite her ear infection.

You can sort of see her in action in these pictures.  She is sitting by herself but sometimes likes to lay back so that is why the boppy is behind her.

Here is a video of her playing.  If you listen closely you can hear her say “Oh, yeah” or at least what sounds like it.