Wishing you a very...

Lillian at 7 Months

Lillian is sitting up so well all on her own!  She isn't crawling quite yet but we're pretty sure it's coming soon.  She has 4 teeth now (all within a 4 week span!).  She's mastered the art of swallowing her pureed diet and is moving on to "puffs", yogurt melts and teething biscuits. 
She and her daddy continue to have special games they play with each other.  The latest is a little hard to explain in words (I suppose all baby talk babble is hard to spell out!).  The five minutes before bedtime are the fussiest few minutes we have with Lillian all day.  She seems to know it's bedtime and we can't get her ready fast enough!  I struggle every night to try and get her changed into her pj's as fast as humanly possible while Mike tries to distract her.  Through trial and error, Mike has come up with the best distraction yet!  He put his hand over her lips and made "pow wow" Indian motions while she's crying.  It caused me to laugh out loud and made Lillian giggle and giggle.  So every night we've been playing "Indian" before bed.  Well, last Tuesday night Mike wasn't home.  As I put Lillian to bed alone she was crying.  I only have so many hands and I was unable to pat her mouth while changing her.  In the middle of a good cry she took her tiny hand to her lips and made the motion herself.  It soothed her and brought tears to my eyes.  She was thinking of her daddy even though he wasn't there.  What a good girl...

Gobble Gobble

For the fourth straight year, the Colorado Kerschens travelled to East Lansing to join the Michigan Kerschens for Thanksgiving.  And for the fourth straight year Grandma and Opa Hanou and Great Grandpa Lerch joined us as well!  I love this tradition, and so does everyone else.  Our families seem to fit together so well and that's what Thanksgiving's all about.  Being with family and thanking God for the family you have.  We are so blessed.

I love my Thanksgiving pajamas from Na Na Nancy

All Grandma Kerschen wanted was a decent picture with her 6 grandchildren...apparently that was too much to ask for!

When I grow up I want to be just like my big cousins!

"Baby Lily kissed me"



I wonder what life will be like for Lillian when she's great grandpas age.

Going for a hike with daddy....you can never be too safe!

 

Especially when Grandpa Kerschen is teaching Johnny to hunt!



The growing Kerschen family



Another great bath picture, this time in Grandma Kerschens kitchen sink!

 I can't wait for Christmas, hopefully there will be lots of shiny ribbons!



I can't take my eyes off the pretty lights!

 Can't wait for Christmas!

 

All I want for Christmas...

Today, we discovered Lillian has her first tooth!  It crept in silently.  Sure, she's been drooling a lot for months, but what kid doesn't?  I guess we should be grateful that this new body part didn't wreak too much havoc on our lives, let's hope the next 19 are as gentle on her gums as this one was.  I tried to get Lillian to show off her pearly white tooth but she wasn't into modeling this evening.  Here's a photo gallery of my attempts...

Just in time for turkey!

Lillian at 6 Months

Lillian is 6 months old today!  She is almost sitting up by herself.  She does great as long as you sit nearby or prop up the boppy pillow right behind her.  But as soon as you think she's got it and turn your head, she nose dives into the floor!  She's eating (and enjoying) food now. She's had cereal, acorn squash, green beans, peas and carrots.  She likes to hear mommy sing (she must be tone deaf), reach for & touch everything and she really enjoys watching older babies and kids play, but most of all she loves playing "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall" with daddy. 

Trick or Treat!

Getting into the good stuff!

Lillian has moved past eating boring old cereal.  Now we're moving into the "good stuff". 

I don't know what that is but I like it!

Acorn Squash....mmmm

Green Beans were messy!  Glad we took the clothes off before we tried them!

Free From Sin!!

Lillian is officially free from sin!  We had her baptized last weekend at St. Dominic's.  Father Clint (who married us) performed the baptism and Erica and Darren Wright are her godparents.  Erica and I went to college together and moved out to Colorado together 12 years ago in the same car. Neither of us had a job, an apartment or any furniture!  We sure have come along way.  Erica and Darren have a baby girl 2 months older than Lillian, and her name is Liliana.  Mike and I are so happy to have one more tie to bind us to Erica and Darren!

It's not easy to hold  the almost 3 year olds attention these days!  Everett enjoyed the empty church after mass more than the baptism!

After the baptism, we had some family and friends back to the house for dinner, Lillian went to bed at her usual time - 6:30 - and we had a really good time celebrating her rite of passage into the Catholic Church! 



Grandpa and his girls - his daughter, 2 granddaughters and 2 great granddaughters.



Erica and Darren made Lillian the sweetest book!  It includes the names of all of Lillians cousins and grandparents and of course, it includes her godparents who love her like family too!

 Lillian's a lucky little girl, to have so many people who love her...

Better than cable....

Mike always says "Cancel the cable, Courtney, I'd rather watch Lillian."  He's right, she is enough entertainment!  With the family in town for her baptism, we decided to give food a try.  There's a reason rice cereal isn't on the menu at any 4 star restaurants....

Lillian at 5 Months!

Sorry for the delay in posting Lillian's 5 month picture!  She had a cold on her actual 5 month birthday and it was hard to get her to smile.  But the cold only lasted a couple of days and I ran into a new challenge.  Lillian isn't interested in sitting still for the camera anymore, she wants to move!  Daddy liked this goofy picture so here it is!  Lillian is trying very hard to sit up on her own these days, reaches for everything and loves to watch the dogs and chickens!

The worst day hunting....still better than the best day working!

WELL... I got to do some really great hiking with dad and Clive. The weather here in Colorado has been really nice which is a bummer if you are trying to bow hunt elk. Especially, when you have guys who traveled 1200 miles to do it with you.  A nice 12" snow storm would have been helpful!

Dad, Clive and I covered a lot of ground north of Silverthorne, but did not hear any elk calls and the only animals we saw were on private property and completely uninterested in coming over to see us. I had a great time though and I'm pretty sure dad and Clive enjoyed the trip. After all, getting an elk is a small portion of why we try. Mostly, it's about spending time with two of the best guys I know, in some of the most beautiful country I know.  Maybe next time we'll have better luck, but if not the chase is always fun.

One of the biggest motivators for Clive and Dad making the long drive to Colorado, is the grandbaby Lillian. Lily wasn't able to join us in the mountains, but she sure loved all the attention when we were in town!  As you can see in the picture below, I'm trying hard to make her a daddy's girl. Hopefully, her charms will be enough to get the guys back out here to try again soon.

Maybe next year Lillian will go scouting with daddy and show me how it's done.

......I think the camo suits her!

Ain't she sweet...

Lillian at 4 Months

Lillian weighs 12 pounds 1 ounce - she's doubled her birthweight!  And she's grown almost 6 inches since birth, way to go kiddo!

Rockin' & Rollin'

Lillian rolled over today!  I laid her on her belly, turned to grab the video camera (just in case) and when I turned again she had rolled onto her back!  I called for Mike, laid her on her belly and she rolled over again (I still didn't have the camera on!).  Here is a video of the 3rd time....she was getting a little tired! 

Going, Going, Gone?

As Lillian wiggles more and more (and more!) the hair on the back of her head seems to suffer the brunt of it!  She still has more hair than I ever had as a baby, but it is noticeably rubbing off. 

Lillian at 10 weeks

Lillian at 13 weeks

Lillian at 16 weeks

Of course, we know, nobody reads our blog to look at pictures of the back of Lillians head!  So here are a couple recent pictures of our smiling, happy little girl.

I love my morning walks with mommy!



Making eyes at Daddy