Labor Day Weekend

My sister said over the weekend that she has been severely disappointed with my lack of posts recently.  I know I say it all of the time, but I just can't express how busy we are.  I keep waiting for things to slow down, and they just haven't.  Pre-Lilly, I had a lot more time to blog.  With all of that said, I am using this blog as a forum to keep up with Lilly as she grows, so my goal for myself is going to be a minimum of one post each week (I am hoping for more than that, but we'll see how it goes).  

Labor Day for the Baums was pretty low-key, and it was glorious.  I can't remember the last time we got to spend a weekend at home, and I am not sure when the next weekend we'll get to spend at home will be, so it was very important to both Dan and myself not to go anywhere or make any plans this weekend.  It gave us a chance to relax, spend some time together as a family, and also get a few things done around the house that we've been meaning to do.  We are by no means even halfway through with our "to do" list, but at least we finally got started!  That is an accomplishment in and of itself for sure.

We kicked off the weekend early on Friday afternoon when L and I went to meet Jayme and Corbin.  Seriously, how cute is this kid?  He and Lilly were so cute together, too.  Thanks for the tutorial, guys - we can't wait for future play dates!

First lesson in sharing.  Corbin seems to be OK, but L doesn't seem so sure (even though she has his toy!).

We started Saturday off with some Mountaineer football (Wolfpack football was a sore subject in our house after Friday so I'll leave that part out)!  I guess I should rephrase that to say that we tried to start it off with some Mountaineer football, but although the game was being shown on at least 30 channels, we don't subscribe to any of them at the house.  I'm not sure how it is possible that it wasn't being shown on a local channel as both teams were local, but whatever.  Unfortunately we lost, but we had the world's cutest cheerleader.

Remember the game that Dan loved to play when I was pregnant and couldn't see anything below chest-level and he would say, "I spy with my little eye...A BELLY?"  The tradition continues with Chunks McGee.  See above.  Someone should seriously buy that child some ASU gear that fits.  PawPaw, are you reading? :-)

We ventured out to the mall on Saturday afternoon because I needed a dress for Sheila's wedding, but I won't bore you with photos of that - they're not nearly as cute as my normal subject, anyway!  I also dropped by Sephora to pick up a few necessities, which L helped me unpack when we got home.

Helping Mommy get ready/eating entertaining herself with my mascara box.  I believe the original caption to this series was something along the lines of, "Unfortunately for Daddy's wallet, baby already has good taste in makeup, sorry Daddy!  #Diorshow."  Someone feed that kid, she's obviously starving if she is eating a mascara box.

When we got home, there were lots of giggles and snuggles and just general relaxation.

This next series of photos may be my favorite of all time.  Layla is looking at me with pleading eyes like, "Please don't let her touch me."  And Lilly just has this determined look on her face like, "I will grab your hair and I will try to eat it.  YAY forced cuddling!"  Poor Layla.

Mommy and Daddy hired a babysitter on Saturday night and had a night out on the town. Needless to say, Sunday was very lazy and uneventful, although we did make it to the pool for a while in the afternoon, which Lilly always loves.  An added benefit of the fact that it was cloudy was that we literally had the pool to ourselves.  I think we were probably there for two hours, and L was in heaven.  After we put her to bed, we caught up on some of our shows.

Daddy is going to be the favorite when it comes to reading books, I know it.  Can't you tell how intrigued she is?

Today, we were the most productive by far.  Lilly helped Daddy with laundry while Mommy pumped this morning...

...and then we all got ready and went to breakfast together.  Unfortunately, our usual favorite, Big Ed's, was closed for the holiday, but the Farmer's Market restaurant hit the spot.  L hammed it up for our fellow patrons.  She loved sitting in the high chair, playing with her toys and looking around at all of the people.

She also loved the hot cakes.

After breakfast, we picked up some fresh veggies for another batch of baby food.  We came home to put Lilly down for a quick nap, and Dan and I took the opportunity to get a few things done around the house.  We did laundry, picked up a little, and I started the tedious process of trying to get my closet and dresser slightly more organized.  We had a few more errands to run, so when Lilly woke up we hit the road again.

Shopping buddy

Shopping wears me out!

Our afternoon outing took much longer than expected.  We did, however, finally go to Michael's to get a few things framed for her room that I've been meaning to do since before Lilly was born.  All of the running around wore L slap out, so we headed home for another nap.

I took the opportunity given to me by the second nap to clean up the tornado in my room that occurred due to operation organize my closet.  I am by no means done organizing, but I got off to a great start, which again is a huge accomplishment.  We also put away some of Lilly's clothes and toys that she has outgrown or no longer uses, which was very bittersweet.  I was happy to get organized and contain some of the clutter that litters my house these days, but so sad that she has already outgrown some of the things that she loved so much as a baby (swing, bouncy seat, bumbo, etc.).  It's hard to believe that she is already 7 months old and so big!  Reminiscing over how teeny the clothes she's outgrown are really got me - she's growing so fast!  But all of her Newborn - 3 month clothes are now organized and labeled in tubs, to be used if there should be any future female Baums.  6 month clothes aren't too far behind, I don't think!  We intended to go to the pool again after nap time, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we played inside for a while.

Tonight was low-key again.  Bill, Ryan and Erin came over for dinner (carnitas, my fav!) and football, and a lovely evening was had by all.

It was a wonderful weekend indeed.  I was laughing today at how much my definition of a "wonderful weekend" has evolved over the past two years throughout pregnancy and motherhood.  Wouldn't trade it for the world!  We got enough accomplished this weekend that I don't feel like a total sloth, but we didn't do so much that I felt like I didn't get a break.  We definitely needed the rest, because tomorrow and Wednesday will be super busy and on top of it we have to prepare both Lilly and ourselves for our trip to Charlotte on Wednesday night for operation: leave Lilly with the grandparents.  I can't believe it is already September and Sheila is getting married this weekend!  Dan and I fly out on Thursday morning and can't wait to celebrate with she and Casey.

It's way past my bedtime.  Hope your Labor Day was fabulous!

Sarah