Everyone Loves Lily

Lily, 

Here are the people who ardently admire you...

FAMILY

Bridgett & Sam

Fatima & Ben

Nana (Gretchen) Dunham - Your great-great Grandmother

Theo & Beth Dunham (Your great-grandparents)

Badger

Brooke - Your Aunt's Sister

DADDY'S CLOSE FRIENDS

Lael

Team Kinghorn

Brown Family

MOMMY'S BESTIES

Ali (a.k.a. Nison) - left

Brooke (no nickname yet) - right

Heather - left

Jessica - right

POLAND FRIENDS

 President Walter Whipple (left) & Sister Jensen (right)

Siostra McAdams

Staples Family (Seija pictured below)

Armstrong Family

Andy & Rebecca

 and the kids!

Bailey (and maybe Bryson too).

LAYTON NEIGHBORS

Left to Right: Steve Wood, Renee Schwed, Margene Isom, Lupita O'Neil

WORK BUDDIES

Kelly Kitchen

CHURCH FAMILY - SALT LAKE

Amelia & Nate Sardoni

Elder Dallin Oaks

CHURCH FAMILY - WINSTON SALEM

Sarah Tucker

 STRANGERS WHO THINK LILY IS DARLING AND WANTED THEIR PICTURE TAKEN WITH HER

US Naval Academy

Sweetheart, there are many more people who love you...

... some I forgot to take pictures with them holding you.

... some their pictures accidentally got deleted or lost.

... some have a fear of babies and will one day want to hold you, just not now.

... some have not gotten to hold you yet.

Regardless,

you are loved.

Lily misses Grandma & Grandpa

My parents were the first people to hold Lily (besides Michal... and myself... and the doctor...).

And she loved being held by them, she would just gaze into their faces and just be such a good girl

As she has gotten older, Lily loves to feel like she is helping you out (in other words, she wants whatever you have at the moment).  When I go out to eat, I make sure to grab about 4 spoons so that she feels included and gets to "eat" with us.  These pictures are some of my favorites because she is trying to "help" my mom with her drink.

My mom can always get Lily to smile by calling her "Ninja Baby."  The nickname originated because when you would kiss Lily, she would kiss you back, but it was more like an attack... a ninja attack.

Even though Lily likes to "help" out and gives great kisses, we have also been educating her early.  Below she is receiving her first driving lesson from Grandpa (or maybe she's just "helping" him out).

We took her to see her first outdoor artwork - The Spiral Jetty.

But most of all, Lily just loves to be held!

She sure does miss Grandma & Grandpa so she makes sure that she calls them on FaceTime every day!

Watching Lily on FaceTime has been quite the experience.  She is so confused by the 2D rendering of a person.  She goes to touch their face and can't figure out why they aren't reacting or why she feels a flat screen.  Regardless, my parents still know how to get to her to smile - even if it is all the way across the country.

She is so sad when they hang up... she just wants to talk forever.

Lily can't wait to see her grandparents again!

Sink Sitting

The sink became a babysitter for my little girl when I was living at my parents home.  I would place her in the sink and she would reach for whatever Mommy was just using and feel like she was helping me. I was able to dry my hair, get ready for the day, or shower... all while she sat in the sink entertaining herself in the mirror, or with my toothbrush.

It was so cute that almost everyday I couldn't help myself and I had to get a picture of her sink sitting.  I had people comment and say, "What if she turned on the faucet."  And I think that would have been great to see her reaction to getting wet from her ingeniousness.  

The sink at our old apartment was disgusting and I would never dream of doing this where I lived.  And the sink at our new apartment is slightly too big that she slips when sitting in it (and she tries to suck on the handle of the sink and I just don't like that... it's yucky).

So I'm glad I was able to capture a little piece of Lily's personality and how she liked to sink-sit with me because she felt like she was "helping" me get ready for the day.

She is such a cute baby!

Madeline Ray

My brother & sister-in-law had a baby girl and it is so fun to see Sam be a daddy.  He just beams and is so excited to hold his precious little gem.

They named her Madeline Ray.  The middle name is in honor of my grandfather Dedrickson who was really close to Sam when we were kids growing up.

Everyone was super excited to hold this new little angel.  Unfortunately, when Madeline was born she swallowed some meconium and had to be in the NICU for a couple of days.

When we first went to see little Madeline, I didn't get to hold her because Lily had fallen asleep on me.  So I made sure that I put it on my TO-DO list of things to get done before trekking out to North Carolina.  Sam & Bridgett were only allowed to hold her for an hour each morning and evening, so I was extremely grateful that they sacrificed some of their precious time to allow me to hold their treasure.