Lily's First Christmas!

We had a wonderful time this Christmas! We spent Christmas eve with Chris's parents and then we made the drive up to Sparta on Christmas morning to be with my family! Lily was cute opening presents. She didn't quite understand the concept of Christmas or Santa, but she got some things from Uncle Tony and Santa that she couldn't seem to keep her eyes off of. She loved her tea set from Santa and she loved her Little People airplane hanger from Uncle Tony and Aunt Amber. She also got some neat things from Aunt Angela from Korea. She got a neat board book of animals that's written in Korean. You should hear me trying to read it! I have included some pictures of Lily at my friend Annarose's house on Christmas. Believe it or not, we didn't get many pictures of her opening presents because we were putting it all on video- hopefully we will get around to posting that soon! Enjoy and Happy New Year to all!

Lily's first Snow

Over the past 24 hours we have had 2 feet of snow fall! This is the first snow we've had in Philadelphia this year so far. School has already been canceled for tomorrow and I thought that since I don't have to get to bed early, this is the perfect opportunity to update Lily's blog.

After the snow finally stopped 24 hours later, Chris was just ITCHING to take Lily out in it so she could see it and play in it for the first time. She is getting over a cold and I argued this with Chris, but his goofy smile prevailed as always! We bundled up Lily in a sleep and play, snow pants, and then finally put on her hat, mittens, and jacket. We put her snow boots on her, but they didn't fit in the makeshift sled that Chris made out of a tupperware container and twine...(Don't even ask my what the hell he was thinking!)

Lily lasted all of 2 minutes because she promptly fell out of the sled that Chris was pulling and landed face first in the snow- which Chris thought was hysterical... but to which I panicked and picked her up all dramatic and wiped all the snow off- she was fine- but she was no longer interested in the snow!

I think she will have more fun next year when she can walk and run in it....We hope everyone has a blessed Christmas and we look forward to being able to spend time with each other, (me and Chris), and with our families. We hope to get lots of pictures including pictures with Caren's dad who plays Santa every year-

Merry Christmas!

Lily with Santa!

Here are our Christmas pictures! Lily was great with Santa! I was worried that she would be afraid but she just looked and looked at him! She looked super cute in her Christmas dress with her beret! Check her out! TOO CUTE!

Lily on her stomach!

This morning we walked into Lily's room to wake her up and she was sleeping on her stomach for the first time since she was born! It was too cute to see! Lily is so close to crawling that Chris and I are getting excited. We had her on her stomach last night on the floor and she tries so hard to crawl to this stupid bunny she has! I'll take a video the minute she starts crawling!

Getting Ready for Christmas!

Hey everybody!

We're starting to get ready for Christmas and we're excited to be going to see Santa this weekend at Feeny's! I hope to have fun pictures to post on Sunday... so check back in for that. We are so excited that Angela is coming home and we can hardly wait to see her and spend some time with us! I'm hoping she will come up to Philly for a couple of days after Christmas. Chris and I are looking to buy a used SUV since we're starting to outgrow the Cobalt with Lily... We're not sure if that will go through, but we're looking. It's a start! I've enclosed a family picture that was taken at a studio for Christmas! Aren't we so CUTE?

Love to all!
The Gentiles

Thanksgiving

Hey everyone! Here are some overdo shots of the family pumpkin picking- (in the rain...) and of is on Thanksgiving a few days ago. We had a blast and spent 3 days in Sparta with everyone but the most-missed Aunt Angela. Enjoy!

Lily's Elf Dance!

Copy the below text to see a cute dance of Lily's!


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Halloween Pictures!

I have been a bad girl and I haven't uploaded my pictures from my camera on to my computer yet, so I stole these from Caren- here is Lily in her giraffe costume and here is Nathan as a dinosaur!

Lily says Trick-or-Treat to Grandmom and Grandpop Gentile!

Yesterday was Halloween and Lily was a giraffe! Once I get a chance I will upload a video of Lily in her giraffe costume. I have attached a video of Nona making Lily laugh last weekend when we were home to pumpkin pick- which never happened to Angela's joy I'm sure! Rumors are true that I was sick this week with pneumonia, but I'm feeling much better!

Reflections

Last night Chris and I were reflecting on how much we miss the days where Lily was so little and we could just snuggle her constantly. Lily is almost 18 pounds and my back honestly hurts by the end of the day now- It's fun watching her get bigger and develop a personality, but I truly miss the days where she was so little! I have enclosed my favorite picture of my mom holding Lily in the hospital. Look how tiny she is! I started this blog when Lily was 2 months old and you can see the progression of how much bigger she is now. My mom has been giving me a hard time too that she's the only one not on the blog, ("Even my sister is on the blog Amanda! Give me a break!") So here is a picture mom!

Lily Kisses

So Chris and I have taught Lily to give kisses. It's too funny- She hasn't learned to close her mouth and she pulls your face down to her so she can get your cheek with her tongue! She then proceeds to lick you all over your face with a big smile on her face. She also gives hugs, but she doesn't realize she has to raise her arms so when you are holding her she just shoves her whole face into your shoulder- (That's a Lily hug...)

Every morning when I go in to get her out of her crib she is all smiles and gives lots of kisses and hugs- it makes it very difficult for me to leave her in the morning. This Saturday we are going pumpkin picking with the Tadolini, Gregory, Celeste, Gentile clan! We're hoping to get our Christmas picture at the patch, but it's supposed to rain all day so we'll see how good of a picture we can get. We will be putting Lily in one of her like 4 costumes. She looks equally cute in all of them so it's certainly a big decision that we have to make!

Lily

I haven't posted in a while because I've been a bad girl and haven't been taking as many pictures. If you want some interesting things on Lily you can refer to Chris's facebook page. He has a cute video of her jumping in the doorway jumper and also her and her cousin in their strollers! Lily is getting so receptive when I talk to her! She constantly wants to stand up when you are holding her- and she gets all pissy if you try to give her her nook when she doesn't want it she spits it out and screams. She can roll over, sit with a little bit of assistance and she can sign the words, Mommy, Daddy, milk, and cat. (Too cute seeing her make whiskers.)I'll write more in a couple of days!

Lily gets ready for Halloween

Lily tried on one of her potential Halloween costume. Daddy picked out the giraffe costume. We still don't know what she'll be for Halloween though. She may outgrow the costumes she already has!

Tooth Trouble!

Well Lily has officially cut her second tooth. No wonder she was fussy for my mom on Saturday night. She was in pain! She now has her two bottom teeth poking out of her gums. I tried to take a picture, but she won't keep her mouth open long enough!

Lily is a champion eater!

Here is a little video of Lily eating avocado's and bananas! She is a champ and downed this creative concoction that I made tonight! I want her to get the vitamins and oils in the avocado...but the bananas make it nice and sweet. Enjoy!

No more swaddling!

Last night for the first night EVER- Chris and I put Lily to bed without swaddling her. I was so nervous because that's the way Lily has always slept and we were so lucky that she started sleeping through the night at a month old! I was convinced that the reason she slept through the night was because we were swaddling her.(We used the Swaddle-Me and the Miracle Blanket.) I am still convinced that that was why Lily slept through the night, but now I know that she can handle sleeping through the night without being swaddled. I think it will help her now to roll over and move around more in her crib. I can't believe Lily is almost 5 months old already- the time sure does go fast!

I would recommend the Swaddle-Me to any parent who wants their child to sleep through the night. It really keeps them from waking themselves up with their arms and legs- Plus, they feel like they are getting held in a hug! The miracle blanket is great too- it keeps their arms more secure if you are having your baby bust out of the Swaddle-Me- You can only buy the miracle blanket online....but it's worth the price.

Lily rolled over!

On Saturday Lily officially rolled over from her back to her stomach! Chris layed down next to her on the floor and she just HAD to see her Daddy- and BAM! She rolled over! Then she did this weird gymnastics move where she pretended she was a turtle and started balancing on her belly and put her arms and legs straight out like she was flying- it was awesome! We also started giving Lily solid foods. So far she loves sweet potatos, squash, baby applesauce, and baby bananas. She HATES peas....that's my girl! She gets her food everywhere and she blows rasberries when she has her food in her mouth getting her food all over the kitchen. Daddy and Mommy have reduced themselves to wearing aprons when they feed Lily. Pictures to follow shortly!

Lily's tooth!

So Lily has her first tooth! It's on her bottom front and it's a little whit nub poking through her gum- Chris found it yesterday at the doctor! Lily had her 4 month appointment yesterday and she weighs 15 1/2 pounds and is 25 inches long! She's doing great! She's in the 90 % for weight and the 75 % for height! The doctor recommended giving her rice cereal now and we tried mixing in peas yesterday! She ate a little bit, but it was a MESS! She got peas everywhere- we were going to take a video of it, but we couldn't find the video camera. We will get around to it eventually....

Lily is off her heart Monitor!

Lily is officially off her heart monitor! As of last Thursday, the pediatrician called to say that Lily is sleeping with much more regular breathing and that she no longer needs to be on it. We are so excited! For the first time we can put pants on Lily and use zippers on her again! The first night she was off it was a little nerve wracking, but Lily is doing great and you can hear her breathing on her baby monitor which is good for Mommy's sake! It is a fact that all of our babies will now be on a heart monitor for the first weeks of their lives JUST IN CASE... but now we are pro's at it and it won't be such a big deal for us to trek around her heart monitor. Lily has her 4 month Dr. appointment today and will be given 5 vaccines, so I'm sure she will be cranky the next couple of days. The doctor recommends her getting the H1N1 vaccine too, and I'm supposed to take off from work for that day because she is going to be in bad shape from it- I'm not thrilled about having to take off from work, but I absolutely feel strongly that all children should get the H1N1 vaccine as Chris and myself will. Don't mess around with not getting the flu vaccine- I've never even gotten a flu shot myself, but now that I have a daughter who can die from the flu, you better believe I'm getting it!

Lily's Photo Shoot!

Today Lily's photo's came back from the photographer! Feel free to upload and make copies. Aunts- I'm sending you each a 5x7 and Siblings... NO WORRIES... you will get them in the mail as well...

Lily's First Laugh

On Saturday Mom and I were changing Lily and she did a little chortle of a laugh when I bopped her on the nose. After that incident... we couldn't get her to laugh again- Then all of a sudden, I pretended to eat Lily up and she started belly laughing so LONG! We actually caught it on tape. It's been 24 hours now and she STILL HASN'T LAUGHED since this incident.. gotta figure out which buttons to push!

Lily says hello to Aunt Ang

Here is a cute video of Lily talking to Aunt Angela in Korea!

Mommy heads back to work

Well- tomorrow marks a milestone in Lily's life. Tomorrow I head back to work. I have an all day workshop and will be leaving Lily with Chris' Aunt Marion! I'll be gone all day! What was my life like before Lily came into it? I can't even remember anymore... Well here is a picture of her Mommy and her- (my hair is curly now....) Any words of advice on how to cope with going back to work and leaving your baby at home?

Lily has a cold-

Lily has her first cold and it's killing me. I took her to the doctor this morning and the doctor said she has a viral cold and that there isn't really anything they can do unless it goes into an ear infection. BUT... I did the right thing bringing her into the doctor because she's still so young that you should always have their lungs checked when they have a cold.

She's running a slight fever and just acting miserable, which I totally understand because she can't really breath well through her nose. I've been spoiling her and letting her take her naps in her swing, which she loves to do- I don't like her to sleep in her swing because I don't want her to get into the routine of falling asleep in it. Luckily she falls asleep on her own in her crib at night.

Anyway- everyone says this is a milestone-the baby having their first cold....It breaks Mommy and Daddy's hearts...:-(

Lily at the Shore

Hey Gang!

I've been meaning to write a blog with some pictures from when Lily was at the shore, but I haven't gotten around to it. We had a great time at the shore in a house that mom and Skip rented. Lily was only 2 months at the time and she really couldn't be down at the beach for TOO long because of her age. When she was on the beach though she did great. There was one episode where she had a huge DUMP and mom had to change her on a beach chair though- classic Lily...

Lily got to feel the ocean for the first time and she really did great. She didn't like how cold it was and kept lifting her legs and shrieking when we would try to put her feet in. It was too cute... Here are some cute pictures. Her bathing suit was purchased by Aunt Angela and boy did she look cute in it!

Lily's Baptism! 8-16-09

Today Lily was baptized! It was a beautiful ceremony led my Fr. Quan and Lily actually held up very well. We worried she would get fussy, but we fed her right before and she did great! We have a short video of the actual baptism, and a couple of pictures as well! Hopefully Nona will share her pictures with us, because ours didn't come out so hot.. Lily is now officially cleansed of her original sin and does not have Satan in her as Fr. Quan performed an exorcism as well... *who would have guessed that all goes down at a baptism?*

Lily's Photo Shoot

Hey Everyone!

So today the photographer came and showed me the pictures of Lily's photo shoot from a couple of weeks ago. Every single picture they took of her is practically adorable. I wound up ordering a photo package that was none to cheap, but it comes with a CD with all of the pictures on it so that we can print them ourselves if we want to. I'm so excited to get them in the mail in the next couple of weeks. *Hint, Hint* I have a feeling that many of you are going to be getting framed pictures of little Lily for Christmas this year! OH JOY!!!!

Aunt Angela

Aunt Angela is leaving for South Korea tomorrow and Lily is kinda sad about it..:-(

Here is a picture of the two of them at Aunt Angela's going away dinner!

Swing-

So we broke down and got Lily an extravagant swing.We couldn't get the Rainforest one that Aunt Nancy had at her house for us to use- we got the Fisher Price Cradle n' Swing stargazer. So ridiculous... I'll attach a picture so you can see how crazy this thing is- but it's so worth it because Lily absolutely ADORES this thing! Chris says it's the "I Dream of Genie" Swing....

Lily in Denver

Family & Friends~

Lily just got home from her first trip to Denver. While there she got to see her Great Grandpa Gregory, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Paul, Dominick, Arianne & Adam, and Aunt Debbi and Uncle Jerry- We all had a great vacation and are so thankful that Aunt Nancy and Uncle Paul put us up in their now empty nest.

Check out our pictures from our trip!

Amanda, Chris & Lily