Happy Birthday Imogene!

Yesterday was a great day - we had wonderful family and lovely friends over to the house yesterday afternoon to help celebrate Imogene's first birthday. She seemed to have a great time too! However, she was not a fan of the cake. Not sure if it was the icing or the way it felt on her hands, but she really didn't get all smashy-messy with the cake, as I secretly hoped she would! Imogene had the best time playing with a balloon this morning. Especially cute was when she used it as a pillow while she watched TV! She also had a fun time playing with the ribbon and plastic bag from a gift. Lily's best line of the day: When Maggie arrived, (bless that sweet Maggie for coming and letting Lily drag her and Lucy & Will all over the house) polite Lily said to her, "Maggie, we have beer. Would you like a beer?" She sees/hears us offer drinks to people at parties, and must have known it was the nice thing to do. It was classic Lily. Lily was a very gracious and helpful big sister, and did a nice job opening Imogene's gifts for her, but not getting to territorial! I'll include a few pictures here, and then here is a link to an album of more pictures in January.

Birthday Breakfast

The Smash Cake

She really doesn't like this.

Imogene loved the bag that her adorable new cupcake shirt from the Joneses came in.

The Big Day Approaches

It's the Birthday-eve! Mommy is feeling a bunch of emotions this week, which is probably why I haven't updated the blog. I just can't put into any words, even rambling, nonsense words what it means to me that our little Imogene Blanche, our baby, is one. I know everyone says this, but it just doesn't seem possible that a year has passed. So much has happened in that time. At times the greatest measure of the time that has passed is how much Lily changed since her baby sister was born. She really isn't a toddler anymore - just 6 weeks from turning 4!
Imogene was born via c-section at 9:32 am on January 16, 2009. She weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. The delivery went really well. She did swallow a little fluid on the way into the world, so instead of going straight to the recovery room with us, she went to the nursery, with Bill in tow! About three hours later, Bill returned to the recovery room and I finally got to hold that little peanut. Lily came with Naney and Aunt Susan to the hospital later that afternoon. She was so wide-eyed by the whole hospital scene (especially by the gown and wires all over mommy). In the pictures from that first meeting, Lily is just beside herself with wonder, awe and instant love for her baby sister. She was especially excited that her new sister had brought her a gift! She immediately wanted to hold her and help her with her pacifier. Sweet Imogene has patiently tolerated all that "love" from her sister since those first moments.
We'll celebrate her birthday, and the growth of our family and our hearts tomorrow. Hope to get some pictures posted as soon as I can! (From tomorrow, and from her 'birth-day' too!)
Also have some fun pictures of Imogene 'feeding' Lily food off her high chair tray. So funny!

Back in the Real World

Apologies for the dry-spell our five loyal blog-readers! The Siglers were without phone, Internet and cable for 3 days. The cable wasn't that big of a deal. Bill and I watched several episodes of "Glee," which we really enjoyed. The phone and internet were pretty difficult to survive without for that long. Thank goodness for the Blackberries!

Friday was Lily's first trip to the dentist. She was such a great patient. Dr. Delaney (what a perfect pediatric dentist she is!) was very complimentary about Lily's teeth and Lily did everything that Dr. Delaney and her assistant asked her to without any hesitation. I wasn't that surprised, she loves that attention and all the new gear, and of course the stickers. But it hit me as we sat down, "what am I going to do with Imogene if Lily goes nuts about having her teeth cleaned? Why didn't I think of this before we got here?" Fortunately they were both very cooperative - Lily as the patient, Imogene as the support. And I was relieved that her teeth looked clean and healthy. She hasn't always been the best dental patient at home, and I was worried the dentist would take one look and her mouth and know immediately that Lily had eaten a fruit-strip or cereal bar every day for the last two years! (Neither one very good for your teeth!)
Imogene started to grunt and make funny 'attention-getting' noises during the cleaning part of Lily's visit. She either was worried about what they were doing to her sister, or thought they were feeding Lily, and wanted in on that! Both girls will go back in July.
Imogene totally gets the phone now. She holds cell phones, real phones, channel changers, toy phones, just about anything up to her ear and makes a sound like 'heh" - which is maybe her version of hello. It's hysterical. Also a few times I've been able to get her to give me kisses. This means that she opens her whole mouth super-wide and drools all over you while going "ohhhh-ohhh." She makes the same sound when she loves on Lily or a baby doll. Such a sweetheart she is.
This is Imogene's last week as a 'baby.' I know she's still a baby even when she's one, but it just seems like such a huge deal that our baby is turning one. I keep thinking about how much our life has changed in just 12 short months. We've also seen how big Lily's heart is as she's grown up so much this year, and become such an amazing big sister. Yes, she has her jealous, attention-seeking moments, but on the whole, she has loved Imogene with every part of her heart and soul. I also think about how much we've been tested, and hope that we've responded in the best way we could for Imogene, Lily and ourselves. And how much we've learned! About the human body - how much sleep you really need (uninterrupted night's sleep how I miss you!), how the brain works and how resilient babies and kids are. And about the human heart - how important it is to have friends and family to support you, how really strong your marriage is (stronger than you even imagined) and how much you can love, and love, and love two precious girls, and know that there is room in your heart to love them even more!

Imogene loves bath time. She goes crazy, though, when lily joins her!

She just loves her big sister.

Playing peek-a-boo.

Bath hug.

"Helping" after I'd gotten all the Christmas cards in the album I keep them in.

She's very proud of herself.

Cold, Cold and More Cold

We are dealing with some cold days here. Lily said today, "hurry and get me in the car mom, I'm freezing and I'm getting freezing-er."
The new basement/playroom is working out really well. The toys are still all over the place, but at least they aren't all over the main floor. The one problem is that with all the cold weather we're having, it's colder than usual in the basement. So off the girls and I went to Home Depot today for a space heater. We used the self-checkout, and as I am about to leave Lily says "wait, wait Mom. She hasn't said it." "Hasn't said what, Lily?" "Thank you for shopping at Home Depot!" Two seconds later, the machine says it, and I'm allowed to leave. There is nothing that gets past this kid!

Watching Paint Dry

Borrowing a great idea from a friend, I painted the top of a door in the kitchen and a square of a door in the playroom/basement with chalkboard paint. Laying on the floor watching me, Lily says "Why is this so bored? Why am I so boring?" At one point she actually sat in a chair, turned on the timer to her play kitchen and watched the paint dry. She is going crazy to use chalk on them - but boy has she figured out how boring it is to watch paint dry!

At church today she told Maggie that she missed her during the holidays. So dear. I missed Maggie too! Can't wait until Thursday!

It's one of those slightly depressing Sundays here. Bill has been home for the greater portion of the last two weeks and it has been heavenly for all of us. Time goes so quickly when you are busy with the mess that is life with two small children - cleaning, playing, eating, cleaning some more, playing some more, eating again, cleaning again :0)! Imogene will be ONE in thirteen days! Slow down Father Time, slow down!

Happy New Year!

Lily stayed up late last night to watch the Hokies in the Chick-Fil-A bowl. We learned several things from this adventure. 1. Brand Recognition starts at a young age. Lily called out the CFA logo on the field right away. 2. Lily loves to watch sports and cheer for any team. She put on the outfit Uncle Ryan gave her and shook her pom-poms for both teams - especially since she knew Aunt Susan was there cheering on the Vols. (Sorry Aunt Susan!) 3. Lily needs 11-12 hours of sleep a night.

She was not all that much fun today because she was "just so tired." It took her about 3 minutes to fall asleep tonight! But it was fun to let her feel special last night, and pretty cute when she finally fell asleep on the floor.



Imogene has started off the new year with a great new skill. She can officially go from laying down to sitting up on her own. The transition is giving her an idea that she can get on her knees and play a little bit, which should help with crawling. She also seems to understand that she can pull up on your legs or small boxes/bins ... she's finally getting to do a little more exploring! If I haven't said it enough, she really is a sweet, happy baby most of the time! She is such a cuddler and loves hugging and kissing - especially Lily!

And now, some funny "Lilyisms" ...
We received a Garmin navigation tool from Aunt Susan for Christmas (Love it!) If you tell it where you are going, it will call out the directions to you. The 'lady' is Lily's new favorite toy. Once the navigation tells you to go left, Lily tells you to go left too. Sometimes I think she really believes she is the only one that can hear her! Navigation lady, "turn left, then left." Lily, "turn left then left Mom." Navigation lady "go 400 yards." Lily "go to 400 yards Mom." Never fails, every time. It's cute, but it's going to get a little annoying soon!

Watching the "outside hockey game" today. (NHL Game at Fenway. Awesome!) Lily didn't like it when they slammed up against the boards. "That is not fair and makes people sad." So when I offered to change the channel when a fight started, "No Mom I LIKE HOCKEY!"

Later, "do girls play hockey? I want to play hockey too."



We were somewhere and all of us talked about how good it smelled. "Isn't it great that we have noses so we can smell?"

December Pictures

Here is a link to a bunch of pictures from December.

Settle In!

There is so much to update our loyal readers. So settle in for a long winter's read!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Naney, Susan & Ryan were all here to help us celebrate. Church on Christmas Eve, followed by dinner with our friends Stephen, Lindsay & Sydney. We opened our traditional Christmas Eve gift - pajamas for everyone. This year Lily, Imogene and Mommy all received matching pj's. Lily loved this! Poor thing though - she had known for several days that she got to open that one present on the 24th. One day she actually said, "Mom, I'm opening this now. I know I can't, but I'm going to." Her head was about to explode with excitement by the time she finally opened it.

Both girls actually slept past 7 on Christmas morning. Lily came right into our room and said "Merry Christmas!" Keeping yet another tradition, everyone has to be awake and ready before anyone can go see what Santa brought. So, Lily had to wait for all of us to be up and ready to go! When she did start down the stairs, I said "Lily, Santa came." She stopped dead in her tracks, with this look on her face of fear. I think she thought he was still in the living room! She walked right up to her new doll, Emily, and gave her a hug and then said "Why did Santa give this to me?" At one point during the morning she took Emily into the playroom to meet her other dolls. She actually had Emily shake hands with one of them! She was really sweet all day - kept talking about what a wonderful, amazing Christmas it was. She thanked everyone and made the day so magical. Right up until Imogene opened her new baby doll and Lily took it right away. The pictures from the day are much more fun than my ramblings, so I'll get some posted soon.

Imogene had lots of fun too - except for about 15-20 minutes during present-opening where she just bawled. She was either miserable from the FIVE new teeth that are coming in, or just overwhelmed by all of it. Her daddy, who she loves the most, got her to calm down, and the rest of her day was great. She especially loved getting to eat her breakfast and her lunch in the living room. What's not to love about being entertained while you partake in your favorite pastime - eating!?! Imogene received several of her favorite toys that she plays with in therapy.

Lily was just fun on Christmas. During dinner she said "Wow this a great Christmas dinner, wow, isn't this great Mom?" She would only eat crescent rolls and brown rice by the way! She even handled the end of the presents pretty well, but definitely wanted to open as many gifts as possible.

Aunt Susan and Mommy took Lily to see "The Princess and the Frog" Saturday afternoon. Lily sat so cute in her own seat, feet touching the edge of the chair with popcorn in between her legs and for the first 1/2 of the movie just watched and ate her weight in popcorn. Then she moved and sat in my lap and drank a juice box. With just a little bit left in the movie, and probably not coincidentally when it got a little scary, Lily started sobbing. When I asked her why she was crying, she wimpered all pathetically, "I am crying because my juice box is empty." We had to try very hard not to laugh. I really think she was just overwhelmed by all of it - the big theater, the loud-nature of the movie, and the fact that it was a just a tiny bit 'dark' - lots of voo doo and scary shadows. So we might not be ready for Disney just yet, and may stick to the classics, like "White Christmas." I mean really, what almost 4 year-old doesn't chose Bing Crosby over Snow White?

Sunday was our day to stay in the 3 year old church-school room. Naney and Aunt Susan stayed home with Imogene. Lily of course had to take Emily the doll with her (and then did not touch her the entire time). She was a riot with the other kids. One interchange between Lily and a boy named Colin, upon seeing a picture of the Princess from the movie.
Colin: "I saw that movie with my mom and my sister."
Lily: "I went to that movie at the movies with my mom and Aunt Susan yesterday. Did you see Calista (another girl at church) there? She saw it too. I'm three and a half. How old are you? Okay, let's go play with those blocks now, Colin."
At which point Colin follows.

I don't get what it is that makes Lily the little bossy-pants. I'm sure she gets it from her mother a little bit, but she used to be so afraid of other kids. At one point over the holidays, when we had neighbors over, Lily and her two friends Owen & Will come up from the basement and Lily is leading them around the house while they hold onto a jump rope. When asked what they are doing, they reply, "Following Lily." Boys, come on! Stand up to the bossy-pants!

Imogene has had some rough nights of sleep lately. We took her to see the pediatrician yesterday. Since she's had a runny nose for almost 2 months, and a cough off and on during that time, they decided to put her on antibiotics. Last night she had one of her best nights of sleep of her entire 11 months of life! Not sure if it was the antibiotics, or the tiny bit of benadryl the doctor also recommended! A huge milestone for Imogene is that she can sit herself up from laying down! What a big, big deal this is for all of us. As she gets more comfortable with this, we're hoping it will help her be less frustrated. She really wants to get up and get around more than she can. She loves to take your phone and hold it up to her ear. How quickly these babies pick up on what's going on around them! At her OT appointment today, Amy (her OT) wrapped her left arm in an ace bandage and "constrained" her so that she had to use the right. Bill reports that she handled it pretty well the first two times, but the third time she had enough! It is really hard to believe that she is going to be one year old in just two weeks!


Lily is very into having babies in her belly. She will show you her baby doll, and say, "would you like to meet my born-baby? You are supposed to say 'gratulashun' to me Mommy." At one point she told me that there was no daddy for the baby (I think this was because Bill was not here.) and I told her how that sounded tough to be by herself with a 'born' baby, and she replied "Yes, I'm trying hard to keep it up." So funny with she comes up with.

Bill took the girls out for a little bit while Naney and Mommy took the Christmas tree down. Jokingly on the way out the door Bill said "maybe they'll even have the lights off when we get back." Lily opens the door upon returning and her most disappointed/critical voice says "Oh Dad, the lights are still on the tree."

Bill and I were talking last night about how unbelievably sweet it is when Imogene reaches out/jumps out of your arms to hug Lily and love on her. She makes this cute little 'oh' sound and is just so happy to be with her favorite person. It really makes every trying or difficult moment as a parent worth it ten-fold. What lucky parents we are to welcome in 2010 with our girls!

Happy New Year!

Gingerbread Tradition

For the second year we decorated a gingerbread house with Uncle Ryan. Lily decorates a little and then eats a lot of icing and candy. She is a big fan of gumdrops.

She actually said "Mom no pictures until it's done."