busted.

lillian celebrated mardi gras by busting it at the playground this morning.

there was blood. lots of it.

she bit through her bottom lip and skinned her chin. wowza. what a way to start the day. julie - who happens to be visiting this week - helped me lug her home. she screamed the whole way (lillian, not julie) and the blood continued to spew. by the time we made it home, she looked like a cullen pre-reformation.

poor thing.

by the end of nap time, all was forgotten (except that, every so often, she would lightly touch her big fat lip. the look on her face when she did this suggested that she had no idea how it had gotten this way. i have seen this look before. the "wow, what happened last night? look." i might (might) have even had this look myself once or twice. but, i digress.)

other than this incident, littles mcgeezy has had an exciting few days. she is enjoying julie's visit. we have been going going going since julie arrived, which has been fun for all of us. bradford actually took monday off, so we had three full days with him. that, combined with the fact that we have a wonderful guest, have an excuse to eat out and go out for coffee more than usual, and have done some serious "tourism" have made the last few days divine.

speaking of divine. you know what's divine? salted caramels. yes. you heard me. salted caramels. if you can get your hands on some, you must. they are truly delicious. old town, alexandria, has a relatively new candy story that sells these little yummies and i am addicted!

i digress again.

i really hope to keep up with this blog from here on out. i hate that i have let it fall through the cracks. i have just been so busy with my business - which is still going strong - and with travel and my family and my life that i let the routine of blogging routinely (redundant much?) go. but, i am back in the saddle.

until next time -

let this be the first of many

i will start blogging again. i will.

i have decided that it is a must. however, it will never ever happen if i try to catch up. it will only happen if i start from today and move forward, pretending that no gap exists. ignoring the fact that i have been a horrible horrible blogger for some time now. completely living in denial. that is what i will do when it comes to this blog.

so, pretend i have been a perfect blogger. okay. just pretend. pretend you are all caught up on my life because i have been blogging daily - never missing a beat.

im glad we have an understanding.

i will play catch up only this once. with these pics. because they are too good.

happy holidays!

i owe all of you pictures. i know i do. and, since its christmas eve, i offer this:

best wishes to all of you -

hello. we are still here.

i thought i would give a quick update on the hardin family.

we are busy!

my business has really picked up. this is a wonderful (albeit a bit surprising) development. i am working very hard to balance work and family. some things are definitely falling through the cracks - like cleaning for example (those who know me know how difficult letting go of my daily cleaning routine has been) - but i am doing my best to maintain some semblance of order and balance in my life. the transition has been a bit difficult (it all happened so fast), but it gets easier every day. what i have learned (or, rather, am still learning) is that it is very hard to do everything well. i tend towards anxiety when things get busy and stressful - when i feel as if i am losing control. i have to constantly remind myself that some things - like daily vacuuming for example - must be sacrificed for the greater good. sometimes, you have to prioritize and let go of the things that really don't matter. that is what i am learning to do.

but, enough about me.

bradford is off in NYC today (he left yesterday) on work related business. he is still doing well at work (as we all knew he would!). they keep him very busy, but he is doing an incredible job with the work/life balance - which i so appreciate. he has been my biggest fan during this new business venture. i couldn't (and wouldn't) have done it without his never-ending support.

next week we leave for birmingham, alabama, where we will see family and friends and witness my cousin ashley get married to a wonderful man. i couldn't be happier for her and couldn't be more excited about heading back down south. we will leave from birmingham to go down to mobile, alabama, to visit bradford's family - which will be a blast i am sure. can't wait! we plan on seeing as many people as we can during our trip and have already made plans to visit with Judge Fuller and chambers. maybe we will see my judge as well?

okay - now for what actually interests you -

lillian is doing well. she started sleeping all the way through the night (yes!!). we knew she would when she got good and ready, and she did not disappoint. we are both glad that we stuck to our guns about not "sleep training" her - of course, some people swear by it but we felt it just wasn't for us.

another big announcement - lils also stopped breastfeeding! she is a full time drink from a cup baby now. this transition went extremely smoothly - she was ready apparently! i started to notice that her feedings did not seem to interest her as much and cut back a little bit, which she did not seem to mind. then, we stopped feeding before bed (because she didn't seem that interested). i did not think that she would fully wean, because she was waking during the night to eat. but, once she dropped her before bed feeding she immediately started sleeping through the night (imagine that) - this means so more breastfeeding!

i miss my little baby and am sad that our breastfeeding days are over. we made it one year and one month, which i know is a big accomplishment, but i will miss it. with that said, i am glad that the transition went smoothly. i told myself that i would not hang on to breastfeeding for me, and would take cues from lils about when to stop, and that's what we did. i am proud of lillian! she is growing up.

now, i must admit that i tried to get her to sleep with us again the other night. i miss co-sleeping and had forgotten why we stopped. i immediately remembered, because lillian did not like sleeping in the bed with us. she couldn't get comfortable and slept horribly for a few hours. it made me sad to transfer her to her own bed in the middle of the night, but that's what she wanted. she really has grown into an independent little thing.

what else? lillian now does a forward roll by herself. at least, that's what she thinks is happening. she bends over, puts her head and hands on the floor in the forward roll start position, and then flops over with the biggest smile. we clap and congratulate her on her acrobatic abilities - but, can barely hold back our laughter. it is the funniest thing.

she still loves her "monkey-doggy," which is what she calls her curious george monkey now. she loves to sing "the itsy bitsy spider" and does the hand motions. singing this has replaced breastfeeding at bedtime. (oh how the times are a changin').

she loves her uggs - a gift from aunt val - and carries them around the house (and tries to wear them to bed). she says "yucky yucky" when she makes a dirty diaper. she likes to put her cloth diapers on monkey doggy. she says "ut oh" when she drops something. she seems to say new words daily!

okay, so i must get back to work. i hope you enjoyed the update.

and, i must apologize for not blogging more often. i promise i will get back to it when things calm down. (maybe no one even reads this blog anymore?)

and, to all of those i love - family and friends - i apologize that i have not been in better contact these days. i have just been so busy. but, i do love you all and appreciate your support. please, know that!

have a wonderful weekend.

lillian barnett hardin: one year stats

we took lillian to the doctor for her one year check up this past week.

here's how she measured up:

weight: 19lb 3 oz, 15 percentile

height: 29.25 inches, 50 percentile

head circumference: 17.5, 30 percentile

lillian did very well at her checkup, despite the fact that she had to have two shots and had to have blood drawn. the results of her blood test? negative for lead. negative for anemia. positive for egg allergy.

we hoped she would grow out of her egg allergy. but, she hasn't. she's a better vegetarian than we are - no eggs for her.

in conclusion, i am working on pictures from her birthday right now. i have decided not to do anything above the most basic of edits - i just don't have time. so, i should be able to post some soon. i have been crazy busy with work and with life. forgive me.

speak to me, oh lillian

i have been trying to keep up with a list (in my head - along with all of the other lists floating around in there) of all of the words that lillian knows (and says), but it is difficult. in the past week or so, she has really picked up the pace when it comes to word usage. [it's kinda crazy really]. so, fyi and as a reminder to us, here it goes:

• night night
• hi
• what's that
• doggie
• duck
• eye
• dada

and, in the past day or so, she has said belly button (this one sounds like "beba but'n"), yuck, and water.

there might be more, and i will update if/when i think of them.

hello.

hope you are having a good day. we are.

bradford is out of town at a wedding. lil and i are bachin it up here. this morning, we drove lils' car (more on this later) down to the del ray farmer's market where we picked up donuts and coffee and met up with allen, liz and ruby denson. lils demolished her donut with a quickness. she is a donut eating machine. then, this afternoon, we visited one of our favorite coffee shops (cause of its proximity to the little gym), which was having a fall craft fair. it did not meet expectations to say the very least. so, we went home, got lils' car, and went down to the local elementary school's fall festival. it was rockin.

now, lils is napping, and i am working (sorta).

good day.