Drinking milk.

Delilah has now decided that she only wants milk. She quit nursing before thanksgiving and decided last week that formula was not what she wanted and now cows milk is all the rage. She's the boss.

did anyone notice how I put Delilah in one of Elliots shirts(the sweet brown shirt with pink and red polkadots) and there is a pic of elliot as a baby right next to it on the blog...my heart...

Our little baby girl is 1

I cannot believe that a year has gone by. It feels like we just brought her home, though its impossible to imagine our world without her. I can remember when I had Elliot, people asking me all the time if I was "over the moon" and "it's hard to imagine life without her, right?" and I was thinking to myself...what? I remember all too clear how it was to sleep and do what I want when I want to do it and I am still trying to get to know this little baby that literally scares the shit out of me. Not that I didn't fall in love with her immediately, but I thought I would look at her and think to myself "it's you" Which I know the fact that Elliot was a girl, rocked my world. But I remember thinking, who are you? I don't know you and I have no idea how to do this. It was the longest most formative year of my life. That being said... When Sehra Delilah was born, I had a similar reaction when she was born because she also surprised me that she was a girl, not to mention her birth was stressful and I didn't get the ultra important bonding moments with her after she was born due to the fact that she was having trouble breathing and holding her vitals. BUT...once we got the ok to move out of the labor and delivery room and move into our recovery room, it was almost immediate that I recognized her (it probably took some of the horrible swelling to go down)and felt as though I knew her. I think it was because she reminded me so much of elliot even though they didn't look very much alike but there was something so familiar about her immediately. I suppose that I also wasn't in shock either:) Once we got her home, she was added into our life as though she was always there. Sure, it was hard, as it always is though the second time around it is so much easier because my life was already set up to not sleep and focus on the kids before myself. Delilah, Baby D, Sehra D, Boo Boo is just a sweet girl. She came out looking identical to her daddy. She still does, but she is changing and has some flavors of mommy in there. She has the biggest blue eyes with super long lashes and a smile that doesn't stop. She is almost as determined as Elliot and she will let you know if she is not happy, but in general she is just a sweet natured little girl that smiles and flirts with everyone. She is now walking - tentatively, but its now the main mode of transportation. She has been taking her time with it and been working on it for over a month but she is getting pretty good and even bending her knees now:) She is a great eater. She will pretty much eat whatever you put in front of her which is nice after Elliot, my little picky eater(who knew that could be genetic?) This time, I can honestly say, that this year flew by and I can't imagine life without her. I'm so sad that she is growing up so fast. Knowing that she is our last little munchkin, its hard to watch her baby time fade. She is my snuggly little baby that loves to love. We had a fabulous over the top one year birthday blow out complete with a bouncy house, face painting, grilling and a keg of beer:). It was definitely more for the older kids and the parents, as Delilah napped through a good portion of it, but it was the best party ever.

I have now moved her into her big girl carseat facing forward (i know, some say not until 2) but she is so much happier and I have the best seat in the house when I look in my rearview mirror and I see my two sweet baby girls behind me. Who knew? I never pictured myself having a daughter, nevermind 2, but it sure it sweet and I can't wait for all the girl fun to come. Thank you, Danny for my beautiful children, our love filled life, being the most amazing hands on dad, getting up with her (and Elliot) at 5 am and letting me sleep some more and most importantly for still being here when I'm clinically cu-razy! Thank you, Mom for all your help and the way you love my kids (all of them) Thank you, Dad for making sure to be here for their big days Thank you, Brooke Amys for being my place of comfort, sanity, and laughter Thank you, Ryan and Tk for being awesome and having kids at the same time as me:) Thank you, Running, relays and triathlon Thank you, life.

Old friends, new neighbors!

We are super lucky to have had our avl bffs move literally around the corner! Taylor and Elliot have grown up together since the womb. The amount if adorable pics we have if these two is too many to count. Brooke (Taylor's mom) and I sit in awe as we watch our little babies turn into little ladies. They are so smart and almost self sufficient - at least while they are playing:). They are such good girls and such wonderful big sisters. They are also in the same pre-k class this year which is very fun for them because like their mothers, they can't seem to talk and hang out enough. Love.

11 months old!

This little sweet chubby child is now officially 11 months old. She is getting so big weighing in at 19.5 lbs having gained 1.5 lbs in just the last month. She is eating pretty much what we eat. She charms everyone she sees by flashing her toothy grin and blowing a kiss (without the hand) to anyone who will pay attention. Unfortunately she is ringing in her 11 month milestone with an ear infection- 2nd one in a few months poor thing. Her crib is still in our room and we are still getting up one to two times a night...Uhg. The plan is to move her crib into Logan's room and they will share until next summer when Kyla goes to college. As soon as she is used to Logan's room, we will begin sleep training. She isn't walking yet. She gets around now doing her bear crawl on her hands and feet. She has started to let go of whatever she is holding onto and make a turn to take a step but her feet aren't quite ready. But she's close:). She is still only clearly saying mama. I'm pretty sure she says hi in a very sweet breathy voice. Just today she really sounded like she was trying to say Kyla. No dada yet or bye bye though she does wave. She is holding steady with her top 4 and bottom 2 teeth that she's had since about 6 months. I'm just waiting for the others to begin appearing as soon as we start sleep training:). I am hoping to throw an elaborate fall festival 1st bday party since it will be our last 1 year old bday:(. Bobbing for apples, face and pumpkin painting etc...
I just love my sweet Sehra Delilah. If its possible, I'll love her even more when she is sleeping thru the night!

Catch up time!

I have been a terrible blogger. I mean to do it, but there is just barely enough time in the day. I really do want to keep better track of the kids and all of their wonderfulness. It might be the only way I remember any of this:) We will start with Sehra D's monthly growth pictures... I believe we left off at 7 months.

8 MONTHS She is still not crawling. She is scooting around in what looks like an army crawl. It works and gets her places. She is still not a great sleeper. But she makes up for it in cuteness.

9 MONTHS she loves her bro and sisters and any other little kid that might be around. Her sweet baby cousin Charlotte came for a visit. She is still army crawling but fast. She pulls herself up on everything and just wants to stand. I can't believe Elliot was walking at this age. Thank goodness Delilah is taking her time. She is holding steady with the 6 teeth. Still not sleeping completely through the night. She doesn't have a real flow that we can count on. I know this is our fault because our days are not completely scheduled either. Some nights are better than others. We need to get her into her own room and out of ours.

10 MONTHS She is so fun. still no new teeth but she has had lots of colds and/or teething. She is now fulling crawling and pulling herself up on everything and cruising. She is standing alone for a few seconds and then sits herself down pretty well. She thinks she is super funny:) She blows kisses by making kiss noises which i find to be probably the sweetest thing i have ever seen. She is eating pretty much just solid foods now. She is a great eater. She isn't super excited about cooked veggies so most veggies are still in a puree. She loves chicken, blueberries, pasta, string cheese. She is also starting the obsession with trying to get upstairs...stressful. OMG...so as I'm writing about her wanting to get up the stairs Danny ran down to find her actually up on the second step working on the next one...oops. Let the games begin.

Strike a pose!

This is her new typical pose. Possibly influenced by her model big sis:)

Elliot's 1st day of Pre-K

She has grown in leaps and bounds in the half year since turning 4. She has become a sweet, articulate, still very funny and entertaining, great big sister helper! She surprises me almost daily with her very big girl-ness. She is a super swimmer now and just very self sufficient all the way around. I'm so proud of my little Elliot.

9 months old!

First Triathlon, check!

I finally completed my first triathlon!!! It has been a goal of mine for a few years. I didn't have a racing bike so that was always my excuse...lucky for me, my hubby bought me one for mothers day and I started cramming tri training. It was AWESOME! I just loved it. I started my training with the goal of finishing standing up. As I got further into my training i became a little more competitive but still very apprehensive because of the swim. It was in a pool which settled my nerves a bit. Now after the race and results, I was picking apart my event times and transition strategies:). I did alright. Basically coming in at the halfway mark. 150 overall (out of almost 300) and 54 out of 99 women and 16 out of 30 in my age group. My time on my bike pretty much stunk compared to most but if I work on that, I think I can be a contender for pure badassness! My first tri but definitely not my last. Loved it.

Summertime Scully girls

Holy 7 Months Old

I almost forgot that she turned seven months old because I think I lost the last month somewhere in my non sleeping land. She is pretty bad at the sleeping at night thing. I am going to leave it at that. No new teeth yet. Double pink eye. She thinks Im so awesome that she really needs me on her, near her, breathing on her at least every two hours. In this last month, She has grown a very big appetite. She is exploring a lot more because she has almost mastered sitting up. She will eventually fall and hit her head on the hardwood if left on the floor too long so we still have some strengthening to do and she is not crawling yet which I am totally fine with. Mostly because in this last month she has shown us the determined side of her personality. She is determined all the while flashing her beautiful big smile and batting those lashes, still quite the charmer. I have a feeling she might get her way in life. Go get em Baby D!

Elliot officially became a Pre-K student at North Asheville Preschool! She had such a fun year learning how to be a social little being without mama or daddy there. I am so proud of our little monkey. FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 8/2011 sweet baby girl LAST DAY OF SCHOOL 5/2012

What I've been waiting for...

Elliot's first year of ballet class came to a close in may with a wonderful recital at the Diana Worthem Theatre in downtown Asheville. Elliot really enjoyed her ballet class as did Danny and I because we had friends with their kids in the class and we made new friends as well. I mean, it was all about elliot:) It was so fun to see her and her fellow budding ballerinas go from very unorganized to having mastered the plie, tondue,bunny hopping, and sliding around on the floor on their bellies not listening to a word their very patient teacher was saying. Like I said before, she really enjoyed it but she started to lose interest towards the end. She kept saying, "mom, I really want to dance rock and roll". I said that is perfectly fine AFTER you perform in your recital and make me cry. Which she did. It was about 30 seconds long but she did awesome. I am biased - but I am sure she was the best one up there. She had no fear being on stage and she was just shining like my little star. She even got flowers from her bestie Taylor (not pictured) who was sweet enough to come and check out her performance with her mama. We were so happy they decided to come:) I am not living through my kid I am not living through my kid.

Those lashes

Oh, to not have to wear mascara...lucky little Scully baby:)

I think we need a second opinion...

Miss Delilah is six months old already...

I was told at her 6 month appointment that she was 15 lbs and 25.75 inches which they said put her at 30% for weight and 55% for length...I am not sure how many of you have seen my roly poly baby but she is far from skinny and petite. She is so chubby that it makes us laugh. I can only come up with the idea that the percentages have been changed (I was told this by a friend) and this is why she is not skyrocketing off the charts.

I can remember everyone telling me to hold on to every moment because they grow so fast when i had elliot but I was so completely overwhelmed with the shock of motherhood and the fact that elliot was pretty high maintenance to understand that. I think it was hard the first time because every difficult stage you go through seems like it might be that way forever. Now that my "high maintenance" baby elliot is my "super fabulous amazing in every way" 4 year old that won't stop growing like a weed and turning into a little lady, I get it. Not to mention that somehow, as i mentioned before, my baby delilah is already six months and i know how soon she will turn into a little lady herself and no longer be my squishy baby who likes to eat my face:( Also knowing that she is 99.9999999% to be our last baby that we make...I can barely stand it. She has been a little dream. She is a very happy baby that smiles at everyone and bats those super long dark eyelashes surrounding her still very blue eyes and just melts the hearts of anyone who sees her. Not that there aren't the same hard baby times that we all have, like, ummm...sleep...she has been all over the place as far as sleep goes. She was sleeping through the night at 12 weeks and then it turned into up all night and turned into she only wants to sleep in our bed to back in her bed and up at the typical baby times. We had one night a couple of weeks ago after she got her six months shots which was two injections and one oral. With Elliot, I was so careful and paranoid that I wouldn't let them give her more than one vaccination per visit and took the slow route because I was reading how it might make her grow another head. Though I might have been overly careful, she never had any bad reactions to any of her shots. This time, and I would like to apologize to Delilah here and now, I have been less paranoid and letting them do their protocol. Shame on me. At 4 months she didn't feel well after her shots but it wasn't horrible. This time, she was up all night with a 102 fever and vomiting. I felt terrible. I know it is a very personal choice for parents but I vow to take the same slow route I took with elliot from now on. It was awful. I have always said "oh yeah, I was up all night" But not like that. I think Danny and I slept maybe 1 hour that night. Anyone who came in contact with me the next day, i apologize. She also sprouted her first tooth when she was 5 1/2 months to our surprise. I thought that maybe she was beginning to get them but deep down thought it was too early. Oh no. She has one. Bottom left. So, here we go:) She started rolling over this past month. She isn't all over the place yet, but its starting. She is also just now starting to hold herself in a sitting position. Not for long and not super strong yet but I know its all about to explode. She is also exhibiting her desire to grab all things in front of her that she shouldn't have...like my dinner or drink or phone or ipad or remote or all dirty items that might be near. And she is determined. Of course she is, another determined female in the Scully household...it scares me and makes me proud all at the same time. Let the fun begin!

Sehra Delilah is six months old

Love.

My princess

Just a little picture of princess Elliot and her Gigi having a tea party in the back yard. Elliot is quite the party planner. She growing and changing right before our very eyes. It's amazing to watch, really. She is just so funny. I know I've said it before, but she has a million expressions and is constantly entertaining. Today after she came home from her friends princess makeup glitter nail polish party she said, "mama, did you see my eye caps?". Obviously talking about her eyelids and I just thought it was too cute. She is in love with the outdoors and just running around our yard and playing with her neighbor friend, Cole. It's nice to be able to let her run around and not be chasing her (as if I could ever catch her). She has also asked to go running with me and my first thought was, um no, I'm going for a run to be alone and then I thought how adorable to put our running outfits on and running to the end of the street. It's a start:). I'll let ya know how it goes.

That, my friends, is an ankle.

Big brother

Another happy baby day

Five months

One of a few pictures to mark her fifth month with a little help from her big sis.

Really? Five months old already.

My little squishy baby girl is five months old! She has been a wonderful addition to the family. This last month she has blossomed into the chunky baby instead of the newborn that doesn't do much. She is now flapping her arms and kicking those legs like crazy, doing her best to sit up which looks a bit like me trying to do sit ups, but is now able to almost sit up by herself.n she is still wobbly and hunched forward but it's starting. she can get her big toe in her mouth which she seems to thoroughly enjoy. She is so sweet and smiley almost all the time. She still has her moments in the car but it's getting better. The best sound is her unprovoked (by me or Danny tickling her) breathy belly laugh that only Elliot can get out of her. If Elliot starts undressing, Delilah loses it as well as any time Elliot puts on a show. This last month of sleeping wasn't the worst but was not the best for sure. All starting with the lovely cold that I am pretty sure Elliot brought home from school for all of to share. It made for some very long nights because both of them were up coughing and miserable which in turn makes mama and daddy miserable. She is better now and we are trying to find our sleep rhythm. Elliot has done some regressing in the sleep department which makes me feel like I have twins on different sleep schedules. I literally bargained with her today after sweetly trying to explain to her that she really needs her sleep and should stay in her bed and how much fun is mama when she is in a foul mood due to sleep deprivation, by saying that I will take her to the beach if she stays in her bed for one whole week. We all win! Some of the best moments are watching Delilah watch her daddy. She seems so in love with him and her eyes follow him wherever he goes. It's beautiful. The first time I had a baby, it was such a profound change that it took some getting used to but this time it seems so much easier to add her in our lives. I say that five months seems to have happened in the blink of an eye and yet it really is hard to imagine our life without sweet Sehra Delilah. It's amazing that in such a short amount of time I looked at her and had no idea who this person was and now It's hard to remember feeling that way. Sigh.
Oh yes, I must also add a couple of tidbits...those tidbits being the other two beautiful girls to grace our family. My brother and his wife had their second little girl Hayes who seems to actually look like a Parker with her super blonde hair and a face that looks very much like my big bro. And then my little sis had her second child, a girl, Charlotte Rose just a week or so after who is beautiful and looks very much like her daddy at this point. I have yet to meet them and hold them like I want to so desperately. It is amazing that our girls will grow up together being the same age. The only problem we have now is being able to get together because we live all over the country. Times like this make me wish we were like those families that all live in the same town that we grew up in so we could have family bbqs. We are trying to come up with a family trip this summer to a beach house somewhere and we can all hug each other and not sleep:)
Delilah tried her first real food today as I was eating a banana before a run and she seemed very interested in it so we mashed the rest of it up and gave it to her. She seemed eager to get the spoon in her mouth but wasn't overly excited about the banana. I tried then with rice cereal later tonight and she again had the same reAction so I am taking that as a sign that she is just not ready. I am pretty sure Elliot started rice cereal at five months and full on loved it. She was diving for more. I think we will wait another month or for her cues to try again. I mean, she is about to start teething any minute...aaaahhhhh!

Finally...she's repunzel.

It's the last piece of the tangled costume. The long blonde hair wig that is sure to be a very big pain in my tush brushing out the constant TANGLES:). Elliot is super excited and is outside right now riding her bike with the dangerously long hair. She even said to me, " mom, I can't believe you bought it!". Neither can I. I'm a sucker.

The difference between 4 and 5 months!

Happy birthday Grandpa!

My dads birthday and his spring break from school are conveniently in the same time period so he was able to take a weekend trip to visit us in Asheville and have a little bday party:). I think he might be turning off his bionic ears next time he comes to visit, but it was a great time!

My little clown

Just another one of her picture poses:). She spent the day cracking me up. More fun and a lot less whining today made for a good day. She has also made Sehra Delilah a believer too. She thinks Elliot is hilarious which is just this infectious circle of laughter. Yes, I will take the comic relief wherever I can...two little girls who need me desperately especially when I'm trying to work can get a little overwhelming. Just trying to get through each day with a little grace:).

4 month checkup

Well, my poor little baby girl that just couldn't sustain her weight after entering the world seems to be doing just fine. She is a whopping 15 lbs and 25 inches long at a little over 4 months. Trust me and my very strong left arm- I wasn't worried. She is just a fabulous ball of chubbiness. She checks out right where she is supposed to be. I was concerned that she had developed eczema in the last few days because her cradle cap seemed to be worse and her little body was all rashed out but she just has a serious case of dandruff and super sensitive skin...of course. The doctor said more than once, "well, she is a blue eyed white girl..." she never really stood a chance coming from Danny and I. So she was prescribed lots of lotion massages and extra kisses. Ok:)

My little dancer (heart exploding)

We don't make them small

Check out that thigh!