Actual BIrthday

We have family night at church one a month and of course Social Sally (Lilly) enjoys this night. She never really eats, she mostly likes to socialize. So this month Family Night was on Lilly's birthday. I asked her several times if she wanted to go to church to eat for her birthday or do something else. She was adamant about eating at church. So we went and she didn't even sit with us. Imagine that! We did have cake and ice cream afterwards at home with the grandparents.

Lilly got lot's of favorite gifts. She got Princess sheets and has been real good about sleeping in her bed since. She got a pair of boots she promised not to get dirty and had them covered when she returned from school. She also got a pair of "flop, flop, clogs". She saw these on a little girl in Belk's one day and my mom was able to find a pair. She also got lot's of junk...make up, sparkly clothes. Her most favorite has been her Rapunzel wig.

Lilly also discovered her first loose tooth the Sunday before her birthday. I was aghast, but she was soooo excited. (More on that later) I do not have a major list of Lilly facts. She enjoys watching movies and making things. Lilly is very creative and you never know what you will get when she starts making something for you. She is stubborn and yet very loving. She still sucks her thumb to go to sleep and has her special blanket. She is social and thrives on being involved with a group. She makes friends easily. I love this about her. Lilly is SOOOOOOOOOOO ready to start Kindergarten. She asked on her birthday did she get to go to school with me now. I pray her enthusiasm for school continues.

I thought I knew love before I held Lilly Marie in my arms, but the moment I first held her I knew there was no other love like this one. She can frustrate me beyond belief, BUT I LOVE HER SO INCREDIBLY MUCH! THE BIG CAN!

Princess Party

Lilly wanted a Princess Party for her big 5! SO we made Belle, Cinderella, Tangled, and Titania. Also the Beast b/c he is her favorite. Gran and I spend the day before decorating the garage for the party. We had crown decorating, face painting, fingernail painting, face painting, and necklace making. Quite a few girls from Lilly's school came and we had 16 little Princesses in all. They were well behaved and I was impressed with how smoothly the party went. The only glitch was the pinata. With the first whack it came off it's string so we had to let the girls beat in on the ground.

Lilly was very adamant about no boys....the only way she would let her Daddy come was if he wore a tuxedo (according to Lilly), Needless to say he stayed inside and watched football....I don't think he was too bothered by this.

Years 2-4

My hope is that these will be in order.
At 2 we went to Marbles, 3 Jumping Beans, and 4 back to Marbles. I usually take the day off and my Mom, Dad, and I take Lilly somewhere special. She really like Marbles.

Lilly at 1

Since the blog did not begin with Lilly's birth I figured I would at least post a few pictures of her first 4 birthdays leading up to the BIG 5.

At one we celebrated with Lilly at Chuck E Cheese. That has been my first and last trip as a mom.

Lilly's first night home

Our fist night home with Lilly was an adventure. We were all set to go to bed and we may have slept 2 hours. At 12am Lilly started crying. At 2am we got in the car started riding around. Lilly was out like a light until we pulled into the driveway and then she would tune up again. So off we rode. I do not know how Jonathan drove. I kept dozing off and would pop up and say "Are you awake?' We rode around until 6am. As we pulled back into the garage Jonathan asked "What have we done?"

This was a prelude of what was to come. Lilly cried the first three months of her life. We rocked, walked, sang, swang, and sometimes I just cried with her. This was the beginning of her sleeping in our bed and five years later she is still there. The only way to make her happy was to put her in the car seat, buckle her tight and swing or bounce the seat. (I should have had great are muscles) She also spent time in the seat on the washing machine. AND beside the running vacuum. Thankfully Mom and Dad were always on call and when we were at our wits end they would come to the rescue and take her home with them.

Maybe this was a sign of the drama to come! Lilly is definitely a drama QUEEN!

Lilly's First Days

Lilly Marie Alford was born January 19, 2006 at 7:26pm. My water broke about 2:00am and we set off to the hospital. After a very long day I had a c-section due to the size of her head. She was stuck in the birth canal. I didn't see her first pictures until a few weeks later. I would have been horribly upset if I had seen her head. She looked like she could be Bart Simpson's baby. Her Daddy told the nurse he sure hopped they could fix that before her Mama saw her. Luckily God fixed her little head before I ever knew she was looking a little funny. She was precious and loved.


Looking back for pictures I realized that none of Lilly's first year pitures are saved on my computer. I had to go through all her pictures and scan a few. I will say that my Mom and I played A LOT of dress up with Lilly. I really think we changed her clothes several times daily just to take pictures in all of her outfits.

Christmas Trees

Both Jackson and Lilly had a tree in their room this year. Lilly had a while tree and Granny took her shopping to buy new ornaments. While shopping Granny decided Jackson also needed a tree. As usual he spent his time and energy terrorizing Lilly's tree. Sadly Lilly's tree spent most of the time in our dinning room. For the majority of December she didn't have toys in her room due to behavior and the tree was the only thing she really cared about. Maybe next year she will be able to enjoy it a little more.