With my cousin Matty

He's so gentle!

Matty & Lily Hanging Out

Here is my Cousin Matty!

Christmas in OC!

Happy Holidays, everyone!  I had a great time with my family down in Orange County.  We ate lots of good food (indirectly, of course), and in general had a great time together.

Check out some photos:

Lily Berman - Christmas 2011

Christmas with Mis Abuelitos

> Thanks for a great time! More photos on the way...
>
> Love,
> Lily
>

A Pre-Holiday Present

More Catch-up - Mid-December Fun

Lily 2011 Mid-December

60 Amazing Seconds

I had pretty much finished my first giggling fit by the time dad was able to grab his camera, but I had a few more chuckles in me for the camera.  I'm starting to smile on purpose now, and every now and then I uncork something like this...

Firecrackers on My Face

Catching Up...Early December

I was sad to see my grandparents after a fantastic (and altogether pretty relaxing) Thanksgiving weekend.  I really enjoyed some of the new things in my room -- GP is a pretty handy dude.  Thank you, Eagle Scouts!

I also started sleeping in my new crib.  Big thanks to Teresa and Adele for loaning me a bed to sleep in -- I'm not as outdoorsy as John and Lorea's kid will be, so a bed is a nice touch, as they say.

There are some fun shots this month, especially the one with my big old beer belly!

Lily Berman - Early December 2011

Big Smiles!

Trust me, whatever grandma was saying was very entertaining!

Thanksgiving!

Lily Berman - Thanksgiving 2011

My first Thanksgiving was fantastic!  I slaved in the kitchen for hours.

Actually, I had my staff take care of dinner.  I'm looking forward to eating solid foods -- then I will have them peel grapes and fan me while I sit on the porch with a frozen beverage.

Thanks for the visit, Grandma and Grandpa!

Love,
Lily

Here's the link to the album and the slideshow:

Is this my first laugh?

More Pictures and Fun Stuff

Lily Berman - Weeks 13-15

Here's the slideshow:

"The Boppy Session"

Lily - "The Boppy Session"

Not much variety here, besides my facial expressions. But still might be fun to check out!

Yes, life is good

I just left the cheek implant office (trying to catch up to my friend Molly). This being a baby thing is tiring.

Are YOU going to San Francisco?

There sure are some nice people there! And if you do go, you might want to take me with so that I can help you get around. Oh, and also because I'm an adorable travel companion.

Week 12: I'm almost three months old!

Lily Berman - Week 12

Things are going really well these days.  I'm starting to do lots of new things, like smiling (almost) on my own.  I'll be flirting with everyone in no time!  I'm also chatting up a storm -- there's lots to say!

I've also discovered that I love reading.  A bedtime story is now a staple of our routine before I go to sleep.  And last night was the first night in my own room!  Everything went great.  Now if I can figure out how to sleep for longer than 3 or 4 hours at a time, that'd be amazing!

Check out these fun pictures and videos.  If you listen carefully, you'll hear me talking about my new hairdo and what I had for lunch.

Beautiful Wedding + Visit from (Great) Grandparents = One Fantastic Weekend

GS, GP & GGT visit (aka Tom & Deanne's Wedding)

Last weekend was amazing!  Grandma Sue, Grandpa Paul, and my Great Grandmother Trudy (pun intended) came into town to "help my folks attend a wedding" (we all know they just wanted an excuse to come see me, of course!).  Actually, it was really helpful to my folks to have six more hands to hold me.  And I enjoyed hearing a new set of songs (and hummed Sousa marches -- I am the only person besides my grandfather who appreciates them, apparently).

We had an awesome time.  The weather was perfect down in Carmel, and it was a lovely weekend all around.  Tom and Deanne's wedding was absolutely beautiful.  I threw a few photos in here that were taken by Uncle Rico -- he's the one who's balancing his kid on his hand.  I hope he teaches my dad how to do that!

Love,
Lily

Long time, no blog!

Lily's Catch-up Album - Watch Me Grow (wks 5-10)

Hi there,

I know I was pretty bad for several weeks about keeping you posted (pun intended, hah!) on my life. Here's an album that has some photos over the course of a month or so.

Lots of love,
Lily

Weeks 5 through 10(ish/): Watch me grow!!

First Family Photo Since I was born!

There's been so much action around here that we all forgot to stop to take a picture of the three of us all together.  I event managed to look at the camera this time!  It was Stanford's Reunion weekend after all, but maybe my dad could have done without the silly "homecoming" pose.  Oh well, maybe next time...

Here's the first picture of us together, by the way.  It's amazing what a few weeks and several gallons of breast milk can do!

Homecoming Weekend

Homecoming Weekend

It was so fun to meet a bunch of new friends during Stanford's Reunion Homecoming weekend.  And I got to wear a great new outfit for the occasion as well!

Vance and Eva's Wedding Weekend

I know it was hard for him to leave me for the weekend, but Daddy was really excited to head to Charleston, SC for the weekend for the nuptials of Mr. Pants and his beautiful bride, Eva.  I know Mom was bummed not to be able to make it, but we had a great time together.  And my Tia Hilda came to join the party as well!

Here are some photos from the weekend, first from Chucktown, and then of course some pictures of me with the other ladies!

7 1/2 Pounds already! Newborn outfits here I come!!

Lily Berman Week 4

Hi everyone,

It's been quite the week.  My folks and I had a good time getting the hang of this "life at home" thing.  I'm definitely still sleeping most of the day, but I'm working on fixing my day/night reversal.  Be patient with me - I'm not even four weeks old yet!  I'm still up every couple of hours or so during the night.  Sometimes I eat and go right back to bed, but as my great-grandmother put it, sometimes I like to party.  So I'll hang out or have mom or dad hold me for an hour or so before I hit the sack again.  They've mentioned something about being tired, but I think this arrangement is absolutely fantastic!

I've had some fun firsts this week:

I got "Snot Sucked" for the first time. For all of you new or expectant parents out there, you really can't beat the Nosefrida Snot Sucker -- the entertainment value alone makes it worth the price!  And don't worry - it may sound like I'm crying, but it's just that I don't have the words to describe how amazed I am by the amount of snot that's collected in my head already.

There was some "official" tummy time yesterday (this is actually me on my back after I got tired of tummy time)...

And today (Sunday) I wore a newborn outfit that actually fit me!  That's because I weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces this afternoon!

Here are some more pictures from this week (link to the album if the slideshow doesn't work).



Have a wonderful week.  And happy birthday, Uncle Patrick!!

Love,
Lily

P.S. I didn't want to have to Rick Roll you, but my uncle said he was too disturbed by the actual Snot Sucking video.

Week 3 Highlights: You Mean I Only Have Two Parents?

I was sad to see my grandparents leave -- I will miss them lots, but I know I'll see them soon.  It's also kinda nice to have the house to ourselves.  It's pretty crazy to think that I've spent my entire life with lots of folks around, first in the hospital and then at home (don't get me wrong, I'm so lucky to have amazing four amazing grandparents who helped welcome me home).

Now that we're (mostly) settled in, my parents and I are trying to figure out our routine is like.  We spend most of the time playing internet poker and building model rockets.  Well, not really.  I pretty much like to work on perfecting the three skills I have developed: eating, sleeping, and filling diapers with an alarming amount of you-know-what.  It's a pretty fun existence all together.  Oh yeah, and I really like hanging out with my parents for an hour or two right around 2am -- that's when we're all at our best, of course!

Here are some pictures to check out from the last week (in case the slideshow below doesn't work).

Lots of love and biscuits (well, we're getting there),
Lily

Thanks for visiting, Abuelitos!

I had a wonderful week-long visit with my Abuelitos. We had lots of fun adventures before they left on Saturday afternoon, including my first bath time (see the other post about that).

Hopefully I'll see them again soon.  And here's the link to the album with them just in case you haven't seen it yet.



Thanks again!

Love,
Lily

My First Bath Time

It wasn't as bad as I thought, although I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about having these pictures and video posted on the internet once I'm older. For now, I hope you enjoy...

Nice to meet you, Abuelitos!

This week has been great.  I've been gaining weight (5 pounds, 13 ounces at my last visit!) and doing lots of sleeping.  The best part is that I've gotten to meet my grandparents on my mom's side.  My Abuelitos seem to have the magic touch, since I'm almost always calm when they're around.  Mom and Dad, you'll learn soon enough!

My Tia Hilda and Uncle Marc dropped by for a short visit as well -- I can't wait to spend more time with them when I get bigger!

Finally, thanks to all the friends who brought my parents food in the last week.  They said they came to bring my parents food, but I know it was just because they wanted an excuse to meet me!  Everybody wins, I guess.

Here are some more photos from the last week.



Love,
Lily

Home Sweet Home!

We finally made it home on Wednesday (Aug 24), and I couldn't be happier.  The NICU was like being in Vegas (don't ask me how I know that), with the lights always on and the constant sounds of things dinging and beeping.  It's really nice to be in a comfy house.

Being home also gives me the chance to keep my parents up all night!  I'm still learning how to eat and sleep, and they're still figuring out how to teach me.  But we'll get there eventually...

Thanks to everyone for all of your good wishes.  They definitely helped me make it home.  And a special thanks to all of our friends who have dropped by balloons and treats and meals.  We all appreciate it!

Here are some more photos (the link in case you can't see the Picasa slideshow below) -- you can see that I don't really like being wrapped up.  Some say I just take after my dad and can't keep from touching my face.



A fun bonus for this post - guess my length in Jelly Beans!

FREEEEDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

They finally sprang me loose!

Yesterday (Tuesday, 8/23), the doctors told me that they were confident that I didn't have an infection.  That was nice for a couple reasons: 1) having an infection would suck (so I hear), and 2) my parents and grandparents could hold me without having to wear gloves and gowns (very fashion-forward, but not that awesome).  All that was left was for them to remove my IV and for me to keep my glucose steady...

Success!  At 9:30am this morning, the monitors came off and my folks put me in a new, spiffy outfit.  Then my mom tucked me under her arm like a football and sprinted out of the hospital, dodging doctors and security guards -- perhaps she has a future in the NFL.

Anyhow, I'm very grateful to all of the folks who took really good care of me here at Packard, but I'm super excited to be heading home!

Thanks to everyone who sent me all of your well-wishes!  It definitely worked -- I'm leaving here a happy, healthy baby!

Love,
Lily

My Last Days in the NICU

Hello out there!

Look, no hands!

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to give you an update, but I've been very busy growing.  I'd just been evicted from my very cozy apartment when they handed me a list of things to learn how to do: breathe, cry, eat, poop.  Somewhere on the list I noticed "set up gmail account" and "give everyone an update" but I was having too much fun with all the other stuff.  Anyhow, here's a run-down of the things you're probably wondering.

How are you doing, Lily?

Awesome.  I'm healthy and happy.  Although my new digs are not nearly as comfy as the place I was staying for the last nine months, the people here are really friendly.  I'm eating up a storm and pooping enough to make even my dad proud.  After a couple days of resting and recuperating from, you know, being born, I'm a lot more alert and interested in the funny-looking folks that hang out with me.  I spent a bunch of time checking them out yesterday, especially during my huge feedings.  I hear I was a little late for this summer's Nathan's hot dog eating contest, but after hearing about how I took down nearly 60 mL last night, I was contacted by a recruiter from the competitive eating circuit -- told him I'm keeping my options open.  And if you're wondering why "how I'm doing" revolves mostly around eating and crapping, please remember that I am my father's daughter.

I hear that you're still in the hospital.  What's the deal?

The bottom line is that I'm doing just fine, but if you're thinking "wow, she's being really dramatic," I may be guilty as charged.  Here's the abbreviated version...I was born at 1:23am on Tuesday, August 16 after about 27 hours of labor (my mom's water broke at about 10pm on Sunday night -- the salsa at Palo Alto Sol is potent!).  I was small, but everything was great -- APGAR was solid; heart rate and breathing were good; I even latched to mom's boob right away and had a little G3 Recovery snack.  They took me to the Well Babies nursery and did some more routine tests, and they found that my glucose level was low.  Since it wouldn't go up after feeding me some snacks, they needed to give me sugar through an IV.  There wasn't space for me in the Intermediate Care nursery, so they brought me to the NICU.  And as you can imagine, once you're in the NICU, it's tough to get out.

Low sugars can mean lots of things, but the first concern is infection (serious business for a newborn).  So they've been running lots of tests and giving me medicine as a preventative measure for the last few days.  So far everything has come back negative and normal to the point that the doctors and my folks are confident that I don't have an infection.  Which is nice.  The sugar was still an issue though - they were giving me dextrose through an IV, and I started eating a lot better, but my sugar levels were sometimes all over the place.  My doctor, who is a really wonderful woman, said to me, "young lady, you're not going anywhere until you can keep your sugar levels stable on your own."  At first I thought I was going to have to go Shawshank-style on this place (I'd asked my dad hang a poster of Andres Turner to cover the hole I was burrowing in the wall with a thermometer I keep hidden in my blanket).  But then I realized that it would just be easier to stabilize my sugars so that I can go home.  Yesterday they started weaning me off the IV sugars, and my glucose levels have remained steady.  With any luck, I'll keep up my progress and will be home early this week.

Perhaps most importantly, I look and feel and act like a completely healthy baby.  My vital signs have been awesome the whole time, I'm pink and responsive and eating and digesting and all the good stuff you'd expect to see from a healthy kid.  

It's great to hear that you're doing well.  Can we please come visit you?

First of all, I want to thank all of you for the messages and the love and the well-wishes that you've been sending to me and my parents.  Please know that I have received all of them, and they've helped me a lot.  And although I can't wait to meet all of you, the NICU is not a visitor-friendly place.  There are lots of restrictions on visitors, and in general it's not the most pleasant hang-out spot.  I know that many of you would be willing to drop by for even 30 seconds to give my parents a hug, but they spend a lot of their time at my bedside and getting out to the lounge area is a production.  So let's all look forward to hanging out when I get home, which we all hope is really, really soon.  In the meantime, I really like being sung to, so if you'd like to record a short song and send it to my folks -- or just leave it on their voicemail -- they'll make sure I hear it.  Thanks for the lullaby, Uncle Romo!

How are your folks doing?  Why haven't I heard from them?

They're doing great.  Hanging out with me keeps them calm.  The nurses have been amazingly helpful and supportive.  And my dad's parents have been out since mom went into labor, and they have been an incredible blessing for my parents.  Their support has kept us all sane.   

My parents are so grateful for all of your calls and emails and love.  They're sorry for the lack of communication - they don't allow cell phones in the NICU, which is where their attention is rightly focused.  Add that to the normal exhaustion of new parents, and you have radio silence.  I can't promise you it's going to get better in the next few days, but they asked me to write this email to tide you guys over.

So can we see some pictures of you already?

Yep.  Lily Berman - Week 1

We'll be in touch as soon as we can.

Many thanks and lots of love,

Lily

Being born is awesome!

Hi everybody!  I was born on Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at 1:23am.  I was small but mighty - 4 pounds, 13 ounces, 18" long.  That's one small peanut!  Here's a picture of my new family.

Love,
Lily