Oregon Vaughns

Lily has been waking up around 3/4am every night.  She no longer sleeps gated in to her room, so she is free to roam the house when she wakes…. However, when she wakes at 3am she walks straight into our bedroom (don’t worry, we aren’t worried that she will actually roam the house).  So anyway, she will climb into bed with us and finish her sleep until around 7 or 8am.

Well, let me preface this story by saying that Lily has never been lost (yet).  She has never been lost in a store or left behind or been in a situation where mom and dad have disappeared….

Continuing:  Around 4am, while in bed with Andy and I, Lily began to cry in her sleep.  I comforted her and she awakened a little.

Lily:  “Mama?”

Me:  “Yes honey, Mama’s here.”

Lily:  “Lily can’t find you in the store.  Lily cried.”

So there was her bad dream.  It is amazing to me that this is something she could create a fear for when it is something she hasn’t experienced.

We snuggled and she went back to sleep.

Here is an email that I received from Andy today:

“According to Lily, Shauna says that Lily is going to have a new baby soon. I asked her if it would be a new baby like “Stripes Baby,” and she said that it would be a new baby like Winter.

Also, Lily asked today if Shauna was an aunt. I replied yes. She then said, “Shauna is a little bug.”

Funny girl.”

Here are some random, recent photos:

Smiling girl:

At the airport with dad, looking at planes:

Her long beautiful hair right before we cut it short!  Goodbye tangles:

Holding a bunny at the Northwest Crossing Spring Festival:

And obviously, biking:

Lily can set up a chess board all by herself!

I am not sure how this happened… but Lily’s new favorite movie????

Andy and I are getting back into Chess.  I have started a lunch time chess club once a week at the high school as well.  We hope to start a chess club, eventually, at the elementary school close to our house.

Lily loves “playing” chess.  She also loves the chess clock.  It won’t be long (a month?) before she will be able to successfully set up the chess board with no help.  Here is a photo, with a few short video clips:

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YouTube Direkt- Chess 1

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YouTube Direkt- Chess 2

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YouTube Direkt- Chess 3

We may have already mentioned this, but Stripes Baby is #1 in our house.  Not Pink Baby.  Lily takes Stripes Baby everywhere.  This include wearing Stripes Baby in her shirt (with the baby zipped into her jacket, like she is in a carrier).  No one else can really touch Stripes Baby.  Lily must bring Stripes Baby’s pillow(s) and blankets.  Notice that the “s” on the back of pillow is optional, but the”s” on the back of blankets is not.  Stripes Baby must have at least 1 pillow, but just 1 is OK.  However, Stripes Baby often has 10+ blankets for when she goes “Nigh Nigh.”  The other day, Stripes Baby was sleeping and I counted 14 blankets on her.  These blankets are bandannas, towels, burp rags, anything that can pass as a blanket for Stripes Baby.

Here is Lily “sleeping” with Stripes Baby during a trip to Target:

Here is my conversation with Lily.  She just talks so much — I am always amazed by her vocabulary and her level of thought (yes, yes, she is so smart, must be genetic):

Lily: “Mom, where we going first?”

Me:  “We are going to Sears.”

Lily: “What you getting, Mama?”

Me:  “We are buying a washer and dryer for our new house.”

Lily:  “Where we going next?”

Me:  “We are probably going to go to another store.”

Lily:  “Fred Meyer?”

(she always says Fred Meyer)…..

Me:  “Sure, we can go to Fred Meyer.”

Lily:  “Lily walk?  Lily no ride in cart.”

Me:  “No, Lily will ride in stroller.”

Lily:  “Baby come in stroller too?”

Me:  “Yes, baby can come too.”

Lily:  “Baby so happy, Mama!”

Me:  “Lily so happy?”

Lily:  “No, mama, baby so happy, not Lily so happy.”

Me:  “Oh ok, sorry.  Baby so happy.”

Lily:  “Yes, baby so happy mama say yes baby come in store.”

Anyway, I think she almost has down her “left” and “right” — about 80%.  She knows we either drive left, right or straight.

Lily loves playing hide and seek.  She particularly loves to count while we hide:

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YouTube Direkt- Hide and Seek

Here are some various pictures that I have taken with my phone of a sleeping baby… some old, some new: