In the last post, I reminisced about the vacations we took with Lily in her first year. In this post, I will review her first holidays! So many things happened in her first year, it’s hard to decide what to write about in these posts.
Photo from Lily’s birthday shoot 2013
Groundhog Day (February 2, 2012) – On this day, Lily was born. This was interesting for me, because I could never remember the date of Groundhog Day; but now, I will never forget it. We spent this day in the hospital (obviously). She spent the day probably in a little bit of shock after being pulled from her nice cozy home into this cold world where she has to wear diapers and clothes and breathe air! It was really an unusual day, it was hard to keep track of what time it was, especially since we didn’t make it into our hospital room until around 3 or 4 in the morning. But, overall, a pretty spectacular birthday!
Happy Groundhog Day 2012!
Valentine’s Day (February 14, 2012) – Only 12 days after she was born, I was still recovering. My father had come to help me out and keep me company through the day. My parents brought us cards and chocolate (I got to eat it all). We didn’t really celebrate much other than that because we were still in the whirlwind of new parenthood; time was moving faster than we could keep up and the days (and nights) really didn’t have much meaning, we were just trying to get through it.
St. Patrick’s Day (March 17, 2012) – Another holiday that seemed to simply pass us by. Lily wore a sleeper with a small amount of green on it. But, I suppose, aside from wearing green, St. Patrick’s Day is more of a grown up holiday.
Kiss me, I’m Irish! St. Patrick’s Day 2012
Easter (April 8, 2012) – The first BIG holiday of her life. She was not quite big enough to REALLY enjoy this one, but I was! The Easter bunny came and brought her WAY too much stuff. She actually seemed to be interested in the things that were in the basket; she looked at the pictures in the book and looked at the clothes and toys as I showed them to her. She got to spend some time with her cousins, aunts, uncles, Nana, Gump, Grandad and some great aunts. Didn’t really mean much for her, but it was a pretty exciting day for Momma.
Happy Easter 2012!
Mother’s Day (May 13, 2012) – On this day, Lily and I were both sick. We hung out most of the day cuddling on the couch (really, the best way to spend the day). Then, for supper we went to the Mongolie Grill for a nice meal that wasn’t too heavy for someone who is feeling sick.
Victoria Day (May 21, 2012) – Another long weekend. Grammie came for a visit on this weekend. We got to visit with some of Grammie’s family that Lily doesn’t get to see very often.
Hanging out with my 2nd cousins Tara and Jacob.
Father’s Day (June 17, 2012) – On this day, Lily got to have some quality time with Daddy while Mommy went to the spa with Nana, Auntie Kelly and Auntie Ba. Lily and Mommy made Daddy a story to read on the iPad with some of Lily’s original artwork.
Canada Day (July 1, 2012) – On Canada Day, we got up nice and early and went into Halifax to watch the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo Canada Day Parade, this was Lily’s first parade! Then, we went home to cool off, Lily spent a lot of the day in just a diaper, then at night we got all dressed up again in our red and white and went to Dartmouth to watch the fireworks with Nana, Gump, Auntie Kelly, Xavier, Owen, Kiara and Leo. We also ran into some of our other family while we were waiting for the fireworks to start. On the Monday of the long weekend, we went to the Wildlife Park with Nana, Gump, Auntie Kelly, Xavier, Owen, Kiara and Leo. A pretty eventful weekend. The Friday before Canada Day, we took Lily to visit her Great Grammie and Great Grampie who visit family in Canada over the summer and live in Florida the rest of the year.
Canadian Cuties!
Natal Day (August 6, 2012) – Another nice long weekend. This weekend was not as eventful as Canada day weekend, but we did go to Summerville Beach on the Saturday and then on the Monday (the actual holiday) we went to the MacDonald bridge to watch the parade with Nana, Gump, Auntie Kelly, Xavier, Owen, Kiara and Leo. She seemed to enjoy this parade more than the Canada Day parade. There was a Hal-Con float and when the people dressed in costume started coming across the bridge Lily got very excited and pointed saying ‘dadadadadada’ (she did not mean “daddy,” this was her word for everything then, and still is, really).
Labour Day (September 3, 2012) – For Labour Day, we were in Ontario. It was in the middle of our road trip to visit Grammie. We didn’t do anything extra special on that day specifically, but we did have a wonderful trip which made that day special anyway.
Thanksgiving (October 8, 2012) – As we do every year, we invited my parents, sisters and their families out to our house for a Thanksgiving dinner. It was on Thanksgiving Day that Lily took her first step! It happened twice, then it was hard to convince her to try again after that. Since Lily was now eating some table food, she was able to try some of the Thanksgiving meal. She was not so keen on the food, however. She did enjoy spending time with her cousins and having a big meal with the whole family.
Hallowe’en (October 31, 2012) – I was very excited for Lily’s first Hallowe’en. We had a butterfly costume handed down from Lily’s cousin, Kiara. I couldn’t wait to see how she would react to the children coming to the house trick-or-treating. We got two sets of Hallowe’en photos done at Sears, one in her costume and one in her Hallowe’en outfit, I didn’t want to have her in her costume all day, so I got her a black and orange skirt from the dollar store and an orange shirt with a face on it from Frenchy’s. I also bought her a small pumpkin to paint, she used black paint to paint it, but most of the paint ended up just on the stem because she was so interested in the pokey bit that came out the top. When the time came to hand out candy she was all dressed in her butterfly costume, we watched what bits of the Charlie Brown Hallowe’en special we could find on youtube and we waited. Finally, there was a knock on the door, two trick-or-treaters! I held Lily in my arms so she could see – and to show her off, really. And then, that was it, she fell asleep, was put into bed and we had no more trick-or-treaters, a little disappointing. She must have enjoyed it though because the next morning she was playing with her costume.
Remembrance Day (November 11, 2012) – Another long weekend. Fairly uneventful. Lily celebrated her minute of silence by napping.
Christmas (December 25, 2012) – Christmas was an exciting time of year. It started on December 23, we went to my parents’ house for a Christmas party with my Dad’s family. Lily got to experience presents for the first time that day. She LOVED it! She was quite excited about her doll that she received from her Great Grandma and Great Grandad. There was lots of food and lots of other children there; lots to keep her happy. On Christmas Eve, we took Lily to Truro to visit her Grandad and some of her Grandad’s family. She was given a couple more gifts there. Christmas morning she woke up and was very excited to see a stack of gifts that Santa had brought for her. It took her all day to get through her gifts, and she didn’t even manage to open all of them. We went back to my parents’ house on Christmas morning to visit with Nana, Gump, Auntie Kelly, Uncle Denis, Xavier, Owen, Kiara, Leo, Auntie Ba, Uncle Wade, Jack and Isaac. She got a shirt from Nana and Gump that said “Lily is going to Disney,” she didn’t know what it meant, but the older cousins sure did, it was a pretty exciting morning. We stayed there for lunch, then we headed back to Truro for supper with Lily’s Grandad and some of her Great Aunts. Then, bright and early on December 26, we headed to the airport so that Lily (and Scott and I) could go to Disney World!
Wow! Maybe I DO like Santa after all.
Merry Christmas 2012
New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day (December 31, 2012-January 1, 2013) – For New Year’s Eve, we were at Disney’s Magic Kingdom where we ate breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and his friends and we went on lots of rides. Lily and I sat on one of the horses on the carousel, she even held on like a big girl. We saw fireworks a few times that evening including the midnight New Year’s fireworks which we watched from the parking lot. New Year’s day was a little more low-key. Lily stayed at the house with Daddy and went for a swim while Mommy did some final Disney shopping with Nana, Nanny Berry and Auntie Kelly. Then, for supper we all went to the Hard Rock Café.
Which brings us back to Groundhog Day – Lily’s first birthday!