Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the new Hooks family blog! We hope this will allow us to keep our family and friends up-to-date on what is going on in our (okay, mainly our kids') lives. Most of the entries won't be nearly this long, but I want to catch you up on where we are.

So, to start things off, let me tell you what Lily is up to these days...
She is 19.5 months old, weighs in around 24 or so pounds and is about 33 inches tall. She wears mostly 24 month/2T clothes though several 18 months items still fit fine. She wears a size 4 shoe and a size 4 diaper. She loves wearing a bow in her hair, and she will ask for one everyday as she is getting dressed. She also likes wearing shoes and socks and asks for those. Personally, I think she is adorable in everything she puts on!

She loves to read books! We have about 30 books out for her, and we read through each one of them two or three times a day. Her current favorites include Goodnight Gorilla, Counting Kisses, Animal Book (with velcro animals), My Two Hands/My Two Feet and First 100 Words. There are a few shows she enjoys watching: Baby Einstein, Little Einstein and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We usually watch one or two of these a day; it just depends on the weather and what other activities we have planned.

Her interests also include playing outside. If we're inside for too long (in her opinion that can be as little as 5 minutes), she will bring my shoes and her shoes for me to put on. She loves watching squirrels and birds. Actually, she loves all animals. We went to the zoo recently, and she was amazed to see them all, especially the meercats and the birds. While outside, she enjoys waving at the cars that pass by, and pointing out all the planes overhead.

Lily is now into climbing on anything she can, big or small. She has recently conquered the couches in our den, and she is working on the chairs in the kitchen. Another favorite activity is to play inside our cars and pretend like she is driving; she gets very upset when we make her get out. She also loves any kind of purse, bag or basket that she can put things in and carry on her arm. She will play in her toy kitchen for awhile too; she loves to stir whatever she puts in the pot, make the blender work and put the pot in the oven to cook. Lily also enjoys dancing. It's so funny to watch her do the hokey-pokey; she also shakes her hips back and forth to any kind of music.

Within the last month, Lily has become fascinated by the two baby dolls that Meme gave her; they are named Baby Morgan and Baby Kailey. She loves to hug them, pat their backs, help them suck their thumbs, give them drinks from her sippy cups, share her crackers and dress them in her clothes. We are taking this as a good sign since a new baby is on the way in November! She also loves to point out and say "baby" whenever one comes nearby, so I guess that's good too.

Lily is saying new words everyday now. I wish I had noted when all these things were said, but here's a list of the things I can think of right now that she is saying: hi, hey, bye-bye, night-night, uh-oh, baby, sock, shoe, bow, book, clock, dog, cat, bird, bee, duck, please, eat, more, cracker, milk, juice, car, truck, ball, purple, Mama, Daddy, Papa, Bama, Meme, yes and no. She also likes to imitate us if we say "ay ya yi" which is really funny to hear. She doesn't always say them perfectly, but we can understand and she says these consistently (unless, of course, I am trying to get her to say one of these words around someone; she totally clams up). These are the words she will say when she wants one of them, but she will also try to say most words that we ask her to. She is learning some animal sounds too. She can tell you what a dog, owl, duck, snake and lamb say. Also, she has become quite the squealer; when she is excited she will squeal as loud as she can. She doesn't do it unless she is happy but, boy, she can be so loud!

Her favorite foods include carrots (matchstick style), grapes, chicken, fish, crackers, goldfish, cheerios, grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, dried fruit (especially apples, bananas and strawberries), yogurt, macaroni and cheese, bananas, ice cream and toast (really any kind of bread). She tried red meat for the first time the other day (and seemed to enjoy it which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me). She is hit or miss with other foods. She's not the best eater, but she is becoming a little more adventurous.

As for baby number 2...
I had a level 2 ultrasound at my 12-week check-up a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully, all the tests came back within the normal range, so thus far, it appears we have a healthy baby. We appreciate all of the prayers that this pregnancy will continue to go smoothly, and that a healthy baby will arrive around November 21. In case you are wondering, we hope to find out if this is a boy or girl in July; we are way too much of planners to not find out!

Thank you for taking the time to check out our blog. We hope to update it often so come back soon!