10 Months Old!

Lilly just turned 10 months on the 24th. It's hard to believe that in 2 months she'll be a year old. The party is being planned as I type. Things are going well here at the Tarchalski house. Last week was my Mid-Winter break! I was home with Lilly who was pretty sick. She ended up having an ear infection and a awful cold. This cold really took a toll on her, she was icky. Thank goodness I had last week off to be home with her. By the end of the week she started to feel better. On Friday we had a shopping day with my mom and sister. Then that evening we had a "wine in" with all of the Duff's (old and new) and the Davis family. It was lots of fun! On Saturday, we made our way out to Frankenmouth (yes in the awful snow) to get away for the night. We went with our friends and their little girls. We had a great time swimming, catching up and having a few adult beverages. Sunday came to fast!
A few of Lilly's favorite things to do are unroll the toliet paper( I love it, it makes me laugh), play with her new farm magnetic set that entertaines her in the kitchen while I cook (or Ryan), play cat and mouse; she loves to get away from me or Ryan and she ablsolutely loves to pull all the DVD's out from the TV stand. She's still the happiest baby ever! Her personality is great! She makes us laugh all the time. She must get it from me, ha!!

A Weekend at the Cottage

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lilly spent her first Valentines Day at the Cottage with her Aunts, Uncles and Cousin Preston (oh' and Whitaker and Winston too). Boy did we have a great time. The boys went sledding, the girls talked, the dogs chased each other and the babies ate, laughed, napped and danced to Uncle Saylor playing music! When the babies went to bed, us adults played cards and had some cocktails. It was fun catching up with my sisters and brothers. The weekened ended with breakfast made by my brother and Uncle Saylor playing a few last songs for us! Only 36 more days until Spring!!

Winter Blues

Ryan and I are over this Michigan winter. It has been horrible. It seems like it snows everyday... and sometimes all day! I envy my friends that live out of state in the warmer weather. I don't think that will ever be us, but if our winters stay like this I'm outta here folks!
It seems our lives have been pretty predictable. Lilly goes to family or Cindy's and Ryan and I go off to work! Most nights we are in bed around 8. Ryan reads and I play on the computer ( oh' who am I fooling I am on face book). On the weekends, it's usually a trip to Meijer and a visit or 2 with our families. So needless to say we are eagerly waiting spring. Only 51 more days to go!!
These day's Lilly is still walking around with the help of furniture, toys or our hands. She had her 9 month check up this week and is in the 50th percentile with her height, weight and head (enjoy it will it lasts right!) Lilly is eating all kinds of table foods. It's so fun to watch her try new things, she's so dramatic she still shakes like she has done a shot of whiskey! After the first try she's ready for more.
Lilly is definitely up with the times, technology is her favorite. Our phones are a great diaper changing distraction, the computer would be full of drool right now if we would let her near it and of course the remote control is a close friend too. Oops, I forgot the Skype phone, she loves to talk to my family on it! For those that don't know what that is, it's a video phone. Uncle Saylor and Aunt Stacy surprised us with it for Christmas.
And, finally our little or should I say big Whitaker is getting fat. Despite the dragging stomach he can still prance around and chase a toy or two. Poor thing!
It's always a good time at the Tarchalski house, dogs and babies... never a dull moment!

Our Princess

Watch out!!

Our Little School Girl

Lilly continues to walk along any furniture that she can reach! She is getting brave and letting go - then she falls on her butt! Gotta love diapers nice and cushy. She has just started to really be able to eat table foods and can get them in her mouth on her own. Beyond that, not much more has changed, she's still happy as ever and sleeping like a champ! We are patiently waiting for the weather to get warmer so we can do fun things outside with Lilly! :)

Happy New Year!!

So Happy

Lilly taking a break from chasing Whitaker.

Lilly and her BFF Laurel Jeung.

Happy 2009! I can't believe that 2008 is over. Last year so many memorable events took place; the most important- Lilly Marie was born; the light of our lives. It's truly amazing the love that you have for your child. To those that haven't started a family, just wait! You're in for the ride of your life. Another unforgettable moment was us moving from Ferndale to my parents house with the hopes of finding a house before the Holidays. To our surprise house hunting was harder than we anticipated so, to my parents surprise they now had roommates that weren't only going to be there for a short time. They were so wonderful to Ryan and I, I don't think Ryan wanted to move out. 7 Months later we found our house and moved during a blizzard! There wasn't much I could do since I was pregnant so the guys did all the moving and the ladies did the unpacking! It really worked out to our advantage (us girls). Other exciting times were when Preston was born, when my girlfriends babies were born and when my sister tied the knot. Those are just to name a few. We have so much to be thankful for... I hope that 2009 brings us just as much joy.
Love,
Kelli

Merry Christmas

Here comes Preston

Kelli, Lilly and Aunt Stacy on Christmas

Merry Christmas! We hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends. We sure did. We celebrated with Ryan's family and mine. Lilly enjoyed spending time with her cousins Abby and Jordan on the Tarchalski side and with all her cousins on the Duff/Santiago side (to many to name). Lilly got many gifts as well as us!
This year I volunteered to have Christmas at our house. We had 30 people over to eat, drink and just be merry!It was great!
Lilly is now 8 months old... she is so big to us! It's amazing how fast she is growing. She got a new tunnel to crawl through and just loves it. She was apprehensive at first, but overcame it and now loves to play in it. Lilly loves peek a boo, loves to laugh and smile! My mom always asks her if her cheeks ever hurt from smiling so much! Lilly loves her cousin Preston, they are little buddies. They really notice one another. It's so cute. And of course she still loves her Whitaker!
I have to say I am happy that Christmas is over, my house is back to normal, the tree and decorations are all down! I couldn't wait, the minute Christmas is over my decorations must come down! I'm crazy I know! Wow, well I hope you all have a wonderful New Year, we will be celebrating with my family at the Twilight Benefit. We are excited!
2009 here we come!

Our Daring Little Girl

Bundled up for the cold weather

I'm a happy girl

Lilly continues to explore different ways to stand and crawl. She loves to do her "breast stroke" crawl however at times she'll throw in a real crawl. Too cute! Lilly also enjoys walking with the help of one of us. She is daring! Just today, I found her standing in her crib (thank goodness the mattress was lowered last weekend). She hasn't figured out how to get down though, so she started to cry. Poor thing. She still has her cold, my gosh they last FOREVER!! We are ready for this to be over... she passed it on to Grandma Lita and her buddy Ryan. Germs, Germs, Germs. Lilly loves us, but the love of her life right now is Whitaker. She follows him everywhere, and he loves it! This morning Whitaker was on Ryan's chest and Lilly crawled over to get in the action. Lilly is also excited (as well as us) that she will be having a new cousin join her next summer. Preston is going to be a big brother! Yes, that's right, my brother and Stacie are going to have a new little one. We are excited! And... no we are not- one day though!
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year if I don't make it on before then! Love, Kelli~

Pulling Up

So Big!

Daddy's favorite team even though they lose every game.

Ride Em' Cowgirl!

Be Careful!

Lilly has started to really pull herself up on everything! At Cindy's she found the steps and made her way up 2 sets. At Grandma Lita's she also is learning how to go up and down her step into the kitchen. Once in a while we can get her to do "so Big". It's really cute. Everyday is a new adventure for Lilly. It's so much fun to sit back and watch her discover new things.
~Kelli

7 Months

Lilly Loves the Christmas Tree

Lilly is 7 months now! She is just 17 lbs, and growing. She still hasn't mastered the crawl yet... but has no trouble getting where she wants to be ( like the fire place and TV stand). Lilly has found out that she loves to crawl under her exersaucer, it's a fun game for her. She has also learned how to pull her self up on one of her toys. I fear that soon she'll be walking. She noticed the Christmas Tree a few days ago and loves to play with an ornament that is just at her eye level. We have to stay by because she's so strong one pull on the ornament and down goes the tree.
Lilly is becoming a pro at letting us wipe her nose; poor thing has another cold. These colds last forever, we're working on a week and it's still runny! Thank goodness she is still happy!!
Hope you are all enjoying your winter weather... it's not going anywhere soon:)
Love,
Kelli

Busy Lilly

Lilly loves her Whitaker.

Lilly got a new bath tub! We tried it out in the family room first! When you squeeze the beak it quacks~

Our Lilly Is Getting So Big!

Lilly is at such a fun age. We are really enjoying her. Lilly loves Whitaker, she looks for him the minute she get up in the morning. She just got her 2 bottom teeth, she looks so big! She is almost crawling, Grandma says she looks like she's doing the breast stroke and she is sitting up really well. All of these things and much more! Ryan and I are always saying how did we get so lucky!~
This past weekend Lilly had 2 sleep overs with both grandmas. On Friday Grandma Lita stayed the night and on Saturday Grandma Tar stayed the night. It was fun!
We are really looking forward to the Holidays this year; it's exciting to have Lilly to celebrate with!

Go Lilly

Lilly's First Halloween

Happy Halloween

Lilly had a great first Halloween. She got to celebrate with many of her family and friends.
We had great weather, Ryan made a camp fire out on the driveway and we hung out there for the night.
Happy Halloween~
Love,
Kelli

Here are some pictures of the Trip~

Stacy's Wedding

This past week was my sister's wedding in St. John (the virgin Island). It was a crazy week to say the least. Ryan, Lilly, my grandma and I were planning on leaving Michigan on Wed. morning. We weren't sure we would make it out because of Hurricane Omar. We got to Charlotte NC and to our surprise our flight to St. Thomas wasn't canceled. We made it! My dad was able to find us a hotel on St. Thomas- we would stay there and hope to make it over to my family the next day.
My family was already on St. John Island, they were evacuated from their Villa, they had to move over to my sisters. Everything had to be boarded up and shut down to prepare for the hurricane. Ryan, Lilly, Grandma and I got off the plane and stayed on St. Thomas for the night. I was worried because the hotel that we were staying at had a huge glass sliding door right over the ocean (what a safe place to be when the hurricane hits). The front desk said we were okay and that if it got bad they would evacuate. Long story short, it stayed a level 1, so only high winds and rain. We made it- and now we can say we survived a hurricane! O- boy:)
Because of the hurricane everything was closed, the ferry that we needed was not up and running until 2:00. They lifted the curfew at 11 that morning, so things started to get back to normal. We made it to my family but Saylor's family was stuck in Miami, they never did make it to the wedding. There was no flights out until Sunday. It's was emotional for everyone.
My sisters wedding was beautiful despite all the highs and lows. The weather was rainy all day, but cleared up just for them! It was breath taking. The rest of the vacation was beautiful, sunny and hot. We left Sunday and made it home safely, however my parents, Stacie, Ryan and Preston's flight was delayed in St. Thomas so when they made it to North Carolina they missed their flight and nothing was available for them until this morning. What a mess! This was definately a vacation we will never forget!~ We all stuck together and made it through. Enjoy the pictures of the wedding.
Love,
Kelli

There's a First Time for Everything

Today is the first day that I am posting. We hope that this blog will be a quick way for us to post pictures of Lilly and of course us. I will do my best to keep up with it. Thanks to many of my friends that have beat us to this; we finally got our butts in gear.
Soon we will be able to share picutres of us on our Vacation/wedding. So be watching for new pictures.
That's all for now Folks,
Kelli

So Busy~

Cider Mill

Happy Fall!
We took Lilly to the
Cider Mill last weekend~
She had a great time.
Her favorite part was
looking at the pumpkins.