Baby Lily...

First of all, I just have to say, as much as I love the holidays, and Christmas break, I sure do love routine... It felt SO good to wake up early Monday morning and drink coffee in the dark while the kids slept on... there's just something about starting a Monday morning off right that makes for a lovely week.  

Anyway, we did have a great time sleeping in, watching basketball, playing with new toys, visiting with family and friends, etc. etc. etc...

And on Matt's last day off, we {the kids and I} were supposed to have a play-date with friends from college (and their lovely offspring, which totals EIGHT small children, soon to be nine between the 4 of us), but it was cancelled at the last minute, due to the awful stomach bug. :( So, we decided to take advantage of Matt's last day of break and visit baby Lily on a cold, clear morning.  

I was a little worried it'd be crazy busy since it was still Christmas break, but we were pleasantly surprised to see a WIDE open parking lot when we pulled in at 10:15 (we loathe the zoo parking lot, if you know what I'm sayin'...) and not a single crowd the whole day!

Now, for those who are wondering who baby Lily is, I assumed she was a household name for everyone until this conversation occurred...

...and for the record it wasn't just Matt and I who wanted to see her.  Madelyn has been talking about visiting her since she was born.  She learned all about her at my mom's house the night she was born and we talked about "Wosie's baby" a lot until she was finally named. 

Anyway, we were super excited when we came to the elephants and there wasn't a single person standing in line.  We walked right into the elephant building and were able to spend as much time as we wanted ooohing and awing over Lily.  

She's SO much cuter {and littler, if you call 400 lbs little} in person.  Pictures could be taken as long as the flash was turned off, so this was as good as I could get in the dark building. 

And this picture is mostly just to show how small she is compared to her mom and aunt. She just stopped being able to fit under her mom's front legs without ducking. So cute! And Matt said he heard them say that she gained over a hundred pounds just in the last week. Holy elephant, right?!?!

I could have stayed and watched her much longer, but Emmitt was bound and determined to get us kicked out of there... go figure. 

So... we let the monster run free, all the way to the leopards...

{Timer Shot...gotta love 'em}

Thanks for letting us visit, baby Lily. I'm sure we'll be back!