Time for Good-bye

As my family prepares to say our final good-byes to my Mother I feel it is time to say good-bye to Lily's blog. My Mom had a long courageous battle with cancer and we will miss her dearly, I can only aspire to be such a mother. She was so proud of Lily and I am so pleased that she lived long enough to meet her and love her so...Dale and I will definitely keep her memory alive for Lily.


Thank so much for following along and your support. I will update Facebook occasionally with some pics of Lily. Take care, Noella

Morning rituals

Lily is becoming quite the mimic. She now files her nails everyday, mind you she files her toes nails with her socks and sneakers on, she puts on face cream and various other things...we now have to be very careful about what we say or do. We put an oatmeal bath powder in her tub to help with her dry skin, this morning she took a piece of paper and was making pouring motions into the tub, she is too funny.

Chinese New Year/Valentine's Day/Birthday's

Today was a big day, we celebrated Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day and birthdays. Lily started out the day with receiving a red envelope with $8.00 in it, in the Chinese culture 8 is a lucky number, representing prosperity. Then we gave her a little stuffed doggie that when you press its' belly it makes a smacking/kissing noise and says: "I love you".

Then up to Summerside for a birthday brunch with cake and ice cream. It is Pepe's, Aunt S., Cousin I's and Great Aunt D.'s birthdays this month.

She was in fine form last evening at the Chinese New Year celebration at the Delta. The 60 foot dancing dragon did not scare her silly. At the door when you presented your ticket you received a red envelope with a card from our local MP and a chocolate loonie. That provided great entertainment for the evening. As we where leaving the hotel Lily and I got to meet a bunch of parents from either NB or NS who were here for Jack Frost festival and to celebrate CNY with their daughters, all adopted from China. We had a great little chat and their daughter's were very excited to meet Lily, they were all 5 years of age or older.

Happy New Year.

Winter Jacket

This morning Lily decided she was ready to head out for the day early, much too early for my liking. I am no longer use to heading out the door shortly after 7am. She is still wearing her PJs in these shots. She is feeling alot better today, thank goodness. Saturday she came down with a cold/flu and a fever. Hoping she will get a good night sleep tonight, it has been a very loooong week. I definitely have cabin fever and apparently I am a bit on the cranky side - ha!

We just finished watching a documentary called Hyper Parents and Coddled Kids, oh boy, I can easily see Dale and I being hyper parents. N

Some firsts...

Gratuitous cuteness in the PJs that I picked out myself and brought to Mom and Dad's bed where they change me after my bath. (Clearly she is becoming more confident and secure.)

Yesterday we had several firsts for Lily. In the morning while I was making myself a coffee, I turned around to check on Lily and there she was swaying back and forth in her high chair, humming/babbling along to a John Mayer song. Then that evening was her first real temper tantrum. Oh my. Daddy had to pop into work for a few minutes, she decided she wanted some frozen yogurt in the deep freezer in the garage, but she had just had a bedtime snack so I said "No". Then she wanted to go down the basement to play with some of her toys and again I said "No" because it was actually past her bedtime. That is when the feet started to stomp and the crocodile tears started. Luckily it ended fairly quickly when I ignored her and then asked her if perhaps we should called the social worker who did our home study to report me...I know I should not be using sarcasm with her already I am suppose to be the adult. Next time I will refrain from using sarcasm - I hope.

Things that crack me up:

Lily`s new chair, just her size. Before we get to the fun stuff, Lily wants some folks to know that she includes them in her nightly prayers. Wishing for good health.

The following is a list of things that I love about Lily:

- How she walks around with a purse/bag on her arm like Sophia on Golden Girls.

- How she wants to change her shoes at least twice a day.

- How we have to look at the clothing in her closet once a day.

- How she snuggles as close as physically possible when we nap (which is not everyday - sigh).

- How she sleeps so well at night. I was hesitant to include this one in case I jinx it...

- How intelligent she is, no fooling this girl, she sees everything.

- How she loves to play peek-a-boo.

- How some evenings she will go to the back door grab her father's coat and her coat, without being able to say the words she clearly tells us she wants to go outside or for a car ride.

- How some folks are tickled pink when she blows them kisses.

4 months almost...

Daddy and I, a self-portrait.

The odd time I am just too tired to make it through lunch or sometimes dinner.

It is hard to believe that Lily has been home with us for almost four months. The other night she and Dale were playing, they were chest to chest and he was sitting on the edge of the bed then would rock back till he was laying down, saying "weeeeeeeee" the whole time. Her laughter was so pure it stopped me in my tracks, she was so happy, brought tears to my eyes to hear that laughter.

The father and daughter bond is sealed for life now, the other evening Dale was singing away (no surprise to any of his co-workers if they are reading this) and Lily started to dance. My first thought was that this is truly a match made in heaven. Of course, he is tickled pink to finally have someone appreciate his vocal talents.

This evening we went to The Man Store (aka Canadian Tire) on the way out as we were putting on our jackets at the back entrance Lily reaches up grabs Dale's baseball cap and passes it to him, then grabs her little knitted cap, small things like that are just so funny, so out of the blue. It is normally a battle of wills to get her to wear a hat.

It has only taken us four months to figure out that a sure fire way to get her to eat two veggies at most meal time is to she is distract her with toys. Meal time is still a very slow process but so worth it to see her eating healthy, nutritious food (most of the time it is healthy - the odd chicken nuggets are served too).

Happy New Year To All

Christmas eve in my fancy gold dress and sparkly shoes.

My first pair of jeans. Thanks Meme & Pepe.

The Christmas holidays were very special this year. At the Christmas eve potluck and gift exchange Lily was the main attraction, she opened a few presents and was thrilled with her Smurf and Mega Blocks. She was more fascinated with Cousin J.'s iPhone and ended up calling one of his buddies in Alberta, our girl is a technical whiz. I am not kidding, I have discovered a few tricks/functions of my laptop from her constant playing with the keyboard while watching her Baby Einstein dvds.

There were a few times during the holidays when she was overstimulated and did not nap well, pretty sure she was not the only toddler out there that was a bit cranky and whiny by times. Having said that it was wonderful to finally have Lily with us at Christmas.

She is now 19 months old and has started to show us affection by kissing us and blurting our bellies, really very funny. When we are in the master bedroom Dale will ask her: "Where are Meme and Pepe?" She points to my family photos and blows them kisses, not sure what we laughed at before she came into our lives.

All the best in 2010. N

Sledding fun

Turns out Lily does not mind this winter weather as long the wind is not blowing too hard. Thanks Great Aunt D. for finding this toasty warm snowsuit a couple of years ago, I look adorable in it...

Ho Ho Ho!

We took a few Christmas photos this evening. How adorable is Lily in her Santa suit? She looks like an little elf. I have always enjoyed the Christmas season but this year, of course, is extra special.

May your home be filled with love and happiness this Christmas. N

Different wheels

Above is Lily going for a ride on Poppie's walker. Cousin M. was over playing with little miss and decided to see if she would enjoy a little scoot around the house on their grandfather's walker and of course Lily did loved it.

Yesterday she received three immunizations, poor gal, she was definitely out of sorts last evening. Attempted to go to play group this morning but she was having not part of it, I decided to let her win this morning because she still may be feeling the side effects of the shots. She is a warm weather gal, I think it is going to take a while for her to embrace our winters. Someone gave us a cute little plastic sled a couple of years ago so I will dig that out this weekend and see is she might enjoy sledding in the back yard. Thanks Pooh.

Tomorrow will be her first Christmas party, hope Santa does not scare her too much!

Baptism Day/storm day

Thanks L & J for being the proxy "Godparents".

Dale looking dashing, daughter looking darling.

Today was Baptism Day, unfortunately it was also our first storm day. So we had several family members and friends not able to attend because of terrible road conditions, you were all missed.

We almost rescheduled for next month but thought we should proceed, we could run into this kind of weather for the next four or five months. Lily as usual was in good humour and did not mind horribly when the other families were invited to make the sign of the cross on the forehead of all the children being baptised today (four other cuties).

Afterwards family members attending popped over for some refreshments and snacks, a very good day overall despite the weather.

18 Month Check-up & China pics

This was the view from our hotel in Nanchang. We have told since we are home that the owner of the building died during it construction and no one has taken over and it is full of squatters. I did see a lady walking on the decking in a dress and thought it was pretty strange to see a dress blowing in the breeze on a construction site - lol.

This is the last minute panic to purchase formula and rice cereal just before we received the babies in Nanchang.

The soil of Lily's province is red - isn't that interesting - just like here at home.

Travelling to Nanchang from Beijing. Please note I am lugging all of CAM's luggage - ha. A photographer has to have her hands free to take these great shots.

The above is from the evening we arrived in Beijing. Exhaustion and excitement all wrapped into a not so pretty package - lol.
*****

Today was Lily's 18 month check-up with our family doctor. She is now 17 pounds and 8 ounces and 29 inches long, grow Lily grow!

She also received a regular seasonal flu shot, she was a brave little trooper again, of course there were some tears but they dried up quickly and she received two stickers from the kind nurse to compensate for her pain. Dr. H is great as long as she does not actually try to touch Lily, then Lily gets quite scared and clings to Dale.

Lily's crib is a Storkcraft and there was a major recall announced yesterday. I have been trying for a day and half to get a hold of someone to order the replacement kit and no luck, very frustrating. I have been calling the 1-866 number and trying to reach them on-line. How can I let her sleep in that crib now that we know about the recall, even if it does seem very sturdy? Lily flops about during her sleep so obviously we cannot let her use the crib till it is fixed, this is definitely not going to help the afternoon nap issues.

CAM sent us a couple of disks of pics from our trip to China, I thought I would post a few(tried to make them appear at the bottom of my post but I did not succeed). Thanks again C, they are amazing shots and you are too talented. N

Two fisted eating...

She loved the yellow and green beans we had at dinner. To date we have mostly used bottle veggies because she only has six teeth. This photo cracks me up. Maybe Auntie S is right, her new nickname might have to be "Pork Chop".

Remembrance Day

Hope everyone takes a moment or two to remember past and present sacrifices that have been made for us to enjoy living in such a peaceful country.

Above is Lily in a Jolly Jumper, yes a Jolly Jumper. There maybe some folks who do not approve of them, she uses it twice a week for ten minutes at a time and I can assure you she is fully supervised. She usually tries to pick up her socks or one of Chipper's toys with her feet and does any amazingly good job, the girl is flexible. She enjoys her Jolly Jumper and will ask to be put in it by standing inside the metal frame and doing a funny little jumping action, and always tries to help Dale fasten the harness.

Oh and I wanted to share this random act of kindness. Earlier this week Lily and I were out for a walk, she of course was in her stroller. We crossed a somewhat busy intersection, said Hello to two guys who were packing up surveying equipment. Lily was chatting/babbling away in her stroller and I was just taking in the sunshine. I hear this "Excuse Me, Excuse Me". I push over to the far right thinking it was someone on a bike and we were in the way. It was one of the guys from the corner, he was waving Lily's pink mitten. Isn't that something? He chased us a good half block to return her fallen mitten. I love living in a place where that would happen!

Hope everyone has a thoughtful Remembrance Day.

Another embarrassment of riches

One of Dale's co-worker's J. opened to her house to host a baby shower for Lily. She has an amazing home on the south shore with a million dollar view. As usual people are so generous and kind and share in our excitement of having Lily in our life. She had a great time with T.'s daughter and friend playing hot potato with some balloons. She received some amazing outfits, PJs, books, toys and a diaper genie. One of Dale's co-worker's K. was not able to make it Saturday morning so he dropped off a gift, a Team Canada jersey with her name on the back - very neat.

I was a little nervous about how she would get along, she has been a bit clingy lately (which is really a good thing, she is attaching to us more and more) but after a little while she was having so much fun playing with the balloons she was not so clingy.

Friday afternoon she has a little visit/playdate with the twins, A&T. Oh it was just adorable to see them together. When we were leaving and they each gave her a hug, my heart absolutely melted.

Last night she had a family birthday get-together, she loved playing with Cousin M.'s toys and the ice cream. She is one lucky little girl to have such amazing people in her life, of course we consider ourselves lucky to have her in our lives.

Have a Safe and Happy Halloween.

My shirt says: "Daddy is under my spell", so true and I know it...

The snake costume we had for her got the big thumbs down, it actually scared her a bit so we went with Halloween themed clothing instead.

Some afternoon fun.

Man Shower

Lily helping Daddy open her gi at the Man Shower tonight.

Her white belt signed by Sensei Higashi.

Dale's Karate friends threw him a surprise "Man Shower" this evening. I tried to help trick him a bit at dinner time by saying some of my co-workers were coming by around 7 p.m. so when the back door opened at 7 I was able to say: "Oh, that must be the girls." When in fact it was the boys and girls and food, beer and wonderful gifts for Lily. It was wonderful they were able to truly surprise him tonight. Thank you so much. Lily received a karate gi, gift cards and a cute Christmas ornament. The gi is embroidered with her name and the belt was signed by Sensei Higashi, very special indeed, a piece of history, we hope Lily appreciates that when she is older.

Visiting Meme & Pepe and gifts!

Playing with Pepe.

Sitting quietly and playing with Meme. This is not the norm, she is full of energy, a rough and tumble gal most times.

This is so neat, it is a Halloween Photo/Scrap Book made by Auntie CAM. There is a page for photos for Lily in her Halloween costume from this year till she is about 14 years old. How cool?

Another Auntie CAM creation, a handmade photo album/scrap book for Lily. Photos from our trip to China, it is amazing.

From Aunt S & Uncle JP, a bunny towel for Lily, she will look even more adorable wearing this towel/robe.

A wicket cute outfit for Little Miss from Aunt S and Uncle J, they also sent a memory book that is specifically geared to an adopted child it is wonderful and I promise to fill it out not just let it sit on a shelf. Also note the beautiful rocking chair pad, Auntie Lou made those!

Lastly, Lily having lunch today at Meme & Pepe's wearing the bib from Auntie S.