Fun Time Movie

For your viewing enjoyment today, a short movie of a few recent favorites.
 Enjoy your weekend!

Life Lately

Here's a peek at what we've been up to lately:

Lily takes a while to wake up and get going in the morning.  Some days, she likes to snuggle on the couch before we begin our day.

Morning snuggles are the best!

We've continued to visit our splashpads...

Heading to the car to go play

Waiting for the water

Look up there!

Playing outside is hard work

Lily had her first dentist appointment this week.  I had been told that kids adopted from China often have dental problems from lack of care so I was a little worried.  Well...good news!  Lily's teeth look great so far.  Being a new parent, I wasn't sure what to expect for a dentist appointment on someone this young.  The doctor we went to was great.  If anybody local is looking for a pediatric dentist, I'll pass on the information to you!  

Watching a bit of Finding Nemo while we wait

As good as the doctor was, it didn't stop Lily from using her lungs to let everyone know how loud she can be.  Poor thing - they just brushed her teeth and he visually examined everything but she did not like it.  Not one bit.  She recovers quickly though so as soon as he was finished, she collected her stickers and was good to go.  She was quick to tell him bye-bye!

Showing me her clean teeth in the car

Playing with all the stickers from the dentist

We were heading out to go do some errands one day and Lily had to gather up all her "friends" to take with her.

 A big puppy dog, small puppy dog and an elephant bracelet and she was ready to go

Some front porch playing time...

While I was getting lunch ready the other day, someone found a new seat.

She thought it was pretty funny and stayed there for a bit while I finished getting everything ready. Who am I to stop someone from being so comfy?!?!

Lily got a farm passed down to her from a friend of mine, and she loves it.  It makes me smile because I probably wouldn't have picked out a farm for her.  Guess that goes to show that Mommy doesn't always know best!  This made me laugh one day to see this:

Which one doesn't belong on a farm - horse, sheep or lion?

And the people in the refrigerator!   Maybe they are just staying cool from the Texas heat.

While I wash my face in the evening, Lily always joins me and likes to play with my make-up drawer.  Using my things, she pretends to put on make-up.  Well one evening, when I finished washing my face and looked up, I saw this:

Lily figured out how to open my mascara and put it on.  Who wants to book her for their next makeover?  She was pretty pleased with herself but hadn't seen her face yet.  Once she saw it in the mirror, she wasn't too sure about it.

Sometimes you are just too tired at the grocery store to stay awake!

Three Month Update

Today is 3 months...three months since our Gotcha Day.  It continues to be such an adventure watching Lily adapt to everything so quickly.  We stay amazed each and every day about her progress.  And, oh, her little personality is just as sweet and fun as it can be!

Sleeping
Lily totally "gets" her nightime routine:
1.  bath
2.  snuggling on couch watching a show while having milk
(Wallykazam, Bubble Guppies, Barney - incase any of you are looking for a new show to watch)
3.  Brush teeth - this is not a favorite time for Lily but we are working on it.  We should have this down by the time her permanent teeth get here. :)
4.  Story time in the rocking chair in her room.  Lily loves going over to pick a book to read each night.
5.  Then snuggling and "nite-nite" time.

The big change with Lily's sleeping this past month is we've stopped napping.  When Lily was napping, she was going to sleep later and later each night.  Now without naps, she's asleep by 8:30 and sleeps for about 11-12 hours each night.

Now when I say we don't nap, that means I don't lay her down to nap anymore.  She will, however, take a quick cat nap if we happen to be in the car doing a few errands in the afternoon!

My view most mornings

Although we don't officially have a "nap" time, Lily is quick to get a few minutes of shut eye when we are out and about in the afternoon

A few friends with her this day

Lily usually has Gracie or Roxi nearby

After our "Sip and See" shower at work.  That wore her out to be the center of attention but she absolutely loved it!

Eating
Lily is still enjoying her food!  While she enjoys her food, we get to enjoy the entertainment of her eating and visiting with us.  She likes so many foods right now and I'd like to say she eats a well balanced, healthy diet but that would be a lie since she doesn't include veggies yet. Although this past week, she did enjoy some cucumbers and hummus.  She also likes almost anything that's put on toothpicks for her to eat from so there may be some veggies like that in her future.

Lily's reaction that her ham and cheese were on a toothpick - so excited!!

Her top three favorites now are chicken nuggets, watermelon and milk.  I wonder if one could live on just those three things??

Other current likes: chips and hot sauce (Lily was meant to be a Texan), pork, pizza (took a while to like this, and whew, she does!) chicken, grapes (liked these, then didn't like them, now likes them again), mandarin oranges, strawberries (didn't like these, but now does), crackers, oatmeal, and cereal.

A little cereal one morning

Enjoying her first freeze pop

Pizza Night:

Notice her asking for more, but we didn't have more.  She did get pretty excited when she saw another little piece though behind her piece of crust.  I get excited when that happens to me too!

Attachment
Attachment is still going great!  She is well attached to both Mommy and Daddy.  She is definitely turning into a little Daddy's girl and I love that!

That face - so serious!

We weren't really planning on playing in the water this day but oh well...

A morning walk to Starbucks and sharing some banana bread.  Check out the upside down sunglasses!

Playing
Lily loves to play with just about anything.  Some favorites or right now are:  going to splashpads, playing with anything that has music, play dough, play tea set, duplo blocks, her little people characters, her farm and zoo animals,  iPad kid songs, and playing with Gracie and Roxi.

One of her favorite songs is the Barney song I love you. She asks for it on her iPad and when it plays, she always wants you to pick her up so she can hug you while she sings along.  Totally precious and it melts my heart each time!

A little splashpad fun

Hat bigger than her...check!!

Watching Barney in our bathroom while I get ready one day

She is fun to play with and she's pretty much up for anything.  She is beginning to find things funny - like when I dumped the blocks all out of the bag onto the floor to play with!  Lily is also beginning to clean up as we sing a clean up song. :)

Playdough bracelets

Wonder what she's thinking about?!?!

Step aside Bob the Builder and meet Lily the Builder!

Communicating
Lily's communication skills have been one of the best things to watch unfold.  It amazes me how quickly things are changing.  Lily now says a lot of things with prompting but is beginning to say some things unprompted!  Some of her unprompted words are: more, one more time, Gracie, Roxi, puppy dog, kitty cat, flower, Bonny, Bobert (Robert), bye-bye.

She understands SO much!  We can tell her to get her shoes and she goes and gets them, get a book and she'll go get one, get the puppies ready to walk and she'll get the leashes, time to go bye bye and she'll be ready at the door and so much more.  It is just unbelievable to us how far she's come in three short months.  90 days.  Wow!!

She still of course "babbles" and boy is she expressive when talking!

Lily is now feeling at home with us and it's so awesome to see the transformation.  She knows where things are, knows our routine and is a happy camper.  Most importantly, she knows she is loved!

Going For a Walk

Anybody that knows us, knows how much our "puppy dogs" (as Lily calls them) mean to us. 

Gracie

Roxi

 "The Girls", as we call them, are always happy to go on one of their 2-3 walks a day! The other day while Michael was working, I decided to take everyone on a walk.  I've just about mastered walking Lily and "The Girls" solo, so I chose a day to chronicle the feat itself.

First up, I need to get dressed into my "uniform" for the day:

Black exercise pants, t-shirt and tennis shoes

But I confess - that's not my "uniform" for this day only. It was my uniform the day before, and the day before that, etc. Of course I have several pairs of pants and different colored t-shirts.  I mean I wouldn't wear the exact same thing each day. Colored t-shirts add variety and change it up so much! You get the idea - I'm in total Mommy mode with my wardrobe now.  And, I love it!

While I'm getting dressed and pulling my hair back, Lily is getting ready too!  She's very good at opening up my bathroom drawers and helping to get herself ready.  

This girl - putting on deodorant!  Can you tell that she takes EVERYTHING in around here?  No, I don't put deodorant on my belly so I guess she's just being creative.  My favorite part - how she holds her shirt under her chin.  She cracks me up!  

Next up, she gets a make-up brush out, dabs her finger in it and then rubs it on her eyelids.  Hilarious!

Then it was time to get Lily dressed for the day.  No pictures of that because let me tell you, getting a toddler dressed on some days should be an Olympic event.  Seriously, it is a workout when Lily is flipping and flopping all over the place, laughing the whole time!  I make sure I have everything out and ready so I can be as fast as I can for the "game" we play.

Once we are both dressed, brushing teeth is next.  This is not Lily's favorite activity lately although this day she did pretty well.  She must have known I was taking pictures. :)

Brush, brush, brush

Getting some water

Finally, spitting - her favorite part!  That is unless she tries to hold the water in her mouth for a while.

"The girls" wear harnesses for their walks and Lily is great at getting the harnesses and leashes out and ready.  I get them hooked up and then fill up Lily's water bottle and then head outside.  We are all outside for our walk and had to stop for a quick selfie.

Silly face time

Love this girl and her smile

Lily always likes to take some "friends" with her in her wagon while we walk and you never know who she will choose.  This particular day, she wanted Baby, Ernie and Big Bird to go with us.  We search for everyone and get them all gathered up.

Ernie and Big Bird were easy since their cars fit into the unused cup holders in the wagon.  Baby on the other hand, had to sit in the seat across from Lily and had to have her seat belt on.  So I adjusted it as small as I could to hold her in.  Because Lily has to have all seat belts buckled - in the wagon, grocery cart, stroller, high chair, etc.  If we happen to get a grocery cart or highchair with a buckle that doesn't work, we are in trouble!

All ready to go

After loading Lily, Baby, Ernie, Big Bird, and the water bottle, we are just about ready to go on our walk.  Now, where are "The Girls"??  They are walking around the front yard with their leashes already attached so I go get them, untangle them and then get ready to begin our walk.  But wait, I'm already tired and we haven't even left our yard!

Lily perfecting her lion roar in this picture!  Notice how Baby is now next to Lily?  Well a few minutes into the walk, Baby was falling down the seat because the wagon seat belt isn't small enough for a doll.  Lily surely didn't like that (remember how she is about seat belts?!?!) so, we all stopped to move Baby and strap her in with Lily.  After that adjustment, we are once again on our way.

When it's just me, I let "The Girls" walk in front, me in the middle and I pull Lily in the wagon behind.  Everything goes great until...we see another dog. :)

We made it home and now it's time to take off the harnesses and leashes

While I was getting the wagon put away on the porch, Lily did this!  She laid her Baby down, put Gracie's harness on and wanted to put the leash on.  Too funny!  I tell you, she does not miss a thing.

Just wait til we add the summer heat to our routine!

Randomness

If you look at my phone pictures now, 99.9% of them are of Lily.  So today is a day to share a plethora of randomness from my phone!  Not a lot of narration, today is a picture day.

We loved seeing Aunt Debbie or Bebbie as Lily said. Come back soon to visit again!

Loving some water play

At the "kid" table

Sometimes snack is better when sitting like this on the stool

The Queen of the wagon

Enjoying the iPad.  Yes, she is very good at scrolling and pushing buttons!

Front porch time before family pictures

Walking up and down these steps while Mommy was trying to take pictures.  Up and down, again and again.

Ready for school?!?!

With my Mommy on the day she resigned from work!