Florida, Part 3

To continue our adventures in Florida...

After the wonderful wedding celebration on Saturday evening, we were ready to head to New Smyrna Beach on Sunday to meet up with my family. We decided to stop in Orlando on our way over for lunch. Ryan called the Disney World dining line, and made reservations at the Grand Floridian Cafe in the Grand Floridian Hotel. What a beautiful hotel! We both enjoyed one of the best sandwiches ever. Warm open-faced bread with hot ham, turkey and bacon with a melted Boursin cheese sauce. Add the onion strings on the side, and you have an amazing meal! One point I would like to make about this restaurant too. Lily had a little cheese pizza that came on a Mickey Mouse plate. The pizza was in the middle, and there were apples in one ear, carrots, celery and ranch dip in the other. I was so impressed because as soon as the waitress put the plate down, Lily said "Mommy, cool it off." She knows to let me cool her food off so it doesn't burn her. I was trying to feel Mia, so I asked Ryan to do it. He picked up the pizza, and it was just warm. Not scalding hot like most pizza is when it comes out. Finally, Disney understands that kids (and adults for that matter) can't eat food that is scalding, so they cooled it off before delivering it! I shouldn't have been surprised by this given how amazing Disney is, but I thought that was pretty cool!

We made it over to New Smyrna about 3:30 and were ready to let the relaxing begin! When we arrived, Dad immediately took Lily to the pool (she had been asking about going to the pool for days by this point) which allowed Ryan and me to unpack while Mom played with Mia. We didn't even make it out that evening (Dad brought in dinner that night), but that was fine with us.

We share a condo with Mom and Dad while we're there which is such a great treat (for us anyways!). They gracefully offered so much help with the girls. One morning, Lily even wondered over to their room at 5:45 in the morning; she knocked on the door and then climbed into bed with them for another couple of hours. They helped with feeding them, getting them to bed, playing in the pool with them and even just keeping an eye on them so we could rest some too. We really appreciate all the help they gave during the week.

The next day we talked Lily into going to the beach. She had been saying for a few weeks that she didn't like the sand, and she didn't want to go to the beach, just the pool. Well, Mia has never been to the beach, so I was determined to take her. She loved it! Papa helped her play in the ocean which she thought was great even though it was pretty cold. Look at the picture below...how excited is her precious face?! Then she played in the sand and must have thought that was awesome; why else would she eat so much of it?

Lily was not happy about going to the ocean. She started crying as soon as Ryan put her down which was frustrating. So, we went up under the tents (our family put 3 big tents together to create a lot of shade), and set up our chairs. Mia was doing great playing in the sand, but Lily didn't even want her feet to touch it. She kept saying "I don't like the sand!" After about 20 minutes though, she wanted me to build a sand castle. I told her I would help her, but I wouldn't do it by myself; she would have to touch the sand. She agreed that she would sit on a beach towel and build her castle. She then proceeded to get sand all over herself and the towel as she built. She liked finding sea shells in the sand (see the picture below). Then she stood up and realized just how much sand was on her. She took one very cautious step in the sand, looked up and said "Mommy, I like the sand!" How funny is she?! For the rest of the week, though she preferred the pool, she had fun in the sand.

Lily's favorite activity this week was jumping to us from the side of the pool. She could have spent from morning to night doing this! We would get a couple of feet from the side, she would wave her hands and say "No, farther!" Then she would jump all the way out to us. Every once in awhile, she would even agree to go underwater. She would just laugh when she would come up. Look at these pictures and see for yourself just how much fun she was having.

We enjoyed many wonderful dinners at Norwoods (yummy grilled snapper), Manny's (the best Greek salad ever), JB's (delicious crab cakes) and Bubba Gump's (my favorite friend shrimp). I was very pleasantly surprised that Lily really loved the fried shrimp and fresh fish (both grilled and fried); we don't eat much of this at home. I was not surprised at all that she loved tarter sauce though...the girls loves her "dips!" One night, all the grandparents (my parents' generation) on the trip kept all the grandkids (Lily and Mia's generation), so my generation of cousins could all go out to dinner together; what a great time!

Of course, my very favorite day of the year occurs while we are down here. That's right...hot dog day! Now normally, I like hot dogs; it's nice to grill them out in the summer and fall. But, each year, Meme puts on a hot dog feast for the entire family at the beach. She makes about 12 dozen hot dogs in the stove, and she toasts the bun in her special griddle that she brings down from Georgia. They are amazingly good! All I can guess is that love truly is the secret ingredient! There is also a delicious fruit salad made from fresh cherries, peaches and pineapples, and then chips, chili and tons of sweets for desserts. We made a big family picture right after that which was bittersweet. In the past, this has always been a picture of Meme, her sister Doris and all of their great-grandchildren on the trip. However, Aunt Doris passed away last August, so this was our first trip without her; she was certainly missed. We decided to do a picture of the whole family this year which was nice. My cousin Mandy took the picture so I don't have a copy of it, but hopefully I'll get one soon.  Meme and her three sons also make a fantastic breakfast for just Meme's family each year. They have a great time cutting up with one another about who makes the best part of the meal. To be honest, it's all delicious, and it's all a welcome treat. Meme taught them well!

This is such a wonderful week! I love that I have such a great family that keeps this tradition going year after year. It's also so much fun to look back over the pictures that have been taken in the past and see how everyone changes and grows up. I look forward to many more years of this trip!

Florida, Part 2

To continue from Florida, Part 1...

The girls woke back up about 7:30 on Friday morning and because of our tire ordeal, we were behind schedule. We just pulled over at a nice convenience store, changed their diapers and clothes, gave them breakfast and then drove for another couple of hours to Tampa. We checked into our hotel, Ryan immediately went to sleep (he had stayed awake to drive us the whole time!), and I played with the girls. They pretty much stayed on schedule, going down for naps as expected, eating when expected, etc. We had a very low-key day resting and a delicious dinner at Bahama Breeze.

On Saturday morning, Ryan needed to take the car to have the tires looked at. Luckily, we were able to talk to Grandma Jan (who, unfortunately, we weren't able to connect with in person), and she recommended a local tire place. Ryan took it in and found a good deal on putting the spare back in the car while getting four new tires. They also handled it in about a hour which was great. After he had the car fixed, we decided to get out for a little bit...Lily was getting a little stir-crazy in the hotel suite. We went to a local mall to just walk around for a bit and burn some energy which was great. After that we stopped at Walgreens to pick up a few needed items...milk, yogurt, etc. And, we picked up silver duct tape so Ryan could do a very redneck thing that I always laugh about...he put the duct tape on his car (luckily his car is silver so it's not totally obvious)! We realized that as we were driving, the air was pulling the bumper. We were nervous it would do more damage just from routine driving, not to mention driving on the interstate more later in the week so...bring on the duct tape. Classy, huh?

We headed back to the hotel for nap time, and I got ready for the 4:00 wedding. Ryan stayed with the girls during the ceremony but then the bride's sister had arranged for one of her friends to keep the girls in the hotel for the reception. I love weddings, and I was so excited to attend Erin's wedding! It was beautiful! No surprise, but Erin looked gorgeous. It was a Greek Orthodox ceremony that was lovely and interesting; I had never attended one before, but I am so glad I had the chance to go to this one.

After the ceremony, I drove back to the hotel to meet the babysitter and pick up Ryan. Amy seemed like a very nice young woman who I was completely comfortable leaving the girls with. Lily, however, wasn't so sure. She is such a timid little girl around new people, and here we were leaving her with a new person in a strange hotel; I know she was nervous. She was crying, hard, when we left which made Mia upset and start crying too. I'm sure Amy was about to cry too! She told us when we got home though that it only last a few minutes, and she and Lily quickly became best friends. I was so grateful Meagan arranged for her to keep the girls, so Ryan and I could both go to the reception.

The reception at the Rusty Pelican was wonderful! It sits right on Tampa Bay, so the view (we're coming up on sunset at this point) was amazing. They had a couple of private rooms reserved. The first had an open bar, a cool ice sculpture and yummy appetizers. We were able to talk to Mrs. Giesa (Erin's mom) for a little bit which was great. Then, they opened the door to a ballroom that was beautifully decorated in white and cobalt blue. We found our assigned table and met our tablemates who were all very nice and friendly. Erin and George shared their first dance; they seem so happy together. Typically at a wedding, if everyone starts tapping their glasses, the bride and groom share a kiss. This time though, they decided that the entire table had to sing a few bars from any song about love to have them kiss. Erin's mom was the emcee that took the mic around, and I think she loved it! Our table performed "Stop! In the Name of Love." It was a great icebreaker! Then they brought out our delicious dinner (salads, beef, chicken, veggies - yum!), and we enjoyed the chocolate-covered strawberries on the tables. After that, they started the party filled with dancing and all sorts of fun. We had a great time! We were able to talk to Erin for a few minutes (see our picture below) and meet George. It's always great to see your friend so happy.

We wish them all the best in their marriage, and we truly appreciate the chance to share this wonderful day and evening with you. We love you!

Coming up in "Florida, Part 3"...our time in New Smyrna!

Florida, Part 1

Finally, it's time for our annual family vacation! I look forward to this week every year. A lot of my dad's side of the family heads down to New Smyrna Beach, FL; this year there were 52 of us (which is actually on the low side; we've had almost 70 before). It is so much fun! Even though we are fortunate enough to see one another pretty often, we all look forward to this time to get away together. Ryan and I were also excited because we actually headed down to Tampa first because my sorority "little sister" was getting married on Saturday. What perfect timing!

After having a rough drive back from Lakeland, FL in May, Ryan and I decided we would try driving through the night in hopes that the girls would sleep most of the way. So, we left just after midnight on Friday morning. Mia was fast asleep before we even left the neighborhood. Lily stayed awake for just under an hour. She was pretty quite, but I think she really enjoyed looking at all the lights as we drove through downtown and down the interstate. She fell asleep, Ryan put on his iPod earbuds, and I went to sleep.

Everything was going great...until about 3:45 AM. We were about 7 miles north of Valdosta on 75. All of a sudden our back right tire blew out! We were just driving along (I was actually awake talking to Ryan) when all of a sudden it blew to pieces. I don't think we drove over anything, it just blew. It made a really loud noise and the car started to pull. Thankfully, Ryan was able to get us safely over to the side of the road. Even though we only drove on it for a few seconds, it managed to do damage to the bumper and side of the car. We could see pieces of the tire all along the interstate. It was very scary.

Luckily, I am a member of AAA, so I called their emergency helpline. I tried stressing to the lady that we were stuck on the side of 75 with a (now wide-awake) 2 year old and an infant. She said since this was the third shift, she could not flag it as a priority emergency, but she would note it in hopes that would speed someone up. She said a tow truck would be there within an hour to help change our tire and make sure there was no other damage so we could continue driving. Thankfully, the tow truck driver called about 35 minutes later, I was able to tell him exactly where we were and he was able to get there about 10 minutes after that. Ryan had to practically unpack the trunk to get the spare out. They changed the tire, but then we had to take the blown tire with us, so Ryan had to figure out how to re-situate everything to accommodate it but he made it work.

We pulled over at the next stop to fill up with gas and make sure all the tires had enough air in them, but then we were back on the road. Lily, of course, woke up as soon as the tire blew and stayed awake the whole time we waited, the car was worked on and we got back on the road. She was such a little trooper though. We explained that the tire was broken and someone was coming to fix it. We told her how nice the man with the big truck was to help us fix the tire. We reassured her it would be quite for the rest of the drive and she could go back to sleep. Mia, amazingly enough, slept the entire time...a girl after my own heart!

I have to say, I think the Lord was protecting us the entire time. We stopped at the entrance of our neighborhood before we left and said a prayer asking for a safe drive down. Even with a blown tire and sitting stranded on the side of the interstate in the middle of the night, we made it safe and sound. We are very thankful that God protected us during what could have been a very dangerous situation.

So, that was the adventure that started our trip. Florida, Part 2 will tell you about our time in Tampa.

Recent Pics

A few pictures from around the house.

Our little Beatles fan.This is when we knew Mia was ready for her nap.
How cute are those sandals?
What a big girl getting ready to eat her lunch.

Lily thought it was pretty funny that Mia enjoyed playing with her hair.

A Braves fan in the making.

Oslo

I have mentioned before how much Lily loves her ABC cities board. She has been on a kick for the last few days where she wants to hear about Oslo each night. Tonight though, as we walked over to her board after reading her Bible story and saying a prayer, she said "You sit there Mommy (pointed to her bench), and I tell about Oslo." She pronounces it "Osolow" each time. Here is the story she told me...

"Osolow is in Norway. It is far, far away from here. It cold there. People used to live there named Vikings (pronounced "wikings"). They wore helmets. You know what funny about those helmets? (Dramatic pause) They had horns! (as she points to head and starts laughing)." I reply how silly that is to have horns on their helmets; she thinks having horns on a helmet is hysterical.

I then ask her what the Vikings built. She replies "Boats. They use oars to move boats. They go vroom-vroom on this side and vroom-vroom on the other side (demonstrating how to use an oar on one side of her body and then on the other side). They use a sail. They have one sail and sailboats use two sails. The wikings have one sail on their boat and Things That Go sailboat have two sails ("one sail" because the picture of the Viking boat shows one brightly colored sail on the boat but her Things That Go book has a sailboat that shows two sails)." Obviously, I have been telling her these things over the last few days (though she came up with the one and two sails comment on her own), but it amazes me how she remembers what I say and repeats it back to me. I wish I had this good of a memory! She has asked me a few times about Dakar, Senegal too, but unfortunately, I don't know anything about that place. I just describe what's going in the picture which satisfies her for now.

She then turns on her humidifier "so it don't get too hot in here," turns on her Beatles lullaby CD and then lets me put her to bed. I cannot tell you how much I love the fact that Lily loves to learn about new things. I hope she will keep this curiosity up for many, many years!

Growing Girl

I can't believe how quickly Mia is growing up! She will be 8 months old this week...where does the time go? I thought I would give you a quick update on what she is up to these days.

Her first tooth arrived yesterday, on the bottom-left of her gums. I think the one right next to it will break through very soon. Even though she gnaws on everything, it hasn't seem to be too disruptive or painful for her, thank goodness. I am convinced she is going to start crawling any day now. She pretty easily gets up on her hands and knees; she'll rock back and forth, go backwards and in circles, but just hasn't quite figured out how to move forward yet. She grunts and wants to go forward so badly, but it hasn't happened yet. We have moved her up to 12 month pajamas, and they fit great. I feel a little badly about keeping her little toes in the 9 months ones for a couple of weeks now. She wears either 9 or 12 months in other clothes; the shorts fit better in 12 months, but the shirts fit better with 9 month. Really though, she's cute in anything, whether too big, too small or just right!

She is turning into a pretty good eater. She drinks 8 ounces of formula for breakfast and before bedtime plus 6 ounces before her afternoon nap. She also eats 7-8 ounces of baby food for lunch and dinner. She drinks a little water from a sippy cup with her food too which she really seems to enjoy. She is pretty good at eating almost any type of baby food we give her except green beans; she really doesn't seem to like those. However, she happily eats everything else. She really loves the little Puffs we give her as a treat. I am looking forward to the day she figures out how to pick up the Puffs herself and get them to her mouth; that will make meal time for the rest of us a lot easier. Of course, if she can pick up and put Puffs in her mouth, that means she can pick up and put lots of things in her mouth (like small toys Lily leaves behind) which won't be as much fun.

Mia loves to play peek-a-boo. This morning after she finished her bottle, she picked up her burp cloth and kept putting it over her face. I would say "Where's Mia?" and she would pull it down while I replied "Peek-a-boo!" or "There she is!" She grinned so big each time. Lily was sitting next to me and found this amusing too. We did this for about 10 minutes. She also likes to clap her hands. This comes from endless times of patty-cake with Lily and others. Just like Lily, Mia seems to love books. I hope this is a common interest they will always share. I love reading books with them. She also really enjoys bath time and splashing around. We're going to the beach in just over a week, and I am hoping her love of baths is indicative of the fun we'll have in the pool and ocean.

She is a good sleeper too. She goes down between 7:30 and 8 each night and sleeps until about 7 or 7:30 the next morning. She takes a 1.5 hour nap at about 9:30 and about a 1.5-2 hour nap about 2. She still takes a short 30 minute nap around 6 each evening which is nice when we are eating dinner in. I think she will drop this little nap soon though. She wakes up happy and sweet as she can be.

I cannot fully tell you how truly blessed Ryan and I feel to have such wonderful, sweet, loving girls. They are gifts from above!

Polar Bear

Lily really likes polar bears. She has a hooded towel that we dry her off with after her shower, and she always says she is a polar bear; I guess because it is white and has a little face and ears on it. Last week, Bama brought her a Little Einsteins' Animal Alphabet book (Bama finds some of the best books for Lily!), and it has that "P" is for penguin and polar bears. Bama showed her how "swim" like a polar bear, so now, each time Lily gets to that page, she likes to demonstrate how the polar bear swims which looks just like you think it would look like. Tonight, she showed Ryan and me (again) and asked us to try it too. I did and she accepted it. She looked at Ryan, so he did it, but she said "No, let me show you." She did it again, looked at Ryan and told him to try it. He did it again, but Lily said "No, Daddy, that's The Wheels on the Bus." For the record, both times it looked correct to me. We couldn't stop laughing while she demonstrated yet again though! Ryan tried again, and this time it was acceptable to her. She makes me laugh every single day!

Breakfast with Lily

While Lily was eating breakfast this morning, I was giving Mia her bottle at the table so I could talk with Lily. She is at such a fun age right now; you never know what she is going to tell you! While our conversation wasn't anything extra-special, her conversation with Ryan was. He had a haircut at 8:30, so he was putting his shoes on in the living room while Lily was eating. I told her Daddy was about to leave to go get his hair cut. She stopped eating, looked towards the living room and this was their conversation:

L: "Bye Daddy! Have a good haircut time!"
R: "Thanks Lily! Bye!"
L: "I love you so much."
R: "I love you so much too."
L: "You come give me a big hug and kiss before you go?"
R: "Of course I'll come give you a big hug and kiss before I go."
Ryan walks over to the table and gives her a hug and kiss.
L: "Bye Daddy! Love you so much!"
R: "Love you so much too Lily."

How sweet is that?!

Once Upon A Time

Ryan, Lily and I were relaxing before getting Lily ready for bed, and Ryan asked Lily to tell us story. This is what we heard...

"Once upon a time, there was a princess...named Mommy. She went to Disney World. She rode monorail, train, roller coaster, carousel, It's A Small World and Dumbo. She met Daisy and Pluto."

She loves to make up stories or listen to us tell stories. Of course, this time she told about our trip to Disney because we had just talked about it a few minutes earlier. She and Ryan recently sat for almost 30 minutes making up a story together about being at the beach and seeing all the fish, whales, sharks and turtles. All the animals were named Mommy, Daddy, Lily or Mia except for the turtle who was named Dude Crush (thank you Finding Nemo). Also, each night after we read her ABC travel board, she picks one city that she wants to hear a story about. Her little imagination is really working these days!

Two Quick Stories

1. Almost every time I walk into the house, Lily comes running to see me and greets me with "MOMMY! I glad to see you Mommy! Look! I got something for you!" and then she runs into the living room or playroom, and shows me a book or a puzzle or whatever she happened to be playing with recently. So, when I came in from work yesterday, I wasn't surprised to get this greeting. I turned the corner to the living room though, and she says "I cleaning Mommy!" Sure enough, she had been moving all the toys from the living room back into her playroom, and she was putting them away neatly. Not only did I love how nice the rooms looked, but I loved how proud of herself she was! You could just see she was so proud of her cleaning accomplishment. So, I started to tell her how good it looked, how I appreciated her hard work and how proud of her I was, but she just kept saying "Hold on, hold on. I still cleaning. Hold on, hold on." She took about 5 more minutes of cleaning before every single toy, book, puzzle, kitchen item, Little People, baby doll accessory, blanket and pillow were neatly put away. It was great to come home to a clean house and a very happy and proud little girl! How long will a child keep this up before deciding cleaning isn't fun? I will enjoy it while I can!

2. Lily has really started to love sharing a bagel with strawberry cream cheese on it with me for breakfast. She likes to bite right into the middle of the it though, so it gets cream cheese all over her lips. Yesterday, she did this, started giggling and said "I have bagel lips!"

Mia's Follow-Up

I took Mia to see Dr. White this morning for a follow-up appointment. At her six month well-baby check-up, Dr. White noticed she had extra fluid in her ears. Since she not started babbling with consonant sounds at all, she was a little concerned the fluid was affecting her hearing and in turn, her speech. She prescribed a short round of amoxicillian to see if it would help, and asked that we return in six weeks for a follow-up.

After examining her (Mia did pretty well with her poking around in her ears), Dr. White said she was still above normal fluid levels, but since she was starting to babble some (we have heard "bababa" and "mamama" a few times in the last couple of weeks) and the fluid wasn't infected or bothering her, we will just continue to keep an eye on it. We'll see Dr. White again in about 6 more weeks for Mia's 9 month check-up (can you believe it?!) to see if the fluid level continues to creep towards normal.

This is really good news. If the fluid level had come back as high as before, or we had not heard any babbling yet, Dr. White might have referred us to an ENT specialist to consider getting tubes put in her ears. I know this is a very common procedure for kids, but I don't want my baby to go through it if it is not absolutely necessary.

On another note, they weighed her, and she is now 18 pounds, 7 ounces. They didn't say what percentage this is (they only do that at well-baby appointments), but I can see that her 9-month pajamas are getting a little tight around the toes! Her other 9-month clothes fit fine (maybe because Lily stretched them out for her when she wore them), but I think I might have to go ahead and move her up to 12-month pajamas. How can she grow up so fast?!

A Few Recent Pictures

Big hugs!

A happy birthday kiss for Papa.
Lily loves all her stuffed animals that stay on her bed with her each night. Before nap time and bed time each night, I have to tell every single one of them good night. Wondering who you see in the picture with Lily? This is who makes up her entourage: Pink bear, Share Bear, Squirrel, Nemo, Oatmeal, Crush, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse and Dumbo. FYI, they all have a specific place on her bed too; she can get pretty upset when she is tired and they aren't in the right place!

Relaxing together. Notice any similarities?

The New Pool

Lily loves, loves, loves playing in water. I had fully intended on spending lots of time at my parent's pool this summer, but unfortunately, that just isn't happening for many reasons. So, this morning, we decided it would be fun to buy an inflatable pool for her. We actually have one that we bought when she was about 8 months old, but it is pretty small, and we thought she would get bored pretty easily with it. We did some quick internet research and found the one we wanted. I asked Lily if she would come with me to run a few errands, and then we would go get her a surprise...that always excites her.

After running our errands, I told her it was time for her surprise, and I asked if she wanted to know where we were going, so of course she said yes. I said "the toy store" to which Lily replied "the book store?!", and I said "no, the toy store." Her reply..."oh." That's not exactly the response I was expecting, but after thinking about it, I realized she didn't know what a toy store was because she has only been once before, and we have been to the book store many, many times. As soon as we walked in the door of Toys R Us though, her eyes got wide, and she just started saying "Oh, Mommy, look! Look over there! Mommy look!" She was really excited when I found the one I was looking for. She even told the lady at check-out "This my new pool!"

She couldn't wait for Ryan to get the pool all blown up and ready for her, but it took a little while. She kept watching him out the window though and giving me updates. I have never heard her speak in such a high, excited voice as she said "He almost done Mommy! He almost done!" When Ryan called to tell me he just had to put the water in, I started to get the girls ready. We put on Lily's swim diaper, swimsuit and swim shoes (she loves to wear a specific pair of shoes when she goes to a pool). After she was dressed she said "I be excited Mommy!" We got Mia dressed and headed down. She was thrilled!

The water was pretty cold which felt great on such a hot day, but it took Lily a few minutes to get used to it and really get in and play. First she started with the ball slide which go down both sides of the smaller, wading pool. Then she had a great time playing in the larger pool (not that either of the pools are very big) with her bucket and shovel. Finally, she had a blast going down the little slide that connects the two. She was having such a great time; Ryan and I had fun just watching her! She stayed out there for a couple of hours (Mia had already gone down for her nap), and she was not very happy when we told her it was nap time. She asked about the pool as she soon as she woke up from her nap too. It's so fun to see when she loves something!

Here are lots of pictures, but I posted the one above because it was my favorite.  Look at the sheer joy on her face!

So much fun!

A Trip to Tokyo

I have been wanting to take Lily to a hibachi-style restaurant called Miyako for awhile. Last week I mentioned that idea to Liz; when she said that was one of her favorite places to eat, I knew we had to go. So, on Thursday evening I told Lily she was getting to go to a special big-girl lunch with Mommy and Bama on Friday, and she seemed pretty excited. On Friday morning, I gave her a few more details about where we were going. I told her how they cook the food right in front of you, and it's like they are putting on a cooking show because she loves to watch me cook and pretend cook in her kitchen. She loved that idea. Then I told her they were cooking Japanese-style food, so of course she said "What is Japanese?" I said "Japan is a country. You know on your ABC board, the T is for Tokyo? Tokyo is in Japan." From then on, Lily kept saying "We go to Tokyo Mommy? I eat in Tokyo?" I couldn't stop laughing at that.

We were the first of seven people to sit down. Luckily, the table next to us was just starting their meal. I was relieved because that let us show Lily what they would do at our table, so she wouldn't be as surprised. She gets nervous in new situations, so I think it was very helpful to have her see it at a distance first. I asked Lily if she wanted steak or chicken, and she was adamant that she wanted steak; a girl after my own heart! Here she is checking out the menu.

First, the waitress brought out a soup that Liz and I both love, but Lily refused to try which didn't surprise me too much. Then they brought a salad with a wonderful ginger dressing. Lily started eating the carrots from her salad. On the second bite, she apparently got a little bit of dressing on one...she loved it! "That good dip Mommy!" is what I heard, so then she started actually eating the salad which I couldn't believe. After we finished with our soups and salads, the chef came out and started preparing the stove top which includes making a huge fire. Lily was not a fan. She looked at me and asked to come sit in my lap; I didn't let her, but I did let her hold my hand. Right after that, he started showing off his knife and spatula skills which was pretty loud. Lily is very aware of sounds around her, so she really didn't like that either. I was starting to wonder if I made a really bad decision.

Then, the chef started to cook. From this point on, Lily was great. She loves rice, so she was excited to see him start cooking that first. Check out this picture (ignoring the finger in her nose) as she watched him cook. Thankfully, the other people at the table found Lily very entertaining with the commentary she added as she watched.

I helped her cool off the rice once they put it on her plate. She took one bite (with the "big girl fork" that she was very excited to use), looked at me and said "That good rice Mommy; that good!" She absolutely loved it. I didn't realize this when we ordered, but the kids' portion is the same size as the adults' lunch portion, so Lily had the exact same portions of food that Liz and I had. I have to say, she ate more rice than either of us! Here she is enjoying a big bite of rice while keeping a close eye on what the chef was cooking next...her steak.

The chef did a great job cooking the steak. I truly appreciated that he cut her pieces into small bite-size pieces. She really seemed to enjoy it. She ate several bites of it, but really, she was into the rice so we ended up bringing most of the steak home as left-overs. The chef also prepared delicious vegetables for us. He asked Lily what her favorite vegetable was and she told him carrots. I thought it was so nice of him to take her portion of vegetables, pull out all the carrots and cut them into smaller bite-size pieces; he gave her a few of the other veggies too, but I liked that he gave her a lot of carrots. Unfortunately, she didn't want much to do with those, probably because she was so full of rice. Here's a picture of her plate before we packed it up. Notice how much rice is left as compared to the picture above which was taken after several minutes of eating the rice.

After the chef cleaned up the stove top, we applauded his efforts. Then, as he was walking off, he looked at Lily and said "See you tomorrow!" She enthusiastically replied "Ok!" Several times after we left, Lily mentioned how much she liked her lunch in Tokyo which I was very glad to hear. Overall, Lily did a great job. I can't wait to take her again sometime soon!

Ryan

I usually use this blog to tell you about our sweet girls, but I want to make sure you know how lucky they are to have Ryan as their wonderful father. He is such an amazing dad. You should see Mia light up when she sees Ryan. Lily has so much fun playing with him too. Almost everyday she asks him to "play on the floor with me" which is her way of asking him to wrestle and tickle her.

We got to celebrate Ryan a little on Sunday because it was Father's Day. Lily greeted him with "Happy Daddy's Day!" and then we gave him his cards and present (The Bourne Triology DVD set) which he loved. We enjoyed our morning at church, and then we headed out to lunch. Both girls fell asleep in the car, so we actually drove around for about an hour to let them rest and then had a yummy lunch at Taco Mac (one of Ryan's favorites). We played at home all afternoon, and then headed over to my brother's house for dinner. Wayne and Dianne made a fantastic shrimp and ribeye steak dinner for us. In addition to celebrating the wonderful dads in our life (Ryan, my dad and my brother), we wished my dad a happy birthday. It was a wonderful day and evening.

Thank you, Ryan, for being such a fantastic dad!

Lily Happenings

A few recent stories from Lily:

1. You know Lily loves the Little Einsteins and that she loves to dance. She really likes June who is a little ballerina. While Bama was here last week, she helped Lily learn a "ballerina dance" as Lily calls it. First, she puts her hands above her head and turns around in a circle while counting to three. Second, she points one foot's toes, then the other foot's toes. Third, she dances on her tippy-toes. Fourth, she courtseys. It's adorable! I asked her if she wanted to take ballet class someday. Her eyes got really wide, and she said "oh yes!" I think we'll still wait another year or two on that, but maybe we have a little dancer on our hands.

2. Lily has been doing very well (knock on wood) at staying in bed all night for about a week now. She went on three vacations in May, and I think that really messed up her sleeping habits because she was sleeping with someone else (either Bama or myself) in a different bed than usual and then she was sick and not sleeping well, so for a couple of weeks, she was getting out of bed around 2:00 AM...very frustrating! Finally, she started staying in bed all night again. After the first night of her sleeping in her bed, I really praised her before the next night's bedtime. One of the things I said is "You are AWESOME!" Well, she has really become attached to that word! Every night before bed now, when I ask if she is going to stay in bed all night, she says "Yes. I'm awesome! You awesome too Mommy."

3. Our friend, Chris, and his daughter, Peyton, came over to hang out with Ryan, Lily and Mia this morning. While Lily had several sharing issues while they were here, Ryan said she was angel after they left. At one point she started cleaning up her playroom, and she told Ryan "I clean for Mommy." I guess she knows how much I prefer to have a clean house. She was so proud of herself, and so was I!

ABC

Lily loves letters. She will now read the letters she sees on everything...books, magazines, billboards, wall signs, etc. It's really cool to see how she is starting to realize all these letters go together to form a word which represents something she recognizes. I attribute a lot of this to her love of books; that is always a favorite past time of hers. However, she also has this really neat ABC wall hanging in her room. You know how much Ryan and I love to travel, so when we found a colorful ABC board that listed a city around the world on it, we knew we had to get it; we bought it before preparing her "big girl" room, so thankfully it worked nicely in there. Here's a picture of what it looks like.

Every night before bed, Lily likes to go over all the letters, their cities and the corresponding painted pictures. I was a little surprised last night when I said "B is for Bangkok and they have some elephants there" (the picture is of someone riding an elephant). She said "Yes but elephant starts with E not B." Also, for a couple of days now, she has gotten pretty excited thinking about Rio de Janeiro (she wants to watch the Carnival parades) and Xi'an (she wants to see the big panda bears upclose). She always says "we'll go real soon, okay? Mommy, Lily, Daddy and Mia will all go real soon." You can see her pointing to the panda bear in Xi'an in the picture below. She also thinks it is really neat that Jesus and Meme have both been to Jerusalem. It appears we have already gotten the travel bug to bite her...now to start working on Mia!

Two Family Pictures

Last week was my grandmother's 88th birthday. My brother, Wayne, had the great idea to get a picture of Meme with all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. So on Monday we went to Portrait Innovations and had the picture made. It turned out great! It is now the 8x10 hanging on the wall right when you walk into our home. We couldn't get it scanned in so you could see it though...sorry. However, I am putting up the other two pictures we were in while there. The first one is of the four of us. I thought it turned out well. The second picture is of my parents (Meme is my dad's mom), our family of four and my brother's family. Wayne and Dianne have three awesome kids...McKayla who is nine (Lily calls her Kayla), Molly is four (Lily adores her) and Zac is 1 and a half (and absolutely precious). I thought this picture turned out great.

Cutie Pie Mia

Just a few cute new pictures of Mia...

Just enjoying a Baby Einstein

Mia loves being with Bama!
I simply can't get enough of those blue eyes!

New Nanny

Today was Kim's last day as our nanny. We are so appreciative for all the help she has given us and love she has shown to our girls for a year and a half. Lily loves her so much and gets so excited when she comes over. Mia seems very happy around her too. I told Lily this morning that today was Kim's last day to babysit, and she just seemed to think about it for a minute; she didn't comment. I know they all had a great time together today. When it was time for Kim to leave, Lily gave her a big hug. Kim and I were both a little teary-eyed, but we are very excited about her future plans to return to nursing school.

Kim had turned in her resignation in April, but said she would stay with us until we found someone else we were comfortable with. Well, we have found a wonderful new nanny...Bama! She is going to start coming over on Wednesday evenings, so she can be with the girls on Thursday and Fridays while Ryan and I go to work. We are very grateful for this opportunity. Liz is amazing with the girls, and we are so glad they will form a close bond with her. Thank you Liz!

Mia's Dedication

This Sunday was Mia's baby dedication at the church. My mom, dad and Liz were able to join us that morning. Unfortunately, Lily had developed a mild case of croup which is very contagious, so we didn't want her going to Sunday school. David was nice enough to stay at home with her. Mia is normally sound asleep at 10AM which is right when the service starts, so we were nervous that she would be very upset and crying. Thankfully, she was her sweet little self.

The preschool minister introduces a family to the church. Then Anne Wright, the pastor's wife, picks the baby up to hold while Bryant Wright, the pastor, gives each child a verse. Mia's verse is Proverbs 3:5-6 which says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your pathways straight." Then Bryant asks if we commit to raising our child in a Christ-centered home, and then he greets the baby. Anne hands the baby back and they move on to the next family.

Our church is pretty large so they have camera crews that project everything up onto the big screens for everyone to see better. Apparently while Anne was holding Mia, she was fixated with Barrett Johnson, one of the other ministers at the church, who was sitting in the front row. He was making faces at her, and she couldn't keep her eyes or sweet smile off of him!

Here is one other thing that I think is pretty cool about baby dedication. The church gives us a "goody bag" beforehand with several things in it, but one of them is a letter from the pastor. It is to be given to the child once she accepts Christ as her Savior. The letter tells her how she was dedicated to the Lord today and this is just the beginning of her Christian life that leads her to accepting Christ. I think that is pretty neat.

This was a very special day for Mia and our family, so to celebrate the occasion, we had a small luncheon at our house afterwards. Unfortunately, I had been feeling pretty sick for a couple of days (thank you Lily and Mia for sharing your cold with me), so I didn't cook anything; Publix fried chicken with Jim and Nick's cinnamon apples, mac and cheese and biscuits. Also, I didn't even think to get the camera out because I could barely stay awake through lunch. Thankfully, the church hires a photographer to take complimentary pictures of us before the dedication, so we'll get those in a week or so. Mia is certainly getting the short end of the stick when it comes to picture-taking.

Around the House

Illness has taken over the Hooks' household. Ryan and Lily were both really sick last week; just as they started to get better, Mia caught it. She has had a horrible head cold since Tuesday morning. Her poor little eyes and nose are so red, and she's been running a very low fever. It's just a cold so there is no medicine for her...just wait it out. Lily had been doing fine for several days, so I thought she was better until yesterday afternoon I noticed she has started coughing again. Great, so Lily and Mia apparently have no problem sharing germs with one another (toys are another story). Here's hoping the whole family will get better soon.

Lily is still having lots of fun around the house even if she's not feeling 100%. Here are few quick stories...

1. She loves to play with balls. She is getting pretty good at throwing them too, unless of course she is being silly. When she is being silly, she likes to throw side-arm, and there's no telling where it will end up then. She likes to say she is playing baseball; this is probably because we have the Braves' games on most nights. However, she makes me laugh because she has one little ball that looks a lot like Pluto's "super duper bouncy ball" on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She calls it her "soupy doupy bouncy ball" which just cracks me up. Not only do I laugh hearing her say "soupy doupy," but the ball doesn't bounce at all; it's meant to stick to walls when you throw it! I don't think she has grasped the concept of souper duper bouncy yet.
2. We read Bible stories to her each night before bedtime. The other day (after having friends over earlier in the evening), she said "Jesus is coming to our house too. He come in his car." I told her Jesus is always welcome in our house. I didn't know how to explain that he probably wouldn't come in a car though. Also, Ryan read to her before her nap yesterday, and she told him she wanted to go to Moses' house. Hmmm, that's a little tricky too...
3. I don't know where she learned about magic tricks, but she has picked that up somehow. Each night now when I'm drying her hair, she gets three lotion-type bottles that sit by our sink. She holds two of them and pushes them together against the third one so that when she raises her hands up, all three bottles are picked up. She is always so proud of herself for doing this and she'll say "Look Mommy, it's a magic trick!" She also told Ryan in the shower that she was going to do a trick...she took the two loofahs we have hanging up in there and switched their places. I guess she knows what creatures of habit we are, so this is a trick to put them back in different places!
4. We were eating dinner yesterday, and I said something was beautiful. She said "you beautiful Mommy" which absolutely melted my heart; I certainly don't feel it these days with this huge new scar. Then she looked up at our wedding picture that hangs on the fireplace and said "that a beautiful picture." So sweet.
5. We had an afternoon thunderstorm yesterday that woke Lily up from her nap. When she came out of her room, she was still yawning, so Ryan said she could come lay down on him for a little bit. One and a half hours later she was still knocked out on his stomach! It was precious to see, and I think Ryan loved it!

Mia Kisses

At 4:00 this morning Mia started crying from her crib. This is very rare for her. I looked at her on the monitor; she wasn't stuck or even up against the crib railings. She kept crying for a minute or so, and I thought "something is not quiet right, so I'll go check on her." Sure enough, I open the door to her room and the smell of poop is almost overwhelming; what a nice surprise so early in the morning. So I changed her very dirty diaper which made her happy. I knew she was still tired, but she was smiling and cooing at me, so I thought "I am just going to hold my sweet baby for a few minutes before putting her back down." It's rare that I get to just hold Mia without Lily trying to hang on to me too or trying to convince me to put Mia down. Plus, and I'm sure this may sound a little strange, but there's a small part of me that misses getting to hold and feed Mia in the middle of the night. She started sleeping 8-9 hours a night at 8 weeks old, so it has been awhile since I have gotten to enjoy this quiet time with her. Anyway, she is just up on my shoulder, making little noises and looking around when she pauses, says "Ahhh!" and gives my cheek a huge kiss. Of course, her kisses are just her putting her wide-open mouth on me, but it was so sweet. She stayed like that for about 10 seconds before pulling back. I took that to be her way of saying "Thanks Mom; you're the best!"

Kids' Update

Our kids are such great stages right now. Lily is so much fun to talk and play with. She has such an imagination now. We'll read a book about animals and she'll put her hand out next to her and say "See? I have a pet (elephant, kitty-cat, duck or whatever we read about). Her name is Daisy." Every since meeting Daisy Duck at Disney World, every animal has been named Daisy. However, today we were reading a book, and she pointed out the frog on one of the pages. I said "Hi little frog." She looked at me and said "He can't hear you. He is on the page in the book." I guess her imagination isn't always at work. She also loves to cook in her kitchen to make soups (probably because one of her favorite Little Einstein's shows is called "Rocket Soup), salads and lemonade. I look forward to really teaching her to cook with me.

A couple of cute little stories about our sweet girl...
1. We were going over to the Shafer's house for dinner Saturday evening. Their oldest daughter, Alexis, is about a month younger than Lily; their youngest daughter, Christen, is two months younger than Mia. We have a lot in common these days! Even though Diane and I talk often, it has been a few months since we all had the chance to get together. As were getting ready to leave the house, I told Lily we were going to Alexis' house. She got really excited and said "She is my favoritest friend in the whole world." They had a great time playing together.
2. Lily loves to do the "search and find" books. On the back of one of the books is a picture of another search and find book. For several weeks, Lily would point to the picture every time we read the book, and say "I want that book. We go to the store and buy it. You have to pay for it first. Okay Mommy?" Well, I was at BJ's on Friday and they had the book. I couldn't resist. I bought it and after Lily's afternoon snack, I told her I had a surprise for her. As soon as I pulled out the book, she got so excited! We immediately sat down to read it, and she told me thank you when we finished. The joyful look on her face was priceless. In two days we have probably read that book at least two dozen times. It's the first book she goes to in the morning or after nap time. She loves it. She has told me thank you multiply times and has told Ryan several times that "Mommy bought it for me." This is the first thing she has truly wanted and is so grateful to receive it. It is very easy for me to see how parents spoil their children; it makes me so happy to see her so happy and excited!

Remember how I had shoulder surgery on Monday? Well I have been told not to pick up anything heavy (i.e., Lily) for 6 weeks. She seems to understand this, but she doesn't like it. I have to remind her multiple times a day that I can't pick her up because of my boo-boo. She always asks to see my scar and when I show it to her, she says "Ahhh. I have boo-boo on my shoulder. I go to Dr. White's office and she make it better." This morning as we were eating breakfast I asked her if she had any good dreams; she said "Un-huh" so I asked what they were. She said "you picked me up." Talk about driving a knife into my heart. We all are looking forward to a full recovery soon!

I put some pictures of the girls together in the blog post before this one, but here are a couple individual pictures of them.

Lily loves to read.

Mia is just a happy little girl!
Mia absolutely loves her jumpy! She will jump for 30 minutes or so as happy as can be. She goes up and down, front to back and side to side. She loves it!

Look at that adorable little foot and hand.

I love those eyes!

Our Girls

Not that I am biased, but aren't these the cutest kids ever?!

Lily's Thoughts

Lily said these two things tonight, and it cracked us both up...

1. As I was putting Mia to bed, she and Ryan were playing in the den, and she started to walk towards the office. She turned around, held up her hand and told Ryan "I'm going to check my email."

2. Each night as I put Lily to bed, I tell all of her stuffed animals good night and then I say something to the effect of "Good night to my favorite 2-year-old." Tonight she said "You 2 Mommy?" so I replied "No, I'm a lot older than 2." Her eyes got wide and she said "You 4?"

I tell you what, she makes us laugh everyday!

Surgery Update

I made it through surgery on Monday morning. Ryan and I arrived at Emory at 5:15 AM, and they called me back about 6:15. Mom and Dad got there a little bit later than that. Dr. Delman came in, signed my shoulder and then we met lots of anesthesiologists, residents and nurses who were all very nice. A little after 7 they gave me something "to take the edge off." I don't remember anything after that point which is probably a very good thing.

Dr. Delman had a difficult time locating the mass at first, and then it wasn't exactly what he was expecting. It turned out to be something called a hermanginoma which has to do with the blood vessels and is similar to an aneurysm, but it is not nearly as serious. Dr. Delman was able to remove all of it and some of the surrounding tissue. He called in a pathologist who found it to be benign; they will send it for further testing, but there is no reason to think they will find anything different. The surgery took a little longer than expected, but overall it went well.

I spent Monday and Tuesday nights at my parents' house, so I could get some needed rest. The pain medicine they gave me makes me pretty tired. I have been told not to pick up anything heavy or go swimming for 6 weeks. Unfortunately, Lily and Mia are included in that "anything heavy" list, so that will be interesting! I have a lovely 6 inch scar on the base of my neck now too; a small price to pay I guess.

I am very thankful that the doctors did a great job, and it appears all is fine. I am also thankful to Ryan for all the extra help he already has given (and will continue to give) around the house and with the girls. Also, thank you to my parents for letting me stay over for a few days and to Liz and David for coming over to help with the girls while I was gone. I certainly have a long list of things to be thankful for!