Recent Pictures

Here are some miscellaneous pictures taken around the house over the last few weeks.

I love these big blue eyes!

Lily dancing in the outfit of her choice: white socks, a pink tutu and a new Thanksgiving bib that was actually a gift for Mia but Lily wanted to try it out first. The girl loves to dance! Our sweet Mia walks all over the place these days. Lily showing off her new Sleeping Beauty nightgown. We actually told her it was a dress she could play in, so she doesn't know it's a nightgown. Lily moves so much during her sleep that I think it would become really tangled and wake her up.

Sweet baby girl after bath time.

Busted!

But guys, this is my new favorite activity. Let me just bring some of it with me, okay?

Lily had a blast putting all the random shoes, socks and toys that were laying on the living room floor onto Daddy. Maybe this will be a reminder for all of us to take our shoes to our rooms!

Over the last couple of weeks, Mia has finally mastered picking up food and putting it in her mouth! For a couple of months she would pick it up and hand it to you to feed her, but she refused to put it in her own mouth. Meal time is so much easier now!

Lily is so proud of her new monkey slippers.

Aren't they cute?!

Mom, Lily, Mia and I took Mama Lottie to lunch at Steak and Shake for her birthday. We had a great time. Mama Lottie kept my brother and me when we were really young. She is almost like another grandmother to us. She still calls me "her baby."

What a fun lunch!

Don't you just love this face?

The Lizard

This morning, Liz was helping Lily get ready while I got Mia ready. Lily proceeded to tell her a story about a little lizard that was playing on her umbrella and how it scratched her finger. She went into a lot of detail with this story. Now, Lily has a great imagination, but this seemed a little odd. Liz brought her into me, and Lily told me the same story. To be honest, I didn't pay much attention because Mia is a squirmy little thing on the changing table, and I thought Lily had seen a little lizard through the window on the deck. Thankfully, Liz was paying closer attention. She asked Lily to show her where the lizard was. A minute later I hear "Allison, she's right!" Sure enough, in the girls' playroom near the toy kitchen (just a few toys down from the umbrella Lily mentioned) was a lizard that was probably about 3 or 4 inches long. GROSS!!!

Liz and I just stared at it for a minute not really sure what to do. Liz then grabbed a towel from the kitchen, and I got one of Lily's smaller storage boxes. We stared at it some more trying to figure out what to do next. We decided we would trap it under the storage box until Ryan came home from getting his hair cut, and he could take it back outside. Lily sat on the back of the couch ("so I can watch better" in her words) while Mia walked around behind us thankfully oblivious to the lizard. Liz swatted at the little guy so he would run towards my storage box trap. Funny thing though...lizards are really fast! He ran right past us both (I'm sure the yelping and jumping around frightened him pretty good) and under the couch. Great, now what? Liz thought to get the broom and push him out which seemed like a great idea but he ran out the front of the couch instead of the side where I was. I tried to chase him a few steps across the room but again, lizards are really fast (and we have a ton of toys in there). He made it behind the chair. We moved the chair and he was standing against the wall (with his color having changed which was kind of cool). So, what did we do?

We stared at him again. We realized that if we watched him, he didn't move; this is a little freaky because that means he was watching us too. Liz decided she would be brave (seriously, I would never have volunteered for this) and pick up lizard with her towel. I went and unlocked the door so she could take him outside. "I'll keep the girls out of the way." We were just about to do this when we decided maybe Ryan's hair cut was almost over and he could come back and do this. We called and our hero came and saved the day. He was able to use the towel to trap the lizard into the storage box and take him outside. Yea for Ryan!!!

By the way, Lily does appear to have a very tiny scratch on her finger, but I'm honestly not sure if it's from this lizard; I think he would have left more damage than that. But, we put antibiotic cream and a Hello Kitty band-aid on it to help it heal. What a way to start the morning!

Especially Thankful

Each night before we say our prayers, I ask Lily if she is especially thankful for anything that day. I'm trying to teach her that prayers are not just memorized and recited but a way of talking to God and thanking Him for our blessings. This is how our conversation went today:

Me: Is there anything you are especially thankful for today?
Lily: No.
Me: Are you especially thankful for your new friend Nin (a new friend at her school)?
Lily: No.
Me: Are you especially thankful for Ms. Danielle (her teacher)?
Lily: No. I am extra thankful that Bama came home today.
Me: That is definitely something to be thankful for. We love it when Bama comes home don't we?
Lily: Yeah!

I thought it was so sweet that Lily was "extra thankful" that Bama had made it safely to our house today. I think you all know, but Ryan's mom (aka Bama) comes over from Birmingham every Wednesday evening and keeps the girls all day on Thursdays and Fridays. This is awesome for many, many reasons, but mostly because this allows the girls to develop a wonderful relationship with Bama that they will always treasure.

Ryan and I feel "extra thankful" for both of our moms. Not only does Ryan's mom keep the girls on Thursday and Fridays, but my mom keeps them on Monday and Wednesday after school (plus all day on Tuesday during tax season). I absolutely love that Lily and Mia get to spend so much time playing and bonding with two of their grandmothers; they are both amazing women, and we truly appreciate all that they give to help us with our girls.

Feisty One

Yesterday afternoon we all went to our friends' house to celebrate their little boy's 2nd birthday. Nathan is one of the cutest little boys I have ever seen; his smile is just precious. Anyway, most of the people at the party were family of Nathan's, so we didn't know a lot of them. I would say 6 or 7 of them described Mia as being "feisty." All I could think was "That adjective has never been used on Lily!" It's so true though, and it's so funny to me how different Lily and Amelia are. Here are a few examples just from the party yesterday:

1. We get there and head out back to talk to our friends who are grilling dinner. Lily asks me to hold her the whole time. Mia immediately wants to get down and start exploring.
2. Their sweet dog, Lucy, comes by to check everyone out. Lily's eyes get huge because she is scared of dogs. Mia walks up to Lucy, starts petting her and doesn't mind getting licked in the face.
3. We go inside to a room filled with toys. I sit on a chair; Lily insists on sitting on my lap. She starts sucking her thumb if anyone speaks to her. Mia walks around, kicks balls, bangs on toys, smiles at everyone, let's people she has never met before pick her up and generally has a great time.
4. The Henderson's arrive, so Lily quickly warmed up to playing with Parker and talking to Jill; still wouldn't talk to anyone else. Mia walks over to a 4 year old little boy and takes the toy he is playing with. Thankfully, he just laughs and follows her around the rest of the time; he thinks Mia is hilarious.

I'm not saying one personality is better than the other. I think both of my girls are absolutely precious, and I love them for exactly who they are. It's just really funny to me that already it's apparent how different they are. I think Ryan and I are going to have to evaluate our parenting techniques for Mia because I have a feeling that what works with Lily won't work for her. The other funny thing is that I have heard so many people say that when they have two girls, they are just like this: the first is fairly quiet and reserved while the second one is outgoing and a "drama queen" (I'm amazed how many times that term has been used!).  I love seeing the girls' personalities develop.  So, only time will tell, but I think the story is already unfolding.

Upcoming Holidays

Lily and I went to the grocery store this morning. We were talking about Halloween as we got out of the car. As we walked to the car, Lily was holding my hand (which I love), and this was our conversation:

Me: Do you know what holiday comes after Halloween?
Lily: Ummm, no.
Me: It's Thanksgiving.
Lily: What Thanksgiving?
Me: Do you know what Thanksgiving is?
Lily: No. What is it?
Me: It's a day to tell everything we're really thankful for.
Lily: Oh. Like our prayers?
Me: Yeah, it's kind of like our prayers.

I thought that was so sweet that she put that together. Every night as we say our prayers, we thank God for all our blessings, especially our family. Each night we also say one thing we are especially thankful for that day. We're trying to teach her about gratitude and how truly blessed we are, so hearing her make that connection made me proud. What a sweetheart!

Disney On Ice

Ryan and I treated Lily to a special evening out last night...Disney on Ice! We thought this would be a fun way to have some time with just the three of us. We came home from work, and Lily was looking adorable in her Minnie Mouse fleece; she was so excited and ready to go. We told her we were going to a special place for dinner called "The Food Court at CNN." She was totally excited about it! She loved her Gorin's grilled cheese sandwich and chips; what a great way to start the evening. Then she was ready to see the show.

We had told Lily earlier in the day she would get a surprise while we were there. Of course, she wanted to know what the surprise would be. We told her we didn't know; it might be a cup, a spinner or something else but we would have to see when we got there. Her response was "How about a cup AND a spinner? Two things. One for each hand. Okay? How about that?" As we walked over to our section, we saw a souvenir stand, so we stopped by. We told Lily she could pick out one surprise, and it could be whatever she wanted. She pretty quickly fell in love with the Minnie Mouse spinner. "It's pink like my jacket!" So that's what she got, and we had a very happy little girl on our hands. You can see it in the picture below as she was showing it to me in our seats. You push the button and all the little pieces spin around and light up; she loved it.


We went in and found our seats which were pretty good. They were about 12 rows up on the side; we were near the end so we could look and see everything in one direction, plus there weren't a ton of people around us which is good for Lily since she can get overwhelmed by crowds. We had enough time to enjoy a cookie before the show started.

Right as they started to dim the lights, Lily climbed out of my lap and lay down on the floor. We decided she was scared because this let her stay under both of our legs, but she was able to peak through the seats in front of us to see what was happening. We think she was just unsure of what was going to happen. She stayed under there for a few minutes while the first few characters came out, but as soon as she heard Mickey Mouse she got up on her knees to find him. I picked her up and sat her back on my lap and she didn't move for the rest of the show. She really seemed to enjoy it.

Of course, Disney's theme this year is all about celebrations, so after the intro with a lot of the characters, they had Alice, the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter come out to show Mickey and friends how to have an "un-birthday party." It was cute, but Lily doesn't know who Alice and those characters are. The party left a big pretend mess, so all these neon brooms came out to sweep it up under the direction of Mickey the Sorcerer. This was my favorite part of the show, and Lily really seemed to like it. She sat up straight in my lap and kept pointing to them and laughing. They did a lot of synchronized skating, and the neon light costumes they were wearing looked great in the dark arena.

The brooms skate around the ice and drop from the ceiling.

Watching the brooms intensely.

After the brooms cleaned everything up, Disney decided to celebrate Halloween which is of course only a couple of weeks away. Unfortunately, the brought out the Pumpkin King and many of the villains from their movies: Cruela deVil, Jafar and Snow White's witch to name a few. Neither Ryan nor I cared for this part. Lily didn't seem particularly scared, but she sat back against me and sucked her thumb. Honestly, it was a little darker than necessary I thought.

After Halloween, they moved on to Valentine's Day. Cinderella's fairy godmother came out to answer Minnie's question on how you know "he's the one for you." Thankfully the fairy godmother called on many princesses who knew exactly how to find their prince. Each princess and her prince came out came out as a couple and was spot-lighted as they skated together for a few minutes. As I have mentioned before, Lily is really starting to get into princesses, so she loved this part. She sat up, pointed out each one of them, laughed and enjoyed them. We saw Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine, Mulan, Aurora, Ariel and Belle. Disney is also pushing hard their newest princess, Tiana, and her movie which is coming out soon, so she was introduced with her prince.

The princesses at one point sat around the fountain which was driven around the ice so each little princess in the audience could wave and see them well.

All the princesses and their princes skating around the ice. After Minnie found her prince in Mickey, it was intermission. Lily looked like she was having a great time. She played with her spinner some more ("I show it to Bama when we get home!" is what she said many times) and waited patiently for the next part to start. She posed for a picture with me too.

The show started back as Mickey and Minnie wanted to go on vacation; they would travel by means of a nifty gadget Mickey had but he couldn't figure out how to use it. They ended up getting separated, and they traveled the world looking for one another. You know how Lily loves her geography ABC board in her room, so she loved seeing all the places they went. They started out in Hawaii where they ran into Lilo and Stitch; this was actually a pretty fun part of the show; you can see one of the pictures below at a time when they lit the ice on fire.

After Hawaii, Mickey ended up in Rio where he danced in a Carnival parade with some brightly costumed people. Minnie ended up in Japan in a quiet tea garden where the skaters used pretty fans to help them dance. Mickey then went to China where he saw Mulan. Finally they came together in New Orleans, home to new princess Tiana. They had a lot of fun skating to the jazz music. Lily seemed to enjoy all of these.

Once Mickey and Minnie were all together again, it was time to celebrate every child's favorite holiday: Christmas! Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto and Goofy (dressed as Santa) were the focus this time, but they were joined by the cast of Toy Story as music played "The Toys are Back In Town." They had a little toy troll skater that was one of the funniest things I have seen! After a few minutes with the Toy Story cast, all the princesses, princes and other fun Disney characters (like Tinkerbell, Lilo and Stitch, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Jungle Boy and Baloo for example) came back out for one last skate together. It started to snow on them as they skated and then it ended with some small fireworks.

Lily watching Mickey and friends prepare for Christmas.

All the characters during their Christmas skate. It's difficult to see the snow in this picture, but it looked pretty cool while it was happening.

Fireworks ended the show and Minnie and Mickey rode out on a sleigh.

The show ended at about 9:15, and we got home about 9:45. I couldn't believe it, but Lily was wide awake. She played with her spinner on the way home, showed it to Bama as soon as we got home, drank a little milk and seemed to be pretty awake. We let her stay up until 10, but then got her ready for bed and she zonked out quickly. I think she had a really great time, and I am so glad we were able to take her. Last year when we took her, she didn't seem to have much fun (granted, she had the beginning stages of the flu which we didn't realize at the time), but that's because she really didn't know any of the characters other than Mickey and his clubhouse friends. Now she knows pretty much all the princesses, and she was able to really sit and watch the show. It was such a fun time for all of us, and I can't wait to go again!

Lunchtime Treat

Yesterday we had a lunchtime treat: Grandpops came to visit! We love that David has lots of business in Atlanta that brings him down from Chicago pretty often (though we wish Grandma Jan could join him more!).

David flew in Tuesday mid-morning, and we met him at Little Azio's for lunch before his afternoon meeting. Lily walked right up to him and gave him a big hug before we went into the restaurant. We all had a delicious lunch, and David was able to witness just how much pasta Lily can put away. Both girls did great while we were eating, so it was an enjoyable and relaxing lunch. As we were leaving Lily gave Grandpops a big hug around the legs and said enthusiastically "Thank you for lunch" (with only a small reminder from me). We had some extra time after eating, so we stayed outside to let the girls play around the fountain. Mia impressed David with her walking skills while Lily entertained us all with her galloping and renditions of "The Ants Go Marching One By One...Hurrah! Hurrah!" I think Lily's favorite part of the day though was getting coins from David and tossing them into the fountain. See the picture below of the three of them having fun together.

A few minutes after this picture, Mia took a little spill and bumped her forehead on the concrete; she was not a happy camper. About 2 minutes after that, Lily took a big spill and scraped up her knee and forehead so she wasn't terribly happy either. After a good cry, she sobbed out "I need medicine!" She had stubbed her toe earlier while running around, so she commented that "I have three boo-boos but Mia only has one. I have three boo-boos because I am three years old." By this point, nap time was drawing very near so these falls made it clear it was time to go home so the girls could rest. It was so wonderful to visit with David though for a couple of hours. We all hope we can do it again soon!

Lily Today

I want to make a post with some of Lily's favorite things now that she's 3. I know this is more than a week after her birthday, but things have been pretty busy this last week and a half. This helps give me a written record too so whenever I get back to my scrapbooks, I can remember what's going on, so here we go:

Favorite Toys: Books, Princess Castle, Little People sets (especially the princess carriage), Toy Kitchen and all its accessories, Toy Lap Top, Cinderella dress, T-Ball Set. She is really starting to hit the princess stage full-speed now so just about anything princess-related, she loves.

Favorite Books: Rhyming books like Dr. Seuss and the Llama, Llama series. She also enjoys the Search and Find books (especially a princess one we have). She likes reading Mia's books to her as well which is really sweet.

Favorite Games: Playing outside (especially with her t-ball set and on her playground), spinning around (she thinks becoming dizzy is hilarious), singing (she loves "Away in a Manger" and making up her own songs to tunes she knows), throwing balls, playing chase. She is having lots of fun with arts and crafts type things too: coloring, stickers, play-dough, gluing (she loves her purple glue stick).

Favorite Shows: Charlie & Lola, Little Einsteins and the Cedermont Kids sing-a-long DVDs

Favorite Movies: Nim's Island and Dumbo

Favorite Foods: Pasta (especially alfredo sauce over penne or tortellini), carrots, bananas, strawberries, goldfish, steak, chicken, grilled cheese sandwiches, rice, Chex Mix and quesadillas. She is not a big veggie eater (other than carrots), but she is a very good meat and fruits eater. She loves to drink milk but she has recently discovered "red apple juice" (actually Strawberry Banana juice) and "pink apple juice" (Fruit Punch juice) which are both Motts for Tots drinks.

Clothes: She wears almost all 3T now though some of her summer 2T things still fit. She wears a 7.5 or 8 shoe. She loves the new pink tennis shoes and brown slip-ons with pink dots that Molly gave her as hand-me-downs recently. She wears her big girl panties most of the time now though she still sleeps at nap time and bed time in a diaper. She is hit or miss on going poopy in the potty, so sometimes we put a diaper on her so she can do that.

Sleeping: Lily goes to bed about 8:30 each night, and she usually stays in bed until about 7:00. She still takes one nap a day at 2:00; it's about an hour long though I think she is in a little growth spurt right now because she has been napping about 1.5 hours for several days now.

She has become a little negotiator recently too. She gets you on the hook of letting her have something and then she tries to switch it around on you. Here's a brief conversation for an example:
Lily: Mommy, I am thirsty.
Me: Okay, do you want some milk?
Lily: Yes. Go get my milk.
Me: How do you ask nicely when you want something?
Lily: Please go get my milk please.
Me: Thank you. Hold on and let me get it.
Lily: Ok. Mommy...I know! How about a special treat? How about I get red apple juice instead of milk? Please.
Me: No, it's almost nap time, so let's get milk. You can have the red apple juice after nap time.
Lily: But I want it!
Me: You can't have it right now because it's almost nap time. You can have milk though, okay?
Lily: Ok. I get milk now but I have red apple juice after nap time okay Mommy?
Me: Ok Lily. Here you go.

So that's Lily in a nutshell. She is so much fun to be around and play with. She has a great imagination that is fun to watch. I love hearing her sing songs (especially ones she has made up) to her stuffed animal friends. These posts on this blog really just hit the highlights of life with her. She is an awesome kid!

Always Paying Attention

Liz was playing with the girls on Friday, and they were having fun with Lily's new tea set and food. We have set up a little table in the playroom so Lily will have a place to spread out the food she cooks, her pans, tea set, etc. Liz was sitting in one of the chairs, and Lily was across from her; some of the food was on the floor. Liz told Lily she needed to pick up the food if she wanted to play with it. Lily responded "You pick it up." So Liz responded that she had put it on the floor and she needed to pick it up if she wanted it. They went back and forth a couple of times and then Lily said "You're smart Bama. You can do it." I guess if bossing someone around doesn't work, try flattery!

This afternoon Lily was playing at her table and she said "Come here Mommy." I told her to hold on a second (the UT game was on). She held up her hand and started motioning me over to her while saying "Come here Mommy, come here." She said it and did the hand motion in the exact same way I had called to Mia just a few minutes before.

Both of these stories remind me that Lily is always paying attention to the things we are saying and doing; she imitates us often! I now completely understand what people mean when they say that kids are like sponges.

Three Year Check-Up

Yesterday was Lily's three-year-old check-up visit with Dr. White. At home, Lily seems to adore Dr. White. Sometimes she will get a bump, and she'll say "I go see Dr. White." She then pushes her little car to the door, plays for a minute, comes back and says "I went to see Dr. White. I all better now." Aunt Kendall gave her a play doctor's kit for her birthday, and Lily loves it. So for a couple of days, I had been telling her things like "Dr. White has a stethoscope like that" thinking it would make the visit easier. Lily was very excited as we pulled into the parking lot and as we waited. We arrived about 10 minutes early, so she watched some of the movie that was on, we read a book and she literally ran circles around the table. Then she said "I need to go potty," so I told the receptionist we were going to step into the restroom. Right then a nurse came out the door and called for Lily. It was all downhill from here.

The receptionist looked at the nurse and said "She needs to use the potty" to which the nurse replied "Oh that's good because we need a specimen." Are you kidding me? Lily just learned to use the potty a couple of weeks ago, and you want me to get her to pee in a cup? No way, but I told the nurse I would try. We went into the bathroom and Lily climbed onto the potty and then I said "I'm going to put this little cup under you, and I want to see if you can pee-pee in it." Lily immediately started saying "NO! I no want to pee-pee in the cup!" I tried one more time, saw it wouldn't work and put it down. Lily then decided she didn't want to use the potty at all now. Bribing her with pretty pink soap made her think twice, but she still refused. Oh well, at least she was calm.

We walked back out, and I told the nurse it didn't happen. She said "No big deal, let's just step on the scale now to see how much you weigh." Lily's response: "NO! I NO STAND ON THE SCALE! NO! NO! NO!" I'm pretty sure she then proceeded to cry out about a pound of tears. I tried to tell her she just had to stand there right next to me; she didn't have to do anything and the nurse wouldn't touch her. She didn't care. Apparently to her, this was the worst thing ever, that is, until the nurse said "I've got a good estimate on her, so let's just let her stand next to the scale so we can see how tall she is." Apparently, standing against a wall is worse than standing on a scale. "NO! NO! NO! I NO STAND BY WALL! I NO SEE HOW TALL I AM!" You have got to be kidding me. I cannot even begin to tell you how frustrated and angry I was at Lily right now. Sure, pitch a fit at getting a shot; I understand that. But all she had to do was stand there - come on!!! Finally I pretty much had to push myself against her and hold her head back to see how tall she was. For the record, she is 32.6 pounds (75th percentile) and 36.5 inches (50th percentile).

We went into the little room where Lily calmed down while the nurse was away getting a little gown. She liked the "pretty pink dress" she brought back, and we had fun practicing with the blood pressure cuff. We read a couple of Disney books, and I thought "Alright, she'll be fine now." Then Dr. White came in and said "Hello Lily!" Lily immediately stuck her thumb in her mouth and buried her head into my arm. She refused to answer any of Dr. White's questions about her birthday or birthday party. I tell you, Lily does this often and it is so frustrating to me. I know she is such a smart little girl who is pretty good at telling you what she wants/feels/needs/etc. but when you get her around someone unfamiliar, she totally clams up. I feel like Dr. White thinks I'm lying about her (not that she has ever given me reason to think that she would think that).

Anyway, Lily refused to talk, so Dr. White washed her hands and said "Okay Lily. I'm going to look at your pretty eyes and ears." Care to take a guess at Lily's response? Yep: "NO! I NO HAVE PRETTY EYES! NO LOOK IN MY EARS!" So again, I had to force Lily's head to look one way so she could look in her ears (which she has some fluid build-up; more about that in a minute), but I couldn't force her to open her eyes. It was easy for Dr. White to get a good look in her mouth though. She said her mouth and teeth look just fine but she really should see a dentist by now. I said "I know, but I'm afraid of this meltdown happening." Dr. White laughed and said "It probably will, but they can usually handle it" and handed me a sheet with several local pediatric dentists on it. She finished the rest of the exam, asked some questions about her behavior and routines (sleeping, exercising, eating), reminded us that she shouldn't see tv for more than an hour a day (which I'm pretty sure she sees more than that because she LOVES to watch the sing-a-long dvd's and a couple of shows plus we like to have the background noise; we need to be more mindful of that though), explained some basic nutrition things I asked about and then we talked about her hearing.

I have a little concern about Lily's hearing. She will often ask me to turn up the volume on the dvd's she is watching. Also, we'll be sitting close to each other and she'll say "What you say Mommy?" I'm not sure if she literally didn't hear me, or if she just didn't understand what I was trying to say. Dr. White recommended a couple of ENT doctors who could test her hearing once she saw there was some fluid in there. Of course, Ryan has always had lots of problems with his ears and hearing, and we have concerns about Mia's ears for several months, so I'm not terribly surprised by this recommendation. Now comes the fun of figuring out which doctor to see and what our insurance does and doesn't cover.

Oh, by the way, Lily cried the whole time Dr. White and I talked. I have to say this is one of the reasons I really like Dr. White. Not only do I of course think she is a very smart doctor who is more than capable of dealing with my kids' health, but she never makes me feel rushed even when I have a SCREAMING child sitting in my lap; she simply talked louder so I could hear her. I appreciated that. I apologized to her as she walked out of the room, and she just kind of laughed and said not to worry about it. I'm sure they get crying kids throughout the day, but I hate it when it's my kid.

After Dr. White left, Lily started saying she wanted to go bye-bye, but the nurse walked back in. She convinced Lily to put the blood pressure cuff on which Lily did without crying. The nurse then whispered to me "I'm so sorry because I feel like I got some trust there, but now she gets her flu shot." I had to hold Lily down while she got the shot, but she stopped crying after about 10 seconds after it was over. We got her dressed (though she said she wanted to wear the pink dress home), and I told her it was time to go. She perked right up, opened and held the door for me and we walked back to the reception area. The receptionist gave her a little cookie, and we chatted for a second about how awful it is to have a kid that screams the whole time (the receptionist is a family friend of ours, fyi). She said some kids start screaming as soon as they enter the parking lot so not to worry about it. It made me feel marginally better.

Lily ate half the cookie and said she was going to save the rest to show to Daddy. She held the other half in the car and just kept looking at it as if deciding did she really want to show it to him or give in to the temptation and eat it. Lucky for her, the doctor's office is literally two minutes from our house, so she didn't have to wait long. She ran into the house and this was her conversation with Ryan:
Lily: Look Daddy!
Ryan: Oh you got a cookie! Did you have a good visit with Dr. White?
Lily: Yeah!
I just stood behind her shaking my head. Really, does she consider that good? In my book, that's about the worst it can get. Miserable.

Sweet Lily

It makes me feel good when I get dressed in the morning and come out to hear Lily say "Oh, I like your new sweater Mommy!" It makes me wonder though if I really wear the same few things so often that she actually can recognize when I haven't worn something before...hmmm.

Phone Call

I am at work right now, but I just got a phone call from Ryan. He immediately said "Lily wants to talk to you" and handed the phone off to her. This is part of our conversation:

Lily: Hi
Me: Hi big girl!
Lily: Mommy, I went poopy in the potty!
Me: You did?!
Lily: Yea!
Me: Yea Lily!!! I'm so proud of you! Great job big girl! I can't wait to get home to give you a big hug!
Lily: Yea!

Here's hoping she will continue this!

The Birthday Girl

So today, October 4, is Lily's third birthday. I really can't believe how quickly time has flown by. We heard Lily come out of her room this morning, and she immediately went into the living room and started playing with her new toys. She stayed there for about 15 minutes before coming into our room. Ryan wished her a happy birthday, and they talked for a minute. Then Lily came over to my side of the bed, so I said "Happy birthday big girl!" She came over, gave me a big hug and said "Happy birthday Mommy!" We all got out of bed, and Ryan fed Mia while Lily and I played.

Ryan and I wanted to spend some time with just Lily today, so the Birmingham family kept Mia while we took Lily out. First, we had breakfast at McDonald's. Lily loves biscuits and hash browns, so this was a great choice. Then we headed down to the Children's Museum which Lily always loves, but we hadn't told her yet we were going. About half-way there, Lily started asking about her surprise, so I told her we were on our way to the Children's Museum where she would get to fish, play in the market and have all sorts of fun. She started clapping, kicking her feet, laughing and saying "Yea! Yea!" She was so excited!

Not surprisingly, we had a great time there. They are actually between exhibits right now (Curious George starts next week, so hopefully we'll make it back for that), so there weren't as many activities as usual to do, but she still had so much fun. As we walked in, she took my hand and said "I want to fish first. Let's go fish." so off we went. She caught lots of fish with the magnetic rod and with the net. After that, we went to the market for a few minutes, climbed on the big green John Deere tractor, climbed into the tree house playground, played with puppets, played with a train set and built with moon sand. Then, for the first time, Lily spent a lot of time at this big contraption (I really don't know what else to call it) that is filled with plastic balls that you put into different holes; then you turn wheels, pull ropes or move levers to make the balls move all around above you. She has always been a little too small to enjoy this, but this time she had lots of fun. We think it's pretty cool that each time we go, she picks a different area to concentrate on. After playing with the balls for awhile, we fished some more and then went back to the market. This time, she found a buggy and started loading it up with groceries. We then went into the kitchen area where she washed some of the fruit and the spread it out on the table. She was so excited because "we're having a picnic" which is one of her favorite things to do.

By this point, we had been at the museum for over two hours, and while Lily probably would have been content playing for hours more, we decided it was time to go to lunch (the Chick-fil-a inside the museum was closed since it was Sunday). We took a quick peak in the gift shop. I think Santa will probably pick up some things from this awesome gift shop before he comes to our house (IF there's a sale anytime before then); there were cool things there!

We wanted to treat Lily to something fun for lunch, so we headed to The Varsity. Lily enjoyed some of her cheeseburger and fries. She really enjoyed wearing the little red hat they gave her though. She let us take some cute pictures in it, and she had fun taking pictures of Ryan and me in our hats too. She wore that hat all the way home and while she played before nap time too.

She must have been wiped out because she slept for over an hour and a half (barely an hour is normal these days). After nap time she opened presents that had been sent by Grandpops and Grandma Jan, Great-Grandpa and Lois, Meme and Uncle Randy. Lily loves opening presents! We called our friends, the Lundquists, and invited them to dinner at Taco Mac with us. We always have fun with them, so that was a treat too. We played more when we got home and then Lily headed to bed.

This was a wonderful day. Lily is such an amazing girl. I could go on for hours about all the reasons she is special to us, but here are just a few of them:

-She is so smart. She amazes us daily with her reasoning and logic skills, vocabulary and memory. I hope she will always keep up her level of curiosity and love of learning new things.

-She loves to laugh. There are so many funny stories about her that I don't post on this blog. The things she says crack us up many times every single day. She is on a kick right now of changing the words to songs ("Ba, ba black puppy" was sung on the way home from dinner) and intentionally calling things by the incorrect color or shape ("It's blue...no Mommy it's yellow!"). She finds this hilarious, and it makes me laugh to see how much it tickles her.

-She loves to read. Ever since she was only a few months old, she was content to sit in your lap and look at books for hours a day. She still loves book. Not only does she want to read them with us or to us (Dr Seuss books are favorites right now), but she loves to find specific things on the pages (colors or the number of objects for example).

-She has a great imagination. One of my favorite things to do with her is eat in her "Tokyo Restaurant." Of course, this is just her little toy kitchen, but she will spend quiet awhile fixing various dishes; soups, salads, entrees, sides, desserts - you name it, she fixes it. She will ask me what I want to eat (chicken noodle soup), and she'll walk me through how she makes it..."Put the soup in the pot (pretends to pour from her blender). Put the chicken in (puts the toy fried chicken in). Put the noodles in (puts pretend noodles in because she doesn't have toy noodles). Now stir it all up. Put the lid on and cook it (turns on the toy timer and waits for it to ding). It's ready! Now here your spoon. Be careful Mommy, it really hot. Cool it off first okay? (hands me the big pot) Here's your milk too (hands me a toy carton of milk)." I hope this transfers to a real love of cooking with me later too; she loves to be in the kitchen on her step stool with me now, so that give me hope.

-She loves her family. With Mia, she gives her a hug and a kiss most nights before Mia goes to bed. She will run to give Bama and Granna hugs when they come in the house. There is nothing like getting a bear hug from her; it's the best feeling in the world. No, that's not right. The best feeling in the world is when you say "I love you Lily" and she immediately replies "I love you too!"

Lily is an angel who amazes us and lights up our world each and everyday. She is the most precious, incredible and beautiful little girl. Ryan and I feel so blessed to have her as our daughter. We remember vividly finding out our first child was a girl; what a great feeling! Within a few days of bringing her home, we could hardly remember what life was like before she arrived. She has brought us more joy than we could have ever imagined. We cannot wait to see what her future holds.

Lily's Birthday Party!

What a beautiful day to celebrate Lily's birthday! It topped out in the low 70's, and we had clear skies all day. Perfect! Here's a rundown of our wonderful day...

Both girls slept until about 8 which was definitely needed after a week of Mia waking up around 2:30 as she's been a little under the weather. I heard Lily start to come out of her hallway, but then she was surprised to see Josh and his friend, Zac, sleeping in our living room, so she turned around and shut the door. It was quiet for a few more minutes and then I heard little feet come into our room; she was holding a glue stick. We had moved all her coloring books, art supplies, etc from our dining area counters into the office to get it out of the way. Instead of going back to her room after seeing Josh and Zac, she went into the office and found the supplies. Thankfully, it did not appear that she had glued anything. We got out of bed and Lily feasted on two waffles and half a yogurt (the girl loves breakfast foods). Ryan fed Mia, and we all just enjoyed a nice morning.

About 9, we started getting the last few things ready for the Little Einsteins party. I made pigs in a blanket while Ryan went to Party City to pick up the balloons we had ordered. The guys went to Chick-fil-a, and Liz cleaned off the outside tables and straightened up the inside. We hung the "Happy Birthday" sign over the living room entryway, placed the balloons outside, took out the paper goods, drinks and goody bags and got everyone dressed. Everyone started arriving right at 11 and by 11:15, I think everyone was here. The kids had a great time playing outside; the playground was cleaned and ready, the jumpy was inflated and we had pictures of the Little Einsteins on the kid's table for them to color. It took Lily a little bit to warm up, but once Molly arrived, she was so excited and started having a great time. Our family and friends seemed to have fun watching the kids and catching up with one another.

Chick-fil-a arrived with the nuggets, chicken salad sandwiches and chargrilled chicken wraps at 11:45, so we called everyone in to fix plates at noon. We had pigs in a blanket and Goldfish in addition to Chick-fil-a; we decided to keep it very simple this year! The kids continued to play after they ate, so we brought the cake down to the outside patio about 12:30. We bought a cake from Publix (it was a vanilla cake with white cream cheese icing, a green piped border and "Happy Birthday Lily!" written in green), but then put our own Little Einstein figurines and a "3" candle on it. Lily really seemed to like it.

Lily had been a little off all day. She refused two phone calls from family calling to wish her happy birthday (she usually loves talking on the phone). Also, I know she gets overwhelmed by big crowds and since there were 40 people there, I think that made her nervous. Anyway, she climbed into the chair to see the cake and then said "No Mommy, you sit here and I'll sit in your lap." Okay, that's not a big deal, so I did. Then everyone started singing the happy birthday song. Lily immediately turned her head into my neck and started bawling; she did that through the whole song! I couldn't believe it; she loves the birthday song (she sings it to us all the time). When it was over, I blew out her candle and then walked her away from everyone to calm her down while everyone else had a piece of cake. When we were alone, I asked what was wrong. Through her tears she said "I no want to hear happy birthday song!" I just gave her a big hug and said we were done singing. I asked if she wanted cake, and she said "Yes. I sit on the wall and Mommy sit in the chair right next to me." So we walked over to where she wanted to sit and pulled up a chair. I got us some cake and she dug in. Molly came over and sat next to her, and she perked right back up. She used a fork for several bites, but then decided it would be much more fun to use her fingers to scoop up the icing and eat it that way. She was laughing and having a great time again.

After we finished the cake, we brought all her presents down. She (with the help of a few friends) had a fun time opening presents. She was so excited about each one of them and wanted to play with each one right then. I had to tell her "we'll play with them after we open all of them" after each gift. I would tell her that and she would say "okay, I want another present." She remembered to thank some people too when she opened the gifts which I appreciated. The last present was a tricycle from my parents, so we let her and her friends take turns on it (which Lily gladly shared - miracle!) while others cleaned up (I think mostly the grandparents, but I didn't see because I was watching Lily). Then it was time for everyone to go, so we went back inside, handed out goody-bags and said our thank yous and good-byes.

After most everyone had left, Lily wanted to bust open the other presents. She first wanted to play with the toy laptop Wayne and his family had given. She is fascinated with our computer (often typing in a Word document to "check my email"), so she was thrilled with this. Then she wanted to play with the Little People Princess Palace Ryan and I gave her; she played with this for a long time which made me really happy. By this time, it was about 3:00, and I could see she was getting tired. I told her it was time for a nap, and she readily went to her room. She slept for just over an hour while we finished cleaning up and relaxed with Ryan's family.

When she came back out after nap time, she wanted to put on her new chefs outfit that included an apron, hat, pot holder, tea towel and hot pad. She then cooked for me in her Tokyo restaurant. After that, she wanted to put on her new Cinderella dress; it was absolutely adorable. She kept that on and played for about an hour and a half. Our friends, the Vonderahes, even came by for a little bit; they weren't able to come to her party but wanted to drop off a present and say happy birthday which was so nice of them. When the Vonderahes left, we convinced Lily to change clothes so we could go to dinner. She said she wanted to go to Figo Pasta, so that's where we headed.

Two cute stories from dinner. When we arrived she said "We're at Figo Pasta! I'm going to eat figo." Apparently she calls the food there "figo" instead of pasta. I said "you're going to eat figo pasta?" and she replied "No the restaurant is Figo Pasta. I eat figo." Second, she told me she had a poppy diaper (we let her wear diapers instead of panties today to avoid accidents), so we went to change it, but it wasn't poopy. As we came back, Lily stood about 30 feet from our table and announced to everyone (though talking to Bama) "Bama! I not have a poopy diaper! It only wet!" Nice. I'm sure everyone wanted to know that.

As I said before, this was a wonderful day, and a perfect day to have a birthday party. We are so lucky to have great friends and family who were able to share this day celebrating our precious Lily. We absolutely adore and love her. We can't wait to see what this third year holds for her!

Parker with Ms Jill, and Molly going down the slide.

Peyton and Alexis enjoyed the slide too.

Molly and McKayla...sweet sisters.

Sofia and Anna Powell having fun.

Not so sure about the Happy Birthday song.

Happy again!

What a great day!

Lily's Prayer

Last night after we read Lily's Bible story (she has asked for Jonah's story 4 days in a row now), I told her it was time for prayers and asked if she wanted to say it or wanted me to say it. She replied "You say it then I say the words." For a couple of weeks now she wants me to say a prayer and she repeats the words after me, so I said okay and we closed our eyes. This is what was said:
Me: Dear Jesus.
Lily: Dear Jesus. Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Lily and Amelia. Thank you for all our blessings. Help us sleep good for tomorrow. Amen."
How precious is that? Of course, I realize she is reciting what we say most nights (though I usually also say something we are especially thankful for that particular day), but I thought it was so sweet that she said it all by herself. She was beaming when she finished too because she was so proud of herself. I told her how sweet that was, and how much Jesus loves it when she talks to Him. What a sweetheart.