Florida Vacation, Part 1

Ryan, Lily and I have been on vacation since last Friday, July 11. We started out the vacation with the wonderful news that we are expecting another sweet baby girl in November; yea! We headed to Savannah from there, and we spent the night in the Riverfront Marriott. Lily loved being in a hotel (I wonder where she gets that from...). We arrived just before bedtime so there wasn't too much time to play but on Saturday morning, we went to the famous Forsyth Park where we walked around and found a neat playground to play on. Lily had a good time walking around a new city and playing on the playground.

After playing in Savannah for awhile on Saturday morning, we headed on to New Smyrna Beach, FL where we met up with a lot of my dad's family. This trip has been a family tradition for many years now. Even though we all (except for one family of four) live in a tri-county area of metro Atlanta, we drive all the way to New Smyrna every year to hang out together for a week; I love this week! It is so nice to relax and spend time with another. We have been having a good time thus far, but I really want to tell you about our trip to Orlando.

Tuesday afternoon (after Meme's famous hot dog lunch), Ryan, Lily and I drove over to Orlando. We were planning on visiting Downtown Disney that evening and then spending the night at the All-Star Movies resort. Well it was POURING down rain when we got to Orlando so we went on to our hotel and checked in. After about an hour or so, it had let up so we went on over to Downtown Disney where we decided to do a little shopping and dining. First, we went to the Christmas store. For those of you who don't know, Ryan and I collect Christmas ornaments from our vacations; it's always fun to pull them out each year and relive some wonderful trips. We decided to go ahead and get a "Baby's First Christmas" with Minnie Mouse on it just like we bought for Lily a couple of years ago; we had them personalize it to say "Amelia 2008" just as Lily's says "Lily 2006." The nice lady who helped us, in wonderful Disney fashion, actually bumped our ornament to the front of the personalization line so it would be ready in 30 minutes instead of the next day; this saved us having to ship it home which we really appreciated. How nice is that?!

After that we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Every 22 minutes, the "animals" in the rainforest come to life in a thunderstorm; the lights flash, thunder claps and the animals make lots of noise. At first, Lily looked terrified and wanted to climb into my lap from her high chair, but after a minute, she really enjoyed it. When it ended, she asked for "more? more?" As for dinner itself, we thought it was funny that Lily ate one whole dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget and then proceeded to eat the heads and tails off the other 7. I guess those were the easiest areas to dip in her ketchup She also enjoyed the applesauce that came with it. I thought they gave great choices of fries, chips, carrot sticks, banana or applesauce. Most restaurants only give fries as an option for kids. Overall, our meal was pretty good.

After eating we continued shopping. We went to the HUGE toystore. We found Lily a Minnie Mouse doll to match the Mickey Mouse one Bama gave her. She was so excited. For most of the rest of the evening in our room, she wanted to hold or play with both of them which was so cute to watch. She slept with both of them in her pack and play that night. When I peeked in at her in bed when I heard her stirring this morning, she had picked up Minnie and was holding her tight. When I got her up a few minutes later, I said "Good morning Lily" to which she replied "Mi?" as she was asking me to hand her Mickey; adorable.

Anyway, after purchasing Minnie last night, we visited a few more stores (including the yummy candy shop) before heading back to the All-Star. Unfortunately, it had started raining again so we weren't able to go swimming as we wanted to. However, Lily enjoyed eating her oatmeal-raisin cookie (what a treat!) and playing peek-a-boo in the curtains. She was so excited to be there! She went to sleep on the promise that we would meet Mickey and his friends the next morning.

The next morning we all got up, got dressed, put our things in the car and then visited the food court in the All-Star resort. Lily was quite excited to see Mickey Mouse Clubhouse playing on the overhead TV. We all enjoyed a good breakfast and then headed on the bus to the Magic Kingdom. I think Lily would have been great to just ride the bus the whole day; she loved looking out the window and pointing out everything she saw. We had the threat of another downpour over us all day so we had a plan on what we really wanted to see and do before the rain, if possible.

We walked into the Magic Kingdom and had our picture made on Main Street, and then we headed back to Fantasyland. Ryan and Lily had so much fun riding Dumbo while I stayed on the side and took pictures. Ryan's mom took him to Disney for his 2nd birthday and there are some adorable pictures of the two of them riding Dumbo together; we really wanted to get a picture of Ryan and Lily on the same ride. I think we got some great ones. Lily seemed pretty nervous before the ride began but then she LOVED it once it started. She gave Ryan some of the biggest smiles we have ever seen on her once they were flying. It was precious. Of course, after this (and every other ride for that matter) she asked for "more? more?" She had a blast on the rides.

After Dumbo we walked over to Toontown to meet some of our favorite characters. First up...Mickey and Minnie! We walked into their little area, and Lily was excited to see them. She pointed, smiled and waved to them. Things were going great...until we walked up to them. She didn't want to get within a couple feet of them. I think their big heads scared her. She clung to me and didn't want to get down near them. We took a picture of them with the three of us but they weren't great as she was pretty nervous. However, I told her it was time to go and took a step away from them. She smiled, waved and said "bye-bye!" to them and as we walked away, she kept exclaiming "Mi! Mi!" After meeting the stars, we decided to try our luck with Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto; three characters Lily loves. The same thing happened. All smiles until we got right next to them, unhappiness and then a cheerful wave and "bye-bye!" Oh well. She didn't melt down crying but she wasn't too happy about it...a memorable first encounter for us!

After meeting the characters we walked back to Fantasyland where we rode the Winnie the Pooh ride. Again, Lily loved the ride especially since it was about characters she knows. She really liked the big "hunny pots" that we ride in. After this we rode the carousel which Lily enjoyed. I rode with her on a big horse and Ryan rode next to us. She had fun when the horse went up and down. As we were walking to our next destination, we walked right into some of our friends from Sunday School; what a fun surprise! The Barbatos were in Orlando visiting some family and had decided to make a day at Disney too..."What a small world!" remarked Cullen. Speaking of, that was the next ride for us. Lily danced a little to the music as we waited in line (though we walked right up which was nice); she seemed to enjoy seeing all the "kids" perform their song and dance routines. She kept looking all around with big eyes. After this was over, we walked over to the Peter Pan ride. Lily loved being able to "fly" again. Another great ride where "more?" was requested.

After all the rides, we walked back down Main Street (stopping to enjoy a small portion of the show at the Castle) to get Lily's haircut at the Main Street Barber Shop. This was the first time she had her hair cut, and we didn't have any idea how she would react. Luckily, they know how to work with kids at Disney! The barber, a nice older lady named Penny, was so sweet to Lily. She blew bubbles for her and then gave her a couple of toys to play with. Lily really liked the cell phone that princesses called in on. She flipped it open and said "Papa" as if that's who she was going to call. She played with that the whole time while Penny wet and trimmed her hair. Lily didn't even seem to care that Penny was nearby and doing this! Her haircut looks adorable by the way; it looks so thick and curly now. After the haircut, Penny gave her a set of Mickey ears with "First Haircut" embroidered on the back, a certificate for bravely letting her hair get cut at the Barber Shop and some Mickey stickers. It was really cute, and I'm so glad we decided to do this.

After the haircut we enjoyed a lovely lunch at a Main Street Bakery. Ryan and I had sandwiches and fruit while Lily very much enjoyed the apple slices and caramel dip. We did a little bit more walking around and shopping but the lines were getting longer, Lily was starting to show signs of being tired (she was rubbing her eyes as it was over an hour past naptime) and we started to feel a little rain fall. We decided to head on back to our car and drive back to New Smyrna. Lily of course fell asleep as we were walking out because she was exhausted, but it was so cute to see her in the stroller asleep. She slept a little more on the way home but we weren't even a couple miles from the park when a huge thunderstorm hit; I think we made the right call to head on out.

We're back at the beach now. We are heading to Lakeland tomorrow to visit some of Ryan's family which will be a nice treat. I am going to post some pictures from Savannah and Disney in a little bit so be sure to look at those. I will post another blog and more pictures about our time at the beach and Lakeland after we return home. Until then...wish you were here with us!

Exciting News!

Ryan, Lily and I went to my doctor's office this afternoon for my 20-week ultrasound and check-up (though I am actually 21 weeks now). Most importantly, we were told that our baby looks right on schedule and is healthy; what a blessing. They didn't get a great look at the heart or lower legs, so I get to have another ultrasound at my next check-up. However, we were assured by the technician that she believes everything is just fine; they just like to have more angles to examine. We were also told that we are expecting a baby girl! We are absolutely thrilled that another sweet daughter is on her way. Lily seems very excited that she will have a sister. We plan on naming her Amelia Mary Hooks. Amelia is a name we love, and Mary is in honor of Ryan's grandmother who passed away last March. She was one of the most amazing people we have known and we feel lucky to be able to name our daughter after her.

In Love with Mickey and Friends

So, for many weeks now, Lily has been in love with Mickey Mouse. Many times everyday, I hear "Mi! Mi!" as her request to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (MMC). She knows which button to push on our remote to bring up DVR too so she seriously is on the look-out for him.

Well, for about the last week or so, she has really started to love the other characters on this show. I think it started when she wore the bright pink Minnie Mouse onesie outfit that was handed down to us from my niece, Molly. Every day when I open her drawer to get an outfit, she gets so excited over "Min! Min!" You would think I would either bury it further down in the drawer or just purchase multiple outfits like this so she can wear one everyday. Anyway, she also has a little stuffed Pluto doll that she loves to play with. She knows to call him "Pluto" and that he says "Woof! Woof!" While waiting on MMC to begin she asks for "Pete?" That's one of the characters on the show that she is hoping will be on that episode; sometimes he is nice, sometimes not so much, so I don't really know what I think about her liking him. Anyway, she also waves to Donald Duck in the intro because he waves to her, and she knows he can say "Quack!"

It's really pretty fun to watch an episode with her. My favorite thing is when see calls for Toodles to bring the tools..."To Do!" It's adorable. She has also learned to do a Hot Dog Dance which, for those of you not familiar with MMC, is a little dance the characters do at the end of the show. She only does it if she is sitting down though; she'll kick her little legs back and forth and just laugh. She has developed such a fun little personality!

I really hope when we see Mickey and his friends next week that she will be so excited and not scared of them, but who knows; we'll see and I'll be sure to tell you what happens!

We are leaving tomorrow for Savannah where we'll stay overnight before driving to the beach on Saturday to meet up with the rest of the family for our week-long vacation. However, before we leave for Savannah I have a doctor's appointment where we will hopefully learn if we are expecting a boy or girl; yea!

July 4th Weekend

What a great long weekend we had for the 4th of July! It's always nice to have a day off from work to relax with our family and friends. We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful nation.

On Friday, we were lucky to visit with our friends, the Sepulveda's, who were in town from Virginia for a wedding. We met up at the Marietta Diner and enjoyed a nice brunch. It was a quick visit, but a nice one. Hopefully we'll get to see them longer next time! Later that evening, we went to the Barbato's house to enjoy a picnic dinner with lots of friends. We had to leave before the fireworks show though because Lily was exhausted. She usually goes down for the night at about 8. We were still with our friends at 8, and Lily just looked like she couldn't go on much longer; she wasn't crying or anything, just sitting in my lap and rubbing her eyes but we knew we couldn't wait another couple of hours for the fireworks to begin. We headed on home and put her to bed about 8:30. When we looked at the video monitor a couple hours later (after enjoying the fireworks shows on TV from New York and Boston), she had not moved one bit; the girl was worn out from playing so hard!

On Saturday we enjoyed some time with our friends, the Michie's, whose little girl Peyton is just a month younger than Lily. We had a good time at the playground (see the picture below of Lily and Ryan about to go down the slide) and then played at our home a little while because it was getting so hot outside. After naptime, we went swimming at my parents house which was a lot of fun. Lily had a blast when Ryan would throw her into the air and catch her in the water. She kept saying "more" and raising her hands up to show she wanted to jump into the air. She also learned to jump from the side of the pool to either me, Ryan or Papa. I think she would have stayed in there all day. This makes me think we may see more time at the pool than the beach when we go, but it should still be fun! After swimming, we were so glad to have a visit from Ryan's family. We all went to dinner together and then played until bedtime. Lily really enjoyed getting to see them.

Sunday morning was a great day at church and then we had lunch at Moe's with friends. It's currently raining (yea, we need it!) and we're all enjoying a nice quiet naptime. What a great way to wrap up the long weekend!

Chuck E Cheese pictures

Riding with Chuck E in his car. She loved this ride and kept going back to it again and again! She would hug him and pat his nose. It was so cute to watch.
She liked the music on the Bob the Builder ride.
Enjoying the big firetruck.
Having fun riding the carousel.
Dancing along to the music of Chuck E's band; Lily had such a great time!

Woo-who!!!

So for the last few weeks, Lily has enjoyed sitting on her little potty before her bathtime. She has never used it but she likes to sit on it and play for a few minutes. Well, last night, she sat on it for about 5 minutes and then actually used it. We were so excited! We clapped for her and said "yea Lily!" She kept saying "more! more!" because she wanted us to clap more. She would clap too and had such a huge smile on her face; it was adorable.

We're still not going to push potty-training right now (we're leaving for vacation next Friday so this doesn't seem like the best time), but we will continue to let her sit on it at night and see if anything happens again.

My, how the exciting milestones in our lives have changed over the last few years!

Bedtime Routine

Ryan and I love our bedtime routine with Lily. We give her a bath and then put on a clean diaper and pajamas (she looks so cute in her footie pajamas!). After we brush her hair, Lily gives me a kiss and then I ask for a hug. As she hugs me, she puts her head on one of my shoulders, then she straightens up and then puts her head on my other shoulder so I end up with two hugs; it's the best! She walks over to Ryan and gives him a kiss and two hugs. Then I ask her to tell me night-night. Her response: "nigh-nigh! bye-bye! off?" She is telling me good-night, good-bye and wondering if I will turn off the light. It cracks me up. After I turn off her light, she blows me a kiss which I love. After I leave, Lily and Ryan sit in the rocking chair and turn on the humidifier. I think Ryan's favorite part of the day is when Lily will just lean against him for a few minutes while they rock. Ryan always tells Lily "Daddy loves Lily. Mommy loves Lily. Jesus loves Lily" and then they say a prayer. When he puts her in her crib, she asks for her blanket and her book. She loves the new soft book called "Fuzzy Bee and Friends" that we bought her. Once she is tucked in, Ryan walks out and, without any crying, she's asleep within a minute or two. What a great way to end the day!

Chuck E Cheese visit

Today was Lily's first visit to Chuck E Cheese's. She loved it! We went about 11:30 so we could eat a light lunch there too. They have several rides that are perfect for little ones. Her favorite was a little car that she "drove" while Chuck E sat in the passenger seat; it also takes your picture at one point. She probably rode this 6 times so we have several pictures; I'll try to scan them in and upload one or two later. There was also a Bob the Builder construction ride, a merry-go-round and a firetruck that she liked. She had a good time watching the other kids and the big-kid rides and games. She's definitely a good observer. There was certainly a lot more noise and activity than she is used to, but she seemed to like it all. She really enjoyed eating the cheesy breadsticks and watching the big screen tv's that showed Chuck E and his friends singing and dancing. She tapped her foot along to the beat several times. We took her up to the stage to see what she thought of the big Chuck E, and she seemed to really like him. Her eyes were really big, but she waved hi to him; of course, he's not a real character so it didn't interact with her at all. However, I hope this is a good sign for how she will act at Disney in a few weeks. This was a really fun way to spend some of our Saturday morning; I'm sure we'll return in the near future!

General Cuteness

Here are a few cute stories about Lily's recent activities...

1. As Ryan puts Lily to bed each night he says "Daddy loves Lily, Mommy loves Lily and Jesus loves Lily." When he put her down tonight he said "Daddy loves Lily, Mommy loves Lily and who else loves Lily?" She replied "Jeez!"
2. Lily has always been a really good sleeper. For many months now, she has been sleeping over 12 hours each night. However, we realized a week or so ago that when she wakes up, she likes to throw all her crib toys (3 toys and 2 soft books) over the side of her crib into her laundry hamper. Then, she just sits there or lays there sucking her thumb until we come in to get her; she doesn't make a peep! It's certainly nice for us to wake up to this sweet, quite girl.
3. As I mentioned before, Lily is obsessed with Mickey Mouse these days. She also loves "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" though not quite as much as Mickey. Anyway, it's so funny to ask her to bounce like Tigger (because that's what Tigger's do best!); she laughs and then starts jumping. She can only get a couple inches off the ground, but she loves to jump. She also loves to jump in her crib. She holds onto the side and gets a foot or so off the mattress; she loves it!
4. Two of her favorite things to do now are wearing my shoes and coloring. As soon as I take my shoes off, she puts them on her feet and walks around in them. Of course, they are huge on her so it looks really funny. She also loves to color. She will stand on one of the kitchen table chairs (she can't see very well onto the coloring book if she's sitting) and color for a little while, up to about 10 minutes. We have several masterpieces already!
5. Lily also loves "to do the hokey-pokey and turn yourself around." She will spin in circles over and over. Yesterday, she jumped up off the floor and started spinning. She probably went around a dozen times. When she stopped, I opened my arms and said "Lily come here!" She took one step towards me and fell over. When she tried to get up, she just fell over again. She couldn't stop laughing which made me laugh. After a minute or two of this, I started tickling her which made her laugh harder. She has the best laugh! This made me smile all day!
6. Almost every time Lily sits down, she crosses her feet at the ankles. It doesn't matter if she's in her chair at the table, on the couch, on the floor or in her chair reading, she will do this. While that in itself is adorable to see (especially if she's barefoot), I think it's so neat because this is how she was sitting when we saw her ultrasound picture about 2 years ago. I think it's really cool that how she was comfortable then is still how she's comfortable now.
7. Lily goes through a little routine MANY times a day. When the urge hits her, she says "Dada?" and I reply "he's at work right now." Then she says "Meme?" (that's my grandmother who we see once or twice a week) and I say "Meme's at her house right now." Then she'll say "Papa?" (that's my dad) and I say "Papa's at work now too." It's so funny that probably 10 or 12 times a day I hear "Dada? Meme? Papa?" again and again. She just wants to know where the people she loves are!

All around...she's such a sweetheart!

Pictures from the Week

There wasn't much going on around our house this week after our great weekend in Birmingham, but I took some pictures of Lily that I thought I would share. Enjoy!

You can see in one picture that Lily is feeding Baby Morgan some of her carrots. She absolutely loves playing with her two baby dolls, Morgan and Kaylee. She spends most of her day taking them around the house with her as she plays with other things and tries to have them play with her toys too. It's pretty cute to watch. Hopefully she will love her real baby brother or sister that is heading her way as much!

Lily is also obsessed with Mickey Mouse these days. She asks to watch "Mi! Mi!" (that's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in case you have problems interpreting!) all the time. We let her watch 2 or 3 a day, but I think she would watch a dozen a day if she could. Bama gave her a Mickey Mouse doll while we were in Birmingham that Lily loves; she would clutch it against herself when she went to sleep. Adorable!

As for Baby #2, we will hopefully find out on July 11 if this is a boy or girl. We're also leaving for the beach that day, so it should be a great day!

Great weekend!

We had such a great weekend! On Friday, we drove over to Birmingham and spent the afternoon and evening with Ryan's family. It's always a treat to hang out with them. After Lily went to sleep, Ryan and I had a delicious dinner with our friends, Daniel and Courtney Cox. It was so fun to catch up with them. On Saturday, we hung out with Ryan's family in the morning, and then I went to a double-baby shower in the afternoon. It was for two of my sorority sisters, so we had a mini-reunion at the shower. There were lots of college friends there, so it was wonderful to catch up with one another. Some of them I haven't seen since college; what a treat! Ryan and Lily picked me up from the shower, and then we met more college friends at Johnny Rocket's for dinner. Bridges and Robyn have a sweet little girl, Evynne, who is just a couple of weeks younger than Lily. It's always fun to watch the two of them together. Evynne seemed to love watching Lily, especially when Lily decided to pull Daddy's drink over, twice, to reach the ice. She loves ice; not to eat it, but to play with it. I'm not particularly fond of this habit, and am trying to get her to stop reaching in glasses for it. After dinner, we talked outside for a few minutes, and the girls were so adorable holding hands and smiling for Robyn's camera (we had left our camera at home). So sweet! Sunday we visited with some of Ryan's family's friends after church, saw Ryan's grandmother in the hospital and then headed home. I have to say, Lily's days of napping well in the car are over. Both ways she slept for 45 minutes only. This definitely makes a difference in the evening since she typically naps for about 2.5 hours. Overall, this was a wonderful weekend!

Memory?

Most of you know that my wonderful cat of almost 14 years, Atticus, passed away on April 15. I have put up a picture of Lily and Atticus napping on Ryan when Lily was about 2 weeks old. Lily LOVED Atticus and for about a week after he was gone, she would walk around and say "Ah? Ah?" which is what she called him (calling him by name was actually the very first word she said). She would also see a picture in a book of a cat and call it "Ah." After a week or so that disappeared and she started saying "cat" instead of "Ah," so I assumed she didn't think about him anymore. A couple of days ago, Lily and I were playing in her room, and out of nowhere she suddenly said "Ah?" and looked under her crib which is where he liked to hide sometimes. Of course, she didn't see him under there so when she looked up at me, I said "what did you say Lily?" She replied "cat." Is it possible that she remembers Atticus and that he hid under there? I can't think of any other explanation of why she would have done that. I guess maybe she misses him too sometimes.

Fun in the Pool

We went to the pool tonight and apparently, the coolest thing in the world to Lily is that someone can go underwater for a few seconds and then reappear. We (or the older kids playing nearby) would go under, she would say "uh-oh" and then laugh and point when we would reappear. She really loved it when she was in her raft, and we would stand on one side, swim under her and reappear on the other side; she couldn't believe it!

She also loves it when Daddy throws her so high in the air and then she lands in the pool (in Daddy's arms of course). She would laugh each time. We're having so much fun with her!

More Cuteness

Here are two more cute stories about Lily...

1. She has really begun to love the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. A couple of times during the show, Mickey will get his helpful tools by calling "Oh Toodles!" Lily now says "To-Do!" when Mickey asks for helps calling Toodles...adorable.

2. On our way to and from dinner with friends tonight (about 30 minutes each way), Lily sat in her car seat, waved and said "bye-bye!" to every car she saw. Even on a Saturday evening, there are still plenty of cars on the Atlanta roads so we heard "bye-bye! bye-bye! bye-bye!" almost non-stop. Every once in awhile I would say "Lily, these cars are coming to join us on the road; let's tell them hi," so she would say "hi!" and wave. Sometimes she would wave with both hands which was pretty funny. Though she was quite loud, it was pretty cute. I wonder what our 8-hour drive to Florida will be like next month...

Fun Pictures of Lily

              Lots of sweet pictures taken recently of Lily.

Ahhh, Chick-fil-a

Mother's Day

I love being a mom to this precious girl!

 So thankful for Meme.

 I love my mom too!

Playing at the Park

It was a beautiful day for a stroll in the park!

C'mon guys, this way!

 Loving it here!