What's Been Happening

Since I basically stopped blogging after trying to make it a goal to blog more this year I am know playing catch up. For me I've got to be in the right mood...

Let's review the family:

Chris, Megan, Lillaina, Charlotte, Gus, and Harley

Chris:

Still loving his job. Working hard on obtaining his Bachelors Degree. He is only 10 classes away now! 2012! His classes start again in just a few short weeks. It has been a much needed break for him. He is just been enjoying NOT being in school and hanging out! He took charge of the pool chemicals. It apparently is very hard to do with a smaller pool. IDK...He almost pulled a Carl Griswald and chucked it into the neighbors yard one day!

Megan:

I have been taking cake decorating classes. I think I am pretty darn good at it, if I do say so myself! Ever so slowly there is going to some great things happening in that direction! I did have one cake order but they backed out. I was bummed I will admit. But, I am focused on getting a fire lit slowly to keep it going, not be a flash in the pan. Stay tuned... I am hoping one day in the near future I will be able to ship some of my yummy things!

Lilliana:

She is just growing by leaps and bounds! My goodness! She can't wait for her school to start. She doesn't start until the end of October, so we still have a little time. Right now she is obsessed with Hula Girls, and Hawaii! She is writing her full first name. I love that she calls it her 'big girl name'. Everything for is a 'big girl' thing. A whole banana is a 'big girl banana', a hard boiled egg that she gets to pick is a 'big girl egg'. She loves her baby dolls. Princess Tiana is her favorite. She loves that her skin matches Tiana. In fact that is the major driving force for Chris and I to keep the Disney trip. That is a whole other post! Lily has been asking tons of questions about everything. She just wants to know everything about everything. How something works, why it works, why wouldn't work and on and on and on! She is very interested in Jesus, heaven, and death. She recently told me she was sad because her Daddy went to Jesus... ???!!! Was my response. Then she said something about him not dying, but that he works for Jesus. You should have seen Chris' face when I told him THAT story! She has been having a little trouble always telling the truth. We are working with her on that. Oh this is a funny...she wants to be a dragon for Halloween! She could totally pull it off! She is turning right into a little girl!

Charlotte-

Where did my baby go?! In less then 2 months she will turn 3! That is just unbelievable!Around this time every year I start thinking about her birthday. One day she wants Cinderella, then the next 'I cannot like Cinderella, I want Alice in Wonderland'. It is not a big deal at all it is more funny to see what she wants everyday! We are still working on her potty training. I refuse to stress over it. I stressed over Lily training and it backfired on me and stressed her out. I just keep telling myself she won't be in a pull-up in her wedding dress! Charlotte is sooo full of spunk. She loves to play dress up. In the course of one day she will in at least 3 different levels of dressed naked all the way up to full ball gown and 'diamonds'! We are going to talk to her doctor in October about her maybe being color blind. She is struggling with them. Chris is red and green color blind, these are the colors she has the most problems with. No harm in asking... Her favorite food is cheese. Chris and I were in a Lenox outlet and got the best giggle when we saw a cheese plate!

The girls in general are best friends. Look up the odd couple and there they are. Charlotte loves pok-a-dots, Lily strips. I plan to write about this later, but no matter how different they are, the closer it makes them. They love to go on adventures together to recue each other. Lily asked me if she could marry Charlotte. I told her she couldn't because she was her sister. She said 'ohhh ok, I just love her so much'. I melted right into a puddle!

Gus (AKA Butters)-

Our oldest fur baby! He is doing so much better. He had gotten out of the yard in June and messed up the pads on his paws. We had a round of antibiotics and pain meds. It was pretty sad. He seems to be back to normal! It has been almost a year since we lost Beanie and Gus has never looked better then he has these past few months with Harley. Making him happy was a top priority and I think we have finally gotten there.

Harley (AKA Lunch meat!)

He is our newest addition. He came to us through a friend at Chris' work. His daughter has a degenerative condition and wasn't able to keep him. When Chris first asked me about a boxer, NO WAY! Was my first response. But for whatever reason my heart softened and Harley came home. He is hands down the sweetest dog... well next to Gus! He is a good fit for us and as a buddy for Gus. He is like a big baby!

A Lost Boy Found

When we started out on our journey for our family we had NO clue what an up hill battle we were about to endure. Five LONG years of trying on our own, procedures, blood work, medications all led to a monthly reminder that we still weren't pregnant. As corny as this is about to sound it all changed on a family vacation to Disney World. One night at the steps of Cinderella's castle during the fireworks we made a wish, well more like a statement of fact. The next time we would hear that music we would have our children with us. Chris and I spent a LONG time just walking and talking during that trip about what would be our next steps. We had three choices, well really two because we were not, not going to have children. We could either go through IVF (our next step medically), or we could adopt. Just because I listed adoption second for our choices doesn't mean that it was a last option, it was just another one. By the time we made it home from that trip the decision had been made. We didn't tell a soul.

We came back from that trip late November/early December 2004. We worked out tails off to pay down some of the stupid debt that we had, so that when the time was right we would be in the best possible standings. The fork in our road was one that would be costly no matter which we choose. Between the legal fees paid to an attorney to guide us through an adoption, or to the doctors who would guide us through an IVF. Bottom line, we were young (26) and were just starting out on careers. The money would have to come from somewhere, and we decided that when it was time we would try to take it out of our home. We didn't want to more forward until the money was secured in full. In April 2005 we signed the paperwork that would take us on the one of the wildest rides of our lives!

During the in between time we spent a lot of it looking at agencies. One afternoon we stumbled upon the website of the Adoption Agency we would later choose to use. At first when Chris and I talked about where we would adopt from we looked into the laws for a domestic adoption and decided that it wasn't a right fit for us. Then we thought about Russia, that country was a front runner for a while. The day we found our agency and saw those beautiful brown eyed babies, long story short we were in love!

May 5, 2005 - It is easy for me to never forget that exact day. We met with our Adoption Agency for the very first time. I don't think Chris and I (up until that point) had ever been more nervous. These people were going to tear us down to nothing and look for the one thing to deny us- or so we thought. It was VERY overwhelming and I don't remember much of it other then the large pile of papers were going to have to provide them. We got started right away!

May 18, 2005 in Guatemala City, a baby born was born.

We spent most of the summer gutting our house to make it perfect and safe for our new baby. We were inspected by the health department, fire department, we had been finger printed background checked, medically cleared, our family/neighbors and friends were asked to write letters to recommend us, we had to write out our Wills, you name it we did it. The final hurdle was the home visit. This is also when my interview happened. I remember throwing dog toys strategically around our living room so it look 'lived in'! When I was done she went across the street to our neighbors ( who have known me since I was 8 years old!) to make sure we didn't come home drunk or have too many random 'visitors'. In the end we passed with flying colors!

Sometime around the end of May the little baby boy who was born on May 18th showed up on our agencies photo listing. Side note, Chris and I never asked for a girl or a boy. We thought that since we would get a choice biologically why should we pick and choose now. We wanted a baby.

Close to the end of August we were just about cleared through the paperwork when Chris and I talked one night about this baby boy, who, after so many months was still on the photo listing. I remember asking Chris if he thought he was just waiting on us. We took a few more days to think about it and finally August 30, 2005 Chris called to ask. We were both at work, Chris called and I knew to go to the back Doctors office to talk. We had him! We were parents! I floated through the rest of the day. Later that night Chris' parents came over for a late birthday dinner for his Dad. One of his presents was showing him the picture of his soon-to-be Grandson. I wanted to tell all the Grandparents face to face so I kept my mouth shut to my Mom and lied when I told her we did call but he was already placed with another family. Just so we could make it to the weekend to ride down to tell them face to face.

In November we finished off the nursery. It was Winnie the Pooh from the ceiling to the floor. It was beautiful. Chris and I spent a lot of time in there talking, we liked being in there.

The next few months dragged by. We had an update here or there but we were moving at a snails pace. We made it through all the holidays by the skin of my teeth. Month after month passing with no real progress. Little did we know that was a HUGE BEAMING red flag.

Fast forward to January 18, 2006 - Chris' birthday. I had arranged for a singing telegram monkey to go to his work that afternoon. My boss knew I was leaving early, his boss knew what was coming. It was going to be an awesome birthday. I called in that morning to our agency to get a update. Thinking there may have been some movement and I would have happy news to tell him. I had to leave a message for our coordinator. She called back about 30 min's later. Even typing this now four and a half years later I can remember exactly what was said...

Agency: Hi Megan I am returning your call we do have news
Me: Great! What's going on?
A: Can you and Chris come into the office this afternoon? (I remember her voice was sooo quiet)
M: (knowing this is not good at all) What is going on?
A: We really need you guys to come in...
M: (my heart was beating so fast- the up in your throat thumping in you ears kind) WHY?! What is wrong? He isn't coming home is he...
A: I am so sorry....
M: (my heart literally shattered and I couldn't speak anymore I just let out squeaks)
A: Can you guys come in at 2?
M: Squeak
A: OK we will see you then
M: Squeak

I know looking at the words from the agency it seems as if they were cold about it. That is the farthest from the truth. She was quiet and respectful of the fact that my ability to breathe and speak were gone.

By the time I had hung up with the agency I had cuddled myself into a little ball in the corner of my desk, trying desperately to not bring attention to myself in front of a room full of patients. I found my way back to an empty office and started trying to get a hold of Chris, who was out at his birthday lunch at work. By now co-workers who had seen me take off gasping for air and red faced found me. My boss finally got a hold of Chris and tells him she doesn't know what is going on (I am still not forming full works other then gone and Matthew) but something was wrong with the adoption. Now, he had an idea I was planning something for his birthday but didn't have a clue as of what. So he thought for a split second 'this is a joke right?!' my boss assured him that something was indeed very wrong and he needed to come home. My boss and a co-worker drove me home.

I came in the house and just stood in the silence... this was a bad dream it was all a bad dream. After a minute I called my Mom. She couldn't make out a word I was saying, later she told me she thought I said Chris had died at first. I was able to get out what I knew which wasn't much. When Chris made it home we left albeit extremely early to go to the office.

We got there and were never given a straight answer of what had happened other then the adoption would not proceed and he hadn't died. The days following were the saddest we have ever lived through.

Four and a half years later we have his picture on our wall with our girls. He is the baby that made us parents for those 7 short months. There isn't a time I don't wonder about him, where he is, what he is doing, and prayed that he was safe. After Charlotte was born I had terrible PPD which only made his loss more painful when I looked at my beautiful girls.

Last night I found him again. I was searching for something for Lily and I stumbled upon a website to sponsor children from around the world. These are the times in my life God (or whatever greater being there is) shows themselves to me. A thought had popped in my head about sponsoring a child a few weeks ago. I hadn't told Chris because I knew it wasn't in the budget after last month. So I just sat on it. Last night I just started looking through the site and I saw that you could type in the child's birthday and current age, as well as country. I typed in all his info and up he popped! There wasn't a doubt in my mind. I called for Chris to come look and he to knew it was him. The name listed isn't the one that we knew as his birth name, it is our last name Henry. We decided that today at nap time I would call into speak with someone about what we found and see how much more info we could find out.

I told my story to this stranger on the phone who was wonderful and she said she had never had this happen before. The problem was the way their website is set up I couldn't find him again. She assured me this wasn't a problem and that their tech support could help me. Well, after spending time with the tech guy he also couldn't find him. He told me that someone else may have already chosen to sponsor him and that is why they couldn't find him in the listing. He told to watch the site and if he were to pop back up again to call, and they would grab it for me.

I hung up feeling completely defeated. I called Chris at work and filled him in. We both started searching the site and then it just popped into my mind to check my Internet history. I never do that! I found him! They couldn't see him because he was still sitting in my cart in my history. Our little boy lost was found again.

Double Kisses

Lily has been asking a TON of questions about her birth mom. She calls her Guatemala Mommy. I am completely not threaten by her questions and I let them come out naturally. Funny though they always seem to come up during lunchtime.... sometimes while we are snuggling but mostly at lunch. She understands a lot of what happened during the process to bring her home-on a 4 year old level.

Today though the way she was retelling it to me took me aback. She said 'You wanted a baby of your own and you couldn't have one. Then you found me.' Most people not in the world wouldn't understand why that one word stood out, but it did like an elephant in an ant hill. I told her that was, in fact, my child and that God knew how badly we wanted a baby and how badly her Guatemala Mommy wanted her to have a great life. That God put us together. That made her smile. She kept talking about how much she misses her Guatemala Mommy, but that she doesn't want to leave me. She has a huge issues with 'her family' being taken away. She has nightmares about us (namely me) being taken away. We use reassuring language when this comes up. There is true anxiety about this for her. But it doesn't show itself in separation. She loves to go to school, go with Chris to the store without me. She even prefers Chris to me (look up Daddy's girl and there she is!). She will spend time with her Grands.

I thought we were doing to the right thing by making adoption a non-issue. Trying to make it a part of who she is not all that she is. She has been talking about wanting to visit her Guatemala Mommy. I told her that she could go anytime she wanted, but we needed to wait until she was a little older. She said she wanted to show her how good she was getting at her letters, and writing her name. I always tell her that I know she would be over the moon proud of her just like I am. I make sure I tell her that I know she loved her sooo much and wanted the very best for her. We have the picture that was taken of the two of them at the DNA appointment hanging in our living room. Am I reading to much into this? Should we search for her? Should we not? Would this good for Lily or not? I have NO clue... Why does being a parent NOT come with a manual?!

The sweet thing she said one day as we were talking about whom was who's parent (Mom-Mom is Momma's Mommy; Grandpa is Daddy's Daddy etc) Lily said 'my Mommy is my Guatemala Mommy.' My heart stopped, then that sweet baby said 'but you are my Momma'. I admit the corners of my eyes had the burn going on.

Lily, when you are reading this in 15 years... Momma is trying so hard to do this right for you! There was a song that I found when we were waiting for you called From Gods Arms To My Arms To Yours. It is from the prospective of the birth mom. The part that stuck in my mind is where she asks for the parents to kiss him for her. Every special thing in your life, sometimes just because I make sure I take that second and give you double kisses and how I wish with all my might that your Guatemala Mommy could know what was happening at that very moment.

My First Field Trip

Beings that today was Lily's zoo field trip, she of course was up at midnight in our bedroom. Apparently she had gotten up vomited. We had no clue this was taking place because we had taken the monitor out of their room to take to my Mom's for Charlotte. Of course, I forgot to actually take drop it off to my Mom and it was still sitting in the living room in the bag when Lily looked at me and punched me right in the gut and said ' Mommy I was throwing up and you didn't come.' FAIL... :-(

Chris took off running to check out her bed (Charlotte's bed) and I was checking over her. I didn't see anything on her and Chris found nothing in her bed. Turns out she made it to the potty. She had started a cough and drippy nose on Monday and that is what we think was going on. After the total fail of not having the monitor in place, Chris plugs it all back in turns it on just for Lily to sleep the rest of the night in our bed.

She slept in late, her teacher told me that she didn't have to come in until 9am so that worked out just fine. Lily looked and sounded bad when she woke up. No fever, and no more throwing up just congested. After a little while she started to look more like cute self. We made it to school just in time.

**I have to side step here. Because I have been not blogging there is a piece of this story that won't make sense unless I stop and tell this other story KWIM? Good! Lily doesn't ask questions so much about her adoption anymore, she makes statements of fact. Sometimes they are right, sometimes she just misses and sometimes she makes my heart stop. Her most frequent statement is 'I don't want to go back to Guatemala, I missed you too much and not ever gonna leave you.' Now this statement is pieces of her story we told her about how much WE missed her and how WE weren't ever going to leave her. The part about not wanting to go back to Guatemala stems from us saying she could go visit there when she was older, she thinks it means she is going to stay there forever. **

We are on the bus on our way to the zoo Lily turned my face to hers, rubbed my cheek and said 'Momma I love you, I glad you come and be my partner, I never gonna leave you.' I melted.

Once we got to the zoo the preschoolers and high school students separated into their groups. Our group was Lily, her two high school teachers and myself. She held my hand the entire time. Not because I made her, because she wanted to. We walked that entire zoo and she only said one time that her legs hurt and that was on our way out.

We stopped at the gift shop brought home a new Giraffe that she has named Soft- because that is how he feels. When we got back on the bus she thanked me coming with her! There aren't enough words to express how wonderful today was!

Lily thank you for hands down one of the best days ever!


PS If you are looking for pics, I put them on facebook. Blogger is a pain to post pics on.

Ordinary Day

This is so incredibly true...

Conversations With the Girls

A while ago I was writing down chats with just Lily, because Charlotte really wasn't talking yet. Well, times have changed around here for sure here is a recent discussion.

I was letting out the dogs in the afternoon, I turned around and saw Charlotte standing on the back step, I came back into the house and she was giggling walking backwards...

C: Whoa (giggle giggle) whooooaaa Son Bitch!
M: Charlotte you CANNOT say that anymore it is a naughty word!
C: (hugs me around the leg) I sorry mommy, I so sorry.
M: It is ok but you just can't say that
L: (from the living room) what is wrong?
M: Nothing, we just cannot say naughty words..
L: What did Charlotte say?
M: Don't worry about it, worry about Lily ( I have been saying that a LOT lately!)
L: Oh she say Son of a Bitch again
M: DOh! (I couldn't help it I laughed- she caught me totally off guard) LILY PLEASE DO NOT repeat her! It is VERY naughty.
L: okay Mommy

At this point I was just about back in the living room I could see Lily playing

M: (trying to change the subject) Is Cinderella sleeping
L: Nope she died

After talking with her a little about what she thought dying really was, I was trying to figure out what she thought she knew

M: Lily where do you go when you die
L: (with the sweetest face ever) to the aquarium...
M:!!!
L: (she sensed my !!!) and changed her answer to the beach.

Sigh... we have a lot to work on!

**********************************************************************************
Some fun Charlotteisms:

*When I wake her up from nap and she isn't ready she bats at me and says 'leave me alone'!
*Tonight she wiped her brow and said 'whew that was a close one!'
*She tells us she is 'mad at yous' crosses her arms and I swear she says 'humph' and turns her head!
*She sounds just like Ming Ming from Wonder Pets when she sings!
*She is VERY honest when she does not want to do something she quite frankly tell me 'no, mommy no thanks'
*Her favorite food is chicken nuggets
*She says 'no thanks' to anything green
*Sometimes when she laughs she sounds like an old man! Think Louie Armstrong
*When I change her diaper I always ask her when she is going to go potty on her tinker bell potty, she laughs and cry's out 'NEVER!'
* Two nights in a row she has waited for Lily (the informer) to go to sleep and has emptied out her wipe container
*One night Chris went into check on them, and found Charlotte with the huge lotion bottle in her bed. He asked what she was doing and again in her very frank way said 'I lotion my feet Daddy'
* One of the favorite games right now is Pirate, she squeals 'arrgh matey' and we walk the plank daily!

Everyday I wake up and wonder what Chris and I ever did without these girls in our lives! They do make life fun.... even if now and again it is a bit challenging!

An Ode to Gracie Puppy

Gracie Puppy, how do we love thee? We love thee through 2 laptop power cords, 1 pair of Chris' glasses, our sheets, CPAP mask, CPAP tubing, CPAP power cord, Blackberry power cord, cell phone ear piece, Valentine's candy, dog tie out, suitcase handle, belt, chewed off barbie hands, playdoh, 2 children's books, numerous toys, cardboard boxes, Chris' wallet, my wallet, $200 vet visit, and a mint plant.. insert your own joke here!


This is just what we can remember off the top of our heads. Gracie Puppy (her nickname given to her by Charley) is truly our Marley. She was discounted and everything! We should have known!!

Well, at least she is cute!

Sailor Charlotte

Before I begin I wanted to put a small disclaimer on this post. The following story Chris and I are not proud of as parents and not something we are striving for. The only reason why it is getting told on here is because it is a priceless story...and it is REALLY funny.

Chris and I are far from prefect parents and part of that is not always using the appropriate language in front of the girls. It has gotten MUCH better over the years but slips do happen especially in the form of knee jerk reactions. Lily being the moral barometer that she is caught on quick that these are "naughty words" and will call us on it. We apologize and have a quick talk about not saying those words, nothing like being scolded by your 4 year old!

Charlotte however just doesn't get it yet, and has picked up from (Chris) us a bad habit. The first time I heard her say it, I didn't believe it. But there was no way it could have been anything else. Notice I said first time... yeah we are having a hard time breaking this.

So here it is... Every time she says 'Ouch' from getting hurt she follows it 80% of the time with a 'Son Bitch'. Sometimes we get the whole sentence sometimes just those two words. Now we have been on her about it. We thought it was getting better. We were at the Vet yesterday with Gracie (whole other story) and she said 'Ouch!' when she fell. Chris and I both just held our breath. Thankfully she ended it there.

Here is the priceless part, in the afternoon yesterday we were on our way to the pet store. Charlotte was playing with her doll in the back and pretended it was hurt this is the exchange we hear in the front:

C: Ouch SOB! SOB!
M&C: Charlotte do not say those words...
C: SSSSOOOBBB
Lily: Mommy Charlotte is saying SOB...again.

M&C: <> We do NOT want to hear that anymore from either of you!
L&C: Otay!

So far so good today. It is very hard not to smile when she does say it though because it is very matter of fact. I told Chris he has turned our baby girl into Cartman from South Park... she needs a V Chip!

Lily's Fairy Tale Day!

Long overdue video from Lily's special day at Disney! Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Earthquake in Haiti

A fellow blogging Momma (http://www.michellesmiles.com/) posted this link on her blog PLEASE follow it and help if you can.

http://www.thatschurch.com/

This is the email/webforms for the Senator's Cardin and Milkulski

cardin.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm Phone : (202) 224-4524

mikulski.senate.gov/Contact/contact.cfm Phone : (202) 224-4654

Please call/write and help get these babies OUT of there! Remember how it felt for Chris and I to be powerless. What these parents are going through we can't even imagine. Please do this in Lily's name as way of celebrating her homecoming anniversary this Sunday.

Thank you!

Monster Trucks and Pixie Dust

Last week the girls and I all had nasty colds. So nasty in fact for a couple days I wanted to use the 3 letter F word. It didn't progress that far, but it was close. Lily picked it up somewhere and shared it (she is learning soo much at preschool!) with us. Thankfully, it didn't hit everyone at once. By the time Lily was showing improvement, I started. True to form Charlotte got it the worst and is hanging on the longest.

A few nights ago, she really started coughing. We rubbed her chest with Vicks, and pulled out the humidifier with a Vicks pad in that. That did help for a while, but by the time Chris and I were going to bed she started again. We pulled a pillow off of our bed and tried propping her up with it. That seemed to do the trick.

The night before last, Chris had gone into check on them and found Charlotte with her head under her pillows. He pulled her out, she was covered in sweat but ok. We took our pillow away and everything was fine. She hadn't done that with her pillow before. Then yesterday at nap time I was going to try again with the two (it really was helping with her cough). She wanted NO parts of her pillow, she wanted mine. So I put hers on the bottom and mine on top. She snuggled her little head done on that pillow and sighed saying 'momma' and rubbed her head some more!

Then last night Chris didn't put the pillows the way I had at bedtime, but she didn't complain either. I had gone into check on them and found her again with her pillow over her head, laying on mine! I think I lost my pillow! LOL

She is just getting sooo big! I can't believe in about 6 more weeks she is going to 2 1/2! We are sitting on pause with potty training. She still likes the idea of it and will void on it sometimes, but she still likes the convenience of her diaper.I am fine with this, it is her last attachment to babyhood. She still prefers to eat with her hands. Chris and I were talking one night at dinner while we watched her eat with her hand while holding her spork. We decided right then that we are going to continue to encourage to eat with the spoon/fork, but not sweat over it. We know that at her wedding she will be eating with a fork!

This weekend Chris looked right at her and told her she was the prefect mix of Monster Trucks and Pixie Dust. This is so true! It is not uncommon to find her fully dressed in a princess ball gown playing with her tools 'fixing' something. She got a purse for Christmas to use for dress up. She loves to get it out and fill with her cars or trains and then put it on her arm.

She loves to play Wonder Pets. She will run up to Chris, and shout 'oh no, Gracie puppy in trouble!' Chris will ask her what they should do, she says 'I know, rescue!' Then he will ask her what she needs she says 'rope!' Then she runs out of the room to go start rescue. She could play this for hours!

One of her favorite things right now is Ela Fun! Who knew? I have to get this on video! Chris said she plays it like she is going for Gold in the XGames! It is Extreme Ela Fun in our house! She lets Lily have one of the nets then she must have the rest, she doesn't get it to try to catch the butterfly's, she hits at them. Oh my it is funny!

We are working on her dressing herself. This has been a slow milestone for her. Again I think she just likes the convenience of me dressing her. She does have opinions on what she likes to wear though! This morning we were running a little late to get Lily to preschool, so I sent her in her room to get out a pair of soft pants (what we call sweats/yoga pants). Well on her first attempt she came out with shorts, uhh no. I told her to try again and find pants. Second attempt she came out with pants, she was just trying to put them on legs by putting it over her head! It really helped to lighten up a stressful morning. Oh then she got them off of her head sat down and put two legs in one hole. Of course she stood up to check out her work just to fall. Lily and I were laughing so hard! Charlotte was laughing as well. Finally, she got her feet right and pulled them up! Lily and I cheered for her! Oh please don't think I was just sitting there watching her struggle, I was putting Lily's hair up.

She loves to cuddle again, she went through a Miss Independent phase. But now I guess it is cool again to snuggle! Kissing has also made a huge come back! Lily has always been a Daddy's girl, now Charlotte is starting to be one as well. Chris is in heaven! Everyday when he comes home from work it is like a rockstar has come to our house!

She and Lily are so tight, Chris and I don't have a chance! They love to play together, for the most part. Daily there are small issues, but I think it that over all they are Best Friends.

Ohh this is a funny one... she is sneaky! Charlotte loves to get out of her bed at night time. Normally Lily is still awake and rats her out! The other night though, I was on my way to the shower, and I walked past their room. I saw a small movement out of the corner of my eye. There she was up out of bed, standing by the dress-up area putting purses on her arm completely unaware I was watching her. I of course called Chris to see how cute this was! Once he saw we swung the door open talk about deer in the headlight!!

She is very demanding! We are constantly saying 'did you forget something?' Yesterday she was timed out for not putting the shoes away. I try to have the toys picked up before Chris gets home (keyword try). I wanted her to put the shoes that were scattered from playing dress up. She refused and actually told me 'never!' LOL It took two, two minute spats in time out for her to get the point!

She loves to sing! Row Row Your Boat, is her newest. Verbally in general she has exploded. There is very little I don't understand. My favorite thing she says right now is 'ummm, Momma?'

I can't wait to see what else is next for Miss. C!!

Back to the Grind

** I guess it would have been great if I included the name of the movie we went to see!! Yes, it was The Princess and the Frog! **


Holiday vacation is over for Mr. Henry :-( The girls both woke up asking where Daddy was. We spent the morning trying to get back on schedule and get things put up and away. Basically trying to make sense of all the things that were laying about. Lily's nose is still running, Charlotte is also now starting a little drip. We just got Charlotte's cough gone, hopefully this will stay a minor thing. Fingers crossed!

Tomorrow the girls and I are going to venture out to the store to get a few things to make cupcakes for Lily to take into school for her birthday. Chris and I told her she could invite 2 friends from school, she picked her little boy she is going to marry (her words not mine!) and another little girl. This is going to be our first little friend party. Next year we are going to let her invite all 12 kids from her class. We are going to have to figure out somewhere ELSE to have it. LOL But it is for her 5th, so we will see...

One on One Time

If you haven't already noticed what one of my resolutions this year is to try to blog as much as possible. I have a lot of undone posts I am working on getting finished as well as finishing off the videos and posts from Disney.

Another resolution Chris and I have made as a parenting team is to try to spend a lot more quality time with the girls. Not just be in the same room, but really engage them. I have read TOO many blogs this year written by parents who have lost their spouse or child. We really want these remaining cool years count. Before we know it Lily and Charlotte will be too cool to go the movies with Mommy, or on a special dinner date with Daddy. This year we are going to do much more of things like this. Today was the beginning.

I took Lily to see her very first movie in a theater! Chris and I were going to take her together but were afraid that time was running short, they just don't keep the movies in the theaters like they used to. Today was the perfect day! We told her that we were going to go as long as she wasn't running a fever (she still has that yucky runny nose, and she threw-up a ton of mucus over night) that we would go. She must have asked us to check her forehead at least 20 times this morning. She stayed cool and didn't vomit anymore. We were good to go! She was treated to a full on big girl morning. She got a shower and got to pick out her clothes it is amazing what a 4 year-old finds cool! :-) She took her Tiana baby doll on the ride over as well.

We had been talking about the movie and what to expect, hers and our main concern was when the lights go out- she is still having dark issues. On the way over she asked 3 million questions about the movie and what was going to happen. Once we got there she was in heaven! She got to have a Sprite- I think that is the first time she ever had a soda of her own!

Before I forget, I have to add this... Last year Lily shared with me a bag of popcorn as a snack in the afternoon. This was at the same time (although we didn't know it at the time) we were all brewing that horrendous stomach bug. Long story short Lily threw it all back up. She has never forgotten, and will tell anyone who asks that she doesn't like popcorn because she threw it up. All that background for this. The other day while I was getting her ready for her rest I asked if she was going to get popcorn at the movies. She told me no, she wanted broccoli!! LOL Only Lily!

Today just as I was about to pay for our drinks she asked for popcorn....sigh.... I asked for the smallest bag they had, it was still bigger then she was!! I think in total she ate 4 single popcorn! :-) She LOVED the Sprite though!

The movie itself was very sweet! Lily sat like a movie going pro. The end of the movie has a certain few scenes I didn't expect, I looked over at her to see a single big fat tear rolling down her cheek. Then when the movie was over I looked over at her again and she had her face all rolled up like she was going to really get crying. I asked her what was wrong and she told me 'I not crying Momma, it was just such a sweet movie'. I just wiped up her face and promised she could take her still mostly full cup of soda home and that seemed to help!

When we got home she told Chris all about her crying and again reassured him that she wasn't sad! He got a kick out of that! To make up for Chris not going to the movie he is planning their first dinner date!

Don't think we have forgotten Charlotte! Right now she loves having the extra one on one time with us. She and Chris stayed in and watched all the Star Trek (BIG SIGH) movie trailers together on the DVR. Chris is happy to report she is well on her way to Trekhood! She and Chris made lunch together and played with her new toys.

A very nice way to spend our last day of holiday vacation!

Not a Party Until Somebody Vomits!

Today for Lily's birthday we told her that she was in charge (within reason!) and she could call the shots! We celebrate Lily's birthday (with a party) farther in the month of January for a couple reasons. 1) It is REALLY close to two major holiday's, and 2) Lily shares her birthday with her Cousin Juice and 3) if we wait just 2 more weeks she can celebrate not only her birthday but also her homecoming day! We have done this since she has come home and works very nicely.

Last year we started letting her pick where she wanted to go/do with a little help. This year, I asked one afternoon and she told me she wanted to go see the Dolphin Show at the Aquarium! So this morning after she picked her breakfast of toasted PB & J, with milk. We headed out to the Aquarium.

We were literally about 2 blocks from the garage on a one way street and a Mini-Van came barreling around the corner coming at us head on!! Chris blared the horn and the man (also with his family) looked about as shocked as we did, gave the obligatory hand of 'oops my bad!' backed out onto his road. I was upset that this had happened, but I had to giggle when I saw his wife's mouth moving a million times a minute and looked like she wanted to crawl under a rock!

The rest of our 2 block journey was quite uneventful! We parked and headed in. We only had about 45 minutes to wait for the Dolphin Show so we didn't want to get too involved with the anything. We let the girls play on the bubble tubes for a few minutes and then headed over to watch the Dolphins in their tank before the show. Lily was in heaven!!

The show was great! Charlotte was MUCH more into it this time. When we had gone over the summer she was not too impressed at all. This time though she was clapping, and waving at the dolphins for the whole show. I don't think we even pulled many snacks out. Lily loves the show and just sat there fascinated by it. Every time one would jump out of the water she would gasp and her mouth would fall open!

When the show was over we made our way back down to the underwater tank to say our last good-byes to the dolphins. Lily then wanted to see the Jellies, and the Sharks. The line for the Jellies was quite long, so we headed over to find the sharks. If you haven't been to the Baltimore Aquarium, the area they keep the shark tanks in is very dark and ominous. Lily has, in the past, had problems dealing with the darkness of it. She has never flat out refused to go through it, she didn't love it. I was surprised when she said she really wanted to go see them. We made it all the way to the top of the escalators. We told her that we were at that the sharks and she told us 'ok, I am a little scared, but I have you guys so I won't be too scared.' :-) She did really great! Even walked by herself at some points!!

After that we headed back to Jellies! The lines were all gone. Charlotte really likes this! She just stood in her spot and stared! Lily walked right up to the one tank and literally talked to the Jelly. She told the Jelly it was her birthday, apparently it was the Jelly's birthday as well and the Jelly smiled at her. It was soo cute, her exchange even made a hardcore-tween aged boy smile a little.

After we were done with the Jellies it was well past time for lunch. The only other request Lily made for her birthday was to eat out somewhere for dinner. We promised her Pizza Hut. However there was no way we were taking them anywhere for dinner after having walked them most of the day with no nap. We thought quick on our feet, we needed to sell to her that lunch at the Aquarium was just as nice as Pizza Hut. In the end we think she just wanted to eat out. She was very excited that we were going to have lunch there and was just fine having a 'big girl pizza' brought to our house!

I will admit the girls really kept it together for the day. We knew we were on borrowed time when Charley ate her lunch with her head on the table. After lunch was all done we wiped everybody up and headed for the gift shop. We left Lily pick out a new doll she picked a Jelly Fish she is calling Flounder, and Charlotte won Chris over when she picked up a baby seal and said, 'Look Daddy a Sea Puppy!' We paid and headed for the van.

Charlotte didn't make it out of the city before she literally collapsed in her car seat. Lily though was up and wired! We were about 5-10 minutes from home and she started singing a song over and over and over again. After about the 7Th time, we asked her to please pick a new song. She started giggling, and kept singing, and laughing. What really can you do about that?! We teased back with her and she would just keep singing, and laughing. At one point she got herself laughing really hard and then she got quiet. She has had a runny nose (again) for about 2 days...yeah singing + laughing + snot = you guess it vomit! sigh....

The great news is that it really was just that, she was completely normal the rest of the afternoon/evening. We did get our pizza ordered in and she was sung a beautiful albeit, off key version of Happy Birthday by her loving family! She had a bath (as she requested) and had two books at bedtime.

All in all I think that Miss Lily enjoyed herself just a tiny bit more then we did today!

Happy 4th Birthday Lilliana!!

Dear Lilliana,

This year just has zoomed right past us! You hit the ground running at 3. This was your year for sure! You took swim and dance class, upgraded to a big girl bed, went to Disney World, started pre-school, became fully potty trained, got glasses, got your ears pierced, saw the ocean and was a flower girl. It has been a fun-filled year for sure! Your Daddy and I really understand why parents warn each other about the 3rd year! You could have been the poster child for a 3 year old! Such a mix of sassy and sweet! Although we had our share of hard days, I wouldn't trade one. To do so would be losing a day with you. Daddy and I love you through the good days right along with the extra whiny ones.

We are so proud of the little lady you are growing into. You are such a great big sister. You are so patient and kind with Charlotte. There is this gentle grace you have about you. I was listening to you laugh while you played tonight with Daddy and Charlotte. I just let it wash over me. It is the sound of pure happiness.

Lilliana, you are one of the two best gifts Daddy and I have ever been given. We can't wait to watch you grow. You aren't our fragile little Lily anymore. You are smart, strong, and the most beautiful chocolate eyed little (big) girl we have ever known!

We love you as high as the sky and as deep as the ocean, it will never end. Happy Birthday Sweet Lily!!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Not to be Forgotten

Something happened at dinner that I don't ever want to forget. It was one of those moments that your child says something that just stops everything. Tonight it was Lily's turn. Lily is in the know-it-all stage. She knows everything about everything. If you try to correct her she has been been known to say 'actually, it is Momma'. Yeah, the teen years are gonna be great! LOL Well tonight she was an expert on America.

We have NO CLUE where this came from. She started off telling us that we (Chris and I) could go to America because we were grown-ups. She and Charlotte couldn't yet. Then she went onto say that America was 'very far away, it is right next to Disney World'. Chris and I asked her where were now since we were not in America. She told us we were at home. Obviously!

Then she says... 'we can't whine or cry or we can't go to America.'

I asked her where she heard this from. She told us from A.

(Lily's Birth mother shares the same name as a female character in a cartoon that she likes... this will help explain why we questioned her)

So I asked her if she meant A from (insert name of show), or she is talking about her Birth Mommy. She told me she meant her birth mom.

THEN SHE SAYS...

'A told me not to cry when I go to America it is ok.'

I looked at Chris he looked back at me with the same WTH mixed with tears expression.

Where does this come from? It isn't the first time she has said something profound like this about her birth mom. It normally happens just like this completely out of left field!