A Big Saturday

Lily started off her Saturday- which is her favorite day, by the way- with Suzette. She came over to play with her this morning. When she left, Lily took almost a 3 hour nap! Then, it was time to go to Wee Bounce for Nathan's birthday party. You can see that Lily and Baba had a great time, again...

And here is a picture of the birthday boy- Nathan. Lily had a fun day at his party!

On a funny note: Lily kept talking non-stop at dinner last night. She kept telling Baba- bye, bye over and over again at one point. Jamie teasingly told Lily to say it again in Chinese. She looked right at him, and she said, "Bye Bye in Chinese Baba!"

Right now, she is talking non-stop again while she is in the tub. She is saying, "Happy Birthday Mama- Happy Birthday Baba- Happy Birthday Lily. Cheryl is happy, Trina is happy, Ruella is happy. See a stop sign-Baba- T-O-P -O-P-O-P (she is spelling Stop) Hey Jo Jo- Jo Jo- I love you Jo Jo. Jo Jo's favorite- Mama's favorite- Baba's favorite- Suzette's favorite (she is talking about herself now being everyone's favorite) Mama on computer with Trina ." and the talking goes on and on.

The things she says....

We took Lily to the ENT yesterday to find out why she has been coughing so much. Expecting the worst news, things didn't turn out too bad. Basically, she has a really bad infection and she will be on antibiotics for 1 month. But, no surgery needed--- so thank you Jesus! We have been praying!

While at the doctor's office, Lily was such a good girl. I can never believe that she does so well when we have to wait like we do. So, you know how the nurse comes in asking all of the questions. Well, we are talking (while Lily is talking to her, too) and she asks us about what types of medicines Lily is taking. We say Singulair and Nasonex. Then, she starts to go on to the next question when Miss Lily says, " Ummmm- And vitamins!" She tried her best to answer every question. She loved having her x-rays made, and she thoroughly enjoyed the whole visit. Such a turn around from 1 year ago. It is amazing to see the person she is becoming.

She also told me yesterday about my Life is Good shirt I was wearing. She wanted to look at it. She said that it was Baba playing music "paying mumic" the puppy is singing. I asked what the puppy was singing to which she replied, "Ruff ruff ruff" in a sing-songy way. Then, I asked what Baba and the puppy were talking about. She said, "Miss you Mama- Miss you Lily" I said, "Where are we?" She said, "Shopping."

The things she says....

China...and Changes

Lily has become such a conversationalist. She now knows that she is from China, and she flew on a big airplane to come home. She says she had fun flying. She also knows the names of the girls who were with her in China- Hannah, Lilli, Jocelyn, Marah, and Liana was there, too - she says.

I can also say that we are finished with our potty-training. It was hard to potty-train a child who has been stinky-trained since we got her. I think it just made us lazy because changing a diaper with tinkle was never a big deal. But, we can finally say that she tells us when she needs to go, and she can wear panties most of the day. Plus, she can hold it for 2-3 hours sometimes if she needs to. She also tells other people when she needs to go- her babysitter, friends, and her Sunday School teachers. Lily is definitely changing every day. She loves doing everything by herself. Her favorite words are "NO, no- I do it. I do it." She even says this for things that we need to do like changing the sheets on the bed or taking care of the clothes. She loves to help us do our chores.

She loves to have her picture made now, too. She has also turned into a very caring little Mama to her stuffed animals and her dolls. She enjoys bathing them in the sink, putting blankets around them, and rocking them while singing to them. At the babysitter's house last week, she even wanted Alice to change her babydoll's diaper. After which, she proceeded to take her to the potty. Alice left Lily alone for a second later on that day, and Lily took her baby back to the potty and used almost half of a roll of toilet paper. She must have made a big stinky!

Have a great week!!! My stitches come out on Tuesday, and we take Lily to the ENT on Tuesday, too. Hopefully, they can help us figure out what is going on with her excessive coughing during her sleeping.

As promised...

Here are pictures of Lily after church today. As soon as we walk in the door, she immediately takes off her shoes.

But, she did stop to smile at the camera! It only took 3 Sundays- and there were NO TEARS today when we dropped her off at her new Sunday School class. What a blessing!

Then, after she removes her shoes, she lines our shoes up properly.

Thank you, Aunt Sharon, for another cute outfit.

Have a great week everyone! I will post again next weekend!

Great News for Mama

Thank you so much for your prayers. The doctor said it was just a cyst. It was LARGE! He said that if we would have waited 3 more days- he would have had bad news for us because it would have spread. It was about the size of one of those big gumballs you get from those crazy machines at the mall. What a blessing! So, I am in lots of constant pain, but very thankful for it- knowing that God took care of me.... once again!

Saucey- as Lily says!

Sorry- or Saucey- as Lily says...but we have no pictures today. I haven't blogged in awhile because things have been crazy since school has started back. Lily is doing GREAT! She was completely happy to be back with Alice. Of course, this morning- she did say this when I turned the road heading to school- "Mama, where did Lily's house go?" I cracked up. We had to go over the fact that I had to go make money today. She also said that she wanted to "Stay with Mama Alllll Day" too. But, she went with Alice happily. So, she is apparently growing up and becoming much more secure now. That is such a blessing.

Now, I must ask for your prayers. Last Thursday, I woke up with a huge knot on my back. It hurt. I went to the doctor on Friday, and tomorrow, I am having it removed by a general surgeon. The doctor seemed to think that it is a tumor. I have been a little emotional about it all. But, they are telling me not to worry, and that everything is probably fine. Regardless, I have been in a lot of pain over the last week. Lily- my little nurse/doctor keeps getting out her pretend shot from her doctor's kit and giving me shots in my back. I guess she has figured out that shots make you feel better.

I will try my best to get some more pictures put on this weekend. Thank you for your prayers!!

Dancing with our Star

Lily is dancing to the credits of the Hannah Montana movie. After watching her dance the whole way through, we finally decided to get the camera and capture the moment.

I have gone to inservice for 2 LONG days. Lily has been staying at the house with her Aunt Ruella, one of my Mom's dear friends. She adores her Aunt Ruella, so she has been happy during the day. Ruella says that she asks for me about 3 million times during the day, but there have been no tears. Of course, the best part is when I get home in the afternoon- I am greeted with hugs and these words, "Miss you, Mama!" I miss Lily terribly, but I am excited to see the new Lily that has emerged this year. Plus, we haven't had any night terrors yet, either. Next week, she will go back to Alice's house. Please pray that she will be just as happy next week, too!

Lily's Longest Sentence

School starts tomorrow for me. I am so sad that this summer is over. Lily and I have totally enjoyed every moment together. I keep trying to explain to her what is going to take place tomorrow, and she says, "No, stay with Mama." So, then I take the approach of explaining that work is how Mama and Baba make money to take her to the mall and Disney World. She replied, "No presents, no mall- stay with Mama." All of this happened before the weekend...

Since Lily was sick last weekend, and we were unable to go to see our family and friends in NC and SC- we decided to go to our home away from home.... Atlanta. It is super close, and we love taking Lily to the hotel and to go shopping. On this trip, she finally got it! Everyone at the hotel remembers Lily, and she adores all of their attention. When we go eat the breakfast at our favorite hotel, the ladies that work there call her by name. She even told them this time that they could go shopping with us, and she said she would buy them presents. She also fed our favorite server, Erica, strawberries.

Needless to say, she is at home there, too. On this trip, she got her new kitty- Flower from Neiman Marcus. She also got to do lots of shopping for herself at Pottery Barn Kids, Hanna Andersson, Macy's, Nordstrom, and Lucky Brand Jeans.

So, what is "it" that we think she finally understands? When we got home last night, she said, "I wanna go shopping mall in the morning, Mama." I said, "Well, Mama has to go back to work these week. So, we will be going back in a few months." She then said, "Work? To get presents?"

So, now, hopefully, the working this week won't be too hard on all of us. Change for Lily always brings about her night terrors and a ressurrection of her old insecurities for a few weeks. It would really be nice for her understand what is happening this time.

Here she is blowing kisses to our hotel room before we leave. Our princess had a wonderful time shopping this weekend.