Wow! Is It Ever Hard Choosing a Favorite Photo for Friday

Thanks to the wonderful world of digital, Lili is captured often in photo. For a matter-of-fact, I'm not sure I have that many pictures of our boys combined. Oops!

As a result of all the pictures I've taken, I have a difficult time deciding on a favorite. I just need to remember that we have a lot of Fridays in our future so I'll have plenty of opportunity to post my favorites.

Here are some pictures I took a few weeks ago. She was watching her favorite t.v. show, Hi-5 in one of my favorite outfits I bought for her. There is nothing special about the outfit, I just think the colors look really good on her.

Changes

One of Dave's co-workers and his wife were kind enough to give Lili two Little Tykes playsets that their kids had outgrown. Lili is especially fond of the smaller set and loves testing her new walking and climbing skills outside.

Let's see if I can get up this slide with my shoes on.

Better try out the side with the little ladder.

I think this is going to work.

Okay, the shoes were causing problems so let's see how it goes without shoes.I think I'm going to make it. Yes, I made it.
Applause!!! I'll sign autographs later.
Okay, I'm sure everyone noticed in the above photos that Lili still needed a hair cut. Well, I can happily say that her hair is no longer hanging in her eyes.

Before . . . . During . . . . . And, after . . . . .
I can see again!!!!!
And my big brother Ben watched the entire time to make sure I was okay.

I found the cutest salon called Cookie Cutters. The entire salon caters to children. The stylist put "Finding Nemo" in the DVD player so Lili could watch the "tish" while she got her hair cut. She did much better than I thought she'd do. She also looks older now. Boo Hoo!!!! But I can now see her beautiful eyes again.

FPF

Another Friday has arrived and making a choice on a favorite photo this week is difficult. Therefore, I'm going to post my favorites from this week.

I came out from starting a load of laundry and this is where I found Lili.

Who knew playing in a cupboard (literally) could be so fun, but apparently it is.

Look at me mommy!!!

This is what the dog dish area typically looks like.

But since mommy was getting things cleaned up a bit, Lili decided she'd try out the mats herself.

I don't know where Jada and Lexie's dishes went.

For those who didn't see my posts from yesterday, please scroll down and check them out. Big things happened at our house yesterday :-)

Look Whose Walking

It was a busy day at our house today.

Look Whose Swimming

We finally got in the pool for the first time this season.

Lili loves the pool and mommy is thrilled.

We'll be spending lots and lots of time outside this summer.

Appliances

A few months ago we decided it was time to replace our dishwasher. It had done a good job over the years, but it was wearing out and needed to be retired. So about a week ago the Sears installer came out and removed the old dishwasher and put in my brand new Kenmore. The dishes are now getting clean, without me washing them first and that is an exciting thing, especially now that I have a new little helper in the house.

Over the weekend I noticed the oven seemed to be taking along time to heat up then a couple night ago I turned on the oven and started smelling gas. I opened the oven door just in time to see the oven flames go out. Our oven has died, yet again. If we replace the part, this will be the fourth time. At some point you just have to say "it's not worth it" and get a new stove. Now, the good thing about the oven breaking again is that I've had my eye on a new stove for a couple years now. I haven't decided exactly which one, but I do know I want one of the newer models with the double oven. The bad thing is that the newer ones with the double oven just aren't cheap. So, I think we'll try to survive the summer without an oven and then look at replacing the stove sometime this fall. Since Sears has no payments and no interest until June, 2009 I can use the summer to pay off the dishwasher and then go get my stove. Still, I have other things I'd rather spend our money on, but those things will just have to wait.

Wonder if I should be looking at our next refrigerator purchase? LOL!!!!

It's Favorite Photo Friday

Another week has come and gone. Where does the time go?

Lili is still doing well. We've had a little more success with sleep this week. Nothing major like sleeping through the night yet, but her naps have been a little better and she had one night where she actually slept from 10:15 p.m. until 3:55 a.m. That is really good in my book.

It's also become a bit difficult to get pictures of Lili as she has started shutting or squinting her eyes whenever I point the camera at her. Here are the 3 pictures of her that I took today.

This one is pretty good, although I'm sure everyone will notice how badly she needs a hair cut. We'll be taking care of that soon, I promise.

Here is squinty girl.

And another of squinty girl.

Guatemalan Goods in Bloomington

I've had a couple people request information on the store in Bloomington that sells Guatemalan goods, so I thought I'd post the info here.

The store is Crossroads Global Handicrafts. Its at 428 N Main in downtown Bloomington. The store is a fair trade shop run by volunteers.

Favorite Photo Friday

If I don't get at least one picture posted while I think of it, another FFF might be missed. So, here we go.

We took Lili to have her one year photos taken and I thought I'd post one of my favorites.

As Promised

Here are some new pictures of Lili.

Some good friends found a store in Bloomington, IL that sells various items made in Guatemala, including the bibs Lili is modeling in the following two photos.

One concern we had before Lili came home was how she would react to the dogs. Here is another photo to show how much she loves her dogs.

And they called it puppy love.

Happy Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day and we're finally experiencing our first hint of summer here in Central IL. This Spring has been so up and down weather-wise that I was beginning to think Lili would never be able to wear any of her cute summer clothes, but alas, she is wearing them today.

Unfortunately, the plan to have the pool open by today didn't work out as planned. We pulled the winter cover off and discovered that one of the parts on the inlet was broke and would need to be replaced. Of course, the pool store was closed by the time we discovered this so now we have to wait until tomorrow to get the part. Hopefully we'll have it all up and running before the end of the week. Then we have to keep our fingers crossed that we'll have consistently warm weather so the water can warm up enough for swimming. I'm very anxious to get Lili in the pool.

Lili still isn't walking on her own, but she is certainly much more vocal. We're not quite sure what she is trying to say, but there is voice inflection, facial expression and every once in a while a mama or dada thrown in. Between all the baby talk and her love of books, I'm thinking we might have talker on our hands. Once again, I don't think we could have hand picked a better fit for our family.

I'll try to get pictures posted this week, so keep checking in.

Hope everyone has had an awesome Memorial Day!

What's New?

I know I don't update my blog as often as I used to, but let's face facts, I'm just a little busier now that Lili is home. LOL! Still I want to keep everyone updated when I can on what's happening in the World of Weeks and there are some new things happening as of late.

Before I fill you in on the "what's new?" what hasn't changed is Lili's continued growth. I spent some time yesterday pulling most of her 12 month outfits out of her dresser and putting them away. There are a few that still fit her and of course she can still wear most of the dresses, but for the most part she is easily in 18 month outfits now.

Ben decided to share his head cold with Lili and since she hasn't been feeling well, we've gone back to her wanting to nap with either Dave or I holding her. She was pretty restless the first couple nights of her cold, but is now starting to sleep better. Today is the first time in the last several days that she's actually let me lay her down in her crib without immediately waking up.

Because Lili likes to share, she shared her head cold with me. No wonder she wasn't napping well :-( This stuff is terrible. I'm hoping it doesn't take me long to get over it because I have lots I need to get done.

A few weeks ago I posted some information about our oldest son, Ryan. While things are still up and down for him right now, we are seeing some positive improvements. We've been working with the agency that provides services for him and have asked them to move him to another home that is better suited to meet his needs, but they have not made a final decision in regards to a move for him. In the meantime, we are seeking services from an agency in the Chicago area. They have a wonderful reputation and actually have homes for adults with Autism. I've been in contact with them and they will be putting together a team to come down to meet Ryan and to talk to us, hopefully in the near future. While we would rather he be living closer to us, the most important thing is that his daily needs to being met in a such a way that he is allowed and able to meet his full potential. Unfortunately, the agency he's with now does not have the necessary services in place that will allow that to happen for him, so a move in the future may be necessary.

Now for the "what's new?" For those who have been reading my blog, you are already aware that we have plans of adopting at least one more time in the future. Since Lili's brothers are older, we really wanted her to have a sibling closer to her age. In addition, we didn't want her to be the only child in the family who is adopted. Lili is going to have various feelings about her adoption as she grows and while we hope that they are all very positive feelings, we are also realistic and know that she is going to have feelings about things that we really won't understand completely. They will understand each other in a way that Dave, her brothers and I won't and we feel it is important for Lili and her future sibling to have that common bond with each other.

Of course the dilemma has been where Lili's sibling will be from. The U.S. has closed adoptions from Guatemala because Guatemala is not Hague compliant and while they appear to be working on a Hague compliant system, there is no guarantee they'll have that system put in place in the near future. In addition, there are still questions surrounding what the adoption process will look like, so with sadness we've decided that an adoption from Guatemala, at least in the near future, is not going to happen for us. So, we have researched and discussed then discussed and researched more trying to decide what country could possibly touch our lives in the way Guatemala has. Finally, we have decided that we are going to pursue an adoption from Ethiopia. Since an adoption from Ethiopia will most likely take about the same amount of time as our Guatemala adoption took, we plan to begin the process in the next few weeks. We have selected an agency and are waiting on paperwork from them. We have also decided that we will be adopting another baby girl, so Lili's outgrown clothes will get more use in the future.

That's "what's new?" in the World of Weeks.

Favorite Photo Friday

So many pictures to choose from. However, I just took this one a few days ago and thought those of you with small children and dogs would appreciate seeing it.

Lili loves to give the dogs their chewies and treats. Sometimes, she even trades her treat for their treat. She's so good at sharing. LOL

Life Keeps Moving Forward

It seems as if the days are just speeding by and before I know it 5 days have gone by and I haven't posted anything.

Lili continues to do well. She is still cruising around the house while holding on to furniture or hands and although she's taken up to 8 steps by herself, she is still a bit wobbly and doesn't feel secure enough to venture out on her own completely. That is fine with me as she gets around quite well now and will most certainly be able to move even faster once she is walking on her own.

Yesterday and today we spent some time outside enjoying the warmer weather. She "loves" being outside and can throw a royal fit if someone goes out without her or you bring her in before she's ready. She isn't quite sure about scooting around in the grass, but is happy being carried, holding your hand so she can walk around or just holding onto her little picnic table and cruising around it while outside. I think our next purchase is going to be a swing set and baby swing so she has some other things to do outside other then trying to pull grass and eat it.

The 1 year molars still haven't found their way through the gums and there is a lot of finger chewing that happens everyday. So far we haven't seen any real indication that they are bothering her and hopefully they'll pop through without a problem.

Nap time and night time sleep are still problems, but we've made a little progress. Lili still falls asleep while I'm rocking her and will now stay asleep when I lay her in her crib (most of the time), but she still isn't taking very long naps. Night time is basically the same. She'll sleep in her crib anywhere from 1-3 hours before waking and then wants to be with me. She will then wake briefly another 2-4 times during the night and once she realizes I'm still there will find a comfortable position and fall back to sleep. Honestly, this is an improvement since she is settling down much more quickly now.

She is also trying to say more and more words all the time. Dog is sounding much more like dog now; ish is fish; dut is duck; and of course she still says momma, dada, ada (Jada), and is starting to imitate other sounds like shhh when the dogs bark.

That's all the updates I have for today. Now I'll post some long overdue photos so you can see one of Lili's favorite past times while mommy is trying to clean the kitchen.

Look mommy, I cleaned out the drawer for you.

Yep, it's empty.

6 Weeks Ago Today

Lili touched down on U.S. soil and became a U.S. citizen. This also means that 7 weeks ago today she was placed in our arms forever. I'm continually amazed at how well she has adjusted to being with us and just how well she fits into our family. I thought it would be fun to list some of the things we've learned about Lili over the last 7 weeks.

1. She loves books. She loves sitting and looking at them as well as having them read to her.
2. She loves music and dancing (this may be an understatement).
3. She has a good appetite and likes many different foods.
4. Her favorite t.v. show is Hi-5.
5. Dogs are her favorite animal and she calls other 4 legged animals dogs.
6. She is a smart little cookie and is picking up language much more quickly than we anticipated.
7. She loves baths.
8. She has a temper and can throw a good tantrum.

That's just a few things we've learned about our little princess over the last 7 weeks and I'm sure she'll continue to amuse and amaze us over the years.