birthday fun

Lily celebrated her birthday today with her friends Sidney and Paula. They arrived shortly after lunch and wasted no time getting their craft on.

Sidney Lily and Paula

Once the skies had cleared they got to do what they really came to do and that was head to the pool. I laughed out loud when 4 girls from the swim team got into the pool and started doing laps and drills. Crazy kids. At one point they cleared out the shallow end as they were racing and doing fly and it scared all the littles. After laughing my head off I suggested they do something else. They finally just started being kids and stopped being manic team swimmers.

Huey, Duey and Luey

Finally being silly 

I laughed when I realised Lily and Rosie had goggles on

Swim friends

funny girls

they had a plan

and this was it.

Rosie promised her sister she would stay out of her hair and she did. I was really proud of her cos she was bursting to play with them.

The pool made everyone starving so we came home and Lily's choice for dinner was Chinese food so while they all showered and got cleaned up I ordered take out and it arrived in perfect time. They ate and wasted no time getting back to business and this time the business was dyeing their hair with Cool Aid. ~ yes I got the parents permission before dyeing the lovely blonde hair of their girls bright red. Lily actually learnt about it from Sidney.

painting on the cool aid. Supposedly blue shows up better on dark hair... not true

drying the dye

While they waited for the dye to take they ate cake and attacked each other with party poppers

Lily went first

Red tips which will wash out over the next couple of days especially since they swim all the time. Lily's hair isn't showing any colour at all but I think when she is in sunlight it will. She is disappointed...me not so much but I wanted her to do this and see what it was like. 

Now...now it is 11.30 and they are watching T.V. and making friendship bracelets. There is no end in sight. I put Rosie to bed a short while ago.

I call them un-sleepovers for a reason. I don't expect them to sleep. They have at least a billion other crafts to do before the night is over.

Paula had tried the Cool Aid dye before too but it didn't work at all. I researched it online and found the best way to do is to add conditioner to the mix  and paint it on the hair and then wrap it in foil and dry it. I rinsed it out until the water ran clear.

Happy Birthday Lilipop

I have an eleven year old daughter. It seems rather silly to me that she is eleven since it was precisely 5 minutes ago that an official in China handed me a 14 month old baby. She insists that it is true.

Sadly I was called into work this morning but I lined everything up last night so that her day would start with a little fanfare.

Good Morning birthday Girl

We knew things would be a little rushed this morning so we all agreed that she would wait until she got home from school to open her gifts with exception of her big present, a new bike. She got that on Sunday as she had to be with me so that I knew what size to get. hah, it's the same size as mine. She really really wanted a bike with gears and so she chose a monster bike with 18 gears. No photos due to the weather...I'll get to that part.

She went off to school with her cake, the one that Publix messed up and wrote Happy Birthday Summer, on and a new bounce in her step, being 11 does that apparently!

It was finally time to pick her up and really let her day begin. She was so happy. School ended today for the year so she is done for the whole summer. Both girls are delirious. Me too. Rosie couldn't wait to get Lily home and give her her gifts.I am not sure who was more excited.

I'm sure it isn't normal to tenderly and gingerly remove each piece of tape but that is how she does it. She also very carefully opens all her cards. I was on the sidelines shouting rip 'em but she wouldn't.

Thank you Nanny and Grandpa. The sock monkeys are from Ro.

She received this book from a client of mine and is thrilled with it. It is a pop up book that has a stage and and characters.


Birthday or no birthday, swimming was waiting. I checked the weather report because for most of the day we had been under a tornado watch and 3 tornadoes had touched down about 90 miles away. The pool was closed but the website said all swimmers must report. WTF? We reported only to be told to go home. Again, WTF? Some of the kids had been dropped off. I helped the coach call some parents as he had dropped his phone in the pool, LOL and when we were done I took the remaining kids to my car and we had an impromptu gathering complete with birthday cookies right there in the rainy old car park. The kids thought it was the best thing ever. In the end I drove them all back to my house and had birthday play date. win win.

Why talk when you can text?

The littles wondering if it will ever stop raining

fun...well they think so

Cookies on the dash with the rain in the background

After everyone left and Rosie went to bed Lily stayed up with me to watch the Heat game. She is celebrating her birthday with friends from swimming on Saturday but it looks like it will be a movie day and not a pool party...stupid Tropical Storm Andrea. Seriously it is only the 6 th day of Hurricane season and we are already getting hammered. Lily has had her Gotcha day celebrations marred by hurricanes 3 times and one of those was in China! I think she needs to have a talk to the weather Gods because she may need to make amends.

I love you Lily C

Last night as I put Lily to bed we were having a nondescript conversation when it suddenly changed to being adopted. Out of nowhere Lily said, If you adopt a baby you must really really want them. If you just get pregnant it's easy but to adopt takes so much work. I did say it isn't always easy to get pregnant but in her head it is easier than adoption. She then went on and on about the paperwork and the agency and everything else that adoption entails.

She then said that I must have really wanted her and love her so so much.

I do.

She then said I must love her more than if I had "just" got pregnant because I worked so hard to get her.

I don't know the answer to that and told her so but I told her I think I couldn't love her anymore if I tried.

She then thanked me for adopting her.

Really, she did.

Just when I think I couldn't love her anymore, not even if my life depended on it she says something like that and she eeks out just a little bit more.

Crazy little tween

Lily

I think I have mentioned before what a fantastic art teacher the girls have. Every single time they bring something home it's pretty darned impressive which says alot because Lily, although very artistic, creative and artsy is not one to draw, free hand. Mr. T just brings it out of them, that or he does it himself. LOL


Last week they had to do self portraits. That would immediately throw me into a panic. They all had mirrors, Lily knocked hers off of her desk and smashed it, bloody clumsy oaf but still managed to pull of the assignment. Lily, for one so slight and delicate is as clumsy as I was as a child which is saying alot.

She bought this home.

I think it is really rather good. The only thing that I questioned her about were the eyebrows. I asked her who did them. She told me she did so I asked why she did them like that and she replied in her typical, I'm a tween tone, "seriously Mum, would you have drawn these and why do Chinese people have such weird eyebrows? "

Ummm, I don't know why they just do Kiddo and I don't think you have weird eyebrows I think you have 2 caterpillars living above your eyes.

How big? So big.

Today Lily had a field trip with her school and she was so excited about it. More excited than she usually is for field trips. Why, you ask? Because this was to the Adrienne Arsht Centre for the Performing Arts  and my girl loves it there, oh no, that's not it, it's because she had to get dressed up and Lilipop is all about fancy. Usually when they have a field trip they have to wear their uniforms but they were asked to wear something very nice today.

I leave the house early on Monday mornings, sometimes the kiddies are barely even out of bed, so I made sure that her clothes and accessories were all picked out yesterday as I knew if her Father had to get involved in that kind of drama first thing in the morning things would get ugly.

I asked for photos cos I knew she would be feeling a tad sassy. I was right.

Oh my word she is getting so big.

Yes, she's feeling sassy alright.

10 year old check up

The dreaded day arrived regardless of how much she wished it wouldn't, and believe me, she wished.

Lily was surprisingly chipper this morning and as soon as we arrived at the incredibly busy doctors office I asked exactly what tests they needed so that Lily could prepare a little more. (My brother suggested that I ask if they could do the same tests from a urine sample and my Auntie suggested that they let Lily do her own pin prick but I knew I would have to wait and discuss these options with Barbara so I needed to be prepared). Thank you all for the suggestions.

First off: height and weight. She is 66lbs and 54.5 inches tall. She gained 8lbs last year and grew 3 inches. A little more weight was suggested especially with all the swimming as all she has is muscle. Holy guacamole the child has grown like a weed and after a very thorough "inspection" from her pediatrician it appears she hasn't started her growth spurt yet. There is a chance that this girl is going to be taller than me after all or at least the same height as me. Do I need to tell you how happy that made her? No I didn't think so. Lily said that she is a shorty in her class and Barbara went on to explain the Tanner Scale and how lots of the girls in her class are probably nearly finished growing and how she hasn't even started because in her words, "she's not even knocking on the Tanner Scales door yet" in fact "she is only walking up the pathway".

They talked diet and health and exercise and school, and friends. They talked and talked about everything. I came into the conversation rarely. Hobbies, clothes, any problems, health issues, you name it they discussed it. Then it was time for the dreaded pin stick. We talked about her reaction to that news and Barbara pulled up her stool and went in to great detail about being afraid of things and how it is normal. She also said that at least twice a week she gets kids that go into her office who want shots and she finds them a lot more disturbing and thinks they need help. It made Lily giggle, especially since she rolled her eyes so far back in her head. She thinks Lilys fear is normal and manageable. If it gets worse then Lily will talk to someone. She then decided that since it is acceptable within national health guidelines to check for anaemia and cholesterol every 2 years that if Lily wanted they would skip this year with the understanding that it HAS to be done when she is 11. Lily agreed, imagine that. She then went onto explain that she WILL NOT allow her to skip a shot if it compromises her health. That Lily cannot take oral antibiotics so if she gets sick she has to get a shot, no choice. Lil' nodded.

She then suggested that the nurse come in with a needle so that Lily could just see it and see how tiny it is. At first Lily was nervous but I asked if I could see it so the nurse came in and the Doctor left. The nurse was so sweet and finally Lily touched it and looked at it but didn't actually speak. Barbara was amazed that she even touched it.

So she got through today. BUT she didn't have to deal with her fear and I am not sure if that is good . Kidlet was as white as a ghost, she looked sicker than some of the sick kids there.

The great news is she is as healthy as a horse. She is average height on the U.S. charts which is shocking to me and not so average with weight but that's ok, I think it's better that way. We left  with a very relieved child who vows not to get sick at all this year so that she doesn't have to see her again.

Happy go lucky is back again!

Afraid of needles

I don't think I have ever written these words before: Lily is afraid. Actually she is terrified.

Somewhere, somehow she has developed a completely irrational fear of needles. It started about 2 years ago and now I can say it has peaked to the point that by definition it is a phobia. And she has her annual physical tomorrow.

I have researched and researched her concerns and typically there is something that happened to start it but for her there was no one incident. I even asked her if it was when she got her ears pierced and the doctor slipped and pierced the very bottom edge of her ear by mistake and then couldn't get the earring out and had to tug and tug and tug. But that wasn't it. She says she doesn't know what happened. She absolutely loves her doctor so that's not it. She did say she hated seeing Rosie getting shots when she had her heart surgery but that was so long ago and she doesn't think that was what did it. She also saw Rosie hooked up to every machine known to man, post surgery and it didn't faze her at all and the hospital had therapists on hand to talk to siblings about what was happening.

Last Sunday in the car I gently reminded her that she has her annual physical coming up this week and she went silent. I checked on her via the rear view mirror and saw her crying her eyes out and breathing really shallow fast breaths. I whipped the car over and told to Jacob to drive and I hopped in the back seat with her.

I started deep breathing exercises with her and also muscle relaxation techniques and was able to calm her down but it was no easy task. The crying continued for a good 10 minutes.  She is terrified. Now to most of us this is ridiculous and she needs to pull herself together and I agree BUT when you are scared of something it just isn't that easy. I typically wouldn't have any patience at all for this behaviour but for 2 reasons I do. One: this is Lily and she doesn't make a fuss, she isn't scared of ANYTHING ever and two: I have been petrified, to the point of passing out, of dogs for a large portion of my life so I know what it is like to have an irrational fear. You truly cannot control it. You know it is crazy but you cannot help yourself once the fear kicks in and the adrenaline starts.

Everyday this week we have worked on breathing exercises and relaxation. I have also taught her to look at me and only me, in the eyes and focus.

Even Rosie has got into the act. The other day she appeared with a pair of tweezers out of her doctor kit and pinched Lily's finger, telling her it would only hurt that much. The tweezers were plastic so they bent as she pinched and of course felt nothing like the real thing but her intentions were good.

Yesterday morning as Lily got ready for school she got really snotty over her socks, of all things. Once I told her to get a move on she got really flip, so I scolded her. I failed to realise that she was worrying about Saturdays' appointment. It wasn't until later that I put the two things together. When I put her to bed last night she asked if I could stay with her for a while. She was afraid of her appointment again. I stayed with her on her bed and let her talk it through.

She is the most rational 10 year old I have ever met and she knows this makes no sense and it makes it worse for her.

If any one has any ideas at all please give me a heads up. It's no fun living life with a phobia and it isn't possible to get through life without getting a shot every now and again. Oh and all she needs this year is a pin prick in her finger!

Oh and this is a kid who carries an epi-pen everywhere she goes. Maybe she's forgotten that it contains a needle!

(this photo has nothing to so with this post it is just one of my favourites of her and shows her looking a lot more care free than she does at the moment)

Seeing the world through Lily's eyes

Even when she pushes me to the very brink of my sanity, she always manages to make me laugh. This child of mine has an impish spirit about her. In most things that she does she finds the humour.

Tonight she was studying for a science test and asked me to quiz her. Every single answer she gave was in a perfect, and very over the top, British accent. She can even say words, that until a few days ago she had never heard before, in a voice that would make the Queen proud and would remind my brother of his Public schooling. I shot her "the Look" a few times but all efforts at stopping her were futile.

I hope she never loses her carefree happy spirit. Life is just to short to dwell and be sad.

Monkey Business

Back in June when I attempted to bake a birthday cake with the girls I realised that my scales were terribly, horribly, broken. I thought it was because they had been manhandled and dropped by prior mentioned girls a few too many times. It turns out that that might not be the only reason.

For the record, he weighs 1 ounce. (at least on these scales he does!)

Who knew that kitchen scales can double as nursery scales for newly adopted sock monkeys?

Gotcha day

The other night the girls were reading books, well Lily was reading, Rosie was making it up so I decided to put the DVD of Lily's Gotcha Day in the player. Within seconds of hearing screaming babies both girls appeared and snuggled nice and close on the couch.

 I love watching their Gotcha Day movies and love seeing their reactions to them even more. Rosie is still quite naive to the whole dealio. We have told her everything but unlike Lily she just isn't so inquisitive. Lily, on the other hand, is starting to see different aspects of her adoption story and it opens up lots of avenues for conversations. I actually encourage Lily to watch it without her realising, just to see if it spurs any great questions, usually it does. This particular evening all they could see was the adorable little baby on the screen. Lily just couldn't tear her eyes off of herself for a second and decided that she was possibly the cutest kid ever. We followed the China DVD with the DVD of the first few days we were home. Lily has no image problems, ego problems or self esteem problems, that is for sure. She is madly in love with herself as a baby. 

Both the girls laughed so hard at some of the antics that Lily got up to. They laughed uncontrollably at the language that she spoke and how she would wait for a response to her scribble. The orphanage had given her a haircut shortly before we bought her home and her hair stood straight up on the top of her head, even that was hilarious. Nothing about the DVD stirred any questions at all this time from either one of them. It's Rosie's turn next, I wonder if she will be besotted by herself too. I am besotted by them both!

Day 3 in China. On the bus going somewhere. Her face was still looking pretty bashed from the fall that she tool just before we got her. She got stitches in the bridge of her nose.They were taken out right before we got her.   :(

Hong Kong airport preparing for the BIG flight home. She already looks 5 lbs heavier

This was taken on our second night home. It didn't take many hours for the big contagious, "Lily Smile" to emerge .

It seems like only yesterday but when I look at all the photos and DVD's I realise just how many details I had forgotten, like the fact that she had scabies and shared them with me!

Old Sock is new again

Yesterday morning Lily woke up a few seconds after me and walked into our room and said in a reasonably loud voice, "is Dad awake?' If he wasn't before he was then. She then asked if she could have a pair of his socks. He said what anyone that has just been woken up would say and that was, yes. I was intrigued but was unable at that point to string words together. We went downstairs and she got busy. I stayed out of the way. For the next 7 hours she remained very busy and could only be torn away briefly for sustenance.

She went to bed thinking about a plan

When she awoke she wasted very little time putting the plan into action

Busy little beaver, hard at work

She knew what she had to do and wanted NO help

it's taking shape

Meet, dad's old sock, Lily's new friend, Sock Monkey

Doesn't seem to matter what she does

she sticks to it until she gets it right. I think it's cute.

Oh, and this is all that's left of Dad's socks. oopsie.

Wish me luck

On Saturday when we were out Lily suddenly decided she wanted to pose for the camera. She is quite the little model. I just wish my friend Richard was with me to take some fabulous shots and that she was dressed differently. Oh well I was happy to oblige she when she said, Mummy, take my photo. Work it girly.

The house has an exterior circular stairway leading up to the main floor from the patio, she really thought she should model on that also. Mummy said, no, as I envisioned her coming down on her behind! The teenage years are looking increasingly terrifying.

It's double digit day

Today my big girls turns 10.
Ten.
TEN.
Double digits,
the big 1 0 .

Happy birthday to our super sweet, sassy, smart, beautiful, funny, oh so funny, 10 year old.
Lilipop you are wise beyond your years, you always have been. You have an old and compassionate soul that always reaches for the underdog. You can't and won't tolerate mean people and you think that the world needs to be a kinder place. ( I agree).

You hate to show any emotion outwardly and would make the Queen of England proud with your stoicism. No one will ever see you sweat as in your eyes that would be a sign of weakness. Try as I might I can not chip into that perfectionist personality.

You are a daredevil by nature and love to live life to the fullest, flying by the seat of your pants with the wind in your face. Thankfully it appears that I don't have a tendency towards grey hair! If there is a challenge it must have been put there for you to embrace.

You wake up with a smile and a clumsy step and spend your life bashing into things, knocking things over and laughing about it but not in a bad way. You always have at least one bruise somewhere as a medal for your klutzy nature. Life makes you smile, always. From the very beginning people commented on your smile.

Today you hit the big number. 10. I really can't believe you are ten. It seems like only yesterday that you were so tiny that Daddy had to bend over to hold your hand when he walked next to you. You are entering a whole new decade of your life and I just know that it will be all that you want it to be.

Happy birthday Lilipop my life turned the right side up the day I became your Mummy.

Birthdays are a day when we stop to think about birthparents and just as we always do when we talk about them, we send them our unending gratitude for giving us such a beautiful child.


Thank you Rosie



Thank you Nannie and Grandpa




This is the MOST amazing book I have ever seen. I should have taken photos of the inside but she hasn't put it down long enough for me to do so. Thank you Mr. Cline


Ice cream fudge cake


More on this coming soon




Thank you Auntie Sally and Uncle Andy





 Each year I video the girls on their birthdays. I just let them chat away and see what they have to say. Sock monkeys are apparently very important this year.