Father's Day

I know I am a little late posting Father's day pics. For Father's Day weekend, that Saturday we went to the Houston downtown aquarium. Lilly loves fish and we thought it would be a fun, mostly indoor activity. There were lots of different fish, Lilly especially liked the rooms with floor to ceiling tanks that she could see really well. Some of the fish were much bigger than she is! Brian liked the eels the best. We got to ride a train under a large shark tank, which was pretty cool! We also ate at the restaurant there and got to see all the neat fish swimming around in the tank that is in the middle of the restaurant. That afternoon we went to visit Nina and Papa. Nina, (Brian's mom), had just had neck surgery, so we wanted to make sure she was doing okay. On Sunday we just hung around our house and cooked out burgers. Brian is a wonderful dad to Lilly - he always makes her laugh and they have the best time together. Lilly loves her daddy very much!

We had Lilly's 18 month appointment last Thursday. She is doing great - 80% percentile for height and 45% for weight. Long and lean is what the pedi said. She is doing all the things she should be doing - so we are very pleased.

18 months and other things

Lilly is 18 months! Yeah! She is doing so much now - I just thought I would share a few things about our big girl.

Lilly is an early riser. She is normally up at 6:30, but we don't get her out of her crib until 7 to give us a chance to shower. She usually will stay in there and talk or say momma! She loves breakfast (cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, poptarts).

Lilly is a vegetarian, not by my choosing. She will not touch meat at all. This week she miraculously ate 2 fish sticks, but this is definitely a first. She will not eat chicken, chicken nuggets, beef, or hot dogs. She peels off the breading of corndogs. So - pretty much, she eats all fruits, drinks milk and eats cheese and yogurt, and all bread products, and a few veggies. Her main courses are PBJ, grill cheese, pasta of any kind with red sauce/no meat (loves manicotti!), cheese pizza and quesidillas (and black beans). I know it is a phase and one day she will become more adventurous.

Lilly still loves to be outside. She will just dig in any dirt she can find (main reason we got the sand box). She likes to swing and go for walks and help dad water the yard.

She is communicating more now - some words she says often are shoes (very big obsession with any shoes!), outside, drink, eat, dada, momma, papa, nana (banana), all the animal sounds (including a big snort for pigs), kitty, daka (dakota), bubble, fish, duck (quack), light, Elmo, Ernie, Dora, go, toe, eye, oh no!, uh oh!, whoa!, no!, hello, night night.... I can't think of the others right now!

She loves music and singing and dancing. She twirls around and around and makes her so dizzy sometimes she falls down! Lilly also loves books - we read alot during the day - her favorites are the ones where you look for the objects on the page. Sometimes she will just sit in her chair and look at the books, which is very cute.

She gives great hugs and kisses now (kinda selective). She blows kisses and makes smoochy sounds and will kiss us on the lips occasionally - too cute! She loves to hug Dakota!

What a joy! Happy 18 months our little girl!

We went to an adoption picnic this Saturday - it was neat to see all the families who have adopted and imagining what our little one will look like. They had a petting zoo, which Lilly loved! We also had individual interviews this week with our adoption director/social worker. We spent around 2 hours each with her - for them to better get to know us. Only one more step - the home study! This will be in July!

I have to tell on myself, mainly because it is pretty funny and Brian found it pretty humorous. I was watering the plants and feeding the dog for Brian's brother's family who is out of town. I did not really know how to work their alarm and set it off upon entering their house. I finally turned it off after calling Brian and set about watering the plants. All of a sudden I hear Sherriff department being called out and they enter the house (I had left it unlocked while I was there). I rounded the corner with the watering can and the Sheriff rounded the corner with the gun drawn! I don't know who scared each other more! Anyways - all was well! I only had to show him my ID to prove I was who I said I was (not that a robber would be watering the plants!:)) I learned my lesson!

Outside Fun

This past weekend Mimi and Papa came from Tyler for a visit. We went to the zoo on Saturday (we went really early so it would not be too crowded or hot). It was not crowded - a lot of the animals were still sleepy - but we had a good time. I think the highlight was the giraffe's (we saw them up close and personal), the lion, and the monkey's (Lilly liked the baboon).

Mimi and Lilly were pretending to be elephants!

That afternoon we got a sandbox and blew up the baby pool for the back yard. Lilly had so much fun going back and forth between the sand box and the pool to dance and splash around. Lilly always loves to dig in the dirt, so we figured this was a good place to do that - and yes, we have pink sand! Very girly! What a good weekend!

This weekend we have an adoption picnic with our adoption agency. It is for anyone who has adopted or been adopted through AIM, birth moms, and waiting families.