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Lili-bug

Monday, June 30, 2008

Time Flies

One year ago today we were ANXIOUSLY waiting for our TA. I remember it so vividly. All the worry, stress, sadness, anger.....and that was me on a good day.
One year ago we were on Day 23 of our wait. We ended up waiting 40 days. Just to think about it gives me shivers. That was a LOOOOOONG LOOOOOONG time to wait (especially for someone with my limited amount of patience).

Two years ago today we were in Indianapolis. We had received our I 171-H on 6/29 and we went to the Statehouse to get everything notarized and turned in to our adoption agency. I remember that day vividly too. We ended up making a day of it and went to the Children's Museum where we saw the biggest group of Chinese children this side of Guangzhou! There must've been hundreds of them. It was incredible.
And I'll never forget this:
We were in the museum cafeteria eating lunch and I was looking (OK, staring) at all the kids. I noticed Jeff looking at a little girl sitting next to us, probably about 4 or 5 years old. He told me he couldn't take his eyes off of her, that when he looked at her he just got chills.
Now, the reasons this is incredible to me are twofold.
One: Jeff rarely gets chills, especially from children. Shingles, maybe, but never chills.
Two: Jeff never, ever says dramatic things like that. That was pretty melodramatic for him.
I remember thinking 'finally! Jeff's excited about this whole thing too!' It was a memorable moment for me.

Oh, and 5 years ago today, Jeff and I were in the audience of 'Live with Regis and Kelly' and they got a shot of us in the audience. Brett and Meemaw were at home watching the show and Brett was SO excited to see us!
(we were in NYC celebrating our 10th anniversary)

Time, indeed, flies.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Henry Winkler is My HERO!!!








I honestly cannot believe this!
Today in the mail I got this package. I had no idea what the package could be. No return address and I hadn't ordered anything. Imagine my SURPRISE when I opened it and saw all this!
I had written a letter to "Fonzie" just 2 weeks ago telling him how in love with him Lili is and just thanking him for bringing so much joy to so many people as an actor. I didn't send him anything to sign and I didn't ask him to send anything.
WOW!
Not only was Lili thrilled but I have to say I am too! Not just for her, but seriously, FONZIE SENT AN AUTOGRAPHED PICTURE!
FONZIE!!!
Granted, it's not Fonzie Fonzie (Lili did say "That not Fonzie"!), but for him to take the time to send something to her is just amazing. And, really, this came in less than 2 weeks. That's pretty cool!
Major 'cool mom' points for me!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Catching Up

We went to our 3rd and final wedding of the year (I think).
It was at a beautiful mansion on a lake in Illinois. The weather was perfect and everything was beautiful.

On the staircase in the entryway......just like a princess.


Here I am desperately trying to get Jeff to pose for a picture with me. For some reason he doesn't like close-up self portraits........I can't imagine why.....


Whew! I finally talked him into letting someone else take a picture.


Daddy and Lili outside the mansion (man, I love saying that. 'mansion'! )

Mommy and Lili outside the mansion


Brett looking out at the sunset over the lake (from a balcony of the mansion )


Beautiful sunset over the lake.



Ok, switching gears....

Updates on the birdies. Sadly, there's only one baby left. 2 days after the other one hatched, I found it dead in the nest........Isn't the baby big?



Ouch!

We came home this afternoon after just about 30 hours away and the birds were GONE! Hopefully the baby learned to fly in that amount of time.....

They didn't even leave a note. But! They did leave an entire planter full of dead flowers.


Sunday, June 15, 2008

OK, So Now That the Pageant is Over, Lili Can Just be Herself!






Seriously hideous, huh?

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Oh Well, She'll Always Be OUR Princess!

Nope, Lili didn't win. She isn't an "official" Princess.
She'll just have to live with being the princess of this castle.
I think she had fun though. She said she did. She was pretty exhausted by the end of the evening though.
All in all it was a good experience for her. She made some friends and got to dress up. Not bad at all.
Here's some pictures from the day. We do have video of the whole thing, but I'm not sure how to post it yet.
Lili waiting to go out for her very first walk in her ballet outfit.

Here she is 'walking, stopping, turning, counting to 2, turning and walking again'.


Whew! She's done. Yes, Lili, you're done. Get off the stage now Lili.


Waiting to come out on stage in her pretty dress.


'There you are mom and dad!'

Walking and concentrating.


The final judging.


Looking at her pretty ribbon.






Friday, June 13, 2008

Pageant Update (sorry, no pictures)

We just got back from dress rehearsal. Lili did so well. I'm very proud of her.
And, regardless of how she does tomorrow, she's already a winner. I mean, sure, I should've come to that conclusion already, but I realized tonight that people really, really seem to think that Lili's pretty special.
The older girls always look at her and go 'awwwww....' and the girls her age love to talk to her and hang around with her. It really warmed my heart to see her interact with other girls and to see what affect she seems to have on other people.
I don't know. I guess I'm just always afraid that other kids will think she's weird or something. Like when kids and even adults that don't know her talk to her in a store or something, and she doesn't know how to answer or she's quiet, I always feel like I need to give the old 'she was adopted from China when she was 4 so she doesn't know how to speak English very well' answer. I mean most Chinese girls are either from a US Chinese family or adopted as an infant, so most people (myself included) just expect them to act like anyone else.
I remember the family we were in Guangzhou with. They brought their 4 year old daughter who was adopted at 12 months. When we would be with them she would always expect Lili to talk and play like she did. I remember her asking her parents what was wrong with Lili. I guess I'm just hyper-sensitive to that now. (she was a very nice little girl and once her parents explained to her, she was a lot more understanding with Lili)
Anyway, all this just to say that I'm proud and amazed. Lili's only been with us 10 months. Last year at this time we didn't even have TA yet and hadn't a CLUE when we'd ever meet her.

I am one lucky mommy.

'The Judge's Tea'

This is what Lili wore to the Tea.
She was soooo excited to get all dressed up.
Unfortunately (and oh so sadly) her pretty, red China shoes are just about too small........ :(
So this may be the last time she ever wears them. Every time she wears them everyone says how much they love them. sigh
We were at the stupid Tea from 5:20 till 7:45pm! She was upstairs with the rest of her group for over AN HOUR!! I don't know what they did to her, but she survived. Parents weren't allowed to go upstairs, so we all sat around just wondering what our girls were up to.
When Lili came down and I asked her what she did, she said: "Lili eat TWO cookies and TWO drinks!!!"
So, all in all, it was a pretty good night!!
We're off to dress rehearsal in about 1/2 hour. eek!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Gertrude, Myrtle and Maude

Myrtle and Maude!!

Babies, Babies, Babies!!!!!!!!!!

Gertrude, aka 'Gertie the Birdie' had her babies! One on Sunday (on the L) and the other on Monday (on the R). I watched the 2nd one hatch. Let me tell you, it was so exciting for me!


And here's Gertrude, leaving them home alone.

(although as you can see below, like any good mother, she's never too far away!)

Gertie's on the roof on the left (giving me the stink eye) and the babies are in the window box on the right.

So, welcome babies!

Please don't fall out of the nest or get eaten by anything!

Monday, June 09, 2008

Final Pageant Practice and a Little Pre-Pageant Fashion Shoot


This is Lili's 'theme outfit'. Every girl has to have a theme. Something that they like, something that they want to be when they grow up, etc. Since the only thing Lili wants to be when she grows up is a Disney Princess, I figured we'd stick with dance. Ballet, actually.

And here's Lili's dress. It has a crinoline built in, but I was able to find another crinoline at the thrift shop across from my house for $2.00, so we added that too. (a girl just CANNOT have too much pouf!)


And last but not least, THE SHOES! We found these little beauties at WalMart of all places. Lili loves, loves, loves them but isn't allowed to wear them till after the pageant.

So, there you go. The pageant is this Sat. evening at 5:30. But before that, we have the 'Judge's Tea' and the dress rehearsal to get through.

Busy week.

And, I must say, this whole pageant thing must've turned Lili into a lady. gasp. Yesterday's practice went very well. She even says "My name is Lili" instead of just "Lili" when asked. pretty impressive.

I just DO NOT know what to do with her hair. Wouldn't you just know that EVERY OTHER GIRL has long, flowing locks that will be primped and curled to the nth degree. And then there's Lili......I'm not sure whether I should put in a head band, one hairclip, two hairclips or some sort of 'tail'..........

any brilliant ideas?


Friday, June 06, 2008

I Don't Think I'm Ever Going to See the Inside of My House Again!

Lili's got a new hairdo. 2 little antenna-like piggy tails in the front of her hair. She lies dat!!

The last 3 days have been hideously, gloriously HOT and HUMID!! So we took full advantage of it by setting up a kiddie pool in our back yard.




Here we are moving up and on from the kiddie pool to the 'real' pool!

Lili's floating in the swim ring we bought in China. It's gone from the White Swan pool to Indiana.


And, here we are again, back in the kiddie pool. They couldn't WAIT to get back in the alligator pool.





And, here we are at Meemaw and Peepaw's house.

Lili's absolutely favorite thing to do in the kiddie pool.
Floating 'lie Barbie'!

Lili in action, a la Barbie.

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