just because

{ you are the love of my life }

baba's gone back to work

After 15 weeks of vacation/parental leave, Colin has returned to work. I truly think Colin and I both being off together with Lilah for the first 3 months (of our life as a family of three) was the best thing we could have done. Those first days and moments were so precious to us, together we built a trust and a bond that can so easily be taken for granted. She seems so happy and secure with us now. We are so very thankful.

feeling miles better

Thanks so much for all your emails and tips, we sure did appreciate them. Miss Lilah is back to her usual tiptop form today, even though there's still no sign of her second canine. There is a possibility we could have more teething days in our future! I took these photos earlier today and noticed when zooming in (on the one below) that you can see her new left canine. Yep, that little white dot on her gum! She is one happy girl! We are so blessed!

canines are a pain

No, this post has nothing to do with dogs. Lilah is teething at the moment, she got one of her lower canines earlier this week and the other is trying to push its way through now too, but hasn't quite made it yet. I feel so bad for her, she's in a lot of pain and her gums are very red and swollen. At times it isn't really obvious she's in pain, but today is totally different, she just wants to be held and snuggled. She can't even laugh at the silliest of things, and when she tries, it's more like a half cry, which is so unlike our girl. She is napping at the moment and I'm on my way out to buy her some frozen popsicles. The tylenol seems to be relieving her a little bit and I've tried the oragel too, but she can't stand it. I really think it gives her the most (short term) relief though. Oh dear, oh dear, what to do...

Here's a sweet photo of Miss Lilah 'helping' me in the kitchen yesterday. I had asked her to mix up the ingredients for the stuffed pasta shells, but she preferred to munch instead!

lime green crocs

I once said I would never buy a pair of crocs, and it's true, I've never bought a pair, for myself! I guess the saying still stands true, 'never say never'. Yesterday Lilah became the owner of a pair of lime green crocs from Costco, colour courtesy of Colin. Yes, it was very hard for me to not strongly suggest pink! They are cute though, so itty bitty and cute. I think they'll come in handy in the summer when we're hanging by the local pool.

Hurry up summer, we are so ready for you!

a chinese proverb

"There is one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it"

I just realized this morning that Lilah has cut another new tooth over the past few days. She was a little restless in her crib on Saturday night and woke a few times, she's got several red spots around her mouth and she also had a few very runny nappies lately. I thought she was getting sick or something, but there you go, it was probably the new tooth. Live and learn!

head like a sieve?

This photo brings a whole new meaning to having a head like a sieve! I seem to say that a lot, probably because I do have a head like a sieve! Lilah on the other hand, definitely doesn't - she remembers everything, however she does like to play around in my kitchen utensil drawer and the sieve seems to be her favourite utensil at the moment!

one lucky cookie

St. Patrick makes yummy half-price-two-day-old cookies!

first appointment at the children's hospital

The appointment at the children's hospital went pretty well yesterday. Lilah's development is right on target for her 21 months. The medical professionals say that for every 3 months a child is institutionalized, it delays their development by 1 month. After the math (18 months in an orphanage), Lilah should have the development of a 12 month old, but nope, not our Lilah, she has no delays whatsoever. We are so thankful and proud of our girl.

Lilah's height and head circumference are a perfect average, which is such a relief. In orphanages, because of poor health standards, regularly weight gain and head growth are depressed. Her weight is definitely on the lowest end of normal, so we were told to feed her up! She already eats lots, so I'm not sure how we're going to accomplish that! We were told her weight is not really a big issue though. Also, the doctors still have to rule out the fact that she may have an intestinal parasite. Again, this would be very common for a child coming from an institutional care setting.

She had a lot of blood drawn from those two little arms and she wasn't a happy camper at all. We all came home exhausted from that, not to mention she missed her two hour mid-day nap. Poor little Lilah. We go back in 6 weeks to find out more about her health from those blood results. Also, we now have to start getting her immunizations. There are certain immunizations China doesn't do at all, so we are starting with those. We will find out if she needs any others from the results of the blood work.

Regarding Lilah's eyes, unfortunately the ophthalmologist we were referred to died a few weeks ago, very sad. So now we are awaiting another referral and appointment.

Here and here are read worthy articles regarding institutionalized children. They are a reminder of what these little ones go through and why their development is lacking for the first little while, or possibly longer. We will never know what Lilah's circumstances were like for the first 18 months of her life, but I find these articles good to read so I can be aware of what our little girl may have went through.

our wee irish princess

Happy St Patrick's Day! How could you not kiss that precious face?! We munch on those lips and cheeks all day every day! More pictures of our Irish princess here.

Today Lilah has an appointment at the adoption clinic in the children's hospital. I'm sure Lilah won't be so happy, but we are looking forward to finally get her checked out. There are always little worries in the back of our minds, not only about her kidneys (because of the tainted formula scare in China), but also to know she's been immunized correctly and she has no pesty little bugs hanging around. She will also get her eyes checked which will hopefully put our minds a little more at ease. When we received Lilah's referral it indicated that she had esotropia (a form of strabismus), but when the children's hospital checked her medical documents they thought she might have puesdoesotropia. We hope to find out more today; your prayers are very much appreciated.

pictures of ireland

I finally got our vacation pictures uploaded to flickr. I had to separate them into different sets because there were just too many for one. We had such a great vacation. Enjoy!

Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan ~ (see thumbnails or slideshow)
Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim ~ (see thumbnails or slideshow)
Kilkeel, Co. Down ~ (see thumbnails or slideshow)
Newcastle, Co. Down ~ (see thumbnails or slideshow)
Around Pa & Na's House ~ (see thumbnails or slideshow)
Around Papie & Nono's House ~ (see thumbnails or slideshow)
Miscellaneous ~ (see thumbnails or slideshow)

my first piggy tails

Humph, who said I wanted silly looking piggy tails?!

[ more pictures here ]

proud parents

A lady stopped with us in the shopping mall today and said to Lilah, you have two very proud parents. Lilah has been part of our family for 3 months (& 1 day). Yes, we absolutely adore our daughter. Yes, we are very proud parents. Yes, we have been blessed. Yes, we are so very very thankful for our little miracle.

we picture {this} ~ theme: black & white

I've been following a mamarazzi photoblog for awhile now; you can check out the link below to see some of the fabulous pictures these ladies take. Through this blog I'm hoping to improve my photography skills! There is a little photo challenge happening at the moment, so I thought I would participate. I took the above photo while we were vacationing with our families in Ireland last week. Lilah was busy smelling the beautiful spring snowdrops. Oh how I love spring! More black & white photos from our trip to Ireland here.

back on canadian soil

We left beautiful rainy Ireland this morning and are back on Canadian soil again, or should I say snow! We had a really great vacation back home with our families. Lilah is a super traveller and she had so much fun. She was very happy, we have never seen her enjoy herself so much before. Mind you, all the attention probably helped! It was definitely hard saying goodbye to our families this time, having a little one changes things. Anyway, needless to say we're pretty tired from our 5am start this morning! More pictures later.