Tuesday, April 28, 2009

second appointment at the children's hospital

All the blood work is back and Lilah has a clean bill of health! We are so thankful. She gained 2 lbs since her last visit 6 weeks ago, which now puts her in the 25th percentile for weight. Her height and head circumference are still in the 50th percentile, so she is gaining perfectly and right on target. The only thing she is low on is vitamin d, and she is now taking drops for that, however we had more blood work done today to confirm she is still low, the pediatrician thinks she might be within the normal range now. This Thursday Lilah has an appointment with the Audiology clinic for a hearing test and on the 14th of May she has an appointment with the Ophthalmologist.

The pediatrician was amazed with the number of words Lilah can now say, since she has really only been immersed with us English speaking folk for 4 months now. I took the time last week and wrote down as many words as I can remember that she says and understands.

Here they are...God, china, bed, parrot, apple, pray, tissue, hat, doll, bible, balloon, cookie, frog, digger, wow, banana, tights, night-night, flower, okay, turtle, knee, hello, tea, bye-bye, dog, more, home, nose, eyes, shoes, pants, choo-choo, milk, phone, bag, toes, bee, duck, orange, hi, chair, baby, car, bottle, truck, please, ta-ta, juice, no, dunno, yes, teeth, slide, mama, baba, boots, digger, ice-cream, bird, clock, na, pa, nono, monkey, bubble, dirty, hot, keys, coat, ball, elmo, dora, kite, poo, beep-beep, sore, oh dear, oh no, all done, bug, book, cat, fish, lilah, hair, toot-toot, cheese, two, bath, bib, head, diaper, yeah, thank-you, up, amen.

Monday, April 27, 2009

some fun at the park

The weather here today is just fabulous; 30°C, pure blue sky, no humidity and plenty of wind to cool you down. You can't beat it! A glorious day for the park.

fun at the park

fun at the park

fun at the park

fun at the park

[ more pictures here ]

Saturday, April 25, 2009

strawberries and cream frappuccino

Cooling down after a hot day with a Starbucks strawberries & cream frappuccino.

strawberries & cream frappuccino

strawberries & cream frappuccino

strawberries & cream frappuccino

strawberries & cream frappuccino

[ more pictures here ]

Friday, April 24, 2009

uptown girl

Today was such a beautiful day and it looks like it might last a few more days too! We are so excited about this balmy weather! On the first warm day of spring Colin and I used to go downtown and just stroll around and have dinner, well now we have Lilah to share this experience with and it's even better now than it was before. Watching your almost two year old daughter running around having fun! It makes you smile, a lot.

downtown girl

downtown girl

downtown girl

downtown girl

downtown girl

downtown girl

[ more pictures here ]

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

some bunny special

some bunny special

[ more pictures here ]

Monday, April 20, 2009

bathing beauty

We're just thrilled that Lilah loves the bath again. In China she didn't seem to mind the bath, in fact she used to have a lot of fun in it. Well the fun didn't last long and we all went through about three painful months of her crying her eyes out the moment she heard the bath water running. Well it's history now, because just last week she took a change of heart and she now proceeds to strip off her clothes as soon as she hears the word bath mentioned! She has so much fun in there now, thankfully, and just in time for the summer pools might I add! (In case you're wondering, she doesn't normally wear her swimsuit in the bath, but we made an exception this morning so I could take some pictures!)

bathing beauty

bathing beauty

[ more pictures here ]

Saturday, April 18, 2009

i still live with my parents (for now)

We were out shopping a few weeks ago and Colin picked out this funny shirt for Lilah in The Children's Place. I must admit we fell about laughing after reading it! More pictures here.

funny shirt

Friday, April 17, 2009

pretty in pink

The warm spring weather has arrived, but only for one day, according to the weather man!

pretty in pink

[ more pictures here ]

Monday, April 13, 2009

referral anniversary - one year ago today

It's been one year since we got the call that changed our lives. One year since we saw, for the first time, our beautiful daughter. One year since we fell in love with a little baby girl we didn't even know. Now we do know you Lilah, and we've fallen in love with you oh so much more, our hearts are bursting with love for you. You are such a wonderful little girl, you've come through so much in the past year and we want you to know just how proud we are. We love you so very very much. You've made all our hopes and dreams come true.

referral anniversary - 1 year

referral anniversary - 1 year

Ephesians 5:20
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

[ a few more pictures here ]

Sunday, April 12, 2009

easter sunday

easter sunday

[ more pictures here ]

Saturday, April 11, 2009

my first easter egg

good friday (first chocolate egg)

good friday (first chocolate egg)

good friday (first chocolate egg)

[ more pictures here ]

Friday, April 10, 2009

good friday: hot cross buns & the farm

good friday (hot cross buns)

Is anyone else too lazy to pick up their hot cross bun and eat it? Funny thing is, it wasn't about being lazy at all, every time Lilah picked the bun up, she got icing on her fingers, so she decided not to pick it up for that very reason! I think I've mentioned before that she's fussy!

Today we spent a few hours at the farm, we are one of the only cities (that I know) with a farm right in the middle of it. There were some fun things happening there today for the children, so we went for a few hours. One of those hours was spent in the queue, it seemed that every other family had the same idea! Since we waited so long we decided to become members. We live downtown and it's about a 5 minute drive for us, so we figured we'll use it quite often this summer. I'm not sure if Lilah overly enjoyed the farm, a combination of the cold wind and the crowds was maybe a little much. She didn't complain, but to be honest there were more smiles when we got out of there! I think the wind wheel she is holding was more fun than anything else, another dollar store item that provides endless entertainment! Oh yes, she liked the cute little chicks too, it's to bad she couldn't hold one, now THAT would have been a deal maker, I think!

good friday (the farm)

good friday (the farm)

[ more pictures here ]

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

baking fairy cakes

baking fairy cakes

baking fairy cakes

The box says 'MR MEN and LITTLE MISS cup cake kit' and I bought it when we were in N.Ireland, so I don't know why it says cup cake? ...because you see we call them fairy cakes over there. In fact, Lilah's grandparents (who are from the old country) also call her a fairy whenever she does something cute. It's a sweet little name and she suits it well. So Little Miss Fairy and I made fairy cakes today since it was another cold snowy day. I am not a baker at all, but since everything is in the box and all we needed was an egg, some butter and water, I figured we couldn't go wrong. Lilah just loves sitting up on the work top watching and participating - mostly licking the spoon! One thing I do find comical is that she can't stand getting 'dirty'. She asks to get her hands cleaned every time one of them gets a tiny little speck of something on it. She's a girl after my own heart!

My Mum used to make these fairy cakes when we were children, we called them butterfly cakes and I used to think they were the best thing ever, actually now that I think about it, I still do! For more pictures of Lilah baking, the slideshow is here or the thumbnails are here.

Monday, April 6, 2009

oh no, not snow again

Yep, it's snowing today. Lilah seems pretty excited about the idea of gardening, however the weather is not cooperating at all. She will have to stick to raking and digging her cherrios for a while longer, which is exactly what she was doing this morning! She is back to herself one hundred percent, with a massive appetite to boot. We are all very happy and thankful.

a snowy monday

a snowy monday

Friday, April 3, 2009

celebrities

Rosemary Thompson (from CTV) joined us at the open door society playgroup today. Actually Rosemary attends playgroup now and again with her own adopted daughter from China, however this time it was for work purposes. It was with regards to adoptive parents feelings on the denial of Madonnas recent quest to adopt a Malawi daughter. If you watched the 6 o'clock news tonight you would have seen one of the Mommies in our playgroup give her feelings on the subject. You can check it out here.

bubbles

bubbles

Thursday, April 2, 2009

immunization reaction

chicken noodle soup thru a straw
'drinking chicken noodle soup through a straw'

Do you remember the two immunizations Lilah got on Tuesday past? Well, it seems she did in fact have a reaction to one of them. I was so taken up with the new tooth that it took a while for me to realize she had other pain. One of the shots (I'm pretty sure it is the diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio one) seems to have seized one of her thighs and yesterday after her nap she could hardly walk it was so painful. There is a big hard lump under the skin where it was administered. I guess I never noticed because she was either in the stroller or I was carrying her around all morning. Anyway, I made a quick call to telehealth yesterday evening and they said what she's going through is pretty normal. The registered nurse told me to give her pain relief every 4 hours until she's feeling better.

Thankfully she is much better today and has a lot of her usual spunk back. She is still limping a little and a bit staggered, but at least she can actually walk without wincing in pain. I hope the next two vaccines (in four weeks time) don't have the same effect, or I will feel like the guiltiest Mum on the block!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

the final canine has appeared

So last night as Lilah is crying on and off every few hours, I think to myself, it must be the side effects of the two immunizations she got earlier in the day. How come the doctor or nurse never mentioned it? Then this morning at breakfast I notice a little bit of dried blood on her lips. Hmmm. Take a look inside her mouth, sure enough, the second bottom canine has made its appearance. Poor girly, if I'd known I could at least have given her some pain relief. Oh the joys of being a new naive mother. She's napping now, at 9am, not normal but totally necessary! I think I might even join her.

*UPDATE*
Refrigerated grapes and ice-cream are the ingredients to making a girl with sore teeth and gums happy! Along with pureed chicken noodle soup that you can drink out of a cup with a straw. Oh it's the little things in life that make her happy! We went for a stroller ride to the mall when she woke up, that's when I got her first smile, she loves to be outside! Then in the mall we stopped by Laura Secord and got a vanilla ice-cream, she would take a bite, look at me, nod her head once and say 'mmm'. What a sweet girl!