I'm So Hungry I Could Eat....

Fasten your seatbelts...

It is no secret that our Little Miss Lily has quite a BIG appetite. At times Tony and I are still shocked at how much Lily can eat.

...and prepare for a feeding frenzy!

During one of Lily's doctor visits Tony and I discussed Lily's seemingly endless appetite with her pediatrician. We were both concerned that perhaps we were over feeding Lily. The doctor assured us that Lily's weight was well within the normal range and that we should provide Lily with healthy food choices and then let Lily control how much she actually eats. The doctor also told us to look at the big picture...not any one particular meal. She was right. Now we notice that there are times when Lily only picks at her meals and then there are times when we think she will eat whatever isn't nailed down!

I'm so hungry I could eat....

When we were in China we discovered that Lily could be pretty fickle about what she wanted to eat. The same is still true. One day she might eat grapes like they are going out of style and the next day she wont touch a grape with a 10 foot pole! Our girl likes to keep us guessing.

On Tuesday, Lily and I had lunch with Suzy and Sheila. We had such a nice visit. I think Nai Nai and Aunt Sheila were shocked at how much spaghetti Lily ate. Lily not only polished off my side of spaghetti but also her grandmother's...not to mention two slices of garlic bread! What is really surprising is she managed to eat all that while talking non-stop!

....ten little piggies!

Tuesday morning I made a point to charge the camera battery so I could be sure and get some pictures of Lily with her grandmother and aunt. Of course, what do I do but leave the house without the camera. Grrr! Just when I think I am recovering from 'mommy brain' I do something like that. It's pretty bad when you drive yourself crazy! So instead of the pictures of Lily, Nai Nai, and Aunt Sheila that I had wanted to post I've included a couple recent pictures of our hungry little girl.

You Don't Say

Writing yesterday's blog about Kay-yee got me thinking...there are certain words that Lily no longer says like she used to. Instead of using Lily-ese she now pronounces them, for lack of a better word, the "right" way. Believe it or not that makes me a little bit sad!

A few words that immediately come to mind are Sadie and Thank You. When Lily first began to say Sadie she pronounced it Sassy. I loved it and so did Sadie. Well, fast forward a few months and Lily is saying Sadie as clear as a bell. I think I'll just continue to call Sadie Sassy!

Lily also now says thank you as clear as can be. It seems that the days of tank chew are long gone! Come to think of it...I can't tell you the last time I heard Me-mom-me. I've been just plain Mommy for months :-).

Don't get me wrong there are still plenty of words that Lily pronounces in her own unique way. Mary Beth describes how Lily says certain words by saying Lily sounds like a cat. For instance, when Lily says arm it sounds more like "eearm" and has the same intonation as the word meow.

Lily also wears her doat when it's dold outside. Especially when she has her doll Dory (Cory) with her. Sometimes Tony and I will accidentally call Cory Dory. When that happens Lily will look at us like, "don't you know her name is Cory?" and then holds the doll up to us and says Dory.

It shouldn't surprise me that Lily's speech is becoming clearer...she certainly gets plenty of practice! I'm telling you our little cutie is a major chatterbox. Gee, I wonder where she gets that from??? Lily starts talking the second her eyes open in the morning and has even been known to talk in her sleep!

I didn't write this entry to poke fun at how Lily pronounces certain words...actually quite the opposite. I'm writing it down because I don't want to forget the sweet little way she says things. Recently I've started to realize how quickly Lily is changing and how a little bit of Lily's "babyness" is slipping away each day.

I remember back in the 60's and 70's there was a baby doll called Chatty Cathy. Tony and I are the parents of the new and improved 2008 version of that baby doll, Loquacious Lily!

Here are a few pictures of our little sweetie doing something else she loves as much as talking...playing with her friend Lian.

Kay-yee...High Five!

Ready for a swim!

Several months ago Lily and I started taking Mommy and Me swim classes at the Y. Lily really loves being in the water. It seems that not only is Lily part flamingo she also has a little bit of fish in her, too! In January, I enrolled the two of us in a Mommy and Me class at a local swim school. The pool and the pool room are heated to 90 degrees so no more purple lips and chattering teeth!

On Tuesday, Patti (aka Aunt Pappyrazzi) came with us to swim class and took a ton of pictures...87 in total! Don't worry...not all of them are in the slide show below....only my 25 favorite! I'm not sure what Patti did to my camera but somehow she found the 'Make TJ look like Mom' setting. All my life people have told me I look and sound like my mother. When I look at these pictures I really see it, too!

Aunt Pappy, aren't you coming in?

Miss Katie (Kay-yee) is Lily's swim instructor and Lily absolutely LOVES her...and so do I. Katie is wonderful with the kids and the parents. Katie knows all the kids' names and interacts with each one of them during class. Katie gives out tons of high fives and Lily gets the biggest kick out it. Hence Lily's version of Katie's name....Kay-yee High Five. When we pull in the parking lot of the swim school Lily starts her Kay-yee High Five chant. It's hysterical!

Katie is very patient with the parents, too. She gently reminds us that if we want our kids to be comfortable getting their faces and heads wet and with going under water maybe we should, too. Katie also encourages us to not be nervous and to loosen up the vice like grip we have on our little ones. It makes sense that if we're a nervous wreck our little cuties will be, too. However, sometimes that sounds easier then it actually is. I am really trying to work at it since Lily is so comfortable in the water...which is both fun and frightening!

Katie manages to teach important skills while making sure the kids are having fun, too. We sing familiar songs with unfamiliar twists. When we sing, "It's raining, it's pouring..." we pour water over our child's head. When we sing "Ring around the rosy" we change the words to "splashes, splashes we all go under!" We do each activity 3 times. This method really seems to help enforce what Katie is trying to teach.

Lily's absolute favorite part of class is Humpty Dumpty. The kids sit on the side of the pool and when we get to, "had a great fall" the kids fall into the pool. The goal is for the kids to be able to turn around in the water, swim back to the wall, hang onto the wall, and get themselves out of the water safely. Lily can get back to the wall (with a little help) and can hang onto the wall by herself. In fact, she gets a little testy if you try and help her! Lily is working hard on getting herself out of the water, but still needs Mommy's help. It is so cute to hear her say, "Elbow, elbow, tummy, knee, knee." That is what Miss Katie says when she works with them on climbing out of the pool. Lily loves doing Humpty Dumpty and 3 times is not nearly enough. When we are finished Lily says and signs...again, again, again!

My Favorite...Humpty Dumpty!

Mommy, don't even think of helping me!

Lily is also learning to float on her stomach and back, kick, splash, swim under water, blow bubbles, and to simply love being in the water.

Patti was not the only one who came to class with us on Tuesday...we ended up having a mini family reunion! Dad Dad, Aunt Mary Beth, Sadie, and Christina came to watch our little fish, too. It's a good thing the Observation Room is so big!

Date Night - Take Two

Tony and I went on our second date night tonight. I am happy to report that Lily handled it much better than our first attempt and Katie was all smiles when we returned home. Since it's 7:20 and I'm already blogging it was obviously not a late night...but we enjoyed every minute of it!

Tony and I originally planned to go some place romantic and have a belated Valentine's Day celebration. Instead, we ended up at a place that serves margaritas in hubcaps and has the walls decorated with black velvet paintings of Elvis!

At the last minute we decided that neither of us really wanted to go to some place "stuffy" and then we remembered a bar we haven't been to in years. It was so much fun to have a few drinks (no, not in hubcaps) and eat some yummy Mexican food. Now, we just need to think of where we'll go for our next date night!

I don't have any pictures of Lily asleep in her highchair...thank God...but I thought I would include a few cute pictures I took the other day. It was a rainy, icy day and Lily and I were stuck inside. So, what did we do??? We emptied the contents of the tupperware cabinet onto the living room floor, I put dried beans in a few containers, and we had a great time!

Cat, hat. In French chat chapeau.

If I get tired of looking like Bat Masterson this would make a great top hat!

My salt and pepper maracas

I taught Keith Moon everything he knew about playing the drums!

Chinese New Year

Yesterday we got together with friends from our travel group to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Wendy and Jim have a wonderful family and have included us in many of their celebrations. Let me tell you these folks know how to throw a party! There was a ton of delicious food, a lot of great company, and a very cool outdoor light show.

Wendy prepared an amazing spread of delicious Chinese food. To be honest, I liked Wendy a whole lot better before I discovered she made everything herself!

Jim has a great sense of humor and made us laugh so often during our trip to China. I distinctly remember Jim coming up to us at breakfast the morning we were going to meet our girls and saying something that made me crack up laughing. I don't remember exactly what he said but it was along the lines of, "Let's blow off the meeting we have scheduled this morning and go check out the double feature at the local theatre." It was just what this nervous Mama-to-be needed to relax a little! By the way, yesterday was our 10 month anniversary of Finally a Family Day. It was fun to spend the day with the folks that were in the "delivery room" with us!

When we were in China you would have needed a crowbar to get Lily out of my arms...and I don't mean to get Lily to let go of me...I mean to get me to let go of her! However, I think Jim did hold Lily once while we were in China. Since then we have seen Jim and Wendy several times and each time Lily warms up a little more. Well, as of yesterday, I think we can officially say that Mr. Jim and Miss Wendy are "in". Poor Jim's ears are probably still ringing from Lily saying, "Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim...." just about every other word! On the way home from the party we were certain that Lily would fall asleep....she had other plans! We rode home to a mantra of, "Jim, Wenwe (Wendy), Matt, Jay, Juya (Julia), Manma (Amanda)"

Before we headed home we went outside to watch Jim and his brother-in-law, Joe, set off some sky lanterns. I've never seen anything like it. Wendy ordered the lanterns online at this site. They looked like minature hot-air balloons and you wouldn't believe how high they flew. I imagine there were quite a few UFO sightings thanks to our Chinese New Year celebrations!

Happy Valentine's Day

Our little sweetie had a very happy first Valentine's Day. It sure was obvious that more than her Mommy and Daddy are sweet on her, too!

Nai Nai stopped by on Sunday and gave Lily a gorgeous dress for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, Lily (and Mommy) were napping so Nai Nai didn't get to see Lily's reaction when she opened her package. Lily gave a most appreciative "Ooh!" when she saw her fancy new dress. It's obvious Lily can't wait until she's a little bit bigger so she can actually wear it!

Lily got a very special package in the mail on Tuesday from Aunt Lala, Uncle Rich, Ben, Sam, and Adam. Inside the package was a cute little shirt with colorful hearts, a box of candy hearts, and a candy bracelet. Lily loved the candy bracelet the best and calls it her watch. Lily isn't very interested in eating it but she sure does love wearing it!

On Wednesday, the gifts kept coming. Lily and I received a beautiful flower arrangement from Tony while we were eating lunch. Lily had to stop eating so she could smell the pretty lilies.

After Lily's nap she woke up to find a HUGE balloon on the porch from Aunt Pappy, Uncle Dave, Sadie and Beanie. Lily loved her "boon" and hooked it to her babydoll stroller.

Lily also got a sweet Lily teddy bear from Aunt Baba, Uncle Egg, and Katie. Normally, Lily doesn't want anything to ride in her babydoll stroller except her sippy cup. However, she has changed that policy for this cute little bear.

Wednesday night the 3 of us went out to dinner together to celebrate our first family Valentine's Day. This was by far the sweetest Valentine's Day Tony and I have ever had!

One Lump Or Two?

There isn't a day that goes by that Lily and I don't have at least one tea party....usually it's more like 5 or 10! Lily absolutely loves tea parties and is quite the nice little hostess. Lily rarely invites the same guests. It seems she prefers more of a revolving list of attendees. There is one exception...Ivy.

Ivy (or as Lily calls her "Hi V"), is Lily's American Girl Doll that Aunt Pappy gave her for Christmas. Hi V is a permanent fixture at every tea party. Lily has tea sets in her bedroom and in her playroom. If we happen to set up a tea party in a room where Hi V isn't we must go and find her before the party can begin!

The other day I was in Tony and my bedroom putting away some clean clothes and Lily was down the hall in her room. It was awfully quiet so naturally I was a little nervous. When I walked in Lily's room she had all of her little friends sitting in a circle just waiting for the tea service to begin. I snapped these pictures...too cute!

A Little Flamingo

It looks like Lily has decided to add a little flamingo to the Parrott family tree. Right now Lily's favorite thing to do is to stand on one foot. Lily then crosses the other leg over her knee and her legs end up looking like the number 4. It's quite a balancing act! I have yet to catch her doing this with the camera handy...but...I'll keep trying.

Lily also loves to lean against the wall with one hand on her hip and her ankles crossed. When she does this she usually just chatters up a storm. Half the time I have no idea what she is saying...but she's very convincing!

Speaking of chattering up a storm, Lily is talking more and more every day. She has started to string together several words. Sometimes it is hard to understand what she is saying and Lily gets rather frustrated with her poor old Mom and Dad!

Here's a perfect example. For about the last month Lily has been saying to Tony and I, "Happy you you". She would say it again and again in a happy sing-song kind of voice and look at us like we were supposed to do something. Tony and I would smile, nod our heads, say "is that so", or respond in some way that was obviously not the response Lily wanted. Well, the mystery was solved Saturday night. During our Chinese New Year party we also celebrated Mary Beth's birthday. When we lit the candles and all started to sing Happy Birthday to Mary Beth you should have seen Lily. Her face lit up and she started to sing "Happy you you, Happy you you". She looked at Tony and I as if to say "Finally!". I'm guessing she remembered the song from Tony's birthday party and has been trying to have us sing it with her ever since. It seems so obvious now!!

Lily is also signing so much more. When we are at My Gym she will sign to the other kids to "SHARE", "WAIT", "TAKE TURNS" or other signs I use with her at the playground. It amazes me how much she understands...even if she doesn't always act like it!

I think I'm also going to have to start teaching my family how to sign. A few weeks ago Tony was hanging up some shelves and Lily walked up to him and signed "What are you doing?" Tony had no idea what she was signing and asked me to come in. Seeing her little hands sign "DO WHAT" and her quizzical facial expression absolutely cracked me up.

Lily also gave her Dad Dad a mini sign language lesson. I don't think I mentioned this before but last week Lily had a new babysitter...her Dad Dad. I had to go to the doctor to get some new medicine for this sinus infection that seems to have taken up permanent residence. My doctor's office is right down the road from Dad's house. When I dropped Lily off she and Dad Dad were having so much fun I don't think they even knew I had left! When I got back Dad showed me the signs for "COOKIE", "CRACKER", and "ONE MORE"!

I'll have you all signing soon!

The Year Of The Rat

Year Of The Rat?? Hmmpf...the Year Of The Dog is better!

Happy New Year and welcome to the Year Of The Rat! Kung hei fat choi - this is the traditional Chinese New Year greeting and means "congratulations and be prosperous to you and me".

We have had a wonderful time celebrating our first Chinese New Year! Here's a link to Wikipedia if you'd like to read a little more about Chinese New Year. We're still learning about all the traditions and customs ourselves. Not to worry...we have a lifetime to learn all about it.

We started our celebration Thursday evening by having dinner at a Chinese restaurant with our friend, Janis. The restaurant is near Tony's new office so we stopped in for a quick visit. Lily's favorite part of Daddy's new office is the full length mirror in the bathroom! Really, can you blame her???

Dinner was yummy and it's always great to spend time with Janis. Even though Tony and Janis no longer work together I know we'll remain friends.


By the way, Janis is the creative lady responsible for this precious little picture of Lily.


Saturday afternoon Lily and I headed to the Families with Children from China (FCC) Chinese New Year's celebration. Let's just say Lily did not have a good time. You see, Lily thought a visit to Santa Claus was a walk in the park compared to sneaking a peek of the Monkey King in the Chinese opera!! After spotting that scarey fellow Lily began a mantra of "outside, outside, outside..." and away we went.

This Monkey King looks much friendlier than the one we saw!

I'm happy to report that Saturday night was a lot more successful! We had family over Saturday night to help us celebrate the New Year. We had a lot of fun and I'm not sure who was more wound up...Lily or my sisters. Take a look at the pictures below and you be the judge!

Does anyone recognize these crazy women??

The beautiful dress Lily has on in the pictures below was a gift from Liza, my cousin Susan's daughter. Liza recently went to Beijing to perform with her tap dance troupe and was sweet enough to remember Lily while she was there! Thanks Liza...I think you'll agree Lily looks precious!!

The Chinese New Year and Spring Festival are celebrated over a 15 day period in China. Not wanting to be outdone we also have New Year's plans for next weekend, too!

9 Months, 2 Weeks, 6 Days...

Are you sure it's February?

Lily was 9 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days old when we became a family of 3. Today it has been 9 months, 2 weeks, and 7 days (okay...9 months and 3 weeks) since our Finally A Family Day.

I love the playground!

That means that Lily has spent more than half of her life with us...her Forever Family!! I can't begin to tell you how much joy that simple fact brings me!

I have Spring Fever!

Please Help If You Can

I'm sure most of you have seen the footage on the news of the extreme cold weather and blizzards over much of central, eastern, and southern China. Many Chinese people who are attempting to travel home to visit their families for the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival have been stranded. For many workers this is the only time during the year that they are able to see their families.

Apparently there is no end in sight. News reports state that this is the worst weather to hit China in over 50 years and the China Meteorological Administration has issued red alerts warning of more bad weather to come. While my heart goes out to all of the workers who are unable to make it home for the holidays my heart is breaking for all the little ones who do not have families. Orphanages throughout China, including in Hubei Province where Lily was born, have been extremely hard hit.

When I see reports of large Social Welfare Institutes (aka orphanages) without running water, heat, blankets, and food I can't bear to think about Jai Yu County Social Welfare Institute. This is the wonderful place that was responsible for the incredible care our Lily received before she was united with us. Jia Yu County SWI is an extremely small SWI only handling approximately 1 - 2 international adoptions a year. I have tried to find information online about how they are handling the storms but have been unsuccessful.

I have been thinking back to the trip Tony and I took from Wuhan to Jia Yu County to visit Lily's orphanage. The journey from Wuhan to Jia Yu was like no other trip I have ever taken. It felt like we were traveling through the pages of a National Geographic Magazine. Jia Yu County SWI is located in a very poor and remote area. Many of the roads we traveled were unpaved with large ruts and ravines running through them and were bearly passable when they weren't covered by feet of snow. I can't begin to imagine how these roads will be cleared.

While it is true that the SWI is located in a remote area and had little in the way of any modern conveniences, it is extremely obvious that they loved and nurtured our Lily. Lily was healthy and happy and had no physical or cognitive developmental delays when we were united. This often is not the case with children adopted from China and is a true testament to the incredible care Lily received.

I am worried about all the children and orphanage workers throughout China and especially at Lily's orphanage. I pray that they are warm and safe and fed. There is little else we alone can do from here. However, there are several organizations that work tirelessly to aid China's children while they wait for their forever families. Half The Sky is one such organization.

Half The Sky is working to provide orphanages with the food, blankets, diapers, heaters, and other necessities they need. Please click on the link above to read more about Half The Sky and their efforts to help orphanages survive the Spring Festival storms. Please pray for all the people in China affected by these storms and please click on the button below if you are able to give to help the children.

Daddy Is Unemployed

Okay, so it's only for the weekend...but it got your attention didn't it??

After 11 years, yesterday was Tony's last day with his current firm. It seems hard to believe...but it's true. Tony is moving on. It's time. It's a good thing. It's a very good thing...but it's still hard to believe.

11 years is a long time. That's more than a 1/4 of Tony's life! So much has happened during that time. We both lost a parent, we got married, we became parents ourselves, and 1,000 other things...big and small...that make up 11 years. Not to mention the lasting relationships Tony formed with co-workers and clients.

Hi Daddy, want to go out to lunch with me?

Thursday Lily and I went up to have lunch with Tony. It really struck me when I walked into the office that this would be the last time we would be coming here to meet Tony for lunch. I can't begin to count how many times Tony and I have met for lunch over the years. Of course, we will continue to meet for lunch...just at a new address!

Hey Daddy, what happened to all the pictures of me you had in your office?

I know this will seem like a strange analogy but when I think of Tony's time at G & V it kinds of reminds me of an old favorite sweater I had. When I first got the sweater I loved it and wore it all the time. Then, after a few years I noticed I wasn't really wearing it very often and it was just hanging in my closet...but I couldn't part with it. At one point I decided to try the sweater on again and it no longer fit like it once did...yet I still couldn't bring myself to let it go. A few more years passed and I finally figured out that just because at one time it was my favorite sweater it didn't mean I had to keep it forever. I could and should let it go and make room for something new. That's how I view what Tony is doing.

This is the last time I'm going to see these folks??? I better blow them a big kiss!

Monday is the start of something new for Tony. I know change isn't easy but I believe it's just the beginning of great things to come! I'm so excited for you Tony!!

An Impromptu Aunt T, Beanie, and Lily Day

Thanks to a little bad weather this morning we had a lot of unexpected fun! Freezing rain and ice caused Christina's school to close and Patti was scheduled to work. No problem. Christina spent the day with me and Lily...and we had a blast!

We didn't do anything special today. We just hung out around the house and the girls had so much fun playing together and I had a great time watching and listening to them!

During lunch Christina decided she would use her pretzel sticks to spear her grapes or pieces of cheddar cheese and pop them in her mouth. Lily (having a severe case of monkey see - monkey do) followed right behind. Of course, that turned into Mommy making pretzel stick kabobs for lunch. I'm not sure how nutritionally sound lunch was...but it sure was fun!

Christina really wanted to take a nap with Lily this afternoon. I figured what the heck. Hey, if I'm willing to feed my daughter and niece pretzel stick kabobs for lunch why would I hesitate for the two of them to share a crib? The way I looked at it this just gave Lily a life size Teddy...oops...I mean Beanie Bear to snuggle with! Christina never actually fell asleep but Lily did and I got some cute pictures. After Lily was good and out I helped Christina escape from the crib and we spent the rest of Lily's nap time doing some Valentine's Day crafts.

I know I've talked about this before but Christina is such an awesome big cousin!! Lily absolutely adores Christina and Christina is so patient and sweet with Lily. The two of them have definitely formed a mutual admiration society.

Poor little Lily was heartbroken when Patti came to pick Christina up this afternoon! I don't think she was ready for the party to be over.

Hey Christina, wear your pj's inside out more often and maybe we can have another play day soon!

Happy Birthday Baba!

Today is my sister Mary Beth's birthday. Happy Birthday, Bethie!! Hope your day was as special as you are!

This morning during breakfast Lily and I practiced saying "Happy Birthday Baba" (we've long since given up on Aunt Mary Beth!). Then after breakfast we gave Mary Beth a call to pass on the good wishes. It came out "Happy Bebay Baba!" Aunt Baba loved it!


Mary Beth is a wonderful sister and sister-in-law, a terrific aunt, and an even better friend. Everyone should be as lucky as we are to have Mary Beth in our lives. We love you Mary Beth!