Mind If I Whine?

I hate whining. Seriously. I positively can't stand it! Thank God Lily doesn't whine often...her mother on the other hand...now, that's a different story!

Six weeks ago I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and my face felt like it was asleep...kind of numb and tingly. I got up and looked in the mirror and my lower lip was swollen...really, really swollen. Remember the cartoon Fat Albert? I could have been one of the characters on the show!

I thought it was strange, but assumed it was a bug bite and went back to bed. When I woke up a few hours later my lip was still swollen and still felt strange. As the day progressed the swelling went down and the strange feeling went away. I really didn't give it any more thought...until the next morning.

The next morning I woke up with the same strange feeling in my face, but this time it was my upper lip that was swollen...really, really swollen. Think platypus or Dr. Zira from Planet of the Apes. Or better yet...think of their love child...and you have an idea of what I looked like! Enough so it made my sweet baby cry and ask me if I could go get a new lip! Again, as the day progressed the swelling went down and all was well with the world...until the next morning.


You guessed it...another morning...another swollen, numb lip and just for giggles my eyes decided to join in on the fun and were pretty much swollen shut. This time I decided to call a doctor. Hey, I'm a slow learner...but eventually I do learn!

So, now fast forward six weeks, numerous doctor appointments, two rounds of steroids and I'm still swelling and now have the added benefit of hives from head to toe. I'm not talking a few bumps here and there...my hives have hives! I look like a topographical map!

For now, I'm going to an allergist, living on a steady diet of antihistamines, and when I'm not knocked out from the allergy meds I'm pretty much an itchy, whiney mess. I'll stop now. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!

Enough Already!

Yup...I'm doing it again...another post about cute Lily-isms. Sure, I get it. Nobody thinks these things are as cute as Tony and I do. So, if you want to leave now and come back another day I more than understand. But, if you decide to stick around and read this post I can almost guarantee you'll laugh right out loud!

So, if you're still reading...here we go...

The other day Lily and I were at our favorite little organic market. I love it for the great prices...Lily loves it for all the free samples! Lily enjoys shopping there even though they don't have self checkout...Lily's new favorite thing! The other day as the cashier was ringing us up when she got to the fruit Lily said, "Now, that's a kiwi. It's not going to have a barcode. You're going to have look it up." The cashier cracked up and then had Lily help her ring up the rest of the order!

When we went to visit Dr. V on Friday his office was really, REALLY cold! When we were checking in at reception Lily said to the woman behind the desk, "You have too much air conditioning. If you're hot maybe you could turn off some of these lights. Okay? Now, how's that for a good idea?" The receptionist asked me if I was sure Lily was really only almost 3 years old! I tell you how our little girl's brain works amazes me!

On the way to the Memorial Garden party on Saturday Tony was voicing his displeasure with another driver's "skills" when a little voice piped in from the backseat saying, "Excuse me Daddy, that's not a very nice tone. Can you try again using your big voice?" I don't even want to tell you the kind of look Tony gave me!

Here's one last one...then I promise I'll stop...for now anyway! The other night Tony, Lily, and I went out to dinner. Our waitress was very sweet and really hit it off with Lily. Each time she came to the table she spent a long time talking to Lily and carrying on with her. One time as the waitress was walking away Lily turned to Tony and I and said, "Isn't she positively precious?"

Don't even try to butter me up, Daddy. I know it's the pizza you're after!

Memorial Garden

Today Tony, Lily, and I went to a party at Tony's friend Laura's house. Laura and Tony used to work together at his old firm and it was a lot of fun to get together again.

When Laura invited us to the party she shared that during the party she would be planting a memorial garden. Laura mentioned that everyone that was attending the party was welcome to bring some kind of plant/bush/tree to plant in memory of someone they had lost. It was a beautiful idea that resulted in a beautiful garden!

Lily had a wonderful time at the party tumbling in the grass, helping Tony plant flowers, and playing with sweet Christina. No, not Lily's sweet cousin Christina...Christina the daughter of one of Tony's former partners. Maybe there is something about the name! Christina was so great with our little Lily!







Lily had such a great time and fell sound asleep on our way home...at about 6:15! Please don't tell anyone but I carried Lily straight from her carseat to bed. Really what harm is there in sleeping with grass stains on your clothes...and a few blades of grass in your hair?!?

Disappearing Act

Today we went for Lily's 6 month follow-up with the Urologist and received WONDERFUL, INCREDIBLE, UNBELIEVABLE news! Lily's kidney stones are GONE. Yes, you read that correctly...GONE!

You know the strange thing...on Mother's Day I told Mary Beth I had a feeling that when Lily went for her follow-up they would find she didn't have stones. Maybe I'm becoming psychic ;-).

Lily had an ultrasound on Monday and during the scan the technician mentioned that he didn't see any kidney stones, but said the doctor would have to review the films to verify.

Today when we met with Dr. V he confirmed that the technician was right and the kidney stones are GONE!! I specifically asked the doctor, "Are the stones gone or were they never there in the first place?" Don't get me wrong...either way I'm thrilled...I was just curious.

Just like our first visit with Dr. V, he was once again kind, considerate, patient, and I feel very thorough. He explained that sometimes there are false positives (and negatives) when interpreting renal and bladder scans, but that he and other doctors (Urologists and Radiologists) that have reviewed Lily's test results believe that both the scan Lily had 6 months ago and the one done on Monday were good scans (no shadows, etc.). Since the stones were too large to pass on their own he believes they dissolved!

When we met with Dr. V in November he told us that the stones dissolving on their own was possible, but highly unlikely. Boy, do I suddenly LOVE unlikely outcomes!!

Dr. V told me that there is not enough data available about Melamine caused kidney stones to know if Lily's results are typical. Okay, that's not exactly what he said. That's my watered down, lay person version of what he said. All I know is it was music to our ears!!

Thank God for answered prayers!!!!

Sharing the first snowball of the season with my buddy Ethan.

The Graduate

On Sunday, my nephew and Godson, Jamie graduated from college with a degree in Criminal Justice.



Mary Beth and Ed (the proud Mama and Papa) had a wonderful dinner party at their home to celebrate Jamie's graduation. As is always the case when they throw a party...everything was wonderful! Somehow they even got the weather to cooperate!!

Mary Beth had several sweet pictures of Jamie displayed including the ones above of him dressed as a devil and a sheriff. Looks like Jamie has been planning for his major for years!



As I'm sure is obvious by now, I love spending time with my family. Include a few special friends and the day was even better! Meri, Jamie's girlfriend, and RB, Jamie's close friend, joined us to share in the celebration.

Meri is a sweet, sweet girl and puts a huge smile on Jamie's face. That's all this Godmom needs to know!



Over the past 4 years RB has truly become a member of our family. We have spent evenings, weekends, special occasions, and holidays together. It seemed only fitting that we would celebrate Jamie and RB's graduation together, too!



Everyone had such a great time...especially Lily! Lily absolutely adores Jamie even though she always gives him a hard road to go! Thankfully, Jamie eats it up!

During the party Lily and Christina gave the swing in the backyard quite a workout. I'm sure it's been years since the swing saw that much use! It was beautiful to see the girls having so much fun together and to hear their sweet laughter.





Lily also had a blast when her "big girl" cousins let her play "beauty parlor" with their beautiful long hair! Have I mentioned lately how much Lily loves all of her cousins?!? They really are the best! And...no...I'm not biased!







It certainly seems like Lily is destined to follow in Jamie's footsteps as family comedian. During dinner Lily decided it would be funny to imitate everything Aunt Patti did. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. Lily was right...it was funny...very, very funny! Okay, so maybe repeating the "junk in the trunk" reference wasn't appropriate...but it was funny!

It really was such a wonderful day! James, we hope you are half as proud of yourself as we are of you!! We love you!!!

My Mother's Day

I had a really great Mother's Day! My day started by "sleeping in" while Tony and Lily cooked me a delicious breakfast.

After eating too much for breakfast we headed to a park with 3 other families from our neighborhood to ride the miniature trains. It was a beautiful morning and our girls had so much fun playing together! Coincidentally...3 of our 4 families are adoptive families. It was fun to spend time together and share the different ways we all became mothers!


After the train ride we headed up to Patti's for our annual family picture in front of her beautiful pink dogwood. Unfortunately, not only did Mother Nature prevent us from capturing the dogwood at its peak...we also missed Aunt Pappyrazzi! Be that as it may, I still wanted a few pictures. So, here you go:


On the way back from Patti's we stopped by the cemetery with some flowers for Mom. Turns out great minds think alike. Mom's vase was overflowing with flowers so Lily decided we should share Mom Mom's flowers with "vases that don't have any". Isn't she too cute!

I don't normally take pictures at the cemetery, but yesterday I captured this absolutely beautiful moment between Lily and her daddy. I think it's destined to become one of my all time favorites!


We spent the afternoon at Mary Beth's celebrating Jamie's college graduation. I'll save the details of that wonderful celebration for a separate post!

Truly a great Mother's Day from start to finish!

Lunch With Nai Nai and Aunt Sheila

On Saturday, Tony, Lily, and I had lunch with Suzy and Sheila to celebrate Mother's Day. Sheila works on Sundays...we were celebrating Jamie's graduation on Sunday...so, Saturday it was.

We had a very nice lunch together and Lily entertained us thoroughly with her storytelling abilities. As I've mentioned before Lily has a very active imagination and positively LOVES having a captive audience. Saturday was no exception!

I can't do Lily's stories justice, but the main gist of it was...that unbeknownst to me the cock-a-doodle-doo-ing rooster from the farm on Friday came home with us. Boy, have he and Lily been up to some really interesting antics!! They've taken trips to Panera Bread for lunch, gone on wild car rides, and more! You had to be there to appreciate how hysterical it was. You'll just have to trust me that our girl has a gift for storytelling! Suzy, Sheila, Tony and I were absolutely in stitches! I only wish we had brought a video camera with us.

Not only did Lily prove herself to be a gifted storyteller, she also shared with us her photography skills...

Can you guess who is holding the camera?

...and showed Aunt Sheila what a talented hairstylist she is!

Aunt Sheila, would you like an up-do for lunch?

It was a fun afternoon and I think Lily would have been perfectly content to stay at the restaurant and entertain her adoring audience ALL afternoon and evening!!!

A Picture Perfect Day!

Today was such a wonderful day! Not only was it my third Mother's Day...Jamie graduated from college today with a degree in Criminal Justice!! I am way too tired to post about all the fun we had. In fact, I think it may take a few posts to cover it all! Here's hoping these pictures will give you an idea of the kind of day we had.

Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day, too!

My Wish Come True

"A long time ago," said Mama to Barley, "a wish started growing in my heart. At first, it was a quiet wish that nobody knew. Then it became an out-loud wish that grew and Grew and GREW. Until one day, my wish came true."

This is a line from one of my favorite children's books, I Wished for You, An Adoption Story by Marianne Richmond. I love this book! I love its message. I love how closely it mirrors our journey to Lily and my journey to motherhood.

It is almost impossible for me to believe that I am celebrating my third Mother's Day! To be honest, sometimes I still can't believe I'm a mother!!

For many, many years I had no interest in being a mother. Later a wish began to grow in my heart and grow and grow. I am so glad that Tony and I followed our hearts!

Lily is not only my wish come true, she is a dream come true! Being Lily's mother is my pure joy, my heart's desire, my life fulfilled!

Happy Mother's Day!

Look Mommy, It's Blue!

After days and days of rain today we woke to blue skies and beautiful sunshine. When Lily and I went outside this morning Lily pointed up to the sky and with a sound of wonder said, "Look Mommy, it's blue!" I had no idea the grey skies and dreary weather were wearing on her, too!

To take advantage of the nice weather we headed to a park with some of our neighborhood friends. The park has a working farm, a great playground, and a nice picnic area. Lily had a wonderful time with her friend...and with a feathered friend.

At the farm there was an especially verbose rooster that Lily took a shine to. Lily was absolutely convinced that the rooster was cock-a-doodle-doo-ing (is that a word?) at her command. I really wish I had brought our video camera with me to capture it. Lily kept saying, "Please Mr. Rooster say cock-a-doodle-do again." And invariably he would! Lily just about jumped out of her skin every time. It was absolutely priceless!



Watching Lily with her un-feathered friend was also as cute as can be. During our picnic lunch Lily decided she was J's "big brother". Basically, what being J's big brother involved was Lily feeding J her lunch. Luckily for Lily, J was as compliant as the rooster! I'm not sure what was cuter...the whole rooster thing or watching Lily play big brother!

Our Little Book Nerd

Our little Lily loves books as much as I do...and I just love that! Here are some sweet shots of our little book nerd:

Where Does The Time Go?

In the comments section of my Breathtaking Beauty post my Aunt Lala wrote, "Where does the time go?" I've been asking myself that very same question a lot lately! It seems like every time I blink Lily is getting bigger, smarter, more independent, and much more of a little girl than a toddler. I just know she will be asking to borrow the keys to the car any day now!

This morning, for the first time, Lily got dressed all by herself! Oh, she's been taking and putting clothes on and off for months but I always help at least a little. Not today. Lily took off her pajamas and put on her outfit for the day with no help from me. Everything was on "the right way" and Lily was so incredibly proud of herself!

Lily not only wants to dress herself she also wants to grocery shop herself! Today when Lily and I were at the grocery store she rang up our entire order in the self check-out lane (no, there wasn't anyone waiting behind us!). She was so cute looking over each item and saying out loud to herself, "Now, where is that barcode?"

It was especially funny when Lily got to a piece of produce. Lily scrutinized that first piece of fruit just knowing that there had to be a barcode somewhere! Once she realized she would have to look up the items that didn't have barcodes she was even more excited.

Of course, just like getting herself dressed, it takes a little (or a lot) longer to have Lily ring up the groceries...but it is so worth it! To see her sense of pride and to hear her tell Daddy all about her daily adventures/accomplishments during dinner lets me know it is time well spent!

Just when I think any day now Lily will ask me to take her to get her driver's license we have a sweet little moment like we did tonight and I remember that Lily is...in fact almost 3...not almost 16! As Lily was getting her pj's on she was looking at all the little bruises and scrapes on her legs and said, "Look Mommy, I have boo boos all over the where!"