As you probably know, everyone in the US needs a social security number. Well, we wanted to wait until we had Lily's final amended birth certificate before we applied for hers as this would make it so that we would not have to then do a name change later. Well, we still don't have an amended birth certificate because of how slow the vital records department is in making these amendments. They told me yesterday that it will take another 2-5 MONTHS to get it done.
Today, I went to the Social Security Administration office anyway. I took as much paperwork as I could: her original birth certificate, our adoption decree and anything else that I could think they might want.
The woman who helped me was very nice. So nice that I didn't even get mad when she said that there was not much she could do without the amended birth certificate. She also told me that Lily already has a SSN that was issued when she was in the hospital. Well, golly. No one bothered to tell us that! The woman said that she would request an amended birth certificate and that she would call me when it came in. She also said that she would do everything she could to get everything processed so that there would be no delay once they had all of the paperwork they needed.
Hopefully we will have her SSN by the time we need to file our taxes.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Help us save for college
It may seem very odd that we are asking people to help us save for college while Lily is only 10 1/2 months old. We fully expect that by the time Lily goes to college it will cost so much that if we don't start saving now we will never be able to afford it. We discovered a great way of saving for college that doesn't cost us a thing. It is called upromise. We did all of the research to make sure it is legitimate and we were thrilled to find out that it had the support of many people and businesses.
Here is how it works. You need to register with at http://www.upromise.com. It will ask you for your credit card numbers, your shopper card numbers for your grocery store or drug store, and who you want to save for. Then whenever you go to certain restaurants or shop at your local grocery store, a certain percentage of what you spend goes automatically to Lily's college fund. If you are interested in helping out, or just want more information, send me an e-mail.
Update: Laurel wanted to make sure you knew that this doesn't cost you a thing! The manufacturers, restaurants, and businesses make the contribution based on your spending. So far we have raised a little over $65 this way and it has not cost us a single dime!
Here is how it works. You need to register with at http://www.upromise.com. It will ask you for your credit card numbers, your shopper card numbers for your grocery store or drug store, and who you want to save for. Then whenever you go to certain restaurants or shop at your local grocery store, a certain percentage of what you spend goes automatically to Lily's college fund. If you are interested in helping out, or just want more information, send me an e-mail.
Update: Laurel wanted to make sure you knew that this doesn't cost you a thing! The manufacturers, restaurants, and businesses make the contribution based on your spending. So far we have raised a little over $65 this way and it has not cost us a single dime!
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Communication
Well, there are many schools of thought on baby speak. At our house it goes like this:
Pwee -- Lily sees something that is either a) yellow; b) shiny (like jewelery); or c) a button. She immediately looks to the wearer and says, "Pwee?" We always confirm that yes, it is indeed very pretty. We think "pwee" sort of means "I like that".
Dawdie -- Our dog, Bartlett. Or any dog. Quite often, but not always, Lily will point excitedly or merely gesture in the direction of the dog and state loudly, "dawdie".
Tyeatee or Ktyeetee -- Any cat. This is often shrieked loudly, using her very new and very loud shriek-voice. This is a voice she is quite proud of. Its very loud.
Mama and Dada of course. These are not always the 'discerning' titles, but more of an "I shriek in your general direction" thing.
Other communication indicators:
Lily has a toy frog she likes very much. When she is playing in the baby jail, we can say, "Lily, where is your frog?". She will immediately look over at the shelf where the frog goes to bed, drop to her hands and knees and crawl-run to the shelf. She pulls the frog down and hugs it and gives it a big kiss/bite on the nose.
She has started to give kisses. Very selectively and on her terms but if you catch her in just the right mood, she may respond favorably to a "Lily, will you give mama a kiss?". Then Mommy ends up slobbery too!
When Lily gets mad, everyone in the vicinity knows it. She is not a whiney baby about it but will definitely make her displeasure known. She makes an angry face and says "DYA DYA DYA DYA DYA!" and expects you to be appropriately chagrinned.
Thats the update for now!
Pwee -- Lily sees something that is either a) yellow; b) shiny (like jewelery); or c) a button. She immediately looks to the wearer and says, "Pwee?" We always confirm that yes, it is indeed very pretty. We think "pwee" sort of means "I like that".
Dawdie -- Our dog, Bartlett. Or any dog. Quite often, but not always, Lily will point excitedly or merely gesture in the direction of the dog and state loudly, "dawdie".
Tyeatee or Ktyeetee -- Any cat. This is often shrieked loudly, using her very new and very loud shriek-voice. This is a voice she is quite proud of. Its very loud.
Mama and Dada of course. These are not always the 'discerning' titles, but more of an "I shriek in your general direction" thing.
Other communication indicators:
Lily has a toy frog she likes very much. When she is playing in the baby jail, we can say, "Lily, where is your frog?". She will immediately look over at the shelf where the frog goes to bed, drop to her hands and knees and crawl-run to the shelf. She pulls the frog down and hugs it and gives it a big kiss/bite on the nose.
She has started to give kisses. Very selectively and on her terms but if you catch her in just the right mood, she may respond favorably to a "Lily, will you give mama a kiss?". Then Mommy ends up slobbery too!
When Lily gets mad, everyone in the vicinity knows it. She is not a whiney baby about it but will definitely make her displeasure known. She makes an angry face and says "DYA DYA DYA DYA DYA!" and expects you to be appropriately chagrinned.
Thats the update for now!
Little girls and their Daddies
Well, if there was any doubt that little girls LOVE their daddies, its all been laid to rest around our house.
This past Saturday, Daddy went outside to work on getting some of the leaves out of the yard, since we were having company. Daddy was outside using his leaf blower/vacuum and Mommy and Lily were inside in the baby jail...erm...play room. Suddenly, Lily heard a noise outside. She looked over at Mommy with a very quizical expression and Mommy asked, "Lily, what do you think that noise is outside? You should go look!". Lily crawled over to the window and saw her absolute favorite fella (Daddy) outside with a machine strapped to him. She got very excited and squealed a bit and pointed out the window, looked at Mom and said, "DADA!"
She spent the better part of the next half hour standing at the window watching her Daddy. It was very exciting. He played peek-a-boo with her too!
This past Saturday, Daddy went outside to work on getting some of the leaves out of the yard, since we were having company. Daddy was outside using his leaf blower/vacuum and Mommy and Lily were inside in the baby jail...erm...play room. Suddenly, Lily heard a noise outside. She looked over at Mommy with a very quizical expression and Mommy asked, "Lily, what do you think that noise is outside? You should go look!". Lily crawled over to the window and saw her absolute favorite fella (Daddy) outside with a machine strapped to him. She got very excited and squealed a bit and pointed out the window, looked at Mom and said, "DADA!"
She spent the better part of the next half hour standing at the window watching her Daddy. It was very exciting. He played peek-a-boo with her too!
Friday, November 17, 2006
Messy Girl!
Now that Lily has begun to feed herself, we have more and more nights where she ends up looking like this. You should have seen her the night we had spaghetti!
Sleep Update
Lily has never slept through the night. Mom and I have been splitting the night with Mom taking until midnight. I then take over and do the rest of the night until Lily gets up at about 6:00. For a long time, Lily would sleep an hour at a time then wake up and start to cry. Once she got her first tooth, this changed. She started to sleep 2-3 hours at a time.
This week, for some unknown reason, she reverted back to the one hour sleep cycle. That is until last night when she was back to three hours at a stretch. We have been reading the various approaches to getting her to sleep through the night and have decided that we can not just let her "cry it out" as suggested by many of the experts.
We have decided that we are going to try a method that will get her to sleep better but will not involve nearly as much crying. Wish us luck! We need the sleep!
This week, for some unknown reason, she reverted back to the one hour sleep cycle. That is until last night when she was back to three hours at a stretch. We have been reading the various approaches to getting her to sleep through the night and have decided that we can not just let her "cry it out" as suggested by many of the experts.
We have decided that we are going to try a method that will get her to sleep better but will not involve nearly as much crying. Wish us luck! We need the sleep!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Lily's first Halloween
For Lily's first Halloween, she dressed up like Princess Leia from Star Wars. She was the hit of her day care's Halloween parade.
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