The Ice Storm Cometh

100_3771, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily had the day off from school and Mommy and Daddy didn't have to go to work either. Something about a little ice...I don't know, wasn't paying attention.

Lils and Daddy waited until the ice/rain stopped and went outside, carefully avoiding the trees and the snapping branches. Lily was VERY excited about the 'yice outside!!!' Not only is there ice, but there is snow as well and thats one of Lily's favorite things this year!

For anyone wondering, we're all safe, still have power (for now) and hopefully the worst is past. Family nearby fared well also, but we haven't heard a word from our Oklahoma friends...fingers crossed for them. For more ice storm pics, take a look at our flickr page (link on right).

Lily Jumping

Lily LOVES to jump. Here she is jumping along with her other love: The Wiggles!

Lily's 2007 Christmas Program

Sorry these videos are so dark. I will be editing them and making them easier to see in the near future.

All that counts...

Tonight, while bathing, Lily surprised Mommy with some excellent counting! Mommy was counting the cups that Lils uses to pour water from one to another.

Mommy said, "One...two..."
Lily said, "Two....tree"
"Three..." said Mommy
"Fouw..." answered Lily, "Fie."
"Five..." said Mommy
"Ick...ebenen" said Lily, and skipping ahead a bit she finished, "TEN!!!! YAY!!!!" and she applauded her performance.

Mommy got a little tear but she clapped, too. When Daddy came in, she repeated the performance for his admiration. Lily is definitely growing up!

Princess Leia...ready to "tik-r-eek"

Halloween was excellent for Lils this year. We went to the mall with her cousin Ike and Nonnie (Aunt Anna). Lily practiced saying "trick-or-treat" and did really well. She always said thank you, too. She discovered suckers. Her word for them sounds very much like her word for cracker and is unreproducible phonetically (by this author anyhow). A good time was had by all.

Check our Flickr for more great Halloween pics. A few of cousin Isaac, too.

The yox win the series!

Lily has a new semi-obsession. Socks. She calls them yox. This evening, as I was putting her to bed, she got in her crib as usual, and I was sitting in the chair and 'rock-rock', not wearing shoes or slippers but I had on my socks. She noted with great interest, "Mommy yox?" I confirmed that yes, indeed, those were Mommy's socks.

She pointed to her hamper and inquired, "Wi-wee yox?" Again, I confirmed that was where Lily's socks were. Suddenly, she caught fire and we went through a list of all the people who had socks. "Daddy yox?" Yes, Daddy had socks. "Papa yox?" Yes, Papa (Grandpa L) had socks. "Puppy yox?" No, puppies don't wear socks. "Tyittee yox?" No, kitties don't wear socks either. "Sawee tyittee yox?" No, the kitty who is sorry for scratching you doesn't wear socks.

Then she hit it...I swear she was using this whole thing as a set up for the joke. "Ya-ya yox?" Yes, Ya-ya (Grandma L) wears socks. She finally quit with a very satisfied "Yes, Ya-ya yox." *snicker*

Lily eats a cupcake

After
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily insisted that Dad buy some yellow cup cakes when we were at the store. She thought it was very funny to get the yellow frosting all over everything.

Grandma reads to Lily

100_3532
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Grandma took some time out to read Lily a story. Lily really enjoyed the short visit from Grandma and Grandpa.

Lily and Grandpa

100_3520
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily and Grandpa enjoyed a ride on the train at Gage Park while Grandpa was visiting from Tacoma. Lily sure does love the Choo-choo!

Teeth and more teeth

The past couple of weeks have been a time for new teeth. Mom and I were starting to get worried that Lily was going to go through life with only 4 teeth. All of her classmates and the other babies around her all had lots of teeth. Well, finally Lily has started to sprout teeth -- about 6 all at once. We can tell that it is just killing her. She is always sucking on her hands and has been exceptionally fussy. We keep reminding ourselves that this too shall pass.

Boo guys and other bad ideas.

Can it really be over a month since we last put anything in the blog? Good grief! Bad parents! Bad, BAD, parents!

Lily is doing really well. She moved up a class in school and the new additional stimulation is causing a meteoric rise in her vocabulary. We are constantly amazed at new words popping out of her mouth. Last Friday, she started saying, "yePPPP" with a very marked emphasis on the "P". Yesterday, she learned to say "cracker" which sounded more like "kakker" but was most definitely understandable. And when Mommy accidently said a bad word, her repetition of it was CRYSTAL clear.

Her favorite thing to do is to play "Boo Guys". One afternoon on a trip to Sam's Club, the Halloween decorations were out. I didn't want her to be afraid of the moving skeletons and such, so I said that they were funny guys who said "Boo!". She liked that. Later on, she pointed in their direction and said "Guys?" and I said, "Yes, thats where the guys are! Don't say Boo to them though!" She giggled.

Then, about a week later, we were at Target. Again, Halloween decorations abounded and she pointed at the 'guys'. I told her that yes, we could go see them, "But don't say Boo to them!" She promptly said, "Boo guys!!!" and now, everytime she sees ANYTHING that remotely resembles a guy (on a bike, at the store, in a truck, on the sidewalk, walking down the street, etc.) she smiles slyly and says "Guy! Boo GUY!" to which I am supposed to say "OOOOHHH!! Don't you say Boo Guys!" Even at night, when she is putting herself to sleep, I hear over the monitor, "Boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys, boo guys" ad nauseum.

Great. What a super fun game!

Trains, Choo-Choo & Toot Toot.

Lily on the train in April

The train in the park has a really nice whistle. It definitely says "Toot ToooOOOT". So when Lily wants to go on the train, she says "Bye bye Toot Toot?" Well obviously we say, "Lets go!"

Last week though, in the 800 degree heat, the train derailed and was out of commission for a few days. It was supposed to be back up and running on Tuesday, so we figured by Friday it would probably actually be up and running. SOOOO after dinner, Daddy and Mommy took Lily over to the park for the last train run of the night. The engineer oiled the train up and said that he thought, if we wanted, he could get in an extra run just for us. We got to go TWICE and Lily was so excited she could hardly contain herself.

After the last train ride of the evening, we went up to the engine to thank the engineer. He offered Lily a shiny train token for his "ardent fan". Lily took the token and (after prompting) said, "Ta-tooo" which is Lil-ese for "Thank you". Then, of her own volition, she said "Bye bye! Ta-tooo" and blew him a kiss.

Awwwww!!!

Lily's Smile

Lily has started to scrunch up her nose when she smiles. We think this is so cute. It has been almost impossible to catch on camera but Mom was lucky today!

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

Yes, Lily is sick once again. This time it is the childhood ailment Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD). She started to show signs on Friday but we didn't recognize. In fact, we had never even heard of it before. At least it is not a serious condition. She will just be home from school for a few days. Lots of Mom time!

Lily smells the flowers

Lily stops to smell the flowers.

Heave Ho....not so much

Lily and Dad were suppose to go to Grandma's and Grandpa's 50th Wedding Anniversary party in Washington on July 15. We were going to fly out on Friday and back on Monday. Dad couldn't get any more time than that off work. Mom couldn't go at all because of her job. Dad was looking forward to seeing everyone at the party on Sunday.

Lily had been sick for several days leading up to the day we were going to travel. She had been running a fever and had a sore throat. Mom took her to the doctor who said that her ears and lungs were fine and that she could fly. So on Friday, Grandpa L. picked us up and we headed to the airport. Of course Lily slept most of the way there.

When we got to the airport, we checked in and went to find some food to eat. Before we were even able to order some food, Lily started to vomit.....all over Dad and herself. Two very nice ladies came to Dad's rescue bringing napkins and giving advice. Dad didn't really know what to do...do we travel and take a chance or do we turn around and go home. Well, we decided to keep going. Dad went and bought a t-shirt at the gift shop and went to change both Dad and Lily.

After getting cleaned up, we headed into the gate area through security. By this time, Dad was hungry so we went to get some lunch. Right after we paid for lunch, Lily started vomiting again -- all over Dad again. This time it was clear to Dad that we were not going to be able to fly anywhere. Our trip was over. Dad called Mom and tried to get Grandpa to come back and get us. Dad told the airline people that we were not going to fly and that we needed our luggage back.

Grandpa finally was able to get back to the airport to pick us up. Lily, thankfully, fell asleep in the car on the way home (we live about 1 and 1/4 hours from the airport.)

After we got home and got everyone changed again, Dad just held Lily on his lap. She did not feel like playing. All of a sudden, she started to vomit again.....all over Dad for the third time. Time to change clothes again. Back to the couch to sit. Then the dog started to vomit.

Mom was still at work when it was time for Lily to go to bed so Dad got her to bed. Then the cat coughed up a hairball.

Good thing we didn't get on an airplane. Dad ran a fever all weekend.

Poor baby!

Pathetic Baby 1, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily had a bit of a dust up today. She and Mommy had gone outside and Lily thought it would be great fun to take off running down the sidewalk. Before Mommy could stop her, the giggling fugitive got going too fast for her own little legs and took a tumble, JUST as she reached the part of the sidewalk that is only gravel. She spilled onto her knee, scratched up her hand and worst of all, scratched up her pretty face and bonked her head on the cement. Poor thing.

She was very brave though and didn’t cry very much. Mommy and Daddy cleaned her wounds (this time legitimate ones!) and put band-aids on her knee, around her finger, and on her forehead. Poor little baby all bunged up!

The best baby!

100_3333, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Well, really I guess I should say the best kid. After all, we have been saying all along that talking, walking and sleeping through the night are the criteria that make a kid and now she does all three!

Yes, thats right! Lily FINALLY slept through the night! From about 7:45 p.m. until 5:45 a.m. our girl slept and slept. For those of you counting, that is 10 hours and it only took 17 months, 17 days.

Lets hope it wasn't an anomaly and that it continues tonight! I suppose though, that even if it were an anomaly, it proves we are on the right road!

Dad has a job!

After being unemployed for more than a year, I finally have a new job! I will start my new job in a little more than a week. While it has been a difficult time for our family, this job is nearly a perfect fit. I will still be able to drop Lily off at day care everyday and will be home in the evening and on weekends. It gets me into a new industry (hospitals) and out of libraries. It takes advantage of my diverse management experience and technology experience. And besides everything else, it pays more than my last job did! I look forward to getting into the swing of work again.

More new words

Now she can say (or shout) "NEE!!!" which of course means knee. She is still calling elbow "bubble" but it is now followed by her pointing to her 'bubble', then pointing to your 'bubble' then kissing your 'bubble'.

She has also begun to say one of the most important words in the English language. Shoes. Its Lily pronunciation is "JOOSE" and of course it must be shouted at the top of her lungs. All the ladies in the shoe shop were tickled by that. She also points to everyone's shoes. Constantly. But hey, if she's going to have an obsession, I think shoes is a good beginning.

Sick baby follow-up

Well Lily's night in the hospital has come and gone. Her pneumonia is much better. For the first 24-48 hours, we did breathing treatments every 4 hours, night and day. After that, she had her follow up appointment with her pediatrician. He said that if we wanted to reduce it to twice a day (morning and night) it would be fine and once we thought it seemed under control, we could just do it as needed. Right now, we are doing only one treatment, and that’s right before bed.

John has been sick now. After I got over my sinus infection and chest cold (which I now question), John had to go to the doctor and was treated for Bronchitis and a sinus infection. Our neighbors are sick, my mother is sick, even Isaac has been a bit poopy. I wonder if some biological weapon has been unleashed on Topeka?

Lily in the hospital

Lily is spending the night in the hospital. She has been diagnosed with pneumonia. Mom is staying with her. Watch for the entire story soon.

Lily speaks! (If you listen very closely...)

Lily's Spoken Vocabulary-
Dog
Cat
Mommy/Mama
Daddy/Dada
Ball (CONSTANTLY! Everything round is a ball)
Num-Num (food - mostly accompanied by the baby sign for 'more')
Book
Uh Oh! (CONSTANTLY!)
Bubble (this generally means bubble, balloon and elbow)
Boon (this is only occasionally said and it means balloon)
Bow (this is only occasionally said and it means elbow)

Animal Sounds-
Elephant (Raised arms for trunk plus a high pitched squealing trumpet)
Cat (very high pitched meeeeeeeeow)
Dog (mostly just grunting but it could technically pass as a bark)
Giraffe (chewing)

Lily's devastating wound...

Lily has a terrible wound on her hand. We aren't sure how she received it but here, she points out the wound for all to see.....below...I have highlighted the wound so its full magnitude is understood.


As you can see, the wound is nearly the size of a pin head...or maybe a freckle. Lily has spent the greater part of the last several days walking around pointing it out to everyone. Its really terrible.....NOT.

Bedtime snack? Maybe not a good plan.

Lily hasn't been eating very well lately. We don't know if its teeth, or maybe a touch of the flu that Mommy had, or something totally different. Anyhow, we thought that maybe some sugar-free pudding would be a good bedtime snack and help her sleep a bit.

After her bath, we got her ready for bed and went to do snack. Turns out, that may not have been the best order to do that stuff in....for more Lily pudding pics, check our Flickr.

She was a MESS.

Lily is a great helper!

This week, Mommy hasn't been feeling all that well. Finally, on Wednesday night, Mommy finally came down with what she was going to come down with....the flu.

Usually in the morning, Mom gets Lily dressed while Daddy takes a shower. Then Daddy takes Lily to school while Mom showers and gets dressed for work. On Thursday, however, Mommy was too sick to get Lily dressed so she went and laid on the couch (conveniently located in baby jail) so when Dad finished getting the girl dressed, he could plop her in baby jail and she could talk to mom as she convalesced on the sofa.

It was pretty obvious to Lily that Mommy wasn't herself that day. She was just laying in one spot not moving or smiling, or anything. Lily knew that the only thing that made her feel better was her soft blankie. So she retrieved it out of the laundry basket (Daddy hadn't folded it yet) and brought it to Mommy and covered her up. Then Lily patted Mommy's arm reassuringly.

Such a thoughtful girl and a good helper!

Lily at the garage sale

Lily with grandpa at the garage sale
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily helped out at our garage sale last weekend. She had a very busy time picking the price tags off things. She was SOOOO tired after a busy day.

Lily slept through the night....or did she?

The debate about what constitutes sleeping through the night has begun. Last night, Lily Rose Opgaard slept through the night. That is, according to Mommy she did. Daddy, on the other hand, disagrees.

The Facts:
1) Lily went to bed and to sleep by 7:30pm
2) Lily woke up during Heroes (bad timing Lils!) about 8:30pm for a sip of water but went immediately back to sleep. Daddy responded. Up time: 10 minutes
3) Lily woke up at 10:30pm wanting water. Mommy responded. Up time: 10 minutes
4) Lily woke up at 11:30pm upset. Needed Tylenol and water. Daddy responded & Mommy assisted. Up time: 15 minutes
5) Lily woke up for the day at 5:05am.

That means that from 11:45pm until 5:05am (5.25 hours), Lily slept.

We encourage you to weigh in. Did Lily sleep through the night or not?

Lily lovers unite!

Remember a few months ago when we posted about Lily being such a ham at her Christmas Program? Well, apparently we weren't the only ones who thought so.

The other day, we were over at Sam's Club shopping. We were standing in line with Lily and an older gentleman was standing behind us. We were chatting with him, and he was admiring our girl (as people are so wont to do) and she was being silly and flirting a little bit with the 'grandpa guy'. All of a sudden, he got this look of recognition on his face and asked, "Did I see this baby at the First Baptist Church Daycare Christmas Program?"

John and I were astonished! I wouldn't recognize most of those kids there if I saw them out of context (and I see some of them almost daily), let alone one baby who I saw once 4 months ago! We confessed that yes, our baby was in that program. The man went on to say that she really made him laugh.

Lily has a groupie! Or….a grampy in this case!

Lily's fever

Lily was sick most of last week with a high fever. We took her to the doctor on Monday with a 102.4 fever. The doctor says that it was only an upper respiratory infection. By 10:00 that night, it had risen to 103.5 so we called the doctor again. The nurse told us to give her Tylenol to lower her temperature and call again if it went over 104. She was soooo miserable and woke up every 15-20 minutes most of the night. It made for a sleepless night for everyone.

Dad had to take care of her for four straight days. The first two, she just laid on him and slept. She wouldn't let him put her down for even a minute. On Tuesday night, in order for mom and dad to get as much sleep as possible, dad took her downstairs to our guest bed and slept with her. She slept better knowing that dad was right there.

By Wednesday, she was starting to feel better but was still running a fever. Because she still wasn't feeling 100% she was exceptionally fussy. By Thursday her fever was gone and she was even more fussy because she was starting to get bored with dad.

On Friday it was BACK TO SCHOOL!

We were concerned that the progress that we had made in getting her to sleep would have been lost but it would seem that we are still on track. Last night she woke up only once for about 5 minutes!

Lily on Easter

Lily is just kicking back on Easter Sunday morning.

Who is bigger?

You might have wondered, who is bigger, Lily or Darwin? Well, as you can see, it would appear that Darwin is still bigger but that is deceiving. Lily is heavier by a couple of pounds but Darwin is longer when he stretches out.

Want some?

100_3018, originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Lily is very into "sharing bites" with Mommy and Daddy. On this particular evening, dinner was ravioli and bananas. As with all good babies, the palate is not as 'discerning' as that of Mommy or Daddy. Tonight, she liked to have the bananas and the ravioli at the same time so they mixed on the tray and made the ever popular food, "raviana" or "bananoli". I think she finds it odd that Mommy and Daddy don't really like the flavor of banana dipped in ravioli sauce....

Mommy!

Well it took me awhile to get to this, but Lily has finally called me Mommy. I mean, she has been saying "Mommy" and "Mama" and "Dad" or "Dada" for quite some time, but it was always in a sort of general sense. Sort of "I say Mama in your general direction" kind of talking. But this time, it was deliberate, definite and darling!

On our anniversary, Lily was not pleased that I was doing whatever I was doing instead of paying attention to her. She toddled over to me, stood right in front of me, planted her little feet, looked up, raised her arms, and said "Mommy!".

Well, it was the absolute best anniversary present she could have ever given me! Sounds totally sappy but I know now what all those other sappy moms meant when they said that was the big moment for them. It was a rush, thats for sure!

Lily was born!

On February 14, 2007 a certificate of birth was issued certifying the birth of our daughter Lily Rose. Apparently, she was born! With the arrival of this birth certificate, our adoption journey is complete! All the T's are crossed, all the I's are dotted. If we weren't parents before, we sure are now!

Tooth Update

Lily has four teeth now! She got her second upper tooth just in the past few days. She has found all sorts of uses for these new things in her mouth from prying open her lotion to biting off pieces of cracker to clicking them together.

We were hoping that once she had cut her first four teeth she would start sleeping better but so far not.

Lily playing with Mom

Mom making Lily laugh

Mom was playing with Lily and Lily thought it was great fun!

Video of Lily Walking

Finally, we got a video of Lily walking. Here it is!

Doctor's Appointment

Lily had her 12 month checkup yesterday. She is doing GREAT! She is now 29.25 inches tall and weighs in at 20 pounds 15 ounces. She is getting to be such a big girl.

Lily's First Birthday

Today is Lily's First Birthday! It hardly seems possible that our little girl is a year old. To celebrate, she slept in this morning...and let mom and dad sleep a little later, too.

Tonight we are all going out for dinner. We have a party planned for Saturday.

She is getting to be a big girl, now.

Here is a snapshot we took of her this morning before she went off to school/daycare. Notice her hair! Mom gave her a pony tail...sort of.

Lily
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.

Trip to Washington

Lily decided that it was time for her to visit her grandma and grandpa in Washington state. So what were we to do but to go with her. We decided to make it a quick trip over New Years.

We flew out on Thursday....yeah, direct flight! We had to keep Lily on our laps the whole time because as we expected there were no open seats on the plane. She slept part of the way and then played part of the way. She started to get fussy toward the end of the flight so we landed just in time.

Grandpa and Uncle Andy met us at the airport. We loaded all of our stuff, installed Lily's seat and drove the 45 minutes to their house in Tacoma. We probably saw the worst traffic of our entire visit on this trip and of course Lily was already very tired from the trip and it was past her bed time...at home.

Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Andy and Lily's two cousins Nathan and Matthew were over visiting Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days. They really came over to see us. It was really nice to see Lily interacting with the two boys. She really liked her cousins!

Nathan, Lily and Matthew

It was great that so many people came by to visit with Lily. On the first full day there, Martha, Iris, Mary and Laryn came down from Lynnwood to visit. Laryn and Lily spent the entire time playing together. By the time they left, Lily was more than ready for a nap.

Lily and Laryn play

Betty came over to visit on Saturday and Bill and Elaine came over on Sunday to visit for a little while. Everyone was thrilled to meet Lily.

On Sunday morning, we decided to take a drive around to give Lily a little nap and to show Lily some of the sights. First, we drove across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to a little park where you can see the new bridge being built.

Mom and Lily overlooking the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

We took the ferry from Pt. Defiance over to Vashon Island and back. This was Lily's first ferry ride.

Lily and Dad on the ferry

When we got back to Pt. Defiance, we took a drive down to Nisqually then back home through Steilacoom. Lily got a good nap.

We decided to celebrate New Years on East Coast time. On New Years day, we spent lots of time packing and getting ready to come home.

Our flight home left Seattle on Tuesday...again a direct flight. We were delayed some so didn't get home until 10:00 pm. Lily had to get up and go to school on Wednesday.

Grandma and Grandpa had a great time getting to know Lily better.

Lily with Grandma and Grandpa
Originally uploaded by Lily'sDad.