Bed with a Belly full of Cake

Everything a little girl turning one could want for her birthday. Family, friends, a tea party, kids to play with, cake and ice cream (and mama not too far away at any time).

I too will flop into bed shortly. It has been a long day. My girlfriend Andrea hosted a small birthday party for Lily since my house is still recovering from the kitchen reno. Lily loves playing with Andrea's two kids and lately when they are together I feel just a little bit better about having to go back to work early. I think Lily will do just fine in her daycare with a couple other kids near her age.

We made party hats and then noticed that most of the decorations were on the floor. Hmm not a good craft for the 1-4yr old crowd. There sure is a lot to learn for me on the party front.

There was cake, cupcakes, ice cream and an extra bowl of chocolate frosting for those with a very sweet tooth.

I had asked people not to bring presents and consider bringing a used toy that their child was not longer playing with. It was so much fun to see the toys that the little ones picked out for Lily. Then there was the exception when Lily opened this gift from Oma.....a mini Lily.

And what is a little girls birthday party without a nice pot of tea at the end of the day. Here is a pic of Lily and her very good friend Samantha sharing tea.

Happy 1st Birthday Lily

Yesterday was Lily's 1st birthday.

How blessed am I to be able to celebrate this milestone with her. We stayed close to home with visits to the park, walks with Char and then at the end of the day a trip to High Park to see all the dogs. Her friends Sam and Jack came by for a visit to sing "Happy Birthday" and while she was sleeping Juni and I made a fabulous birthday cake that is so yummy. A white cake with a chocolate butter frosting that melts in your mouth. We will eat that today at her party.

Lily and I have had more than half of her life together. It was on March 29th that I first looked into her beautiful eyes and new just how precious she was. A perfect match was made that day.


Meeting Lily that day has been the most important event of my life and I am forever grateful that my sister Michele travelled with us and was apart of that very special time.

Lily, I am wishing you a life of happiness, the best health, special moments with good friends and family and in between all of this some exciting adventures.

Forever in love with you!

Sunshine

At the beach with Lily's good friend Samantha (they are only a couple months apart).

Trying to catch a frog....and wondering why everytime she gets close to the frog it jumps forward.

A glorious moment at the cottage ...waiting for the sun to set.

Lily is at the stage where she has to do everything herself.  

When there is no tub available we just make due with what we have....she is having a green bath.

Crazy Mother Alert

 Yes that is exactly what I felt like today while strolling Lily and walking my "crazy" dog down my neighbourhood street.   It all started with a long drive to get to my cousin's house this morning....and we both had had enough of the car.  So once at our destination I put Lily in her stroller and grabbed my dog Charlotte to stroll to the vets to get her nails cut.  They were so long and in desperate need of trimming.  

All the way Char pulled and marked and then pooped and of course I did not think about grabbing a bag and that is because I am living out of three different addresses right now and a car.  All I had with me was a paper towel, a diaper and a plastic bag with a few holes in it.  I know what you are thinking....she used the diaper...but alas, I did not and I went for the other option of a paper towel and a plastic bags with holes in it.  Once through the really awful business we carried on to the vets.

My regular gal Jill was not there to do the job so Daggy stepped in to assist.  Everything was going well with me holding down Char, Daggy doing the cutting until Charlotte jerked back and a nail that was already fragile split.  Boy oh boy there was a fair amount of blood and Lily at this point was crying and I was still having to hold Char while we tried to stop the bleeding.  I do a self check and realize my stress level is really starting to brew.  Note that I have yet to have food and more importantly coffee this morning, so once all set we went out the door to a local bakery for my coffee and a little nosh for Lily.  

Sitting in the sunshine my mood is starting to perk up a bit when of course I come out and Char has pulled the metal rail out that she was tied to and I see her getting pets from an elderly couple.  I grab my croissant to coax her back to me and retie her up.  Here is when I look down and there is more blood again.  Passer byers give me some klennex but I know that I have to get back to my cousins' and assess the situation and perhaps take her into the vets.   I am only a few blocks away and I have the stroller in one hand, dog in other and hot coffee in my third hand.  Suddenly Char lunges out to a dog passing by and twirls me and the stroller around, and then another dog comes out of no where and now I have to forfeit my coffee to get control of my "crazy" dog.  It went into the nearby planter (although I was able to save a few sips).  Suddenly I start screaming at my dog who in turns tells me to piss off basically and it is a wrestle to see who can pin who.  I won but not without some interesting stares from  people nearby.  I really hope Lily's first word is not going to be what came out of my mouth this morning.

Once the dogs have disappeared we carry on back to the house where by this time there is so much blood that I cannot even stop it ....so it was off to the vets and before I got into to the car I chugged my coffee back to get even a little bit of caffiene to help prop me up for whatever the rest of my day has in store for me.

August at the Cottage

It is not too often that the universe provides a calm day with flat water and a helping hand to watch not only Lily but my dog.  This moment in the kayak was thoroughly enjoyed.

Well, I have found a way to get the Internet in a way that makes us all happy.  Erik left his MAC up here for me to use this week and I was able to get the the password to the island library's  WIFI.  This morning just before Lily's nap time I packed the car with her bag, all technology devices and snacks.  We drove into the village and I was able to park right in front of the library, stay in the car to do all my emails while Lily had her morning nap.    It all worked like a charm...until she woke up and I was not yet back at home.  I had to pull over to comfort her which meant taking her out of her car seat and giving her mum mums for the rest of the drive home.      All in all it was a success!        

Lily playing with her big bug from Erik.  We recently went to a friend's house to BBQ with other families who had adopted internationally and Lily played with their lady bug all night long.  It made her laugh uncontrollably.

Lily is starting to really move about and climb.  She is not yet walking and I am soooo thankful for that.  She is a fast crawler and gets around just fine. 

We rented our cottage out to a good friend and for a few days Lily and I stayed at Erik's cottage.  No bathtub but we had so much more fun outside with the setting sun.  She liked to stand up so I used a cup and she enjoyed her Mandi.

The Balancing Act

Back in Toronto for a few days. I have so much to do and I am finding that nap times are getting in the way (but I am so thankful for them). Before I continue on I have to say that we have reached a critical milestone in Lily's life. She has finally decided to sleep through the night on her own terms. I did not have to let her cry it out and I am happy about that as it was not something I was looking forward to doing in a semi-detached house.

It all started when we left Auntie ME's house and went back to the cottage last Thursday. At Auntie's house, Lily started to eat and eat and eat. Her sittings at the table would last about 45min. Maybe it is because my nephews are such healthy eaters and she took the liberty to follow suit. By the time we got back to the cottage she continued eating everything in sight. It must have pushed her to the point of sleeping without the need of waking for a bottle.

We have had 5 nights of sleeping through from approx. 7:30pm to 8:00am. I am just so happy to have 8 hours of my own uninterrupted sleep. Although, I did find myself waking up at the 2:30am feeding time and making sure Lily was still breathing. This whole sleep begets sleep musts be true as no sooner is Lily awake from her night's sleep she wants to go down for her morning nap. We have about an hour of play time after breakfast before she starts rubbing the ears and grizzling to me.

So....back in Toronto as you can see I do not have big windows of opportunity to do a lot of errands. If I take her off her schedule then I pay for it usually the next day. Today, as soon as she wakes up this morning (which is imminent) we are going to run to renew my car sticker, do some grocery shopping and then head back home in time for lunch and then a two hour nap.

She must be on a growing spurt....I summize.

We will then get organized to drive across town to visit a friend who has kindly taken Charlotte off my hands while in Toronto (I am in a house with a few cats). Drop Char off at another house for a night and then head back home in time for bath and bed. Somewhere in between we will need to eat dinner.

In between I am just a regular mom cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, watering plants, and trying to find time to shave my legs : )

Fresh Country Air

Lily and I arrived at Aunt ME's house late last night. Sadly, we caught a late ferry and finally arrived at 10:40p.m. Lily then stayed awake laughing and playing with her Uncle and Cousins for the next hour and a half.

It is so beautiful here especially first thing in the morning and the corn fields are huge for this time of year. Oh, and Charlotte came with us and has been barking at the stalks ever since.

We have been having such a fun summer but it has been nice to get off the island to see some different sites.

Lily is coming up to 10.5 months and just crawling up a storm. She loves to crawl to the dog dish when Char is eating and on occasion has taken a sample kibble out of the bowl. I guess there are worse things she could eat. Also, Lily is crab walking intermittently between crawling. It is especially funny when she does this at the beach in the sand. A little sand crab is what she is. She is not cruising yet but will stand up on anything in reach. She has not quite worked out the mechanics yet.

She is eating up a storm and some days I feel like I have two Labrador dogs. Both Char and Lily seem to beg for food when they see me eat. Lily loves the following foods:

• watermelon
• peaches
• blueberries
• canteloupe
• strawberries
• cheese
• any white bread but especially challah
• Cheerios
• cucumber
• her mum mums and saltine crackers (without the salt)

Lily has a mouthful of teeth. Her eighth finally cut through this week. She has big front teeth with a little space in the middle and she has tested her chompers on me. Her bite hurts a great deal.

We are looking forward to a weekend with a couple other families who travelled with us to Vietnam. I can't wait for all the babies to be together. The memories of Vietnam are so precious to me and I feel like we are all family now.

Pictures to come next week when I will be able to download or sooner if I figure it out here.