Festival de la familia

Lily has been very anti-spoon lately. We only eat finger foods and when she is presented with a spoon she turns her head in disgust. So as you can see we have reached a new day. She recently turned 18 months and decided she could handle the spoon and no siree I do not need any help thank you very much.

Aren't they cute. I went to make Lily her breakfast and came upon this cuddly pair. Can you see why I'm in love? Who could resist.

Festival de la familia

Today we went to Cal Expo and joined a celebration of Latin American culture. My mom went hog wild with the shopping and Lily did some dancing and walked all over the place. She did not take a nap and I am so surprised that she was as agreeable as could be. I love this shot of Papa and Lily they are such a cute pair. She teases him and plays hard to get, but in the end loves him immensely.

Lily has discovered she can move really fast and going down hill it is almost a run. Sometimes she surprises herself she gets going so good.

Ooh and mommy won 4 free tickets to Monterey Bay Aquarium. I am so excited I love Monterey. So I suppose we will have to take a summer trip now. Isn't that just too bad?

They say it's your birthday

So this birthday is very special. I am 32 (technically tomorrow) and it is the first birthday I don't feel the pressure of the biological clock like a ticking time bomb. My 30th birthday we were sure I was pregnant. I just went through a round of fertility drugs and I was sure like always that this would be it. That this would be the pregnancy that would last. We rolled baby names around and thought about whether this child would have my lips or Peter's nose. We were not pregnant and it was around this birthday Peter and I decided it was okay to let that dream go. I am so happy we did.

My 31 birthday our adoption was almost complete. We were waiting for word that we could travel. I was so nervous. What if's were rampant. What if I was a terrible mother, what if we didn't bond, what if I didn't feel magic when I first layed eyes on my baby, what if the baby got sick while we were in Guatemala, What if the plane crashed, what if..........................

So now here we are and I am not a perfect mother but I am a happy one and I have this little wonderfully strong funny person in my life. And it doesn't matter that she doesnt have my features or my genes. We are family and it is fabulous. I have gotten some wonderful gifts for my almost birthday. But the best gift of all is currently calling my name and it is the best sound. I must go cuddle and love her. Happy birthday to me.

Vacations Over

This is how I am feeling today, just a little blue. I am finishing a two week vacation where I did nothing but hang out with my little sassafrass. Now it is back to reality. The juggling act of a working mom is one I did not expect to be this hard. It does make me cherish every moment I have with her. Yes even the ones where she is screaming at the top of her lungs because she wants to push the stroller through the mall and not sit in it. I do even enjoy those moments.

Todays update. Lily has added the word play to her gaggle of signs.

A funny moment:
Lily has been dragging my purse around the house for three days. It is empty and much much to big for her so it drags on the ground as she walks. Today I said Lily lets go bye bye. She went over and hoisted my purse on her shoulder and walked to the front door. We had to drag that purse into each of the stores we went in today. She was so proud of herself. Such a big girl.

Its the little things

So I don't ever want to forget the tiny fingers and toes that capture my heart a little more each time I see them. These tiny appendages are growing quickly and pretty soon it will feel a blink of an eye and they will not be so small anymore. I know this to be true because they have grown so much already.

Speaking of growing so much I have to make a list because Lily continues to amaze me. She now knows four words. Mama, Dada, Hi which comes out Hieeeeeeee and eye which sounds like ieeeeeeeee. I know I know it is the same word but whose counting. Here is where we are learning in leaps and bounds. Lily now knows 14 signs and uses them quite freqently and is adding more to the list daily. She watches her baby einstein movie with true motivation and astounds each day with a new word.

So here is our list of signs so far:
bubbles, baby, I love you, more, cookie, help, bath, milk, eat, all done, hat, thank you, please, and potty.

Forever Family

Our family is coming up on a very important anniversary. We have chosen to call it our forever family day. As we near our anniversary of the completion of our family I am beginning to remember to take notice and appreciate how truly blessed I am. It is easy to slip into a routine and forget how special and phenomenal ones own family is. I can not believe that my world ever existed without Lilyana. This year has been filled with so much joy and change and love. I feel truly blessed. The video below is of our journey. It starts from the first pictures we recieved of our beautiful girl and continues on to bringing Lily home. I hope you enjoy it and that most of all Lily will always know that she is loved, and we are truly honored to be her parents.

Easter Fun

So Easter began a little rocky. As any event can that includes a 3 1/2 (the half is very important) and a nearing 2 year old. Ava is Lily's cousin, well if you ask her they are sisters, either way she joined us for our Easter fun. So Saturday evening we came together to color eggs. Which I apparently do not know how to hard boil because Lily cracked one open and it was goo on the inside. But it isn't really about eating the egg is it?

So as you can see the egg coloring went over really well. Lily was mad she couldn't drink the dye and Ava was upset that not all the eggs were hers. Eventually they both lost interest and my mom and I colored some very sad soft boiled eggs.
However today was just precious. Lily's first Easter here in our family was all we could ask for, except that Daddy worked a double and we haven't seen him yet. Although we were missing a very important member of our family the day was one to remember.

When I gave Lily her Easter basket she hugged it tight and rocked back and forth like she does with all her favorite toys. It wasn't until it tipped over that she discovered there was more inside.

Ava and Lily hunted for eggs. Truth be told Ava hunted for eggs and Lily tried desperately to be carried around like a princess. She was however delighted when Ava placed an egg in her basket.


Here is the pro egg hunter of the family. She looks just to cute in all her Easter glory.



When we were finished with our Easter egg hunt we took a drive to Land Park where we fed the ducks. Well Ava fed the ducks and Lily ate the bread.



Are they not the sweetest. I love my family.

San Francisco

Peter and I just took a little road trip to San Francisco. We stayed overnight near pier 39 and just walked around and did the touristy thing. We took Lily to an aquarium to see the "ishshshsh." (Her words) Although she was more interested in the fact that her little feet can carry her from place to place than she was in the actual living creatures.

This sequence of photos was Lily's favorite thing about pier 39. Proof that there is something for everyone in Sanfrancisco. She walked over the metal and around and back and repeated the procedure. I think we may still be there had we not distracted her.

We also stopped for a cheerios break in golden gate park. Cheerios and graham crackers I am learning are truly the magic elixer. They keep you in good spirits in shopping carts, malls, strollers and even on vacation. Who knew!

Here Goes

I am an adoptive mom to a little bundle of joy named Lilyana Rubi. She is funny, loving, boisterous sassy and oh so adorable. I have been looking at all kinds of blogs and so I thought hey why not me too. I thought I would be the kind of mom who might have scrapbook upon scrapbook, but it turns out I have picture upon picture stored in my computer for no one to enjoy. So perhaps I can use this as my forum to share with anyone who wants to see into the window of our lives. And enjoy the laughter of my evergrowing everchanging little Sassafrass. Here are a few of my favorites at the moment.

This is my glamorous look

This is Lily and her cousin Sophia. Lily's mouth may be a little full

I love this picture of Lil. Look at all those teeth we are happy she has not discovered biting yet.