Another Week...

...come and gone. They go by so fast! Here are some fun pictures of Lily from this week. I still have to post the video from her dedication. I've been having trouble posting video onto Blogger, but once I (meaning Robert!) figure it out, I'll have a few more videos to post.

Lily is doing incredibly well. She is such a happy little girl. We are truly enjoying every minute God has blessed us with her. I still can't believe he has entrusted us with such a precious gift. We continue to be thankful and amazed.

Lily and Shayna. Shayna is still trying to figure her out, but seems to be doing pretty well. Tonight at dinner, Lily reached over her high chair for Shayna, and she actually came over and licked her hand! That was pretty exciting, and Lily loved it!

Snuggling with Daddy. She just recently started dong this...resting her head on our shoulders when she is tired.

Drinking from her sippy cup. She got some sippy cups for her birthday (thank you Dave and Jen!). We tried them out this week and she loves them! She's still working on the coordination, but at least she will hold it by herself, unlike her bottle which she still refuses to touch.

Move Over Beethoven! These aren't great shots as I took them myself while she was sitting on my lap, but she sure had a good time banging on those keys. I see piano lessons in our future...

1st Birthday Bash

On Sunday, August 19th, we celebrated Lily's 1st birthday. She had such a good time. She played with just about everyone and had so much fun!

The birthday girl all dressed up for her party.

Some friends that celebrated with us...

A ladybug cake for our Lilybug.

"Ok...what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Cake is good! You've been holding out on me mommy and daddy!"

What a mess! Lily loved her cake and we all had a great time watching her dig in. Thankfully the red frosting all came out and nothing got stained!

The Week in Pictures

On Thursday, August 16th, Lily and I went to the park with Jenny and her girls. It was a beautiful park and they had a great area for smaller kids. I tried putting Lily in the swing. She had a blast at first, but then she started to get a little nervous...I'm not sure why. Maybe because she realized she was in an actual swing and I wasn't holding her? Anyway, here are a couple of shots in the swing.

Our new favorite Lily face. I know I posted one like this before, but I can't help it! Too cute.

"Look what I can do! I can pick up watermelon and cheerios and feed them to myself!" She started doing this on Friday the 17th.

"This is me doing the sign for 'more' which I also started doing all by myself on Friday. Sometimes I feel like doing it, and sometimes I don't, but it works much better and I get my food much faster when I do!"

Saturday morning we went to go visit our friends Mike and Kerry and their boys. It was my first time meeting them, and I LOVE them because they have a bunch of "Little People" toys! Why didn't someone tell me about these sooner??"

"This is me with Uncle Phil. We saw him on Saturday too."

The Many Faces of Lily.

Last night we took Lily out for an impromptu birthday dinner with her Nai Nai, Lau Lau and Auntie Ellen. Lily's favorite part was definitely the bread!


Lily and mommy.


Lily with her Lau Lau.

Lily's many funny faces.

This one is new...and really funny with a mouth full of food! (Sometimes you just can't help but laugh!)

Our future Dentist examining her daddy's mouth.

Happy 1st Birthday Lily!

Today our little girl is 1 year old. I'm sure Robert would agree with me that the last 5 weeks we've had her have been the happiest of our lives. Who knew that such a little person could have such a big impact not only on our lives, but on our marriage as well. She has truly made us want to be not only better Christians and better parents for her, but also a better spouse to each other. Parenting is not easy and I think we both are trying to help the other as much as we can. I truly appreciate the phrase I heard so often before...parenting is the toughest job you'll ever love. I wouldn't trade one minute of it for anything.

Monday afternoon we went to have family pictures taken by our friend Phil. They came out beautifully, this one being one of my favorites. I hope to have family portraits taken August of every year to celebrate Lily's birthday. You can view the other pictures at his website by clicking on the "Phil Crosby Photography" link in the right column.

Robert had to go back to work on Tuesday. I don't know if it was harder for him or for me! We miss you daddy!

No More Tears!

Well, we never thought we'd see the day. Lily has apparently overcome her fear of the bath! We put her in on Friday night...first we let her splash her feet in the tub, then she put her hands in and splashed them around. After that, we put her all in and not one cry! What a difference having those new toys has made. We gave her another one last night, and she just went right in. She was having so much fun playing with her toys in the bath, I think she completely forgot she was even wet. Then we thought maybe she'd get upset when we took her out, but she didn't. And to top it off, this morning when I went to get her up, it was the first time she didn't cry...she actually laughed when I came in the door! Our little girl is doing so well and we are so proud of her!


Hmmmm...I guess this is not so bad.

Actually, I think this is kind of fun!

Look at me mommy...I'm having fun!

I guess bath time is not as horrible as I thought. I could do this again!

Happy 1 Month Anniversary Lily!

Yesterday, August 9th, was the one month anniversary of the day we held our beautiful daughter for the very first time. We've held her in our hearts for years, but I don't think I could ever put into words how it felt when she was handed to us and this precious gift entered our lives. Someone asked me today if our lives have been turned "topsy turvy". My response was, "Definitely for the better!". I can't even imagine life without her now. Here are some pictures we've taken during the last week. She has already grown and changed so much...



Lily having fun playing on the floor. This was unheard of a month ago.

We got a visit from Lea on Tuesday, August 7th. Lea and Robert used to teach together until he became a Math Coach.

On Wednesday the 8th, we went to Marina del Rey to have lunch with Aunt Paula. We had lunch at Shanghai Red's (no...it wasn't Chinese food!) and had a lovely visit. This is me and Lily at our table. We had a beautiful view of the marina.

Me, Lily and Aunt Paula outside the restaurant.

After lunch we went to Aunt Paula's house where Lily showed off her walking skills.

Swinging with daddy. Wheeeeeeee!!

Thursday the 9th, we drove out to Encino to visit some friends...Jenny and her daughter Samantha. They were both sooo excited to meet Lily, but especially Samantha who kept threatening to steal her because she is soooo cute! They also gave Lily her birthday presents...2 books and her first Raggedy Ann doll. I still remember mine from when I was a kid. Thank you so much for the gifts and a lovely afternoon Jenny and Samantha!
Guess who LOVES bread?!? She even turned away watermelon for more bread. I think we have a carb lover on our hands! It must be the Italian side of her.;o)

After lunch we went to go visit Nai Nai and Larry. Lily also got to meet some more of Nai Nai's friends. She had lots of fun showing off for them!