Tag: Parenting

All About Livi

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I haven’t done a post dedicated just to Livi in a VERY long time. I don’t know why. I think there has just seemed to be a lot of other things occupying my thoughts and I use this blog to process my thoughts. Well, I want to take a minute and tell you how much I am enjoying my darling “baby” girl.

She was imitating her Uncle Sean burping here :S

I still think of her as my baby, maybe she’ll always be my baby, but sometimes she’ll give me a look and I see a 25 year old girl staring back at me. It is such a weird feeling. She is growing up so fast. She has all four of her eye teeth now. I think that means she has 16 teeth. How many teeth do kids get?

She is consistently wearing size 3 clothes! The main reason for this is her cloth diapers. Size 3 is way to long on her but fits over her bum. Without the diapers she is a size 2. I’ve been seriously thinking of trying to potty train her. She is showing all the signs of maybe being ready for it. She stays dry for longer periods of time, loves sitting on the toilet (but is yet to use it), can tell me when she has gone poop, and she knows the concept of pulling her pants down but she can’t get them over her cloth bum. I think we are going to move to disposables soon and try out some training pants. I was going to wait until March though when she’ll be at least 18 months. Maybe I’m rushing in to it but it can’t hurt to try, right? If it works I’ll be saving us a bunch of money on diapers and trouble with changing diapers.

I put her in training pants that have a cooling sensation if she pees in them. Of course, she did pee in them. When she did, she stopped, looked down at her diaper and looked back at me saying “Whoooooaaa.” It made me laugh 😀

She is talking tons! She copies the last word of every phrase we say…. good and bad. She has been saying a few sentences for a while now but lately that is taking off. Her first official sentence was “where’d it go?” and lately she has been saying “I love you” “What happened?” and a few more that I can’t think of right now.

She has really taken off with her climbing. She was never too interested in it until now. She can get up on to chairs now and would go up on the table if we let her. She has discovered how to move the chairs around to reach things that she wants too. We could be in for some very serious trouble soon.

Her fine motor skills seem to be off to a bit of a slow start but she has started building towers and trying to do her puzzles. She is an excellent helper. She can follow instructions very well. She takes things to the garbage for me, hands me all the laundry out of the front load washing machine so I can put it in the dryer,  she puts things in her laundry basket, picks and brings out her shoes (she can usually get them matching too but generally picks her brown ones) and can put them away, and she can brush her teeth… sort of.

She identified the letter C this morning! I was excited. We have a book that goes over ABC and 123. I didn’t know she was getting any of it yet. Then, this morning, a cartoon was on without the sound, and the letter C appeared. Livi pointed and said C! I was pretty excited 🙂

Yes… she is that kid.

She is OBSESSED with the Muppet’s cover of Bohemian Rhapsody and very demanding about it. She sings along and copies their actions. It is quite cute but she would watch it twenty times a day if we’d let her. There are much worse things she could be in to so I’m going to enjoy this while it lasts.

We have Livi in swimming lesson’s right now and she is doing really great. She can paddle, kick and is getting really good at blowing bubbles with out inhaling water after. She can also walk in water completely on her own, even if it is up to her shoulders! I try to stay really close though, but she has so much energy it is hard some times.
 
We went to the park today. I’ve been trying to get outside with her as much as I can in this beautiful weather! Her Auntie Sessa came with us and helped me chase after her… and fight her to come home. She didn’t want to leave and didn’t want to hold my hand on the road. I’m trying to teach her that it is not a choice to hold my hand. But, with a one year old who trows herself down until I finally let go, it is proving to be a difficult lesson.
I guess that’s all for now. I can’t think of anything else. I love my daughter. She is incredible, a contstant source of amusement and lights up every day! I can’t wait to expand our little family 😀

Freaking Out A Bit

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The evening after I told everyone that we are going ahead with an adoption I started freaking out. All the worries about the adoption process, our ability and readiness, finances, atatchment, health of the child, impact on Livi, impact on the child, the trials of her development, EVERYTHING! I still believe that adopting is the right thing for us and we did think and talk about all of these issues before deciding, but everything just seems to be flooding me the last few days.

My biggest concern, at this moment anyway, is the money. International adoption is SO expensive. How are we going to afford it? What have we committed to? We had wanted to buy a home before she comes in to our lives but I’m not so sure that is going to happen this year. We don’t have enough equity in our condo to pay for a down payment for a house so I need to come to terms with staying here a little longer than I hoped. I miss having a yard. I was hoping that we would have one by the summer time so Livi play in it. Oh well. Financially it is a better idea if we wait… after all we are wanting to spend $25,000 this year! If we get “Maggy jr.” earlier than we expect the girls will just have to get used to sharing a small room and I’ll need to make an extra effort to get out of the house everyday.

Even though I am freaking out about the journey ahead I am so excited. I can’t wait for the girls to start playing together, getting that first hug, and having her call me mommy for the first time (if she is verbal). Becoming parents again is going to be such a different experience than becoming parents to Livi. I can’t wait to start it!

New Year’s Weekend!

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The whirlwind is over. We are exhausted and very glad to be home and in our own beds tonight. Livi hasn’t made a peep since going to sleep and I will be following her soon.

Our New Year’s eve was very memorable. I’m glad I was able to relax and not worry about Livi so far away. She did great, by the way. She slept well and only woke up once. We went out for appetizers at our friends place before leaving with them for another party in Kitsalano. It was low key and relaxing. We visited and played a group game that was made a lot more interesting with a few intoxicated participants. I got to meet someone who just started working for L’Arche! I know, I’m such a geek. L’Arche is a community where people with disabilities can share their lives with typical people in an empowering environment. Jean Vanier is a big supporter of these communities and speaks often of them in his book “Becoming Human”, which this blog is named for.
We rang the New Year in on a roof top balcony, over looking the city lights. It was a beautiful,clear night. We could see everything. It was quite breathtaking. Following midnight our party of about ten decided to crash the UBC frat party two doors down. Us, near and just over thirty year old’s, dressed comfortably and maybe not-so stylishly, jumped confidently in to the center of the dance floor. The under twenty year old boys were sweaty and shirtless, while the stylin’ fashion minded girls danced up a storm in 3 inch heels! All the kids were good looking and fit so it was definitely a “cool” kid or jock party. We grossly stuck out. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so old. All I could think about was how badly the home stank and the poor real oak floors that were sticky and getting scratched.
We joined Livi and the rest of Jon’s extended family at the Chehalis Healing House at the base of Hemlock the next day. I was pretty eager to get to Livi. We made it there for lunch and she nearly jumped in to my arms! I don’t think you can fully understand how amazing that feeling is until you are a parent yourself. The rest of the weekend was fun but exhausting. Livi didn’t stop moving when she was awake… which meant we were chasing her around a lot! Thankfully there were a lot of other babysitters around to keep an eye on her as well. Her favorite thing to do was run up and down wheelchair ramp and climb up and down the stairs. We don’t have stairs in our home so they are a big novelty. She already knew how to climb and descend stairs but I had still been staying close. This weekend gave her and I both the confidence to know she can do it by herself.

 
She was a little extra whiny this weekend. Understandably though. She was overstimulated by all the people around her, plus they all jumped to her every whim… she didn’t have to talk! I hope getting her back in to a routine and boundaries won’t be too difficult. I really hope I can get her back on to a proper eating schedule quickly. She hasn’t been drinking her milk in the last few days. I figured it was just because of all the distractions at the lodge, but she wouldn’t drink any tonight when she was in her own home either! I’m not stressing about it yet… but if her refusing milk continues for much longer I will have to start finding alternative ways of getting the calories in her. And Yes, I did try putting it in her sippy cup and an adult cup.
Some exciting news about our next family reunion is that the family business will be taking us all some where warm! How exciting is that?! Discussions are still very much in the preliminary stages but we have plans for it  anyway! After my initial excitement my mind immediately added up the months and realized, if all things go according to plan, that we will have a very newborn baby. Hmmm… is it irrational to bump ahead or push back family planning for a trip to an all-inclusive? Okay, maybe not something I have to think about quite yet 🙂
So we are home, safe and sound, and ready for bed. Good night and I hope you had a fabulous New Years Eve! May you experience every blessing in 2010!