It's Good to be Me!

It's been just over a full week since we have been home now and every day brings new experiences for Lilymei.  She has been to the clinic a few times, to church, shopping at the BX and the commissary (grocery), and Saturday night she went to her first movie on base~Wall-E.  She did very well and the boys were excited to finally get to see the movie.  

Lilymei has not liked her bath time at all.  Bath time prior to Thursday night consisted of two parents struggling to shampoo and wash her, trying to keep her from climbing out of the tub, all the while listening to her cry.  This week we had a breakthrough, and as you can see by the photo below, she actually cracked a smile.

We spent Sunday afternoon at the Hyatt pool.  We were taking a chance that Lilymei would do ok with the water since we had gotten a few smiles in the tub this week.  

Nate and Drew acting their normal, goofy selves in the pool.  

Look!  Lilymei has a big smile on her face WHILE she is in the water!  She's come a long way from the crying baby at the pool in Guangzhou.  After swimming in the pool we took the kids down to the beach.  The ocean water was sooo much warmer.  Lilymei sat for nearly 45 minutes playing with shells and coral at the waters edge while the tide slowly came back in.  We knew she would turn into a beach baby!  

Look at me in my Buckeyes t-shirt!  Thanks Maddie!  I love my piano too!!

Lilymei has had so many firsts this week.  We heard her say DaDa and Mom, and she can clap her hands.  She is trying to stand without any help from us.   Saturday morning Lilymei grabbed the fork out of Scott's hand and she proceeded to feed herself breakfast!  She was so proud of herself!  She gives us the cutest little smirk when she does something that surprises us.  

 

"Oh, it's good to be me!"

Isn't she precious?!

Wednesday night, while the boys were at VBS, we took Lilymei to our favorite restaurant, Al Dente at the Hyatt.  Scott ordered lobster (above).  Look at what Lilymei thought about all the great food....

"For me!? Thanks Baba!!

Lilymei is such a blessing to our family.  We just love her to pieces.  Please keep her in your prayers as we head to the hospital tomorrow for the first of many tests.  

July 4th Weekend

We had an enjoyable 4th of July holiday weekend. We celebrated with a party on base Thursday afternoon. On Friday, we cleaned the back patio, got the toddler bed ready, had burgers on the grill for lunch, and went swimming at the Hyatt Hotel where we are members. Saturday, Scott and I had more passport photos made; the boys mowed a couple of lawns and then we ordered pizza and watched the Bee Movie. Sunday after church we bought all kinds of travel size toiletries for the China trip (along with a few goodies for Lilymei) and mowed 4 more lawns. Since we didn't get ice cream Friday night Scott promised the boys we would have Cold Stone before Sunday night. It looked like it just wasn't going to happen though. The boys were disappointed but they went to bed Sunday night without too much complaint. Just before they fell asleep we went into their room and surprised them by taking them to Cold Stone anyway. They love it when we catch them by surprise!

Here is a view of sunset on the Philippine Sea from the Hyatt Hotel, on the 4th.


Here we are wearing our Old Navy t-shirts. We had our picture taken outside one of the restaurants at the Hyatt where we had dinner on the 4th. Even though we live here, the host of the restaurant thought we were on vacation from the US mainland when he saw all of us in the same t-shirt. He kept saying "Have a nice trip!". We laughed and thought "Yes, we will enjoy our trip to China." That's what you can expect when the majority of the hotel guests are visiting from Japan.


We hope you all had a great 4th of July! Only 17 days until we leave for China!