Lily Bug, Baby, and Me

November Andventures and Thanksgiving

2009-12-03T20:32:00.001-08:00

November has been a crazy month of relocating and establishing residency her in Oregon. I feel as though I have been going 100 mph and running in circles. However finally the dust has settled and life is seaming some what normal. All the finding of doctors, schools/day cares, work, stores and my way around town have come to a comfortable place and I feel life slowing down. Just in time for the holidays of course. Being away from home has been emotional for me but we have in a way started our own family traditions and made the best of Thanksgiving. I was going to make my first turkey but chose not to and the four of us went camping for Turkey Day. Yep, camping. It was a super special experience and tones of fun. I did some cooking at the camp site and we ordered a pre-made turkey that we reheated on the fire grill. The kids had so much fun and for the most part behaved. I am sure all of you are thinking that it was cold but it wasn't. We stayed at Nehalem Bay State Park in between Manzanita and Nehalem Bay OR. It is a large State park right on the ocean that provides tent, trailer, motor home, and YURT camping. We rented a YURT for 3 days, a round rubber like tent with electricity, heat, tables and chairs and beds. YURT stands for year round, universal, recreational, tent. It was a great experience and one that we hope to do again. The kids had so much fun out on the beach, in the yurt, camping, roasting marshmallows and exploring the outdoors. Our first night there two raccoons got into our ice chest withing the first ten minutes we were there so we learned quickly to keep the food inside. It rained part of the time but was also nice a few of the days.

Now that we are home and back to everyday life the pace has picked up a bit. I have finally started my new teaching position at Peace Learning Center and am happy to be back working with children. Not to mention saving money on day care costs. I am teaching in the toddler room on Mondays and Tuesdays and in the 2 1/2- 3 1/2 room with both Braden and Lily on Fridays. Meaning I get WED and THU off to be home with the kids and do my housewife duties.

But now that it is already December I can not wait to return home to Tahoe and see my family for a few days. Lily and I have been preparing for this trip for some time now and I cant wait. However I am also very excited to have our first Christmas here in Oregon as a family.

Photot to share

2009-11-18T22:46:00.001-08:00

Braden and Lily siting in their toy box playing

Lily takes her baby to the park.

Lily the pretty princes

Her splint and sling before her hard pink cast

Big beach smiles from our little man
Sitting in the hospital ER room after braking her elbow.

New hobbies and Halloween

2009-11-16T17:33:00.000-08:00

Things are slowly getting better and better. Braden is with us now and the children are always a struggle but worth every minute of it. We have not had much time to go out and do things but here are a few photos of what we have.Halloween Was fun and Lily was quite the trick-or-treater saying thank you and everything. However that night she also fell off the couch and fractured her elbow. She is handling it well but was not a big fan of the x-rays.

Are new hobby has been looking at and photographing the wild mushrooms that grow in our lawn it's pretty neat. Here are a few that we have found.

Settling IN

2009-11-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

Lily and Chris walking on the beach

I do not have a ton of time to write posts but here is a quick up date. Work is going well and I am learning lost of stuff. Lily is doing amazing and has developed a attitude and a half that I am doing all I can to curb. She was Abby for Halloween and actual fell of the couch braking her elbow! She gets a hard cast tomorrow :-( I have been loving the different environment and all of its natural habitat, and beauty. Below are some pictures to share our trips to the beach, aquarium, daily life and more. Love you All!

A attempt of 3 person self photo

Chris's Octopus that is in the Seaside Aquarium

Lily loves all the BIG boats

There are tones of spiders everywhere AHHH

New Beginings

2009-10-12T22:32:00.000-07:00

Finally a time in this blur I am calling life I have found the time to slow down enough, that I can share with the rest of my friends, family, and loved ones the adventures that have filled my life sense April.

My move in April was a little bumpy and the roommate situation did not work out out. However, it was between then and September that I made a loving comment to my boyfriend Chris and his son Braden.

With this comment the two of us made the decision to move our family to the North West Coast or Oregon. Even with all the signs showing amazing and wonderful outcomes the what was thought to be to good to be true home was not so good. So instead of settling in after our surprisingly fun, and bonding drive it was a hard, emotional, and disappointing first few days. Thankfully with lots of loving support, understanding, and hard work we were able to get into a place on Friday October 2end. It is not a 3 bedroom home with a large yard but it is a comfortable, safe new townhouse apartment in Warrenton OR.

Chris has been working since the 5th and I began work on the 8th. Meaning that Lily started a new daycare (without me)! Until things are settled Chris will will continue to work doing telecommunications and the get back out on the sea to do some fishing once the dust settles. I am currently working for a company named CRS a none profit organization that assist disabled adults. But am trying to get a teaching positioning at Peace Learning Center, Lily's day care in Astoria. Lily just loves it there and is doing so well. She is constantly blowing me away with her abilities and knowledge. One that I am very proud of is that she can correctly spell her name. MISS LILY.

The move

2009-04-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

So I finally have gotten the time to write another post so the one that I had begun in march I just posted and never finished hope it shares a little of what has been going on in my life. For most of you there has been a lot of BIG changes in the past few moths and I am very excited to share them with you all.

School has been going great and I am doing amazing. I am in my second quarter of working towards my medical assisting certificate and still working on a ECE certificate as well. I am truly loving my new ability to learn and enjoy school and am so glad to have this opportunity.

Work has been wonderful also. I have been exploring great new activities and loving the spring weather. Children are amazing and fill my heart with so much joy. I am so blessed to be able to be with Lily and watch her as she grows, building life long friendships and begins to understand the world around her.

Okay moving on here is the big news!! As of the 19th of April I have moved out. I am now living with Nicole, a girlfriend who is also a single mother of an amazing little girl, Serenity, who is 2 weeks younger than Lily. Nicole and I are old time friends from elementary school. We reunited in child birth class and I happen to be her daughters preschool teacher. The girls are great friends and will hopefully be the best of friends for life. Pictures will be available soon. For now here are some fun photos of the 2nd b-day and more.

Changes!!

2009-03-07T22:58:00.000-08:00

Changes are a part of life a means of survival. So this blog is all about the changes in my life. To start the few small changes here at Lily Bug and Me... as you've seen I changed the background and with it come a few little glitches. First is that a few of my old posts photos now over lap, and my list of other peoples blogs has been erased. Nothing big, I am working on fixing those problems.

Moving on to the big changes. I have finally fell into a salary teaching position at the college and am a classified employee. I am the afternoon toddler teacher and having so much fun. Here are a few pictures to share my fun filled days. A few of the kids having a pot and pan band and a few of the girls gathering in the playhouse. Children are such a blessing in everyday life. They warm your heart in so many ways! Not only do I get to watch them all grow but I am a taking part in helping these little people gain knowledge and life experiences. Having the amazing ability to be with Lily is also a once in a life time opportunity. She is growing so fast, talking, jumping, running, singing actual songs and developing friendships and trusting other adults. Like her wonderful am teacher Diana.

Talking about all these new changes for Lily brings us to our next life changes. It is March and that means that Lily will be turning 2 in less than a month!!!! Oh my how she has changed in the past few weeks. She is an amazing little girl full of lost of spunk, inelegance and heart. Just in the past month her vocabulary has more than doubled, her ability to communicate sky rocked and her comprehension is that of a young child not a toddler. She is speaking in full sentences, understands all directions, and engaging in imaginative play by her self. It is amazing. And she uses the potty! Not all the time but is doing a great job training her self.

Still behind

2009-03-02T15:07:00.000-08:00

Seaming how I have such a hard time keeping up an my blogs I have chose to just post several photos from December and January. Christmas was great with Lily this year she truly enjoyed the wrapping paper and her new toys. It was great to see the Longs and to spend time with all the Grandparent!

Long over due

2009-01-02T22:23:00.000-08:00

Wow it has been sense September that I last wrote and it is now almost February 2009. Everyone always use to tell me that life goes bye faster and faster every year that you grow older and I never believed them. But now I totally understand. It seams like year after year life flies bye faster and faster. And now that I am a mother the speed flies bye me by the week even the day.
Although life is flying bye I must say I am happy, healthy and loving most of life. I am busy as always and have lost to share from the past 3-4 months. So here we go. October was a fun month. As most of you know I was teaching in the toddler room at the CDC and was really enjoying it. I did daily art projects and played with the children all the time. I enjoyed the people I worked with and was able to succeed in school. Toddlers are at such a neat age and so full of life that no matter how ruff of a day you are having they are sure to bring joy to you hearts. To wrap up the month was my favorite holiday, Halloween! Lily was a hula girl this year and able to actually try to trick or treat. Tahoe has this thing called Treat Street, a motel that businesses from around town hand out candy to kids from each room and its a safe place with a family enviorment, music, food, advertisement for the business and fun for the kids. Then we went to play at my friend Nicole's house whom has a daughter, Serenity, who is only 1 month younger than Lily. To end the holiday we attended a gathering at my work (Ltcc CDC) called the Harvest festival where we played with children ages 1-5, ate snacks, played game, face painting and fun. A fun filled month that brought lots of smiles! Lily is just starting to understand that the people her size are her friends. She hugs them and says "friends"!

November was also a event filled month with lots of activities and things to do. As most toddlers do Lily is starting to want to do any and everything on her own. Like insisting on putting her hat on all by her self. Cute but does nothing to keep the ears warm. With this new desire to do, she has also begun to be quite the helper in the kitchen. She helps her obachan all the time with baking cookies and preparing dinner. Here she is helping Hanna-Ma make pancakes for breakfast. And then of course kicking back with papa!
In addition to all the excitement at home with the family Lily also has many play dates! I do some babysitting to help make up for only working part time. It is nice to have the connections from work and then to see Lily interact with both older and younger kids.

Wrapping up October and November Is Thanksgiving. A holiday all about giving thanks! I am so thankful for my dear little Lily and my amazing family. I love you all!!

A festival and visit

2008-11-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

Some time in early October Lily's dad Davis called and said that his family and him would like to see her so we arranged to have a visit at beautiful Camp Richardson. During the fall they have many events and I thought it would be a good place and thing to share with everyone. So on a warm sunny Sunday Lily and I packed our bags to go to the Octoberfest and the Taylor Cr eek Visitors Centers annual Kokanee Salmon Run. It was fun to watch Lily look at all the fish and have so much fun doing something my mom once took me to do.

It had been a little over a month sense Lily had seen Davis and sense June that his parent had seen her. So naturally it took some time for her to warm up to them but she eventually did and especially to Cindy, her grandma. As sad as it is she preferred her over Davis. She was very happy to see Lily and I enjoyed watching the two of them bond.

Cindy and her husband Alex had never been to the salmon run so it was also neat to share a Tahoe event with them. Alex is a very nice man and always a pleasure to be around. Lily is their only granddaughter out of 7 soon to be 8 grand kids and you can see the joy that she brings to his heart.

After we walked through the visitor center and saw the fish I let Lily play in a small pumpkin patch at the Octoberfest and she was really cute. For Lily's sake I hope that visits like this happen more often.

At Papa and Hannama's

2008-11-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

Once again it has been to long sense my last post but a lot has been going on. Work, school and everyday life!

I also spent some time at my dad and Rhonda's house watching there animals while the two of them went deer hunting. It was very nice to have some alone time and to be in a different environment. Lily loved being around the animals and would walk around saying, "meow...meow" while chasing the poor cat and also gave Dolly, the puppy, a hard time by pulling on her ears. Not hard enough to cause harm but it did hurt I am sure. Sorry Dolly! In the living room of their house there was a hat that Lily seamed to love almost as much as the animals and she would wear it for a long time it was really cute.
Another thing I was able to do while enjoying our time at Papa and Hanna's was cook for Lily and I. Something I don't do that often because my mommy cooks for us most of the time. Anyway, while I would be cooking Lily would have to find things to entertain herself and at one point it was putting the spices in the dishwasher. She discovers the cupboard with off the spices in it, how to open and close the dishwasher and load them in. It was pretty funny. But don't worry Dad and Hanna I was sure to put them all back and not to let her wash them! :-)
Thanks for having us over, we are happy to hang with the animals anytime.

A Lot Going On

2008-10-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

Life has been so busy that I have hardly had time to think about doing a blog. Sorry it has been so long!
Lily and I are starting our days at 6am and not ending them until about 7:30pm, so it has been quite the change for both of us, but well worth it. I am really enjoying my teacher position at the CDC and truly love the fact that I still get to be with my little girl. I have planed out activities for everyday and am just amazed at how advanced and well Lily participates. She loves to do art (painting, coloring, gluing) and will cry when it is time to clean up and move on. Besides the 6 hours with me in the morning Lily is also staying for 4 hours at school without me on Mondays and Wednesdays plus for 2 hours with my mom on Tuesdays and Thursday. I am taking 2 classes, a kickboxing course and using the gym at the college so our time apart has been healthy, not to long and only strengthening our bond. No matter where we are Lily is a busy bee and always has something to explore and discover At age 1 1/2 she has to large of a vocabulary for me to continue to list it all so I thought I would just share a few. My favorite is hug which comes out more like ug and is always accompanied by a warm and loving hug. Obachan and Grandpa's favorite is Lily, yes she says her own name and it comes out Lily with a dramatic tongue movement and a big smile. I think Lily's favorite is apple because she says it a lot. Here are a few photos from September that I really like. She has had the pleasure to now eat suckers (lolly pops), and lick the beaters. Yeah!! Those of you that are parent know that kids like kids, right? At least it is true for Lily she LOVES her Auntie Rosebud. The two of them play together all the time and recently Rose dressed her up like a pretty princess. On her own Lily will put hats, necklaces, socks and other clothes on plus carry a purse. But this was the first time she ever really got to play dress up!

Belly button

2008-09-18T20:03:00.000-07:00

I am at work the other day and our assistant director Karen shares with me some of Lily's cute moments. For a long time now she has had a obsession with socks and shoes. Oh yeah she says ohes (shoes). Anyways...so I though it was going to have something to do with shoes but instead it was that the two of them were reading a book called Where is Baby's Belly Button by Karen Katz. And yes, I had no idea that she knew where her bell button is, and she does. If you ask here where her belly button is she lifts her shirt, puts her head down and looks at her belly and points to her belly button. AHH it is so freaking cute.

Growing up I always said that I would stay home with my kids until they were 5 or so but the situation I have is better. We are still together, I'm getting a paycheck and she gets the learning experience as well as the social interaction. She loves other kids even though she is a little bit of a bully. Recently her most played activities are in the play houses with her babies. Look another Lily word, baby. She loves them and caries them around and a purse in the other arm. Monkey see...monkey do!

Communicating

2008-09-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

Communication is such an important part of life and it just amazes me that we all start as tiny little infants that don't know how to talk, express our feeling, want or need, or really do much of anything other that eat, sleep, poop, cry and of course grow. There is nothing else in life that is as rewarding as watching your child develop into her own individual person. Lily has stolen every ounce of heart and brings so much joy to my life I could not ever imagine life without her. Just in the past 3-4 months she has began to truly speak and like I had mentioned in one of my first post her communication skills and vocabulary are growing the latest are: book, good girl (but sounds like goo goo), thank you (with the baby sign), night night, moo, baa, la la la, Lily, obachan (bama), rose (ose), no no, please (pease), dog dog, go, car, meow, more and lots of not understandable babel. It almost seams like everyday there is a new word but I cant seam to think of the all so I'll have to get better at writing them down or posting them.

Still one of her favorite things to do is reading and she is so funny about. If you sit down she will walk over to her shelf say book, look at the row of the and actually be looking for a particular one. Her favorite ones are by the same author, Sandra Boynton, and are Doggies and Moo, Baa, La La La. Hence the fact the she is saying all of those words. She has everyone read these books to her so much that if you are lucky enough to catch her sitting at her little table in the living room, which use to be roses, without her seeing you, you will find her reading the books out loud to herself. She knows what page goes with what sound. In Doggies she reads " Dog Dog, ...nnn...nnn...nnn and AAAA-OOOOOOOO, all dog noises on her favorite pages in the book. And of course in the other she reads moo with the cow, ba with the sheep, and la la la with the 3 singing pigs.

Something else I have just been amazed with is a child's ability to sleep in the most uncomfortable looking position and places or some through so really loud noises. When Lily falls asleep in the car or in the stroller or something her head falls forward and if it were my head I would have one huge kink. Another is in her crib...she wiggles so much and ends up all over, sideways, but in the air, head at the foot, face smashed into the rails and feet hanging out. What!!! If this was one of us adults, for sure we would have woken up.

Photos!

2008-09-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

A few from work/school. One of my favorite preschoolers Henry, age 3, and Lily sleeping at nap time on her cot.

One day I was sorting laundry, something Lily like to help me do, and she got distracted by a pile of my high heals in the closet. So naturally she attempted to put them on. So this is Lily in my closet with my underwear around her neck and trying to put on one of my high heals, something every little girl does I hope.
This last February the fam took a trip to Hawaii while Lily and I stayed home and took care of all the snow and sense we could not go they brought Hawaii to us...in the form of a grass skirt and coconut shell top for Lily. So finally able to wear it here she is.

Last is one more of those smiles I cant get enough of!!

Still Catching!!!!!

2008-09-08T19:41:00.001-07:00

With catching in mind I thought I would share with all of you something Lily and I have begun to enjoy very much, Fishing! It had been a long time sense I had been fish until I went with my boyfriend and his family to Sawmill Pound. A small pound here on the South Shore that is stocked full of trout and only for children to fish in. Together with the family and some friends there was 15 kids, 14 adults and lots of fish. We never did that again, however Stevie, his kids, Lily and myself have continued to fish in other place throughout the summer. Places that us adults can fish too.

This leads us to one day when Stevie, Lily and I were out fishing and as the day unfolded I could hear Krystal's vice in my head..."you see pictures that would make a great blog," and that is what happened.

The three of us gathered all of our gear one morning and headed out to Eco Lake. From the moment we got there and put the line in the water the fish were biting. This of course led to a lot of casting and reeling ...to Lily throwing and pulling. So excited and wanting to do it to Lily tried to look over the side of the dam, unable to see what was going on on the other side, she looked at me, then her sippy cup, then took a few step back and threw her cup into the Lake. Unfortunately we were fishing off of a dam. So retrieving this cup was not going to be an easy task. Needles to say mommy spent the next 10-15 minutes fishing for a sippy cup. Lucky for Lily the dam's wall is short and I'm a determined women, it took several attempts but I was able to get the cup when it reach the other side of the dam. We caught many fish that day and brought them home for dinner.

Things like this have become much more fun now that Lily is walking and has her own way of communicateing and interacting. Not that I did not have fun when she was a baby but watching her play and have fun is much more satisfying then just holding her. I'm sure it is more enjoyable for her as well. She definitely likes to partake in everything that mommy is doing, it all part of the learning experience I guess :-)

Catching up!!!

2008-09-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

After sending out the email letting everyone know about my blog I got lots of request for more photos. So I thought I would just post some pictures of our everyday events and some of our fun times. Here they are:

(left) Lily dancing in Papa and Hanna's living room.

(right) Sun bathing at the beach with her cool shades and hat.

Lily and her Auntie Rosebud are quite the team and play together almost everyday. Here they are on a hot summer day playing in the sprinkler.

Another partner in crime is Myriah, my boyfriends daughter. Ready for bed here are the two of them watching TV.

It is so neat to watch Lily interact with all the different people in our lives. She is a shy and cautious little thing around new people and situations. But once she gets to know you or is comfortable in her surroundings she comes out of her shell and joins in all of the fun.
This is her new smile...CHEESE!!!!!!!!

Work

2008-09-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

In hope to be able to survive and support my family of two I have been on the hunt for another job. It seams as though its been for the past six months or so, which it has but on and off. With in those six months I have been offered three different positions. 1- in Reno as a nanny, the second also a nanny but in Gardnerville, and the third a receptionist here in Tahoe at a vacation resort. All of which I at some point took...but didn't. It's complicated, needles to say I am still working at the Lake Tahoe Community College Child Development Center. Three strikes later I find that faith is telling me not to go anywhere and that I for some reason or another belong there. Each time I have tried to leave I have been offered an better position that better suits my needs.

So here I am back at the CDC, in a temporary Teacher position in the toddler room. The nice thing about it is that it will allow me to still be with Lily for half of everyday while at work at the same time. I have chosen to once again take a break form my job search due to the slow season here in tourist Lake Tahoe. I have decided to take two exercise classes an ECE course and a psychology class for this fall. Then hopefully in January I will start off the new year with a new job.

Getting Started!!

2008-08-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

Fall is almost here! Being my favorite time of year I am hoping that life will slow down a little bit. I feel like I have been going a 1000 miles an hour. I am going to be starting a new, full time job and Lily will be moving into the toddler room 4 full days a week. This will be our first BIG change, being away from one another for 9-9 1/2 hours 5 days a week. I am hoping that it will help Lily learn to respect and appreciate me more because everyday she tests and pushes me more and more. I'm thinking that with this time apart she will be so glad to see me at the end of the day and will want to please me instead of push my buttons. We'll see! Fat chance, right? I am so happy to be moving on and trying something new and different. Not that I do not like working with children anymore, because I do. But I am in great need of a break and to work with other adults. I hope to not only make new friends but to also expand my social abilities, letting go of some of my anxiety. :-) I will be working with the Tahoe tourists for the first time and am curious as to how I'll handle it.

Lily shows great excitement and joy to her new schoolroom and classmates. She is board in the infant room and has long been in the toddler mindset. This is obvious by her notably aggressive behavior. Unfortunately Lily is a bitter and recently has also been pushing, pulling hair and clothes and hitting. All very normal for a 1-2 year old but is something that need to be dealt with now. In the past month Lily has made leaps and bounds in her development. I am just amazed with her ability to understand, fallow simple instructions, communicate and express her self. She is truly just a miniature person. NO, MINE are some of her most used words and as cute as it is to hear her speak they are soon to be words that I dislike very much. Other words that Lily has begun to use are: door, shoes, baba, momma, more, nose, bye/hi, papa, bampa (grandpa), brush (for toothbrush and hair brush, and boo. Although she is limited to what she says or what we are able to understand she is capable of understanding much more and using baby signs to inform others of what she wants and needs. Things such as bath, eat, please, finished, waving by or hi, kiss, more and pointing to her ear, nose, and eye. Other milestones she has recently met are walking, and now almost running, opening and closing doors, turning on and off light switches, putting her self to bed, correctly matching differently shaped objects into the corresponding openings, recognizing pictures to their puzzles pieces to complete the puzzle and much more. Recently she has been loving to read especially with her Auntie Rose and particular the book Blue Hat Green Hat as well as the water, nothing new but now able to play in it Lily loves to go to the beach or play in the sprinklers and hot tub.Wrapping it up most of you know that Lily has always LOVED to dance and has always been musical inclined...with a love for music Lily has begun to sing and her dancing has greatly improved. I hope to one day get some of it on video to share with all of you.

Expanding my ways

2008-06-13T23:14:00.000-07:00

It seams like this the the way to keep everyone up to date and is easier to use than babysites so I have chosen to create a blog to keep in touch and everyone informed of Lily Bugs and my ever changing and exciting everyday life. We will see how consistent I am though, HA Ha!!!! I hope to get started with some photos and interesting stories as soon as I learn how to use this site.