Lilah is Going to be a Big Sister!!

That's right, you read the headline correctly, Lilah is going to be a Big Sister. We're pregnant, currently 16 weeks, the new addition to the family is due February 24th, 2008! Lilah and her new sibling will be 13 months apart. At first I thought, "Oh, I can do this, Lilah will be walking a little, it'll work out." Then I went to two different 1 year old birthday parties and realized 1 is a little younger than I thought. I think I was imagining more around 18 months..... then the panic started to sink in. But, we're excited! I've just decided the next few years will be rather hectic, but eventually it'll be great because the kids will be so close in age.
We announced our big new to Oma & Opa in Seattle this past weekend. We were holding out to tell them in person together, so now that they know we can tell everybody! I had Lilah a t-shirt made that read "I"M THE BIG SISTER" on the front with a monkey. On the back it says, "February 2008" with 2 monkeys. Lilah put on the t-shirt late in the afternoon and wore it around ALL evening, waiting on Oma and Opa to notice. But they never did.
Finally we had to get Norah, Lilah's oldest cousin who is 4, to say "Oma & Opa please read Lilah's t-shirt." They were almost speechless and very surprised, but Oma said she guessed it when we arrived at the airport by the way I looked the night before. Opa kept saying "5 under 5," that's the number of grand kids all under 5. Sounds like a band doesn't it? Here's a picture of Opa playing with Lilah and still not reading the t-shirt. He said if it had been morning instead of night it wouldn't have slipped by him.
We're not going to find out the sex of the baby, at least that's what I'm saying right now. I always said for my first baby i'd be surprised. So Lilah being my first, not only did I know, I chose, so I think I can show some restraint, but we'll see, i may be unable to resist.
Lilah had a great weekend in Seattle with her cousins. She is really crazy about Norah the oldest who makes her laugh a lot. And it was fun to see her and Lauren playing together, so cute because they are the same size doing lots of the same things. And no matter how you try, you can never get all the kids to look at the camera at once.

Wanted to give folks a few pointers now that we're pregnant. Please try to resist the temptation to say, "See I told you that you would get pregnant as soon as you adopted." Please remember we've been trying to have a family over 2.5 years and this was a result of my surgery for endometriosis, not a result of less stress now that we have Lilah. Now if you want to say this was part of God's plan, i'll go along with that. Bill & I always said we wanted to adopt, except we had planned to adopt the 3rd baby. With us being in our 30's we needed to get started on the bio kids first. But when #1 was slow in coming, Bill said let's move the adopted baby from #3 to #1, and we did. I believe with all my heart that Lilah was meant to be our daughter. So the good Lord may have delayed things, moved back things, etc, just so we'd be in the right place at the right time for Lilah or she would have ended up with a different family and she was truly meant to be ours. Bill says Lilah has brought us good luck.

Also, please don't say things like, "Now you'll have a baby of your own." Lilah is our own baby, I take care of her and love her everyday, she is mine forever. Please also don't say things like this is a baby of your blood, ...... Lilah was not born from me, but she is a result of a lot of hard work, dedication, and love on mine and Bill's part for all the things that had to happen for this little angel to be in our life. It is a miracle to me how it all happened, all the things that had to be in place so she'd be ours, it truly shows that there are some things in life that are truly meant to be, and Lilah was meant to be our baby.

So if anyone ever asks, I"ll tell them they are both my children, one is hand picked and the other home grown. I just feel so blessed to have the experience of being a mother through adoption and biological. I just wish everyone in the world could know how good if feels to adopt a baby, to know your family was so destined to be that even a big ocean couldn't keep you from each other.

LIKE MOONLIGHT THROUGH THE PINES!!!!

This is Lilah getting her hair washed in the sink at Papa's house. The special thing about this is I got my hair washed in this sink many times as a child. And it was just so special to take Lilah here and wash her hair too. Probably sounds silly, but was so special to me. My Mom passed away when I was 15, and then my Nanny & Papa finished raising me in this house. My Nanny passed away last April and I have wished a million times she could have met Lilah and hugged her. And to be in this house with all of Nanny's things really made me feel Nanny was here, and she got to see Lilah after all. And I can't wait to show Lilah this picture and tell her all about it.

This picture is special too, because throughout my life our family has had many pictures in front of this sign. I've got pictures all at different ages in front of the sign. The sign has even changed, but its the same spot. Nanny & Papa took their 50th wedding picture right here, so this is another hall of fame picture to tell Lilah about one day!
Lilah got to meet her new friends Reese, Reagan, & Griffin along with Aunty Gayle & Pam at Mom's favorite local BBQ place, Mack's. Here's Reese posing while Lilah ogles the fries.
Lilah insisted we buy Papa a bunny while we were home in Georgia. Papa named the bunny Beanie, and Papa had his hands full with these two in his lap. We had a great trip home and we can't wait to see everyone again at the holidays!

ON THAT MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA

If you're starting to understand, Lilah really made the rounds this trip, meeting everyone. This is Lilah meeting Uncle Wendell and Aunt Grace, who is very special and makes delicious chocolate and cheese toast, .... its a Bailey family tradition.
This is the Harvey Clan, Seliest is Aunt Grace's daughter, and Lilah was delighted to meet Pat and Will too.
Lilah trying to show her cousin Cheryl Ann how to use the gift she bought for her in VN.
Uncle Wayne was crazy about Lilah, and he is so tall, that they looked very cute together since she is so small.
Lilah got to meet Papa Jerry too, and he took her out for a nice dinner and her first bite of grits!

GEORGIA ON MY MIND

After Seattle, Lilah and I headed to Georgia to meet Mommy's side of the tree. This is Papa, and the whole trip was a big surprise for him! He just finished radiation for cancer and for his celebration of treatment over, Lilah and I surprised him with a week long visit. But actually, he's the one that surprised us, the day before we arrived we found out he had gone out of town to visit some family, so it took a large family effort to get him back home without spoiling the surprise that we were on our way, but it all worked out and Lilah and Papa had a great visit! This picture is taken when Papa had just found out we had arrived and that everyone was in on it except him.
This is Aunt Cindy feeling Lilah some pears while she sports her ever so stylish GA bib from Aunty LA, who is a big Gator fan, thank you Aunty LA for your sacrifice, and thank you Aunt Cindy for all the food, rides to the airport, and stashing us till Papa found out we arrived.
Lilah enjoyed meeting Aunt Kathryn & Uncle Lance, and hopes they'll come visit us very soon. Lilah loves to watch people brush their teeth, I think she may want to be a dentist just like Uncle Lance!
Lilah had a great visit with Papa Jack and Grandmama Genevieve. There was lots of tickling and fun to be had at their house along with watching all the ducks, cats, and pet Hamster.
The funny thing you should know about this picture is Lilah really wanted Papa checkbook, but he wouldn't give it too her, so about 45 seconds after I took this shot, she had a really HUGE puke right into his pocket. How classic is that! I told Papa, that's my girl, if you won't give her your money, she'll puke in your pocket!

WE ARE FAMILY...... I GOT ALL MY COUSINS WITH ME!

As you may recall, Lilah and I went to the mainland to visit family back in July. This was our first stop in Seattle to meet the Moore family, ..... Daddy's side of the tree. This is Aunt Liz entertaining all 4 girls with a story. Amazing that they all look so entertained, even if its just for a moment. This was Lilah's very first time meeting her 3 cousins and she found them quite interesting to watch. We are definitely blessed with girls in the Moore family.
This is one of my favorite photos of Aunt Liz and Lilah, meeting for the first time, looks like they are hitting it off well!
Lilah with her older cousins Norah & Katie.
Lilah also got to meet Opa for the very first time and she was of course happy to see Oma again. Oma even gave her a little sip of Pho.
This is Lilah's new best friend Lauren. Lauren is only 1 month younger than Lilah, so we expect these two to grow up thick as thieve, I can only imagine the fun these two will have growing up together!

GO DAWGS!!!

As you may know College Football Season started this past weekend. And Lilah got to watch her first Georgia game! She sported her first Georgia t-shirt from her Aunt Kathryn & Uncle Lance, and I must say the shirt brought the Dawgs good luck for their first game.
Bill keeps saying she'll be a Gamecocks fan like him, not a dawg fan like me, but since i'm the one that dresses her most of the time, i'm not all that worried. Though I must admit she was rather fussy on saturday. Bill kept saying it was the shirt, she didn't want to be a GA fan, i told him she didn't want to play favorites between the two of us, so she wore the GA shirt for me, and acted like a Gamecocks fan for him..... whiny! Ha ha
Lilah and Mommy on the couch watching a movie, one of the actual few moments that my little wiggle worm isn't moving around.
Look who can hold her own sippy cup now! She needs us to hold up the bottom at times, but i think she does pretty good.
Lilah loves corn just like her Oma! We went over to Uncle Jon & Aunty Andrea's the other night and we let Lilah chew on an ear of corn and she loved it. But part way through the meal I did have to stop and take off all the kernels and just let her suck the cob, she was getting to good at gumming the kernels off and I was afraid she'd choke.