December 29, 2007:

Lilly has been growing and changing so much over the past month. Her vocabulary is building every day and when people meet Lilly (and she isn't being shy or silly) they are amazed at her communication skills. She loves to point out how "HUGE" things are and has also noticed that when Mommy & Daddy take things out of the oven we "were a glove like firemen do so we don't get burned." She asks to watch Elmo visits the firehouse every day and sometimes we say yes. She also LOVES the Chipmunk's Christmas Special, her daddy usually will let her watch that before she goes to bed at night. Lilly is also getting better with her counting skills. She can count to 15 now without any mistakes; she loves to count and also has started working with her daddy on the sounds of the alphabet.

 

I have been doing ok, we have all been sick for the past month and are finally getting better. We all went to the doctor last week.  My goal was to all be healthy for Christmas. Hopefully we will stay healthy for the next little while. Mike is finished taking his finals last week and then he will be off on Winter Break for 2-weeks. He is planning some home improvement projects to do while he is off, but mostly relaxing. Winter semester is going to be very busy.

 

I am almost done with my EMT course and will certify (hopefully) on February 9th. Although, my work has been letting me do a few medical related things, which is really cool. I really enjoyed my course and am glad that I did it. It has been hard for me to go to it, though. I really miss spending time with Lilly, and am looking forward to having my mornings with Lilly back. 

 

We have had a very busy year, filled with lots of change. The biggest change has been our move to Utah, we are so thankful for the love and support that all of our friends and family gave us during this big transition. Our move was a big decision and I am pretty sure that we had some strong encouragement from above. Even though it has been hard and out of our comfort zone we have been blessed because of our choice. I am thankful that Mike has the opportunity to go back to school and finish and not have the stress of having to work while being a student. As much as I did not want to go back to work the job that I found has been wonderful. The hours work great with our schedules and Lilly will never have to be cared for by anyone besides her parents.

We are also trying to get approved to bring our next child home. We met with our new caseworker last week and are only waiting for two more references to come back.  My hope is to be approved this upcoming January. So many adoptions happen because somebody knew somebody that was interested in adoption. We need your help to find that somebody. If any of you know someone who is considering adoption please let them know about our website www.mandamike.com  and also about www.itsaboutlove.org (LDS Family Services website for adoption). I am always more than happy to talk with people about our family’s adoption experience and answer questions they might have.

 

We had a wonderful Christmas and Lilly had a blast playing with her cousins on Christmas day. Christmas has felt so much more magical this year, and I am pretty sure it's because Lilly is getting into it more.  She is so fun, and will talk with Santa (big santa doll) and bring presents to show him. The other day she said she was married to Father Christmas... I am pretty sure she doesn't know what married means, but it was pretty funny.

 

Our love to all, wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

November 1, 2007:

Happy Halloween! I updated pictures to the October 2007 folder in the pictures section of the website. I hope everyone is doing great, we have had a very busy month (as usual) and are getting excited for the upcoming Holiday season. We had a wonderful time on Halloween and Lilly enjoyed being a kitty.

 

September 13, 2007:

Lilly is so darn cute!

We are doing great! Lilly is just getting cuter and smarter everyday and lately has really enjoyed eating the cherry tomatoes out of the garden.

 

September 7, 2007:  We have been hard at work trying to get everything ready for our next adoption. Things seem to be moving VERY slowly this time around. I think mainly because we are a lot busier these days. I finally finished the paper profile (I still need to do the cover page) and wanted to share with everyone. Also, if you have a really cute family picture of us SEND IT TO ME J I need all the help I can get, I am not sure what picture to use for our cover page. (that’s why it’s not done yet) Please give me a call, or e-mail me with your thoughts on the profile. I tried to squeeze as many pictures on these as I could, with also giving a little bit of info about us. Next on my list is our family video slideshow to include with the paper profile. Once that is completed I will have Mike upload for you guys to view.

 

Edit:

***I took out the pictures because they were HUGE files, if you haven’t had a chance to see them let me know and I can send them to you.***

 

 

August 30, 2007:  I guess I should update before August is completely over! This month has totally flown by!!!! Boy, has it been sooooo busy… We had an awesome trip to Yellowstone National Park, Mike caught his first fish fly fishing, my High school Reunion, Grandma C. came for a visit, I passed my CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer and started my EMT-B course, Mike was officially laid off, Mike painted the living room (it looks sooooo good), Lilly can go up and down her slide all by herself, she can count to ten, she recognizes most of the letters of the alphabet, I had a job interview today for a part-time position, I finally finished Lilly’s curtains, We had our Social Worker Home Visit with LDSFS for baby #2 (almost done with the paperwork, yay!), Mike starts school next week and we have a snake in our backyard! I think that’s about it…. But there might be more – all I can say is life is busy, but very good.

A few pictures from Yellowstone

                                                                           

 

 

 

 

Other pictures from the month

 

 

 

July 11, 2007: We have had a busy month so far, it’s been fun. Lilly is talking more and more and we are able to understand a lot of what she is saying, it’s really great. She loves to go outside on her swing, play in her sandbox or swim in her pool and will usually ask by saying “outside?” And then hold up her hand for me to hold and say “hand, or help” How can I resist that?! Even if I have to sit outside in the 100° weather… We set up a nice little place for us to play outside under our plum tree, it’s the on shade we have in the yard and I am very thankful for it.

This is my new favorite picture of Lilly, She is showing daddy her bubbles.

Lilly loves her Elmo sprinkler and thought it was so cool when I put it in her swimming pool.

We had a really fun time celebrating Independence day with my family. We watched the local parade and Lilly loved it! She especially enjoyed the marching bands and would dance and shout hooray when they marched by. It was great to be able to sit in my families usual spot for the parade and chat and enjoy everyone’s company.

Here we are watching the parade. Lilly borrowed my hat so she could see better J

Last weekend we went on a hike, and boy did we pick the wrong Saturday to go! It was soooooooooooooooo hot and there were points when I thought we would have to carry Bryn (our dog) down the mountain. She is not used to hiking in such extreme heat and we had to stop frequently to help cool her down. But thankfully we made it down and are all ok. It was a beautiful hike with many scenic views and a nice cool waterfall at the end of the trail. Bryn actually laid in the stream from the waterfall to cool down and she is usually terrified of water. We learned for the next hike to leave Bryn at home, or go earlier in the morning to beat the heat.

Lilly is checking out the waterfall and cooling her feet in the stream.

Our file was finally sent to the new adoption agency, so hopefully things will get moving on bringing our next little one home. Lilly turned 18-months on Sunday and was able to go to nursery! I felt so lonely in my church meetings without my little buddy with me. But she did great in nursery and all week has been pulling her picture that she colored off the fridge to show me.

 

We had the opportunity to walk the temple grounds on Monday (for FHE) and it was so beautiful and a nice time to spend as a family. I was trying to teach Lilly about temples and I thought the best way to do that was to take her to one. When we were having our lesson I showed her a picture of the Salt Lake Temple and the Seattle Temple and asked her what they were she said “a house” Such a smart little girl J However, I think the highlight of our temple trip for Lilly was riding in the Jeep with her car seat forward facing! She loves to ride in the jeep and likes to wave at people while we are in it, which I am sure makes them have a better day J

 

June 12, 2007: We finally had a chance this weekend to spend some quality fun time as a family. With all the hustle and bustle of moving and setting up house it was defiantly needed. We went to Bridal Veil Falls and played in the waterfall and had a great time. We even brought Bryn, she enjoyed drinking the ice cold water from the falls. Lilly thoroughly enjoyed our walk to the falls and would squeal with delight every time we walked by a clearing of the river. Lilly has been squealing a lot lately, she gets really excited and squealing has become her main form of expressing herself when she is excited. She will squeal, clap and then say yay!

 

 

 

Lilly has been talking up a storm lately, her favorite word for today has been hop. She will say hop and attempt to hop, it is really cute. She will mostly just stomp her feet and is very proud of herself. She also can tell me quite a few different sounds that animals make. My favorite one she says is nayyy because she will shake her head like a billy goat when she does it J She will also yell dada until Mike responds back, she really loves having Mike at home during the day, as do I. It’s been fun to have all three meals together and Mike will usually get Lilly up in the morning so I can get an extra 30-minutes of sleep. Ahhh what a nice husband, I am going to miss that when he starts school.

 

 

We had the opportunity to visit Lilly’s cousin Kaelyn at Primary Childrens Hospital and on our way up in the elevator an employee had some French fries. Lilly looked at her and asked “I have some?” it was so funny! I thought those French fries smelt pretty good too J Lilly has been pretty outgoing lately. In church a few weeks ago she was tired of Mike and I reading her books so she grabbed her book and went across the aisle and said to the lady sitting there “Book?” and she held up her book. Luckily the lady was nice and started reading it to her and once she did that Lilly backed up to her legs and said “Seat!”  

 

We are all doing really great and happy. Lilly is such a joy to us and we are having a great time with her this summer.

 

May 24, 2007: We made it! We are all in Utah now. This move was defiantly one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. But it feels right and I know that in the end all of the sacrifices we are making will be blessings in a few years. Lilly is adjusting well and loves to play outside in the sunshine. I have been coating her in SPF 50 so her very fair skin wont burn. She still is getting a little pink, but no sun burns yet.

 

The move was crazy; Mike and Grandma & Grandpa M. unloaded the entire truck. I helped when Lilly was napping. We purchased a moving dolly and that thing rocks! It’s worth probably 3 men so thank you dolly for your strength and endurance J Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa M. too – we could not have unloaded the moving truck without your help.

 

The house is almost all unpacked except for a few boxes of books. I am planning on going and buying a bookshelf today so I can empty out the remaining boxes. It will be nice not to trip on them anymore. Last weekend Mike totally organized our one car garage to fit ALL of our four car garage stuff, plus the car can fit in there too! He is a super organizer, it’s awesome.

 

The view of the Y from our front yard is pretty awesome!

 

We are meeting with the Provo adoption agency on June 6th to transfer our file and go through their orientation process. Apparently all of the LDSFS (Latter Day Saint Family Services) offices have different ways of doing the adoption approval. It will be a different experience going through the Provo agency. I am feeling that our wait will be long since there are a cazillion waiting couples in Utah. So if any of you know of any potential birth parents please give them our e-mail so we can see if we would be a good fit. To find our next little one will be a group effort this time. This makes me really appreciate the ease of bringing Lilly home. It was all so perfect and smooth. Of course there were a few bumps along the way, but it was pretty perfect considering the complexity of adoption. I remember thinking and saying that we would have to wait a long time too then…

 

We are really enjoying our big sunny backyard and are in the process of putting in a garden. Mike and I have been tilling up a section and it is finally ready for planting. We are planning on planting everything tomorrow, we purchased some plants last night so we can get them in the ground soon. It will be fun to have a garden again, we had one last year and I really enjoyed it.  We also bought Lilly a little pink pool, hopefully the weather will be a little warmer tomorrow and she can try it out.

 

 

Lilly and Dad (Mike) are enjoying there time together this summer. Lilly even helped out with the assembly of the new almighty BBQ Grill. It is a cool grill and I am excited about it, it means less cooking for me during the hot summer months to come. I am sure if you live in Utah you will be invited over for a grill fest some time or another, mmm mmm.

 

May 4, 2007: The moving truck was delivered today it is defiantly sinking in, we are actually doing this we are really going to move to Utah! Despite the wicked cold that all three of us have we still managed to pack up almost everything - we are super heroes. Packing is no fun at all, but we are really looking forward to unpacking in our new home and making it our own. We will gain possession of our Provo house on May 9th. I will be there with my Mom cleaning it and of course playing with Lilly. Mike and I are excited to see what our house looks like, as we can't really remember a lot of the details since we looked at soooooooo many houses the same day we made an offer on this one. I took a few pictures, but they didn't turn out all that good so hopefully it will all be a pleasant surprise.

 

Lilly is adorable as usual, and today she sad Mooo for what a cow says! It was so cute, she is really talking up a storm, even though a lot of it I still can't understand :) Lilly is walking really great and trying to run. When she 'runs' she will yell to help her go faster. Lilly also has four teeth now, yay! Now we are just waiting for the other 20-some to pop out, hopefully they will not take 3-months to surface like #4 did.

 

Tomorrow morning we load up all of our stuff (fingers crossed that some people will show up to help). Wish us luck in our new adventure and to those in Utah we will see you soon!

 

Also, I can't leave with out posting at least one picture of our little star, enjoy!

 

Mike took this picture and I found it to my surprise when I was uploading pictures from the camera to the computer. I cracked up, Lilly does love the binki... Mike said that she kept putting the two binki's in and laughing, she thinks she pretty funny too :)

 

April 19, 2007:

 

Lilly is so funny, she loves to take baths and has been blowing bubbles lately :) I wonder who taught her how to do that???

 

Lilly had her 15-month check up this morning and is doing great! She is very tall and lean, she weighed in at 18lbs 8ozs (2nd percentile) and is 33 1/2 inches tall (99th percentile). The Dr. noted how smart she is and it is great that she is using a few words to communicate now. The other night Lilly was crying so I went in her room to check on her and she sat up and said hiiiiiiiiii and smiled. It was really cute and I had a hard time not laughing and tried to remain serious because I wanted her to go back to sleep.

 

We are packing and trying to coordinate everything for the big move to Utah in 2 1/2 weeks! Man, time goes by so quickly these days. I am excited to be in Utah for my birthday and Mother's Day.

 

April 11, 2007: We have had such a busy month, we sold our home and also are in the process of purchasing a new home in Provo, UT. We were so blessed for our house to sell so quickly (two days on the market) and really feel so lucky that things are falling into place. Unfortunately, our move will put our 2nd adoption on hold until we can get settled, but we feel ok with this and know that Heavenly Father will send us a new little spirit when the time is right.

 

After our house sold we decided to make a quick trip to Utah to do some house hunting. We are so lucky that Grandpa M. can provide us with free standby tickets so we didn't have to drive in the snow. Lilly really enjoys flying and now every time she sees an airplane she claps and gets very excited.

 

We looked at houses for two solid days (over 20 houses) and finally found a cute, charming little house a 1/2 mile from BYU campus. It is a great location and the house doesn't need a ton of work, it will suite our family perfectly for the next few years while Mike finishes his degree at BYU. Luckily our home in Washington sold for what we asked for and we are able to put a very large down payment for our new home so while we are in Provo I will not have to return to the working world and can continue to stay home full-time with Lilly. I am very happy about that and again feel so blessed and lucky to have a husband that is so responsible with our finances and is able to provide for us.

 

We had a great Easter, the night before Easter we had family over for Easter egg coloring and had a good time. Lilly really enjoyed playing with all of the colors and splashing it everywhere.

 

March 15, 2007: Lilly is getting so big and is such a happy little girl. She weighed in at the dr. yesterday at a whooping 18lbs, only two more pounds to go to switch her car seat to forward facing.

 

Here is a video of Lilly doing some of her famous moves.

 

February 26, 2007: We are all still alive! Unfortunately, we have had a yucky cold for quite awhile :( Lilly is on her first ever course of antibiotics and after 3-weeks of feeling yucky is finally starting to perk up a bit. Lately, Lilly has been trying sooooo hard to talk and communicate. She starting signing moon, more, star, light, all gone, bunny, dog and frog in just the past week. It is so amazing how smart she is, also is saying a few words. Of course not mommy, but she says star and dog and all done, yah, and tons of other words that are in her own little language. Lilly is still totally into books and LOVES reading Mike and I both really enjoy reading to her too. She loves to point out the different animals and characters in her books and defiantly has her favorite books too. Her favorite book this past week has been 123 with Billy bunny and she also enjoys Goodnight Moon and Hop on Pop.

 

Last weekend we went to the park to see the animals and had a good time. We tried putting Lilly in a swing, but she really didn't like it at all. But she did LOVE looking at all of the animals, there was a rooster that kept cawing and Lilly thought that was pretty cool.

Lilly and Dad are looking at the goats                                                                                                Lilly and I are looking at Penny the Pony at the park

 

We just finished remodeling our bathroom and boy it looks great! It's amazing what hard work and vacation days can accomplish. Mike did a fantastic job and I am really enjoying having an updated bathroom. Mike also finished all of the molding in the house, touch up painting, cleaned the garage, and still has time to spend with Lilly and I. He is such a super dad. This past weekend Lilly wouldn't let Mike out of her sight, she was a daddy's girl through and through. It is so touching to see them together and know that Lilly is our little angel baby forever. I am so glad that I get to see what an amazing father Mike is to Lilly - I am so blessed.

 

 

January 24, 2007:  Lilly put on a show for us tonight by trying to walk!  ....and we got it on video!!!  She's doing a great job, and getting more confident and daring.  She'll be walking in no time!     ;)  Enjoy!!!

 

 

January 17, 2007: Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to Lilly and thank heavens we have power! The months of December and January have been very busy to say the least. The week before Christmas we were without power for 7 days and 7 nights, it really, really, really sucked. Of course the community we live in was hit the hardest from the wind storm (they determined it was a category 2 like-hurricane with 70 mph gusts). Huge trees down everywhere. I made Mike, Lilly and Bryn sleep in the living room with me the night of the storm. I wanted us to be together if a tree fell on our house. Fortunately, all 9 of our pine and cedar trees are still standing, whew. Our neighbors were not so lucky, though. Four trees fell on their house! Many more trees fell onto power lines, the wind blew out all three of Woodinville's electric transfer stations, it was totally insane! I think a falling tree is one of the scariest noises I have ever heard, I never want to go through that again. Thankfully power was restored and we were able to celebrate Christmas with warmth and light.

 

We had a very nice Christmas. It was so great being able to enjoy it from a parental perspective, something that this time last year I didn't think would happen for a very long time. Lilly received many gifts from family and is really enjoying her new toys. We packed up most of her 'baby' toys to prepare for Christmas and her birthday and I am very glad we did. This year we had a family Christmas party with Mike's side and it was a really good time. Lilly was able to play with her two cousins (Owen and Belle) and it was very nice to see everyone. We also had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with the Perry's and opened a few presents with them. Lilly totally shows off when Jacob and Kaelyn are around. Lilly really wants to be a big kid and walk and crawl and play with them. Kaelyn is starting to enjoy playing with Lilly a little more too, it's really cute to see them together.

 

The biggest news yet is LILLY IS CRAWLING! She started crawling a tiny bit around January 2nd, but didn't really crawl well until we were at the Perry's :) She is crawling everywhere now and seems so much happier. She was happy before, but now she can reach all of her toys, lint on the floor, of course pine needles, and her favorite thing to touch the dog :) I was so excited to write in her baby book that she crawled, now we just need to get those teeth in. Poor Lilly has been teething for months and nothing has broken through yet.

 

More big news is Lilly is a proud one-year-old girl! I can't believe that my baby is one and defiantly is starting to act like a toddler. Her birthday party was great! A ton of family members came to share Lilly's big day and brought presents! Lilly really wasn't sure about opening presents so I let her cousin's help with the logistics of that :) She loves everything she received and it's been so nice for me to have new toys to play with, oops I mean new toys for Lilly to play with. :)

 

I made the call to LDS Family services last week to start things going for our next child. Alas, they haven't returned my call yet, but that's pretty typical of them. Mike and I are hoping that in the next few years we will be blessed again and Lilly will have a little brother or sister to boss around and love. We will keep everyone updated on our next adoption, but I, again, have feelings that it will be awhile which is ok this time :) It wasn't ok last time and I am glad that my feelings weren't right. :)

 

 

January 6, 2007:

 Here is a wonderful slideshow that Amanda put together for Lilly's first birthday.  The video slideshow celebrates Lilly's first year of life, and the wonderful miracle she is in our lives.  The slideshow doesn't indicate,... but FYI it's 17 minutes long, with songs selected by Lilly's Mom and Dad    ;)

 

Lilly's 1st Year

 

* Note,... your web-browser may require you to download an AcitveX "ProShow" control update in order to play the video.  Just click 'Yes' and let it install, then it should play. 

                  

The New and Improved MandaMike.com!!

 

Welcome to our new website!  Our old one just wasn't set up right for our family and all the photos and videos we have.  This site has been updated to mainly show all of our pictures and home movies from the time we were blessed with Lilly Grace and forward.  It's a whole new beginning to the latest and greatest chapter of our lives.  Another addition to the photo section is the dates and detail of each photo.  I know a picture is worth a thousand words,...but sometimes words can say what a picture can't.  The photos are also broken out into Monthly categories for easier access to the ones you want to see. 

Thank you to everyone who has been involved and supported Amanda and I throughout journey to become parents.  It has been a long ride since we first wanted to start building our family, and it is definitely been worth the wait.  We are so Happy and lucky to have Lilly in our lives.  She is quite the character.  She's super smart, has a great sense of humor, and loves to talk and squeal.  We love her very much.

This new site is dedicated to her... We love you Lilly!!!

©2008 Mike & Amanda. All rights reserved.