Sick baby

Lilli is already 15 months old. We have a new trick for the mornings. When Lilli wakes up around 6:30 a.m. hubby gets her bottle and puts some toys in her crib. That way she continues to play by herself until sometimes 9:00 a.m. on the week-ends. Really nice!!!

This week was a bad week for her. On Monday night she had a little run-in with her friend A. He is three years old and the most polite and nicest little boy you can think of. If Lilli is on a bout of independence (which she is a lot these days), I usually just ask A. to take Lilli's hand and she willingly gives him her hand (which she refuse to do with me). It is the cutest thing to see them toddle along together. They also like to hug and kiss each other. But on Monday night they had an accident, a full-blown collision. A.'s teeth got Lilli's eyebrow. It didn't look bad at first, but then I saw the blood. Her whole eye was swollen for two days. But this seems to be fine now.

Otherwise Lilli is sick these days. Poor little puppy. If you wouldn't know her you wouldn't notice. She is nearly her usual self. But yesterday at the Halloween party you could see she wasn't quite healthy. We went trick or treating inside dh's office building as we needed a safe place to do this here. Lilli was a little pumpkin fairy. She didn't want to be in her costume in the first place and was screaming bloody murder. When we finally managed to put it on, she seemed fine. So off we went with the other kids here. But Lilli didn't want to walk by herself, she wanted to be held all the time. After a couple of doors, we made it to the doctor's office (which happens to be in the same building). Lilli didn't like the doctor's prodding and looking at her. We needed four people to hold her down when he wanted to look in her ears. She was not a happy camper. Screaming as loud as she could. The doctor thought her lungs are doing great. But when he looked in her mouth, he could see that her tonsils were enlarged and with white stuff on it. So he assumed it is strep throat. Therefore we are on antibiotics now. Needless to say that we didn't do any more trick or treating and hope the other kids are fine. Sorry!

We also went this week to see another dermatologist. The fifth doctor to look at the lesions in her ears. This doctor wants another opinion as well, but she thinks it might be a kind of skin lupus. It sounded very scary when she said that she didn't like what she saw. We are going to see another doctor on Monday for this. I am trying not to worry, but it is very hard not to. I just want my baby to be healthy.

Another issue we are currently facing is the "hitting the Mommy or the Nanny" thing. It started a couple of months back in July, but she did it only occasionally. Now she is doing it all the time. Whenever she doesn't like something, she says "No!" and starts hitting. I have started putting her in time-out. Surprisingly she stays there 95% of the time. Most of the time she doesn't seem to mind at all sitting there for a minute. She is just chilling and waits for me to pick her up and give her a hug. I don't think she takes me seriously. Do you guys have any tips how to get her to stop hitting? I really would appreciate some advice.

Potty and Anniversary!

I am a very proud mommy today: Lilli has used the potty for the first time and peed in it. I had bought a potty a couple of weeks ago and had her just sit on it from time to time. This morning I had a lot of time and was reading to hear while she was sitting. And then - she peed!

I can't believe that she is already turning 15 months on Saturday. She is getting really sassy at time. She has started hitting me when I tell her "No" to something or she doesn't get her way. Any ideas on how to deal with this? I bought the 1-2-3 magic book and will start taking her to time-outs when she does it. She currently doesn't hit her dad, just me. It's very frustrating at times...

Tomorrow is our fifth wedding anniversary. Five years ago everything seemed so easy. We were going to get married, move to the U.S., and start a family right away. Then came the move, my dad's stroke, a crappy job, infertility, endometriosis, two surgeries, three IVFs, two miscarriages, my MIL's breast cancer, and my dad's lung cancer before we could actually realize that dream. And then my dad died.

The last five years have been the most difficult in my live and in a way the best because I have the man I love on my side to go through life with me. He is a fantastic husband and a great father. I don't know how I could have handled any of those things without him. I love him more than the day we got married, because he has been there for me all along the way.

Mammmiiii!!!!!

This is what I hear about 1000 times a day. When I answer the little lady, she just continues to say it. I love to hear it, but sometimes I wonder why she is saying it so often. Speaking of speaking: Lilli has now a vocabulary of about 45-50 words. It is impressive to see how easy she is picking up all three languages. She is using the language in which the word seems easiest for her: aqua, keys, prost (cheers), pee-boo (peckaboo), pita (pizza), pasta (works in all three languages), to just name a few...

I feel so blessed to have this beautiful and incredibly smart girl. There is not a day where I don't think about her birthmother. I am wondering what she is doing, how she is. I hope that one day our little girl will have a chance to meet this amazing woman that has given her life and us the biggest present of our lives.

We went to the dermatologist on Wednesday. For quite some time now Lilli has some lesions in her ears. We don't know when it actually started, but it has been a couple of months at least. It doesn't look bad or anything and doesn't seem to be malignant, but it comes and goes which is weird. It doesn't seem to bother her either. But we don't know what it is. Well, the dermatologist who by the way was the third doctor that looked at this, didn't know either. She asked her colleague, who didn't have a clue either. The only way to find out would be a biopsy, but that would mean general anesthesia. And there is no way we are doing this if it isn't necessary. We now have a recommendation for yet another doctor and I'll try to schedule something with her next week.