Come What May, I Will Love You Until My Dying Day

Today (technically in about an hour), Lydia turned 21 months! Can you believe it?! How does she get older so fast? Part of me wishes she stays young, while the other part can't wait to watch her grow up.

I meant to weigh her today, but forgot...I'm guessing around 22 or 23 pounds (maybe bigger - she sure seems heavy to me!). And she's definitely getting tall - her little skirts and dresses are getting too short for her to wear. She fits in the 12 month dresses and skirts, but now they're super short. She's got a skinny waist and long legs. I went through her closet, trying to get rid of clothes she doesn't fit in anymore to give to Adah. But, her 6-9 month dresses can still be t-shirts, as can her 12 month dresses. But, I need to go through the clothes again, since I just went through the clothes a friend gave us for Lydia a few months ago. Lydia is totally set for the summer! There are so many super cute summer dresses and shorts! They may be a tad big right now, but she'll for sure fit in them come June and July! (And, summer lasts so long here). We do need to get her some summer sandals and another pair of sneakers - she outgrew one pair. I'm excited that at the April Rummage Sale at Concordia, I can just concentrate on getting Lydia winter clothes.

Lydia has grown so much since last week - in her verbal skills, cognitive skills, and her motor skills. I am so excited for her! She learns things so fast - just soaks everything in and is constantly amazing us. She has several new words this month, and I'm hoping that her vocabulary just explodes over the next few months. She still has the habit of screaming at people instead of saying "no"....which I'm trying to break with very little success. She has a very clear "no" that she's good a using (when she's not upset), and says "yeah". She can say "Elmo" and can recognize him on TV, on clothes, backpacks, toys, etc. She says "bubbles", since those are her favorite things. She says "hi" and "bye" (which sound pretty similar). She says some version of "bless you" when you sneeze, and can say "thank you" when she wants to. She still signs for "please", but says "more". She has started saying "more milk" when she wants something to drink (not necessarily milk). We played with her doll house this week and she suddenly said "baby" when she held the baby doll. And she called the daddy doll "dada"...but also called the mommy doll "dada". She still doesn't call me "mama", but definitely knows that Brian is "dada". She says "all done" when she's finished with something, or thinks you're finished with something. She recently started saying "blankie" for her blankets that she now likes to carry around. And she says "baba" for Yo Gabba  Gabba. And, of course, she is still babbling like crazy and really seems to think she is telling you something important.

Lydia's favorite show is still Yo Gabba Gabba, although she will also watch Curious George and Thomas the Tank Engine. She also watches the morning cartoons (Curious George, The Cat in the Hat, Dinosaur Train, and Sesame Street). She really likes Elmo now, but only wants to watch Elmo's World, instead of all of Sesame Street. She loves to sit on the couch in Daddy's lap with her blankets and sippy cup, watching TV. And Daddy loves it, too.

Lydia is still very much an "adventures" girl. She hates being cooped up in the house all day and can't wait to go out exploring. She still loves going on walks with either her babydoll stroller or Duckie. She also loves going to the park. We found one only a 20 minute walk from our house that she absolutely loves (although she doesn't like riding in the stroller all the way there - she wants to walk). We go to Story Time whenever we can, even though she still won't sit still during the stories or songs. (I think she has become overwhelmed and overstimulated when we go there - the group is larger and the room is larger....to much to look at and do.) She enjoys going to HEB on Thursdays with me - especially when she gets HEBuddy bucks to "spend". Brian and I have been good at doing fun things on Saturdays and Sundays with her. When we're at home, I've been limiting the amount of TV she can watch and have been encouraging independent play and doing special circle time activities and crafts with her. TV is for the early mornings and the late afternoons (while I cook dinner)...this way, she actually enjoys the TV and doesn't just use it as background noise. I love watching her play independently. She'll end up in her bedroom, hiding in a closet, reading books, sitting in her car, doing puzzles, playing with baby....all kinds of things. She also likes playing in the sink and reorganizing my tupperware cupboard. 

We've been having a rough time during dinners with Lydia. At first, if she didn't eat anything I just figured that she'd go to bed hungry. But then, she just didn't eat anything - even things I knew she liked! I've cut out snacking at 5:00 (no snacks after 4:00), which means she should be hungry at 6:00. Then I made her take two bites of food. This caused a lot of problems, at first, and then she decided that if she just took one or two bites, she was done. Now I try to get her to eat everything I serve (or at least most of it). Which means, we have lots of crying fits at the table. Brian is getting quite frustrated with these fits, while I'm pretty good at ignoring them. Lydia eventually comes around and eats what I want her to eat (sometimes in only 10 minutes, other times in an hour). Brian is missing the nice dinners where we could chat without talking over screams. We'll eventually get there again, I'm sure. I just wish Lydia liked food as much as she liked snacks.

I'm not taking this for granted, but Lydia has been sleeping straight through the night pretty consistently. Last night, she did wake up once (probably because her milk from her sippy cup leaked on her), but she mostly doesn't ever wake up! This is sort of a problem, though. Her bedtime is 7:30, but she'll wake up around 5:30 when she sleeps straight through the night. I have taken to just turning off the monitor, and then back on again when I get up at 6:00....sometimes she's still making noise, sometimes she's fallen back to sleep. Putting her to bed later doesn't work, though. We've put her to bed at 8:00 or 8:30 and she'll still wake up around 6:00. This morning, she slept in until 6:30, which was great. We're trying to train her to sleep until at least 6:30 or 7:00. Maybe this summer, when we no longer have to get up early, she'll start sleeping in (and it will be a little darker in the mornings).

I could go on and on and on about my precious little girl! She is such a joy, even when she's screaming at the dinner table. I just love her hugs and kisses, love watching her grow and learn, and love being her Mommy!

Lydia's favorite ride at Sea World.

We got to meet Abby and Grover! We weren't allowed to take personal photos with Elmo.

Daddy and Lydia in Lydia's ball castle.

Lydia in the refrigerator. 

You're Going to be Bad For Business. I Can Tell.

I'm waiting for dinner to bake. Brian is in the living room with Lydia, watching Yo Gabba Gabba. I just had to post this picture of Lydia and her blankets! She has recently become very attached to these two blankets. One is a pink princess blanket that I got when we bought Lydia's crib from a friend's friend. The other is a quilt made by my friend, Katie. When I first started covering her up in the crib, I used a small blanket (one of her baby blankets). Then I used her princess blanket that had been hanging over her glider. I replaced the princess blanket with the quilt over the glider. Lydia saw the quilt one night and now wants both blankets in her crib, but only wants to be covered up by the quilt.

Now she's into taking both blankets out of the crib and bringing them to the couch. She likes to sit on the couch, covered up by the blankets. She has also stuffed both blankets into her baby's stroller (with her baby and her sippy cup inside)....this caused a few problems when the blankets would fall out and get stuck under the stroller's wheel. I had to constantly restuff the blankets into the stroller.When we went to Leah and Jessie's house for lunch after church on Sunday, Lydia wanted to bring her blankets over, too (we planned on her taking a nap at Leah's house).

I think it's super cute that she likes her blankets! I just wish they were a bit smaller.... When she was an infant, I tried to get her to like a "lovie" - a pink elephant blanket that is nice and small and cute. But, that never took, mainly because her comfort item was her pacifier. Now she doesn't have a pacifier during the day (only at nap and bedtime), so I guess these blankets are her comfort items.

Lydia and I had a great day today! Despite being cloudy in the morning, and Lydia not sitting still during Story Time at the library (and screaming and taking off her shoes), we had a great time together at home. We sang songs and played with her doll house. She took a 2 hour nap and then we were able to go on a walk (with baby and baby's stroller) outside, since the sun had come out and it had decided not to rain. I love taking her on walks! She waves hi to every car that passes and anyone she sees. She likes to stop and pick up sticks and rocks. She likes to stop, sit on the sidewalk, and watch airplanes fly by. She babbles the whole time, and she's really good at pushing baby in the stroller. Sometimes, baby wants to get out of the stroller to be held, and even needs it's diaper changed (in the middle of someone's driveway!).

Dinner tonight: Cesar Salad with breaded chicken, garlic crescent rolls, and fruit!

Oh No, I Forgot My Line

This past weekend, Brian's mom and younger sister visited us. They came down Friday night and left Sunday morning. Friday night, Brian had the Valentine's Day Dance at school. My Mentoring Moms group provided childcare at the church for us so that we could go out on a date. Instead of going out with Brian, I went out to Red Robin with Karla and Sara. We enjoyed some yummy hamburgers and Lydia had fun at the church nursery.

Karla's dog, Whiskers, also joined us. He's a sweet, old miniature Schnauzer. Lydia absolutely loved having a dog in the house, especially one that put up with her so well! Lydia was very excited when we came home Friday night to find a dog in her house. She called Whisker's "daaaaa-daaaa" (very loudly). I think she was trying to say "doggy". 

Saturday morning, despite the chilly weather, we went to Fiesta Farm. My mom gave us a groupon for two tickets. We thought Lydia would have a blast. She loves looking at animals in books and on TV. When she went to Fiesta Farm last year, she had so much fun. This time, however, she was scared the moment we walked into the farm. She refused to walk around on her own. She would stop fussing to look at animal, and then start fussing all over again. The only time she enjoyed herself was when she played in the sandbox and on the hayride.

After a nice, long nap (enjoyed by Lydia, Mommy and Daddy), we had lunch and then took a nice, chilly walk to the park. It's a little over a mile walk to the park, which would have been took much for Whiskers. So, he sat in the wagon and Lydia sat with him. She had so much fun riding in the wagon with Whiskers!

Today was a fun day with Lydia! While she watched her PBS TV shows, I cleaned and vacuumed the house. Then we got beautiful and headed off to the music store. Three of my students are moving up a book, which is very exciting! After the music store, we headed to Walgreens to drop off our Redbox movie - Breaking Dawn Part 1 (totally ridiculous and didn't follow the book very well). Then we headed off to the park! It was such a beautiful, warm day, especially compared to this weekend. 

Lydia loves the park! The swings are definitely her favorite. Today she spent half the time climbing up the playground and sliding down the slide. There was a little boy there that she enjoyed following around for awhile. After the park, it was lunch time, Circle Time, and then nap time. During nap time, Leah and Adah visited with me for awhile.

Once Lydia woke up, it was time to get Valentine's dinner ready. I prepped the meatloaf and shaped them into hearts. I wrote out instructions for Brian to put dinner in the oven. After 2 hours of piano lessons, it was time to set the table for Valentine's Day dinner. I put out a pink table cloth and we actually used real plates! Unfortunately, Lydia decided to be fussy and didn't want to eat the meatloaf, despite the fact that she likes meatloaf. We eventually got her to eat two bites.

Brian's instructions. 

My plate.

Daddy's place setting.

I had made a mailbox for Lydia's Valentine's cards. She received a handful and I put them in her box. Unfortunately, instead of eagerly going through her box of cards, she decided to tear the cover over the box and take off all the stickers. We did manage to get her to look at a few of the cards. Silly girl.

Lydia, this time last year!

To end our Valentine's, we rented two free movies from Redbox (with a special code) and are watching Real Steel right now.

P.S. I made something I saw on Pinterest! I made Brian a "52 Reasons I Love You" deck of cards. He enjoyed them.

And That is Worth Everything!

I'm going to borrow a blog post from another blog (www.becomingsarah.com).

Ten Things I Love About My Daughter Right Now:

1. She has started saying "all done" when she's done with something or when she thinks someone else is done with something. Of course, her "all done" sounds more like "ah duh". She kept saying it the other day when I was vacuuming. After I finished each room and turned the vacuum off, she would shout "all done!" She doesn't like the vacuum.

2. She loves to help. She will throw trash away, put dishes in the dish washer, and even "wash" dishes in the sink. While my mom was watching her, Lydia helped clean a door with a sponge. Hopefully she'll always be a good helper.

3. Lydia likes to point out every Elmo she sees. She loves Elmo's World (not so much the rest of Sesame Street, unless Elmo is involved). We were at Story Time this morning and a little boy had an Elmo shirt on, and she pointed at it and said "Elmo"!

4. She gets so excited when Daddy comes home from work.

5. Lydia loves music! She likes to play the piano and have me sit in my teacher's chair while she plays (and she needs the lamp on and music in front of her). She likes to listen to the musical clock we got from Grandy for Christmas. She loves to dance to music.

6. Lydia loves going outside. She would rather stay outside all day than ever step inside the house. We go on walks every chance we get (too bad it's been rainy and cold lately). She brings Duckie or her stroller with her and we can just walk and walk. She likes to play out in the back yard and swing, she loves parks - anything to do with outside.

7. I love how Lydia pretends to talk on the phone by putting her hand to her ear. She will just walk around and talk with her hand to her ear. Once she even let me "talk" on her hand phone.

8. Lydia enjoys singing. She will start singing along to a Wiggle's song that has cat's meowing to the music. She just goes "meow" for the whole song. There is also a Wiggle's song about swinging on a swing that she will start to "sing" when she's swinging.

9. I love cuddling and kissing and hugging Lydia! She has started to want me to rock her for a bit before bedtime. She likes to cuddle on the couch while we watch her show. She gives hugs to her friends and family. She is so loving!

10. Lydia cracks us up all the time! She is always doing something funny, whether by accident or on purpose! I love it!

Taking a break on a walk with Adah.

Not wanting to share with Adah.

Trying out Adah's jump up.

Just to Love and be Loved in Return

30. What is the difference between existing and living?

Well...I'm not much of a philosopher, but I will try my best. When you're living, you're doing what you love, what you wanted to do with your life. When you just exist, you're not living the life you dreamed of. I believe I am "living" because I have what I've always dreamed of - a husband, a baby, and a house. I get to live near my family and spend several days a week with them. I get to work with children and love on my own baby. I get to be a mommy! I love it!

Lydia's 20 Month Update

Can you believe Lydia is 20 months old?! It seems like she was just a tiny infant only last month! Now she's a walking, talking little girl! It makes me sad that she's getting older, but I'm also excited about all her new accomplishments.

Lydia's stats:

Weight: somewhere around 21 pounds

Height: about 31 to 32 inches tall

Diaper Size: 3

T-Shirt Size: 18-24 months although she can still fit in 12 month onesies and her old dresses have turned into t-shirts (dresses that are size 6-9 months!)

Pant Size: 12-18 months

Shoe Size: 4 or 5

Lydia has finally started trying to say words. She's always been good with "mama" (which usually means me now) and "dada". She calls Leah "yaya" and usually Adah "yaya" too. She can say Jessie's name pretty clearly. She just started saying "all done" (sounds more like "ah duh") and holds her hands up in the air. She used to say "thank you", but hasn't in awhile. She knows several animals sounds. She says "mmmm" for the cow's moo, "eeee" for the horse's neigh, "tweee" for a bird, "uh uh" for a dog's bark, "meeow" for a cat's meow, and she sometimes roars for a lion. She knows all her body parts, including her "booty". She can point to her shirt and her pants when asked. The other day she attempted to say "turtle". I'm excited that she's actually starting to attempt to say words. Usually if you ask her if she can say something, she'll just say "yeah" or "no". She has also started to point to objects, wanting you to name them for her, which I think is awesome for her to do.

Lydia can be quite a picky eater, but sometimes surprises me when she just eats and eats. Last week, when she had a bad cough and cold, her appetite was WAY down and she didn't want to eat anything! Now she's started eating again, which I am so relieved about. Her favorite foods are still chicken nuggets and hot dogs. She also loves bread and sometimes cheese. Her favorite snack are apple fruit bars. She'll eat bananas and apples...usually. Her favorite vegetable is corn. We had grilled cheese sandwiches (which she loves) and soup last night. She didn't want her soup, but she ate the soup from my bowl. I've started telling her that she has to take at least one or two bites of something before she can be done. And she's starting to understand that and will eventually do it so she can get down.

Lydia is usually down to one 2 hour nap a day at around 12:00. Lately she's seemed extra tired, so she'll go down for a nap around 9:30 or 10:00 for about 1.5 hours and then again at 1:30 or 2:00 for 1.5 hours. She goes to bed around 7:30 and usually sleeps through the night until about 6:30 or 7:00. Sometimes she'll wake up around 5:30, but will go back to sleep. When she does wake up, we've been trying to let her cry it out at least a few times. Although sometimes it's just because she can't find her pacifiers. We don't take her out of her crib, just lay her down and cover her back up and give her her pacifiers (yes, she wants one in her mouth and one to hold). She also likes to sleep with her sippy cup of water in her arms.

Lydia still loves, loves, loves to play with her baby doll. She will push the baby in the stroller, give the baby a bottle, put the baby in the crib and cover it up with a blanket. She watches how Leah shakes up Adah's bottles (to mix in the formula) and before Lydia gives her baby the bottle, she shakes it. After she puts that doll in the crib, she puts her finger to her lips and says "shh". We got her a water baby doll for the bath, but fo some reason, she doesn't really like this baby. The other day she pretended to clean her doll's nose out with the nasal aspirator! She also loves to help me cook and clean the kitchen. She loves playing in the kitchen sink with bowls and sponges. She likes to mix up muffins and cookies (and lick the batter). She says "hot" when I open the oven and stays away. She likes to set the table with all the spices from the bottom shelf of the pantry. She likes to help us clean up after dinner by throwing trash away and putting dishes in the dish washer. I love how she is my little helper and is actually starting to help just a little.

Lydia loves to be outside, going on walks or going to the park. We usually take her pull toy, Duckie, with us on walks or her stroller with baby. We have started going to the park that is a 20 minute walk from our house, which she loves! She gets so excited when she sees a park. Her favorite are the swings and the slides. She loves it when Daddy is at the park with her, because he is so much fun and will climb and crawl and go down the slides with her. We also go to story time at the library most Tuesdays and Thursdays. She really enjoys seeing all the kiddos and adults, although Lydia doesn't like to sit still for very long. Ms. Nancy (the librarian) does a wonderful job during story time. At the end of story time, we get to play with a parachute, which Lydia loves. The only time I have seen Lydia super patient and quiet is when she's waiting for a sticker from Ms. Nancy!

Lydia still goes with Aunt Leah on Mondays. She absolutely adores Aunt Leah...and she also listens to her really well, too. Lydia will actually sit still and not scream when Leah fixes her hair! Lydia gets to go play with Aunt Keisha and Cousin Abram on Tuesdays for a few hours and loves it. Lydia and Abram play so well together! On Wednesdays Lydia goes to BSF with mom and Leah and then spends the rest of the afternoon with Leah. On Thursdays, I have Lydia ll to myself all day! I love Thursdays! Fridays Lydia goes to grandma and grandpa's house. She usually just wants to go play with the dogs! We love the weekends when we get to spend all day with Daddy!

I look forward to another wonderful month with my precious baby!