As she grows... month 11

Wow! So here we are! 1 month away from Lydia's FIRST birthday! I am still some what in denial that the year is quickly coming to an end. I am starting to plan her birthday extravaganza and can't wait to see her reaction to cake for the first time.

11 Month (8.5 mo.) Stats:

• Around 16.5/17 lbs (according to my own bathroom scale)

Activities/Interests

• CRAWLING! She is a busy girl these days as she explores every cord, electronic device or remote in sight. She has moved from army crawling to "standard" crawling and is getting faster by the day.
• She is working on pulling up, but will play happily in a standing position for a short time.
• Think we might also have a mini-phi mu in training as she now smiles any time the camera comes out. I see many "sorority poses" in our future.
• Eating continues to be one of her favorite activities and has started to eat small bites of table food. Some of her new favorites are:
• black or pinto beans
• corn... sometimes
• spaghetti with meat sauce
• She also will eat green veggies if mama didn't make them! I guess my home food processor can't get the green beans and peas fine enough to her liking, but does better on the store bought versions; which is fine with me!
• "Bababa" is one of her new favorite words and will babble to herself and us all day long. If she's done with dinner or wants more food, she will now shriek/scream quite loudly. This also goes if we take one of her favorites toys away; such as my phone. She's not shy to share her feelings.
• Sitting up on her own is also a new skill she mastered this month and now takes twice as long for her to fall asleep; since she HAS to sit up after I lay her down for a nap and then eventually lay down on her own. At least she's quiet and plays in her crib, but is funny to watch on the monitor. We lowered her mattress in case she masters her standing up skills in bed.
• Music class has now resumed after Christmas and New Years. After being out for about 3 weeks it seems Lydia has mastered her shaking skills with the instruments, but of course, still end up in her mouth by the end of the song. It has been fun watching her interact with the others in the class and develop new skills week after week.

Here is our monthly shot with Mr Bear:

Snazzy

So I was getting a little bored with my blog and wishing I had photoshop to make a cool design and header. This really is me just being jealous of my friend Greta's new blog header. So, after a little research, I came upon a lovely post from Blissfully Domestic that gives an overview of how to make your own blog post using Picasa.

I'm pretty pleased with my creation and just had to share in case anyone else had the itch for a personalized blog header. It's still nothing like my friend Greta's, but I'm pretty pleased.

Now my hubby is begging me to transfrom his as well... hee hee...

Christmas Catch-up

Christmas was such a magical time for us this year. It was so fun watching Lydia eat enjoy the tree, lights and learn how to open presents. We had 4 different Christmases this year and by the end of Christmas week Lydia was a paper pro -- rip, eat, repeat... There were a few times I had to fish paper out of her mouth... silly girl!

Our first Christmas was with my parents the weekend before. We celebrated after church on Sunday, so everyone was in their Christmas best. The kids (and adults) had fun opening all their presents and getting to spend some time together.

Lydia and Ellie just love each other

Love that we finally got one of all the cousins looking at the camera!

One of Lydia's first wrapping paper experiences... notice in the mouth

Lydia's first chair from Sissy & Justin

Our 2nd Christmas took place at home before we left to spend Christmas weekend in Florida with Kyle's family. Since Lydia is too young to know anything about the magic of Christmas yet - we decided it would be easier to celebrate together as a family and not drag anything more than we needed down to FL.

I love the idea of doing 4 gifts -- Something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. We sort of did that by accident this year (except I didn't quite get the something to read...whoops).

We really were just planning on getting her 1 present since she doesn't know what is going on and knew the grandparents would have plenty for her to open. Her main present was the rocking ladybug below; which counts as something she wants.

I just fell in love with it and also liked it because it sort of has a seat in the back and the head is HUGE so she won't fall off. She also got socks (something to wear) and a sippy cup (something she needs) in her stocking, but we stopped taking pictures after she got her ladybug.

Waiting for Lydia to wake up

Our tree on our Christmas morning

Think she likes it

Our 3rd Christmas was more like a Christmas weekend celebration since we saw lots of family and had about 3 days of non-stop celebrating. It was a great time to introduce Lydia to some family in FL that hadn't met her yet as well as catching up with everyone.

When we arrived Friday night we had our 1st Christmas celebration with Kyle's parents and sister. Noah and Lydia had fun with Bella before everyone arrived.

 The next morning we went to Granny and PawPaw's house - Lydia's great-grandparents on Kyle's mom's side. This was their first time meeting Lydia. I'm sure Granny wouldn't be happy to see the pictures of her in curlers, but I just love them.

Meeting Granny

Four Generation - Lillian, Kim, Kyle and Lydia

Lydia and PawPaw

That night we went to Aunt Helen's for Christmas Eve with his mom's side of the family. We got all dressed up and had the cousins in some adorable coordinating outfits for the occasion.

 Our little family before leaving for the party

Cousins! We tried for a LONG time to get a picture of them together and this is the best we got. Lydia looks a little unsure, but Noah has the smile down

The Edwards Family with kids and grands

Christmas Day was spent at Keily's house with the Edwards family celebration. Surprisingly, there were still a few gifts to open!

Lydia's other FL great grandma - Grandma Dorothy

Lydia and Noah with their great-grandmas.

Lydia doesn't know how good she has it - she has 4 great-grandparents (3 in FL and 1 in SC) as well as 4 grandparents to love on her. 

Kyle with his nephew and daughter on the swings

We had such a great time visiting with everyone in FL and if you can't tell from the pictures (Kyle is in shorts) -- it was 80 the whole weekend. Quite a difference from the 50's we were experiencing in Atlanta.

Our 4th and final Christmas took place after Christmas when my Aunt and kids came down from SC to see everyone.

Going through my pictures, I realize I'm not quite so good at taking pictures of the adults that were present... sorry!!





My Aunt MADE a ducky stuffed animal for Lydia.

I keep telling her to open an etsy store!!

The next day we just hung out and Blake and Lydia had their first real play date. They are only 6 months apart, but now that Lydia is catching up with her milestones, she's more able to play with her cousin. They were so cute together!

Lydia stared Blake down until she got her own sippy cup...not that she could actually drink from it. She likes food/drinks and not afraid to show it!

Playing at the activity table together

Onnie and her grandbaby...see I did take one picture of an adult during this visit!

PHEW! Anyone still with me?? That is the end of our Christmas activities... Are you tired from reading all of that? We were tired from experiencing it all, but well worth the memories and time we got to spend with both sides of our family.

New Years weekend we pretty much crashed and caught up on our sleep (as much as possible with a baby in the house).

We are ready for the new year... this is year of the 30's for Kyle and I. Though he doesn't let me forget it (EVER) that I turn 30 first... little stinker!