As she grows... Month 12

Think this is my last birthday related post for all those (mom) who are awaiting her birthday blogs with anticipation. A few days after her birthday we headed off to the doctor for her 12 mo well visit, so I have official stats this time.

The Dr overall assessment is she's the size of a 9 month old, but like a 12-15 mo. developmentally. That truly warms this preemie mama's heart! It would be fantastic for her to be at 9 month developmental level, but to even exceed that and hear she's on track for her actual age is just AMAZING!! He said this when talking about her "words" so I know we're going to have a talker on our hands before we know it.

12 Month (9.5 mo.) Stats:

• 17 lbs (ok so she was 16 lbs 15 oz at the Dr, but weighed 17 lbs 4 oz on our home scale) 2%
• 27 inches (3%)
• 17.25% Head circumference (16%)

This girl has a big head! The funny thing to me is her head size hasn't changed much she she was discharged from the hospital and I guess what they say is true - preemie's heads grow faster than the rest of their bodies. Poor girl still has TINY feet!

Activities/Interests

• Crawling is still her favorite activity because it can get her to what she really wants to do:
• Play in the dog food
• Eat the dog food
• Play in the dog's water
• Pull out lamp cords, computer cords...really any sort of cord
• She's also really been working on her words. While most still comes out gibberish, sometimes she'll sit and have a whole conversation where she's practicing different sounds. Her favorite words are:
• Dada (by FAR)
• Baba - sometimes also comes out like ball, but not sure
• Mama (usually only get this one when she's upset)
• Whoa
• Wow
• She has pulled up a few times in the past month on shorter things -- the dishwasher, a storage ottoman, inside a box, but hasn't been able to pull up on taller things quite yet. Just this past week she has been trying to pull up on our legs, but don't try and help her - she doesn't like that!
• A few weeks ago I had a box in the den (aren't I a fun mom to give her boxes to play with?? haha) and she kept pushing it out and then shuffling her feet up to it. So she got a walker from my parents for her birthday; which she loves, but the wheels move too fast for her, so she ends up in some yoga like stretch before letting go.
• Speaking of yoga, I am starting to think babies were the real originators of it. Lydia loves to stick her hiney up in the air and do a downward dog pose. It's quite hilarious. Think she's trying to stand up, but doesn't know to do after straightening her legs.
• Lastly, food continues to be one of her favorite pasttimes. I'm starting to get sick of buying purees, but still is the best way for her to get all her nutrients. She loves finger foods and being able to feed herself, but really only likes to feed herself puffs, meat, beans, grilled cheese, pasta and yogurt bites. She spits out small pieces of fruit and veggies, so I guess the purees are here to stay for awhile.

Here are her 12 month shots with Mr Bear! She is celebrating with her hot pink tutu!

Just had to add this outtake of what happens when she pushes the walker too far out

Lydia's First Year Video

As part of Lydia's first birthday festivities, we put together a video slideshow of her first year to share at the party. I'm not going to lie, you'll probably cry. You should have seen me trying to put together the video -- looking back at her first months of life in the NICU and then coupling that with emo music... lets just say there were several times I had to take a break and have a good cry.

Even when we played it at the party, I was a teary mess and I was the one person who knew what was coming next.

She is truly a miracle and is such a blessing from God. Reflecting back on Lydia's first year, you realize just how fragile life really is and how all you can do is rest in knowing God will take care of your little girl.

I found the first song we used in the slide show from a friends blog, who had a child born with a heart defect and needed open heart surgery. Matt Hammitt wrote "All of Me" as well as many other songs on his "Every Falling Tear" CD when his son was also born with a heart defect. While Lydia never had to undergo any surgeries, the fear and uncertainty he shares in his songs lines up pretty well with our experience in the NICU and all the questions and unknowns we faced.

The second song, "Safe and Sound" by Matthew West is a sweet song about bringing your baby home and just love the lyrics with this one as well. I was familiar with some of Matthew West's other songs on the radio, but had never heard this one before. It really is so sweet!

Lastly, I had to end with something upbeat and happy -- especially since I have such an upbeat and happy little girl. Who doesn't love "Isn't She Lovely"?? Especially when its sung by the cast of Glee!!

Here is the video we made of our little girl's 1st year! Enjoy!

(Sorry its a little grainy on here for some reason, but hopefully it's not too bad to view)

BTW - this is my 100th post! What better way to celebrate than with memories of my baby's 1st year!

Sugar and Spice

Our sweet baby girl is ONE! I just can't get over it. Our little 2 lb miracle is now a speed-crawling, into everything (including the dog food), smiley, funny, giggling little girl!

We had a blast celebrating her first birthday with family and friends last Saturday. Lydia was quite the hostess greeting all her guests at the door with a HUGE smile and a little wave. She already has such a social personality. She doesn't get grumpy or anything in large groups - even if its past her nap time. She just turns on her mega watt smile and goes with the flow. Think we have a little social butterfly on our hands for sure.

Her party theme was SUGAR & SPICE (and everything nice) and we decided to have a sugar and sweets table with cupcakes, cookies, candies, and some pink lemonade. The Spice table held jalapeno poppers, buffalo chicken fingers, chips, salsa and cheese for dipping. We served what I like to call "Chicken Crack" to go with the Spicy/Mexican dinner theme. It's also VERY easy to prepare and quite yummy. You may remember it from when I blogged about it a few months ago - here.

 I went a little crazy with making decorations with the help of Pinterest of course! I made a few banners for her highchair and table displays. I also made a month by month banner (see fireplace pic above) which was a neat way to see her grow each month with her little pink bear.

After reviewing our pictures from the night, I realized I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I wanted of all the guests and festivities, so I'm hoping some of Lydia's aunties and grandmas captured more memories than I did.

Here are a few from her getting ready, greeting the guests, cake and of course her two grandpas (Papa and Poppy). Not sure why we didn't do the same with the grandmas. Probably because the papas were hovering around the food before the party started, waiting for me to tell them to dig in :) Guess I know where she gets her good appetite from, huh?!

Happy Birthday sweet Lydia! We are so blessed to be your parents and love getting to watch you grow and mature each day. You have brought so much joy into our lives and its hard to even remember what life was like before you were born. We love you so very much!


I still have a few more birthday posts coming, so stay tuned....

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! 

As she grows.... month 10

I can't believe my baby is TEN months! This first year is going by too quickly. Also just realized I better get started on the first birthday plans with just 2 months to go. She is really catching up quickly and can't quite believe she's 16 lbs. I was only around 19 lbs on my first birthday, so comparing her to my own growth curve, she might just catch up to her mama by her birthday and will surpass me for sure come May.

10 Month (32 weeks adjusted/7.5 mo.) Stats:

• Around 16 lbs (according to my own bathroom scale)
• Probably still around 25 3/4 in. from last well visit

Activities/Interests

• This kid likes to EAT! She eats around 3-4 oz at each meal in addition to 4-5 nursing sessions a day. 
• She still doesn't love her green veggies, but will eat them if something fruity or sweeter is on the spoon as well. Some of her favorite things to eat with her green veggies are apples and sweet potatoes.
• Yogurt is now at the top of the list of favorite foods. So far we've only tried "Yo Baby" brand and think she'd eat it all day long
• All flavors of puffs are now acceptable as well as yogurt drops. These usually entertain her long enough for Mama to heat up her meal and she's gotten pretty good at landing them in her mouth.
• At the last well visit the Dr asked us if we tried meat purees yet (can we say yuck!). We hadn't and I decided I couldn't bring myself to puree meat myself, so I threw a few jars in the cart on my next grocery visit. Needless to say, this chick wouldn't touch the chicken with a ten foot pole. I have to say it looked DISGUSTING! Sort of like meat jello...gag! So since she was doing well with the puffs, I decided to give her a little taste of our Pot Roast a few nights ago and she was in LOVE. Since then she's tried a few bites of chicken and is a fan of that as well. For me, meat just falls in the category of things not to puree.
• I already shared this, but at the beginning of this month she has started saying "dada" - A LOT! She loves babbling while she's playing and dada is by far one of her favorites. I love listening to her little voice and wonder what she's talking to her toys about. 
• The past few weeks at church have started to become a little more difficult with a chatterbox. We have to stay out of the nursery until after RSV season ends, so we might find ourselves in the hallway a lot more now that someone has really found her voice.
• Peek-a-boo is one of her favorite games to play with Mama and Dada after dinner. I love watching her hide her face behind her bib and wait for us to play with her. 
• Think we might have a true extrovert and social butterfly on our hands. She has never met a stranger and will smile and giggle at anyone we meet. For example, this weekend we had a packed day of church, early Christmas with my parents which included lunch and play time with her cousins, Ellie and Blake. After a quick nap in the car, we arrived at an annual Ladies Tea with my mom's friends and their daughters. Lydia quickly reached out to be held by my mom's friends and was having a blast "talking" to everyone and giggling with the other little girls. They say extroverts recharge being around others and I think that was definitely the case with our girl. Even when she started to get tired towards the end, she was still smiling, laughing and just slowly lowered her head on my shoulder and fell asleep to the background noise of all the ladies chatting.
• We also have a professional roller on our hands. She can get just about anywhere with her rolling skills -- under the chaise, to the Christmas tree and to any of her desired toys. She has started to put herself into the crawling position - knees and butt up, tummy off the ground and hands locked, but ultimately decides rolling can get the job done just fine. She has pulled herself in a sort of army crawl a few times on our wood floor, so I feel like crawling is coming soon. but am having fun watching her try and figure this all out on her own.
• Actually as I type this, I see her army crawling to get to our entertainment unit haha!

Was able to get a quick video with my phone of her army crawling to my computer this afternoon!

Here are her 10 month shots with Mr Bear as well as a few peek-a-boo shots. I just love her little smiling face!