Lately...

Feel like I haven't had enough time for a full post lately, so I'll just list off the latest happenings:

1. My social butterfly says "hey" or "hi" to everyone we come in contact with and sort of comes out with a little southern accent already. She combines this with her little toothy grin and she can't be ignored. I end up talking to almost everyone we pass at the store - it's sort of hilarious! Tell me this happens to everyone!

2. Its official - I have a little mommy in the making. She has really taken interest in her dolls lately and squishes loves on them, shrieks talks to them and gives them an enthusiastic greeting when she sees them. Think we have a girly girl on our hands already.

3. I always kidded that my metabolism would stop working when I turned 30, but now the joke is on me! Can I blame the baby over a year later?

4. Confession - Because of #3 above, I did a 10 minute glutes workout on my On Demand and couldn't walk for DAYS!

5. Counting down to some much needed beach time!! Thinking it won't quite be as relaxing as last year when Lydia would just lay under the tent all day, but that's what grandparents are for, right? :)

"Say-Say"

Should I be offended that my child says our dog's name more often than mine? The only name she might say more frequently is "da-da", but really I don't mind. She sounds so darn cute, I just get a kick out of listening to her.

It actually took me a while to realize "Say-Say" was Sadie. I finally got it one day when I was outside watering and had Lydia in her wagon. The dog was running around all crazy and every time she would run by the wagon, Lydia would point and yell, "Say-Say".

I think Sadie gets a kick out of it too and loves all the attention. She also is very patient with Lydia when she wants to pat her and doesn't run away like she usually does with the cousins. But she also has her own form of revenge -- licking!

Should have known one of her favorite words would be that of her beloved "Say-Say"! Best Friends for life!!

A Year Ago Today...

We were finally able to bring our daughter home!!

It was Easter Sunday and nearly every day that week we were hopeful that THAT would be the day, but something always prevented us from getting the OK from the doctors... usually having to do with Lydia eating her bottle fast enough and without any breathing issues.

We went to an outdoor Easter service at the church we attended before moving south and that was extremely close to the hospital. From there we raced over to the hospital in hopes of hearing the magic words. The nurse thought she was ready and had us watch the required car seat video - which is boring anyways, but we could hardly stand it as we waited for the Doctor. to do his rounds.

That afternoon we finally got clearance to go home with our darling baby girl! Can't you just see the excitement on my face??!!

I remember when we got home, we gave her a bottle for the first time without all the fancy machines - with only an apnea monitor to tell us if something was REALLY  wrong. We were both so scared something would go wrong, but we made it through the first day and the round the clock feeds somehow.

My little 5 lb cutie is now almost 19 lbs, on the verge of walking, climbs on anything and everything (if given the chance), pats the dog sweetly, talks non-stop -- sometimes real words, but mostly just babble, has the cutest little toothy grin and has a touch of sass!

Happy Homecoming Little Girl! We love you very much!!!

Easter 2012

I love celebrating Easter every year, but its even more dear to my heart since getting to bring our precious Lydia home on Easter 2011. Althought not the same day each year, it will always be a special memory for us.

We celebrated Easter this year with my family at First Baptist Woodstock and then afterwards with a cookout and egg hunt at my sister's house.

What a difference a year can make! Here is Lydia on the day we brought her home - Easter Sunday, April 24th, 2011 at 9 weeks and then her at 13 months this year on Easter Sunday, April 8th 2012.

14lbs and 4 teeth later, the only thing that has stayed the same is the amount of hair on her head! Maybe by next Easter we'll have some longer locks.

We had a blast hanging out with family and cousins. Lydia seemed excited to hunt eggs - even though she's not walking independently quite yet.

All Dressed Up:

Egg Hunt Time:



Cousin Photo shoot

While we were in FL for Kyle's birthday, we took the opportunity to have a little photo shoot in the cute matching outfits Bella got for Lydia and Noah. I took about 100 shots and tried to narrow down to some of my favorites.

PS - I'm loving the collage feature on Picasa so I can do a photo bomb without all the scrolling and looks pretty cute too, if I do say so myself.

THREE- OH!!

We are finally done with family birthdays...phew!! The year starts off with a bang... my birthday in January, Lydia's in February and Kyle's in March. My birthday was easy! All I had to do was show up and be surprised and eat cake, but the last two took more planning on my part.

After we finished the 1st birthday extravangza for Lydia, I started planning Kyle's 30th birthday surprise. My original plan was to surprise him and take him on a trip, but things didn't go quite as planned.

Kyle's birthday was in the middle of the week and I wanted to surprise him with a trip to see his family as well as do a fun activity that weekend. I had come up with the idea of going to a golf tournament that was taking place in his home town the same weekend as his birthday. Win-Win for seeing family and fun activity.

I ended up caving and telling him ahead of time due to work issues that came up and didn't want to purchase airfare, tickets, etc... if it wasn't going to work out. So, I was a little bummed it wasn't a total surprise, but at least he didn't have to plan anything!

I'm so glad we are finally both 30, so he can stop giving me a hard time about it!!

Here are some of the pics from his birthday morning. I got him the grown up gift of sports coats... haha! Nothing says old man like a sports coat, but seriously, he needs these so BADLY!

 

 Kyle's fav - cookie cake!

  

 

 Opening the Sports Coat

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 My girlie showing off her new teeth
(Excuse the blurriness. She's always too busy to sit still these days)

 Here is a little collage from Kyle's party at his parents house.

We had a fantastic time celebrating Kyle's birthday with friends and family. Also glad we survived our first plane ride with a baby. She did great and was amazed by everything to look at along the way.

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