Thursday, September 3, 2015

E L E V E N months



Lydia turned 11 months in Utah with family. Plane rides with this girl are a joke and usually leave me stressed out and looking at the clock every few minutes. Thankfully we've been blessed with some great people who sit next to us and help out. It's also a blessing that this girl has no stranger anxiety at all because everyone wants to hold her and play with her.

This random guy kept kissing her cheeks and playing patti cake with her, and then others try and feed her the airline pretzels. I have learned to think second of germs and first of gratitude for others for entertaining my very active and wild child.

I truly hope that someday we will be able to live a bit closer to family. I can't begin to describe how it makes me feel to see my family love my little girl. Watching Lydia with her cousins and aunts and uncles warms my heart. I want her to get to know these fabulous people that we love so much.


Lydia learned to walk these last few weeks and watching her toddle everywhere is the cutest thing I've seen for a while. Her cousin Jace (4 months older) is much more steady when he stands, but he is cautious and nervous about walking though I feel like he could do it if he really wanted. Lydia is very unsteady and wobbly but it doesn't stop her. She keeps walking until she's off balance and running and then she dives at whatever she is walking toward (often hitting her head), She got her first black eye not long after we arrived in Utah.

She loves to wave and clap her hands when you sing "If you're happy and you know it." She enjoys testing her voice and likes to experiment with screams that drive me crazy. She is loving to eat grapes and avocado-sometimes at the same time!



Becca returned from her mission to Paraguay at Christmas time this last year. I've missed this girl and it's always great to catch up on life when I come to Utah to visit. And what better to do when talking than go kayaking in this gorgeous place?

 
Lydia loves LOVES dogs. She especially thinks they are so funny when they are chasing a ball or a stick. She doesn't love them licking her, but she'll follow one around if she can. My parents recently got a new dog, a Border Collie names Charlie. He's a very sweet dog and soooo good with Lydia.


The beach at my parent's house is gorgeous. It has black sand and perfect skipping rocks. Brian has gotten a lot of practice at his next career of professional rock skipping on these beaches.






Her hair is getting longer-especially in the back and I keep wondering if I should cut it. But I guess every baby girl has that in between hair stage where it just needs a little longer to look normal. It will happen.. but until then and as long as she'll let me put headbands on her.. we'll do it this way!



This is the reality of our house in a matter of only a few minutes. Sometimes I have to remind myself to let her explore and make messes and to just relax. This little girl is very very busy and on the go always.. Even if you are feeding her she has to be moving or jiggling a leg as she goes.




This girl is still a pretty good sleeper. Her front teeth have broken through and while they were kind of on the surfact of breaking through the gums she was up crying in the middle of the night. But now that it has passed she is back to her 12 hours a night sleeping with 2 naps in the middle of the day.. 11 and 3:30. I assume one of these naps will be dropping soon.. but I guess we'll hit that road sign when it comes.

She still uses her binky at night and for naps and then if we need it for on the go like at church. She has attached to a white furry blanket with pictures of cupcakes all over it. It already is becoming raggedy because she uses it so much but she just loves rubbing her face against it as she falls asleep.


With summer coming to a close, we've been trying to soak up as much sun as possible because soon the cloud cover will officially fall over Chicago and the Sun will only poke her head out every now and then to say hello.

Lydia loves the park-but she usually either wants to just swing in the swing and will cry if you take her out. Or she wants to just play with the bark that covers the ground.. unless there are older kids. If older kids are playing, she'll make sure to clasp a piece of bark in a fist and toddle after all the older kids to watch and try and play with them.



Date nights are pretty important for us in medical school. With this kid sometimes having very late nights-it's always nice to get away.. sometimes our date night are as simple as wrestling in the grass at the park with the baby, and sometimes we get all dressed up to go laser tagging and we get super super sweaty and wonder why we bothered dressing up. Ha.



Lydia and her cousin Taysom are 6 months apart. Cousin Jace and Lydia (4 months apart) played and ate dirt together and so a bath was definitely in order. I love that this girl will have cousins to grow and play with throughout her life.


I love this family of ours. It has been really special to have James home and feel the special spirit that he carries with him. I am grateful for what our little family has, does, and will learn from each of our wonderful families. "Families are the Lord's workshop on earth to help us learn and live the gospel." -Cheryl A. Esplin


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