K&D Odyssey

You've Had A Birthday, Shout Hooray!

2012-02-05T19:51:00.008-07:00

Lydia is now officially 2 years old! Part of me wants to shout "Hooray!", but another part of me is sad. She seems to have grown up overnight. Everyone always told me to treasure each moment possible because it goes by so fast. And I feel like I really tried to, but there just doesn't seem to be enough moments before they grow up! Each stage has had its amazing moments (coupled with the trying ones, but we'll try to forget those.) And she has grown into a beautiful, sweet little lady. I've always considered her to be quite spunky and opinionated, and that has grown even more. But so has her sweetness, her cuddliness, and her desire to share everything with the world around her.

I couldn't possibly name all of the new things that she has done and developed since last time I wrote about her, but here are a few of the highlights:

*She loves to take care of her babies. She now keeps her babies in bed with her, makes sure they have their own blankets, and feeds them a bottle before she will go to sleep. Sometimes she thinks that bedtime means bedtime for her babies, not for her. And this results in some fun 2-year old tantrums. But she loves her babies. Hopefully this means that she will be excited to help take care of her baby sister soon!

*She talks up a storm! I couldn't possibly name all of the words that she can say now, and she's saying new ones everyday. She constantly amazes me with the things that she knows. My favorite words that she says right now are "hadoo" (hiding), "Dove you" (I love you), and "kiss it" (referred to when she needs a kiss on some obscure owwie). Probably my least favorite one right now is "No yike it" (I don't like it). This phrase is used quite frequently lately and refers to almost anything I feed her before she's even tasted it. She'll even say it to the tried and true foods that she's always liked. Sigh. Mealtimes seem to be a battleground lately. Oh, and one of my favorite things that she does lately is say her own prayers. We help her in saying them, but instead of repeating us like she used to, she adds her own commentary. Most of the time they involve praying that Daddy will come home, or blessing someone in our family. It's very sweet.

*She is taking the reigns in her potty-training progress. We bought her a couple of potty seats to go in our bathrooms and she has been taking it from there. She tells us quite frequently when she needs to go potty and we don't have to change her diaper very often. She almost always goes #2 in the potty (I guess she's realized how much more comfortable it is not carrying that around anymore). We've bought her several pairs of panties and we will go full gear as soon as I have a stool that will help her reach the toilet on her own. My guess is that she'll be trained within a month. Hooray! I won't have to buy diapers for 2 kids at the same time!

*Here are some of her favorites:

Favorite food: hmmm...I could toss out several of those. Among the top would be pizza, spaghetti, chicken nuggets, apples, oranges, bananas (or other fruit), broccoli (surprising, huh?), edimame beans (double surprise?), corn on the cob, and, of course, anything sweet.

Favorite Songs: Old McDonald, My Hands, and Personal Penguin (Sandra Boynton)

Favorite Toys: Nothing could possibly replace Pooh, but her babies do come into a close second. Her other favorites are her kitchen/play food & dishes, games (Cootie, Mancala, Hungry Hippos & HiHo Cherry-O) and books.

Favorite Movies: Most anything we put on at the moment. She especially enjoys "Goge" (Curious George), "Tigga" (any of the Winnie the Pooh movies), and the "Boods" ("Birds" aka Rio). Though she doesn't complain when we stick in most any other animated movie.

Other random things to note:

*Lydia is developing a little bit of phobia to anything messy. For example, if anything gets on her hands, then she panics until it gets cleaned off. If anything spills or gets a couple drops on the floor, she has to have it cleaned up. If there are a couple of fuzzies floating ni the bathtub then she will panic and can't get in until they've been removed. It hasn't ever gotten out of control and we've learned to just provide her with a napkin at mealtimes. Right now it's more in the funny and sometimes roll your eyes phase.

*Her stats right now are 36 inches tall (95th percentile) and 29 1/2 lbs (75th percentile). She's very tall for her age and it sure shows when she's with all her friends who are mostly a little older than her.

To celebrate Lydia's birthday, we threw a birthday party with a bunch of her friends. (Conveniently her birthday landed on a Saturday this year.) Of course, this was monkey themed. This little lady LOVES monkeys! So, I made a monkey cake, monkey/banana/jungle decorations, and a cute outfit for her with a monkey on the shirt. We played "Hot Banana". This was kinda like hot potato, except we gave each kid a prize as they got out. And then we took the kids on a jungle safari. Unfortunately it was raining bad and we couldn't do it outside, so we improvised in Lydia's room instead. We set up jungle animals around the room and each kid was given a paper with a picture of each of the animals. As they found the animals they got to color them on their paper. Then we sang Happy Birthday and Lydia blew out her candle. It took her a few tries to get enough of a blow to actually put out the flame, but she enjoyed it thoroughly. Then she opened all of her presents. I think in the future we'll get her less presents on her birthday if we have a party, because she got more than enough from all of her friends and family (Thanks so much!). She loved it though and didn't get upset when her friends wanted to join in the excitement of unwrapping the gifts.

After a yummy breakfast, Lydia opened her family gifts. This is her pretty new dress from G&G Anderson. So cute!

You may not be able to tell from this picture, but she loves to play games and was really excited for her new ones!

Lydia was also in love with her new addition to her kitchen! She has been playing with this constantly since she opened it. Thanks G&G Anderson!

Lydia's cute birthday cake! My cake decorating class paid off! I'm really proud of it!

Lydia and David doing the Jungle Safari around her bedroom. She enjoyed identifying and coloring each of the animals. I was impressed with how well she did!

Very softly blowing out her candle.

And then opening her presents at her birthday party (with the help of some friends:).

After her friends all left, Lydia cuddled up on the couch with her new pizza and all the accessories. I don't quite understand the cuddliness of it all, but apparently it made sense to her. Maybe a midnight snack?

After a much needed nap, Lydia got to talk to Grandma and Grandpa Anderson on the phone as they sang Happy Birthday. Then we went to McDonald's for dinner (kids this age sure are easy!) and (the real excitement) went to the new Petsmart on the island to get her a fish. We hadn't realized though that you should have the filter running in your tank for at least a day before putting the fish in it, so we got all the supplies and just admired the fish. Right now Lydia looks in the tank for the fish and can't understand why she can't find them. We'll go get her some this week :).

Overall, I think that she had a very exciting birthday! We loved spending the day celebrating our Little Princess and are so excited for many years to come! Happy Birthday Sweet Lydia!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2012-01-09T13:11:00.015-07:00

I'm finally catching it all up! Hooray! I just updated all of our pictures in Picassa, so please feel free to take a look and see more in depth of what we've been up to. It's taken a while to get it this far because I've been updating 6 months of pictures. Yuck! I hope I never lose my computer again! We do have some more pictures on David's computer from our parents' cameras over vacations. But I'm still working on loading those to my computer. These pictures will give you the general idea at least of what we've been doing.

Part 1: November activities & Thanksgiving

The weather was beautiful for most of November and allowed for a lot of time to be spent outside. Lydia loves to ride her bike. She can't quite reach the pedals yet, but she enjoys Daddy pushing her around anyway.

The 1st weekend of each November is the Motorcycle Ralley in Galveston. We decided to take a gander at it all this year rather than just recieving the downside of Harley's revving their engines all night long. We enjoyed walking around and seeing all the cool gadgets out there. We were just a little bit out of place though. This street is just a small sampling of the bikes in Galveston that weekend. All of the streets were lined like this. More people are on the island during this weekend than any tourist day in the summer. Quite the event!

Lydia enjoyed making her apple turkey. Though, she enjoyed eating it even more!

The week before Thanksgiving, Lydia and I were able to join my parents and Neil for a trip to El Paso. Lydia had never gotten to meet my Grandma and Grandpa Anderson before, so we decided to take the chance while we had it. Unfortunately she got sick while we were there and didn't want much to do with anyone but me most of the time, but they enjoyed meeting their Great Grand-daughter anyway.

One day when we were in El Paso, we decided we needed to get out and enjoy some fresh air. So, we took a trip to the zoo. It was fun to see all the animals and walk around.

We kept telling Lydia to stretch out her arms like the monkey, but all she wanted to do was hug it. It was cute.

Unfortunately the carousel was closed down, but Lydia was still happy to sit on the tiger.

My parents and Neil came back with Lydia and I to Galveston for Thanksgiving so that we could include David in our festivities. After a yummy meal and some much needed rest, we decorated a gingerbread house with Lydia and Neil. I think we did a pretty good job!

We all went to the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens. It was a beautiful night to go and the lights were amazing. Lydia got so excited for each one!

And, of course, we couldn't have my parents in Galveston and not take at least one walk on the beach! Lydia quickly discovered that she loved hanging out with Grandma the most! She was always looking for things in the water and that was where Lydia wanted to be too! They were such cute little friends!

Part 2: December Pre-Christmas Vacation

Santa made sure to visit at our Ward Christmas Party. Lydia loved watching him from a distance as all of the other kids went to talk to him. However, the closest she would get to him was a stretched out high-five. Working on it a little at a time.

Most of my November and December were spent working Christmas gifts. I will do a post on all of my projects soon. Promise! This was one of my projects. Before we left for visits with Grandparents, we had our own little Christmas. This was Lydia's big gift from us. Lydia was so excited to get her own little kitchen for Christmas! She loves to do whatever I'm doing and I'm happy to say that now, instead of pulling up a chair to help me cook on the hot stove, she goes to her own little kitchen and cooks up some amazing gourmet food! She is also modeling one of her cute little aprons in this picture.

I also got a wonderful gift of my new computer which I love using. The only thing that would make it better would be a comfy chair to sit in, but don't tell David I said that! He'll complain that I sold our old one before we left Provo and then immediately start looking for a new one.

Part 3: Christmas vacation: Andersons part 1

Our first stop on our Christmas vacation was to San Antonio to visit my parents, Neil and Eric and Kiersten who came out from San Diego. We enjoyed a couple relaxing days with them and were able to finish up all of our shopping and do some fun baking. Lydia loved playing the piano with Grandma and Uncle Eric whenever the opportunity arose. She always accompanied it with her beautiful little voice. She is going to be quite the performer one day!

Our last night before we left San Antonio (for the 1st time) we did a little Christmas together complete with caroling, stories and presents. Lydia was excited to get some food to go along with her kitchen set and immediately began preparing meals for everybody. David got some much needed tools and I was excited to get a brand new flat iron (the one I've been using was a hand me down from my sister and was never quite what I needed).

Part 4: Christmas Vacation with the Dickinsons

Okay, so this picture isn't really with the Dickinsons. We were able to steal 1/2 a day away and go see my Grandma Matthews in Issaquah. This is our 3 out of 4 generation picture. Next time we need to drag my mom to Washington with us so that we can get the full deal. It was fun to see my grandma. She is such an energetic, happy and caring woman.

We took a few minutes to see my Grandpa Matthews new headstone. It was beautiful. Perfect for him with Mt. Rainier on it and the caption "You are the wind beneath my wings". Lydia loved walking around the cemetary and admiring all the headstones and pretty flowers.

We spend part of a day at Pike Place Market with David's family. I have fond memories of going there as a child with my family. And it never disappoints me when I see them throwing the fish around and tasting all the wonderful nuts! Lydia loves seeing all the exciting things there too! I had though that she may get bored easy, but she was enthrawled the whole time!

That night we went to the Point Defiance Zoo to see the lights. Once again, Lydia loves lights and gets excited for them. It took me several shots to get this picture, but it sure was worth all the effort! Such a beautiful happy girl!

Christmas morning (the real one). It took a lot to get Lydia to stand there for a picture when she desperately wanted to plow into all those beautifully wrapped presents! It was a nice Christmas and I wish I could say like all my friends that the spirit was felt so much stronger because we were able to go to church. But the truth is, that was probably the most challenging sacrament meeting I have ever had with Lydia. I was to the point of tears. I actually gave in a spent a lot of it in the Lobby with her (and that's saying quite a bit because I'm very opposed to letting Lydia think that is acceptable). But, by the time all the excitement over opening presents had cooled down and I had a little time to rest, things got better and it ended up being a pleasant Christmas after all. And sweet Lydia was having a rough trip too. As we found out later that week, she was sick with Fifth Disease and was really having a hard time. Poor girl! (And for those who know about Fifth Disease and pregnancy: I'm okay. My brother had it when I was little and I built up the necessary antibodies for it. So, the baby is doing good.)

Lydia loved Grandma and Grandpa Dickinson's cat, Herckie. This is a sampling of the loving she gave that poor cat. Fortunately, he was very patient with it all and took it like a champ. I think that he was very happy when Lydia went home.

Lydia also loved getting to play with her cousin Sophie who is just 6 months older than her. They were the perfect little duo and were always getting into mischief!

Grandma Dickinson with all of her grandkids: Sophie, Noah and Lydia.

Part 5: Back to San Antonio with the Andersons

Being back in Texas felt amazing after weathering the cold of Washington! I have to say that I am built for warm weather and (as we learned on this trip) so is Lydia. It was both sad and funny when Lydia would cry and say "ouch" when her hands got the slightest bit cold from being outside in Washington!

Anyhow, after getting back to San Antonio, realizing that Lydia had been sick with Fifth Disease for the whole week, being on the phone with nurses on what to do, and then getting some much needed rest, we got outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We spent one day touring the San Antonio missions (minus the Alamo). They were all beautiful and unique in their own ways. Some were restored more than others. It was my first time getting to see them all and enjoyed it a lot.

One of Lydia's favorite parts about the missions were the rock gardens. She loved throwing the rocks and collecting them. My mom joked that she would also have a lunchbox full of rocks one day (like somebody else she knew).
This was Lydia by the time we reached the final mission. Such a sweet little angel!

That night we had fun playing with the parachute and eating my dad's dutch oven cooking.

On the morning before we left San Antonio we took a hike in Government Canyon. It was very beautiful and felt so good to be outdoors! This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip! Lydia loves her Daddy so much!

Grandpa found Lydia her own little walking stick. She had a lot of fun hiking like Grandpa!

And that sums up our trips and some of our fun over the last couple of months. I know it was long, but you made it! Life has been busy, but exciting! Now I'm very excited for some much needed rest, organization time, catching up on things (like blogging), and starting some fun new projects!

It's (another) girl!

2012-01-04T14:45:00.005-07:00

Despite my confidence that I was definitely having a boy this time, I was proven wrong. We went on Monday to get the fun ultrasound for our baby # 2 and were told that we were having another little girl! I asked the nurse a couple times if she was sure, and she pointed everything out to me very slowly. Apparently I should never make a guess again as to what people (including myself) will be having! I have been wrong every time as of late.

Even though I was wrong, I am so thrilled to have another little girl! I have fallen in love with ruffles and bows with Lydia and am excited to have another little girl to dress up. Plus we have several of the little girl essentials already (this is important considering we are still pushing through med school) and Lydia can have a playmate to cook in her new little kitchen with and sing and dance with. David is excited too, even though he is realizing that he will really be out-numbered with another girl running around. He was hoping for a wrestling buddy. But I think he felt better when I pointed out how much Lydia loves wrestling around with him.

We took Lydia with us to this ultrasound in hopes that it would help her understand a little of what is going on. I'm not sure how successful that was. She was excited to see the baby on the screen, but got bored after a while of all the necessary measurements and wanted to get up on the bed with me. After we were all done, Lydia climbed up on the bed, put the towel over her stomach and asked to see the baby in her tummy. I wish I had been able to pull out the camera fast enough. It was cute. She now points to my belly and tells me there's a baby in it. However, it is always followed by pointing her her belly also and telling me about her baby. Sigh. I don't think she'll fully understand it until her world has changed forever. She is enjoying all the excitement though and that's enough. She'll be a great big sister!

Here's a couple pics from our ultrasound. We expect this one to be a great gymnist because of how her feet were kicking herself in the head for most of the ultrasound. Too fun!

Those are her feet up above her head.

And I'll be posting more updates soon! I got a wonderful new computer for Christmas and can now update all of my pictures so much easier! Things don't take several days to complete anymore! Hooray!

Happy Halloween + Happy News!

2011-11-01T19:19:00.006-06:00

Happy Halloween everybody! Okay, so I'm a couple days late. But I had to wait until I had some pictures to post. And Lydia wasn't cooperative with pictures for any of the pre-Halloween activities. Luckily she was in a good mood on Halloween and happily put on her cowgirl hat and vest for pictures. Yay! I was so scared we wouldn't get any!

This year for Halloween Lydia and I had several fun adventures! We dressed up for storytime at the Library (there she wore the hat and vest for about 5 minutes before she wanted them off). Then, on Friday, we went to the Houston Zoo for the Zoo Boo. They had a few trick or treat stations throughout the zoo and a "pumpkin patch" area where the kids could paint pumpkins (with paint pens! Very clever!). It was Lydia's first time to the zoo and she was so excited! Her favorite by far was the seals. She squealed excitedly as they swam around and even had to grab my hand and drag me over to see them more closely with her. Then, Friday night, our ward had it's annual Halloween activity. She enjoyed a few carnival games, including a cake walk and spook alley (which she handled like a pro!), and then experienced her first real trunk or treating. Of course, she refused to wear her hat and vest and I had to carry them the whole time. Stinker. But when we pulled out her costume for her to wear on Halloween, she happily put on the entire outfit and even gave us some cute "Yeehaw's" during her photo shoot. We took her to the trick or treating and carnival at A&M on Pelican Island. She enjoyed going door to door and even had to touch the creepy pumpkin head man who was standing on one of the corners! I thought she would have cowered and started crying! Maybe we will get cute pictures with Santa this year! Overall, we had a fun Halloween holiday and Lydia made the cutest little cowgirl you ever did see!

Lydia trick or treating at A&M.

Roping her cattle (with a pretend rope) as she yelled "Yeehaw"!

I sewed her cowgirl vest and fixed up her hat. The pants were some cute hand-me-downs from a friend and so were the cowgirl boots. Overall I think I paid $7.50 for the shirt from Walmart. Everything else we already had on hand. Yay for cheap and cute costumes!

Painting her pumpkin at the Zoo Boo. She was very focused on it and had to try all of the different colors.

She was a little unsure of sitting on a bunch of pumpkins. And she wasn't really in the mood for giving cute pictures. Too bad! There were a ton of cute spots to do it!

Now, as I hinted at in the topic of the post, we do have some happy news! We will be having a cute new little one in our family soon! Hooray! We are so excited for this long awaited surprise! I am now 11 weeks along. Almost done with the first trimester! This one, overall, had been both better and worse than with Lydia. I've had more specific food aversions this time (bread, avocado, baked sweets (I still eat them, but they have a funny aftertaste to them), chicken, and other things that depend on the day), yet I've also been able to eat more this time. With Lydia I lost 3 lbs in the first trimester, but so far I've gained a couple pounds this time. It's hard to tell if I'm more nauseous this time. It definitely started later in the pregnancy (with Lydia I was nauseous before the tests even said I was pregnant) but I also notice my nausea more his time because I'm not constantly busy with a full time job. I lay down on the couch while Lydia gets addicted to Blue's Clues (which she asks for by name now) and Sesame Street. We try to get out and do things often because otherwise I feel even more sick in the house. I can definitely vouch that every pregancy is different though! It's amazing! If I went by how I've been eating and feeling this time, I would say that we'll definitely have a boy. It'll be funny if I'm right! We won't find out until the beginning of January though.

Oh, yeah, I'm sure everyone's asking when the due date is. Drumroll please ... my due date is May 21,2012. Just 2 days after David's birthday. David claims that if it is a boy and it's born on his birthday that he needs to be David Joseph Dickinson, Jr. For my sake, please pray that that doesn't happen. It's not a bad name, I just don't like the whole Jr. thing. It gets too confusing. If y'all have any ideas for cute names that go good with Dickinson, please pass them along. I really like family names, but David doesn't really care. I think we'll have a bigger dispute this time though. Oh well. As long as the kid likes it when they get older.

Soooo...yeah...

2011-10-01T21:12:00.010-06:00

I actually wrote this post a couple of weeks ago. However, computers seem to be quite finicky around here and I was unable to actually post it until just now. So, some of this may seem out of date. But it is all still relevant. Enjoy! You've only been waiting 3 months!

I have long been putting off writing a new post for the blog. I think about it quite often. However, I always come up with an excuse. Most commonly that excuse is that I don't feel like dealing with my computer because it is slower than a snail and that's where all of the pictures are stored. So, I just can't write a post without putting up some pictures. But I need to just suck it up and write. You may or may not get any pictures in this post. I'm not sure right now. It depends on how motivated I feel. And, lately, my motivation has been lacking quite a bit.

Now, here is the other excuse I have had for not writing: I don't know what I should write about. Not that there is a lack of things to write about. Lydia is constantly doing the cutest things and learning more and more everyday. And we try to go out and do things often enough. It's more that there's been so much to write about and it's been so long that I have a hard time choosing which thing I should actually write about.

I have a strong feeling that this post may end up being more of a rambling. Brace yourself. Okay, here it goes...

Lydia has been learning and growing like crazy these last 3 months! She is 20 months. She is incredibly smart and has quite the personality! She loves to read. She also loves to make her baby doll read. She even makes her baby point to the pictures as she's reading. Speaking of which, she loves to play "mommy". She takes good care of her baby and was even caught one morning feeding her baby out of one of my perfume bottles as I was getting ready for the day. Good thing it wasn't a real baby! She also loves to help clean things. Whenever I clean the bathroom, I have to put her in charge of cleaning the bathtub in order to keep her away from trying to help clean the toilet. She also loves to help sweep, vacuum, sort/change/fold laundry, empty the dishwasher, and any other random tasks. She is excellent at doing puzzles.

Lydia is also starting to talk more. It seems that I hear her say something new every other day. The other day I counted 35 words. These are the ones that I've heard her say on her own without just repeating me. They include: Hello ("Aya"), ByeBye, Thank you (said almost anytime you hand her something in a very high pitched voice! Good girl! "Day Doo"), shoes, stinky ("dinky" said in a very high pitched voice), Pee-Yoo! (while plugging her nose), baby, please, milk ("mi"), all done ("a da"), book ("boo"), momma, daddy, no, stop it ("doppi"), sleep ("seepy"), bed ("be"), binky ("bibi"), more, belly button (also "bibi"), hair, uh oh!, cheese! (said when she's pretending to take pictures and for the food, "shee"), tv ("dee"), grandma ("papa"? Why?), grandpa ("papa"), dog (sounds more like God), fishy ("shee"), pretty ("pee"), keys, tickle ("dickodicko"), Jesus ("Jcheesu"), clean up ("ceen"), ball ("ba"), and a couple of her friends' names (Jadyn and Callie). It's taken me a couple days to write this much of a post. And in that time she has picked up on new word which I loath! "Mine!" This is said very adamently whenever anyone touches anything that is hers. Ooooh! I'm not going to like this phase!

Lydia can correctly identify her belly button (go figure!), hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, nose and hair. She can also identify them on mommy and daddy when asked, for example, "where's daddy's nose?".

Overall, Lydia is quite the little ball of fire. It feels as though her life is often a musical. She is constantly singing as she is going about her usual activities. She also loves to dance and has quite the creative dance moves. She loves going down slides. The bigger, the better. However, swings are too confining for her. She lasts a few seconds before she's ready to run again. She loves to be "pretty". This includes putting bows in her hair (she does her own headbands on occasion and they look like she stepped out of the 80's!), wearing necklaces, rings (she found a few neglected ones in my jewelery box), and carrying purses. She loves to pretend to make us food and then feed it to us. What else can I say, she's a little ball of personality! And she is definitely a girly girl! We love her though and enjoy watching her grow.

As for me and David, well, David is now in his second rotation of his 3rd year. His first was internal medicine, which was broken up into sections of cardiology, rheumotology, and general medicine. He really enjoyed the cardiology and general areas. Mostly because of the faculty he worked with. But he didn't have a very good experience with rheumotology. So, I think it's safe to say that he won't be going into that field. Now he is in psychology. For the past couple of weeks he has been driving to St. Joseph's in downtown Houston. Not very fun. But he's been coming home with some interesting stories. I can relate to a lot of the people he talks about because of my background at Heritage. So, I enjoy this section. I feel smart when he asks me questions as he's studying and I can tell him the answers. In one more week he'll be doing more clinical psychology at UTMB. Yay! He won't have to drive so far out! And he won't be waking me up everyday at 5 am! So, overall, David is doing well. He's enjoying things a lot more than he was his first couple years of med school. He's a much more hands on kind of guy. So, this is a better way for him to learn. Plus he's already got some faculty asking to write letters of recommendation for him come application time for residency! Yay! So, he's really impressing them.

And then there's me. Hmmm...my life revolves around the previous 2 people and am just trying to keep my head afloat with it all. Plus, find time to give to my calling as RS President. It's only slightly demanding. I'm also trying to spend time doing my crafts/sewing projects. I'll try to get some pictures up of them soon. But I've made a beautiful comforter for Lydia's bed, refinished Lydia's dresser, made portable dvd player totes/cases, started working more on Lydia's quiet book (I've got a couple pages done and the cover), and I sewed a cowgirl vest to go with Lydia's Halloween costume. I may have done some more, but that's all that I can think of right now. I have several projects I want to finish before Christmas though. My first priorities are the quiet book and also painting/decorating her big Christmas present (more info on that to come, probably at Christmas time though. After all, it's sad for everyone to see what you're getting for Christmas except you, right?).

Also since the last time I wrote, we have had a couple of visitors. My family (mom, dad and brother Neil) came to visit for a weekend at the beginning of August. It had been over a year since they had made it out to Galveston. So, we were very excited to have them come and stay with us. We were able to do the typical Galveston things: go to the beach and ride the ferry. If you ever come visit us, that is probably what you will do to. It's classic, but it never gets old for us. That's what we love about living on an island! We had a lot of fun and hope that it won't take them that long to come see us again.

David's parents and brother Matt also came at the end of August. They were ready for a big Hoorah! before Matt went back to school. Unfortunately, David had to work a lot of the time that they were here. So, Lydia and I took them to the beach and to the Rainforest Pyramid at Moody Gardens. Those are definetely on Lydia's top list of favorite things to do! And David's parents got to see why. Then, David was able to join us to go on the ferry and to have lunch with us and his dad's long lost cousin that was able to drive from Houston to see us. Then Lydia and I went to Space Center Houston for a couple hours before they caught their flight back to Washington. Lydia's favorite thing there was the ball pit! She kept trying to sneak away from us and go play in it again and again. It was a very fun trip with them. I hope they aren't afraid of Galveston after coming during the hottest month of the year! We would love to have them visit us again sometime.

Well, hopefully this helps catch me up on blogging for now. I'll still try to get more pictures posted for people to see. I even have some videos that I've taken. For now, this picture will have to suffice though.

A Breath of Air, Finally!

2011-07-06T12:25:00.015-06:00

I apologize greatly for the long gap between posts. It has been driving me crazy too! But I just have not felt like I had the time or energy to post in these last two crazy months. So, finally, after a long time of running around like a chicken with their head cut off, I am getting a breath of air! Life, for the moment, seems to be finally slowing down a little bit.

So then, what have I been doing these past couple months, you might be asking yourself. Well, to make a long story short, David studied very very vigorously for his Step 1 Exam which he finally took on June 17th. This period of time left me playing single mother while also packing up our apartment for our anticipated move. Just a few weeks before David took his test we took a trip to San Antonio. The idea was that David would have some quiet rooms to study in while Lydia and I got to have some fun time with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Neil. Well, that didn't quite work out according to plan. A couple days after arriving there my mom ended up in the ER with gallstones. Yuck! So, instead of watching Neil during the day and playing in the evenings, I ended up taking care of the house while my mom attempted recovery. I learned a lot about the gallbladder and fat-free diets during that week. We still had a little bit of fun with Neil's highschool graduation and a bowling night. I'm glad I was there to help out my mom during this stressful time. Unfortunately we weren't able to stay for her to have her surgery though, but I think my dad and the ward did a good job of taking care of her through that.

After coming home from San Antonio, life got even more crazy with David doing all of his last week cramming and me taking care of all of our last week moving errands. After David finished the most difficult test of his life we expected him to help me with moving. Once again, things didn't work out according to plan. David was starting orientation for 3rd year the following Monday and had been given hours and hours of training he needed to complete each night before going. Yuck! He was able to give me a few hours to get our moving truck loaded and unloaded before he headed back to the library. Then it was my job to unpack, organize and decorate our new home. By myself again. It may sound like I'm complaining, maybe I am a little bit. But I know David didn't have a choice. And I don't have the patience to live in the middle of boxes and chaos to wait until he could help me.

So, 2 weeks later, here I am. I think that I may finally be through this crazy time. Maybe. Knock on wood! Things are all unpacked and pretty well organized. Most of our decorations are up. Lydia's bedroom has been painted from blue to green. I have refinished her dresser and am awaiting Hobby Lobby's order of my last few drawer knobs. There are minimal things to do for the house. Like a trip to Ikea to get my last few organizing totes and rugs. And my parents to make a long awaited visit and bring us a couple items of furniture my dad bargained at some estate sales.

Yes, I finally have time to sit at my computer and compose this long awaited blog post. And I will be posting several more soon. Like one showing off our new spacious home with a back patio and garage. And another giving updates on our little lady. But, for now I will just share some pictures taken over the past couple months.

We enjoyed a Mother's Day stroll on the beach. The seaweed was pretty gross, but the company was wonderful!

My Aunt Charlyn and Uncle Jim came to Houston for a work conference and we were able to visit with them along with my cousin Marc and Lee and his family.

Lee and his family, Sherry, Ben, Luke and Annie.

David chose to celebrate his birthday at Rainforest Cafe. We had a lot of fun, but Lydia was pretty scared of everything there :)

What would Galveston be without some time at the beach?

Happy Birthday David!

Neil and Lydia enjoyed many walks while we were in San Antonio. Neil also enjoyed holding Lydia's hand because then he could control her stopping and pointing at everything :)

Neil's highschool graduation. Congrats!
Lydia enjoyed pushing the bowling ball down the lane. Though we all agreed that she liked watching the TV screen with the scores better!

The new Rainforest Pyramid at Moody Gardens. Lydia loved watching the animals! She could have stayed for hours!

Lydia met a new friend, Autumn, while she was there who loved to give her hugs. Too bad she doesn't live closer!

Lydia had fun at the 4th of July parade and fireworks! I can't say I've ever been to a 4th of July parade that gives the kids Mardi Gras beads instead of flags! Welcome to Galveston :) And Lydia was a natural at the fireworks! She pointed at them all and admired them with her "Ooooohs and Awwwwwws"! :)

15 Month Checkup

2011-05-05T17:49:00.002-06:00

I feel like my baby is almost not a baby anymore! She could officially be called a toddler now! But, I don't want to let go, because I feel like that's me admitting that I no longer have my baby.
Today Lydia went for her 15 month well checkup. She is now 34 1/2 inches tall, weighs 24 1/2 pounds and her head is 46 cm. This puts her in the 99th percentile for height! Wow! I wasn't expecting that! She has grown almost 4 inches in the past 3 months! Really?! When did all this happen? I feel like I missed it, yet I was there for the whole thing. She's at about the 50th percentile for weight, which seems about right. She's definitely thinned out, but still has some delicious chunk in her arms and legs.
Lydia is meeting all of her developmental milestones very nicely. She doesn't talk as much as I would like, but I am told that it seems to happen overnight with most kids. Right now I hear her say a word, but then she just doesn't feel the need to repeat it again. Like "shoes". I know she said that word! She even pointed to her shoes as she said it. But she hasn't said it since then. She has also stopped saying "Hello" when she talks on her phone and doesn't say "ByeBye" anymore. She does still say "Momma" and "Daddy". She says "Tickle, Tickle" and I'm pretty sure I've heard her say "Clean up" with me when I've been singing the song.
All of Lydia's motor skills are excelling and she's a great problem-solver. I'm amazing at the things I tell her to do and she knows what I'm saying and, for the most part, is very obedient. She'll go get things for me, sit down in her chair, eat her food, and give us kisses.
Overall, Lydia is a beautiful, happy and fun little Angel. I am so grateful to have her in my life.

Happy (belated) Easter!

2011-05-03T20:01:00.004-06:00

Took me a while, but I'm finally wishing everyone a Happy Easter! It's a season, after all! Not just a day! A couple weeks ago David asked me what my first thought was when someone mentioned Easter to me. I'm not sure I want to tell y'all what it was! But it made me sad. The first thing that should come to all of our minds is the Savior, His Infinite Atonement and His Resurrection. He sacrificed everything that we might be saved. I am so grateful for this remarkable gift. I am forever indebted to Him. He truly is my Prince, My King, My Redeemer! And He Lives!

As we tried to keep the Savior in our minds for Easter, we also spent a lot of fun time with friends. Lydia enjoyed her first egghunt, which she did very well at! David practiced with her in the apartment for a couple weeks beforehand. And we ate lots of delicious food!

I finally completed this project! I did the top a few months ago, but added the skirt this past week to complete the outfit. I love how it turned out!

Also, to keep y'all up to date, Lydia went back to the eye doctor today to complete her procedure. She had the tube taken out of her eye. Her eye has looked fantastic for the past couple of months and we have high hopes that it is finally corrected! But, we'll find out in the next few weeks. Keep her in your prayers! And the procedure today was a super quickie. Five minutes later she was back to her usual happy self.

Called to Serve ... Again!

2011-04-10T20:53:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Sister Hon, our amazing Relief Society President, came to me and told me some both sad and exciting news. Her and her husband would be moving to Conroe for a job promotion. I am very excited for them and this opportunity! But, I was the 1st counselor in Relief Society and immediately thought "Oh No!!!" My panic got to only last for about 10 minutes before the Bishop saw me and said those dreaded words, "Can I talk to you?" Yep, my first fears came true! I was asked if I would serve as the Relief Society President of the Galveston, TX ward. I have never been so tempted to say "No" before. I in no way felt adequate for the calling. I have a hard enough time keeping up with everything that I already had to do, let alone all of the responsibilities that come from this calling. But, my answer was, "If that's what the Lord wants." After all, He must know something that I don't! Fortunately and unfortunately last weekend was General Conference. I am so grateful for all of the wonderful messages received by our church leaders. I desperately needed them! But it also made my anxiety go higher having to wait another week! Yikes!
And then, to top off all of my anxiety, David got a phone call lastnight from the Stake Executive Secretary asking him to meet with the Stake Presidency this morning. Panic really set in! After all, Brother Hon was in the Bishopric! Thankfully, (yet very sadly) another family is moving from our ward soon and so David will be taking over as the Ward Clerk. Phew! I can handle that one! Sunday mornings will be very interesting from now on though! David will have meetings starting at 6:30 am and I will have them twice a month at 7:30 am. Poor Lydia.
We were both set apart for our callings today. David received some incredible blessings in his! I know that if he continues to live righteously and prepares for his Boards exam, he will do very well and will be able to get a good residency in radiology. I too am very thankful for my blessing in getting set apart. I am amazed at how much my anxiety has decreased and how much more strength and peace I feel since receiving this Mantle. I know that the Lord will be by my side as I work to serve the Sisters in the Galveston Ward. I feel like I am serving another mission. This one will be more challenging in ways that my full-time one was. But, just like the full-time one, I am on the Lord's errand and will be helping His precious children return to Him in glory.
I appreciate everyone's love a support they have given me thus far. Thank you. I will definitely continue needing it.

Oh! And a quick and exciting note! Lydia signed/said "Jesus" for the first time when my counselors were getting set apart! She saw a picture of Jesus on the wall, pointed to it and then said/signed "Jesus"! I've been trying to teach her this for a long time and am so excited that she caught on! Hooray! I'm sure she thinks all pictures are Jesus right now, but we're on to a good start! Such a smart little lady! We sure do love her!

To Lydia at 14 months

2011-04-04T20:58:00.006-06:00

Dear Sweet Lydia,

Originally I wasn't going to write you letters monthly during your second year of life, but with so many new developments I have decided to continue every other month. You are still my little baby girl, but you sure are growing fast! You are quickly becoming a toddler, and your attitude is proving it! You have quite the personality all packaged into a little body. We have done several fun things these past couple of months, including your first rodeo, Mardi Gras parade, a couple of visits to Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's and your first time on a horse! You loved all of them, well, except the parade. But you love playing with all the beads you acquired! Some of your developments include (but are not limited to):
*Climbing onto whatever furniture you can get your chubby leg on. Luckily you are also fairly good at going back down!
*Opening all the drawers within your reach. This has caused the next step of baby proofing in your bedroom (taping the drawers closed on all of our storage bins kept in your bedroom).
*You love playing with stickers! You love putting them on you and taking them off and sticking them wherever you can. Unfortunately this also means stickers always stuck to the bottom of our feet as we walk around the apartment!
*You respond to simple commands, such as getting your shoes, picking up a toy we point at, and coming to us when we ask.
*You have learned the sign for "more" (in your own way). You point to your other hand rather than touching all of your fingers together.
*We have caught you saying several words, but you aren't quite repeating them yet. I am pretty sure you said "horse" the other day. And your other common ones are "mom", "daddy", "shoes", "bye bye", and "hello".
*(My favorite one) You give us kisses! It's really more like a lick, but it's sweet all the same!

I know I haven't named everything new you do now, but these are a few that stand out to me. I love watching you learn and grow! You are teaching me so much! Most of all, to put aside the work once in a while and just play. I love you so much and am so excited to share this time with you! Thank you for choosing to come to our family!

love,
Momma

Riding the carousel at Morgan's Wonderland

Playing dress up with Daddy

The petting zoo at the Rodeo

Sorting your finds at the rodeo

It's Bluebonnet season again!

Horseback riding!

Blessings in Disguise

2011-02-26T15:52:00.005-07:00

Yesterday was, in all definitions, terrible. Lydia, who had been running a fever since Tuesday afternoon, went to the doctor for the second time to try to figure out what was wrong and there was a rediculously long wait. I had my interview to receive food-stamps, which the workers are never in a good mood and treat everyone like liars and cheaters. Lydia, who was obviously in incredible pain, screamed bloody murder all afternoon. And, during my moment that was supposed to be a break from all the stresses (a night out with the girls), my car breaks down halfway to the restaurant. In the words of Alexander (a movie I enjoyed watching as a kid) it was an "Awful, Terrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day!"
But (yes there is a "but" in all of this) it was also an incredible day! Through all of this terrible day, I have seen the hand of God. He seems to have known how difficult the day was and made little miracles happen along the way. So, here is a deeper look at my day:
1. I took Lydia to the doctor. Yes, there were a ton of sick, coughing, runny nosed kids in the waiting room where we were for well over an hour, BUT the doctor we saw was incredible! She was so sympathetic toward Lydia and I, that she made sure she found a way to possible help Lydia rather than just sending us away like the previous doctor had done a couple days before. Lydia is being treated for an ear infection, which I am convinced is really something that Lydia has because she began pulling at her ears a bunch last night. So, we were able to get her started on the medicine right away.
2. I had my interview to receive food-stamps benefits. Anyone who has ever gone through this process (at least in Galveston) knows that it is a miserable experience that only the truly desperate for assistance will endure through. The case workers are almost always in incredibly cranky moods and don't want to hear anything that you have to say to explain your situation. You only speak when spoken to and only say what they have asked for, otherwise you will get an earful and will end up leaving in tears. Actually, I can't remember a single encounter with them that hasn't involved some sort of tears! Anyway, it's a very stressful experience. I hope I've painted the picture well enough for you to see. However, you also never seem to know exactly what questions to expect during the interview, so you always think that you're prepared but they'll throw something new at you that you were not prepared for.
Well, here's the miracle of all of it. I have been bugging David for a long time now to clean his side of the bedroom. There are always so many random papers and stuff all over that it drives me crazy! So, in order to distract myself while I waited for the case worker to call (always a tedious wait!) I started cleaning his side of the bed. I got most of it well enough organized. Then the caseworker called. And guess what random question they threw at me this time! How much my car insurance costs each month. Not a question that I had been asked before nor one that I knew off the top of my head. But she wanted the answer right then and there. But, miraculously, as I had been cleaning I had seen our car insurance policy and was able to quickly grab it and give her the number. I know that the spirit was what prompted me to clean when I did and made sure that paper was there that I needed! What a blessing!
3. Lydia's screaming. Well, unfortunately I don't have a specific blessing associated with this other than that it was a beautiful day and we were able to enjoy a walk outside together. This was my trick to convince her to eat some food because otherwise she wasn't calm enough to chew her food up without choking. So, the beautiful day was a true blessing!
4. The car. Well, there are a lot of blessings associated with this one. First of all, the timing of it all. It didn't happen at a time when we needed to be somewhere at a certain time. We had already been to all of our appointments and classes for the day. I was simply going out to eat. Second, the car broke down in a convenient location. It wasn't on a freeway or far away from home. I was only a few miles away. I was slowing down for a stop light when it quit and there were no cars in front or behind me. I was able to safely roll into the median, out of traffic, and turn on my hazard lights. Third, it was Mardi Gras weekend, which meant there were several cops driving around. I was able to easily wave down a cop who called for back up and they pushed me into a parking lot. Fourth, one of my friends picked me up and took me to the restaurant so that I was still able to have a break from everything before facing reality again. Fifth, and so on, we have so many incredible people in our lives who will not hesitate to help us out. We've been so blessed.
So, all in all, I'd say it was a good day. Maybe this is the reason God wanted me to go through all of this, so that I could recognize His hand in all things. He truly was watching over me and my family in this challenging time. I'm so grateful for all of this!
And, as I mentioned before, it's Mardi Gras weekend! This is a HUGE thing in Galveston and we still got to take part this year! Lydia experienced her first parade and was shocked by it all. Mostly by the noise, I think. She clung pretty tightly throughout the whole thing, but seemed to enjoy getting all the beads. And No, during the daytime parades you do not need to flash people to get beads. It was a great time had by all! Anyone who wants to join us next year is welcome!

And here is a fun video of Lydia for y'all to enjoy! Lydia recently started copying us when we nod and shake our heads. Sorry for the camera shakiness, I don't do well holding a camera still and shaking my head at the same time apparently.

Lydia's Eye Surgery: The Finale (I hope!)

2011-02-09T12:23:00.003-07:00

Lydia had the full Crawford Tube surgery on her eye today and I'm so glad that part's over with! I don't think I've been the best at updating my blog about this. But prior to this surgery, Lydia has had two probings done on her eye to try to unblock her tear duct so that her tears can drain properly. About 90% of the time the eyes heal without needing any intervention. And, each time the probings were done there was a 90% chance of being successful. However, Lydia just didn't seem to have the majority on her side. So, it came down to needing the full surgery on her eye. This basically means that they have to put her under general anesthesia so that they can then put a tube in her tear duct to hold it open till the tear duct is able to heal and stay open on its own. Then, in a few months we will go to the doctor's office again and have the tube taken out. We won't really know how successful this has been until the tube comes out and the tear duct stays open. I don't think I've ever felt so sick and nervous before! Luckily David didn't have classes this morning, so he was able to come with me and keep me sane.
Lydia's still recovering and probably will be for the next day or so. She's very groggy and fussy. And a little more cuddly than usual, so I like that part! The surgery center was so good with her. They even gave her a cute duck stuffed animal with a Baybrook Surgical Center T-shirt on. The doctor's report was that the tube was more challenging to put in than usual. There was a large obstruction in her tear duct, she's guessing scar tissue, that was easy for the probe to go through , but wasn't a big enough hole for tears to actually drain through (thus the reason why all the other procedures didn't work). She was able to get the tube in successfully, however with more blood loss than is usual. She felt that the procedure would be successful overall though. We'll find out for sure in a few months. Lydia did swallow quite a bit of blood and that caused some nausea after she woke up, no fun! She's got a lovely cotton swab in her nose attached to some string that she amazingly hasn't pulled out yet and a couple stitches inside her nose that will dissolve in a few days. But she seems to be doing well now. She's taking a much needed nap! I think I need one too! Thank you for everyone's love and prayers! I know our Heavenly Father is listening! We love you!

The nurses even put Lydia's shoe on the duck while she rested! So cute!

And this picture was taken a few days ago during a walk on the beach (where else?). I got a new jogging stroller the other day... well, I should say Lydia got one with her birthday money! And, just in case anyone's thinking, the double does not mean that I am pregnant! I just figured I might as well get a double now rather than needing another one in a couple years.

Happy 1st Birthday Lydia!!!

2011-02-05T19:45:00.009-07:00

Dear Lydia,

Happy Birthday! It's finally here! You're a whole year old!!! And if every year is as good as our first one was then I'm ready! You are such a sweet, beautiful little lady! Your personality is just blossoming and your curiosity is exploding. It's so much fun to watch you play and explore. You almost always have something around your neck (mostly necklaces or draped clothes). You are starting to shake your head at me (though I think you just enjoy it and don't know what it means). And you are so polite at the dinner table (you say "please" in sign language whenever you want something). You are always on the move and ready for something new. You are quite the little socialite! You love to be with people, especially little ones. Most people describe you as a happy girl, and you are most of the time when you are getting attention.
For your birthday we pulled out my old babydoll cradle that your Great Grandpa Matthews made and you tried it out for size. Here's you at a few days old:

And here is you on your 1st birthday:

You're growing so big! It's hard to believe that much time has passed, so here are some reflections of your first year.

February 4, 2010: The day you blessed us with your sweet spirit.

One week old.

Your blessing day: February 21, 2010

2 months old.

Happy St. Paddy's Day! 2 1/2 months old.

3 months old. You love standing with our help and we love looking at those chubby cheeks!

You can hold your head up!

4 months old and the real charmer!

You light up our lives!

Daddy's little girl!

5 months old and enjoying Grandma! Loving those rolls!

You learn to sit up on your own!

And pull yourself up on things!

6 months old. You know that you rule the roost!

You love the beach!

7 months: You enjoy a last visit with Aunt Brittany before her mission.

8 months old: Happy Halloween!

9 months old: 3 out of 4 generations. You are starting to walk!

Does it show?

10 months old

Merry Christmas!

11 months old: Your curiosity and personality are through the roof!

1 year old! Happy birthday Little Princess!

We love you so much and are so excited for this next year!
love,
Momma and Daddy

To Lydia at 11 Months!

2011-01-04T14:31:00.004-07:00

Dear Sweet Lydia,
You seem to get sweeter by the day! I love having you in my life. When Daddy and I talked on our Anniversary about our best memory since we got married, we both agreed that it was the day that you came into our family. You have brought so much joy and love. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You are my little angel. Though you try to prove otherwise at times.

You have learned even more this month, if it is possible!
*You quickly learned how to stand up from sitting in the middle of the room. This has opened up even more possibilities and makes you even more eager to discover everything around you! You are now, literally, unstoppable. Well, unless there's a closed door. I'll take advantage of that as long as possible!
*You are starting to communicate with us a little bit. I said a while back that you were waving hello and goodbye. However, you took a break from doing that for a few months and now it is back in full force. In fact, today when you wanted to go outside, you walked to the front door and waved bye to me. Unfortunately a lot of your communication is in squeals right now. So, you have been learning a few signs to help you. You have started to sign "Please". You are also learning "Jesus", "More", and "Thank you". Can you tell that I'm trying to start you off by teaching you good manners? We'll see how well it sticks.
*You have officially mastered the stairs. You enjoyed going up the stairs while at Grandma and Grandpa's. In fact, you made it to the top a couple of times before we even noticed you were gone!
*You are turning into a book worm. You are starting to enjoy pulling books off the shelf, bringing one to me and then sitting on my lap while I read it to you. Then you go pick out another one. I love having you cuddle up close to me while we read together!
*Tooth #4 is on it's way in now and it's a top one! Hooray! You will finally have something on top to bite with!
*Speaking of teeth, you are becoming a much more picky eater. You are discovering the wonders of throwing things off of your tray when you don't want it. In fact, it seems to be fruit a lot of the time. Like bananas and grapes. You'll eat some of it, but then decide you're done and start tossing them down. This I could do without.
*You enjoyed your first Christmas! And boy did you come out with the loot! I think that your favorite things you got were the Little People, your musical table (you are addicted to dancing to music), and the Peekaboo book. You seem to enjoy everything else you got, but these are the things that catch your attention for the longest. You also enjoyed the toy cell phone that Grandma got. You even would hold it up to your shoulder (ear) to say "Hello" when we told you to.

I love you Lydia and look forward to all the time we have together!
Love,
Momma

President Monson

2010-12-16T13:29:00.003-07:00

I just read this on my sister-n-law's blog and thought that this was amazing! President Thomas S Monson was voted the most powerful octogenarian (person over 80) for the second year in a row by Slate. I especially love that when you click on his face and see what he has done for the world since turning 80 it says, "Is regarded by the world's more than 13 million Mormons as a Prophet of God 'in the same way they view Abraham, Moses, Isaiah and the apostles in the day of Jesus Christ'." I love how they word it. For one thing, they recognize that he is regarded as a Prophet and not as a Savior, like some people confuse. For another, I love how his name is put up next to the other Prophets from the Old Testament. He truly is called of God in the same way. This is such a wonderful thing to know. It is an incredible gift that God has given us today, as if He hasn't given us enough already!

What we've been up to lately...

2010-12-11T12:38:00.005-07:00

I can't say that I've been very good at taking pictures this past month or so, but I have been better than other months! Things have been fun, crazy and busy. But I thought I'd let y'all know what we've been up to.
Of course, living on an island in the gulf has its perks! One of those things is the beautiful beaches and one of the others is the warm weather in the fall and winter months! Gotta take advantage of it! We love going for walks on the beach and so does the little lady! She just wishes we'd let her really get dirty in the sand more often! And let her put all of the seaweed into her mouth! Ick!

The firemen came to storytime at the library one day. Lydia could have cared less about them. But she did enjoy the truck!

We had a bonfire with some friends out at Crystal Beach (for those who aren't familiar with the area, Crystal Beach is on a peninsula that we get to ride a ferry out to from Galveston.) That was by far the best bonfire I have ever done! The wind was blowing in the same direction off the water all evening and kept the smoke from the fire going in the same direction! So, we could sit around the fire without getting blown by smoke and smelling like it for days afterwards! It was amazing! Plus you can't beat ditching the group for a little bit to take a moonlit stroll on the beach! Amazing! And Lydia loved getting dirty in the sand (and taking a few handfuls of it to the mouth)!

Lydia went on her second plane trip to Washington for Thanksgiving. This is her on one of the better flights! She loved playing on the tray! Luckily we got the whole row for 3 out of 4 of the flights.

Lydia slowly warmed up to the cat during her time at grandma and grandpa's. At first she enjoyed looking at him from a distance, but would cry when the cat made any sudden jumps that scared her. But by the end of the trip she did not let the cat rest in peace! Luckily the cat was very patient with all her poking and prodding!

Washington was sooooo cold! I could have gone without seeing snow this year! Lydia didn't know what to think getting bundled up so much! (Do you like our way of bundling her up since we are from an island?!!! We don't really have snowboots and heavy coats! But we had already gotten her a warm hat and gloves.)
Lydia discovered fallen leaves! She picked a favorite one and carried it around with her.

We were fortunate to make it up to my grandma's house while we were in Washington. We went for a walk around my grandpa's grave. I think it was good for me to get to visit and try to find some closure. I still have a hard time believing that he's not physically here sometimes. (This is a picture of us with grandpa's grave and my Uncle Mark and Grandma Matthews.)

Three out of Four of the generations. Mom, you need to come up with us sometime so that we can get all 4 generations! Lydia loved her great grandma though!

After coming back from Washington, we thawed out and enjoyed some time outdoors. Lydia is a big fan of the swings and even tried out the slide on her own! I'm not sure how much she liked it. She smiled at the top and then smiled when I caught her at the bottom. But all in between was a look of terror!

We went to the Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens. It was such an amazingly beautiful night! And the lights were so original!

And there you have it. That's some of the things we've been doing the past month. Also mixed in is David studying like crazy. He has 2 more tests next week before Christmas break. And also trying to get everything ready for Christmas. It's been fun though!

To Lydia at 10 Months!

2010-12-06T12:38:00.004-07:00

Dear Lydia,

The Holiday season is filled with so many ups and downs, but I am so grateful to have you to share it with this year. You bring joy to even the gloomiest of days! Your sweet smile is so incredibly contagious! And you don't shy away from sharing it with most everyone you meet. I've had opportunity to reflect on the many things I have to be grateful for recently, and you are right up at the top. I am so thankful to have you as my daughter.
Once again, you never cease to surprise me with all that you accomplish. You are off the charts! Here are just a few of the many things you have done this month!

*The first one that everyone notices is that you walk! You are most always on your little feet moving around! It's so fun to watch you! I never tire of it! And you still have the cute new walker style where you pick up your feet super high and look like you might topple over any second, yet somehow manage to stay up. I think one of my favorite things about you walking is how you sometimes hold your arms out in front of you. It's almost like a zombie walk! (but in a super cute way)
*You are a climber! I don't really know how or when you learned it, but you did! When we went to Grandma and Grandpa Dickinson's for Thanksgiving, it's like you already knew how to get up those stairs. Nobody had to show you a thing! Oh dear! It's only a matter of time before it's the kitchen chairs!
*You love to have your little pointer finger out pointing at things! It's so much fun! You point at things in books, on people's faces, or whatever! You just love having your little finger pointing!
*You have learned how to clap! I've been trying to teach you for a while now, and then just last week I put on some music and you started clapping to it! It's so much fun now! You clap over almost anything!
*You are starting to figure out the light switches! At least every night after you brush your teeth you point to the light switch in the bathroom and wait for me to let you turn off the light. It takes several tries for you to successfully turn it off, but when you do, you get a look of triumph!
*One night I started putting some blocks in your hoodie and you copied me by throwing them over your shoulder into your hoodie. Well, I still catch you occasionally tossing things over your shoulder. It's super funny!
*You are quite the little beggar! You love food! I think I've said this in just about every letter to you! But it is so true! We let you eat a much larger variety of foods now. Anything that you can mash in your mouth. So, lots of breads and cheeses. And some other things. There's almost always something on our plates that you can manage, and you know it! In fact, you enjoyed your first Thanksgiving dinner of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, jello and rolls.
*Tooth number 3 is on it's way in! And, surprising to me, it's on the bottom too! Still no top teeth!
*You love to play chase with us now! You still don't chase us, but you love it when we chase you!
*You have started to throw balls! Well, sorta. I noticed you one day with the juggling balls making the cutest sounds. Then I realized that you would grab it and sorta toss it/let go of it like you were trying to juggle too.
*As you have noticed in several of these comments, you are starting to copy what we do. This is so exciting and nerve racking at the same time! I've got to watch myself more now, but I love seeing you try new things!
*You are much more interactive with your little friends! You love playing with them and laughing with them whenever they come over!
*You went on your second plane trip! This I could leave off the the fun list. But you enjoyed looking out the windows and pulling the magazines out of the pockets.
*Unfortunately the first surgery done on your eye to unclog your tearduct was unsuccessful. So, we just took you today to have it done again. Many people have been fasting and praying on your behalf. We will find out if it worked in just a few days.
*You are figuring out clothes. When we try to put on a onesie or shirt you help get your arms through. The other day you saw a santa hat on the floor and tried to put it on your head. We were astounded that you'd figured that out because we hadn't even shown you that it was a hat. You also put your mardi gras beads on around your neck now.
*And now we must hide all the pens! You have figured out how to uncap them! It's only a matter of time before you try to write on things!

Lydia, I love you so much and love experiencing the simple joys in life with you. I am so proud of everything you have accomplished so far and am so excited for you to discover more of the world around you! Thank you for choosing to come to our family! We love you!

Love,
Momma

To Lydia at 9 Months

2010-11-06T09:58:00.004-06:00

Sweet Lydia,

It's so hard to believe that you have now officially been out of the womb as long as you were in it! And, I must say that these 9 months have been so much better than the ones in the womb! You are such a smart, energetic, and happy little girl! You amaze me everyday with the things you are learning! In fact, today you officially waved goodbye to me! That was super exciting! It was prompted by me, but you reciprocated.
Here's some of the other things you have been doing this month:
*You are getting much greater balance on your feet. You can stand very well on your own and have gained confidence in taking a few independent steps. You don't hesitate like you used to. And you are successful in making it a couple of feet. I expect you to be walking all over this month! And I actually think I'm ready for you to so that you'll stop noticing all the little pieces of grime on the ground and sticking them in your mouth!
*You play peek a boo with us now! You have always been a fan of the game, but now you will duck behind a chair or curtain and pop out for us to laugh at! I can't even describe how it makes my heart melt!
*You have actually become a little more cuddly with me! This I could get used to! Every once in a while you will lean your head on my chest and just lay there. I treasure these moments.
*You have perfected your little pincers! They are always wanting to pick things up from your food to the grime on the floor. And, of course, everything goes to your mouth!
*You had surgery on your eye this month. It was a fairly small procedure done in the doctor's office. You were swaddled up super tight and strapped to the table so that you wouldn't move. This, you didn't seem to mind at all. You were looking at everyone curiously, trying to figure out what was going on. Then the procedure started and that's when you got mad. The doctor was putting a small tube through your tear duct in order to open it up so that you would stop getting all the watery/gunky eyes. We're still waiting to see if it works. If it doesn't then we will have to go through it all again. We're really praying for you!
*You have fallen in love with table food! Anytime you see us eating, you expect a bite of it! And you will stay at our knees begging. Unfortunately there are still many things you can't eat because you only have 2 teeth. But you don't care! You will eat anything that comes your way!
*Your new favorite toy: Plastic Easter Eggs. I found some lying around a few weeks ago and decided to throw them in your toy bin. It was love at first sight! You love the bright colors, banging them together and carting them around everywhere with you. You also love maracas, blocks, your walker, books, paper/cardboard, and all of the untouchables (computers, remotes and cell phones).
*You can often be found playing under things. You enjoy being under tables. This has given me a great idea for your Christmas gift! I'm excited!
*I pulled out Daddy's juggling balls the other day and you think they're the greatest! It's fun to watch Daddy juggle, but even better to watch Mommy! For some funny reason you find it hilarious when I attempt to juggle. Probably because I can't and am constantly dropping/throwing the balls all around the room. You can't seem to stop laughing at me!
*You've also developed a little bit of an opinion. If you don't get what you want, you will throw a fit. We are quickly trying to teach you that this is not okay so that it doesn't get out of control. But I didn't expect this to happen so quickly.
*Along with the last one comes the fact that you have figured out how to open cabinets. We took the next step of baby proofing and put latches on all of the dangerous cabinets. This infuriates you! You get so frustrated that they won't open for you anymore! However, you have also figured out the cabinets that we have not put latches on and are enjoying pulling out pots and pans, etc. You will be in for a rude awakening when those ones get latches very soon too.
*Another reason I think I am ready for you to start walking is that you are into everything anyways. You are constantly on your tippy toes reaching for whatever you can grab off of tables and counters. You don't tend to play with things for very long once you get them. It's just fun being able to reach things and pull them down. Like your books off of your shelf, for example.
*You have started putting things into compartments now. Like balls into the compartments of your walker. This has only happened a couple times so far, but I know it will become more frequent and I will start finding socks in the silverware drawer (Like your cousin Caleb)!
*Along with all of these things, you are developing a sweet personality. You can often be found playing with your toys and cocking your sweet head to the side. This surprises me because this is something I did a lot as a little girl. Anytime someone would tell me to smile for a picture, I would also cock my head to the side. It reminds me that you truly are my little girl!

Overall, this month has been a joy! You dressed up as an angel for Halloween and it was the perfect costume for you! You truly are an angel. We love you and wouldn't trade you for the world! I went through all of the videos we have of you the other day and it was so precious to watch your developments from a little smile to a fully animated little girl! I'm excited for more! Keep on shining Angel!

Love,
Momma

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T19:26:00.004-06:00

As promised, we did a photoshoot of Lydia in her sweet angel costume! She was the perfect little angel in it too! I couldn't find any wings small enough for her in the stores or online, so I ended up making them. However, I don't think I ever would have been able to find any nearly so cute! I love how they ended up! So, here you go! Enjoy!

Videos of our Star!

2010-10-29T13:43:00.002-06:00

Lydia is getting more and more fun and animated everyday! My parents found a fun walker for her and she was having the time of her life! She could move so much more quickly than normal! She definitely prefers 2 legs to all fours. I also like seeing how she reacts to my family. I want her to be familiar with them and not feel like she's seeing strangers everytime. Although, she still plays shy with our friends that we see a few times a week. Hmmm...we'll get through this. As long as she warms up quickly.

She's enjoys playing more games with us too! She likes Peek a boo, especially with Daddy because he gets really animated! I love how excited she gets in this video! Her legs are jumping up and down and she is ready for the next pop!

Updates!

2010-10-29T12:54:00.004-06:00

So many things going on! It's hard to know where to start! So, I'll start with the more recent and work my way back.
Lydia went to the doctors yesterday for her 9 month well checkup! Wow! I'll write more of a letter when her 9 month birthday actually rolls around. But here are her stats. She is a very strong, healthy little girl! She weighs 20 lbs 3 oz, which is the 78th percentile for her age. And she is 29 inches long, which is the 97th percentile!!! Such a tall little girl! No wonder she towers over her friends! They aren't small! She's just big! And it's no wonder with how much she loves to eat! Lydia is meeting all of her age development goals. In fact, they didn't even have any questions on there about taking independent steps yet! She's passing them all up! She's just so full of energy and curiosity about everything around her! I love that little girl! I'll let you know more about some of her other developments in her letter next week. For now, just know that she is strong, healthy, and still only takes a few independent steps by herself (thank goodness!)
Lydia and I spent some good girl bonding time!

David has been taking tests like crazy this week! In fact, he is taking his last one right now. (Good luck David!) So, this has been a pretty tiring week for all of us! I have been trying to keep Lydia and I busy so that we don't kill eachother and so that David can study. This week has been very difficult and it's only a taste of what things are going to be like once David starts really studying for Step 1!

We were able to go see my sister, Brittany a couple of weekends ago for her to give her talk in Sacrament meeting, to celebrate her birthday, and to say goodbye before she leaves for her mission in Berlin, Germany. It was fun to spend a little bit of time with her. Right after we got in the door and sat down Brittany asked if we want to open our Christmas presents (we do sibling exchanges each year, and Brittany had our name). She was super excited and wanted to watch Lydia open her present. As expected, Lydia was super excited about the wrapping paper, but still liked the book too.
And David and I got the best present ever!!!
Okay, she didn't really give us Lydia, but it's an adorable picture anyways! We also really liked the Sequence game and the baby book!!! Thanks Aunt Brittany!
The next day we went to Six Flags Fright Fest with my mom and Neil. My dad was still at a work conference and Brittany had to work for her last day. David and I have already turned into duds! We didn't want to go on any rides and just wanted to watch the shows! It was fun and that's all my mom and Neil wanted to do too. We also enjoyed trying on hats in the gift shop!

On Sunday we enjoyed listening to Brittany's talk in Sacrament meeting. She did an excellent job talking about her preparation for her mission. She has done so many things in being an example of Jesus Christ and his gospel. We are so scared to share our testimonies with others sometimes, but we really shouldn't be. I still love how Brittany ended up taking an entire class period in her English class one time sharing the 1st lesson of Joseph's Smith's vision and the Book of Mormon because her teacher knew she was a member of the church and felt the rest of the class needed to understand what the church really believes. I wonder if I would have had the courage at that age to do that. She really will be a great missionary! We love you Brittany and know you will bless the lives of so many people in Germany!

The rest of our time has been spent doing fun little things around Galveston. We go to the aquarium, splash in the swimming pool, play in the sand at the beach, and enjoy time with friends.
I have also been working on Lydia's halloween costume. We're going to do a photo shoot of her later today after David's test. It is so incredibly cute and perfect for her!!! I'll share pictures of it soon!
OH, and so everyone knows. I'm so sorry I have been awful at updating pictures! I finally added Octobers in there. But there are also a ton more in the September folder. Enjoy! I'll try to be better about that!

Little Stinker!

2010-10-09T11:59:00.002-06:00

Can it really be time for this already?!!! I don't think so! But she sure does! Here's a sampling of what the little lady thinks she's ready for. I'm already missing my little baby! She's getting so grown up!

Happy 8 Months to Lydia

2010-10-06T13:09:00.002-06:00

I could have sworn I wrote Happy 7 Months just last week! Wow! I think that each month just keeps on getting shorter and shorter! We are having so much fun together and are able to do more together. Here's to hoping this next month slows down a bit! (Knock on wood!)

Dear Sweet Lydia,

There are so many words I could use to describe you. Curious, energetic, social, yet shy, sweet, kissable, occasionally huggable, focused, outdoorsy, water-baby, fearless. These are just a few that came to mind. As I talk more about your explorations this month, they will make more sense.
As I wrote about last week, you got your first tooth this month! However, Happy 8 Month Birthday to you! You got your 2nd tooth on Monday (your official 8 month birthday!) So, you now have your 2 bottom front teeth! I expect some more this month and soon enough you will get to explore all those foods you want to eat off of our plates!
Here are some more of the many things you have done this month:
*The most often commented on is your amazing energy in getting around! You are getting so close to walking! You constantly pull yourself up onto everything and explore your way around. You are so quick at walking along furniture. Another little (yet huge) progression this month is your standing! You have stood up for about 10 full seconds before squatting down to the ground. You don't like falling on your bum. You slowly squat down and then sit. You have such good control! Though I don't like to admit it, I think you will definitely be standing on your own for a whole lot longer this month. On occasion you make your own free step too when something is just out of your reach and you're already standing up. I was thinking about getting you a walker toy, but you're advanced enough on your own. I think that you will progress just great at your own timing without me pushing you along to walk sooner!
*You can pick up little foods and put them in your mouth now! This is so great! You love having little foods on your highchair tray and feeding yourself. And you know food when you see it! You move so fast to get to it!
*You can hold your own bottle. Though I love the opportunity to snuggle you close, so I still feed it to you most the time. It's great that you have the capability of being more independent.
*You are such a social, yet shy little girl! I love it! You love being around people and don't like being left out of the loop. Yet when we go out in public and people start talking to you and playing with you, you bury your head into my chest. You love watching people though. However, you make people you don't know work so insanely hard to get you to smile! I guess it's good that people need to earn your affections! It makes me feel a bit safer.
*You are your momma's girl! You love being outside enjoying the fresh air! It doesn't really matter where we go. You just love being outside. It can be at a park on a swing, curiously exploring the grass, crawling all over the sand on the beach and into the water, walking in a stroller on the seawall, or just sitting out on our balcony. In fact, probably your favorite place in out apartment is next to the balcony door! You spend a lot of time playing there with your toys.
*You will finally eat meats! You still make faces at us as we feed them to you, but you eat them.
*And best of all, you love playing with us! Whether it's peek a boo, this little piggy, pat a cake, or making train noises as we feed you. You smiles are contagious!
I love you sweet Lydia! I wish you could stay this young forever, but I know that each age will have many joys. You will always be my sweet angel. Keep using that curiosity and energy for good.
love,
Momma

A tooth for a tooth (and some extras!)

2010-09-25T09:30:00.003-06:00

It's true! After months and months of people telling me that my baby was teething for one reason or another, Lydia's first tooth has started to peek out! What her teething was like, I really couldn't tell you. It seemed mostly the same as the past 7 1/2 months. She was just as drooly, just as cranky, just as sleepy. You name it, it seems to have been the same for forever. And I'm sure she wasn't teething for 7 1/2 months. However it all happened, we are so excited that she's getting her little incisors! OH, and it's the bottom right front tooth. (Probably more for my records than your interest.)
Lydia has been up to quite a bit lately. I'm sorry I've been slow on the blogging. But we have been thoroughly enjoying each other. Here are some videos that show some of the fun we have been having.

Lydia seemed to be reading to herself. It was oh so endearing to watch!

Lydia loves holding onto our pants while we walk! She seems to think she's such a big girl! How does she grow so fast?!

She's getting so fun and interactive! I love how she laughs in anticipation of things now! I think she gets more of a kick out of the anticipation than the actual tickling or whatever!

Lydia loves to play in the sand! It's so squishy in her fingers and toes! She actually didn't even try to eat any this time! Hooray!

So, these are some of the fun things we have been up to. Mostly Lydia. But, she's so cute and fun, how could our worlds not revolve around her? Hope you enjoyed the videos!

And another giveaway

2010-09-15T10:01:00.001-06:00

My mom was kind enough to let me know about another scrap giveaway. So, in my attempts to get more entries, you can all check it out here.

To Lydia at 7 months

2010-09-10T12:31:00.005-06:00

I meant to write this last weekend, when Lydia actually turned 7 months, but since we were in San Antonio and busy with family it got put off. So, here it is. A little late. But I did it nonetheless.

Dear Sweet Lydia,
You grow more beautiful everyday! And you seem to want to show it to the world! Your activeness has increased probably 10 times this month! You have figured out the ability you have to transport yourself where you want to go. Fortunately, you aren't excessively fast right now. But it's only a matter of time!
Let's see, what are your new tricks this month? Just about everything!
*You first figured out how to make yourself sit up from a laying down position. This has been nice because you no longer lie in a crunching position fussing that you want to get up. You can do it yourself. However, you still do crunches once in a while to keep your abs in shape.
*Then you figured out how to pull yourself up onto things and even move yourself along them a little bit. Fortunately you're not too coordinated on that part yet and so some things remain safe. But, once again, it's only a matter of time. With the ability to pull yourself up onto things came the struggle of falling asleep on your own in your crib. Now I think you're getting the grasp of bringing yourself back down from a standing position (plopping onto your well padded bum) and this has helped a bit. Maybe you'll pass this phase quickly and will sleep well again. (fingers crossed!)
*A couple weeks ago I was getting a little bit frustrated that you show so much desire to be on your feet that you would skip the crawling phase all together. So, in an attempt to preserve my sanity, I put you down on all fours and showed you the movements of crawling. You picked it up in a matter of minutes! Now you are slowly perfecting this skill and enjoy crawling towards random cords we have yet to hide and following me (whining) as I move from room to room. Though you started out crawling on all fours, you quickly developed your own style where your right foot remains on the ground and helps propel you around. It's rather amusing to watch. (See video at end of post.)
*You are such a people person! You love people and always want to be around them! This is fun most of the time. But also can backfire when somebody (sometimes even somebody who wasn't paying any attention to you and that you don't even know) walks away from you and you start to cry.
*Aside from moving around, your mouth has also developed a larger taste for foods! You no longer are happy while we are eating unless you have something in your mouth too. So, you snack on little puffs or yogurt melts or suck on a grape or other fruit through your net chewy thing. (Like my extensive vocabulary?) You still do not like any of the meats we've tried to feed you. However, you've loved every fruit and vegetable we have thrown your way! You love food and it shows in your sweet rolls! Maybe next month we will get to report on some new teeth! Maybe, but for now you enjoy gumming and drooling all over everything!
*You are an outdoor girl! You can be so fussy and temperamental inside the apartment, but the second we go for a walk or to the beach or something, you are happy. You love watching the movements of the trees in the breeze, splashing in the water and being in the wide openness away from our apartment.

I can't emphasize enough how much joy you bring to my life, Lydia. You are so sweet and lovable. Sometime you even let me cuddle with you. I love those moments. You help me enjoy the simple things in life. You are my little angel. I love you.

Love,
Momma

Giveaways and updates!

2010-09-01T13:23:00.003-06:00

First off, I am entering yet another giveaway at this cute blog! They use vintage sheets to make all sorts of cute things! And I could really use some of the adorable fabric they're giving away! I have so many cute things I want to make for Lydia! I think I'm an addict to finding cute patterns and stuff! But I just don't have the money to buy all the supplies I want to in order to make it all! Why oh why does fabric have to be so expensive?!!!
Anyways, updates on the family! David is almost done with his first class of 2nd year! Hooray! He took a couple of tests this past week which he did very well on and then has his final on Friday. He actually got school off yesterday, today and tomorrow to study! How nice is that?!!! I think he'll do great!
Our little Lydia just keeps on growing and moving!!! She is now officially a crawler! Last week I was getting a little bit frustrated that she seems more interested in standing up and walking than moving around on all fours! So, I forced her onto her hands and knees and taught her the movements of crawling. Within a couple of minutes she started moving around on her own! Wow! Fast learner! She still likes to stand up (we've had to lower her crib because she's always pulling herself up!) and walking around while holding our fingers, but she does know how to crawl now. She's still not very fast (thank goodness!) and chooses to dig her head into the ground and whimper when she wants to be picked up. Oh well! I took a couple of videos of her, but they're on the camcorder which I don't know how to hook up to my computer. Once David is done studying for his test I'll bug him about it. So, we'll show you the evidence soon.

My Birthday + Fun Projects!

2010-08-19T16:52:00.004-06:00

These past few days have been so wonderful for many reasons. First off, it was my birthday on Tuesday. I love getting up in the morning, checking my email and having 30 messages in my inbox from all my friends saying Happy Birthday on Facebook! It's such a good feeling! And then my Grandma Matthews also called, and my parents and siblings. Plus I got great things in the mail. I don't want to brag or anything. Its just that it's so great to have one time a year that all the people you love contact you in one way or another!
So, what did I do for my birthday, you might ask. Well, David did his best so that I wouldn't have to do all of the things that I normally do. Like letting me sleep in till 9 am rather than get up at 7:30 with Lydia. And do the dishes and clean the apartment. So, rather than me having to take care of Lydia all afternoon, I got to finally make this! Hooray! Now I have something cute to put all of those ugly grocery bags in! It definitely spices up my kitchen and adds a few more colors. I actually am looking at it as an inspiration to change my kitchen colors up a bit. Before it was just reds and yellows. But, I am eyeing those blues, greens and oranges and thinking that they would look so great accented throughout the kitchen to add a little bit of a pop! Well, not that my kitchen is so big and decorated that I get a chance to do much of that. But I can start small and slowly add to it by the time I have a decent size kitchen. That gets me so excited!

Next, David and I dropped Lydia off at a friends house (Thanks so much Stormie and Jer!!!) so that we could enjoy a quiet dinner date. We went to Fisherman's Wharf and enjoyed some fresh seafood on the bay. The service there was fantastic! The prices were better than a lot of the places I've been on the island. However, I wouldn't get the shrimp again. It was far too salty for my taste (and David's). However, the fish David got was excellent!

Then David and I went for a walk on The Strand (it's the historic downtown area of Galveston) and even popped into LaKing's for some chocolate. However, the prices at just about everywhere jump up during summertime because of tourist season. So, we didn't get much. But what we did get was amazing! Chocolate covered gummy bears! YUM!!! And, we found out from a friend who used to work there, everything is made in the upstairs of their store! Even the gummy bears! And, I might add that they are probably the best gummy bears I've ever tasted! If you're in the area, you'll have to give them a try. (I would suggest waiting till tourist season is over, however.) We also found the life-size chess board we had heard about. However, they no longer have the pieces there. Bummer! I hope they replace them soon!
After that, we went to pick up Lydia and our friends joined us for the newest Shrek at the IMAX theater in Moody Gardens. It is such a great movie! I loved the moral behind it and thought it was a great ending to the Shrek story. I must admit though, I wasn't sure it would be any good after seeing the 3rd movie. I thought that one was a bit lame. But, I was pleasantly surprised! It got several laughs from me and the desire to see it again. Highly recommended!
Once we got home from the movie and got Lydia to bed, David put away all manhood and watched Project Runway with me. If you haven't ever seen it and you enjoy Lifetime or Home & Garden Channel, I totally recommend it! I think that David even enjoyed watching it with me! (Don't let him know that I told you that!) It is so amusing to see how crazy these designers get with their clothes! I don't tend to agree with the judges on a lot of things, but it's interesting to see what other people find attractive.
And, that is how I enjoyed my birthday! It was a great day! And I have many more to come! (I'm still super young, you know!!!) Thank you to everyone who helped make it special!

Now, the other day I was at Hobby Lobby and they had the McCall's patterns for only 99 cents! Hooray! I went crazy! But, there was one pattern that I wanted so bad, I craved it! And it was gone! It totally broke my heart! So, I searched and searched on the internet and I found somebody who made a dress for their daughter's baby doll that was exactly like the pattern I wanted! So, using her pattern and one of Lydia's dresses, I created my own pattern to make the dress! I must say, I am so amazingly proud of myself! It turned out great! Except for the bloomers. I was only using leftover fabric and ended up skimping on the fabric for the bloomers. So, needless to say, they are a bit skimpy on Lydia. I'll have to tear them apart and figure out something else for the bottoms. But, here are the pictures anyways. I also made the hairbow using some tutorials I found online. I kinda took one idea from here and another from there to make the final production. I love how they turned out! There will be many more of these to come! They were so easy! And it will be even easier for the next ones because I'll already have the pattern made!

If you can't tell, the dress is reversible. I had a lot of fun making it, well along with a bit of stress figuring out those bloomers that didn't even turn out. But, the dress looks amazing!

And, just for kicks, I had to add in this picture of the little peeper! Almost everytime I go in to get her from a nap I find a cute little nose peeking out above her bumper looking for me!

Birthday? Whose birthday?!

2010-08-15T13:25:00.002-06:00

I have been wanting a deep freezer for a while now. It always seems that I go to the store and look at all the wonderful freezer options, but then revert my mind to how full my freezer is. So, I told David that I wanted a deep freezer for my birthday.
Then, finally, the highly anticipated day came! We went to Sam's Club to get my deep freezer last night! Hooray! It was quite the challenge getting it into the car since we also had Lydia with us. We were debating returning it and making another trip out there this week without Lydia. We also thought about taking it out of all the packaging and just taking the freezer without any cushioning. However, in the end we put down both of the back seats, put Lydia's carseat on top of the folded seats and stretching the seatbelt around them till we were able to buckle it. It was quite the challenge! But, by doing this we were able to squeeze the freezer into the car and close the back. Though, the back window still was unable to close. Oh well. We made it!
However, I'm not quite sure who is more excited about this new addition! As soon as I opened it, Lydia squirmed in my arms and wanted to play in the freezer. So, I guess she has a new play scape until I finally plug it in!

And now I pose my question, whose birthday is it? I think Lydia likes my birthday present more than me and is gonna fight me for it! What do you think?

Give-a-ways!

2010-08-12T16:07:00.001-06:00

So, today I am all about find all of the cute give-a-ways. So, everybody check this one out! It's way cute! You can also link to it from the button on the bottom right of my blog.

Snuggles

2010-08-10T15:07:00.005-06:00

Lydia has recently gained more of an attachment to her Pooh. I have been setting it in her crib with her for quite a while now. However, lately if you walk in on her taking a nap, it will look somewhat like this.

How sweet! We took it with us to Grandma and Grandpa's this past weekend and she slept through the night for the first time there! Maybe this was the key all along!

Also, Lydia is gaining more strength in her arms, balance in her legs, and a desire to see everything that's going on! She doesn't crawl yet and is still rolling around slowly. But she is starting to pull herself up onto random items! She's done it on my pants, our bed, the couch, chairs and this box! Watch out! Here she comes!

To Lydia at 6 months

2010-08-04T19:05:00.004-06:00

You love splashing in the sand! It's so much fun!

A trip on the ferry.

Rubber Ducky, you're the one! You make bathtime so much fun!

Dear Lydia,

The days seem to go by so fast. I feel like I just wrote you one of these letters last week! And I think the list has gotten longer than the last letter too of all your new tricks! I have truly enjoyed spending these last 6 months with you. Motherhood is a miraculous experience, as you will one day learn. To watch a choice spirit of our Heavenly Father explore the world for the first time feels like I'm experiencing it all for the first time again, only this time I will remember it more.

As I mentioned, you have developed so many new tricks! And have experienced so many new things! This month you have:

*learned how to sit up all on your own! It threw me for a surprise how quickly it happened! One day you were able to sit up with a boppy and just a couple days later you were fine without! This has opened up so many new worlds for you! There's so much more you can see when you're not laying down. In fact, at this point you have so much confidence in your sitting up that you lunge for desirable items and try oh so hard to get them.

*You have also figured out how helpful rolling around can be! You can move closer to that desired item and actually grab it! I expect you to be rolling around the whole apartment within the next week. You also pull yourself up on your hands and knees very well and appear to want to move forward. So, I think you'll be crawling soon too.

*You have tried your first solid foods. You have tried rice cereal, peas, pears, bananas, squash, sweet potatoes, peaches, and apples. Oh, and chicken and turkey. However, those last two you would like to forget. When we were trying to feed you these you eventually got to the point you would not even open your mouth and began to gag. So, I guess you will be a vegetarian for now.

*Sadly, you got your first sunburn this month. Poor girl!

*You can fall asleep all on your own now! Hooray! Such a big girl!

*You've developed a pretty regular schedule. Get up between 7 and 8, nap at about 10:30-12, nap at about 4-5 and then bed at about 9:30.

*You seem to prefer Mommy more than Daddy most the time. However, you still want Daddy once in a while. Like right now.

*I taught you how to take washcloths and blankets off of your head. You are so good at it! However, it seems to have backfired on me. Now you don't want to leave hats on your head either. Luckily you don't take off the hairbows yet!

*You love to play in the bathtub more now than ever before. Especially when your little toys squirt you in the mouth! You hang your tongue out and try to get as much of the water in your mouth as possible! However, you also have decided to poop in the tub twice this week. This we can do without.

*We gave you your first sippy cup today. It has handles and so you are able to hold it very well and occasionally decide to drink out of it. I think it's your new favorite toy. Luckily it's spill proof!

*You laugh more with interaction now. Like when we play peek a boo or other games with you.

*You reach for people you want now.

*You seem to be more shy around strangers. They always try to play with you and make you laugh, but all you seem to do is stare.

Overall, it has been another wonderful month! You went to the doctor this morning and got your well check. You weigh 17 lbs 11 oz and measure 27.5 inches long. You fall into the 75th percentile for your age. And I got to mark "yes" on nearly all of the new 6 month tricks! You are so developed for your age! There's a big world out there to explore and you are so ready for it! I hope I can keep up with you!

I love you Dear Lydia. You are helping me to become a better person. I am learning to be more patient and empathetic. I am also realizing the areas of my life which I want to improve so that I can be a better example for you. I want to want you to walk in my footsteps because they are the same path that Christ walked. He loves you so much. You are a beautiful daughter of our Heavenly Father. I don't think I can teach you that enough because understanding that simple concept shapes what we think about ourselves and determines our actions. He has a plan for you. So, always seek him in prayer and he will teach it to you.

Once again, I love you. Until next time,
Momma

Count your many blessings!

2010-07-29T15:39:00.003-06:00

This song has been running through my head for the past half hour and so I decided I should share. First off, this song is very sentimental to me because of a gentleman I taught on my mission. He had his share of difficulties and still struggles with them. However, when my companion and I were teaching him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he would cry like a baby. This song became his favorite hymn because he realized that, despite his share of problems, he also had so many blessings! He had a wonderful wife and kids, a job, and, most of all, a Savior who loved him.

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed
When you are discouraged thinking all is lost
Count your many blessings, name them one by one
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done

We all have been given so many blessings. Just now I was looking around my apartment at all of the furniture that we have. We have bought very little of it. So many loving people have passed things along to us that we probably couldn't afford otherwise. I look around me at the world today and I'm scared for Lydia. There is so much evil and corruption. But, I am awe inspired by the good out there. So many wonderful, loving people. I need to focus on more of the good. We truly have so many blessings in our lives.
Lydia is such a beautiful little girl. I took her to the park today and played with her on the swings. She loved it! She laughed and laughed! She has brought so much more joy into my life. Though I'm scared for the temptations that lie ahead for her, I am comforted by the love of the Savior that I can feel through her. Christ suffered all for us. That is the greatest blessing we could ever dare ask for.
The other day Lydia was having a very trying day. She couldn't seem to get in a good nap. So, I chose to sing songs to her. (This is for my children's ears only! I don't typically sing for people!) I found myself singing "A Child's Prayer" to her. As I sang it, I remembered that that was the song all of my cousin's sang at my grandpa's funeral just a couple weeks ago. And, as I sang the song, the words filled my heart.

Heavenly Father, are you really there?
And do you hear and answer every child's prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away.
But I feel it close around me as I pray!
Heavenly Father, I remember now
Something that Jesus told disciples long ago.
Suffer the children to come to me!
Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee!

Pray, He is there.
Speak, He is listening.
You are his child.
His love now surrounds you.
He hears your prayer.
He loves the children
of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of Heaven.

I felt the spirit more at that moment than I have for a very long time. (I admit, I had to wipe a few tears from my eyes.) We have a Heavenly Father who loves us and wants us to pray to him. He wants us to return to him. He LOVES us! Wow! We really do have so many blessings! I'll ponder more on all of my blessings. What are some of yours? (if you don't mind sharing) Or, you don't need to share. Just ponder on it.

Greatest apologies

2010-07-27T16:14:00.000-06:00

My greatest apologies about not getting a recent post up. My computer is being quite the little brat. I don't know what is wrong with it. But it seems to insist I am no longer online whenever I try to create a post with pictures.
So, for all of those people who are dying to know what I've been up to lately, I do have some updated pictures in our June folder. Sorry, I haven't gotten July's up yet. And July is almost over. Hmmm...yeah I'm a little behind. But I'll blame the computer! Because I really have been trying! We'll see if it will even let me post this one!
Life is going good. David is insanely busy with school. He has his first second year test next week. He's a little nervous. Lydia is growing faster each day! She's sitting up even more confidently now and even tries to reach for things that are just barely out of her reach as she's sitting. She's so curious about everything around her. I'm trying to hurry up and baby proof some more areas of the apartment because it'll be pretty quick for her to move around more! And me, well I'm just trying to stay sane through it all. I've been doing some deep cleaning in the apartment (scrubbing behind the toilets, cleaning carpets and organizing everything more), it seems like it just never ends! I'm also trying to pick up the Mary Kay business more. The idea of making a little bit of money sounds so appealing! Especially when we are in so much debt!
I enjoy reading everyone else's blogs. Keep on updating yours and I'll do my best to let you know what's up with us.

Another Lord's Servant!

2010-07-16T13:05:00.002-06:00

So, I would have gotten this up sooner. But we stayed up especially late last night to Skype with David's brother, Adam, as he opened his mission call. Yep! We get 2 missionaries in the family at the same time! How exciting is that! So, hopefully we'll get twice the blessings!
Anyways, I'm sure y'all are dying to know where he is going! Now, don't be fooled! I really am telling the truth! Adam will be serving in the Provo, UT Spanish Speaking mission!!! How awesome is that! He didn't go to BYU, so I guess the Lord felt he still needed the experience! And, maybe he'll decide he likes Provo so much, he'll stay there after his mission. I'm sure he'll have his share of awkward moments. Like the fact that his brother, Drew, will be in Provo going to BYU at the same time and such. But I know he'll be a strong missionary and be able to avoid all these temptations! And I know his family can be strong too and help him focus on his mission to serve the Lord! I'm just glad that I didn't have that temptation. But I know the Lord specifically selects those to serve around BYU that can withstand it. Oh, and he will be reporting to the MTC in Provo on September 8th. Less than two months Adam! Better hurry and get ready!

You are hereby called...

2010-07-10T16:30:00.007-06:00

We made a special trip to San Antonio this weekend for my sister, Brittany, to open her mission call. So, without further ado, Sister Brittany Anderson will be serving in the Berlin, Germany Mission! She will have the opportunity to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people there. We are so excited for her and know she will be an amazing missionary! Congratulations Britt Brat!

PS: Lindsay, I beat you to it! Ha Ha!

And on another note, Lydia can now sit up all on her own! Completely unsupported! What a big Lady! We love her!

5 Months

2010-07-06T12:31:00.007-06:00

Yep, that time has come yet again! And, actually passed by a few days. I feel like I've just had so much to get done! But we have gotten to enjoy our little angel for another month! She has grown so much too! People are always commenting that they think she's 6 months by her size and strength. She's also turned into such a little flirt with her big smiles! Lydia got to meet all of her aunts, uncles and cousins this month! She also got to meet some of her great aunts and uncles along with a couple of her great grandmas and her great grandpa who passed away just a week ago. So, Lydia, here's your 5 month letter.

Dearest Little Lady,

You have brought so much joy to this little home! Your smiles light up not only your face, but everyone around you. You are such a sweet, happy little girl. Well, as long as we're paying attention to you. Even as I'm writing you this letter I am having to sit on the floor next to you and hand you your toys every other word. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's a miracle watching you grow and learn new things. My guess is that you've put on at least another half a pound this month. You have such cute little rolls and chunks all over! I love it!

I think the list gets longer each month of the things you are learning and doing, but I love reflecting on it all and sharing it with you. This month you:

*Have discovered your voice even more! For good and bad. You have such happy little sounds you make and also angry squeals.

*You decided that you're pretty much done with breastfeeding. So, we're doing it morning and night and giving you bottles the rest of the day.

* You are good at expressing your hunger to us. You recognize a bottle when you see it. Reach for it, try to put the correct end in your mouth to start sucking and can even hold the smaller ones by yourself a lot of the time. What can I say, you are driven by food! Although, you seem to mistake our water bottles for your bottles and try to suck on them too.

* You tried rice cereal for the first time a week ago! You gobbled it right up! Well, everything that made it to your mouth anyways! You love it.

*Your new favorite toy: Mardi gra beads! You also love books, whatever we are holding, lights and bells.

*You can sit up now! You hate laying down now because your have found your balance and strength to sit up. In fact, if you are lying on your back, you are generally in a crunching position because you want so bad to sit up. You can balance pretty well on your own when sitting up. If I'm not sitting next to you though, I put the boppy around you for support. But if you have toys in front of you, then you have the motivation to stay leaning forward enough to stay balanced.

* You roll around a whole lot more now. You can now go from back to front and front to back. You don't generally do this unless motivated by a toy just out of your reach though.

* You saw your first fireworks show a week and a half ago. You loved it! Your eyes were glued to those lights and didn't look away for a second. We went back again for the Fourth of July, but those fireworks were a little bit further away. So, you enjoyed looking at the passing cars and the restaurant across the street more than the fireworks.

*You are perfecting those fine motor skills. You're much better at grabbing onto anything in your reach. Your biggest problem now? Your hands are still too small for everything you want to grab.

*You love sitting up in the bathtub now. You can see so much more than when you were lying down. You are especially attracted to your orange tub toys. Is this a new favorite color? We'll see.

*You're perfecting the daytime naps. You don't seem to mind sleeping during the day, however we're now trying to teach you how to fall asleep in your crib. It's a slow process, but you're learning. Many times, if you are in just the right sleepy mode, all you need is your binky and you're happy. Now, you just need to get down how to pick up your binky and put it in your mouth when you want it! I expect to write that in next month's letter.

*You got on your first swing! You loved it as we grabbed your feet and let you fly!

*You discovered balloons! And you were entertained for over an hour!

You went to a couple of aquariums this month and you were intrigued by the bright colorful fish.

*You got to meet all the rest of your aunts, uncles and cousins this month. You loved playing with your cousins Caleb, Garrett and Sophie. Whenever they were near, you would reach for them and want to touch them. You also got to meet your Great Aunt Janet, Great Uncle Mark, Great Aunt Shauna, Great Grandma and Grandpa Matthews, Great Aunt Karen, Great Uncle Laurent, Great Uncle Herb, and Great Grandma Hallberg. So many greats! You were a total hit! Everybody loved you. And why wouldn't they! You showed off all your charm with your sweet smiles!

One of our friends had a baby just a few weeks ago and when I held him I couldn't believe how light he was! You used to be that light! Our bodies truly are miraculous things to grow the way they do, learn and heal. You are a little miracle. Remember that. You are a special daughter of God. It's hard to believe that He could love you more that I do. That's a lot! I'm so grateful for eternal families. You got to briefly meet your Great Grandpa Matthews before he passed away. And, even though you probably won't remember him in this life, because of the blessing of eternal families, you will get to meet him again and get to know him in the next life. You sure loved him for the little while you got to see him! Your face lit up more than I've ever seen when he waved at you. I know you could feel his strong spirit.

I pray you always stay close to the church and keep the commandments. I will do my best to be a good example to you and teach you to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ. We're trying to involve you more in our daily scripture study and prayer before you go to bed each night. Hopefully you will develop this habit and incorporate it into your own life. We love you and want the best for you.

love,
Momma

Tears of Sadness and Joy

2010-06-30T14:50:00.002-06:00

This past week has been filled with several different kinds of tears. But it was centralized around my love for my Grandpa Matthews. His health had been getting worse and worse these past few weeks. He had been having a series of "micro-strokes" that were taking a toll on his brain. He began to struggle standing up and sitting down. He seemed to be living in the past a lot of the time. I was fortunate enough to get to see him for a few hours last week. Lydia loved him! He would wave at her and she would smile so big and giggle at him. She loved her great grandpa!

Yesterday, Grandpa passed away. It was a shock to all of us regardless of how he's been doing. We all thought he had another year left in him. However, I feel so blessed that I got to see him before he moved on. He was such an amazing man. He always gave me so much love and support through everything I did. When I was in my lowest low, he was there for me and often called to see how I was doing. He shared in my joys with me. He was always a great example of faith, patience, love, dedication and strength. I know that he has lived his life worthy to gain Eternal Life. We will all be together again. I am so grateful for the example he has set and count myself lucky to have been his granddaughter. So, Grandpa, we'll miss you for now. But we'll see you again someday. We love you!

Laughing Baby!

2010-06-11T13:44:00.002-06:00

Lydia has developed a wonderful new trick of laughing lately! It's slowly becoming more frequent and we were finally able to catch it on video! Hooray! We have tried so many times and she just became so focused on the camera that she stopped laughing. But, finally, here it is! Such a cute baby!

Sorry, I've added so many posts in one day, but I've had a lot of catching up to do! So, there are a couple more new posts for y'all to read. Continue below.

Sand Castles in Galveston

2010-06-11T13:36:00.003-06:00

About a week ago now one of my friends invited us to go see the sand castle festival on the other end of the island. We were expecting a small event with a few small castles, but ended up with an enormous event with tons of sand sculptures! We had a ton of fun seeing all the creativity and laughing at the little puns. Here's just a few of the 50 or so sculptures we saw.

Four Months and Counting!

2010-06-04T20:24:00.005-06:00

Oh dear!!! I say this every month, but I can't believe she's 4 months already! She's growing so big and learning so much! I knew time went by quickly before having a child, but life just seems too short now that I have one! I wish things would slow down a bit. I try to enjoy and savor every moment possible. Yet there just aren't enough of them to savor! I love watching her smile and doing my darndest to get her to giggle. So, here's her 4 month letter.

Hey Precious Girl,

You are learning and growing everyday. I just can't seem to get enough of you! Your smiles make me melt and your laughs make me laugh. Your spirit is so sweet and innocent. I love having you in my life. I can't imagine living without you now! My life is suddenly so much better than it ever was! It's not because we have more money or my life was so horrible before. But you simply make me so happy.

Here's just a few of the things that you have learned this month:

*You laughed for the first time a few days ago! I was blowing raspberries on your tummy and tickling you with my hair and you let out your first real laughs! It was so exciting! We've gotten you to laugh a little bit each day since then, but I'm excited for you to start doing this more and more.

*You are such a happy baby now! All I have to do is talk to you and smile and you grin right back. It just makes me melt! You seem to adore us!

*You are holding on to your toys now! Mostly just the flatter plastic ones or the cloth ones. You love your little butterfly that flashes lights at you and talks. You are starting to learn how to use your thumb (it doesn't have to be constantly folded down).

*You are becoming more content at laying on a blanket or sitting in your bumbo seat. In fact, the other night you fussed until Daddy finally put you in your bumbo seat. You seemed to just want your own time.

*You are such a little talker now! You love the sound of your voice and are constantly wanting to share it with us!

*You love hanging your tongue out of your mouth! It seems to constantly be on a show!

*You have gone swimming for the first time this last week! You sat in your floating tube and were so chill as we dragged you around the pool.

*You are slowly starting to take naps during the day! We will definitely improve this. But, it's starting to come together.

*You are discovering your feet! When possible, you love holding onto them.

*Oh, and you are starting to grab onto more things put infront of you. Especially my hair, daddy's chest hair, my breakfast, or whatever else we happen to be holding.

*You can sit in your high chair now to play with your toys while we eat.

We love you so much, Lydia! You are a true blessing in our lives! I am excited to continue watching you grow and learn more things. You are helping me recognize how wonderful life really is. Your Heavenly Father really loves you! I am only beginning to understand what that must feel like! Keep appreciating each moment sweet angel!

Love,

Momma

Fun Times!

2010-05-25T12:04:00.006-06:00

This is a cute outfit that Uncle Eric and Aunt Kiersten sent from China. It almost fits! Such a cute little white chinese baby!

So much has been going on! My best friend Jenny Sue came to visit. David had his 25th birthday. And we have just been having a grand old time with the beach!

Jenny Sue (Actually just Jenny, but I gave her a middle name because her parents didn't.) flew in late on the 13th. Our first excursion we took her on was too the beach. Too bad the current had brought a bunch of nasty seaweed with it! But we had fun anyways! It was a great day for the waves! And, luckily we enjoyed the beach that day because it started storming after that!

The next day we all went to the Johnson Space Center at NASA. We almost didn't get to do a tram tour because of all the rain, but luckily it calmed down just in time! We enjoyed seeing the rockets. And fortunately David had already gone with his parents, so we didn't have to spend 5 hours in the museum! After coming home from the museum we all went on a double date. Me with David and Jenny with our friend Ben, a fellow 1st year student at UTMB. I think if I ever double with single friends ever again, I will definitely get a babysitter! Jenny and Ben sat in the backseat of our car with a screaming Lydia who just wasn't consolable. She was sick of her carseat and wanted the world to know it! I felt really bad. I'm sure they've never been on a date like that before and probably wouldn't volunteer for it again!

Sunday we went to church and then took a wonderful stroll on the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day! And then on Monday we took Jenny on the ferry and got to see a few dolphins before we took her back to the airport.

It was so wonderful to see Jenny Sue again! We love her and miss her already!

The next big event was David's 25th birthday. To celebrate we had some friends over for cake, icecream and a round of Bang. It was fun. David had gotten his birthday present about a month ago (a much needed laptop computer), so I made a book of coupons for him to use. After all, he is totally obsessed with finding coupons and getting free stuff! So, now he can get some massages, happy time with Lydia (she agreed to put a coupon in there), and meals of his choosing. Happy birthday David!

Also, on Sunday we had our Emergency Preparedness Sacrament Meeting and 5th Sunday lesson. We learned all about the destruction hurricanes can cause, about the different categories, how to prepare for them and all sorts of other things that could scare your socks off! Needless to say, I am very anxious about hurricane season! Apparently they're projecting more hurricanes than average this year because of the warm waters. Now I'm ready to get renter's insurance and polish up my 72 hour kit! Lucky for food stamps, we can get a lot of food storage now! If only we had the room to store it!

Apparently Lydia doesn't find Neuro very interesting!

Other than these big things, we are just having fun. David is studying heavily for his last test on Friday and then we are looking forward to a month of fun! We'll enjoy some time with my family in San Antonio. But we are also trying to figure out what other fun things we want to do. I'm thinking of possibly New Orleans, Austin, Corpus Christi or somewhere else for a couple days. Any suggestions? Anyone want to join us for something? Let us know!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T13:59:00.002-06:00

Happy Mother's Day! Today has been a great mother's day! Lydia slept while daddy made me breakfast and then she made a card for me with her footprints just before taking her bath! It's a cute card! (Thanks David!) I also got to speak in Sacrament Meeting. Ummm...I can't say that was a blast, but it was nice to reflect more on the things my mom has taught me. Thanks for being such a great example to me mom! I love you!
And I got some great videos of Lydia, so everyone can witness her rolling over and "walking"! Enjoy!

3 Months Old! Where does the time go?!!!

2010-05-04T13:36:00.005-06:00

I can't believe a month has gone by since I last posted! My greatest apologies! I'm just enjoying the little lady so much, I don't think about getting on the computer!

However, time just seems to be going by even faster lately than ever before! The little lady is officially 3 months old today! Wow! I can't believe she's that old! And I can't believe how fast she is growing! I looked at some of her newborn pictures and she has grown so much! She's chunking up and is getting so tall! She's a beautiful little girl! So, here's Lydia's 3 month letter.

Beautiful Lydia,

How time seems to flash right by! You have grown so much this month! I love watching you grow and interacting with you more each day. You have a beautiful smile and a sweet little voice. Here are some of the new things that you have started doing this month.

*You love to play in the bathtub and splash with your feet.

*You smile more and more each day and talk to us.

*You've started to interact with us more while we are feeding you.

*You're starting to discover your tongue and often have it sticking out or licking things.

*You love to play with your friend in the mirror! You watch her very intently as she moves her feet along with you.

*You are starting to grab at things and hold onto them. Not really toys yet, but clothes and your burp rags are your favorite.

*You love "walking" around as we support you.

*I've caught you a few times giggling at things. I'm excited for this to develop more!

*You now officially sleep in your crib in your own room! Hooray!

*You sleep all the way through the night! You normally fall asleep around 10pm and wake up about 7:30 am. We love this!

*You are much better at keeping your fists in your mouth! And oh how you love to suck on your fists! You would be the happiest baby in the world if you could just fit both of your fists in your mouth at the same time!

*You roll from your back to your stomach now- not on purpose and you don't like it- but you'll get better at it.

You are such a little angel in our home! We love you Sweet Lydia! I can never seem to hug you and kiss you enough! I wish the moments would slow down, but I know we have a lot of wonderful times ahead of us! I am so grateful to know that you are mine for eternity. I love being your mother.

love,

Momma

2 Month Checkup

2010-04-07T21:41:00.003-06:00

Lydia had her 2 month checkup today and all is great! She weighs 11 lbs 8 oz and measures 23 1/2 inches! She has grown so much! She has met all of the expected milestones and is getting stronger and smarter by the day! Going to the doctor made me curious about more things that Lydia might be able to do. So I held up more toys infront of her to see how she'd react and she smiled big each time. She sat up real well in her bumbo seat and even giggled a little at her mobile! Wow! Lots of good things today! Poor girl really got pooped out after her shots though. She got a little fussier than normal and slept a lot. But she's a trooper! Hooray for healthy babies!

A family picture on Easter Sunday

So adorable! It makes me melt!

Happy Easter! (& 2 months!)

2010-04-04T15:24:00.003-06:00

For Easter we went to San Antonio to be with Grandparents. I was so excited to go into the hill country for bluebonnet season! It's been so long since I've gotten to see all of those beautiful flowers along the freeways! Galveston doesn't get very many wildflowers! So, as is typical for Texans, Lydia got to take her first pictures in a field of bluebonnets. And, if I might add, she was quite the photogenic baby this time! You would never guess that she had been screaming just 5 minutes before and continued her fit 5 minutes later! But, she was a little angel for her photoshoot! She even gave us some smiles without having to be coaxed!

So, in honor of your 2 month birthday, here is your monthly letter from your Momma!

Dearest Lydia,

You have grown so much this month! I am anxious to go to the doctor this week to find out exactly how much you have grown! My guess is that you're about 24 inches and 12 lbs. But we'll find out for sure. This last month has been both difficult and amazing. We're starting to make more connections with one another. You're cries are not always a mystery to me. We're starting to figure eachother out. And I am growing more and more fond of you! Some of your new tricks include smiling at us when we play with you. You love it when we talk to you and sing to you and you show it with your sweet smiles. You also have added bits of talking. You're finding your voice and don't use it to scream all the time anymore! I love listening to you! You love watching things around you and are getting better at focusing on things. You are fascinated by the mobile we recently put in your crib. Speaking of which, you now sleep in your crib during the day. Pretty soon you'll get to sleep there at night too. Majority of nights you sleep between 5 to 7 hours. Occasionally we get graced with a 8 or 9 hour night! Those are Saintly! But, you still also struggle on occasion with the 2 to 3 hour nights. But they are improving.

We love having you in our family. You bring us such joy! Watching you grow and learn new things reminds me of God's miracles. You are a miracle! A beautiful Daughter of God! We love you!

love,

Momma

Our Good Luck Charm!

2010-03-18T21:28:00.003-06:00

How could you not want to kiss her? I must have gotten a lot of good luck with all the kisses she got yesterday!

Also, here are a couple of videos for the grandparents enjoyment. Not particularly the most entertaining, but something to watch anyways. David put together Lydia's crib last weekend and so here's Lydia enjoying her crib and also Lydia just looking cute with her quacking hiccups.

March Madness Jump Off! & Lydia updates

2010-03-12T13:22:00.004-07:00

Exciting news! I have just started selling Mary Kay products! If any of you have ever tried their products, you know that they are amazing! I have always loved them and have thought about selling them several times, but am just now starting to do so. My personal favorite products would be the Satin Hands and the Satin Lips! They leave your hands and lips so silky and kissable! I am just now starting to try out more of their products and am falling in love with the Microdermabrasion set and the Timewise Miracle set. And, of course, I love their make up too. Actually, I have never used a product of theirs that I did not love.

Well, since I am just starting my business, I need a lot of help getting going. So, in order to get a great jump start and to honor all the fun of March Madness, I am running a bit of a sale. Anyone who orders anything off of my website before midnight March 31st will recieve 10% off of their purchase! There are a lot of great tools on my website, such as virtual make over tools and the latest trends and tips in makeup! Plus you can do all of your shopping 24/7 at your convenience. Plus, if you live outside of my immediate area (but within the US) the shipping will be free! So, check it out and let me know what you think! You can call or email me anytime with questions. (801)473-5929 or aerorox23@yahoo.com.

Plus, remember that Easter is coming up and these would be great gifts for Easter baskets, and Mother's Day is not so far away either! And we have some great men's care products as well with the more manly "MK" logo!

So, visit www.marykay.com/kdickinson23 to do your Mary Kay shopping for all your skincare and color needs!

Okay, now I know the real reason why you came to visit my blog is not for the Mary Kay advertising (though I really am serious about everything I said!). So, here are some more up to date pictures of our sweet little angel! She has had a sad little stuffy nose and cough this past week, so we have been a bit under the weather. And we had a couple of not so fun visits to the doctor. But, we found out that Lydia would have probably also had an ear infection this last week if she was not breast fed. So, despite all my complaints about breastfeeding, I am so glad that I was able to help her not feel so sick! And our little baby just keeps getting bigger and bigger! She is now a whole whopping 10 lbs! And she sure does show it! (at least in my eyes)

Happy 1 month, Lydia!

2010-03-04T18:34:00.002-07:00

Dearest Lydia,

Your Daddy and I can hardly believe that you're already a month old! It seems like only yesterday that the doctor placed you in our arms. I remember that day so vividly. All the emotions that rushed through my body when I first heard you cry. It was a joy that I don't think I can express in words. I already loved you so much. And my love has only grown stronger since that day.
I have felt an overwhelming duty to protect you. Just after we brought you home from the hospital, we had a scary experience where you choked on your vitamins and couldn't breathe. Luckily, your grandma was there and helped me get you breathing again. I then realized how fragile you really were. Though some people may think that I am ridiculously over-cautious, I want to make sure that I don't put you in any situation that may harm you. You have already been through so much. But I have watched you grow stronger!
I love watching you curiously watch things around the room. You especially love to stare at the picture of the Manti Temple we have hanging on the wall. It seems to always draw your gaze. I think that you remember the day you were sealed to your Daddy and Me not so long ago. It brings me peace to know that you were there.
You love the sound of the bath tub running and, as such, also love your bath time. I know that when both of us are frustrated and tired, that a bath will be just the soothing touch that both of us need! And, you lost your umbilical cord just the other day and can finally get all the way in the water! Hooray!
You have had some pretty hard days of non-stop crying where we can't seem to figure out how to help you. But the past few days have been especially pleasant! You are content to just watch everything around you and learn all you can. You are so precious and we love watching you learn!
Your Daddy and I chose your name for some special reasons. So, consider this your explanation just like when Helaman in the Book of Mormon talks to his sons, Nephi and Lehi. The name Lydia comes from your ancestors. Lydia Parker was one of the first to join the church in Canada and then traveled to Utah to be with the Saints. The name Dawn was not just my middle name. It comes from your Great Great Grandpa Matthews. He had a covered wagon named "The Golden Dawn". He described the Dawn as the "Ultimate Beauty". And that is what it has truly become to me. It is the beginning of a brand new day. And just like that new beginning, the Savior has given us a new beginning each time we repent. The Atonement truly is the "Ultimate Beauty" and the Dawn is a symbol of that gift. That is what I think of when I think of our name. No matter what mistakes you make, you can always start over again with a brand new day. A new Dawn. Remember that.
I am so excited to continue to watch you grow. I wish it wouldn't go by so fast though. I love you and will always be here.

Love,
Momma

Three Weeks Old and Wiser Too!

2010-02-25T21:42:00.008-07:00

Happy Three Weeks Lydia!

Can you believe it?! It feels like we've had Lydia for forever, yet it also feels like we just got her a couple hours ago! So, today, in honor of Lydia's 3 week day, we went to the Doctor's Office for her check-up. Lydia is now a whopping 9 lbs 3 oz! Holy Cow! She has gained a full pound and an ounce! And she has grown a full inch and a half! Wow! I knew she had grown a lot, but Wow!!! Her newborn outfits are already getting snug on her and she's fitting into the 0/3 month clothes that she swam in the day she was born!
It seems a lot has happened since I last posted! Lydia was blessed on Sunday. She was fortunate to have both sets of Grandparents there. So, she was blessed by her dad with Grandpa's Anderson and Dickinson, and friends Jason Hobbs and Jeremiah West in the circle. She looked so pretty in her dress that I made! And she was a perfect angel throughout the entire Sacrament Meeting! I think I'll go one more week of just taking her to Sacrament Meeting and then we'll start trying to extend it.

Some other fun things of note.
1. We have a picture of the Manti Temple hanging on our wall just above the couch I usually feed Lydia in. Well, it seems that whenever she has her eyes open while I'm feeding her, she is staring at that picture. I think that she recognizes the temple because she was there when David and I were sealed. At least the thought brings me peace that she has been with us and will be with us for eternity.
2. Also, check out these 2 pictures! Notice anything similar? Our little lady was a model in the womb and is continuing her career outside of it as well! It is common to catch her in this pose whenever she is relaxed or sleeping.

3. Lydia has also started to grab onto more things. Especially our clothes when we feed her. It's so precious!
4. I was able to capture somewhat of a smile with my camera. They often get much bigger than this one.
5. Lydia calms down when we take her into the bathroom and run the water in the bathtub. I guess the sound reminds her of the womb or something.
Sorry there are so many pictures and randomness, but these are some fun things that I wanted to share and record for myself. Happy Three Weeks Little Lydia!

A couple short videos of Lydia

2010-02-15T21:58:00.005-07:00

Lydia has found her fist and enjoys sucking on it. Sorry the video is so dark, we need to figure out better lighting. But enjoy! Also, here's a video where we were able to get her to smile a little bit. She is such a sweetheart! Sorry about the high pitched voice! Lydia just brings it out of me!

Hospital Visit Part 2: Lydia's Return

2010-02-14T19:54:00.005-07:00

Our Little Lydia's time at home was short lived and very stressful. When we took Lydia to her first doctor's appointment on Monday, Feb 8th, we spent forever in the waiting room with tons of sick kids running all over the place and Lydia screaming her head off only to get into a room and hardly even see the doctor before she says, "I have some bad news. I need to send y'all back to the hospital." Lydia's bilirubin level was far too high and Lydia was jaundiced. They were unable to draw her blood due to a couple of veins blowing, but they didn't want to stick any more of them because the hospital would need to get an iv in one of them.
Needless to say, I felt like an awful mother! I couldn't hold back my tears! I was so incredibly sleep deprived and already had several other hormones taking over my body that it all just came out. I had noticed that Lydia was near impossible to wake up to feed and that she rarely had any messy diapers, but I had thought that it was somewhat normal. Well, not so. Apparently high bilirubin sedates you and she was so dehydrated from not getting enough food (she slept through most of her feedings) that she didn't have much output. In fact, the poor girl was so dehydrated that it took the nurses and doctors 3 hours to get an iv in her because every vein was blowing! She had so many bandaids all over the place, including her head before they finally had one successful one which was protected by a cup on her head. The nurses and everyone was so wonderful and supportive while we were there! They kept giving me hugs and asking if they could do anything else to help me out.
In order to get rid of the bilirubin in Lydia, she was given photo-therapy. I don't know all the science of it, but basically she lays in a bed with tons of lights on her which are supposed to help break down the bilirubin and then she pees it all out. She got a cool pair of sunglasses (a piece of felt with sunglasses pictured on it) to protect her eyes. Lydia looked like a little fake-baker! Guess she started young! I was able to take her out of the bed to feed her and had to hold a pad on her back that had a bunch of green lights in it.
After 16 hours of being under the lights, her billirubin had decreased from 18 to 9! A very significant change! So, the doctors turned off the lights and said that if she was able to maintain that level for 8 hours on her own that she would be good to go. However, the next 8 hours were just as difficult as the last 16! Lydia still had the problem of eating and she wouldn't be able to go home if she still was unable to eat because then she would end up back in the hospital again. We tried and tried! The nurses had me pumping milk and trying to give her bottles along with trying to breastfeed. The lactation consultant came to see me again and after 2 hours of working with Lydia and Lydia fighting every trick she had, we finally noticed something. Lydia habitually keeps her tongue in the roof of her mouth and doesn't bring it down on her own to suck. So, we figured out how to get it down and then she drank like a pro from the bottle!
Lydia was able to keep her billirubin down on her own for the next while and with her finally eating enough food, Lydia was able to come home the next day, Tuesday, February 9th. We were so happy to have our baby home again! Although it really felt like it was the first time since we had only been home for about a day and a half before.
We have still had our share of adventures since coming home! Most of it has to do with eating. Breastfeeding is a whole lot more difficult thnt I had imagined and Lydia is one heck of a sleeper! She is great at drinking out of a bottle while she is sleeping, but not so much out of a breast. There are also other complications, but I'm not going to get too detailed on my blog. Basically I have to pump for at least part of every feeding and bottle feed her. So, every feeding takes about an hour and the doctors told me that I had to feed her every 3 hours. So, I feel like that is literally my life right now! Good thing about pumping is that David has been able to help a little bit more and I try to get one longer stretch of sleep each night. Unfortunately it pays a toll on David though and we need him to stay awake in his classes everyday!
We were lucky enough to have my mom here with us till yesterday morning. She helped out so much! And she definitely seems to have the magic touch with Lydia! When Lydia won't calm down for David or I, Grandma holds her and she quiets right down! I appreciated having all the support and encouragement through all the initial stresses of bringing a baby home and also with Lydia going back to the hospital! Thank you so much mom! You were wonderful and we all love you so much!
Lydia also started getting really gunky eyes yesterday and so I was debating taking her to Urgent Care today. However, I really didn't want to be around a ton of sick kids with her and would much rather take her to the doctor's office. But, tomorrow is a holiday and so she wouldn't be able to do that until Tuesday. So, as David is good at, he got on the internet and started looking up stuff. He found a few websites that suggested massaging the side of her nose by her eye for a few seconds several times a day and also laying a warm damp cloth on the eyes for a few minutes at each feeding. These things help out with the clogged tear ducts, if that's the problem. I did this a couple of times this afternoon and just a few seconds after massaging for about the 3rd time, her eye got so insanely gunky it was gross! It was like I had pushed everything out of the tear duct! Well, it seems to have been a good thing, because her eyes have been so much clearer since then! They still are a little bit gunky and I am still doing some of the massaging and moist cloth stuff, but they are clearer than they have been since yesterday morning! So, we like the home remedies so far on this one!
Well, I know that this has been a long post. I have been meaning to write it for a while, but you all know how tiring it is when you have a newborn! I'll try to get at least one post up a week so that people can see all her cute pictures and know about all the fun little developments. She is such a precious little baby! We love having her in our home and feeling her spirit. And I have my little snuggler now!
Well, here are a few more pictures to enjoy! You can always see more by clicking on the links to the side of my blog.

Hospital Experience Part 1: Lydia is born

2010-02-11T16:33:00.006-07:00

In case anyone is unaware, a lot has happened this past week. We have a beautiful new baby girl in our home! Lydia joined our family on Thursday, February 4th at about 3:22 pm. She was 8 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long.
So, here's the fun labor story for both my records and anyone who would like to read it.

My water broke at about 2:30 in the morning on February 4th. I had just gone to the bathroom and just as I pulled up my pants I sprung a small leak. Slightly annoyed I went back to bed. About 10 minutes later I decided I should go to the bathroom again... just in case. As I stood up, I got the wonderful gush that everyone talks about. I woke David up and we started gathering our remaining hospital stuff. When we got to the hospital, they did a small test on a strip to make sure that my water had truly broken. I passed that with flying colors and they settled me into my delivery room. I was having small contractions at that time, but nothing I couldn't talk through. When one of the doctors checked my cervix, I was only dilated to a 1 and they began to question me if my water truly had broken. That made me doubt myself, but David kept comforting me and telling me that it was okay and that we knew that it really had broken. It was helpful. At about 6 am the doctor decided to start me on some low dose pitocin. I opted to get my epidural started so that I wouldn't have to feel the heavy contractions when they came because the pain was already starting to set in. The epidural was wonderful! Well, all except for the insane itchiness that I experienced. They gave me benadril to help with that, but it caused for a very sleepy labor! Anyways, I slept through a lot of the contractions.
At about 11 am the doctors started to become nervous that Lydia's heart rate was dropping for a little bit after my contractions. They put an internal monitor on her scalp in order to better see what was going on. After watching her for a couple of hours and getting increasingly nervous with my cervix only dilated to a 3, my doctor came into my room with 2 options. Either I go in for a c-section then, or we could wait and see if circumstances changed and probably end up with a c-section anyways. After discussing it further, David and I strongly felt that we needed to wait a little bit longer with the hope that something would change. We set a time of 3 pm and then we would re-evaluate the situation. The doctor then placed a catheter into my uterus in order to add more fluid and relieve some of the pressure on Lydia.
About a half hour later, the pain began to return and the epidural button would no longer release more medicine. The anesthesiologist returned and began to figure out what was going on. Upon solving the problem and relieving my pain, I commented to the nurse that I felt immense pressure in my perineum. Like the baby was going to come right on out. The doctor then checked me and I was fully dilated! It was about 2:30 in the afternoon. They then gave me a small shot of something to briefly stop the contractions so that Lydia could get the rest that she needed before going through the strain of delivery. Then the pushing started! Normally they have you push at least 3 times during each contraction, however, since Lydia's heart rate was dropping so drastically during each push, they only let me push twice before giving her a break. My doctor was very obviously getting more nervous with each push. He ordered a vacuum and told me that he would need to perform an episiotomy in order to get Lydia out of there before anything bad happened. He told me then that a c-section was still not out of his mind. I pushed harder than ever! And, after much cutting and vacuuming, Lydia was born. She had the cord wrapped around her neck, which is why her heart rate had been dropping so much. Luckily, she was healthy right away with an apgar score of 9 and 9! Hooray! We got to hold our little angel for a while before Daddy went with her to the nursery for her first bath and testing.
This whole experience was by far the most beautiful I have ever had! All of the strain and exhaustion from pregnancy and labor came out with those tears just after Lydia was born. She was worth every second of it! She is such a blessing in our home! So innocent and sweet! We love her so much and are excited for our future with her!

The World's newest Little Angel!

2010-02-05T18:58:00.003-07:00

She's here! The world's newest little angel! Born at 3:22 pm on February 4th, Lydia Dawn weighed 8 lbs 2 ounces and measured 20 inches long. More details to come soon, but here's a few pictures to share her sweetness!

Just Keep Swimming!

2010-02-01T20:24:00.006-07:00

This post's existence should answer anyone's questions as to whether or not I have had the baby yet. But, in case you haven't figured it out, I am still pregnant. However, I feel more miserable than ever. I feel so bad for David who has had to deal with all my emotional crying spells and short-temperedness. I just am so sick of everything! The comments when I see anyone of "you're still here?" or "when's that baby going to come?" Well, don't I wish I knew that one! Then everyone's "advice" they have to go home and vacuum or go walking. Well, maybe something's just wrong with me, but none of it seems to be working! My body seems to get more uncomfortable by the day, yet no signs of contractions. People act like something's wrong with me when they find out I have not dilated and I don't know how big my baby is. I'm even tired of random strangers asking me how far along I am and giving crazy looks of surprise when they find out I'm ready to pop! Then, on top of it all, I'm scared I'm just going to be the point of such bitterness and crankiness from all the pregnancy that when I finally do have the baby I'm going to look at her and want to send her back! I wonder if I really am cut out for this whole mom thing! I hope some people who are reading this understand the feelings I am having and will tell me that it's perfectly normal. I'm pretty sure they will.
So, let's focus on a few positive notes!

#1- The doctor has scheduled me to be induced next Monday, February 8th if I do not go into labor myself before then.

#2- I was able to make a new cover for the swing someone so kindly gave us! The other one was very boyish. So, after reading someone's instructions for recovering a highchair, I decided to attempt this project myself. It wasn't too difficult and took me a total of about 3 hours.

#3- I was able to go to our Stake Women's Conference Saturday night where Randal Wright spoke. He was the institute director in Austin when I was probably about 18-20 years old and has now written several books and speaks at various conferences worldwide. It was good to see a familiar face and he gave some really great advice on parenting that I took note of.

#4- If I don't have the baby tomorrow, then tomorrow night is the Premier for "Lost"! Yay! We're gonna get together with some friends and have a party!

There have been good things happening that I need to give credit to. And I really appreciate all the support that people have been giving me! Especially my mom, Lindsay, David and my friends here. And I know you all understand when I say that I wish it was all over with! But, Lydia! Your eviction notice is almost up and Grandma Anderson is almost done with your blanket! It's time, my dear!

Another January Birthday?

2010-01-26T16:40:00.002-07:00

After another visit to the doctor today, I feel that the end is finally in sight. The doctor checked me and, though I am not dilated, I am pretty well effaced. He could feel the baby's head and predicted that as soon as she moves her head directly over the cervix I will go into labor. He is pretty sure that it will happen sometime this week.
We had been hoping that she would hang on till Friday night so that David can focus on his test and do well Friday morning. We'll see if that happens. She may think that Thursday night sounds like the one she wants! However, we are pretty sure that she will add to our shmorgishbord of January birthdays!
This knowledge had left me a little more nervous and anxious! I think I am starting my nesting phase! I cleaned up the swing someone gave us today, did a load of laundry and got David to do the dishes. And I have a few more things I want to get done tomorrow. I am hoping that I can just do these couple things and then I will let myself rest. (Don't worry, I actually am still sleeping in and trying to take things easy as I get these things done.) I also want to go to the beach tomorrow. Maybe get the baby moving!
So, overall, we are very excited that Lydia will be joining us soon! It'll be nice to finally meet my little alien!

Any day now?

2010-01-20T14:55:00.002-07:00

I find myself asking so often lately, "Is there really an end to all of this? Is there really a baby in there? Or do I just have a lifelong condition of a squirming alien inside of me?" I know that millions of women have gone before me and had these same types of feelings. But, seriously, shouldn't the baby come with a specific date and time that you will go into labor? Then I think I would feel like I have so much more purpose! Instead I find myself having a small contraction, looking at the clock and wondering if this could actually be it! And when another contraction doesn't come, I roll over disappointed.

Yesterday I went to see the doctor and ended up asking him if he could strip my membranes or do something to help get this baby going! He's a little nervous (and rightfully so) that if he tries to get it all moving before the baby's ready that I'll end up in a c-section. So, he compromised with me that if I came back on Friday and the NST machine showed that I was having contractions, then he would do it.
So, now I am anxiously hoping that the small contractions I have are enough.

Meanwhile, I feel like I am twiddling my thumbs. I've worked on several projects throughout the pregnancy and I just feel burned out of them lately. I could continue to work on mine and David's wedding album or do a couple of pages for Lydia's baby book. But, instead, I end up putting on a movie and working on my everlasting puzzle or just wanting to go to sleep. I went through a spirt when we first got back from Washington where I crazily organized everything in the baby's room and cleaned the house. And now, I just feel lazy. I have no signs of what they call "nesting". I almost wonder if I have a pre-postpartum depression or baby blues. I have no idea. But I do know that I really want to have this baby! I feel like when I do, not only will my body have a chance to recuperate from all this, but my many wakeups throughout the night will have a purpose other than a run to the toilet! Maybe that's it. I just don't feel like I have much of a purpose right now. Lydia, please...please come soon!

20 Day Eviction notice

2010-01-14T17:15:00.002-07:00

So, I've just been catching up on Ciera's blog and came across this. Yeah, it's definitely how I feel! So, Lydia, this is your first letter from your mother! :)

Little Miss Lydia Dawn Dickinson:
I hereby issue 20 day notice for EVICTION. You will have 20 days in which you can either gather your belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day, after which, you will be physically removed from the property.
You are being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed.
Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made! Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure.
And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.

After 20 days from this day that you don't comply with the notice will result in immediate and forceful removal at my discretion.

Thank you for your cooperation.
Love, Momma

So, despite wanting all the pains that come from being this pregnant to be over with, I really am very excited for Lydia to come still! I'm ready to see her little face and to cuddle with her! (I sure hope she's a snuggler!) We already love our little girl and wouldn't trade her for the world!

(For lots of pregnant pictures, see the December 09 pictures! I don't have all the pictures saved on David's computer, which is where I'm working from right now. So, I can't just put them in the post.)

My Giveaway Today

2010-01-07T10:17:00.002-07:00

Lindsay was so kind as to let me know about My Giveaway Today.

They are giving away a $150 giftcard for a tshirt quilt. So, if you follow the link, you too can enter to win this. It's a project I've been wanting to do and was a way that I could convince David that he no longer needed to keep soooo many tshirts in his dresser. So, I plan to make one eventually, but I would love it if someone did it for me! I've never quilted anything before.

Where in the World are Kimberly and David?!

2009-12-17T09:53:00.012-07:00

I've had that line running through my head for the past week (for y'all who used to be Carmen Sandiego fans). But I think that really could be a true question given my lack of posts the past month. To sum it up, I can honestly say we've been busy! But life is settling about as much as I ever expect it to and so here are a few of the things we have been up to.

#1. We are officially moved! Hoorah! We were able to quickly find a new apartment and were moved in before Thanksgiving! And I must say that I had a lot to be thankful for this year! In the last couple weeks in our old apartment we discovered that cockroaches that big really do poop. And they got into all sorts of places that we hadn't ever anticipated leaving their traces. Our apartment complex also had a couple of mice or rats which had made a couple visits to our apartment leaving a couple of their traces as well. We called the cops on our neighbors who were having a huge Jerry Springer episode involving the whole apartment complex one Sunday afternoon. And we continued to have our usual struggles with the power company turning off our power and even claiming that we had paid them money, but that we didn't actually have an account with them (my thought is give me back my money then!). needless to say, we are ever so happy to be in our new apartment! I have yet to see a cockroach, we've only had a maintenance guy over once to do a minor repair, our neighbors are so cute, and I can honestly feel at home here. I feel safe bringing a baby home here. And we even put up our Christmas tree!

#2. We got to go to San Antonio for Thanksgiving! I love having my family so close! My dad was even able to come help us move. (Thanks dad! It was much needed!) So, after David finished his classes on Wednesday, we drove out to San Antonio. Dad made his delicious fried turkey and we helped mom make all the other delicious sides. We felt really relaxed there. We did a little bit of shopping and went to the Dickins Festival in Boerne. We enjoyed some fake snow out there (soap bubbles actually, but it looked pretty real!). neil didn't care for the crowds out there, so we saw our fill and then went home to play a game. Overall it was a great holiday and was wonderful to be with family!

I don't know how well you can see the snow, but it's there!

#3. The weekend after Thanksgiving, a couple of my friends (Cassidy and Stormie) threw me a baby shower! I love getting baby stuff! It's all so cute and little! My parents were able to come out for it (well, my mom came for the shower and my dad came for a coin show in Houston). So, it was fun having them here. Also, my cousin Lee and his family came from north Houston for it! It was so great to see them again! I got so many cute outfits and much needed baby supplies! Thanks everyone! I had a blast!

#4. I also was able to finish my project I had been working on. A blessing dress for Lydia (and other future daughters). I intend for it to be used on all of my daughters and grand daughters. It's only my second dress I've sewn on my own, and I sure had my share of screw ups that I had to fix on it, but I must say that I think it turned out beautiful! I am so excited to use it! What do you think?

#5. The rest of our time has been spent getting ready for Christmas and organizing our apartment. (Well, I guess I should clarify my time. David has been studying for all his finals.) We leave for Washington on Saturday to spend Christmas with David's family. And when we return, I will be in full baby gear making sure everything is ready!

So, now that y'all are caught up on my busy life, do you think you would be able to answer the question? Where in the world are Kimberly and David? Submit your answers via your comments. The best answer wins the loudest laugh!

A Halloween Scare

2009-11-04T12:13:00.003-07:00

Many of y'all already know about my not so fun adventure last week, but here is a possibly better explanation of what happened and updates since then.

We have seemed to have endless problems with our apartment that we live in from 3 inch long cockroaches raiding my kitchen to our electricity being randomly turned off by our neighbors. Even finding out that we were paying our neighbor's electric bills. But none of these aweful experiences can top this past week.

First I'll give a brief background. Shortly after moving into our apartment we realized there was a problem with our garbage disposal. One day when the disposal was running, I put my fingers under the running water to get a small shock (kinda like a static shock). I became upset and the manager sent an electrician out to see what the problem was. He found that the disposal had not been grounded interiorly (some of you techno buffs may understand more what that means). So, he fixed that, but told us that if we had any more problems then it was possible that it hadn't been grounded exteriorly as well. But he did not check.
Well, we went a couple of months without any problems. However, this last Thursday evening I was washing the dishes again. The disposal and water were running and I put both my hands onto the sink and recieved a fairly large shock when penetrated my whole body for a little over a second. Luckily I did remain conscious and was able to scream and turn off the disposal. After laying on the bed for a couple minutes while David searched the internet to see what could happen to pregnant women who recieve shocks like that, we became excessively anxious and worried. David found that the survival rates of the babies in these situations is only about 29%. Lydia had been quiet since the shock. We called the hospital and they told me to go straight to the Labor and Delivery department.
After a long, long, long wait in the waiting room and in the observation room I was hooked up to several monitors which showed I was having minor contractions about every 2 minutes. The baby's heartbeat was normal, luckily. However, my ob happened to be the on-call doctor that night and requested that I stay to be observed for 24 hours to make sure I wasn't going into a pre term labor. So, I got to experience life in the hospital. It was far from glamorous! I ached everywhere and had a difficult time getting comfortable with so many monitors and iv's stuck in me. In the 24 hour period I got a total of about 4 hours of sleep. David got about 2. He still went to classes Friday morning.
Friday was, however, a little bit more comfortable just knowing that Lydia was alive. And our manager has been more workable than we ever expected having had several terrible experiences with her previously. I was discharged from the hospital at about 4 pm on Friday after the contractions had stopped and my cervix was still closed.
Call us crazy, but we still made an exhausting drive to San Antonio to be with my dad for his Halloween birthday. But I think that it was the rest and escape that I needed before coming back to deal with the mess of our apartment.

The electricians still have yet to figure out what caused my shock. They claim that one of my hands had to have been on something else in order to "complete the circuit". Maybe I'm just a accident prone pregnant woman. Our manager has agreed to let us out of our lease at the end of November and is sending us a form in the mail which will give us the legal evidence of this. And we have been searching the island for more suitable apartments. We've decided we prefer a larger complex this time with onsite management and have a long list of questions that we keep asking them after our terrible experiences here. We think we have it narrowed down pretty well to a place where we can feel both safe and happy. And Lydia is just as active as ever.

Things seem to be working out now, but please continue to keep us in your prayers because there still is a chance I could go into a pre-term labor.

The Haunted Mansion

2009-10-28T15:34:00.003-06:00

In honor of Halloween this weekend, I thought it would be fun to show you what the house next door looks like. It still, to me, looks like the perfect haunted house! Also, last night David and I went to a small Halloween party with some friends. These were our costumes. I had thought about being a pregnant nun, but I didn't have the costume. So I decided that a pregnant missionary would be equivilant. Can you guess what David is? I'll give you a hint. Those are TicTacs taped to the Toe of his shoe. The perfect costume for David. A pun.

So, think of visiting this house on Halloween and enjoy this fun little Halloween story! Happy Halloween to everyone!

Halloween Skeleton for the Doctor
An intern was sent to collect a new skeleton from the central store. When he arrived at the consultant surgeon's office there was already a queue of patients waiting. As the intern wrestled the skeleton through the outside door he became aware of people gazing at him enquiringly.

He gave them a smile and said, 'I am bringing him to the doctor.'

An old lady said sympathetically, 'My dear! Isn't he a bit late for the doctor?'

My extremely exciting life right now...

2009-09-24T14:01:00.002-06:00

Well, okay, it's not so exciting right now. I'm not a writer like Lindsay, and so I have a hard time coming up with random things to write about when there is nothing exciting going on in my life. A general account of my days lately would be:

10am: wake up, eat some cereal and grab Eragon to read

12pm: realize that it's time that I shouldn't be in bed anymore and lazily go to the kitchen to decide what I should eat for lunch.

12:30pm: decide that I really don't have anything exciting going on for the day and so I go back to the bedroom to read. Sometimes David comes home for lunch, so I attempt to be social for about a half an hour.

2pm: decide that I don't really have any plans for the day and so I would be quite alright not even showering for the day.

4pm: the missionaries decide to knock on our door and so I frantically put on some appropriate clothes. Talk to the missionaries for about 15 minutes and they mention how they always catch me at a bad time.

4:30pm: desperately decide what I want to make for dinner, or if I even want to cook at all. (ps: if you have more quick and easy recipes, send them my way! I feel like I cook the same things all the time! I'm not one to cook anything that takes a lot of effort.)

6pm: after eating dinner, David decides he is tired of studying and wants to watch a movie or play a game. We hang out then until he goes to bed at about 10:30pm. Then I read more of Eragon until I tire at about midnight.

And, I am trying to pull some other projects in there instead of just reading. I need to find a cheap place to print off all of our wedding pictures that then I'm gonna put them in a nice album, I'm going to make a blessing dress for Lydia, and I try to clean something in the apartment everyday. I also try to go out with the sister missionaries about once a week and go to play group every Thursday morning. So, I have some other stuff, but not much. If you have any suggestions, I am open.

Such a cute little fetus!

2009-09-10T14:06:00.005-06:00

David and I got to go in today to get the level 2 ultrasound done! Yay! So, we got a ton more pictures of the little lady. She is definetely a girl and it is now even more up in the air about when I am due. According to all the measurements, I could be due January 24th now. We'll see if the doctor will change my due date from February 3rd though. The tech said that she was pretty sure it would be a January baby no matter what. Yay! The sooner the better! (Well, within reason, of course! We don't want any babies coming before Christmas!) So, here's what you've all been waiting for! Fun pictures of Baby Lydia!

I'm pretty sure she's gonna be a model with this pose. The arm posed gracefully above her head as she shows off her profile!

Little footprints!

Such a small little rump! She is definetely a little kicker though! Too bad we don't have action photos to show!

And, just in case anyone was still wondering, Lydia is a girl!

New Galveston Adventures

2009-09-10T13:54:00.004-06:00

So, I've gotten to go do a couple of the fun things in Galveston that I had promised I would. While David was in school one day, I went with a couple other women in the ward and rode the ferry. It was so fun! There were a bajillion dolphins following (or more leading) the boats! Unfortunately, I'm not that handy with my camera and couldn't get any pictures of them. Maybe one of these times I will. But it was a very nice relaxing day.

Me and David also got to go to the beach. It was very interesting! There were so many fish out that day! It was crazy! One of our friends even saw a very small shark swimming around the fish! Crazy! A little boy told David that if he stood still long enough, the fish would nibble at his legs. So, he kept on trying to no avail. I'm amazed at the tan line I got from just being out there a couple of hours! Yay!

So, one of my best friends from highschool was in Houston for the weekend and got to come visit me for a couple hours! Yay! It was so fun catching up with Sarah and meeting her little boy, Micheal. She's such a good mommy! We also took them to see the ocean. It was Micheal's first time discovering such a large body of water! I think he wished he was wearing swim trunks so that he could splash all around in it! It was a very fun day and so good to see such a great friend! Thanks for visiting Sarah! See you again soon!

It's a ... Girl!!!

2009-09-01T19:15:00.003-06:00

So, we went to the doctor's today and found out that the little baby that started kicking me this morning is a girl! Hooray! It's a little Lydia Dawn. She was a curious little thing as she wiggled around her fingers and watched them as she made them into a fist and stuck her fingers out one by one. She also has long legs! We'll get to see better pictures of her at the sonogram in a couple weeks. So, I'll post those pictures then. For now, here are the outfits that we bought to celebrate!

And here are some pregnancy pictures for those who want to know what I look like at 18 weeks!

And on to the next adventure!

2009-08-27T14:15:00.002-06:00

Well, we are now finally settled into our apartment in the developing island of Galveston, Texas. It's a very interesting place here. For one, all people can talk about is Hurricane Ike, which I pray we won't have to relive ever! The Bishop scared us our first Sunday into getting our 72 hour kit put together (which I can proudly say that I finished getting it together this afternoon). Overall, everyone is extremely friendly here! I had forgotten how friendly people can be until I walked into a store and everyone was saying Hi! And that's not just the store attendants. Everyone has a smile on their faces and wants to talk to you. For one, people are very curious seeing people driving around with Utah plates and want to know what's going on. I've already made a few friends in the ward and am finding several things to do in my very free time. That is also a major adjustment, by the way. I'm so used to be running to work and not having time to make dinner and not having time to socialize with people in the ward. But now I have so much time! (I'm not going to get a job in the few months before the baby arrives.) I have also grown an admiration for other homemakers. I never understood the meaning of being a self starter until now! I could sleep in so easily and just laze around the apartment all day. But I have so many other things to get done that I have to push myself to do them.
Well, David and I are very excited to get to discover more about the island! He doesn't have any classes or orientation tomorrow, so we are probably going to discover the beach (more than just a moonlit stroll this time). We are also excited to go on the ferry. We have heard that there are dolphins there all the time. And there are many other things I want to see! Like the Moody Gardens and Elissa (I don't really know what that is yet, but I've seen signs for it).
Oh and for everyone's update, I get to find out if I'm having a boy or girl on Tuesday. So, I'll be sure to let everyone know! For now, Toodles!

2+1=3 Dickinson's!

2009-07-05T23:29:00.002-06:00

So, we had an exciting doctor's visit this last Tuesday and got to see the future baby Dickinson! That's right! We're gonna have a baby! I am now officially 10 weeks and 5 days! Only a few more weeks before the first trimester is over! And man, will that be a relief! Literally, for my body! Pregnancy is no walk in the park, as others may think it is. I sure underestimated it before I experienced any of it! So, if anyone has any excellent tips on constipation (I'm already working on drinking more H2O and eating more fiber), etc I would greatly appreciate it!
So, on to more exciting things! We got to hear the heartbeat and watch the baby wiggle around! It was an amazing experience! I'll keep everyone updated as well as I can with moving and all!

Tag!

2008-09-11T15:39:00.003-06:00

So, Jolene tagged me to do this and I decided to give it a go. So, here's my first post in a really long time!

Share three of your joys, fears, goals, current obsessions, regrets & facts about yourself...
Then, tag five more people & leave a comment on their blog, so they'll know!
Joys:
1. My hubby of course (I agree with Jolene, so I left it there)
2. My clients at work. They're like my kids in a way. I love watching them succeed and overcome trials.
3. The gospel. How could that not bring you joy?
Fears:
1. Something bad happening to anyone in my family.
2. Spiders.
3. Letting people down.
Goals:
1. To be my skinny old self again by Christmas!
2. Be more patient with people I love.
3. Not focus on myself so much.
Current Obsessions:
1. Work.
2. Doing fun things with David.
3. Really wanting junkfood!
Regrets:
1. Saying stupid things.
2. Wasting time.
3. Not saying what I'm really thinking (when it's a good thing)
Facts about me:
1. I work full time with my dream job! I play and help teens at the same time!
2. I love socializing, so feel free to call anytime! (Amen to that Jolene!)
3. I love going on rollerblading, doing outdoor things, playing sports, camping, watching movies, and just relaxing.

Now I guess I get to choose people to tag. I'll do Lindsay, Brittany, Eric and David!

Not Dead Yet...

2008-06-12T18:15:00.002-06:00

So, it's been a while since I have written anything. Sorry. I had every intention. I even have a bunch of pictures on my camera that I wanted to put on it. However, my computer is being slightly obnoxious and is not recognizing that it is actually connected to the internet. So, I need to call upon my wonderful computer guru friends to come fix it. But, alas, I am a slacker and haven't done it yet. Well, personally I don't really think I've been slacking. I've actually been rather busy. I just got back from a campout in Moab for work and am rushing through preparing another one in a couple weeks. Plus people seem to think that now is the time to send their kids into treatment. I guess the summer's been waring on them. Anyways, I have a nice handful of new clients to do all sorts of fun intake assessments with. That's one of the fun parts of my job.
I will put those pictures on as soon as possible. But, until then, adieu.