Who said Lydia doesn't look like Mommy? :)

Okay, Matt gets all the credit for Lydia's good looks. I hope here you can see the striking resemblance between the two of us. :)

Odds and Ends from the past few days

Lydia is becoming a more confident walker each day, maneuvering around the corners of our house. Of course, on video, she seems to fall more often than when the camera is off. Also, to accessorize her kitchen, we got her a little Fisher Price chair. She enjoys flipping the pages to the little book and dancing to the music.



Lydia heads right to the laundry room door and is determined to get the door open...a little too short, still :)


Eating Puffs....Lydia has not ventured out into too many different "big people" foods, but she has fallen in love with the puffs. She will dig into her diaper bag until she can find her puff container and then she proceeds to dump them on to the floor for a little snack :) In this video, you can even hear her chewing on her puffs.


Lydia found my calculator and was doing some simple calculations. She absolutely loves all electronics...computers, remote controls, phones, and now calculators.

Precious Giggles

For the past few nights when Matt gets home from work, he has been throwing around a little ball that Lydia has. She just starts to get the giggles and thinks he is hilarious. Matt thinks it's the ball, but I know that it's because Lydia thinks Daddy is funny :) If I did the same thing, I would just get a big hug with a look like, "Nice try, mom." We hope Lydia's giggles will put a smile on your face.

I'm a Big Girl Now!

I know we should have been working on this skill for a while and that we should probably have mastered the sippy cup, too.....But....we haven't and are excited about our new skill. Lydia can now feed herself her own bottle! yea! I decided the other day to give it a try. At first, she looked at me like, "I have things to do, I can't be holding this. Besides, you've always done it." By the end of that bottle, she was holding it with one hand and playing with her foot with the other :) Enjoy this little video of Lydia's new accomplishment.



We bought Lydia a new kitchen. She is getting to be a bigger girl, walking more independently and playing in the kitchen cabinets. So, we went out and got her a big girl toy. Here she is helping Daddy build it and then playing in it. In typical little girl fashion she throws the hammer down the drain!



This is a longer movie displaying some of the cool toys the kitchenette has. She thoroughly enjoyed her new found toy. The best thing is she gets to stand up to play!



Mom and Dad's living room has now become the short order kitchen/diner!

Lydia's new speedracer :)

Our neighbors dropped off this fancy new car for Lydia to tool around town in :) Here's Lydia out for a test drive. She's not a particularly safe driver - a lot of hands off driving :) Enjoy!

Crawling, Walking, and Playing - Videos for Lydia's grandparents

Our little walker :)


Playing with blocks and toys


Nightly Reading


I need a vacation...

Fun in the warm Texas sun

This afternoon, we went for a dip in the hotel pool. Lydia lounges mostly as we sweep her through the water. She looks like quite the movie star...she didn't have time for autographs, however. Then we went out for some barbeque and then made a trip to Dairy Queen - Lydia didn't like our desserts, as she prefers her milk heated up. While I waited for our frozen treats, Lydia and Daddy stood across the way. She shouted at me (I'm convinced it was Mama...) and then waved at me when I turned around :) We decided to put her Michael Card CD in the computer and guess what??? She is already asleep and it's not even 8:00!!!! We'll see how long she sleeps before joining us.

An evening visit to the Alamo

Sleepless in San Antonio

Well, we've been in San Antonio for the past few days and are a little tired. Miss Lydia is not fond of the hotel pack and play so she has averaged 3-4 hours in there before awaking and joining us in the big bed for the rest of the evening. She's also wanted to be very close to us and not put down :) But in the midst of our exhaustion, she still continues to be "cute stuff" and a hit for all hotel patrons :)

Look at this luxurious bed...who would want to sleep in a pack and play?

Miss Lydia with Mommy and Daddy at the Riverwalk

Walking at the Riverwalk like a "big girl"!



Laughing at Daddy in my pack and play


When we first got here and Lydia was supposed to be sleeping in the pack and play, Matt looked up and asked if I was brushing Lydia's teeth in her bed. I said no and we looked to see Lydia brushing her teeth. She leaned out over the edge and got into her bag and pulled out the toothbrush herself. Here she is brushing her teeth again. I think she might become a dentist as she is always looking in people's mouths and brushing her own teeth :)

Home Sweet Home

We made it back to Texas at 3 AM this morning and Lydia graciously let us all sleep in until 6 AM :) When we got home, Lydia received a package from her Granny and Baba in PA. Inside were two pairs of shoes. One of the pairs is a pair of "Dorothy" sparkly shoes.

Home Sweet Home!

Then and Now

July 2007

July 2008

More Pictures of Lydia visiting with family

Lydia's favorite spot to nap has been on the deck at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The sound of the waterfall in the background puts her right to sleep.

The view from the deck.

Here's Grandma Jan giving Lydia her afternoon bottle.

Uncle Chris, Aunt Becky, and Izzy stopped by after Lydia's afternoon nap. Here are Lydia and Izzy attempting to share :)
Izzy is about 6 months older than Lydia.

Tomorrow we'll be headed back to Texas. Uncle JD will ride down to Texas and then fly home to Washington state. We'll be home for a day and then will be heading to San Antonio for a week. Matt has a training and Lydia and I will be enjoying the sites :) We'll be quite the travelers! And then we'll be home for the rest of the summer, getting ready for school to start.

A Remodeled Bathroom

JD, Matt and his dad set out to remodel the guest bathroom. It has taken all week but is finally done. It looks beautiful!

Right Down to the studs...

New Shower's In...

Drywall is up and floor in...

New Lights are Up...

Grandma picking out the paint color.

Getting there...

All done.

Guard Dogs

Shamus and Cocoa were babysitting Lydia in her pack n play :)

More Videos

Okay, here are some more videos.

The Fourth of July

Lydia had another busy day. She started the day at 4:30 AM! We managed to get her back to sleep in our bed for another hour and a half. She had many visitors today. First Grandpa Bob and Grandma Ruth stopped by. Then Uncle JD and Charity stopped over to do some computer work. Then Uncle Chris, Aunt Becky, and Cousin Izzy came over. When they were leaving, Grandpa Dick came. And then, Uncle Andy came over. Wow!!! That's a lot of family!!! After everyone left, Lydia went for a swim on the deck. Enjoy the videos and pictures.

These toys are yummy!

More Pictures from the Park

Lydia was yelling at the ducks as they quacked :)

Uncle JD, do you see me in the boat? It's a giant rubber ducky!

Here's Miss Lydia fighting fires. Who needs to walk when I can drive?

Up and Down, Round and Round on the Merry Go Round.

Napping with Uncle JD

Shhhh! Sleeping...

Lydia was a little fussy this morning and would only sleep while Uncle JD held her. How cute!

Here's Miss Lydia walking with Mommy and Grandpa!

A Day at the Park

Okay, so I have the blog posted. I just can't figure out how to get the picture at the top to be smaller. Today was a busy day. We are visiting Grandma and Grandpa. We went to Krepe Park today. Lydia rode the merry-go-round and walked around a bit - she's getting to be quite the walker. We even went for a ride in the paddle boat. Before we left, she was jamming to her Fridge DJ that her granny gave her. I'll try to attach the video.
Hope you can see it.
Here's a picture of Lydia at the park in the old fire truck.


Here's the video, I think.
Hopefully I'll get better at this blogging :)