lydia: 22 months

Lydia is 22 months old now. What a sweet girl!

She is all about some independence lately. She has started to go up and down stairs with out any help. She usually tries to do it with out the help of the hand rail either which really scares me. I asked Patrick when he thought she would get used to the stairs and leave them alone... He said probably when they aren't a challenge for her anymore. I think he's right because if they are around, she's going up or down them.

She is also eating her cereal with milk now and using a big girl cup with out a lid. She does fairly well but if we walk away toward the end of her meal, the milk will be dumped out of the bowl and whatever she had to drink will be all over her tray. It's fun to see her learn how to eat more like a big girl.

She is talking up a storm. Some of my favorite things that she does: She'll say "thank you baby" or "here you go baby" because thats what she hears us say to her all the time. She says "bye bye raisins" or cereal or whatever she just ate. She asks if we are excited. I've noticed that I'll tell her we are going to go do something and then ask if she is excited. I do this all the time. (an example: Lydia, we are going to go pick up Daddy from work. Are you excited??) She has learned this word and now asks us all the time if we are excited. It's SOOO CUTE! She amazes us with the names she remembers. She will start recalling all of her cousins names and will even add in the correct aunt and uncles.

She had an ear ache a fews weeks ago so we had to make a visit to the doctor. We found out that she weighs 27 lbs. I am not sure on the height as they didn't measure it. We'll find that out at her 2 year visit in a few months.

We are still right in the thick of it with discipline. I feel like she has made some progress but is still very much a typical almost 2 year old.

Lydia brings so much joy into our lives though. We are thankful for her life and health and fun big personality. She is a sweet girl. A lady who worked in her nursery class at church a few Sundays ago told me she went around the room handing out her cheerios saying "here you go." She loves to give hugs and kisses.

We love you Lydia! A bushel and a peck!!

first hair cut

It hit me. Lydia's hair was a mullet. Cute baby curls had grown a little too long with out the rest of her hair noticing and trying to catch up. Once it was in my mind I couldn't stand it. I had to cut it.

I put her in her high chair for her first big girl hair cut. I was really nervous. I ran my fingers through her hair probably 100 times. She kept looking back at me like "what are you doing mom leave me alone." I gave her a handful of reese pieces and finally gathered the nerve to make the first cut. I really thought I was going to cry.

I had to put her back in the chair after I had finished my first try because I saw some places that needed to be fixed. After two goes at it. I think I got it. She now has a cute bob.

Byebye baby hair. You had a good 21 month run!

thankfulness

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain;
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again;
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness
And clothed me in His light
And wrote His law of righteousness
With pow'r upon my heart.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside;
Who floods my weaknesses with strength
And causes fears to fly;
Whose ev'ry promise is enough
For ev'ry step I take,
Sustaining me with arms of love
And crowning me with grace.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To him who reigns above,
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace,
Whose ev'ry thought is love.
For ev'ry day I have on earth
Is given by the King;
So I will give my life, my all,
To love and follow him.

(written by Stuart Townsend... I think)

These words just flooded my mind and thankfulness really did flood my heart.

How comforting it is to know that he bore our pain on the cross. He gave us life anew. He crushed the ultimate pain of sin and death. He floods my weaknesses with strength. He causes fears of the future and unknown to FLY. He is constantly sustaining us with His strong STRONG arms of LOVE.
What a comfort to know HE REIGNS above!!! Every day I have on earth is given by the King.

Please Lord, help me to give my life and my all to love and follow you!


**update on Diane, my mother-in-law: She is doing so good! Every day we are seeing more and more of the Diane we know come back. Her physical strength is coming back and its so sweet to see. They have recently started capping her trach so that she is able to speak. What a joy it is to hear her voice. Today Patrick walked into the hospital room to see his mom sitting up in her wheelchair and greet him with a friendly, "Hi Patrick." How sweet it is to hear her talk. We praise our great God for bringing her to this point. We are so encouraged by her progress. We realize still that this is a journey. She is still healing and having to relearn things. Please continue to pray that those parts of her brain damaged by her fall would heal. Pray that in these coming days when Diane is tempted to be frustrated in not understanding or being able to effectively communicate like she'd like to, that she would experience HIS wisdom as her PERFECT peace. Pray that we would all trust him for our daily strength. That we would not insist on our own ways but humbly submit ourselves to the Lords loving plan.

who's who

Want to play a little game of who's who??? Here's a few pictures of our girls at similar ages side by side...

sleepy head

precious...

kesid: 3 months/ lydia: 21 months

I'm way late on Lydia celebrating 21 months....on the 21st of August. Diane had just had her accident and we were in crazy mode. Kesid celebrated 3 months of life on the outside on the 31st. I decided to combine their post... maybe this will become a pattern-we'll see!

Kesid is a sweet sweet cuddly girl! OH I could just eat her up. I think I give her at least 100 kisses a day (so that makes over 9,000 kisses just from me in the last 3 months). I am so thankful for her laid back nature. She is pretty easy to please. To be honest though... I think I please her a little too much. Patrick and I are started to suspect some rottenness in her. I think I may be spoiling her.

Heres some of her updates. She is still eating every 3 hours. Before the accident she was sleeping from 10:30-7:30 at night... and then after being away for a few days she is now waking up around 5-6 am to eat. I'm having a hard time deciding if she's just in the habit of this now or if because of pumping my milk has decreased a little... I don't know but I'm starting to get tired of the 5-6 thing... may have to do a little boot camp :). Speaking of sleep boot camp. Naps are about to start happening... scheduled naps.

I'm not sure how much she weighs because we don't own a scale and she doesn't go to the doc until 4 months but she is doing just fine. The girl is a CHUNK. She still fits some 0-3 month clothes but it's about time for the 3-6 month.

Kesid is starting to interact with Lydia more... and Lydia more with Kesid. The other day I kept lifting Kesid up to Lydia's check and giving making her give her kisses. Lydia LOVED it. She was giggling and kept saying "I'm gonna get you." Kesid was smiling sweet smiles back at her big sis.

Kes is all the sudden doing great at tummy time. She's rolled over a few times this month. Only belly to back though. She can tolerate longer stretches of tummy time now. I love it when babies start to love being on their tummies and playing with toys.

Lydia is a lot of fun right now and also a lot of work. She is learning so much and her vocab is growing like crazy. She is surprising us with all the songs she knows. One day she just starting singing her ABCs...like all of it. I think she waits until she knows a song well enough and then will sing it out loud.  One other song that she sings is the doxology... she calls it "praise God."

Lydia is in a stage that requires lots of correction and discipline. She has been throwing more fits if she doesn't get her way and is fairly fond of the word "no" and "mine." I've been trying to reroute her and have her say "yes" and explaining that "mine" is a selfish word and not kind... It's slow learning at this point :)

One of the things we love seeing in Lydia is her personality coming out. She is a silly girl. She will sometimes just break out in a really goofy walk or fake laugh. She is also making more faces. The girl knows how to woo a crowd. At the hospital all the staff love her. She walks up and down the hallways just waving and saying hi.

Patrick and I are so thankful for the time the Lord has given us with our sweet baby girls. I have been humbled by the brevity and frailty of our lives lately. Every day really is a gift. Trying to remember to treasure each day...even if it is a hard one :)