It's been quite a while since I've uploaded a video, so here's one that I took this morning. More often than not, Lydia wakes up happy in the morning, and I will hear her "talking" to herself.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
walking before standing?
Remember back when I posted about how Lydia learned to crawl before she learned how to sit by herself? Like how she did that out of order? Well, I am thinking that she may similarly walk before she stands. I have witnessed her standing alone, but it's been so brief and unintended and infrequent on her part that I'm not "counting" it. She has been walking along furniture for a while and is getting faster at that. And over the past couple of days, DH has been "teaching" her to walk by holding her hands and walking with her. She can walk like that if we hold both her hands. But as soon as we let go, it's down onto her bottom. Even so, there's small bits of time when we're helping her walk that it feels like she's not really putting a lot of weight on our hands.
Monday, January 14, 2008
a picture of the play food
Yay, my first batch of play food is "cooked" and ready for sale! Definitely go check out my store for more pictures of the individual items, but I wanted to share the picture of all the items I've made so far:
Doesn't it look delicious? I'm very pleased with the way it's all looking so far, and VERY excited about the plans I have for the next few foods that will be coming out. :) (I still have yet to develop those patterns, though... I'll be working on that this week.)
The other two of Lydia's top teeth are breaking the gums, so by the time the weekend is here, all 4 of them should be well on their way to arriving. And she's learned how to wave pretty much on request now. I'll say "hi" and she'll wave at me and jabber. And then sometimes she'll wave just b/c she feels like it. lol. Like today in the store, she was on my back and her arms were pretty contained. At one point, though, she wiggled around and worked one of her arms free and was happily waving "hi" with it for a bit, then she wiggled it back down to where it was supposed to go. All I could do was smile. :)
Doesn't it look delicious? I'm very pleased with the way it's all looking so far, and VERY excited about the plans I have for the next few foods that will be coming out. :) (I still have yet to develop those patterns, though... I'll be working on that this week.)
The other two of Lydia's top teeth are breaking the gums, so by the time the weekend is here, all 4 of them should be well on their way to arriving. And she's learned how to wave pretty much on request now. I'll say "hi" and she'll wave at me and jabber. And then sometimes she'll wave just b/c she feels like it. lol. Like today in the store, she was on my back and her arms were pretty contained. At one point, though, she wiggled around and worked one of her arms free and was happily waving "hi" with it for a bit, then she wiggled it back down to where it was supposed to go. All I could do was smile. :)
Saturday, January 12, 2008
i guess she's been teething for months
My poor baby. Today she was quite suddenly in a good mood. That in itself isn't really unusual, but what was unusual was the "degree" of her good mood. She was laughing SO much today, and at the most random things. Like I had her on one arm, and with the other arm I was stacking up cloth diapers. I got to about the third diaper and heard her laugh. Then this morning she was VERY gleefully banging together two of her balls and laughing at how they made a click when they connected.
But just now, I was changing her diaper, and thought I'd give her mouth a peek. Her poor gums have been looking "toothy" lately, and seem to have been looking like that for a long time, so I wasn't sure if she was really teething or not. But today, I can see the telltale little "hole" in her gums, and can feel the teeth starting to poke through. I think she is going to get all 4 of her top middle teeth at once. The teeth that I can feel are one of the middle ones and then the one on the side of her mouth right next to it.
When I went home for the holidays, my sister kept teasing me and saying that my baby was "broken" because she didn't laugh like her baby did. (Lydia's cousin is 6 months older than she is.) Lydia was in a good mood for the whole trip and played and was happy and would smile, but she would rarely laugh. I kept telling everyone that even at home she would hardly laugh even for me. But today, she laughed several times.
I think the teeth are to blame. She must have been hurting. Not enough to make her overly fussy, but just enough chronic soreness to make her not all that happy about the situation. This would definitely explain her lack of laughter. I knew that she COULD laugh since I'd witnessed it many months ago, and even in her soreness there were a few little things that would sometimes get her to give a little giggle. But I imagine that I wouldn't really want to laugh all that much either if my mouth hurt all the time. I hope those other two teeth pop though soon. I really love this "new" giggly girl I have now.
But just now, I was changing her diaper, and thought I'd give her mouth a peek. Her poor gums have been looking "toothy" lately, and seem to have been looking like that for a long time, so I wasn't sure if she was really teething or not. But today, I can see the telltale little "hole" in her gums, and can feel the teeth starting to poke through. I think she is going to get all 4 of her top middle teeth at once. The teeth that I can feel are one of the middle ones and then the one on the side of her mouth right next to it.
When I went home for the holidays, my sister kept teasing me and saying that my baby was "broken" because she didn't laugh like her baby did. (Lydia's cousin is 6 months older than she is.) Lydia was in a good mood for the whole trip and played and was happy and would smile, but she would rarely laugh. I kept telling everyone that even at home she would hardly laugh even for me. But today, she laughed several times.
I think the teeth are to blame. She must have been hurting. Not enough to make her overly fussy, but just enough chronic soreness to make her not all that happy about the situation. This would definitely explain her lack of laughter. I knew that she COULD laugh since I'd witnessed it many months ago, and even in her soreness there were a few little things that would sometimes get her to give a little giggle. But I imagine that I wouldn't really want to laugh all that much either if my mouth hurt all the time. I hope those other two teeth pop though soon. I really love this "new" giggly girl I have now.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
a poser and food to play with
I was looking through prior entries, and realized that it had been a while since I put in a picture of Lydia. So here are a couple from this morning for your enjoyment. In the first one, it looks like she is "posing" for the camera. Then the other one is just plain silly. :P
In other news, I have managed to start making some play food to sell in my store. I've made a sandwich (with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickle), some cheesy chips (like cheetos), some chocolate sandwich cookies, and a carrot. I'm hoping to branch out my product offering in the next week or so. I have all these totally cool ideas floating around in my head of foods to make and how to make them look like what they're supposed to. I'm very excited. :) My favorite so far are the sandwich cookies and the tomato slice. :D
In other news, I have managed to start making some play food to sell in my store. I've made a sandwich (with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickle), some cheesy chips (like cheetos), some chocolate sandwich cookies, and a carrot. I'm hoping to branch out my product offering in the next week or so. I have all these totally cool ideas floating around in my head of foods to make and how to make them look like what they're supposed to. I'm very excited. :) My favorite so far are the sandwich cookies and the tomato slice. :D
Thursday, January 3, 2008
i can see my carpet again
Wow, I feel so good now. I worked this past week on decluttering, and the apartment looks drastically different in areas. I feel like I can have some people over again now. :) And, I can now work on my crafts again with a clear conscience, since all of those supplies are organized as well.
Here's some before and after pictures. I'll start with the less dramatic and move on from there. In each "pair" of pictures, the "before" picture is first. (It's not as obvious on some of them.) First, the kitchen. I don't have a lot of space, but the space I DO have has definitely improved:
Then the living room. I didn't get rid of her toys. Just off the camera to the left are two crates that had been there already, but now they are a little more organized and I can actually put her toys IN them instead of on top of them. lol. Also note the changes to the mantle.
The first bedroom picture isn't all that dramatic, but now I can see the top of my dresser again. Please excuse the empty photo frame. lol. I scooted the chest of drawers over a little bit to make room for the bookshelf, thus freeing up a lot of floor space.
And the most dramatic transformation of all was the dining room. Now I feel like I can actually have some people over now and then, and don't have to worry about them tripping over something and hurting themselves.
Here's some before and after pictures. I'll start with the less dramatic and move on from there. In each "pair" of pictures, the "before" picture is first. (It's not as obvious on some of them.) First, the kitchen. I don't have a lot of space, but the space I DO have has definitely improved:
Then the living room. I didn't get rid of her toys. Just off the camera to the left are two crates that had been there already, but now they are a little more organized and I can actually put her toys IN them instead of on top of them. lol. Also note the changes to the mantle.
The first bedroom picture isn't all that dramatic, but now I can see the top of my dresser again. Please excuse the empty photo frame. lol. I scooted the chest of drawers over a little bit to make room for the bookshelf, thus freeing up a lot of floor space.
And the most dramatic transformation of all was the dining room. Now I feel like I can actually have some people over now and then, and don't have to worry about them tripping over something and hurting themselves.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
disposable diapers are not meant to be washed
Gross gross gross. I'm reasonably sure it was a clean one. A rogue diaper probably slipped into the laundry basket when I was taking a diaper out of the box, and then it slipped from there unnoticed into the washing machine.
Then I went back to the washer when the cycle was done, and there plastered to the wall was the diaper. The very VERY fat and full of water diaper. I picked it off, and marveled at how funny it looked so full like that, then noticed that a tiny edge of the... "seam" for lack of a better word... had come undone. This of course meant that inside the washer was a large quantity of those fun little gel pellets. Yay.
Thankfully, the seam seems to have ripped in the second spin cycle, so they were somewhat in a pile. And they did come right off of the clothes that they were on. Then I gathered up what I could of the remainder and threw those away, then ran an empty rinse cycle to catch the last few that I couldn't see.
It could have been worse, definitely. It could have come undone in the wash cycle as opposed to the rinse spin. It could have been some wool. It could have been a DIRTY disposable diaper. I've learned my lesson, though. From now on, no more just dumping the whole laundry basket into the wash w/o looking it over first, item by item.
Then I went back to the washer when the cycle was done, and there plastered to the wall was the diaper. The very VERY fat and full of water diaper. I picked it off, and marveled at how funny it looked so full like that, then noticed that a tiny edge of the... "seam" for lack of a better word... had come undone. This of course meant that inside the washer was a large quantity of those fun little gel pellets. Yay.
Thankfully, the seam seems to have ripped in the second spin cycle, so they were somewhat in a pile. And they did come right off of the clothes that they were on. Then I gathered up what I could of the remainder and threw those away, then ran an empty rinse cycle to catch the last few that I couldn't see.
It could have been worse, definitely. It could have come undone in the wash cycle as opposed to the rinse spin. It could have been some wool. It could have been a DIRTY disposable diaper. I've learned my lesson, though. From now on, no more just dumping the whole laundry basket into the wash w/o looking it over first, item by item.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
that parenting preparation email was right
A while back, I got an email with a list of things to do to check and see if one were ready to be a parent. It had a list of things like stick a fish stick in the back seat of your car and leave it there for a week, and put a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the VCR. One of the items was to prepare you for feeding a baby. It said to cut a small hole in a gourd, hang the gourd from the ceiling, and swing it. Then prepare some baby food, and try to spoon it into the swinging gourd. I originally read this, and laughed, but thought to myself, how much can an infant really move when you're feeding it?
Then, this past week, I was feeding my 12-month-old. I was just sitting on the couch with her food and she was standing up on the floor and I was feeding her that way. When she was getting full, she started swaying dramatically from side to side, but still had her mouth wide open to accept another bite. I was unsuccessful in getting the spoon into her swaying mouth, and suddenly remembered the email from long ago.
I got back home today after visiting my family for a week. It was a very tiring trip. My nephews are now 4 (next month), 2.5 and 1.5, and they are exhausting to be around. My family kept telling me to "just wait" and one day Lydia would be just the same. But I'm hoping that the parenting techniques I'm learning from Raising Godly Tomatoes will pay off. It's a very Bible-based way of parenting, and one of the keys is to start early, which I believe I have done with Lydia. I believe I'm seeing results, but people who aren't around us all day just think that it's her personality, or it's because she's a girl, or it's because she's still young, etc. Hopefully it'll become more evident to strangers as she gets older that she knows how to listen and obey -- the first time I ask her to.
I'm once again about to go through a decluttering phase. Every so often, our apartment just gets to feeling too cramped and crowded and there's "stuff" everywhere and it starts driving me crazy. I'm going to start in our bedroom, since in all my other decluttering phases, I still haven't managed to thoroughly go through our dresser drawers. There's no doubt clothes in there that I have forgotten I even have, and that no longer fit me, and that I probably won't wear again even if they DO fit me, etc. Hopefully I will be able to clear out a bunch of drawers and put different things in them that currently don't have a home, which will at least get things out of sight. Right now the task seems elephant-sized, but I just have to remember to "eat" the elephant one bite at a time.
Then, this past week, I was feeding my 12-month-old. I was just sitting on the couch with her food and she was standing up on the floor and I was feeding her that way. When she was getting full, she started swaying dramatically from side to side, but still had her mouth wide open to accept another bite. I was unsuccessful in getting the spoon into her swaying mouth, and suddenly remembered the email from long ago.
I got back home today after visiting my family for a week. It was a very tiring trip. My nephews are now 4 (next month), 2.5 and 1.5, and they are exhausting to be around. My family kept telling me to "just wait" and one day Lydia would be just the same. But I'm hoping that the parenting techniques I'm learning from Raising Godly Tomatoes will pay off. It's a very Bible-based way of parenting, and one of the keys is to start early, which I believe I have done with Lydia. I believe I'm seeing results, but people who aren't around us all day just think that it's her personality, or it's because she's a girl, or it's because she's still young, etc. Hopefully it'll become more evident to strangers as she gets older that she knows how to listen and obey -- the first time I ask her to.
I'm once again about to go through a decluttering phase. Every so often, our apartment just gets to feeling too cramped and crowded and there's "stuff" everywhere and it starts driving me crazy. I'm going to start in our bedroom, since in all my other decluttering phases, I still haven't managed to thoroughly go through our dresser drawers. There's no doubt clothes in there that I have forgotten I even have, and that no longer fit me, and that I probably won't wear again even if they DO fit me, etc. Hopefully I will be able to clear out a bunch of drawers and put different things in them that currently don't have a home, which will at least get things out of sight. Right now the task seems elephant-sized, but I just have to remember to "eat" the elephant one bite at a time.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
12 month stats and birthday party highlights
We had Lydia's 12-month appointment today. She's doing fine, looks healthy, developing normally. She is now 27.5" long and staying on the "standard" percentile curve for length, but she's now only 15 lbs and 2 oz. Her weight curve is getting a little flatter, but her doctor said that if you just look at her, she doesn't look underfed or anything. I like to say that Lydia is "fleshy." We went briefly over some other miscellaneous things (like what's good to eat) and came home.
We celebrated her birthday on Sunday when hubby's parents came down for a visit. There are a TON of pictures of the party on her photo page (see the new link to the right). Her daddy helped her open her presents. She was intrigued and excited at being able to "play" with paper. Then we got the cake for her. I made her cake (homemade carrot cake w/ homemade cream cheese icing) because I wanted a tasty cake. She tried to grab the cake instead of blow out her candle, so her daddy had to help her with that. Then we cut her a little piece for her and put it on a plate on her high chair. She promptly smooshed her fingers into the frosting, then licked them off, then repeated this until the frosting was all gone. Then she picked up the whole piece of cake with BOTH hands and was going to eat it that way. She got about one bite off like that and then set it back down again. The rest of the cake-eating was pretty methodical. She was so serious about it. lol
This may be my last post for a while. This weekend, I plan to go visit my family for about 10 days. It's been since August since I've been up there so I'm really looking forward to being able to see everyone.
My home business is going slow for now. I did finish some candy-cane striped longies (wool pants that go over a cloth diaper instead of a diaper cover) and hoped that someone would want them for Christmas, but no bites so far yet. I also went ahead and listed all the rest of the yarn I had planned for longies as you-pick-the-size listings to hopefully have them sell better. I also have plans for something else that will be quick-ish to make when I come back home. Then soon after I come home, I'll need to order some yarn to start in on my play food items.
We celebrated her birthday on Sunday when hubby's parents came down for a visit. There are a TON of pictures of the party on her photo page (see the new link to the right). Her daddy helped her open her presents. She was intrigued and excited at being able to "play" with paper. Then we got the cake for her. I made her cake (homemade carrot cake w/ homemade cream cheese icing) because I wanted a tasty cake. She tried to grab the cake instead of blow out her candle, so her daddy had to help her with that. Then we cut her a little piece for her and put it on a plate on her high chair. She promptly smooshed her fingers into the frosting, then licked them off, then repeated this until the frosting was all gone. Then she picked up the whole piece of cake with BOTH hands and was going to eat it that way. She got about one bite off like that and then set it back down again. The rest of the cake-eating was pretty methodical. She was so serious about it. lol
This may be my last post for a while. This weekend, I plan to go visit my family for about 10 days. It's been since August since I've been up there so I'm really looking forward to being able to see everyone.
My home business is going slow for now. I did finish some candy-cane striped longies (wool pants that go over a cloth diaper instead of a diaper cover) and hoped that someone would want them for Christmas, but no bites so far yet. I also went ahead and listed all the rest of the yarn I had planned for longies as you-pick-the-size listings to hopefully have them sell better. I also have plans for something else that will be quick-ish to make when I come back home. Then soon after I come home, I'll need to order some yarn to start in on my play food items.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
one year ago today
One year ago today, I hadn't yet found out that my little child was a girl.
One year ago today, I was completely surprised by going into labor a few days early (since most of my family went late with their first babies).
One year ago today, hubby and I were running last-minute errands, even while I was in labor.
One year ago today, a friend took some VERY last-minute maternity portraits of us.
One year ago today, we packed too much stuff to take to the hospital.
One year ago today, I knew that the 9 months of anticipation and waiting and wondering would be over soon, but a new phase of wonder would soon begin.
One year ago today, I never imagined that the next year would go by so quickly.
One year ago today, I started to capture a new little life in pictures, and wish I had taken more.
One year ago today, I finally met the little one whose foot I had been playing with while she was inside me.
One year ago today, I heard my child's voice for the first time.
One year ago today, I was surprised again by a newborn with a lot of hair since hubby and I were somewhat bald.
One year ago today, I first counted tiny fingers and toes in amazement.
One year ago today, I nursed a baby for the first time.
One year ago today was filled with dreams and unknowns and bonding yet to be, and this past year was filled with a love so intense it sometimes made me cry.
One year ago today, my little child was born. May her next year and all the years of her life be filled with unending love and blessings. Happy Birthday, Lydia.
One year ago today, I was completely surprised by going into labor a few days early (since most of my family went late with their first babies).
One year ago today, hubby and I were running last-minute errands, even while I was in labor.
One year ago today, a friend took some VERY last-minute maternity portraits of us.
One year ago today, we packed too much stuff to take to the hospital.
One year ago today, I knew that the 9 months of anticipation and waiting and wondering would be over soon, but a new phase of wonder would soon begin.
One year ago today, I never imagined that the next year would go by so quickly.
One year ago today, I started to capture a new little life in pictures, and wish I had taken more.
One year ago today, I finally met the little one whose foot I had been playing with while she was inside me.
One year ago today, I heard my child's voice for the first time.
One year ago today, I was surprised again by a newborn with a lot of hair since hubby and I were somewhat bald.
One year ago today, I first counted tiny fingers and toes in amazement.
One year ago today, I nursed a baby for the first time.
One year ago today was filled with dreams and unknowns and bonding yet to be, and this past year was filled with a love so intense it sometimes made me cry.
One year ago today, my little child was born. May her next year and all the years of her life be filled with unending love and blessings. Happy Birthday, Lydia.
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