11 months

 I can't believe Lydia is 11 months old.  Where did the last year go?  Its hard to believe this is the last monthly update. Its so fun to look back over these posts and see how she has changed. I sure love this sweet little girl. 

This past month Lydia decided it was time to attempt climbing the stairs.  She doesn't do it often but every now and then she decides to give it a go.  She has also started to move along our furniture. She will use the wall, the fridge, chairs and of course the couch or ottoman.  No walking by herself just moving around with support. She loves it when we will hold her hands and walk with her.  She also loves it when we push her on Jared's truck.  She is getting one for Christmas.  I can't wait for her to try it out. I think she will have a great first Christmas.

 The other day I looked over at her and she had pulled her pants off!  She has cute chubby thighs.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes she gets stuck but she handles it well.

 



She also has been teething some and chewing on everything she can get her mouth on.  She still only has 2 teeth but I am thinking some other ones are pushing through. She really enjoys feeding herself and especially loves pancakes.  Jared typically eats breakfast and lunch at his little table in the kitchen so now Lydia makes her way over there while he is eating and tries to still some of his food.  Jared often has to defend his food from her.  More then once she has been too quick and has ended up with her hand in his yogurt.  She also likes it when he drops food on the floor. I do not!

 

 

 

 

She has stated to show more interest in books even picking out books for herself.  Her favorite is one called " Who Loves You Baby".  It has animals on each page with the face cut out and in its place is a mirror where she can see herself. She gets so excited.  She also loves the touch and feel books.  She has also sort of realized things go in order or in sequence.  For example we were playing with her stacking cups the other day and I was showing her how they are "supposed" to be used and now she tries to put then together by size. (sometimes) She also loves to give us High Fives. I don't think she knows she is giving us high fives but when we put our hand up to her she will hit it repeatedly especially when she is nursing. She is also constantly handing us things or offering them to us.  If we walk by her and say her name she takes whatever she has in her hand and offers it to us. I can't tell if it is because she thinks she is trouble or just really wants to share.

 

This past week she started signing "more" which we are all really excited about.  We will ask her and  Jared will energetically show her how to do it.  He is such a good brother to Lydia.  He is trying his best to get her as attached to her blanket as he is to his and is having some good success.  When we are singing songs to her before her nap she will nuzzle into her blanket on our shoulder. I love it.  Once we lay her down and put her blanket on her she kicks her feet and legs up happily. 

She is a busy happy little girl and we love watching her grow and learn new skills.

2012 Best Christmas Lights Winner

 I love the wreaths. The people were happy with their award and slightly confused but that's okay, chances are slim we will ever see them again.

For FHE this week we made some Hot Chocolate and went out to choose the Best Christmas Lights of 2012.  It is one of my favorite family traditions. I was looking at the pictures from the last few years  and I have noticed that the house that normally wins also happens to be a house I really like structurally.  It seems the vote is a little skewed. I am pretty sure Jared and Lydia will have more of an opinion on the matter in the next few years anyway. This house was in a neighborhood not far from us but we will probably have to go farther and farther away from where we live as they get older too. It was a fun night. I do love a good family tradition.

Christmas fun at home

The other day I found a recipe for candy cane paint.  I absolutely loved the idea.  Today we made it and it was so fun and easy.  

Candy Cane Paint:
Shaving Cream
Red Food coloring
Peppermint Extract

I just sprayed shaving cream in my square Pyrex pan, added the peppermint, squeezed the food coloring in the 4 corners then swirled it together.  We made paper candy canes to turn into a garland  and then played with it on the table.  It made our house smell so good!

I found the idea on pinterest but the link was to this super fun blog: Growing a Jeweled Rose. I have looked at it before and loved it but didn't do much with it.  I plan on using a lot of her ideas for the coming winter months. I will need to stock up on Shaving cream. Next up Hot Chocolate fluff!

We made these fun sugar cone trees with frosting and M and M's.

 

And had festive pancakes more then once.  On this day I asked Jared if he wanted to have a picnic by the tree, which he thought was a great idea.

 

 

 

We have had fun doing all kinds of Christmas art projects and learning activities.  Jared is getting really good at writing his name.  He is starting to show interest in writing more letters and numbers as well which is exciting for me.  We have been taking it kind of slow so its great to see him asking how to write things and then doing it.  I love seeing him learn. We do a little learning time each weekday and it is more fun with holidays!  I love how creative people are out there.  I am so grateful for all their fun ideas and that I have a kid who will work with me.

 

Pictures!

I am so happy I can put pictures up now. Here is the rest of November in pictures.

 

 

 

We spent some time rolling down hills and swinging

 

 

Learning to ride Jared's truck

 Playing with cars

 

 

Working on puzzles

 

Having Deep conversations... or staring contests

 

Being adorable.

I don't know why Blogger decided to let me put pictures up but I am really glad. Hopefully it will continue!

 

 

 

10 months!

Lydia reached 10 months on my birthday but I have been unmotivated to do that blog post because I can't add pictures to show just how cute she is!  If I were a better writer it wouldn't be such a big deal but I just don't have that skill set.

 Lydia is sweet and easy going (most of the time).  She is not her happiest from about 5:15- 6:00 (see below) but after she eats dinner and has her bath she is pretty happy. She loves to eat!  I am always surprised at how much she eats.  Lately she has discovered she can make her hands do things.  She will wave when asked and sometimes on her own.  Clapping is her newest trick and she always looks so pleased with herself and somewhat surprised when she does it. We have been working on some sign language a little bit but she is not too interested yet.

This is her around 5:30...

 

She loves to pull herself up on anything stable enough to hold her:  furniture, her chair, toys, Jared's push and pull truck, her crib railings, you get the point.  She loves to pull herself up on the little chairs at the little table in our kitchen which always makes me nervous because they have tipped over on her.  She handles it really well and just rolls over then  tries to find something else to pull herself up on. I am so glad she hasn't gotten seriously hurt and that she doesn't freak out over these things.

Her favorite sounds so far are: Da Da Da and Ah-Bu. I love her cute little laugh. She loves playing peek-a-boo around furniture more then with hands.  She will crawl to one side of the counter or a chair and peek over and when we say peek-a-boo to her she giggles and quickly moves back.  She loves it when we crawl after her and when we "eat" her stomach.

She is a little Sweetheart and makes all of so happy.