Yet another phase

This past week, Lydia has been going through her long naps, less food stage. She used to take two 1.5 to 2 hour naps, but then a couple of weeks ago, she started getting dirty diapers during her morning naps and would wake up after about thirty minutes. Sometimes Lydia would go back to sleep after her diaper was changed, but usually not. Plus, her afternoon naps would last for no more than an hour at a time.

Okay, so back to this past week...Lydia has been sleeping about 2.5 hours during her morning nap and about 1-1.5 hours for her afternoon nap. Thankfully, she has her poopy diapers after she wakes up, so she sleeps without any interruptions. Also, Lydia eats only about half as much as she used to. Trung and I have noticed her round and profound tummy going down a little, but she still sleeps almost twelve hours at night. Fussiness comes frequently; Lydia will throw her head back and sometimes refuse to eat anything. Hopefully this is yet another phase that will soon pass, at least the eating part.

The next Mia Hamm

Trung discovered yesterday that Lydia could dribble a ball with her feet. To my amazement, the little squirt showed me today that she really could. Now, all I need is a minivan and then I'll be a bonafide soccer mom. :)

Congrats!

Congratulations to my cousin Grace and her husband Edward on graduating today with their doctorates. Wow, what an accomplishment! We got to celebrate with them during dinner at Shanghai Restaurant, which was actually not too bad since we've only eaten there for dim-sum. My church friend Rebekah's little brother TJ also graduated today, so she was in town from Boston to attend the graduation. She got a chance to drop by the house after dinner to meet Lydia and for us to catch up on the last year and a half. Interesting stuff...a waitress at Shanghai Restaurant struck up a conversation with me and told me that she knows someone that is trying to potty train her four month old. And I thought training Lydia now was too early! Also, Rebekah told me that a friend of hers just delivered her baby at 23 weeks...and I'm 23 weeks to the day today! Hopefully since Lydia was full-term, this baby will be too, but everything is in God's hands from the moment the baby was conceived. It's crazy how so many things can go wrong during a pregnancy; babies are truly miracles.

Hot pot

Last night we had hot pot with a bunch of people at our friend Jason's house. We hadn't seen most of them for awhile, so it was fun catching up over yummy food. Lydia got to see her friend Parker again; he is exactly eight months younger than her. Here's Parker with his mommy, Joy, and Lydia...We caught a shot of Parker and Lydia trying to sneak a kiss. :P

Massive destruction

Ever since Lydia started solid foods, she has rarely had any major diaper blow-outs. So, it was quite a surprise for me when I came home from running a couple errands and was informed by Trung that he had just given Lydia a bath because she had pooped everywhere while taking her afternoon nap. He wasn't kidding either...it was on her clothes, all over her body (even her feet), on the sheet, on the crib rails...EVERYWHERE! And here I was thinking that I'd spend a nice Saturday afternoon hanging out with my family, but now I had an abundance of stains to get out. Well, I guess this prepares me again for the really bad stains that baby #2 will provide. Oh, and something for new parents Dennis and Daisy to look forward to with their new son, Lucas Dylan, born yesterday morning. :) Congrats, guys; it's really not that bad...it's worse! j/k

Toy chest mess

We have been using a natural-colored woven basket to put all of Lydia's toys, but lately, her toys seem to be everywhere. So, Trung and I researched a little bit on toy chests/boxes and decided on the Lift & Hide Bookcase Storage Chest with Pink Lid by Step 2. <--- It got really good reviews and Trung liked the look of it better than most other plastic toy boxes. (He preferred the red lid one, but Lydia has to have pink! hee hee) Plus, we wanted something really durable, yet safe for the kids; hopefully something that would stand up to crayon markings later too. Eventually we'll get something nicer for the kids' bedrooms, but for now, we need a toy chest that can handle crazy little kids and look fine in the living room.

Mike wanted to get Lydia the toy chest for Christmas, so I passed on the information to him. He went to Toys "R" Us today to pick it up and first, they said that they didn't have the pink lid one, only the red one. Then they found a pink one and after Mike purchased it, they discovered that it wouldn't fit in his car, so he had to return it. Sorry, Mike, but thanks though; after all, it's the thought that counts! :) Well, after a mess of calling Jimmy to see if my parents could borrow his minivan on Sunday to bring me the toy chest when they attend my cousin's UT graduation, Trung and I decided to see if it really was worth all that trouble. Oh, Mike mentioned that it didn't look that great either, so we wanted to physically see it. The south Austin Toys "R" Us location had the red one with no pink ones in stock, so we went there to at least check it out. As it turned out, they did have a pink one in stock, it looked just fine to us, and it fit in my car. Problem solved!

Stats and Santa

Lydia had her fifteen month old doctor's appointment today. According to the doc, she is doing great! Lydia weighs just over 20 pounds (15%) and is 30 inches tall (45%). I honestly don't know why I'm so concerned about her weight because she eats so much; maybe it's because I know so many big baby boys. Her head circumference is in the 75%tile, maybe that's why she's so smart...hee hee.

I'm surprised we got a decent pic with Santa...man, Ray is good!

Fifteen months old

It really is amazing how a child's mind works. This past month Lydia has accomplished so much, I really ought to write it all down. Here are some of the highlights that I can remember off the top of my head...
- We bought her a pink Disney princess ball, which she loves "fetching" for us, but not before exclaiming, "ball"! She'll try rolling it back, but gets it to go only a few feet at a time.
- Lydia discovered the "PRESS" sound button on her Soft Sounds cloth books. She'll find the button and immediately press it, sometimes before you can even finish reading the sentence on the page. Lydia also understands "turn the page", though she likes to turn the opposite page when the book is done or just for kicks.
- Though she can only say a few words, Lydia understands so much more. "Close the door", "get your shoes", "take a bath", "are you hungry?/do you want some food?", and "finish your food and you can have the fruit" are only a few of the phrases that she knows. One word that we are still unsure if she really knows is "no". Sometimes she totally listens, but often times, she'll continue to go at it. *sigh* Is there such a thing as the terrible ones?
- Lydia loves waving at random people and saying "hi", at least it sounds like it. It can be a person walking by us at the grocery store or a car driving by on our street, regardless, they will almost always be presented with a wave. Oh, and her waves are side-to-side now, unlike the up-and-down ones she used to do when she was just a baby. :)

Boys will be boys

The majority of my friends expecting boys had their babies this past week. Meet Landjuvan...
William...
and Nathanael.
Congratulations to all my friends that are new and second time parents!

Lydia meets Santa

My photographer friend, Ray, of Everafter Images invited us to his community clubhouse where he was taking pictures of Santa and the neighborhood kids. Trung and I had a feeling that Lydia's stranger anxiety would kick in, but we hoped for the best. Here's what happened...

Okay, so Mommy to the rescue! If only I had known I was going to be in the picture, I would have dress nicer. Plus, I should have just stuck any ole diaper cover on Lydia too since this dress didn't come with one; anything would have looked better than her diaper. :P