Saturday, July 26, 2008

I'm Still Alive

No need to fear, I'm still alive and well. This may be confusing to you because you don't know the story yet, so let me fill you in. A couple of friends of ours and my parents went out to eat with us at the Catfish Place in Arbela, Missouri yesterday. The Catfish Place is a place that I have been going my entire life. I grew up literally 3 miles from there. And yes they do serve more than just fish even though Aaron (one of our friends) gave me a really hard time about it. Anyway, after eating we fed the fish. Lydia liked watching the huge fish just up and splash. Then my parents left. We decided to do some of the fun stuff they have there. There is a little play area where we went swinging, shot hoops, played on the merry-go-round, road the statue animals, and walked across the walking bridge to the island. If was a lot of fun. I wanted to go for a ride in the paddle boats - this was the first mistake. I went a paid and Dianna (other friend) started on our ride around the big pond. Right after we started I told her that a little water was coming in by my feet. We didn't worry too much about it and continued on our way. Not too long after that I told her that my foot pedal was starting to rub on the side of the boat making it hard to turn. At this time more water was coming in. We should have gone back to the shore now, but kept going. Soon after that my pedal came off completely!! That's right, the entire thing came off, water coming in, and I freaked out. Dianna has a really bad ankle so she could hardly pedal on her own. This really scared me. I started yelling for Gail and Aaron to go and get some help because we were in trouble. They just stood there. Finally we made it back to the dock. My pants were soaked, but at least I didn't have to swim back to shore. FYI - I don't swim very well. At the end of the day: I was still alive, we had good food, and we were able to make a good memory with some dear friends.

Until next time...

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

We Finally Made It...

I've been planning on taking Lydia to the Schuyler County Library since vacation started. We kept putting it off due to her having a really runny nose lately. Her allergies are such a pain. Anyway, we had to get out this morning to go to the bank for Gail so we just went. We weren't there very long, but I do think she enjoyed it. She kept walking up the row of books and sitting on the special rugs they have. At one point I just sat down with her and tried to read her a book about a big red tank. She just grabbed the book and took off walking with it. It was cute. I finally just picked out two books and two for myself. She has Freddie the Frog and Penny the Pony. They are cute little board books that she likes to carry around and look at the pictures. I guess at her age, that is about all she can do by herself at her age. So I can write down her baby book that she had a trip to the library. Another blank that may be filled up quickly is a trip to the ZOO!!! I'm still trying to talk Gail into that one.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Not Much to Say...

I've logged in several times over the past week, but haven't really had much to say. We really haven't been doing much lately.

We had friends, Aaron and Dianna, stay with us again this past weekend. Aaron talked Gail into a new project. He is now restoring a Farmall B tractor. It is unlike any tractor I've ever seen. I took a bunch of pictures of it as they worked on it. I should post them to my myspace page - maybe I'll do that later. Anyway, I'm hoping this new project will take at least a year or so. Some of the parts he needed were pretty expensive.

Tuesday Lydia had to go get her 1 year shots - sniff, sniff. She got her MMR and chickenpox shot. One in the arm and one in her tush. Her butt looked so small with that band aid on it. I hate when she has to get shots. I would rather eat my own arm off that to have her get them. There are two reasons why I worry so much. First, there is all of the concern about the shots leading to autism. I don't think the shots really lead to autism, but that is still in the back of my mind. Secondly, there are the other reactions from shots. On my husband's side of the family we have twin nieces who had terrible reactions to the MMR shot. There was mercury in the shot that poisoned their little bodies. As a result they couldn't walk, eat, talk, of breathe on their own. This happened when they were babies. Chelsea later died of a heart virus at age 10, and Lindsay is 14 today. Needless to say, I have my concerns. You ask - then why give her the shots. Well, I figure the risk is worth is to keep her healthy and from getting those medical diseases and conditions.

Thursday (today) we went and had a play date with a good friend of mine, Courtney. She has a little girl, Karlee, that is exactly 1 month older than Lydia. I'm hoping Lydia will learn how to drink out of a sippy cup better by playing with Karlee. Courtney hopes that Karlee will learn how to walk from Lydia. Today neither one learned very much. Karlee sat on the floor and smiled as she watched Lydia and Karlee's older brother run around the house and scream. Hopefully next time they will start teaching each other.

Speaking of Lydia drinking, she is drinking more now that the weather is warmer outside. She still uses her bottle most of the time, but she also takes a sippy cup at least once a day. She won't hold the bottle on her own. Every time I try to get her to do it she has a fit. The sippy cups I try to use for her have handles, but she hasn't figured them out very well yet. And, she doesn't swallow very well from the cups. I use the Nuby brand. I also have those take and toss cups that she does pretty well from. Does everyone have the same trouble when switching to the sippys or is it just me? Is there a better brand out there?

We are also planning our first trip to the library for this week. Is is silly to take a 1 year old to the library? Hopefully she won't go tearing the books off the shelf. That would not be good. I'll let you know how that goes.

Until next time...

Sunday, July 13, 2008

New Saying...

A friend of mine sent me an email today. It was a touching story about a woman who was losing her hair and how she had stayed optimistic. As you know, my mother had breast cancer so this story touched home with me because she lost her hair during her battle. At the very end of the e-mail was a saying that really got to me. I thought I would share it with you and hope it touches you in a special way as it has me.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning how to dance in the rain."

Until next time...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Summer Vacation...

This week is the official start to my summer vacation. Last week was summer school for three days and then getting ready for birthday party so it doesn't count.

On the first day of summer vacation Lydia and I went with my sister and her two children (Hayden and Claudia) to the wading pool. We went to Burger King for kids' meals and ate in the park. It was wonderful. Lydia wasn't thrilled with the pool because they were just filling it so it was a little cold. She just sat on my lap and I put my feet in the water. Next time I'll have to take extra clothing for me so that I can sit in the water, and we'll have to go later in the day so the water has time to warm up.

Today, the second day of vacation, I did absolutely nothing. In fact, I'm still in my pajamas at 6:15 p.m. Lydia and I just spent the day inside and played. Oh, and I took a nap this morning which was wonderful. I can't remember the last time I took a nap. Loved it!!

Until next time...

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Birthday Pictures as Promised...

SORRY... for some reason I can't get pictures to upload from my home computer. It starts, but it just stops soon afterwards. You can view pictures at my MySpace account at the following address. I hope you enjoy them.

Until next time...

Birthday Party...

Most of you already know, but yesterday was my baby girl's first birthday party. I was stressed that it wouldn't be a perfect as I wanted it to me. My worries were getting done with dinner, gifts, cake and ice cream too early and people sitting around bored out of their minds while waiting for the fireworks. My sister also stressed me out that I didn't have enough stuff to keep the kids entertained. This was not what happened at all. Here is the breakdown...

We went to some family friends for the Fourth to eat, visit, and enjoy fireworks. We got home around 10:30 p.m. and I decided to start getting ready for the party by pealing and dicing 30 pounds of potatoes. (Crazy I know.) Some good friends of ours (Aaron and Dianna) were coming to the birthday party so they came down that night so they would be there to help us (me) prepare. Dianna helped me finish up the potatoes and then I decided it would be a good idea to start decorating. (Again, another crazy idea.) I hung up butterflies all over my living room, dining room, and kitchen. It looked like a butterfly wonderland. We also had a "Happy Birthday" banner. This all got finished at we all got to bed at 1:30 a.m. The next day (party day) I was up at 6:30 a.m. (5 hours of sleep) ready to go. I finished cleaning, started pealing veggies and cooking. Her birthday cake that was really stressing me out turned out to be very easy and it was so cute. I'll try to get a picture of up it. With all of the before preparations I had done the party day was really fun.

At the party, we had 43 people in my house and it wasn't crowded. I was surprised. That is the most people we have had in here at one time. The weather was gorgeous so many ate and played outside as well. Lydia got many terrific gifts. I would have to say her favorite (and mine) is the pink bug car that Gail and I got her. I swear she already knows how to drive. I put her in it and she got so excited she started turning the wheel, bouncing on the seat, and stepping on the foot peddle. It was so funny. Her cake was funny also. She didn't want to eat it at first. I held it up to her face and she licked it. Then she knew what to do. She ended up with blue icing all over her face, hands, and hair. That led to a bath. Afterwards, everyone sat around to visit and before I knew it - it was dark and they were starting fireworks. I just loved it. I hope next years goes as well.

Until next time...

Thursday, July 3, 2008

The First Official Day of Summer Vacation...

What a wonderful day it has been!! Lydia went to bed last night at 7:00 p.m. and didn't wake up until 7:30 a.m.. I was able to get a lot of stuff done. In the last week I have cleaned almost every square inch of my house to prepare for Lydia's party this weekend. It will be nice to start vacation with a clean house.

This morning we ate breakfast, played, danced around the living room in our pajamas to imaginary music, and had a blast. Then Lydia went down for a nap and I spent the entire 2 hours mowing the yard. We went to my sister's house for lunch. For some reason on that trip I remembered that I needed to get my driver's licence renewed. Woops!! They expired June 8th. I got that done while I was in town. Then we came home where Lydia took her second 2 hour nap and I went out to rake up the grass clippings. (This is not something I do often nor enjoy doing. However, they looked terrible and I want the yard to look nice for her birthday party.)

Now, I'm making my third batch of homemade vanilla ice cream for her party. I make the best homemade ice cream ever!!! Everyone said that I should just buy it because it's easier, but it isn't near as good. It's her first birthday and I want the food to be good. We are having burgers, hot dogs, chips and dip, mac and cheese, baked beans, Italian potatoes, veggie tray with dip, cake, ice cream, tea, and lemonade. I think this is enough food, but my husband's side of the family insists of bring more food. Whatever - I'm sure it will be eaten. There will be over 40 family members and close friends here. I got 60 burgers, 48 hot dogs, 30 pounds of potatoes, 12 cans of beans, and a ton of macaroni, Velveeta, and fresh veggies. I just hope it all tastes good. Wish me luck!!

Until next time...

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

My Little Girl is ONE!!!

I can't believe that my little Lydia Eileen is turning one year old today. The year has completely flown by and I'm going to do a little "year in review" of her life.

To start off with - the day she was born. The weather July 1, 2007 was beautiful. I woke up at 3:00ish a.m. with cramping. Thought it was the chicken nuggets I'd had for supper the night before. By 4:00ish it hadn't stopped and was actually getting stronger. We called the hospital and they said we could come in, but that if I wasn't in labor they would just send me home. We decided to just wait at home and I would try to rest. By 7:00 a.m. the cramps were pretty strong. I got up and got dressed, cleaned some things up, played with the dogs, and waited for Gail. He had a few chores to do before we left. We were at the hospital a little after 8:00 a.m.. They checked me out and I think I was at a 2. I was far enough that they didn't want to send me very far, but not far enough to get checked in. They sent me down to the first floor of the hospital to walk at about 9:00. The hallway makes a big circle with a hand rail all the way around. I walked and walked and walked. Thank goodness for that bar that gave me something to hold on to when a contraction came. After a few hours of that I went back up and got checked out again. This time I was at a 6. Walking really does help even thought it was uncomfortable. I decided to just stay in bed after that. I rested and visited for a the next several hours. At about 2:00 they had given me something to help speed up the labor progress because I was sorta stuck at a 9. This was followed with the epidural at about 3:30ish. At 4:30 the doctor said it was time. They got everything ready for me to start pushing and to take care of the baby afterwards. By 5:15 p.m. little Lydia Eileen made her way into the world at 8 pounds 3 ounces and 21 inches. It was the most amazing thing I have ever done.

During the first two weeks of her life she woke up only once. Then she started sleeping all night long and still it. I remember the first night she did sleep all through the night I woke up scared to death. I just knew that something had happened to her. I went running in the nursery to make sure she was still breathing. At two months old she started "talking" to herself in the mirror, smiling, and rolling over. She weighed 12 pounds 6 ounces and was 25 1/4 inches long - long and skinny. At three months she would laugh at stuff and started eating baby food. Four months brought on a lot of new discoveries. She really got into toys, rolling everywhere, Christmas lights, and the PHONE. Five months was the push-up stage and squealing. Six months was a huge change for Lydia. She weighed 16 pounds and was 28 3/4 inches. She went from sitting up to crawling overnight, I swear. She also got her first two teeth. Seven months was the the first word - dada. She also waved bye bye, clapped, and stood up to things. Eight months was standing all by herself, saying mama and hi. This was also when she stayed away from home for the first and only time. We went to Kansas City for a wedding and had to stay in a hotel. It went much better than I had expected. At nine months she started walking. She also discovered "The Beverly Hillbillies" television show and loves it. At ten months she had her first experience with going up steps (she is fast). She got her first top tooth, first pop cycle, first sucker, for four wheeler ride, and first time walking across the room to give mom and hug. During month eleven she ate everything, started running, will go up and down stairs, shakes her head no, started saying "night, night" and "nan-na" (banana). She also got her first boo boo from falling down in the driveway. She had to have a band-aid and mom about cried. Today she starts month twelve and an entire new set of adventures and discoveries. I can't wait to watch her grow even more and to see the beautiful little toddler that I know she'll be.

Thank you to all of you who have helped me with advice, shared stories with me, and helped in her growing to the wonderful one year old that she is now. It has been a wonderful ride.

Until next time...