Before I was a Mom

I found this on my friend Shelley's blog and thought it was so right on! I stole it from her! Thanks Shelley!!!!



Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom, I
never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,the joy,the love,the heartache,
the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

New love...popsicles

Lydia was recently introduced to popsicles and she LOVES them now! She insists on holding them all by herself...she's such a big girl.

Santa picture

We took the cousins...Addison, Keegan and Lydia to get a picture with santa. Addison went right up to Santa and hugged him and said "I just missed you so much"! It was so cute!! They all did great, no tears!

Merry Christmas!

Uncle Mike reading with Lydia


Loving her new chair from nanny & papa

Lydia in her Christmas dress



Loving her new doll from Wendy & Kindred

Opening a present with Great grandpa
Lydia had a great Christmas! She woke up Christmas morning early(we had to wake her up)and Matt brought her upstairs to see what Santa brought her. He brought her the Rose Petal Cottage! She looked around with sleepy eyes and took it all in and then she said..."ALL RIGHT"!! It was hillarious! She got Dora bubble bath and new jammies and socks, and tons of toys! We went to nanny and Papas house in the morning to open more presents and have Breakfast, then to Uncle Mike & Aunt Jana's house to open more presents! By the time that was over Lydia was ready for a nap and slept for 3 hours! Then we headed to Grammy and papa's house for Christmas dinner. She was such a good girl all day. She even got to spend the night with papa & grammy!

Finding the perfect Christmas Tree

We went with Matt's parents on Wednesday to the Whidbey tree farm to get our Christmas tree! Last year we got lucky and it was snowing when we went...not this year. Matt had to cover Lydia's ears a few times to block the sounds of the Navy jets flying over-head. We searched and searched for close to an hour...it seemed to be slim pickings this year. Don and Marg found a great tree and cut it down! Matt and I actually saw one in the pre-cut section when we first arrived and ended up taking that one home. Lydia loved watching the machine that shakes the tree to get all the loose stuff off. She got to ride on Matt's shoulders almost the whole time...how fun!

New favorite passtime

Lydia has discovered that she can get on the furniture...not a big deal if she just sat on it! What she likes to do is jump on it, walk around on it and most of all she like to sit on the coffee & end tables. She also likes to climb up on the chair by the shelf with all of our dvds and knock them onto the floor...fun game!

She also says "cheese" every time you point a camera in her direction! We've been working on her colors and she knows yellow, blue and pink.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

From our family to yours we'd like to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
We have so much to be thankful for...our health, our families and friends. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives!

Lydia's surgery went great! We checked in at 7am and were home by 8:30. She never acted like anything ever happened...by the time we got home she was her normal silly self. Let's hope this does the trick and she doesn't have to deal with another pesky ear infection.

Matt and I have been house hunting and looked at one yesterday that we both really liked. It's 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, nice big yard, 2 car garage...it just what we've been looking for!! Here's the "but", the previous owners trashed it! They obviously smoked in the house, which can be sealed with a special paint. They also trashed the carpet. It's at the very top of our price range so updating, such as hard-wood flooring, new appliances, etc...would have to be put on hold. It's a bank foreclosure so we'd have to make an offer by Sunday because it's up for auction. We'll see!!

Enjoy Thanksgiving and those you are spending it with!

Surgery

Lydia will be having tubes put in her ears on monday. She has had probably 10 ear infections, and has had allergic reactions to pretty much every antibiotic they have put her on. They discovered that her right ear drum is retracted and her hearing is slightly impaired, which they say should be fixed with the tubes. We'll let you know how it all goes!

Just an update

To say that Lydia is thriving would be an understatement. She is unbelievable! I thought I would let you all in on some of her milestones.
her vocabulary grows on a daily basis.
Mommy
Dada
Papa
Nana
Mamo(grandma)
puppy
cracker
cookie
chicken
ball
book
luv ya
ta-da
uhoh
oh man
no way
thank you
please
Addy
TeeTan(keegan)
night night
bye bye
nummy
dude
wawa(water)
baby
juice
tickle tickle tickle
and the list goes one....
Her motor skills are incredible. She is always trying to take things apart and put them back together again. She has figured out how to get on the furniture now so I'm not sure how we will deal with that situation...she's trying to crawl from the couch across the end table to daddy's chair!! Lydia has a flair for the dramatics and is quick to throw herself on the floor with a fake cry, it's actually quite hilarious! She's doing somersaults(sp?!)now too and loves doing what looks like the "downward dog" yoga position and putting her arms out to the sides and saying "TA-DA"...as if to say look mom no hands!! She has a contagious laugh and a twinkle in her eye. If you tell her to do the "monkey dance" she does this dance where she bounces up and down and giggles then she spins around and falls on the floor! We've also been working on sounds with her...she says a cow says "moo", a dog says "woof", a cat says "meow", a duck says "quack quack" a horse says "neigh" and a bear says "rawr". Whenever she sees a baby in a book she says baby and then she says "awe" and kisses it, it's so sweet.

In short, Lydia is the biggest blessing to Matt and I. We cherish ever second with her. We never knew a love like this existed until we had her. Thank you all for taking the time to read out blog and keep up on our little families happenings!

Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and bundled the kids up and headed to the pumpkin patch. Mom & Mike, Joel, Angela & Addy, Jason, Heather & Keegan along with Me & Lydia! It was a perfect, crisp fall day. The kids rode the merry go round...played on the big tires, ran around the pumpkins, fed the animals and papa even took Lydia on a train ride!

Texas 08

So Lydia and I spent 12 awesome days in Ft. Worth, Texas with the de Vega Family. Please enjoy the slideshow!

Pictures with the cousins

Lydia had her pictures taken with her cousins today...exauhsting! But they turned out great. We also had a great trip to Texas and I have a ton of pictures to share but haven't had time to put them up yet...I will get to it this weekenend hopefully!

Finally had her 12 month checkup

So Lydia finally got her 12 month checkup. They said she's perfect! :)
She weighs just under 26lbs which puts her about the 90th percentile for weight and she is 32 inches tall making her above the 95th percentile for height...her head was above the 100th! lol! The doctor said she looked like she was going to have a chronic ear condition which basically means she's going to need tubes in her ears. Besides that she's doing fantastic and growing like a weed. She's been sleeping about 14 hours a night! She's an absolute joy!

Summer 08

Wow, what a busy summer we've had! We went to a couple family reunions and 1 class reunion. A mariners game and a brewery in Puyallup. We threw a surprise party for "Auntie" Liz and got to eat ice cream cake!! We also went to the closing ceremony for the 3-day breast cancer walk. Grandma Debbie walked a whole 60 miles with cousin Carrie. We are so proud of them! The ceremony was so moving and emotional. There was 3200 walkers and they raised 8.6 million dollars!!!

Lydia's vocabulary is growing every day...this is what she's saying these days
mama
dada
nana
papa
puppy
bubble
thank you(gan goo)
please
no
uh oh
yay
apple
addy(ah ha)
and more....

She's walking all over the place and starting to gain speed! She's fascinated with bathrooms now and it's a job keeping her out of them! Uncle Jason and Aunt Heather got her a Dora bike that she just LOVES...in fact she's sitting on it now watching a show! It makes all kinds of noises and sounds and songs! We can't wait to buy Keegan a drumset!!!

Big girl walking!

Walking?!

Lydia took 7 steps all by herself tonight!!

Birthday cake video

Lydia's Birthday Luau!!

Pooped after a long day and a FUN party!

Ava giving Lydia loves

what a MESS!!!



mmmmm...CAKE!





singing happy birthday

Auntie Heather doing the hula hoop

Our littlest guest, Miss Lucy! We were so happy that she brought her mommy and grandma to the party!

Kellie and Lucy

Tore doing the limbo

Lydia and Addison having a tea party

Lydia and Ava sharing a laugh

Lydia trying to play peek-a-boo

Lydia and her cousin Ava





Well today was the big day! We celebrated along with 40 friends and family and wow did you have a great time! We had a bubble table, a tea party, and limbo & hula hoop contests. Lydia loved all the company and had so much fun!