Lydia-isms

One reason for the blog is to remember fun things that the kids do.  I haven't kept up with that as well as I should and I use facebook for that too but since I'm on a break from facebook (so that I'm diligent about my studies) and we've had a couple good laughs over some things Lydia has said lately, I'm going to post them here now.

Two days ago I was taking Lydia to sign up for t-ball.  We're in the car and and out of the blue she says, "Mommy, I have a lot of dreams about being a super dog."  Where do you go with that?

Then today at dinner the kids were being kinda loud and Lydia starts yelling "Bock" really loudly.  She did that a couple times and then through the giggles she says "erupting chicken!"  Now you have to know that Lydia often likes to take jokes and substitutes different animals in the place of the ones in the jokes.  So we figured she meant interrupting chicken as in interrupting cow in the knock knock joke.  But erupting chicken was so much more appropriate.  You had to be there!

Yes there is a theme here with animals.  She loves stuff animals much more than dolls too.

There are other times when Lydia will just tell me something out of the blue that she likes, like "I like when Daddy uses his wrench" or "remember when we went to that park."

We have Lydia's last preschool parent-teacher conference on Monday.  Can't wait to hear what else her teacher tells us.  

Week 16 update

The "practice" sonogram (I got to be a model for the first time in my life! - and probably last) went really well.  Everything looks good and our little guy was moving around a lot.  It was fun to just watch while the nurses were practicing on me.  Baby is still measuring right on and maybe a little ahead of schedule (at least according to head size but my children have big heads).  Heartbeat at the sonogram was 160.  My appointment today went well too.  Heartbeat was 153 and my blood work was good.  Full sonogram is scheduled for February 26th.

I'm finally just now feeling better.  That cold that I had put me in bed for over 2 days and I had a lingering cough for about a week and then a headache from all the coughing for a couple days.  So I'm just starting to feel the second trimester energy.

I haven't had an real cravings this pregnancy, unless you count carbs and junk food.  If I had to pick something, I'd say tomato sauce and pizza.  Every time I see a commercial on tv, I've wanted to order pizza.

Not much to "get ready" for this time around, other than the lack of sleep.  The biggest thing is picking a name.  We have a few names that we both agree on so there's progress.  Working on thinking of some middle names now.  We have most everything we need but I did start an amazon wish list.  The biggest thing there is a car seat.  Going to try to stick with the cloth diapers to keep costs down and for environmental reasons so we'll see how that goes.  That's about all for this week.

Week 14 update

Big praise since last update - we received the results of the free cell genetic blood test - no chromosome problems and we're having a boy!  We found out at my appointment on the 3rd.  Dylan is very excited and after a few initial tears, Lydia is excited too.  I was in an emotional stupor for a few days after getting the results because I was getting nervous about the results.  We had the blood drawn on December 19th and even with the holidays I would have thought we would have heard something by then so I assumed that there was bad news and they wanted to tell us in person.  Turns out the doctor hadn't gotten the test results in the mail so they called the company and had them faxed over while I got my exam.  The doctor read the results to us in the hallway so I knew then it was good.  But yeah, the normal oh my goodness something is wrong feeling that a lot of women get right before an appointment was super magnified for me at that appointment.  After a day or so of emotional release I was able to thank God and start telling more people about the pregnancy.  Since then we've told most people at our church and the kids' school.  We'll probably put something in the church bulletin soon but we'll wait until after the ultrasound to do the facebook announcement.  Next week I have a "practice" sonogram at Metro Women's Health - a pregnancy center that is just getting its ultrasound services up and running so I volunteered to be a guinea pig for the sonographer training.  Then I have another appointment on the 29th.

My morning sickness has pretty much subsided as of this week but then I got really tired and then I got a cold.  So just trying to rest (well, "trying" depends on what there is to do - laundry, then I rest well; out with friends, I don't do so well at trying, although I did skip a babysitting co-op meeting and bible study this week so mostly I'm resting well in the evenings - probably because I did a bad job of resting during the day).  The time to rest has been good to get a head start on my classes that started this week.  I know I won't be able to keep up for long.  I'm going to have to spend most every second that the kids are both in school with my head in the book to keep up.  So I probably won't be on FB much.  Martin is still doing the cooking since I'm so sick and tired.  Waiting for the second trimester energy boost to kick in.

While announcing that we are pregnant to folks at church I found out that there are 7 more women who are pregnant and due (I think) in June or July.  Then there are another 3 I know at church who are due before that.  Looks like another baby boom.  I'm exciting to be pregnant with these women and to have children in the same class.  Oh and one of our neighbors is pregnant and due in June with a girl.

Someone mentioned to me oh, it will be good to have a baby in the summer so you can get out of the house and take the baby for a stroll.  I wonder what that will look like with Dylan and Lydia.  Let me see....Dylan running up ahead around the corner so I can't see him and Lydia trying to climb on the stroller to get a ride.  Time to think of ground rules....  maybe we'll stick to the parks and playgrounds instead of walking in the neighborhood unless Daddy is around.  Our double stroller converts into a sit and stand so that may be the solution for Lydia but how do you solve a problem like the D-man?  Regardless, getting exciting for the new adventure...just gotta get through all this school work!      

Catching up....

To catch up with what's been going on in our family, go back the sixth of november (literally) and read forward....

I can't believe she's 5!

Lydia is 5 today!  She can't be this old!  For some reason 5 didn't hit me as much as with Dylan as it is with Lydia.  Maybe because she is the younger one and it's hard to believe she's growing up too.

Milestones this year:  her first haircut in March, singing in the choir for the first time (and, as shown in the picture, wearing a skirt for the first time in 3 years) starting to read (three letter words), hiking without having to be carried in a backpack, writing her name with a capital and the rest lower case letters, counting to 100, and moving into a booster seat in the car.

Lydia is in the Boa class in preschool and goes on MWFs.  She also takes dance lessons for an hour a week - half ballet, half tap.  She loves dancing in front of the mirrors.  Lydia is also doing great at her swimming lessons and is able to put her face in and is hoping to swim underwater before summer.  I've signed her up for t-ball for the spring so we'll see how that goes.

Highlights of this last year were keeping up with Dylan, spending time with Mommy at home starting in the fall (when I quit work), going to the pumpkin patch, having many playdates at the preschool playground, going to Pine Springs Camp with Mommy, Dylan, and Pennsylvania Grandma, and going to Great Wolf Lodge on vacation.

Lydia still loves to be held and read to and still sucks her thumb.  We tried giving her an incentive to quit (if you don't suck your thumb for 10 days, we'll buy you the stuffed animal you wanted) but that didn't work.  This year we may be taking a harder line approach.  She doesn't do it at school so I'm not too concerned but I guess it's more of a dental thing at this point.  Lydia is still a great helper, especially in the kitchen, at Dylan's school, and at the grocery store.

I can only think of one word she cutely incorrectly pronounces (vitium for vitamin) but there may be more.  Lydia's favorite foods are mac and cheese, cheese quesadillas, grilled cheese, pizza, and yogurt (do you notice a theme here?).  Her favorite toys are stuffed animals and recently she has become infatuated with penguins.  She also knows most of the names of the Skylanders that Dylan plays with.

Lydia is doing better on her shyness.  It's just with adults who she doesn't know very well.  She talks to all kids she knows.  If some overly outgoing kid comes up to her at the playground and says "Hi, I'm so and so, wanna play?" she would probably run the other way but once she knows the kid she plays talks and plays a lot.

Lydia is content with so many things.  Even just little things.  She is happy just sitting on my lap or just going for a walk.  We've had some really special times, particularly on Tuesday mornings this fall when we don't have to go anywhere, and she is just a joy to be around.  She's up for most anything and is always happy to be with her family.

Week 12 update

The big news this week is that we told our families and the kids.  Needless to say everyone is super excited.  The kids keep talking about the baby and asking all kinds of questions - how is the baby eating? how does the baby go to the bathroom? etc.  I'm actually getting hugs from Dylan again because he wants to hug the baby.  Dylan hopes that it's a boy and Lydia is hoping that it's a girl.  We should find out by the end of the week!  Dylan is now counting the number of siblings that he is older than and Lydia is interested in all the things we'll need for the baby.  When we were praying last night I said we should pray for the baby and Dylan says, yeah, we gotta pray that the baby won't die.

I've been feeling better but that might have to do with the fact that we were traveling all week and that's kept my mind off of being sick.