Photoshoot Failure!

This morning I tried to take a few pictures of Lydia just for fun and this is how it turned out....

Surprised... which lead to


Protest!


Followed by grabbing the camera


Then sliding out of her upright position


And ending with ignoring me.


What a little stinker I have!!

Good Effort!

Lately Lydia has forgotten that she needs to move her arm out of the way when she try's to roll from her stomach to her back. It's really funny to watch although it does look a little painful. She will start doing some yoga pose with her head and feet high in the air trying desperately to roll over. Eventually she will start to cry and I will have to move her arm so she can get over. It is a good effort though and quite an enjoyable performance.

Pool Day

We have been anxious to have Lydia try the pool again since her first experience wasn't that great, and decided that she is now a little older and it is a lot warmer so she might really enjoy herself. So this morning we ventured out with Lisa and Isabella and had a wonderful time. Sure enough, Lydia LOVED the pool. The water was warmer, it wasn't too hot or cold outside and there wasn't any wind. Lisa brought a yellow floating tube that Isabella used to use for Lydia and she just chilled in that for almost an hour. I am pretty sure that it was quite relaxing for her which is really good since she has had a really hard time teething. After my last post that afternoon, Lydia got a fever and was absolutely miserable! I had to hold her most of the day and she would only take naps in my arms. It was sad to see because she was hurting so much she didn't want to eat but so hungry she really wanted to. She seems to be doing a lot better and it was really nice for us to get out of the house for a while. We then spent the entire afternoon over at Lisa and Brandon's where we had lunch and watched a movie while the kids took a nap. It was such a great Saturday! Thanks so much for letting us come to the pool with you and spend all afternoon!!

Checking this pool thing out with Auntie Lisa.


Getting used to the water.


Oh yeah! This is nice.


Playing around with cousin Isabella and Daddy.


Good Times for the two mommies!


I could do this all day mommy!


"Hi baby Lee-da!"


So tired and cuddly.


Lydia has been a lot more cuddly lately which has been so nice. She was so cuddly when she was born but stopped after about 2 months. We think it might have been because she had so many stomach problems. But she is doing great with that now and we are well on the path with a good formula we both love. So now when she gets tired she has started to cuddle again. Here she is with Grandma Bailey just before she went to bed.

Mommy and Me

I have been wanting to take pictures of me with Lydia but have been quite self conscious because I haven't lost all my baby weight yet. The progress is going slow, but I have dropped 2-3 sizes and hopefully it will keep coming off. As far as pounds go, not much progress there but my consolation is that muscle weighs more than fat and I know I have been gaining muscle because I can feel myself getting more tone. This sure is taking a lot longer than desired!! So I decided to take a few shots with the baby anyway. As soon as we had a good moment I grabbed the camera and started taking pictures. She has been screaming most of the day because she is in a lot of pain from her teeth. So here are the pictures for our journal of my 4 month old cutie and me!



We were both laughing when I got this one.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Lydia has had some interesting sleep styles. When she was 2 months old she would do what we call the tail slap where she would bring both of her legs as high up as she could and then slap them down to try to keep herself awake. I wish I would have gotten a video of her doing that because it was so funny, but I didn't. Now she doesn't do that much any more but when you put her in bed she will just roll over onto her left side, cover her eyes with her little arm and fall asleep. While lots of kids end up moving all over the place when they sleep, she just turns in circles. We call her our little clock. Here is a typical night of her circles.









Last night was a bad night. She has been teething and there are a few teeth that are trying to poke through but just haven't. She will rub her little fist as hard as she can on her gums, we will rub her little gums, I put the baby orajel on them, give her tylenol, and have her play with all her teething toys. This poor baby is still in pain. She woke up screaming last night at 3am and didn't get back to sleep until 5am. 5:20am rolled along and it was Kelvin's alarm for him to get up. We both moaned and while he got up I tried to go back to sleep. Didn't happen until 6:30 and she got up to eat at 7am. We are both exhausted today! After she eats in the mornings we usually play for 30 -45 min and then she gets tired again and takes a nap. She refused to sleep this morning. She was crying for 40 min so I finally gave up. We walked around the house for a bit and then I put her in the swing and after a little while she finally fell asleep. It's going to be one of those days!!!!

Obituary Printed in 'The London Times'

'Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years.
No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.
Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

Common Sense declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust, his wife, Discretion, his daughter, Responsibility and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

Little Miss Talker

So Lydia talks more and more every day and I caught some of it on video today. She loves to make herself known and can get quite animated at times. So here is a video for you mom since you can't hear her in person.

I Love You Daddy!!

I was so sure that Lydia would be a daddy's girl but she has turned out to be a big mommy's girl. Nevertheless, she loves her daddy like no other!! This was a precious shot I got this morning as he was spending some time with her.



Lydia is also getting more and more interested in holding things and her bottle has become a target that she reaches for all the time. (FYI, those are newborn pants she is wearing. Granted they now fit like capris, but they still fit at 4 months old!!)



When we were in Oklahoma we went to the aquarium and because Lydia loved it so much Kelvin really wanted to buy her a stuffed animal. Well we tried a few out with her to see if she liked any and we got a really big reaction out of the shark. She loved it!! Problem is it was a really scary shark. After some debate we decided to go with a docile otter instead. She also loves it. It has become another of her favorite toys.



When we came back from Oklahoma we received a package from Chile and Marta. Inside there were some cute clothes, hats, booties, tutu, and chocolate. We were very excited to have something for the baby to wear from Chile. It looks really small when you just look at it, but because she is so skinny she fit into it great! Gracias tia Marta y Chile familia!!



One more thing we have noticed, Lydia LOVES kids!! Any and all kids. She was not meant to be an only child or even a first child. When we were babysitting Isabella the other day, she started to jump on the bed and Lydia laughed. Then when she was playing with her toys Lydia laughed. When Lydia started to get upset because she was tired Isabella danced and Lydia went wild over that. When we are in church and she wakes up from her nap, she will be so mad. That is until she realizes that she is in front of a bunch of kids when we teach our class. Then she is all smiles and laughs. It makes it a little hard to keep the kids focused when a baby is laughing at everything they do. When we get back to Utah she will have a ball with all her Wager cousins being around. I was nervous at first because when she was born she didn't like people in her face. But now she welcomes it wholeheartedly. Still can't believe my baby has grown so much. She is getting more fun by the day and I am starting to get the hang of this mom business. There are good times ahead I can feel it.

I'm In Love....

Anyone that knows me knows that I love to cook. Lately I have started to get into going back to the "real stuff" and that includes making my own flour. ( This provides a lot more nutrition and value to the things we make with flour as the "bleached and enriched" flour is doing no good to our bodies. Call me hokey but I don't think that our ancestors grew up on "bleached and enriched"!) It a matter of simple nutrition and getting back to the basics that was once good for our bodies. All the kitchen gadgets I want would cost a small fortune (or maybe a year of Kelvin's salary when he graduates), but this wheat grinder has caught my eye and I am IN LOVE with it. It grinds at a low temperature so as to keep the nutritional value of the wheat, it's the most quiet of the wheat grinders out there, can take on the big grinders with amount it will grind (20 cups), will make the finest flour you could buy, easy to no clean up with no dust escaping to dirty your house, very aesthetically pleasing and small enough to keep on my counter. So have I sold you yet, because I'm practically drooling over this thing!!! To see for yourself what an amazing piece of equipment this is, click on this link http://www.bestwheatgrinder.com/wheat-grinder-wolfgang.html. If only it weren't $429 I would get it in a heartbeat. But hey, a girl can dream right?

Weekend in Oklahoma

I have a cousin who lives in Kansas and one who lives in Oklahoma. When I was talking with Erin who lives in Kansas, we figured out that we were only 8 hours away from each other. After deciding that we needed to make a trip out to see them, we realized that Tom and Becky live in Oklahoma which is right in the middle, 4 hours from us and them. We set the weekend and made our plans and took the trip out to visit with some of the coolest people in the world.
When we arrived, Tom and Becky weren't there yet. Becky had told us that they had a last minute scheduled meeting with a pregnant mom who was considering them to be the adoptive parents. Erin and Tom had arrived and so we visited with them for a while until Tom and Becky came home. When they walked in we asked how the meeting went, and Becky burst into tears! "We got the baby!!!" I was so happy for them that I started to cry too. They have been trying to adopt for years and finally are able to have another little one in their family. The baby will be born in October and they get to take him home from the hospital. The weekend really started off great with that kind of news. After we had dinner Tom took us to the Kimberly-Clark building where he works. We got a specialized tour by him and learned how toilet paper and paper towels were made. It was actually really cool! The whole process is interesting and the big machines were mesmerizing. Everyone then stayed up late talking after a quick ice cream run.

The next day we had a great breakfast of banana waffles and homemade Blackberry syrup with Sausage. Then we made a trip to the Oklahoma Aquarium. I know what you are thinking "How great can that be?" But, it was actually a lot of fun with a lot of great things. Lydia LOVED it! She wouldn't stop staring at the fish and wanted to go in the Shark tube many times. We spent a couple hours there I think. It was hanging out and talking mostly after that. We packed up all our stuff and then prepared for a great fondue dinner! It exceeded all of our expectations and we left with full tummies and great memories! We had to leave on Saturday night because we had to teach Primary on Sunday. They are desperate for teachers and have no one to substitute. It was a good thing we came back too because our class was combined with another and the teacher of that class went to teach another primary class that their teacher didn't show up. We got back about 11:45pm and were dead tired the next day but we would do it all again.

Wrestling with Crocodiles!


At the aquarium. Tom, my cousin, is in the red shirt to the right of Kelvin. His wife Becky didn't come to the aquarium with us. Erin, my other cousin, is to the left of Kelvin. Her husband Tom stayed home to do some work. And then Paul is Tom and Becky's child.


She loved the sting rays.


In the shark tunnel. Can you see the shark in the picture behind us?


One of the sharks in the tunnel. I believe that this is a bull shark.


In the shark cage. Lydia liked it but I think Kelvin felt a little differently.


One very tired baby! She refused to take any naps on Sat because there was so much going on and so many new people. You would think that she would have fallen asleep regardless but that little girl is a fighter! I'm gonna have one strong willed toddler on my hands.


This sign was kind of interesting because it states that you are 15x more likely to be killed with a coconut than get bit by a shark. It also talks about the paranoia that first started with sharks and how we as a society have fed that hysteria. (i.e. Jaws)


LOVED LOVED LOVED watching all the fish and their bright colors.


So much so that she wanted to swim with them.


Giant sea turtle. They say that for every pound a turtle weighs is how many years it has been alive. The ones they had on display weighed about 150 pounds!


And our grand finale of the fondue dinner.


Thanks for all the fun guys! We really enjoyed ourselves.

Rolling Over

I finally caught Lydia rolling over on camera this morning. She is doing so good! She still struggles with rolling from her back to her stomach (I think most babies do) but is SO good rolling from her stomach to her back. She also is starting to hold her bottle. I didn't get the best picture of her holding it, but will soon I am sure. I just love this little girl of mine!

Holding her bottle!


Playing with one of her favorite toys, her very first doll.


Look at how well she props herself up. She is getting better with tummy time. For a while there she would scream bloody murder if she was on her tummy for more than 30 sec.


And the video of her rolling over. So cute! Can't believe how much she is growing.

It's The Dad Life!!!

This is too funny not to share with everyone! I laughed so hard I was rolling!

Laughing, Laughing, Laughing

Lydia has started to laugh a lot more lately and it's been so cute. We haven't been able to catch much of it on video until now. Gregory was bouncing her in the BabyBjorn trying to get her to burp and she laughed like she never has before! Apparently she really really liked it!




On another note we just weight and measured Lydia and according to the charts she is in the 50-75th percentile of height for a 4 month old (she isn't 4 months yet) and 10-25th percentile for her weight. Just like I thought, long and skinny baby! And for those who might be wondering, she does eat what she should. At 13 pounds right now we are hoping to be able to hit the 16 pound 10 ounce mark at 6 months which would be double her weight. We will see in about a month and a half when we see the Dr again.

ECLIPSE!!

The girls all went to see Eclipse this afternoon and I have to say my expectations were not very high considering the other 2 movies of the Twilight Saga were kind of busts. I was excited to go because it was all us girls. Well I was very pleasantly surprised when I was proved wrong. This was by far the BEST of the movies and I really enjoyed it. I was very happy with how it was done, the emotions they portrayed and just everything about it. I think some of them took some acting lessons because they were much better and the make up was also a lot better. That is one movie that I would buy. We ended up having to wait in a line at the theater and the guy who was taking tickets looked a lot like Jacob in the movie and I think he knew it. I could sense that he was trying to pull out his flirtatious side, but he was very chit chatty with us which made our wait more enjoyable.

All buckled in and ready to go.


Getting excited.


I just couldn't resist the nerd shot!


The girls minus one. Megan, Lisa's friend also came and she was kind enough to take a picture.

Just Playing Around

Last night was another bad night. I was up a lot with Lydia and because she ate almost nothing yesterday she got hungry at 4 this morning instead of her usual 6am time to eat. Gregory was so nice though and told me to go back to sleep and that he would feed her. I thought I would cry I was so tired and happy to lay back down. After he fed her she apparently spit up all over her pajamas and so he had to take them off. He just let her go back to sleep in a diaper at that point but she stayed warm because he had her cuddled next to him and he is a furnace! So this morning when he left for work at 5:40, she started to get cold so I had to wrap a few blankets around her and she calmed back down and went to sleep. It was 7am when she woke me up and she was done sleeping. I started to pick her up and noticed that the bed was unusually wet. It was my fault really. I usually change her with her 6am feeding before she goes back to sleep but was so tired at 4 this morning that I completely forgot. So now on top of little sleep two nights in a row, I have to do laundry more specifically the sheets. I also have many clothes with spit up all over them that are dying to be washed as well. Oh the joys of having children!

Luckily though, she has been in a much better mood today. Maritza helped me out a lot this morning as she said I looked like I was about to fall over and fed her at 8am and played with her until she was ready for her nap. The amazing part is that she didn't cry at all when she was put down! She laid there and played by herself for a little while and then fell asleep! HOORAY! I am so excited about all the progress she is making. Today was the first time that she held a toy and was actively playing with it. Yesterday she rolled over twice but the battery in our camera was dead so there are no pictures or videos of that. Don't worry mom, I will capture it on video soon so you can see.

Grabbing and playing with her first toy.


She loved to put it in her mouth as all babies do, but she also liked the crinkling of the petals.


Such a silly girl! This was taken while she was in her swing and I stopped the swing before I took this video but she is still moving in a little bit of the video.