He's a Graduate!!

We got a very important (and expensive) piece of paper in the mail the other day!!! 

Oh, a letter from the U of U......What could that be???

Careful......

YAY!!!  The other most expensive piece of paper we own!!!!

My handsome graduate!

New Crib and New Table

We have been SO blessed lately with things we have needed for Lydia.  Since we got the hospital bills for Lydia's adventure out the window last month, you can imagine we have been quite strapped for cash.  One of Maritza's friends bought some stuff at Ikea and they gave her 2 brand new cribs.  She told them she didn't need them but they told her it came with the package.  When this friend got home she called up Maritza and asked if any of her kids could use them.  We obviously jumped on this!  Lydia's crib was given to us and it is really nice, but it is broken on the side and is being held together by tape.  When Lydia would stand up she would shake the side of the crib and I was worried that one day she was going to break it.  Still we were trying to hold out until she got a toddler bed so we didn't have to buy 2 new things so fast.  When we got this crib we found that it turns into a toddler bed as well.  What I like most about it is that it is a lot lower to the ground than most cribs that turn into toddler beds.  It's sturdy and will last us for a few more years until she graduates into a real bed. 

A few days later Lisa called us and told us that her friend was giving away a nice kids table with 3 chairs (the 4th one broke) and asked if we wanted it.  I quickly said yes as I have been looking for quite a few months to try to find a good deal (less than $100) on one for Lydia for Christmas.  When we picked it up, it was so nice and super cute with pastel colored chairs.  Lydia loves it and is constantly sitting and climbing on the chairs. 

We have been so blessed and are very grateful for the generosity of others.  I can't even begin to say how much we have been blessed since our little girl came into our lives.  We were wondering all throughout the pregnancy how we were going to afford having a child, and knew that the Lord would provide a way.  The way he provided for us was through others.  I only hope that we can bless others lives one day in the capacity that we have been blessed.

Lydia has been so particular about things lately that we had her watch us set up the bed and let her play in it for a while.  She took to it really well and has slept better in this bed than ever before.  I am VERY grateful for that!

Trying out her new chairs.

And we have a climber.

"Look at me mommy!"  Yeah, I'm really gonna have to keep my eyes on her when she's playing with this.

Summertime Swimming!

Last week Gregory had Friday off of work so we decided to make it a fun morning and go swimming with Lisa, Isabella and Tristan.  We had such a good morning and poor Lydia was completely exhausted by the end.  She missed her morning nap, but was still quite pleasant.  Probably because she LOVES swimming!  Anytime we got out of the water for a bit she was running right back to it.  It's so fun to watch her do so well.  Gregory was holding her on her stomach and back in the water and she really took to it.  She would get excited when she felt she was moving herself closer to me or the wall.  We really had a great time. 

All the good pictures were taken by Lisa on her nice camera. Ours leaves something to be desired when it comes to reflective light from the water or sun.

I love this picture!

Thanks for capturing some great moments Lisa!  I love having you around with your camera!

Such a Wager

My husband is a Lego nut!  So much so that when he told me that he wanted to bring all his Lego's home from his parents house I agreed thinking that surely it would only be a box or two.  Obviously by the sarcastic tone of the last sentence you all know where I'm going with this.  It was not one, not 2 not even 3, but 8 boxes!!!!!  Yeah......that space in the closet for food storage.......it's now occupied.  While he has been having a field day playing with them and putting the old stuff back together again, Lydia has caught the fever too.  She has been interested and Kelvin has been very good about letting her play with them under close supervision (don't want her putting them in her mouth).  She has gotten pretty good about being careful and has enjoyed putting the pieces where they belong.  Well, in one of the boxes was an old pine wood derby car of his.  Lydia took to that car so fast I could hardly believe it.  All it took was one "Vroom Vrooming" by Kelvin and she picked it right up.  Since then when we get the car out for her she grabs it and drives it all over her room.  I caught it on video one night while we were playing before her bedtime.  It was so HILARIOUS!!  It just proves that while she definitely has some of her daddy's blood with the Lego's, she is still and will forever be a Wager!

Better Than A Spoon!

Lydia has been disinterested in food for a while but she will eat the occasional yogurt.  I guess we just weren't being creative enough for her because when we turned around we found this....

She was done and had pushed it away, I so wish we would have gotten a picture of her eating with the giraffe.  I guess there is more than one way to get a child interested in eating her food.  She's looking at us funny because we were both laughing!

P.S.  Lydia has been doing a lot better with her food.  Yesterday she ate a lot more solid food where for the last few weeks she hasn't been interested in solid food at all!  We've had to buy formula again to get some nutrition down her.  But she has been sick, teething and it's been REALLY hot so I guess when you look at the full picture it makes sense.  She is getting better though and that's a pure blessing to me!

Birthday Bash!

Okay well it was more of a small celebration than a bash, but that's not a cool title for a blog entry.  Also it was the weekend before Memorial weekend but I forgot to add it in order since I am still catching up on my blogging.  My birthday was really small again this year but it was great.  Kelvin and I went out to dinner at the Olive Garden.  We went pretty early and were in and out in about an hour.  It was amazing how fast you can get in and out when you go before the rush.  After that we went to Walmart and picked up some diapers and formula.  I know I know, such a romantic event, but sometimes just being away from the baby is great.  His parents tended for us and then we spent the rest of our quiet evening at home.  The next Sunday we did a small celebration with his family.  Good food and family.  It was a great birthday!

Memorial Weekend in Oklahoma

Since we are now living in Texas, this means that we will have a lot more opportunity to visit family down here.  Last summer when we were here we went for the weekend to meet up with my cousins and it was a lot of fun, but there was only Paul who was 4 and Lydia who was 5 months.  This trip was a bit different.  Tom and Becky were able to adopt a baby boy in October and Tom and Erin had their first in November.  So there was Paul who is 5, Lydia who is 1, James who is 7 months, and Grayson who is 6 months.  It was kind of funny to have so many babies around and I had TONS of fun playing with them.   And for those wondering....NO it did not make me baby hungry!  I am quite happy waiting another year before thinking about having another one.  (Of course that's if I get clearance from the Dr.)

We did so many fun things and had such a great time.  We got there on Friday afternoon/evening and we all stayed up talking until like 9pm!  It was crazy!  Then everyone was up at like 6:30 - 7ish!  We were living wild I tell ya!  I guess Kelvin joking the whole way that this was going to be quite a different trip wasn't very far off!  The Drive there went pretty well, Lydia didn't scream too much.

On Saturday Morning we went to a small ma and pa kind of restaurant that had some great food!  I am sure I ate my entire days worth of calories in that one setting, but it was great.  That afternoon we had a picnic in a beautiful park with P.F. Changs take out and Lydia had a ball chasing the squirrels.  There were a lot of them and they aren't too afraid of humans so Lydia could get pretty close before they would run away.  We were supposed to take some pictures, but it was so hot and humid that we ended up taking the babies home because they were overheated.  We did drive through some neighborhoods of "old money".  That was kind of cool to see these mansions but older houses.  That night we had to go to Braums for ice cream and everyone thought why not get something to eat there too!  So off to eat out for the 3rd time that day.  The ice cream was soooo good, but I was so stuffed from the other meals that I just had ice cream.  I admit I did steal a few fries but went to bed satisfied.

Sunday morning was nice and relaxing before Church and Church was great.  Possibly because my dear sweet husband took the baby the entire time so I was actually able to listen.  They had a combined Priesthood and Relief society where they talked about Emergency Preparedness and the clean up times they were scheduled with for Joplin.  One guy read a list and asked us to see how prepared we are from this list.  I was happy to report to Kelvin that we are pretty prepared.  The only thing we are a little low on is Water.  I guess all my preparedness since I was a teenager comes from my parents who are preparedness gurus!  In some situations though, like Joplin, you can have it all but it can still be taken away in an instant.  That night we feasted on ribs, potatoes and salad.  I went to bed early because I hadn't been getting much sleep.  Lydia was not sleeping well the ENTIRE trip.  She would wake up 3-4 times a night and it would take forever to get her back down.  Of course she was out of her element and not in her own bed (which she LOVES) which all contributed to our lack of sleep.  Sunday night was no different.

Monday morning we got everything packed and ready then went to Tom and Becky's church for a Memorial Day breakfast of pancakes, sausage, eggs, etc.  It was a great way to get us ready for the trip home.  We left a little while after we got back to the house.  Lydia didn't do so well on the drive home but she was crazy excited to get home.  We were pretty excited too.  A four hour drive with a very active toddler is not so fun.  Especially when she won't take a nap in the car. 

It was a great weekend and we are very excited to be so close to family we haven't seen in a long time.

The restaurant Saturday morning had a train in the front.  Lydia and Paul took a great picture wouldn't you say?

She was fascinated with all the squirrels and would chase them.  The cutest thing was when they would run up the tree and Lydia would get so excited and point up the tree and jabber away like she just saw the coolest thing in the world. 

Like I said before, the squirrels would let her get pretty close and she loved chasing them all around.

"Where did he go Daddy?" 

Love love love this picture!

That's all for pictures.  I can't believe we didn't take any more but we've been so focused on other things right now that pictures have not been on the forefront of our mind.

Soccer Baby!

Kelvin loves soccer and introduced the game to Lydia a few months ago.  Well when we moved, we found a small indoor play ball of his and have been playing inside with Lydia.  She picked up on it really fast and is quite coordinated for being only 1.  We got this video of her a while ago and she has gotten even better since.  She now will pass and get the ball out of corners without picking it up.  It's so fun to watch your child learn. 

It's Swimming Time!

The weekend before Memorial Weekend we thought it would be fun to take the little squeaker swimming.  We got her a new swimming suit and we all got ready!  We were so excited to go, but as most people who live in Texas know, it was still a little windy and cold for swimming in May.  We tried anyway and found out that it was a little too cold and windy for swimming.  The water was freezing but we still had a good time.  Squeaky wasn't too interested in swimming and ended up crying a lot so we cut the trip short but we got our first trip of many to the pool this summer!

All geared up for a great pool summer.

She loves the wading pool and would spend all our trips to the pool quite happy just wondering around there.

"You guys are crazy for wanting to swim in the cold!"

All bundled up and ready to go home!

Mother's Day

With so much to catch up on with my blogging, I completely skipped over Mother's Day.  The Sunday after our Car accident was Mother's Day and since we had SO much going on, we didn't really get to celebrate like we wanted.  But, when I woke up that morning, I found the most beautiful flowers and the sweetest card!  Even though he didn't have time to get me real flowers, I loved these just as much.  He hand made my card too (or should I say the computer made it) but I prefer those because he really adds his own personal touch.  So thank you to Kelvin for making it a wonderful Mother's Day!

A tulip, daisy, rose and my favorite flower a Star Gazer Lily!

Lydia's Favorite Ducky

For her first birthday, out friend Matt gave Lydia a duck pillow pet.  She has loved it ever since.  It goes in her room next to the corner of all the other stuffed animals she has, but on the floor.  She will grab a book off her shelf and sit down on the ducky to read it to herself.  If I grab it and put my head on it she will immediately stop what she is doing to pull it out from under me.  Apparently it's off limits to anyone but her!  Lately it's also been any toy that she want's to play with she will sit with it on her little ducky.

I Love When Grandma Comes to Town!

My mom flew in on Monday after the accident and was here for about 5 days.  It was so nice having her here.  Our car is still in the shop so we didn't have one but Maritza was so kind and let us borrow hers for a couple of days so we could run a few errands and see a few things.  My mom had to get our little squeaky a few things while she was here because that's what grandma's do!  So we went to Target to pick up a few things and we found some great toys for little Miss Lydia!  A bright pink sequined purse and a pair of sunglasses!  Oh how she has loved these toys.  She has been so spoiled because the day after the accident She got a Disney princess cell phone and camera from Lisa, Isabella, Tristan, Maritza and Kelvin which she wouldn't put down for days!  She has definitely made out pretty good.

She loved this balloon but it would freak us out at night when it scraped against the walls.  We were always thinking someone was trying to get in.  Finally after 2 weeks the thing still hadn't deflated so I helped it along with a pair of finely sharpened scissors!

She would hand you the camera and then pose while you pressed the button.  So cute!

Oh yeah, I know I'm cool!

My little Stevie Wonder.  Lydia LOVES the piano and all music.  She will dance and dance and want to play the piano for hours!  It's amazing how long she will sit there when she won't sit that long doing anything else.

 

It was so good to have my mom come.  I think I needed it just as much as she did.  After all the drama all I wanted was my mom next to me telling me it was all going to be okay.  When she told me she was thinking about coming I didn't even tell her that if it was going to be a problem it would be alright.  I just said okay!  Tell me when and I'll meet you at the airport!  When we walked in the door after I went to get her Lydia was right there and gave a big smile to her grandma.  You could tell that she remembered who she was!  I was so excited that Lydia remembered her and she even let her babysit one night so Gregory and I could go to the temple without complaint.  She rarely does that.  We love you and miss you so much Mom!!!

I Love My Mommy!

Lydia is such a mommy's girl!  I love it but sometimes it gets frustrating when I need to do something and she won't play with her daddy.  She has been even more cuddly lately which is so sweet and gives me hugs and kisses all the time.  I can't tell you how much I adore this little girl!

My baby and me!

I love you too!

She stares at me so intently sometimes.  It's so cute!

The Window

Here are some pictures of the actual window Lydia fell out of and the ground where she hit.  Lydia jumped into one picture and I about had a heart attack seeing her next to the window again, but we don't even open the blinds anymore in her room and the anxiety is passing.

It was a long fall!