nine month taco

Wow, this past month has been a busy one for Miss Lydia! This is the month she became mobile and the entire family's lives have changed, including the cats'.

A few days into her ninth month we were playing on the floor when Lydia decided she'd really like to be closer to Hermione so she made an attempt. Success! The Husband, myself, and Lydia were pleased. The cats seemed worried.



And thus began my obsession with floor cleanliness. This can sometimes be difficult with the cats' penchant for barfing in hard-to-clean areas but I have been keeping up with it. It is either that or let Lydia find an errant cat claw to test for chewiness. Note to Lydia: NOT CHEWY.

A few days after the Wonderful World of Crawling opened up, we woke up one morning to find out that sometimes snow in the forecast does indeed mean snow on the ground. We had a beautiful Snowy Sunday and Mommy got a ton of pics.







Exactly a week after our Snowy Sunday it was a balmy 80 degrees when we headed to the Zoo with our friends to see all the animals. Lydia enjoyed being outside and watching all the people around her. One of the flamingos honked at her and she thought that was rather rude.



As Lydia crawled around and became more exploratory we began to realize that soft toys that just sit there don't seem to keep her interest as they once did. Now she wants her toys to DO something. One night The Husband pulled out a loud, obnoxious toy she got for Christmas -- her Aunt and Uncle picked it out because of said loudness -- and she was in heaven. We only finally stopped playing that night because she was about to fall flat asleep, much to her irritation.



It still was a sickly month -- there were two (I think) ear infections but now that it's warming up hopefully we'll all be healthier. Poor Lydia got so used to the antibiotic syringe she would just lay back and take her medicine, swallowing it back with a sour face. We are now antibiotic-free for a full five days and counting, and that can put a smile on anyone's face.



A wiggling, scooting Lydia has been the biggest, most sudden change in the household since the girlie actually arrived and we've all had to make adjustments. I actually clean the floor, The Husband is inventive with new things to amuse her plus ways to keep her away from ALL THE CORDS, Renton has had to widen his clearance pattern, and Hermione is getting used to letting herself be caught and/or poked in the eye. And just wait 'till she gets fast!

She is a girlie on the go. Below is the fruit of a lot of labor, so I hope you really really really like this picture.

I think that taco's so old it could get up and crawl away

eight month taco

Lydia turned eight months old last Monday. Now it's March, and you only have to say April, May, JUNE!!! and we've got a birthday comin'. Goodness.

For me, this past month has been a whirlwind. Everybody has just been so sick, including me. There was some serious downtime for each member of the family. Even Miss Lydia had to fight off both an ear infection and two crazy parents trying to stuff medicine down her throat. She's very good at the latter.

We changed her morning breakfast from bottle only to a mix of oatmeal and applesauce with a bit of milk to wash it all down afterwards. The first couple of days she looked at me like I was nuts but on the third day she was scarfing the oatmeal like a ravenous baby bird, though she still gets quite excited when the milk is offered up at the end. It's like a dessert. Bonus if she scores the spoon to play with once she's full.



Though not crawling yet, Lydia figured out her own way to be mobile: roll. Once she realized rolling actually got you somewhere new, rolling around seemed 'worth it.' The trick was to position herself in such a way so she would roll to what she wanted. This takes some strategy. It's like the knight piece in the game of chess.



Speaking of rolls, Lord, does this girl have 'em. All along her arms and especially her legs she is rolled like the Michelin man. Sometimes when she's chillin' with her toys on the floor I'll just massage those legs. She has such great skin. For a while I was wondering what the feeling of her skin reminded me of and one day it hit me -- warm pizza dough. Not that mix stuff; the handmade kind of dough that you lay to rise on the counter. There's a taughtness to it right before you roll or throw it out into a flat pizza shape. Wonderful.



Lydia finally had two new buddies show up in her life -- her bottom teeth. They peeked through the last week of January. At first she wasn't sure what to make of them. She would constantly push at them with her tongue as if to get them out of her way. She's used to them now and enjoys gnawing on hard stuff to see what damage she can do. The chair I'm sitting in now has little teeth scrape marks on one of the legs.



It was a very vocal month for Miss Lydia. She started off with the 'daa' sound and she was a big fan of that for quite some time. So was The Husband. After a few weeks she found 'baa' and 'maa' on the same day and from there she started mixing and matching like a mad chemist. Listening to her gabble in the car is much better than any radio station out there. Some of the best noises, though, are unintentional. For example, she can be a great snorer.



Now it's March, Spring's around the corner (though you wouldn't know it by looking out the window today), and hopefully some warmer weather will come in to dry out all this sickness that everyone's getting. I know Lydia's tired of wrestling with her crazy parents and their icky medicine syringes.

the taco's first snow

(eight month report coming soon; she's been a sick girlie)

a seven month taco

Miss Lydia is now a whopping seven months old! During her seventh month she also entered the new year of 2009. Suddenly, June and her first birthday does not seem that far away.

Soon after she entered into her seventh month Lydia experienced the whirlwind that is the Holiday season. She is always keen on being the center of attention, and she got her wish multiple times over the course of those few days.



Once the Holidays were over and it was back to the normal routine, a notice appeared outside Lydia's daycare room warning us parents to watch for signs of RSV (a respiratory virus) since one of her buddies had been diagnosed with it. "Ahh, great," I thought. "Just watch Lydia be the one to come down with it."

That Sunday the three of us were gallivanting around Birmingham when Lydia's little post-nasal drip cough started to turn into something worse and she started to look worse real quick. The next day she was diagnosed with a respiratory infection and that silly thing just did not want to go away. She still has a slight cough, in fact, and so do I.



It was the second of three times we were at the doctor's office that Lydia finally did something I never thought she was going to do. We were waiting on the doctor so I propped her up in a sitting up position and in her enthrallment at my buttons and scarf, she forgot to fall down! She started sitting up! I was so pleased I started taking pictures on my four year old phone's camera. (Hint hint ho ho to The Husband -- I DO need an iPhone for moments like this!)



Lydia was on the mend just in time for her cousin's Dedication at her church in Auburn. She got to dress to the nines and impress many people, plus the added bonus of playing with her cousin, who is now showing as much interest in Lydia as Lydia shows in her.



One day Lydia came home from daycare with a new syllable -- "Hieee-dahh-dahh." Sometimes she whispers the last "dahh-dahh" bit -- "HIEE-dahh-dahh." This is The Husband's favorite thing she does.

"Say it! Say, 'da-da,'" he'll prompt. She grins at him and will usually oblige. They feed off each others' smiles.

taco covered in presents

Just now are we really settling down from the holidays and I can sit on my bootie for a minute to share with the Internets Lydia's Fun Christmas Day.

Lydia had a special visitor at her daycare right before Christmas -- the man himself, Santa Claus! Lydia was more than happy to sit down with him for a picture.



We had a small Christmas the weekend before with The Husband's grandparents, who were in town from Mobile. That night she officially got to unwrap her first present with her Daddy's help.



Business picked up on Chrimstas Eve when the families from both sides got together for Christmas Crab and ornament exchanges. Lydia got quite a few ornaments. She was most pleased with the ones she could chew on.



That night she slept well while Mommy and Daddy were up late cooking and generally stressing out. It's hard to coordinate something huge like Christmas with something that needs a schedule like a six-month-old. I greatly look forward to the time when it will be Lydia who can't sleep all night because she's just so damn excited that Santa really is coming 'cause Daddy showed her EXACTLY where he is on Google Earth and we all know that Google doesn't lie. EVER.

So the next morning a well-rested Lydia wakes up to frantic parents gathering up presents, wrapping Oreo truffles, and cleaning up cat puke off the couch -- Renton's Christmas gift to us. By the time we're headed off to my parents' house it's time for a nap. This actually worked out -- we did adult presents while she was zonked and once we were done, she was up and we laid out the task before her.



Her and her cousin became literally buried in presents -- we had to keep moving them behind the kids so we could see their faces -- as we unwrapped. Lydia was mesmerized, especially by anything shiny. Her ladybug was a pretty big winner. Mommy likes her hat.



After oatmeal and a good nap, it was time to pack up and have Christmas Part Deux with The Husband's parents across town. We pack up and off we go.

Lydia was ready to be wowed again after her long nap and she wasn't disappointed. She enjoyed checking out all her toys and clothes.



Poor Lydia! Mommy has a habit of sticking bows on heads. The cats know this and keep out of range.



Soon after, Miss Lydia was quite worn out for the day. She had been in a great mood and had a blast. We all slept pretty deeply that night.

six month old taco

Lydia turned a whole six months old back on December 23rd. I had every intention of writing this post then but before I blinked it was Christmas Eve, then Christmas, then more Christmas, then I felt a slight breeze as the end of 2008 flew by and HOLY CRAP IT'S JANUARY! So here we are.

Soon into her sixth month Lydia got to experience Thanksgiving Day as her own person. A year ago she was an itsy bitsy blueberry-sized thing when The Husband announced her impending arrival to an incredibly shocked collection of family and friends. This year she got to play with her buddy, Syon, who was also present in utero at last year's Thanksgiving.



Right before Thanksgiving we were very worried about how Lydia would behave. She had been screaming as if someone was trying to poke her with needles for three days. Even her caregivers at her daycare were flummoxed. Then, almost as if by accident, The Husband figured it out -- Lydia wanted to stand all the time. ALL THE TIME. Stand, stand, stand. You just have to hold her up for balance. Suddenly, her legs were the best toy she'd ever had.



From there, everything became interesting -- all the toys, the kitties, Mommy's shiny necklace -- everything must be grabbed. Lydia was most pleased with herself the day she figured out how to pop her pacifier back in her mouth the right way.



Lydia got real serious about different foods this month. She started getting rice cereal at daycare almost daily and throughout the month we went through all the vegetables and applesauce. I never would have thought it, but peas are the #1 absolute winner, even over all the fruits so far. This girl could eat her weight in peas.



Despite three months of chewing, drooling, and otherwise "teething" there are no teeth to show for it yet. She doesn't seem to be all that impressed with teeth in general.



A few days ago The Husband and I were looking back at some pictures of Lydia from back when she was first born. How did she go from a six pound wiggily infant to a 15 pound bouncy, laughing child in two seasons? Mitosis is an amazing little wonder.