Summary of our last few months!

Besides my short video of Lydia announcing that baby #2 is on it's way, I haven't posted anything since the beginning of December.  AND since my plan is to have this blog be sort of a picture/story journal that I can print to have a "blog" view of our family life, I thought I better sum up the last few months in one post so I can get back on track.

DECEMBER: Most of December was spent in Utah with family.  Lydia and I flew out early so we could spend some time in Gunnison, and then we spent Christmas/New Years with Paul's family in Alpine.  Lydia and I ended up being in Utah for about a month.  The only drawback to our fun holidays with family was that I started feeling sick pretty much when I first got out there, and it progressively got worse.  But, at least I had lots of help and distraction! Here are a few pictures of our Utah Christmas:

This is my Christmas dress that I wore as a little girl.  I love that my mom saved so many of the little clothes she made/bought for me so I can dress Lydia in them (especially since she looks so much like I did as a little girl).

Lydia trying on my baby bonnet...another item my mom saved!

Enjoying the Polar Express train ride with Grandma Howell!

What is Lydia pointing at? For sure Santa! Whoever thought a 15 month old wouldn't care much for Santa was wrong.  Lydia is STILL obsessed with Santa, and it is now May.

Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Howell!

Like most kids, the best part of Christmas presents for Lydia was unwrapping them.  She took is very seriously...

Which is why we couldn't get her to look up for a picture.

I love my little family!!!

JANUARY and FEBRUARY: To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about January and February except being incredibly sick.  It was getting bad in December, but January and February were almost unbearable.  Plus, I was back in California with virtually no one to help me out with Lydia.  Whoever gave morning sickness it's name apparently didn't have the kind of pregnancies I have...I think I would call it DAY-AND-NIGHT-WITH-NO-RELIEF-EVER-WORSE-THAN-THE-FLU-WISH YOU-COULD-DIE-SICKNESS.  I could say a lot about how awful it was, but who wants to hear all about that?  Let's just say that I was almost convinced that this was the last pregnancy that I would be able to go through.  But, of course, I am now feeling better and don't think I could leave Paul without at least another shot at having a baby boy :)  I'm just happy that I got through it and that Lydia survived with a half-dead mother laying on the couch most of the day.

There were a couple good things from the first couple months of the year:

We celebrated our little family Christmas when we got back to California.  As you can see, Lydia's big gift would never have fit in a suitcase.  This is Lydia's first time seeing her kitchen.  I spent way too much time looking for the "perfect" kitchen for Lydia on craigslist, and I finally found it.  I was afraid that I was more in love with this kitchen than Lydia would be, but that is not the case.  This little kitchen saved my life during my sick months of this pregnancy.  It is Lydia's greatest entertainer.

I love this picture because it totally captures the type of Dad Paul is.  How many dads sit down and "play" dollhouse with their little daughter?  As you can see, Paul plays the part well.  Both Paul and Lydia are deep in concentration trying to figure out the perfect place to put the little figure in Lydia's hand. 

Ok, so maybe this picture demonstrates Paul's super dad-ness even better.  He takes baths with Lydia (in a swimsuit :)) all the time.  Sometimes I forget most men probably wouldn't do this.  One day, I was on the phone with my mom and I said, "just a second.  I need to go get a towel for Lydia and Paul.  They are taking a bath together." My mom said, "Wow.  What a great Dad.  What guy takes a bath WITH their baby?"  That is so the way that Paul is that I forget that it is even unique.  We are lucky to have him :)

Talking on the phone :)

LYDIA'S FIRST TRIP TO DISNEYLAND: end of February

Paul's parents and Lori Beth came to visit us for a weekend at the end of February.  I was still really sick, so when I heard that they wanted to go to Disneyland, I was ready to send Paul off with Lydia and "enjoy" a Saturday of sleeping.  I was actually very sad because I really wanted to be there the first time Lydia went to Disneyland.  By some miracle, I woke up Saturday morning and didn't throw up (first miracle)...as everyone was getting ready, I realized I didn't even feel that nauseous or sick (second miracle).  Everyone told me to just go and if I needed to leave early, then I could.  I didn't feel amazing the whole day, but you have to understand that in the last several weeks, it was an accomplishment for me to get dressed for the day AND I stayed at Disneyland the whole day with them (third miracle).  I am SO glad I was given this little tender mercy because my little wee daughter had the time of her life! You would think she would have just forgotten about the whole day soon after, but oh no! She still asks daily to look at all her princess pictures and she remembers a remarkable amount of who she saw, what she did and who came with her. What a little smart one!

To my dismay, Cruella became Lydia's favorite "princess" after her first day at Disneyland.  She asked for weeks (and still does occasionally) to see her pictures of "cu cwella".  Just look at the lady? How did she end up being the number one pick?

Of course, Dad made Disneyland extra fun.

For a little girl that had never watched any Disney or princess shows EVER, she sure picked up on the princess thing fast.  It must be natural for little girls

If you look carefully, Lydia is holding her princess autograph book, which Grandpa and Grandma Howell bought for her.  I originally thought she was a little young for such a book, but was I wrong or what! She carefully looks at each picture and signature everyday in that book and she knows those "real princesses" (as she calls them) wrote in her book.

"frog" is what she calls this one.  Probably because I don't know her name, so I always call her princess and the frog.

Lydia really bonded with Grandpa and Grandma Howell this time.  She had a blast with them.  And LB, of course!

Our little Disney gang!

MARCH: I got pretty desperate at the end of February because things were not getting better and considering I was sick with Lydia until at least week 20, I figured I had another month of awfulness.  So, I recruited my mom.  She saved me.  I really don't know how I would have coped for another month.  My mom flew out for a couple of weeks, then brought Lydia and me back to Utah with her, AND then she came out again with Alex to finish off the month.  It was actually another miracle, because I started feeling better just a day or two after she left the last time.  My mom did all our cleaning, laundry, cooking and best of all, she woke up with Lydia and took care of her so that I could get the rest I needed.  I don't know how many moms would take a month off to help a daughter like that, but I fully plan on telling my unborn daughter that her grandma probably helped her get into this world more than we even realize (or at least into this world with a mother that was still sane).

Since I basically didn't take pictures the month of March, I sadly didn't take any of my mom.  So, here's a cute one from April 2011 to honor her for her help!

APRIL: I started feeling like a real person again and by the end of month, even more so.  We had a great Easter together as a little family.  It was really important to me that we made it "our" Easter and made sure we established some traditions.  It was also nice because our bishop and his wife invited us over to join them for dinner and an egg hunt.   Their kids are Lydia's best friends, so that was fun for us and for her. Paul prepared an adorable resurrection lesson for Lydia.  He put pictures of Jesus at different stages leading up to the resurrection in plastic eggs and numbered the eggs.  She had to find the number one egg and open it and then Paul told the story behind the picture.  The last egg had a picture of Christ in white at His resurrection.  Lydia loved it.  She already LOVES reading from her picture New Testament book and so this was even more thrilling to pull out the pictures from eggs.

The day before Easter, our park had a big Easter festivity.  They had the Easter bunny, balloon making, petting zoo, egg hunt, breakfast...it was really fun and Lydia got into it (like she does with everything).

I think Lydia went up and hugged this duck about 10 times :)

A dream come true! A petting zoo with animals that Lydia could hug to her hearts content

and boy did they get some Lydia lovin'!

Lydia in her Easter dress, given my her Grandma Rosenvall

I love this girl!

Lydia loved her egg hunt.  She acted like a pro! We joked that we should just go out and do this everyday, she had so much fun!

AND FOR THE BIG NEWS... 

We went in for the diagnostic ultrasound typically done around 20 weeks.  Most of my pregnancy I thought I was having a boy and so did Paul.  But, the few weeks prior to the ultrasound, I started feeling like maybe it was a girl.  At first I kind of ignored the feelings because I was worried that it was just because I kind of hoped I was having another girl.  But, the feelings intensified.  The night before we found out, Paul and I were getting ready for bed and I told him I really felt we were having another girl.  He went off about how I just felt that way because I wanted one and that he really thought that it was a boy.  Well, let's just say he looked pretty surprised when they told us that we were most definitely having a girl :) I WAS SO HAPPY! I really wanted a sister for Lydia and also I have so much enjoyed having a little girl that I wanted at least one more.  Paul is happy too, but he is afraid he is doomed to a family of females :)

 

 

 

Although Lydia loves balls and cars, she also has a very "girly" side to her.  She is quite the mother to her many babies and I think she will adore having a baby sister to mother.

We ended our month of April with another trip to Disneyland (we had 2-day tickets).  Lydia remembered so much from her first trip.  She was so excited to go on the "horse" ride (carousel), the boat rides (pirates, it's a small world), see all her favorite princesses (Cruella was even there! Lovely), see the princess parade (and oh did she love that!), etc.  We took her on the Nemo submarine ride and that was a huge hit.  She has never even seen the movie Finding Nemo, but she has books on the characters and loves fish in general, so she was super excited.  Once again, I was amazed at how into everything she was at such a young age.  I guess Disneyland really is magical :)

The only downer to the Disney day was that Lydia switched from being obsessed with Cruella to LOVING the Queen of Hearts! What is wrong with my child?! We met the Queen at the beginning of the day and I didnt' think much of it.  Then, later on I was with Lydia alone while Paul was on a big ride, and we ran into the Queen again.  Lydia was asking me to get out of her stroller, but I kind of dismissed the request because I didn't think she really cared.  NOTE TO SELF: When you are at Disneyland FOR your child, let your child tell you what she wants to see.  Don't rush off to finish your daily agenda. The rest of the day, Lydia plead, "Queen! Hearts! Back! Where?" and she still talks about her.  I also made the mistake of saying that maybe she would come back (when I realized how much Lydia cared) so now she looks at me with puppy dog eyes and says, "Queen? Back?" as if to say, "Mommy, you said she would come back and she didn't.  Second note to self: Lydia is way too smart to give false promises and remembers everything.  I shouldn't promise something I can't give.

Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty were on their way to something and said they couldn't stop for anyone, but when they noticed Lydia and me following them, they turned around, knelt down and talked with Lydia and signed her book.  They wouldn't sign for the growing crowd around us...just her ;) Yes, she is irresistible :)

Lydia loves dogs, so Pluto was a big hit!

Having a cookie break with Dad!

Lydia finally got to hug "White".  She knows her well from her Disney sing-along video

Now, everyday Lydia wants to watch the videos we took of the princess parade.  Her favorite clip is of Ariel flipping her fin way up high on the float.  At least three times a day, Lydia comes up to me and says, "Mommy! Ariel! High! Fin! High! Computer" which translates to, Mommy, I want to watch my video of Ariel flipping her fin high up on the float!

Well, that pretty much sums up April.

We are now on to May and hopefully I can keep up with my blog posts! In some ways, it's kind of fun to post about 3-4 months at once because it makes me realize how blessed we are and how many fun times our little family has had together!