2015 in a Nutshell

It is a snow day in Oxford today. It started around 11 AM and has steadily snowed since. It's gorgeous.

Snowy street

Home

I'll be honest, 2015 has been tough for me so far. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I've been in such a funk. Here's hoping for fairer days ahead. But this day can stay just like it is. Snow hats and hot chocolate by the fire.

Here are a few pics from this year so far.

Working on our faces. This is "sad face".

Lydia's Christmas present from me was a baby doll with "doctor" accessories.

Listening to baby's heartbeat

We got an African violet for the window sill

Hanging out before going to school

Sitting in her doll stroller

The Park

My favorite thing to do on the weekends is to take Lydia to the park down the street. I push the trike, and she rides there, then we walk wherever she wants to go. She runs. I chase her. She picks up leaves, pine cones, and sticks, and we go to the lake to look for fish. It is too cool for them now, but when it was warmer we watched them dart from the banks as we approached. I'm so happy that this park will be part of her childhood.

Fall and Halloween

I'm finally semi-caught up. Nothing like a little wine and hot tea with Austin City Limits on in the background to motivate me into posting!

I took Lydia to the pumpkin patch at Saint Peter's Episcopal Church this year. Each fall they cover their side yard with pumpkins and sell them as a fundraiser. Last year Lydia's nanny Sunny took her, and the year before Lydia was too small to leave the house! I can hardly believe this is Lydia's third fall.

Lydia loved seeing all the pumpkins. She chased them, tried to pick up the really big ones, and said "pumpkin" no telling how many times. She wouldn't sit still for a picture. She did really enjoy gathering sticks, too. Imagine that! (She loves picking up sticks).

For Halloween, Lydia wore the same little lamb costume from last year. I swear I wasn't being cheap or lazy. I asked Lydia about lots of costumes (Tinkerbell, Peppa Pig, spider, etc) but the only two she agreed to were lamb and mouse. I get lots of "No" out of this little girl lately.

The Melissa and Doug restickable stickers are some of our favorites these days. Lydia knows so many animal names because of them. Even octopus!

Lydia and Mimi

Lydia and Mommy

Help Mommy

We've been working on a shady area of our yard. We laid sod here last year and it died because there is no sun in this area. It also gets a ton of water and stay soggy due to all of the runoff coming off the large hill in the background. We put down some river rock and large rock, and I decided to do 'Sweet Caress' Mahonia between the walk and the rocks. On the day I planted the mahonias, Lydia was so pumped about helping me. Since I had my big shovel and bucket, she got out her shovel and bucket so that she could (in her words) "help mommy". 

Those are the 'Sweet Caress' Mahonias there on the right.

Then, we played and enjoyed the afternoon in the backyard.

Lydia LOVES to pick my flowers. Blooms don't last long around here. She picks them all. This is my only bed that gets "full" sun. I have herbs - rosemary, oregano, thyme, lavender, and basil - and a few perennials. That's sedum 'autumn Joy' that Lydia is picking.

First Day of School

I am only about three  months behind, but I wanted to share the photos I took on Lydia's first day of school.

Two Years Old

Goodness gracious, I don't have a baby anymore. Lydia turned two last Saturday. Two years old! And gosh, this is such a fun age. Lydia is learning new things every day.

Enjoying a morning in the park

Attempting a somersault

Going for a swim

She can talk. Over the past few months Lydia has moved on from just repeating what we say to actually communicating with us. She tell us what she wants to eat or drink: water (sounds like "wager", juice, milk (sounds like "mulk"), peanut butter (sounds like"pita butter"), ice cream, cheese. She tells us what she wants to play with or do: outside, run, walk, blocks, bubbles, balloon, nap, sleep sack, bed. And how she feels: sleepy, scared, happy. The list goes on and on. It is so wonderful to be able to communicate with her! Although sometimes when I ask her what she wants for lunch or supper she'll say, "Ice Cream!" Gotta love that! Her birthday weekend she said a 4-word sentence, "I want this pizza!" We are trying to teach her to say "excuse me", "please", and "thank you". She likes to say them, but never at the appropriate time of course. Case in point, one afternoon she danced and played outside with bubbles while saying "excuse me" over and over. Ha. I still can't get her to say "please" when she asks for water. She just kind of freaks out and yells WAGER WAGER over and over until you get it for her. If I ask her to say please, she basically has a meltdown.

She can sing. At any moment she might break out singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, the Alphabet Song (it's a jumbled mess, but she loves saying "X"), Itsy Bitsy Spider, or This Little Light of Mine. I play the Pandora Toddler Radio station a ton. She just loves it so much. We sing and dance together to it in the mornings while I get ready for work. She loves songs that have movements like London Bridge (we do our arms up and down on the first verse, side to side on the second), Ring Around the Rosie (she loves to say "Ashes Ashes...FALL DOWN"), Wheels on the Bus, and If You're Happy and You Know It. I have so much fun teaching her all of the movements, and at this age she just eats it up!

Lydia is really easy to entertain these days. She likes playdoh, coloring, and bubbles. She loves being outside where she can gather sticks, leaves, "eggs" (egg-shaped nuts from the hickory tree), and pick all my flowers. We are working on colors. She can point out the correct color when you ask ("Which color is yellow?") but she can't tell me a color with accuracy quite yet ("What color is this?). She can count to ten, but six is her favorite :) For a long time it was 1,2,3, 6,7,8,9,10! I have started on 11 and 12, but she hasn't said those yet. The child LOVES Peppa Pig. She asks to watch it all. the. time. We try to allow only 30 minutes per day, but it is tough!

Lydia's daily schedule and routine hasn't changed much. Up by 7 am with a bedtime at 7:30 pm. The biggest new development with her routine is that she started at Montessori school! That's a whole new post that I'll get to this weekend I hope.

Lydia is finally tolerating cow's milk! Gosh that is such a relief for me. We had to do toddler formula until almost 20-months because dairy made her terribly constipated. We now do 8 oz whole milk (from Oxford's own Brown Family Dairy) in a bed time bottle and 6 oz in a morning sippy cup with a scoop of PediaSmart (like PediaSure, but not full of weird chemicals) added for extra calories. We're still trying to fatten her up. At her last checkup in July she was only 17 pounds... still not on the growth chart.

Lydia and Mimi

Lydia and Mommy

We've had some challenges since she started at school. A stomach bug hit us hard the second week, and Lydia's had trouble with dairy again every since. We're working through it. Also, we've started potty training, but it isn't going well. She's scared of the potty. I don't know why because we've had the potty for months, and I let her pretend to go on it for months before actually allowing her to go in it. I'm hoping that the resistance to it is related to starting school at the same time. Also, this past week she really, really disliked me and wanted her Daddy constantly. It broke my heart, but Friday she finally warmed up to me again.

So, about the blog... I don't get a chance to post nearly as much as I'd like. It is just hard to find the time and hard to know what to share or document here. I guess when I feel like writing, I'll write. And here's a hint: it will be about my garden, my kid, or food.