Lydia is having the best First Christmas ever! We traveled to visit her Grammy and Poppy and Great Grandma in Hot Springs and oh what fun we had! (Lydia takes really great naps with Grammy (a.k.a. Nicole's Mom). It hasn't been quite the same since we returned home!) Lydia opened all of her presents thoughtfully and with great care and saved all of the wrapping in its almost perfect form to use again next year. Just kidding! First of all, she didn't open anything. Naturally she doesn't understand that quite yet, although we showed her and tried to involve her in the unveiling of each present. (We didn't go overboard on the gifts this year. Our little one is already so blessed and only needs a few things at a time to keep her interest. Oliver and I want her to appreciate her things and not have so many toys she doesn't even care anymore! I say this, but if you were to take a look at our living room floor you'd say otherwise...) More than anything, she was fascinated by the - you guessed it - curling ribbon. We didn't get any giggles over it this time, but she liked the way it moved and apparently it must have tasted like strawberries or ice cream or something because all she wanted to do was eat it! Once the wrapping paper and presents and ribbon were all around her, she thought that was pretty fun. Her Grammy and Poppy completely showered her with new books to read - Lydia loves books! Another of her gifts was a penguin who has become her new friend! You'll see in the video, below... Now we're home again and Lydia is so lucky to get to have a second First Christmas with Omi and Opa, too! Her second First Christmas will coincide with her first New Year's Eve tonight. So much celebrating to do! Enjoy these pictures and videos. More will follow soon, so stay tuned!

Look who's learning to crawl! She's still trying to figure out how to get her bottom half up and keep it there! We think she's close, but there's no hurry - life as we know it will change dramatically once she's crawling!

It's really neat to witness Lydia seeing things for the first time this holiday season. The tree...Santa...hearing Christmas songs for the first time that we adults have heard a gazillion times. Wrapping paper? Oh, she got really excited about that! But then she discovered something she liked even better - curling ribbon! While wrapping a present, I used scissors to curl the ribbon. I was just doing my thing, while she played beside me, then suddenly she began to giggle a little. Then a little more... then a lot! Finally I figured it out. It was the sound of the scissors curling the ribbon. I must have gone through a half roll of ribbon just to curl it all and make her laugh some more. Oh my, it was so funny it brought us to tears. What made it especially great was that she would laugh so hard she would fall over backward. Lydia, you're so cute! She's been a joy from day 1, but lately she is especially playful, sweet and alert. Her little personality is shining and I must say, it's a good one! She is generally such an easy-going, fun little person and we are enjoying her so much. She makes us smile all day long.

Today Lydia got reacquainted with her friend Gracie Gauger. Lydia was friendly. A little too friendly maybe? We'll have to teach her that you can't just touch and grab your friends without asking first! Gracie is a very sweet little girl and we like her a lot.

Lydia was a great shopping buddy as usual. She loves to go in her stroller and watch everyone and everything. She took a bottle break, of course - there's always time for that!

It's a right of passage, right? And we're making a memory? It's a special experience? And...it's worth it? These are the words Oliver and I recited over and over to one another as we waited in line at the Galleria for Lydia to meet Santa Claus for the first time. 45 minutes and $25 later we got a shot of Lydia looking like she was just barely hanging on... She was ready for a nap. She had been awake all morning, after all, and our sweet girl waited so patiently for her turn to meet Santa. Finally, it was her turn and of course having no idea what the point of all of this was, but enjoying the pretty lights and colors, she humored us and didn't have the total meltdown that some of the other kids had. She didn't exactly smile her most precious smile, but as I said at the top of the post, it's a right of passage, we made a memory, it was a special experience, and it was worth it.

While I made goofy faces at her in an effort to make her smile (I was lovingly unaware of the other parents, the photographer and the people passing by. Ok, not really - I was very aware, but willing nonetheless), Oliver was busy taking pics with our own camera. He caught some cute expressions.

Here are a couple pictures of her waiting in line. Good thing there's always plenty of teething to do to pass the time.

After her picture, we went to Grand Lux Cafe for lunch (Mommy's favorite!) and Lydia finally got her nap. Then we went over to the ice rink and she seemed to really enjoy watching the ice skaters and the "country's tallest indoor Christmas tree". (I'm sure now she's bummed that ours is so short and boring by comparison.) Note: Along the right-hand column of our blog is a picture of Oliver and I standing in the exact same spot 2 years ago, the weekend we got married!

It was a fun day! Merry Christmas!

Here's a preview of Lydia's Christmas pics!

Lydia's first Christmas tree! She was surprisngly gentle when touching it for the first time. Just sort of held one little tip of a branch for a long time and would turn to look at me and smile... Sweet.

Spontaneous nap...

Lydia went to visit her Grammy and Poppy for Thanksgiving. (Grandpa was recently renamed "Poppy" by Lydia's cousin Liam. Lydia didn't express an opinion one way or the other, so we'll go with it!). She had a very good time and made everybody smile all weekend long. We went to a neat place that had acres and acres of fun Christmas lights! She was all snuggled up in her warm Winnie the Pooh fleecy sack and fell asleep during the tour.

Lydia's latest trick is to bounce or sway whenever she gets the chance. She doesn't even need music. Also, she has been trying to figure out how to move on her tummy. She's lifting her bootie way up in the air and pulling up on her arms. Not crawling yet at all, but she's curious. We've tried to encourage her and we place her on her tummy often, but really, as with each milestone, she decides to try something when she's ready. Yesterday Oliver caught her trying very hard to figure it out when she was waking up from a nap in her crib. She's just naturally feeling a desire to move more independently and is trying to figure out what she's capable of doing. So neat.

I took this picture on my cell phone while Lydia and I were out shopping, so it's not the best quality. I wanted you to see her 2 teeth though! I'm not sure which ones will come in next. Most people say the 2 top ones, but she seems most concerned with her bottom left and right gums lately and not so much the top row. She'll decide and will let us know!

"Somebody who loves me went to Hawaii and all I got was this silly outfit!"

Lydia misses mommy soooo much, and she can't wait for mommy to return from her trip! Daddy also can't wait for mommy to return! : )

This just makes me laugh. A kiss for Daddy!

Lydia really likes her piano. So does her Daddy!

We can see 2 teeth budding through her lower gums! We can see them, we can see them! Way to push 'em through, Lyds!

Pumpkins for our little pumpkin! Lydia's Mommy looooves all things Fall (what a shame that Texas hardly has one), so we had to visit a pumpkin patch up the street from our house hosted by a local church. It was fun! Lydia picked out 2 pumpkins to put by the front door for "Autumn". Her Omi bought her a cute Thanksgiving outfit that was just perfect for the occasion.

Lydia had a big weekend. We tried spoon feeding for the first time! She doesn't quite have the hang of it yet...

Also, we took Lydia to the church nursery for the first time! She did great. They didn't have to page us! The nursery workers were very sweet. She did have a hard time at first, but they were able to soothe her and keep her happy until the end of service. She's a trooper. Here's a picture of her before we left the house, and another of her nursery tag.

Miss Lydia had her 6 month check up yesterday. Her stats are attached, as well as a picture of her battle wounds. She received another FIVE vaccinations yesterday. One was given orally, but the others were shots to the thigh. Like her cartoon band-aids? Good thing Lydia has soft, squishy thighs! It still hurts, though. Poor baby. It's so awful to witness. As you can see from the other pictures, though, she cheered up and was our usual happy girl for the remainder of the afternoon. Our precious little peanut has nearly tripled her birthweight! Way to go Lydia - you're awesome! We're going to start solids this week. Great timing - she is just about finished nursing. Bye-bye breast milk, hello peas and carrots!

Bedtime story. She likes to help hold the book.