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.

I can't believe that in just a few days Lydia will be 6 months old. Really? It was 6 months ago that I was super duper pregnant and delivered Lydia? I feel like we know her so well that it must have been longer ago.

At 6 months old, here are a few of Lydia's favorite things:

She loves sleeping in her crib (finally).
She loves to roll over! We can't keep her on her back for anything. She prefers to sleep on her side or tummy. It's super cute.
She loves to practice standing! Oliver and I certainly aren't tryng to push that yet, but she loves the feeling of being flat on her feet. She smiles so big when she's standing! We do this with her a lot.
She loves to make noise! Sometimes she's quiet, but when the mood strikes her she goes on and on and on... So cute.
She loves to eat Mommy's nose. LOVES it. I always let her, of course.
She loves to grab Mommy's hair and DOES NOT LET GO for anything!
She loves to be sung to. Especially fun, fast songs like "I've got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart..." A good cure for fussiness. Her Omi sings german lullabies to her.
She loves her Baby Einstein DVDs. They're awesome because they're very low-key and simple. We show them to her when it seems like she needs some quiet time. (in other words, tired but fighting it!)
She loves her stuffed caterpillar. It's one of the few things that makes her laugh out loud.
She loves to look at herself in the mirror. Any mirror will work! However, she is particularly fond of the toy handheld mirror at Omi's house.
She loves to try to fit things into her mouth that are never going to fit... like the end of her rattle, for example.
She loves fresh air. Now that the weather is a bit cooler, we'll take her for more walks. If she's having a hard time, taking her outside is a great distraction. She loves to feel the air with her face.

Things she DOESN'T like:
Getting dressed! She causes such a fuss when we put her clothes on. Absolutely hates it.
When we put her in her carseat. Not always...but about 75% of the time she's upset with us when the fun ends and we more or less strap her into this chair. She gets over it really quickly though.
Gosh... I seriously can't think of anything else. Sounds like a biased parent, I suppose, but really Lydia is very easy-going ang sweet and smiles a lot. She's not hard to please. Sure, she'll cry a lot if she's overtired or hungry, but that's honestly it. Such a sweetie. I can't think of any other dislikes!

This week I'm in Salt Lake City for 2 nights. I hate leaving my precious baby and my sweet husband! You've seen them...they're SO CUTE! Hard to be away from them. Oliver does a great job on his own with Lydia. He's a very good Daddy. Meanwhile, I am trying to stop nursing now which means going as long as possible without expressing the milk which is very interesting! (all the nursing moms out there said "Amen!") In case you didn't know, there's not an OFF switch! You have to train your body that you don't need it to produce milk anymore, but until it gets the hint it keeps on producing! My personal commitment to breastfeeding was 6 months. It's actually such a routine now that it wouldn't be a big deal to continue, but it's getting harder with work. It's time. I felt a little sad like I would be taking this special thing away from Lydia, but then a friend reminded me that soon she'll get to eat fun things like pureed fruit and other solids, and that will be a fun new world for her!

We'll post more pictures and videos soon!

Lydia went to a birthday party today! It was a lot of fun. Her friend Gracie turned the big O-N-E! Gracie sure looked pretty in her party dress. And she received a lot of neat presents! Lydia can't wait for her own first birthday party one day. Won't it be fun to eat cake and frosting and smear it all over the place like Gracie did?