My baby is 1!

Wow - where has the last year gone? I can't believe that Lydia has already turned into a big 1 year old! It took us so long to get her and now I can't even remember life before she was in our family. She is such a HAPPY little thing. She has the best little laugh and she loves to be where the action is. She LOVES her big sister and loves to crawl all over her and be where she is. She is a bit of a Mama's girl (which I secretly love) but it can make it difficult to try to make dinner when she is crawling all around my legs and just wants me to play with her and hold her. Liddy had a fun birthday and got some fun new toys and really enjoyed eating her cake and ice cream!

Lydia checking out her new toys on her birthday!

Digging into the cake and ice cream. She was much messier by the time it was gone.

Things Liddy can do at 1!

• At one Lydia is starting to walk a little bit. She still definitely prefer's to crawl since she is so speedy at it but she is getting more balanced and taking a few more steps these days.



• She is a fantastic sleeper and I love that the girls share a room. Last night I could hear them jabbering away to each other for over an hour!



• She loves trying to feed herself. It is a VERY messy process (especially the morning cereal) and we have a lot of food under our table!



• She can say Mama, Dada, uh-oh, hi, and no. She can also wave if she feels like it.



• She loves to pretend that she is talking on the phone. She is very good at holding it up to her ear and then gets a big smile and says, hi.



• She loves playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. If you start singing pat-a-cake she immediately starts clapping her hands.



• She LOVES dancing! She loves a good beat and can't sit still if music is playing (even church music). Her favorite music is the theme song to Phinius and Ferb. As soon as she hears it she immediately comes crawling to the TV and starts dancing!



• She LOVES the bath! She could splash and play in there for hours if I let her. She loves to try to pull the spout that changes the water to come out of the shower head and claps her hands when she is able to do that.

• At her one year check-up Lydia weighed 19lbs (20%) and was 29 inches long (50%) and her head was 18 in. (70%). At her 9 month check-up (which happened at 8 mos) she was closer to the 50% for weight and 30% for height so she is starting to lengthen out a little bit. But this was our first time at our Dr. office out here in PA and so the difference could also be due to different ways of measuring and different scales. (Oh how I miss the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics and our Pediatrician, Dr. Christensen!)
  
  
  Happy Birthday Sweet Lydia! We love you!

Lydia at 1 month - so sweet and innocent!

Lydia at 1 year of age - she has really grown into quite the character!
Can you tell what Lydia is going to be for Halloween? Hint: "May the force be with you."

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit!

My parents came to visit us at the end of September. It was fun to have family here, even if it was only for a few days! We were able to show them around the area a little bit (we are still figuring out the area ourselves) and we took them up to Lehigh to see Dave's school and office. We were able to do some shopping and my Dad helped me trim up our tree in the front yard (thanks Dad - I no longer hit my head on it when mowing the lawn). While my parents were here we decided to go down and explore some of Philadelphia. We did most of the historical stuff and it was really interesting and fun to do that together. We got to see the Liberty Bell and we got to take a tour of Independence Hall and see the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. We also go to see Benjamin Franklin Museum and eat a Philly Cheese Steak sandwhich while there! It was a lot of fun to do together. Before we knew it, it was time to take my parents back to the airport and we are on our own again out here in the East! Lucky for us though, my older sister and some of her family are here visiting this week and we saw them in NYC over the weekend (another post I need to do) and we are meeting them in Lancaster, PA tomorrow to see some Amish sites with them. So if anyone else wants a visit, come on out!

Lauren and Grandma Hobbs at Independence Square Visitor's Center.

Me and Lauren in front of the Liberty Bell.

Grandpa, Grandma, and Lauren at the Liberty Bell.

The front of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was written and signed.

Statue of George Washington in front of Independence Hall.

Lauren inside Independence Hall

The room inside Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. This room was pretty neat to see and it has 13 small tables set up around the room where each of the 13 colonies sat. The table at chair at the top were where George Washington sat. The chair is the actual chair that was in the room at the time of the signing.

Independence Hall

We also visited Unknow Soilder Square (it is called something like that). This is a monument to honor the soilders who fought and died for independence.