Lydia Turns 2

Well, we've been busy over here during the last couple of weeks. Lydia turned two on June 20th. Here is a picture of the cake we made together! I went round and round trying to decide about how to decorate the cake. She loves Dora but I am not really into creating masterpieces out of icing. So I found an easier way...


We grilled hamburgers and had a family party by the pool at my parent's house. Here she is tasting her "chocick" cake and ice cream. She was pretty excited about the Dora themed cake. And sometime over the course of the weekend she stopped calling Dora "Dadoo"and now pronounces it correctly.

These three girls, although closer in age to Lydia, are my cousins.

I think this might be Lydia's favorite gift -- from Aunt Liz and Uncle Josh. Lydia thinks Kate's car seat is for Pup, so Liz decided to get her her own.

"Bitny" helped my Mom decorate with crepe paper and best of all - bee-woons!!! Lydia loves balloons and notices them everywhere we go - from the grocery store to car dealerships as we drive by.
On her actual birthday, J,L and K came over and we had one of Lydia's favorite meals...becksis - blueberry pancakes, eggs and bacon. She ate about as much as any of us did! We ended the evening with cupcakes and she even managed to blow out her candles all by herself! (She preferred the M&Ms and the cream cheese icing --which she called "butter"-- to the cake part!)
(In the last week Lydia has been saying "Happy Birthday cake...to you!" in a little sing-song voice. It is so cute!) I can't believe my little girl is already two years old. In many ways it does not seem like very long ago when she was just a few days old. I keep trying to talk up being a "big girl" as I remind Lydia that Lauren will be coming soon and she'll be a baby kind of like Kate is. It's hard to say if she "gets" any of this or not, but I'm hoping she will be as interested and in love with her little sister as she is with cousin Kate. Kate seems to have a very easygoing and happy personality. I can't wait to see what Lauren's personality will be like. I have no doubt that Lydia will fall quite easily into the leader/organizer/boss role among the girls! Hopefully that will be balanced by kindness, gentleness and compassion for the younger ones as she grows.

Here we are before church this past Sunday. I am 37+ a few days in this picture.
As I wrote earlier, Lydia loves having a carseat just for Pup. Here she is ready to get in the car to run errands. I thought it would be challenging to fit two carseats into our car...apparently the number is now three!
And finally, my little helper. She always wants to help with the sweeping - indoors or outside. The problem with indoor is that she practically attacks the floor with the broom and thus the long handle is flying all over the place threatening to knock things off the counters or hit me! Several months ago I found this little "mommy's helper" kit with various child-sized cleaning paraphernalia. I decided it was time to bring it out this weekend! She even takes her little dustpan to the trash can to empty her dirt!

This past Saturday I played my last wedding of the summer before Lauren's birth. I subbed with another quartet and it was SO nice not to be in charge of any of the details. All I had to do was show up and play what they told me. I didn't even have to drive there! A nice change.

I'm working on getting the nursery in order. I did buy some diapers and have washed all(and even ironed a few!) of the newborn clothes. I also went ahead and washed all the bedding and all the seat covers for things like bouncy seats, carseat, swing etc. It adds up! It is so nice to have all these baby items already in my possession -- the clothes especially. Yet, knowing I have those baby necessities on hand has kind of made me forget to go through and make sure I actually DO have all the things we'll need. It seems like everyday I think of at least one thing I still need to purchase - mostly just the small stuff though (like the diapers). I also "forgot" how many diapers a newborn goes through in a day!! When you have a toddler who is potty training, those diapers and pull-ups can go even farther! I realized the bag of 40 newborn diapers wasn't even going to last a week!! HA! And they're so much more expensive. I kind of got sticker shock all over again buying the newborn ones. We have used generic ones for Lydia for so long that I forgot Pampers were so pricey!!
I have started wondering what I'll do if the baby comes early! I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for labor and birth and since Lydia was late, it just doesn't really enter my mind that it could be different this time around! So many people I know loved their epidurals (I've even talked to several women who have done it both ways) and I just wonder if I'll have the strength and determination to do it "natural" again this time! I guess we'll see! I ought to read the literature again and remind myself why I chose to do it that way the first time! Since I'm using a midwife this time, things have been somewhat different than they were with the doctor. We're not having those same "discussions" about labor and delivery and that has been nice. I don't feel like I'm always arguing for the other options out there.
Well, I think I'm starting to wander here and I could ramble on and on. Maybe another day... =)