Lydia's Birthday Party!

We celebrated Lydia's first birthday this past Sunday with a small party at our home. We had it a weekend early because my sister is actually getting married on Lydia's real birthday, which is this Saturday the 25th. We went with a summer, girly theme: Pink and green with lots of flamingos! I bought her dress when she was about 5 months old and planned the whole party based on it. I worked really hard to make it special for her, sometimes much to the frustration of my husband- who thinks I tend to go "overboard" with planning events. Who me?? ;-)

Her cakes were so cute!!
I made these from Pinatas!

As you regular blog followers know I take a pic of Lydia on her "month" day in the same chair with the same stuffed elephant. I displayed the photos for everyone to see how much she has changed and grown in this magical first year!

These pics are from the foyer, where I put several black and whites that were taken just seconds before and after her birth. I love the way it turned out.

We even hung photos of her from the chandelier! Ya'll know I LOVE some pictures!

I made this canvas for the front door.

My dear friend Mrs. Dawn, who is the music therapist at the Rise School came to do music class just like she did for Anderson's First Birthday.

Love this photo!
Itsy bitsy Spider...

Shaking her maraca!

Playing with scarves!

Strummin' Mrs. Dawn's guitar!

Jeff made a gorgeous slide show with photos from her first year. It was a tear jerker...set to Jimmy Buffett's "Little Miss Magic" if you have a little girl- you need to hear this song!

We were blessed with glorious weather! It was mid-July and 85 degrees with very little humidity! Can you believe that?? Everyone stayed outside for this most part!

Anderson with Cousin Avery

My mom with Lydia

My Grandmother and Aunt

Jeff's parents made the trip from Tennessee! It was great to see them even if it was a quick trip!

Everyone on the deck enjoying the weather!

Pop (Jeff's Dad) with Lydia

Anderson and my best friend's little girl, Lily Kate

My cousin Quinn with her youngest little one!

Lydia with Henry. They are just 5 days apart and live three doors down from us...the best part is- if she should marry him she wouldn't have to change her last name! He's a Smith too!

Getting ready for her smash cake! And not too sure about that hat! BTW- it came from Itsybitsybunny.com They have the cutest custom bday hats!

Sugar, hmm- this stuff is pretty good!

Later that night we opened her gifts!

This little purse was a HIT! She loves the zipper and ptting things in only to take them right back out again!

My Aunt gave her a big "first". Here she is opening her first pair of pearl earrings...for a few ears down the road (or when she turns 25 if you ask Jeff!)
Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! We love you more than you can possibly know!

Peek- a- Boo

Lydia has been playing this for a while, but I just now caught it on film! Enjoy!

And these photos were taken by an "up and coming" photographer last week. I hear her website will be up in the next few weeks. I'll be SURE to let you know when it goes live! She thought Lydia was the most beautiful little girl she had ever photographed...hmmm....wonder why she is so biased? ;-)

Happy 4th of July!

Anderson as The Statue of Liberty!

He made this at school and when Jeff brought him home today I saw it on the counter. I put it on his face- not even seeing the torch- and asked him if he was a flower. I got the biggest eye roll to date and he said "No MOM (I'm never Mommy in these instances)- I'm the stautute of wibity!"

Our very own little Lady Liberty

We had a good weekend/holiday, but not a great one! I'm totally jealous of everyone's beach/lake/pool pics! Jeff's firm moved into their brand new office building over the long holiday weekend, and he was in charge of overseeing the actual move so he had to work late a couple of nights and didn't get a long weekend.

On the 4th we had a family wedding to attend. We tried to go to the pool that morning, but Lydia was not having it. She wanted her morning nap and after less than an hour we packed everything up and went home to put her down. My step-sister had a small wedding at my Dad's house that night, and Anderson served as a ring bearer. At the wedding I managed to get this photograph of my grandfather and Lydia that I know I will treasure! The older she gets the more she looks like him to me- especially her mouth/chin.

So here are a few pics of our little firecrackers!!

11 months

11 months old!

We are counting down to the big ONE!!

*** We didn't have a Doctor's appointment this month, but you weigh about 21 lbs.

*** You have learned all sorts of new skills this month! You love to point to things now and talk...we can't understand you, but your eyes and facial expressions are so animated that we know you must be trying to tell us something! You have also learned to clap, which you do ALL the time, especially when music comes on! You clap and dance (bounce up and down on your knees) and smile the biggest little grin! It is so cute! You also have started to put together waving and saying bye-bye in context.

***You will now finally actually sit through a baby Einstein or other baby DVD. Yay for mommy getting to take a shower!

*** Your sleep schedule- or lack thereof- has been horrendous this month! Other than when you were a newborn this has been the hardest stretch of time for your Dad and me. And when you were a newborn at least we knew we wouldn't be sleeping...this month it was quite the surprise! It started out with you fighting naps to the point that it was taking 2 or three hours to get you to lay down and take one. We tried everything...rocking, not rocking, noise machine, black-out curtain, etc... you were one tough cookie! Then on top of fighting you at every nap and bedtime you would wake up two or three times a night. By day three mommy was a crazy person and was having to call Daddy to come home from work to help with you. The constant screaming was a nightmare. At one point we became convinced you must be sick or teething...maybe an ear infection. We took you to the pediatrician who checked you head to toe only to inform us that you were one stubborn little lady. Thankfully after a week and a half you got easier to put down, but you still woke up in the middle of the night. Then after two weeks you stopped doing that and as a bonus went back to taking your morning nap that we thought you had completely given up!

*** Attachment to Mommy has started to rear it's ugly head this month too! You want me ALL the time. I actually swept the kitchen the other day with you literally hanging from my leg. You aren't as willing to go to anyone that wants to hold you anymore either. I am grateful that in about a month you will start a Mom's Morning Out program a few days a week. I think it will be good for you and for me!

*** You have decided that you are D-O-N-E with baby food. Once you got your little fingers on table foods you haven't looked back! You can eat just about anything that is cut into super small pieces. You love bananas, corn and pasta pick ups! You do not like strawberries! Odd since your brother ate about a pound of them a day at this point!

Here is a little video...

A is for Anderson

Just a few thoughts on what Anderson is up to at

AGE 3!

Favorite Activities: Reading books still tops this list! He will "one more" you to death at bedtime and sleeps with his books instead of stuffed animals. He loves going to school with his friends, playing with Play Doh and making "worms", playing outside and swinging on his swing set especially when Atticus will stay outside with him, playing with Lydia and swimming. He is a little fish! He loves to just dive in on his belly and hold his head down under water. He also still loves anything to do with animals, particularly elephants, tigers, monkeys, etc.

Favorite TV Shows: We went through a "Diego" phase, but he doesn't request it as much anymore. Curious George is still his absolute favorite, which is no surprise since it is all about math and science and figuring things out. He watches it like there is going to be a test! I think we have a future engineer on our hands! He also loves Calliou, Martha Speaks and Wow Wow Wubzy. He is just know starting to get into Batman and Superman, but we limit it because he still gets a little scared of the "bad guy" music. He is not into Mickey Mouse...I guess we should expose him to that before we do Disney World, huh?

Favorite Places: He loves to play at CHOM (Children's Hands on Museum) and recognizes when we drive into downtown asking to go there. A new favorite is the library. Of course he loves the pool too! Attending birthday parties is another favorite thing particularly when there is a bouncy house/slide involved. He also loves going to a good playground. We have been frequenting a newly remodeled playground at a nearby school in the late afternoons.

Favorite Foods: Sadly, anything I DIDN'T cook! He has started asking to "go in the car" to go eat somewhere. If we do happen to go through a drive-through he always wants to go inside to eat! He calls McDonald's "Old MacDonalds", which is pretty funny! He loves hot dogs, pizza, chicken, corn, P&B and Jellies cut in the shape of Dinosaurs. LOTS of milk. Go-gurts (Yogurt push-ups), suckers and the all important gummies...George, Batman, Diego any character will do!


Dislikes: Brushing his teeth, being told it is time for bed. Not getting his way. Being made to stop talking because he is interrupting someone ( we need to work on this one big time). I try to give him warnings for these...in five minutes we are going to bed, etc...to avoid the meltdown.

Personality: He loves to study things quietly and figure them out. He generally wants to do everything "hisself", but does like to ask LOTS of questions. Lately if you say "I don't Know" he starts insisting..."Answer Me!!" I think he doesn't know what I don't know means...he thinks we just aren't telling him something and it infuriates him!

He spends an hour at a time with one of Jeff's bungee cords from the garage wrapping it around whatever he can find. He calls it his "tight Rope"...a version of tie rope, I think. Anyway, I spend at least another hour trying to get it away from him before bedtime so he doesn't choke himself. It doesn't seem to matter where I hide those things....every few days he just comes up with one!

He is really smart. I hesitated putting this on here because it sounds like bragging, but then I remembered it is MY blog, after all! ;-) His vocabulary is expansive and everyone that meets him for the first time can not believe he is only three. With that smart little brain has come some mischief on his part! He tries to manipulate us from time to time. I'll tell him no he can't have a sucker. He'll ask 15 more times and then sulk off to the living room for a while. Then magically he comes back in saying he wants a "snack". On to him, I offer a banana or apple to which he says..."um- no thanks"...then..."How 'bout a...." long pause with index finger to the chin as if to look deep in thought, complete with an eye roll as to appear to really be mulling it over..."Mom- I Know- How 'Bout a ....Sucker?" with a gleeful expression on his face. Nice try buddy!

He also has a sweet little spirit which I hope he keeps! Don't get me wrong- he is ALL boy, but he isn't as much of a rough houser as most boys I know that are his age. He has a genuine sense of people's feelings- especially when they are hurt! He LOVES Lydia and it is easy to see! I often catch him (unaware of me peeking around a corner) smiling at her as she stands up, laughing at her as she laughs or claps, or reading her a book. I hope he stays kind-hearted like his Dad.

Discipline: We try to follow the book 1-2-3 Magic very closely and it works well for him. He thrives on Praise and hates to be in trouble, so usually I only get to two before he decided to do the right thing, but we have had lots of time-outs and several pops over this trying year as he tries to assert himself and we continue to reign him in and teach him right from wrong. The more consistent we are the better behaved he is. Some weeks are more of a challenge than others, but for the most part for his age he is very well-behaved.