Good Grief!

Can you believe that I haven't blogged for two months - most of you are saying, "Yeah, I've been looking at the same pictures that long!" Hopefully I haven't lost anyone's attention.

I was out of contact for two months, but not bored. We've been a busy family with all the holiday festivities. We had a great Thanksgiving at our house with Dad's family (grandpa, grandma, Jason, Lauren and Liv), Mom made all the food and I think everyone survived. We had a Christmas celebration with Daddy's folks in Colorado Springs in which I got some cool gifts. Then we had a little birthday party for Dad and then went to Iowa for two weeks to have Christmas with Mom's family. While in Iowa I experienced a real Iowa snow storm, -34 degree weather (not including wind chill), Christmas with the whole clan and New Year's with almost the whole clan.

I can't begin to tell you all the things I've been enjoying over the last while... so I will show you some highlights via pictures:

My favorite room in the house is the bathroom - I can't get enough of Q-tips!

I've been sportin' more ponytails lately as my hair continues to grow.

Liv and I get to play a bit amongst the Thanksgiving fun.

I love Grandpa and Grandma's new house in Colorado Springs - this is me there for a Christmas party.

I just thought I looked pretty cute posing by gma and gpa's railing.

This is me and Grandpa and Grandma after a full day of Christmas hoopla.

A new favorite pastime of mine - they make such great noise on the wood floor.

We celebrated Daddy's 33rd birthday, we had some friends over as well for dinner and cake.

While in Iowa, I got to meet some of Mom's high school friends, Mike and Gina. Here I got to pose in front of the Christmas tree with their daughter Kylie.

They also have a little boy, his name is Carter - I wish he'd let go of my jammies!

I got to see what it's like to go to school with Grandpa and Grandma one day. This is me and Mom having lunch... we sat with my cousins Max and Maggie for a while too.

This is where grandma works... I like her computer... Look closely at her monitor and you'll know why.

Grandpa's pretty comfy... there are several pictures like this from our Iowa trip.

I was supposed to have my picture taken by this snowman with all the snow, but I don't like the cold enough to pose for that picture.

Here's grandpa clearing the snow - again - from the driveway. They had to clear the snow several times since they got around 20 inches of snow while we were there.

Dad and my cousins really like to play legos... here is one of the masterpieces that Michael made. It's a medieval battle.

Dad, Marty and Max worked on a space station while we were all cooped up inside because of all the snow.

This is Main Street in Orange City, IA all decked out for Christmas. Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Julie went for a walk in a the winter wonerland.

Here we are in Okoboji celebrating Christmas. Here's me, Mom and Julie enjoying the gift exchange.

Some of the clan braved the cold in Okoboji to do some sledding - I had a little cold, so I'll have to wait until next year to experience that. Left to right are: Erin, Joni, Maggie, Julie and Ethan.

Here's a great picture of Maddie having fun on the short hill.

Here Aunt Joni got a turn going down as Maddie and Julie observe her technique.

I love to play "roll Daddy!" So do my cousins, Maddie and Erin turns out.

Lego City! Dad, Max, Marty, Maggie, Maddie, Michael, and Aunt Julie occupied quite a bit of time during our week in Okoboji creating this masterpiece.

There's a great pool at the resort in Okoboji and I got to enjoy it a few times.

Oooh... the water is fine!

Five on a couch, right Barry?

We got to celebrate Michael's 14th birthday while in Okoboji. Just a tidbit for you, he's 6'2"

Hope you all enjoyed as many blessings with family and friends as we did.

Now we are home and need to start getting back to normal... whatever that may be.
I hope you all feel caught up.
Til next time,
Lydia

Costumes, Teeth and Snow

Oh, hello. I can't quite walk with this yet, but I can stand by it - so until then I put it next to things so that it doesn't move.

I have my own way of getting off the couch... maybe not the best way!

Hi devoted followers of my blog!

Turns out that Mommy bought a little extra candy for the trick-or-treaters on Saturday night, and that combined with the candy I collected equals tons of fun for me (well, at least I get to play with the wrappers - Mommy and Daddy won't let me eat any of it)! If only Mommy could resist the temptation, then I could eat my candy when my teeth all come in....

Hey... those are mine!

Here you go, Daddy, have some candy before Mommy gets to it!

That reminds me. I now have four teeth - that's right, four! I have my two bottom teeth (I've had those for awhile now) and now I have a molar on the top right and my top right front tooth... I'll be chewing candy in no time!! Mom's not sure exactly when the molar came in, she was noticing that I was acting like I was teething for some time, but the usual suspects were not coming in... it wasn't until another kiddo with Downs mom told Mommy that her kid's teeth didn't come in the usual order. Then mom started looking around and there was that molar on the top right! As for the front tooth, that one finally broke through last night - hooray!

Anyway, enough about teeth. Turns out something else of the white variety has been spotted in the Denver area. We had about 20 inches of snow last week! Guess what... it is pretty much all melted already! It was pretty fun to have a white Halloween. I dressed up as a butterfly and went to a few friends' houses to show off a bit. I hope that next year I'll be able to walk around to some neighbors' houses.

I just love my butterfly costume - thanks cousin Erin!

Can you see any of the butterfly's teeth? Do butterfly's have teeth?

I think the snow is pretty great.

Here's the whole family in the snow... we still got about another inch or two after this photo.

That's about all I have for now, hope you're all doing great!
Love,
Lydia

Taco Tuesday!

Hey everyone, I know it's been too long. So here's the plan. I'm going to give you some tidbits of info and then we'll go into a photo tour of the last few weeks.

Here goes:

I've seen my pediatrician, cardiologist and had my post-op eye appointment. They've reported that I'm looking healthy, I've finally passed the 20 lb. mark, surrendered all oxygen still left in the house (no more O2 caution sign on the door of the house - too bad, I think lots of people thought it was a no solicitors sign), have to continue with heart medicine - but only for another six months, the eye looks pretty good, and I have eczema on my chin. Overall, I think those are all signs that I'm in pretty good health - at least nothing out of the ordinary.

Mom and Dad have been keeping busy with going to classes on how to stay in the know with all of my care issues for the rest of my life - they're overwhelmed, but really excited about all of the information.

We had all these loud and crazy people at our house this weekend... turns out they were Mom's college friends and G-pa and G-ma E. all in town for Molly and Chris's wedding. I liked all of the people, they watched me do my bear crawling and all commented on the length of my hair. It was a houseful, but I like all the excitement!

Here begins the photo tour:

Mom and Dad had tacos tonight - I had refried beans... they're one of my favs!
I hear beans are good for your skin - thought I'd try it out.

Some of the Dordt alumni hanging out at Molly's wedding.
L to R: Tonja, Renee, Kurt, Mary, Lyndsay, Mom and Dad (he's the odd ball - he's a CU Buff)

Here's Molly and Chris making an entrance at their reception.

Mom, Dad and Scott and Andrea got to sit together at the reception - they drank all the wine - if you really knew my parents, you would know that that's a lie... Mommy drank all the wine, just kidding!

Grandma, Kelly (Molly's mom) and Gert were all friends when they went to Dordt College - a few years ago! This one goes out to Button - you know who you are!

Another shot of the Southview 404 (their apartment) roommies from college.

The "just slightly" older college buddies.
L to R: Gert, Gord, Kelly, Ray, Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandma gave me a bath in the sink when she and Grandpa were taking care of me... I was like, "Guys, I'm way too big for the sink, I take may baths in the bathtub!"

Me and Mommy in front of the flatirons in Boulder when Trent and Julie were visiting.

Trent, Julie and I in front of the same back drop.

Trent and Julie wanted to go to Casa Bonita while they were here.
I didn't have quite as much fun as they did - the guy with the cap gun freaked me out!!

My pacifier was a trusted friend at Casa Bonita... but in the meantime, I like being close to Mom and Julie too.

We celebrated Aunt Julie's 21st birthday, Mom and Dad's 4th anniversary, Trent's 1/2 birthday, and my 16 month birthday all with one cake!

Mommy went to a fashion show in Denver to benefit the Global Down Syndrome Foundation.
Mommy doesn't get dressed up that much, so we had to have a photo of the occasion.

Val and Jer came to visit from G. Junction one weekend. Jer had awesome tickets to a Broncos game - Daddy graciously accepted the invitation and thoroughly enjoyed the 4th row seats of a spectacular win over the Patriots!

Just me hangin' out at home - Mom thought I looked all grown up in my pigtails.

Hope you enjoyed the quick catch up on our lives!
Love you all,
Lydia

Dad's whole family represented Team Lil' Lydia this year in the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk!

Hello distinguished guests to my blog,

I am feeling rather chipper this afternoon following a bit of a bummer of a morning.

I mentioned last blog that I would be having a procedure performed on my left eye on Sept. 28th - turns out that it was actually performed on this glorious 1st day of October (scheduling conflict with the anesthesiologist). Anyway, things went pretty well with the tear duct probe and stint insertion. Turns out that along with small ear canals and nasal passages, it can also be assumed that my tear ducts are a bit on the small side - as the doctor had to poke and prod a little more than she had originally expected. I can't say I was very pleased after awaking from the surgery - Mom and Dad weren't there right away and some of the things I was seeing would be reminiscent of the Heffalumps and Woozles (not sure on spelling) dream sequence from winnie the pooh.

You should see the other baby! -just kidding

No really, I'm ok, I just look a little rough.

Enough about that, I'm well on my way to recovery and I wanted to take some time to talk about the Mile High Down Syndrome Association's Step Up for Down Syndrome event which we participated in on Sunday in City Park.

The conditions were perfect and I couldn't have asked for a more supportive team of people gathered under our tent. Although, there is always room for more in the upcoming years (plug for next year). It felt really good to look around at the 140-something other teams totaling somewhere around 3,000 people, and to know that we all have a common cause and that we were all there to show our support of each other - it made us think that this is the way God intends for all of us to be toward each other all of the time.

A nice shot of the pavilion at City Park in Denver - the backdrop for the Step Up Walk

Team Lil' Lydia representatives.

This doesn't even begin to depict how many people were in attendance on Sunday.

Rest-insured... I feel in good hands with these two (inside joke)

Stroll out!
Nik, Lydia and Koen ridin' in style

Snoopy was there too!

Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone who walked, donated and thought about us during this fun event.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that I will be having some super cool babysitters tonight. Aunt Julie and her boyfriend Trent made the trip to Colorado from Iowa to visit us (go to the Brewers vs. Rockies baseball game) during a long weekend off from college.

Love you all,
Lydia

One year photos and special anniversary

Hello friends and family,

I got my one year photos and I must say that I am very pleased with the work that Kristi and I did. I hope that you all enjoy them as well.

Other notable information. Today is the one year anniversary of my heart surgery. It's so hard to believe that I went through all of that just a year ago. Mom says that there will be a cake to celebrate soon. I also want to let you know that I am scheduled to have eye surgery on my left tear duck on the 28th of September. I go in tomorrow for a pre-operation appointment. The operation is the day after the Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk. Hopefully this is the last year that I have to be planning for a surgery right after the walk.

Okay here are the pictures I promised to share.






Thanks for viewing my blog.

Love,
Lydia

Blogging from Iowa

Hello friends and family,

We have been in Iowa since Friday. Mom and her sisters participated in a half marathon in Waterloo on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and everyone seemed to have a good time after they caught their breath. Mom opted not to take me in the jogging stroller on this run and I stayed back at the hotel with Dad and we slept. We made it to the finish line to see Joni and Jenness cross the finish. We found Mom and told her good job.

Mom and Grandpa at the finish area.

The sisters at the end of the race We the went out for lunch where we had a suprise belated birthday party for Grandma. She did not know that her family was going to be there. It was fun to see Grandma soo surprised.

The "kids" table

The "adults" table

Later we went by the University of Northern Iowa to look around the campus. My Grandpa T go his degree while attended this university and my Grandpa E took a few classes through UNI. There was a game at the Unidome so we had a little trouble navigating the campus on the big game day.

On campus at UNI. Go Panthers!

On our way back to Orange city we stopped by my great uncle Bud and great aunt Crystal's house. It was fun to see all of the kittens and the cows on the farm. We also stopped by to see my Great Grandma in Kanawha. We got there a little late in the evening and we had to wake her up for a visit. Thanks Great Grandma for the time to visit. It was a marathon day in more than one way.

We spent Sunday through Tuesday just hanging out while everone was at work and school and then would do things when everyone else was home. On Sunday I got to hang out with my buddy Trey. He just turned 13 this weekend. Happy Birthday Trey! I also really enjoyed spending time with my Iowa cousins. They are very entertaining to say the least.

Trey, his mom Lori and me hanging out before Sunday dinner.

I thought you might like to see how I help packing for trips. This is me helping with the laundry and then starting to go after the camera. I am such a little helper

I love you all.

Lydia.