News galore!

Hey everyone - I have so many things to get you caught up on!

• The results are in: the photo contest tells Mom and Dad that we must choose every picture taken from my 9 month photo shoot. Unfortunately, we don't have enough wall space! Just kidding - Mom made a 5x7 of #1 and printed out some wallet size of photo #5 and all the others are printed in 4x6's for friends and family to view when they visit.... Mom also wanted you all to know that her favorite changes everyday - sometimes her favorite isn't even one of the ones I posted on the blog.

Just an example of one of the photos not placed on the blog before, but catches Mom's attention everytime she sees it.

• I also thought you all should know that I had my 10 month birthday on the 8th! We celebrated with yet another cake and also had added excitement in our hearts in anticipation for Grandpa and Grandma E's arrival from Iowa - they had spring break over the Easter holiday. They came after I was in bed on Wednesday night (actually early Thursday morning) so I was so surprised and excited to see them eating breakfast with me on Thursday! Unfortunately, they had to leave to get back for teaching school on Tuesday, so they left this morning - I gave them a sleepy wave as they took off into the sunrise.

Mommy woke me up from my comfy spot on Dad's lap for a picture with my cake - she never heard the saying, "Never wake a sleeping baby!"

On Saturday we went for a hike by Morrison, CO with g-pa and g-ma. We had to enable the 4-wheel drive on the stroller for the trip.

Mommy just liked this picture, so I'll humor her with putting it on the blog.

Peek-a-boo!!

• Did you know that I got to celebrate my 1st Easter this weekend?! I think Easter is my favorite holiday - it has so much meaning! I really liked the Easter church service, even though I had to enjoy it from the intercom in the nursery. When I'm not thinking about the true meaning of Easter, it's kinda fun to get all dressed up and hunt for Easter eggs that come from a rabbit (now, I'm pretty little, but I just don't really understand all that)!

This is me getting ready for Easter - I really liked my purple dress!

"What? did you say there's something behind me?"

"I'll turn around very slowly."

"Boscoe, you look first, I'm scared."

All that worrying for nothing - it was a wonderful surprise!

And when I was done with one, another popped up! Easter just keeps getting better all the time!

• One of the things I'm most excited to tell you all is that I have a new cousin!!! My Aunt Lauren and Uncle Jason had a baby girl yesterday (on Easter Sunday - another reason to celebrate). My new cousin's name is Liv Morgan and I saw her tonight and she doesn't do much, but she sure is cute - I think we'll be best of friends soon! I could tell that my uncle and aunt were beside themselves with joy and love for their new little gal - and you know what, my uncle Jason still played with me - what a good uncle!

Introducing Liv Morgan! She's precious.

Grandma and I couldn't be more excited about the new little baby!

Well everyone, I think that's all for now. Hope you've enjoyed the journey!
Love, Lydia

Photo Contest

Hi friends and family!

So Kristi sent us a cd of all of my 9 month photos... she did such a wonderful job that Mom and Dad are having a hard time choosing which of the 124 pix we should get some big prints of. That's where you all come in - you can help us decide which picture is most worthy of big print!

Mom and Dad narrowed it down to 5 pictures to choose from. Here are those five and you can comment with the number of your choice.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

I just realized that 2 & 5 are pretty similar... but I guess you can decide which backdrop you like best.

Have a Happy April Fool's Day tomorrow!
Love,
Lydia

Photo Journey through March

Hi folks... I've heard from my cousins that they're sick of looking at my mountain pix - so I figured I'd better take some time to get you up to date on March activities.
I'll be bringing you through the month of March via photo tour. Enjoy!

This is my genius place I discovered to make forts once I have control of my limbs!

Believe it or not, I was actually asleep for this photo - obviously, it didn't last long since every time I tried to relax fully, my feet would start to fall and I'd jerk awake.
(You might say I'm a little flexible)

I was a little disappointed in Mom's efforts this month on my monthly birthday celebration treat - the cupcakes tasted yummy, but Mom and Dad and all their friends enjoyed them as I took a nap and this is what was left following their indulgence.

Earlier this month we made a trip down to Colorado Springs to see Grandpa and Grandma T.
It was a beautiful day so we journeyed out to check out G-pa and G-ma's new neighborhood. Turns out there's a really nice park not far away that we're all looking forward to enjoying in the years to come.

I got to play on the floor with all my favorite toys with G-ma and G-pa at their house - what fun!

I got a new dress for my 9 month pictures (you'll hopefully be getting a preview of these soon) and I love it. I can play peek-a-boo with my toes in this dress.

This flower arrangement, although beautiful, was from a somber occasion. My daddy's aunt Carol passed away last week after a struggle with lymphoma and an infection. We were very sad to lose her but we're very happy that she doesn't have to be in pain anymore - and I know that heaven is a wonderful place!

On a lighter note, you may be wondering why I'm wearing my Halloween sleeper - well, I'll just tell it like it is, Mom was a little behind on laundry!

So, as you can tell, we've been pluggin' along in March and the days just keep flyin' by.

I was so excited to see all the snow we had the other day, but I had a cold the last few days and Mom and Dad said that I would just have to watch Boscoe play in the snow and I'd have to wait until I was feeling better.... well, I'm feeling better - where's the sled?! Mommy says, "it's the middle of the night, maybe tomorrow!"

Love you all,
Lydia

Inaugural Mountain Adventure

So, I'm told that I will have lots of adventures in the mountains since Mom and Dad like to play there. I got my first taste of being a mountaineer last Wednesday when Mom and I headed up to Silverthorne, CO to hang out with Lisa for another day before she and Ryan headed back to NY (Ryan was snowboarding and Daddy was working - too bad for them that they didn't get to hang out with me).

I had to get special permission from my cardiologist to go because of the altitude and lack of O2 in the mountains. Thankfully Dr. Karrie thinks I'm doing well with my O2 levels and gave us the OK - as long as Mom kept a close eye on me and as long as we took an O2 tank with us.... just in case.

I can already tell that we're gonna have lots of fun in the mountains as a family in the years to come. Mom and Dad decided to purchase a backpack that I can ride in while they hike - since I'm still too little to walk - with a little more therapy and work, I hope to one day run up the mountains!

Here are some Photos of Lisa, Mom and I playing in the snow on the mountainside:

Lisa's a Physical Therapist - it was almost like having another OT session for the week!!
We played inside the cabin/mansion they stayed at.

All three of us posed here - what you don't see is the distance down on my left - Mommy had to hold on tight!!

Mommy and I have so much fun together - it was a little bright, I had to keep my eyes shut.

I got to stay dry in the snow while Mom and Lisa both had wet bums after this picture - I love my orange chair.

I just can't hold back my excitement and love for snow and mountains!
I'm pretty sure that I was secure in that spot, otherwise I would've slid down the slope in my sweet orange seat, right?

Well, I'm sure I'll be reporting on more mountain adventures this summer... we'll see about later in the spring.

Love,
Lydia

February Fun!

On the 15th of February I was baptized at Arvada Covenant Church. I had many of my friends and family attend my baptism and the subsequent parties that followed that afternoon. It was a great day. My dear friend Gena (Koen's Mom) sang a wonderful song that my uncle Andrew wrote. This was such a nice thing to have done on my big day.

Here are a few pictures of baptism Sunday:

Getting ready before baptism. Look at my cool pony tail.

I'm not nervous standing up in front of everyone.

Mom, Dad and me after the service.

Us with the grandparents.

My buddy Koen and me.

This past weekend we had Lisa and Ryan out from New York and Val and Jer out from G-Junction for a little visit. The weather was great and we go to play outside a bit. There were a few flowers coming up in our front garden. A perfect chance for a photo op.

Look at the beautiful flowers.

I just can't stop looking at the flowers.

Is that flower for me?

Me and the gals.

After all of that fun it's time to just hang out on the couch and play with my buddy Boscoe and his fluffy tail.

Thanks for reading my blog and for your fun comments. Blog at you later.

Love,
Lydia

The big 8!

Eight months that is. Once again it has been a few weeks since I was last able to sit down and blog at you all. Sorry about that, it's been pretty busy around here.

Since the last posting we have celebrated Mom's birthday, my eighth month mark and are looking forward to celebrating my baptism with family and friends. Mom got a camcorder for her birthday. This is very nice to have to capture all of the moments when I'm doing new things and big events, like baptism.

Last weekend was non stop activity. On Friday we met up with my Uncle Jason and Aunt Lauren at Old Chicago's pizza. Laurens parents were there also and were taking care of Oliver and Noah (Lauren's sister Ellen's two boys). Oliver and I had some fun getting to know each other.

On Saturday Dad took Mom to the Boulder Dinner Theatre to celebrate her birthday and I got to spend the evening with my friends Paul and Heather. We had a fun time and I hardly noticed that Mom and Dad were not around for a good 5 hours.

On Sunday after church we all headed down to the Garden and Home show with Scott and Andrea. There were so many things to see. Dad seemed a little overwhelmed with the possibilities of home improvements and landscaping ideas. We must have walked a couple of miles seeing all of the exhibits. Well, I did not walk but I strolled around and was also carried for some of the time. It was a good time.

On Sunday night Mom baked me a cake for my 8th month birthday on the 8th. Crazy that we celebrate an event like this with a cake don't you think. This was a prime time to get the new camcorder out for a little footage of me and my eight cake.

My big 8 cake!

I want a piece of that.

Let's have some cake.

I cannot wait for my Grandma and Grandpa E to get here this weekend. I am also very excited to see my Aunt Julie and Aunt Jenness as well. I am so glad that they are going to make the trip to join me for my baptism.

We also have so many other things to look forward to this month. We have a baby shower for Aunt Lauren, my friend Sam will be having his 1 year birthday party, my friends Lisa and Ryan are coming out from New York and Val and Jer out from Grand Junction for a ski trip and are planning to spend a day or so with us, and who knows what else. All I know is that I am looking forward to it all.

On Monday I visited my cardiologist Dr. Karrie. This was my monthly check up and things went pretty well. I weighed in at 15lbs 7oz and I had a 100% pulse oxygen saturation! I had an echocardiogram and they determined that the residual VSD (the hole in the lower part of my heart) that remained after surgery is starting to close up and there was a significant decrease in the leak since my last visit. Dr. Karrie said that she could hardly hear the murmur with a stethoscope due to the hole. Praise the Lord for this.

The reason I say pretty good and not great for the check up is that there is still reason for the Dr's to think that I am having a little too much pressure on my lungs (can lead to pulmonary hypetension) based on their tests. I am going to need to have an at home test done to see what my pulse oxygen saturation levels are during the night when I am sleeping. Dr. Karrie also mentioned that they may want me to stay overnight in the hospital in the near future for a more extensive sleep study. I am gald that my Dr's are weighing on the side of caution and trying not to let anything sneak by that may cause problems later down the road. Thanks for your continued prayers for healing of my heart.

That's it for now. I love you all very much!

Me in '09

Howdy friends!

Well, I am feeling great these days and just going about my everyday activities. I am getting to explore the world of foods. Mom has me eating a variety of fruits and vegetables in addition to my regular formula. I really like the orange foods but I am open to all of them. Below is a picture that shows how much I like my carrots.

I have a carrot nose and lips, yum!

I am a lot more vocal these days and I thought you might like to get an idea of what my little voice sounds like.


Here are a couple of videos, one of me telling a story and one of me whistling with Daddy:

Telling a story or two.

"Whistling" with Dad.

Mom and Dad finally set a date for my baptism and we'll be doing that on February 15th because that's when Grandpa and Grandma can make it out from Iowa.... we're hoping that some of the uncles, aunts and cousins can make it out from Iowa too, but that's a lot to ask.

Well, keep up those resolutions and I'll be in touch soon!
Love,
Lydia