Lydia's Springtime fun!

So, the weather is changing - not sure what it's supposed to be like, but I use less of my puffy coat and more often than not, I don't have to wear a coat at all!  The only problem I see so far is that my hair never stays in it's original "do" - I can't say that I'm a huge fan of the wind, however, around these parts it seems a way of life in the spring.  Oh well, wind can't stop me from enjoying the outdoors at school and at home!

To get the full effect of the season, Mom and I have been doing some yard work like getting the garden ready for plants and raking the lawn of the old yucky grass.  I'm a huge helper!

Mom started this task, but I asked her to step aside and let me do the grunt work.

Turns out, I could maybe use a rake just a few inches shorter.

Since my last blog I've fully enjoyed getting used to my preschool class.  Miss Brooke and Mr. Rick are fun and I never have trouble letting my mommy leave me with them for two hours - I do give Mom a big smile and hug when she gets back (I don't want her to feel unimportant).  Two weekends ago I went to the Butterfly Pavilion with some of the kids from my class - we were part of the "Weekend Explorers" group.  Mom and Dad get to come along too and meet my classmates and their parents.

Dad held Rosie - she's a tarantula!

I'm a huge fan of "Finding Nemo" and they had a Nemo-like exhibit there.

The weekend before that, we went to the Arvada Kite Festival.  That was really cool and it was the perfect day for kite flying.  We met up with some friends from Mom and Dad's small group Bible study and had a great time!

I couldn't believe all the kites there - there had to be millions, I'm sure!

Here I am helping Dad and Emily get their kites untangled.

At the very beginning of April we went to Grand Junction to see Val (one of Mom's college friends) and Jer.  They are expecting a baby in early June and we went out so that Mom could attend the baby shower.  While mom did that I got to experience something new and exciting - Dad and I joined Jer for a 4-wheeling adventure near the Colorado Monument.  My car seat fit great in Jer's four runner and I bounced and bopped the whole way!  I would say, "Weee!" over every boulder.

Just another chill ride in the car seat - I'm sure they test these things for such rides.

Not sure where you go from there, but pretty cool anyway.

Other than all those things, I keep busy cleaning the house like the good helper that I am.... Mom needs to keep the wipes in a higher place than she used to.  I also like to make sure that all the clothes in my dresser are clean and that they still fit the way they should.

I keep my dresser super clean with baby wipes and I keep my hair out of my face with my gingham shorts.

Last but not least, I wanted to let you know that I had a wonderful Easter.  Dad was sick, but that didn't keep Mom and I from heading to church and then being ready for an Easter spectacular egg hunt.  Unfortunately, since Dad was under the weather, Grandma and Grandpa didn't come.  Not to worry though, we will have a belated Easter celebration with them on Saturday before my cousin Liv's birthday party - because you can celebrate the true meaning of Easter everyday of the year!

Look what I found - the first one was pretty interesting - then I started to realize what fun this was going to be.

Dad is a really tricky egg hider.

Come on basket, let's gather some more spoils.

Here she comes!

Until now, I haven't been much of a candy eater - turns out that I like the robin eggs and that mom freaks out when it looks like I might get some blue food coloring on my dress.

Well, that's all for today.  Hope you enjoyed it.
Love, Lydia

Feeling Groovy!

Hey friends,

I thought I had better update you on my health status:
Turns out that I'm feeling much better and after two weeks on oxygen while slumbering, I am canula (the tube that goes in your nose for O2) free!

In addition to that, I felt well enough to attend preschool without Mommy for two whole hours by myself last week. They called it my practice day and I did swimmingly. Now I am scheduled to go regularly after Spring Break starting on March 29th. I will go every Tuesday and Thursday from 11am - 1pm. My class seemed really nice as well as my teacher. I'll miss the kids in the parent/tot class that I currently attend, but the show must go on. I'm a little worried about what Mom will do for two hours while I'm gone to preschool... she'll be so lost... I'm her life you know!

This was after my day in class... I wanted back in!

I also enjoyed a visit over the weekend with Aunt Julie and her boyfriend Trent. They are super fun and somehow Mom and Dad finagled some babysitting hours out of them - which I enjoyed thoroughly. However, no pictures were taken of our fun time together, not even when we went to the zoo on Monday - boohoo!

Also, Grandma T came and played with me on Friday last week - she loves hanging out with me and I like to play with her too... we went to the park and I threw sand and Mom yelled at me - Grandma is so much nicer!

Grandma likes to take pictures of me on her phone so she can look at them all the time. In this photo, I'm demonstrating how I look when I sleep.

Here's a random photo of when Boscoe's friends came for a visit and Denver (the big black dog) took Boscoe's perch by the window... Boscoe says, "What's the big idea... that's my perch!"

That's all for this beautiful day!
Talk to ya later,
Lydia

Iowa trip and hospital visit... what?

Hello everyone,

Two weeks ago my mom and I went on a trip back to Iowa so that my mom could go to her friend Tonja's wedding. We had a good visit and my mom said the wedding was a lot of fun. Here is a picture of some of the girl friends.

Here are Mommy, Crystal, Renee, Molly, Kristin & Mary preparing for the wedding with some photos. All these ladies went to college together.

I had my first overnight stay with someone besides my parents so that my mom could have an overnight stay with her friends. I stayed with my Auntie Nesser and Papa Wolgen and all of my super fun cousins. I had a blast!

The day we left for Iowa my mom and dad noticed that I had a strange cough but I had plenty of energy and they had both had a little cold but nothing big. So the plan went forward and I really did not start feeling bad until Saturday night when my mom got back from the wedding. I pretty much slept all day Sunday and did not really have an appetite or any energy for most of the day. Monday was pretty much the same but was our travel day back home. When we landed and I saw my dad at the airport I managed to pull up a smile and said "daddy!"

On the ride home from the airport I was out cold with no energy at all. When we got home I was burning up and mom and dad said that I was breathing really fast and shallow. They decided to take me to the ER to see if it was anything serious. Turns out I had RSV (a pretty nasty respiratory virus) and along with it an ear infection. My pulse oxygen levels were pretty low so they put me on O2. Since I was not eating and drinking well I was also dehydrated so I also had an IV put in and the doctor admitted me to the hospital to be watched closely and get the care that I needed. We got up to our room at about 12:30AM on Tuesday. I needed to be at the hospital until Thursday afternoon.

Being in my mom's arms is the best place for healing.

Lots of sleep is the key to getting better.

I had moments in the day where I felt great and wanted to play.

A fun activity when I was feeling better was pulling my pulse-ox sensor off my toe and hearing the monitor go beep-beep.

Room service and eating in bed. I also watched TV at the same time. I started to wonder if this was some sort of vacation. The food was good and there was plenty of it. My parents shared with me from time to time.

I am feeling better now and have been back to my usual activities. I am still on O2 during naps and at night until Monday next week at which point I will see my doctor and see if I can get off of the O2 if I am better on my own.

This past weekend my friend Val and Jeremy came out from Grand Junction to see one of their friends in the Mrs. Colorado pageant. It was fun to have them around to take my mind off of the RSV thing. It was also a good break for my mom and dad.

Needless to say it has been quite a couple of weeks here but that seems to be how it goes sometimes. I hope that I did not pass any of my RSV stuff onto any of my family or friends. Sorry if I did.

On a happier note, my Auntie Julie and her boyfriend Trent are coming out here for their spring break. They are due to get in later tonight, more like tomorrow AM early. I better get to bed so that I can be well rested to play with them.

My next blog should fill you in on how that visit goes but you can be sure that we are going to have a lot of fun.

Love you all,
Lydia

January and February... boring... I don't think so.

Hi all!

I know it's been forever, but what a crazy life I lead... not really, just sort of.
So let's see, the last time I got you up to speed was right after our Christmas trip to Iowa. Well, now I'm writing as Mom and I are about to leave for another trip to Iowa. Mom's friend Tonja, from college, is getting married this weekend and I get to fly out with Mom and then stay with my aunt Jenness and family on Friday night and with Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Julie on Saturday during the day. We will return to Colorado on Monday evening... we will be super excited to see Daddy since he left on Sunday for a work trip to White Sands, NM and he won't be back before we leave for Iowa.

I like to start my days by doing a little texting - all the kids are doing it.

Between Iowa trips I've been busy attending music class on Mondays, my pseudo-preschool class on Tuesdays, tumbling class on Wednesdays, Mom and I like to go swimming on Thursday afternoons, and then I usually get to hang out with my friend Leah on Friday nights while Mom and Dad go play volleyball at church. Throw in a few trips to the grocery store, some dress up, and watching movies and that's what I'm up to most of the time.

Looks a little suspect, right? Dad was on the other end of the yard with Boscoe... my parents don't just leave me in a lawn chair in the middle of the yard all day - I promise!

However, they do allow me to drink and drive - that's my beverage in the other hand.

My mom's dress from when she was my age - I should've worn it to the rodeo... yeehaw!

As for the weekends, we've been doing some out of the ordinary activities. We've been to the zoo a few times when the weather was unseasonably nice, we went to the rodeo at the National Western Stock Show, the Butterfly Pavilion, we went to a University of Colorado basketball game and we visited grandpa and grandma in Colorado Springs.

Here we are waiting for the rodeo to start - didn't think I would like it as much as I did!
(Same goes for Mom and Dad, but a good time was had by all)

Mom and I went into the petting zoo area at the Stock Show - I don't really like goats it turns out, so Mom got to pet the fella or gal (don't know how to tell yet).

Here we are waiting for the basketball game to start. Did I mention that it was -27 degrees that night. Most parents didn't take their kids out but Mom told me I had to toughen up since she used to walk to school on days like that - something about frozen hair and frozen tears on the face.

I'm getting so super smart that we found out the other day that there's space for me to start real 2.5 to 3.5 year old preschool - no more dragging Mommy along to class (I felt like she wasn't applying herself) I get to go all by myself. I will start going on Tuesdays and Thursdays for two hours at a time after spring break, which will be late in March. Then, Mom and Dad already have me signed up for the summer program and the fall program... Yippee!

"Silly headband, I need you to complete my gorgeous outfit... err!"

That's all for now!
I'll try to get my parents to let me on the computer more frequently in order to keep you informed on school and the like.
Until then,
Lydia

Happy New Year!

Hello friends and family,

Sorry for the late blog after our Christmas trip to Iowa. We had such a good time in Iowa with all of the family and here is mostly a picture summary of our time during Christmas and New Years.

I got to try my hand at sledding. It was fun but I had to go with someone and was not comfortable going solo quite yet.

Here I am with my cousin Maddie getting a ride.

We took a walk on the lake to go see a large eagles nest. You can see the nest in the upper left of the photo.

Taking a break at the nest site with my buddies Maggie and Maddie.

Hey Julie, where did you come from?

I got a ballerina dress and wings for Christmas.

I loved opening gifts and when I finally got them open I would always say "oh wow!"

I was even trying to get to the gifts that were not even mine.
Hey grandma, did you get any good ones of me to check out?
We had a snowman building contest. Julie with her Dutch girl and Trent with his Ogre. Dutch girl wins.
In addition to the outside activities we spent many hours at the pool. I really liked the pool and after the first couple of days I was saying pool all of the time.

So much fun!

I hope that you are all having a good start to 2011 and that you had a good Christmas as well.

Love,
Lydia

Jingle Lydia

I hope that you like this little video of my first time performing in front of so many people. I really had a fun time and my mom and dad were glad that I did not just take off or do anything crazy. I will save this type of thing for future performances.

You will have to forgive the shaky video. My dad was on the wrong side of the congregation to see me and had to quick move to the back and use the zoom in. He also had to mess with the file to make it fit so it is a little grainy, especially if you go full screen. Enjoy.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Love,
Lydia

Getting ready for Christmas

Hello all,

First off I wanted to share a video of me in my first time performing at church with the preschool kids, but my dad was unable to get the video uploaded. He is going to work on it and hopefully have something up over the next day or so. I had a lot of fun and my parents said I did a good job.

I can catch you all up on all of the other things we have been doing this Christmas season. Christmas came early after my last PT visit at Children's hospital earlier this month. It turns out that I really enjoyed a "trike" that Dr. Winders had out during my visit. When my parents told my friends Scott and Andrea about it they said that they had a bike that they could give me. I am still a little small for it but that does not keep me from trying and scooting around on it.

Let's ride!

I also got to visit some of my friends for a Christmas open house at the Arc of Jefferson county. It was a wonderful way to spend a Monday evening and we even got to see Santa and his wife. It's fun to catch up with my friends at the Arc.

Some of my friends built a fort. I eventually made it in.

We had a party for my dad and my friends Paul and Howie since they all have late December birthdays. We had a pizza party and then watched Tron (the original). Turns out I enjoyed the movie but fell asleep about half way through. My dad and Paul went to see the new Tron today and they said it was really good. Happy birthday you two!

The B-day boys.

My grandma and grandpa "T" came up for dinner and gift exchange this weekend. I got a fun new toy to play with and it was fun getting to see them and share some time with them before we head out to Iowa this week. I really enjoy the idea of opening presents now. I don't hesitate to tear into them so look out everyone.

Here is a gift for your grandpa.

This big one is mine?

Here I am with mom and dad in my cute Christmas outfit that I wore for singing at church.

Here I am trying to open a gift a little early.

I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and I will hopefully have a lot to share about out trip to Iowa for Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Love,
Lydia