December 17- Thirteen Months

Sweet Pea-
I've enjoyed writing these updates so much, I decided we're going to keep them going for a little while longer. You're just changing so quickly- it's hard to keep up with you and all you're learning and doing!

You are a girl on the move! You walk boldly and confidently, and faster every day! It won't be long before you're running. I love watching you toddle around. It's not just walking though- you climb on everything! You crack me up-- you got a miniature rocking chair for your birthday that's just your size. Instead of walking to the front of it to sit, you usually climb over the arm on the side (making it much more difficult than it has to be)! Maybe it's just more fun for you that way; it's definitely fun to watch you!

You are all girl! You love purses and shoes, and could even identify your accessories before you started learning your body parts (boots & bows before tummy, ears and nose). You got a purse from Aunt Mindi for Christmas, and you carry it all over the house. I think your favorites are your pink furry boots.
 

You've become much more responsive with your affections lately. You give hugs and kisses all the time, and you "love" your baby dolls (hugging them close while patting their backs). You are still very much a social butterfly, waving at strangers, smiling at everyone, and saying "Hi!" to people everywhere we go. Syd, one of my favorite things about you is watching other people's genuine joy when you smile or wave at them. I love that you make people smile every single day, and I pray that you will do that forever. Daddy's favorite thing right now is that you wait for him at the back door every night when he gets home with a big hug and a "Hi Dada". If you could say pony, he would totally buy you one. The only place you aren't social is at Sunday School, which breaks my heart. Our church is fabulous, and it breaks my heart that you don't love it yet. You will one day, soon I hope!

You are becoming more verbal. I think you can say a lot more than you do. Lately, your most frequent words are HI and DADA! You also say BOW, BYE BYE, MAMA, and BOOK. You also try to say MORE, ELMO, and lots of other things. In addition to waving, you sign MORE and EAT, and you are starting to point at things you want. Your receptive language is awesome- you understand so much! You love music, love to dance, and your favorite song is Happy Birthday to You!!

You're a really good eater and a great sleeper. You usually go to be around 7:30 and wake up sometime between 7-8. You still take 2 naps during the day (some days really short, but some days up to 2 hours at a time). You're not very picky, although you seem to be taking after your mommy's dislike of fruit (which I'm not proud of). You have tasted- and spit out- grapes and bananas. I wonder if it's a texture issue (it is for me). I'm going to keep trying them- except maybe the bananas, we can share that dislike!



Taken today, 12/17/10

You're a tiny girl with a huge personality and a giant spirit. Stats: 6-9 month clothes, 2-3 diapers, 2 teeth (3 and 4 are trying to break through now finally). Daddy & I could not be any more proud of you or love you any more, Sweet Girl!!

Love,   mommy

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Thanks-mas

I'm one of three girls, and we all live in different states. When the first of us got married, we all agreed that we would all go home for the same winter holiday every year, Thanksgiving or Christmas, and alternate the years. This was our year to be in New Orleans for Thanksgiving, which meant it was Christmas there on Friday (at least, at my parents' house it was!). We had such a fun time!

I can't say enough how thankful I am that Sydney is a good traveler. I was really nervous about flying out on "the busiest air travel day of the year", especially in light of the ridiculous new TSA tactics. Fortunately, my anxiety was for nothing- security was a breeze, and there was actually the lightest crowd we've seen at the Nashville airport in a long time. Our gate was right across from a fantastic new play area for kids, which we took full advantage of!
Sydney had a great time in Louisiana... she feasted on her first Thanksgiving cajun smoked turkey and Christmas seafood gumbo, she got pushed on the swing outside every day, and of course got tons of attention from her Nana & Papaw and aunts & uncles (but not so much from her cousin!). She must have played hard- she took two TWO HOUR naps each day while we were there. I wish she did that at home! She started saying "Hi!" while we were there, and I hear it about 472 times a day now (it's so sweet, I don't think it will ever get old).
I think her favorite Christmas gift was a purse from my sister. She carried it everywhere! It was funny to me, because I haven't carried a purse since I started carrying a diaper bag, so I'm not sure where she's seen that. Maybe the girly desire to accessorize is just innate! Either way, she was precious walking all over the house with it.


Hanging out with Nana outside



Christmas monkeys

Thanks, Aunt Kayla!



Guess who got bows for Christmas!



And boots! (holding them up to show me)

Snack time



Trying to get a picture with all the great-grandkids



With Shannon & Chloe- One of my best girlfriends from college and her girl

Wordless Wednesday

Party Pics

November 17 - Twelve Months

Dearest Sydney,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!! I can't believe it's been a year since we first laid eyes on you. And what a year it has been- full of laughter and tears and learning and loving and fun... The world is so much better with you in it.

I thank God daily for you! He is already at work in your life, using you in amazing ways, and you don't even realize it yet; I pray that you will realize it soon, and choose to allow Him to continue using you. He's got great plans for you, Baby Girl, I know it. The most significant thing I've learned from you this year is the depth of God's love for me. He sent Jesus, His ONLY Son, to die for us. Syd, there is no one I would sacrifice you to save. It thrills my heart when you hug and kiss me, or when you sit in my lap and cuddle, and I imagine that's similar to the desire God has for us to spend time with him, just enjoying being near. I am convicted in those moments that I need to make sure I set a good example for you. I want you to see Jesus in me.
Syd, you bring so much joy to Daddy & me. Your laugh is the most precious sound in the world- I wish I could bottle it. But for now, I'll just tickle you like crazy to hear it as much as I can. We think you are the smartest baby we've ever seen, and we are SO proud to be your parents.

- You've got tons of personality inside that tiny body of yours! You wear mostly 6-9 month clothes and size 2-3 diapers. We'll get your official stats at your checkup this Friday, but they don't really matter. We know that you are just the right size for YOU!
- You are walking everywhere these days! I've had a hard time finding walking shoes small enough to fit you (size 2 or 0-6 months). You're a prime example of why they call babies at your stage "toddlers", and I love the way you toddle! People tried to "warn" me that I would be sorry when you started walking, but they were wrong. I don't mind chasing you down a bit, and I'm excited for you.

- You eat most anything we offer, and you always want a bite if you see me or Daddy eating without sharing. You're not very picky (so far), and I'm thankful for that. You're getting pretty good at feeding yourself finger foods, and you're improving with the sippy cup. Some of your favorite foods lately: blueberry pancakes, cheese, and enchiladas.

- You LOVE books! You play really well with all of your toys, but I think books are your favorite, with one exception-- your new car! Daddy & I gave you your first car and we've already walked miles around the downstairs of our house pushing you in it. And we love that you're enjoying it so much- we'll happily push you around anytime.

- You've struggled with separation anxiety the past three or four months, but I think it's getting better. You get upset when we leave you (even just walking into another room), although I think you get over your sadness pretty quickly. At least, that's what they tell me in the nursery at church.

- You make me nervous with your daredevil stunt attempts! I'm learning that there is a fine line between wanting to protect you from ever getting hurt and letting you explore the world and learn from your experiences. I'm still working on finding just the right balance between the two. I definitely don't want to squash your adventurous spirit.

- Your communication is improving all the time. You are now signing "more", and we're working on "please" and "thank you." I can tell that you understand a lot more than we give you credit for. You don't have any new words this month, but you're beginning to try to mimic sounds. You say "bye bye" when I get off the phone and you hear me say it.

Sydney, there is so much I could say to you. The most important thing, though, is that Daddy & I love you way more than we can ever say. You're the best thing God has given us in the past three years and we're so blessed to call you our daughter. You are beautiful, strong, feisty, fun, sensitive, bold, funny, intense, and thoughtful. We couldn't ask for anyone better. We love you, Chick Pea.

Happy Birthday, Syd.

Lots of love, mommy

Some Things

Seriously, there have been so many times over the past couple of weeks that I've thought: "I should really put that on my blog" but then life happened and I never made time to sit here and type it out and here I am now- finally. I don't know where the times goes... oh yeah- to chasing after my almost one-year-old who is now WALKING!!  I can't believe I didn't even make an official announcement here. I suppose it's because I was waiting for the day when she just quit crawling and suddenly became a "walker" and I didn't really expect that it would happen slowly until one day I would realize "Yeah, she's totally walking more than she's crawling now." But she is. And I love it!! I guess she "started walking" all the time sometime last week. I feel like I should know the day; Mommy: fail. Oh well!

I don't have time to organize all my random thoughts (since I'm not certain how long nap time will last), so here they are in no particular order, except the order I thought of them...

- I find it hilarious and a little disturbing that when I snap Sydney's bib on her in her highchair, the first thing she does is check the pouch to see if there are leftovers from the previous meal. (Have I put a dirty bib on her that many times? For the record, no- she doesn't usually find anything, but she always checks!)

- I know I've said it before, but she's fearless! We bought her a slide a couple of weeks ago and gave it to her (an early birthday present). It only took her a day to figure out how to climb up by herself. She loves to stand on the platform, raise her little hands, and cheer for herself (and make Mommy extremely nervous).

- She loves reinforcement, and has come to expect applause for certain things. I was trying to teach her to put her blocks back in the bucket, and worked on it with her several times. When she finally dropped the block in by herself the first time, I cheered like crazy. Now she likes to take the blocks out and play with them for a minute, before she drops them back in-- and looks up at me waiting for the cheers. And I oblige. She's so funny!

- This was supposed to be posted last week on Wordless Wednesday. Sorry it's now Monday, and there are plenty of words.

Yes, she's climbing the stairs now. By herself. She's actually only done it once by herself, but you know what I mean. We still haven't figured out how to teach her to go down yet, though. She's not interested in going backwards on her belly (in reverse of how she gets up); she gets too distracted and starts going back up again. And she's too little to sit on her bottom and scoot down- I tried that for about a minute when I realized that her little legs are still too short- she just sat on the edge and leaned forward, which works great on her slide but is a recipe for disaster on the stairs.

- My friend Shanna called today to share a sweet story about her little boy, Aiden (almost 3). I get to teach his Sunday School class every week. Aiden holds a special place in my heart because he loves Sydney, and always has! Anyway, this morning at Publix, he asked Shanna what the bagger's name was, and she told him, "Ellis." Aiden replied, "Like the team Ms. Dixon likes." "What are you talking about?" "You know, EL-LIS-YU- Ms. Dixon's team! (LSU)" Love him, love him, love him!

- Today is November 15; last year, it was my due date. I jokingly put on Facebook this morning that I observed a moment of silence in remembrance of the longest day ever (since Nov. 15 came and went last year with no baby). But I wasn't really joking. I've spent a lot of time today thinking about what I was doing last year in these final days of waiting to meet Sydney. I got excited all over again remembering the anticipation. I teared up (confession, am tearing up again) thanking God for how He changed me a year ago, and how He has blessed me beyond belief every day since. I am SO thankful.

We had a big party here on Saturday, but you'll have to wait for the details on that until Wednesday (Syd's actual birthday). And although Wednesdays are usually wordless, I can't make any promises this time. I'm more excited than she is! Here's a little sneak peek...