On March 2, 2008, at 3:05 pm, our lives changed forever with the birth of our sweet daughter, Lydia. After 18 years together, Paul and I finally decided to take the plunge into parenthood. So now we share our life with our daughter.
We went to the Atlanta Zoo with Grandma Sandy and Abuelito. It was a perfect day for it. Lydia squealed at the pandas, monkeys, lions, and birds and loved it all. She even happily sat in the stroller! We all had a great time.
For more photos of the zoo trip, click here. And to see a video of Lydia at the zoo, click here!
On Sunday we drove to Kennesaw to meet friends for lunch. We tried Pie in the Sky to experience their famous 30″ pizzas.
The place was about 45 minutes away, which turns out to be about 10 minutes longer than Lydia wanted to tolerate. Then, when we stepped in the restaurant Lydia was so overwhelmed by the noise and people that we thought we’d have to leave. (Ugh… Not after that long drive!)
Luckily we figured out how to get her happy again. (Whew!) She sat in the highchair at the foot of the table and laughed and smiled her way through lunch. She even loved the pizza.
I’m glad the initially challenging lunch turned out to be enjoyable afterall. We had a great time and ate crazy large pizza slices!
Last week during our trip to Michaels, I picked up a cute, small Easter basket for Lydia. She loved it. She insisted on carrying it through the store, home in the car, and outside as we messed around later.
While outside she found and picked up a large fallen branch. Fun. She quickly decided the basket would be a good way to carry it (all 5 ft of it). She got it on the basket, but it no further. Guess it was worth a try. Later she settled for carrying bark and leaves in the basket instead. Cute.
Well, John and Kadi predicted correctly. The cat door has become a great way to eject toys down the stairs. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Lydia will try big and small: stuffed animals, hand puppet magnet Plato, tins, balls, plastic toys, shoes… She’ll try anything. 
I predict it will become a drive through window one day.
We got Lydia a xylophone today after noticing how much she enjoyed “playing the drums” with Daddy using small twigs. She plays both sides: the top side with the metal bars on it and the back that has a grate on it, washboard-style. Here she is enjoying it today.
Lydia loves interactive toys. Lately, one of her favorites is the Spanish/English push button book that Grandma Becky gave her. The other is a card that has a recorded message and song that Grandma Sandy and Abuelito gave her. She pushes the book buttons and plays the card over and over and over. She really enjoys them and smiles happily when she hears them.
Lydia and I celebrated Valentine’s Day with all the kids from the MOMS Club on Friday. She was a bit overwhelmed at times by all the kids (~30 kids ranging from 7 weeks to ~5 years old). She enjoyed watching the kids play and run, and she even interacted with a few. I’m sure she’ll get more and more used to playing with them as we go to more events.
Last Friday Daddy got to come home early, so we all went to the playground together. Lydia did her usual explorations, sliding, and walking around. Then we came home and played in the front since it was such a beautiful day (actually hot in the sun!). One of Lydia’s fun experiences was getting to sit in a big person chair. She was super proud of herself for sitting in the patio chair, and loved every minute of it. We had a great afternoon.
After Christmas I put half of Lydia’s toys away since she had so many. Today I brought them back out and put others away. She’s loving her box of “new” toys. She took each out, one by one and studied them thoroughly. I heard several wows/woahs as she played with them. She’s really enjoying them. It’s like Christmas all over again.
