Happy 1st Birthday, Baby Girl!

Leading up to Lydia's first birthday party, the whole family had been sick. Lydia had been fighting an ear infection and cold, and I had been fighting a sinus infection. Needless to say, we were running a little behind on the party planning. By the grace of God, we were all finally feeling better by the time the big day rolled around! Obviously we didn't do it alone, we had some wonderful help!

Auntie Jill and Uncle Ben were the amazing decorators. They arrived at our house first and put up all the balloons and streamers and picture line! Jill used to work at party city, so she took on the balloons, making sure each bunch was absolutely perfect. And Ben, well he must just have a knack for decorating ;)

 My good friend, Crystal made the adorable cake for Lydia's party. It was quite the hit. Not only was it adorable, but it was oh-so-goooood! Coconut and chocolate - Yummmm!!!! Lydia thoroughly enjoyed it as well! At first, she was unsure what it was. I don't think she understood that it was food. Once she tasted the delicious sugar, she knew exactly what to do with it :)

Besides the cake, we had some other goodies! I made red velvet cheese dip, cookie dough dip, brownies cookies and Oreo pops (most ideas found from Pinterest!). Lots of sweets for her first birthday! And the main dish was PIZZA (Papa Murphys)! We has several different toppings to choose from and we blew through 5 pizzas!

We were debating whether or not to open gifts with everyone there because it seemed like Lydia was going to konk out any second! I'm so glad we decided to do a gift opening - Lydia had so much fun! She got the cutest gifts! Our family and friends are the best!!!! Not only did they drive out to Timbuktu to our house for the party, but they came with the most wonderful gifts! We just had the most amazing time! The party turned out to be better than we could have ever imagine!

On the Mend?

Lydia has always been a fairly healthy baby, but these past couple weeks have been a different story. At first I thought it was just a cold, then it was an ear infection + teething = high fever, then the amoxicillin first prescribed for her wasn't strong enough and we couldn't keep her fever down without ibuprofen. Then we switched to augmentin (a stronger form of amoxicillin). She seemed to be doing better. Her nose wasn't running as much and her fever finally ended on Sunday. WHEW... Still with me?

Monday night she comes home with a rash all over her back and torso. Ugh! Now what!?!?! Back to the doctor. Good news! Ear infection is gone, she is having a reaction to the augmentin but isn't allergic; the rash should go away in a couple days. I think she is on the mend. Thank goodness/knock on wood.

 Poor baby.

She has been very snugly lately. Anyone that knows Lydia, this is very strange. It has been a very nice change of pace. Except when I drop her off at daycare and she clings to me like an octopus. That has been really hard. She has cried the last two days I have dropped her off. I am really hoping it is only because she hasn't been feeling well.

In some positive news, LYDIA IS ONE ON FRIDAY!!!!! I can't believe it! She is getting so big and it went so fast and I just love her so much! And now, I must go on Pinterest and find some party ideas for Saturday :)

Teeth + Ears

Apparently, teething and ear infections commonly go hand in hand... Who knew?! Ms. Lydia has been feeling under the weather for about a week now. I thought all was fine after she had a weekend + Monday of rest, but daycare called Tuesday and said her fever was up to 105. Yikes!! I had DH take her to urgent care (I had a patient). The doctor said she is teething and has an ear infection. The two of them apparently frequently occur together, making her fever worse :-\ Poor thing. So she has been on a regimen on ibuprofen and amoxicillin.

DH stayed home with her again yesterday because we he forgot to get a doctor's note. She is back at daycare today. I hope she is doing alright. I miss her so much this week! She has been so cuddly, which is super strange for her. I like it :) I just don't like that she is sick.

Her party is next weekend already! So much to get done! I'm still waiting for her headbands to get here, and I need to put her decal on her onsie. And prepare food. And clean... A lot. Meanwhile I have a crazy week ahead of me! Oi!

Annnd, some pictures!

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Cough * Cough

Bean and I are sick. Only with a cold, but still unpleasant. She has only been at daycare one week. That was fast.

Invitations for her first birthday arrived today. Watch for your invite in the mail ;)

Back to Normal... I think

I think Ms. Lydia is mostly back to her normal sleep schedule. She has been going to sleep around 8:30/9:00 again. It's nice when she goes to bed around that time - it gives DH and I a little alone time before we have to head to bed. She is still sleeping as long as we allow. I had the morning off from classes and she got up around 10:45. I think she takes after mama and papa in that area. We can both sleep and sleep and sleep!

I drove past an elementary school today after dropping Lydia off at daycare. All the kids were outside playing and it made me really sad. That is going to be Lydia before we know it. I'm having a hard enough time with her turning one soon!

I'm in a bit of a rut when it comes to my fitness kick. I guess it had to come eventually, right? I've been going to the gym still, but I have been pretty unmotivated while I'm there. And I've been craving sugar like crazy lately. I'm a total addict. I still have another 20+ pounds I want to lose though. I can't give up now. I just can't.

I have a cute picture of Lydia on my phone. I just don't feel like getting up to get it right now ;)

Confusing Night and Day?

Huh?!?!?! The past few nights Lydia has NOT wanted to go to bed until late late late. Her normal bed time is 8:00pm and she usually goes down like clock-work. The past couple nights she has fought sleep til the bitter end, usually giving in around 10:00. WHAT??? That is so late! The other odd thing is she hasn't been waking up until after 10:00am, stretching out to past 11:00am the last 2 mornings. So. Strange! I'm not sure why the recent change. It is like she is starting to confuse her night and day. A little strange for a baby that is almost one, right? She is gonna be hurting tomorrow. I have early class, which means I have to wake her up by 6am. She is still not asleep. It's 10:30. I should probably warn daycare tomorrow.

In other news, I finally got the master bathroom painted. It was the last room to be painted and I have been putting it off since our first get-together here.... That was December 1st. I had it all taped and ready to go since then, but I haven't been able to convince myself to just get it done. Today was the day. Instead of going to the gym today, I decided to stay home and do some cleaning and painting. I might possibly be the messiest painter ever. I had a lot of paint spots on the floor to clean up. And the ceiling got some paint. But that isn't the point. The point is it's done! And I like it. The color is a little less blue than I thought it was going to be... a lot more gray. Which works, because our bedroom is gray. Now I just have to decorate it. I hung a few things up already but it is still a little boring in there. My goal is to have it all done but February 11th - Lydia's 1st birthday!!! Eeeeek!

Here are some pictures of the bathroom.

Her invites should be here early this week. I can't wait to get them addressed and on to their destinations. I've begun planning the menu. The cake is already in the works and I have another dessert idea. But I'm not sure what else to have for food. Lucky I have pinterest to help give me ideas :)

It's going to be a pretty busy week, unfortunately. I have my mock boards this Friday, but no patient. That could be an issue. I need to find one. Hopefully tomorrow. Boards are quickly approaching and it is making me more and more nervous. Once boards are done, I will be nearly home free. Gosh, May could not come soon enough.

Buenos Noches!

Better Late Than Never

I know, it has been way way WAY too long since I have posted. When we started our other blog, I had a hard time keeping up with this blog as well. But I decided I like this blog! :) So I'm back and will hopefully be more diligent about posting.

To catch everyone up, I'll do some updates!

Lydia update: She is almost 1 year old! AHHHHHH! I'm having a hard time with this. I cannot believe how quickly my baby has grown. She walks probably 90% of the time and crawls about 10% of the time. She started walking about a month ago, but has really taken off in the last couple weeks. I'm so proud of her. I am amazed every day with how much she grows and changes and learns. She has no teeth yet. Figures. She just switched to a new daycare center, which she seems to love! She is happy when we drop her off and happy when we pick her up. She doesn't sleep all that great there yet, but this is only the first week she has been there. She has increased her nap time by 15 minutes each day. She has a great first Christmas. She was completely uninterested in gifts, but we tried :)

She has a few word in her vocabulary now. She can say 'hi,' 'buh-bye,' 'mama,' 'dada,' 'papa,' 'uh-oh,' 'woof-woof,' and 'bahhhhh.' That's a new one from today. We worked on what a sheep says ;) I have started planning her first birthday party. I ordered the invites yesterday and I have a friend working on the cake plans! I'm excited for it, but it is sad at the same time.

House update: We have our first house!!! We closed on it at the end of November. We love it! It is nearly completely decorated. I just have the master bathroom left to paint. There are plenty of projects though! DH and BIL are going to build a built-in for the laundry room (my Christmas present from them). The boys tore off the stairs on the deck because they apparently created a water trap. So those will need to be built this sping/summer. We need a new dishwasher, which we will probably buy when we get our stainless appliances for the entire kitchen. We need a fence for the dogs. Yada yada yada. But we love it. A lot. It definitely feels like home.

Me update: I am in my last semester of dental school. Thank goodness!!!!! I am in full-time clinic plus I have two classes I missed when I had Lydia. Boards are coming up next month. This scares me. It is very stressful and very expensive ($1500). I don't have much of a choice but to do well. I have been working out nearly every day at a gym in Edina. I joined at the beginning of December and have since lost nearly 20 lbs. I was sick of not fitting into my pre-pregnancy clothes, so I joined the gym and got personal training with a friend. It has been hard though. Not so much the working out a couple hours a day... I can handle that pretty well. But it means I don't get to see Lydia for more than an hour or so a day. That has been the hardest part. It also means I don't get to see DH much either, and when I do see him, I'm pretty tired. I have to remember that this busy time in my life is temporary and I'm doing things that are going to benefit me and my family.

Alright....that is a general update for now. I'm off to the gym :)