fig tree freedom

Yesterday Aaron and I walked a few blocks to the hospital to have a look at who's been growing the past 20 weeks.


Adorable! But, again, I'm the biased parent. Unfortunately, this picture quality is quite terrible. The ultrasound equipment in Nashville was newer than the junk equipment yesterday, so Lydia's 20 week photos are so much clearer than this one. Oh well. This baby (whom we refer to as Sam-I-Am) was behaving similarly to our first during the ultrasound - hands near the face and possibly sucking a thumb? Lydia is a thumb-sucker, so maybe there is another thumb-sucker on the way. Sam-I-Am is measuring to the day based on the dates, and we are very thankful for a healthy baby set to arrive sometime in May. Needless to say, 2011 will be another exciting year of changes for us.

Happy New Year!

guest blogger: Lydia

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When my mama was growing up, she put up colored lights in her room every year at Christmas. Mama thought I would enjoy this tradition and put up these lights in my room in early December.


Daddy or Mama plug them in whenever I wake in the morning and from my naps. I usually "oooo" from my crib and race over to the other side of my crib and point to them. Daddy or Mama get me out of the crib, and I crawl over to the lights. I love to point to the colors. Here's blue.


Yellow.


Green.


I love the lights. I will miss them when Mama takes the Christmas decorations down.

On Sunday, the snow started falling in Philadelphia. Fortunately, the snowstorm fell in line with our plans to come home from my parents in the morning, go to church, watch some football during Lydia's nap, and visit the newish Mexican restaurant around the corner for dinner. After Lydia woke up and tore through her toys and books for a little bit, we bundled up and headed outside.



We walked through the snow to dinner and enjoyed private dining for most of the meal. It kind of felt like a movie with the neon lights in the window, snow falling outside, and Lydia dancing to the Mexican music in her high chair while sucking guacamole off tortilla chips.


Aaron had already planned to work from home on Monday, so he didn't have to trudge through the foot of snow that was most likely not shoveled off the sidewalks yet. I had plans to go to Target and IKEA this week, but I do not think I will be going anywhere (via car, anyway) until the rain comes on Sunday and melts away the drifted…

Hope you had a Merry Christmas! (I'm scheduling this post, so I'll comment on our Christmas celebrations later this week.)

I saw these pillows at Target and liked the look of them. However, by the time I tried googling them, I couldn't find them online. I found a picture of one in some random person's living room, but I didn't know if she'd appreciate her living room appearing on my blog. So, to give you the inspirational design, here are the dinnerware set and serving platter that Target sells.

I grabbed red pillow covers from IKEA because I cannot make a pillow cover for that cheap factoring in fabric, zipper, etc. Plus, these pillow covers are comfy. With my 50-feet of freezer paper in hand (that I discovered at the SuperFresh last month - hooray!) and using Dana's freezer paper stencil tutorial as a reference, I spent the weekend before Christmas cutting out snowflakes from freezer paper. Then I painted. I ran out of paint after two pillows, so I only fi…

Merry Christmas Eve!

Mmm, yes. I did not forget. Those peppermint patties I made two weeks ago? Delicious. You should definitely make them. Though they took longer than I anticipated. Just call me Rebekah. Explanation of that statement: my friend, Rebekah, loves to tackle DIY projects - painting rooms in her house, reupholstering old, wooden couches and chairs, gardening, etc. Unfortunately for her, she almost always underestimates the amount of time those said projects will take her. Thus, when I started making these peppermint patties at seven o'clock on a Friday evening and still wasn't finished at ten o'clock, I felt like Rebekah must feel during one of her seemingly never-ending projects. Fortunately, the results of my underestimation were fantastic. Lovers of real peppermint patties even praised them as tasting better than the real deal. And Megan's photo will have to be enough for you because I failed to photograph the beauty of the ones I made.

Our refrigerator…

guest blogger: Lydia

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This is where I sit while Daddy gets ready for the day.


Every day I look at this photo in the frame on his dresser of Mama and Daddy smooching on their wedding day.


And then I giggle.

Perhaps some of you remember this regarding a newly initiated Christmas tradition which we borrowed from Aaron's family. Last year we also started one for our little family, and eleven months later, I finally embroidered the hands.


Look at Lydia's itty, bitty hand.


I am already prepared for this year as I have gathered the next color thread for this Christmas with the goal of stitching the hands next week during Lydia naps. Then I can pack the tablecloth away with the rest of the Christmas paraphernalia instead of staring at it on my sewing table for the next eleven months (as I did last year). I should say I'll post a photo in January for accountability, but I'm too much of a procrastinator to commit to such a statement.

guest blogger: Lydia

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"This is George. He was a good little monkey and always very curious."


This here was my daddy's George when he was little, and now it is mine.


I love to wrestle with George and talk to George and give George kisses.


Do you have a favorite stuffed animal friend, too?

Lydia is taking over my blog. (I'm sure none of you mind.) So even though she's not blogging this post, it's still about her.

The Sunday before last, we celebrated Lydia's baptism. (Pictures are limited because the light behind Aaron's head prevented the camera focus from cooperating with the photographer. Of course, we didn't even think to take a family picture either because the end of the service time is also after lunch time and before nap time which puts Lydia in a fragile state. Basically, we are just slackers for failing to capture a family photo.)

Anyway, I won't address the theology of infant baptism here on my blog, but I love what it represents - the sign and seal of the covenant God made with Abraham - an unconditional covenant of blessing and redemption. God's grace and mercy through salvation are gifts extended to each of his children; we merely must receive. Lydia's baptism doesn't grant her salvation as only she can choose this f…

guest blogger: Lydia

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It has been very cold outside, and we hadn't gone to the park in a long time. Until last Wednesday when Mama's crazy friend called and said they were going to the park in the freezing cold. I thought it sounded fun. Mama bundled me up, and off we went.


There was only one other kid at the whole park. I stood at the slide and watched Brennan and Kuyper fill the slide with leaves. They run much faster than I can crawl, so I just supervised.



On Wednesday, we went to their house and helped roll cookies. Mama didn't bring her camera, but it was snowing confectionary sugar. I sat on the counter and watched. Those boys are silly, but I like playing with them and giggling at them.

guest blogger: Lydia

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A few weeks ago, I got a package in the mail. It was from my Nana's neighbor. She had made me Christmas ornaments out of felt. They are stuffed with yummy smelling stuff - potpourri, I think. Aren't they cute?


I keep them in this box under the tree (with my Veggie Tales nativity set), so I can play with them whenever I want.


I like to put them on the tree and then take them off again.


I also like their eyes. When they first came, I picked off the eyeballs before Mama realized what I was doing. (I really like eyeballs and eyelashes. See?)

Mama said craft glue wasn't strong enough and hot glued them back into place, but I still managed to pull off the star's one eyeball. Well, almost. It's still hanging on, and I can't get it off. 

This is Lydia's favorite spot to be while I'm cooking - sitting on the counter. She is becoming more entertaining during the cooking, too.

On Saturday, we bundled up and walked over to Macy's for the annual Christmas light show: a Philadelphia tradition since 1956. We piled into the shoe department and looked up, up, up at the Christmas tree and the dancing lights. As soon as we sat down and pointed Lydia toward the lights, she was hooked.

She ooh'd and ahh'd at the lights even before the show began. Once it started, she would occasionally burst out laughing. It was hilarious to watch and hear her.

Then she settled back into my lap with her left thumb in her mouth and her right hand twirling her hair.



Afterwards, we headed to the third floor to check out Dickens Village, but the line was ridiculous, so we just checked out the tree from a new view. (Yes, people do watch the show from up there, but you have to get there early to have a spot at the railing to be able to see.)

I couldn't tell which Lydia found more exciting - seeing the lights again or cruising around with the railing.

Yesterday we celebrated Lydia's Great-Great-Grammy's ninety-fifth birthday; her birthday was actually Saturday.

Here are the youngest and oldest attendees at the party.


I was put on camera duty by Aaron's Pop-Pop since their camera battery died. It is tricky to take pictures while attending to an its-past-my-bedtime-one-year-old, but I managed to grab a couple decent ones. Here is one of my favorites of Great-Grammy with one of her many (twenty-something? thirty-something?) great-grandkids.


The birthday girl was very busy greeting her family. (That's what happens when you have four kids and they all have kids and they all have kids . . . ) I think these are grandkids. Or grandkid plus grandkid-in-law. (Sorry, I married into this family. I can't quite keep the family tree straight all the time. =)


I think Lydia is already asleep in this picture.


Happy Birthday, Great-Great-Grammy!

It is Friday night, and I am making these homemade peppermint patties.

I wonder if mine will look and taste as lovely as Megan's photo.


Here's hoping . . .

Just helping daddy in the kitchen.

"The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast." Genesis 21:8.
So Aaron did not hold a great feast on the day Lydia was weaned, but she is done. It is with mixed emotions that I say we did it. With the support of my husband and the cooperation of Lydia (and occasional help from google), Lydia and I enjoyed a year plus a few weeks of a successful breastfeeding relationship. On Sunday, I nursed her before bedtime for the last time. The only tears during the last few weeks of weaning came from me. I didn't want the weaning to be traumatic for either of us but definitely not for her. My prayers were answered as she transitioned away from her four daily feedings beautifully. Almost too beautifully. I cried; she didn't. *sigh* I think this is one of twenty million milestones down the path of fostering independence in my child. I think this must be what they call parenting.