18 Months

Okay, how in the WORLD do I have an 18 month old!? It blows my mind. It seems like just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital with NO IDEA how to be parents. Its funny how quick the whole parenting thing comes. There is absolutely nothing else I would rather be and nowhere else I'd rather be with my life right now. Dave and Lydia are my whole world, and I LOVE being a mom. I find myself completely overwhelmed sometimes at the amount of happiness that can fill my heart. I'm so glad that Heavenly Father's plan is centered around families. They truly are what bring the most joy in this life.

With that being said, here are a few updates on Lydia and what she is doing these days. I want to make sure to write down everything so that I don't forget!

She is into anything and everything. She LOVES to unload cupboards and drawers. Not to play with what's in them, but just to unload every. single. thing. in them and then wait for me to clean it up so that she can empty it out again. Every single morning as I am taking a shower, she unloads pretty much every drawer in my bathroom. If there is a mess to be made, she is your number one gal. She is busy with a capital B!

She thinks it is so fun to wear my shower cap. Every morning while I'm getting ready, she will bring it over to me, put it in my hand, and then point repeatedly at her head.

Also part of the morning routine. She gets every hair clip of mine that she can find and brings them over to me one at a time, puts them in my hand, and points to her head over and over again. And then she always poses after a new one is put in. It is the cutest thing ever. 

She is currently OBSESSED with being outside. She squeals with excitement if you ask her, "Do you want to go outside?" She will squeal, race over to find her shoes, bring them to you, plop herself down on the floor, and point at her shoes over and over and won't take her eyes off of you until you get her shoes on. Then she RUNS to the door and taps it over and over until you get there. And if you aren't coming fast enough, she'll either start stomping her feet or she will run over to get your hand to try to pull you to the door. So we have to be careful about when we say the word "outside". Haha. We spend a little bit of time every day outside (except when it SNOWS in April.) Lately, she's been really into gathering up Easter eggs that I put out on the front lawn for her to pick up. I put a little yogurt melt treat in each one, and she loves to open them up and devour the snack. And she loves bubbles. We do bubbles in the front yard a lot. Whenever a car drives by, she will stop whatever she's doing and wave at it. She is so funny.

We spend LOTS of time at the park by our house. She LOOOOOVES swings and slides and I think she could spend 3 hours straight at the park and not get bored. She cries every time it's time to go home.

She also really loves walks. Dave and I try to take a walk every night after he gets home from work. She has the greatest time looking at everything and enjoying a little snack as we walk. She really loved this walk we went on with her cousin in the double stroller. It was a workout pushing that double!!

She is way into books lately. She's finally figured out how to read them, not EAT them. Yay!! That's a major accomplishment as far as I'm concerned. I grew weary of the bite marks in every. single. book. that we own. She's loves to look through books while she drinks her milk before bed at night and in the morning. She will walk over to her bookshelf, grab a book, walk it over to me and put her hands up to be picked up. I'll set her on my lap and she'll snuggle in and get all comfy, then open up the book and then reach for her milk. She'll just chug her milk while she flips through each page. And if the book is finished before her milk is gone, she will put the milk down, go get another book, and then repeat the process. I think I've created a bookworm, and I couldn't be happier! 

My two peeps. My happy place. 

We went to the library for the first time the other day and she had so much fun pulling all of the books off the shelf and putting them in her bag. This may have to be a weekly visit for us.

She's getting to be a better napper! She used to be TERRIBLE at naps, and she still has days that are better than others, but for the most part, she'll take a 2 hour nap for me every day, which is HUGE. Nap time is like gold to me. It's my prime time to read my scriptures, clean the house, or get caught up on things (like my blog! Ha.). She is still an awesome night-time sleeper and goes right down every night without a problem. Woohoo!!

Is there anything in the world cuter than a sleeping baby?? I'm not sure there is.

This is not a regular occurrence. It was TOTALLY a one time thing. She NEVER falls asleep anywhere but in her crib or a pack and play. But it was so cute I had to take a picture of it. 

When she wakes up from nighttime or from her nap, she LOVES to jump in her crib. It's the cutest thing to open the door and see her little body jumping up and down. She gets so excited!

She is getting to be an explorer, a climber, and an escape artist. She is getting to be pretty fearless when it comes to trying new things, especially climbing things. She loves to climb on anything and everything. People, chairs, couches, stairs, into cupboards, on coffee tables, into the bathtub - anywhere she can get to. She also thinks it is so fun to play the piano lately, which is cute, but is a little challenging for me because I can't ever practice anymore. Whenever she hears the piano she comes running like a bat out of you-know-where to climb on the piano bench and to bang the keys. As you can guess, it is not very conducive to me practicing as she's on my lap banging every key in sight. I really needed to get some practicing in, so I trapped her upstairs on the landing. I closed all of the doors to the bedrooms and used the pack and play to block the stairs. It fits perfectly in front of our stairs and is big enough that she can't maneuver her way around it. I got her up there playing in her kitchen, then snuck downstairs and started playing. In less than 1 minute, I looked over to see Lydia climbing up next to me on the piano bench. I just started laughing and said, "How in the world did you get down here!?" I walked upstairs to see what happened and the pack and play was a little askew, but hardly even looked like it had moved at all. When Dave got home from work, we tested it out. I wanted to see how she got past it! So we left him upstairs with her, and sent me down to start playing. Within SECONDS of her hearing me play, she scooted backwards into the corner of the pack and play, and wriggled herself UNDERNEATH it!! Her head got stuck for a second, but then she was free and scooting down the stairs as quick as she could. Dave and I were DYING. We had a good laugh about it all night long. And we realized we can't use the pack and play to block the stairs anymore. Dang! 

She actually got all the way outside of the doggy door at Grandpa and Grandma Dalgleish's. She is one determined little lady!

Trying to escape at Uncle Seth's baseball game. If there is a way to escape, she will find it!!

She gets HYPERACTIVE at nighttime. From about 7:00 on, she gets into crazy mode and just runs around. Literally. Just runs from place to place throwing herself into the couch and her little giraffe seat. Up the stairs and down the stairs. We give her a bath every night to help calm her down. She really loves the bath. It works like a charm, and by the time she gets into bed, she has usually calmed down enough to just go right to sleep as soon as we put her down.

This video is the BEST example EVER of how crazy she gets. She is still as cute as can be, but just gets kind of wild at nighttime. 

This video kills me every time. She was running around with her diaper like this for a REALLY long time. I hope we're not horrible parents, but we were just dying of laughter instead of rushing to change her diaper. 

We have to get pretty creative at nighttime to keep her occupied until it's time for bed. Luckily, Dave is a GREAT dad and loves to come home and play with her. Diaper box rides are not unusual in the evenings at our house.

She still doesn't say too many words. Her vocabulary consists of "Uh-oh, Lydia" "baby" and "grandpa". Yeah. She says grandpa before she even says mom and dad. What the heck!? She's getting pretty good at pointing to her hair, nose, mouth, and diaper. We're still working on eyes and ears and belly button. She loves to give hugs and kisses to anyone. One time at church during sacrament meeting she gave me a hug, then Dave a hug, then looked at the lady on the bench behind us and reached out to give her a hug. They can be total strangers, but if you ask her to give them a hug and a kiss she will. It is so sweet. 

Every time I watch this video I think how much she looks like Natalie from Mrs. Doubtfire. 

She really loves toys lately. It's so cute to see her be so excited to play with things. She loves to drive her little Minnie Mouse car all over the house and absolutely loves her kitchen. She loves stuffed animals and loves to give them all hugs and loves.

Alphabet fridge letters are a favorite of hers now.

I love how proud she is of herself for putting all the food in the dishwasher. Her grin at the end makes me smile every time.

She loves these toys that she got from her aunt Lauren. She tries to pry them apart, but they are kind of hard to get apart. She makes this face like it takes all of her strength and energy to get them apart and then she can't even do it. It is hilarious!

She absolutely LOVES these cars at the grocery store. She is my shopping buddy, and gets so excited when there is a car she can drive while we shop.

Lydia starts nursery the first week of May! I am so excited for that! She was being really noisy in Sunday School last week and so I had to take her out. She wasn't crying or screaming, just talking REALLY loudly. I felt bad for everyone in the class that was trying to listen because they couldn't hear. So, we decided to give nursery a try since we were out in the hall anyway and she goes in in two weeks. I opened the door to the nursery, sat her down, and she ran in and never looked back. She had so much fun playing with the toys and the other kids. She seriously didn't even know I was in there with her. She was being so good that I left her with the workers there and went to Young Women's without her. It was awesome! I felt like I was on a vacation!!! She lasted clear up until there was just 20 minutes of church left. The nursery leader had to come and get me because she couldn't get Lydia to calm down. I don't know what it was that upset her, but that last hour of church is always hard. It's an hour past her nap, and she gets pretty cranky. But - I felt like our first try with nursery was a success, and I'm so excited that she goes in all the way in two weeks!! Yay!!

We like to be matchers for church. We both got our dresses in Mexico.

Lydia with her cousin Evelyn. She really likes playing with other kids lately, so nursery is going to be so great for her.

Being a mom to an 18 month old is a lot of work! It is definitely not for the faint of heart! Parenting is tough! By the time 8:00 comes, I am so ready for a breather and a quiet evening. But when the morning comes I am always so excited to get her out of bed and to see her cute little jumping face. Being a mother is the most amazing, rewarding, best thing I've ever done. I'm so grateful to be Lydia's mommy. As crazy as she is, I wouldn't trade her for any other baby in the world. She is my little sweetie, my little buddy, and my favorite little human. Because of the Savior and through His atonement, we can be a forever family, and I am so incredibly grateful for that every single day. 

And...I couldn't find a place where these pictures fit too well, but they are all cute, so they are the grab bag reward for making it all the way through this post! Haha.