Colorado Family Vacation - Part 1

Once again my family headed off to Colorado this Summer for a fun vacation. This years destination was Ouray, Colorado...16 hours away...with three kids...and an 11 month old!!! (What were we thinking!) The first day we drove to Amarillo and spent the night. The girls were so glad to get out of the car, but since it was 9:30 it was time to go to bed and get back at it in the morning. 

The next morning we left at 7 a.m. to head to Durango. We met my parents in Bloomfield, New Mexico and gave them two two biggest girls. We were headed to Durango, but my parents were going with my sister and her family to Mesa Verde, Colorado.

 The girls got to explore the old Indian villages with my parents. Of course the had a blast and Granny got them T-shirts, books, and stuffed animals.

We spent the day walking around downtown Durango and did a little shopping. My brother and sister-in-law were going to meet us for dinner and every restaurant we went to had over an hour wait. Then a sudden downpour had us trapped under an awning with no sign of relief. We called my brother and he picked us up. When we went to jump in his backseat we saw there were car seats so Trey and I wedged ourselves in the boys seat! That was fun! We ended up at IHOP. That was the very first time I have ever eaten at IHOP! 

After we left Durango we went to Purgatory. We had a BLAST!! 

We bought a pass so the girls could do 5 rides each. The first thing we did was the Alpine slide. I rode with Ella and Trey rode with Layla. Mom and Dad kept Lydia. You ride up the mountain on the ski lift and get on a sled and ride down a concrete slide back down to the bottom of the mountain. The girls were more nervous jumping on the moving sky lift and riding up than they were the slide. 

Next up was the trampolines. 

Ella was a little more nervous that the dare-devil, Layla. 

She wanted to go as high as you could go! She did this "ride" twice and on her second time she did a back flip!! No fear!

They also did the big balls and played on top of the water. This looked like a good work out. 

And a little rock climbing wall. 

And sweet little Lydia just hung out and played and looked adorable...what she does best. It was such a fun time. After we were all worn out we headed out to Ouray...and I prayed on multiple occasions for God to give me peace because those roads were no joke! 

Lydia's First Birthday!!!

I can't even begin to wrap my head around the fact that Lydia is one!! She turned one while we were in Colorado, and since only my side of the family was there we decided to wait to have a party when we got home. Planning a vacation and a first birthday at the same time is not easy!

I made her invitations in photoshop with some digital papers and added in her pictures we took in Colorado. I love it! So sweet and girly!

I stuck with pink and gold to match her outfit and I just LOVE it!! I had her cake and smash cake made by someone here in Rockwall. The gold leaf bottom makes my heart so happy! We did an afternoon party on Sunday so it was just cake and candies. 

Mom and Dad came down to watch Ella's soccer game the day before and spend the night. Mom helped me so much Sunday morning when I was running around getting everything ready.

See that high chair? The night before the party I was laying in bed at midnight and thought...ohhhh, I have a turquoise high chair in the attic. I can spray paint it gold!!! That is what I was doing Sunday before the party!

She was thrilled about all of her presents, right...doesn't she look thrilled?!

Now she does!!!

 She got the hang of ripping the tissue paper out, but unfortunately she wanted to eat it.

And here are some of her cousins and friends. Hunter and Heath were playing upstairs and Brooke and Jalie came after Brooke woke up from her nap. 

After presents we moved on to cake!!

YOu know those pictures where you see the baby covered in their smash cake?? Well, none of my girls have ever donw that. Usually as soon as one finger gets dirty they are over it!

Yep...that was it. She got a finger dirty, tried a little, then whined and made a sad face to get out!

Oh well, it makes the clean up easy.

We had such a great day! We are so blessed with great friends and family to help us celebrate our baby girl!! Happy birthday Lydia!!!

Lydia is 9 Months!

Lydia you are 9 months old!!! We went to the doctor this month and you are 24.2 pounds and 30 " tall. You wear 24 months clothes and a size 4 diaper. I don't know what size shoes you wear because you don't wear any! One less thing I have to keep up with! You are big and chubby and adorable!

You big accomplishment this month was clapping! And you did it for the first time while Granny and Papa were here for the weekend! You were so proud of yourself. 

Your only real words right now are still Mama and Dada, but you make a lot of other sounds. You love to blow raspberries and spit bubbles!

Your favorite toy this month has been the blinds. You love to shake them and bend them and try to break them! You also think it is funny when I tell you no! Goodness, I hope that is not a sign of things to come!

You still do not do a "normal" crawl. You have perfected the military crawl and seem to have no intention of correcting it. You also do not pull up yet. When I hold your hands to make you stand I can tell you are so strong. You have the ability, but not the want to. Hey girl, if I am being honest I am going to tell you not to. It is still relatively easy to keep you contained. You are not trying to crawl up the stairs so I don't have to worry about baby gates and such. You are so cuddly and love to just sit in Momma's lap. If I am out of sight though you fall to pieces.

Which brings me to my next point. Your stranger danger is still out of control. The church nursery is almost non-existent these days. You do not want anyone to hold you. If I stay close you may let someone hold you for a minute or two, but not long. 

It could have something to do with your top two teeth that came in this month. Yep, you now have four teeth! You still eat a lot of table food and some baby food. Your sisters have been helping me with feeding you and it helps out so much! I think you like it too! 

Puff on your head! 

You LOVE bath time! You love to splash the water and trow a fit when it is time to get it. Complete with screaming and back arching! Uh oh!

 You are just a doll baby! I can't get enough of you.

Lydia is 8 Months Old!

Lydia you are 8 months old!! This month you moved to your own room and started sleeping in your crib! You just got too big to sleep in your pack and play and the middle part  started to droop down! You have always slept on your back and stayed still all night. You started wanting to roll over and sleep on your tummy and couldn't do this in your pack and play. You made the transition without any problems! I was a little sad and slept in your room the first two nights. I think you love that you have more space. You sleep from 9 until whenever I have to wake you up. I am looking forward to Summer so I dont have to wake you up!

You got your two bottom teeth! I knew something was up when you started waking up every two hours one night! One finally poked through and the other one came two days later. They didn't seem to bother you, except at night.

You started to like baby food plus table food. You really kind of skipped baby food, or at least tried, but you are starting to kind of like it. You also love avocado, beans, tortillas, bread, eggs, and your puffs. You are still nursing 5-6 times a day. We also introduced the sippy cup and you just prefer to chew on it.

You are army crawling all over the place. I try and pick up your tummy, but you just laugh at me and got back to your army crawl. It works great for you though.

You adore your big sisters and really love it when they play with you. Ella is so sweet and gentle with you, you just light up when you see her after school. Layla is just a little rough and loud and sometimes you need me to rescue you from her.

You have some serious stranger danger and do not like men!!! The church nursery is still a problem. You just don't like to be away from Mom.

You are just the sweetest, must cuddly, adorable baby.

Lydia is 7 Months!

Oh my goodness! Where is time going? I can't believe that as I write this you are seven months old, but tomorrow you will be 8 months old! I can't stop thinking about how close that is to 1 year old!! UHHHH!!!!

Well I scheduled your 6 month appointment a few days after your turned 7 months. 

Speech: You say Dada, Mama, and other sorts of things. I swear when your Granny said Hi the other day to you you said Hi back! =) Your sweet little Mama's melt my heart!

Weight: 23.9 Pounds

Length: 28" Long

Clothes: 18-24 Months

Sleep: You eat at 8:00 p.m., fallas leep on me so I can watch whatever TV show I wasnt to watch with your Dad, then I wake you up at 10, feed you again and you fall back to sleep. YOu still sleep in our room. It's just that your room is upstairs so I don't want you that far away...and you sleep great. I wake you up at 7:30 when we have to leave to take sister to school.

Eating: Still breastfeeding like a champ! =) We introduced food this month. We started with squash and I don't think you are a fan. We then tried apples, that went ok, and then bananas, which you seemed to hate. I bought pears last week and you tolerated them. Then Granny came to town and we went to eat at On The Border and I fed you avacado, which you inhaled! You also tried mashed potatoes and you ate those pretty good too.

Stranger Danger has started this month. You are terrified of Uncle John and he makes you cry almost immediately after seeing him. He doesn't even have to touch you, just eye contact! You also don't like the church nursery anymore, which is soooo hard. Momma wants to go to church, but I am not about to leave you in the nursery if you are crying. They have to BEST workers, but you are having none of it! Uhh!! I need you to grown out of that one soon. 

Other than stranger danger, you are just the happiest baby. You are full of sweet smiles and oh so loveable!

You roll all over tha place, you sit up great, but you are showing no interest in crawling. It's probably because I hold you ALL the time. Your Dad told me yesterday I am going to have to start putting you down so you will learn! I just don't want you to grow up!