Where did my baby girl go?

I don't know if it was the fact that Lydia turned one last week, or that she has just gone through some changes in the last few weeks, but we have quickly started to see her as much more of a toddler and much less of a baby. Just the way she does things much more independently and how she portrays her personality makes me realize that she is growing up way too fast! She will always be my little baby -- but only in a figurative, emotional type of way. Sigh.

Speaking of the birthday, we had a gorgeous day for celebrating. In fact we were able to spend the majority of her party time out in yard with friends and family. Lydia looked absolutely adorable in her party dress and she highly enjoyed the attention. Her first real taste of pure sugary sweet in her birthday cupcakes went well -- she enjoyed eating it, but she was certainly fairly calm about the whole deal and didn't even eat the whole cupcake that we gave to her. Overall the day was great and we were glad to share this special day with many friends and family.

Elizabeth's mom, Cynthia, came to stay with us before and after Lydia's birthday to get in some good quality time with her grandaughter. Lydia quickly got used to having Nana around as it wasn't but a day or so that she wanted to go to Nana over either Mommy or Daddy!

One of Lydia's new favorite things is to play peek-a-boo. We have played this with Lydia for a long time, but it used to be that Elizabeth or I would play the more active role in the game -- but recently Lydia has become more into doing the hiding. There are a couple of places that she has found that she can hide from view by ducking out of view. She will proceed to go 'up and down' several times and expecting her 'audience' to exlaim 'there you are!' It is great fun to see her come to a better understanding of her surroundings and the cause and effect of her actions.

We had Lydia's 12 month doctor's appointment and she has slowed down her growth some. She has consistently been in the 50 percentile for height and weight but this time she was in the 25 percentile. The doctor said this was nothing to worry about and that she is perfectly healthy. We were only slightly disappointed as this means that we cannot switch her to her new carseat until she reaches 20 pounds. We are hoping that the doctor's instructions to have her eating mostly "grown-up" food will help her to pack on the pounds.

We've unpacked the warmer Fall clothing for Lydia as the weather has turned colder in the past couple days. Some of her clothes from the Spring are getting new use as Lydia has not outgrown them yet. We hope that she will have a growth spurt soon as she has lots of cute warm clothes waiting for her.