January Update

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. We certainly enjoyed ours... Lydia was so much fun, and we were able to see most of the family for Christmas, so that was great. Lydia is enjoying her last year of being an only child, and she was very happy with Santa this year. Of course it helps that she is very gullable and believed all of my excuses why Santa would not be bringing her the extremely expensive gifts that she wanted. She was happy to revise her list, and was lucky to have gotten lots of new things for the price of one of the items she originally wanted.

Now that the holidays are behind us, I'm trying to focus on 2 things. School and the new baby. Ok, 4 things, add the kitchen remodeling and as always, our number 1 priority, Miss Lydia.

The anticipation is building as we await the ultrasound tomorrow morning. Will this baby be more cooperative than his/her big sister and let us have a peek? Will we actually be able to start calling this baby "he" or "she" rather than "it"? We'll find out tomorrow. If we are able to tell if we're having a boy or a girl, then we can start making other plans such as whether or not "she" can share a room with Lydia (this is what Lydia is hoping for) or will "he" need a room of his own. Which color stroller should we buy? The pink and gray, or the blue? And I don't even want to think about names. It will help to narrow things down by half before we start any serious thinking on that issue. So tomorrow - I hope - we will be able to answer some of those questions.

I started school again yesterday, and I'm happy to report that this should be an easy and stress free... or at least reduced stress... semester. I'm taking Abnormal Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and Professional Ethics. Not a heavy work load, and it doesn't look like there is any homework in my Abnormal Psych class, just 3 tests, so that will be nice!

Lydia got her first Kindergarten report card last week. She's doing great in school. She has mastered all of the skills she needs to master, but aparently she has trouble listening and paying attention in class. They're telling me that she is bored easily, and needs a challenge. She doesn't always follow directions as she should, and she doesn't try her best because she would rather be silly than take her schoolwork seriously. I'm having a hard time believing this of my sweet perfect little angel! (Just kidding here... the teacher's assessment of Lydia is exactly the same as my own. Very bright, but often off in a world of her own.) The next half of this year will be interesting as I can no longer spell words that I don't want her to hear... now she knows what I'm spelling. She is always influenced by the older kids in the neighborhood, and therefore she tends to think anything to do with body parts or bodily functions is absolutely hilarious, and she thinks EVERYONE agrees with her. The poor computer repair man and the girl making our sandwiches at Subway this week are just 2 examples of the people she thinks need to hear every random silly and gross thought that pops into her head. When she decides to start unleashing this humor on her teachers... well, lets just say that I'm prepping myself for the calls from the teacher, or principal, that will inevitably follow. That being said, she keeps us laughing every day. For Lydia, laughter is the best medicine, and she loves to make people smile. I tend to think of her as a 5 year old Jim Carrey... very funny... but often inappropriate.

Lydia made a decision at the right moment last week... she decided she did want her ears pierced afterall, and she caught Mommy and Daddy in the right mood to let her do it. Of course the actual piercing took her off guard. She started backing out at the last minute, so we had to trick her into sitting still so the girls could "measure" her ears, then they silently counted to 3 together and pierced- she was not expecting it, and she cried for about 2 minutes... just until she saw her pretty new earrings in the mirror. Then a big smile spread across her face and she was fine. She's very proud of her newly pierced ears. And as you can see, she's also losing teeth faster than ever - I think she's lost 5 teeth over the last 5 months. She has 3 more loose ones now that I'm expecting to fall out within the next month or two. But the new ones are growing in quickly so she's not COMPLETELY toothless.

Hopefully soon we'll have pictures of our new kitchen floor, but I'll spare you the demolition stage that we're in now... it's not so pretty, but hopefully it will look really nice when we're done.

I hope everyone has a great year in 2009!