Teething

Just a quick note that yesterday, March 4, Lydah's first tooth poked through. She is now officially in the teething stage which gives her a great excuse to be grouchy.

Nearing Six Months

Lydah seems to get cuter every day! She is really interacting with us more than ever -- laughing at our silly voices and loving peek-a-boo. She still loves to blow "raspberries" but they have become about five times louder than before. The other day Courtney had to take her out of church because her "happy noises" were too loud. She has added to her repertoire of things to do with toys -- now she not only grabs them and sucks on them, but can also use them as projectiles or as drumsticks against any nearby surface. People say she is looking more like her daddy all the time. What do you think? Let us know if you think she is taking after Courtney or Greg by posting your comments!

We may need to have a little talk about gluttony since that double-chin seems to keep growing.

Helping Mommy cook in the kitchen.

In Wilmore, we call this a "pack-n-play."

Sitting Up and Rolling Over

It's been a little while since I've posted. Lydah is now sitting up on her own and rolling over from her belly to her back. We're trying to form some semblance of a routine in her life and she's been doing fairly well at sleeping from 7:00 p.m. to about 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. Oh yes... and she is also eating solid foods. So enjoy the newest of the pictures!

Thanks to Great-Grandmother and Grandfather Beard for the new high chair!

"Thanks for the Valentine, Great-Grandma Probst; it's delicious!"

Lydah Plays Dress-up

Crazy uncle Kyle broke into his costume chest and had fun with his niece. Lydah didn't seem to mind at all:






Also, Grandpa and Grandma Coates bought Lydah her first "walker." She's been enjoying the freedom it provides (even though her feet don't quite touch the floor yet):




More pictures from her 5th month of life:

Lydah loves to dance in front of the mirror. It's one of her favorite things.

Well, she isn't ALWAYS perfectly happy...

Brown-Eyed Girl

Finally after four and a half months, Lydah's eyes have turned brown. Courtney and I also have brown eyes so we expected that this would happen. She is also learning to clumsily reach for various objects and, of course, drag them in the direction of her mouth.

Christmas Vacation

We just returned from a long, whirlwind vacation. Lydah was a great traveler. Whenever she gets in the car, she falls right to sleep. The trip included stays with Uncle Andrew and Aunt Rachel, Grandpa and Grandma Probst, Grandpa and Grandma Coates, and several days in Tennessee at a beautiful cabin outside of La Follette. Lydah is now over four months old! Among her new tricks are "blowing raspberries," giggling, hiding her face in my shoulder as if she were embarrassed, sucking on her fist, and drooling an unholy amount of saliva all day long. Below are some of the newest pictures. Enjoy!

Lydah was baptized on December 31, 2006 at Open Door Free Methodist Church in Nicholasville, KY. Her grandfather, Herb Coates, performed the ceremony along with our pastor Rick Boileau (far right).

Courtney's best friend from college and former roommate, Lisa Walker, came to see the baby while we were in Alton, IL.

Aunt Whitney snuggled up with Lydah.

Flashback to Jaundice

To continue with the flashbacks...
Just a few days after Lydah was born and we had been able to bring her home for the first time, we were given the distressing news that she had jaundice (very common among infants) and that we needed to go back to the hospital for treatment. The first night that we were there, they placed Lydah on a "billy-blanket" to help her body breakdown the unhealthy bilirubins in her bloodstream. The staff did a wonderful job during the night, but we were not as impressed with the daytime nurses who all looked like they were in high school and seemed to enjoy flirting with one another more than monitoring our daughter's health.

The next day we eagerly anticipated the results of her blood test to see if we would be able to return home, but were disappointed to find that her bilirubin level had actually gone up. So the next night Lydah was placed under the "billy-lights" which were supposed to be more effective than the blanket (as you can see from the picture, Lydah didn't seem to mind too much). Fortunately, my parents arrived that day to encourage us after a very emotionally draining stay at the UK hospital.

The next morning we were released from the hospital and Courtney almost cried for joy that we were headed home for good. As hard as the stay had been, our perspectives really changed when Courtney spoke to another young mother in the next room who told us that she had been there for four weeks. So we give thanks to God for his provision. Lydah is healthy and God has sustained us through the first of many storms.