Tis the Season

Lydah was a bit more active in the whole Christmas thing this year than she was last year. What a difference between 3 months old and 15 months old! She enjoyed her gifts, but of course found the wrapping paper and boxes to be much more entertaining. This year we went up to Illinois and did the normal rounds to see family, family, and more family. Lydah was the star of the show wherever she went. She entertained people with her new words ("I love you" is a favorite) and tricks (such as "being strong" and showing a "sour" face). Oh yes... and she has also learned another word: "NO!" (This has been lots of fun for Mom and Dad).

An example of the "sour" face.

Mommy and Daddy bought Lydah some new "fine jewelry" for Christmas.

Lounging around in her new chair.

Courtney and I built Lydah an elaborate playhouse with some boxes, tape, and wrapping paper.
Obviously, Lydah was very interested.

Great-grandpa Sheridan built this bassinet for Lydah.

With great-grandmother Beard.

With great-grandmother Probst.

Fun with friends Noel (left) and Elise (right) and their new window markers.

Some Thanksgiving Pictures

Lydah's vocabulary expands every day. She says "water," "juice," "I love you," "Grandpa," "Grandma," "cracker," "popcorn," and can tell you the sounds made by sheep, dogs, cows, and, of course, the screaming eagle. She enjoys blowing on Mommy's belly and making funny sounds as well as touching the belly buttons of everyone in the room -- even strangers. So if you come to visit, be warned! She has also discovered how much fun it is to spin in Daddy's office chair. She thinks it is a riot to get really dizzy and try to walk around. I must admit that Courtney and I have just as much fun watching her.

Holloween Butterfly

For Lydah's first year to dress up for Halloween (last year she was a bit young and slept through the whole evening), her mother dressed her up as a butterfly of sorts. The crazy hair had less to do with butterflyishness and more to do with it just being really, really cute.

It wasn't all just fun and games.

Our Little Talker

It's been over a month since we last posted (sorry about that). Lydah's personality continues to blossom. Just today she was playing with her friend Thomas and being really silly. She noticed that I was watching her and I could swear that she gave me an embarrassed little smile. She now enjoys performing for an audience. She likes to pretend she is a ballerina (which means standing on one leg), "being sweet" (putting her head on her shoulder and giving an ingenuous smile), and making sounds like "how a snakes goes." She loves to scream "ball" every time she sees anything remotely spherical. And she can be heard walking around the house whispering "daddy" under her breath -- we have no idea why. She understands things like "Get your shoes," "We're going outside" (she always echoes with a "sie" = "outside"), "It's time to take a bath," and "Use a nice voice."

Last weekend we took a quick trip to Illinois so there are a few pictures from that time away.

Lydah was playing with Grandpa and she had just sneezed before I took this picture.
Lydah has always thought sneezes are hysterical.

Grandma came for a visit during Lydah's bout with pneumonia. (Thanks, Grandma!)
Here they are getting some fresh air in none other than Keene, KY.

Our neighbors from Benin looked so good after church one day, we just had to take a picture.
Pictured: Mathieu and Crystel with their daughter, Lydia.

Our 1-year old!

Lydah has had her first birthday now. We celebrated a couple times. Once, about a week before her actual birthday, we celebrated with family while in Illinois during Labor Day weekend. Then, on her actual birthday, our small group from church threw her a party. Below are pictures from both events plus some extras. Lydah has now completely abandoned crawling and has even figured out how to descend stairs. Suddenly, we feel like she has blossomed into a little girl. She cries less and talks more. She also thinks it is hilarious when her mommy and daddy try to dance!

Below are images from the birthday party in Illinois:

And here are some from the one in Kentucky:

Playing with some of our new neighbors from Malaysia and Japan.

Myrtle Beach

We spent August 3-11 on vacation with Courtney's parents in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We had a wonderful time despite the record temperatures that they recorded almost every day we were down there. The heat doesn't matter much when you're splashing around in the Atlantic! We had a week full of adventures including going deep sea fishing for black sea bass, visiting Ripley's Aquarium, attending the Medieval Times dinner theater, eating at Capt. George's Seafood buffet (which was the best seafood we've ever had), going swimming, boogie boarding, building sand castles, and just hanging out at our condo. And to top it all off, Lydah started walking! She only goes a few feet at a time, but it is definite walkage. Lydah was really good most of the vacation and she was well behaved in the car even though Myrtle Beach is 10 hours from Wilmore. For the trip home, Grandma bought her a little DVD player so that she could watch Baby Einstein videos in the car. All in all, it was a great week.

This was actually before the trip at home. But it was definitely a Kodak moment. The picture says it all.