Swinging

During Lydia's almost six months of life, she has greatly enjoyed her infant swing at home. However, until this month, it didn't dawn on me to let her try a playground swing, because in my mind, of course she's not old enough yet. Alas, our little girl is growing up, and while at the park with some of our friends, my friend Laura suggested I put Lydia in the swing with her son, Sawyer. Surprised by the thought that she was big enough for such a venture, I quickly decided it sounded like fun and plopped her in the swing. As you can see, she loved it!

Parky's Farm

One afternoon in early October, Lydia and I decided to soak up as much of the warm fall weather that we could. So, we went to...

While there, we saw...

Lydia looked at the animals quite intently.

We had a wonderful afternoon together!

Another day at the park

Back when the weather was still warm, Lydia and I met Harper and Elise for a picnic at Glenwood Gardens park. Lydia is so adorable in sun bonnets. This is the one that Harper's mom and grandma got for Lydia before she was even born.

Here I am trying to make Lydia smile. As you can see, Lydia is unamused. However, Harper thinks I'm hilarious.

Finally, a smile from Lydia! But now Harper's not smiling. I'm convinced they somehow communicate and work out a plan so that they don't smile at the same time. After many pictures, I eventually out-smart these 5-month-old geniuses and catch them both grinning.
Then Harper tries to roll over, bumps into Lydia...
...and starts trying to suck on her arm. I can't say that I blame him ~ she is super sweet! Luckily, Elise is there to save Lydia, since I'm just watching, laughing, and taking pictures.

A visit with Grandma

Lydia's Great-Grandma Carol came to visit a few weekends ago. We had a fabulous weekend, which made me wish we didn't live 3 hours away from each other.

Turtle Creek Flea Market

Wow - time has been flying by! I know it's cliche, but the older I get, the more I understand why people say it all the time, and thus, have created this cliche.

On another note, way back in September, we took Lydia to Turtle Creek Flea Market for the first time. While Lydia's mom and Grandma Lori did some selling, Lydia hung out with the Stegman guys.

As you can see from the photos, hanging out with the boys is both fun and exhausting

Also, Lydia would like to take this opportunity to say "Happy Birthday Grandpa Mark!" Mom forgot her camera the day of Grandpa's birthday celebration - way to go mom! So, Lydia wanted to give Grandpa a shout-out next to the picture of them together at turtle creek.

Lydia's first wedding reception

Over the weekend, daddy was in Jimmy & Leah's wedding, and mommy went with him. I stayed at home my great Aunt Jill. These are some pictures of me while Aunt Jill was babysitting to prove to mommy that I really am ok when she is gone.

After a little while, mommy came back home and dressed me up and said we were going to a party. Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Krissy and Uncle Zak were all there!

Secretly Rolling Over

Lydia has never really liked being on her tummy. I think it is because she always wants to know what is going on in every direction, and her range of motion is just too limited when she is on her tummy. Consequently, we have to force Lydia to have tummy time since it is beneficial to her physical development, but to be completely honest, she doesn't spend a whole lot of time on her tummy, because we (ok, it's really just her mom) can't stand to hear her whine in distress - even if it is for her own good. So, while Lydia's friends have been starting to roll over, Lydia has not...that is until last Friday. I had given Lydia some tummy time, and she hadn't complained about it too much. But, after almost 10 minutes, she seemed to be getting a little tired of holding her head up, so I flipped her on to her back. I then ran downstairs to put some laundry in the dryer, and when I came back upstairs, Lydia was on her tummy again! Of course, after spending almost every waking hour with little Lydia, I missed her first rollover! I told her she was a little stinker!

Here's Lydia as I excitedly cheered and took her picture.
Lydia quickly decided she wished she could roll back over onto her back.