Some New Pictures & A Video

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Our First Toothbrush

Lydia has taken such an interest in Mommy's toothbrush lately and since we have 4 teeth now we figured it was probably time to start practicing good baby oral hygiene.   We bought her a stage 1 Elmo toothbrush and baby tooth and gum cleaner at Wal-Mart today and we brushed our teeth before bed for the first time tonight.  Here are some pictures.  

We also posted a new video of Lydia on our photobucket if you would like to take a look.  

And another thing to note - Her birthday invitations were mailed out today!

Baby Tag

1- Where were you when you first found out you were pregnant? In our master bathroom.

2- Who was with you?  No one.

3- How did you find out that you were pregnant? A home pregnancy test.

4- What was your first reaction to finding out you were pregnant? I was so excited, overjoyed and thankful!

5- Your Husbands reaction? Very happy!!

6- Who was the first person you told?  Ryan

7-Did you plan to get pregnant? Yes

8-Was everybody happy for you? Yes

9- Did you go out and celebrate? No

10- Did you want to find out the sex? Yes

11- What was the sex? Girl

12-Did anyone throw you a baby shower? Yes. 

13- If yes, who? My friend Danielle!

14- Did you get any outfits at the baby shower that you just knew you weren't going to put on your baby?  No, they were all very cute.

15- How much weight did you gain? A LOT!

16- Did you loose all of the weight that you gained? No.

17- Did you get a lot of stretch marks?  Yes only on the front of my belly.

18- What did you crave the most? Certain smells.

19- Did you crave anything crazy? no

20- Who or what got on your nerves the most? Not being able to sleep at night. 

21- Were you married at the time? Yes

22- Did you have any complications during your pregnancy?  I developed pre-eclamsia a few days before Lydia was born.

23- Where were you when you went into labor? I never went into labor. 

26- Did you go early or late?  Exactly 2 weeks before my due date.

27- Who was in the room with you when you gave birth? Ryan, Dr. Hill, a couple nurses and the anestisiologist.

28- Was it video taped? no

29- Did you have any drugs for the pain?  Yes

30-Did you go Natural or have a c-section? C-Section

31- What was your first reaction after giving birth? I was so blessed.  I cried and thanked God for my healthy baby.

32- How big was the baby(s)? 6 lbs. 12 oz. 

33- Did your Husband cry? No

34- What did you name the baby(s)? Lydia Shannon Becker

35-Did the name have any significance to you?  Lydia was a very special & unique name.  Shannon is named after me just as my middle name is after my mother.

36-Does the baby's name fit? Yes.

37- Did the baby(s) have any complications? No, none at all.

38- How old is your baby today? 11 months

39- When is the next one coming? 2010?

40- If you could would you do it all over again? Yes.

Thankgiving & Halloween Pages

A few more...

Digital Scrapbooking

I have officially joined the world of digital scrapbooking.  I had heard of it before but was a little intimidated by it at first.  I decided to go ahead and download a kit this morning and used Photoshop to make my first creation.  It was so much fun and I love not having to cut, glue or tape things... and no clutter! All your papers, buttons, ribbons, frames, glitter etc etc etc are all in a neat file on your computer.  So nice!  You can print pages in any size you want - and the possibilities are endless!

Here is my first creation.. and there will be MANY more to come..   :)

A Bittersweet Night

I woke up to Lydia crying at 2 a.m. last night which surprised me because she hasn't done that in many months.  

I went in to comfort her and she stopped crying immediately after I picked her up.  I held her in my arms with her head in the crook of my arm.  Lydia usually never lets me do this.  She does not like to be held like that and usually always fusses and tries to sit up.  She laid very quitely in my arms while I rocked her in her rocker, her eyes were as wide as ever and she just laid there staring at me in the darkness.   

About 10 minutes later she wiggled her head up to my shoulder still wide eyed as ever and then 10 minutes later her head was under my neck and right over my heart.   I was so confused by this whole thing because she never wakes up at night like this and then to be held close in a cuddle with me and being completely wide awake is something she has never done.  She just laid there on my chest while I stroked her head and rubbed her back as she just stared at me right in the eyes for 30 minutes straight.  It was the most beautiful special moment I have had with Lydia since she was a newborn.  Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.  I really thank God for that very special moment we shared together and I will never forget it.   

About 10 minutes later she slowly fell asleep in my arms so I gently put her back in her crib.  She woke when I put her down and seemed to be okay but a few minutes later she started crying again.  She wasn't crying as hard as she was the first time and she going back and forth from crying to trying to lay down to sleep.   After another hour of her going back and forth I got a bottle ready for her thinking maybe she was hungry.  I fed her the bottle, put her back down and she did her back and forth crying and trying to lay down to sleep for another hour, until she finally slept soundly until late morning.   

As today wore on I noticed she was a lot more fussy than usual but she didn't seem sick or have a fever so I put her down in my lap to check her gums and SURE enough her other top tooth poked through last night!  I could tell it wasn't quite all the way through, poor girl.  Luckily I had Baby Oragel swabs on hand (thanks Danielle for recommending I get these a few months ago!)  

She has never had any trouble teething before so I didn't really expect that at first.   I used the swab on her gum and withing 20 minutes she was in a 100% better mood!  She was back to her smiling, laughing, singing self.    She just went down for bed 30 minutes ago and I made sure to use a dab of the Nightime Gel on her so she will hopefully make it through the night pain free. 

11 Months Old Today!

Here is a new collage I made of pictures from yesterday and today.  There are multiple pages so be sure to scroll through them with the arrow on the bottom of the screen.   :)

I also have a new video from last night.  We got the box of supplies for Lydia's birthday party and she loves getting into the box.   I got a video of it last night and thought you all would enjoy it.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Some New Things

We got a call from the insurance company of the man who hit our vehicle.  They informed us that the man did not have insurance coverage at the time of the accident.  He had a current card but he hadn't been paying his month bill so even though he had the card that said it was current it was not.  I find it kind of odd that the police report says the insurance was valid.  I think they should be calling the insurance to verify validity at the time of the accident instead of just assuming the card is good because he should have then been ticketed for not carrying insurance at the scene as well. 

Now we have to wait until this man's insurance company sends us an official letter stating that he is uninsured and then we take that to the police department where I am sure it will probably do nothing.  That man is probably back in Kansas by now and there is nothing we can do.   Oh well, this is kind of what I expected to happen and at least he did get ticketed for hit and run...  

On a brighter note Ryan got his much anticipated call from Marathon Oil Corporation this week.  They were very glad to hear that he hadn't started another permanent job yet and appologized for the long wait.   They asked him to come in for an official interview tomorrow (Friday) at 9am.  We are both very excited.   I hope it goes great.   I will let you all know the outcome.

I have been making some final plans for Lydia's birthday this week.  I recieved all her party decorations and supplies yesterday and they are just adorable!  We will be inviting a few more people than we originally planned so I had to order a few more plates, cups, napkins and plastic utensils and those will be here next week.   

I finally decided that the best place to have her birthday would be Tower Lanes Bowling Alley in Moorcroft, WY.  Its big enough for everyone, it's non-smoking, it gives everyone something fun to do and they will accomodate us with tables and chairs and finger foods.   I am just waiting to hear back from the owner next week on a definite since there is a Women's League that just started and he has to make sure they won't be coming in then.   

If all goes according to plan the party will be from 1-3pm.   Ryan and I will come a little early to set up the ballons and decorations and I may ask my mom and dad to come a long too for some extra hands to hold Lydia while we set up.  :)   We are expecting 25-30 people.   I was originally planning to keep her birthday more on the small side but then I just decided that I wanted to go BIG for her first birthday and make it really super special with all of our close family and friends.

Lydia is just growing up so fast.  It seems like she is learning the meaning of new words every day and comes up with the funniest faces.  She is starting to not like baby food so much and prefers finger foods that she can pick up and put in her mouth herself.   This morning we had waffles with maple syrup and she seemed to really like that.   She has always had baby cereal in the morning so that was a first for her.  She also LOVES sipping out of a straw.  

If anyone would like idea's for her birthday she loves books, especially the usborne touchy feely books!  She has Thats Not My Teddy, Thats Not My Dragon and Fairies books of that series so far.   They make dozens of them.  She could also use summer clothes/pajamas in size 12-18 months.   Old Navy carries really great pajamas that I love.  They are a shirt and pant set that are footless.  I like them because I dont have to deal with all the snaps and that her feet are exposed so she can grip with them and get around better. 

OLD NAVY LINK

USBORNE TOUCHY FEELY BOOKS LINK

She got a lot of BIG toys for Christmas so we don't have much room for more of those.  Small things like music, books, baby puzzles and clothes would be great and very appreciated.  :)

Update

We picked up the police report this morning for the hit and run accident.  We were really happy to see that the driver has insurance.  Our insurance company told us that if the driver did not have insurance we were going to be stuck paying the deductable ($1000) which would have been the whole thing since the damage is less than that I am sure.  They said we could take him to court for the damages but who wants to go through all of that!?  So we are both relieved to see he had insurance.  Ryan is bringing the paperwork to our insurance company sometime this morning to get the ball rolling.  I'll update more later when we know exactly what is going to happen.

Lydia is becoming quite the little cheese lately and is laughing and smiling all the time!  She loves to make really funny faces and it is just hilarious.   She has really been enjoying the "Wheelie-Bug" that her Aunt Christine and Uncle Ryan got her for Christmas and I wanted to take some pictures of her playing on it so I could send it to them.  I put her on it and got my camera and this is the result:  :)

Hit & Run

Yesterday we took a family trip to Wal-mart and after finishing up our shopping and heading back to our vehicle in the parking lot we noticed a man on a cell phone walking around/near our car.  

I put Lydia in her car seat and Ryan loaded all the groceries in the back and we were about ready to leave when this guy came up to Ryan and told him that he saw a car hit our vehicle!  

He pointed out or rear driver's side fender and sure enough there was a nice sized red and gray scratch on our black vehicle along with some chips in the plastic.  He told us that he already called the police and they were on there way.  I was thankful to this man but thought it was kind of pointless if we didn't know who hit and and just when I said that Ryan asked the man if he had got the license plate of the car.  He pointed his finger to an old gray and red car with Kansas plates just the next row over and said "He went around and parked right there."   Wow! I almost couldn't believe it but I was so happy that we were actually going to be able to catch this guy!  The man who saw the accident gave us a speech about how his wife works at Wal-Mart and they were victims of a recent hit and run that costed them $3000.  He said he was not going to let this guy get away with it.   We were very grateful.  This man sat out in the cold and waited for us to get out of the store!!

Just a few minutes later a police officer arrived and he asked the witness a lot of questions including all his personal information (birthdate, address, phone number etc.)  Then he asked him to explain what he saw, the cop was so suprised when he showed him the offending car parked directly one isle over from us!  He asked the witness to describe the driver and then proceeded to take pictures of our car, the scratch and the tire tracks in the slushy snow clearly showing that someone slid right into us.

The officer took our information and verified our insurance and registration.  He said we were free to go and we would have an accident report to pick up by Wednesday at the station.  He told us he would be waiting around for the driver of the other car to get out of the store.  I am kind of curious how that confrontation went.  We are really hoping this person has insurance but I have a sneaky suspition that he doesn't...

TO BE CONTINUED..........