Five Things

#1- Lydia had her 4 month checkup yesterday. She weighed 13.5 lbs and was 23.5 inches long! Poor little girl was such a champ through her shots. I was standing in the middle, letting her suck on my finger, and there were two nurses (one on either side). They gave her the shots at the same time. At first she stopped sucking on my finger and gave a little cry - then sucked in a huge breath like she couldn't breathe and then she started screaming. It broke my little heart. But I picked her up and wrapped her in her blanket and she calmed down. I spent the rest of the day rubbing her legs and playing "patty-cake" or bicycle to help work it out. I love my sweet little girl. (You can see her bandaids in the movie below.)

#2- Lydia has giggled a couple of times, but only realyl laughed once and she wouldn't repeat it. However, yesterday we got on camera her first real repetitive laugh. It is so cute and funny. I was holding her on my hip and as I was trying to replace the garbage bag in our trash can I started waving the bag around (you know, so the air will open it up?) and she started laughing! I was surprised at first... but then I realized that she thought it was funny. We spend the next several minutes playing with her and making her laugh. It makes me giggle just thinking about it.

#3- We had our "Home Start" meeting! That means that they can get started with all of the paperwork and start digging the hole soon. We had the chance to look over all of the official home plans and they look awesome. We couldn't be more thrilled.

#4- Over Labor Day weekend we bought a fridge, a washer, and a dryer! We got them all on really great sales and we are really excited. The washer and dryer are white - but we were really close to buying the red ones. However, I decided that I liked the actual functions of the white ones better... and I want to paint my laundry room either blue or green. Neither would look good with a red washer and dryer. But... I am going to try to convince my dad to make me this:

From here.

#5- Utah State 27 Utah 20.  We are full of Aggie pride around here and last night was a huge success for us last night. Everyone always rags on how bad Utah State is at Football - but we love our team and always love when other people have to look our way. In fact, Last night we were picking up some treats at Maceys when we heard an announcement over their PA. It was about the "big game" starting in just a couple of minutes and a reminder to pick up the game day special. It ended with "GooooOOOOO Utes!" When we got to the register, David (dressed in his Aggie game day attire) protested by filing a formal complaint about not having both teams represented equally well. He was explaining to here that there are lots of Aggie fans around here and they deserved to be cheered on as well. I quote, "I'm still going to buy these groceries, but i'm not happy about it!"  We are so proud of our Aggies!

David found this picture for me: from here.

Gettin' caught in the rain...

Lyd and I were feeling a little cooped up in the house today and I decided that we both needed some fresh air. I told her that we were going to go for a walk and then packed us up. (When you have a baby, even just going for a walk requires a thorough diaper bag check and fill up.) I bundled her up in her awesome carseat/stroller and we were off.

It was a beautiful day, a little cloudy but still warm. I was happy to be getting out of the house and Lydia seemed pleased to be outside. She was looking around, taking it all in. We decided to take a walk on the walking/bike path that is close to our house - and so I headed in that direction. I've seen this path a million times, but i've never actually used it before. I thought I remembered seeing a park from the road - so I figured we would just walk along the path and see what we found. Then if there was actually a park, we would set down a blanket and spend some time there. As we were walking it started to sprinkle a little. I was surprised because when we left the house I had noticed that it was cloudy, but it didn't look menacing. I was really into this excursion so I decided not to turn back. I kept walking for another 25 feet or so. Then, all of the sudden - the rain started to really come down! I did the only thing I could do - I sprinted for shelter. The path goes under I-15 and so we bolted to the underpass for some shelter.

I had to laugh at our adventure. And then I did what any self-respecting blogger would do.

I took a picture.

Lucky for me, I had an umbrella in the diaper bag (always be prepared, right?).

I pulled it out and kept walking for a little bit, venturing out from under the overpass - thinking that maybe the rain would let up by the time we made it to the park. But then I decided that I was being silly and that we should probably just head home. By the time we were walking back up to our apartment the rain was starting to let up. Our adventure lasted a whole 40 minutes.

Regardless of the rain, I had a great time with Lydia. It was nice to get out, if only for a minute - and fun to have made this memory with my little girl. Isn't she darling? I love that she will totally look at the camera now. I am lucky to have such a beautiful and well-behaved little baby. She took the adventure in stride - not complaining once. I think that fresh air did us both good.

Chicago - June 2012

I've been looking through photos the last couple of days and realized that I need to play catch up with a couple of big things that happened this summer. So here goes:

During June - David took a trip to Chicago for a training for his work. He had a lot of fun, even though we missed him a lot. Usually when he travels for work, he isn't able to do too much because they work really late hours. But, because this was a training they had their evenings free and were able to do some fun things. I've always wanted to go to Chicago - so I was a little jealous. Looking back on it... I don't know why Lydia and I didn't just go with him. We should have. I can just imagine the three of us standing in front of this beautiful river in the city. So amazing.

One of the first things that they did in Chicago was to visit the aquarium. It's one of the best in the US and they had a really great time.

I don't know what this big macaroni noodle is doing - but you have to admit. It's pretty cool. Especially because it is right in front of Wrigley Field. I don't know a true sports lover who wouldn't absolutely LOVE to go to Wrigley Field -and now David has checked it off his bucket list. When we were flying to Florida for our Honeymoon, we passed over Chicago in the middle of the night. David stayed up just so he could look down and see the stadium. I remember him telling me about how he wanted to go there someday. I'm so happy that he was able to go.

I may have to photoshop this one so that it says "Cubs welcome David Peaden". Wouldn't that be cool?

These are stands in nearby buildings so that even more people can view the field. Neat. 

Another highlight of the trip was dinner at Giordano's. 

You may ask... why Giordano's? And in reply I will give you this picture: 

Yeah. A slice of pizza as large as your head. MMMMmmmmmm. 

 David had a great time in Chicago - and we are so glad he was able to go. (Even though we missed him like crazy.) David works so hard and it's nice that he has such a great job. We love HBM and are grateful for the opportunity that he has to work for them. (And go on awesome paid trainings to sweet places like Chicago!)