New Job, Lydia's First Word, and the 4th of July

I realized I should do an update before I start my new job next week!

I recently accepted a position working for a corporate wellness company doing content creation and account management. It's really similar to what I used to do with WellSteps but at a higher level. I'm so excited! I'm grateful that I get to continue my career part-time while staying at home with Lydia, and for the ability to work from home. I'm also looking forward to the little bit of travel that it involves - it's a Canadian company, so I'll be traveling to their headquarters in the Vancouver area a few times a year. It's a dream come true!

I'll have some babysitting help in the afternoons and am grateful to have a little more freedom that way. I do plan to keep teaching for UAF too, at least for the fall semester because I have two sections full of registered students (and waitlisted), but am keeping an open mind about what I'm realistically able to accomplish.

Since my little international travel buddy will be coming with me on most work trips (and meeting Grandma Trudy there for to explore and play while I'm busy), I took her out to get her first passport photo. :)

Ha! I couldn't help laughing out loud when I saw it. They had her sit on a stool with me holding onto her waist to keep her upright. The camera flashed and beeped, which got L's attention - and made her put on her 'WHAT was that?' face. Haha!

I'm welcoming all of the change with open arms, but a little bit of the 'butterflies' too.

But that's not the only thing that's been going on. Here's a quick update from the past couple weeks. :)

Another first for Lydia, other than getting her passport photo, was that she said her FIRST word! It's "hi" and she says it while waving her hand and grinning! It's absolutely the cutest thing!

She's been repeating it a lot, saying it to random people while we're out and even once to Barkley! When Matt came home one night we got her to give him a loud, clear "hi!" after a little bit of coaxing from both of us. She's said it on FaceTime with Sarah and Mom, too!

She also plays "where's Lydia" really well (like peek-a-boo) and recognizes a bunch of other words and phrases, like 'milk,' 'more,' 'mommy,' and 'daddy,' and 'the end' at the end of a book (she'll sit up and reach out for the book when I say it!) Matt got the CUTEST video of her playing "where's Lydia" at Pagoda the other day:

That grin! 😃  This girl gets more adorable every day. ❤️

That video was taken over 4th of July weekend. To be honest, the 4th of July doesn't usually rank high on my list of favorite holidays. Typically I think of it as sort of an obligation to go out and have "fun," involving sunburns (hello super pale skin), junk food and unbearable heat (we are winter people, through and through!) Haha. So with that negative frame of mind, I was happily surprised that we had a fun one this year! 

We started the day at Stroller Strong Moms, which had a 'bring your husband' day with a costume contest, patriotic-themed workouts and a workout competition (which we won!😄)

Matt said it was harder than PT most days (I'd like to add that we ALSO have babies and strollers with us ;) and we laughed through the whole thing - it was fun!

Then we stopped at Great Harvest for a quick lunch (their Mediterranean sandwich was amazing - hummus, avocado, spinach, tomato, and cheese - we split it and decided to come back for it again!)

On the way home we heard that North Pole was having a parade, so we parked down the street from our house (the road home was blocked off) and watched it go by. :) It was small and a little slow but pretty cute. At one point there was such a long break between floats that Matt had time to run home and get Barkley! Haha. But Santa was there!

Hi Santa!

We got to see Kayla walk by with the cheerleaders she coaches!

Peony giveaway - they smelled amazing!

Later we went to a BBQ with friends from Matt's work. They had the most beautiful river view from the back yard. I wish I'd gotten a better picture!

It was all more than enough to exhaust Baby L. :) 

patriotic peonies

We recently discovered Birch Lake and have been back twice! It's about 45 minutes away but feels like we're far away on vacation.

We've also been taking lots of walks and enjoying the cooler weather. For a few days the weather was cool, cloudy, and autumn-ey. The best! We love Alaskan summers. :)

 

Drizzly summer walk :) I love the Fireweed behind her.

Duckling swimming in the rain 

And right on cue, the craft store came out with all of its autumn stuff. :) I love it! One Saturday morning when Matt took Lydia to her My Gym class I used part of my free time to wander through the aisles - I didn't buy anything but it was so fun. :)

We're sill working on helping Lydia be comfortable around strangers, so we've been taking her to My Gym at least once a week and taking going to their morning "camp" activities. When I leave her at 'camp' the leaders have said she needs to be held the whole time (or else she'll cry), but other than that she's doing better! I'll take it as a win! Her last class (we stay with her during class) was the best one yet - she was friendly and crawled up to other adults and shared toys. We're definitely seeing improvement thanks to My Gym!

While she was at 'camp' one morning I went to a cafe and worked for a couple hours. It was really nice. The rain outside plus my cinnamon soy steamer made for a perfectly cozy morning. 

Now that she's 13 months old I'm glad to know she can be left in the care of others for short periods of time and learn to socialize. It's good for both of us. :)

We've also started going back to the Eileson indoor play ground now that it's been rainy / the mosquitos are back (😬  ). She can do so much more than the last time we were there, a couple months ago! Her favorite activity is climbing up the little plastic slide, and sliding back down head-first.

She still loves the North Pole library, too. One day we happened to be there during preschool story time, and she kept looking over at all the big kids. When they did a clapping song, she clapped along from across the room! I can't wait to take her in a couple years!

I picked up a couple books on CD, (I know I'm so 90's and should probably do Audible but I love that these are free!)

and just finished these two. 

I'm on a children's book kick. The good thing about living 30 min from town is that I get through a book a week by listening while driving!

We've been going to Stroller Strong Moms a couples times a week, but this is my last week teaching for them. I've enjoyed going this summer (and last summer, too!) but probably won't be able to go any more once my new job starts. I'll miss the morning get-togethers and am sad to be taking a break from teaching yoga (I've been teaching for 7 years!!), but I'll be back. 

Lydia has had a difficult time for the last couple weeks with TEETHING. At first I didn't know what was going on, until I saw a giant molar coming in! Later Matt found a second one - and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more. She's been fussy, sometimes inconsolable, and tugs on her ears. I can't imagine how uncomfortable that must be!

In her happier moments, her favorite things to do are walk around holding onto furniture or my hands, hug her toys (still one of my favorite things!!), and hand things to people (the funniest was when she 'handed' Barkley her snack and he ate it! That was a surprise to her!)

She's constantly walking around holding onto things for balance, but still not standing or walking independently. One reason might be because of her tiny feet... Here's her foot compared to Charlee's, who's only 3 weeks older than her:

AND she's wearing the smallest size shoe that the store sold, and they're still too big! She was really tiny feet (and hands, too!) It doesn't seem like walking is the problem - it's balance. 

Church has been a challenge with all of the almost-walking and teething. Matt said "she could power this whole town with that energy." She's non-stop.

She rarely sits still at all any more...unless it's a trip to Safeway. :) She LOVES sitting in the cart at Safeway and smiles and waves to people pretty much the whole time! She has loved our grocery trips ever since she was big enough to sit up in the cart.

She still loves cheese and hates pasta. Once, when she was having a really bad teething day and I figured she needed a special yummy treat, I made her mac n cheese. But instead of eating it, she sucked the cheese sauce off and threw the pasta on the ground!! We will not be trying that one again any time soon.

But she enjoyed Thai food (curry but not pad thai... no noodles of any kind for L!) This was from the night I got the job and Matt said "what should we do to celebrate?" I said, "order Thai!" It's always a good idea at our house. :)

Another good idea (or not-so-good-idea) is these cheddar bunnies! We all love them: Me, Lydia, Matt, and Barkley. I think this box lasted less than 2 days.

And probably my favorite development... her curls! I can't wait to put them in little pigtails!!

That's the update for now. :) There will be some changes around here but I think they're all good ones!