Life Lately! Lydia Turned 1.5 (Nov

Posted by Laura Neuffer December 20, 2017

Life Lately! Lydia Turned 1.5 (Nov - Dec)

Lydia turned 18 months old this week! This age is a milestone for any baby, but especially Mormon babies, because it means they start nursery. Nursery is the beginning of the Church's incredible youth program, which she'll be in until she's 17! I'm grateful to know she'll have amazing role models and leaders and friends and teachers throughout those years. Two weeks ago, after sitting with her in nursery for over a month, we said "bye-bye," kissed her forehead and left her in the capable care of the nursery leaders while we went to the rest of church. We looked at each other and had a brief moment of calm - we did it! We raised her to be a happy and confident almost-toddler.

On her first day of nursery

We are both completely smitten with her. Everything she does gets an 'ooh' and an 'aah.' She loves to talk - favorite words are "da-ey," ('doggy' or 'daddy'), "bir" (bird - she points out all she sees), "ow-si" (outside. usually she says this when she's pointing out the window), "ca" (car), "aah- duh" (all done, said while saving her open hands in baby sign language), and "ba" (bottle or ball). We're still waiting on "mommy." We LOVE this video of her chattering in the bath!

We joke that her body type is 'eggplant.' Look at that yummy tummy!

But she doesn't love eating. It's been a struggle to get her to eat enough recently - she pushes away most food. She's always been petite (18th percentile for weight!) but we're trying to bulk her up. We're keeping our fingers crossed that whole milk, ice cream and PediaSure will do the trick!

One tiny bite and she was "aah-duh" (all done).

It's been warm enough to walk every day for the past two weeks and we've LOVED it. (Above 0 is considered warm for an Alaskan winter. It's been up to 35° recently!)

Last Sunday we baked Christmas cookies - Lydia liked the dough (for the first few bites) and enjoyed sucking the frosting off the cookies. :) Matt made a cute M+L heart-shaped one and I wish I'd gotten a picture.

Sarah always has the funniest responses to the pictures I send.

L loves being out and about - and going outside! We explored the ice park in North Pole with the Kimbers. We liked it so much that we went back a second time, to see the ice statues lit up at night.

Scared of Santa :(

Inside the igloo

This adorable t-shirt was a gift from McKenzie before she moved away. We miss her.

She loved chocolate zucchini muffins!

Lydia is an absolute delight and we adore her!

The last couple months have included lots of work - grading (just submitted final grades today - phew!) and updating wellness challenges for my corporate wellness job. I also read the first Lord of the Rings! Matt's been busy with work and skiing. Here are a lot of pictures!