our little Lydia

Just taking some time this morning to write about our daughter and other musings before she wakes up. The mornings, although early, are so peaceful here. Hot tea, blogging and a sleeping baby. Mmmm.

Lydia is just over four months old. Today we're heading north to visit Grandpa and Grandma Freeman up in Brainerd, which will give me time to work on Lydia's baby book. Road trips are really the only time I have to get at recording her life; we went up there for Dad's wedding in October and I think that's the last time I've really written some solid material. I thought I would be one of those moms to catalog every move, every smile, every little milestone, in a journal, but alas, this is not the case. If I'm lucky to get a few pictures of her a week, that's an accomplishment. Whenever we get around to it, our second child probably won't feel like he/she got the shaft, because Lydia's albums won't be THAT thick. Thick, but not extremely so.

That said, I do love taking her pictures and writing in her baby book. Even though I don't get around to it that often, each entry and photo reminds me that she is growing so incredibly fast.

When your little one is permanently attached to you, you really don't notice how quickly they change. Other people hold her and I'm amazed at how big she is. But when her daddy holds her, and she looks tiny in his arms, it calms me to recognize that she is still my little baby.

Little things that have made me smile in the last month or so:

• The other night she fell asleep in the shower, snuggled up close to Charlie.
• She has this thing where, if she's feeling particularly mischievous, she'll tuck her chin to her chest, raise her eyes to you, and grin with her eyebrows raised. Hilarious.
• She has favorites. A favorite blanket, a favorite toy (her elephant, Horton Hears a Whoozer), favorite songs.
• Feeding her little bites of bananas has been so fun.
• We discovered when my friend Bethany was here that she loves (loves) playing with a glass of water. The only thing is that she gets over-excited way too fast with it, and ends up dissolving in a puddle of tears and water because she just.can't.hold.it.yet!
• I had to go through and sort out all her clothes into 6-9-12 months. All her 0-3's are put away, which is both great and painstaking. I washed all of them one last time and put them in bins, not to see the light of day again until we have another little girl, or until Lydia or her subsequent siblings have girls.
• She fits into the Carhartt overalls I bought her in Alaska. So cute.
• Charlie and I got her to cackle and giggle by bouncing her around the house going "bum-bum-bum-bum...". She loves the noise and the motion, and one of us bounces her while the other chases...it's our first family game that she's absolutely delighted with!
• She fell asleep on my chest yesterday and I realized that I couldn't hold her little butt in one hand anymore. It took two. Wait, this made me cry, not smile.

Breastfeeding is going great, almost too great. Still not even close to comfortably taking a bottle, which is unfortunate and annoying at times. I went to a martial arts class the other night and came back to a screaming baby who refused over and over to take a bottle; this is not good! It's no use for me to try, but I think we could do better at doing it more often when Charlie's here at the house. My only caveat with doing so is that I can barely keep up with pumping enough as it is. When she does take a bottle, she runs with it and drinks 10-12oz at a time, totally taking out my little cache of milk in the freezer. So the prospect of pumping more and trying to sequester another stash for practice is daunting, to say the least.

We've started some solids, just for fun and not to replace breastmilk at all. She's actually eaten bananas and loves them, but has only tasted apples, celery, gravy (don't ask), pumpkin and a variety of other foods that I swipe her lips with as I cook. She loves smelling spices and other aromatics. I can't wait to order her a little chef coat...she can be my sous chef! You can't start a kid too early in the kitchen. I have friends up in Alaska whose children are better bakers than I am, and probably just as good at handling a ten-inch blade too.

And oh, she's sassy. We were warned that she'd take after us, but I just never expected her personality to beam through so quickly. She's snarky, full of the dickens, and a complete love. I observe her playing with her toys, interacting with her world and the people in it, and she takes in everything and processes it with a speed I didn't think possible. So observant, even with her one-second attention span. I am going to have my hands full when she's mobile!

That's about all she wrote. Time to check on my sleeping little one and start my day (again). Have a fantastic weekend and we'll be back at it next week. If anyone out there would like to write a post (or another one, if you've already contributed), please let me know!