My Birthday + Fun Projects!

These past few days have been so wonderful for many reasons. First off, it was my birthday on Tuesday. I love getting up in the morning, checking my email and having 30 messages in my inbox from all my friends saying Happy Birthday on Facebook! It's such a good feeling! And then my Grandma Matthews also called, and my parents and siblings. Plus I got great things in the mail. I don't want to brag or anything. Its just that it's so great to have one time a year that all the people you love contact you in one way or another!
So, what did I do for my birthday, you might ask. Well, David did his best so that I wouldn't have to do all of the things that I normally do. Like letting me sleep in till 9 am rather than get up at 7:30 with Lydia. And do the dishes and clean the apartment. So, rather than me having to take care of Lydia all afternoon, I got to finally make this! Hooray! Now I have something cute to put all of those ugly grocery bags in! It definitely spices up my kitchen and adds a few more colors. I actually am looking at it as an inspiration to change my kitchen colors up a bit. Before it was just reds and yellows. But, I am eyeing those blues, greens and oranges and thinking that they would look so great accented throughout the kitchen to add a little bit of a pop! Well, not that my kitchen is so big and decorated that I get a chance to do much of that. But I can start small and slowly add to it by the time I have a decent size kitchen. That gets me so excited!

Next, David and I dropped Lydia off at a friends house (Thanks so much Stormie and Jer!!!) so that we could enjoy a quiet dinner date. We went to Fisherman's Wharf and enjoyed some fresh seafood on the bay. The service there was fantastic! The prices were better than a lot of the places I've been on the island. However, I wouldn't get the shrimp again. It was far too salty for my taste (and David's). However, the fish David got was excellent!

Then David and I went for a walk on The Strand (it's the historic downtown area of Galveston) and even popped into LaKing's for some chocolate. However, the prices at just about everywhere jump up during summertime because of tourist season. So, we didn't get much. But what we did get was amazing! Chocolate covered gummy bears! YUM!!! And, we found out from a friend who used to work there, everything is made in the upstairs of their store! Even the gummy bears! And, I might add that they are probably the best gummy bears I've ever tasted! If you're in the area, you'll have to give them a try. (I would suggest waiting till tourist season is over, however.) We also found the life-size chess board we had heard about. However, they no longer have the pieces there. Bummer! I hope they replace them soon!
After that, we went to pick up Lydia and our friends joined us for the newest Shrek at the IMAX theater in Moody Gardens. It is such a great movie! I loved the moral behind it and thought it was a great ending to the Shrek story. I must admit though, I wasn't sure it would be any good after seeing the 3rd movie. I thought that one was a bit lame. But, I was pleasantly surprised! It got several laughs from me and the desire to see it again. Highly recommended!
Once we got home from the movie and got Lydia to bed, David put away all manhood and watched Project Runway with me. If you haven't ever seen it and you enjoy Lifetime or Home & Garden Channel, I totally recommend it! I think that David even enjoyed watching it with me! (Don't let him know that I told you that!) It is so amusing to see how crazy these designers get with their clothes! I don't tend to agree with the judges on a lot of things, but it's interesting to see what other people find attractive.
And, that is how I enjoyed my birthday! It was a great day! And I have many more to come! (I'm still super young, you know!!!) Thank you to everyone who helped make it special!

Now, the other day I was at Hobby Lobby and they had the McCall's patterns for only 99 cents! Hooray! I went crazy! But, there was one pattern that I wanted so bad, I craved it! And it was gone! It totally broke my heart! So, I searched and searched on the internet and I found somebody who made a dress for their daughter's baby doll that was exactly like the pattern I wanted! So, using her pattern and one of Lydia's dresses, I created my own pattern to make the dress! I must say, I am so amazingly proud of myself! It turned out great! Except for the bloomers. I was only using leftover fabric and ended up skimping on the fabric for the bloomers. So, needless to say, they are a bit skimpy on Lydia. I'll have to tear them apart and figure out something else for the bottoms. But, here are the pictures anyways. I also made the hairbow using some tutorials I found online. I kinda took one idea from here and another from there to make the final production. I love how they turned out! There will be many more of these to come! They were so easy! And it will be even easier for the next ones because I'll already have the pattern made!



If you can't tell, the dress is reversible. I had a lot of fun making it, well along with a bit of stress figuring out those bloomers that didn't even turn out. But, the dress looks amazing!

And, just for kicks, I had to add in this picture of the little peeper! Almost everytime I go in to get her from a nap I find a cute little nose peeking out above her bumper looking for me!

Birthday? Whose birthday?!

I have been wanting a deep freezer for a while now. It always seems that I go to the store and look at all the wonderful freezer options, but then revert my mind to how full my freezer is. So, I told David that I wanted a deep freezer for my birthday.
Then, finally, the highly anticipated day came! We went to Sam's Club to get my deep freezer last night! Hooray! It was quite the challenge getting it into the car since we also had Lydia with us. We were debating returning it and making another trip out there this week without Lydia. We also thought about taking it out of all the packaging and just taking the freezer without any cushioning. However, in the end we put down both of the back seats, put Lydia's carseat on top of the folded seats and stretching the seatbelt around them till we were able to buckle it. It was quite the challenge! But, by doing this we were able to squeeze the freezer into the car and close the back. Though, the back window still was unable to close. Oh well. We made it!
However, I'm not quite sure who is more excited about this new addition! As soon as I opened it, Lydia squirmed in my arms and wanted to play in the freezer. So, I guess she has a new play scape until I finally plug it in!



And now I pose my question, whose birthday is it? I think Lydia likes my birthday present more than me and is gonna fight me for it! What do you think?

Give-a-ways!

So, today I am all about find all of the cute give-a-ways. So, everybody check this one out! It's way cute! You can also link to it from the button on the bottom right of my blog.

Snuggles

Lydia has recently gained more of an attachment to her Pooh. I have been setting it in her crib with her for quite a while now. However, lately if you walk in on her taking a nap, it will look somewhat like this.

How sweet! We took it with us to Grandma and Grandpa's this past weekend and she slept through the night for the first time there! Maybe this was the key all along!

Also, Lydia is gaining more strength in her arms, balance in her legs, and a desire to see everything that's going on! She doesn't crawl yet and is still rolling around slowly. But she is starting to pull herself up onto random items! She's done it on my pants, our bed, the couch, chairs and this box! Watch out! Here she comes!

To Lydia at 6 months

You love splashing in the sand! It's so much fun!

A trip on the ferry.

Rubber Ducky, you're the one! You make bathtime so much fun!

Dear Lydia,

The days seem to go by so fast. I feel like I just wrote you one of these letters last week! And I think the list has gotten longer than the last letter too of all your new tricks! I have truly enjoyed spending these last 6 months with you. Motherhood is a miraculous experience, as you will one day learn. To watch a choice spirit of our Heavenly Father explore the world for the first time feels like I'm experiencing it all for the first time again, only this time I will remember it more.

As I mentioned, you have developed so many new tricks! And have experienced so many new things! This month you have:

*learned how to sit up all on your own! It threw me for a surprise how quickly it happened! One day you were able to sit up with a boppy and just a couple days later you were fine without! This has opened up so many new worlds for you! There's so much more you can see when you're not laying down. In fact, at this point you have so much confidence in your sitting up that you lunge for desirable items and try oh so hard to get them.

*You have also figured out how helpful rolling around can be! You can move closer to that desired item and actually grab it! I expect you to be rolling around the whole apartment within the next week. You also pull yourself up on your hands and knees very well and appear to want to move forward. So, I think you'll be crawling soon too.

*You have tried your first solid foods. You have tried rice cereal, peas, pears, bananas, squash, sweet potatoes, peaches, and apples. Oh, and chicken and turkey. However, those last two you would like to forget. When we were trying to feed you these you eventually got to the point you would not even open your mouth and began to gag. So, I guess you will be a vegetarian for now.

*Sadly, you got your first sunburn this month. Poor girl!

*You can fall asleep all on your own now! Hooray! Such a big girl!

*You've developed a pretty regular schedule. Get up between 7 and 8, nap at about 10:30-12, nap at about 4-5 and then bed at about 9:30.

*You seem to prefer Mommy more than Daddy most the time. However, you still want Daddy once in a while. Like right now.

*I taught you how to take washcloths and blankets off of your head. You are so good at it! However, it seems to have backfired on me. Now you don't want to leave hats on your head either. Luckily you don't take off the hairbows yet!

*You love to play in the bathtub more now than ever before. Especially when your little toys squirt you in the mouth! You hang your tongue out and try to get as much of the water in your mouth as possible! However, you also have decided to poop in the tub twice this week. This we can do without.

*We gave you your first sippy cup today. It has handles and so you are able to hold it very well and occasionally decide to drink out of it. I think it's your new favorite toy. Luckily it's spill proof!

*You laugh more with interaction now. Like when we play peek a boo or other games with you.

*You reach for people you want now.

*You seem to be more shy around strangers. They always try to play with you and make you laugh, but all you seem to do is stare.

Overall, it has been another wonderful month! You went to the doctor this morning and got your well check. You weigh 17 lbs 11 oz and measure 27.5 inches long. You fall into the 75th percentile for your age. And I got to mark "yes" on nearly all of the new 6 month tricks! You are so developed for your age! There's a big world out there to explore and you are so ready for it! I hope I can keep up with you!

I love you Dear Lydia. You are helping me to become a better person. I am learning to be more patient and empathetic. I am also realizing the areas of my life which I want to improve so that I can be a better example for you. I want to want you to walk in my footsteps because they are the same path that Christ walked. He loves you so much. You are a beautiful daughter of our Heavenly Father. I don't think I can teach you that enough because understanding that simple concept shapes what we think about ourselves and determines our actions. He has a plan for you. So, always seek him in prayer and he will teach it to you.

Once again, I love you. Until next time,
Momma