Category Archives: Lydia

more fall fun

Friday night we had our first annual (hoping there will be many more in the future) International Student Pumpkin Carving and Chili Party with American friends from our church and their “friendship partners” through UNT. It was so much! I didn’t get a pic of the finished pumpkins, but they were sooo good! who knew that they would be so good talented at pumpkin carving?!

the kids painted little pumpkins… Lydia was super into it.

Halloween week 2015

Our third annual Halloween Party with the McGough clan! We ate, talked, laughed, celebrated the fall birthdays, decorated pumpkins with stickers and glitter glue and the cousins had tons of fun running around. Always a fun time when we all get together. Thankful for this tradition!

Happy Birthday to Uncle Scott, Daddy, Colin & Liddy bug!

we love Papa

These two are so much fun to watch as they interact with each other. Lydia now calls Chloe, “chlo bo”, which is the cutest thing ever. They have started to “play” together, Chloe follows Lydia everywhere, they love to hug and kiss each other goodnight, Chloe can’t wait for Lydia to wake up each morning, we have heard them giggling and “talking” as they both fall asleep, they have started to fight over toys because Chloe now claims things as “mine”, Chloe likes to slug Lydia when she is doing something she doesn’t like (she even tried to pinch her the other day for sitting in my lap… guys, I am little nervous about 2s with this one! ha), they love each other and I pray they become the best of friends and that they will always love, laugh, cry, encourage and pray for each other as they walk through life. Sisters are the best!

    Posted in Chloe, Family, Food, Holidays, Lydia | Comments Off on more fall fun

    my little pumpkins

    we had the opportunity to take one of our Saudi family friends to the Flowermound Pumpkin Patch last night! It was there first time, after living in America for 5 years, to go to a pumpkin patch and they LOVED it! It was so fun to see our girls run around with their girls and enjoy the pumpkins, dirt and playhouses. As we were walking around my friend leaned over and told me that she had coffee, tea and dates in the car and asked if there was a spot we could sit and drink them together. This made my heart so happy and made me miss our time in the Middle East. In Arab culture they always plan to have picnic with their community and family wherever and whenever it is possible. I love how community oriented and hospitable they are. I think that Americans can learn a thing or two from them about how we interact with community and host people.

    Chloe Jane, 18 months

    Chloe is our little spunky sweetheart. She melts our hearts with her smile, her hugs, her kisses, and just her general cuteness. She loves baby dolls, her big sister, oranges, reading books, playing outside, singing nursery rhymes, her pappy (pacci) wrestling with daddy, cuddling, giggling, and talking on the phone. She is saying a few words. Some of her go tos are: “bye bye”, “two”, “ball”, “tant you”, “more”, “dawn (done)”, “mommy”, “daddy”, “puppy”, “pappy (pacci)” and she loves to giber jabber. She still does not have all her teeth, but we are working hard (i.e. having a tough time) at getting them all. She is not a great eater at the moment- not sure if she is just picky or if its because of her teeth and because we have had a nasty cold that has lasted for over two weeks! Loving Chlo Bo at this age, wish I could just bottle her up and keep her my little peanut forever. She is 19.8 lbs and 3% in height and weight and 50% for her head.

    Lydia May, 3 years

    Lydia is becoming such a smart, fun-loving, empathetic little lady. She is at such a fun age and is just absorbing everything around her. She is such a quick learner. This girl loves to talk and hardly ever stops. She has stopped napping for about a month now and just has “quiet/alone” time in her room. This has been a hard transition for me because she comes out every 20 minutes or so to ask for help (i.e. interrupting my down time), but she hasn’t skipped a beat and doesn’t act tired what-so-ever without her nap. She is sleeping a good 12 hours a night, so this is probably why she doesn’t need her nap. She does a great job with wearing her “guck-kez” (glasses) and reminds me that she needs them in the mornings- such a blessing! We have been done with diapers even at night for about a week now and she is doing GREAT! She is so proud of herself for waking up dry and not wearing a pull up anymore… she hasn’t had any accidents yet. I am not gonna lie, I am a little shocked about this, I was prepared for lots of nights waking up to change sheets. I guess she was ready. She is 30 lbs and about 50% for height, weight and for her head.

    Yarah and Weam our sweet little Arab friends.

    #keepinitreal #reallife #toddlerlife

     Side Note: I am going to try something new with my blog… once we have an event or something I want to post, I am going to try and upload the pics and do a blog post right away and not feel overwhelmed with trying to play catch up. When I have some extra time I will try to slowly go backward and catch up, but if I don’t then at least I am recording the now. Wish me luck!

      Posted in Chloe, Everyday Life, Family, Holidays, Lydia | Comments Off on my little pumpkins

      Lydia at 18 months…

      Its been a while since I have blogged about our sweet Liddy Bug. She has been changing so much lately – its crazy how fast time flies. I wish I could bottle her up at this stage and keep it forever. She is just so.much.fun.

      She is full of energy, is non-stop from the moment she wakes up to when she naps to bedtime. (well except for about 10-30 minutes of snuggle time during milk and cartoons in the morning and after nap) She keeps us on our toes and makes us smile and laugh EVERYDAY- a true blessing especially in the midst of a tough transition season for our little family. She plays really well by herself as long as you are in the same area as she is. When she plays she skips from one toy or object (plastic cups and lids or spice jars in the kitchen) to the next within a matter of minutes- like I said a busy happy girl.

      She is a pretty good eater and will try most things. We could for sure increase her intake of veggies (this is a fault from her momma since I am not a huge veggie fan, esp. preggo- we are trying!) Some of her favorite foods include:

      • hummus with carrots or pita chips
      • beans of any kind
      • cheese
      • Spanish rice
      • guacamole (she doesn’t like avocado by it’s self, but add a Mexican twist and she is sold)
      • blueberries
      • plain yogurt
      • pizza
      • Clementine oranges
      • veggie soup
      • Chicken tortilla soup
      • green beans
      • gold fish
      • cinnamon raisin bread
      • Special K Vanilla Almond cereal with milk & strawberries
      • hard boiled eggs
      • Mac & Cheese
      • Fried eggs (she hasn’t been liking scrambled eggs lately- which she used to eat two at a time!)
      • Spaghetti

      She has been trying to talk more and more these days. It is so cute! I know that it won’t be too long before she is non-stop talking…. poor Chase- he will have two talkative women in his life 🙂 I just love seeing her try to listen and then think about how to say it and then actually attempt saying it- what a joy as a parent to see your kids learning! Some of the things she is saying these days are:

      • Momma
      • Daaaddy
      • Bye-byes
      • Hi
      • bubbles
      • shoooes
      • babrey (for Auntie Aubrey)
      • purple
      • blueberry (she says this so cute- not sure how to “write” it out)
      • cheese
      • No-no (she shakes her finger back and forth when she says this one)
      • tate-to (thank you)
      • yeah
      • yes
      • ease (please)
      • go
      • two
      • wow
      • ballon
      We look Lydia to Chuck E Cheese for our last “family of 3” outing! She loved the pizza and dancing with Chuck E! 
      We also taught her a few baby signs that she still uses. We have loved teaching her these and have seen a difference in her whining at the dinner table as a result. She uses the “please”, “thank you”, “all done”, “more”, “milk”, “water”, “eat”, and “bedtime” signs.

      She loves making animal noises. Our family favorite is her “meow”- she looks like a pirate/ally cat by winking her right eye as she meows (pictured below). She does monkey noises with the arm motions, says “quack quack”, “woo-woo” for a dog noise, “baaa” for sheep, and snorts for a pig.

      She love LOVES to dance! (I know, a girl after my own heart!) Anytime there is music on she is dancing- wiggling her hips, shaking her fingers back and forth, moving her shoulders up and down, kicking her legs, spinning around- just basically grooving to the beat. Lately she has even gotten better at dancing to the correct rhythm of the song. Her favorite songs to dance to are “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, the “cu-pig shuffle” from her dancing/singing Valentine pig from Nanny & Pappa, country music, JaJu’s 70’s rock music, and “Let it Go” from Frozen. Anytime she sees our computer she yells “gooooo!” and puts her arms out and says please meaning she wants to watch you tube videos of “Let it Go” and of course we give in and let her. (most of the time)

      She has started throwing little dramatic fits by throwing herself on the ground and laying there for a bit, so the past few weeks we have tried the “time out” discipline method. Chase puts her in a chair for like 10-15 seconds and tells her to stay and she actually does! Usually she is crying, but it stops whatever dramatic fit she was just throwing. And then we hug her and tell her we love her and she gives us hugs back. Who knows if she knows what is going on, but she will eventually! We also have spanked (yes I said spanked!) her hand if she is doing something we have told her not to do several times. Its a trial and error learning phase for discipline at this point (and I am guessing for all of parenthood), so we will see what works for her! Can’t believe we have to already discipline, but when you were born a sinner it makes sense! Thank goodness for God’s grace and patience with us all.

      She is a pretty good sleeper, which has been such a grace to us in this stage of life. She naps (and 99% of the time goes without a fuss) anywhere from 1 1/2 – 3 hours (please keep this up when Chloe comes!) and goes to bed between 8 and 9 and sleeps till 8:30 or 9 am! At night after we say our prayers and she has 3 paccis (yes 3) in her crib with her and her blanket on we ask her: “do you know momma loves you? do you know daddy loves you? do you know that Jesus loves you and is always there for you?” and after each questions she nods her heads and looks up at us while laying down… so sweet.

      She has 12 teeth and has 4 making their way as we speak! This makes it easy for her to eat all sorts of stuff- including popcorn at her first movie, Frozen, that we took her to about a month ago. Such sweet memories.

      learning how to wash cars with dad and jaju 

      She is super flexible and a great traveler, but very particular at the same time. She has gotten to where she likes a routine (but can go with the flow when there is none) and likes to have everything in its place (not sure where she got that from?? not me! 😉 ) She has a plan and tries her best to communicate that plan to us– her new thing is to grab our hands and walk with us to wherever she wants to go and do what she wants to do. Its pretty cute.

      We can’t wait to see Lydia as a BIG sister (even though she is still our baby- I know she will seem so much bigger compared to a newborn). We know that it will come with lots of joys, tears, laughs, excitement and challenges, but we are ready for what the Lord has in store for our little family. Even though we are ready to be out of this transition phase in life, we are thankful for the quality time we have had with family and that they have gotten to share in our joy of Lydia at this stage.

      Liddy bug,

      We know that life is about to change big time for you as you transition to being a BIG sister! But we know that you will do great with whats ahead and we know that you will fall in love with your baby sister. We pray that you two will become best friends and will always be there for each other. Thank you for being such a joy and so much fun to call our daughter. We love you more than you could ever know!

      love, momma & dada

        Posted in Everyday Life, Family, Lydia, Mcnugget | 2 Comments