Why is it so hot here?

The morning of January 27th, Lydia, my mother in law Alison, and I got to the airport at about 4:30. We checked in without a problem and since the flight was half empty I got to bring the car seat on and had a whole row to myself. Lydia fell asleep on the nursing pillow just before takeoff and I took my one and only nap of the day during those first 30 minutes as well. I just really can't sleep on planes for done reason. Lydia slept through pretty much the whole flight, just waking up in time to eat during the descent. Not being able to sleep had one advantage: I got a beautiful view of the sunrise over the Rockies.

During the next flight she repeated her trick of falling asleep during takeoff and slept through about half the flight. When she finally woke up, she smiled at and charmed the people sitting all around us. Whenever she got a little unhappy I would turn her to face new people and she was all smiles again. When we started descending she got fussy and I assumed her ears were hurting, so I kept giving her the binky to get her to pop her ears. The second the wheels hit tarmac, however, she was all smiles.  Silly goose.  Our last flight was pretty good for the first little bit--she fell asleep on takeoff again--but then I popped open my waterbottle and the pressure change caused it to overflow right on to my sleeping baby.  Who then became an angry baby.  I calmed her down, but when I took her back to the bathroom to change her she vocalized a contempt for the tiny, noisy bathroom.  A nice lady in the last row offered to let me change her on the empty seat beside her next time to avoid the crying.  When I took her up on that offer later in the flight, Lydia decided it would be a good time to pee mid-diaper change and soak herself and the changing pad.  I had to leave her with the nice lady to run back up to my seat and get a new diaper, then clogged up the aisle while I hunted through my bag for a new onesie.  Everyone was really nice about it, though, thank goodness!  I feel like I stressed for weeks about having a baby on the plane and then she ended up being just fine.

Sleeping like a baby

Riding the train to our gate in Dallas

Things went downhill once we were in Grenada, though.  They let us jump the line for immigration and we had no issues with customs (a first for me!), but once we got into the rental car Lydia started screaming and didn't stop.  We got home and I stripped her down to her diaper and fed her, but she continued to scream. I held her in front of a fan and rocked her while she cried herself to sleep.  I'm pretty sure if she could have talked she would have said something to the effect of, "Why is it so hot here?!"

We spent the next week with Bryant's mother doing some fun things.  Highlights:

First morning in Grenada!

Going on a morning walk.  Grandma Van Leeuwen took Lydia on walks all the time when she was here so that I could get stuff done.  It was great!

 First time at the beach!

Reunited with daddy!

• Went to pool day on Thursday and discovered that Lydia takes after her daddy in how much she LOVES the water.

 Being a little cutie pie.

She loves being a big girl and sitting in her chair!

• Went out to dinner at the University Club on Thursday night and Lydia had such a huge poop that I had to run home to grab her a new outfit.

 Her post-blowout onesie.  And yes, we laid her on the table while we were eating.

•  Went to La Saggesse beach on Saturday where I got sunburned and Lydia decided she absolutely hates it when a wave hits her tummy and splashes her face.  There was no more going in the ocean after that happened.

 

• Our friends threw a Superbowl party on Sunday and Lydia was falling asleep after about an hour, so we ditched out early and she had her first good night's sleep since we got to Grenada.

 

Playing at church.

 

 It was hot in there and the meeting ran 45 minutes longer than it was supposed to, so we played outside a bit.

• Monday Bryant came with his mother and me to a little restaurant called the Coconut Beach where we had some pretty amazing coconut pie, then we went to Grooms Beach where Lydia decided the ocean was ok after all.  She and I had some fun snuggling and giggling while Bryant and his mom went snorkeling.  

• On Tuesday Alison and I took Lydia downtown with some friends and we bought her the cutest little Independence day dress (pictures to come).
• Wednesday was our big adventure day.  Bryant skipped classes to come up to the north of the island with us.  We went to the chocolate factory and stocked up on some more dark chocolate bars, went to lunch at our favorite place (The Heights), and went on a little walk around a lake.  Lydia somehow managed to poop straight out of her diaper, down her leg, and all over me without getting any poop on her onesie.  It was a great mom moment for me as we were halfway through our walk and hadn't brought the diaper bag.

Grand Etang Overlook

Grand Etang Lake

On our walk

 It's hard to see, but there's poop all down my skirt!

 

• On our way back home on Wednesday Lydia got unhappy.  Bryant was the one sitting beside her in the backseat and he could not get her to calm down.  After about 10 minutes, I pulled off, changed her diaper and fed her.  She stopped crying pretty much the second I took her out of her carseat, but started up again when I buckled her back in.  We had 20 minutes to go to get home so we just drove while she cried.  By the time we got home Bryant was close to tears.  I told him it was fine, she just didn't want to be in her carseat and there was nothing he could have done.  He responded by saying that he had to watch her cry and it broke his heart.  I love that man.
• Thursday was pool day again and we put Lydia all the way under four times.  She only cried the last time, so I think she will be a great little swimmer like her daddy.

• I had only put sunscreen on the top half of me at the pool, and when we got home I realized that my legs were burned because I had spent ten minutes sitting in the sun and talking.  With my hands on my knees.  Yes, I burned that quickly.

Our Last Week in Utah

I'm about five weeks behind now after all the craziness of moving, but I am working hard to get caught up!  So here's what our last week in Utah was like:

Wednesday & Thursday (the 21st and 22nd), I organized and cleaned and made lists of what was going and what was not.  Lydia practiced her rolling skills by rolling back to front a few times and then front to back once on Thursday.  This little lady has crazy ab muscles, but very little upper body strength so it seems to be easier for her to do the back to front roll.  On Wednesday she wasn't eating well so I gave her a bottle of pumped milk and she sucked on it hard enough that I didn't have to hold it for her.  Silly goose.

On Friday I worked hard at packing and my sister Jess was there with her two boys.

Saturday I worked all day to finish the packing and organizing.  Luckily my mom, dad, and Jess all helped watch Miss Lydia so I could get stuff done.  Then in the evening my dad helped me load everything into his truck and we drove to Bryant's Uncle Neil's house where Al and Alison were at a party.  We moved everything over to their car and Lydia and I went home with them.  My love bug decided to stay up until eleven that night for no apparent reason, but she only woke up once so I was fine with it.

On Sunday Lydia practiced her sit ups, which is something new she just started doing.  When she's laying on her back she will pull her head and shoulders up and forward in what looks like an attempt to sit up.  Since she's obviously way too young to hold herself up like that, it ends in her slumping over sideways.  She now does it pretty much every time she goes in the car seat, too, straining forward against the straps like she thinks she'll get somewhere.  It's adorable, but I'm worried that soon she'll get frustrated and not like her car seat anymore.  Hopefully not!

Sunday night Lydia and I headed over to my Aunt Brenda's house for a family get together and to say goodbye to everyone.  Lydia was her usual charming self and smiled for everyone.  We had a great time saying goodbye to my family and we will miss them so much!  Side note: we had a baked potato bar and my nephew, Keagan, informed his mother that he didn't want to eat what she served him, he wanted to eat "something beautiful."  When asked what beautiful thing he wanted to eat, we discovered that having chili on your baked potato is beautiful.  I laughed pretty hard at that one.

After we left my family party we headed back to the Van Leeuwens' to say goodbye to McCall and Aubrey, who had driven up from Provo to spend a little time with us.  They exclaimed over what a big girl she's become--pretty much all of her head control and standing abilities started during the last two weeks--and how much they would miss her.  We will miss them, too!

I just remembered something I've been meaning to include on here.  When Lydia gets put down for bed or naps or anything like that, she does this thing that I call mattress thumping.  She's laying flat on her back and--with her eyes still closed--she brings her feet straight up in the air so her body is making a little "L" shape, then swings them down hard to thump against the mattress.  I think this is her equivalent of shifting around to get comfortable.  If we don't step in and hold her feet down or give her the binky or pat her, she keeps doing it until she wakes up.

Monday was a hectic day since it was our last in Utah.  There was shopping and planning and packing and my friend Brooke came over with her two kids to give me back a burp cloth and hang out for a while. That night my last package of cloth diapers arrived at my parents' house and my dad had to bring them down. Al and Alison were kind enough to finish packing and weighing all the suitcases while I tried to put Lydia to bed early in preparation for our early morning. She refused to go to bed early, insisting on staying up until her normal bedtime. However, she slept straight through from then until we got up early the next morning so at least there was that. Photos from the week:

She loves walking around with me in her carrier!

And tummy time has gotten much more pleasant since she's developed the ability to push herself up.

Seriously, so much better.

Helping mom do the laundry!

One of our last walks in the cold.

She fell asleep while cuddling with her Aunt Nikki!

 The last Sunday in Utah!

 To hear about the adventure of flying you'll have to wait for the next installment. Stay tuned!

Growth Spurt

I officially hate growth spurts. So very much.  Lydia has been waking up twice a night again since last Tuesday night, which she hadn't been doing for a whole month.  Then last night she woke up three times to eat, which she has never done in the entirety of her life.  I know I have no right to complain because she's still a better sleeper than most babies, but I was loving her eight hour stretches of sleep so very much.  I think she's hitting a growth spurt because she's getting SO.  BIG.  She's also suddenly developed some pretty incredible head control out of nowhere.  I was getting worried about how weak her neck seemed because she would not hold her head up hardly ever.  But now she does it like a champ!  Here are the picture highlights of the week:

So.

Much.

Tummy Time.

She falls asleep while eating in the morning sometimes and I find it waaaaaaay too cute.

I clipped her fingernails after she did this to herself (I don't know if you can see it, but she's got red marks all over her poor tummy).  And I clipped two of them too short and they bled. Sad face.  She didn't seem upset at all, but I felt terrible.

Helping mom do the laundry!  Also, see how she's outgrown this outfit?  Had to retire it after that day!

 Going on a walk!

She loves her giraffe that her Aunt Katrina gave her!

She gets stuck in her toys sometimes. :)

She fell asleep while cuddling with her Aunt Nikki.

Nikki was having a rough time after a breakup this weekend, so Jess and I took her out shopping.

We tried on prom dresses and then we bought her two pairs of the cutest boots ever and some skinny jeans to go with them.  I didn't get a picture of the boots, but they were adorable and she NEEDED them.

The rest of the week has been spent cleaning and organizing and packing.  It's taking a long time because my love bug periodically distracts me, but by this time next week I'll be in Grenada!