Stylin'

For years I've loved doing my younger sisters' hair. I've been anxiously awaiting the growth of Lydia's hair so that I could style it as well. Finally it's long enough that I was able to get the elastics out. At first I was worried that it would draw attention to the birthmark on her head, but then it was so cute I didn't care.

Here we see adorable pigtails. Another take of the pigtails. Here is the "pebbles" look. She just looked so adorable this day. Top view of her crawling.Top view of her head.
Lydia sits very well while I comb her hair and style it. She's actually very curious about the whole process. She'll even take the comb and hold it up to her hair to try and comb it. I'm so happy I get to do my little girls hair :)

Lydia Vs. The Birthday Cupcake

And now . . . what you've all been waiting for! The epic battle between the newly turned one-year old....and THE BIRTHDAY CUPCAKE! Who will win?! Lydia with her brute strength and six teeth of steel? Or the birthday cupcake with it's deceptively cute appearance, sticky frosting, and sickening sugar overload? Only time will tell..... Let the battle BEGIN!!

And we're off!

Lydia is presented with the challenge. You can see the opponents analyzing each other. The ref, Mom, is in the background in case things get too out of hand.

Lydia's off to a strong start with the gluttony apparent on her face. The greed in her eyes makes it seem as though this battle is to be over soon.

Ah and now the confidence returns! It appears with Lydia's nonchalant manner in which she's taking on the birthday cupcake, she feels she has this war in the bag!

Lydia now is picking at the cupcake's frosting piece by piece... slowly, ripping it apart as the greed returns to her eyes. It appears she has a fast lead!

Lydia goes in for the kill, OH! RIPPING THE BIRTHDAY CUPCAKE IN HALF!!!! It appears this is almost over folks.

But wait?! What's this? Slowly, you can see the cupcake's frosting making it's way across her hands. Is the birthday cupcake waiting to make its move? Is it slowly waiting for the kill? That smile of victory might be premature!

OH! THE CUPCAKE STRIKES! Using its secret weapon, the cupcake draws on all the sugars it can muster and attacks!! Watch as the sickness washes across Lydia's face! Has the cupcake come back for the win?! Is this battle about to be over?!

With one last flourish, the one-year old sweeps up the birthday cupcake and. . . AND IT'S GONE! SHE'S DONE IT! THE BIRTHDAY CUPCAKE IS GONE! With an incredible display of strength Lydia pushed through the sickness and manged to eat the entire final half of the birthday cupcake before it even had a chance to retaliate.

Whew! Look at that victory face! And it's well deserved. I don't think any cupcake dare cross this one-year old again.

Well folks, that was a close one! With minimal scarring.. in the end it's clear who the victor was... THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!

Stay tuned for Lydia vs. Walking With No Help, it's sure to be a close one!

One

Lydia's birthday party was a hit. Why? Because she loved it and that's what's important. We had pizza, her favorite (in one sitting she's eaten a whole slice and a half, impressive for her age). And you can see that mess above. It made more mess than her cupcake did (pictures soon to come)! We had lots of friends over including her best friend John who got his own cupcake. Then it was presents time. Lydia received tons of cute clothes, a new carseat, books (another favorite), toys, and a walker toy (her new favorite). It was really good to see everyone and to have everyone there to celebrate the first year of Lydia's life. I love this little angel and this last year has felt so complete because of her. It's funny I never knew I was missing anything until she came along. There is so much satisfaction in just living now because she's with Brigham and me. It was fun for me during the day to think back a year ago and remember the joy of giving birth and of welcoming her into our lives. I didn't know what was coming! The love, the tears, the new beginnings. It has been SO fun seeing all the new changes and I look forward to seeing what her next birthdays bring!

Bunch of Animals

So for Lydia's first birthday we went to the Hogle Zoo. It was great fun! Lydia still was more fascinated by the people at the zoo rather than the animals, but she did enjoy the animals enough to point at a few of them. The boys (meaning Brigham and his brothers) had a few snow ball fights and acted like they belonged at the zoo themselves.  Out of all the animals, the cougar was Lydia's favorite. That's my true blue BYU girl :)

Lydia and this monkey got along well. When the monkey put its hands where Lydia's were, she quickly turned her head and looked at me as if to say, "Mom!" It was pretty hilarious.Uncle Sam and Lydia has fun looking at the giraffes. In particular this giraffe kept licking the wall. It was pretty silly!Lydia enjoyed the muskrat (I hope that's what it is). She used her famous pointing.

Can you tell Lydia loves being outside? 

Here we are measuring up to the gorillas. I'm annoyingly tall already. I'd be freakish if I were a girl gorilla. However, we make a good human family :)
We had an awesome time at the Zoo and it was a perfect activity for Lydia.  Someday she'll stare at the animals more than the people :)