It's Been Too Long...

     Since my last post that is.  The DuToit's arrived Wednesday night and left earlier this afternoon.  We enjoyed their company and we had a lot of fun and ate a lot of calories.  Treadmill here I come, tomorrow that is.  We celebrated both me and Colette's birthdays.  And no, I don't feel any older.  The men got us a variety of sweets...a chocolate cake, red velvet cupcakes and cookies that were decorated with icing to look like cookie monsters.  I enjoyed those.  We played some crazy scrabble two nights in a row.  That's right, look out cause these two couples are out of control on the weekends.  It felt like old times again, hanging out all the time.  We just had two new cute additions.  
     I think Lydia was worn out from all the extra excitement cause she has taken excellent naps today.  I'm hoping she didn't catch Noah's cold.  I guess we'll find out within the next couple of days.  I tried to keep her away from Noah as best I could and Lysol and sanitize like a crazy person.  They did take a bath together though so we could get some super cute pictures to blackmail them with when they're older.  Sorry, can't post that picture on here, I might get arrested.  Kevin and I talk everyday about how we love our daughter so much.  There is just this love that keeps growing for her.  You can't understand unless you're a parent.  It's such a special love you have for your child.  It truly is amazing.  I love her so much more today than the day she was born, and I'll love her that much more in the future.
     I'm looking forward to getting a phone call or text this week from the Johnson's announcing that they are in the hospital.  Notice I said this week.  Even though I predicted little Johnsonette to come a few days ago.  Can't wait to see that cute little baby girl.  I'm gunna have to plan a trip to Texas to see her in person.
     Our computer is still in the process of being fixed so it will be a few more days till I can post pics.  We had to get a new hard drive.      

Owls!

     Lydia and I got snowed in today.  We got close to 4 inches of snow today and we are supposed to get more tomorrow.  If it were just me I wouldn't mind going places, but I really don't want to drag baby girl out into that mess.  I didn't get do my "treadmilling" today so instead I shoveled the driveway.  :)  I wanted to get out of the house and it didn't matter if it was only 30 feet away and involved manual labor.  I can't wait till Spring.  Unfortunately that won't happen till probably late April here.
     I hope you all are enjoying the new design.  I spent a lot of time on it, more than I should have.  Lydia is still sleeping great at night.  I have to get up every now and then but I don't mind checking on her.  She has gotten to the point where she will start to cry and scream when you take a toy away from her.  I had no idea this stage started so early.  I liked it better before when she had no idea what was going on.  I always thought I wouldn't be "one of those parents" who gave their kid whatever they wanted, but when she starts to cry over a little plastic teether I'm going to give it back.  I can usually find some way to distract her and remove it from sight.  She has gotten a lot better in her Jenny Jump Up she got for Christmas.  She used to just spin in it and now she knows how to jump.  Anytime the dogs walk by her while she's in it she lunges at them, as if she's saying "you better pay attention to me".  Then they run off.  Our computer is still not working so still no pictures.  Sorry.

What does the future hold?

     I have such big plans for our little family for the next couple years.  Lord willing we will move out of here at the end of June.  Not sure if Lydia and I will move with daddy to Arkansas and Oklahoma for his rotations or just move to East Texas.  I don't want Kevin to be away from his baby girl for too long.  Then toward the end of the year we should definitely be back in E TX.  Just not sure where we are going to live.  Either with family or I'd like to find a furnished place for us to rent temporarily.  Then comes the year 2012.  I'm looking forward to that year.  Maybe a new house, furniture, being around family and friends all the time and maybe having another baby.  :)  I never thought I would be so eager to get pregnant again, but if I could right now I would.  But I can't.  So maybe at the end of the year.  Kevin said he heard stay at home moms get the baby bug faster than working moms.  I guess it's true.  It's going to be so nice to have family and friends around all the time for the next little Skinner.  It's going to make such a big difference.  I'm also looking forward to going back to Sylvania.  I'm saying all this and we'll probably end up moving to Austin or something.  I hope not, but you never know.
     Lydia woke up last night just screaming and crying.  It took a few minutes to calm her down.  I'm not sure what happened.  Maybe she got scared somehow.  That's never happened before.  I did enjoy holding her and calming her down.  Other than that she's doing great.
     I'm not sure if I already mentioned it, but I have started to pack up the house already.  I know, it's a little premature but it's stuff that we don't use.  I've only packed two boxes.  That's two less boxes we have to pack up come June.  :)   Can you tell I'm eager to move back home?
     The DuToit clan is planning on heading this way next week for a little birthday bash.  My birthday is on the 27th and Colette's is on the 29th.  4 years apart of course.  I think Colette is the older one.  :)  That should be fun, I'm looking forward to it.

Couponing

     Yesterday was the first day I got out of the house in two days.  I know that doesn't seem like that long but it's nice to get out every now and then.  It snowed about 3 inches in the beginning of the week and it's still on the ground.  It will probably start to melt today since it's supposed to get up to 40.
     Lydia is doing good.  She didn't have any sort of reaction from her shots on Monday.  I think she was just a little sore till Wednesday.  She has been sleeping great.  And my sleeping has definitely improved as well.  I used to wake up every couple hours just cause that's what I was used to with Lydia, but now I wake up only a couple times.  Lydia and I went to MOPS last night and learned all about couponing.  Apparently that's a word.  I'm guessing a verb?  I'm not sure.  There is a lot of money to be saved out there and I plan on joining in.  I do need to be a smarter shopper, especially at the grocery store.
    Well Lydia is up from her nap so I have to cut this one short.  Adios amigos.

Fat Baby!

     Lydia had her doctors appt this morning.  At her last appt (4 month checkup) she was in the 8th percentile for her weight and now she is in the 80th percentile.  She now weighs 16 lbs and 4 oz.  Yea for my chubby little baby girl.  They were all saying what a good mom I was and it made me feel good.  :)  They also gave me some free formula, which I was very excited about since we are still using the expensive stuff.  When the nurse started giving her the shots (4 of them) Lydia started screaming and crying.  I hate to see her that way, but I now it's for the best.  When the nurse was done I immediately picked her up and she stopped crying.  But then she stared a hole through the nurse until she left the room.  We got a kick out of it.  She wanted to know who would put her through such tremendous pain.  At least she knows it wasn't me.
  

Poo Poo Over Floweth

     We actually visited a new church this morning.  A few people introduced themselves to us and they all seemed very nice.  There were a lot of kiddos there too.  Kevin said it was his favorite church we've visited thus far.  We will probably keep going back.  I just wish we could have found this church a year ago.  Oh well, better late than never.  I didn't get to listen to the sermon cause as I was holding Lydia, trying to get her to take her morning nap, she began to poop.  So I grabbed her diaper bag and headed to the "cry room".  IT WAS HORRIBLE!!  It was definitely a top contender for one of the messiest poops so far.  I probably used at least 15 wipes.  Thank goodness I brought an extra outfit or I would have been in trouble. One of the ladies I met invited me to MOPS this week.  For those of you who don't know what that is it's Mothers of PreSchoolers.  It sounds like a good way to get to know some peeps around here and hopefully make some friends that I can hang out with.
     Lydia slept all night last night.  Didn't wake up once.  :)  I gave her her first sippy cup yesterday and she treated it as a chew toy.  She'll get the hang of it eventually.  She has her 6 month checkup tomorrow.  More shots.  :(  I'm looking forward to seeing how much she weighs and what percentile she is in now since she has gained so much more weight since her last checkup.
     We are still waiting for our main computer to get fixed and once it does (hopefully this week) I will post some pictures.

     Well I cut all my hair off yesterday!  I'm pretty sure it's the shortest it's ever been.  Don't worry, there were no sheers needed.  I really like it and so does Kevin.  I didn't tell him I was going to get it cut.  I left the house and when I came home he was feeding Lydia.  He looked up, looked back down and then did a double take.  I didn't tell him I was going to get it cut cause I knew he was going to try and talk me out of it.  So I decided to surprise him instead. 
     I think Lydia's cold is slowly getting better.  I don't have to suck her nose out near as much as I have been.  She still has a mild cough that wakes her up at night, but it's not too bad.  She's still sleeping pretty good for a sick baby.  She's sitting up so good now.  She doesn't need any extra support.  It's amazing how she just all of a sudden was able to sit up on her own.  It pretty much happened over night.   Speaking of her growing fast, Lydia will be 6 months old on Saturday!  I can't believe it.  That flew by.
     Kevin is really enjoying his first rotation.  The doctor he's with enjoys having students with him and it seems like him and Kevin have a lot in common.  He is currently at the orientation for the new 1st year students (voluntarily).  He is now one of the envied 2nd year students.  Yay!    Well it's time for dinner.  Adios amigos!      

New Post

     It has been a while since my last post.  I would post pictures of Christmas but our computer is acting stupid so I am using Kevin's laptop for now.  We had a really good time in Texas.  It was nice to be there for two weeks cause you don't feel rushed, but we are glad to be home so we don't have to live out of a suitcase anymore.  Lydia did really good while we were gone.  Her sleeping slowly started to get worse the longer we were in town, but overall I would call it a success.  The day after we got back (last Saturday) she got sick (thanks Noah).  Just kidding.  She only has a stuffy nose and a slight cough.  It already seems to be doing better today.  She didn't wake up at all last night.  The past couple nights she has been waking up a few times due to the stuffy nose I think.  So we have been putting her in her swing a little more lately so everything can drain down.  
     Lydia now has two teeth.  You can really see them poking out.  It's amazing how fast babies grow and develop.  After two weeks in Texas we came back with a baby who has two teeth, can sit up all by herself and can sometimes roll over.  
     Well we have the treadmill in the house that I mentioned a few posts ago.  I have used it everyday since we've been back.  I'm curious how long it will take me to get back to running 4 or 5 miles.  I would like to do a half marathon one day.  Kevin has been wanting us to run one of those for a few years now.  We'll see.  Hopefully I can post pictures soon.