Birthday girl

Today was Lydia's birthday. We both got up with her as soon as we heard her. Usually we let her babble for about 15 minutes before we go get her, cause there's always a chance that she falls asleep again. Today though, we had a full day of fun planned and we could not wait get started.

Our first fun idea came from Mama Branner. We blew up about 120 balloons and stuffed them in our coat closet. We could not wait to let Lydia get into that stash. The idea was to let balloons fall out on her, as she squeals, laughs, dances and prances around from excitement. Well, that's not exactly how it happened. Lydia saw the balloons falling, backed away and then darted for cover, crying. At first, we could not even get her to come close to the balloon-flooded area. She would grab onto one of us, wrap her arms and legs around and whimper. It took a bit of creative persuasion to get her to come over and play. In the end, we think she actually enjoyed it.

Also, we went to Sears to take some pictures. Lydia refused to be amused. She stared intently at the photographer as he tried to find ways to make her smile. Aside from that, I did not find the final product very good. In my mind it was a poor choice of props and backgrounds that made me come to that conclusion. I made a mental note not to go back to Sears Studio. I should mention, though, that we did decide to print a few of the pictures that were taken. One was a family shot and the other two were Lydia's character showcases. It's really fun to see her personality come right out in photos.

The rest of the day we spent waiting for Lydia to finish her afternoon nap, taking her to a fun park with fountains and letting her shove some birthday cake in her mouth. She got covered with frosting, though it hardly looked like frosting on her-more like an unidentified color of dark paint. I am sure the pictures we have taken will be enough to embarrass Lydia in front of her future boyfriends.

My bed is calling my name and calling pretty loudly, so I better turn in for the night.