Pumpkin Picking...

Last Friday Joy and I went to the Pumpkin Patch while waiting to go visit Daddy during his office Halloween party. We had a good time, I was impressed with her reaction to walking on hay and seeing ALL those big orange balls! The pics show the story!

I just let her out of the stroller (in the background) and put her down to see what she would do...She wasn't sure what to do with the Pumpkins at first...

So She decided to walk around them...

I kept pointing out different things I was trying to get her to notice the pallet of gourds behind her, but she was more interested in the giant pumpkins (and the other kids running around)

I think her eyes stayed this big most of the time, she was amazed with the pumpkins!

She was showing me the little pumpkins in front of her...

So I gave her one, she wasn't sure what exactly to do with it,

So she dropped it only to pick it up again, and again, and again...

I put this one down for her to inspect, we got it for Daddy.

I could not resist trying the little photo opportunity they had, I was impressed she wasn't screaming or trying to get down,

Until after the first picture!

Oh and she never got back in the stroller it got commandeered by the pumpkins!

So that was all the Friday before Halloween. I think we will go back to this Pumpkin Patch again next year, but maybe a little earlier in the season as the Pumpkins had been picked through allot! (I had gone on Wednesday with my preschool class and between then and Friday they were down quite a bit!)

Halloween was last night and we again put on our Minnie Mouse dress, and occassionally I could get the ears on (sorry no ears in the Pumpkin Patch too much to do by myself!). Joy "Trick or Treated" at 3 houses, our neighbors, and 2 Grandmotherly (about my Mom's age) ladies across the street. I knew they would love her so we went to see each of them. She wasn't sure what to think, but Rob and I are enjoying the little candy that got us :) I will try and get the pictures up soon.

Rob was also a great Halloween participant this year, he did a Matrix theme with 2 other guys from work. He even won the office decorating contest with his Matrix walls! He then brought those walls home and decorated the entryway for our trick or treaters! He was Neo and a couple kids even recognized him! Pictures to follow later this week...

Other news....
I am working at our church's Parent's Day Out/Preschool/Kindergarten I started out 3 days a week full days 9-2 as one of the 4's teachers. Then many things happened and now I am working 5 days 9-12 as a 4's teacher and the Kindergarten teacher. This is good and bad. I enjoy the consistency this gives me and Joy, and technically it's the same hours, and we get to see Rob everyday for lunch. The bad is it is 5 days, and this is only week 2 of the new schedule, but it's making for long weeks. I also don't have much planning time at the school so it is causing me to do some work at home, which I don't want to do. I will say my allergies/sinuses have been INSANE these 2 weeks so that could be part of the issue and being new to the positions also creates more work, but only time will tell. So that's all my news.

I'm updating!!

Okay I told you it would be Mid-October before I could update! Here it is I am updating (and by the way I would prefer to be going to bed, but this is for you Geneva and Michelle.)

The Birthday Week was long but fun. Paw Paw and Grand (My Dad and Step Mom) were here Sunday through Tuesday. Then Wednesday afternoon Grandma and Grandpa (Rob's Mom and Step Dad) came and stayed through Monday morning. On Tuesday and Thursday we went to Moody Gardens (I love that place!) mostly for the adults, but Joy also likes to see the fishies! Friday I did the cake which is in the previous post, I was proud of it and it tasted as good as it looked! The party was Saturday at 11:30...
The Party was a success. We had a great time and Joy did not freak out with all the people watching her. When people got here we basically hung around for awhile. Then we had some food (burgers by committee) and then we did presents and last we had cake. Joy got the small butterfly cake all to herself. At fist she poked at it eating one star of icing off at a time, then people quit staring at her and she managed to smash her smash cake :) Okay we all know what you really want is not my babbling but the pictures so here:

This is before we opened presents. The rocking chair was one of her gifts from Me and Rob. It was my rocking chair as a child and has a music box on it, great for annoying my sister. I re-did the cushions to have it match her stuff.

She would not wear her crown, but it was fun to try anyway.

Here she is picking the stars off one at a time.

Then she figured it out...

Okay so that is all the birthday news.

Other Lybarger news and notes...

Rob - nothing much to report here, he is doing well and still likes his job most of the time. He has also had a birthday and is now 34. We did a family dinner at Olive Garden on his b-day (October 3rd) and then an extended family dinner at The Cheesecake Factory on Saturday. It took 30 minutes to get there and then 30 minutes to get from the freeway to the restaurant (it's one block you have to love the Galleria!) After that we did have a good time. And he felt well celebrated.

Donna - The Sunday before Joy's b-day I was working in the preschool extended session at our church (the time after Sunday school during big church). While in there my knee popped a little louder than usual but I thought nothing of it. Later that day it began to hurt a little still thought nothing. Each day it hurt more and more. I finally would take Aleve at night to help the pain and let me sleep. Then last Tuesday I broke down and called a doctor and was seen. I have/had fluid in my knees. He prescribed Ibuprofen and said call in 2 weeks if it's still hurting. I have been taking the ibuprofen and noticed it wasn't hurting so I stopped a couple days ago so far it's okay and only a mild ache on occasion (I have a high tolerance for pain and hate taking meds). So that is where that is now. after 2 days no drugs I am doing better than I was so I guess the fluid's gone? I might call this week just to double check he doesn't want to follow up, but it feels okay now.
I am also working at the Parent's Day Out/Preschool at my church, which I enjoy, but we still have a few kinks we re trying to work out, both with Joy and with my classroom. Pray that we can get the kinks ironed out!

Joy - Well she began really walking on September 11th. Since then she has decided it's better to walk than crawl and has almost perfected the getting up without assistance, although if you are near she wants your help. She loves her outside walks that she now gets to take she will walk on the sidewalks and the driveways but not in grass. She cut 3 more teeth the week of her birthday, which brings the total to 7. I think I might have seen another coming in too, but not sure. I did weigh her on her b-day and she was 18lbs 2oz. This continued the last few months weight gain curve so all is good there. I am more relaxed and so the bottles are gone. All but the night time one. She is confidently drinking out of a straw all day and then at night I give her 8oz of formula in a bottle just to make sure she gets through the night. I think when we are out of formula that will be the end of the bottles!! I don't know how to wean this last night night bottle, but I am sure she will do better than me! She is eating fairly well, he favorite things are french fries and fajitas (she loves Taco Cabana fajitas!) She drinks whole milk except for the last bottle of the day. She is doing well, and loved by all! If I missed anything let me know. Here are a couple more pictures for the road!

Grandma has a cane and Joy liked to walk around with it, didn't bother her it is twice her height!

Rob's Piano - Peggy and Fred brought his piano from Florida and Joy loves it!

We Have Cake!!

In the beginning their was cake with white icing and then pink icing.

Then the baby needed icing (don't worry I cleaned it after this)

Adding a little yellow

More for the baby...

TA-DA!!

Joy's smash cake

Lily's cake (if she wants it)

All done!!! Sorry for the head turn.

One Year!

Wow! Has it been a year already? I don't know if I fully believe the calendar, but I do believe my baby is no longer the baby I see in the pictures from her original birthday! This year has had it's highs and it's lows. The high points are waking up each day to the realization I'm a Mommy, anytime Ma or Daddy comes out of her mouth, best of all is those moments when ONLY Mommy will do. The lows include not being able to breastfeed exclusively as long as I wanted and then not at all, the resulting weight issues and general crying without understanding.

Joy has learned so much this year and has so much more to learn! She learned first how to control her body, her head, her hands and her feet. Then to make them do something other than fly around about her. The real trick was then coordinating them all to learn to crawl. Next came pulling up, and then cruising. After months of crawling she decided being upright is best. Now she is determined to walk upright as much as possible. She even stood up in the middle of the hallway on Friday at Church and started up walking again. She was not going to crawl!

Her voice has also grown all year. First from the wailing cry she started at birth (and lasted for quite awhile). Then a few coos and other small sweet noises. Then she started experimenting with sounds. First came Da, then Buh, and finally Ma. We would play with these sounds for awhile, then find new ones. Now she knows Daddy, even says Daddy when he comes around a corner or home from work. She will cry Mea, which I am guessing is her version of Mommy. She also talks about Puppies allot! She will also say uh-----oh after throwing something on the floor (and sometimes after dropping it accidentally). Her vocabulary grows each day, sometimes I am unsure if what she is saying is a new word or just a mimic of what she has heard. She just this week will start what I can only guess is the ABC's like her Leap Frog does them (so far I have heard up to about E).

I don't know what else to say, but I love her! I love her will all my heart and can't imagine this past year without her. I look forward to seeing what she will do each day, and can't believe she is the same small lump of a baby from a year ago. With that I will give you pictures of her First Birthday Celebration with her Paw Paw (my dad) and Grand (My Stepmother). The Birthday Party is this Saturday and as soon as I recover (sometime mid October maybe) I will fill you in and chronicle it in pictures.

The Cake!

The Family!

You want me to do what?

I got the rose!

Are they really letting me do this?

Can't miss a thing!!

Yeah! I like this!

I love you Paw Paw!

Joy's 1!

Steps!!!

SHE TOOK STEPS!!! My big girl!! She had me almost in tears today as I stood her up and she would walk to me then plop on her bottom and clap for herself! Now technically she took steps last week Daddy was holding her hands and she was going really good and Daddy let go and she took two steps before falling flat. These were momentum steps though, and she only did it once. Today she had no momentum she did it all on her own power!! I stood her up as far from me as I could reach and let go of her (she started the last couple days just standing or slowing sitting down) then I would scoot as far away as I could and see what she would do. About half the time she sat or would just stand there, then finally two steps!! I did it again and she did it again. Finally I decided I have to try and get this on video, so I got the camera out set it out and then pressed record. I stood her back up and she took many steps!!! I tried again to see if she could/would repeat it, but she was getting tired of my new game. I turned the video off put it where she could not get to it. Then tried again I stood her up and called her to me, she turned and walked towards some of her toys! My little girl can walk!!!! Now as soon as I learn how to get the video off the camera and onto the computer I will post it, until then just know she's cute and wobbly!!

trying...

So Joy has discovered the art of walking with her push toy, walking holding someones hand(s) and walking along a wall, but not walking all on her own. We imagine it won't be too long though. I will try and post it as soon as she does.

This month has been a little crazy! I can't even remember all that has happened. We have been to Moody Gardens Palm Beach a couple times, we continue to Monkey Around allot. \

The big events were I went away for a night and left Dad and Joy alone! They both survived and are still on speaking terms with me and each other. I had a great time with my cousins. We decided when our Maw Maw passed away we wanted to be able to get together on occasion, and waiting for our Dad's to help us would mean never doing it. So we took it upon ourselves and have a cousin's weekend each year. Last year we went to Galveston. This year we went to Salado Texas, which we loved! It's a great little town in the middle of hill country. Basically it's one street lined with all kinds of shops, Antiques, crafty stuff, Texas stuff, etc. It was a good relaxing and fun visit with the cousins and just generally nice to get away.

The other big even this month was a visit from my friend Mary, her boys, and one of her nieces. We had a great time, we went to Moody Gardens, did the beach, the Aquarium and the Rainforest. Then we went to the real beach (so her niece could see Galveston beaches are not really white sand and blue water). When we got to the real beach Michael (Mary's Youngest) William (one of the twins) and Joy were all sleeping so since I am very familiar and not a fan of Galveston beaches I stayed by the cars while Mary, Holly and John Morgan trekked to the beach. While sitting there taking to Rob on the phone I was looking at my tire and saw a nice big tear in it. So I called AAA and about an hour later they came and changed the tire to my donut. Then we did a short tour of the rest of Galveston and came home. That was a full day plus some! Friday Mary took her crew to visit her Aunt Ruth and then we met up with them at Kemah where we rode the train and watched the kids in the fountain. Then we said our goodbyes around 1:00 and Mary started to Dallas and I went to buy a new tire. That night around 9:00pm Mary gave me a call as they had just dropped off Holly and were on their way home! Yikes that was a long trip!!

This month we also helped my sister Vicki move from her house which they are renting to the work house. Then on Tuesday Rob went back over to help Marty with some stuff and after they were done they played some basketball with some much younger guys and Marty came home hurting. By the end of the week Vicki convinced Marty to go to the doctor (same one she went to when she broke her foot) and his Achilles Tendon is detached. He is having surgery on Wednesday (tomorrow). This is not helpful as many things were left undone at their home in Katy. So we went back and helped with a garage sale on Saturday and Rob helped with a few things in the house that needed fixing. Marty's Aunt and a family friend were there to help.

For the future... Tomorrow I start work at the church's Preschool/Mother's Day Out program. I will be working MWF, except the next 3 days are teacher work days so I will be there all 3. This means Joy will also be attending MDO on MWF. I will let you know how it goes!

We all know what is coming on the 19th! I am both excited and nervous. I look forward to her getting older, although I am loving her as a baby! I know I will love her as she grows, but it's hard to imagine her getting bigger. She is a sweetheart and I do love how she is now, and know I will love the person she grows up to be! As I have time I will update

been awhile...

Wow, it's been about a month since I last gave an update so I guess one is due. We have no new milestones we reached this month. She weighed in at 17lbs2oz on the 19th, which is 8 oz more than the month before. So she is steadily gaining 8oz a month now. From what other moms with kids the same age this is impressive as most of them are not gaining allot of weight at this time, if any they seem to level off when they begin crawling. Anyway that is our weight for now. Joy has also started to cut her "top I-teeth" if your keep count this will be 4 teeth, and if you know which ones those are, yes she is cutting these before the middle ones. She's a little odd now with her bottom middle two and the top one out from the middle two.
Activities this month... I had a friend from college come and visit for a week. We had a good time did a few things around town, but mostly just hung out. Joy and I also took a short trip to Dallas to visit with my friend Mary and her 4 boys, twin 2 year olds and the newest member of the family Michael, who is 3 months old, and of course the big boy Lynn (her husband). Joy was a little jealous as Michael has a ton more hair than her. She tried to pull it, but otherwise had no care for the moving doll Mom kept playing with. She did enjoy the two very active boys who would run past her and sometimes grab a toy and either say Giechael's or Mine (Geichael being their very cute mispronunciation of Michael). We enjoyed sitting back and watching the four of them figure each other out. I think we scared the boys because when I first arrived with Joy I met Michael but the twins were sleeping. Then Mary and I took a quick trip to the outlets and when we came back the boys were awake and Michael was asleep and they called Joy Michael, but could not figure out how he had grown and changed so much during their nap. Silly boys! I did forget my camera so I have no pictures of that visit. I was impressed I remembered everything for Joy!
We are also very happy to have a consistent group going for play dates on Thursdays or Fridays. We are the youngest at this time, but we are having a great time and love playing with the other kids. I think I have found my mommy group niche.
Our big news for the month is Joy has a new toy for her 10 month birthday she got a walk behind toy, which she loves! We don't encourage it too much, but we will help her get up and "walk" around the house a little. She has some bad steering issue (she learned from her Mom). but she is loving it! She hasn't yet figure out the walk with Mom or Dad holding her hands yet. I am sure it will come soon enough!

I know what you really want is pictures so here you go...Joy Finally let go in the pool since I got her in the float and the water is warmer she is much happier to go swimming!

One day I look down for Joy from the couch and I see she is climbing IN the coffee table, I quickly got the camera not sure if she would be happy or sad by the time I got back, but she seemed to enjoy her short stint under the table! I am glad I got it on camera, she has only tried one more time to do this again, but decided against it half way in!