Lydia is ONE today and I can hardly believe it! She still seems so little to me and of course, she IS still little, but she’s also climbing on everything, smiling and laughing at things she finds funny, opening every cabinet and drawer, yelling when she is mad about something, almost walking and just developing all these little habits and personality traits that constantly remind me she’s not a little baby anymore 🥺

We had such a fun and busy weekend, celebrating Lydia on Sunday with a Winter ONEderland-themed party and then lots of holiday fun on Friday and Saturday so now I am either running on fumes or celebratory adrenaline, who can tell which 😅 but it did feel good to finally feel like we were living our best December lives!

Joey has been doing 12 days of books for the kids and I! I opened my Friday book and got really excited about a collection of short stories 👏🏻 Got the kids to Grandma’s then got some work done before heading out for a holiday mani that I desperately needed. Later on, Joey brought the kids home (they came bearing the cutest crafts 😍) and we ate a quick dinner, picked up hot chocolate, and drove around to look at Christmas lights. Truly one of my favorite traditions and I think we saw some good ones! Lyds fell asleep before we hit our last house, so only Joey and Dempsey got out to walk around but when they got back to the car, Dempsey said I should go look too. He can be so thoughtful like that 🤍 And it really was a cool house!

It was a busy Saturday. First up… pancakes! I made Lydia’s into a mini waffle since she’s shown more interest in a crispier texture and I think she actually ate some! Afterward, I took Dempsey to Target to pick out a birthday present for his sister — two books and one for himself, of course — and then he set up his “computer” for “work” and kept telling me not to bother him 😂 Headed back home to swap places with Joey, who took Dempsey to his swim lesson and then we all met up at Edgewater Public Market for our Santa visit! Thought there was a chance Lydi might cry but she just her stoic face on instead. Dempsey told Santa he wants an octopus stuffy and his own phone for Christmas and it’s starting to feel like Joey and I should have waited until Christmas Eve to buy presents since Dempsey keeps coming up with new stuff every time he’s asked what he wants 🤪 Had lunch then went home so Dempsey could protest his nap until we eventually gave up. It was a long evening, guys! We did have a good diner and watched some of A Christmas Story before much bedtime antics but eventually they were both in bed and asleep.

Sunday was party day for our Lydi! We had things organized and packed as best we could and then my parents came over to hang with the kids, so we could decorate the space and I definitely wished we’d had more time/had put things together more ahead of time but I think we had it mostly set up before people started arriving. We had such a good time! Special thanks to my mom for making ALL the red velvet cupcakes and to Lori and Chad for helping set up. Lori did such a good job on the dessert table 🤍 Wasn’t sure how Lydi would do with the cake considering her rejection of all sweets, but turns out all babies love frosting. Dempsey was more than ready to help light the candle, blow out the candle and eat the frosting 😂

My parents took the kids back home and put our party girl down for her nap — no luck with the other one though — and once she was back up, we started opening presents, took a quick break for dinner then finished opening the rest. She got lots of cute clothes, books and just a handful of toys, which was perfect! I think Dempsey thinks all those toys are for him though 🤔 I really cannot believe our daughter is a year old already. This morning, we had her open presents from Joey, Dempsey and I, plus my mom is over on Mondays and got to see her open Bitty Baby in person! We have evening plans over at the Stanley Marketplace, so it should be a fun fun day. Happy Birthday, my Lydi girl, we love you so much! 🤍🤍🤍

I’m not going to lie, I feel like this holiday season is swallowing me whole. We had a rocky fall with sickness and bad sleep and I was ready to put it behind us and really live it up this Christmas but our first weekend of the year didn’t go as planned and now I feel blue and am having a hard time getting in the spirit. Why is there so much to do and never enough time to feel like you have it all under control?

Our little lady started Friday at the allergist for a repeat skin test and while she’s now okay with soy, her reactions to peanut, egg and dairy are still showing up loud and clear 😞 In fact, our doctor is not optimistic about the peanut allergy going away ever! Dairy and egg should still but the question is when? Poor Lydia! We had a company holiday party that night and had fun mingling and axe throwing. It was harder than I thought it would be! Got home just in time to see the tail end of Dempsey’s bedtime freak out for Aunt Bean and Uncle Wayne. I explained that all the shenanigans he put them through is just a typical night for us 🤪😬😂

The first half of Saturday was pretty normal and low key. Buttermilk pancakes, I got in a run, Dempsey went to his swim lesson, both kids napped and we wrapped some presents before Grandma Lori came over because Joey and I had fun plans out!

Casa Bonita is a Colorado icon but it’s reputation has been shoddy to say the least. It finally got new owners and is re-opened to the lucky raffle winners. Hannah got the call and invited us to come along with she and Josh. It was quite the experience. We were there for four hours and I feel like we could’ve stayed longer! Staff was amazing, entertainment (yes, there are still cliff divers!) was fun, food was certainly an improvement and they hit that perfect blend between being exactly how I remember it being but much much nicer. We had so much fun but I totally lost track of time/didn’t realize there would be so much to do and we were home much later than I had expected. I had told Dempsey we’d be home to put him to bed and I felt so horrible when we weren’t. Luckily he was still awake in bed when we got home, so I ran up to kiss him goodnight and give him a blue rubber duck Joey had won from the claw machine in the arcade. He had the biggest smile when I gave it to him so I felt a lot better.

Our Sunday went by in a flash! We actually all slept in, so we took that as an opportunity to order breakfast sandwiches (and a chocolate cruffin that we were meant to share 😂) from Wooden Spoon since it doesn’t open till 8 and we’re usually eating before that. They hit the spot! Felt like we spent the rest of the morning getting ready for Lydia’s one year photo shoot at the Botanic Gardens but we made it there on time and in one piece. Just like Dempsey in past years, our happy smiley girl was suddenly the most stoic baby in all the land. But I think Jo managed to get some smiley shots and Demps was being a true ham and even got to help take some photos with the big fancy camera! I can’t wait to see how they turned out and I cannot believe our girl is almost one 🥺 Back at home, the kids (and Joey) went down for naps and I made salads for the week. Truly hard to fit that in a lot of weekends and I’m always so close to bailing but then it makes the work week soooo much easier. Felt like I had just sat down to read a few pages of my book when it was time to get everyone up and dinner on the table and head BACK to the Botanic Gardens for Blossoms of Light. I had put a pork shoulder in the crockpot and was able to get some sliders together real quick before we left. It turned out really good! And we had a really nice — windy but not too cold — night at the gardens. Dempsey had fun with hot chocolate, keeping an eye out for the headless horseman (who was there when we went for Halloween 😂) and chasing after Uncle Wayne. It was Lydi’s first Blossoms experience and she was somewhere between content and confused 😋

Back to our December to-do list and back to the work week but we have zoo lights on Wednesday to look forward to 😄 Happy Monday!