It's Christmas time! (2011)

Hello my babies. I love you both so very much. Let's write some updates on what's going on with you both.

Lydia (aka Beeboo) - You are talking up a storm now and you are so smart in what you already understand. You love to say everybody's name when you seem them. You also love saying the word "hi" over and over again to everyone. It is really cute. You do it to Luke all the time. You are able to get into basically everything now, which makes mommy and daddy's job much more difficult. You can open up just about anything and you are climbing up on all of the furniture now. You really like to love on Baudy and your dolly too. You keep trying to feed your dolly a bottle and keep trying to put Luke's binkie into his mouth. Most of the time you try to put the binkie in backwards. Daddy has really been enjoying our new weekend morning routine. When you wake up early, daddy comes in and gets you out of your crib. We snuggle it up in your big girl bed for a bit. It's really fun and this gives mommy and Luke a chance to sleep in a little. The only challenge is that most of the time you are really hyper and don't want to sleep. This new thing is one of daddy's favorites. It is Xmas time and you love trying to put ornaments on the tree limbs. It is adorable. We visited Santa Claus this past week and you were running around all over the place. You loved to visit and play with all the kids. When we finally got up to Santa and put you in his lap, you were so terrified and cried really bad. We're hoping next year you may like it better.

Luke (aka Baudy) - You are more than a month old my little man and growing like a weed. You are such a big guy. At your last doctor's checkup, the doctor said "now that's a baby that doesn't miss a meal" when he first saw you. You are in the 93rd percentile with your size. You absolutely love to eat. When you eat, you do all sorts of grunting and snorting and breathing really hard. You are all boy, such an aggressive little eater man. The grunting and snorting thing is something you do for a lot of the day, including when you sleep. You love your binkie so much. Mommy and daddy have to constantly put your binkie back into your mouth, because as of now you haven't figured out how to keep it from falling out. When it does fall out, you cry like crazy for it. One of the cutest things you do at this point is when you smile or grin in your sleep. It is absolutely adorable when you bust out that little smile while you're snoozing. The other thing that daddy really likes is that mommy showed daddy my baby picture when I was about your age and we look crazy alike. I'm wondering if you will look a lot like me when you get older. Mommy hopes that you will.

Again, we love you both so much. You are both special in every way to us. Another thing I almost forgot to mention is that you two have matching Xmas pajamas which are so cute. We love to put you guys in the outfits. Well, Santa is coming soon with lots of presents our sweet little babies. We can't wait to see what you guys will look like when you grow up, but we don't really want you guys to grow up. We love our little babies so much.

Love always,
Your lucky daddy

November 2011

This is the first time I can say this, so HELLO TO BOTH LYDIA AND LUKE LAUGHLIN! I love you both so incredibly much.

As I write this, you are 11 days old Luke. Being a daddy to the two of you has been the best. You guys are so cute together. Lydia, you are so good with your little brother. You have been calling him "Baudito." It's some type of baby gibberish, but we think it's hilarious. You think that Luke is your baby. You have said "mine" a few times when referring to him. You love to give him kisses on his cheeks and head, and you love to be soft with him by stroking his cheeks and his little baby body. It is adorable to watch you interact with baby Luke.

Yesterday, we did our baby pictures with the photographer. These are the newborn pictures for Luke. We can't wait to have these pictures. Daddy wants to put them in his office. Also, we can't wait to share them with friends and family, and to put them as screen savers on our phones. We just love you guys so much.

This is Thanksgiving week, so it will be great to spend some good family time with everyone. Aunt Cris and Uncle Colan will be in from New York. Aunt Amanda and Uncle Robb are very close to giving birth to your first cousin. Right now, everyone loves to get their time with you guys. You both are a very precious commodity for our family.

I love you both with absolutely all of my heart,

Daddy

October 2011

Hey Lydia - As of last night the Cardinals are going to be in the World Series. Yes, we are super excited! Outside chance, but maybe your bro/sis will be born on the day we win it all. It is so fun to have a good home town baseball team. Hopefully, they will continue to stay good so that when you are older, you can enjoy them like we do now and have throughout our childhoods.

This past weekend was a blast. On Friday night, we went over at visited the Cobb household. They are expecting their fourth child any day now. You love hanging out with Gracie, Ian, and little Layla (who is 3 months older than you). We ordered pizza. It was the cutest thing. You and Layla were sitting in booster seats next to each other. When we looked over, both of you had a slice of pizza in one hand eating and you were holding hands with the other hand. The reason it was so cute was that it was unprompted. You just did it on your own. You have such a big and loving heart.

On Saturday and Sunday, we were out at the farm all day and the weather was absolutely perfect. We had the Tooleys out for the first time. You were obsessed with playing with Caroline, Luke, and Jack. You are now running around all over the place out there. It is the cutest thing. Mommy and I love seeing you have a blast at the farm.

I love you so much that I can't really express it in words. Next time I write your brother or sister will be here. I just know that I will love you both so incredibly huge forever. I love being a daddy. Thanks for being a wonderful daughter.

All my love,

Daddy

My beautiful little girl,

I want to tell you all of the cute little things you are doing now. You are growing up before our eyes and every day I say to your Dad, "I don't want her to grow up. Can't she stay like this forever?" You are very very smart and everyone tells us that. You learn new things every day.

When we say show us your "cute face" you tilt your head to your shoulder and smile. When we say "show us your outfit" you put your hands on your hips and tilt backward. You love to turn in circles until you get dizzy. The way you turn is you put out your hand and follow it. You love to throw your food and cup on the floor (we are trying to fix this.) You are obsessed with bath time. You sing Ba ba ba ba bubbly bubbles with Dad every night before you go up for your bath. Then you never want to get out of the tub. You like your bath toys and all the soapy bubbles. When you do get out and get wrapped in your towel you reach for your little tooth brush! You love to brush your teeth. And of course we sing a song to that to...you brush your teeth ch ch ch ch.

You love to read books all of the time but especially before bed. Then we say your prayers and sing your songs. I sing Baby Mine and Till there was You. You have now switched rooms into your pink room that we designed especially for you with pink polka dots and owl and bird bedding.

You are great at pointing to all of your friends and family members and also are learning many new words. Right now you can say mama, dada, mimi, caroline, lainey, colly, paulie, johnny, dog, ball, bath time, night night, bye bye, please, and you add other words every day. You are still sleeping well from about 7pm-7am. Sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night but I just rock you back to sleep and then you sleep peacefully again.

You love to look, touch, and kiss the baby in my belly. We talk about your new brother or sister all the time. You are very excited to meet the baby. Mommy thinks it is a sister. Daddy thinks it is a brother. Either way will be wonderful!

You love to play with the Tooleys and also love to play in your play house out in the back yard. You run everywhere and like being independent. If I ask you to throw something away in the trash or to hand something to Daddy, or get a diaper you understand and do it very well. You are so very smart and so very kind and sweet. We know you are already a caring big girl. You hate sad or scary music and you don't like to see people sad or rough housing. You think freckles and moles are oucheys and make a sad face and point to them on people. We have to tell you that it is ok and that it is normal.

Can't wait to see you in your giraffe costume in a few weeks for Halloween. Love you more than ever my sweet baby girl.

Love forever and always,

Mommy

September 2011

My sweet Lydia,

You are now less than 6 weeks away from being a big sister. We can't wait to meet your brother or sister!

This post is going to be brief, but with a purpose. I wanted to let you know how crazy in love your mother and me are with you. We took a week long trip that we just got back from yesterday. We went to San Francisco for a couple days, then drove the California coast, ending with a wedding in Los Angeles. We were without you for a whole week. You stayed at Mimi's house and hung out with your aunts and uncles. We thought that we'd only miss you a little bit and that it would be OK to deal with. It wasn't. We yearned for you everyday on our trip. We absolutely could not wait to get back to you on the way home. A week was just too long. All our family did a great job of taking care of you and taking pictures and video of you. They posted these pictures online so we could keep looking at you. Mommy and daddy promised each other that if we ever left for a trip again we would either take all kids with or make it a much shorter trip (like 4 days or less). We are so happy to be back in STL and with you.

WE LOVE YOU SO DEARLY!!!

August 2011

My dear sweet Lydia Rose,

You are totally Daddy's little girl. I love you so much that I can't believe it. You truly are my little precious baby girl.

Here are a few recent events for you. First week of August, you were in Fort Myers, Florida (more specifically Captiva Island) on a family vacation. You were there a whole week with Mommy and your Mimi. The rest of the family made it a long weekend (Daddy, Uncle John, Aunt Annie, Uncle Paulie, and Aunt Collie). Elaine couldn't make the trip because of her summer job. You absolutely loved the sand. Although, you didn't like how it was very sticky sand and it wouldn't come off of your little hands, legs, and feet. It was way too cute. We took so many pictures so you will be able to relive the trip.

Mid August was your Aunt Cristy and Uncle Colan's wedding. As I mentioned before, you were the little flower girl. You were absolutely adorable. Luckily, you didn't have to walk down the aisle. It was in the middle of a field in Wright City (At Cedar Lake Winery). The grass was a little wet and long. Also, it was rather hilly. So, daddy just held you up front the whole time. After Uncle Kevin did the ceremony, he sang a song to your Aunt and Uncle with music. You loved it. You started dancing in daddy's arms and throwing your little arms around everywhere. Every body kept commenting about how darn cute you were. I couldn't agree more.

It's getting closer and closer to you becoming a big sister. We actually bought your big white dresser yesterday in anticipation of you having to move to your bedroom in probably the next 6 months or so. Mommy is due in about 10 weeks or so. You have started to carry around your "I'm going to be a big sister" book and trying to hand it to us all of the time. That is way too precious. We both know that you are going to be a great big sister.

Lastly, daddy marvels everyday at the things you are doing. You seem so smart to us. Even though you aren't talking much yet, you are understanding and absorbing nearly everything at this point. We are really excited to see you start talking more. I can't wait to be able to talk with you. I love holding you, reading to you, and just being your daddy. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful daughter.

I love you,

Daddy

> 1 Yr OLD!!!

My dear sweet Lydia,

It's been awhile since I've written to you (maybe a couple months or so). In that time, you have continued your development at a staggering pace. You are walking so well. You started walking about a week or two after your first birthday. You are just so curious about everything, learning about anything you can get your hands on or put in your mouth. It is hilarious. But, it's also much more difficult now to keep up with you and make sure you are keeping safe.

The other thing that is hilarious is your appetite. Everyone comments on it. You basically have the appetite of a 10yr old and no one can believe how much you can eat in one sitting. You really like bagels and any bread product (just like your mom) and all kinds of fruits. However, when we take you out you'll eat just about any human food that you can get your hands on.

As far as recent events, of course we had a huge birthday party for you. It was a bumble bee theme party and it went off without a hitch. Only somewhat issue was that it was incredibly hot (nearly 100 degrees). You had all kinds of friends and family attend. My guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 people. You were the absolute star of the show.

We have a couple of exciting upcoming events, our trip to Florida as well as Aunt Cristy and Uncle Colan's wedding. The trip to Florida is the first week of August 2011 in South Florida near Naples. We are going with Mimi, Uncle John, Aunt Ann, Uncle Paul, Aunt Elaine, Aunt Colleen and possibly a few others. We are all excited for this trip. The big wedding day is also fast approaching. You are going to be the best flower girl! We have been working on your walking in anticipation of the big day. It will be August 13. I'm certain there will be many pictures saved that you can look at when you are older. The wedding will be in Wright City, MO and it should be a weekend full of events and activities.

BTW....today is a big daddy day. Mommy is at work working a Saturday 12hr shift at the hospital. Right now, you are sitting next to me in your high chair pounding away the food!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Love,
Daddy

Our Beautiful Bee Boo Baby! You are one year old now! Wow! How time flies. You are just the most wonderful baby ever! You are so very happy and smiley all the time. You had a fabulous birthday party with all the people who love you here to celebrate. We had a BeeBeeQ and a Beehive cake and Bee cookies. We also had a bumble bee pinata, craft table, and we had to have little swimming pools because it was 90+ degrees outside. You really enjoyed everyone and you took your first steps on your birthday while you were opening your gifts. You are not walking too much yet. You will just take little steps back and forth from people to the soft for example. But, you do not like to be held as much. You LOVE to be on the floor holding onto everything walking around everywhere. You love to hold your Daddy and my fingers and walk around outside or in the house.

You have a play kitchen and bumble bee car that you love to play with! You are obsesssed with Shaw Park pool. You get scrunchie when we have to leave the pool. There are many kids at the pool and you love to play with them and just enjoy swimming with mommy, daddy, and mimi in the pool. You like to eat the grilled cheese there also! You love the farm and the lake. We can already tell that you are going to love being active and the outdoors.

We went to Michigan with Grammy T and Popsie, Aunt Cristy and Colan, Uncle Kevin and Lacey. We had a wonderful time. You liked the lake but it was too cold to go in. For some reason you didn't like the sand on your feet or hands but you liked the sand toys you were playing with:)

You are our doll baby and we love you more than anything. We can't wait for you to meet your new brother or sister Nov, 3 2011. We love this new baby so much too. You will be great buddies!

My perfect Lydia

Hi Beautiful,

We are getting so very close to your big day.....your 1st birthday. It is going to be a bumble bee theme party (if you hadn't heard already). The theme is for your nickname BEE - boo! It's going to be such a great time and there will be a ton of kid friendly activities.

You aren't officially walking just yet, but I think you are very close. I saw you take your first two small steps today. Mommy didn't see it so she was a touch sad. I am predicting that you will be walking by your first bday in two weeks. Either way, you will be so gosh darn cute (as always) when you are doing your little walk.

A new thing that you have been doing (which is so super cute) is feeding yourself your bottle and using your little baby spoon to feed yourself your yogurt. It gets all over your face, but the mess is well worth it. Of course, mommy has been taking pictures and sharing them with everyone so that we have things documented.

In travel news, we all just got back from a three day trip to Chicago. It was for daddy's work, but we made a little get away out of it. Mommy and Daddy went to the Oprah show final taping on Tuesday night at the United Center. You were watched by Katie & Eric Kozlowski and their baby Anna. You are 9 months younger than her. You two acted like best friends. You were giving her big hugs and kisses and Katie was texting the pictures to us so we could see them. You just love to love on everyone. It is absolutely adorable.

I love you with all my heart my little sweet darling,
Your daddy.

My Sweet Baby Girl!

There is so much to say right now about how adorable and smart and incredibly sweet you are. You are 11 months old now and acting like a little lady. You love to wave to everyone, you give tons of kisses and hugs on demand, and you are trying to walk everyday. You are so fast when you crawl that the other day you crawled faster than uncle john's dogs!

You are so very beautiful, on the inside and out. Everyone we know and just random people we see say how gorgeous you are and how sweet natured you are. When you give us kisses you just open your mouth and touch our checks. When you give us hugs you wrap your arms around our necks, lay your head down on our shoulders, and pat our backs. You have such a big loving heart already. You even give your dolls hugs and kisses.

We can't wait for you to meet our new baby in November. We love him/her so very much already and we know you two will be best friends.

Right now your favorite foods are blueberries, mandarine oranges, raisen english muffins, pretzels, vanilla waffers, cheddar goldfish snacks, and yogurt. You do not like vegetables or meat very much. You are a great eater.

Most every morning you come in bed with Daddy and me but you don't like to lay for long. You get bored and just want to play. You love to look at your books and push your doll stroller and walker.

We love you more and more each day. Love always and forever, Mommy

April 2011

Hi dear sweet Lydia....it's your daddy! Since I wrote last, so much is going on. We went on a family trip to St. Thomas the last week of March 2011. You were absolutely great on the trip. You loved the beach. At first, you were confused by the sand. Eventually, you were putting it in your mouth, which wasn't good. Almost everyday on the beach, you took your nap on daddy in a chair under our tan canopy (in the shade). You got no sun on your beautiful skin as mommy did such a good job of putting suntan lotion (75 proof) every couple of hours. On the trip, we spent a full day on a catamarine boat and you were so good on that boat. A perfect baby. You are so well traveled. On the trip was the following: Lydia, mommy, daddy, mimi, Uncle John, Aunt Ann, Uncle Paul, Aunt Elaine, Aunt Collie, and Collie's boyfriend Mark. We had so much fun, we stayed in a big house that overlooked the beautiful water that had 5 bedrooms. Aunt Elaine took over 900 pictures of the trip and posted them to her facebook account. Everyone commented on how super cute you are. Now that the weather is turning warmer in STL, we are so excited about what the summer will offer. Your birthday is right around the corner so mommy is planning that. We love to take walks with you, go to the park, and play in the yard. Aunt Cristy and Uncle Colan are set to marry in August 2011. You will be the cutest flower girl ever. So, what's new with you. You are starting to communicate really well. You give kisses to people (especially daddy) on command. It's adorable. I say, give daddy a kiss, and you open your mouth wide open and lean into my cheek. You clap your hands, play pattycake and peek-a-beeboo, do the so big with your arms held high overhead, and are starting to get into everything (drawers, cabinets, closets, etc.). You are absolutely darling. You have this real determined personality already where you don't give up on a task until you fully figure it out. That's why I think you will be walking before your 1st birthday. You crawl really fast now and can stand really well as long as you are holding on to something. And, even that is getting better by the day. I love you so much. I knew I'd love being a daddy, but you make being a daddy the best. Mommy and daddy love you so much forever. You're going to be the best big sister ever! Til next time my sweet daughter, Your daddy

It's getting warmer outside...........

And you are getting closer and closer to walking. It is the cutest thing in the whole wide world. You can pick yourself up on something and stand, but walking is still a bit away. Besides, you don't really know how to fall down to your tooshie once you are standing on something. We got new gates installed for you because you are moving all over the place. We put a gate just to the right of our front door and one at the top of the stairs.

Other big news right now is that YOU ARE GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER!!!! Mommy is about 6 weeks pregnant as I write this. The projected date of arrival for your first brother or sister is around 11/10/11 (wouldn't that be funny if the birthdate was 11/11/11). It could be. We haven't told any of the family yet, but we are going to be telling all of them over the next week or so. We got a really cute shirt for you to wear that says "Lydia's going to be a big sister" and this is how we are going to announce it to everyone. They will see you wearing the shirt and get really excited. It's going to be absolutely adorable.

Other than that, you are daddy's total sweetheart. I love you so much that I just can't stand it sometimes. I often wonder how I will ever be able to discipline you in the future when your behavior warrants it, because I melt when I'm around you. You are such a perfect little baby girl and I couldn't imagine my life without you in it. I know that you will be such a wonderful big sister to however many children that God blesses us with (hopefully a bunch!).

I love you always and forever,
Your daddy!

Pictures!

Pictures!

More Pictures!

One More Picture!

My Dear DollBaby-

I am so excited to write to you today because there has been so much going on since I last wrote. You can now roll back and forth so fast and from one side of the room to the other. It is the cutest thing, but we have to watch you extra carefully now. The other day I went into the kitchen to get something real fast and when I came back into the living room you were under the window curtains. I couldn't see you for a bit. It was like you were hiding. You are such a smart baby and very curious too!

You are eating baby food very well now. At first you hated the taste and the texture. You would gag and make the worst faces at the beginning. But, now you like to eat and are very good at it. You like fruits much better than the green vegetables, but you also like sweet potatoes and squash. Daddy and I are very proud of you. You still like mommy's milk the best and we will continue to feed you this way for awhile because it is so healthy good for you!

On 1/11/11 I saw your first tooth coming in. It has been a little painful for you, but mommy and daddy have given you a little medicine at night to help you feel better. You like to suck on your cold teething toys and also on frozen washcloths. They make your teeth feel better. I think it is super cute and want to look at your tooth every day to see how it is coming in.

We have been hanging out with Mimi a lot because Grandpa Beck went to heaven. We all miss him very very much. He loved you so much and is now your angel in heaven. We know that he watches over you every day and keeps you safe. We pray every day and night to him and Jesus. I am very blessed that you got to meet him. He was the most loving and giving man. He was a fabulous father and grandfather. He always would ask me if I was singing the scales to you. He played the piano with you when you were very little and we have a picture. He loved to hold you but was nervous about you being so little. Grandpa Beck was very musical and I think he will give you those talents from heaven.

You still wake up a lot at night, but it is ok because I love you so much and love holding and feeding you at night. You are our light. Everyone thinks you should do commercials or be a baby model. We agree. Can't wait until you start crawling. You are very close. Love you always and forever.

Love - Mommy

Hello to my Little Beeboo!

Happy New Year. It is now 2011 and we are really excited for this year. We know how much you are going to continue to grow and develop, doing more and more things that amaze us each day! You are daddy's little angel BIG TIME!

There's not too much new to report. It's been so cold that you have been mostly inside either at home or over at Mimi's. You love being over at Mimi's and playing with her and all of your aunts and uncles who are obsessed with being with you. You are getting super close to crawling. Aunt Elaine has started doing some really good excercises with you to work your cute little muscles. She's studying for her Physical Therapy degree so she really knows how to work you.

2011 is an exciting year too because daddy started his new business at Fidelis Financial Planning. It was hard to leave Moneta Group (a great company), but daddy knows that he can provide better for the family in this new opportunity. Mommy is such a tremendous mommy that we want her to be a stay at home mommy and be with you and your future siblings all day. This career will give daddy the chance to be his own boss, earn enough to provide, and be there for all of you when you need me. I want to be a great dad!

I'll let you in on a little secret. We're hoping that you have a little brother or sister by the end of the year. Mommy and Daddy are going to start trying to get pregnant soon. We want all of you siblings to be close in age so you can be great friends and be there more for each other (at home and throughout your school years).

That's it for now. Daddy loves you sooooo much!