Cold, Winter Days

After getting back into the routine of school, daycare, and track practice we are officially ready for warmer weather. We have been busy during the past couple of weeks going to many of the basketball games to watch Uncle Greg and Uncle Andy play for the Marksmen. Lydia enjoys the games and has done a wonderful job of handling the noise, change of routine, etc.

We keep waiting for her top two teeth to arrive, and thought sure after an ear infection last week that we would see some new teeth this week....nothing yet. She is trying to figure out the art of crawling, and can go backwards fairly efficiently. While she has moved a few "steps" in any direction, she still is not to a consistent crawl. She enjoys playing with all her toys, and likes seeing how many of them she can pull out of the baskets.

Lydia had her 9 month check-up where the doctor gave her the OK to eat the 3rd foods and any other table food that she can handle! He also said that she was in the 70th percentile for height and the 40th for weight. Chris was excited to know that although everyone thinks she looks like a "Chinn" that maybe she will be tall and skinny like the Hollindens. We shall see!

Enjoy the pictures from the past couple of weeks!


Showing off her semi-crawling skills and her bottom teeth.


What can I pull out of this basket??


Napping with Uncle Andy after basketball
practice and a hard day at daycare.


She enjoyed hanging out in an empty diaper box.

Holiday Season 2008

Lydia has officially experienced her first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day. We have been quite busy, but still have had plenty of time to relax and do nothing! School starts back up tomorrow, which means Lydia will head back to daycare.

Our Christmas season started off with the Bentley family Christmas the weekend before Christmas. It was a bit hectic, however, because that was the same weekend at Stephen Waters' wedding, in which Chris was an usher. That weekend was also the only chance we had to see Tom and Kristen and Andy and Erika as they were all going to be out of town on Christmas Eve.

As Christmas Eve rolled around we headed to the Hollinden Christmas followed by midnight mass. We spent most of Christmas Day with the Chinns and then ended Christmas Day by having everyone to our house. It all went by way too quickly, but we had a great two days.

Also during our Christmas break, Lydia broke through her bottom two teeth! We were at a basketball game and discovered that she had two bottom teeth. Lydia also got a chance to see Will and Max Anderson, who were in from Virginia. Will was annoyed with her everytime she touched him, as you see in the pictures below. Another highlight from the trip was getting to meet up with friends Stuart, Harriet, and their son Jude. They were visiting from Switzerland and were in Greenwood, IN for a family Christmas. We drove up one day to meet Jude and hang out for a bit. Finally, Chris got to be on the radio during the Tell City Holiday Tourney. We was on for two different games, and I think he found his calling!

Enjoy the pictures below!

St. Nick's

Grandma Chinn made this sweater.

Daycare Christmas party.

Stephen & Jayme's Wedding

Lydia & Will

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning at the Chinn's

Chris on the radio during the Holiday Tourney.

Cousin Macy and Lydia

San Francisco!

This past weekend the three of us headed out to San Francisco, CA to visit Mike Krueger and his girlfriend, Erin. We flew out on Thursday evening and came back on Sunday. This was Lydia's first plane ride, and overall we think she did pretty well. The first leg from Louisville to Atlanta was full of screaming and crying, but the other three flights went very well.

Once out in CA we had our own personal tour guide in Mike. We spent Friday seeing the sights of the city including Alcatraz, Pier 39, the Painted Ladies, Chinatown, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Tony Marchand, another friend from high school, lives about 45 min. from SF with his wife Erin, and they were able to come down on Friday night for dinner.

On Saturday we headed to Muir Woods to see some giant redwood trees. We went on a 6-7 mile hike around the National Park, with Lydia riding in the infant carrier. We then stopped at a local cafe for lunch and then headed to see the University of California (Berkley). We were able to walk around campus for a bit and see some of the amazing views from the top part of campus.

We caught an early flight Sunday morning to come back to TC. We got lucky in the fact that our flight from SF to Cincinnati was not full. Lydia was able to sit in her car seat in an extra seat next to us. Although it wasn't bad having to hold her, it was a lot more comfortable to her and us with her in the carseat.

Below are some pictures from the weekend!

Getting ready to take off to California.

Alcatraz!

The Painted Ladies (Full House House)

First trip to the Pacific Ocean

Muir Woods

On the beach.

Muir Woods

Hanging out.

Hiking

Giant Redwoods

Halloween 2008!

Lydia experienced her first Halloween last night, dressed like a clown. Grandma Sarah made the costume for her. We headed down to the Witches Walk on Thursday evening to have a professional picture made of her in the costume. Danny Bolin had set up a fall outdoor scene and had a specially priced package just for the Witches Walk. I never realized how packed Tell City's Main Street could be with people getting free candy!

For the actual Halloween trick or treating we made a few stops in town. Lydia was exhausted when we got home, as you can see in some of the pictures below.

If you want to see Lydia's 6 month pictures go to http://www.debrasstudio.net/, click on session proofing. The password is snowbunny.

A Cross Country Season, Marathon, and Baby Food!

It has been a while since the last post, but we have been pretty busy here in Tell City. Cross country season is in full swing, with sectional coming up tomorrow. Lydia and I have been to a couple of meets to help cheer on the runners. She enjoys the meets, mostly because she gets to be outside. We have also been busy watching Greg and Andy in their tennis matches. Both advanced to the 2nd part of sectional in Jasper. Lydia has definitely been to her share of athletic events already!

Since my last post, Lydia has been to the doctor for her four month check-up and shots. A week before her appointment she started rice cereal. She has now moved up to a jar of baby food each evening and the cereal in the morning. She has tried all the vegetables and is halfway through the fruits and will start applesauce tonight. She is doing pretty well with the whole spoon and highchair concept.

Most recently (yesterday) Chris competed in the Chicago Marathon. He finished 79th out of 45,000 runners. His time was 2 hours and 37 minutes. Lydia, Tony, Chris, and I all went up to Chicago for the weekend. We got to spend time with Tom and Kristen on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday we met up with Adam Brinksneader and Julie Hotz, who also competed in the marathon. On Sunday, Tony, Lydia and I were able to cheer for Chris at four spots around the course and then find him at the finish. For his fast, and possibly last marathon, he did pretty well! You can check out http://www.chicagomarathon.com/ for more info on the race. There are supposed to be some pictures up sometime as well!

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks!

Hanging out in the bouncy chair!

She can roll!

To keep her occupied in the car, she watched some Baby Einstein.

Resting the night before the race.

Waiting for Daddy.

Lydia was watching the race.

Can you see Chris? He has no shirt, black shorts, and yellow shoes.

The 79th place finisher :)

Back to School & Family Reunion

Lydia is officially four months old today! Along with sleeping all night and being awake more, she has now experienced rice cereal. She is slowly getting the hang of eating out of spoon, although for the moment she is getting more on the bib and her face than in her mouth!

Lydia has started going to daycare at William Tell Elementary. The daycare is located right across from my classroom and is just for teacher's kids. Until today, she was the youngest baby there, and she has really enjoyed going to "school." The first couple weeks of going she was extremely tired whenever we got home from school. She is spending each Wednesday with Grandma Rhonda, which is a good break from daycare for Lydia. She usually uses that day to catch up on her rest.

We have also been attending some tennis matches to watch Andy and Greg. Lydia likes being outside which means she is usually in a good mood at the matches. Lydia also attended her first cross country meet on Saturday. We went to U of E for the first meet of the year where some of my old teammates competed.

On Sunday we traveled to Princeton, Indiana for a Chinn family reunion. With the exception of a few relatives who are out of driving distance of Princeton, all my dad's family was there. We had a shelter house at the community park, but mostly spent the day sitting outside under the nice big trees. My cousin Andrea's daughter, Kathy, played with Lydia for most of the day, and I think that Lydia enjoyed all the attention :)

Here are some pictures of our recent activities!

Family Pictures

We got some family pictures made last Wednesday. For the next month, they are accessible through the following website:

www.debrasstudio.net
Click on "Session Proofing"
Password: hollinden