Touch a Truck

Our local library recently had a "Touch a Truck" day.  They had a fire truck, a bulldozer, a tractor, and a dump truck.  Sydney was not scared to get on the trucks and actually enjoyed it a little more than I expected!

We've moved!

At the end of April, Blake and I sold our first home and bought a new house.  It was bittersweet walking away from our old house for the last time; it was our first home and where we brought Sydney home from the hospital.  We also had wonderful neighbors we left behind.  That being said, we had outgrown our little house, so we moved a whopping 1 mile down the road, into the neighborhood connected to our old one.

While we love our new home, especially all the extra space, it definitely needed some work (and still does in some regards).  Right off the bat (and some even before we moved in) we put in new carpet, painted some rooms, and had a fence put in the backyard.  Blake and his dad have also logged m.a.n.y. hours in the yard trimming trees, killing weeds, manicuring shrubs, cutting down trees, you name it, they've done it.

We have enjoyed spreading out in the larger rooms, and Sydney took immediately to the huge bonus room.  Silly as it is, I have enjoyed the new kitchen island for cooking and being able to park in a garage.  We still have more to do, but for now, we are settled!  I took some "before" pictures and now I need to take some "afters" and will post as soon as I do!

Look what we found when unpacking! :)

In the new playroom

Welcome home!

Sydney v. 1.10

Some things I want to remember about Sydney at this age:

*She says "I'm gonna..." all the time.  "I'm gonna" can be followed by many things include sweep, get my toy, or read my book.
*She calls a basketball a "biscuit"ball.
*She has an unbelievable memory.
*She loves to read and some of her current favorite books include: Gossie, Gossie and Gertie, The Snowy Day, and Curious George.  She has also found a new passion for the Little Critter character.  I love that she loves to read and hope she continues to build a passion for it!
*Her favorite color is blue.
*She has a caring heart already.  If someone gets hurt she wants to make sure he or she is ok.  For example, if her daddy gets hurt, she will say "Daddy ok?".  Melts my heart.
*She still doesn't like to be dirty.  I hear "wanna wipe it" multiple times a day.  "It" can be anything from her hands to a toy to the slide.
*She loves guacamole.

Love, LOVE, LOVE her!

Got to Be NC Festival

Every May Raleigh holds the "Got To Be NC Festival" at the State Fair Grounds.  They have animals, including a petting area, foods grown in North Carolina, and tractors, even a tractor parade.  Yes, a parade- it is NC after all! 

The animal part was, as always, a favorite for Sydney.  There were goats, llama/alpaca types (sorry I'm not very scientific!), cows, and a deer.  She touched everything and showed no fear around the animals, something that always (pleasantly) surprises me.  This time she also got to feed the animals- I think she would have stayed all day letting all the different animals lick the food out of her hand!

Sydney loved touching the animals, but she also loved seeing the tractors.  There were tons of antique tractors, much bigger than anything she had ever seen.  We watched the tractors line up for the parade, and she stared in awe as they passed by.

The Difference a Year Can Make

It's been a while since I have written about Sydney's hands.  In fact, we went to see Sydney's hand surgeon in May and it was hard to believe it was the one year post-op visit.  Amazingly, I have already forgotten what it was like for her to have both hands completely out of commission for a month.  Most days I don't even think about the fact that she had surgery or that her hands are "different".  So far she has no problems utilizing her fingers like any other almost two year old.  Her surgeon continues to say that her left hand is perfect, no more surgery for that hand!  The right hand is a different story.  While it currently does not hinder her in anyway, it's hard to tell if that will be the case in the future.  Her ring finger is very stiff and does not bend much.  We don't know if that will be a problem as she begins to draw/write, cut, and other fine motor skills develop.  She still has not defined a dominant hand; just when I think she is left-handed, she will switch more to using her right.

So, what does this mean for possible future surgery(s)?  Right now we are in a holding pattern.  Dr. Patterson says we will talk about surgery when she is about 4.  That surgery would be to straighten the ring finger as much as possible.  Right now it curves toward her middle finger.  She is unsure of how much flexibility in the finger it will give her.  Overall, Sydney is flourishing so we couldn't ask for much more.  We'll cross the further surgery bridge when we get to it.

Easter with casts on

Waiting for Dr. Patterson...one year later

Reading books with Daddy in the waiting room

Strawberry Pickin'

One thing of those silly things I have wanted to do with Sydney is take her strawberry picking.  Last year she wasn't mobile so it didn't work out, but this year was perfect!  We went with her friends JJ and Mary Claire.  The little ones loved picking the berries and ate their fare share right in the field, as you can see by the red all over their faces.

This one looks good!

Lots of strawberries!

Sweet JJ

Yeah, I ate one or two or three

Just making sure they taste good

Sweet Mary Claire with the little ones

Everyone kinda looking

Sesame Street Live

Sydney loves anything Sesame Street- Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, you name it!  So when I saw that Sesame Street Live was coming to town, I knew she had to go.  Sydney and I went with my childhood friend, Dianne, and her little one Lilyanne.  I wasn't sure how Sydney would do considering her attention span isn't super long but she LOVED it.  Even though it has been over a month since we went, she still will say, "did you (meaning herself) go to that Elmo show yesterday" every once in a while.  The show was great and I look forward to bringing her again next year.

Sweet Lilyanne waiting for the show to start

Dianne and Lilyanne

Friends during intermission

Sydney and her mama watching the show

Sesame Street!