Happy 10 months, Lydia!

I feel like I just wrote her 9 month post and here we are again, with a 10 month old this time. Just a year ago I was one month away from being full term and we were in final prep mode for our newest addition. Little did we know that it would be two months before we met her! Lydia is growing and changing and continuing to be a delight to our family. I feel like her addition made us more family centric than our previous two. There are enough of us under our roof to adequately celebrate anything and everything. We laugh with one another and seek to serve one another. We are thankful for our many blessings!

Weight: home scale says 24.5 lbs (ironically, this is exactly what the scale at the doctor gave us at her 9 month visit)

Diapers: size 5 and cloth
Clothing: 18 and 24 month, 2T

Likes: spoons, table food, chewing on toys/books, baths with the big kids, people watching, being greeted by the big kids in the morning or after a nap, being tickled, crawling on top of someone who stretched out on the floor (king of the mountain, she is)
Dislikes: not getting mom when she wants mom, not getting to chew on shoes as often as she would like (so gross!)

Schedule:
7:00am Awake for the day!   Nurse and eat
8:30/9:00-11am   Nap
11am   Nurse and eat
12:30-3pm   Nap
3pm   Nurse and eat
5:00-6pm   Nap (sometimes)
7pm   Nurse and down for bed
9:30 or 10pm   Dream feed and down for the night! (sometimes)

Sleep: Not her month for good sleep! Ever since her last two teeth came through and she stopped sucking her thumb Lydia has had a really difficult time soothing herself back to sleep during the night. We have starting giving her a cold bottle (torture, I know, please don't call child services on us) and when possible Dave gives it to her. I could share a whole host of other tweaks we have made, but it is hard to know what is making a bit of difference and what isn't. She does so well during the day to not be getting a full night of long sleep (better than Dave and I are doing!) and I look forward to seeing her be even more chipper once we work this kink out. In this house we are firm believers in long sleep!

Physically: We have a cruiser on our hands. She loves to pull up on anything that will hold her weight, give it a good lick, then try to move around a bit. Lydia also learned to go up the two little stairs from our living room to the rest of the house, and even more importantly learned not to sit on the edge as soon as she reached the top. Now to teach her that the big stairs are off limits! Thankfully, Josiah and Sarah are quick to let us know if she even looks at the big stairs with a twinkle in her eye.

Food: Like her siblings, Lydia, thus far, has proven to be a very enthusiastic eater. She has yet to turn down anything we have given her. Her regular rotation most recently includes green peas, sweet potato fries, apple sauce, and baby cereals (we are sticking with this since her iron was a little low). Outside of this list we share with her from the meal we are eating and take cheerios with us everywhere!

Communication: No new words this month, though she is more consistently greeting people with waves and saying bye. Dada is still the favorite word, even is she is a mama's girl at heart. Her mealtime signs are continuing to become more consistent and helpful.

Next appointment: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 at 9:30am

Graduation party season is tough on a little girl!

This is how we have been grocery shopping lately

Lydia's last time in the baby tub :)

These two love a good under-the-table meeting

Creepy Facebook knows too much!
It has picked up on the fact that I have sleep issues in my life.

Not yet, Lucy!

First time in the water in the backyard

Typical!
My favorite part is Lydia about to chew on the shoe :)

Lunch with Goggin and Papa

As close as Lydia got to the puddle splashing!

Not so sure about this cold water :)

But she is a Cape Codder, so she toughened up!

Squirmy wormy in her brother's shades wanted to eat all the shells this beach day!

Funny face for the fourth of July parade :)

Celebrating Josiah

We had a lot of fun celebrating Josiah on his third birthday and especially enjoyed anticipating and planning his big day. This is the first birthday he really knew what we were celebrating and it made the day all the more special. My favorite thing about Josiah was noticing the way his world is filtered through the lens of Sarah, and that that can be a good thing. She really amped up the celebration factor and he was so quick to involve her in the good things he received. I am so thankful to see his heart being developed.

He asked for cinnamon rolls to start the day and chose Goggin-made cinnamon rolls that we had in the freezer. We also gave them juice- a special treat.

Seeing his cake when he woke up. He gave us his signature big eyes!

cinamin rolls and juice!

After opening some gifts (little boy sure felt loved by our friends and family!) we headed to the playground. It was a gorgeous day! After good fun was had by all, we went to Wendy's for hamburgers. The Wendy's in Hyannis is extra fun, because if you sit in just the right spot you can watch the little planes take off from the Hyannis airport. To top off the morning, we went through the car wash on the way home.

Wendy's! Josiah had ketchup with a burger, fries, and chicken nuggets on the side :)

We went through the car wash, a special treat!

Before naps we all had a little dirt cake. Then we continued to have cake after nap and again after dinner :) We are so thankful for our little man and love celebrating the gift he is to our family!

He asked Sarah to help him blow out his candles.
Ironically, this is the job Sarah liked the very least on her last birthday.

Josiah felt so loved by family and friends. It was so neat to see him overwhelmed by the generosity.

Sarah helping him open the gift she wrapped

She thought he was ready for his own pillow :)

Hot dogs and individual mac and cheeses for dinner. I love that the little things are so special :)

The next day he had a check up. For this well visit he got to wear a robe (as he calls it).
Our little guys is growing up!

Happy 9 months, Lydia!

Our Lydia girl is feeling less and less like our baby. She loves to be surrounded by the kids' toys, is eating some finger foods, thinks the rest of us are just hysterical, and waves just to delight an audience. Lydia keeps her best tricks for the house. When we are around others she puts on her serious face and we sometimes even get a snuggle. But don't be fooled! She is our content socialite at home with a desire to charm.

Weight: 24 lbs 8 oz (99th %)
Height: 29 in (92nd %)
Head: 18 in (92nd %)

Diapers: size 4/5 and cloth
Clothing: 18 and 24 month, 2T

Likes: her paci, crawling around the backyard, licking the grocery cart, chewing on toys, tickles, chewing shoes
Dislikes: baths, mom walking away, the shoe she is chewing on walking away :)

Schedule:

7:00am Awake for the day!   Nurse and finger food
9:00-11am   Nap
11am   Nurse
12:30-3pm   Nap
3pm   Nurse and purees
5:00-6pm   Nap
7pm   Nurse and purees
7:30  Back down for bed
9:30 or 10pm   Dream feed and down for the night!

Sleep: We are in a rough patch right now, which makes it a little challenging to generalize her sleep this month. Lydia had some teeth coming through/a growth spurt, which led to a yucky runny nose, which has resulted in about a week of waking to eat during the night. But generally, Lydia was napping well and still taking a little third nap and dream feed. Hopefully we will get back on track in the next week! I don't know that I have ever noted this on the blog, but Lydia is a definite tummy sleeper. If I put her down on her back, no matter how sleepy she is, she will flip to her tummy. She isn't regularly a bottom-in-the-air sleeper, like Sarah was, but likes to be flat and spread out. A favorite paci is also an essential part of her sleep routine! As long as she has her paci she is happy to hang out in her crib when she wakes up.

Physically: Lydia is an avid crawler and has gotten pretty confident with pulling up. She will pull up on anything: knee, skirt, coffee table, chair, cabinet knob, etc. (Nothing like a good cabinet knob to chew on!) Dave calls her a fighter, because when he holds her she gets excited and pushes off his chest or arm, and she is really strong! It makes her hard to hold when she gets wiggly. Like most babies, she thinks if someone lays down on the floor, they must want her to be on top of them. Her hair is still coming in slowly, but steadily, and she is on the verge of a fantastic baby mullet.

Food: Lydia continues to nurse well about 5 times a day and is eating from a spoon baby cereals, apple sauce, and pureed peas, green beans, squash, and sweet potato. We gave her banana, puffs, cheerios, and peas as finger food this month and she went after them like she had been chewing food all her life. That is the perk of waiting to begin, I suppose, even if the truth is just that time got away from us. Interesting fact, we learned at her well visit that while the APA hasn't change their view on waiting to introduce potential allergens to babies, an allergy association has changed their recommendation and no longer recommends waiting. They also said Lydia's iron level was on the low end of normal.

Communication: First word- bye. Second word- dada. She does all kind of babbling to go with waving, clapping, and tongue tricks. Lydia has picked up the signs for "all finished" and the "more" of "more please" while she is eating.

Next appointment: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 at 9:30am

Lydia with a surprise backyard tulip.

And in the front with the first rhododendron of the season.

Sleeping baby :)

Funny face!

Not yet, baby!

"If you're happy and you know it . . . "

Curled piggy toes

These pictures define grocery shopping from Lydia's perspective.
1. What's going on?

2. Not much? I'll go ahead and lick the cart.

3. Now where is the other buckle? That would surely be yummy and coated with germs!

Pulling up! The kids now have to put non-baby-friendly toys in the deep part of the couch.

Thinking about climbing up . . . 

. . . but not making it up just yet!

The Golden Rule (Four Year Old Style)

Sarah: "Stop it Josiah . . . or I'm going to kick you!"

I heard those words, which I had never heard from her mouth before, and with a little shock in my voice called her to the kitchen to see me. When she got to my lap she was very matter of fact. She said she wasn't really going to kick him. She knew that wasn't ok. 

When I pressed her on why she threatened him, she very plainly stated that she knew you are supposed to treat others like you want to be treated. Since Josiah was kicking her and kept kicking her, he must have wanted to be kicked. 

I must admit, I laughed out loud :)

Four year old logic and sisterly love at its finest!