brent and kandace: married

I enjoyed celebrating with Brent and Kandace earlier this month. They were both so sweet and came from great families.  I loved that at the end of their ceremony everyone lit a candle and sang Silent Night. 

kesid: 6 months (or should i say 6.5 months)

Kesid is a sweet, sweet baby. The kind of sweet that makes you want to have more babies because you think they might all be this sweet and oh man how could you not want a ton of her (yes that was a run on sentence).

These last few weeks have been big for her...she has started sitting up and has cut her first tooth all in the same week. I can see her second tooth about to pop through. Along with sitting up, she is mobile. She doesn't crawl in the typical way but is more of an army crawler. She's a curious little thing. Today she crawled all over the kitchen just to explore new territory. The days of being able to leave her in a room and do something in another real quick are over. I'm having to re-baby proof. 

Kesid loves Lydia. She will randomly just giggle at her big sis. Pretty much ever time I carry Kesid down the stairs with Lydia trailing afterward, Kesid giggles watching her walk down. Patrick and I love when the girls laugh at each other in the car. Having them facing opposite directions is great because they entertain each other. 

Kesid is a ferocious girl. She will grab you by your hair and pull you in for some kisses. She is also really squishy and squeezable. Sheesh I love squeezing her.

I don't remember Lydia going through a phase of being a mommy's girl. She pretty much was happy with whoever was holding her. Kes is in a stage right now of being a little rotten :). If she is sleepy or hungry and I walk in the room she'll start fussing until I pick her up.

At her six month check up Kesid weighed 17 lbs. She is such a chunker! For being such a chunk, she is not very interested in solids. I introduced her to them at 5.5 months and she was not a fan. Waited a few weeks and re-introduced them, she did a little better. I've stopped again and think I will try again in a few weeks.

She is a great napper and I am thankful for how easy she is at going down. We simply give her the paci and a little stuffed animal and she goes right to sleep. She is doing better through the night. There have been more nights of her sleeping all the way through but if she does wake up it's after a longer stretch (more like 4:30-5:30 ish).

Schedule:
7:30 wake up and nurse
9:00-10:30 nap
10:30 nurse
12:00-2:00 nap
2:00 nurse
3:30-5:00 nap
5:00 nurse
6:00 (solids...if I give them to her)
7:30 down for the night
8:30 nurse (somewhat of a dream feed)
10:30 dream feed

Kes is a joy. We are thankful for her and her health. Thankful for her sweet disposition. Hard to believe she's been here for half a year already and at the same time hard to believe it's only been half a year. I remember laying in bed while pregnant with her and crying to Patrick because I was honestly scared I wouldn't be able to love another child as much as I love Lydia. Funny how quickly our hearts grow and are filled with love for our children.

Happy Six Months Kes!! 

(up on her knees rocking!)

potty training: first week

I started potty training Lydia on Monday. She just turned two, tells me when she poops in her diaper and is pretty verbal so I figured she could do it. Because I still cloth both girls, I'm getting a little tired of all the diaper wash I'm having to do. All those nasty poopy diapers gave me a nice push into potty training.

I've been considering doing it for a while now but there wasn't a time when we were going to consistently be home for a few weeks/weekends that I could dedicate to helping Lydia learn to go on the potty. After thanksgiving we don't have any over night or traveling plans until Christmas. I figured this would be a great month to start working on it.

My method of potty training is to let her run around bare bottom. This would be really easy in the summer but because it's cold I leave her in a long sleeved shirt and put my knee socks on her legs as warmers.

The first day consisted of a poop on the floor to start things off (thankfully on the hard wood!) and then a few times of sprinkling on the floor and then running to the potty to finish. We didn't have any all out straight peeing on the floor until about 3 days in. She got the concept of going on the potty pretty quickly.

We do a peepee/poopoo on the the potty song and dance after she pee/poos and then she gets a piece of candy corn or a few mini chocolate chips. I praise her and tell her what a big girl she is. There were a few times when she would cry and say she didn't want to go pee pee on the potty. I'd tell her that babies go potty in their diapers and that she's not a baby. I'd ask her how old she was and then after she'd say "two" I'd tell her that's SO BIG! And big girls go on the big girl potty. She's starting to get it but we still have a long way to go!!

One of the highlights of this week: In order to not have a lot of accidents on the floor I knew I was going to have to watch Lydia like a hawk. I wanted to see what she was doing at all times... waiting for a funny face or a little dance that would indicate that she needed to go. This meant I wasn't on the phone that much, I wasn't checking email or blogs or facebook... I was spending time with her. There was a lot of time spent on the floor playing. I try to do this anyway even when we aren't potty training but this week was different. It was special and I'm thankful for it. In a time that could have been really stressful, the Lord gave me a heart that rejoiced in being with her.

lydia: 2 years

We celebrated 2 years of life with Lydia on Wednesday. What a blessing these two years have been! This is the sweet baby who made us parents and changed our lives forever. She is so full of life and personality and I could just eat her up. Seriously.

For her birthday we started off with an L shaped chocolate chip pancake for breakfast. Then for lunch we met daddy at Chic Fil A. We had ice cream and got to play in the play yard. Then for dinner we had spaghetti and did more ice cream with a cookie (with two candles which she blew out her self) for dessert. We are throwing her a little party this Saturday.

Lydia is a big talker. She will carry on conversations with you and you'll have no idea what it's about but she will be as serious as ever. Just today I was reading her a book and she got really close to my face and started gibbering away. I kept reading and she kept gibbering...with about an inch in between our faces. She loves to talk on the phone and gives me a nice idea of how I sound on the phone... "Hi, yeah, uh huh, yup, yeah, okay, alright, HAHAHA okay, uh huh, buh bye." 

At her two year check up Lydia was 33.5 inches tall (40th %tile) and weighed 27 lbs (60th %tile). The doctor was pleased with all of Lydia's milestones. Lydia was not pleased with the shots in her thighs...She looked at me like "WHAT?!? are you letting them do to me?" It was fun. NOT.  

Everytime Lydia gets in the car she takes off her shoes and socks and pull each toe apart as far as she can and picks out any fuzz from her socks. This is hilarious to me. Kind of annoying that every time her shoes and socks are off and I have to put them back on before we go into the store/house/where ever... but still kind of funny. It really doesn't look comfortable how far she stretches her toes apart.

One of my favorite things that Lydia says now is that something hurt her. She'll say "OUCH! that hurTAH me!" Of course its not my favorite that something is hurting her but it's too cute the way she emphasizes the T on hurt. She also says "I had a good nap!" when you go to get her out of her room after sleep times. It's funny because its like her way of saying "I'm all done...get me out of here."

Lydia still loves to sing, watch elmo (or clips from the sound of muisc), and read. She is obsessed with her Jesus Storybook Bible. She goes to sleep with it for every nap and night. We pray that she will continue to love the Lord's Word as she grows! When we are riding in the car we are often entertained by the back seat... Lydia sings "do re mi" or "twinkle twinkle" or "abc's" while we are carrying on conversations up front. 

She is a sweet big sister. She loves to give Kes kisses and will often give her hugs. She has had some issues with wanting to treat Kes like she is older than she is... She will sometimes just fall on Kesid or try to get her to do something that is way above Kes' skill level. Over all she is a good big sis who really loves her baby sister. 

Lydia is a little dramatic lately and has been struggling with pitching fits. She is really starting to assert her own will and this can be really challenging. I have had a hard time being patient with her and really just enjoying her in this stage the last week or so. I feel like I can tell her "no" way too much. I am learning to let her do things that aren't necessarily the best (or most practical) for me but that she enjoys. Mostly it's me learning to not micromanage her and let her be a kid. I notice a huge difference in how much more I enjoy her when I just let her be. 

Patrick and I are so incredibly thankful for Lydia and her life. We have been blessed by her easy disposition and are grateful to the Lord for her health these past two years... we don't want to take this for granted! We have a sweet two year old who loves life! And we love her!! 

Happy 2 years Beeda Boo!