What the kids have been up to

This spring Lydia took an art class with Abrakadoodle and Dylan did a soccer clinic both at the Vienna Community Center. They both really enjoyed the classes and the added scheduling that was added to our week was minimal although I am a little relived to be done with both.

Speaking of scheduling, I think Dylan has inherited his mother's calendar-driven frame of mind. Dylan always wants to know what we are doing today. He recently told his preschool teacher that his favorite thing to do at preschool is the schedule. (The teacher goes over the day's schedule with the kids each morning - they put the events in order on the feltboard). In light of this, I made Dylan a weekly picture calendar of his own with the days of the week and symbols for the different things we do on those days. It fell apart though so I have to redo it. When I do, I'll post a pic.

The kids seem excited about the baby. They get near my belly and say "hi baby" and whenever one of them is sitting on my lap the other says, "(watch) don't hurt (the) baby." They haven't connected my morning sickness with the baby yet and I've been careful not to tell them that the baby is making me sick. But I think if I did, they still wouldn't feel bad for me, they'd probably still side with the baby. I've showed them what the baby looks like from the development pictures on babycenter.com. They haven't asked too many questions even though we've been pretty open about the whole thing. We've told them they will get bunk beds and Dylan seems excited about that.

The art class really helped Lydia learn her colors and she is getting her shapes and letters too. We've tried to incentize Dylan to learn to count to 100 (he's currently stuck on 13) by telling him we'll get a wii if he can do it. So maybe by Christmas.

Dylan and I go back to camp in 3 weeks. Can't wait. Lydia will hang out with Grandma and Grandpap and her cousins that week. Then we will all go to Kennywood together!

Lydia's language abilities have taken off so well that she can now bicker with her brother (yea). Here are some things heard at the dinner table:

D: I'm right and you're wrong. L: No, I right, you wrong. (Repeat about 532 times.)

D: It's lunch time. L: No, it dinner time. (Repeat.)

D: Ewww, vegetables. L: No say eww dylwin.

Week 10 update

Gosh, am I really doing less for baby #3 already by not blogging about my pregnancy for a whole month? Well, I have some excuses and I will report on the whole month. Excuse number one is that I've been really feeling the morning sickness, i.e., all day sickness. I guess it started around week 7 (last week in April). Then I got strep throat and was out of work for a whole week only to come back to the morning sickness. I've started to feel better this week though. The morning sickness was pretty bad, dry heaves and throwing up although thankfully not at work. I used sea-bands and tums to get me through I guess. But I haven't been taken my prenatals as much as I should and I haven't been eating as well as I should. When nothing sounds appetizing but you know you have to eat to not feel nausous then you go to the junk food. The week I had strep I hardly ate a thing so I don't know how this baby is getting what it needs. I haven't been able to open my (new) refridgerator without gaging (so sad) and I swear there is some weird smell in my kitchen that I can't get rid of so needless to say eating has been a challenge.
My first doctors appointment went well. It was quick. They confirmed the pregnancy and said my bloodwork looked good. I go for a sonogram on Friday. That will be exciting to see the baby this soon.
So with the sickness and the stress over my decisions about work I haven't been as giddy excited about being pregnant as some. But I guess that will come. I am thinking this may be the last time I want to do this. And I told Martin to remind me of that when the "mommy amnesia" sets in. The doctor said she wouldn't treat this pregnancy any differently than my last ones even though I am now (almost) 35. But I am feeling a little of the "I'm too old for this" sentiment. It's probably more the fact that I have two kids while being pregnant.
My feelings on work right now are that I want to quit. I don't foresee any great projects after this year (I actually don't know what I'd be working on now that the crisis is waning). Plus, I'm sort of at a plateau in my career. No real prospects of getting promoted especially if I'm working part-time. So I feel it's a good time to quit. Just found this article today. Wow did I need to hear that.
While I truely believe that God called me to this work up to this time, I think that for the sanity of my family, it's best not to have to commute downtown 3 days a week and put in telework hours during my only free time on the days that I am home. In a lot of ways it's logistics (better if someone is home to pick kids up and get dinner started). Granted we could get a nanny. But that's a lot of work too and she wouldn't be there on my telework days.
And yet I'm torn. There's the financial security and desire to send my kids to private school that may only be able to be fulfilled if I'm working. There's the desire to maintain some sort of career so I can eventually go back full time (in 20 years!). There's the fear that the grass isn't any greener and life is still going to be crazy and I'm not going to get to decorating our house, organizing our family pictures, our office, the kids' baby books (all those things I said I'd do when I started staying home). There's the fear that I still won't be able to (or want to) keep a clean house and will feel like a failure for not being able to do basic housewife things. There's the fear that I won't have the self-discipline to keep with my industry to be able to go back to work. There's the fear that I won't have the self-discipline to do creative, educational, and fun things with my kids and will let them watch too much tv. Part of these last fears is that I'm just tired. I want a break. I think not working will give me that break but I'm going to need to be just as "on" as when I'm working. Then on the other hand, there's the fear that I will end up filling up my time with volunteering that I'll end up avoiding my home and family responsibilities anyway (since maybe I work now in part to avoid doing as much housework). Yet, I know that (at least after the new baby is a few months old) if I'm not working I will be able to make progress and things that I feel are slipping through the cracks won't. It won't be perfect. I'll still forget to send the thank you card or register for whatever by the deadline but it's gotta be better than working on top of that, for me at least.

Week 6 update

I thought that I was starting to get morning sickness and fatigue last week but now I'm chalking it up to my pre-natal vitamins, a cold, and some other weird stomach thing that Dylan and I both got last weekend. I think I'm over the cold and stomach thing now and I'm not really feeling nauseous anymore but I have lost a lot of my appetite. This is probably a good thing since I was overeating so much to begin with. I'm starting this pregnancy 15 lbs heavier than the last two. Yuck.



I made my first doctors appointment last week. They couldn't see me until the 29th so I have to wait a whole other week. But they indicated that I might be getting a sonogram in the first trimester this time which I haven't had before. (The receptionist was surprised I had never had an early one before.) So that's exciting.



I think I'm starting to nest already. What it is is that I know I will get absolutely nothing done once the baby gets here and until the baby is at least 18 months old so I have to do all the things I've been meaning to do and all the things I will want to do in the next two years NOW! Ha ha ha. Well, the other thing is that I got a bonus at work and some inheritance money when my grandmother passed away (incidently a few days after I got pregnant) so we were able to make a few purchases we had been meaning to do - new computer, new refridgerator (been planning that one since we moved in almost two years ago). And I've been eyeing mini-vans on the Internet. Martin had to stop me on that one. I think one more major purchase would have put him over the edge.

Round Three

Today (April 8th) I found out that I'm pregnant!

It's weird even saying that again. I feel like it's been so long since I've been pregnant. I got pregnant with Lydia right after weening Dylan so I guess then I never "got my body back" so it was an easier realization. Plus Dylan was younger so it didn't seem so long since we in the baby stage. This is also the first time getting pregnant in our house so it just seems a little foreign. We had been trying for 4-5 months (also something new).

I'm not really feeling anything yet, maybe just having to go to the bathroom a little more.

So Lord willing, the baby will be due December 14th. So this time we'll probably get that tax deduction, but we'll also have another holiday time birthday. I think I'm going to institute half-birthday celebrations with more gift giving than full birthdays.

This also means, hopefully, more blog entries for those who have been missing my blog. Stay tuned.

Lydia at 2!

I feel like Lydia has grown up so much in the last few months. You may feel the same way after looking at these pictures. She definitely has her own style sometimes. She has become more opinionated on what to where (even to the point of telling me she doesn't want the "big" (cloth) diapers). She wants to wear her "stra-bury cake" necklace and her sunglasses a lot.

Her hair has gotten really long as you can see. Someone commented to me the other day, wow she has a great cut, her hair lays so well in the back. God must be a good stylist because we have never cut her hair (save for the one snip courtesy of our friends' son William :). I recently had to start drying her hair after her bath. It was one of those "wow, I'm really a mom" moments for me. (Yes, I know I have been for 4+ years but sometimes you're just doing what you gotta do and you get so wrapped up that when you actually stop for a second and let reality set in, it's a little crazy.)

Lydia had her two-year checkup January 4th. She was 32 inches tall (10th percentile) and weighed 26 lbs. (48th percentile). Her head circumference was in the 85th percentile (and then you add all that hair on and she looks like she has this grownup head on a little toddling body.

Lydia had her "golden" birthday (she was 2 on the 2nd) this year so we had a golden party complete with gold necklaces, gold coins, golden pineapple, and a gold tiara. Lydia eats pretty well these days. She likes fruit and pasta and soup and chicken nuggets and hot dogs and rice and since turning two we introduced PB&J and 2 percent milk. She'll eat her veggies too. Not much but she does eat them.

Lydia is still "sparkly" shoe girl. As you can see in these pics she currently has gold, silver, and pink sparkly shoes. Between the grandmas and her day care provider Lydia got about 20 dresses for Christmas and her birthday. These pics showcase a few.

I have been rocking her almost to sleep at night and for her naps but lately she's been saying she doesn't want to go to sleep and then I have to end up leaving her in her crib crying for 2 minutes before she goes to sleep. She still sucks her thumb. Her naps at home are usually 3 hours but she's been known to take some 4 hours naps (and some 2 hours ones too). But she has not even attempted to climb out of her crib. I don't even think it has crossed her mind. She is so different from Dylan in this way who was trying to climb out as soon as he could stand up and actually climbing out before he was two. But we still have the Crib Tent II in case we need it.

I'm pretty sure Lydia's eyes are not blue anymore. They are green most of the time, I would say. It's hard to tell since as I mentioned in the last post about her, I think she has her dad's eye color which is mostly green but can look really blue if he is wearing a blue shirt.

Lydia has just started to play some with dolls. This is my Cabbage Patch Premie "Chasity Dot." Lydia likes to hold her and rock her and burp her and go get her more milk out of the faucet in her play kitchen. Lydia has just started to answer no when we ask if she's the baby. She says she's a big girl. I think after meeting her new baby cousin Elias (born 12/17/10) that she realized that she wasn't a baby anymore.

Lydia can tell you that she's 2 and she can put up the right number of fingers. She can also count about just as high as her brother can right now (about 12 - but Dylan actually knows what 12 means rather than just memorizing the order). But unlike Dylan at this age she doesn't recognize her letters yet. She knows some shapes, especially circle. And she's starting to get her colors. She usually guesses (in this order) green, purple, orange, pink when you ask her what color something is.

Lydia learned to speak in full sentences a good deal before her 2nd birthday. She repeats a lot of what Dylan says. She also sometimes combines the object of the sentence with the verb. The classic example is that when she wants to be held she says "mommy holdjew" (hold you). She has learned some songs too - Jesus loves me, twinkle twinkle, God our Father (our dinnertime grace song). Most of the time Lydia can be heard asking "waird mommy go?" or "waird dill go?" even if we are right there. She likes to keep track of all of us.

Lydia is still a really happy and mostly agreeable kid. She still says "MEEE!" when you ask "who wants to..." without finishing the sentence. I'm still enjoying this age since she's talking so much more and you can communicate with her so much better now. She has started the "no" and the hitting at anything when she doesn't get her way but she seems to be getting the "gentle" concept.

Lydia will go pee on the potty if we put her there but she's not telling us when she needs to go and we're not putting underwear on her. I tried one or days and we had one success and two accidents each day. I keep debating whether or not to just do it. I think she could. I need to buy her a potty for day care and I haven't gotten around to that so I'm using that as my excuse for now.

Dylan update

Wow, it's been awhile since I've done an update on my firstborn. I guess he gets mentioned in lots of Lydia's updates so it's okay. Dylan started preschool in September and loves it. He turned four a couple weeks ago and had a Hot Wheels birthday party with 20 of his closest friends. Dylan is much more the social butterfly than his parents combined. He's the kid at the playground who says, "C'mon guys, let's do this!" and kids actually follow him. He's proving my friend Janice right when she said he was a natural-born leader when he was less than a year old.

Dylan and I went to Pine Springs Camp (Pine Screams Camp as Dylan calls it) in June together for Moms and Tots camp. He was the second-youngest kid there but he hung out with all the 5-year-olds in our cabin and had a blast. He still calls those boys his new friends and remember their names. He wants to talk about camp all the time. I think the structured time was a little much for his age, but the counselors dealt with it happily. For example, he wasn't keen on sitting and listening to stories or staying with the group (especially when the cool wide open woods were so near by) so the counselors and directors had to often run after him to get him to come back. This was during the time of day when the kids were with the counselors and the moms were off drinking tea and have Bible study. They all thought he was cute and they only lost him once and he was found quickly. (I think I got the laid-back Mom award that week. The counselor thought so at least. She was so impressed that I let Dylan dunk his chicken in his milk - anything to get him eat!)

Dylan's preschool class is comprised of 8 boys, 2 older by a month or two and the rest younger by up to 13 months. I have a parent-teacher conference next week so I guess I'll know more then about how Dylan is doing. But from what we gather, he likes being at school and likes the boys in his class but never seems to do any of the art projects, which the teachers make optional. He talks about the guinea pigs a lot and tells us he wants a pet (oh, and all his stuffed animals are "pets.") I kinda feel that the stuff they are working on in class now (colors and learning about family) is stuff he's known for a long time but I need to remember that I specifically chose this preschool because it wasn't too academically focused. I think the biggest thing he's gotten out of it is learning the routine and learning to take care of his stuff and eat his lunch away from Mommy. I think it will help with his self-sufficiency (I think I like that word better than independence but I'm not sure).

I'm really glad that I decided to send him to school this year. I remember reading Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson when Dylan was little and something in there prompted me to think, oh, maybe he won't be a kid that will do well in a traditional school structure and so maybe we need to think about alternatives. Given how active Dylan is and given his above-mentioned difficulty with sitting still, I later continued to think about whether school would be a good thing for Dylan. But despite all that, I do think it is working out well and he is thriving in that environment. Things may be different when he is actually required to sit in school but maybe by then he will be ready for that. I think he actually does like the structure and the new experiences within that structure. He participates in the "mandatory" stuff without complaint.

I think one of the reasons Dylan's doesn't like art projects is his low fine motor skills. I think Lydia has better fine motor skills than Dylan. So hopefully that's something we can work on. I think in exchange he got a double dose of gross motor skills. He's athletic and fast and has great balance. And the kid is actually what I would call "smooth." Last weekend we were at a wedding and Dylan was dancing and running around the dance floor and then he would slide across the floor in this perfectly smooth motion.

I think Dylan has gotten a lot of phonics though I don't think they work on it at school yet. We talk about a different letter each week and each week he can tell me words that start with that letter and he makes the sound of the letter before coming up with the word. He doesn't know the clusters yet and trips up on the hard ones sometimes (like g, j, c, s, k, z, u, x, but I do think he's got w).

We've been trying to get Dylan to come to "big" church with us for a few minutes before taking him down to Sunday school. He's done pretty well especially if Grandma and Grandpap or visitors are with us in the service, or if Daddy is doing sound and he gets to sit up in the sound booth and put the headphones on. The goal is to get him to sit until the sermon and we are working up to that. He seems to be doing better each week.

So here are Dylan's stats from his doctor's appointment: Height - 38 inches (10th percentile) and Weight - 32 lbs (25th percentile). He doesn't know that he's short yet. He hangs out with kids that are almost a year younger and 6 inches taller but he doesn't think anything of it which is good. The weight this is a little annoying for me (he's just now starting to fit into 2T pants in the waist! and they are still way too short for his legs), but better than the opposite problem of having an obese kid. He's wearing 3T shirts. Size 9 shoe right now (he was a 7 last winter and then an 8 around late spring and started wearing 9s around the end of summer).

Accidents have become less frequent but still frustrating because he waits till the last minute to go and that's why he has the accident. Dylan has been really good being dry at night (he's been out of nighttime pullups almost from the time he was potty trained). We did have a few nighttime accidents right in a row around the time preschool started but I'm hoping those are behind us now. (I'm finally to the point where I think the energy that I put into Dylan's potty-going is low enough that I might be able to handle starting Lydia potty-training, but still going to wait on that until after her birthday.)

Dylan still likes trains and cars and trucks. This happened a while ago (maybe a year ago) but he started talking about the "daddy trucks" and the "big boy trucks" if two trucks looked alike but were different sizes. Dylan also got into Dinosaurs and learned a lot of dinosaur names watching Dinosaur Train on PBSkids (like argentinosaurus and giganotosaurus). He really enjoyed visiting Dinosaur World when we went on vacation. We also pretend to be a family of dogs or T-Rexes or lions. Or Dylan says "I'm you guys' big dog" and then goes around the house pretending to be our dog. Dylan likes dressing up with our costume box and also playing games where we have to guess what he is after he gives us clues (he calls this the Halloween game - guess what he's dressed up as). We play this a lot at dinner. Getting Dylan to eat is still a daily struggle. The Halloween candy hasn't helped because he wants to eat candy instead of dinner. We try to use it as incentive but that doesn't always work. He goes through some days though where he eats everything (I even got an email from his preschool teacher saying he ate all his food and was still hungry one day). But then the next week he's back to not hardly eating anything even in his lunch at school. I guess this is normal but still frustrating especially when you're trying to get him to eat healthy.

For a while Daddy was telling Dylan "Dylan the race car driver" stories before bed. On his birthday I told him his birth story and so now he wants to hear that before bed. Nighttime routine goes something like this - time to get into pajamas...noooo!...yes, dylan, c'mon on....let's go potty first....nooo!!!.... - and after we use all our "tricks/discipline" to get him to do these things, we pray and if he's still and quiet he gets to hear a story. We sometimes read a book but haven't really lately. We ask him who he wants to pray for and he goes over to the picture frame I have in his room of pictures with all his friends and tells us he wants to pray for "me and anna," and "me and richie" and "me and jeremiah," etc. I think I want to teach him the Lord's Prayer so we are also going to start saying that at night too.

This is a lot but I'm glad I typed it all out. I'll be glad I did in a few years. Thanks for reading!

Lydia at 21 months

Still really loving this age with Lydia. Lydia gets excited about so many things. We arrive at our destination after a short car ride and the second we turn the car off she says "yeaaa." And she doesn't even know where we are going! Lydia is game for lots of things too. We say, who wants to ... and before we finish, she says "MEEEE!"

Lydia went pee on the potty for the first time a few months ago. Right now we are putting her on the potty when we change her diaper when we are home and she goes maybe every other time. Once she was outside playing and told Martin that she had to go and so he took her upstairs and she peed on the potty. I did buy her some underwear but I'm not starting to use it yet. She really can't pull down her own pants so I'm not sure what the point is in starting to potty train but then I think about how long it was before Dylan was going to the bathroom without our assistance and realize that I'd be helping for months and months anyway. Dylan still barely can go by himself (physical he can, but I think it's an emotional thing for him that he still needs us). Maybe that's why I'm not ready to potty train Lydia - I feel like I haven't finished potty training Dylan and feel like we need a break in between.

While we were on vacation a number of folks asked us how close our children were in age and someone even asked if they were twins (the were sitting down and I guess they didn't hear Dylan talking). I guess they look closer now that Lydia is older and since Dylan is still small for his age. They are almost wearing the same size although Lydia in girl clothes and Dylan in boy clothes of course.

Lydia has picked up lots of new words. She's in that stage where she says the last syllable if she can't say the whole word. So dinosaur is "saur" etc. She calls every color green. On Tuesdays while Dylan is at preschool, I think I'll be more intentional about doing the stuff I did with Dylan regarding colors and letters. And I want to help her draw since she seems good at it.

As you can see Lydia's hair keeps getting longer. I'm letting it grow out, her bangs are still short, because I don't want to pay for haircuts but I saw some really cute girl haircuts that tempt me to get it cut.

It's still up for debate as to whether Lydia's eyes are still blue. In some light they are and sometimes they look green. Martin's are the same way so maybe they'll stay like that.

New Pictures posted see links

End of Summer 2010 including Dylan's first days of preschool and Steven and Zak and Aunt Carrie's visit.

Beginning of Fall 2010 including more of the cousin's visit and our Friday night football game.

Pictures from vacation and Kings Dominion

I just uploaded pictures to Summer 2010, Trip to WV and KY, and Kings Dominion 201o.

new pictures uploaded

Please see our Summer 2010 album for our latest pictures.

Lydia update - 19 months

I really love this age. Lydia is pretty easy as far as care these days and she hasn't hit the terrible twos yet so she is always such a joy to be around. Lately she had been imitating her brother more and more and they are often found pretending to be dogs together or playing kitchen together (we scored a free play kitchen from our neighbor and a toy bin shelf too!).

Lydia got her top eye teeth right around the time she turned 18 months but I guess I didn't mention it in the last post. So she just needs the bottom two eye teeth now.

Lydia also started saying multiple word phrases shortly after she turned 18 months. She says "thank you" a lot (seriously, every time you give her something) and "here you go" and "up please." She repeats a lot of words too. She also has words for popsicle, swimsuit, and napkin although you have to hear them in context to get what she is saying.

I think I'm starting to see the beginnings of the "twos" in some of her behaviour though. She is starting to get upset more when she doesn't get her way and give me these frantic looks of indignation if she can't get what she wants. But the please and thank yous are much more common. She still uses signs along with some words (please, milk, help) I think as a way of putting more emphasis on her requests.

Besides loving to play with Dylan, Lydia wants to be around him all the time. It's getting harder to separate them for bedtime now. The first thing she says in the morning after "MOMMY" (i.e., mommy come pick me up) is "Dill." That's what she calls him. Dylan had to have a time out at the pool the other day and she wanted to go to. She follows him into the potty (which I'm hoping with help with the potty training) and can't stand when he is out of her sight. She's always putting on his shoes too. It's pretty cute. Dylan likes hanging out with her too and rarely wants her to leave him alone. Lydia has come to love Dylan's girl friend Anna and knows her name and gets excited to go over her house.

Lydia's hair is getting really long and most days I just put a Pebbles-like ponytail on the top of her head because that's all she will keep in. She pulls the bows out.

Lydia can hold a pencil better than most 2nd-graders I know! I have some pictures that I will post in my Summer 2010 album soon. She's amazing and I have to remember to allow her time to develop that since that's something that Dylan has no interest in and thus we rarely do it.

I still feel like Lydia is my baby though.

Pictures from our excursions

See my Spring album for pictures from our trip to NC, our friend Aidan's birthday party, Viva Vienna, and camp. Trip to FL and 4th of July pics still to come.

Lydia at 18 months

I can't believe how much my little girl is growing up!

Lydia went to the doctors on Friday for her checkup - she weighed 22 lbs 8.4 ounces (25 percentile) and was 31 inches tall (35 percentile). I didn't blog about Dylan's 18 month appointment so I can't link to a comparison. I guess I was a little busy back then (finding out I was pregnant with Lydia).

Lydia nursed for the last time on June 13, 2010. So 17.5 months just like Dylan. She has asked for it (with a sign) about 5 times since then but was easily distracted. I'm okay with it too. I feel like it was a really good time to quit. (Lydia was away from mommy for three days while Dylan and I were at camp so it was a nice stopping point). However, I think I'm gaining weight because I'm no longer nursing - you mean I actually have to start watching what I eat again?...bummer.

I think Lydia is going to be our performer. She often does things to get your attention like putting things on her head and smiling. She is so fun. She is also very compliant at this age (maybe we're just seeing the stark contrast with our very non-compliant older child). Lydia does things that you ask her to do like put things in the trash, pick up things, and give hugs and kisses. Her hugs are THE best thing in the world. She wraps her arms around your neck, puts her cheek to your cheek, and squeezes perfectly.

She has learned so many words in the last few weeks. Here are what I can remember now: Milk, book, duck, (quack), (she was on a words that end in K kick for a while), dirt, truck, trash, cracker, hat, bug, cat, puppy (and ruff ruff), pony, socks, (moo), more, eat, flower, Mom-mie, Dad-die, Dyan (for Dylan), bub-ble, apple, boon (for balloon), Ma-maw, PapPap, Pap-paw, and wa-wa (for water).

My mom also taught her where her elbow is so if you ask her she can point to it. Lydia also does all the motions to "wheels on the bus" including the mommies on the bus go "shu shu shu." She wowed her nursery volunteers with that one last Sunday. She also "sings" when we sing Dylan's mealtime prayer "God our Father." She also kicks her feet wildly like Dylan does when they are in their carseats (we turned Lydia's around now) and "Real Gone" by Sheryl Crow (on the Cars Movie CD) comes on. She also imitates her brother when he plays "Superhero" with this hooded towels that he (now they) use as capes. They play together much more now and I'm starting to feel like I have to two kids and not a kid and a baby.

Lydia still takes 2 naps per day, sometimes 2 hours each. She is such a good sleeper.

What we've been up to lately...

After being cooped up with the snow storms this winter and then having a busy early spring, we were glad to finally have a few free Saturdays where we could get out and do some hiking. Leading up to the weekend of April 24th, Martin asked me where we wanted to go. I said Mason Neck State Park but I was actually thinking of Leesylvania State Park. (We had been to both before. Mason Neck when I was pregnant with Dylan and Leesylvania when Dylan was about 7 months old. We are now starting to cycle back through the places we've been before. There are a few new places close to DC that we would still like to go but I think we are a little less adventurous now in not wanting to go somewhere that we haven't been before with two kids. Taking two kids hiking is adventurous enough. We've obviously given up trying to compete with the John and Laura B. for the most adventurous parents title.) Anyway, turns out it was a very fortunate (providential) mistake. The park was free that day because of a fair that was going on where they had booths that taught you about conservation and wildlife and all kinda cool stuff for kids...including PONY RIDES! Dylan rode the ponies twice and loved it. We also saw a reptile show, climbed in a fire truck, planted seeds, pretended we were birds migrating, played on the playground and still went for our hike. SCORE! I can't tell you the thrill it is to find something FUN, FREE, and Family-friendly to do and to just happen upon it rather read about it ahead of time just makes it extra fun. We needed this that morning too because that was the weekend that we had to find a new nanny.

The next weekend we went to Huntley Meadows - another hiking spot from Dylan's first year - and brought Amy with us which was super fun too. We didn't have the camera for those events but we did for the next ones - the next Saturday I had a meeting at church but Martin took the kids to a fun festival at Dylan's future preschool. That Sunday was Mothers Day and I chose to take the kids to the Leesburg Animal Park, where Dylan got to ride a pony yet again (Wasn't terribly impressed on the whole with the park though - they had some cool animals but it was mostly a glorified petting zoo.) And then last weekend was our last PALS trip of the year and on Sunday Martin and Dylan went with Russ and Richie to the airshow while mommy had a gloriously quiet Sunday afternoon at home while Lydia napped. See the link to my online album for Spring for some pics from these events.

This weekend we're headed to NC to visit Martin's brother and his family - this is the 3rd year in a row that we've gone to NC at the end of May so I think it's officially a tradition. After our return we are looking forward to a summer of more day trips (all our Saturdays from June 12th through the end of August are open!!! - this is unheard of!) and days at the neighborhood pool we joined.

I'm also very very very excited about going to camp with Dylan in mid-June. As far as a family vacation, we're looking to doing something low-key like rent a cabin for a week or long weekend right after Labor Day.

What's on tap for you this summer?

Update on the kids in bullet points

Dylan


-Gave up pacifier and afternoon nap. These two events were not unrelated but it's debatable which came first. I think giving up the nap was first though, which prompted me to take a drastic measure and cut up the pacifier. I was letting keep the pacifier to try to get more napping out of him but it proved to be less and less effective.


-Has been having a lot of accidents lately (once every day or two). May have to do with the change in day care providers but he says that he like the new place/nanny.


-Starting to come out of the Terrible Threes and has become a little more agreeable when told its time to eat or get dressed.


-Will start preschool two days a week in the Fall at Vienna Baptist Children's Center which is a block from our house.



Lydia

- Loves animals and has started to make animal sounds. She calls her stuffed lamb "ba." I must admit though that she does also enjoy playing with Dylan's trucks and making car noises.


- Has learned to shake her head "no." Ah, it begins...:) She also says "ishsh" for fish and has a word for Cheerios.


- Like to climb in chairs and sit like a big girl. She has been known to sit still for more than a minute...after Dylan, I didn't know children actually do this. She is also learning to go down stairs and the slides at the playground by herself.


- Is still nursing but I think the end is near.

Great Mother's Day Wishes

A number of folks inadvertantly gave me some great Mother's Day wishes in compliments last week.

"They don't get any cuter than that..." - women in grocery store

"Watching your daughter is like playing with a live baby doll." - lady in the church nursery

"You should have more kids because you are such a great mom and any kid would be lucky to have you as his/her mom." - a dear friend

And of course the kids added their own wishes to make my day:

"Happy Mudder's Day, Mom-my!" - Dylan

"Eh!" - Lydia as she hands me a card she and Daddy made for me.

Link to photos

Trip to PA and St. Patty's Day

Spring 2010 including trip to FL for Easter

Pictures from the last 6 months

Fall 2009 - Dylan's birthday, our anniversary, swim lessons, big snow storm #1

Winter 2010 - Grandma's birthday, Christmas, Lydia's birthday, Baltimore Train Museum, big snow storms #2 and #3, Valentines' Day, and pigtails

Lydia at 15 months

Stats first: 21lbs 2.8 oz. (20th percentile) and 29 1/4 inches (20th percentile) and head circumference was in the 55th percentile. Compared to Dylan, she weighs more and is in a higher percentile for weight.

Words/signs: ma-ma, da-deee (used for both Martin and Dylan - this used to be ah-da), ba-na-na, shoes, cheese, bird (sign and word), [waves when you say bye-bye], [claps when you say yea], [smacks her lips when you say kiss], all done (sign and word), milk (sign), more (sign), eat (sign).

Lydia has been become more picky with food but we can still get some cooked baby carrots or peas in her every once in a while. She still loves fruit and instant oatmeal and pasta and yogurt and cheese!! Oh does she love her cheese. The first time I heard her say the word, I don't think I had even said the word, she just saw me cutting it and toddled over and said "cheese" clear as day and very loudly. We started giving her raisens recently. Mealtime has become really difficult with her though. She wants whatever I'm eating as soon as I sit down. She doesn't like sitting in her chair for very long at all. Sometimes if I give her a spoon she'll eat something that 5 seconds early she was refusing but because it's on a spoon, she'll eat it.

Lydia is a climber like her brother but I don't think she's as crazy as he was. She will sit in my lap and just look around. Or she will get down and get a stuffed animal and then want back up in my lap (love this!).

I thought girls were going to be easier in this regard but Lydia is just about as wiggly as her brother was for diaper changes. But she actually helps me dress her by sticking out her arms or lifting her legs. It's amazing. She's actually helpful!

I think she's going to be potty trained a lot sooner than Dylan. Actually, I saw her squatting in the bathtub yesterday and quickly picked her up an held her over the toilet just in time. Then I sat her on the toilet for a minute to make sure she was done. She seemed happy to be there.

Lydia has begun, to my amazement, to follow little instructions - like hug the bear, sit down, pick up the toy. It's so cute and so cool to see her comprehension. She knows some of her body parts - I think hair was the first one she got and now mouth, eyes, and nose. Speaking of hair, it's starting to get long and I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Ponytails and pigtails don't stay in very long.

Lydia loves to give kisses. Sometimes she puts both hands on your face and just plants one on you. It's so fun. Lots of people tell me how social she is. She's really engaging and doesn't wait for you to initiate interaction with her. She doesn't just respond to you, she initiates the interaction. She still smiles a lot.

Lydia loves animals. She squeals whenever she sees a cat or a dog. It's cute. She is starting to taking a liking to some of her stuffed animals too. With an animal, her thumb, and some sort of fabric to grab (mommy's shirt if no blanket is available), she is set.

Lydia is still a great sleeper and still takes two naps. If you don't let her take her morning nap she will try to take it anyway. She's pretty good at calming herself. She is still nursing at least twice a day sometimes more. The sessions are usually quick though and more often than not I'm putting her down to sleep when she's still awake.

Lydia had Roseola a few weeks ago. It's basically just a virus but apparently it's one of those where if you get it, you won't get it again. She had a high fever and then a rash after the fever was breaking. I stayed home from work one day with her. The doctor we saw that day didn't tell me that's what it was but when we went for her 15 month check up her regular doctor said that's must have been what it was.

Lydia at 12 months

So before she hits 15 months, I should tell you how Lydia has been growing and what she has been up to as a one-year old. At her 12 month doctors appointment, she weighed 17 lbs., 10.4 oz (5th percentile) and was 29 inches (50th percentile) tall. See here for Dylan comparison.

At about 12 months she got her first molar and now (almost 15 months) has four of them. That makes 12 teeth.

Lydia started STTN (finally) at about 12 and a half months. From about 4-5 months until then she had been waking up twice during the night. I think she just learned to soothe herself back to sleep. One night it took me a long time to get up to get her (both our doors were closed so I didn't hear her for a while) and by the time I got up, she was back to sleep. From there on, I just let her go back to sleep on her own and it worked. She started sleeping all the way through.

Lydia started taking a few steps at 12 and a half months but really starting walking at 13 months, 1 week - the week we were stuck in the house because of the snow storm. I remember Dylan taking one step (at 10 months) and then running the next day it seemed. Lydia took the more cautious route.

Lydia enjoyed watching the snow fall from the sky but only tolerated being out in it for so long. Martin says she's not as much of an outdoor lover as Dylan but I'm going to give her some more time. I think now that she's walking she will enjoy it more.

At about 12 months, I noticed how engaging Lydia is. She initiates interaction with you. It's kinda hard to explain and maybe it's just because she's an easy second child and I often feel guilty for not paying more attention to her, but this really amazes me. Instead of crying for attention, she will just smile at you until you look at her and then smile even bigger. It's almost like she's trying to encourage me. Sometimes, when I'm holding her she will turn my face with her hands to make me look at her, smiling all the while.

She has really started to interact with her brother more. He has learned what makes her laugh and will entertain her. She has also started to make her opinions known when she wants something. She has been know to say things that sound like banana and Dylan and she says ma ma and da da. We are working on the signs again, but we didn't start as early or were as consistent as with Dylan so it might take her a little longer to get them.

on self-discipline

I'm reading the book Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges that describes the subtle sins we commit day after day without even thinking about them (impatience, judgementalism, frustration, etc.). Yesterday I read the chapter on self-control and today I realized how undisciplined I've become lately. I'm sure you've noticed this in how bad I've become about updating my blog. But it's worse than that. I have no self-control with respect to food, spending time on the computer or in front of the TV, or my wondering mind when I'm supposed to be concentrating on something else. And I've realized today that one of the reasons I've become so bad at self-control (and this is no means an excuse but rather a realization of my situation) is that I've had fewer and fewer opportunities to exhibit self-control, particularly with my time. And in those instances when I do, I've been failing at being disciplined. I was remembering this morning how I used to get up at 6am everyday and go to the gym before work. Now I'm not saying that I should try to follow that same schedule again or even that I have to have scheduled exercise in my daily dealings again but I feel like I need to practice discipline in some respect so that I will be disciplined in general. Then when I've faced with other temptations not to be disciplined, like in not indulging every desire of my taste buds, I will be more practiced. Bridges makes that point in the book and I know there have been times in my life when discipline in one area led to discipline in another. Maybe it will be discipline with food that will lead to more discipline with my time. I know that I can't do this on my own and that I'm completely dependent on the Holy Spirit to give me the power to make changes. If you have a minute, please pray to this end. Who knows, maybe the result will be more blog postings?

Chores

Lydia Update at 11 months!

Lydia is on her way to one. She is crawling more and faster and getting into more, but not nearly like Dylan did. That may have to do with the fact that when Dylan was crawling we were living in a 950 square foot condo and so there was more in the living room to get into. Lydia likes to crawl with one foot on the ground, her right. It's quite funny looking but she's gotten pretty proficient at it. Lydia can walk with assistance - while holding our hands or holding onto the push toy she received from Grandma and Grandpa as an early Christmas present. We expect her to walk soon.

Lydia is eating mostly all finger foods these days and she has four more teeth to help her. She does not like to be spoon fed - she would rather do it herself. This has been a common theme and thus she is proving herself to be quite independent. She can take a shirt off of her head once I get her arms out and she can get out of her straps on her car seat once I unbuckle them. Dylan is just learning these things. Her independence makes me a little nervous because I don't want to encourage the independence too much in our kids - I think we as individuals are too independent in today's society to our own detriment. Of course I want my kids to be able to do things for themselves but not to the point that they would refuse help. Dylan is independent in a much different way. He's adventurous and (what's opposite of cling-y?). That makes me nervous too. Dylan still wants us to do a lot of things for him, which at this age, he should be doing for himself. So basically, I want Dylan to dress himself but I don't want Lydia to think that she can dress herself. And I do wish Lydia would let us spoon feed her more so that we could get some cereal and apple sauce and the like into her but I have to admit, it is pretty nice to just sit some food in front of her and just let her go at it. We were spoon feeding Dylan until he was 2 and even now we still have to help him at least a few bites of food into his mouth before he's off again.

Lydia thinks Dylan is hilarious. They have a lot of fun together. She was cracking up at him hiding behind her high chair and peeking around at her. Besides laughing and smiling lots, Lydia is starting to babble more. She also says ma-ma, sometimes even when looking at (referring to) me. She says ah-da for "daddy," "dylan," and "all done." I think she does the signs for more and all done, usually just mimicking us. She and I have puckering up contests to see who can make the loudest pucker. I love those bonding moments that happen despite her not being able to talk. But soon we will have two little jatterboxes.

Lydia is still a pretty good napper in the sense that she's easy to get down to sleep. I wonder if kids are either easy to put down or easy to wake up. Lydia seems to have a harder time waking up and wants to nurse when she wakes up from her nap. Dylan was the opposite - he was hard to get to sleep and once he woke up, he was ready to go. Lydia will sleep, on a good day, for an hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Even on a bad day she usually gets at least 2, half hour naps. She sleeps at night from about 7:30 to 6:30 but she wakes up about twice during the night still. Usually around 3 and then 5. I've tried feeding her before I go to bed at 10 and that seems to work sometimes. I've also tried not feeding her at 3 and that was hard getting her to go back to sleep but it worked until she got sick or we were traveling and then it was back to the drawing board. Maybe after her birthday we'll try again.

I've already started transitioning her to cow's milk. I wasn't pumping enough to give her 3 full bottles during the 3 days she's at daycare and I ran out of my stash back in October. So since she was gaining weight at a good pace and I new she was getting enough milk when she was with me (including those middle of the night feedings) I just started adding water to her bottles to make up the difference. Starting in December I started adding cow's milk and she has done fine with it. I figured if she was digesting all those finger food, she could handle the cow's milk. She'll get all cow's milk at day care starting after Christmas vacation and her birthday (which means I don't have to pump anymore!!!!!!!!!...!!!!)

Lydia is the only one in our family to get the H1N1 vaccine so far, due to availability. I think she already had H1N1 but they still recommended the vaccine. I'm hoping she will get her second dose when she goes in for her 1 year appointment on the 8th. Our pediatrician and my work have been getting the vaccine in drips and drabs. I'm not that worried about it to go to wait in line at the government center to get them so we're just waiting for our doctor to get them. Dylan and I received the seasonal flu shot this year - first time for both of us. My thinking is that now that there are four of us to pass things to each other, we need to take some more precautions. Lydia also received the seasonal flu shot but she still needs the second dose. So maybe by the time the height of the flu season gets here we will have all of our shots.

We enrolled the kids in 5-week swimming classes in November/December. Lydia was really clingy at first and sucked her thumb the whole time but is getting better. She's okay with it but it's thrilled. I just want the kids to keep up with their swimming so we don't have to start from ground zero every Memorial Day. I don't think we'll do another class in the spring though - we'll just take them to the indoor pool every so often. And the music class that we did last year is on one of my work days so we won't be doing that - but I talked to Mrs. Kathryn (she got married this year!) and she said that she is going to have a short 6 week class in May on Tuesdays that both Dylan and Lydia and participate in so we are going to look forward to that.

Dylan update

As you know if you've been around Dylan at all in the last two months, he had a birthday on October ('bachtober') 30th. (Yes, I'm a bad mommy blogger for not acknowledging it earlier.) This was his first birthday that he knew what was going on (presents, party, etc.). He even blew out his candles all by himself. We had a great day - opened presents, went to Cox Farm, napped, had dinner at IHOP cut short because Dylan wanted to go back home and play with his toys, and mommy played "Happy Birthday to You" on the piano. Dylan received so many birthday presents. I think his favorites are the scooter we got him and he cars from the Cars movie from my sister. On Halloween, we had a party for Dylan - only one friend could come because of illnesses in our family and others but it was still lots of fun for Dylan.

On the 5th Dylan had his 3 year check up at the doctor. He did the eye exam for the first time. He saw all the pictures and did such a great job telling the nurse what he saw. He also got his blood pressure taken for the first time. The doctor said he looked great. Dylan weighed 28 lbs (with clothes and jacket on - 20th percentile) and was 35 and change inches tall (10th percentile). I asked the doctor about the fact that Dylan can not give a thumbs up. He confirmed that that was a little strange and recommended a pediatric orthopedic doctor. I was a little concerned because Dylan seemed to be having trouble dressing himself and I thought the thumb thing might have something to do with it. He seems to be doing okay now so I'm not sure if we'll take him to the specialist. He started giving thumbs up with some practice and is dressing himself with guidance.

One big thing that I've noticed in the few months leading up to Dylan turning three was how his imagination took off. Suddenly, everyday items like string were transformed into tow-cables, fishing poles, capes, etc. I noticed how Dylan was making so many connections in his world. One of his favorite phrases is "...just like..." as in they have a gold car just like we do, I have brown eyes, just like you do, they live in Virginia, just like we do. And he wants to know everything's name (as in everything is personified). We are walking down the street and Dylan wants to know "what's that dog's name, mommy?"

Dylan also has really good balance. It's amazing sometimes how he stands on one of us or on the backs of couches or other precarious places.

Dylan is still a small and picky eater. (Although he did eat pizza for the first time tonight!) He could eat raisens and cheerios all day long however. But they have to be in "nnuter bowl." Keeping him seated at the table is probably the most challenging part of the meal these days though. We have a few dinners lately when Dylan stayed seated until we were mostly done with our meal and we did get to have a 1 minute family worship time. After only a couple of those he memorized two Bible verses "A...softer turns a-way RAT!" (Proverbs 15:1) and "Children obey your parents."

Dylan has also been singing a lot lately. He's learned a few Thomas the Train songs and "Life is a Highway" from the Cars movie, and the Sesame Street theme song.

We've been trying to potty train Dylan for a few months now. It is very slow going. I started having him go naked and he would do okay with that but as soon as he had pants, with or without underpants or a pull-up, he would go in his pants. We could only practice that at home too. Bushra was trying to potty train Dylan at her house so we had to keep it up. He was doing okay there. He's getting better but still a lot of accidents. He now will ask to go even if he has pants or a pull up on. He can do it, which he has proven, so there is no going back, but it's just going soo slow and Mommy has had to clean up a lot of messes. Very humbling. Most of the accidents occur when he's busy playing. We have been giving him "nem nem ems," as an incentive but now only if he asks for it afterwards. Recently Dylan has proven that he can go on potties at other people's houses and at public potties. Not sure I'm going to stop buying pull ups yet though. We were at a cousin's house yesterday and I took him once on the potty and the second time he found the bathroom again by himself and somehow climbed on the toilet and went by himself. He comes out in the living room to proclaim "I did it!" - we all look at each and think, did what?! But then today he pooped in a pull up and peeped while outside wearing underpants.

Dylan is still napping on most days. The three hour naps are becoming more the exception than the rule though. I think he's averaging 1.5-2 hours these days. Still awesome. As long as we can get him to be still enough to fall asleep then he's good. He still takes a pacifier for sleeping. I've noticed that he grinds his teeth when the pacifier isn't there. I'm no longer in a rush to wean him off the pacifier. Maybe after potty training. Actually it will probably be easiest when he drops the afternoon nap. Unless the dentist tells me differently before then. Dylan went to the dentist for the first time in September. He did pretty good. They didn't get to do much but the dentist said he had good spacing between his teeth.

I've heard that the "3s" are worse than the "2s" especially if the "2s" weren't that bad for your kid. We're only a month in but I suspect that we'll end up deciding that the "3s" were worse. In a lot of instances, Dylan seems to want to do the opposite of what you want him to do these days. Counting to 5 seems to be working a little bit for me these days, even if I forget to threaten him with what happens after 5. He just doesn't like me counting. And sometimes when we tell him to do something when he doesn't want to, he tells us to "go to work, Mommy" or "go to work, Daddy." But as with most kids, especially 3 year olds, I've heard, he can switch and be really sweet too. He says I love you to us unprompted and gives hugs and kisses unprompted. He also asks us "howsz oour day, mommy?" (sometimes before breakfast!). And he loves family hugs! When we put him to bed we all go into his room and the four of us give each other one big hug!

Factors Contributing to the Stickiness of the Floor in the Proximity of the Kitchen Table in a Vienna Home

{This posted is contributed to the Sweet November by our resident researcher}



Since the recent purchase of their new home, the adult population has noticed a significant increase in the stickiness of their kitchen, mostly in proximity of the kitchen table. 100% of the adult population polled, which coincided with the residents most likely to clean up the stickiness, agreed with this statement. Of note is that this population had previous lived in a condo where the only dining area was carpeted. This paper is offered to summarize the research and conclusions made to determine the factors contributing to the stickiness.

Data Collection and Analysis

There were two main means of collecting data employed here:

1) Floor observations
Over the 9 week study period, numerous floor observations were made. These were made by sampling the area with intervals as short as one day to as long as one week. These samplings generally coincided with cleanings of the floor and were frequently tied to 1) the quantity of sticky substances on the floor, 2) whether guests would be visiting and 3) how much motivation there was to clean the floor.

2) Meal observations – during and shortly after
A striking trend was noted over this period. During the first 7 weeks of the data collection, an overwhelming majority of the stickiness was attributed to oatmeal and raisins. At this point, the observers began to cross-reference the food types found on the floor with the diners’ menu selections. Over this period, one diner (Dylan) was observed to have chosen oatmeal with raisins nearly every day with minor exceptions given to Saturdays when eggs or pancakes were eaten.

The following graphic shows the stickiness composition over the period:





However, during the next few weeks of observation, the addition of another child at meal time had significant affect. Cheerios began to show up on the floor in outstanding fashion. The following graphic shows the stickiness composition over the next period:

When these contributions are plotted over time, one can see a dramatic change in the contribution of each diner. Clearly, Lydia began to quickly contribute to the floor stickiness: Note that over this period, the quantity of sticky substances on the floor continued to increase. Dylan’s overall contribution did not decrease over this period, however the addition of Lydia’s substances brought his percentage down.

Conclusions

Factor #1: A rambunctious young boy


The energetic nature of this boy contributed significantly to the stickiness of the floor. The analysis of food particles and meal observations show this rambunctious boy as the largest contributor to floor stickiness. In fact, estimates place this factor as contributing 90-95% of all stickiness between 7/1/09 and 10/1/09. When asked for comment, he merely replied, “The floor is sticky!”

Factor #2: A less coordinated baby girl
The introduction of a child who is developing a pincher reflex and has little coordination is a significant contributor to floor stickiness. In a short while, she has managed to rival that of Dylan.

Mitigation Plan: As Dylan and Lydia have not demonstrated a willingness to change their menu selections, the only means of preventing the stickiness are:
· Continue to refine Dylan and Lydia’s coordination to ensure that 1) food gets to their mouths and 2) food stays in their mouths
· Just put a tarp on the floor

Pictures!

Sorry everyone for not posting pictures in a while. In order to catch you all up, here are the links to my pics on Picasa.

June 09 - Lydia and Daddy; Kathryn's shower

Summer 09 - including the kids with Daddy on Father's Day, some really cute ones of Lydia, Dylan in the new closet at the condo, my birthday, 4th of July, berry picking, Lydia starting solids, fun in the pool, Uncle Matt and family's visit, Brian's visit, the Gillespies' visit, and the church retreat

Our Trip to FL - Daytona first this time and then Panama City (see blog entry here)

Kings Dominion - Martin's company rents out the park for a day every Sept - we went for free; Dylan's best gal pal Anna's daddy also works for the same company so we all went together

Fall 09 - Saladas' visit and Dylan's crazy hair

Camping - at Loft Mountain in Shenandoah National Park with the Vanes and the Burks

Peas Porridge Hot, Peas Porridge Cold, Peas Porridge in my Mouth, 9 months old

This is the little ditty we sang to Lydz (her nickname) this weekend. Green veggies are not the fav but they go down easier than pureed meat. Cheerios, on the other hand, are all the rage with Lydia these days. She still only has 4 teeth so there's a lot of sucking involved in eating them but she loves them. She just recently got the pincher grasp so we've been trying to give her more table food in tiny pieces. She even ate some mixed veggies. Dylan NEVER did that. Lydia loves to eat bananas and apples from her little mesh bag thing.

Lydia had her 9-month doctors appointment yesterday. She weighed 16 lbs 10.8 oz (20th percentile), was 27 inches long (30th percentile), and her head measurement was in the 50th percentile. She went up a lot since her last appointment and she weighs more than Dylan did at this age and is exactly the same height. I just moved Lydia into her 6-9 month clothes.

Lydia had been waking up twice per night pretty much since June. A few weeks ago I tried to "correct" this by not nursing her when she woke up the first time. I also would do a dream feed at 10pm before I went to bed. After a few rough nights of not going back to sleep after waking at 2am, I think we might have settled into a better schedule. She gets up around 4am and I feed her and she goes back to sleep until 6 or 6:30am. Dylan was in this schedule for a while back in the day and its fine with me for now. Lydia is a better napper than Dylan was but I think she sleeps a little less at night.

Lydia is crawling faster now but her crawling is much more a means to an end rather than the past time it was for Dylan. He was everywhere. I was just looking back at some pictures, and even in his crib in his sleep he was all over the place. So I'm hoping that this is an indication that Lydia won't be quite the crazy kid that Dylan is. I love my crazy kid but two of them would be really had to handle. Lydia does squirm when getting her diaper changed like Dylan did though.

Lydia is still a ridiculously happy baby. She didn't even cry when she got her shot yesterday. She puts up with way too much abuse from her brother too.

Thirteen Things for Thursday

I think I'm just Facebook deprived...can't FB at work and no time at home to be on computer...so these are probably more like my status updates for the last week or so.

1. One reason I'm not on the computer at home as much is that Martin has been watching his DVDs on the computer since we can't seem to play them on our TV and DVD player. The issue is that the power went out last week and now the TV is searching for a analog signal, which is needs to do a channel set-up, and not finding it. Without the channel set-up, we can't set the TV to the right channel for the DVD player. I'm feeling the pain of being technologically behind. Maybe we should just go ahead and get the HD TV we've been thinking about buying. I just hate spending so much money, thinking that I'll regret the purchase.
2. I did get a new phone though! I've had the same cell phone for 5 years! These things weren't made to last this long. The phone is starting to not hold a charge so I got a new one. Had to get the free one though. I'll still have to pay to have my numbers changed over though. Grrr.
3. I forgot to mention that we saw the shuttle launch while we were in FL. It was soo cool. We were 80 miles away and the shuttle was just a ball of fire in the sky but it was still sooo cool. We watched it all the way across the horizon in the night sky and even saw the boosters drop.
4. I really wish someone would explain double coupons to me. Do most stores only double coupons less than $1? My Safeway doesn't even advertize the fact that they double coupons so I wasn't figuring them into my price calculations. After experimenting with the Sunday coupons for the last 2 months, I think I'm going to use them on a more limited basis - only use coupons for $1 off (or $.50 with doubling) off 1 item or diaper or cereal coupons. Those are the only things that seem worth the time I'm taking cutting and organizing.
5. We got an offer on our condo and may have another offer coming in tonight! Seems as though a lot of first time homebuyers are making offers now to be able close before November 1st to get the tax credit. Sweet November - no more double mortgage payments for us!
6. I'm doing some initial calculations based on what I think we will get for the condo. I'm conducting an analysis to see if it would have been cheaper for us to rent the past 5 years than to buy. I think we're going to come up about even. At least we didn't lose money, and we received lots of intangible, unquantifiable benefits from owning the condo. For instance, I don't think we would have been able to rent as nice of a place, at least for what we would have been willing to pay in rent.
7. Wow, a lot of my 'things' are about money. Hmmm...
8. We tried giving Lydia meat yesterday - pureed chicken. She didn't like it. We'll try again. She's practicing picking up cheerios and putting them into her mouth. She's eaten one but mostly she just examines them.
9. In my research for this article that I'm writing at work, I found out that the name of first person to ever receive a federal deposit insurance payout was Mrs. Lydia Lobsiger. She received a check for $1,250 on July 3, 1934 when her bank, Fondulac State Bank in East Peoria, IL failed.
10. I had a coupon for a McCafe at McDonalds so I got one. I don't recommend it - at least the iced ones. It was 80 percent ice.
11. I also have a coupon for this music store near me - $5 off, no minimum purchase. I'm going to buy reeds for my clarinet and maybe start playing again with friends from church.
12. I just bought my dad a Father's Day gift last night. Only 3 months late. Pam, tell Justin not to worry - his birthday gift won't be that late.
13. Sunday we made our 3rd trip to an amusement park this summer - Kings Dominion for Martin's company picnic. Went to a wave pool there for the first time in years. Good times but I'm done with amusement parks for a while.

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long....

This was the theme song of our vacation and of really the last few weeks.

• Life is a highway and it keeps going even when you're on vacation and that helps describe how I feel now that we're back - lots to catch up with.
• The all night long part is also indicative our nights as Lydia continues to wake up at least twice at night. The 5-7am period is particularly difficult for sleep. (I'm trying white noise now and it seems to have helped a little but she's still getting up twice. I'm going to try not feeding her at night now.)
• Dylan has been singing this song because it's from the soundtrack of his favorite movie - Cars. While we were on the 800-mile stretch of highway from our house to Martin's parents' house, which bares the name of Dylan's favorite race car - #95, Lightening McQueen - we pretended we were in the scene of the movie where McQueen is trying to catch up to "Mac" after he falls out of his trailer. "Mac, Mac, wait up." Then we would catch up to the nearest tractor trailer and say "You're not Mac!" That entertained our little chatterbox for a good portion of the trip.
• We made it to FL in one day and with one speeding ticket. It was me driving. My first speeding ticket in almost 17 years (my first was when I was 16). We were listening to The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again and I guess I didn't realize how fast I was going. The very polite Southern police officer gave me a ticket (although he decrease the speed he clocked me at so I wouldn't get any points on my license) and told me to have a great day, but to slow down a bit.
• We didn't ride any waves in FL but we did go to the beach once and Dylan "went under" in the ocean, with me holding him. Lydia seemed to like the beach - she ate some sand and sat and splashed.
• Lydia started crawling while we were on vacation. She won't have to ride as much now - she can move on her own! She also cut another tooth on top and turned 8 months old!
• While we were visiting Martin's parents we took highway 4 over to Orlando and went to Sea World for 2 days. Dylan loved it. He still shouts "Shamu, Shamu" around the house. They had an Elmo show that Dylan and Lydia both enjoyed. Sea World was a great place to take the kids at this age. And they even had nursing mothers rooms where the moms get free bottled water! A+ for family friendly-ness!
• On our last full day in Daytona, Martin and I got to go on a date while the kids were napping. We went mini-golfing for the first time since Dylan was born and shopping and out for ice cream. Life is good.
• We then took highway 10 over to the panhandle to see my sister and her family. Dylan and Steven had a ball playing cars and monster trucks together and jumping on beds and into the pool. Dylan jumped into the pool with his swimmies and went under all my himself for the first time this summer. He and Steven also got to sit in one of Uncle Rob's helicopters!
• On Sunday, after visiting with my parents a little who had come to my sister's for a visit, we hopped back on the highway and headed home. This time we broke the return trip up into two days and stopped in Charleston, SC to visit a friend of Martin's from college for lunch.

Lydia is 7 months old!

Wow, 7 months. Here are some pictures of her in the last month.