Lydia is 5 Months Old!

From rolling over to her first tooth, this was a big month for Lydia! She is growing so much and seems to discover something new every day. She continues to be super smiley and makes friends everywhere she goes! We love our sweet girl!

At 5 Months, Lydia...

• Weighs about 14 pounds and 6 ounces
• Measures about 26 ish inches long
• Wears size 2 diapers, 6 month clothing, and 9 month jammies.
• Eyes are starting to turn hazel instead of blue.
• Started rolling from her back to her tummy. She did this for the first time on March 14th. 
• Has two teeth (bottom central incisors)! Her first tooth (bottom, left central incisor) broke through on March 18th, and the right one followed on March 28th. Poor Lydia was miserable while cutting these two teeth. Our typically happy girl was fussy, restless, and rarely smiled. We had some awful week of sleepless nights. Whew! Two down, eighteen to go!
• Loves watching Jacob and constantly laughs at him!
• Has started crying when Mommy goes out of sight and has started to realize when she's handed off to someone she doesn't know.
• Loves her poppy! (What a lifesaver for Mommy!)
• Swings/waves her toys around and often hits herself in the face.
• Loves being outside and going for stroller rides.
• Loves her soft bunny, crinkly book, and teething toys.
• Tends to take two short morning naps (about 30 - 45 minutes) and a longer afternoon nap. Some like to say the second kid can sleep through anything, specifically the first kid, and that babies adapt to noise, but that is definitely NOT the case with Lydia. Her naps are constantly cut short by Jacob's noise!
• FINALLY drinks from a bottle! I had pretty much given up hope that this would ever happen...until she started biting me with her sharp little teeth! She bit me so hard a few times that she drew blood. Ouch! So on a whim, I gave her formula in a bottle, and she drank it like she has been doing it from day one! This is such a relief and answered prayer! Not only does it free me up a bit and keep me from being chomped on, but it also makes my day 100× easier. Aside from the biting, it was becoming increasingly difficult to nurse Lydia with Jacob around. He's very distracting and suddenly demanding all my attention the minute I sit down to feed her. Plus, she never nurses well unless we are at home - inside, so it is very limiting. I still nurse her during the night and at nap time, but give her bottles of either formula or expressed milk during the day. 
• Has started making the "ma-ma-ma" sound!

Jacob decided to get in on the picture action! He loves his "Baby Girl"!

I love this picture! Lydia watches every move Jacob makes. She wants to play with him so badly!

Happy Birthday, Zander!

This weekend we traveled to Kernersville for Zander Houston's 3rd birthday. It was so much fun to celebrate his special day! His party was at a park, complete with a playground, paddle boats, and lots of room to run and play! The weather was absolutely perfect. Jacob had so much fun, and on the way home asked when he could play with Zander again!

Despite the slight size difference, Maddox and Lydia are exactly 2 weeks apart!

We have high hopes of an arranged marriage here!
 :)

The best friend tradition continues!

Zander was so kind to share his new balance bike from his Grannie with Jacob!

We made a weekend out of the trip and stayed with Grandma and Granddaddy both coming and going. Jacob was so excited! He had so much fun playing with their toys and various instruments. He also really enjoyed his first boat ride, as did Lydia! He sobbed when we left Sunday morning.

Lydia's big news is that she started sitting up by herself! She did it for the first time on April 17th on our bed. She isn't very steady yet, and we don't leave her alone, but she's getting better at it each day. She wants to be upright at all times now!

We got to attend a gender reveal last week! Jacob's friend Ceci is going to be a Big Sister in September and the baby is a...

BOY!!! 

Jacob didn't have much interest in the reveal, but he loved playing on the playground! :) We're so excited for the Gentilcore Family and Baby Leo!

We loved getting outside last week! The warm weather almost felt like summer. We went for walks "fed the fish" in the creek, and played in our yard. Jacob found some instruments, including cymbals, that had been hidden in a closet. They were a gift from Grandma & Granddaddy a few Christmases ago. He has been making lots of noise with them! I've decided the instruments are now classified as outside toys!

Catching Up

I can't believe we're already over halfway through April! How did that happen? 

Lydia continues to be a happy girl, as long as she isn't teething! After some long days, and even longer nights, Lydia has two teeth and an amber teething necklace. Who knows if the necklace actually helps ease teething pain, but we're willing to try just about anything!

Jacob has been poppy (paci) free for over two weeks now! This is a MAJOR accomplishment. Our boy loves his poppy. I was beginning to think we'd send him to college with it. One night he chewed through it, so Scott cut the tip off and told him we didn't have any more. We were so scared he wasn't going to sleep well without it, but aside from a few tears the first couple of days and a botched nap or two, he's done great! He did tell us, "Just get more at Target!" about 100 times, but he hasn't even mentioned that lately. We're so proud of him!

We found Jacob like this one morning. He said he was hot! Turns out he's practicing his undressing skills. And yes, I realize he should probably be in a big boy bed by now, but I selfishly value the little sleep I get. He hasn't tried to climb out and is an awesome sleeper. I just can't bring myself to fix something that isn't broken. We'll take the plunge soon enough!

A couple of weekends ago, we went to our neighbor Benjamin's 2nd Birthday Party. We all had a great time, and Jacob loved Benjamin's Great Grandma, which was sweet, because he typically doesn't warm to new people so quickly! 

Jacob recently found my old, beloved doll, "Erica," and has fallen in love with her, as well! Everything Mommy does with Lydia, Jacob does with Erica. And I do mean everything...

Scott isn't thrilled that Jacob is playing with a doll, but I don't think it's a big deal. Both of my brothers played with my dolls, and look how great they turned out. Plus, what are we worried about; that Jacob will grow up to be a loving father one day? ;)

Aunt Sarah sent Lydia this cute outfit! She is so fun to dress up!!!

We were able to make a lunch visit to Daddy's office a couple of weeks ago, and while a sleepy Lydia cried the whole time, Jacob had a blast! He kept saying he wanted to go see Daddy's friends and eat cupcakes! (He was remembering Lydia's baby shower back in October.) It was hard to drag him away when it was time to go home.

Aunt Lori snapped these sweet pictures when she & Uncle Craig stopped by for a visit. Jacob was so excited to see them (and so were we)! I love how much the kids love each other! Even though I know they'll have their share of fights through the years, I hope they're always best friends!

We have really missed the Jones clan! Karen and the boys were able to come eat dinner and play a couple of weekends ago. Kason & Jacob enjoyed playing trains, eating cookies, and jumping up and down together.

Nolan enjoyed playing with Erica! She's very popular!

Last Wednesday there was a special play at the library during story time. I thought Jacob would love it, but he didn't. In fact, he hated it. He cried and begged to go home. Luckily, I had a few cars in the diaper bag, which saved the day. It's an incredible effort to get us out of the house and anywhere on time. I wasn't about to just go back home after all that work!

Lydia got a sippy cup in her Easter basket and has loved chewing on it. She can't really hold it too well or actually drink from it yet, but she has it on her to-do list!

We love going to Publix! Jacob was really into the truck carts, but he's moved on to the mini carts! The only bad thing is that he leaves bruises on my ankles from running into me! He must have taken notes on Scott's cart driving. A few weeks ago, Scott completely ran over my foot with one of the huge car carts at Ingles. I seriously thought he broke my toes! It was not a great moment in our marriage.

We are so glad Grandma & Granddaddy are back from their RV Trip out west! We've missed them so much! They brought the kids some festive socks.

Apparently, the socks double as mittens.

And finally, we had absolutely beautiful weather this past weekend! Scott finally had the chance to break in the fire pit he got for his birthday last year. We spent most of the weekend outside.