Lydia is 10 Months Old!

Happy 10 Months to our sweet girl!!! It's funny how quickly things can change. Overnight Lydia went from scooting around on her bottom to spider monkey crawling, and life has become very interesting. So now in addition to being super smiley, she is also on the move! We love our happy girl!

At 10 Months Lydia...

• Weighs about 18 pounds and 10 ounces
• Measures about ? inches long
• Wears size 3 diapers and 12 month clothing
• Is crawling!!! She took off during our beach trip to Edisto and hasn't looked back! She does her own little funny version of it. Thomas said she looks like a spider monkey! She tucks one leg under and propels herself with her arms and other leg. She is fast! 
• Is also pulling up on and into EVERYTHING! You can tell where she's been, because she leaves a path of destruction! 
• Has 7 teeth! Her 7th tooth (right lateral incisor) broke through on 9/9.
• Is definitely still Mommy's Girl! Even though she loves people, she sticks close to Mommy most of the time.
• Uses signs for more, all done, eat, and milk.
• Is sleeping better than she has in months. She still has a long way to go with napping and self soothing at night, but she's pretty much given up her middle of the night nursing(s), which is huge! She's also started sleeping on her stomach. 
• Is a chatterbox! She says Ma-ma, Da-Da, hey, yeah, and uh-oh. 
• LOVES bath time (especially splashing her brother), shoes, the doorway jumper, and her stuffed kitty. She has started hugging and rocking her stuffed animals and babies. It is so sweet!
• The girl LOVES to eat and eats pretty much everything we do. New foods this month include peppers, zucchini, pumpkin, and pizza. However, her favorites right now are green peas, cheese, green beans, and any kind of bread. 
• Continues to be super happy and friendly! 

Visiting Grandma Bradley!

We were so excited to visit Grandma Bradley this weekend! We lucked out, because Aunt Kathy was visiting, too!

Lydia loves her GG!!! She had lots of kisses to give!

We brought some treats from the Fletcher Village Bakery. We were so sad to miss Grandma's 90th birthday celebration a couple of weeks earlier (it overlapped with our Edisto trip), but we decided turning 90 calls for multiple celebrations anyway!

It was such a beautiful day, so we enjoyed a walk and visit to the garden.

After our walk, Grandma treated us to lunch at her deli. I love this picture of Lydia and Aunt Kathy!

Jacob made a bus and picked up some passengers!

But the highlight of his visit was the ride he hitched from GG! She definitely earned her PT points today!

Jacob did so well with school this week! There were no tears at drop-off, and he was actually very excited to go Thursday morning! Lydia enjoys school days, because she gets Mama and Monkey all to herself!

Jacob is really into imaginative play right now. He loves to pretend to be a worker and to go to his "worker place," as well as to pretend his room is his house. He's also started pretending to be a teacher. I put up my old classroom calendar in the garage, and he loves it! Here he is teaching a lesson to his attentive pupils, Monkey and Baby Girl!

Along with crawling and getting into everything, Lydia is working on becoming a better sleeper. As evidenced by her hair, she had a great nap the other day!

And I absolutely love morning snuggles with these two! ♡

First Days of Preschool!

Last week was a BIG one in our family! Jacob had his first two days of Son Shine Preschool! I was so nervous the first morning. I was worried he'd get really upset when I dropped him off, and he did. But his teachers were so kind and patient with him, and he didn't cry too long. They said he cried a bit off and on throughout the morning, and didn't want to participate much, but he hung in there! Drop-off was even harder the second morning, but he settled in quickly after I left, and ended up having a great day! He has talked about school nonstop, and I think he's going to grow to love it! 

After his first day, we celebrated with a Happy Meal and ice cream! 

We enjoyed having Daddy home on Labor Day. It was great to be able to unpack from our trip, get laundry done, and go to the grocery. We had fun grilling and playing outside. 

On Friday we met the Hayes Family for a breakfast treat at Dunkin' Donuts and then went to a new (to us) park! It is so fun to watch Jacob and Benjamin becoming best buddies! Benjamin requested Jacob catch him on the slide and help him up the stairs. Normally, Jacob would shy away from such close interactions, but he seems to have a soft spot for "Benjermand"!

Lydia is EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING! She loves to explore and make big messes. It really stresses Jacob out. For some reason he thinks every item in our house belongs to him! ;) Lydia is giving him a reality check!

I was so excited to go to Lindsey Kennedy's baby shower last Saturday! It was so great to celebrate her and Baby K and catch up with old friends, especially my best friend, Megan! We were both kid-free, so we actually got to talk and eat uninterrupted! We decided that once we're done nursing our babies (and once my baby starts acting human rather than a racoon at night), we are having a "Mama Getaway Weekend or Day or Something!!!!" 

I think it's so exciting that Lindsey and Boomer are waiting to find out the gender of their baby! Boy or girl, he/she is definitely going to be one loved baby!!!

We hit up the Mountain State Fair with the Jones Family on Sunday, and the kids had a blast! Jacob was literally jumping up and down with excitement when we entered the gates!

Lydia slept through the majority of her first fair experience!

The boys were slightly uneasy on the kiddie tilt-a-whirl! It was very entertaining to watch!

First Rollercoaster!!!

And a day at the fair isn't complete without a ride on the Carousel!

Just for fun...Here's a few comparison pictures from  this year to last year!