Birthday Celebrations!

We kicked off last week with the time change. I used to love "falling back" and gaining an extra hour to sleep in, but that is now just a distant memory. The kids were up and moving full steam ahead at 6 am! YAY for an extra hour to play with fun new birthday toys!

Scott and I decided we needed a treat for surviving the seemingly never-ending day, so we went out to lunch at Culvers. Lydia wore her new birthday outfit from Hattie and Laney. It is too cute! She's starting to follow Jacob's lead when it comes to smiling.

On Monday, Jacob had a dentist appointment. I was really dreading it, considering the amount of screaming, thrashing, and holding down that was involved last time. But by some miracle, it was a completely different experience this time. He was such a big, brave boy! He wore my broken sunglasses, and cracked up everyone we passed in the office. He said he didn't like the bright lights and needed something to cover his eyes...well, eye. He also immediately loved Mrs. Tracy, his hygienist. I've never seen him take to ANYBODY so quickly, much less a complete stranger. Its so nice to not be sweating, and slightly embarrassed, after leaving an appointment!

On Tuesday we headed to the polls to vote! Jacob was a big fan of the stickers.

For the record, I'm very against taking selfies, probably because I end up looking like this...

Scott and I were very disheartened by many of the election results, especially the presidential race. We sat in disbelief as we watched election coverage and state after state came in for Donald Trump. We just don't understand why so many would vote for such a dangerous, hate-filled man. I don't know what's worse: the fact that our nation's future leader brags about sexually assaulting women, makes fun of people with disabilities, and shows utter disrespect for religions and ethnicities outside the realm of white and Christian, or the fact that even after knowing all this, people STILL voted for him. Don't get me wrong. We're not Hillary fans. We felt she was FAR from being a good candidate either, but we also felt she was a million times safer than him. Having said all this, we've slowly accepted there is nothing that can be done about it now. We are committed to praying for our country and our president. We just hope he doesn't do too much permament damage during his time in office and hold out a tiny bit of hope that he can do some good.

Even Jacob was stressed out watching the election results!

On a cuter note, Jacob and Lydia are really into hugging these days!

Even though I woke up feeling very somber on Wednesday morning, I was determined to focus on the much brighter occasion - celebrating Lydia's first birthday! I made pancakes for breakfast and then we went to the Hendersonville Library for some play time fun. The other big news is that Lydia took her first steps the night before her birthday!!! The best part was that Scott got to see her do it, too! He doesn't really get to see many true firsts, so it was a very special moment!

Lydia loves the little chair Mama Dot sent her for her birthday! She has been taking over Jacob's for the last few weeks, so he was really excited about it, too. We also re-gifted the alligator walker that Jacob got for his first birthday from Mama Dot. It was a big hit, as well!

This might be my new favorite of these two!

On Friday night we continued the birthday celebrations, but for Mommy this time! Meme made me a delicious dinner of all my favorites, which included fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, black eye peas, Sister Shubert rolls, and chocolate cake. Yummy!!!

Then on Saturday I had a wonderfully relaxing spa day with my mom and Ryan. I told Scott the only thing I really wanted for my birthday was to have a quiet day to myself, so he stayed home with the kids. I enjoyed a massage and hanging out in the hot tubs! It was really nice to have a break from wiping bottoms and noses all day!

We finished out the weekend with my actual birthday on Sunday. It is tradition to go the Asiana Grand Buffet on our birthdays, and I was sad to miss last year. (I could have gone, but I didn't think it would be a kind move for my stomach having just given birth.) So we loaded up the whole circus this year and off we went. Jacob was a big fan of the ice cream machine, and Lydia loved the egg rolls and jello. I bribed them with ice cream to take a picture with me.

 32 is definitely off to a great start!