Celebrating 8 Years

Its a month late, but Scott and I were finally able to celebrate our 8th anniversary together! And actually, this was also our first REAL night out since Lydia was born. I know it sounds crazy. Lydia is 14 months old for cryin' out loud, but she just started sleeping through the night in the last couple of weeks. While she certainly has four grandparents who would have gladly toughed out an evening of her bedtime mayhem, I knew I couldn't enjoy an evening out knowing my baby was hysterical at home. And I'm not being dramatic when I say hysterical. Up until recently, when Lydia woke after being put to bed, she typically screamed until Mommy, and only Mommy, tended to her. I can't tell you how many times Scott tried to settle her, or we let her cry it out, that just ended in disaster. It has been a long, rough road. I can't even describe how amazing its been to get significant consecutive hours of sleep after going 14 months without! We are all very happy about this!

I should add that she's cut 8 teeth between her birthday and the last couple of weeks. I really think teething has been at the root of her sleep problems. We are so glad that she now has all her teeth, except for her two year molars. Maybe we'll get some good months of sleep before those bad boys make their way in! But anyway, back to our date...

We enjoyed a delicious seafood buffet at the Grove Park Inn's Blue Ridge Dining Room, thanks to a Christmas gift from Scott's parents! We've eaten at this restaurant a few times in the past, and it is such a treat.

Meme stayed with the kids and everyone was doing great, so after dinner we enjoyed a drink by the huge stone fireplace in the Grove Park lobby. It was so nice to be able to focus on each other instead of chasing after our kids!

We looked through some of our honeymoon pictures and had a few good laughs. I've included a few for your viewing pleasure! We were so skinny and well-rested back then! :)

Speaking of laughs, I had a good one this morning. In the chaotic rush to get out the door and to church on time this morning, I didn't notice Daddy's fashion foul! Scott was in charge of dressing Lydia and loading her up while I took care of Jacob. We arrived at church without a minute to spare, but as I unbuckled Lydia, I noticed her dress was on backwards! I couldn't stop laughing at Scott! He claims Lydia turned the light off while he was dressing her and that's why he didn't notice.

Jacob wanted to wear a tie today. So cute! He told me he wanted me to take a picture of him in his tie and text it to Meme, Ms. Toni, his cousins, and all the little children in North Carolina!

In addition to Lydia's sleeping through the night milestone, she's also had some more firsts!  Today she reached for Scott while I was holding her. This might not sound like a big deal, but she's never done that before! Up until now, if I'm holding her, she doesn't want to go to anybody else. Even as a newborn, if I handed her off to Scott she would immediately start crying. Its nothing Scott did, and she absolutely adores her Daddy, but she's just always been a Mommy's girl. (My mom says I was the same way!) But during church this morning she reached over to Daddy. Scott and I both looked at each other with wide eyes!

Also, while I was rocking her tonight, she asked for Daddy! When he came in to kiss her goodnight, she chose to go from me to him and he put her to bed! Again, this might seem silly to document, but it's huge for us! I know it made Scott feel all warm and fuzzy, and it was really sweet for me to watch. Maybe she'll end up being a Daddy's girl after all!

As sweet as those new developments are, we've also noticed that Lydia has started throwing temper tantrums when things don't go her way. I'm hoping our good-natured girl doesn't disappear!  It mostly happens when she's tired or frustrated with us for not understanding her. She has lots of words, a few signs, and great comprehension, but she just can't fully explain her wants or needs yet. And it can be so frustrating for all involved. In a few extreme instances, she's even bitten me (and Jacob). Yikes! Jacob was never a biter, but probably because he had a paci in his mouth 24/7 until he was almost 3! I don't even really know what to do with a biter...guess I better put that on my research reading list!

And lastly, she's started requesting to have her picture made! How different can two siblings be? If I take a picture of Jacob, or of her, or of anything, she'll say/demand "muh" (more), as well as sign "more." Then she does her big, cheesy smile while I take her picture. The pictures below are the result of one of our photo shoots!

Snow Much Fun!!!

We had our first snow storm of 2017, and we loved it! Well, 3/4ths of us loved it. Lydia was not too impressed. In the days leading up to the storm, only 1 - 3 inches were forecasted for our area, but we ended up with at least 8, maybe 9, inches by the time it was over!

The snow surprised us by starting early Friday afternoon. The ground was covered with a nice dusting by the time the kids woke up from their naps. We suited up and headed outside!

Lydia was perplexed by the fluffy white stuff. She kept putting her mitten in it and looking at it quizzically. She couldn't decide how she felt about it. Jacob, on the other hand, was ecstatic! Even though there wasn't much snow at this point, he was rolling around in it, trying to make snow angels, and pulling the sled out of the garage.

Jacob ended up vomiting and running a 103 fever that night. Thankfully, nobody else got sick and after he threw up the entire contents of his stomach, he felt much better. Whew!

The snow continued into Saturday morning. We headed out again mid-morning, but it was super cold and super windy. We played in our yard for a little while and took a snow walk. Lydia didn't like the snow, so she just took a little nap in her stroller.

We can always count on Ms. Toni to build a snowman!

Church was closed Sunday morning, so we stayed home and enjoyed a little snow cream for breakfast! Well, Jacob enjoyed some sprinkles.

I took Jacob out again that afternoon while Daddy and Lydia watched basketball. It was colder than the previous day, but the wind wasn't gusting, so it was much more enjoyable to be outside. We headed up to the hill beside Benjamin's house and had the best time sledding! I don't really get the chance to do fun things with just Jacob anymore, so it was a special little outing. Jacob LOVED going down the hill and wanted to do it over and over again. He even went down by himself a few times. Daddy, Lydia, and Ms. Toni joined us later on, and we all had fun sledding.

Daddy had to go back to work on Monday, but the snow fun didn't end for us! It was so cold that the ground was still covered for the next few days. We sledded in our yard and took walks on the trail behind our house. We don't get many good snows, so we had to take full advantage!

As exciting as the snow was, even more exciting is that we officially have a WALKER! Lydia took off on Thursday (January 2nd) and hasn't looked back. She's been taking steps since her birthday, but hasn't had any interest in actually walking until now.

We are all celebrating this milestone! :)

I love this picture. Lydia likes to snuggle while she wakes up from her nap. One afternoon she dozed off instead. She is 100% asleep in this picture! I love that sweet smile. Snuggled on Mommy is her happy place!

Christmas 2016

We had such a fun Christmas! As I said in my previous post, last year was so hard. Lydia was a newborn. I was nursing around the clock, Scott and I were exhausted, and we were all still trying to adjust to being a family of four. I felt like last year we just went through the motions. This year wasn't easy by any means, but we were able to enjoy it so much more.

Things definitely got off to a rocky start for us as we tried to leave town for the farm. I ended up with a 103 fever the night before we left and couldn't get any packing done, so we were scrambling the next morning to get packed, loaded, and on the road. It was incredibly stressful. The kids were crying and clingy the whole morning, and Lydia fell and hit her head on the bathtub while I attempted to take a shower. In the frenzy to get out the door and on the road, the kids didn't get good naps or real food. I seriously tossed crackers at them all morning to keep them occupied while we tried to load up. We planned to leave at 9 am, but I think it was 1 or 1:30 pm before we pulled out of our driveway. Lydia slept maybe 45 of what turned out to be a 3 hour drive, and Jacob not at all. Lydia was so tired, that she crashed on the living room floor for about 25 minutes. If you know this girl at all, you know she wakes at the slightest noise. She was exhausted before we even got started!

As soon as we got to the farm and unloaded, it was time to turn around and head to Blowing Rock for the family Christmas party at Chetola. By this point the kids were exhausted and extremely hungry - not a good combination. They were also not happy to have to get back into the car for another 45 minute drive. As we pulled into Chetola, they were crashing and burning. The stress-level heightened when there were no kid-friendly food options. I was so mad at myself for not packing something for them to eat. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time I have peanut butter sandwiches with me, but in the whirlwind of the day it just didn't happen. Luckily, I was able to figure out how to get some mac-n-cheese and the night was saved. After the kids ate, their moods dramatically improved and we all ended up having a really fun time!

The next day was Christmas Eve! Jacob was so excited about Santa, and both kids took a few peeks up the chimney.

We also enjoyed some Christmas music from our very own brass parade band.

That evening our family stayed back at the farm while the rest of the family went to a Christmas Eve service in Boone. We decided it would be better to have a low-key evening. We also didn't want to make the kids take another long car ride after all the driving we did the day before. We put out reindeer food, cookies and milk for Santa, and read the Christmas story together. It was hard for them to go to sleep that night. Jacob was so excited about Santa, and apparently Lydia was too. We couldn't get her to go to sleep and stay asleep until midnight. Whew!

Jacob got very upset when Lydia tried to sample Santa's snack!

Finally...CHRISTMAS MORNING!!!!

Jacob was so excited to see if Santa had come the night before! He almost busted while waiting to go see the stockings and tree! Apparently, Grandaddy was pretty excited, too. He woke up early and fell asleep under the tree while waiting for the kids to wake up!

I'd say opening the stockings was the highlight of the morning! Jacob and Lydia were delighted to pull out all their little treasures.  We could have stopped after stockings, and they would have been totally content. Who needs presents when you have goldfish and chocolate? :)

This is what Christmas burnout looks like...

We all had matching jammies this year!

We need to take a minute to fully appreciate this picture. Grandma, Grandaddy, and I had a time trying to make this happen! Every time we found matching sets that were cute and affordable, they were out of stock for either men or women. Then when these arrived, we found the men were sent the wrong pant sizes. It was finally all straightened out and the result is a super cute looking group! :)

It might be time for Uncle Michael to have a stocking upgrade! Haha! :)

Christmas Day was filled with presents, yummy food, time together, and of course music! Jacob was delighted to play the trumpet with Daddy and the other guys!

Lydia passed out Christmas night!

After a fun couple of days at the farm, we headed home on Monday. Santa came to Fletcher, too! While celebrating with the huge family group is great, we also always make a point to have our own little family celebration at home. We save all of our presents to the kids and to each other for this time. We were out of cookies, so Jacob set out a plate of tropical flavored marshmallows for Santa instead.

Stockings were a big hit again!!! In fact, when I asked Jacob what his favorite Christmas present was, he said it was the reindeer pez dispenser he got in his stocking. I guess that was the best 99 cents Santa spent!

After our family Christmas, we dressed up to go see gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn. Unfortunately, the resort was at capacity and not allowing non-guests to enter. We ended up eating Mexican and riding the "step-a-lator" (escalator) at the mall.

This was also our wedding anniversary! We are planning to have a date night in January to celebrate without the kids. We were going to go out this past Friday night, but a snow storm and vomiting kid made us postpone our plans.

On New Years weekend we celebrated Christmas with my family. On Friday we spent the day at Meme's house. We had so much fun with more presents, lots of yummy treats, and time with Baby Wade!

In other news, I trimmed Jacob's hair for the first and last time at Meme's that day. He was growing a rat tail, and his hair was covering his ears. I tried to just shape things up until we can get to the barber shop, but I ended up cutting right angles around his ears!

The following day we celebrated at our house with Papa! Jacob was giddy when everyone started arriving. He greeted each guest with a hearty, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!" You'd think he'd get tired of all these Christmases, but not a chance! :) We even managed to get a few cousin pictures.

I think Papa had as much fun as the kids!

Jacob loved opening presents, whether they were his or not!

The highlight of the day was Wade spitting up in Thomas's mouth!

We are so grateful for the time we had together and with our families this Christmas!

And we can't forget to share the most exciting news of Christmas this year...

We're so excited to welcome Cousin Baby Baden in July!!! Congratulations to Craig and Lori!