Best Buds

She pretty much never leaves his side!

Growth Spurt!

Someone has been doing a lot of growing in the past few months and that someone is Lily. The nurse at her 9 month check up today was kinda surprised by her numbers so she took a few measurements twice!

So here we have it :
Length: 29 1/2 inches (exact same as Tripp at 9 months) which is the 97%
Weight: 20 lbs 5.6 oz (81%) (Tripp weighed more at 9 months, but his percentile was less)
Head Circ: 17 3/4 inches (81%) (Tripp's head was bigger, but percentile was less)

Apparently all the peanut butter she has been eating has been sticking to her ribs and she is growing like a weed. When the doctor started her developmental screener, his first question for me was "Is there pandemonium in your house sometimes?" To which I answered a hearty yes and he said "well sounds like she is developing quite well then!" I definitely had to agree! It may not be quite pandemonium but more of a "controlled chaos" which usually involves Tripp running circles around the house, Lily crawling and climbing into every nook and cranny possible (usually the dirtiest ones possible) and me trying to make sure no one is destroying something they should not be. In all seriousness though, she passed her developmental screening questions with flying colors and only let out one little cry when she got her shot today. Tripp ate a lollipop in her honor (he is going to be disappointed when she is old enough to eat them and he does not get to eat them for her) and we celebrated a great check up with some serious playing in the park. Now I just need to buy her some bigger clothes...

9 Months and 7 years

August 6th marked our 7th anniversary, and Lily's nine month birthday. My parents babysat the kiddies while we enjoyed some dinner out and a chance to have some real conversation with each other. It has been a great seven years- this past year has definitely been a particularly tough one but I sure would not want to be going through this journey called life with anyone else! So here's to many many more years of life together!

And then there is Lily- she is a sweetheart these days (although she is going through some rough separation anxiety issues lately). She loves to crawl (with one leg out to the side of course) eat, pull up on things, watch Tripp and be held. On most days she will take three naps (with the middle one overlapping with Tripp's), and then goes to bed about the same time as him (and wakes up at the same time as him as well). I think she feels most comfortable when he is around- including the times when he will run by her, knock her over and then say "mommy, there's an emergency, Lily needs your help!" She manages to brush that off and still looks at him with adoration! She sucks away on her two fingers while she is sleeping and sometimes when awake for comfort. In most pictures of her, she is frowning although I have managed to get a few smiling pictures. She says "dada," "mama," "baba," but none actually mean anything yet. And in true Lily style (which is just basically just that she makes things harder, more interesting, unexpected, etc), she has something called psuedostrabismus which is a condition where it looks like her eye turns in, but it is just an illusion because she has an extra skin fold on the inside of her eye which covers it more and gives the same appearance of turning in (which would be real strabismus which Tripp had). It is a condition common in Asians, kids with fetal alcohol syndrome and kids with down syndrome. So since Lily has none of those factors, it makes total sense that she would have a condition like that. It's just her M.O. We go to the pediatrician on Thursday and then the orthopedist in two weeks to get the final (hopefully) check on her hips. I will update on those things after they happen! Happy nine months Lily! We love you!!

 

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From the Mouth of Babes

Tripp's latest excuses for not going to sleep at night:

"But I need something to DO in my bed all night. Like a little toy or somethin'?"

"Are there owls out there tonight? Owls are nocturnal, so they might be whoing at me all night!"

"I think I need a nightlight that runs on batteries-this one runs on electricity."


On a walk with my dad last night:

"How is your work going at the bank, Papa?"


During lunch with my mom:

"Papa is really funny, Nonny. Are you ever funny?"


How he really feels about spending time with his parents:

"I have a best idea. Mr. Matt, Miss Kelli, Maia, Caden, Lily and I will go camping. You and Daddy can just go do something by yourselves."


After getting a new one of these t-shirts from his uncle:

"It says 'I love you so much, love Uncle James' "


To Lily after we try to get her to say Mama or Dada:

"Can you say 'Tripp' Lily? [no response from Lily] That's ok little sistie, I still love you."

And we sure love you Trippster.

The Runaway Mom

I will be honest- sometimes I just want to run away (but do not worry- I am not really going to). And while I would probably need my car so I could get around wherever I ended up, I would probably choose to actually run so I could get some much needed, but not really ever happening, exercise. The reason I would like to runaway? Life is hard and I do not like it being that way. So I have decided that if I could just leave for a while, everything would be ok. And when I come back (again, not to worry- I would definitely come back. I would probably only last being away for a day or two), things would be better here. My one child (who shall remain nameless) would not wake up at 4:30 in the morning and not go back to sleep, my other child would obey me, only say kind things and not pee all over the floor (or on other people when sitting in that person's lap) sometimes. We would have a bigger house, my work would be easy, I would actually remember to pay the bills on time, I would keep up with the laundry, Nelson would not be busy all the time,  and there would be this abundant cash flow which I would use to pay for Jimmy John's for lunch on the days that I work (cause making my own lunch is apparently the straw that breaks the camel's back when we are all getting ready in the morning), a personal chef, someone to watch my kids at 6 in the morning so I can go running when it is not 8 million degrees, and the list could go on and on (and it does it my head but I do not want to bore you with it on here). But I am pretty sure that this running away would not accomplish anything. To take an illustration straight from my pastor- We are like rocks in a rock tumbler- being refined and made to be shiny. But the process is bumpy, tumbly (is that a word??) and sometimes painful. But that is the way that God made it to be. I would have no need for Him if my life was easy and not marked by sin and the fall. After telling my brother today that I was so "mard" (original to Nelson- his version of the word "mad") he suggested I drink a margarita (he knows me well!) and listen to this talk- Embracing Joy in a Deceiving World. I think it is going to be exactly what I need to hear (I just haven't listened to it yet cause I fell asleep when the kids were napping- hey I was up at 4:30 this morning- cut me some slack)! In the mean time, I think I better just being praying a lot for God to give me contentment and joy in world that tells me happiness is all about easiness, feeling good and indulging yourself. I will let you know how that is going (or not going- if I am honest). In the mean time, I will enjoy looking at these cute faces each day and hanging out with that great guy who loves this broken me. 

                                     

Door County 2012

I can not believe it has been almost two weeks since we were in Door County! I have been so busy watching Mad Men during my free nights, that I have neglected my blog. But since Nelson is at Batman with a friend, I am here being a great wife and not watching any episodes without him (even though he has already seen them all- he just wants to watch them again with me). But back to vacation- since everyone is talking about how hot it is, I will definitely mention that one of my favorite parts of being there was the cooler weather. It was in the 60s at night and high 70s during the day. This made for a lot of time outside. I have decided (and I am sure most people would agree with me) that life is just better when you can be outside. I would not go so far as to say I would enjoy being outside all the time because that would be something like camping. and in my worldview, camping is something I like to leave to other people. But I definitely enjoy being able to play outside, run outside, watch my kids burn off energy outside, etc. So we were outside a lot. Most days involved me taking a run with my dad, all of us going to the beach for a few hours in the morning, lunch, naps, and more beach till dinner time in the afternoon. It was pretty great. We did branch out a few days and go to some of our favorite spots- The Farm (they underline it and always have because it is just that awesome), Wilson's, and to visit Cookie the Cow.

I always struggle to come back from vacation because it feels like home is not "good" enough. But since I am trying to be more content in a lot of areas of my life, coming home was just what I needed. I sure look forward to going there every year and am thankful we get to go, but like Dorothy said, there really is no place like home.

Photo Dump

After just importing about 75 pictures to the computer, I realized there are lots of things missing from my blog! First, was three weekends ago- Father's Day! We had a great lunch on that Saturday celebrating my grandfather, dad and Nelson. 

Nelson opened some gifties on Sunday. I still think one of my favorite things to watch is Tripp getting so excited to give presents- he can't keep it a secret!! He actually thought of some presents to get Nelson that he would really like- coffee and a polo!

Another great thing as of late was a 24 hour date our friends gave us last weekend (well two weekends ago really). and of the 75 pictures I just uploaded, none of them are from that weekend. Oops! We were probably too busy eating or sleeping to take pictures. That pretty much sums up the 24 hours- we ate at all new restaurants and loved every single bite, took naps, slept in and even went to a movie that started at 10 p.m.! Crazy I know! The kids had a great time- I am pretty sure they did not miss us at! Many thanks to our sweet friends for giving us this special gift!!

Just this past weekend,  my dad and I ran a really fun race- it was just a mile and it was almost all downhill. Then Tripp got to run the 1/4 mile kids run. He was so proud of himself because he ran the whole way and then was so excited for the tasty sno cone at the end. It was well deserved!

I will leave you with this oldie but goodie- about a month ago, my brother and sister-in-law came in for a visit. Tripp could not wait for them to come. And this is how I found him: 

If that does not warm your heart, you might need to check your pulse!