September at-a-glance

Between having Grandpa and Grandma here a few weeks ago and some friends from California this past weekend, we haven't had a lot of downtime. I've been trying to take it as easy as possible with 3 kids and soak in this time at home. I could easily spend hours sitting on the couch snuggling with Lydia and just watching the cute faces that she makes as she sleeps. It's also been quite handy that Annaliese and Haleigh adore her...they are very willing to sit on the couch and hold her while I prep dinner or clean up the house a bit!

Giving their babies a bath

Enjoying a pumpkin scone at Woods Coffee after dance class

"Mom, my pants don't fit!" as they fall to her knees...this little lady needs a belt to keep her pants up!

I found a few selfies on my phone:)

One day the girls were building bird's nests outside...I went to look at them and found this bit of hair in the pile. I asked where it came from and Haleigh said, "From me. I cut it." And yes indeed...Haleigh had cut a piece of her own hair to put in their birds nest!

My pretty princess

Such a big yawn!

Sisters!

 Annaliese has sucked her thumb since the very beginning. We have tried a few different things to make her quit, but were never successful. This time, we asked her what it would take to stop and she said she wanted light-up shoes. So we agreed that if she could go for seven days without sucking her thumb, we would go shopping for light-up shoes. This was clearly the motivation she needed because she did it!! Every once in a while, especially when she is tired, we catch her but those times are few and far between! (She loses the shoes for a day if we catch her!) 

Showing off the light-up shoes! 

At the mall shopping for those special shoes:) It took us a long time to find ones that both Annaliese and I liked! 

Our first family walk

One Month!!

It's hard to believe that Lydia is already one month old! Maybe it's because we've had several visitors and have been busy with 'normal life,' but the time sure did go by quickly! It feels like she has been part of the family for much longer than that and I feel like we have all adjusted to having her around.

As far as babies go, she is pretty easy! She eats like a champ every 2 1/2-3 hours, doesn't seem to mind the plethora of hugs and kisses she receives from her sisters and sleeps well at night...can't ask for much better than that!!

She obviously isn't doing much at this point, but she has started to track with her eyes occasionally, loves to be rocked or held, and enjoys bathtime. She also seems to enjoy tummy time and will occasionally fall asleep on her belly. 

I weighed Lydia this morning, and on our home scale, she weighed in at 11 pounds! She has a long torso and short legs, so 3 month onesies fit great but the 3 month pants are still a little big, although starting to fit much better! We are in 3 month sleepers and size 1 diapers.

We haven't tried to get into any sort of napping routine yet so our naps are very sporadic during the day. If I am home and want her to nap, I definitely have to rock her to sleep and then put her in either the bassinet or this rock-n-sleep thing we have. She won't fall asleep if she's not moving! At night, she usually eats around 9:30-10:00pm and will sleep until sometime between 1am and 4am...no consistency at all! I had wanted to try to get up at 6:30am and start our day then, but when 6:30 rolls around, I am usually not ready to get up. So this only happens when we need to get up to get Annaliese to school! I am clearly not much of a morning person:) 

I'm trying to use the pacifier in an attempt to prevent thumb-sucking...
we will have to wait and see how successful I am!

Soaking up the sun!

Pt. Whitehorn and Boulevard Park

 We had some beautiful weather while Grandpa and Grandma were visiting, so we took advantage of it and did several different walks. 

We spent one afternoon out at Pt. Whitehorn. It's a flat walk in the woods that ends with some stairs heading down to the beach. Naturally, by the time we pulled into the parking lot, Haleigh had fallen asleep in the car and Lydia needed to eat. Grandma and I stayed in the car so I could feed Lydia and let Haleigh get a much-needed nap. Annaliese went ahead with Grandpa and Kyle and we met them at the beach a  short time later. 

All worn out...and this is before the walk!

Lydia's first trip to the beach!

Annaliese throwing rocks and sticks into the water

Post nap, Haleigh was able to walk almost the whole way to the beach!

We spent another lovely afternoon at Boulevard Park walking along the water. 

Grandpa and Annaliese checking out some fish

Annaliese did so much running that she was all worn out at the end and had to find some shade to sit down in!

Grandpa Jay and Grandma Kelley come to visit!

Grandpa and Grandma flew in on Thursday when Lydia was just 4 days old! It was so fun to have them here to meet their newest grandbaby and to spend time with Annaliese and Haleigh! 

Grandpa Jay and his granddaughters

Our time together was pretty relaxing; we spent lots of time reading books, playing with toys in the living room and riding bikes in the cul-de-sac! Annaliese loved having someone to watch her ride:) 

Looking through Annaliese's scrapbook to see if the girls look alike!

Watching a video of a bear at Grandpa and Grandma's cabin

Swinging with her superhero cape