May

Today was the last day of school and summer break is officially here. I feel like I forget to take pictures a lot, but here are some things that happened in May.

Lydia hit her 15 month mark. We had her well check and here are the stats:

Weight: 20 lbs 9 oz  (40%tile)

Height: 29 in. (8%tile)

Head Cir: 18 in. (50%tile)

Lydia has made a lot of progress over the last couple of months. I officially stopped nursing her this month and have kept her on a pretty strict diet without eggs, milk, wheat, or peppers. What does she eat then? Well, it's been tricky to figure it out....oatmeal, rice, chicken, green beans, and lots of fruit. She drinks a blend of coconut and almond milk and seems to do well with that too. With a consistent diet she has felt a lot better and slept a lot better, finally being able to sleep from about 8:00pm to 7:00am on her own. Part of this was helped this month by having Jason help her during the night if she needed it so it would reinforce that she wouldn't get milk. She of course hated the new nightly helper and would throw herself on her bed as soon as he entered the room, but I think she's finally accepted it and we're all getting a lot more sleep around here. It's not perfect, but much improved!!

Lydia isn't one much for words yet, but she is definitely mastering her large and small motor skills. She can walk fast, climb, balance, and can walk up small steps, and putting together duplo legos. She is also handling slopes, uneven ground, and grass better and better. She imitates Ethan a lot, much to his chagrin, and she can play independently for quite a while if she isn't bothered or has her toys stolen. It's cute to see Ethan and Lydia play a little more together. Lydia loves to be chased, she has started to try to dance to music like Ethan, and she of course loves to climb on everything she possibly can. I have to watch her at the library because she quickly climbs from the chair to the table and will try to stand up on the table. We're all glad that she is eating, sleeping, and feeling better and better!

14 1/2 months

I couldn't pick between these pictures, she has the cutest smiles

Ethan lining up his cars and racing them down the tracks

One day Dad helped Ethan time the cars and then line them up on a large graph to see which one was the fastest

Ethan pretty consistently finds rocks to add to his collection

Lydia loves walking around the playground and exploring

Learning to step up

A rare picture of her sleeping. I love how she cuddles her lamb as she sleeps.

Ethan loves to go with our neighbor Pete to this pond across the street from us and behind Pete's yard. Pete lets him use his net to fish "treasures" out of the pond where the overflow water empties.

Lydia has now joined the Junior Mowers Club and loves to push the lawn mower when Daddy is out.

I delivered a Mother's Day treat to some friends...a yummy yogurt parfait. I wish I did stuff like this more often...

One night we went to the library for a fun MadCap Puppet presentation about monsters playing baseball. Both Ethan and Lydia enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mother's Day

 We had to get our pictures separately since it was pretty impossible to get both Lydia and Ethan to sit still, look at the camera, and smile at even close to the same time.

Ethan 3 1/2 years old

We love our trips to the zoo. The hippos were fascinating to watch on this particular trip.

Walking and exploring every time I set her down

The meerkats were also really active. Ethan was in the bubble and they were climbing all over it.

Ethan with ears like the African painted dogs

Our old microwave died so we bought a new one. We are very grateful for it and really missed it when it was broken.

One afternoon we had fun making names with our sugar cookies and then decorating them

I love Lydia's cute face. She makes me smile....

Especially when she eats black beans and look like this! :)

Lydia loves being pushed around on this car. Ethan and Daddy were taking turns racing her around the kitchen table.

One day at work Jason did an escape room with some coworkers and they made it out before the one hour time limit.

April Fun

We celebrated Easter this month. Here are some fun pictures from our experiences.

We enjoyed a fun Easter Egg Hunt with MOMS club. Lydia was so interested in the eggs that it took her a long time to just pick up three. She wanted to hold them instead of put them in her basket.

Ethan loves to hunt for eggs and even after Easter he would hide eggs and then ask us to find them or find them himself.

checking out the loot

Lydia loves to be outside and climbing on everything she can. She loves the swings and slides.

Just a fun Easter treat that I made for a party

Pretty hard to get everyone to look and smile.

Visiting the zoo to see the tulips

Some of my favorite flowers!!

Happy to sit in a chair her own size

More fun at the park

Lydia loved finding treats in her eggs

Easter Sunday

Coloring Easter Eggs

Doing tricks together :)

I can see a lot of Burningham in her face in this picture

Yard work and mulch. Ethan loves to be outside with Dad

Lydia figured out how to crawl through the cube shelves into the small space on the other side

Riding and walking at the park. Everything is so green here now!

MOMS club visit to the Hebron Fire Station

Ethan started being a lot more independent this month...with the motivation of a new car. He will now go to the bathroom, wash his hands, get dressed, put on his socks and shoes, and mostly buckle himself in his car seat all by himself. It is so wonderful for me!!! He can play nicely with Lydia some of the time as well which is fun to watch. I hope they will be good friends.

I also completely weaned Lydia at the end of April to Coconut/Almond Milk. She is allergic or intolerant to dairy, eggs, wheat, and peppers. It is a challenge to feed her, but I know when I've been successful because she is happy, takes good naps, and sleeps through the night. It's always the goal, but I've been surprised at how hard it can be to achieve. Here's hoping that she grows out of the allergies sooner rather than later!!

Random Things from March

So, it's bad when I can't even really remember what happened in March and then I look back through the pictures and just see random moments. So, here is a post about random moments. :)

Finally got some pictures for Lydia's birthday

This cute little dress was Lydia's birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Burningham

One of my favorites

We went to Jumpzone as a family for a friend birthday party. Ethan and Lydia had a really fun time, but unfortunately I'm pretty sure we took some germs home that gave us some awful colds--The down side of fun places like this for sure.

We made it to the zoo for the first time this year and Ethan wanted to visit the hippos first, but really this area nearby is just as fun as seeing the hippos.

One morning I woke up to this in the morning. Ethan had filled Lydia's crib with three bins of clothing I had just sorted along with all her shoes, books, and dirty laundry. Lydia had a grand time too, but she's crying in the photo because I didn't take her out of the crib before I took the picture. :)

Ethan has also has fun lining up all the cushions and pillows and Lydia loves to climb through them. Unfortunately, Lydia "messes up" Ethan's neat rows so he's not too happy about that...

Fun times making bracelets with a friend over

Lydia loves this purple purse and carries it around on her arm whenever she sees it lying around.

Lydia walks everywhere she goes now even though she's not totally steady all the time. It's fun to see her waddle around.

I use time-outs when Ethan makes bad choices. Fortunately, often by the time I go back to check on him after three minutes, he's sitting there looking at a book. I think he's going to be an avid reader once he learns to read.

Ethan put together this series of things to step on and it didn't take Lydia long to get up on the chair too. This is Ethan's "smile."

Lydia opening a present from Grandma and Grandpa Rogers.

Ethan came home with a planted seed from church one Sunday. Ethan was very interested in watching it grow.

A recent rain storm left huge puddles on our walking path at the park. Ethan loved riding through them over and over again....although he looks pretty serious in this picture. :)

These Lego cars have become part of our home decor since Ethan wants his stuff put up high so Lydia won't ruin it.

Ethan requested that I take this picture of him sitting by the Mary Ingals statue at the library. We visit her often!

Picture of Lydia smiling while playing peekaboo with her blanket