The high fives and side eyes of Father's Day

Parenthood ... our never ending, wild and crazy, send you to the moon and back again kind of roller coaster! I feel like many of our days are filled with a few "high five" moments and a few "side eyes" of how we could have made it just a little bit better. Father's Day was one of those days.

The high five moments ...
Both kids slept in past 7 AM (that is a RARE gem these days!!!)
They also took naps (a Happy Father's Day indeed)!

The side eye moments ...
Both kids were sick (boo on you summer colds).
Nic cooked his own dinner because the kids needed constant entertainment and attention from me.

What Liam made his dad for Father's Day this year ...

No idea where he came up with 44 years old and he chose red for the favorite color part because that's Liam's favorite color. haha The best part of all, in my opinion, is that adorable family picture!!

Parenthood is a wild ride but there isn't anyone in the world that I'd rather be sitting next to than you, Nic Williamson! You are everything they need in a dad and more and we all love you so much!
Happy Father's Day to our own dad's too!

nine months | letter to Lyla

n i n e   m o n t h s   o l d

weight ... 20 lbs., 15 oz. 75%
height ... 27.5 in. 50%
head circumference ... 47 cm. 90%

| LOVES |

Standing/Walking.

Bird toy (from G'ma and Pa West)
Bath time.
Eating.
Puffs.
Pushing the radio flyer wagon.
Liam.
Chewing on Shoes.

| HATES |

Getting dressed.
Diaper changes.

| DEVELOPMENT // GROWTH |

This month Lyla started getting her two top teeth and man have they been a literal pain and taking their sweet time. For her, teething has also caused a persistent diaper rash that lasted weeks and a chronic runny nose. She pulls herself up to her knees on just about everything she can find and stands when the object is sturdy enough to grip onto. It terrifies me whenever she tries to do it in the bath tub. We also lowered her crib mattress this month because of it. She loves pushing around a little radio flyer wagon that was Liam's when he was a baby and gets frustrated when no one is helping her walk around the room. She is full on crawling now at lightening speed and getting into everything in sight. She learned how to wave, make a lip smacking sound, and best of all, say MOMMA! She is still wearing some 6-12 month and some 12-18 months clothes, size 3 diapers, and 3-6 month shoes.

| SLEEP |

As much as I have read all the things and tried all the tricks, this little girlfriend marches to the beat of her own drum when it comes to sleep ... meaning there isn't any routine. Some days she'll take two naps and other days she'll only take one. There were a couple of days this month where she was refusing to sleep at all so I brought her in my bed like I used to when she was tiny and it only lasted about 20 minutes. She is still waking up once most nights but will occasionally surprise me with a full nights sleep (HEAVEN!). If she wakes any more than one time in the night, I send Nic in to change her diaper and lay her back down because she doesn't associate him with nursing and I'm doing my best to wean her of that habit at night now that she is a consistency good eater during the day. She has held on to the 7 pm bed time and wakes at 6:00 for the day if she slept through the night or 7:30 if she was up in the night to nurse.

| EAT |

We have worked our way up to solids three times a day now, breakfast, lunch, and dinner with us. We started off occasionally giving her bites of foods we were eating if they were soft enough (fruits, pancakes, mashed potatoes, etc.) and noticed spitting up became less frequent the more these foods were introduced so we transitioned her over to a baby led weaning diet throughout the month and rarely give purees anymore. She has tried so many different things and loves pretty  much anything we put in front of her like cucumbers, hummus, peanut butter, pancakes, tortellini, peas, cheese, yogurt, strawberries, etc. A few foods she has been hesitant about so far are bananas, mashed potatoes, and watermelon. I think her issue with the watermelon was how cold it was. She even tried ice cream for the first time and cried because of it. haha I finally figured out she has the most reflux issues with breast milk and movement right after so I've tried to stick to nursing her only before naps/bed time. The one feeding that is tricky to give up is the morning one (especially if she slept through the night). On those days I just recognize that she will spit up a little bit more in the morning than normal.

Dear Lyla Mae,

Nine months in, nine months out! Your dad and I like to call this the "back breaking stage" because you must.always.be.walking.! haha It's also the stage though that your personality has begun to shine through and for that, it might be my favorite of them all! You have such a happy spirit. You smile at us, at your toys, and especially when you are getting into something you know you aren't supposed to. haha You want us to help you walk everywhere and in the moments when you are on your own, you crawl as fast as you can to the nearest ledge within reach to pull yourself up and look around. Your not afraid to let go when the mood strikes you which means there have been a few head bonks and it freaks us out! I wish I could keep you in a protected wrap of some kind to avoid those moments! It is very obvious the word "no" means nothing to you yet as you try to grab the nearest dirty shoe you can find and chew on it. haha It's a good thing we moved the shoe rack to the garage! You wave whenever you hear the word "hi", this tiny little fist opening and closing. We have matching swim suits, you and I, for the summer and I love every minute of it!! We celebrated your first Memorial Day and our first Mother/Father's Day with you here in our arms and I'm realizing how quickly your year of "first holidays" is coming to a close. You love attention (especially from Liam) and to be surrounded by everyone. You're curious about everything and won't let anything hold you back. That fearless part of your personality makes me so proud and terrified all at the same time. haha You love to sit on my lap, chew on my tube of mascara, and watch me in the mirror as I get ready in the mornings. You still sleep on your tummy with your feet bunched up underneath you. You have discovered holes in mouths, noses, and ears. You also have a fascination with your tongue. Mix those two things together and the other day you were trying to stick your tongue and your fingers in poor Liam's ear as you were riding beside him in the stroller. haha Luckily it made him giggle more than get mad (which he is starting to do more of now that you can get into his things). Speaking of Liam, he still calls you "ya ya durl" and I hope he never stops. Oh how I wish I could bottle up this stage and keep a piece of it forever. Love you so much my Lyla girl!
Love, Momma

| NINE MONTH PICTURES |

Lyla's first time on a swing ...

The baby goat finding someone just its size!

Her first Memorial Day ...

The first of many matching moments, matching swim suits ...

The first time she realized she could pull herself up in her crib (most adorable grin and SO stinking proud of herself!), and the last moment her crib mattress was that high ...

The magical moments I live for right after nursing her but before laying her down to sleep ...

The beginnings of her tongue infatuation ...

Her first time at the Wellness Complex, going straight for a fist full of the good stuff ...

Eating her first strawberry, a little slippery ...

In love with peanut butter, just like her brother ...

The day she wouldn't nap anywhere but with me ...

Probably my favorite picture of her OF ALL TIME!!! Her first time at the splash pad ...

9 month doctor visit ... NO SHOTS, YAY!

Hello Summer

And just like that, it's summer! The days are longer and shorter all at the same time. It was just a few weeks ago that I wasn't sure what the weeks would look like without a preschool schedule and now we've adopted a pretty good rhythm and the new routine most days is working well. It's exhausting but fulfilling all at the same time! 

Besides squeezing in as many fun things as we can from our summer bucket list, I've also started teaching Liam summer preschool while Lyla naps in the mornings (both of which I'll share more in depth soon). It has been the perfect way for us to bond during this season of life with two kids and I love watching him learn new things. Like just yesterday for example, we were using tangrams to make the pattern of a car and after teaching Liam what a hexagon and a trapezoid were, all on his own he says to me, "Look mom, two trapezoids make a hexagon!" My 3 1/2 year old said that!!! WHAT! I had some third graders when I taught school that never recognized that on their own. It was a proud moment for me.

 Speaking of Liam, he has almost completely dropped his nap in the last few weeks too. I've been wanting to pop on here and share more of what we've been up to just about every day but trying to figure out the balance between no nap and quiet time has been tricky for me. Liam has never been great at playing on his own so quiet time usually means he wants me with him which has left no alone time for me during the day. Hence why I say the days can be long because nap time has always been a sanity saver for me. I know that this can change though and it's all about boundaries and forming new habits as I teach him what quiet time can really mean for the both of us. 

Really though, so many things I want to share! Like our summer bucket list, fun preschool activities, Lyla's 9 month update, Father's Day, what we've been up to ... it's coming, I promise! Just as soon as I can figure out when to squeeze in a few minutes of alone time. ;) Hope you are having the BEST summer so far! XO

Shoshone Falls

Ever since having kids, anytime we are on a road trip we try to plow through the drive as quickly as possible. The longest we've ever traveled in a car with them is the 3 hours it take to get to Boise and even that length of time is a struggle for them. On our drive home this last trip though, we forgot to take Liam to the bathroom before we left town (parent fail) and Lyla woke up from her nap earlier into the drive than we expected so we decided to stop at the halfway point in Twin Falls. It had been since Nic was a child and I was a senior in high school that either one of us had been to the Shoshone Falls so we decided to take the kids! 

Liam loves binoculars, telescopes, pretty much anything you can look through and had so much fun seeing the falls up close ... 

Lyla was just happy to be out of the car. ;)

The falls were incredibly beautiful this time of year! They have several look out points to explore so we experienced every single one of them ... one of which was this set of stairs that led to a metal balcony where you could actually feel the mist of the falls on your face. Even though the surrounding fence was high, it was decently terrifying taking small children out on. haha Neither one of them liked the mist on their face anyway so we didn't last long. We let them explore the state park instead. Liam ran wild and free while Lyla tried to eat every piece of grass or stick in sight. ;)

I definitely learned I could use some work on my selfie game with the whole family in the shot. The sun was so bright I could hardly see what I was actually capturing but it probably wouldn't have mattered ... cut off half our heads and poor Lyla can barely see. haha A memorable family picture non-the-less!

It was definitely one of those experiences that taught me to slow down and enjoy this beautiful world in which we live. Who cares if it added on an extra hour to the car trip, right Nic?! ;) haha Making memories!!

Nic's Birthday

We celebrated Nic's 31st birthday on Friday and he has gotten a "Happy Birthday, Dad" from Liam every day since! haha The concept that a birthday is only one day has apparently not clicked yet but lets hope that by the time October rolls around it has! 

That hard working man had to work for most of the day so I took the kids by myself to the mall to shop for a present from them. After going through 4 different stores and spending an hour in the toy aisle at Shopko with an indecisive Liam and a screaming Lyla, I determined it wasn't the best idea I've ever had. ;) Liam eventually picked out a Star Wars lego set and his favorite candy (m&m's) for himself, oops I mean for his dad and has thanked Nic every day since for giving him his birthday present. haha What a guy!

I don't think Nic got to open a single one of his presents but he didn't care. Lyla kept trying to go straight for the bows and paper (a premonition of what will go down on her first birthday here in a few months perhaps?!). 

I made him his favorite cheese tortellini for his birthday dinner with Cold Stone's ice cream for dessert. The birthday boy got 3 candles on one side and 1 on the other for the big 31 and I sang solo to him while he kept our kids from touching any flames. The evolution of Lyla's reaction was the most hilarious thing to watch. Her first time seeing fire ... curious but not sure what to think ...

followed by CLAPPING!

All I had were trick candles and the kids were giggling up a storm every time they re-lit after Nic blew them out! My favorite picture of the night for sure! Love that happy bunch so much!!!

Happy 31st Birthday babe! Hope you felt special on your day. I'm so glad you were born!! We love you! XO