Family Time

We have gotten to have a lot of family time together in the car lately. About 2 weeks ago we headed to Maryland for a long weekend, then were back in Lynchburg for about 30 hours before we hopped back in the car and went to Myrtle Beach. It was a great time with family and friends and the kids were such great travelers! (We weren't sure how Cole would do since it was his first time away from home, but he was so great!)

Cole has really started to smile consistently. He is so precious and it just melts my heart! He is definitely a mama's boy!

Lydia, of course, was in heaven at the beach. The water was pretty cold, but she didn't care and went in with all of her clothes on. She is absolutely fearless!!

We were there for halloween and the family we were with was so gracious to take her trick-or-treating. The first house we went to, she got a lollipop and then was perfectly content the rest of night.

We got to spend an afternoon with on the boat sailing down the intercostal waterway. It was beautiful!! (The boat and the scenery!!!)

2 and 20 months

It is still crazy to me sometimes that I spend my days with two kids who are only 18 months apart! The days are usually crazy, but they are both so fun in their own ways!

Lydia at 20 months is a crazy girl. She has so fear and is always wanting to jump off of things even if it means getting hurt. (You can always find a bruise/scrape somewhere on her body!) She also never stops talking. From the moment she gets up in the morning, she is talking and unless she is sleeping there are words coming out of her mouth. It is fun (but also extremely exhausting) to watch her learn new words and put sentences together. By the end of the day, I feel like I've been living in a foreign country with the amount of time it takes to figure out what she is communicating. I guess it is just God's way of preparing me for my future!

She is very creative, hence my pot-holders on her feet...

And she always has to be RIGHT NEXT TO her baby brother! If he is on this playmat, she is usually almost sitting on his head to get close to him!

And precious little Cole is already 2 months! The time is FLYING by! I don't remember it going so fast with Lydia! We took him to the doctor yesterday and he was 9 lbs 13 oz and 21 1/4 inches. Percentage wise, He is still pretty small, but consistent in his weight gain and everything.

He has started to smile which is so fun! And we are hoping he starts sleeping better soon! :)

Someone asked me for a video of Lydia talking...so here you go! (At the end of the video she says, "Cheese" because I was holding the camera. Anytime she sees a camera she automatically says "cheese" until you take a picture and then "see" because she wants to look at it on the back!)

So Much to Catch Up On!

I have no idea where the time has gone! I guess that is what taking care of two little ones will do to you! We really have been out and about, I usually just don't have a free hand to take pictures. But here are a few from the past couple of weeks!

Natalie came to visit which was so fun! Lydia LOVED having a playmate and she and Greta were quite the pair! They were having such a good time together that we didn't want to ruin their fun and check on them in the backyard. We eventually figured out that the reason they were having so much fun was because they had gotten into the charcoal ash and were having the time of their lives throwing it at each other! At least they were

quiet! :)

Then this past Sunday, we enjoyed fall a little bit more with our friends! It is so fun that Lydia has a little group of friends. She is constantly talking about Jojo, Harper, Abby, and Chase. You can see that Jojo got to be the king here with Lydia pushing the wagon and Harper pulling it!

Harper's beautiful mommy Leah who is expecting little Avery at the beginning of December!

Our little apple picker!

New Favorite Things!

Lydia gets more fun everyday! It is so fun to see her little personality blossom as she learns new words everyday. I'm amazed every day at the new things she is saying! Today, Cole was looking at her and she said, "What ya see Cole?" Even the inflection in voice sounded just like Jay and I. It's a little scary what she picks up things that we say without us realizing how often we say them! She does have so many new favorite things!

She LOVES to share her stickers with her brother. Really, she just likes to share EVERYTHING with her brother. I caught her trying to shove her craisins into mouth the other day! It's so hard to tell her NO when I know she is just trying to share with him! It's so sweet that she loves him so much!

She has also become obsessed with the sink and cleaning things. This activity will keep her occupied for awhile until I find her eating the bubbles!

Another new favorite is Cereal ("seera" as Lydia says it). She loves to eat her cheerios and milk in a bowl with a spoon. She's actually getting pretty good at it!

10 Miler / Yes, I am Crazy!

In all the years I have lived in Lynchburg, I have always wanted to run the VA 10 miler (Well, I guess really since I started running 5 years ago). But something has always come up...either we were out of town, or I was pregnant, or I just didn't want to train for it! :) I figured that this year would be out as well since Cole wasn't due until the end of August and the race was only 5 weeks later. I started to run again about 3 weeks ago, but still figured it was not an option and decided to ask my doctor so she could talk me out of even thinking about it! Her exact words were, " Of course you can run it...It's not like your uterus is going to fall out!" So with her words of encouragement and a week to train, I paid my money and decided to go for it since we are moving and I wouldn't get another opportunity!

It was not exactly the easiest 10 miles I have ever done and the last mile and a half (that was UPHILL!) I was just willing my legs to keep going! But here I am at the finish line! Even though it was hard, I am so glad I pushed myself to do it! I finished in 1:46:43 and I was just happy I wasn't last (it was my goal not to be last!). You can see my amazing friend Kristen (to my right) who met me at mile 3.5 and ran it with me!

Lydia was so sweet to offer her apple juice to the runners as a last minute pick-me-up!

Just A Little Update...

I've been meaning to update for so long...life just gets away from me! I think we have started to get into a groove and I have been adventurous enough to try and run errands with both kids (a little chaotic and I'm not planning on doing it again soon unless we have NOTHING to eat in the house!) I can't believe Cole is already a month old! We went to his 1 month check-up on Monday and he has already gained 2 and a half lbs and grown an inch and a half! I guess that's what eating every two hours does for you!! :) So here are some new pictures of the kiddos!

Fantasy Football

I am always looking for ways to connect with Jay by doing stuff that he loves! This season, I have chosen Fantasy Football! I decided to start a girls league in the hopes that we would all be able to connect with our husbands by watching football with them! :) The husbands were BESIDE themselves in excitement about the possibility of their wives getting into football with them, so I think we are on the right track!

I encouraged the girls to go out on a date with their husbands to learn about the players, how to draft, etc. Cole crashed our fantasy football draft, but I guess he needs to learn all this stuff too! OH and Jay helped me to pick a really awesome team name...Team Parks N' Wreck Your Face! :)

Then, Thursday night was the big night! All but 3 of us congregated to draft our teams. It was actually a lot of fun and we had a great time laughing about our lack of knowledge! (However, even with our lack of knowledge, our husbands said they were really impressed with our teams!)

And what is a party without some dessert! I bet the guys never have this much good food at their drafts!!!