6:45am
My body clock has decided this is the time for me to wake up each morning.  It turns out though that this works out fairly well as I get a chance to escape the upstairs before the kids are up at 7.  I keep the stairway gate closed and sneak down for some me-time on the computer.  (And while Brent may not appreciate being stuck upstairs with the kids first thing in the morning, I think we both know that if I took the kids downstairs he would fall back asleep for who knows how long.  Brent = not morning person.)

7am
Lydia is up and likely enters our bedroom (not sure on her exact routine because as mentioned above, I am happily downstairs).  Upon waking Brent and realizing I am not there, she goes into Eli's room.  Usually I have a monitor on downstairs so I get to listen to the two of them converse for awhile.  Lydia looks at books and then drops them into Eli's crib for him to look at.  They talk and giggle and I enjoy listening to my sweet babies getting along so nicely.

7:20ish am
Once I hear Brent is out of bed, it's time to go get water/juice for the kids while he rescues Eli from the crib.  Brent opens the gate for Lydia and before long she is downstairs with me asking to play the caterpillar game (Cootie) or play on the iPad.  I inform her that breakfast will be first, but turn on Disney (Mickey Mouse) for the kids to watch while they eat.  Brent sleepily brings Eli down and puts him in his booster seat.  Eli immediately begins asking for food.  The boy loves breakfast!  Lately he wants cereal bars and starts shouting out what color (flavor) he wants.  One red and one green have been the trend.  And after finishing those, he then wants a bowl of cereal with milk.  Lydia, not nearly the big breakfast eater that her brother is, prefers toaster strudel or waffles for breakfast.

8am-11am
Our mornings are not routine at this point, though with Lydia starting preschool in just over 2 weeks we'll be force into one soon.  The kids generally watch a show or two while eating breakfast, then play and do whatever in the house the rest of the morning.  They are beginning to be really good at playing together alone (as in without me) and sometimes will go down in the playroom to entertain themselves.  It's nice to get a chance to get a few things done... makes me almost wonder why I'm starting over with another baby!!  Almost.  :-)  The temperatures have been nice in the mornings lately so sometimes if we can get everyone dressed and out the door we try to go out.  Sometimes just running errands, but sometimes going to the zoo or just playing outside.

11:30am
Lunch time.  While he loves his variety of breakfast foods, lunch and dinner are a much bigger challenge with Eli.  His absolute favorite is grilled cheese and he'll hardly eat anything else for lunch.  Sometimes he'll do okay with PB&J, but he has absolutely decided chicken nuggets are no good anymore.

Noon
Sweet freedom comes at naptime.  :-)  Once lunch is over the kids are upstairs for 1-2 hours.  Eli usually sleeps, but Lydia doesn't sleep much anymore.  She stays in her room (mostly) and stays quiet, but I can tell by the way she acts that she often doesn't sleep.  This can get frustrating because I know if she would rest she wouldn't be so wound up and prone to getting in trouble later in the day.  But anyway, the kids rest for awhile and I get a chance to catch up on work/couponing or just to rest/relax myself for a bit.

2pm-5pm
Kids are up from naps and we're on to the afternoon.  Again, the agenda is relaxed and depends on what we need to do that day.  Both kids love to be outside.  Lydia is getting really good at pedalling her tricycle and Eli loves being in the cozy coupe.  We also enjoy playing on the deck or in the backyard sometimes.  Lydia likes running down the hill into the drainage area behind our lot pretending she's going to the jungle.  She'll run down, then go back up the hill to her right where there's an empty lot, then make the journey back to our yard.  Sometimes she'll just do this over and over and over again because she enjoys it so much.  Poor thing isn't going to like it so much when we get our fence put in soon.  But it will be much safer for the kids having a fenced backyard and eventually we'll put a swingset up too.  Besides being outside, the kids have some favorite indoor activities too.  Lydia likes to ask me to play "tickle bug" which basically just means she and Eli run around and I try to grab them and tickle them.  So we play or watch movies or do chores for the afternoon while we wait for Brent to get back home.

5:15pm
We hear the garage door open and Lydia immediately runs to "hide" behind sometime so she can surprise Brent when he walks in.  This is her new favorite thing... anytime anyone leaves someplace and then returns she wants to surprise them.  Makes it not very surprising actually.  Eli on the other hand generally runs to the door and starts trying to open it.  Opening and closing doors is his new favorite thing.  Often when I'm getting dressed in the morning he is going in and out the bathroom door telling me, "Hi!" or "Bye, cya later." each time.  But anyway, both kids are excited for Daddy to be home (and so am I because I'm in need of a break at this point!) 

5:30-7pm
Dinner, possibly bath, and bed for the kids.  Eli's bedtime routine:  He wants to turn all of his fans on and also his nightlight.  He loves to do things by himself, so it's very common to hear him saying "Do it? Do it?" or "Turn? Turn?" as in, "I want to do it." or "It's my turn."  And yes, everything he says comes out sounding like a question.  Once his PJs are on, his teeth are brushed, and he has adequately turned on what needs to be on in his room, it's time for books.  He always gets two books.  Lately the Elmo books with buttons to push for music/sounds are his favorites.  As soon as books are done Eli immedately yells, "Ginkle! Ginkle!" ... ie, his favorite song "Twinkle Twinkle."  We can never get away with not singing this to him before bed.  He'll let us sing a different song first, but "Ginkle" is asked for as soon as the other one ends.  Once he's had his song, he's pretty content to give hugs and kisses (a hug on each shoulder followed by a kiss on the lips) and get into his crib.  He usually insists on a final hug & kiss after being put into bed, then he'll grab his one and only must-have toy frog we call "Ribbit" and lay down to sleep.  Lydia's bedtime routine:  She also wants to do everything herself, so we usually stand by while she strips herself down, goes to the bathroom, and gets her PJs on (not always in that order and not often very quickly).  We help her brush her teeth, then she gets one book and one Bible story.  Lately she's had a bad habit of picking at her upper lip, so chapstick has become part of her morning & evening routine.  Then she usually chooses to either "elevator" up to her bed (where we lift her off the ground from her feet) or to "blast off" (where she counts down, says blast off, and we jump her into bed).  Hugs and kisses happen in here somewhere, but she changes when and where she wants them.  She doesn't like to pick a stuffed animal out for herself and prefers that we choose her "friend" for her most times.  We do bedtime prayers next.  Sometimes she will repeat after us as we pray and other times she has us pray and then we pause so she can say some things she is thankful for.  Lastly she gets a song which she generally asks that we pick one instead of her.  Before we close her door, though, she always wants to say one last thing and it's always, "*click click* My light is on/off, and I'm as snug as a bug in a rug."

7-10pm
At last we can relax!  Well, that is as long as Lydia stays in bed.  She still occasionally gets out of bed to ask us some silly question, or we'll hear her get up to go to the bathroom 5 times in the hour after she is put in bed.  But for the most part we get to enjoy some quieter time together in the evenings before I can't stand to stay awake any longer.  I still struggle to stay up past 10.  I guess pregnancy and toddlers will do that to you.


So that's basically what goes on around her day in and day out.  Of course there are all kinds of little stories that could be told each day, but this captures the essence.  Some other noteworthy things about each kid:

Lydia:
She starts preschool soon and is very excited.  It amazes me how grown up she already seems.  She converses very well and I'm often floored by how sophisticated her speaking is for a 3.5 year old!  Lydia is an amazing big sister, looking forward to the arrival of the new baby and also teaching Eli so many things.  For the most part she does well being patient with Eli when he doesn't understand her and she shares very nicely.  She makes me so proud!  I especially love how well she is doing with memorizing verses for church.  She has done the memory verse every week for the past 3 months and even today she can recite all 3 of them with little to no help at all.  It's going to be odd not having her around all the time when she starts school, but I'm really looking forward to talking to her about all she is learning and doing there.  She's going to love it!

Eli:
He has become quite the chatterbox.  He is realizing how many words he knows and never fails to point out people/objects/colors everywhere when he sees something he can say.  A typical conversation may go as follows:  "Fan? Fan?"  "Yes Eli, that's a fan."  "On?  On?"  "No buddy, it's off."  "Off?  Off?"  "Yep, it's off."  etc.  His lately accomplishment has been mastering colors.  He's 95% accurate with blue, red, green, yellow, orange, and purple.  Whenever we drive anywhere I can expect various colors to be shouted out at random when he sees a car of that color.  I know that he is super smart and wish I had more time to work with him on these skills.  Perhaps when Lydia starts school.  I'm really looking forward to that alone time with him for a few months before baby 3 arrives.  Eli also has a super fun personality.  He is just so happy most of the time and loves to smile and laugh.  He can be a bit of a softy though and whenever he is sad or hurt even the slightest bit he comes crying to me saying, "Chair? Chair?" until I take him to the recliner and snuggle with him there.  It's his comfort zone, head on my shoulder rocking in the recliner.

Baby 3:
Still in waiting mode with this one.  Waiting to find out the gender and waiting to feel more consistent movements.  I am happy to feel baby move a bit more often these days.  Usually once a day, sometimes more sometimes less.  But they are getting stronger and more like popcorn pops than tickly butterflies.  My next appointment is in a week (I'll be 18 weeks) and hopefully I'll get to schedule my ultrasound.  I'd love to get it done at 19 weeks, but they may make we wait until 20.  Mom & Dad will be on a cruise that 20th week and I'm hoping I can sweet talk my doctor into an earlier ultrasound so I can be sure I can get ahold of my parents.  People have asked me if I have a feeling either way about the gender.  I really don't have any intuition about what this baby's gender is this time.  Pretty sure I thought both Lydia & Eli were boys at this point, but this one I really don't have any clue.  I'm just looking forward to seeing my peanut again!  We haven't really discussed names yet and said we'd wait to find out the gender, so I'm really looking forward to that.  Ready for baby 3 to have an identity all his/her own!

April 7, 2012... from Brent's Facebook page:

She's 3. I don't know her concept is solid, but tonight Lydia asked me to pray with her to ask Jesus to be her "forever friend" #HeartMelter

We've obviously been talking about Easter and tonight we were saying bedtime prayers and we thanked God for sending Jesus to save us and when done I asked her if she knew what it meant to be saved by Jesus. She said yeah and that one day when our family is all gone she will be with Jesus forever. I told her that one day when she is older if she decides to, she can ask Jesus to be her forever friend (a term our kids ministry uses at church) and she said, "But we can do that right now!" I asked her if she wanted to pray to God and repeat after me... Something we've tried numerous times with bedtime prayers and she's always said no to, making one of us pray instead... And she said a very enthusiastic yes, and prayed to ask God into her heart and to be her forever friend. Again, I have no idea how much of it was play and how much was serious understanding, but wow... Took me by surprise! I love my church and the kids ministry clearly is doing something right!

Eli is fast approaching 15 months old and I haven't done much writing down of his life milestones. So let's see... a day in the life of Eli...

Well, he usually wakes up around 6:30 (ugh!) but will talk/play in his crib until I can drag myself out of bed to get him. He is absolutely in love with his stuffed frog that is in his crib with him. Every night when he goes to bed he pounces on it and uses it as his pillow. In general he really likes stuffed animals and there are several that he tackles at first sight. Eli is definitely a cuddler. Some mornings I can get him out of his crib and he will lay his head on my shoulder and snuggle in the rocking chair for a little bit before we get our morning started. I love those times!

Eli continues to be our big boy. He is slimming out some as he loses that baby fat, but he's no twig! And he certainly likes to eat. Unfortunately we've been dealing with a milk allergy (that he will hopefully outgrow) so finding things he is able to eat is tough. Between the allergy and his pickiness, the boy practically lives on bread and chicken nuggets. He is very particular about textures, so I've had a hard time getting him to eat fresh fruits, but he still does well eating baby food purees so I just stick with those for now. We recently tried giving him coconut milk and that has worked out well. Eli still does not like to drink anything other than water, but the coconut milk goes well with cereal or making pancakes and is a good source of calcium for my growing boy. He will meet again with the allergist in May.

As of early January Eli is a walker! He took his first solo steps on January 7th and before long was growing more and more confident in his new ability. Today (20 days later) he toddles all over the house. He still looks a little unsteady, and if he does happen to fall down he has to hold on to something to stand back up, but I'm so proud of his progress! Eli is also talking a decent amount these days. He says mama, dada, nana, grandpa (something similar sounding), ball, toes (sorta), uh oh, night night, bye bye, hello (only to a phone), go, and boo. He will sign more, please, eat, and all done. He also does animal sounds for monkey, snake, and puppy.

His favorite game at the moment is anything he can open and close. He makes quick work of our kitchen cabinets, opening all of the cabinets in his reach and throwing things on the floor. And he constantly rearranges the items in my lazy susan. It always means a lot of cleanup, but I love seeing his little mind work. He is going to be like his Daddy, always investigating how things work. Eli is always studying the mechanics of things.

So that's basically Eli's day. Wake up, tornado through the house, quick nap in the afternoon, eat a lot, then go to bed around 7.

Lydia is fast approaching her 3rd birthday. I am constantly having to remind myself that she is still only 2. She is SO smart! I signed her up for preschool for next year but I'm sure she will already know most of the things they teach already. She knows the letter sounds and can spell her name. She is constantly pointing out what letters are on signs wherever we go and is slowly catching on to how to read the words. I have no doubt she'll be reading by age 4. Brent has been working on teaching her left and right, and she can count to roughly 14 (the teens get a little mixed up most of the time). Lydia is a constant stream of questions and we do our best to teach her as we go. So academically I'm not thinking she'll need preschool, but I'm looking forward to her having more social interactions and working on her motor skills as well. She will start in late August and will be in class MWF 9-11:30. A couple of our friends have their daughters in that class as well, so it will be nice to spend more time with them.

Hopefully some more interaction with others will help Lydia get over some of her fears. She has been awful with going to the childcare at church. She used to LOVE it, then suddenly she started crying every time. We'd put her there and try to leave her in hopes that she'd get over it, but usually we get called back and/or they inform me when I pick her up that she's cried basically the whole time. Not sure what sparked this, but it makes it really difficult to go to church these days. Eli doesn't do well in the childcare either, so too often we find it more convenient to just watch the service online from home. Lydia is also pretty sensitive about loud noises. She can absolutely panic if there is suddenly some sort of noise like an alarm going off or someone using a power tool. She sometimes is okay with sufficient warning, but boy have we had some major meltdowns lately when an unexpected noise happens!

Lydia's favorite shows right now are Mickey Mouse and Toy Story 2. She pretty much requests Toy Story 2 every day right now and will quote lines from it all the time. Because of her obsession with this movie lately I thought she might want that for the theme of her birthday party, but she decided months ago that she wanted Dora and she's sticking to it! It's funny to me because she rarely talks about Dora and we don't watch that show, but she isn't budging from her party choice. Silly girl!

This age is a trying time for us with Lydia. Lots of questions from her and lots of testing her boundaries as well. But overall, she is a sweetheart who brings us overwhelming joy. I love being able to have conversations with her and being able to watch her learn. She gets so excited when we get to do special things. I love watching her eyes light up! Love my girl. :-)

We are still a bit in recovery mode after the loss of our 3rd child, but we are hopeful for the future. After having a D&C on the 9th, I had a follow-up exam on the 25th and everything is going okay. My doctor said that we are free to try again whenever we are ready. I would still love to be holding a new baby in my arms in 2012, but we will trust in God's timing.

Attempting to blog while Lydia is awake (and playing in the office next to me). Crazy? Probably. This will likely be short!

Two. I have a two-year-old. It's crazy! And she is defintely beginning to ACT two. It is common for Brent and I to look at eachother, shrug, and state, "She's two" after any number of Lydia's antics. She is very much developing a mind of her own. Today I asked her if she would share an orange slice with me. As I reached for one, she quickly guarded them with her hands and said, "Um... no thank you, Mommy. No thank you." She tells us "no" and has random spaz sessions where she refuses to tell us what she wants. Ah to be two! :) But she is an absolute joy in our lives and considering how she COULD behave, she is a very well behaved little girl.

Eli is getting more and more fun each passing day. He can roll over now and enjoys sitting in the exersaucer for short periods of time. He's so tall and heavy that he doesn't have the muscle strength yet to be in there for long. He weighed in at exactly 18 lbs at his 4 month check-up. Still top of the charts for height and weight! He loves to smile and laugh and he continues to be a very social boy. Always wanting attention! It's so much fun to see him watching Lydia as she runs all over the place. He gets a kick out of watching her play and she likes to bring him toys and show him how to make things play music.

My life has been busy lately as I have continued in my coupon crazy madness. Most free time (which is limited) is spent looking up deals and planning shopping trips. I'm going to do my first "official" couponing class soon, so this is occupying my thoughts as well.

We're also hoping to potty train very soon. I am sooo not looking forward to it, but had told myself we would take on the challenge once Eli was sleeping better at night. He is finally going to bed around 7 and staying there until 6 or 7 in the morning. Of course some nights are still better than others, but with a more restful household I decided it was time to get back to business around here.

Spring has arrived (supposedly) and I'm looking forward to warm weather and walks outside again. Lydia will love going to the park this year now that she is big enough for more playground equipment. I'm hoping Eli won't take too much longer to be able to sit up on his own. It will be really nice to be able to sit him on a blanket with some toys while Lydia plays with other things outside.

There's a brief update on our lives. And hey, Lydia didn't completely destroy the office in the process - though the pile of clothes I had set aside to take to MOPS is now scattered around the room. Could be worse. :)

At the Pirolli household, 2011 entered with a lot of coughing and sniffling. We should have seen it coming. Brent and I both had sore throats around Christmas, but it never turned into any more than that for us. We had a wonderful time in Cincinnati with my family and made it back home on the 29th to relax a bit before the new year.

Or so we thought.

By evening of the 30th it was obvious that both kids were getting a bug. It is oh so much fun to have a sick not-yet-two-year-old and a sick 8 week old. Ha! Lydia was a trooper on New Years Day when we took her to Great Grandma's and then to Grandma's house to open gifts from Brent's side of the family. But the poor girl could only take so much. She opened so many presents that by the last few she was actually pushing them away and saying no. It didn't help that she was completely exhausted from being sick.

With the holiday endeavors behind us, we've been at home trying to get everyone well. I took Eli to the pediatrician on Monday and found he has an ear infection. Beyond that, though, he has been handling this cold quite well. Lydia on the other hand has been a wreck. She's barely eating anything and it takes constant coaxing to keep fluids in her. She wants to be held all the time (very difficult to do as a nursing mom to Eli), she's had a fever, and she has been so tired. Yesterday I thought she was doing better... she seemed to have taken a nap well (short, but no crying before or after) and was playing as normal. But by mid-afternoon she was a mess again.

So there I was trying to cook dinner so Lydia could try to eat before going to bed early, Eli was fussing unless I was bouncing him in his bouncer, and Lydia was super tired and crying on the couch in the living room. Ugh! I just kept plowing through dinner while trying to encourage Lydia to lay down and watch her video... then suddenly I turned around and she had completely crashed. She was on the pillow, mouth hanging open, snoozing away. Scared me at first, but I felt better once I was sure she was still breathing! Poor girl!

After that experience, I decided today that if the whining picked up in the afternoon I was putting her down for a second nap. And thus it has happened that it is 4:30 and Lydia has been in her room for nap #2 since around 3. Here's hoping she'll be a much happier little girl this evening! It's so hard for me to watch her be so exhaused but be struggling to sleep. I know how tough it is to sleep when you can't breathe normally... I can't imagine trying to make sense of it when you are two!

Praying for health to return to both of my little ones ASAP. I have goals for both of them once they are back to feeling better: Potty-training (or at least more prep) for Lydia and a solid bedtime routine/schedule for Eli (with ultimate goal of getting him sleeping in his crib, preferably through the night!). A mom's job is never ending.

I always have high hopes of keeping up with my blog, but there always seems to be so much going on and so little time to write about it! So here's a brief update on our lives.

Lydia is doing great, but noticeably approaching the terrible twos. She tests limits constantly and we've had to introduce timeouts (which she seems to find amusing...) and spankings (which have only happened a couple of times). She usually stops the bad behavior after a warning, but the annoying part is that she gets a warning once or twice a day. A part of me feels like she should get warned if it has been several hours since she was told not to do something... she isn't even 2 yet afterall... but another part of me KNOWS that she is aware of what she is not allowed to do and perhaps enough is enough with the warnings. We're still learning around here.

Her speech continues to skyrocket and she is now using combinations of phrases (ex: "Where is the bear? Oh here it is. I found it.") She knows the appropriate response when asked what her name is and knows the sounds all of the letters make (except vowels). I get a running commentary of what she sees/does/wears/holds throughout the day, and she absolutely INSISTS that I say "Bless you, Lydia" any time she coughs or sneezes. She, of course, makes sure to tell Eli "Bless you" when he sneezes, as well as anyone else in the house. We've been working on counting with her and she quickly recognizes when there are two of something, but generally any quantity above one gets labeled as two or three.

As for Eli, he's still growing! I took him in for a follow-up appointment after he had an infection at his one month well check and he was 13 lbs at 5.5 weeks old! He is now almost 7 weeks old and I'm moving him into 3-6 month clothing already. He smiles a little bit, but it's much harder to get smiles out of him than it was with Lydia. But when he grins and coos at things it melts my heart. I love my little boy!

I've tried to get him on a semi-regular schedule, and he's doing okay with it, but he definitely has a mind of his own. I haven't quite been able to figure out his pattern (if there is one). He's eating 8 or 9 times a day - usually once or twice during the night. He does alright at night, sometimes going 4 or 5 hours between feedings, so I'm hopeful that I'll eventually sleep through the night again. It took Lydia until she was 3 months old, so here's hoping Eli will meet or beat that!

And... now I have to stop blogging because the boy wants to eat. See? This is why I can't blog anymore...

I'm so horrible at making myself sit down and write what's going on in our life. Do I say that every time I post? Probably.

As of yesterday I am full-term with the pregnancy (37 weeks). I'm excited for the day of Eli's arrival, but at the same time feel very at peace about when he decides to make his debut. I am enjoying life as it is now, understanding that change is coming, and will be fine if it is another 3 weeks before my son is ready. At the same time, I would be just as thrilled if he wanted to show up tomorrow! I've been bad about posting little details of this pregnancy, but have one I wanted to be sure to write down. A few days ago we were relaxing and watching TV while Eli danced around in my belly. Usually I am not good at differentiating between body parts (his elbow as opposed to his heal, for example), but that night I was poking at him and could very clearly feel his sweet little baby foot. Looking forward to kissing on that tiny foot next month!

At my last OB appointment I was showing no signs of progression towards labor yet. My next appointment is tomorrow (on weekly visits now) so we'll see if anything has changed. I have felt a few Braxton Hicks contractions (I think... I never had them with Lydia), but nothing substantial. I am not at the point of counting on him staying in there until his due date, but also not convinced he will certainly come early. All we do now is wait and try not to schedule anything too important in the coming weeks.

Lydia continues to do well, growing and learning as always. She gets better by the day at speaking in sentances, though the words are still sometimes out of order. She is a fantastic little helper and does well picking up her toys when we are done with them and following directions. I'm sure if I was not expecting a baby in less than a month we could be successfully potty training. She will talk about the potty and has started to put her toys on the potty for them to use it. But alas, I still don't want to be dealing with all of it when I have a newborn, so we will wait. Good thing I continue to get cheap/free diapers with my couponing. :)

Some much needed Lydia updates:

• While I try not to let her watch too much TV in any given day, she has a few favorite shows that we enjoy watching together. Super Why ("Why Why"), Cat in the Hat ("Hat"), Word World, Sid, Curious George, and Elmo ("La-lo") are all enjoyed in moderation, though the programing schedule changed and we don't see Word World or George very often anymore.
• Lydia still loves to run, spin, jump, and dance. She has now started to insist that we join in with her at all times. "Mommy up! Mommy spin! Mommy jump!" or perhaps "Ball Mommy! Mommy ball!" when she wants us to play with her ball. It's super cute but she can be really demanding!
• For those wondering, potty training is still on hold. As Eli's due date moves closer, I just don't have the time and energy to put into it right now. We will be waiting until she is closer to 2 or perhaps just after her 2nd birthday... depending on what things are like with Eli here.
• Lydia is getting good at routines and does excellent following directions. When it is time to clean up she will help put all the toys back in their place. She usually even knows where they all go without being told. Bedtime routine is similar. Once she is in her PJ's we can put her down in her room and she will go pick out a book, give it to one of us, and sit on our lap for her story. As soon as we say "the end" she will take the book, put it away on the shelf, give us each two hugs (one on each shoulder) and a kiss, then crawl into bed on her own. I have a feeling she will love routine just like her mama. :)
• Her language abilities continue to amaze me and she talks in short sentences throughout the day. Most of the time I can understand her, but she gets carried away at times and rambles a whole lot of stuff together that I can't figure out.
• Lydia's favorite games are pretending to go night-night and playing with her pink ball. Whenever we are in her room she insists that we both flop on her bed and pretend to be sleeping. She also enjoys helping with the laundry and "sweeping" the kitchen floor.
• Colors and letters are all pretty well mastered by Lydia now. There aren't any letters that give her trouble anymore, so we are working more on numbers. She knows most of them and will usually count to five if you show her your fingers one at a time. I also randomly hear her saying "six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" though I don't think she's actually counting anything. As far as colors go, we've taught her red, green, blue, yellow, orange, purple, pink, white, black, and brown. She gets them right 99% of the time! She really absorbs information like a sponge. I can't keep up with writing it all down!
• One funny thing she picked up is the fact that Nana drinks coffee. This is hilarious that she latched onto it because my mom never made a big deal about it. Yet Lydia has decided she loves to talk about coffee and pretend that she is drinking it! She even takes her toy barrels and will pretend to be drinking coffee out of them like a cup.

There are probably a hundred more things I could write down, but I'll still miss some. It's so hard to really capture what life is like around here in words! All I can hope to do is at least give myself a few things to remember when I look back.

I know I probably say this in pretty much every blog post, but things seem so busy these days and I find it hard to remember to stop and write it down. I can't believe it is September already! Here are some updates on the kiddos:

Lydia

18 months old now and getting smarter by the minute. I was asked the other day how many words I thought she says now and I guessed around 100. Today I decided to try to make a list and made myself stop after passing 250. So the real number is probably somewhere between 250 and 300, and these are words she actively says without us having to say them first. There's no way I'm going to try to add to the total with words she won't say unless we say them first or words that she clearly understands. Within the past week or so she has also become more and more confident with using multiple words together and forming small sentances. Mostly these consist of "Bye-bye {insert person/object here}" or "All done {insert item here}", but there are a few others that pop up here and there in her daily chatter.

At her 18 month doctor checkup I loved seeing the doctor's reaction to all that Lydia knows. Especially the face she made when I said Lydia already knows most of the alphabet! She now recognizes all of the letters and only has slight hang-ups on a couple of them (such as, sometimes "C" starts out as "G" and we have to correct her before she will say it properly). She's getting much better at colors now too and frequently points out orange, purple, pink, and green objects... which I find funny since blue used to be the one she assigned to everything, but now she seems to ignore blue things.

Sleeping, eating, playing... Lydia does them all well and she is a complete joy to watch. She continues to be on the go constantly. My mom, Brent's mom, and I all took her to the butterfly house last weekend and it was nearly impossible to get a picture of Lydia because she wouldn't stop even for a second! She just ran around saying "buh-FLY!" As she is getting older and gaining more independence, we are starting to see her testing her limits a bit more than she used to. I hate punishing her and wish she would go back to just listening right away (and don't get me wrong, she is a GREAT kid and obeys very well), but sometimes she pushes it too far and gets a hand slap for touching things she was told not to touch. But like I said, in general she is very obedient and loves to help clean up, do laundry, or other small tasks I set her on.

Potty training is sadly on hold right now. I was hoping to be getting a good start in these coming weeks, but Lydia decided she was going to get some sort of stomach... something... and be pooping like crazy. We even got to the point of being told to bring a sample in to the doc's office so they can check for bacteria, but as soon as they requested this Lydia has seemed much better (this was just 2 days ago). But there's no way I was going to attempt potty training a child that is pooping out some nasty stuff 5 times a day. So for now we are waiting for her system to get back to normal and will go from there. Still hoping we'll give it a go at some point this month.

As a final note on Lydia's life at the moment, I am getting excited to see her as a big sister. I really think, and hope, that she is going to absolutely love Eli. We talk about him all the time already and I try my best to convey the idea that he is a baby and will be here soon. She loves to give kisses and hugs to my belly and will smile and say "Eye-Yeye" (Eli) whenever she notices my belly or even sees baby boy clothing around. Can't wait to see my two little ones interacting!


Eli

Pregnancy week 30 is just on the horizon. So far things continue to be going along smoothly. If I remember correctly, I seem to recall being a lot more uncomfortable at this point with Lydia. My only complaints right now are heartburn and aches at night, but those are pretty minor irritations.

I had my most recent doctor appointment at about 28 weeks along and she said I was measuring 33 weeks! Yikes! I know those measurements can be off by quite a bit, and that I measured big the whole time with Lydia too, but now I'm slightly nervous that I'm cooking a 10-pounder here. Perhaps this will just mean he will arrive a little sooner. Mom is predicting a halloween baby... so we'll see! I also took my glucose test at that time and sadly failed the 1 hour test. This meant I had to go back in for a 3 hour test where I would get my blood drawn 4 different times and checked for glucose tolerance. While it was an annoying way to spend a Saturday morning, I did get a lot of work done on Eli's blanket while sitting around for over 3 hours, and I passed this time so no need for a special diet.

We finally got started painting the nursery this past weekend. And by "we" I mean Brent and my dad. My parents were here last weekend and Dad helped Brent with Eli's room while Mom & I were at the butterfly house. The walls are slated to have tan and green, so the tan was started and finished on Saturday. This coming Saturday we'll be working on the green, then Brent plans to paint a tree in one corner of the room. So excited to see his room come together!

This is what a typical day in our house might look like right now:

Lydia wakes up around 7am and begins talking, singing, and "reading" her books on her bed. I always make sure to leave a few books on the end of her bed after she falls asleep so she'll have them there when she wakes up. She LOVES books and we commonly wake up to hearing her chant "books! books! books!" As soon as she sees me coming to get her, she will either grab a book or toy to give to me or will say "skooch skooch" as she scoots herself off the bed (usually to grab a different book off of her bookshelf). We regularly spend the first few minutes of the morning reading through a couple of her books. She loves it so much that I have a hard time getting her to let me change her diaper in the morning!

After the diaper change we go hang out with Daddy and make sure he is up for work. Then it's time for juice and breakfast! Lydia drinks a sippy cup (8oz) full of a juice/water combo first thing in the morning, then has water for the rest of the day. She doesn't care for milk much unless it is chocolate, so we stick to cheese, yogurt, and milk on cereal for dairy intake. Lydia continues to be a pretty good eater and uses lots of words for her favorite foods including cereal, waffles, chicken nuggets, apples, bananas, pizza, and spaghetti (aka "getti"). She cracked me up yesterday at a birthday party when she kept begging for cake as we were getting ready to do candles. I didn't realize she knew the word cake so well!

When breakfast is over, we usually have a laid back morning. Lydia loves to watch the shows on PBS. Her favorites are Word World, Super Why, and of course Elmo on Sesame Street. We try not to watch too much in any single day, but letting her watch a little while she plays in the playroom can't hurt. She is usually running all over the place playing with her toys and puzzles while the shows are on anyway. Rarely does she sit still for more than a minute or two!

Naps continue to be unpredictable (what's new?). We have tried going to one after-lunch nap, but I feel so bad making her stay up when she's super tired in the morning. I stuck with it for a week or so in hopes that she would adjust, but it didn't really work. Some days she just really seems to need a break in the morning. But of course, some days even if she is acting completely worn out (rubbing the eyes, yawning, sucking her thumb, and even lying down on the floor), she will decide it's play time after I put her down in her bed. Most of the time I can at least get a 1 hour afternoon nap out of her, but as always she is hit or miss.

Afternoons vary around here. After lunch and cleanup, sometimes Lydia naps (if she didn't rest in the morning) or we will play or go out until she needs a nap. We don't have a lot to do to get us out of the house, so we try to enjoy our trips to the grocery store or when the weather happens to be good enough to go outside. Unfortunately this pregnancy makes it quite uncomfortable to be outside in the heat... and this summer has been one of the hottest on record! As a result we don't get out as much as I'd like. Poor Lydia, she loves being outside! Oh and one other thing I wanted to mention is that Lydia can now go both up AND down stairs. I'm pretty sure she learned how to go down because just a day before she started to do it I was telling some other moms that she wasn't figuring it out no matter how I tried to teach her. Guess she didn't like sounding incapable! She scoots along on her rear-end from stair to stair and is getting quite good at it. This makes me feel a little safer knowing that if she encounters stairs and I'm not right by her side there's a chance of her safely navigating them.

So mostly we hang out and get things done that need to get done while we wait for Daddy to get home from work. Lydia loves her Daddy! She will excitedly run up to him yelling "Daddy!!!" when he walks in the door, then often promptly runs off to grab a ball so they can play. Balls are still amongst her favorite toys, along with her rubber ducks, fish bath toys, and any toy letters we have. She loves music and will dance and sing all around the room. When we are in the car and the radio turns off, she will start singing and making her own music!

There isn't anything in particular that Lydia dislikes. She continues to be pretty easy going. Sometimes she has a rough time still when we clean her off after meals or when she lays back in the bathtub to have her hair washed, but even then she can usually be distracted away from a tantrum pretty quickly. Lydia gets a bath every two or three days, depending on how messy she has gotten, and she continues to enjoy bathtime. She especially loves her foam letters and numbers and nearly knows them all now! 99% of the time she can get all of the letters correct except for "R" "X" and "Z". She's still working on learning those. We haven't worked as much on numbers, but she usually gets 1, 5, 7, and 8 correct. The foam letters are also great for learning colors. Lydia still tends to respond "blue" to any question involving a color, but when not prompted she has been known to point out yellow, pink, purple, and orange objects. I swear at the rate she is going the child will be smarter than us by the time she's 3. Yesterday when we were saying bye bye to Brent, Lydia informed me that he was going to "work." When I told her she was right, that he was going to work and he'd be back later, she looked at me and said "minute" ... as in, he'll be back in a minute. Ha!

Bedtime routine around here is pretty simple. Bathtime comes first if it's bath day, then pajamas and a diaper change, bedtime story, then down for bed. Lydia is doing great in her big girl bed (twin mattress on the floor). No regrets about moving her out of the crib! We don't use a sheet yet, just a toddler-bed-sized blanket that usually has to be put back on her after she falls asleep. She also has a flat pillow to help her not squish herself up against the wall and because she just likes going night-night on pillows.

She falls asleep pretty quickly most of the time, sometimes after a few minutes of talking to herself, and stays asleep throughout the night. Brent and I sneak into her room before we go to bed to place her back in a good position on the bed, re-cover her, or just to give her a little kiss to end the day. I love ending the day kissing my sweet angel... and starting each new one listening to her sweet voice!

We got a potty seat for Lydia and installed it this week. For the past few days I've been taking her into the bathroom for diaper changes and letting her sit on the potty for a few minutes before putting a clean diaper on her. This is really just for practice and getting her comfortable with the idea of sitting on the potty. No expectations at this point. But today when I sat her down I asked, "Do you want to try to go pee pee on the potty?" And she DID! Could have been total coincidence that she went after I asked, but I was a very excited mama! Lydia turned 17 months old yesterday so official potty training won't begin for another month or so, but I'm loving the potential she's showing!

Lydia has also made the move from the crib to a twin mattress. The first night did not go super well, but I think it was just a bad night in general - not fully related to the bed situation. She had been really clingy to me that day and had a rough time when I left her in her room that night. So we ended up going back to the crib that night, but yesterday jumped right back into the big girl bed. After two successful daytime naps, she also slept all night last night in the twin bed. Yay! The crib is getting disassembled today since we know she will be fine in the new bed.

Eli also continues to do well. Tomorrow will mark week 24. At my appointment earlier this week I was measuring big - a couple of weeks big in fact. But no due date change. I was usually a bit big with Lydia too but she was still less than 8lbs at full term. So I'm trying not to panic at the thought of having a huge baby! He'll come when he is ready. Still feeling great so far!

It feels like there is so much going on these days yet nothing that I feel needs a blog post about it. So instead of lots of little posts, I guess I'll do one here-is-everything-in-my-life post.

It's officially summer and the weather around here has not proven otherwise. It has been hot! Thankfully this week has brought us some milder temperatures and Lydia and I have enjoyed more outside time without me feeling like I'm seconds away from melting. I'm currently enjoying having almost all of the windows in the house open, keeping our home at a lovely 70 degrees inside. Fabulous! We will be taking advantage of this weather and going to the zoo on Friday with Grandma (Brent's mom). I'm seriously considering getting a "leash" for Lydia so she can run around without me worrying about having to hold her hand. She hates when I make her hold my hand.

We are currently transitioning to a one nap schedule for Lydia. After a few days in a row of having her talk/play in her crib for over an hour any time I tried to put her down, I decided she must not really be tired enough to take two naps anymore. Since dropping the morning nap she has been much better about falling asleep shortly after I lay her down and has been sleeping well. Occasionally she'll still only nap for a bit more than an hour, but most of the time since we have made the switch she rests for closer to 2 hours. So for now our routine is to eat lunch, clean up, then take a nap. Today she went down at noon... currently 1:30 and she's still up there snoozing.

Lydia is definitely a bundle of energy these days, as well as a sponge for knowledge! I'm starting to run out of body parts to teach her now that she has mastered hair, head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, cheeks, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, belly, legs, knees, feet, and toes. She picks them up faster than I can figure out what to point out next! She loves her letter puzzle and her bath letters so we are constantly going over which letters are which even though she doesn't seem to remember most of them. Her current favorite is O and she is sure to point them out whenever she sees one, even on our clothing. She loves to go outside and point out the grass, rocks, bushes, trees, and birds. I'm pretty sure she knows flowers too, but she doesn't use a specific word for them that I've noticed.

Besides her constantly growing vocabulary, Lydia is learning a lot of other skills as well. She likes to mimic what I do and helps me put laundry in the dryer or get shoes to go out. I've stepped up our "potty" talks in hopes of making an attempt at potty training around 18 months. She loves the concept of flushing the toilet, but hesitates to push the handle hard enough to actually make it go. Usually I help her and we both wave bye-bye to the toilet's contents. Lovely, I know. :) I'm hoping to get around to buying a potty seat and step stool for her soon so we can start practicing sitting on the toilet. With any luck I'd love to have her potty trained before Eli is born!

Speaking of Eli, he is getting stronger and stronger every day! I'm past the halfway point now - will be 21 weeks on Saturday. He loves to be awake and kicking when I am trying to sleep, so I may as well get used to being tired again. Nightly heartburn has also kicked in, but thankfully the pain in my hips that I had with Lydia has not shown up yet. Maybe my body is a bit more used to it the second time around. Oh, but for some reason my knees click when I go up stairs. No pain, just noise. *shrug*

Only 6 more days until our official ultrasound. So excited!

Aside from news about the kids, we have been in the process of refinancing our mortgage lately (and when I say "we" I really mean "Brent" because he basically handles those kinds of things and I just sign where he tells me to). In theory we are supposed to be having our closing tonight, but I think it's still pending. Hopefully soon. Brent has also been able to do a sizable side-job recently that's going to bring in a decent amount of extra income for us. He just finished it up last week and sent the bill to the company. That money combined with our tax return that we've been holding on to, plus some money we've been setting aside for car related things, will hopefully be buying us a van soon! The thought of having two kids in our little cars, especially for any kind of travel, just doesn't work. Our cars are both getting old and we're looking forward to getting something different. We will by no means be getting an awesome NEW van... we have already committed to NEVER having car payments again, so we have to stick with what we can afford to buy in cash... but we're hopeful that we can get a decent used van. Anyone interested in buying our 1998 Saturn while we replace it?

Tomorrow marks the start of July - a very busy month for us! We have a wedding to attend this weekend and my parents will be visiting as well. This month we also have a super exciting camping trip planned and several birthdays (including Brent's birthday and his sister Natalie's 30th!). It seems like I will blink and summer will be over already! Which isn't such a bad thing considering I'm counting down the months to my sweet Eli's arrival. Once we confirm the gender at next week's ultrasound, I'd love to get paint colors picked out and really start getting the nursery figured out. But since his room is currently our guest room, we may delay getting it set up until closer to November. Lydia is still using the crib and changing table, but I'm hoping to work on transitioning to a "big bed" and working on potty training soon (as mentioned above).

So there's a glimpse of my life at present. I love it. I love my family and feel so incredibly blessed. I'd be remiss if I didn't turn and give all the credit and glory to God for these wonderful blessings in my life. I am simply amazed and in awe of what I have been given and am humbled that my God would think to honor my family as such. To God alone be the glory. :)

I found it fun that Lydia turned 15 months the exact same day that Eli was 15 weeks along. Fun. :)

I keep trying to maintain a mental list of all the words Lydia knows now and I'm beginning to lose my grip on said list. So for my own memory's sake, I'm going to try to type up a list. Some of these are words that she regularly says without any prompting, others she understands and will use if we say them first or prompt her to say them, and still others are barely "words" at all but a good "mom translation" knows what she is trying to say.

So here we go... Lydia's 14 month vocabulary...

Woof
Meow
Hop Hop
Sssss (snake sound)
Roar
Moo
Oo Oo (monkey sound)
Shoes
Socks
Toes
Crash
Wash
Lala (Elmo)
Mama
Daddy
Nana (for either her Nana or a banana)
Grandpa/Papa (these ones are rare)
Stairs
Go
Up
Down
Night Night
Mmmm (when eating)
Mmmmuh! (giving or blowing kisses)
Kisses
No
Yes
Uh Oh
All Done
More
Bye Bye
Hi
Hello (in context of a phone)
Juice
Fish (most definitely her favorite animal currently)
Movie
Bless You (doesn't really sound anything like that but she says it after I sneeze!)

Additionally, she does signs for more, all done, eat, please, I love you, and help.

Ahhh I love it! She is at such a fun age!

Lydia had a very big weekend this past week! It all started on Thursday with her very first trip to the zoo!

She absolutely loved it. Lydia is very much an outdoors girl, so she enjoyed being out in the sun and wind. The weather was perfect! Temperature got up into the 80's with lovely sun and a cool breeze. Besides watching all of the people walking around, Lydia's favorite part was the aquarium. We walked in and she immediately sat up in her chair and started chanting, "Fish! Fish! Fish!" Such a cutie. :) I have a feeling we are going to love having a zoo membership this year.

Thursday night we got to hang out with family at Grandma and Papa's house for family dinner night. Spaghetti, bananas, and brownies made for a happy little girl. She showed off her walking skills and all of her animal noises and, unfortunately, got a nasty boo-boo too! Poor thing's legs just gave out while she was drumming on the folding chair and she smacked her face on it busting her lip. After a little loving and a wet washcloth, Lydia was back to her happy self and we all enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood to finish off the night.

Friday through Sunday Lydia and I took a trip down to Cinci to visit my family. Brent had to work so he didn't get to go with us, but us ladies had a lovely time! Nana and Grandpa had lots of Elmo toys at their house and also lots of balls for playing catch. Lydia just LOVES rolling balls back and forth with people. She also greatly improved her walking skills over the weekend... growing more and more confident each day. She also stood up on her own without holding on to anything for the first time. Not much longer and I suspect she will be doing more walking than crawling. Over the weekend she also decided to learn the word "no" and finds it so much fun to use. At first it just seemed like she just enjoyed saying it, but caught on to the meaning very quickly. "Lydia, do you want a drink?" "No!" "Do you want more applesauce?" "No!" Time to start working on teaching her "Yes" before she gets carried away!

Brent commented tonight after putting Lydia to bed that she is becoming a little sponge. She is definitely starting to soak up EVERYTHING! He was reading her an Elmo book and asking, "Where's Elmo?" then pointing to all of the things that were NOT Elmo and saying, "Is this Elmo? No..." Lydia then proceeded to point to all the different things and say "no."

She's working hard to pick up the words that we use. She's added more since the last list I made including "crash" for when things fall down and some more animal sounds. She recently picked up on "meow" and "oo oo" (monkey), but my all time favorite is when I ask her what the lion says. With a deep throaty sound she goes "rawr rawr rawr!" I love it! We need to try to get it on video soon before she decides she's done with that game. In addition to the words she will say unprompted, she does very well attempting to repeat what we say. On Easter family members were playing with her using bunnies and saying "hop hop." It was so cute to hear her try to say it back (sounded more like "bop"). I think she's working on "more" and "all done" too. Oh, and she's much better at saying "mama" and "dada" now too. Which makes me smile. :)

At long last she is also starting to make some progress with walking. Just yesterday she decided to try a few more steps, so today I tried to encourage her some more. She was doing so well taking 5 or 6 little steps at a time to get to me... one time she was holding something out for me to take it and I backed up a little and made her walk to me to give it to me. She did great! She even did a little walking this evening without any encouragement from me at all. So perhaps we'll finally see her take off soon! She's also become quite a stair climber. We finally got gates to put at the top and bottom of the stairs, but I try to let her still climb up on her own as long as I'm right behind her. Yesterday we took her to the park for dinner and some play time and she climbed up several stairs to a slide all on her own! (Brent was right behind her, of course) And those stairs included some BIG steps that we didn't think she'd be able to do. She is always proving us wrong!

As for baby #2, things are going well. Having been pretty nauseated when I was 5 or 6 weeks pregnant, I was pretty worried that things would get worse before getting better. But I was wrong about that and have felt much better lately. Still very tired, but I don't feel sick as often. Just a little over 2 weeks from now we'll get to hear the heartbeat. Really looking forward to that! Oh, and I've realized that people who say you show sooner with your 2nd pregnancy were not kidding! I'm already ready to get out the maternity jeans and I'm not even 9 weeks yet! I started wearing mostly maternity stuff around 16 weeks with Lydia... I'll be shocked if I make it to 12 this time.

It's fun watching Lydia grow and seeing which aspects of her personality are like mine and which are like Brent's. From me she gets her incredible impatience. Sorry to see that I passed that on! But this child hates to wait for anything, especially food. If I put her in her highchair and do not have food to her within .3 seconds, I will hear about it. We continue to insist to her that we WILL feed her, we promise, but this does not seem to help at all.

Another, perhaps slightly less unpleasant personality trait I seemed to have passed on to my daughter is a sense of caution. Kim noticed this when we visited earlier this month. Her son Micah would barrel all over the house, tumbling as he went. But Lydia is more precise and careful with all of her movements. She is good at what she does, but does not venture into new territory until she is sure she can master it. I fully believe this is the reason we still have not been able to get her to walk more than a couple of steps on her own. She can stand flawlessly, without so much as a wobble, but when encouraged to take a step I can see her little mind processing. She considers it, but still does not feel she can do it perfectly and thus opts to crawl instead.

I never thought much about this tendancy of hers until recently, but it dawned on me that she is anything but daring. We haven't had to deal with many trips, spills, bumps, or bruises because Lydia doesn't do anything she isn't confident she can do successfully. Even as I've seen her go to lean on something that is unstable, and family members nearby get nervous that she will fall, I know she'll be okay. She'll test it out first. If she senses it isn't sturdy, she won't mess with it. It's rare to see her topple over at all.

In some ways I'm glad she has this trait of mine. It may keep her out of some sticky situations in life because she will take the time to cautiously assess them. But at times I wish that I wasn't so analytical and could just throw caution to the wind and enjoy things. But it is what it is and it is fun to see reflections of myself in my baby girl.

It's also fun to see some of Brent's personality coming through in her. Lydia is definitely laid back like her daddy. She isn't sensitive about things and there isn't much that she doesn't like. She does not at all seem to be a crazy emotional girl. We'll see if this changes some as she gets older, but as it is now she doesn't cry much unless she gets hurt and isn't shy at all either. She doesn't care where we go as long as we let her have something to play with, she'll happily ride around in the car all day and sleep or stare at the scenery out the window, and generally speaking she is not clingy to either one of us. Every time I worry that she'll have a hard time with a change (like when we were weaning or when we changed our morning routine), she isn't phased. I'm always impressed by how easily she handles whatever it is that we decide to do.

Just a quick note about other recent Lydia developments: She has picked up the word "Lala" as the name she gave to Elmo. She somehow knows the letter E and will pick it out of the sea of bath letters floating around her if asked to find it. She says "Dada" in reference to ducks... "duck duck" perhaps? She is also getting better with the words "fish" and "crash" (which we say whenever we knock over a stack of blocks). Lydia gave me kisses on the cheek for the first time the other day (made me cry too!) but refuses to do it again for me or for Brent. She is NOT a touchy-feely girl! She will point to her toes, belly, head, hair, and ears, but despite my efforts to teach them usually will not point to her eyes, noes, or mouth. If I ask her to point to anything on her face, she tends to just point to her ear. As smart as she is I don't get why she won't do this! I think she's doing it to spite me. :-P She thinks it is hilarious when anyone makes a horse noise, and the other day she appropriately called my mom "Nana", even with no bananas in sight!

She is the love of my life and I can hardly imagine what it is going to be like to have another one! It will be cute overload for sure!

...is when Lydia looks up at me as I put her in her crib and signs "I love you" as we say goodnight.

I can hardly believe my ears these days as Lydia is picking up more and more words. She continues to babble like it's her job, but she's throwing in a few real words now.

Her first official word was "hi" and this continues to be her favorite word to say. It now comes combined with a full-arm wave and is directed at anyone or anything that comes into her view. She is incredibly outgoing! Here are the other words she commonly says (most of which she has picked up in the past week):

Night-night
Nana (banana)
Shoe
Socks
Go-go
Woof (more like oof, but she knows it's the sound a puppy makes)
Moo (more like oooo, but she knows it's the sound a cow makes)

She still doesn't really say mama or dada. I can only assume this is because she is smart enough to realize that she doesn't need to say them to get our attention. :) My favorite thing was when she first started to say "go go". This happened while we were driving through Chicago traffic. We kept slowing down and Lydia sat in the backseat and insisted that we "go go!"

When she started saying "shoe" it sounded like she was adding a T to the front of the word. I think she was trying to say "two shoes" because that's commonly what I would say to her when showing her a pair of shoes. Then for awhile everything related to feet was called a shoe. Feet... socks... shoes... they were all "t-shoes." She's been starting to pick up the word "socks" in the past day or so though. I've been trying to show her the difference between a shoe and a sock. I took her out in her stroller yesterday with just socks on and halfway through the walk she took hold of her foot and proudly declared, "shocks!"

It is so much fun watching her learn. She's such a smart kid!