Hadley is 7 Months!

Hadley turning 7 months has hit me harder than any other month so far. Not really sure why. Even 6 months didn't seem like a big deal. Something about her being 7 months makes her seem too close to being 1 year old already! Anyway, here is what Hadley has been up to these days:

Hadley,

+You weigh around 16 lbs 13 ounces. Quite a growth spurt this month!

+You are wearing a lot of your 3-6 month clothes still but 6-9 fits too. 

+Your cloth diapers are still on the middle snap and you are officially in size 3 diapers. Apparently the organic disposables run small but in Target brand you wore size 2 till this past week.

+You started solids at 6 months, 1 week but didn't tolerate them well. We took you off and just started back this week. You LOVE sweet potatoes and so far that is as far as we have gotten. We're just taking it slow and letting your body get used to it!

+You are army crawling everywhere...and FAST! 

+We can't figure out if you just love feet or if it is your way of getting us to pick you up, but you are constantly after our feet, even Ayda's!

+You are sleeping great at night...usually 7-8 hours!

+You are bored with toys that don't have lights or noise now. I had to dig out Ayda's old toys and you love them.

+You have the sweetest personality but I have seen a new side of you this month...you are persistent when you want something...you don't give up! We think that's great!

Hadley, This month has been so fun to see your personality blossom even more! You adore your daddy and give him the sweetest smiles when he gets home. You still think your sister is the funniest person in the world which cracks us all up. We are so thankful for you and all you add to our family! We love you!

For more pics of Hadley go HERE!

(And for the comparison...here is Ayda at 7 months!)

We're Heading North!!

I'm excited to finally be able to blog about some big change happening in our lives. A couple months ago Kevin learned of a job opportunity in NC working for one of the best Upper Cervical doctors. We began praying about whether this was a good step for us. He traveled to NC last week to visit the Doctor's office and was offered the job! We are really excited about this opportunity for him in his career. It will be sad to leave FL and close his office here but we just feel like this is such a great opportunity for him. He will start working up there right after Thanksgiving. I will stay in FL with the girls till right after Christmas. We both are excited, anxious, nervous, thrilled, and more. He is in NC right now looking for a place to live which makes it that much more real! I am jealous that he is there right now with the leaves changing colors and looking so beautiful. I have always loved the Carolinas and am so excited to be heading there! I go from lots of anxiety about all we have to do to get packed up and moved, to excitement about this new chapter, to sad to leave our friends and his family here in FL. There are definitely mixed emotions.

So we will be quite busy the next few months. I also have taken on photography and hope to get some practice with friends here and then really get into it once we are in NC! Exciting times for the Lin family!

And of course I had to include this sweet picture of Hadley! She's getting ready for the COLD weather this winter. :)

Random Catch up

So I realized it has been a week since I posted. I know all 3 of my readers have missed it. hehe! But I thought I would get caught up. Since September was a rather eventful month for us I am pleased to say October has been the exact opposite. We have gotten Kevin healed even more, caught up on sleep, and gotten back into somewhat of a routine. It has been nice.

Hadley cut her second tooth last week and we started her on solids. She LOVES her some oatmeal. She's only had oatmeal and sweet potato but she is a happy girl. We had hoped to hold her off but she told us otherwise. She was waking to eat every 3 hours at night. Yea...not going to work. Now with a little "dinner" around 6 she is back to sleeping her usual 6-8 hour stretch, sometimes longer!

Ayda is still doing amazing at school. She begs to go on the weekends and I can tell she is learning so much. I love when she comes home saying something new or doing something new. I love that they are pretty strict with her behavior there so there is only improvement in that area. She is such a great kid!

Kevin is back on his feet and put in a full week of work. Last Monday was his first day back after 2 weeks off and he did well. He was definitely tired but he made it. His leg is looking good, just a lot of scarring.

We celebrated our 4th anniversary a week late at our favorite BBQ restaurant 4Rivers. We ate till we were stuffed! We tried to go to a movie but 10 minutes in we had to scoot out because Hadley was home screaming like crazy. She will always take a bottle no problem, but it is the wrath of H afterwards when you expect her to go to bed without me there. So we hurried home. It was still a nice evening together and after everything of September it was so nice to spend some time alone together. Kevin is a fun guy and though I love any family time we can get, I also love time just us two to talk and laugh and just have fun.

And as for me, I am caught up on sleep! I have just enjoyed getting everyone back on track. We started a new small group last night which I am so excited about. I really like the people in it. I think it will be a fun group! I'm also on the leadership team for MOPS which has been awesome. Again, such a great group to be around.

So there's an update! I better get going and get Miss Ayda to school. No pics today...haven't touched my camera since the beach. I'll get some this week for sure!!

4 Years!

Kevin and I celebrated our 4 year Anniversary Thursday. It was a little different of a celebration but it reminded me of what marriage is really about. Just being together. We didn't go out to a fancy restaurant. We actually were blessed with a meal brought to us from a friend. Kevin has been battling an infection on his leg and was just starting to be able to get out of bed on Thursday. So our sweet friend brought us food to give me a little break from cooking and we watched our favorite TV show with his brother. September proved to be a tough month in the Lin house and I am so glad it is October! Kevin is getting better and better by the day and I am thankful for that. It's hard to see your other half in pain. So for our anniversary we laid low and enjoyed life as it is. Definitely didn't hurt having two precious girls to keep us going and give us laughs. The past 4 years have been busy. But when I step back and look at each year I see so many blessings and my heart is full of joy. I truly married my best friend 4 years ago. He keeps me going so often. He is such a great teammate in raising these girls. I'm so in love with this man. I can't wait to see what this next year brings our way!

Hadley is 6 Months!!

Half a year. Wow!

Hadley, Here is what you are up to at 6 months!

+You weigh 16 lbs 1 oz (50%)

+You are 26 1/2 inches long (75)

+You get where you want to go with the army crawl. I have to be careful where I leave you!

 +You are sleeping great once you go to sleep. You started fighting going to sleep a couple weeks ago. It warms my heart though because you usually only want me! I enjoy our snuggles!

+You eat about 6-7 times a day

 +You have the sweetest personality. You pretty much let Ayda do anything to you and you go with the flow 99% of the time. You are so laid back!

+We are so proud of you, sweet girl! You've been so busy this month just learning to move around. It is so fun watching you explore and get to toys across the room now. If you want something you waste no time in getting there! You are such a joy and I love every minute with you! 

Ayda at 6 Months!

Have to add her stats (I was shocked when I looked back)

Weight: 18 lbs 13 oz (85%)

Length: 27 inches

She was almost 3 pounds heavier at 6 months than Hadley is! So funny!

Cocoa Beach, FL

Mom treated me and the girls to a weekend at Cocoa Beach. The weather was perfect and we had a blast. Ayda LOVES the beach to say the least. She talked about it for over a week before we left. She couldn't wait for "Pam Pam" to get here so we could go.

After dinner one night we went down to the beach to enjoy the sun setting. Ayda had a blast playing in the sand and building castles. 

Hadley enjoyed watching Ayda play and enjoyed walks in her stroller with Grand Pam. 

 My mom is the greatest and she is where Ayda gets her appreciation for the beach from. I think they both would have stayed another 2 weeks if I had said ok!

 My precious littlest Lin!

 Love these two girls more than words can say!

 Ayda also loves the pool and our hotel had a pretty nice one. It was right outside our back door. Perfect for lugging two littles ones out there. Technically Hadley could have gotten in since she turned 6 months while we were there but I decided to hold off. So Ayda enjoyed splashing around and Hadley watched and laughed at her!

Love that wrinkled nose smile! And if you look closely you can see her tooth! Only one still and it's just adorable!!

Trick Candles and a 4 Year Old

 My nephew Jack's first experience with "trick" candles. 

(I promise I didn't know when I bought them!)

 Serious determination to get what he thought were regular candles out...

Pleased with himself, yet intrigued (and confused) at the fact they were relighting...

Some more determination and recruited help to get those candles out!

Jack was so funny with these candles. He was completely confused with them relighting. And he took getting the candles to go out very seriously! We did finally get them to go out with the help of a wet paper towel. The kids thought it was great fun!