So Funny!

Since Ayda was my first I never realized what a chunk she was. And really it is that she was just a solid baby...no wonder she walked at 9 months. So now that we have Hadley it is crazy to me that Hadley is 7 1/2 months and wears 3-6 month clothes a lot of the time. She is slowly making her way to the 6-9 month clothes. I loved having Ayda being so ahead of every milestone and adventurous and now I love having Hadley that is little and more sensitive! Funny how very different our two girls really are!

 Ayda at 4 1/2 months old!

Hadley at 7 1/2 months old!

Milestones for Ayda

(Overheard at our House-Ayda conversations is at the bottom of this post!)

I feel like I have not really done a milestone update on Ayda in awhile so I thought I should jot down some of hers.  I'll say this is stuff that has happened in the past month...

She dresses herself...and picks out her clothes. So if you see her out and about and she doesn't match, you'll know why! I do try to direct her to things that look ok together but I don't push it.

She is fully 100% potty trained. No more diapers...even at night!!! It is wonderful. She has had a couple night time accidents this week but that's fine. We're prepared for that. She is so proud of herself and has been telling people we see that she doesn't wear any diapers any more! 

She puts on her shoes by herself. Sometimes on the wrong feet but again she is proud of herself so I let it be. 

She has taken up quite an interest in cooking. We have made lots of muffins the past couple weeks. I feel like at least by making those I can sneak in fruits or veggies too! She requests we make cupcakes so muffins are usually our compromise. She just loves being in the kitchen with me making something. 

And her vocabulary has increased so much! She is talking in full sentences and has quite a wit about her. I'll end with a couple conversations I've had with her the past couple days:

She received a postcard from Naples FL from my mom:

M: Ayda this is a card from Grand-Pam (and I read what it said to her. In there GP mentions the beach)

A: Oh the beach?

M: Yes Grand pam is at the beach working.

A: Ayda go to the beach. And mommy and sister. Come on! Ayda's bathing suit!!! (and proceeds to run in her room and get her bathing suit)

M: Baby we can't go to the beach. it's too cold and too far away. This is just a card from Grand Pam

A: Ok mommy! Ayda go to beach. With pam pam, papaw, daddy, mommy, sister, agong, ema, and Ama!!! 

M: Well we can't go right now. (totally didn't want to break her heart but I couldn't just say ok knowing full well that we were not going! The girl loves the beach!)

A: Mommy, sing the bear song on your phone

Me: I don't know the bear song. you sing it

A: Yes you do know it mommy. sing it please!

M: I really don't know what you are talking about. If you sing it maybe I will know it then.

A: Mommy you really do know!

(At which time I redirected the conversation because she was getting frustrated. I still don't know what the bear song on my phone is!)

She was out of bed and I walked in her room to get her back in bed and found her completely naked:

M: Ayda why are your clothes off?

A: I don't know

M: Well you took them off. What made you do that?

A: I picked panties (And points to some panties she put next to her outfit for the next day)

M: So you took all your clothes off so you could pick some panties for tomorrow?

A: Yes! I get dressed now.

M: Um. Ok. Thank you.

I had told her we were going to see some friends of ours but they had to cancel. Their little girl was sick with a cough. When Ayda woke up she asked to see them:

A: I want to go see Lyvleigh

M: Awe, Lyvleigh is coughing and is sick. We can't see her today.

A: No mommy. lyvleigh not drinking coffee.

M: (trying not to laugh) No baby...Lyvleigh is couGHING. She is not feeling good today. She needs to rest.

A: Oooh.

She really keeps us laughing so much during the day. I love this girl so much!

Overheard at Our House...

So Kevin has been home for a week and a half (well he left again today) which is the longest stretch of him being home AND healthy since August! It was so nice to have him home to help with the girls but we had a lot of laughs too. We had some good laughs and had so much fun with the girls. They keep us laughing plenty too! So here you go...overheard at our house...conversations between me and the hubs! And forgive me if these are not funny at all to you...I understand fully that Kevin and I have a weird sense of humor!

(Driving to lunch):
Kevin: Where do you want to go?
Me: I don't care at all...the Lin girls are quite hungry!
K: The Lin girls? YOU are a Lin too you know.
M: Uh, yea...I said the Lin girls, as in all the girls in this car!
K: (sly chuckle) I made a white girl a Lin. You're a white girl...and now a Lin. ha!
M: Um yes, yes you did.

(Finishing up dinner and I get a text message):
K: Whoa that looks different!!
M: Yea I did that huge update on my phone. There is a lot of stuff that is different.
K: I updated my phone this afternoon and nothing is different.
M: Babe, you have the 3G phone...
K: Hmm, Clearly Apple has stopped updating my phone. My update is to go down to the store and get the one with more GBs!!! I want the black one...with more GBs.
(referencing the cartoon)

(Driving past this random Donkey farm down the road from us):
M: Ooo slow down. I want to get the website off their banner. I mean really a donkey farm?
K: What?
M: They have a website. I want to know the point of all these donkeys.
(We slow down, I get the website, and we slowly pass the donkeys)
M: That's a whole lot of donkeys
K: That's a whole lot of asses
M: Ha!

There are so many moments that this man makes me laugh. More than I can even record. I'm thankful for our laughter. Even if we have a weird sense of humor it's perfect for me!

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!