Lydia // 2 Years

No more babies in this house... Lydia is a full-fledged toddler! Of course, she'll ALWAYS be my baby, but she's two now. TWO. I've never had a two-year-old without also having a newborn or being at least halfway or more through my next pregnancy. I'm really getting to savor her toddlerhood. She's the cutest little thing, and we love having her in our family. We celebrated by going to watch a parade, seeing cousins, and eating pasta for dinner because she's obsessed with pasta. Brownies for dessert, and she blew her candles out like a complete pro.

I need to take pictures of her tomorrow or Monday. I was planning on this evening, but then it got overcast and her face was stained from the pasta sauce. As per usual these days, pictures are forthcoming, and I'll add them to the post soon!

Let's talk about Lydia at age 2:

- Quite the chatter box and learning new words all the time

- Has a 6th sense for treats and will come charging through the house as fast as her fat toddler legs will carry her if she knows I'm opening a package of something sweet.

- Climbs to the top level of our backyard playset but can't get back down on her own

- Pronounces "water" as "rah-der" and I am already dreading the day she stops doing it because it's adorable

- Just as book-obsessed as her older sisters. If I sit down anywhere, she will immediately take advantage and bring over book after book after book, then climb up on my lap and demand, "Read book!"

- I'm still her very favorite person in the world, but she's not very clingy anymore

- Gives the best snuggles when she wakes up from her afternoon nap

- In addition to being pasta- and dessert-obsessed, she also loves cheese (like, a lot)

- She's in an oatmeal phase and has had oatmeal every single morning for breakfast for the past couple weeks

- Loves animals, especially dogs and cats. She attempts to pet any dog she sees.

- Quite finicky about fruit. One day she loves raspberries, the next she outright refuses them. Rinse and repeat with every single fruit.

- Thrives on routines and procedures

- Has the best smile, especially when she scrunches up her eyes and nose

- Very happy and boisterous little girl

- Loves to sing (one of her favorite songs is "Good Tonight" from the Netflix movie "The Bad Guys")

- Enjoys going for walks in the stroller

- Really enjoys going to nursery at church and will run straight there the moment it's time

- Starting to become a little defiant and says the word "no" with increasing frequency

- Walks down the stairs, but will still slide down on her belly if she's looking for speed

- Likes helping with laundry and putting dishes in the dishwasher

- Takes "selfies" with one of my old (non-functional) smartphones while saying "Cheeee!"

- Too observant and clever for her own good

- Problem-solver

- Gets into LI-TER-AL-LY EVERYTHING

- Chronic snacker and can often be found with her hand in a cereal or cracker box

- Currently going through her Peter Pan obsession phase, just as her oldest sister did at this age

- So friendly and says "Hi" to everyone we pass when we're on a walk

- Likes wearing necklaces and bracelets

- Graduated to a booster seat at the kitchen table, so now all 6 of our chairs are occupied!

- Some of my top nicknames for her are Lydi, Princess, Shoo/Shoom (based on a sound she used to frequently say about a year ago that sounded like "shoom") Shooby Snack, Honey Bun, and Bitty Lydi.

- Has been sized-up as a snack by a komodo dragon at a zoo (such a funny story, that enormous lizard was licking his lips)

- One would think that she would hate being in the car because of the sheer amount of time she has to spend in it because of taking her siblings to school and extracurriculars, not to mention going on errands with me, but it's quite the opposite. She's always excited to get in the car and go places.

I'm obsessed with her. She's the perfect little caboose to our family and brings us so much joy, while also keeping us on our toes. Love you so much, itty bitty Lydi!

Dance Concert 2022

I figured that since the 2023 concert is happening in just over ONE MONTH, it was high time to finally get some pictures from the 2022 concert posted. Ooops. Pictures and blog posts have obviously been very low on my priorities list. But I've added pictures to the past few posts, so be sure to look back at those if you've been waiting to see them!

The 2022 concert was exciting because we had TWO little girlies involved with it! They both had fun, and the week leading up to the concert was crazy between the pictures and dress rehearsals (and Austin's t-ball games and other events/errands we had).

Nicole had three routines for the 2022 concert: one for her acrobatics class ("business people" costume), and then one ballet number and one tap number ("mazurka doll" costume). This was her last year doing tap, actually, which she is a little sad about, but our studio doesn't teach tap past this level. She turned up the sass to a full level 10 for her acro and jazz numbers. Quite the performer, ya know.

Meanwhile, Autumn and her two classmates were the envy of all the little girls because they had unicorn costumes. Autumn did so well on her dances and didn't have any stage fright! However, she was not expecting the traditional, loud "cast scream" that all the dancers do after the bows when the curtains close, and she was NOT a fan of that group scream. She refused to go out for the bows for her second performance because she didn't want to hear everyone scream again! Poor Tum Tum.

Our little dancers. Austin will join them this year because he's taking an acrobatics class at the studio, and Lydia will probably join them in the 2024 concert! THAT will be crazy. It already took me well over an hour to do hair and makeup for both of these girlies, and I had to do their hair 4 different times (5 for Nicole)! At least Austin won't need hair or makeup. Praise be to short-haired boys.

Autumn // 4 Years

This morning, I attempted to sing the "Happy Birthday" song to Autumn, and she got mad at me. Not the best start to a birthday, but once we got some breakfast in her she was much happier. She's not very keen on getting older because she WANTS to be "babied" (probably because she has a little sister who is "babied" constantly) but even Autumn gets excited about some of the perks of getting older (such as getting two gummy vitamins in the morning instead of just one).

Autumn at 4 years old:

- Loves any and all dairy products--especially milk--even though they don't completely agree with her digestive system

-  Will easily spend large chunks of time per day looking at books/"reading"/having me or Doug read books to her

- Enjoys listening to Disney movie soundtracks

- Has her own "playlist" on YouTube that has the most random assortment of songs and artists on it such as Sara Bareilles, Justin Bieber, Fergie, and Owl City

- Regularly sneaks down to her big sister's room to "borrow" her books, Polly Pockets, and art supplies

- Current top tv show of choice is Pinkalicious on PBS Kids

- Is starting to play well with her baby sister, and it's so fun to see them close themselves away in Autumn's bedroom and giggle in there together for a while

- Sugar addict

- Regularly sneaks onto the kitchen counter to swipe a cookie, or a sibling's toy that I put out of reach, or to take a sip out of my Swig cup

- Not very ticklish, but has a cute laugh when you can get her going

- Was very brave this past year and got comfortable with being in pools

- Enjoys easy hikes

- When the weather is not freezing (like it is right now!) she loves to ride around on a 3-wheel scooter

- Had a hard time adjusting to Primary at church for the first couple weeks (so hard to leave nursery, where she's been for 2 1/2 years and there's snacks and toys and baby sister to play with) but she's warming up to it now

- Scared of elevators for a while, but now is just mildly nervous in them

- Likes the idea of dogs, but gets nervous around dogs

- Monkey see, monkey do. If her siblings are into it, then so is she.

- Already talks about being excited for kindergarten and going to the same school as her siblings. Excuse me, miss, but you still have a year and a half before you head off to kindergarten!

- Dresses up in costumes a lot these days (princess dresses, old dance concert costumes, etc)

- Has the cutest little voice where her "l" sound comes out as a "w" sound (so "Lydia" becomes "Widia")

- Probably plays with Austin the most at this point in her life

- My first child to need a nightlight in her room (much to Austin's dismay, since they share a room currently. Yep, he prefers a very dark room.)

- I have to be careful to remove all books from her room at bedtime because she will take her blanket and pillow and lie down by the nightlight with her books and fall asleep reading. Cute, but then she's grouchy the next day.

- If she steals something she shouldn't have (treats, siblings' toys, ChapStick, etc.), she hides it in a corner of her closet. It's the one of the first places I look if something is missing, and I suspect Autumn might have taken it!

- Quiet yet goofy at preschool, and kind to her classmates

Love you lots, Tum Tum. We love watching you learn and grow!