Tap Dancin' and More

One of Lydia's *talents* mentioned in the previous post:

I told ya she has an obsession...if the vacuum is out of the closet, I know where to find her :)


Just *one* of her hiding spots...behind my clothes in the closet

SHE IS ONE FUNNY GIRL!

Little Rascal Update

I think Lydia's new name should be our "Little Rascal." Somehow that name seems a bit "boyish" to me, but that's exactly what she reminds me of these days :) I have come to the conclusion that God gave us an easy child first so that when #2 came along and rocked our world, we would be thankful for the somewhat simple first go-around we had with Addie.

I took the Little Rascal for her 15 month well check visit with her doctor last week and he laughed when I told him all about her "adventurous" side and said, "I think Addie was just exceptional and Lydia is just normal." Haha! She's definitely "normal" alright. Normally rambunctious, normally climbing, normally kicking and throwing fits, normally squealing and laughing, normally falling off of kitchen chairs, and normally getting right back up and doing it all over again! What a fun little child she is, and I DO mean that! She tests me daily and I have figured out that if I change my attitude to "I'm thankful she's growing and learning" by getting into all this stuff and doing all of these crazy things, we are all better off.

Here are just a *few* of her current antics that I just love:

*The cheesy faces she makes just to be funny (I wish I had pictures!)
*The way she "tap dances" in the kitchen
*Her ability to climb....nope, I don't really love this one, but it's part of her and I love her
*Her love for cooking...she gets out all the measuring cups and spoons and pretends to measure and pour :)
*Her "splashy-ness" in the bathtub...if I didn't close the shower curtain, the entire bathroom would be drenched and I'm not kidding!
*The way she takes my hand and leads me to the bathroom when she has to go "pot-pot" (potty)
*Her long, drawn out smoochie cheek kisses she gives freely when asked
*Her snuggles and tight squeezes
*The way she rides the vacuum cleaner (she has an obsession I think)
*Her deep, sort-of-scratchy little voice
*The way she hides...and when she hides, she's SO quiet that it takes us FOREVER to find her (scary thought sometimes!)
*How she wants to do EVERY. SINGLE. THING. her big sister does
*The way she whispers (something we're working on daily and she gets the biggest kick out of it!)
*The way she says "Amen" when we finish reading a book
*The way she prays at bedtime, repeating words after me :)
*Her extreme LOVE for her big sister.....

(some floor hugging)

I absolutely cannot get over how much she is saying these days. We really thought Addie started talking pretty early, but this one is a different story. I am truly amazed! I will *try* to remember as many of her current words as I can and of course some are in "her language" that probably only we can understand: Mama, Dada, Addie, Addie (for Lydia, but she points to herself), Joe, Papaw, Maw-Maw (for grandma), Amen, hi, bye-bye, bird, snack, bowl, bird, chick chick (for chickadee), kitty, doggy, ball, up, down, hold me, shoe, sock, eye, nose, teeth, ear, hair, cheek, wa-wa (what she calls her drink whether it's water or milk), baby, beep (she likes to beep Addie's belly button), morning (for good morning), pigtail, pen-pen (penguin), mon-mon (monkey), duck, night-night, snow (comes out "no")...oh and of course she knows NO. And our favorite, she says "oh my" when someone makes a mess or something funny or bad happens. She picked that up from one of her favorite books, Mr. Wishy-Washy. She makes several animal sounds like meow and woof woof, but the best one yet is "who who" for an owl!

Here they are "wearing" their babies (won't they make wonderful Mamas someday!) and Rascal with her first piggies :)

I am extremely thankful that Addie has learned to be very patient when Lydia does things that could easily annoy her. She no longer gets mad when Lydia knocks over her block castles, she just says "oh well, I'll build it again." She doesn't get upset when Lydia climbs up into the chair and practically shoves her way into the booster seat with her. We have our rough days, that's for sure...but I am so blessed to get to spend every single day at home with my princesses (well, one princess and one dragon as of right now). Looking at their differences makes me SO anxious to see what qualities this new little one will bring to our family! OH boy! or girl...which is what I'm thinking she is :)

An Itty Bitty Teeny Tiny Announcement

We are thrilled to announce:

Yes, that's right, baby Knight #3 is on the way! My due date is August 26th and I am 11 weeks along today :) This first trimester has FLOWN by, probably because we have kept our little secret quiet and life in general has kept us busy enough to lose track of time a bit.

We found out shortly before Christmas and I decided to make sharing this news with Chris a little more "surprising" than with the other two. I took a picture (see below) the day I found out and wrapped it up in a gift bag (fitting since Christmas was so close). I waited until the girls went to bed....which was SO incredibly difficult!.....and told him that Addie had found some of the wrapped Christmas presents and she decided to make him a present that day. He was a bit confused as he was opening the bag and unwrapping the little picture, but the expression on his face was priceless and we were both just gleaming!

We gave this same picture to our families as gifts on Christmas as well and everyone is so excited! Lydia was actually the first one in our family to know because I knew she could keep the secret...and we discussed it in detail with Addie a few weeks later. She is super excited...even talks about having a baby in her belly, which I remember her doing toward the end of my pregnancy with Lydia. They will both be wonderful big sisters...I'm sure our life will become a bit more challenging with 3 little ones, but a fun challenge it will be! We are SO blessed and thank God daily for putting these little lives in our hands :)