Last days of summer

Nadia's been painting and making crafts

Messy fingers!

We met Erin and Mitch at Splash in the 'Boro for a great visit. Nadia the water bug - she was trying to swim like the bigger kids

She went down the kid water slide all by herself! One of us would take her to the top and the other would wait at the bottom to catch, but she had to go down all by herself! She would get to the bottom and say "Again! More slide!"

The splash fountain area was her favorite - she just ran and ran and ran in circles around all the water and made "splash, plash, plash!"

A great, very hot day!

Happy Birthday Poppa!

Nadia is now our official bird seed filler - she's so diligent with her refilling efforts! The new nursery furniture was delivered last week and Nadia has had a ball with the boxes! We made a "little house" complete with welcome mat, flowers, bird feeder, and pool drawn on. She likes to keep a very neat house and doesn't want anything but her inside. She occassionally allows a friend to visit if they knock and ask to come inside.

"Cheese!"

I don't want to forget...

Here are a few sweet stories from the last few weeks that I want to write down so we don't forget.

One day Nadia said, "Bird seed," pointing to the bird feeder. I explained to her that yes, we needed to fill up the feeder, but we didn't have any more bird seed right now so we'd get some the next time we went to the store. The next day she again said, "Bird seed." Yet, this time it was over and over and over, dispite my replies that we were out. After hearing about "bird seed" for over 30 minutes, I asked if she'd like to finish dinner and go to the store to get some. She was thrilled. So we went to Walmart, and the entire trip in the car there she called out, "Bird seed, bird seed, bird seed!" When we got there, she was still calling, "Bird seed!" The Walmart greeter laughed as we walked past eagerly heading toward the "Bird seed" aisle. Then we proceeded to choose our bag and put it in the buggy. Then it was "My bird seed! My bird seed!" all the way through the store. Everyone we saw commented that they'd never seen a toddler so excited about bird seed! We went home and I poured it into the feeder thinking all was solved, but Nadia burst into tears and cried. I let her hang up the feeder, but it didn't help. She eventually moved onto the next thing, but I was so bewildered about her tears when we had finally put out new bird seed. The next day I told my mom about what happened and she told me that when Nad stayed with her, Nadia filled up the feeder with a small scoop all by herself.... A-ha! Now Nadia will be our official bird seed filler.


Yesterday Nadia and I had been running a bunch of errands, going from store to store, buggy to buggy. When we got to Sams, she did not want to get into the cart, so I agreed to let her try walking if she'd stay by me. She did! She walked all through the store and stayed right by my side. We got to a main aisle and were heading right toward another man with his cart. Nadia moved to the side and said, "Excuse me," completely on her own! Oh how she is growing up! She also is using thank you and please automatically very frequently.

She picks up her play phone and starts conversations regularly. The calls go something like this - "Hello, unmm, lawudygahme, mwah, i wuv you, okay, bye." She calls family members, she calls strangers... well I guess they always call her, b/c she suddenly thinks the phone is ringing and rushes over to get it!

She loves to play like she is sleeping so that we will pretend to wake her up. She lays down, eyes wide open, and starts making a snoring sound. She waits and waits until we call her name and try to tickle her or get her to wake up. She loves to play this over and over. Tonight she added pretending to cry and comfort us in our fake tears to her routine. If we pretend cry, she says, "It's okay mommy, it's okay," and gently pats. She also pretends to be angry, or excited or scared or suprised! Such fun with expressions.

21 Months

21 Months old with Buster Bear!

She was not interested in taking this picture, and I'm late in posting it, but it was taken on the day. It's been one roller coaster of a month.

Father's Day ended with a spontaneous trip to The Big Mo - the Monetta drive-in. We were totally unprepared, decided to stop by a gas station for snacks and then headed over to Nadia's first full movie - Mr. Popper's Penguins. The drive-in was the PERFECT way to experience it - she was able to sit in our laps in the front seat and was sooo into the movie she bumped her head several times trying to get closer to the "pen-pens". The movie didn't start until 9:00 PM, so we thought she'd likely only make it through the first few minutes, but she stayed awake until the credits rolled! We put her in her carseat at the end of the movie, and she was sound asleep before we even got out of the parking lot, but she loved the whole experience which included her first skittles and candy bar.

Reading books on a blanket before the movie started. There was also a playground that she LOVED.

Sitting with Daddy as the movie started.

A trip to Ripley's Aquarium at Myrtle Beach - she loves the '"ish!"

Every squirmy - "down Daddy!"

Look at that big shark!

Nadia is our little gymnast doing sommersaults, tumbling around and bending so flexibly!

This ABC puzzle mat has become such fun as she can identify and stand on the letters for various key words. We say, "Show me the D for Daddy." She'll run over to the "D". She consistently knows A, B, C, D, G, J, L, M, N, P, S, T, V! (and we've only been playing this game for a couple weeks!)

4th of July week we were at Myrtle Beach on vacation. She truly enjoyed the sand - it was a wide open, pretty flat, HUGE place to run! She wasn't crazy about the ocean ("big water") but she couldn't get enough of the "little water" where the tide created a small pool a few inches deep where she could "splash" and play without the crash of the waves.

On the 4th we watched fireworks. At first she wasn't so sure about them - it was loud and crowded and very windy on the beach, so we took her inside where she could still see the fireworks from the window but wasn't so exposed. After she got used to them, she asked for "more crackers!" We took her out to the beach and she enjoyed lots more up close and personal! The next night as it got dark again, she asked for "more crackers", "boom, boom, boom!" Luckily, we were at the beach and there were more crackers for her to see.

Happy 4th of July!

Snuggling with Granddaddy on the 4th

One night we went for a walk on the beach and wound up at the boardwalk like area. Nadia rode the train and enjoyed some cotton candy.

Our vacation was originally planned to be spent with Bill, Anne and Stephanie but a week before we left, Anne's doctor decided that she shouldn't go. After her first heartattack, she was still having difficulty recovering and had been re-hospitalized with week before we were to leave. Everyone was disappointed but wanted us to still go. While we were at the beach, we received a call that Andy's mom, known by Nadia as Gamma, had had a second heartattack and died very unexpectedly. We were overwhelmed with shock and disbelief. The reality of it all is still sinking in. We returned home immediately for the funeral and were overwhelmed with the care and kindness of so many friends and family in sharing their sympathy. We are so saddened that Gamma won't be able to meet Lydia or watch Nadia continue to grow up, but we will share many wonderful stories with both of our girls of her deep love for them and for all of her family. She was a wonderful mom, mother-in-law and grandmother who will be greatly missed and long remembered.

The day after Anne's funeral, I had to leave for Passport Kids Camp. I returned home only to head back to NC to pick up Nadia from my parents, and spend a couple days with Andy before he left for a mission trip to Jamaica. Hours before he left town, I started having contractions which were very strong and lasted five hours. He left and the next day I proceeded to have much less strong but much more sustained contractions for 17 hours. The good news is that after some rest, with mom coming in the night to help with Nad and be here whatever was to come, and a doctor's visit later, everything has calmed down. No more contractions and everything is fine with the baby. We don't expect any more problems. The doctor said that the stress of the last two weeks was probably catching up to me - that we function in the "have to" mode as long as we can, but then our bodies hit a wall. No doubt, it has been a stressful time, but we are s0 thankful that everything is okay with Lydia and look forward to meeting her in 3 more months.

20 months

20 months with Buster Bear

We've emptied what used to be the guest room and had an almost completely empty room (except for this chair that was on its way to a yard sale) getting things ready to paint and move furniture to Nad's new room. But she LOVES the chair. She wants to sit in it and play in it and read in it all day. So I'm definitely not convinced, but the chair may have a longer lifespan in our family to come... we'll see. Nadia is very excited about her new room, especially about it being "pink!"

She reads or brings to us to read to her no fewer than 30 books a day. She spends HOURS everyday with books. Regular trips to the library are a must, though she still loves all of her old favorites the most.

Nadia in her teeny bikini.

My 13 year old Nadia flashed before my eyes in this moment. She looked so grown up. We definitely don't want to rush it!

Playing dress-up. She insisted on giving Daddy a fashion show of all her dress-up outfits while he was working outside.

Isn't this the perfect summer look? Boots and shorts? She was so proud because she picked out and put the boots completely by herself!

In the process of transitioning the guest room, I took down the curtains. She found them and immediately turned them into dress-up wear - a toga, a cape, a royal robe.

Uncle Jor came to visit this weekend - a few days before his birthday. Nadia helped stir, pour, ice and sprinkle this cake for him.

Some of her latest -

She knows lots of colors! She picked out 5 shades of pink crayon and identified them as "pink" from the 48 crayon box. She can point out orange flowers, purple flowers, yellow, etc.

She has some serious MOVES - from break dancing to hip hop to disco to her own creative dance steps, she loves to DANCE! She tries to copy anything she sees us do.

She has great physical coordination. She does somersaults, can balance on one foot, can stand on a domed shaped bowl without support, and can jump (high!). She climbs stairs and ladders on big playgrounds with ease.

She is talking more and more EVERY single day! She uses new words by the hour, and understands us completely. She loves ocean animals right now and can identify "shark", "whale", "clam", "lobster", "sea horse", "star fish", "crab", "turtle", "clown fish", "angel fish", and more.

She has a fantastic memory and recalls things she has only seen once before or was introduced to days prior. She makes associations and transfers them to her imaginative play - like turning a plastic french fry she stuck through the hole in a plastic donut into a "popsicle" or playing pat-a-cake with her baby dolls in the doll highchair.

Big Sister!

Nadia is going to be a Big Sister in early November! She told us before we officially found out that the baby was going to be a "GIRL!" and she was right! We're so excited she's going to have a little sister!

She wanted two chairs in the picture, so I guess she's getting ready to be sitting with her sister (note the pic in the chair with her feet!)

We have packed up her big high chair and moved her into a booster seat at the table. She loves it!

Wading in the Clemson Lake with her toes in the rocky mud

She loves to ride in the car these days as long as she can watch her favorite movie, "Cailou!" She asks for "Cailou" every day.

She loves corn on the cob and will eat an ear entirely before anything else on her plate!

Watercolor painting is a new fun fav

We went to the Georgia Aquarium on Memorial Day. The entire time she was sooooooooooo excited to see every fish ("ish"), every shark and every whale. She said no fewer than 50 times, "Oh Woah! Wow!" It was priceless!

"Oh Woah!"

These were "little ish" but mostly there were "big ish!"

This was the only picture I could get with her looking at the camera because she was so into the fish, she wouldn't turn around to smile. When we got home after our trip, before we put her to bed that night, she said over and over while emphatically signing 'more' , " No ish, peas, morrow, ish, peas, peas, no!" English Interpretation - "More fish please, tomorrow, fish please please, more!" She's been talking about the "big ish", "whales," "shark", and "turtles" ever since.

There is a great playground at Olympic Park across the street from the Aquarium where she would have been happy to stay and play for days.

On June 2, she got tubes in both ears. She did so well! She went to the nurse into the room without even crying, woke up pretty happy and was playing on the Chick-fil-A playground within 15 minutes of leaving the surgery center. She never whined, cried or had any issue thereafter.

She charmed the ENT staff in the pre-op area.

Playing in her pool - she LOVE, LOVE, LOVES the water!

Running water on her toes is the best!

She would stay outside all day every day if we'd let her! Summer fun!