8,9, and 10

Months 8, 9, and 10 have pretty much consisted of the Larson summer. What a fun and different summer this has been having a little moose crawling around and keeping us company. We wouldn't have it any other way though. It has just been so much fun and craziness each day

6 Flags baby pool and lazy river has been our summer hang out. This girl LOVES the water and all things wet and wild. I think we would go every single day if 6 Flags wasn't so crazy busy this year (seriously I think the number of people has doubled since last year). We are going to be really sad when we can no longer look forward to pool days.

What this picture doesn't show you is that this is an almost EVERY meal occurrence and also that it is caked into her hair as well. Lydia and Food equals a mess. No exceptions. Mealtime equals a bath right after. And having a bath right after adds a lot more work to a normal day. 

I bought our little pink pool last year when I was pregnant so that Brian and I could watch a movie outside and sleep under the stairs by filling the pool with pillows and blankets. This year it was quite a different scenario- we actually filled it with water and a little baby girl.. and boy oh boy does this little girl love to swim in it. I think she would stay in it all day long if she could.

This girl can sure move! I lost her in my house once.. that's right.. in our teeny tiny house I lost my own baby. I went to throw her diaper away in the kitchen and turned around and I couldn't find her anywhere. I must have run up and down the stairs about 6 times thinking she was upstairs and then downstairs and then up and then not wanting her to fall down them and dreading the worst-bah! It was a mess and I kept calling and calling her name. And she happened to be sitting behind her highchair just watching me freak out with her huge blue eyes. I about had a heart attack and couldn't help but think of the many more times I would feel this way in life with this girl ha.

Month 9 was an exciting month for Lydia and me but super boring for Brian as he studied and studied and studied for his Step 2 exam. Lydia and I busied ourselves with swimming, walks, time with friends, and lots and lots of playing. Thinking back on the 9 months of pregnancy and that this little girl has been around now for 9 months is crazy to me.

9 Months in and 9 Months Out. I learned so much in the time spent with this girl and the more I learn the more I realize I have even MORE to learn. I am constantly on my toes, my house's new normal is called messy, and our night times consist of Brian getting home, having dinner, playing with Lydia and then putting her down around 7:30. Then Brian and I break out Harry Potter and read. 

It sounds pretty boring to other people and honestly if you would have told me this is what our night life would be a year ago when I was still going down water slides at the pool being 32 weeks pregnant and doing 16 mile bike rides at 36 weeks then I probably would have been a bit nervous about what lay in store.

I have learned that I love this simple life. I love rereading Harry Potter books with Brian for our who knows how many times we have read these books. It isn't our ideal date night but I'd take reading about Harry competing in the Triwizard Tournament and having a snoozing baby in the other room over late night shows anytime. 

A few times a week Brian, Lydia and I go on bike rides around the neighborhood. Lydia can be in the worst mood, but we stick her in the bike trailer and she is on cloud nine with excitement. And honestly-so are we... I love good weather and I don't want it to end!

Look at that hair finally growing a bit! It has a strawberry tint to the blonde and sometimes can look flat out red in the sun or in the bathtub. It still has a mind of it's own but every now and then I can get it to actually lay FLAT! Whoot!

Lydia's favorite thing to do is walk around the house with her brightly colored walker that sings "welcome to our learning farm..."♫ ♪ over and over. She is a very determined little girl with that thing.

She is the best at waving and clapping. Especially when she says "hi" or "ba" as she does it. It makes my heart sing a bit each time she waves at someone-even when it is a stranger. I should probably be worried that this girl has no stranger danger anxiety at all.. but I was told by a sweet lady in church last week that I should never worry about her being "too friendly" because it is her special gift. 

She said that Lydia has a special way with people and making them smile and I have to agree with her. We often tease about how Lydia will pick out the person in the room who isn't paying attention to her and crawl up and make that person pay attention.

But this sweet lady said that she probably isn't seeking the attention for herself as we tease-but looking for the people who need the attention from her and need to know they are loved. Whether this is true or not-the truth remains that she is a pretty special baby.

10 months with this angel has been amazing. We never get tired with our nightly routine of going into her room to check on her each night and then just watching her sleep.

The other night she opened her eyes as we were leaning over her crib to look at her-she gave us the biggest cheesiest smile and then fell right back asleep. I got weak knees as our hearts melted. Parenthood is challenging sometimes-but is constantly rewarded by the love our babies give us back.