Growing Up

I can't believe that my little baby is almost 11 months old. How could this be? I remember the times that all I could do was hold her in my arms as long as she would let me and sleep peacefully almost all day (my first child to do that). As the months have passed, quickly I might add, I see a beautiful, quiet, loving, and determined little lady growing up right in front of my eyes.

My mom came over the other day to watch my youngest 2 while I went to help out in Mikayla's Kindergarten class and, as I watched in amazement, Lynnea started putting one foot in front of the other while my mom held her hands. She hasn't really learned that skill until that moment (so, mom, you're the first to experience it). It made me realize just how far she's come from that small bundle I took home from the hospital.
She's also getting more teeth. Unfortunately, 3 are coming in at once and she's been a little hard to live with the past few days but it's getting better and we're starting to see the fruits of the crabbyness. Once the teeth come in, I feel like the baby stage is over so I'm trying to take as many pictures as possible to make sure I remember her with just baby gums.

This picture was taken with help from my children. She loves it when they come running toward her and act like they're going to attack her. The sounds that emit from her mouth sound like some East African monkey on the warpath but she does enjoy it immensely.

And then there's standing. She is so proud of herself when she gets up on all 2's. Deep in my heart I know it's because she really wants to be able to play with her siblings. She tries to be wherever they are and crawling really doesn't get the job done. At this rate, she'll be walking by her first birthday. I must apologize to all of my friends now, I might not be going out. 3 kids walking all by themselves just makes me want to never go out by myself with them ever again.

Of course I have to add in a moment with Tyler and Mikayla. They have been playing together rather well the last few days which is a welcome relief, I might add. (Tyler has a habit of pushing the wrong buttons). Anyway, I finally had a few minutes to read my book on the couch while they decided to play "restaurant." Every few seconds, I had to pause in the middle of my reading, order enough food for a small army, and pretend to enjoy the 4 course meal just delivered on wet plates and cups. After a while, I extricated myself off of the couch to check out the "kitchen" and what the chef had up his sleeve. With Tyler, anything is possible.

Due to the previous soap disappearing rather quickly in their bathroom, I had just replaced it with a tantalizing black raspberry vanilla concoction. As I looked at the soap on the counter that had only been there a maximum of 10 minutes, I noticed that half of it was already gone. I had to refrain from the mom lecture of "we don't waste things in this house" and instead chose the lecture on, "you only need this much (indicating a small amount with my 2 fingers) to wash a whole sinkload of dishes so you definitely don't need to use 1/3 of the bottle here." I don't know if it was to help them with their chores in later years or just to feel good about my knowledge of soap use but it clearly had no effect on my toddlers. Needless to say, it all of a sudden became naptime and we washed the plethora of soap off of all the dishes. It was fun while it lasted and it let my kids be creative, which I love.