Another Day at the Beach

One of the problems I have with keeping my blog updated is that I'll start a post and then get interrupted, and by the time I remember to go back to it, it really doesn't seem relevant anymore so I just start a new post, which then gets interrupted... you get the idea. So I have all of these unfinished posts just sitting there.
I came across the pictures I planned on using in a post back in October and decided that even though they are technically not an update, I (in hopes that it will entice more of y'all to come visit us) wanted to post them anyway.

These are the pictures from the last visit we made to the beach where the water was still warm enough for us (i.e. me and my thin blood... braver souls venture in much later in the year than this) to swim. This was in mid-October.  We met Andy there after work on a Friday evening, and it was really the most perfect beach outing we've had so far.

At our beach there usually is a sandbar that's shallow enough for Landon play on, but on this day the tide was out and the sandbar was high enough that it was actually out of the water. Landon could sit on dry land and build sandcastles in the middle of the ocean. So amazing.

 Andy and Landon playing on the sandbar

 Livia getting her toes in the water. You can see the beach behind them with the ocean in between.

 Livia footprints.

 Landon, Livia (in my arms) and me sharing the sandbar with some friends. 

Hamming it up on the beach. 

This is ten minutes from our front door. Really, why haven't you come to visit yet? 

Every single day Landon's pronunciation of words gets more accurate. Last night, while reading a favorite book, he changed, mid read, the way he said the word "sky" from "ky" to "sky". I mostly find this heartbreaking.

One of my favorite mispronunciations of his is when he says the word "silly". Right  now it's, "Landon is bein' so sirry. " I know it's only a matter of time before sirry will be extinct. And I always want to remember exactly how it sounds coming out of that little, earnest mouth.

Having two kids has certainly been an adventure so far. There have been a few tears (mostly mine), a few time-outs (again, mostly mine), a lot of learning, and, lately, lots of laughing in this new territory of sibling-hood.

When Livia first came home Landon was mostly of the "maybe if we ignore her she'll go away" mindset. There were moments (or more like seconds) of tender big brother hand holding. Those moments gradually progressed to more frequent occurrences of big brother loving pets. Recently, however, life's gotten a lot more fun. They've started to play together. Now, there are squeals of delight, peek-a-boo's, and baby girl giggles. I love this. 

One of their favorite games to play is chase. This is especially fun when played with Landon's tunnel (thank you Melissa!). Landon crawls inside and peeks out the windows shouting "Livia!" (pronounced 

We ah wa) until she catches on and starts in after him. Then the chase begins. Round and round, in and out, laughing, screaming and squealing. Watching this is the best ever. 

This One's For Aunt Linda

We've been busy traveling these past couple weeks in an attempt to visit as much family as possible over the holidays. It was exhausting but so much fun to be able to share Livia's first Christmas with so many people. Here's how we spent our holidays (so far)...

My parents came down to spend the week of Thanksgiving with us. The weather was beautiful so we beached it up, explored Gulf Shores National Park, and played in the backyard.

Livia started "officially" crawling on December 1st - just a few days after turning 6 months.

We spent a weekend baking and decorating sweet treats to share with friends, neighbors, and Andy's squadron.

Sugar Cookies #1

Gingerbread house #1

Bath time became a group activity. Both kids LOVE this. Landon asks for a Livia bath nightly, and as soon as she sees her brother in the tub, Livia gets so excited her little legs start kicking and she starts giggling.

We then headed north to visit Andy's family in Ohio. In addition to subjecting both kids to their first Clark Family Christmas Party we also...

went sledding

decorated gingerbread house #2

met Landon and Livia's new uncle, Calvin

Decorated sugar cookies #2

and sugar cookies #3

From Ohio we headed west to Colorado. Landon was sick the first few days we were there so that kept us house bound for a bit, but we still found time to...

Surprise Annalissa with an 18th birthday party

Help Mickenzie decorate her famous cupcakes for the Christmas Eve party

Play Christmas dress-up with Livia

(despite all my efforts to keep her bottom firmly planted on the floor, Livia decided 3 weeks of crawling was enough and starting pulling herself up a few days before Christmas)

Landon started feeling better just in time to see Santa

and visit the gingerbread house village at the Broadmoor

We packed a lot into our short 10 day trip. Our kids were spoiled rotten and great fun was had by all.

I'll try to be better about posting, Aunt Linda. We'll see how it goes.

I'm so bad at this

Blogging that is.

Not ready to throw in the towel yet though, so here are some excerpts from life as we know it right now...

Andy finished his second marathon (this time in Denver) in mid-October.

Landon's room got a makeover.

(Chair rail, blue paint, shelves, toddler bed are all new)

Landon got his first black eye.

Andy built a sandbox in our backyard.

Livia, at 5 1/2 months old, gets on her hands & knees,

sits up,

and has two bottom teeth.

(They're in there - had a hard time getting a picture.

But gosh I love that little face!)

Landon has started paying more attention to his baby sister; his new favorite ways to interact with her include petting her head, "landon's petting weeva!" or forcing her to hold his hand, "landon's hoooolding her hand."

*why don't I have a picture of this???

Livia at 3 1/2 months old

Some observations I've made. I'm not sure if they will be significant to everyone or if they are just significant to me because of how different she is from Landon. And because she's mine.

Every time I put her on her back she rolls to her belly and assumes a skydiver's back arched, hands and feet up position. It wears me out just looking at her. This is new to me. Landon was perfectly content to lay on his back until he was about 7 months old. I won't be surprised if she crawls at 6 months despite giving her my "I have babies who stay put until they're at least 10 months" lecture.

She wants to be with me all the time. She cries if I put her down and walk out of the room.

She's ticklish. Everywhere. Her belly, her feet, her neck. It's so fun.

She HATES the car. Screams- for- 40- minutes- straight- no- matter- what- I- do hates the car.

She likes to wear dresses so she can pull them up to her mouth and suck on them. She puts anything she can get her hands on into her mouth.

Blue eyes are a distinct possibility.

She hardly eats. Ever. But some how she manages to grow faster than I can believe.

She LOVES her brother. Every time she sees him her whole face lights up. It really is the cutest and most heart warming sight. I'm sure he'll feel the same way about her once she gets past her car issues.

She has us all wrapped around her tiny finger.

Mid roll - I tried to get a picture of her on her back but she's too quick

This is how she's happy

Dress in the mouth

Anything and everything in the mouth

Now for the real story...

When Landon was born I asked Andy to write the blog about his birth because I thought it would be interesting to read his perspective on that day, so when Livia was born I thought we should continue that tradition. A few days after we got home from the hospital I asked him if he'd like to do it and he said that he would. Then work called and he got really busy...

He finally found a few minutes this past week. So here's his version. Or maybe it's Livia's version as dictated to Andy. Better late than never.

So my parents have probably told you the story about how I was born, but I asked them to wait to post about me on the family blog until I could become a little more verbal and dictate fully what the experience was like. If you haven’t met me yet, Hi, my name is Livia Anne and I was born on May the 27th. At first my parents were a little nervous about the date because everyone was born on the 3rd of a month except me, but I told them, “Hey, no sweat 27 is 3 cubed, so all is good, anyway back to the real topic.”

On that fateful morning, my Daddy woke up as per the norm at 6am and started getting ready for his work softball game. Just as he was about to leave for the day, my Mommy said “O husband dearest, I think you might want to stay home and pack the car, the little one is starting to come now.” Thankfully, Grandma had just arrived to stay with us the night before, because nobody really wanted to find out how my big brother would have fared at the hospital for the next two days. After taking approximately forever, my daddy was finally ready to take my mommy to the hospital to get things started.

Walking into the delivery ward was a little bit different this time for my parents since they were unprepared because I came when I was ready instead of when the Doc’s wanted me come, like big brother. The day at the hospital was going okay, I was taking my sweet time like all good princesses, I had to make a grand entrance you know, until my daddy drug a chair up on his almost completely healed toe and he got black toe again! Anyway back to me, I was taking my time trying on different outfits for the big reveal. I could not decide whether or not have my cord wrapped around my neck or my right arm. I kept checking in the mirror, the cord looked a little thin by itself and my arm looked a little thick up there next to my double chins, I just could not decide. I eventually decided that both together looked the best and that is how I came out, dressed to the nines, with my arm up around my neck holding my cord in place so it wouldn’t slip off. Mommy and Daddy were surprised to say the least that I came out with such good fashion sense, both immediately fell into tears at the sight of their precious new baby girl.

Next came weight and length, no girl discusses her weight, but this is a big event and all of you want to be in the know so just this once. I hide it very well, my weight that is, and all the nurses were guessing about 6 and half pounds, but not my daddy he was spot on saying that I would weigh 7lbs2oz (actually 7lbs2.6oz so the hospital rounded up to 3oz, but I still think he was right, after all they did weigh me before I had the chance to go potty, the nerve of some people). My length was completely average at 20.5 inches, I guess I don’t hide that very well or it just isn’t as important as weight as nobody was even guessing, but I think my mommy knew how long I was because she knew which size outfit to bring for me to wear home. After a well deserved meal I finally got some sleep and started to settle into my routine of feed, wake, sleep.

I am still mostly following that routine, but think I might start switching to a nap routine sometime here in the near future, I’ll have to get back to you on that as my mommy likes the sleep cycle I am currently on. Well my daddy says it’s time for me to go to bed as all princesses need their beauty rest and we have big plans tomorrow to go to bed, bath and beyond and maybe home depot, but he is not sure if there will be time.

Hope to see you all soon,
Love with hugs and kisses
Livia