Eloise is 9 Months Old!

I cannot believe my little girl has now officially been out of my womb as long as she was in! Born at exactly 39 weeks and now 39 weeks old. 

Eloise is such an incredible joy. She is the happiest baby ever. Everyone always comments on how she never cries and is genuinely always in a good mood. She is cuddly, excitable, and so smart.

At nine months old she...

-is still breastfed

-wakes 1-2 times at night

-naps twice a day

-claps

-crawls

-pulls up to stand

-takes steps occasionally while holding onto things

-sometimes stands with no assistance

-can eat any food and loves it all

-says "mama" "dada" and sometimes "hi"

she likes:

-MUSIC

-when her dad calls her

-playing with her brother

-riding in the stroller

-jumping

-kisses

-mirrors

she dislikes:

-having toys taken from her

-changing her clothes

-being buckled into her car seat

-when mama leaves her sight

Overall, Eloise is the most sensational little girl. She loves to dance and play with toys. She is obsessed with rolling on the floor with her brother and practically bursts at the seams from excitement when her dad calls her. Eloise loves looking through her photos of Daddy and snuggling in bed with her Mama. She is cloth diapered full time and still nurses often with no signs of stopping. Her favorite foods are blueberries, bananas, apples, and graham crackers. 

I am so unbelievably lucky to have such a perfect and amazing daughter. She is such a pleasure to watch grow and I am so excited for her first holidays :)

-Kacy

Busy Bees

I really miss Kansas, but one thing I do LOVE about VA is we are ALWAYS busy! My calendar hasn't had a single empty day on it since we got here and I see no end in sight. We have standing playdates on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. Tuesdays and Thursdays we usually have cleaning, shopping, or friend visiting to do. Weekends are filled with activities like going to Maryland to see our best friends or events around town.

This past weekend the kids spent their first night away from me EVER and it was crazy! I went out with some friends to celebrate a birthday and left the kids with their Grandma Kate. They had a great time, but they were SO EXCITED to see me! I couldn't even sleep in the next morning because I was so excited too. I rushed to get them and spent the rest of the day snuggling them up!

Tomorrow we will be heading to DC to spend the weekend with my dad and we are stoked! Luka has been using his suitcase so much lately and he loves it. That kid loves to travel!

We have all been doing great. Eloise has cut her first two teeth and Luka has learned a ton of new words. Every day he asks me to play with his friends! We have been gearing up to move again, this time to our "permanent" VA residence and getting ready for the holidays. I have completed the kids' Christmas gifts which is such a relief! (Now I get to obsess over their birthday party, right?)

William has been doing great as well. The kids love to Skype with him and Luka loves to talk about his Daddy to everyone he meets. Eloise looks at her photo album of her Daddy a couple times a day and loves to smack his picture (or try to eat it...).

All in all, Virginia is suiting us! I love all the options to keep busy and enjoy never having a spare minute. Even though some days still seem slow, the pace of this deployment is picking up nicely. I just can't wait until we can put it behind us and be together as a family again!

-Kacy

Halloween Fun!

Since moving to Virginia, we have had maybe two days that were not filled with plans. In fact, our calendar is still full all the way to December! We have stayed super busy and it has been so much fun for the kids to see so many friends, get out, and do things meant for their enjoyment. Happy kids equals a happy momma!

Some of the fun we have had has included: pumpkin picking, trunk or treats, fall festivals, hayrides, pumpkin painting, and Halloween itself.

The kids have both LOVED all the holiday festivities. We have enjoyed a lot of them with friends which has made it even more special for them. Luka is also at the age where he mostly "gets it" and loves to play games and be in on the fun. By some Halloween magic, he even WANTED to wear the ears on his Mickey Mouse costume! He also did so well trick or treating. He would say "trick or treat!" and get some candy for himself and put some in Eloise's bucket as well. Sometimes, he truly surprises me in how well he handles things that normally trigger a meltdown for him. Luckily, we only had one issue on Halloween that lasted more than two seconds (One lady was giving out silly bands. He stuck his hand in the bucket and the "yucky" surprise feeling of it set him off.) Overall, we had a BLAST with all of our holiday fun.

We aren't big Thanksgiving people, but I am sure we will have a small celebration of sorts amongst ourselves. We will also be preparing to move to our new (and permanent for the rest of our Virginia stay) place just before Christmas, so I am sure we will be busy anyway....of course ;)

-Kacy