Lynlee is Growing Up

So much has happened since I last wrote. We successfully moved out of our condo, and are renting it out to an Arabic couple. We are comfortable in my parents basement and have finally gotten most of our stuff organized. We have a lot of our stuff in a storage unit, but still had to find space for all our necessities here. It all worked out quite well. We mainly live in the long, rectangular room that takes up half of the basement.  On the end of the room by the fireplace is my office space in one corner, and just behind me in the other corner are my drums. Halfway through the room is our bed, against the wall, and beyond that is the large bar area that acts as sort of a kitchen. Off of that room is a door to the storage room with half of it set up as a closet for our clothes and our own storage items. Lynlee's room is a smaller room just off of the kitchen, with both a door into the kitchen and a door out by the stairs on the other side of the basement. We use them both in the day to get to the stairs faster from that side of the basement. So, now that you have the whole explanation I will have to add in a few pictures with I put this into a book.

Lynlee is now a little less than 9 months old. She has been doing well in daycare and has made some little friends she plays with there. Since starting daycare she has learned to babble, and make all sorts of fun sounds and noises, including whining. She especially whines whenever anyone else has food or a bottle and she doesn't. I taught her to clap without even realizing what I was doing. I would take her by the elbows and make her palms clap together. I only did it a few times, but before we knew it she was clapping all on her own. At daycare, whenever the ladies there would say "yay!" she would start clapping. It's so cute.

She interacts well with other babies and loves to be social. When Cambria drops her off, she gives Cambria a hug by resting her head on her shoulder for a few seconds then immediately wants to be put down to go play. She loves coming home and seeing mom and dad. When I walk in the door, she looks around wondering what the sound is, and when I come into sight her mouth opens into a wide open mouthed smile, and her eyes go wide and brighten up. Then I usually get a big grin out of her and a yell or two as she flails her arms around wanting to come see me. It's so cute and it makes my day. She's growing up so fast.

She actually just crawled a few days ago. It was only for about two feet but it was more than her usual short army crawling. She loves laughing, and her laughs are getting cuter and cuter every day. I am growing out a short beard for Halloween and she laughs when I rub it across her belly. She laughs really hard when I pin her arms out to the sides of her and lightly bite her arm a few times while moving toward her shoulder. Tonight we were playing with a stuffed bear that is about her size. I was having the bear attack her belly and neck. She was laughing louder and harder than ever before. We can fly her around above our head while she gets an open mouthed grin and little, short bursts of laughter. And last but not least is moving toward her in little short bursts and she laughs every time we stop. The only thing happier than a babies laugh is when it's your own baby laughing. She brings us more joy than we ever though possible.

She is so cute when she is put to sleep. As we approach her crib, she pushes away from us because she wants to get in it. When we lay her down, she immediately rolls to her left without fail and tries to go onto her belly. We roll her back over and put a blanket over her and under her arms. After kissing her and saying I love you, we'l leave. As we walk out she lets out a few small pouts then is usually quiet for a minute. A few minutes later we will hear her babbling to herself while watching the rotating projected scene on her ceiling. After a few more minutes she is asleep, usually in funny positions all over her crib. We'll go back in, move her, and put the blanket back on her.

Quite often when I get home Lynlee is already asleep. It's hard not to see her in the evenings but I get to spend time with her in the mornings at least. While Cambria is getting ready, she calls my phone and wakes me up. I stumble out of bed and go wake up Lynlee. She plays around on her floor while I find her some clothes. She has a large, 4x5 foot foam floor mat that is also a puzzle. She now likes to take it apart and wave the pieces around in the air. She takes off the foot long border pieces and waves them around, so I grab one and sword fight with her. It's pretty funny because when I stop hitting her sword with mine, she will stop waving hers around. I start sword fighting again and she starts waving hers around again as well. After playing, I change her and get her dressed just in time for mommy to come down to nurse her while I read our morning scriptures out loud. I then take Lynlee with me upstairs to the kitchen and start making our protein shakes and oatmeal for breakfast while Lynlee plays in her saucer. Cambria then takes her upstairs to do her hair while I finish breakfast. When they come down we say morning prayers, then I carry Lynlee out to the car, kiss her good bye, kiss my sweet wife, and they are off for the day. I then get my stuff ready to go. Even though I am not, and maybe never will be a morning person, it has been such a great morning schedule. I get to spend some short but sweet time with my little girl and send her off every morning. 

A few weeks ago I had one day off of school for Fall break and forgot to tell Cambria. When she called to wake me up I told her I would be going back to sleep after I got them  out the door because of Fall break. She told me not to worry about it and to go back to sleep right then. I just couldn't turn down the opportunity to get up and see my little sweetheart, so I got up and we had our normal day's routine, and I still went back to sleep afterward.

It seems like life is happening so fast. Lynlee is growing up in leaps and bounds, the school semester is halfway over already, and the holidays are right around the corner. Halloween is soon, and we are getting our costumes ready. I'm growing out my beard so I can trim it into a sweet handlebar mustache for my Texas ranger costume. I have a cowboy hat, boots, and all the clothes. All I need now is a sweet star shaped badge and a gun and I'll be set. Cambria is going to dress as a cute southern bell that robbed a bank and Lynlee is going to be a sack of money. It's going to be way fun. Well, I hope to write more in here as the holidays come. As usual, life is wonderful.