David Leo, 324 months

David turned 324 months old today, aka 27, so here's a post to celebrate him! He's growing SO big and has been doing all sorts of new tricks that documenting them all was vital for his birthday. ;)

Height: 6'1"
Weight: undisclosed via privacy request of the man in question (I'm assuming)
Nicknames: Dada, Dad, DAVID (when Kitty gets very upset that someone isn't listening to her, she reminds us all that she knows our real names and shouts them vehemently), Daaaaaaa (Cora)
Firsts this month: turning 27 I mean 324 months, having a real bummer of an infection that's taken a few weeks to kick, going to a pumpkin patch as an adult!

Other things to note:
He's still as selfless and as fun as ever, keeping this family trucking along with house projects, doing all the dishes, handling bathtime and screaming children during the witching hour, and generally being a rockstar. This couple weeks of sickness has thrown our routine out the window, but we're extra grateful it hasn't been anything too serious.

For his birthday he requested nothing too elaborate, so we celebrated with his family this weekend in Columbus and will celebrate both tonight and Wednesday (tonight our immediate fam, Wednesday with my side) with his favorite foods: Raising Cane's, cake, and a birthday reward venti caramel frappucino. (Bonus tip: you don't even have to load any money onto a reward account to get a birthday freebie -- David never has his Starbucks app loaded and he gets one every year! Yay for free things!)

He's been extra helpful on the weekends, taking the girls so I can go try to frantically copyedit a manuscript for hours on end. We're kind of itching to start a new house project since the outside is basically done (until we landscape next spring), so we'll see what that ends up being. He's been wanting to get the garage finished and organized, since we'll use it for projects during the winter, so that might be next.

All in all we are lucky to have such a loving, caring, hard-working, goofy man around to balance out all the female craziness going on in our house (currently outnumbered 4-to-1), and we're grateful for every minute we have with him.

We love you, Dada/David! Happy birthday!!!
love,
Hannah, Kateri, and Cora

currently

The rain is falling down, the windows are open with cool air (finally!) coming in through them, both girls are asleep, and I'm settling in for a little bit of blogging and some work to do.

drinking: Diet Coke. Since it's zero points for WW, I've developed a serious addiction...which I should probably cut once I'm to my goal weight, but for now it's basically giving me life and I'm going to stick with it.

listening to: Up and Vanished -- I took a break for awhile because I got distracted by other podcasts but via the prompting of Caitlin I'm back on it. If you've got any humor/comedy podcasts I should listen to, hit me up -- they're my fave.

eating: nothing right now, but I had leftover tuna noodle casserole for lunch and we're planning on pulled pork sandwiches for dinner.

reading: I'm in between books right now, but I just finished (Amazon affiliate links ahead) Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey, which was amazingggggg - if you're in the mood for a good, realistic, captivating sci-fi novel, I highly recommend. The next one in the series, Caliban's War, just came off the hold list at the library so I'll probably go pick that up this week. I'm 5 books ahead of schedule to hit 30 books this year, so I'm hoping to exceed that by a lot.

loving: the La La Land soundtrack for motivated background music.

working on: a couple house projects including new shutters and a painted basement, which I will take photos of and share later this week. The rain is lovely but not so good for photos, even with my new phone.

wearing: I got to wear jeans this morning without sweating!!!

making: been making small progress on my knitted blanket, which I've been working on for over a year now. I'm convinced I'll still be knitting it in my 80s.

watching: I'm on my fall rewatch of Gilmore Girls, which Kate always interprets as "Gilmore Girlfriends"-- she always wants to know what I'm doing before she falls asleep for naptime, and she verifies it when she wakes up again too.

wondering: where we should go for vacation, as I've officially reached my goal weight to reward ourselves with an anniversary trip next spring/summer! YAY. I'm stoked but totally overwhelmed with the options. Switzerland? A train trip through the Canadian Rockies? an all inclusive in Jamaica? I just can't even think about all the trips without my brain hurting. You should see my internet history. (Using Jenna's recommended Scott's Cheap Flights to tempt me about twice a day!)

What's happening in your neck of the woods?
HG

Cora, 9 months

Oh my dear sweet Cora, how are you already 9 months old? I can't believe you have been outside my tummy longer than you were inside. Life wouldn't be the same without you.

I have no idea on stats but here are my guesses, since we haven't had her 9 month appointment yet as per usj, and I probably won't remember to come back in and edit them...oh well...

Weight: my guess 23 lbs

Height: I'm guessing her height has stalled out because she can still fit in most of the pants and onesies that she's been in for awhile.

Firsts this month: waving, doing "so big!", pulling herself up slightly on furniture, transitioning from sitting to crawling and back again, basically being a big mobile girl!

Nicknames: I have taken to calling her Bubbie, and no I don't know why but it's my favorite nickname for her. <3

Other things to note:
+ Girlfriend just went from nursing 4 times a day to just 3 -- in the morning when she wakes up, around lunchtime, and once before bed. I'm trying to wean her by the time we leave for a Husker game weekend at the end of November and since it's almost October (eek) time is running out! She's pretty okay with it because she eats SO MUCH FOOD and is basically a bottomless pit of real-people food.
+ Honestly, I cannot describe to you how much this baby eats. She would sit in her high chair and eat 24/7 if I let her or if she didn't occasionally get tired and need to nap. It's amazing how much food she can put away.
+ We're officially off of purees too (unless there's one hiding in the cabinet that I haven't found) and down to only big people stuff! Her favorites are pizza crust, grapes, cheese, and the occasional puffs snack.
+ Her naps have been meh since we went down to 3 feeds. I was nursing her right before sleeping and we're trying to transition out of that, and it's not been easy...haha. She slept for an hour this morning, when she'd usually sleep for 1.5 or 2, and yesterday wasn't much better. Hopefully she'll ease herself into longer naps again soon. She's crankyyyy when she's tired (much more than Kate ever was while tired as a babe).
+ I guess I didn't mention in my last post that she is officially sleeping through the night! I feel like that was longer ago than just one month but apparently I'm wrong. She sleeps through the night, and I honestly feel like the amount of sleep I am getting is the same because I'm staying up later...oh well. I think she's a happier baby because of it.
+ She and Kate have started to take baths together, and it is officially my favorite part of the day. Mostly because I know where they are and they're contained and usually playing happily together.

We <3 you Cora Jane Gokie!
HG