Myrtle Beach

We spent August 3-11 on vacation with Courtney's parents in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We had a wonderful time despite the record temperatures that they recorded almost every day we were down there. The heat doesn't matter much when you're splashing around in the Atlantic! We had a week full of adventures including going deep sea fishing for black sea bass, visiting Ripley's Aquarium, attending the Medieval Times dinner theater, eating at Capt. George's Seafood buffet (which was the best seafood we've ever had), going swimming, boogie boarding, building sand castles, and just hanging out at our condo. And to top it all off, Lydah started walking! She only goes a few feet at a time, but it is definite walkage. Lydah was really good most of the vacation and she was well behaved in the car even though Myrtle Beach is 10 hours from Wilmore. For the trip home, Grandma bought her a little DVD player so that she could watch Baby Einstein videos in the car. All in all, it was a great week.

This was actually before the trip at home. But it was definitely a Kodak moment. The picture says it all.

An Emerging Personality

It's been fun to watch Lydah's personality show itself more and more over this past month. If there is one word that I would use to describe her right now it is "driven." Our ambitious little girl wakes up every morning with an agenda and a mission -- to explore and figure out as much of her little realm as she possibly can. She's always wanting to climb higher, crawl faster, and touch, taste, and see more of her world. Last week she seemed intent on climbing onto the couch so I lifted her up. Then she wanted to climb on top of the back of the couch. So, as I held her, she stood on the back of the couch. Then she wanted to climb onto the window sill behind the couch so I helped her. I thought she would finally be content. But no. She wanted to climb up the window to reach the metal fastener that locks the window shut. The whole time, from the floor to the top of the window, she was focused on that one goal. I just had to laugh because she has inherited her parents' stubbornness, focus, and drivenness. Oh well... God can use a person like that, right?

A brief lunch visit with great-great-grandma Lida who soon turns 101!

Touring the Kentucky River with Uncle Kyle and soon-to-be Aunt Katrina.

This is what Lydah finds boring.

This empty plastic bottle, on the other hand, is hours of fun!

Standing!

It's official. Today Lydah has proven to us that she can stand on her own! She did it several times today for about 15-30 seconds each. We don't think she is even aware of it yet. She's always too preoccupied with whatever project she is working on to know that she's just hit a new milestone. But we're proud of her. Below are some of the pictures from this last month including a few with her friend, Claire.

Swimming in June

Lydah is now crawling all over the place. We're trying to teach her what things she can play with (like blankets and CD cases) and what things she can't play with (like electrical cords and the kitchen trash). She's doing really well responding to "no" and she completely understands us when we want her to stop doing something. In the past few days she has decided to start throwing food on the floor if she isn't interested in eating it. Among her favorite foods are: bananas, cheese, and squash. She doesn't care much for cottage cheese and wheat bread. Fortunately for Mom and Dad she has been sleeping regularly from 7:00 pm to 6:45 am -- almost 12 hours straight! We thank God every day for the little treasure he has loaned to us for a time.

Swimming with friends in the backyard.

Lydah slipped in the tub one night and bruised her head pretty badly.
But babies heal fast and it disappeared in a couple of days.

Lydah doesn't seem to mind sleeping in awkward positions.

She's always happy after a good long nap.

9 (Months) Going on 17 (Months)!

That's right, our little 9-month-old is an overachiever! (Of course, that's what her parents think.) Lydah's latest achievements (of basically the last 2 weeks):

1. Crawling on her hands and knees (no more of this belly crawling)
2. Pulling up on furniture and 'cruising' along
3. Turning pages, opening flaps, and touching the pictures in baby books
4. Saying 'mamamama' (Mommy), 'dadadada' (Daddy), and 'lalalala' (Lydah?)
5. Eating table food! Yum!

Lydah plays peek-a-boo with Grandma Miller at dinner. Grandma bumped and bruised her head earlier that week, but she's much better now.

Lydah's 100-year-old, Great-great-grandmother Lida Miller feeds her an ageless favorite: Cheerios.

Lydah plays on Grandma and Grandpa Probst's rocking horse.

Memorial Day Reunion

Every year the Coates family meets at Durley Campground outside of Greenville, IL for a family reunion. These pictures are compliments of Bob Coates, my great-uncle, who is much more of a shutterbug that I'll ever be. Thanks, Uncle Bob!

With her soon-to-be aunt, Katrina, who will join our family officially on May 17, 2008.

With her Uncle Kyle.

With her great-uncle Gerry Coates.

Hitching a ride on Grandpa Coates.