Happy 10 months Zada!  She had a great time playing with the girls' sequin pillows this morning.  Mimi is really good at creating opportunities for Zada to experience new things.  The sequin pillows were her idea, and Mimi just sat with her while she explored.

We saw her holding her little music toy up to her ears, and we wondered if she is playing with it like she sees us with our phones, although admittedly we don't have them up to our ears very often!

The girls went to Swiss Days with Grandmere and Bapa last night, and Grandmere generously got the girls each something.  Leiden and Mac got t-shirts, Mimi got , they all got Zada a little dress, Jon a waterproof (hence droolproof!!) tie, and me a cool Halloween throw pillowcase.  Mac also got this cool hair thing that you use with damp hair and sleep on it to get waves the next day.  She wanted to try my really long hair,

then did her own hair to sleep in tonight.

Grandmere and Bapa were so kind to take the girls yesterday and they had a great time.

One of Zada's favorite things is to play on our bed.  She still has a strong fascination with the remotes, and today she managed to turn on the tv with her teeth!

She is so proud of herself!

She has started carrying around her little Tylenol and Ibuprofen bottles.  She prefers the Tylenol bottles because they're bigger, but she'll carry either.  It's funny how they develop preferences just like we do!

Zada and I are alone most of the time now, and she's so funny.  She has recently really gotten into love behaviors, so she'll rest her head on your shoulder, and it just melts your heart.

And her smiles!!

She generally just goes right over your legs if you're sitting on the floor.  I suppose to a tiny person that seems easier than going around!

Mimi rocked it 80s style today with her crimped hair half up,

and added giant bubbles to really be in character!

Today I got the peaches all peeled and sliced ready for the freezer, and in they went.

Leiden came home from school and told me she had played the piano for the song in Seminary!  I was really surprised and felt so proud of her!  That takes guts and courage, and I'm so happy her playing here at home gave her the confidence to play with people singing!

Mac and Mimi were playing broken bones, I guess, and a cast was made out of crepe paper streamers!  And then signed!  Their creativity is inspiring to me.

She may be sick, but these pictures were absolutely DARLING.

I think my very favorite of us of her whole life so far!

Little Miss has a cold, and she looks a little bit haggard.  I really hope it's short and not too awful!

Today was the inaugural workout routine!  It's been a long time since I lifted...not since I was pregnant, so it will be really good to get moving again.  And now that I'm not nursing, I can be more careful with eating.  A bowl of oatmeal every single night has taken its toll on my body!

It was peach harvest time!  The particular varieties we got are not late harvest, and some peaches had already started falling on the ground, so today was the day!

They are small, because the trees are small, but they are lovely!  Zada enjoyed eating peach today for sure!  I will probably end up freezing peach slices as there aren't quite enough to can.  Hooray!!

The weight cage came today, and Jon spent the afternoon assembling it in the garage.

Which turned into a full scale, much needed reorganization of the entire garage so it would fit!  Zada hung out in the portacrib watching the goings on.

And here it is!  Our new little work out area.

Most of our storage was reorganized, and that meant the Christmas tree up on the top shelf.

We are excited to work out again, and I'm pleased we got so much done in the garage besides!

Zada still loves the front door.  I think she likes the view she gets of the outside world from it!

She was daddy's helper assembling the bench today.

Jon and I decided we were going to transition Zada to formula so I can stop nursing.  She has been growing so well, and it seemed like a good idea to relieve some of my stress from pumping sooner than waiting until she's 11 months.  Commercial formula isn't super great in terms of its ingredients.   Although I appreciate it keeps babies alive and growing, and I have used it myself, we were hoping for something more natural.  I had heard great things about goat milk formula imported from Europe, but it is $$$.  Importing it is the only option as it's illegal to sell goat milk formula here in the United States.  Then Jon found a site that sells goat milk formula KITS, which are not illegal.  The woman who started the farm and company has an extensive education in nutrition and had done her homework.  Thousands of breast milk samples were analyzed and she came up with a very simple recipe using goat milk, goat lactose, some oils, and some add-ins like omegas and vitamins that very closely mimics average breastmilk composition, and meets the same standards of nutrition as commercial breastmilk, including fat, protein, and carbohydrate percentages.  We were sold!  It is actually only a little more expensive than commercial, with the main commitment being a time factor as you have to prepare the formula from scratch.  Well, we ordered a kit, and I set to work making bags of formula to freeze, just like I've been freezing breast milk!

It is SUCH a weight off my shoulders to be able to stop pumping.  I am doing it slowly, eliminating one session at a time every few days, and slowly adding in formula mixed with the milk I already have stored and continue to pump.  I feel really good about this!

We went out to a Korean lunch with Jordan and Alicia today, and that was really fun.  We got a ton of food and ate it all!

Zada was a little less than impressed, but she did a great job sitting there and munching on various things until she threw them on the ground.

Leiden had another dye job done on her hair while up at her dad's.  She wanted to go silver, but we established the rule that dye jobs need to be natural colors, and silver is not a natural color for a 14 year old.  Silvery blond we could do!  She actually went more subtle than I thought she would, and it looks really nice on her.

Every once in a while, when she's not paying attention, Miss Zada can be found standing on her own!

Jon and I have had completely unused gym memberships for over a year now, with no likelihood of ever making it back to the gym, yet we want to work out.  So we decided to buy a weigh lifting cage, a bench, an Olympic bar, and a weight set.  It's going to go in our garage, which means working out will be a matter of only minutes vs an hour, and it might actually happen!  The bar came today, and I tried it out.  It's been a long time since I did deadlifts!

It's still August, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking ahead to fall!  They had cute little mustard colored leggings for Zada that I just *had* to buy!

And it is definitely still August!  Hot suey, so we headed to the pool after school today.

Zada had a great time!

She likes crawling in the shallow, but hasn't figured out that she can't crawl out too far or then her face is in the water.  Talk about nerve wracking!  The girls were so helpful in keeping her breathing air!

Jon met us there, and Zada immediately wanted to give him a hug, so he was soaked.

It's the first day of school!!!  This year is memorable, with three girls in three different schools.  We worked out a carpool situation where the girls are taken to school in the mornings and I go pick up in the afternoons.

Mac is starting 6th grade, and she's very excited.  She felt a lot better after she went to orientation, and while she will still need to get used to the layout of her school and how class periods work, she is going to do great!

Miss Leiden is starting out as a Freshman at Hillcrest High today!  I'm honestly not sure where the time goes.  It sounds so cliché, but I am astounded she's already to this point.  She has classes with her friends, and fingers are crossed this is a good year for her!

Miss Meemer continues on at the elementary, in 4th grade!  She's the only Macdonald girl there, now!

And because she's the only one at the elementary, she's the only one I got to go see off!

All three came home saying they had great days, and they are excited to go back tomorrow!

Tonight Leiden and I went to the mall to see about some new school clothes from Grandmere.

When we came out the sunset was beautiful!

This morning Zada came with me into my room while I was getting dressed.  She stood up at the dresser, but then fell.  Right into my box of nursing pads, then she was kind of stuck.  Rescue came after the picture!

Church is getting more and more exciting with little Miss on the move.

Sometimes we get lucky and a book will contain her.