Teeth, standing, and other such fun

Yes, that's a tooth on the bottom gum...and there's another one right next to it.  They're small, but extra sharp.  We're brushing them at night, just to get her used to it.
I just really liked the look of surprise she has here.  She's a curious little monkey, and always exploring...
This is not an example of my terrible cleaning abilities (more on that later), but rather evidence of her new favorite activity--standing on the media cabinet.  This arrived on September 2nd, and already it's covered with sticky fingerprints.
Fast friends...Lola has become a pretty calm dog lately, and even allows Lydia to have a ball of her own (it's intentionally a little too big for Lola's mouth).

So, on the cleaning front...I posted in early June that we had found a college student to clean our house.  The first girl seemed nice, but was really not much of a cleaner.  She hustled and bustled a lot, and made a lot of noise (not a good thing when you have a baby around), but she took forever to do anything, and the house just didn't look clean.  An even worse crime, however, was her scent.  She was a very nice girl, but a crunchy type who didn't seem to favor deodorant or antiperspirants.  To add insult to injury, she rode her bike to our house.  Don, who had to spend the most time with her, couldn't stand to be anywhere near her.  And the house actually smelled worse after she'd been here.  So I had to let her go.  In her place, I found Lindy, who has been great.  She's efficient, quick, and observant, so she can often find things to do.  She worked for us all summer and thought she'd be able to continue into the school year, but is finding that her schedule is more challenging than she'd expected.  I hate to have her cut back.  It's been so wonderful to come home to a clean house three times a week.  Still, she's so good that I don't want to lose her.

We've also had our first official playdates.  One of the male residents has a baby, Gabriel, who is 2 months older than Lydia.  His wife, Sarah, and I have gotten together a few times to watch our kids play and chat about motherhood.  I really have enjoyed these times, and look forward to more.  It's great fun to watch Lydia interact with another baby.  Last time, she was playing with/gnawing on a block and then tried to put it in Gabe's mouth for him to try--sharing!!  Sarah and I have talked about outings to the petting zoo and apple orchards this fall, which should be lots of fun.  

And, to conclude...I bought a used baby jogger and have gone on 3 runs with Lydia.  It's a little more challenging to do slight uphills than before, but it really runs pretty well.  One thing that doesn't run as well as it used to is this old body.  Wow!  It's hard to believe that I used to be able to run 6 miles with ease.  Baby steps, I keep saying...baby steps