Quick Post to Procrastinate

Today: went to church, went to grocery store, went to Burger King (ugh, I know... nutritious lunch for us!), Lucy taking nap, I washed a mountain of dishes (luckily we're buying a dishwasher with part of our economic stimulus check!), Ron is at a Rampage game with our friend Keith. I should continue cleaning... it's really gotten away from us the past couple of days. Toys are scattered everywhere. Also, our island is covered with miscellany, which we knew would happen when we designed the kitchen but went ahead with it anyway. With it being part of a great room, it really needs to stay clear or it makes the whole room feel cluttered. Motivating, I guess...

Anyway, this weekend flew by. We did end up going to Olive Garden Friday night. Combined with the unlimited breadsticks and salad (which was filling enough), we split an entrée. It seems cheap, but let me tell you, it was PLENTY of food and we saved some money. We still left feeling quite full, and our total bill was just over $20 (the amount of our gift card)! So we just basically had to pay the tip... pretty good for a nice dinner.

We also rented a Wes Anderson movie that we hadn't seen yet: The Darjeeling Limited. Usual group of actors/actresses + Adrien Brody who I thought was really great. Random sidenote: I thought Jason Schwartzman looked really good with a mustache. Anyway, it was strange and slow and pretty, and ultimately meaningful (if you search hard enough)... but if you don't usually like Wes Anderson movies, steer clear.

TGIF

I'm so glad it's Friday. Tonight Ron and I might actually go out to a real restaurant where they don't hand you a bundle of crayons upon arrival! Sadly, it has been a long time since we've gone anywhere to eat without you-know-who. Although it's super chainy, the Olive Garden might be the place... their bread sticks are sounding pretty good to me, plus we have a gift card burning a hole through my purse. Then again it might be nice to go somewhere new, or somewhere we haven't been to in a long time. If you have a suggestion, feel free to comment. But remember, we're not looking to break the bank here.

Did you see Piers won on the Apprentice? Did you see that Donald didn't actually "fire" Trace... that's because he's really the better man, but didn't win on the actual cash-raising element. Oh well, America knows the truth. I can't believe how long they stretched out that finale. That was the only episode of The Apprentice we watched this season... and it was plenty. Now I can shift my focus back to Idol.

The Look-a-Like Meter Favors Ron by 4%, But...

Bonus Ultrasound

So today I had my 12 week checkup with Dr. Grey. Almost always by this time (or earlier) a heartbeat can be found with the Doppler. After a valiant effort, she was unable to find one, so as you can imagine I was getting a bit nervous. Apparently everything is still tucked really far down so it made it hard, and she kept assuring me that she wasn't worried, but just to be sure she snuck me in for an ultrasound...

Immediately when the image appeared on the screen, the technician saw our baby kicking and flailing like crazy, and rotated the monitor to show me our super-active baby (they always keep the monitor turned away from you until after they know it's okay for you to look, especially since this was a "viability check", which is strange...). Of course, the heart was beating away as normal as can be (155 bpm). It was cool to see the fingers and other tiny details that weren't really present on the 8 week scan. She took a few pictures for me, and even used the 4D transducer (why it's called 4D) (which is always pretty cool). No boy or girl parts would be visible quite yet, so don't strain your eyes...


Put 'em up!

Dark Teal Now

As you can see my blog has a new color scheme again. Maybe I should change it each month... in fact, I think I will. Since we're at the tail end of March, consider this the April color... it's not hard for me to do, and it keeps me amused. Plus I was not liking the pink that was here before (as it appeared with this new monitor), and of course color options are endless (it was hard for me to settle on one, so I guess it'll be good to change it from time to time)!

Monitor

My sister is loaning us a computer monitor - it's a nice flat panel Dell.... actually I think the screen is larger than our other monitor, which was beige, huge (not the screen size, the depth), and crappy. Now with this new monitor, everything seems so much brighter! My photos look lighter and my blog background looks more pink than "wine". Am I seeing things right for the first time? I might have to make some adjustments!

Anyway, thank you Kelly - we really appreciate it!

Unaware

Ugh - this morning Lucy was just not herself... and it was rubbing off on me. I think she was tired, and has a couple molars working their way through... then out of nowhere she climbed up onto the couch and landed her pointy little knee, with all her weight behind it, right onto her little brother or sister. I got really worried for a while, and I think that was making Lucy even crabbier. I Google'd all the different key words to find something reassuring and eventually found a message board where this type of thing had happened to other people and everything turned out fine. Basically for injury to occur to the baby, the mother would probably have to be pretty injured herself. Also, the fetus is pretty safely protected by fluid and muscle, etc. Still, I'm looking forward to my checkup tomorrow afternoon, and to hearing the heartbeat. I'm sure everything is okay, but I'm going to have to protect myself more from our little (big) girl... she doesn't know any better.

Has something similar happened to anyone else?

So, she got some Tylenol and is down for an earlier nap than usual... sounds like a good idea to me, too.

Easter

Yesterday was Easter - one of the coldest ones in my memory! That's a bummer for everyone who has pretty little spring dresses for their girls and then goes to church and it's 25 degrees outside! So, we ended up adding tights and a little white sweater to the ensemble, and with a new pair of shoes that morning, Lucy was ready to go. We made it to church super early and she did quite well in nursery... until she apparently ate an entire apple. That won't fit in her tummy, so some of it came back up onto her sweater. Therefore we had to make a pit stop at my parents' house (they were visiting Kelly & Heath in Evanston) to wash the sweater before heading to Ron's mom and dad's place...

I didn't have my camera with me that day, because I didn't expect to be out and about so long... but I'm hoping to get some photos from other people via e-mail. However, I took some pics of Lucy in her dress on Saturday, so that I could remember what she wore. She was not very interested in my mock photo shoot... but I got a couple decent ones anyway, and created a gallery.


I'm hoping to add some pictures of the little Easter egg hunt at Ron's parents' place... Lucy seemed to be having a great time finding the eggs hidden among the countless knickknacks, all the while avoiding getting trampled by her older cousins. No one whined about how many they found. Yeah right (but not Lucy, she was happy with one in each hand!).

After a couple hours of madness there (and not all the relatives could make it, but there were still six little kids) we decided we had made it this far without putting Lucy down for a nap, why not stop by my grandparents' house for an hour or so, where she proceeded to zero in on all of the ubiquitous candy dishes. Lucy did so well, despite not getting to take a nap until after 4:00 PM! When we finally got home, I changed into comfy clothes and fell asleep for an hour. I've never been so tired from an Easter!

Guess What...

Time to share some news - I've been letting relatives (immediate family + grandparents) know and now that they all do, I can officially post it on this blog: we're going to have another baby! Here is a photo from 3 weeks ago...

The due date is October 8, so if you recall Lucy's due date of October 12 (born October 1), there is a good chance they will have very close birthdays. I'm only 11.5 weeks now, and have felt great the entire time. Once again we are not going to find out the baby's sex, and as of now I have no "feelings" about what it might be. Maybe that will change ... but I'm really amazed at how much I don't care what it is! Many aspects of this pregnancy are just like last time, but I don't have any strong cravings yet to compare (and luckily no morning sickness either)...

Best Seat in the House

This is Lucy's new obsession: the Chicco stroller I posted about earlier! Now she just wants to sit in it and hang out in the living room. When I folded it up to put it away she let me know how sad she was... so now she's strapped in the stroller watching Sesame Street and wouldn't have it any other way.
More Photos

Lucy Appleseed

Lucy can eat an apple by herself. It's really cute because she holds it with two hands, and turns it around and gnaws on it like a squirrel, with her eyebrows furrowed, like "nobody better take away my apple!" She's good at it though, and it's an easy way for her to self-feed while I do something else. Today during lunch I gave her an apple to work on while I did dishes. Before I realized it she had eaten almost the entire thing... down to nothing more than a nub the size of a peach pit. This means some of the core must've been eaten too... and now she's a little worried that an apple tree is going to start growing inside her tummy.

Precious Naptime

We went to the high school to visit people today, and after all our running around and saying hi and eating snacks Lucy was so exhausted. I put her down at 1:00 and it's now 4:00 and she is STILL ASLEEP. I even snuck a nap in there myself. Now I'm thinking about waking her up so she doesn't stay up too late! Maybe it's a growth spurt or something, just as she's outgrowing all of her winter clothes... yay. Speaking of which, how nice is it outside today? Beautiful! I am so ready for spring!

Downsize

With spring and summer approaching, we're going to be spending more time outdoors, going for walks, etc. Along with shopping, community events, etc. sometimes it's nice not to have a giant stroller. Sometimes a big stroller is handy, but not always when you just want to run into the mall or watch a parade. The umbrella stroller I found last year (but did not get) is the Chicco Capri Stroller in "Seventies", with fun lime green and multi-colored dots.

I know cheaper ones exist, but we need the shoulder straps to keep Lucy from launching out the front (I can definitely see her doing that). It comes in a few different colors - all the other colors are solid, but I like the print.

Then there's this thing for $550... Yikes!

Smarty Pants

You think your kid is intelligent? I think MY kid is intelligent. I think most people think that about their children. Then I saw this story on the Today Show and was stunned to see a little girl Lucy's age READING a variety of words and phrases shown to her without a problem. Words like "penguin", "stomach", "kangaroo", "Take a bath". How does she know about the long "A" and silent "E"? How does she know the "TH" sound? I know that the "normal" age for kids to start reading any words is anywhere between 3-5 years of age. I am very amazed by this child. Her parents haven't pushed her at all, she just loves books, and has also been taught signs, but experts think it's largely genetic. Wow.

Membership is Up...

... at Spring Valley Community Church - because yesterday a group of people made profession/reaffirmation of faith and became official members. This happens a couple of times per year, and we were in this group. Along with our profession of faith, Lucy and I were baptized (Ron had been baptized as an infant). We went through a lot of Cheerios and a Dum-Dum sucker to keep Lucy happy... it was a long morning being there for both services, picture taking, and occupying a toddler. She spent some time in the nursery which she is still not 100% accustomed to. My mom stayed in there with her for a while since she instantly had a meltdown and I was hoping she'd be in a calm state for her baptism/etc. It was nice to finally become members after a few years of attending, and all of our parents were there for the occasion.

All in all Lucy did very well and, after a nap at home, was even in a good enough mood to play with three rowdy cousins that afternoon when my brother- and sister-in-law came over with their kids (and Papa Murphey's pizzas).

Friends

Last night our friends Dave and Lisa stopped by for dinner. Their daughter Lauren is the same age as Lucy, and after some initial shyness the two had a nice time playing with each other, taking toys from each other, and pulling their socks off. They are a fun age right now, babbling and running around without any real plan, eating fake fruit... we tried to snap some photos (I haven't seen Lisa's yet) but it was quite challenging getting a good one of both of them. However, I think this one captures their personalities better anyway.