Hotwheels Lucy

Lucy inherited her dad's collection of cars - most of them from the 70's and 80's... Miraculously the police car's siren still works after all these years! More photos here.

Baby Visitor

The house is clean, and Lucy is napping. What to do, what to do...

My friend came over today with her baby boy to visit. He is really cute and was pretty content almost the whole time. Lucy was very interested in him, and wanted to give him all her toys (even though he was totally unaware of what she was doing as she piled them on him). When I had him on my lap, she seemed a little jealous. I brought the old bouncer seat out, and she immediately climbed into it, so I had to explain it is for babies, and she's too big! She didn't poke at his eyes, which is good. My nieces had a tendency to do that when Lucy was a little baby.

I was playing with him by tickling his nose with the fuzzy hair of a stuffed Dr. Suess "Thing" doll, and she wanted to try it, so I handed it to her, and she copied the noise I was making while bringing it down to his face, and then not-so-gently whacked him in the eye with it. He didn't seem too bothered but I quickly determined that maybe that wasn't such a good idea. It was pretty cute watching her study him though, and I imagine she will be quite the little helper when her baby sibling comes along.

Gobble

My dad shot a turkey this afternoon (a couple hours after going out to get his license). He got a tom with a decently long beard, and plans on cooking it in his smoker! I took some photos, and Lucy got to check out the bird (nothing cuter than a small child having their picture taken by a dead animal), reminding me of many evenings when Kelly and I would put on winter coats over our pajamas to have a Polaroid photo taken of us next to a deer hanging from the basketball hoop... I won't post a photo but you can click the link if you're interested. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Stay warm!

McKlompen

Yesterday afternoon my mom and I went out to Dutch Village in Holland to get a pair of wooden shoes for Lucy, so hopefully she will be able to wear them with her (borrowed) Dutch outfit for Tulip Time. They are meant to be worn big, with several pairs of socks, so Lucy ended up getting a 7/8 (she normally wears a size 5 shoe) and we had her name burned onto the fronts and the year on the undersides, free of charge.

It was a overcast and windy day, and there were only a few sets of tulips in bloom - the rest were daffodils and hyacinths, but it still looked pretty.

Then Lucy had a Happy Meal for dinner, which came with strange-looking "American Idol" themed toy, which plays music when you lift the hand holding the microphone up. She had Chicken McNuggets and ate them with normal bites, instead of shoving them all into her mouth at once! Same with the fries... Woo-hoo! She's getting better and better at feeding herself (safely). Getting fast food is a rare event for her (or for me) but she sure loves it.

Flowers!

There are some more things blooming around our property... and these are some from the backyard garden area. Some new tulips (those that weren't eaten by our resident rabbit(s?)), and some mini daffodil-type things, and also a shrub - which popped out of the ground from nothing and grew extremely quickly... I was waiting to see what it would "do" and now I've discovered some blossoms on it: it is a bleeding heart plant! There is an ornamental tree which looks like it may flower, but no sign of that yet. Even more things are growing in the front yard, including ground covers, hostas, and more "bulb" flowers.

Mmmmm...

Our baby is approximately the size of an avocado (4.6 inches from head to bottom). An avocado that now has the ability to hear! Guacamole and tortilla chips suddenly sound really good...

Watching Her Show

Lucy basically watches only one TV show: Sesame Street. I know some people avoid having their children watch any TV at all, but it seems so educational and fun I figure it can't be completely evil. Everything in moderation, right?! It's not like she even really sits still enough for more than a couple of seconds... so she never gets to the level of being totally engrossed, despite her appearance in this photo. She just goes about her normal business of playing, but stops occasionally when Elmo is on, or if there is a song, so she can dance - which usually looks more like a parakeet bobbing up and down to the music.

Covered Bridges!

This weekend my sister and her boyfriend came up to visit. On Saturday afternoon we visited the covered bridges in Lowell/Fallasburg, where Heath and I took plenty of photos (check out mine here). Later we had dinner at my parents' house: ribs, chicken, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, cole slaw and micro brews (or in my case, cream soda) from Siciliano's. Sunday we hung out for a while and then we went to the Ice Cream Garage in Standale, before Kelly and Heath headed back to Evanston.

Sunny Weather!

More New Lucy Photos!

Kick Me

I am finally getting to the fun part of pregnancy: feeling the baby move! Over the past few days if I am lying still I can feel a few tiny flutters. Last time I felt the baby (Lucy) around 16 weeks, so this is just a bit earlier.

Today it is actually nice enough to wear short sleeves or, if you are a toddler, a summery dress.

Hey, I missed the earthquake this morning! I'm disappointed, as I can't remember ever feeling one in my life (either I was too young to be aware of it, or like this morning, fast asleep). My mom was already up drinking coffee. I feel gypped, but then again I shouldn't really be hoping for more earthquakes...

Daffodils

I've always wanted daffodils and sure enough, this house came with some...

Check-Up

Lucy had a doctor appointment today (18 months "well-baby") and she is 26 lb. 13 oz. (82%), and 34.25 inches (off the chart %) tall. She had 2 shots and frowned a lot. Below are her charts for weight (top) and length (bottom).



I just like visual aides. I can also easily spot the time in her life (around 4 months) when we started cutting down on the formula and giving her lots of various baby foods to keep her satisfied longer (also an attempt to reduce the spitting up, although it didn't seem to make that much of a difference in that department).

The Pretender

Lately Lucy has been playing pretend, which is really fun! It just sort of came on suddenly, and now she likes to give things to her stuffed animals/dolls, place books on their laps, give them drinks from her sippy cup, make them dance, kiss, go "nigh-nigh" etc., and in this case, spoon feed Elmo! She even makes slurp sounds when she puts the spoon in his mouth!

Spring Break Over

Today is the last day of Spring Break for Ron, he goes back to work tomorrow (although he has worked a few days at Woodcraft, where he works in the summer plus most Saturdays during the school year)...

During the past week or so, Ron got the leaves and sticks cleaned up, some of the quarter-round has been installed around our wood laminate flooring, and we've gotten to spend a little time just having fun. Today we even were able to see a couple relatives who live in Maryland, who were just in town for the weekend (unfortunately for the death of a good friend of theirs). We only get to see them a couple times a year, so we skipped church to visit with them at my parents' house for an hour or so.

I'm going to steal something mentioned in Katie's blog: I can't believe Michael Johns was eliminated. I would've picked him to be in the final three for sure. What on Earth? Now that that's out of my system...

Time to clean. I can't relax in clutter and our great room is the very definition of clutter right now.

Spring Break!

It's Spring Break (for those of you who work at / attend high school)... I might not post as much as usual, but I wanted to add a new one since it had been a while. I took a lot of pictures of Lucy playing in my parents' backyard the other day, and I am adding them to our Photo Site... Hope everyone has a great week!

33.333%

I am 1/3 the way through this pregnancy... which is hard to believe. I definitely feel great, but I am getting a tummy much sooner than last time (when looking back at old pictures and comparing). It's still not obvious to strangers because I've been wearing jackets or vests a lot, but if I wear something fitted, it might make them wonder. I suppose this is normal with a 2nd baby, but it's hard to be in the "in-between" phase where normal clothes don't fit quite right, and maternity clothes are too big and would just look silly. I have a Bella Band that I might have to start using soon to help with the transition. In the meantime I've been wearing my elastic waistband black pants pretty much every day (but my jeans do still fit!).

As for the baby - he or she is about three inches long from head to bottom, has all it's teeth waiting under the gums, ankles and wrists, and separated digits and fingerprints! It might suck its thumb if it feels so inclined, and those parts that distinguish the "he" from the "she" are developed enough to tell the difference (if we wanted to find out). Basically it's a fully-formed human that just needs to grow in size.

Groundskeeper Ronnie

This is just one of the photos I took today, while Ron was kind enough to rake out a bunch of leaves and start getting The Slope cleaned up. Last fall I yanked much of the juniper (creating a pile in the driveway the size of Ron's car), but as you can see, some remains. It tends to take over, so I want to get the rest of it out. There are a few other random shrubs and ground covers, some of which we may keep. It's hard to tell what else might pop up as spring continues. Either way, this is a tricky area to landscape. A level surface with a retaining wall in front might be a nice idea in the future, but that's not happening this year. We won't be doing any siding or roofing until much later in the year (if we're lucky)... so in the meantime we want to make our landscape neat, clean, and low-maintenance (but hopefully pretty).

I appreciate Ron's hard work today - he took 2 truck loads of yard debris to my parents' house (where it can be safely burned in a giant pile... and they also have a good spot to dump leaves in the woods. We don't have those easy options). Anyway, he said it's nice to be outside, to relieve the cabin fever a bit. From the looks of it, our soil is fantastic. We won't be doing battle against a sandbox with ants, ground (miner) bees, and crabgrass like our last home! Also, when we moved here in the fall, the yard was excellent (with no work done to it - except mowing - for over two years)! With a little extra effort, we should be able to keep it quite nice.

Mysterious bulbs, etc. are popping up in various locations in front and back. Daffodils? Irises? Tulips? Some of these will definitely be kept (even if relocated).

18 Months Old!

Today Lucy is a year and a half old. It seems like we were just celebrating her birthday, and she's already halfway to another one! Sometimes it seems like life is going by way too quickly, but at the same time we keep looking forward to her growth and learning. It's hard, but we have to remember just to enjoy the present, and not get too caught up in imagining the future.


She is taking on some new responsibilities around the house these days. Sweeping will earn her a nickel in her piggy bank.


Not sure about her logic, but who am I to question? More Photos