Fabrics!

This is the fabric for Lucy's bedding & window valence - I am going to make a quilt but it won't be a "traditional" patchwork style, but I haven't yet determined exactly how it will look. I'm still bouncing ideas around in my head. I wanted to get the fabrics so I can match paint for the walls (the top lavender shade will be the wall color (at least the bottom half of the walls, then a dark blue border with hand-painted words... then white above that).
I had my mind made up that I wanted lavenders and blues, and it was not easy finding fabrics that fit my mental image. I am a little ADD when it comes to decorating, and I get frustrated at the fabric store when I can't find the colors and styles that I made up in my imagination (irrational as that may be). I wanted to incorporate kind of a starry-night type of theme (soothing and not too babyish) but still girly and not too cartoonish. We'll see how it turns out, because we (I) may start painting the room this weekend! We want Lucy to have at least a few months of adjustment to her new room before a baby comes and takes hers away! Plus it will be nice to finally update the 3rd main floor bedroom from its current state.

"Biteee"

She wanted my bagel. Doesn't matter that she already ate breakfast... I tried to eat it sneakily while she was watching Sesame Street but I think she heard the plate slide across the counter a little bit. Of course I know that I should have just eaten it while she was having breakfast but that morning I didn't for some reason. I guess an old habit of not being able to eat breakfast while feeding her... It might help but she'd still want whatever I was having. Anyway, this pitiful face needed to be captured (yesterday morning). We must be starving the poor girl!

Score!

Ron found on Craigslist a never-used (really) Simmons crib mattress (also works for toddler beds) for $40! We had originally thought of getting a twin bed for Lucy but for now, since her room isn't huge and she tends to move around in bed a LOT, she's going to move up to a toddler bed with partial sides, it's white and looks like this: The cheapest Simmons mattress at Babies-R-Us is $150 (probably more than we would've spent anyway), so I think this is a nice mattress for what it cost! And thank you to Ron who drove all the way to Ada and back to pick it up this afternoon while I was fabric shopping for Lucy's bedding which I'm going to make. Anyway, it's been a while since we've shopped on Craigslist, and I've forgotten how fun it can be.

Halfway Point

Today I am 20 weeks which means the baby is the size of a cantaloupe, and weighs about 10.5 ounces.

It's amazing how easy it is to forget that I am pregnant when I am busy taking care of Lucy. Last time it was on my mind almost constantly, and now I have to almost set aside time to think about it and pay attention to movements I feel (although I feel them all day, and they're getting a bit stronger so I don't have to be "looking" for them)... so usually that takes place when I lay down in bed at the end of the day...

I have an appointment today, but no ultrasound. I know some people have their 20 week ultrasound at exactly 20 weeks, but I think mine will be scheduled for closer to 22 weeks. Here are some pictures of Lucy at 22 weeks. My doctor's office has the "nice" ultrasound machine with 4D imaging so we get to see real-time moving 3D pictures of our baby. Last time they even let us bring our little video camera (if I find the CD-R I'll maybe post a video clip later).

Buckethead

This is not new - she's been doing it ever since she got these Legos for her 1st Birthday. I think she believes she is being silly, because she likes to get up and run through the house with this on her head, show her daddy, and make me nervous...

New Lenses!

Friday we got our economic stimulus money and I got a fun new gift: two new lenses for my camera! I researched this extensively and concluded that the lens receiving the best raves and reviews (and suits my needs) is the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM (a prime lens), aka the "basketball lens", great for portraits, especially outdoors or somewhere you have a little space to back up. I also got the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II (another prime), aka the "fantastic plastic". Although it's considered a cheap lens, and has a couple downsides (less durability, difficult to manually focus - but I like using autofocus anyway since my subject(s) are rarely still), it still takes amazingly sharp pictures, and has a very wide aperture allowing fast shutter speeds in low light. There is a more expensive 50mm available, but this was more like an extra bonus lens since the 85mm was the investment. Neither is a zoom lens, which means the focal length is fixed... so I'm going to have to move around more to get the composition I want. However, from what I read, that is something you quickly become accustomed to (and even after a couple times using it I don't mind it at all... the improved quality is well worth it - as far as primes vs. zooms - unless you spend a couple grand on a certain level of zoom lens, primes will almost always outperform in sharpness).

So, I'm just getting used to both of them, and have not yet put my kit lens back on the camera! Now I just need a slightly bigger case for my stuff!

Hi

We Were Just in the Neighborhood...

Last night we had dinner at Ron's mom and dad's place, and afterward we drove down our old street (Taft Ave. in Wyoming) to check out our former home - see if the tulips are still there, etc. Sure enough - everything looks exactly the same on the outside. The new owners already have the pool cover off (!)... which seems a bit early to me, but I remember the first year we lived there, taking off the pool cover way too early too. I hope they are able to keep up on it and enjoy it, because it's a lot of work!

We saw one of our neighbors out mowing his front yard, so we stopped to say hi. After talking for a bit, we decided to get out of the car and see his wife and daughter, plus his new baby daughter who we had never met before (she is 6 months old now!), who were all in the backyard. It was nice to talk with them and see the kids, and Lucy enjoyed playing on their new play set and wandering around their back yard. At first she was a little nervous about an unfamiliar place, but she warmed up (it seems like she is able to do that more quickly these days).

I'm glad we stopped by because it's all too easy to lose touch with neighbors when you move away. I actually believe we will try to keep up our friendship and hopefully have them over to our place this summer.

Sippy What?

Lucy really does a good job with a regular cup all of a sudden! She only dribbles when she has to start tipping it way back. We've tried this a few times but this morning all the sippy cups were dirty, so I decided to give it a shot and see if we can start transitioning her now. I only have these plastic Christmas ones which I think are better for her than a heavy glass... I guess I need to break down and buy some kid cups now. She'll have a Kool-Aid mustache (or beard) this summer!

Mother's Day / Birthday (27!)

It's been a while since I've posted because I've been away! Ron and I visited Kelly and Heath in Evanston and had a nice time hanging out - Kelly and I went to a cute boutique with jewelry, purses, clothing, home decor, and a lot of really beautiful and unique things to paw through. I ended up with a necklace (a silver chain with the curl of a conch shell for a pendant) and a fun little purse with octopuses all over it... a birthday gift from Kelly (and something I would never buy for myself, but it made me happy and I love it - and I have a lot of orange, and pink clothing so yes it IS practical!).

On Sunday we opted out of the Cubs game we were planning on attending, since it was raining, windy, and very cold. Instead we browsed through World Market, Urban Outfitters, and saw Baby Mama which was really cute and funny. A much better way to spend time than sitting in bleachers freezing and miserable - although we all wished the weather would have cooperated because Ron has never been to Wrigley and it's such a nice park with so much history and character.

We drove home and picked up Lucy from my parents' house, she was all ready for bed (thanks, Mom), and looked a bit older to me than she did a day and a half earlier. The drive home from Chicago wasn't my favorite part of Mother's Day but it was a very nice weekend overall.
Today Ron took a personal day from work to spend my birthday with me, and he made us breakfast and we hung out at home (not doing much of anything) - but in the afternoon we walked down the Buck Creek trail (and of course I took photos) near Wedgwood Park and went home and had some banana cream pie, followed by root beer floats... it's been forever since I've had one of those! He also got me a potted geranium and we rented Charlie Wilson's War, which we are going to watch now!

Wardrobe Drama & Belly

My jeans no longer function correctly if I am sitting. I officially cannot wear anything normal - I am still too small for any of my maternity pants but unable to button my jeans and be comfortable. I could wear pajama pants but that doesn't help me if I have to leave the house. I kind of just look bloated, but not yet pregnant... although I feel a lot bigger than I used to be. This leads to a little frustration when trying to get dressed for going anywhere that I might care what I look like. My other option is wear my jeans unbuttoned with a frumpy shirt... Okay, I sound complainy - so shame on me... but I have to say this is one of the more frustrating parts of this whole process for me (and if that's the biggest "problem" I will have to deal with, I will consider myself very very fortunate). I'm not saying I'm big - just awkward in the fashion sense. I know that before too long this phase will be over. Since I haven't posted any belly pictures - I will go ahead and show you my progress thus far.

Here are pictures at 8 weeks, and 18 weeks:

Tulip Time

Yesterday my mom, Lucy, and I went to Tulip Time in the morning, with Lucy all dressed up like a little Dutch Girl. She was so cute - when she got her dress on at home and looked in the mirror she was smiling and twisting around to see herself. She wore her wooden shoes the entire time, and they only fell off once. Adding a pair of socks fixed that, and she was even trying to run in them! She slipped a couple of times, but she never seemed bothered by having them on her feet, and everyone who saw her commented on how well she was walking in them. By the end of the day they had a good amount of mud on them (but then again, that's what they're made for)... and she also started to drag her feet a lot more as she got quite tired (maybe because they're so much heavier than regular shoes), but we had the stroller to give her a break for a while.
Lucy met a boy a little bit older than her, who was also all dressed up in a costume. It turns out his mom is originally from Grandville and her younger sister was friends with my sister in high school. She just moved back to West Michigan, so I got her e-mail address - at least to send her some photos I took of her son.
We had an elephant ear and saw an organ grinder, and just basically enjoyed the beautiful weather and of course the tulps. Ron and I are taking Lucy again on Friday - probably without the costume though. I can't believe she wore the hat, dress, and shoes for three hours without whining at all... she was such a good girl!

See all my photos in a gallery HERE

Beach Bummer

Yesterday Ron, Lucy, and I went out to Holland - not for Tulip Time - but instead to have dinner at Russ' and then head out to Tunnel Park, since it was such a beautiful afternoon.

Here she is trying desperately not to touch the WET sand!

Lucy was already in a somewhat grumpy mood (I think because she has a molar with all the peaks through, but not the middle section of gums... and it's making her miserable. She is also getting over her cold - still just coughs a little). Anyway, turns out she hates the sand, the way it feels, all gritty and dirty on her hands and feet. She also hates cheese puff dust on her fingers (yes she has eaten cheese puffs) and any crumbs on her high chair tray... so this is no surprise. She would hold her hand up with fingers splayed like, "get-it-off-me! get-it-off-me!" We tried to get her to play with her shovel and bucket, and get her used to it, but she just wasn't being receptive. On the way home she was desperately trying to get every last grain out from between her toes...

I hope it doesn't take too long to convince her that the sand is okay and the beach is fun!

Dutch Feet

Lucy's feet look huge with her wooden shoes on (especially when she's wearing stretch pants)... but she actually seemed to enjoy practicing with them on Sunday morning. We'll be taking her out to Tulip Time a couple times this week, and she's wearing a costume on Tuesday, so hopefully we end up with some cute photos (and then I'm sure we'll get her changed out of the fussy Dutch girl dress, even though she seemed to like that too: yesterday when she tried it on she was actually twirling in front of the mirror). At the end of the video she has a little wipeout but I'm hoping the grass and the sidewalks aren't as slippery as our "wood" floor...

Photoshop is a Verb

In the past few months I have gotten much more adept at Photoshop (we have version 7.0 but I'd love to upgrade...). Due to some new abilities I didn't have before, I've been going back to some of my favorite shots and editing them. Some of them will have to be left alone, because I just don't have the time to spend "photoshopping" hundreds of pictures. I usually try to keep it simple, although it can be fun to completely overhaul an otherwise basic shot into something artistic. Usually I try to just enhance, however, rather than alter. I wanted to post a before and after (thanks for the idea Aletha!) of one of my all-time faves. We went to Moelker Orchards in Walker for some fall pictures by the apple trees, pumpkins, etc. You can see more here). I may even reprint this one since I have a copy in a frame hanging up...

Before: it was late afternoon with the sun to their backs, and the clouds in the sky looked so cool...

After: I boosted up the colors a bit (notice the sky, Ron's sweater, and especially Lucy's sweater), and added the darkened edges - which also made the blue in the sky appear much richer toward the top.

I believe that digital editing you do is almost as important as the initial picture you take. I do my best to take pictures that are good without editing, but I can almost always improve upon them with software (like Photoshop or Picasa) and end up being much happier with the results.

Sneezy

Lucy has a cold! It's her 2nd cold ever so I'm really not used to dealing with all the snot. She of course hates having her nose/face wiped and is incapable of blowing her nose. On top of that she seems to be drooling more than ever, because she is working on molars... so she is just dripping with fun. I don't feel like taking her anywhere, but that's okay because it's supposed to be kind of a gray, rainy day anyway.

Something's Different...

Last month's background color was dark teal, and I wanted to do something very different this month - so I went with orange. I hope it's not too obnoxious. If you don't like it, you can look forward to June 1 for the next change.

Correction

I'm a little slow - those are Hotwheels, not Matchbox. I'm not even sure of the difference, but I think there is one. Anyway, apparently I was sheltered from such things as a child (we spent more of our time throwing naked Barbie dolls down the stairs with "loom-looper" bungee cords). Anyway, I just wanted to fix my mistake on the previous post :)

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