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.