Busy body

Lucy is always pulling out all her toys throughout the day. We need to start working on cleaning up (or getting rid of some toys...I know we own more than 1 child her age needs). My house is usually a mess by the time Layne gets home.

Here are some pics of her playing. She likes to dump the bag of mega blocks she got for her bday. She has some animals that make noises when you push the button on their bellies. The birthday tunnel that is fun no matter if its collapsed or expanded. And who knew an empty clothes hamper would provide so much entertainment?

Soooooo Big

Not sure the weight limit on bouncers but I'm sure Lucy exceeds it. Her 1 year appt isn't until Monday so I don't have her stats yet, but our friends came over the other day, including William's 6wk old baby brother Kaden. I brought up our bouncer in case Naomi wanted to use it & after they left, Lucy decided to climb in & test it out herself. As you can see from the pictures, she is much too big for it with her legs dangling off the bottom & her bum almost touching the floor. But she loved it :-)

One

Our little girl turned ONE this past weekend. We had a very low-key birthday on what turned out to be the hottest day for weeks. Then, it stormed, lightening & thunder included.

I think overall, she enjoyed it. No breakdowns or screaming tantrums. Usually when hanging with her buddy Will, she's on her best behavior, thank goodness.
She is VERY close to walking on her own, although she prefers to hold onto someone or something.

I didn't take too many pictures with the phone because I can't print them & so I was using mostly our digi & video cameras (which I can't post here....sorry).

We had hotdogs, hamburgers, salads, chips, pink lemonade, and lemonade swirl cupcakes with neon pink frosting. It didn't take Lucy long after we removed the candle for her to dig into her cupcake & devour it by the handfuls. Hopefully these few pics will do the trick. :-)  (and again, sorry some are sideways)

She said what?!?

So our little lady says her own little words, da-da, dee-dee (doggie), & a couple others. She also signs more & all done. We're working on please & thank you.

Last night we ran to a local dessert hot spot in Phoenixville called Petrucci's. They serve ice cream, water ice, & gelato. For those of you who don't know, water ice is sort of like a snow cone material, but creamy & flavored & SO much better. For example, last night I ordered chocolate chocolate chip water ice with vanilla gelato. Delish. We ordered our ice cream treats & then sat on the tailgate of the truck with Lucy & Lucky. A car full of people drove up & parked across from us. As everyone got out of the car & started to walk by, we hear Lucy yell something that strongly resembled "hi" at them & started waving. She is usually shy at first & takes a minute to wave at strangers. These ones must have looked extra friendly because she didn't hesitate to get their attention. They smiled, laughed, & waved back. Layne & I were stunned! We both looked at each other, like "did she really just do that?" So maybe I'm counting hi as her first word. It was just really crazy. And funny & cute, so I thought I'd share. :-)

Playgroup!

A few of the ladies in our ward have youngins not in school (although school is almost out here, so that won't matter for long) so they meet at a park every Friday so the kiddos can play & the mamas can chat. I went for the first time this morning with my 2 favorite gal pals (& Lucy's best buds) & it was so much fun!! Lucy still takes a morning nap & if she doesn't get one, she's pretty ornery for the rest of the day, despite the length of her afternoon nap, which is why I haven't ventured to this playgroup before. But we will for sure be doing it again, especially with Layne's new awful work schedule. Six 10-hr shifts a week is torture for both Lucy & me. We miss our daddy. But getting out & visiting with friends sure does help the time pass more quickly.

I only got two pics with my phone of this mornings adventure. Most of the littles played in the sand volleyball court with shovels, including Lucy. She had never been in or around sand, so I was nervous. Mostly I didn't want her eating it. And I was worried about her getting it in her eyes and then rubbing into her eyes more when it hurt. Ack! But thankfully, no eating of the sand or eye mishaps occured. She was unsure a first when I sat her in it, but once she got the feel for it, she took off. She was in heaven!! Being able to crawl "forever," no walls or babygates to stop her, she went all the way to the opposite corner of the other court, not looking back once to find me. It made me a little sad because I watched her the entire time, waiting expectantly for her to "check in." Maybe she's just too smart & knows she has a crazy mom who would be around somewhere. Plus, as evidence of the picture below, those kids were much more fun to play with than me or her buddy Isaac who was eating sand.

Either way, it was a really fun morning with lots of other kids to play with.

6 months

Six months have passed since my last post. Has it really been that long? I have a few friends & family members who have mentioned I need a blog update. I try not to post too much of Lucy on FB & a few of the blogging friends aren't on Facebook, so I suppose I do owe everyone an update. Let's see...where to begin?

Lucy has an extreme talent for turning her head at the exact moment you take a picture so most of my pictures of her involve a blurry face or the side/back of her head. Using my camera phone doesn't help since it has their weird delay anyway.

She's 11month old already & quickly approaching one! I feel like I need to get on the ball with planning her big bash, but I'm thinking a more low-key shindig would suffice. I get all those magazines that show extravagant pics of one-year-old parties & it makes me want to go all out but it sounds exhausting & expensive & she isn't going to remember it anyway, right? I'm thinking a bbq with some of her buds & some girly cupcakes will do the trick nicely. I'll be sure to post that later.

She's got quite the personality & she really is a great baby. She's always content, plays well by herself but if there are other kids around they better watch out. Just ask her cousin Nora.

We made a trip out to St. George over Memorial day weekend for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary party & were able to meet up with a lot of our family (mostly my side). When we hung out with our niece & nephew, Lucy couldn't crawl fast enough to get to them & try to pull herself up on them & get herself involved in whatever they were doing. Poor Porter was trying to conquer Angry Birds on the iPad & Lucy would stand next to his chair & just rub her hand over the screen, knowing there was smething exciting going on up there. And poor Nora- I'm pretty sure Lucy is almost as big as she is & Lucy was trying to crawl all over her.

The 5hr plane ride there & back didn't seem to phase her either. She loves to people watch so when sh got bored with toys, she'd find some stranger to smile & wave to her & all was well. Copious amount of finger foods also helped. Our Bishop just asked me the other day if she has a healthy appetite (has he seen her? Just kidding...but she's obviously not starving). I laughed & said that our ped has always told us babies will let you know when they are full- they haven't learned to ignore their shut-off valve like adults. I told him I think Lucy has because she will eat as long as you keep giving her food. I guess that only pertains to certain foods though. I take it she's full when she starts tossing food off her tray & watches for Lucky to snatch it.

She has 4 teeth with 2 more on top working their way out.
She loves to crawl & she's quick at it.
She will walk along furniture or stand up withou holding onto something, but only until she wants to go somewhere. Then she drops down to quickly crawl.
She has take over Lucky's bed & will pull his blankets out & sit in it with her toys around her. Its kinda funny, but then I feel bad for Lucky when I see him staring longingly at his bed from across the room.
I finally painted her toenails before our little vacay to Utah. It was tricky, but they looked pretty cute in her sandals afterwards & was totally worth the trouble.

And now for some pics! I wish I could add captions to each, but I'm posting from my phone...so I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet. :-) (& sorry if some are sideways...I don't know how to rotate them from my phone either...)

Happy New Year

Maybe one day during this New Year we will break down & get internet but for now, our phones will have to do & since I've been Jonesin' to blog about our sweet girl, a phone-post will have to do for now.

We had a great Christmas & were able to see both sides of our families, making a trip to Utah first & then to Montana. Let's just say I could go a couple years without flying & be happy (granted everyone else would have to fly to see us...I don't think I could go that long without seeing our families). We flew 3 times in 10 days. Lucy & I survived the flights home without our daddy but it was pretty stressfl alone & I would much rather have his help the next time we fly anywhere.

Lucy had her 6month appointment yesterday & our little lady has definitely slowed her growth, but is "proportional" & overall "just a big kid," according to our ped, Dr. H. We love him! I am so grateful we were pointed in his direction when we moved here. I don't know if I have posted all of Lucy's stats (not that any of you really care) but its amazing to me how big she has gotten as fast as she has.

*1 month*
Weight: 10lbs 8oz
Length: 22.5in

*2 month*
Weight: 13lbs
Length: 24in

*4 month*
Weight: 17lbs 2oz
Length: 27in

*6 month*
Weight: 19lb 11oz
Length: 27.5in (I think he didn't measure correctly..its hard for me to believe that although her growth has slowed, she's only grown .5" in the past 2 months)

Babies are amazing! Miss Lucy is sitting on her own for the most part & stays that way unless there is a toy out of her reach or she gets tired & flops backward. We started solids a month ago & I surprisingly enjoy making her food, although I am starting to enjoy cloth diapering less now. Its more of a chore now that she has started solids. Before I could just toss in the wash. Now I have to scrape the you-know-what in the toilet after diaper changes. Its gross. Like, really gross. I think about quitting almost every time, but then I imagine spending money on diapers every other week (or whenever) & how much money I have spend on our cloth thus far & I just keep scraping.

Layne's job is going well & we will be here for at least 11 more months, if not longer. I am hoping for longer. We have made friends & I really do love our ward here. Plus, I love my Ob & Lucy's Ped & can't imagine ever finding anyone that compares when the day comes that we have to move again.

Let's see...I got a haircut & lost 5lbs during the holidays (not sure how that happened). Other than that, I'm just the same 'ole me.

Hope everyone enjoyed this past holiday season!