Another niece!

My sister had her third baby today, another little (actually, pretty big) girl!  I'm so glad she made here safe and healthy.  I can't wait to meet her sometime but until then, picture texts will have to do.  Congrats Lisa and Brandon!

Date night

Ryan's work Christmas party was on Saturday night at Hyde Park Steakhouse in downtown Columbus.  It was a lot of fun with amazing food.  Obviously it would be awkward to take pictures there, so we snapped a quick one before we left.

My mom came down that morning from Cleveland and while Ryan and I went on our date, she and Lucy had one of their own.  I just need to add in here that we had a miracle and direct answer to my prayers: Lucy did not cry for my mom.  It helped that she was already having a really good, non-fussy day.  That and the fact that she had all day to warm up to my mom really helped.  Although it certainly didn't take all day for Lucy to get used to her.  After just a few hours, Ryan and I were busy doing things here and there and Lucy was totally happy and entertained without us as long as my mom was playing with her.  They went up and down the stairs a bunch, played with her toys, read books, sang songs, chased each other, ate snacks, and she even had fun watching my mom sew (obviously my mom was careful with that one).  They had so much fun!  We said our goodbyes and then snuck out the door while my mom was feeding Lucy dinner.  She didn't cry at all- not even when my mom put her down to sleep!  Although she did wake up crying before we got home, but that's pretty typical for us, too.  Can you believe all of that?!  I was so happy.  And can you tell that I put my mom to work? :)  I ask her to come down and then make her sew projects, entertain and feed my baby, and then babysit.  Of course she loves to do all of that, so I know she doesn't mind, but I appreciated the help a ton.  Thanks again, mom!!

Zzzzzz.....

We never get to go in and look at Lucy sleeping because she is usually such a light sleeper and we don't want to wake her up.  This particular day though I had to wake her up because it was getting really late already and I wanted her to go to sleep at a decent time.  When I walked in, she looked so cute, but her reaction to me was funny.

In chronological order...

Just snoozing away in a comfortable position... ;)

 She heard the camera and saw the flash and rolled over to see what was going on...

 Then gave me a look that told me how annoyed she was....

 Then she found her pacifier and put it back in her mouth.....

 And promptly fell right back to sleep. :)

Haha.  Tired girl!

Splish Splash

Lucy has always liked to play around in her bath but this night in particular she really got splashing and laughing.  I love how at the end the splashing gets so crazy that she ends up slapping her belly too. :)

Ninja baby

This girl gets into total giggle fits where everything makes her laugh really hard.  This night, it was kicking her legs up in the air as high as she could, and Ryan tickling her. haha.  Every time she got up, she'd fall right back on her back and start kicking.

Lucy Walking

Just some videos of Lucy Goosey walking around.  This was a week ago and since then she has started walking everywhere, standing up without grabbing onto anything to pull herself up, and going back down the stairs instead of just up.

Why does everyone always tell me I'm in trouble when she starts walking and that I will regret wanting her to walk so bad?!  This is great!  She can get to what she wants!!  She's already into everything without walking, so why not just up and walk?  Those are my thoughts on that.  You're welcome.

Ryan's thoughts on my shopping

This happened via text message today, but since I don't have a fancy smart phone to just upload a picture of the convo, I guess I'll have to go old school and type it out:

Me: I have good news and bad news, and they are the same.  I went shopping and found stuff I actually like.
Ryan: Oh good.  Buy it now.
Me: I did.
Ryan: Good job!  Way to go!

He cheered me on! haha.  How did I get so lucky? :)

(It probably helps that I very rarely shop for clothes anymore.  In fact I will probably end up returning most of what I purchased.  I have issues.)

Thanksgiving

Ryan obviously had Thanksgiving and the day after off of work, but he had enough vacation days saved up that he decided to take the whole week off!  Friday night the week before, I realized that we had over a week together and we excitedly got to planning it all out so we didn't miss anything.  We made a list of things we wanted to do- both chores and fun things.  It was a super productive and fun week, but I must admit that the thing that made it so wonderful were the mornings.  Knowing that I have issues with napping and he doesn't, Ryan got up early every morning with Lucy and then just napped later!  Yes, I got to sleep in for an entire week and it changed my life in a major way.  Then, he cleaned out our whole basement all by himself, which has been collecting boxes and boxes and boxes since we moved here.  Now the whole thing is wide open and Lucy can bike and walk around to her heat's content during the freezing cold or rainy days.

On the actual day of Thanksgiving, we went to the Madsen's for dinner (well, 1:30pm, so kind of lunch/dinner).  We stuffed ourselves silly, watched some football, played around outside, relaxed, and then ate a lot of pie.  Even Lucy ate a ton of food- she didn't want to stop! And even though she missed her afternoon nap, she did great.  It was fun!  Since it was kind of a last-minute thing to go there, we had already bought all of our food and so we cooked yet another big turkey feast the very next day!

Other fun things we did that week were black Friday shopping (seriously worth it if you need things or have something in mind!), watching Elf and other Christmas movies, setting up our Christmas tree, hanging our lights (I think?), taking Lucy to the park, skyping with family, making treats, etc.  What a great week!  I wish Ryan could have every week off.... but I guess someone's gotta bring home the bacon.

Lu-Lu skip to my Lu

Lucy's hair has started to fill in a lot, which has made for seriously crazy bedhead.  Here's one morning where her hair was sticking straight out to the side.  I soaked it completely with water and combed it down and as soon as it dried, it went right back to this.  It was a crazy hair day!

 Becky gave us this little snowman jacket last Christmas.  It is size 3-12 months... quite the range! Last year it was way too big, this year is much more doable.  She makes a cute snow(wo)man even without snow!

 One day Lucy was begging to play with the fruit in our fruit bowl, so I let her.  The next thing I knew, she was taking bites from the apple.  Since then I have let her just eat normal apples and I'm amazed at how much she gets done on her own.  I do have to watch her closely though and make sure she doesn't get too big of a bite with the skin because it's harder to break down and I don't want her choking.  I'm paranoid about that.

I love how just a couple fingers have a death grip on the apple.

 Today was a beautiful December day with weather in the upper 50's and sunny!  We took advantage of that and spent a bit of time outside.  We discovered that if I put Lucy on her bike at the top of the driveway, she could ride down by herself since it's slight downhill (typically she can only push herself backwards on this so I spend my time bent over pushing her).  She thought it was pretty fun!

 I also taught her how to keep her feet on the wheels while I was pushing her so that she wouldn't get them stuck underneath/behind her or the wheel.  She thought it was so funny that her feet were going in circles.

 Then her dad came home from work and she was a super happy camper!

 After dinner she was walking around the kitchen floor, which can be slippery for her in her socks, and she fell and got a pretty bad bruise on her cheek.  I think all the crying from that made her extra tired and she cuddled right up to me so we could read books.

I seriously love this girl right now (well, I always do, but we're just having a lot of fun these days- even amidst the ever-growing tantrums).  Just can't get enough of her!!!  Also, I have some cute videos of her but they're taking 95 years to download so I gave up and will post them tomorrow.

Romney/Ryan

Yesterday one of Ryan's co-workers came into the office and said, "Hey everyone.  You won't believe this but I found a picture online of Ryan on his wedding day.  I don't know how I stumbled upon it, but I just did."  He then went around to each person showing them the picture and people would look at it for a minute and be like, "wow!  Where did you find that?" So finally Ryan forced the co-worker to show him and this was the picture:

It is Mitt and Ann Romney on their wedding day. I have to agree that the similarities are striking.  I think it's mostly the eyes/eyebrows that are pretty much identical, but some of the other features are not far off.  I also see resemblances with Ryan's dad and uncle.  Pretty funny.  Well, at least I know he'll still be handsome at age 65.... hopefully he'll be rich, too. ;)

She's on the nice list!

On Black Friday, we took Lucy to Easton to see Santa.  We prepped for long, long lines like there were last year (two-hour waits!  We didn't wait), especially considering it's the biggest mall in Columbus, but there was no line at all.  We just walked right up to Santa!  It was great since we expected the worst.  Lucy loved Santa from a distance and waved like crazy and then ooohed and ahhhed over the lights and presents and trees around.  But as soon as she realized we were heading for him and I was putting her on his lap, she screamed.  I'm glad she did because had she been happy and smiling on a stranger's lap, especially someone as big as Santa, I might have questioned what happened to my daughter. :)

I think the pictures tell the story just fine:

First steps!

Last Tuesday, the 20th, Lucy took her first real steps!  Ryan was hanging up our Christmas lights and Lucy and I were just hanging out on our porch and handing him clips and lights when he needed them. She took one little step and so I hurried and grabbed my camera and got this video- her first real steps!  We were so excited.  She did this over and over until she fell in the driveway and scraped her knee and stopped walking again until she braved a few more steps today.  Still not totally walking yet- but know we know she can, because she has!  Yay!

(Please ignore my obnoxious begging for her to walk, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do)

For some reason this video is really dark, but on my camera it's a little lighter and you can see Lucy get a big smile halfway through.

Lucy's 1st birthday

Lucy's first birthday was on a Friday, but we celebrated on Saturday afternoon so that we could do it at a better time of the day instead of late at night when Ryan would've gotten home from work.  We just had pizza and some snacks, opened her presents, and finished with cake and ice cream.  Besides Ryan and I, my mom and grandpa came, as well as my friend Marci and her two kids, Mya and Ty.  I wanted to invite a few more friends (of mine) but knowing how Lucy gets a little overwhelmed and clingy when there's too many people around, especially people she doesn't see everyday, I figured that this small group would be just right... a few family members and a couple little friends (plus Lucy really does love Mya).  Lucy was a serious grump this whole day and had bad reflux, poor girl, but I still managed to get a quick smile a few times.

Lucy sitting in her new car seat from her great-grandpa, along with her other presents (I feel like this picture looks like she was totally spoiled, but we had literally one toy for her age and got amazing deals on these).

 The big cake was for everyone, the cupcakes were just using up the extra batter, and the smaller cake was Lucy's smash cake.

She had fun pulling herself up and pounding on this big box over and over.

 Getting some birthday kisses from Big Bear, who she still loves (and to think I wanted to wait to give him to her for her birthday!)

 As close to a smile as she would give.... :)

 Indian giver.

First attempt at a group shot: no smiles.

Second attempt at a group shot: Lucy decides to try a new trick that she has since been doing like crazy.

Third attempt to get Lucy to smile for this picture, I tossed up a pink ballon, which immediately made Lucy and Ty get up and rush for it.  So much for that one!

After the first couple of presents, Lucy was over the present-opening, which was great because Ty and Mya were awesome helpers in that category.  At least someone enjoyed ripping them open!  Then we moved on to the cake.  Lucy was not impressed with that either- ha! 

 This was as much of the cake as she got into.  Lucy got pretty frustrated that her hands were so messy and covered in sticky frosting so I had to go wash her off pretty quickly.

 Rainbow cake!

 After cake, the kids played a bit with all of Lucy's new toys.

 I was holding Lucy right next to my grandpa and she started laughing and smiling at him and even reached out to let him hold her!  But as soon as I turned around to get the camera, the flood gates opened.

 Lucy riding on her new bike.

 Aaaaand she's done.  Whew.  Fun party!