Piggies, french and painted

This morning we had some girlie time painting Lucy's toenails for the first time.  She saw me touching up mine and wanted hers done too.  Then I decided we needed some good ways to pull her hair back during the summer heat, since it's still a little too short on top/front for a full-on ponytail.  So, we did some french braid pigtails to help with that and I think she looks pretty cute/old!

Blurry, blurry, blurry.  Can't stand still. :)

 Showing me her painted toenails.

Oh, hello there!

Still examining her toes. :)

Crazy Coupe

We got Lucy one of those Cozy Coupe cars a little while ago because she wanted to go outside so bad but it was too bad of weather, so we thought we'd bring the fun inside until we could go outside.  The funny thing is Ryan kept messing up the name of it and calling it a Crazy Coupe.  In all honesty, when I push her in it, it's definitely cozy, but when Ryan pushes her in it, it transforms into crazy.  Lucy has gone up and down all of our stairs multiple times in that coupe.

Anyway, we had some time to spare after dinner tonight and took her car outside for the first time tonight.  Ryan figured out that if you took her to the top of the driveway and let the car go, it would roll down on its own.  Then we would push her car really hard back up the driveway and do it all over again. This girl did not stop cracking up the whole time!!  She was having such a blast!

Crazy faces in the crazy coupe!

Blurry picture, I know, but pure joy on her face.

I love Lucy's laughing at the end of the ride along with her "yeah" and lip licking in response to if she had fun. :)

Again, I love her laughing.  There is some serious crazy coupe-ing going on here.

Fort

Lucy has been waking up super early lately and so on Sunday morning, Ryan got up at 6 with her and let me sleep in.  It was glorious.  When I finally came downstairs a few hours later, Ryan and Lucy were in this awesome fort that they made.  They read books, played with Lucy's toys and stuffed animals, and went in and out of secret "doors."  Lucy couldn't wait to show me it when I came down.  Doesn't get much better than that, huh?  Dad is way more fun in the early morning- I guess he'll have to be the one to get up early with her every weekend morning. :)

The Crazy Coupe photo bombed this picture. ha.

18 months

We went to Lucy's 18 month appointment last week and I can't remember her exact numbers, but I have the percentages.  So here they are: Height: 90th percentile, Weight: 20th percentile (23.5ish).  Lucy is growing and developing so much that I don't think I can possibly remember even half of what's going on right now, but here's my best at capturing these last few months.

• Communication is definitely developing like crazy.  She says lot's of basics (yeah, hi, mama, dada) and a lot of random ones too (examples: drink, book, truck, etc.... she likes her "k" sounds).
• Lucy is totally addicted to her pacifier, which for some reason she calls her "baba."  By addicted, I mean it's all she talks about and begs for every 2 seconds if she doesn't have it.  We've drastically improved over the last few days with this though.
• She eats like crazy... like a teenage boy!!  For example, one morning for breakfast she ate two eggs, a bowl of applesauce, a handful of grapes, a piece of toast, and a string cheese and was begging for food an hour later.  She's not too picky, either, which is nice.  Drinking is another story though.  She doesn't like milk, is not a huge fan of juice, and will drink water sporadically as long as I'm constantly offering it to her all day.
• Lucy has not even made it two whole weeks since December without getting sick.  I really hope that changes now.
• She'll never ever turn down the chance to go outside.  She loves bikes and anything she can ride on... which means I'm usually bent over pushing her. :)  She could also swing/go down the slide for hours.
• Still afraid of going to other people and/or having us leave the room.
• Gives lot's of kisses.  We always say prayers with her before bed and afterwards she gives each of us a kiss, but lately she thinks she's hilarious by giving Ryan a kiss, then me, then back to Ryan, then back to me... funny girl.  We all end up laughing.
• Pats her bottom when she is about to have a dirty diaper.  Thanks for the warning. ;)
• Loves to dance, stomp her foot, spin in circles, and attempt to jump.
• She was sleeping awesome when not sick (12-12.5 hours every night, and two long naps during the day.  Heaven.), but lately she has not needed as much sleep and has been waking up way early and not taking as long of naps.  I can't complain about that though as long as she wakes up content and well-rested (but when she's not, it's frustrating).
• Always folds her arms for prayers.  The funny thing is that she kind of knows when to do it at church too, which is usually after the song when it gets quiet, but sometimes she'll do it after the rest hymn or something and wonder why we're not praying.
• Still has reflux and it makes her very fussy.  I could scream.

That's all I can remember for now.  I don't have any pictures for just 18 months, and though I may add some later, I think I have plenty of other pictures of Lucy on the blog.

Kiss!

I was outside taking some pics of Lucy a few weeks ago and told her to come by me so I could take a picture of the two of us.  Without telling her to, she just turned and gave me a little kiss on the cheek right when I took the picture!  Not my best picture ever (it's hard to take a selfie with a dslr), but I loved the candid moment and wanted to remember it.  Love that sweet girl!

Anniversary celebration

We planned on celebrating our 4th anniversary a couple of weeks ago but then Lucy and I were sick and things happened.  So, three weeks later we finally got to go out to dinner.  Better late than never!  My mom watched Lucy and put her to bed (which was quite a task- thanks mom!), while we cashed in some gift cards at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner.  It was delicious and nice to have uninterrupted conversation and a few kid-free hours out and about.

 Goose insisted on joining a picture but this is the best smile she would give.  She looks so old to me here!

These pictures were from the ipad, thus the poor quality since it was so dark in the restaurant.  The waiter caught me taking a picture of our "Happy Anniversary" dessert (cheesecake with strawberries and chocolate crust, chocolate covered almond clusters, and Haagen Daz ice cream with raspberry sauce) and insisted on taking a picture of us.

Swimming

It was crazy humid on Monday and our community pool isn't open yet... but the Martin pool was!  My mom put a little bit of water in a kiddie pool someone gave us, we pulled out her beach toys, and she was entertained for a little while.  She loved when my mom would drizzle water over her toes.

A walk downtown

My mom was here this last weekend and we had tons of fun with her, as usual.  It was such nice weather that we decided to take an evening walk down the Scioto Mile.  My mom had never been there and I knew she would like it.  The splash pad just happened to be up and running already and of course Lucy was attracted to all of the water structures, so we swung by there as well.  The fountains go really small every so often and that's what they were doing when we got there, so Lucy ran right up to it.  After a minute though they all got really big and she was a bit hesitant and scared and ran away.  By the end, she was dragging us out there. :)

Nursery

Today was Lucy's first week in nursery.  Of course I'm excited to go to the last two hours of church in the actual rooms where they reside, versus the hall with a crying child, but given that she's never gone to a babysitter without crying the entire time, I didn't get my hopes up.

I prepped Lucy all morning by asking "Are you going to go to nursery today?" and "Are you going to play toys and eat snacks with your friends during church?" all to which she responded affirmatively.  I took her into primary and she immediately started crying and grabbing me, which was surprising since she didn't even know what was going to happen.  Anyway, I stayed with her for about 20 minutes and got her to at least sit on her own instead of sitting in my lap and focus on a toy.  I warned the leaders that she was going to cry no matter what and that might just be what we need to do for a little bit until she just settles down.  So, sneak out I did.... but calm down Lucy did not.  A short while later the sunday school door opened and all anyone could hear was a screaming child.  MY screaming child.  The funny part was that the leader brought her in through the front of the room and we were sitting in the back, so I snuck out the back to go get her but in the meantime, Lucy locked eyes with Ryan and when the nursery leader tried to take her out to meet me in the hall, she grabbed the door and wouldn't let him shut it again and just kept screaming for Ryan.  Everyone in sunday school was laughing at her efforts. :)

So Ryan took her back in and stayed in there with her the whole two hours.  While she was pretty clingy and sad for a while, he bribed her with a starburst and things started looking a little better.  She ended up playing with toys, helping clean up, eating snacks, singing songs (they sang "twinkle twinkle" and she came home showing off her impressive "twinkle fingers"), coloring, and playing with bubbles.

I won't lie though that I was so happy when Lucy excitedly handed me the picture she colored because she has never colored this much in her life.  She usually takes one crayon, makes a line, moves onto another one, and then is done.  Ryan said this was all totally her doing.  Scribble on, Lulu.  And better luck in nursery next week.

Dishes

Lucy stops whatever she's doing and comes running as soon as she hears the dishwasher opening.  The girl loves a clean dish. ;)  She just loves having something to climb on and push in and out.  Ryan decided to take that dishwasher passion of hers and put it to good use tonight and had her load the silverware (minus the knives).  I'll let her facial expressions tell you how she felt about that.

Despite what the picture looks like Ryan is being gentle and leading Lucy to the dishwasher and I told her to look excited for the camera.  Also despite what the last few posts have shown, we really do put clothes on Lucy (we just had a messy dinner though).

 She got a little sidetracked by the tongs. :)

And a round of applause for Lucy, by Lucy for a silverware job well done!  Let's hope this excitement continues into her teens. :)

Meds and suckers

Lucy has been on some kind of medication her whole life and has gotten very used to taking a lot of medicine through a syringe.  She is to the point where she will take anything willingly all the time, so when we had to change her to a different antibiotic on Monday (the other one wasn't getting rid of the infection), I didn't believe the doctor that Lucy would have a hard time taking this medicine.  Well, our doctor was definitely right on this one... it's chalky and super nasty smelling and looking.  She knows what it is and will do everything she can to not take it.  I went back to the tricks of our old days and made her lay down while I squeezed her cheeks and squirted it to the back side of her mouth.  Tonight though, she somehow managed to spit half of it out of her mouth, so I was frantically scooping it back in with all of my fingers and making her take it.  I consider this medicine my ticket to sleep, so I wanted to make sure she took it all!  She wasn't too upset at me about it though, thankfully, and I promised her a treat.  The sucker sure made up for it!

When I told her to lay down on the floor for her medicine, this is what she did.  Haha!  See the white nastiness around her mouth?  Yuck.

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day was so great!  I love thinking about my wonderful mom and mother-in-law and all they have done for us and helped make us what we are today.  I especially love being a mother and having their wisdom and examples to help guide me in my parenting.  I am also so grateful for all of the other "mothers" in my life: grandmas, aunts, sister, sisters-in-law, and close friends who are also such great examples and so helpful in my life.  I'm pretty lucky.

Anyway, this was definitely my best Mother's Day so far.  Ryan really put a lot of effort into making me feel special.  He started the day by giving me a few things from him and Lucy.  Lucy made me a handmade card and, with Ryan's help, a little photo album of all of the pictures with just me and her.  It was very thoughtful and totally up my ally.  I have looked at those pictures a million times today.  Then Ryan gave me a cookbook from a local restaurant that everyone raves about and a new blender!  We had a blender and used it ALL the time.  Unfortunately it was a super cheap one ($10) and burnt out after so long and I have seriously missed having one.  After opening these gifts, Ryan made me and Lucy french toast for breakfast and used my new blender to make us pineapple banana smoothies to go with it!  (Side note: since we had stake conference last Sunday, our ward made this Sunday our fast sunday, which I think is bad planning because it's the one morning that many mom's have to get spoiled with breakfast in bed and such!  Luckily I'm pregnant so I was exempt and got my yummy breakfast. :) I actually ended up not going to church though because Lucy has been so sick and doesn't seem to be getting better, so we hung out at home while Ryan went to go teach his EQ lesson.  Post-church we got to skype with all of our parents and wish our moms a happy mother's day.  Ryan then made me a super amazing meal of homemade chicken cordon bleu, homemade lion house rolls, and a yummy salad.  Honestly, he could have made me mac and cheese from a box and I would've been happy just to not cook, but this was obviously way better and now I have plenty of leftovers.  I seriously needed a break from holding the sick girlie at this point (as much as I love her, it got draining and exhausting) so I begged Ryan to let me do the dished while he watched Lucy, so he read some books and looked at pictures with her.  We ended the day with a walk outside but oh my goodness it was freezing!  We had to wear winter coats in the middle of May!  So that was short-lived and Lucy was not happy to come back inside but it was still nice to get some fresh air.  And now, Lucy has been sleeping for 2.5 hours straight, which considering the longest she has slept in the last week has been 20 minutes (not even exaggerating), this is truly a Mother's Day miracle!!  Let's hope it lasts a little longer because we're off to her 3rd doctor's appointment of the week tomorrow morning, so the more sleep for all of us the better.

If I look rough, which I do, it's because I haven't slept a wink for a week straight, thus the mismatched pjs and bags under my eyes.  I didn't even get a good picture with Lucy this day, so maybe next week?  And Lucy wouldn't stop eating at all for a picture.  Every one we took has her chomping into french toast or taking a big drink of milk. ha.  Priorities.

 This is Lucy checking out the book of pictures of us.  Also she got new sandals yesterday for summer and refused to take them off all day.  Even when I had to put socks on her cold feet, she made me put the sandals back on.  Also, she stayed in the PJ's all day long.

 At some point during the day this girl just climbed right on up into the fridge to check out the goods.  She left with a carrot. :)

Right before this picture, Lucy grabbed my knife and hit me super hard right in the eye with it.  I'm surprised I don't totally look like I had just been bawling.  

Thanks to Ryan and my family and friends for making this such a great day!