Warm and sunny

We've had a few warmer days lately but they have either come with rain and/or wind, so it's been hard to go out and enjoy it. Today was finally warm and sunny and though it was still somewhat windy, it was manageable. We had to get out and enjoy a walk. Also, a few days ago I took Lucy to the park in our development with a couple of friends who live here as well. She went on the swings for the first time and loved it! That day was a bit windy though and Lucy couldn't quite figure out how to breathe in it, so we didn't last long. Anyway, this has definitely given us spring fever and we can't wait for spring and summer!

Two things about this picture. First of all, no one needs to worry because I fully sanitized Lucy and her pacifier as soon as she was done. Surprisingly she did not try to suck on her hand or the swing. Also, I realize she looks a little homely with no shoes on, but she didn't have any shoes because she has always been covered up in her car seat if we've gone out (besides church, which is a different story).

I realized halfway through that it was much too hot to be wearing a sweatshirt.

Our walk was about an hour long, and this was what Lucy looked like for about 50 minutes of that... holding onto the ring with those two little fingers...

Bring on the 70 degree weather this week! Yay!

Good morning!

Lucy has finally been going to bed and waking up at the same times each day and night. Now that's not to say that she's sleeping during all of those hours, because she's most definitely not. But it sure makes it a lot easier to know how much longer I have until I have to admit that it's really time to get up out of bed and go get my baby who is making noises in her crib. The awesome part about this is that she's been waking up HAPPY! I hear her little coos and squeals and go in and get Lucy out of bed. A couple of days ago, I found that Lucy had scooted all the way from one end of the crib to the other and one of her many blankets had fallen over top of her head and she was gripping the crib with her hands. It was pretty funny when I found her like this and she had such a proud look on her face and greeted me with a big smile.

Who wants a free gift card?

I have a promo code for $20 at Shutterfly.com (goes towards anything, except shipping). It expires in twelve days on March 22, 2012 and I won't use it by then. Whoever wants it can have the promo code. Let me know if you want it.

A few randoms

Lucy rolled over yesterday for the first time! She was kind of going with the momentum and rolled straight from her back to her tummy and over again onto her back. ha! She rolled from her tummy to her back again today. I tried to get her to do it for the camera, but she got stuck and then got really mad.

Ready for our trip to California...

BYU's newest fan.. can't you tell? :) We're training her young. The BYU fight song is sung to her daily, including the "rah rah rah's."

I joined Lucy in sleep very quickly after this. I just started an attempt at sleep training last night and was woken up about every 30 minutes. Unfortunately, all day today she's been teething like crazy and has been super cranky and only took one nap for 35 minutes. That could be either really good or really bad for tonight.

Three months

Everyone kept telling me that 3 months is a big milestone for babies and that a lot changes for the better at that point. I couldn't really believe it at the time. One day I thought to myself about how we had had several pretty good days in a row and Lucy seemed much more content and happy than normal and I looked at a calendar and realized that it was three months to the day that things started changing. Now that we're a week or two past the 3 month mark, I can say that I feel like life is much more normal now and Lucy is getting a little better each week. Whew! Here's a little bit about Lucy at 3 months:

• She is on the highest dose of the strongest medicine for infant's acid reflux and IT WORKS!! It's so under control and makes a world of a difference. She is finally gaining back the weight she lost and is able to eat and sleep!
• I think she may be starting to get over her food intolerances (fingers crossed!)! I have been trying to reintroduce foods here and there and it has only been bad news bears until this last week. Wheat no longer bothers her, so that's back in my diet! Although, dairy and soy are the two that I thought were the worst culprits from the get-go. This week I've slowly added dairy into my diet and so far...... so good! I still have to give it a few more days before I can declare this intolerance over and done.
• Lucy LOVES her little play mat thing on the floor. It has music and lights and she stares at it and kicks like crazy.
• She finally grabbed her rattle on her own and likes to play with the too. It's a good distraction while hooking her up in her car seat.
• We've only ever gone about 25-30 minutes away from home since she was born, but we finally made it up to Cleveland this past weekend! It was so much fun to get away.
• She's had her first little cold. Thankfully it wasn't too bad (although it made her reflux awful) and only lasted about a week.
• One of her favorite places is on our bed. I can place her on it and she will kick and smile and coo for a long time. I think it's adorable.
• She LAUGHED for the first time a week and a half ago (Feb. 11th) and has given us a real, intentional laugh each day since. It's impossible to get on camera though since you never know when that one little laugh will come. It's the best sound in the world though.
• Lucy loves new surroundings. I have taken her to several play dates lately (obviously for children a little older, but I'm invited just to get out, thankfully) and she is so content to look around at everything and everyone new around her.
• Lucy takes a very predictable morning nap every day that has started to consistently last about 2 hours as of late. This is golden for me so that I can get ready for the day and pick up and feel on top of things.
• Besides that nap, her sleeping is all over the place, which is one of my only complaints right now. Sometimes she'll have a good (rare) week where she'll give me a 4/4.5ish hour stretch, followed by another 3/3.5ish hour stretch. I can handle that. But then there are weeks like last week where she wakes up EVERY 2.5 hours... and not even to eat! It's mostly because her little arms wake her up (if I don't swaddle them in) or she gets all tangled in the swaddle (if I keep her arms in). It's kind of a lose/lose situation right now. I get so sleep deprived during these weeks that when she finally gives me a few good nights in a row, I'm still a walking zombie all day trying to catch up. I hope that this changes sooner than later.
• Although still a bit wobbly, she can finally sit in her bumbo and she smiles when I put her in it! Yay! I'm hoping this means that she can sit and enjoy life and I won't have to hold her 24/7. But we'll see. So far she can only sit for a minute or two at a time in it.

And now, here are some (okay, a lot) pictures and videos of Lucy from the last week or two.

Our Valentine's Day

This year was my idea of a perfect Valentine's day. We didn't do anything crazy or extravagant, and we didn't spend tons of money. We just did a few little things as a family and enjoyed our time together. The day included little notes around the house for me and Lucy, some flowers, 2 redbox movies (they were free yesterday) and some candy. Perfect.

Lucy made sure to wear hears! :) (Sorry this is so blurry... darn cell phone pic)

Candy for me, pacifier for Lucy. We were both happy with that situation. She just had a bath and was loaded up with Aquaphor, hence why she looks a little wet and tired.

CHD awareness

Never in a million years would I have thought that Congenital Heart Disease would be something that has affected me in the way that it has. Today is the beginning of a week long awareness for CHD (Feb. 7-14th), and ironically it is the 7 month anniversary of the day that our precious nephew passed away from CHD. Since then, I have known several other people who have had babies born with CHD, including my good friend/college roommate, Heather. It has opened up a whole new world that I never would have paid much attention to, but yet is SO important and could still affect me and you in the future.

My sister, Lisa, has started a team to raise money for the American Heart Association's Heart Walk this fall and can start raising money now. If any of you out there feel like you have some amount of money to donate (ANY amount), it would be greatly appreciated. Lisa's team is a "Mom's with Heart" team, meaning that all funds raised will be donated to pediatric research. Her specific donation page is called "Aaron's Angels" and you can click here to donate.

Oh, how I love and miss this sweet boy!