A Birthday Brunch Party for Bug

Salted-caramel chocolate layer cake.

We had an extraordinarily fun day celebrating Lucy's birthday with friends yesterday. Lucy had four friends over (and their parents) and we ate, hung out in the warm sunshine, and chatted for hours and hours. It was perfect. This kids had a great time and there wasn't even one tantrum!

Serving Lucy her plate first.

Our spread minus the home fries.

The birthday girl.

I do believe Lucy liked this cake!

Blowing the first candle out.

Trying to blow out that second candle.

Lucy singed her eyelashes on one of her eyes as she was getting close to blow the candles out.  Here I am checking to make sure she's OK.  It didn't even faze her!

Tired Lucy noshing on some cake.

She's rapidly becoming more awake with every bite.

I just love this view. Happy girl sitting on her tree stump seat carved out by dada.

Our friends :)

Fabulous nursing mamas. Maya has a 3 year old, Keet, and Carrie has a 4 month old, Ana.

Hanging out. Lucy claimed this chair as her own.

A gloriously warm and sunny day on our deck with friends in honor of Lucy.

Lucy also had her 2-year check-up at the doctor's on Friday and she now weighs 22.4 pounds and is 32" tall. I can't believe my two year old is already more than half my own height! 

20-months and loving it!

Sassy Lucy sits for her 20-month-old holiday photo.

Lucy now weighs 20 pounds, is 30" tall and still has an 18"-round head. 

What can I say? Lucy is AWESOME. We keep thinking..."is she for real"?

Every morning starts with Lucy requesting to listen to music: "ah-bum, ah-bum"...meaning album.

Her favorite album is the Beatles. Favorite song: "She Loves You". She sings the yeah, yeah, yeahs from this song during it and throughout the day whenever she is thinking about her song. Other music she particularly rocks out to (dancing): Primus, The Fresh Prince, and Louis Armstrong.

A new activity is that Lucy likes to decorate Canute with things. He is very tolerant. She tears up pieces of tinfoil and lays them on him. She lays diapers on him while I am folding the laundry. She puts napkins on him. Anything she finds suitable. He just lays there and gets up when he's had enough.

Lucy can count to 6! She did it for the first time today with me and then tonight with Matt, she counted to 4. She can also say the alphabet very well with help along the way. Smarty-pants!

She loves to strike poses all the time and enjoys pushing her limits.

Lucy also thinks the animals love her to practically sit on them throughout the day.

Last week we had a good amount of blowing snow. It was quite a storm. Toward the end we went out and built a snowman. Then Lucy and Matt went for a walk afterward (while I gave the snowman some clothes) and came home to find the decorated snowman. Here is a little video Matt shot when they got home:

Lucy meets the snowman.

Playing in the fresh snow.

Walking in last week's blizzard.

It's Lucy's Half Birthday!

Lucy is now 18 months old and she's loving it! Little miss independence has bloomed. Lucy now walks down the stairs while holding onto the railing all by herself. I am pretty impressed. She eats her oatmeal and soup with a spoon too and refuses any assistance. She's just learned the method of using the spoon over the bowl to catch dribbles since she always looses half the soup on the spoon while bringing it to her mouth.

Little table tantrums have begun and we hope they are short lived. They are definitely based on being frustrated but we have a hard time knowing exactly what she means or needs sometimes. It must be hard to be such a little person with so much to say but you don't know how to say it yet!

New words since the last post: water, rain, eggs, breakfast, uh oh, woof, vino (dada taught her this one!), and shoes. I am sure there are more but it is hard to remember because she'll pretty much give any word a go if you ask her to say it. Sometimes she'll shake her head though and thinks other words are too hard. Lucy weighs 19.6 pounds, her height is 30.5 inches and that little noggin's circumference is 18".

Our little snow fairy loves the fresh snow today.

She was chasing Canute on the road and giggling with delight!

Lucy was amazed by the snow on the pumpkins and kept pointing to it. Our walk was short lived today as Lucy suddenly decided it was time for a nap. Canute was so disappointed because he couldn't wait to run around in the snow. I think winter is here to stay though, this snow looks like it will stick.

Seventeen Months Old in September!

Our little girl lights up our lives each and every day more than we ever could have imagined with her beautiful personality and ridiculously cute ways. Lucy is about 20 pounds and is 29.5 inches tall. She's almost half mama's height already! There is so much love that comes from Lucy in the form of kisses and hugs constantly all day long, starting with the minute she wakes up in the morning. Both kisses and hugs have their own unique vocal "mmm"s and "mnnn"s that come with them. Too sweet.

Lucy is very much into eating now. The other day she grabbed a freshly picked brandywine tomato and wanted to take bites out of it...so we let her indulge of course. She also enjoys eating peas fresh off the vine while in the garden. Lucy loves Thai coconut curries, Italian pestos, Indian-spiced salmon and pretty much everything we can get her to try!

There are not many new words to report...still practicing the ones we previously listed. Lucy's level of understanding is remarkable to us. We are positive she knows much more than we think she does. We've seen some frustrations in her stemming from being unable to voice exactly what she needs or wants and we imagine learning to say more words is right around the corner. Reading long and more complicated books have been a fun pastime for mama and Lucy during the day and at bedtime. Her level of concentration is quite high, more than we expected at this age.

A Beautiful Day to Celebrate Being 16 Months Old

Grandma Nancy was here to celebrate with us! The sun actually showed itself for us today after about two weeks of cloudy weather and showers. We headed to the Botanical Gardens and then to Pioneer Park to play.

Lucy was of course fascinated by the waterfall and the fish in the little pond that it trickled into. She also enjoyed smelling some flowers with grandma.

At Pioneer Park Lucy spotted the merry-go-round from across the playground and reached her arms out toward it with such excitement. She LOVES going on merry-go-rounds. She kisses the horses and then growls with frustration when it is time to get off. She's just great!

We ended our day at the park with a train ride which Lucy thoroughly enjoyed.

Here's the running list of words Lucy can now say:

mama

dada

baby

ball

bug

fish

peas

keys

leash

dog

peepees

whoa

go

oh

bowl

boo

boom

poopoo

woof woof

yes

please

book

bubble

watch

mwah (when giving kisses)

blueberry (she says it pretty good!)

Lucy is now 28.75" tall and about 19 pounds!

She copies everything we do these days! It is pretty amazing...and scary. She's such a fun little person to spend time with and we constantly feel extremely lucky to have her in our lives. She's full of smiles and energy and always has a little game up her sleeve. She LOVES to draw with crayons, pens and colored pencils and will focus on this for about twenty minutes at a time. We're not surprised!

All four of Lucy's first year molars are finally in. It was a month-long process for her. Both mama and Lucy are glad it is over. So she has a total of 12 teeth now.

Lucy is a big helper. She enjoys assisting in all chores such as putting clothes into the washing machine, throwing things away, and cooking! She never ceases to amaze us.

Happy 15 Months to Lucy!

Our little Lucy is growing so fast and bringing so much happiness to us every day!

Lucy weighs in at 18.6 pounds and she is 28 1/4 inches tall.

She knows a good number of words now so I will list as many as I can, including ones I have listed in the past:

mama

dada

baby

ball

bug

fish

peas

keys

leash

dog

peepees

whoa

go

oh

She signs for: milk, more, food, hot, plane, cat and dog. I am sure she'd know more if we actually taught her more! We got lazy I guess.

She eats like a champ now in terms of what she will try. The other night she ate salmon ceviche, she likes leeks, spicy food, refried beans, indian food. She's my daughter for sure!

Lucy has quite a personality but most of all she is very loving. She gives hugs often to all of us, including the pets and the chickens. She really enjoys feeding Matt and I real food with a fork or spoon. She knows where all of her facial features are as well as her belly button, hands, fingers, feet and toes. Lucy loves to sing along to music with adorable "ahs" and humming. She is definitely an explorer and we cannot keep up with her sometimes. She takes us for walks basically. Lucy loves to help out with things such as watering the garden (she holds the hose with me), throwing things in the garbage and putting things away. Every single day brings new things and we soak each one up in enjoyment.

Oh to be 14 Months Old...

I had a hard time getting an in-focus photo of Lucy while she cruised around carrying her barnyard friends. She just goes so fast! She's such a sweet little girl now - suddenly not so much a baby anymore.

Lucy weighs in at about 18 pounds and she is 28 inches tall.

There is so much developmentally to try to remember to write down but I will share what comes to mind.

Lucy signs for cat now. She gave Oliver several hugs this morning! I receive single-leg hugs and double-leg hugs all the time, especially when I am in the kitchen cooking. Hugs of all kinds are often and the sweetest thing for both Matt and I. She is very loving.

Lucy knows where her nose and her belly button are. She knows where mamas eyes are but hasn't pointed to them on herself yet. She loves to pull up her shirt and share her belly button with others. Her 8th (bottom) tooth is working its way up to break the surface of her gums - it's very obvious by the white color of her gum there. It's been a long one in the making and nights are sleepless for me lately. I can't wait for that tooth to come in!

Dada and Lucy work on the cabin he's building in our driveway

Lucy LOVES her dada. Every morning, the first thing out of her mouth is "dada". Then when we are playing upstairs, any sound she hears coming from outside prompts her to say "dada", go to the window to look outside, and say it again. She also associates talking on the phone with dada. When Matt comes home from work there is squealing and giggling coming from her to greet him. It's really great.

The Birthday Girl - One Year Old!

It's been a week of celebrating and remembering the sweetness that arrived in our life last year at this time. Lucy would like to share her stats with you along with some other fun facts...

I am now 17.5 pounds, 28" tall and my head measures 17.5"

I have 6 teeth now! Four on the top and two on the bottom. I am still pointing at everything. I can now direct people using my finger too. For example, I will point at mama and then point at a toy on the floor such as a ball and she will bring to me. It's pretty cool.

I say "bah bah bah" (bawk bawk bawk) to refer to all birds now even though I learned to say it around our chickens. When I see a raven flying in the sky I announce it this way and I point. I can climb up onto the sofa and down again. I can even climb down off of the bed as long as mama or dada is there to spot me. I can do it easily but they worry.

My current favorite foods are kiwi, carrots, blueberries, and applesauce. My doctor told mama and dada today that I am so strong she was having trouble checking my hips while I was pushing my legs to make her stop. I am tiny but I am strong (and fast)!