I'm in love

I couldn't love this girl more than I do.  I say that every day, yet I manage to wake up the next day loving her even more.  How is this possible?  

She will be two on Saturday.  I can hardly wait for her little birthday party.  She is so excited about it, and knows there will be balloons, face paint (which she calls stickers), friends, and presents.  She talks about it several times a day, especially getting a sticker on her cheek.  I hope she has the time of her life.  We just found out Finn will be there which will make that day even more special for her.  Oh, how she loves that boy!

Over the past month or so, we've been going to local farms a couple of times a week.  This is her new favorite activity.  She gets to run around, collect and throw rocks, get dirty, see animals and be free.  It is the perfect outing for a toddler, and I am glad to oblige any time she mentions wanting to go.  It's still odd and wonderful to me that there are places like this, just outside of a huge city.  I love it!  We get the best of both worlds.  She thinks both places are fascinating.  

I love how excited she gets about everything these days.  Everything is an adventure, a learning experience, an exploration,  a wonder.  I hope that never fades- her enthusiasm for every little thing in life.  I also love that she remembers what we did at the end of the day.   When Josh gets home from work, he always asks her what she did that day.  Every time without fail, she tells him everything we did including food we ate, errands we ran, activities we did, and fun we had.  I am so impressed by her.  She is a smarty, this one.  We are working on her ABCs right now and it's pretty darn cute.  She knows A-E, G, K, attempts L, M, N, O, and then can always do Q-Z.  She catches on to things so quickly, it makes me wonder if I am teaching her enough.  I am constantly impressed by her ability to learn so quickly.  I hope she has her dad's passion for knowledge.  He studies things constantly, just because he wants to.  I love that man.  He is a really good dad.  Our kids are lucky to have him.

The end is near

35.5 weeks

I am going to be a mother of two, in just 4 short weeks.  It's still strange to me that I am old enough for this stuff.  I have been married for 6 years, own a home, my husband has a masters degree and a real life career, and we (will) have 2 kids.  Since when am I not 19?  It's crazy and I love it.  I feel blessed to be living the life I always dreamed of as a child.

Some days d-day can't come soon enough, others I feel like I need some more time.  I officially waddle, have full on belly cleavage hanging out of the bottom of all of my shirts, pee 5 times a night, can't sit up unassisted, have gained 20 lbs, and have a son in there that moves like a maniac.  All in all everything is going extremely well though!  My energy levels are higher than they have been in a while, I'm much more comfortable than I was at this point in my pregnancy with Lucy, and I am glad to have most things ready for the baby's arrival. 

It's been really fun to make his crib, wash his blankets and clothes, get the car seat, baby swing, and other accessories out and prepped, and sit in his room imagining what it will be like to cuddle him in there.  I've also tried to re-read some of Babywise.  I really hope I can get him sleeping as well as Lucy did, from a young age. Fingers crossed!

The little man doesn't have a name yet.  He probably won't until he is here.  We have a list that we like, all super traditional, normal names.  I can hardly wait to see his little face!  I wonder if he will look like his sister, or like his dad.  I wonder what color eyes and hair he will have.  With the combination of our family's genes, it could be anything really.  I can't wait to hold him, smell him, and experience that indescribable mother/child bond for the second time in my life.

I'm a little nervous about nursing him.  That was by far the most difficult part of having a newborn for me, last time.  I had terrible wounds, bleeding, clogs, and infections, and I'm just worried that is going to happen again.  For the first 6 weeks, every time Lucy would latch on, my eyes would water and my toes would curl.  It was so painful.  I'm so glad I stuck it out though.  I really did love breast feeding her and I saw the benefits of it, first hand.  I nursed Lu for 13 months, she never had formula even one single time, and I plan on doing the same thing with this baby.

It's funny, part of me feels like I have never done this before.  I went to pack my hospital bag the other day, and I had no clue what to put in there.  I felt much more confident about the little things with Lucy.  I think it's because I had been reading a million books for the 9 months before she came, and I had a set plan for everything.  I haven't really had time to think about any of that this time around and I kind of feel like I'm winging it a little bit.  I also think part of it is that Lucy was the most amazing newborn ever- she NEVER cried, slept like a dream from the beginning, ate extremely well, etc.  I never had to deal with any set backs or problems with her and I'm a little nervous things won't go quite as easily this time around, and that I won't know what to do to help him if that's the case.  I know, I'm weird.

I have really been trying to soak up the remainder of my alone time with Lucy.  She is so fun right now and I want to try to take her all in and remember every little detail.  She is so smart, beautiful, funny, and amazing.

Anyway, we are so excited for this little boy to be part of our family!  He will be an added blessing that I know I won't be able to live without.

Here he is in action:

23 Months

My baby will be two, TWO!, years old in 2 1/2 weeks.  How did this happen so quickly?  Here is our precious and spunky Louey at 23 months:

At 23 months, Lucy:

• counts to 10, knows all her colors, can spell her name, is really good at puzzles, knows every animal and the sound they make.  She is currently working on her ABCs.
• sleeps in a big girl bed!  Not a toddler bed, a real live twin bed, in a big girl room.  She has done so well with the transition.  She hasn't had any problems with her new environment, and (shockingly) hasn't tried to get out of bed a single time.  She still naps just as long as before, and sleeps perfectly throughout the night.  Everyone was telling me not to move her into a bed, but it really couldn't have been an easier change.  Now if only potty training was this easy...
• is finally down to one nap a day!  It took her so long to get to this point, and some days I still feel like she needs two, but she really is doing great with her new nap schedule.  It has been nice to be able to be out and about throughout the day.  She takes one 2-3 hour nap in the early afternoon and sleeps 12 hours at night.
• knows how to throw a tantrum and is getting really good at it.  Luckily, they are very short lived, lasting anywhere from 5-30 seconds, and then she's over whatever she was upset about.  The scary thing is, they are happening a few times a day, and over very small and silly things.  Oye.
• is possibly more curious than ever.  She is constantly into everything, making messes, playing with things she isn't supposed to play with, jumping or falling off of furniture, taking things apart to figure out how they work then putting them back together, loves to explore, etc.
• loves anything and everything princess right now, and the color pink.  Who taught her to like pink?  That one certainly wasn't me.  She loves her princess dress ups, her Tangled sippy cups, books, crowns, etc.  My dad just bought her an amazing princess dress and crown in NYC, and I can NOT wait for her to see them.  She is going to be so excited I don't even think she'll know what to do with herself.
• likes movies that are for kids 10 years older than her.  She loves Parent Trap, which she calls 'shopping cart' for some reason, and still loves George of the Jungle, Elf, and her all time favorite, Home Alone.  Up and Tangled are definitely also front runners.
• is really into reading right now, which has been great.  I worked really hard to get her to last through a book for so long.  It paid off, because now she loves to read!  She still has to move about while we read, but she is much better at paying attention.  She is also starting to memorize pages of her favorite books.  Her current favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Letter to the Zoo, Pat the Bunny, Goodnight Moon, and Baby Bunny.
• her vocabulary is insane!  She constantly speaks in 3-4 word phrases, and even in full sentences on occasion.  She understands EVERYTHING, says things like, 'oh my gosh!', and 'that's shocking', and totally knows when she says something funny. 
• still loves and adores her Finn.  It breaks my heart that they don't get to see each other everyday anymore.  She was so so happy to see him this past week.  He really is her favorite person.  Those two have a special connection that I hope they never lose.  I feel really guilty for taking her away from him.
• has a feeling something is about to change, or at least I think she does.  She wants me to hold her more, rock her, has been more affectionate with me, and always wants me around.  She invites me to come sit with her, wherever she is, so I can either watch her play or play with her.  She wants me to read to her, sing to her, etc, which for her has been been a big change in behavior.   I used to try to do those things with her and for the most part, she was so busy she didn't seem to care if I was around or not.  It has been a very welcomed change, but one I'm afraid we will struggle with when my attention has to be divided, in just a few short weeks.  I am trying to enjoy every second that she and I have alone, before the baby is here.
• still is the busiest, craziest child alive.  In contrast to what I said above, she really still never stops moving.  It is incredible.  I wish people could see her in action because I don't think anyone besides our families and close friends really understands the amount of energy this child has to release in a day.  I come from a family of overly energetic kids, and she blows us all out of the water!  Although exhausting, it is admirable, and I think she will do great things with all of her fire, will, and zest for life.
• is still so teeny tiny.  She weighs 22 lbs, but is fairly tall.  I think I was 19 lbs and short at her age, so she will most certainly be taller than me, which I think is fantastic.  
• loves dried fruit- prunes, raisins, cranberries, apricots, etc. and nuts, especially pine, walnuts, and pistachios to snack on.  She also loves curry in all forms, butternut squash soup, and hummus.
• still has never tasted candy, a cookie, brownie, etc.  The only sugar she has had was on her first birthday and she wasn't too into it.  We are trying to decide what to give her on her second birthday.  
• loves to whisper lately.  It's so cute, and a very nice change from her usual extremely loud volume.
• still loves Neil Diamond.  I love that about her.  She also loves the song 'Santa Claus is coming to town'.  She requests that I sing to her all day long- everything from Neil and 'Itsy Bitsy Spider', to the George of the Jungle theme song and 'You are my Sunshine'.  
• loves farms, swimming, swinging at the park, blowing bubbles, coloring on our fence with chalk, throwing rocks and bark, playing with sticks, hugging light poles (so weird), bouncing balls, and 'running fast!' as she says when she is running speedily away from me in a public place.
• is getting really good at cleaning up her toys, before pulling new ones out.  She actually reminded me to do this the other day which made me proud.  She is picking our habits up and it's awesome.
• loves to jump on and off of furniture.  She is pretty fearless.  She climbs on everything she can, and sometimes hurts herself in the process, but doesn't really seem to care enough to not do it again.  She likes adventure, that's for sure.
• has the longest hair!  It is down between her should blades.  I am contemplating cutting a couple of inches off, just to add some fullness, but Josh loves it long.  It is straight as a stick, slippery and soft.  She requests certain hair styles some days, and loves when I braid it for her.  Most days it is still in pigtails.  I love pigtails on little girls, and it stays the neatest when we style it that way.  She looks homeless by the end of the day if we leave it down.  She also has the cutest little face I've ever seen.  She really is so beautiful, Josh and I can't quite get over it.

This girl is pretty amazing.  She is firey and bold, sweet and funny.  We really do adore everything about her.  She is cleaver and so so smart.  We so love watching her explore the world around her.  She is so curious and happy to be wherever she is.  She tries to be so helpful with cleaning up spills, folding (or unfolding) laundry, putting her little dishes away, etc.  She is a true joy to be around.  No one makes me happier or more exhausted than my Lucy.  I love her more than life itself and I am so proud to be her mama.

This Pregnancy

27 week belly

I have been so terrible at documenting this pregnancy.  I kind of feel guilty about it, since I wrote every detail about Lucy's down.  I am a little busier this time around and at the end of the day, I just want to go to bed instead of sit and write about how fat I am.  Baby and Josh are still asleep, and I just got home from the gym, so I figured this is my chance.  I am currently 28 weeks and 5 days pregnant.  We are in the home stretch!

We are thrilled to be able to welcome another little blessing into our home.  We can't wait to meet him and see what his little face looks like.  I have a feeling he will look more like his dad than his sister does.  I would love to have a son that is as strapping as his father.  I think this one will have brown eyes like his dad as well.  Time will tell.  I can't wait to hold a baby who doesn't move, and let's me hold them again.  I can't wait to smell him, and rock him, nurse him, and feel that bond that grows each day with a new baby.

Some days I can hardly wait for his arrival, and other days I'm glad we still have a couple months left, alone with Lucy.  She is the light of our lives.  We are absolutely obsessed with her, and it makes me sad to think that it won't just be me and her alone, playing together all day anymore.  I get sad when I think about how confused and lost she is sure to feel when we bring the baby home and she isn't getting our constant undivided attention anymore.  She is such a joy, and I don't want to take anything away from her.   I am making it a goal to spend at least 30 minutes alone with her a day, once the baby is here.  I want her to know that I still love her and that I have time for her and that she isn't being replaced by another baby.  I hope she is excited about the addition, once the baby is here.  I want to include her in as much as I can, and allow her to be involved with helping out with the baby.  I love her so much I could burst.  I have been having that anxiety that I know a lot of second time parents get before another baby comes, that I won't love the second baby as much as I love the first.  I try not to get too upset when I feel like that.  It's just hard to comprehend being able to love someone as much I love her.  I know it will happen, the second I lay eyes on him, and that makes me excited beyond anything I can express.

This pregnancy has been pretty darn easy.  I know I still find enough things to complain about (exhaustion and heat), but really, I have it so good when it comes to how easily I get pregnant and how easy my pregnancies are.  I never got sick with this one.  I had a few moments of queasiness in the first 6-8 weeks, but nothing bad enough that made me stop whatever I was doing at the time.  My one severe pregnancy symptom is not being able to sleep, and constant state of exhaustion.  I will wake up anywhere from 2-5 am and most of the time, not be able to go back to sleep.  Occasionally, I will get lucky and sleep until 6, which is awesome.  This was a huge change for me, because before I got pregnant, I could  sleep between 12 and 14 hours a night- easy.

I have gained 15 lbs at 28 weeks, which is about 3 lbs more than I did with Lucy at this point (which I'm not thrilled about, but I'm also not going to kill myself over it).  Three pounds is a big difference on a petite 5 foot tall body, and I feel it.  It's totally my own fault, I eat pretty well most of the time, but will definitely treat myself to something every now and then, which I pretty much never did, or even wanted to, with Lucy.  I also haven't been working out as much as I did during my pregnancy with Lucy.  It's amazing how much less time you have, when you have a toddler to take care of.  I go to the gym early in the morning and usually do light weights and the elliptical, climb stairs, or incline walk on the treadmill.  I will also take a weight lifting class, zumba, or boot camp class once a week.  I have a lot of work to do after I have this sweet baby, that's for sure.

Our son is extremely active- shocker!  I feel him constantly, and started feeling him suuuper early (at like 14 weeks which I didn't even know was possible).  He loves to stomp on my bladder, and has almost made me pee my pants a few times.  I'm fairly positive he isn't head down yet, because I haven't felt any rib pressure or pain, which has been fantastic.  Most kicks are felt on my right side and in my pelvis so I think his head is to my left and he's curled up to the right, for now.  My belly got really big, really fast with this one and then plateaued for a few months.  The first time someone asked when I was due, I was only 9 weeks, if that gives you an idea.  I can feel it is starting to grow again, just in the past week or so.

We have nothing ready for this baby's arrival.  I was so on top of it when I was pregnant with Lucy.  I had her room painted, decorated, set up, bedding made, clothes hung, accessories purchased, etc. at this point.  I feel like moving, going on vacations, and taking care of Lucy have really made me a slacker in this department, this time around.  I can feel the nesting phase is setting in big time, and I am suddenly in a mad rush to get everything ready before October is here.  We still need to buy everything for and set up Lucy's big girl room, move her into it, then set up the nursery for baby boy, buy him clothes, get our second seat stroller attachment, and a million other little things.

We are still working on a name for the little man.  If it were up to me, he would be named George.  If it were up to Josh, he would be named Tom.  Together, we agree on Luke, Will, Henry, and Jude.  When we asked Lucy what we wanted his name to be, she recommended Jungle and Cheese, so... 

He probably won't be named until he's out, and that's ok by me.

I have been having a little anxiety about my delivery this time around.  For some reason I feel like I'm going to end up with an unnecessary C-section, or an episiotomy that I don't want, etc.   It's weird because I had no anxiety whatsoever going into Lucy's birth, and hers went perfectly!  I loved the experience and couldn't wait to do it again.  I think it all is stemming from the fact that I have only met my new doctor twice, there is a 95% chance he won't be the one delivering the baby, I've never been to the hospital where I will deliver, and all recovery rooms are shared rooms which doesn't thrill me, to say the least.  I think the unfamiliarity with my new environment is causing all the uneasiness I've been feeling.  I just want to crawl back to Dr. Brown and deliver at IMC again.  I would feel so much better if that were an option.

Below is a face on picture.  He is laying on his left side, and you can see his chin, lips, and nose.  Below that one is a cute profile picture.

 There's no doubt about it, he's a boy!

22 months

 At 19 months:

 At 20 months:

 At 21 months:

At 22 months:

Between 19 and 22 months Lucy:

• is still obsessed with Neil Diamond and Lady Gaga.  She also loves the Black Keys and any song with a strong beat.
• is a little fishy and wants to go swimming every day.  She would stay in the pool all day if we would let her.  She does great with her water wings.  She jumps off the side of the pool, swims wherever she wants to, can spin, lay on her back, and get back to the steps without a problem, all while giggling every second of the way.
• tried so hard to potty train.  We gave it a really good push, but it just wasn't happening.  She pooped great on the potty and could make it there in time to  do so, but had no clue when she was about to pee, so it ended up on my floor more than 40 times in the 3 days we went panties only.  I was so proud of her for her effort.  She wanted to do it so badly, and would get so excited when she was successful.  She is such a good little girl.
• has become the sweetest little thing on earth.  She is full of love, hugs, kisses, giggles, smiles, playfulness, and will sit and give us a cuddle for a minute every now and then.  She is still too bust to ever really snuggle up to us, especially if we try to get her to lay down, but we will take every second we can get.  She tells us that she loves us and it's pretty much the best thing ever.
• is quite the talker!  Her vocabulary expands every day, it's amazing.  Right now she consistently uses between 100 and 150 words.  She uses 2-4 word phrases all day long.  I think complete sentences aren't too far off. 
• knows all of her colors and points out the color of everything, everywhere we go.
• loves to do yoga.
• can count to 4, and then throws random numbers in, with an occasional 'Y!' until she gets to 10.
• can spell her name.
• loves to dance!  I can hardly wait to get her in dance lessons.  She also loves to jump, or try at least.  It's so funny to watch.  She actually got really good at it yesterday and it made me kind of sad. 
• gets so excited to take a bath.
• has lost pretty much all of her baby-ness.  It kind of breaks my heart, but is so awesome at the same time.  
• she has NEVER been more fun in all her life.  She is a complete joy to be around.  She just wants to play and love on you all day long, it's the best thing ever.  She loves to be the center of attention, and is, everywhere we go.
• loves to play at the park.  The swings are her favorite.  We probably spend an hour on them every time we go to the park.
• misses her Utah friends.  I am sad we still don't know anyone her age out here.  Hopefully she will have playmates in our area soon.
• loves to blow bubbles, color and play with play dough.  She loves to stack her block, play with her dolls, and musical instruments.  She especially loves the harmonica her Uncle Luke gave her.
• loves to empty the bathroom cupboards and line up all of our hair/body products on the edge of the bathtub, while I get ready.  She also likes to put on fake deodorant, little weirdo.
• is obsessed with her Grandma Linda, Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Mari. 
• still sleeps 12 hours a night with two 2 hour naps a day.
• still is crazy obsessed with her binkies.  She only gets them when it's time to sleep or if we drive down to LA.  She has recently started loving sleeping with a blanky as well.
• loves to sing and do the hand motions to 'Itsy Bitsy Spider,' 'Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree,' 'Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam,' and constantly asks us to sing the George of the Jungle theme song.
• favorite movies are 'George of the Jungle', 'Tangled', 'Up', and 'Home Alone'.  
• gets so excited when she asks for something, like it's a new and brilliant idea.  It's hilarious.  She giggles, leans her head to the side, grabs your hand, and shrieks with excitement trying to get out whatever it is she is asking for.
• has to have a bow in her hair at all times.  She can now have two real French braids in her hair.  It is getting so long and so blonde, it kills both of us.  Who would have thought my genes would actually come through with the eye and hair color?  I'm sure she will have dark hair later on in life, like we both do, but I will take the blonde as long as it wants to stick around.  
• loves to eat frozen blueberries.  She still eats super healthy, with no processed foods, sugar, etc.  She eats hummus by the spoonful, and asks for it several times a day.  She still prefers fish to chicken, will now eat eggs, loves berries of all sorts, thinks soup is awesome, is thrilled to eat her vitamin every morning, drinks almond milk, water, and green juice, thinks raisins and apple juice are 'treats', and loves spicy food like her mom and dad.  She eats all sorts of food, from Indian to Thai which, of course, we love.  Let's hope her bother is as good of an eater as she is.
• thrives when she is on her schedule.  This girl is a girl of routine.  All of our summer vacations make that a little hard, but she is a trooper.
• asks us to 'come?' with her wherever she goes.
• loves to help out with chores around the house, especially laundry.
• has her daddy (and everyone else) wrapped around her little finger.
• knows there is a baby in my belly, and that it's a boy, but is in for quite the shock come October.  I think she is going to have a really hard time sharing attention and my time with him.
• Asks for every extended family member, several times a day.
• loves her mama and daddy.  I am sad that one day we won't be the center of her universe.  She is our whole life and we adore every tiny thing about her.
• has the most precious face ever.  We could stare at it all day long.  She is so expressive and her joy comes through her awesome smile, and bright eyes every second of every day.
• is insanely smart.  It is scary.  Her doctor and strangers mention it to me regularly so I know it's not just me being a proud and biased mom.  She is quick and cleaver and bright.  She has her dad's desire to learn and passion for figuring out how things work.   I am so proud of her for that.

We have never loved having her as part of our family as much as we do right now.  She gets smarter, stronger, and more wonderful with every passing day.  She has become such a wonderful little girl and we are so very blessed to be her parents.  We love you more than you will ever understand, Lucy June!

Hawaii

Trip description coming soon!