We're Gonna Make It After All...

Well, I think I figured out how to get Lucy through a 5 hour plane trip. The girl is ADDICTED to stickers. So, I'm going to buy a blank note pad and about 10 packages of stickers. I don't care what she sticks them on. With a pen to draw on them and lots of space to practice "sticking," I think we're on to something. She's playing with Tigger and Pooh stickers right now and my fussy toddler has been transformed into a very complacent and reasonable child. Now I just need to teach her that Maple does not eat stickers. Or crayons. Or trial size packets of Tide. Or George Orwell books.

Lucy & True Sportsmanship.

Lucy & I (Andrew) went to the Mt. Ridge HS track today. It's brand new, rubberized and astroturfed (sp?). They haven't paved the parking lot yet so we had to do a little "off roading" in the jogger to get there, but after you look at the adorable pictures below, you tell me if it was worth getting a little mud on the tires...

Lucy steps out on the rubber with her head held high for the first time that evening

Lucy stretching before the races begin

Lucy showing her "game face" to the photographers & crowd

She's not smiling folks, she's stretching really hard!Lucy runs around the corner of the track and collapses exhaustedly on her dad's knee

Next, there was the football! Er, maybe cheerleading eventually. Regardless, she was on the field squishing her cute little toes into the turf!

Let's go boys, I'm ready for the gridiron

Stretching those strong legs & eyeing up the competition across the field

Warming up in the 3-point (maybe 4-point) stance


I'm open! Throw it here! You know you cannot resist my beautiful sun-kissed red hair!Thanks coach. Great game.

I had SO much fun with her tonight. We're going to do that again soon. It was a MAJOR disconnect mid-week from my otherwise hectic day at the office. Maple is well by the way! Laura told me she's only posted like 1 picture & she feels guilty, but it's all good!!! She's just a cute puppy. We've all seen those before! Hope you all enjoyed the photos of tonight's track meet & football game as much as I enjoyed taking them & coaching!

A teeny, tiny brag.

Andrew and I got our credit scores a few days ago and they're both in the "excellent" range! This really thrills me, because after all of the house hunting and credit checks we now have behind us, I was really worried that they would take a hit.
Now I just have to get money to grow on trees and I'll be set!

Maple

Quick Update

• We got a puppy! She's 8 weeks old, her name is Maple and she's very cute. I will post pictures later. She's a Saint Bernard/Cattle Dog/Akita mix.
  
• Lucy is still teething and it's incredibly gross.
  
• I am feeling much better and I will survive.
  
• Our trip home was very nice. We had a date and saw The Dark Knight, we had lunch with Josh and M, Andrew saw Monster Trucks, I went to the Outlets and we celebrated Grandma's Bday!
  
• Lucy slept til 8am this morning and it was positively blissful. Not only that, but she went down for a nap at 9:45 and is still sleeping 2 hours later.
  
• I have a TON of pics to upload, but my Mac is still missing the power cord. Lucy and I are going to get out for a walk this afternoon and we'll swing by Brian's office to see if he can help us. Hopefully!
  

Still Sick.

I'm eating chicken and stars and Lucy is next to me on the floor, trying very hard to resist the temptation to eat the sticky pages markers she's pulling out of the desk drawer. I'll get some pictures and post them later.

We went to the track and walked a mile, against my mother's advice. I should have listened. Sorry, mom...to make myself feel better, Lucy and I are going to bake peanut butter cookies. We might even mail some to Grandma Susie and Grandpa Dick! If we're quick we could get them out today, but we might have to settle for tomorrow morning.

I am incredibly sick.

I have some sort of head cold. My throat hurts, my nose hurts and my head hurts. I just want to go to bed. When Andrew comes home, I'm going to do that.

Lucy and I went out early this morning. I bought two shirts and a pair of capris, and we took a belt to Andrew, who forgot one this morning. We also stopped at McDonald's for some hotcakes.

When I got home and checked my email, Andrew had forwarded me an email entitled "Your tuition bill is available for viewing." Yes, I forgot to renew his FAFSA

Andrew is making me go to bed. More later.

Snot Everywhere.

Lucy has two more teeth coming in. Apparently hers come in in identical pairs. She now has two more coming in on top. Unfortunately, this means a lot of snot. It just gets everywhere. It's like having a very small Saint Bernard. So, I'm just wiping her nose today.

On top of that, we have the Washington trip coming up. Lots of planning to do there, but I'm just so busy with other things right now! This week is going to be a busy one! Thursday we have all sorts of appointments and things, and we'll be getting ready to head downstate for a couple of days. We haven't been down since May, so we're going to have a date night on Friday night into Saturday morning, (Ooh la-la! Thanks to Grandma Jen and Grandpa Tim for watching Lucy overnight!) which will be much-needed time-out for Andrew and I. We've been so incredibly busy that it feels like we haven't even talked to each other in a month! On Saturday night, Andrew, Tim and Calvin are taking the boys somewhere exciting. It's still a surprise, so I can't post it here! On Sunday we're going to a party for Grandma Faber's birthday! So, it'll be a nice weekend with family and friends, and we definitely need it!

Today Lucy and I might drive to the animal shelter and say hello to the doggies. We just need to kill the day. Maybe we'll head to the mall and go for a long walk. It's only supposed to be in the 80's today, so I think we're going to do a tough afternoon workout, maybe to the playground- that's a long one.

On top of everything else, I've been having some bizarre dreams. It's making for some rough nights around here! But, I'm less afraid of the house now, so I'm getting to sleep sooner, and that helps a lot when these dreams are waking me up so much!

What a Day!

We have had so much going on today! Here's the rundown.

• The dryer has been moved to the basement! Hooray! We also fixed the clothesline and I'm very excited about using it. It makes me feel authentic and a little bit green.
  
• Grandpa Paul is here and keeping Lucy very busy! She just went down for the night and boy, was she pooped!
• This morning we looked at a litter of Great Dane puppies. We have officially decided that we're going to be a Great Dane family! However, we did decide that with the things we have going on right now, this isn't the right time to welcome a puppy into our home, but when the time comes we'll be welcoming a gentle giant. I think that we've decided that finishing the basement and fencing the yard needs to come first so that we have a little more living space for our puppy. Hopefully we'll be introducing Lucy to her new canine brother or sister sometime next fall.
  
• I'm going to watch TV and eat Muddy Buddies now. My Mac is in the shop and the laptop is a very poor substitute...
  

Big Girl!!

I am so proud of my little LucyBear! Today has been 100% bottle free! She's been a trooper and you'd never even know how attached she is! I just put her to bed for the night and she fussed for a minute or two, but she seems to have gone to sleep without a problem! I am just so tickled over this whole thing. What a cooperative little thing.

She is really growing up so fast! She still naps by herself for about an hour each afternoon, and then she calls for me and naps on me for another hour. It's my favorite part of the day, feeling her sweaty little toddler body curled around me. I've never considered myself to be particularly nurturing, but Lucy sure thinks I am. I love it when she nestles in to my not-yet-flat tummy and gets heavier as she falls into a deeper sleep. I always think to myself, "You and I were one person once, and now all I have left of that is these chubby toddler arms wrapped around what used to be your home."
And now I'm crying. I guess I am nurturing, after all.

On dirty children and bottle-weaning.

Now, anyone who knows Lucy knows that she's not shy about getting dirty. She usually has a stained shirt, a dirty little face and very sticky hands. Today while I was sweeping, I was noticing the cloud of dust that follows her wherever she goes and I realized that she closely resembles a familiar cartoon character.

In other news...I have decided that I'd like Lucy to be weaned from bottle by the time we fly to PA. So, we're starting today. It's going to be a rough one, because Lucy really knows exactly how her day is supposed to go and what she expects from her caregivers. So weaning from the bottle is not an easy task. I just put her down and gave her a sippy of water for extra comfort and she's beyond mad at me...it's going to be a long haul.

Pictures!

So, these are a little out of order. Here is the nearly-dead Lion from yesterday's trip to the horror-zoo. More on that later.

Here is Lu at the playground last week. She had a blast crawling over and under everything!

I love this picture of Lucy. This is her expression about 75% of the time. She's such a thinker!

Lucy and Daddy playing with the spray bottle. It really never gets old!

Okay, back to the zoo. Here is a baboon.

Lucy and a donkey. She was terrified of him.

"Charlie" and a guy who thinks he knows how to handle mountain lions. I almost got to watch a feeding, I kid you not.

Baby Peacocks!! So cute!!

Watching a miniature horse.

A goat and an Emu. Both of which were scraggly.

A Zebra who has no idea he belongs on the African plains.

A Bengal Tiger. You'd be upset too, if you were housed next to chickens.

So, that was the trip to the "zoo." I really wish I'd gotten a pic of the ghetto sign on the front of the establishment. Maybe Lucy and I will go back sometime this week and do that. That place just wasn't right. Think "House of Wax" farm, but with animals instead of dead cars and wax people.

Nonplussed.

The zoo was not cool. It was basically a dude who had a bunch of exotic critters locked up in his backyard. Not only were the animals looking a tad crazed, but the place was of the horror movie variety. We had a close encounter with a bobcat, thanks to some guy who volunteers there and probably has no idea that the term "wild cat" means you shouldn't pet them like a calico in a sun patch. There was also an angry tiger and several confused looking goats, not to mention a parrot missing some feathers and a lot of peacocks. And, we saw an African Lion named Boo who looked...dead. Pictures to come!

Bath Time

I have totally given up on forcing Lucy to sit at bath time. If anything, all of these bath tub spills are making her balance even better. She's eating the shaving cream- back soon.

Broken Streak

I am incredibly sad to report that it is 6:45 and Lucy is up, watching Higglytown Heroes and screaming at me for more water in a sippy I don't recognize. I really thought the past three days were a good sign...
Here is 5 minutes in the life of Lucy:

• Finds remote
• Straddles my lap and tells me a ten-secind story about remotes, I think.
• Cries until I put the remote down her shirt.
• Giggles at remote in her shirt.
• Cries when she realizes she has a remote in her shirt- I remove it.
• Pulls pile of clean laundry off the couch, looking for something. I am glad I vacuumed last night.
• Finds pink flowered bloomers, makes it very clear that she wants to wear them on her head.
• Mommy put them on her head. Bloomers are close, but not exactly what she was looking for.
• Clean diaper was a closer match.
• Pushes lid of laptop up and down several times. Dance to a commercial.
• Looks down her shirt to makes sure the remote isn't still in there.
• Pushes power button on laptop, requiring me to decide whether or not I want to shut down.
• Climbs on couch and leans as far over the side as possible, squealing "Daaaaaaadddddeeeee!"

I think that was closer to 4 minutes. Another minute would result in catastrophe, I think.

Silly Lucy!

Let me preface this by saying that Lucy thinks this is one of the funniest things in the world.

Lucy's 4th of July

Here is Lucy playing in the rain on the 4th of July! I love the way she says, "Yeah" all sad and pathetic!

Well, I left my Mommy Board.

I have belonged to some sort of message board for years. I belonged to the Knot for ages before my wedding, then moved to the Nest. Once we found out we were expecting Lucy, I moved to the Nest Baby. It became a pretty unfriendly place, so I joined a great group of girls on a private board. It's been a wonderful experience, but I'm just spending too much time there.
Now that the board is spending a good amount of time discussing whether or not we can all get along like civilized adults, I've realized that not only am I concerned about my relationships with a large group of women, which almost always ends badly, but I'm concerned about a group of people I've never met.
It's become the norm for me to give Lucy her breakfast and to hop on the laptop to "catch up." What I should be catching up on is Lucy's manners. When Lucy naps, I usually sit down with my lunch at the computer. I should be sitting down with a book, or sending a letter to a friend. Instead of playing Scrabble or watching a movie with Andrew at night, we're spending time on separate computers. That's just not right.
The board has been a wonderful resource, but the internet isn't a community. It's a place you go to escape the community you're already in. What if I spent Lucy's nap time recruiting for a charity? What if I spent Lucy's breakfast teaching her to pray, or reading her a book she wouldn't usually sit through? What if I spent the hours after her bedtime cleaning up and really getting organized for the next day?
I made the right decision. I need to be present now, in my real life. I feel more connected already.

I plan on devoting more time to my blog, too. Lucy is growing too fast and is too funny not to be sharing more of these moments. Lately when she cries out for something I say, "You mean 'Please Mom!'" and she just laughs at me. Today she said "Peese!" and I almost fell over. My little girl won't be a heathen cave-creature forever!

Also...

Nina put a bug on Lilly's mouth and took pictures of it.

Does that offend you, Nina?

Ok, then.

Well, since I was encouraged to post honestly, here's what's on my mind.

• My c-section scar feels bruised and it's irritating me.
  
• I am so happy that Andrew and Lucy went to the office this morning so that I can blog and shower. However, I already miss them.
  
• We're spending Christmas and Thanksgiving at home because it simply means so much to us to have our first holidays here in our new home.
  
• I was going to plan a big party. After careful thought, I decided that I would rather have a small, meaningful gathering with a few people than send out an invite and have people change their minds three days beforehand, only to have a "big" party with 5 people who ended up making it.
  
• At my wedding, I had 10 family members in attendance. That still makes me very sad. We had over 100 people, and I only had 10 family members. What's sad is that I have a really big family.
  
• Lucy is turning out to be highly intelligent. I knew this was a possibility, but it's definitely biting me in the butt. Along with intelligent comes ornery, demanding, destructive, earsplitting and incredibly busy. Her cuteness makes it even harder for me, because no one likes to discipline a Kewpie Doll.
  
• I can't believe we've lived in our house since the middle of May and only our moms and Calvin and Katherine have come to see it.
  

Well, I have a shower to take and a budget to work on, not to mention a huge shopping list to make and a weekend to plan. I also have to figure out our trip to WA in better detail.

I feel much better having posted that. I'm not really whining about anything, because none of it is really anything I can change. I'm just putting it out there that my belly hurts, Lucy is a little crazy and I still flip through my wedding album a lot.

The problem with having a widely read blog...

...is that I can no longer blog my real thoughts without offending at least one person.

I think we're going to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas in Frostburg this year.

The Trouble with Redheads, Part Deux

So, yesterday Lucy woke up in her Orioles onesie and insisted on putting her pink pajama top on over it. She looked ridiculous but was so proud of the way she picked out her clothes. Such a big girl!

As you can see, her pilot's license has been suspended and Lucy is grounded until the FAA can determine if she's been drinking on the job.

Don't those pigtails add more mischief??

Andrew took this pic and it makes her face look so fat we had to add it!

Here is Lucy waiting for the bus today, getting into lots of trouble!

So maybe it's not just a cruising altitude problem...Lucy takes her water bottle EVERYWHERE! Here she is all buckled in on the bus, having a drink and watching the cars go by.

The trouble with redheads...

Well, I have a LOT of cute pictures to upload, but Blogger is being absolutely ridiculous, so I'll post this one and try again in a little bit. This is Lucy and I kissing. Daddy was at work so I had to hold the camera AND direct her slobbery little lips, but it worked well! Lucy loves to kiss and is constantly trying to give me a big sloppy one! She does, however, linger longer than is socially acceptable. I think this may be due to the fact that she watches Andrew and I kiss and we, too, linger longer than is socially acceptable. This is healthy for her parents; less healthy for her future friendships. We're going to work on the "hello peck" in the coming days.

This was the only kiss I caught without her tongue hanging out- she loves to lick you across the face and dissolve into giggles. This is not something she learned from Andrew and I, I swear.