So beautiful!

http://namesinthesand.blogspot.com/

McCain might still have a shot...

if something like this is possible.

VBAC Decision Update

I sent Andrew a very long letter about my feelings, since he was out of town and I knew he'd have time to think on the plane. At least, I hope he's thinking right now. I hope we can have a nice, long talk when he gets home.
I also found a doula in the area and she knows a midwife. Yay! I'm going to meet with her, depending on what sort of a decision Andrew and I reach.
I've also hooked up with mothering.com and I'm hoping to encourage Andrew to take a look at the VBAC board. It's a great community and I really feel like I'm learning a lot already.

Why I Love Red Hair

Redheads are kind of like cult comedies to me. Everyone has to look and everyone has their own reason for loving them.
Why do I love my red head?

• I love that people can't keep their hands off her pigtails. Most people cringe when they think of people touching their kid, but Lucy's little curly red pigtails just entrance people and it's so fun to watch them bounce her hair and laugh. Elderly people touch her pigtails like they have some kind of healing property and they always say, "Oh that red hair..."
• The connections with other moms of redheads. There is nothing more calming than seeing another mom with a redhead in tow who is also screaming and yelling and attracting attention. There are very few red-haired children in our area, so people tend to remember them a little too well. It's nice to run into those other moms once in awhile.
  
• I love that everyone knows Lucy. Andrew and I take her out separately and Andrew is a big talker like myself. He also wants her to know people in the community, so he's always taking her to some strange place and letting her visit. Because of this, a lot of people will pass her and say, "Hi Lucy! How are you doing?" and she just runs up to them like they're family. They always have some story about meeting Lucy and her Daddy out on Main Street one day. I also get the, "You look familiar, but I've definitely met Lucy."
  
• The stories. Everyone has a redhead in their life. Older people always smile and tell me about a redhead they love, cashiers tell me about their baby who just happened to be a redhead, grown-up redheads will tell me story about how they used to hate their hair, the list just goes on and on.
  
• The Question. "Where did she get that red hair from??" Obviously someone in our family has red hair. Isn't that enough?
• Red hair is an excuse for your child to melt down pretty much anywhere. I do like this one. Lucy is usually very easy-going. However, when I've been out too long, she gets antsy like any kids and starts trying all of her tricks. Because of her red hair, I've never gotten a "why can't you control your kid?" glance. I expect her to behave 99% of the time, but it's nice to have a Get Out Of Jail Free card.
  

Well, Big Red is done with her Rice Crispies and we have yet another Halloween engagement to get to. I had no idea Halloween was so big in this area until I became the mother of a toddler. Lucy will be donning her kittycat costume for the 3rd time this week. I took the Woolite Pod to it this morning to get some of the lollipop spots off the front. Hopefully we can hold off on entire load of laundry until we actually have one to do!

Halloween Black

I am dyeing my hair right now. I'm doing it today because Andrew's not home and he always tells me my hair stinks, so I'm going to try to get rid of the smell before he gets home. It's going to be very dark brown, almost black. Every time I ask him what color I should do, he says, "Blonde." Mark my words, his next wife will be a blonde. He always seems to forget that by Christmas, my hair is always so dark it looks black. Darker is just better on me. Silly Andrew.
Well, Lucy is up now. I guess I'll entertain her until I have to rinse and then throw her in the tub to play after the moment of truth.

11 Years of Maryland

11 years ago last night, we moved to Maryland. It was so scary leaving Port Angeles, but looking back, it was really a gift from God. For Mom to jump up and leave the only home she'd known for so many years was really amazing, now that I think about it.
We made a 3,000 mile move and while it wasn't without many tears, my tears now are only happy at the thought of everything Maryland has given me. I love this state for so many reasons.

• It's close to everything - DC, New York, Philadelphia, the beaches, the mountains- everything is just a couple of hours away.
  
• It's rich in American history. It seems like everywhere you turn there is a piece of history waiting to remind you of how fortunate we are to be free. The souls of soldiers from so many wars live here, keeping the pride of our country alive. It seems like you can look at any tree and imagine someone against it, longing for their family and freedom.
  
• It has seasons - it's one of the only places that gets so hot in the summer that kids run naked for months and gets so cold in the winter that you step in little snow puddles and run the dryer every day.
  
• It's just Southern enough. Maryland today prides itself on being a Northern state, but everyone knows where the Mason-Dixon line is. The people are friendly and kind and always willing to take in a friend in need. They'll parent your kids, feed you til you're stuffed and laugh with you until you cry.
  
• The holidays are so beautiful in Maryland. I love looking forward to a white Christmas and cookouts in the 4th. The holiday season here always feels authentic. With radio stations playing 24 hours of Christmas music as you put your Thanksgiving dishes away, nothing feels more like home than fighting with Andrew about just when it's really appropriate to start listening.
  
• The people are diverse. I love the fact that our social circle includes so many people from so many places. It seems like people are never really "from" Maryland, but everyone calls it home.
• Maryland gave me Andrew, and that's the best thing about this place.
  

Holy Cow

Lucy woke me up at 5 for the usual "It's not morning yet, honey" talk, and I happened to look out the window. It's REALLY snowing and we have about 2 inches right now. Wow. It's supposed to snow til noon. Andrew says the palm trees in Arizona are beautiful. Sniff.

Eyes...closing...

I was going to blog, but I think I'm going to watch TV and pass out instead. It's very cold and snowy outside, and the desk area is VERY drafty- guess what Loverboy is doing this weekend??
Anyway, it's cold and I should be under a blanket. I should check tv guide first to see what comes on Tuesday nights. Lucy had a positively terrible time going down, so let's cross our fingers that it was just a little bump in the road and not a sign of things to come. Poor little snot face...

So, so proud!

Today I had to go to the dentist. Since Andrew is away, I decided to take Lucy to see if she could handle it. She was such a doll! She sat in a chair and watched, and then they invited her to sit on my lap for the brushing and flossing so that she could "help." She got a special ride in the chair and came away with her own new toothbrush! She was so excited! And, Mama was cavity free! I have to have a filling replaced because my tooth is still really sensitive, but they're going to do that in January just before PJ gets here.
We also had a nice lunch out, just us girls. We're doing dinner tonight with the Twiggs, but I'm not sure where. If Ben is in a good mood, they'll be coming here. If he's cranky and needs to eat fast, we're going to meet them and go out. So, we shall see. In the meantime, I'm going to teach myself more about advance directives, since Blue Cross says this is a good thing to know about.

I did it!

It's 5:14 am and I still have to battle Lucy for the next hour, BUT I made it! I slept on the couch of course, with the TV on, but I still survived. Andrew will be so proud of me.
Lucy slept great last night and I didn't have to go up until just now. Hopefully I can get her to stay in bed til 6. The clock change next week is going to kill us. Thank goodness I went to bed at 8pm last night. Tonight I'm not sleeping on the couch. My back hurts from that. I just needed a dose of bravery to be able to do it tonight.

Today has been...

...awful.

Lucy is teething and driving me insane. I've started to gain weight and am getting bummed about that, and I miss Andrew. Not only do I miss him, but I'm extremely jealous that he's off of Daddy-duty for 4 days while I'm here trying to figure out how to stay sane. I must sound really petty, but I'm just really feeling the daily grind of fighting with Lucy over every single little thing. My back is not better, as if if would be after 2 years and a "yeah, that's normal" from Dr. H. By the end of the day I can't really walk, but I seem to be managing. Andrew said it was this bad when I was pregnant with Lucy, but I guess lifting her all day makes it seem a lot work.
I think I'll go to bed soon. At least then I won't lash out at anyone.

Exhale.

Well, Andrew is off to work and Lisa and kids are off to Carroll County, so Luce and I are on our own again! We'll find something to do. Right now, it's naptime!

In other news, Baby #2 has a name! We solidified it with buying wooden letters to paint to match the girls' room. (Yes, they're sharing, by choice.)

We have decided on...drumroll please....

PHOEBE JANE !

Daddy is already calling her PJ and I think it's going to fit well with our family! We can't wait to meet our little Pheebs!

Up All Night.

Well, Lucy has managed to wake up every 2 hours all night long. This isn't my baby! MY baby sleeps all night without a peep. I think the baby that replaced her is teething. Andrew and I are sleeping upstairs anyway because Lisa and the kids are there, so at least we don't have to walk across the house to her every time. I came downstairs because I couldn't wait to go to the bathroom again, but if I go back UP the stairs, I'll definitely wake her, so I'm kind of stranded down here until I hear her again. I can always sleep on the couch, but I went to bed at 9 so I've already had a pretty long night of sleep. It's 6 now, so I guess I'll just wait til she stirs again.
I'm not sure how Lisa's night went, but I passed her at 5:30 in the kitchen and I've been hearing Josiah talking in the bedroom, so I'm guessing she's tired, too. What a night. Around 4 this really weird siren went off for a really long time. I have no idea what it was.
However, even though it was a long night, we're all safe and warm and will make it just fine. Perspective Laura, perspective. This morning I'm praying for a family in Arizona who isn't together and isn't complaining about teething. Sometimes life just isn't fair or kind. Lucy's teething? Just a tiny little bump in my day. I do, however, wish I could sneak back upstairs and snuggle with Andrew. Bummer.

I was really getting tired of reading "Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy" over and over yesterday, but I've been reminded that my time with Lucy sitting on my lap is limited. I have plenty of time to clean the house when she no longer wants to cuddle all day.

Babies Don't Keep
Cleaning and scrubbing
can wait till tomorrow...
for babies grow up
we've learned to our sorrow...
So quiet down cobwebs-
dust go to sleep...
I'm rocking my baby
and babies don't keep!!

Lucy Weasel

I hid that stupid Playdoh box REALLY well, and at 6:50 I heard her in the kitchen screaming for me. She found the box in the very back of the cupboard and hauled it over to her highchair and was demanding I put her in to "cook." So, it's 7am and Lucy is playing with Playdoh.
I think we're all feeling significantly better today. Andrew and I worked on baby names last night. I think we're significantly closer to a name for Baby Girl! However, working with Andrew on any project always gets a little silly. By the end of the "naming session" we were throwing books at each other and the baby's middle name was "Your Mom."

You have GOT to be kidding.

We all woke up with severe head colds. Hooray. Andrew is crabby, Laura is darn near depressed and Lucy's been crying since 6am. Now all of our Wednesday plans are cancelled and probably Thursday's too.
I'm jealous that Andrew gets to take the good drugs and I'm stuck with Sudafed. (Of course, there's none in the house, so Sick Toddler and I are going out to buy wimpy drugs.)

LOL

When Lucy naps I usually turn off all the lights in the house to save a little energy, since i"m just sitting in one place or napping. Lucy got up from her nap and wanted to eat, but I forgot to turn on the lights. I gave her a bowl of Cheerios and she's sitting in the dark dining room, eating silently. She looks like she's being punished. She LOVES Cheerios and milk and would probably eat in the dark for the rest of her life if I gave her nothing but Cheerios...

The C-Section Files

I am struggling a lot with whether or not to have a routine repeat c-section. To recap my labor and delivery with Lucy, I was in labor for about 40 hours. I was induced with Cervidil, had no progress, started pitocin, had some progress, my water broke, a little more progress, got an epidural so I could sleep after 24 hours, made a little more progress, and on and on and on. I pushed for over 3 hours and after 3 failed vacuum attempts and some scary stuff, we did an emergency c-section.
I remember my labor and delivery as easy, fun and exciting. Women's minds have a tendency to paint a beautiful picture of the whole thing, no matter how bad it was, so that we go back for more. Andrew remembers it as it really was, and I think he's a little more apprehensive about trying a natural delivery again.
I will always maintain that labor and delivery are harder for a man than they are for a woman. When you're the one doing the "work," you're in the zone and it just flies by. Women can handle any amount of physical pain, no problem. But I really think that there is nothing worse than watching the love of your life struggle with immense pain.
Andrew was my shining star through L&D. He was such a dear and just jumped in with both feet and made it happen. He never showed me how scared he was, he never failed to stop pushing me, he just sailed right through without so much as a hesitation. I knew that he'd be that way when I married him. He's just a seamless, do-what-needs-doing guy.
So, making the decision on what to do about this little girl is tough. I think that Andrew still has a lot of clear memories of what really happened when Lucy was born. I don't remember much. I remember doing a lot of word searches, the helpless look on Andrew's face when they gave me the epidural, pushing and pushing and knowing deep down that all the pushing in the world wouldn't make that baby come out, all the apple juice I drank, giggling into my oxygen mask after 3 delirious days of labor, the look on Dr. H's face when he knew he had to tell me that I had to have a c-section, Andrew sitting next to me in the OR, relieved that it was finally over.
Andrew remembers the technical stuff. Watching the monitors and seeing that my contractions were never going to get that baby out, Lucy's heart rate dropping over and over, my heart rate dropping too low, the vacuum slipping off over and over and Dr. H looking helpless, seeing her head over and over and realizing that they were still going to have to cut me open. I don't remember my mom's fear as things just weren't going right. Andrew does.
I want lots and lots of babies. I love my babies. This pregnancy has been even easier than my pregnancy with Lucy, and we all remember the trouble I got into with Andrew for shoveling snow, walking for miles, staying up too late, etc. She's a very wiggly girl and is going to keep me even busier than Lucy. I want her to be a big sister to lots more babies, so it's really hard for me to accept the fact that c-sections get riskier as you have more.
However, it's also MORE dangerous than last time if I get myself to the same point that I did with Lucy. Dr. H wants to take the baby out at 39 weeks, which is standard for a repeat. I understand that a smaller baby is easier to get out and scheduling surgeries is more predictable if you do it earlier.
But part of me is still struggling with the possibility of a VBAC. I still think about how things might have been different if I'd pushed Lucy out the natural way. I know that in the end, the c-section saved our lives, but it still doesn't change the fact that it's just "not how it's supposed to be." I'm considering telling Dr. H that I'll schedule it for 41 weeks and give the baby a chance to come out on her own. But I don't know if Andrew's comfortable with that, and he's as big a player in this as I am. If it turns out that I'm going in for surgery at 41 weeks anyway, I'll be bummed if I waited those two extra weeks only to have surgery anyway.
This is a really tough decision. I know I have time, but I've been thinking about it since I was lying in the OR waiting to meet Lucy and I am no more clear on it now than I was then. I just want to do the right thing for our baby. I just don't know what that is.

Always hungry...

Oh my gosh, I just can't get full these days! I'm doing about 3 breakfasts a day. I only type this because I'm on my second bowl of cereal since 7am.
Resting my back has proven much more difficult that I expected. I would be a terrible candidate for bed rest. I spent the morning watching Playhouse Disney with Lucy on my legs - I will be the first to admit that I totally fell asleep while she sat on me, chattering away.

Update: It's now noon. I DID make the bed and my back is a little sore, but a woman needs standards. It's really all Andrew notices when he walks in the house and seeing the bed all made and cozy helps him relax and have a nice evening. He just loves getting into a perfectly made bed, so I decided to sacrifice my back a little.
Now we're eating lunch and Lucy is screaming at her mashed potato smileys. I'm not sure what the offense was, but it was serious. She keeps yelling, "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" I need to go.

Starting Over

Dr. H was no help. His response? "Some women have back pain during pregnancy. Here's a brochure about preventing it. Let me know if it's not better in a month." Um, dude?
So, I'm going about this differently. It always feels better after a night of rest, so I'm spending today taking it VERY easy. No lifting, no twisting and lifting (my big one) and very minimal bending. If I keep Lucy mostly happy and anticipate her issues, I should be ok. I'm just going to try to keep the house at the status quo and relax for the day. Lucy has a tendency to run behind me and destroy everything in her path, but I'm going to mostly hang out in one place, thus eliminating the path.

I triple puffy heart grocery shopping.

So, I am really getting into bargain shopping. I've started planning all of my menus around the weekly circulars from Food Lion and Martins and it's REALLY paying off. Yesterday Lucy and I ventured out to shop and came home with fantastic results. Our total at Martins was $50 and we paid $30 after swiping our club card.
We bought:

• 4 loaves of italian bread (BOGO)
• 2 boxes of meatballs
• 4 pounds of ground beef
• 2 boxes of Hamburger Helper
• 4 boxes of pasta
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
• 1 block of cheese
• 1 bottle of water
  

At Food Lion, we saved $12 and paid $30 by only buying from the circular, and got a free gallon of milk using their awesome "Milk Ticket" program. If you don't participate, get thee to a Food Lion! Milk is far too expensive these days not to take advantage!
At Food Lion we bought:

• 4 gallons of milk
• 8 frozen dinners
• 1 box of toaster strudels
• 12-roll pk of toilet paper
• 10 yogurt cups

I've also started shopping for Lucy's clothes at consignment shops, buying new, tagged items at about 1/3 of the price. In addition, I'm only buying snack food at Gabe's now. This is by far the most awesome steal. Gabe's gets a lot of discontinued items and damaged boxes, and we're stocking up on "fun" food there now. Just because a box is dented doesn't mean the food is bad at all! For $6 we were able to buy a pair of tights for Lucy and three boxes of "junk food," leaving us feeling a lot less guilty for indulging. We're also trying to keep a "bad for the body, bad for the wallet" state of mind when we go grocery shopping, and that really does help!

Sore and Concerned

When we moved from Essex in 2004, something happened to my back. I have no idea what, but something snapped that day and I thought it was just a pull. After a couple of days of rest, I was as good as new. Then I found out I was pregnant. As my pregnancy progressed, it seemed that every time I cleaned the house for more than about 2 hours, my back would go out again.
I'm going to have to talk to the doctor on Friday about what he wants me to do. It's worse with this pregnancy and I'm not really going a day without severe pain. Anyone who knows me knows that I just power through it and deal with the pain later. I'm a very physical person and my back really just CAN'T be sore. I have a 20 pound toddler to lift all day long and a big house to keep clean. I also have no one in the area to help me and I can't put all of this on Andrew!
Lucy and I picked up the upstairs today- nothing serious. I folded some clothes, hung up some stuff and put the Bundle Me on the infant seat. By the time I was done my back was pounding. The other day I tried to get out of the car and my legs couldn't catch me because of the pain.
I'm not an aches and pains person. I've got a really high threshold for pain and most of the time I just ignore it. I mean, it took me blacking out to call Andrew at work about it.
However, I can't keep doing more damage to my back. I'm going to talk to Dr. H, but I don't really know what he can do for me. I just hate this, because I'm not a helpless person. On the other hand, I'm getting tired of being in pain after I do the laundry or make the bed. :-(

Firefox Didn't Help

It's just a Mac thing. Sigh. I'll upload some from the laptop tonight. At least I can pull them from SOMEWHERE.

Well, we have to pick Maple up from the kennel now!

WELL.

WELL, not only is this a terribly funny picture of Lucy taken ages ago by my cell phone, but I AM UPLOADING it on the laptop. Apparently it's just my Mac that's the problem!! Yay! So, tonight I'm going to load this weekend's pics onto my computer and then I'll save a few on my car and put some on my blog!! HOORAY!!!

Long, Long Weekend

After a trip down to Baltimore this weekend, we're sufficiently pooped! However, we got some important things done and Lydia's baptism was beautiful! I will post more later, when Herself is in bed. The trip home turned her into a crabby, crabby girl.
I am spending the afternoon getting my menu and grocery list together. Whew!

Pics, Y'all!

So Blogger still won't let me upload, but I'm faithfully uploading pics for you all to see!
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3
Album 4

Enjoy!

Sigh.

Well, Lucy and I will not be attending the field trip to Higson's Farm today. Lucy decided that a nap was a far more pertinent choice than riding around in a dusty field, so we'll be postponing our trip and having lunch with Daddy today instead. That thrills me. Not only do I get to see Lover Boy in the middle of the day, but I get to eat a cheesesteak sub, too! Hooray!
We watched the debate last night. Sigh. Sigh. Sigh. I am disappointed. It's going to be an ugly two weeks. McCain did ok, Obama did ok. Whatever. I like McCain, but he really hasn't said much in the past little while that's going to impress anyone. Obama is creepy. He's shadier than a redwood grove and incredibly smooth. That just unnerves me. If he gets in, this country is in a world of hurt.

School Laws

I just got a book at the library about education, entitled "School Laws." I'm very excited about reading it. Andrew and I need to start talking about our choices around here for education. Seeing as Lucy is going to be 2, we need to decide on a plan for preschool and sit down and talk about what we think about the schools out here. I'm not opposed to home schooling, but if that's the path we choose I'm going to be incredibly serious about it. I think our choice for school will just be in choosing the path that can give Lucy the most serious and wide education.

If you thought bats were a problem...

...you should see our ladybugs!
Frostburg has a very strange and unique ladybug problem. It gets very cold early in the season and then we have hot days off and on. When the ladybugs think it's going to be warm, they come out to play. The afternoon and evening roll in and it gets cold fast, so they seek hot bricks and little holes. Like our house. I had the same problem when I lived on campus in the high-rise buildings. Our deck is COVERED in dead ladybugs right now. Ew.

National Pregnancy Loss Remembrance Day

Click Here

Today is National Pregnancy Loss Remembrance Day - please keep all of these babies and families in your prayers as you go about your business with all of your healthy kids!

Ugh.

My pregnancy bladder has arrived. Additionally, so have my Braxton-Hicks and bruised up belly. Yay. And here I thought I'd never feel pregnant.

Whew. I'm pooped.

Lucy and I have to be at playgroup in exactly 2 hours. Ugh. I did get a nice long uninterrupted night of sleep, so that was just wonderful. AND, Andrew rubbed my feet until I forgot they were there. That was blissful. But I'm still pooped.

Lucy has just decided that she's not going to eat breakfast this morning, so I may have to finish this later.

The weekend was wonderful! Tonight I'll upload pics to a facebook album and link it when I get a chance. On Friday we had a pretty relaxing day with Andrew, who has every other Friday off. We did stuff around the house and he helped me with man duties like hanging things and yardwork. Nice guy. We also went pinata shopping.

On Saturday, we actually got to go out to lunch before the party! Our day was lots of fun getting ready for everyone to get here. It was fun "working" with Andrew on something. Other than parenting, we never have any time for projects together and we've always had fun doing stuff like this, so it was nice to have the weekend together.
Lisa, Michael and the kids and Mom, Tim and the Boys all got here early, which was nice. Once the party got going, we had a LOT of people running around, so I was happy to have my mom around for a little bit before.
The party was awesome and lots of fun. We were busy, but it was a lot of fun to see everyone and it meant so much that everyone actually came. I hear the drive up was gorgeous - October in the Alleghenies is always so beautiful and Saturday was a perfect day for driving.
We broke the news about Little Miss C with a pinata. We told the kids that pink and red candy inside meant a girl and blue and green meant a boy. Turns out just about everyone was guessing it was a boy, so the pink candy was a big surprise!
We had about 35 people here and it was so nice to all be together here. :-)

On Sunday, we had about 12 people here for pancakes and then we went to church. What an ordeal. We filled Cook Chapel with lots of gabby kids - it's a pretty small space, so kid noise is definitely magnified! Once Mass was over we all came back here for party leftovers, PB&J and pumpkin carving. We had a contest and the kids really got into it.
Everyone left around 4 or 5 and we stayed in to decompress and recover from the big weekend. Lisa and Michael and the kids stayed until 8 or 9, so it was nice to have some extra time with them! Josiah and Lydia are just so cute and Josiah is such a polite little guy. After a candy-snatching incident caught by Mommy, he tearfully said, "Aunt Laura, I'm sorry I took the candy without asking. Can I have a little in a bag for tomorrow?" All this from a not-yet-two-and-a-half-year-old. He's just so articulate and cute!

This morning Lucy slept until 6:30, so THAT was just luxurious! She did so great this weekend, napping through the chaos, playing cheerfully without a peep, going to bed without a whimper. She's such a trooper. I'm so excited to have today to spend with her! I missed her this weekend, being so busy with everything that was going on. We're going to head to playgroup and then to the library to turn in our books. I can't wait to have a quiet day! :-)

It's A....

....Girl!!

We're very, very excited and will update you on names as soon as we know something!

Mission Accomplished.

I'm sure the horror of the Great White Dove Cookie Kerfuffle of 2007 still leave a raw spot for most of us who witnessed it. At Lucy's baptism I, with the help of Nina and Andrew, made a batch of royal icing cookies. They were gone in the first ten minutes of the party. I will be the first to admit that it's not so much the taste that people like as the novelty of fun-looking cookies with brightly-colored icing.
The truth is, they take two days to make and another day to get hard before they're ready to be eaten. I enjoy making them, but they're a huge undertaking. I suppose the same could be said about babies. :-)
So, Lucy and I embarked on an adventure to make leaf cookies today, for Saturday's party. I gave Lucy a cookie cutter and a bagel and she happily stabbed the bagel to death while I toiled.
But, the cookies are BAKED! Tomorrow, Andrew and I will clear out the entire dining room to ice them. That take both of us and a lot of cursing. He will ask me why I continue to make them and I will reply, "Because it's all I've got to impress people with." (Which is not entirely true. I also impress people with my wit and beauty.) He will grumble and I will promise him that someday I'll allow him to sleep in for all of his hard work.
In the meantime, I have to rescue the bagel-killer from her bed. Apparently it's not naptime yet.

17 Things I Love About 17-Month-Old Lucy

• I love the way she puckers her lips up for a kiss when she knows she's about to be in major trouble. She reminds me of her daddy so much.
  
• I love her "cheese" face. I have a picture of Andrew at the same age, doing the same thing, and it's like looking at a copy of that picture every time.
  
• I love the way she climbs up on the back of the couch to watch for Daddy after her afternoon nap.
• I love how sneaky she is. She's a real little operator and I love watching her scary little mind think of things to "get me" with.
  
• I love the way she and her daddy kiss, high-five and pound fists every time he holds her.
• I love putting her to bed. She gets so excited to hold all of her bedtime items and snuggle into her Boppy for a good snooze.
  
• I love the way she mothers her babies.
• I love watching her watch "A Baby Story." She watches so closely and even cries with the mommies and screams with joy when she sees the baby for the first time.
  
• I love watching her use a spoon. She's so proud of herself when she eats like a big person.
  
• I love when she gets clumsy tired after 7pm and becomes a major drama queen if she bumps gently into anything.
• I love when you hug her and say "squeeeeeeze" she squeezes you back with all her might.
• I love her dirty sweaty little kid smell.
• I love fresh & clean out-of-the-bath smell.
• I love when Laura takes her hair out of the pigtails and her hair remains in the shape of pigtails, all curly & crazy.
• I love the way she says "NO Maple"!
• I love that she's left handed (or so we think at this point); who would've thought! A leftie! She never stops surprising
• I love that Lucy has inherited Laura's affection for chocolate (sneaking it around the Thanksgiving/Halloween holidays)!
  
• I love the way she fights having her teeth brushed but shortly after mom & dad clean them she's eager to hold the toothbrush herself and let it vibrate between her lips as she sucks all the yummy toothpaste off!
• I love her fascination with shoes and sandals. She constantly brings us shoes that she wants put on her feet. Frequently she grabs my flip-flops and puts them on my feet.
• I love the way she pulls the diaper bag to the front door and screams like a manic whenever she wants to "GO". (Note: We actually have stopped saying "GO" and now spell it because she knows what it means and regardless of the context, grabs shoes, grabs the diaper bag & heads to the front door!)
  
• I love her enthusiasm for being outdoors - just like her mom & dad
• I love watching her pass out in her carseat where her head lays forward gently and her chubby cheeks puff up/out.
• I love when her pacifier falls onto her chest when she's sleeping and in her sleep she desperately searches for it with her mouth open and her head aimlessly waving around.
• I love watching my girls fall asleep on the couch, basking in the sun, especially on lazy weekend days this autumn as we welcome the cold weather this year.
• I love watching Laura hold her, cuddle her, kiss her and love her with the same motherly care Gma Susie showed Mrs. Jen and Mrs. Jen showed Laura. I'm honored to play a small role in that strong maternal pact!
• I love watching her get startled every time I pour water over her head in the bathtub. Confession: It's so cute that sometimes I pour water on her head more than necessary to wash the soap/shampoo off!
• I love watching her break a sweat as she climbs up and down those stairs (she's getting so GOOD at it)!
• I love when she plays in the cars, Bonnie/Escape & S10 while we do yard work in the front yard. She thinks she's so big "driving" the cars! There's very few things cuter on God's green Earth than Lucy playing in Bonnie.
  
• I love that Laura commits herself day in & day out to loving Lucy with everything she's got. I love that this attention that Laura is able to provide Lucy is evident in Lucy's excellent behavior every evening & on the weekends. Yes, she has her "redhead" moments, but they're infrequent and it's because Laura is raising her RIGHT!

NOTE: THIS COULD BE MORE THAN 17, I JUST GOT HAVE A LOT OF LOVE! AND FRANKLY, I HAVE NOT BEEN CONTRIBUTING TO THIS BLOG NEARLY AS MUCH AS I'D LIKE. HOPEFULLY ONCE THIS MBA IS DONE, BONNIE IS RUNNING & THE BASEMENT & DECK ARE FINISHED, I'LL GET SOME MORE TIME TO DO SO! LUVYA (BOTH).

LOL, this kid is too much.

Tonight I made fish and rice for dinner. Lucy was so excited when she saw that we were all eating together. Usually she eats before us because she gets hungry so early. When Daddy sat down she clapped her hands and waited to say grace, which was about the cutest thing ever. Every time she took a bite of her fish she'd say, "Mmmm....chicken!" We kept telling her it was fish, but she couldn't be convinced.
We put her in bed around 8 or so after we made a trip out to the grocery store. She was up there yakking to her babies and doing her thing when she started crying. I came up the stairs to tuck her back in and she was standing there with her arms crossed on the top rail of her crib. Usually I play it silently to let her know I mean business and she's going to sleep. Tonight she smiled very big and said, "Hi MommyMeeMee!" I died. She lives to make us laugh.
Tomorrow she'll be 17 months old! Wow!

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be toddlers.

What will she think of next?
More on this later.

PS:

My mom tells me I'm a "domestic princess." This just tickles me to death and in her honor, I'm going to wear my apron all day tomorrow. Booyah.

Long, Long Day.

Today was just never-ending. Lucy was awesome, of course, but we just had so much to do! We spent the morning cleaning upstairs and got EVERYTHING done that we had on our list. When we finished lunch we went to LaVale to do our party shopping. Extreme. Doesn't anyone sell ice buckets in this county? I need an ice bucket. I know the invite said "No gifts," but if you're searching for the perfect thing, it would be an ice bucket. Ugh.
We came home and put our stuff away, and then we set to cleaning the floors. That's not a child-friendly task. Lucy was sliding all over the place. Guess that'll be a Friday-When-Daddy's-Off task. So we waited for Andrew to get home and we all ate ice cream. We usually eat dinner when Andrew gets home, but whatever. He did the bath and bed routine and I set to shining my sink Fly Lady Style. It looks awesome. This pushed me to clean the whole kitchen, which is now equally awesome.
Andrew hung my bathroom shelves and they look lovely. It was quite a task, but they don't look like it! He did a great job. Now he's unwinding with the Wii and we're waiting for the debates! We're definitely going to make popcorn for this one.

What a nice morning.

Lucy slept til 7:15, we ate breakfast, sent Daddy off to work and then headed upstairs to finish working on the top floor of the house. Andrew said I was allowed to do housework if my phone was in my pocket, so I obeyed and got a lot done. Now I'm getting ready to take a shower while Lucy naps and when she wakes up, more housework!

Only 4 days til the housewarming party!! We can't wait to announce the sex of baby #2!! I am also very excited for the plethora of food that will be available.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

Yesterday was a nightmare day, medically speaking. I had a very strange thing happen and ended up spending the afternoon doing a lot of tests and Andrew had to take the day off work to drive me, since that was iffy too. Just a crazy day.
Well, after playgroup Lucy napped peacefully for 2 hours. She woke up chipper and had a dandy day playing with Daddy in waiting rooms across the county. We all had scrambled eggs and potatoes for dinner and I put her in the bath around 7. As she was playing, I saw another rogue molar in the TOP of her mouth, same side as the other one. I thought, "Hm. That's odd."
We put her to bed around 7:30 pm. As I sit here at 6:36 am, I still have yet to hear more than a peep out of her all night. That little booger. Is it possible she was teething on one tooth for 3.5 weeks?!?! Lucy's teeth always surprise us, because 9 times out of 10, we never have any idea that they're coming. She's a very happy teether. We've mostly stopped anticipating them because she never needs Tylenol. Right about the time we stopped assuming this was another tooth, she stopped sleeping for 3 weeks. And because she goes back to sleep so easily, I would never think she was in pain. But I hear the top teeth hurt more, so who knows...now I'm just baffled.
So tonight, we're doing everything exactly the same, just like we used to do superstitiously when she was tiny and we were hoping she'd sleep through the night more than once. Please pray that this tooth was the problem and we're going to get our baby back...

Calling All Moms! I Need Help!

Well, since getting back from Washington, Lucy's sleep has been getting worse and worse. At this point, I just don't know what to do.
Before the trip, she was going to bed at 7 and waking up between 6:30 and 7am. She was taking 2 one to one and a half hour naps a day.
Now? She goes down at 7 and is crying off and on until about 9:30pm. She always goes down well but it seems like she wants a lot of reassurance EVERY time she stirs. We go up and tuck her back in and she goes right back to sleep, no fussing. She sleeps until 5am, when she wakes up crying and goes bonkers until we put her back down. She then sleeps fitfully until about 5:30, when we go through the routine again. And again. Then we let her get up at 6 with the rest of the family.
She is down to one nap a day. She goes down well and sleeps peacefully for an hour. Then she falls asleep on me for up to two more hours.
This morning when she woke up, I got her up at 6 and she slept on me until 7:30.
We have a problem and I don't really know exactly what it is. I know she needs more sleep than this. We've tried putting her down later - she still cries off and on for about 2 hours and wakes up at 5. She can easily take a one hour nap and have a mostly cheerful day, but it's obvious she needs a longer nap when she sleeps on me for two more hours every single afternoon.
My problem is this - how do I gauge how much sleep she needs when she's waking up cheerful but sleeping the day away on me? Should I be forcing her to cry it out? I'm a huge advocate of kids fussing themselves back to sleep, but it's difficult to figure out what she needs at 5am when she's had almost a full night of sleep, or after she's already napped for an hour.
Andrew and I are exhausted. These sleep problems are killing us! I need help - every and any idea would be greatly appreciated. Lucy DOES need more sleep - we just don't know exactly how much and when and we're starting to lose our happy sleeper AND our happy nights. I also need to break the "napping on Mama" habit before I have another baby who needs to be held more than a toddler...Help!

Whew....I'm pooped.

We decided to tackle the attic today. Lucy had plenty of fun, but Daddy and Mommy are tired and sore, and there's no end in sight! We had to break for naptime since Lucy's room is next to the attic.
We pulled out a lot of Goodwill stuff and are busily rearranging. I also took the opportunity to pull out all of the baby clothes to see what we could use for baby #2. Boy do we have a lot of clothes! I found some good onesies and sleepsacks and our infant carriers and stuff. I was pleased and I think I'll be able to avoid some shopping, thanks to all of the hand-me-downs we've received from so many generous people. You sure aren't as picky with #2, are you? With #1 you want everything to be fresh and new and perfect, and with #2 you know just how desperate you're going to be for any clean clothes you can get your hands on!
I'm not going to do any shopping yet, so as not to give away the gender before the party, but I am making lists and getting ready to spend! Poor Andrew is walking around here in a constant state of shock these days with all of my plans and lists. He just doesn't deserve this. We found the rainfly for the tent in the attic and I could see the wheels turning. I think he's going to move into the backyard and live with Maple.

Some Progress...

Well, Blogger still won't let me post pics, but I did upload some to a Facebook album and you can see them there! This weekend I'm going to get pics into an album for Katie and Nina! I told you I was bad....

Click Here to visit my pics!

Today has been BUSY!

Lucy and I got out the door at the crack of dawn and we just got in at 1:45 pm! Whew! We went to Ollie, Lowe's, lunch with Daddy and Walmart. Poor Lucy looks like a zombie! We got groceries and some party supplies! When she goes down I have to settle in and figure out my money situaion after 4 swipes of the check card. Long day! I need a nap.

Appalachian Independent

To the right of this post is a link for www.appindie.org, a new online newspaper flourishing in our little "hamlet" of Western Maryland. It's a very interesting site and I really look forward to seeing it move and grow in the coming months. Their collective take on some of the more recent goings-on in the area is refreshing and thought-provoking. (read: Wait'll you see the article on the Comissioners!)
If you're a local, a frequent visitor or just someone who knows nothing about our amazing area, I encourage you to log on and catch up on life in Appalachian Maryland!

We're having a party!!

Our housewarming party is next Saturday! I'm so, so excited! We're going to have lots of food and we'll be announcing Febby's sex! Hooray! I'm incredibly pumped.

Did I Hear You Right?

Samoan business ventures? Children's wooden arrows? Rum importers?

Hmmm....this actually doesn't sound unreasonable. Mostly because when I turn to the bottle and move to Samoa, it'll be up to Lucy to hunt for our food.

God Bless America.

Still nothing...

I am DYING to post some new pictures. Hang tight, guys. I'm going to figure this out very soon!