Pictures!!!

Sunday: Lucy on her way to the hospital to visit with her new cousin. New babies are SUCH a snooze!

Uncle Andrew and Lil

Our adorable new niece!!!

Lucy entertaining Aunt Nina!

Aunt Laura and Lil
Lucy wakes up mad on Monday!

Lilly at Lunch

Lucy and Chris on a date! (Although I hear Chris is seeing someone on the side. Men. Lucy seems oblivious, and I'm not going to meddle in my daughter's love life. Live and learn!)

Lilly's First Visit to Grandma's!

Awwww!! I love this picture!

The Girls

Lucy in the new outfit that Aunt Nina gave her! Too cute!

She'll be 5 months old NEXT WEEK!

Sweet Girl!

Todaay, I promise!!

I PROMISE to post a blog post today. I have to get my camera charged so I can more some pictures over!!!
Promise!!

Lilly's Here! Lilly's Here!!!

She is SOOOOOOOOO cute!!! She was born at 6:47pm, 7lbs 8oz, 19 inches long. She has curly black hair, a cute little chin and beautiful eyes!! Nina was a trooper and did so great!!!

Welcome Lilly Ann!!

Time For An Update!!

Nina goes to the doctor in an hour!! Then we'll know if we're making ANOTHER drive to Baltimore this week....oh well, at least Andrew could drive this time! He hasn't been home in a month and a half, so he's way overdue!
We had a nice time downstate this week. It's always fun taking Lucy down- she loves her uncles SO much! They just crack her up.
Oh yes, today I'm getting 100% serious about losing this baby weight. Em & Josh's wedding is on December 15th. We're not taking Lucy, because it'll be a late night. My goal is to have a "you have a baby?" body by then. Lucy and I went out and RAN today, and did push ups and lunges. I'm going to make Andrew commit to pushing me harder to get out each night and get a good walk or run in, and to help me come up with healthy and tasty meals. I'm cleaning the house now, and waiting for Suz to come over for a visit. That's all!

Lucy's 15 Minutes of Fame!

Haha, so, Lucy and I went to Babies and Books last week at the library, and there was a photographer from the paper there, taking pictures and getting names. Andrew called this morning, and our adorable baby girl made the front page! Now he's making me go out to buy all the copies in the county. There goes my 5 dollar bill....I will post a pic tomorrow, when I can scan it at Mom's! I don't know how scanners work, and they scare me. I think she has one...

Busy Week!!

Well, our sweet girl was sick this week! She's still got the sniffles and a very runny nose, but we're hoping it'll pass soon! Poor baby! Here she is looking nice and sick!

The Patient.

Lucy in the sink, playing with bubbles!

Lucy sitting like a big girl!

Lucy and Daddy at the car dealership yesterday!

Lucy having fun with her tiger.

The new car! Andrew said to me, "We should just get rid of the Saturn this weekend and buy something new. That would be really nice." So we did!! We love the Escape very much- so much space!!

So Many Firsts!

Well, Homegirl had a lot of firsts today! Some good, some not so good! First of all, she finally rolled over! She was so excited! Mama missed the initial roll, but got Lucy's excitement at the end of it. Who knows how long it took- she was working at it for quite awhile!

Lucy also had her 4-month checkup today! She weighs 13.6 pounds! Not as much as we had thought, but still more than a breadbox! Dr. Cel said she's looking great and is very bright! (Like we didn't know that....)

Additionally, there were two more first I should mention. We had our first "Lucy, NO!" today. The little turkey likes to imagine that one day Mama will let her ride around in the car standing up in her seat. I think she finally reached her breaking point. She locked those fat little legs and just stared me down as if to say, "Honey, you're gonna have to break these suckers to get this woman down!" I gave her a very firm, "Lucy, no no!" She plopped down in her seat and just shook her head like, "You're going to pay dearly for speaking to me that way."

And boy did I! Her first "No!" was very shortly followed by her very first temper tantrum! Whew! We got home from lunch with Suz and a quick trip to the store, and she was fast asleep in her seat. I brought her in and put her in her crib, but she wasn't in the mood to nap, so I put her in her saucer to play. After about 30 minutes, she started getting crabby, so I nursed her and put her in bed, where she happens to sleep quite often. You'd think I'd just told her Hilary became President. She looked at me and let out this horrible shriek and started kicking her legs and banging her little fists on the mattress. It was all I could do not to laugh at her. She was SO MAD. She finally settled down and went to sleep, but not before letting me know who was boss. Little does she know that her Mean Mama is still awake and having fun without her. Ha!

"So Are You Ready For Another?"

Why do people always ask this question. As if it's any of their business in the first place. This question always irks me, as if the first baby wasn't quite good enough. Now we need another?!?

Lucy WILL have siblings. I had always seen myself with a huge number of kids. I also didn't realize how emotionally draining it is to have kids. I think I thought I'd love Lucy like I love my brothers. Now I understand that being a mother completely consumes you 100% of your day, and that "having a ton of kids" is much easier said than done. Not that I wouldn't love a whole boatload of children- I just didn't realize that you get so wrapped around these people.
Now, we are not sure what our final number will be. We'd love to give Lucy everything we can, to make her a full and dynamic person. I want her to see so many things and experience so much. I think every parent goes through the question of whether you should have just one or two and really show them the world, or if you should have a whole bunch and show them how a family is supposed to be. I know that Lucy is here to set the world on fire, and that my hands are very full with her. She's a little firecracker, she has an amazing determination and astounding intelligence, and she's so aware. She has a little temper that will need to be tamed, but we can work on that. She's only 4 months old, after all. I do know that Lucy was born to accomplish things. Some children are born to veterinarians. Some are born to be teachers. Lucy was born to take over the world. When she was born, they lifted her over the curtain and she looked all around, inspecting everything, and finally her eyes landed on us with a look that said, "Well, ok, you'll do. Just stay out of my way!"
We're just so amazed by her. I do know that being pregnant right now wouldn't be the best for me. I need to miss the baby stage to truly get excited about it again. I would like to have Lucy walking and talking before I'm pregnant again. We'd like to have Andrew's master's out of the way, and possibly be moving into a bigger place, although we could definitely do another child in this place if we needed to. It's hard to say. All I know is that right now, we're very happy just us three. Ready for another. Ha. I've never heard that from someone who has had the pleasure of a full 24 hours with Little Red!

Lucy's Fun Day!

This afternoon we walked to Main Street Books with Suzzy, and then she came over for dinner and a little Lucy time. Lucy LOVES playing with Aunt Suz!

4 MONTHS OLD TODAY!

Our cute girl.

So, we woke up feeling pretty good after a very good night's sleep! I ran out today to buy throat medicine, and came back to a crabby little Lucy. We decided that she must be tired, so I put her down in her crib, and she was just laying there waiting patiently for a blanket and a pacifier. We've come a very long way from her kicking, screaming naps of old! She was so cute. We had such a nice cuddly morning with her. She's been napping now for almost 2.5 hours, which is going to make the afternoon crabby, but it's been SO nice just relaxing with Andrew and watching The Office and being lazy on a Sunday afternoon! :-)

More Good News!!!

For the second day in a row and and the first time since last October, I am under 160 pounds!! This is thrilling, because I hit a wall when Lu was about 8 weeks and I've been trying to get over it ever since. I was told there was a weight-loss plateau, but I had no idea it was that bad! I am just relieved that I'm losing again. I want to get to 130. That would thrill me. Or course, any progress is thrilling right now!

A Very Good Friday.

Except for the fact that I am SUPER sick and it came out of nowhere, today has been AWESOME. I had lunch with Andrew at DaVinci's, Lucy ate cereal tonight, she went down wide awake without a peep, AND....drumroll please....the credit card is officially PAID OFF!!!!! I'm going to bed now. Night folks!

A Long Time Coming!

Well, I know it's been a LONG time since I actually posted pictures, and since Andrew is watching the football game, I have a little evening time to play on the computer without Lucy yelling at me!

So, on Thursday Aug 30th, we went to Cruisin' Main Street with Lucy. She loved all the cars! Living right smack in the middle of downtown, it's easier to attend all the events and wear her out than it is to try to put her to sleep while the events are happening! The most fun of the night was a plastic cup we gave her. She had a very good time!

This was Andrew's favorite!

Here is Lucy later in the week in the shower. Not happy at all.

Snuggling dry with Mama!

On Saturday we went to the Lang's new house to help them do a little maintenance. Lucy actually went down for her regular nap, so Mama sat on the front porch and snuggled her until she woke up.

On Sunday morning, we went to Church, and then we took a long walk on the Allegany Passage Trail that starts about 4 blocks from our house. It was so pretty!

Lucy had a very good time, until she went on stroller strike about a mile from the trailhead.

On Tuesday, Mama and Lucy stayed pretty busy. We started our day off with a shower. Lucy took the time to have naked tummy time, which she loves.

Then we played with our toes for a bit.

Getting cranky...

Mad at Mommy for making her pose for her "I can sit now!" pictures.

We also made a tutu this week, as you've already seen. So cute!

On Tuesday night, we went to the bowling alley to cheer for some of Daddy's work friends who are on a new league. Lucy loved the bowling balls!

There was also a baby there that Lucy was dying to play with. Or sit on.

Daddy and Lucy had a good time cheering for Daddy's company!

On Wednesday, Lucy tried cereal for the first time!

She liked it ok, but it was REALLY thin, so I think she was mostly drinking water from a spoon. We tried it again on Thursday and made it a little thicker, and she hated it.

Lucy is SO close to rolling over! She spend most of her time half on her belly, half on her back. She just can't quite figure out what to do with that other arm!

Yesterday we had another go at "Naked Tummy Time," and Lucy had more fun than a pile of puppies.

Lucy and her frog pond.

Lucy at Gianni's for 5 Dollar Thursday!

Lucy last night, after 20 minutes of crying it out. She slept from 7:30 to 2:30, and then from 2:40 to 7! We're so proud of her!