More about Lucy

~She's learned to fold her arms to pray! Whenever we go to the kitchen, and get food (sometimes when we aren't even eating) she'll fold her arms to pray. She's a great reminder for her forgetful mommy (I'm bad at saying prayers when it's just her and me!)

~She gets really jealous when Devin or I hold other babies....something we need to work on before April rolls around!

~I'm pretty sure she says 'that'...it sounds more like "Dat!" but you know, it's often enough and at the right times I think she knows what she's saying.

~She LOVES to dance! When ever we turn on music, when she's sitting in her high chair, when she's pushing around her shopping cart, or just playing with toys...she has three different moves she does for dancing...it's really cute!

~She still weighs 18 1/2 lbs....apparently snacking on fruits and veggies isn't the best for gaining weight...Doc said she's not worried about her weight yet (because she still has rolly arms and legs) but she needs to be getting HALF of her calories from fats? I didn't realize little babies needed that much. So we're working on snacking on fatty-healthy foods...(hoping this doesn't make me gain weight too!!)

~She loves to be outside, if a whole day has passed and we haven't gone out she'll lead me (or one of her aunts) to her stroller, or go bang on a door! We're going to have to start bundling soon, cause it's getting cold!

~Loves playing with her Daddy~

That's all for now, I'm sure there are others, I'll just have to think about it more.

(Pictures will come soon! i just need to upload them, and camera is charging right now :D )

She's walking!

This is how it all started.

(SO apparently uploading video's isn't working right now....I have no idea why..but I'll post them when I figure it out!)

We were outside one sunday and Lucy saw this little car. She'd ridden it before but it had been a long time. She crawled right to it, got up and started pushing it along!!! We were shocked, we just watched. Then she pushed it off the grass, and onto the driveway. It was her turn to be a little shocked! She handled the change in speed really well. Devin went to help her and I ran to get the video camera!

Around that time she started noticing the shopping cart her Oma (grandma) has in the toy room. She liked pushing it around and walking through the house with it. Then her little cousin Alden started standing on his own, and one day when they were playing she started standing too! It's funny what a little peer interaction can motivate babies to do!

About a week and a half ago Lucy and I were home with her Aunt Elaine (Dev was at work and everyone else was gone) so we were just playing around. Elaine had Lucy's hands and they were walking when all of the sudden Elaine let go of her and Lucy kept walking!!! She was a little nervous at first but we were all so excited she just thought it was fun and started giggling along with us!

(Video insertion coming soon!)

For the first week she would only walk from one person to another, and only if she felt so inclined. But the past couple of days she been walking from object to object and all around the house! She's feeling very independent. It's fun, but I'm starting to realize what this will mean for me....a lot of close monitoring. I like that she's feeling more independent though because she'd still get upset if I left the room or if she couldn't see me. But now she's getting more comfortable with the idea of us not being in the same room (at least for a little bit) and knowing she can come find me.

It's still weird to see her walk around....weird that my little baby is walking! it makes her look older than she is (at least to me).

Way behind!!!

I'm so far behind in posting that I'm getting overwhelmed with what I should put up here. So I'm just doing pictures for now and I'm making a list of things that I'll touch on briefly....just so it is recorded somewhere.

To start off I need to finish the vacation....So we'll start with the plantation home. Whitney had looked up this place and been wanting to go for a while, so we all went while we were there (except Patrick who was at work). This was one of the smaller plantations this guy owned but it was still HUGE!

This is the huge plantation home....It still amazes me that people could build this stuff without all the technology we have now.

Lucy and Daddy sitting on a bench by the garden.

Alden and Lucy on rocking chairs on the porch of the plantation home.

This tree was pretty cool. It had this big branch growing down to the ground, thought we'd get a picture with it! :0

Here are the babies, all hot and ready to be done, but thankfully still in good moods!

Georgia Aquarium

After the boys started the long drive home, Whitney and I lounged around the house for a day, and then decided to go to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. It's supposedly the biggest one in the US. I was excited but had no idea what we were going to see or what to expect. It was amazing. From the entrance exhibit to the very last thing we saw, I loved it. I was sad Devin couldn't come because he would've enjoyed it a lot too. So next time we're in Atlanta, we're all going again :)

This is the entrance to the aquarium....it was really cool.

This place was amazing, and the fish were GINORMOUS!

Here are the babies in front of the biggest aquarium I've ever seen. The window into this thing was as big as an IMAX screen. It was pretty awesome. This was the last thing on our trip. After this we had a great flight home (the kids did so great!). We were reunited with Devin (so happy to see him! It was the first time we went without seeing each other for a whole day....That might seem lame, but I was really not excited about it. Glad we don't have to do it again for a while :D ).

The Farm at Thanksgiving Point

Another cool thing we've done in the last little while was going to the Farm at Thanksgiving Point. My friend Gina lives in Lehi and has been asking me to go up for quite a while now. We had been trying to find a time that worked, when my sis-in-law Whitney called and said she wanted to take Alden to the Farm (there was some misunderstanding on my end....I thought she meant the one at Thanksgiving point....she meant the one in SLC!!! SORRY WHITNEY! :( ).

We met Gina up at the Farm and had a blast! The kids really liked it. Aiden (Gina's little boy) has been there a lot and really likes it. Lucy and Alden loved the animals. Alden was fearless when it came to feeding the animals. Lucy let a goat lick her finger and that was the end of it...after that she kept at least a foots distance between her and the animals.

Lucy and Aiden dropping rocks thru the bars by the horses.

Lucy looking at the horses

They had a horse merry-go-round thing...I don't know what to call it....Pony ride? Anyways Lucy looked like she was excited about the horses, but as soon as she realized I was going to set her on it she would have none of it. I was sad, I really wanted her to like it, but she is only nine months old.....She's got a long time to like horses :)

Around the House

Lucy has discovered how fun it is to drive. She backs out of the driveway with Devin whenever he takes to car to school or work. It's funny cause she'll hold onto the wheel until you need to turn it, then she lets go really fast. Thankfully she won't be driving for a very long time :)

Well, that's all for now. Life is great. Schools getting rough, I'm not so sure I'm going to make my deadline. I would probably be okay if I would stop reading books not in my curriculum....but since when have I ever been able to do that? Haha, oh well, wish me luck!

Vacation to the South: Part I - The Beach

Devin and I haven't been on a vacation in two years...I know crazy. But we've been in school and honestly haven't had the means or opportunity to go. But thankfully August provided us with one! Patrick (Devin's older brother), Whitney(wife) and Alden(son) went to South Carolina for an internship over the summer. We decided it would be fun to go out and spend a little over a week with them, before they moved back and then help with the moving. I think it was a pretty good deal! We left a couple of days after school got out. We thought that taking a midnight flight would be a good idea because Lucy could sleep the whole time and it would make the trip a little easier. Well, needless to say that didn't happen, Lucy woke up right as we pulled up to the airport. She was so excited by all the people and new things she didn't sleep much on the plane. We got there early in the morning and took a long nap while Patrick and Whitney played with Lucy. We spent that day relaxing and catching up, while the little ones played.

Sunday we went to church and drove to Charleston, SC that afternoon. Whitney has Aunts who live 30 mins from the beach and they let us stay with them! They were wonderful, gotta love southern hospitality :) The beach was beautiful and wonderful! The Atlantic has great beaches, they're warm, have great sand, mmmm. It was fun :) I've been to california beaches but they just aren't the same, they're cold and rocky, and the sand just burns your feet! :) Okay maybe they aren't that bad but the Atlantic is MUCH better. It was Devin's first time to a beach and he was very impressed. He and patrick spent the first hour or so boogy boarding. They had a blast and actually caught some good waves.

It was Lucy's first time at the beach as well (obviously) and she LOVED it! We played in the shallow water for a little while so she could get used to the waves, and then we went in a little farther and ran away from them. Lucy really liked this games, she thought it was hilarious. Then we took a little break while the boys tried some skin boarding (this is on a really skinny board and you try to "surf" where the water hits the shore....it's really hard). Lucy and I found a fun little shell and she just sucked on it for about a half an hour while we sat in the water and watched.

After a couple of hours the little ones were beat....

Whitney's aunt has this tent thingy that is really only half a tent. It was perfect for putting the babies in to block the sun and wind!

They slept for almost two hours like this

Can't beat the heat, wind and constant sound of waves hitting the shore...

While the kids slept Whitney and I took our chance to go play in the waves! Boogy boarding is lots of fun! I really liked it.

But if you try to catch wave after wave it can really make you tired.

This is a skin board

After a day of fun and sun we headed back to Charleston to wash up and head home.

Aren't these two SO cute?

Help with Sleep!!

Yes I need sleep, but this post is more to ask for advice or suggestions on what you do to help your children/babies sleep at night. Lucy will be nine months old next week (crazy I know!) but she still wakes up multiple times in the night. We've tried the crying thing....it doesn't work, she just gets more and more worked up and will cry for hours if we let her. So we don't :). We've tried picking her up and putting her back to sleep then laying her down in her crib. But by the time I'm back in bed she's awake and crying again. So after about an hour and a half of this I give in and she comes to bed with us. She sleeps great, but I don't. I'm selfish about my bed, I'll admit it, I like to sleep with only one person, that is Devin. I really want to help Lucy self-soothe and put herself to sleep at night without nursing or sleeping with us, before the baby comes. So if any of you have tried something other than these two things I am ALL EARS! :) Thanks!

P.S. I know its been forever since I've posted and I have a lot to update on, no worries it's coming...I don't know when but it will come soon :)