Five Months

I had to post these pictures of our little Lucy at five months before she turned six months. After church, on her fifth month b-day, the three of us did a little photo shoot and this is what we came up with:

Lucy looks bigger in these photos than she is. She is just a petite little thing.
She really does have the best smile. And she is such a smiley baby.

Will giving his sister some loves.

And in this one, it looks like Will is about to pop off her head.

Our little baby girl. We each call her by a different name: Goose bug (me), Sweets (Josh), and Pie (Will--short for Sweetie Pie, he told me).

Now our self photo. Love these kids of mine!

Mr. Brown Can Moo

Will's school celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday by having a little shin-dig, wherein everyone, including parents, were invited to dress up as their favorite Dr. Seuss character. Well, Will's mama is not too creative, so both he and she dressed up as Mr. Brown from Mr. Brown Can Moo. And what did these outfits consist of? Why, brown clothing (Will's wearing a brown sweater of mine), brown hats (Will's is clearly homemade) and some blue ribbon to mimic Mr. Brown's bow tie. And while I win no points for creativity or effort on our outfits, I did win some points, seeing as how I was the only parent to dress up.

Here we are in all our brown glory. Check out the girls in the background dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2. Pretty great outfits, no? Will coloring the Cat in the Hat.

Swung

Lucy's maiden voyage in the swing, pushed by her brother Will. From the look on her face, I'd say she liked it. And from the look on her brother's face, I'd say he liked it, too. And though not pictured, from the look on their mother's face, I'd say she liked it as well (what's not to like?? That cute, squishy baby getting pushed in the swing by her big bro all the while this mama is sitting back in a lawn chair reading a book??? Now, that's the life).

(Yes, we always have to have bows in her hair so that everyone knows she is NOT a boy).

I Need a Day Off

I seriously need a day off. You know, a day off from cooking, cleaning, feeding and caring for children--a day off from doing the same inane tasks over and over again. I knew I was desperate for a respite when I was reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears to Will and I was legitimately jealous of Goldilocks, that lucky little blond girl who got to climb into Baby Bear's bed and take a fat nap, without a care in the world. However, the problem with taking a day off for me is that I end up paying for it in the long run. For instance, I took a "day off" from a lot of my usual tasks the other day and this is what my house looked like at the end of it:

And guess who stayed up late that night cleaning up this mess?

And this is what I looked like on that day off (not that I look much better on ordinary days, but I do try to put in some effort. This day I just lounged around in my pj's--and by pj's I mean my underwear--that's why I threw on a coat for the picture b/c I wasn't wearing much else--and I took a blessed nap, though it wasn't a fat nap because unlike Goldilocks, I do have a few cares in the world, namely two who go by the names of Will & Lucy):


So this is my new proposal. Besides a day off, which I desperately need, I also propose to conjure some sort of mini-me--someone who can do all my tasks while I am off in Baby Bear's bed taking that much deserved fat nap. Any volunteers? Mind you, besides all the usual duties you'd also be responsible for the nursing of one little five-month-old. What, no volunteers? I thought not.

My Funny Valentine

I found out last minute that Will had to make Valentine's cards for his preschool class. So, we slapped together some cards that I assure you will not show up on Pinterest any time soon, but did, I think, turn out being pretty cute for the amount of effort required. And now behold the dinosaur Valentine's cards (and prepare to be impressed).
The making of the cards, which Will loved. He is a creator. He loves to color, cut and create. He could do projects all.day.long. Lucy sat there and helped, too, by sucking on her Dada's arm.

And here's the finished product: You're Dino-mite. Will got to have a Valentine's Pajama Pancake party at school and he thought it was the coolest. It's a good thing because I did not one thing to celebrate the day. Will surely is my funny Valentine, though. Love that kid!

Birthday Bash(es)

*Disclaimer: A long, boring post filled with tons of pictures. So beware. I kept putting off posting it b/c I wanted to do something cute and clever, but it just wasn't happening, so it is what it is.

Will, lucky boy that he is, had several b-day celebrations. The first was while we were in Utah and his darling cousin Beth insisted she throw him a birthday party--even though it wasn't his actual birthday--since he'd always had his birthday in Utah. So she put together a grand shin-dig, complete with games, presents (she took Granny with her to pick out and buy some cute presents--thanks, Gran!), a homemade cake (that she made herself) and even decorations. What a gal that Beans is. Of course, I only managed to snap a few photos (it was a crazy night) and the ones I did manage to take are sub-par (notice both Sam and James in the below photo are missing pants). Thanks, Beth for such a rockin' party. Whatever are we going to do without you?

While in Spokane, Will got spoiled with presents from family and from my parents (they got him the beloved boat from Cars 2--the very boat that would NOT fit in my suitcase on the way home and that Will had to carry on both planes. Yes, the same boat that caused quite the ruckus on our cross-country trip, especially since it is a light up, shooting and talking boat. The other passengers loved that).

Then when we got home, we celebrated his actual birthday (well, a few days late since we were flying on his actual birthday). He had a fun-filled day with pancakes for breakfast, treats and Mama and Dada at his school, out to lunch for chicken nuggets, home to open presents, swimming with Dada, home for a homemade pizza dinner and then friends over to help eat the "cookie cake" with us and celebrate the big day. Boy, this kid is spoiled. But we wouldn't have it any other way because we love him to pieces.

Will woke up to some decorations on the door of his room. Here he is on his birthday morning.

Then he came downstairs to find decorations and presents all for him. If you can't tell, he was pretty jazzed about that.

Here he is doing his pose that he's been striking for the camera as of late. It's like a top model pose.

And Dada and Lucy Goosey were there, too.

One more pose for the camera before he's off to school.

Here he is at school. I brought homemade zucchini muffins (he wanted cupcakes but too many allergies in his class for that, so I made my famous zucchini bread and then just put it in muffin tins) and apples and milk to drink, of course. He loved having both Mama AND Dada there at school.

And now for the favorite part: the opening of presents. I made a scavenger hunt for him, hiding his presents. He was pretty cute figuring out the clues.

He got tools for his b-day as well as the appropriate carpenter attire. And Josh wins father of the year (yet again) as he put together a tool box that the two of them could make together with all his new tools. Will was over the moon about that.

Here he is pretend drilling his tool box pieces.

And here they are in the "shop" actually building the tool box.

And here's the finished product. Isn't that the cutest thing ever?

He also got a Busy Town Mystery game that I adore (and so does he) and we had to play it right then and there. Of course, it was just Will and me since Dada fell asleep, as pictured.

And here he is for the cookie cake and singing of Happy Birthday. He looks pretty excited, no? And we made a cookie cake because that's what Will wanted. He doesn't like cake, and he adores cookies so this is what we came up with. Then to finish the night, Will got to have a sleepover with his dada. And that was quite possibly the best present of all. That boy adores his dada. We love you, Willy Will. Happy 4th B-day!

Lucy Lu Lu

We are all in love with this baby girl of ours. She is currently a rolling machine and it is so much fun. You set her down and before you bat an eye, she is just rolling on over. We are now entering the stage of babyhood that I officially love. She's round and cute and funny and sleeping on a (somewhat) schedule. She has the best smile and she finally goes to bed early. She loves her brother, baths (when she gets them--I swear we bathed Will every night when he was a babe and now it's just too plain busy to give this girl a bath every night), television (I make TV junkie babies), and she's a pretty good sport about being lugged around on all our activities and/or errands. Now that she is older and life has resumed to (somewhat) normal, I am in LOVE with having two kids. It just makes me so, so happy to play in the snow with a baby and a big kid, have Will push Lucy in the swing, take Lucy to see Will at his school functions, etc., etc. And I always said I'd be happy with just two, but I won't lie to you--I want more, lots more (well, at least one to two more). But I will do my best to be happy with whatever God gives me. I recognize daily how blessed I am to have these two in my life. So, now enjoy some photos of our baby girl that have been taken the last two months.

We finally got a snuggly baby. She especially loves this spot with Joshy. It's too cute and Josh loves it. He is now the official get-Lucy-to-sleep-at-church-person and he just perches her right there on his shoulder, walks around and she's out. It's precious. Josh really needs to always have a baby right there on his shoulder--he's a natural at fatherhood if ever there was one.

After a bath, hanging out and picking her nose.

And when she's lying on her back, she likes to fold her arms like this. It's too funny.

And she's already mastered the sad-look face.

Some photos I took of her on her four-month b-day.

We love that smile.

Bumbo time.

And what would a post be without a picture of the two rugs together? Too bad Will is wearing his baby face, the face he reserves for just babies. I call it the "love-you-to-death" face.

Rice Cereal

At four months, Luce started some rice cereal in efforts to fatten herself up (she only weighed in at 12.6 lbs at her check-up, 25%). She was not a lover of the food. In fact, I referred to her as Fort Knox for a while, since she would close her lips so tightly, never allowing ANY food in. Lately, though, she's progressed to Switzerland--she's neutral to the idea of food. I wish our roles could be reversed--I want someone to ply me with food all day in an effort to fatten me up. I'd take to that job quite nicely, thank you very much. However, Lucy, who should be devouring food, has no taste for it and me, who should really lay off the stuff, can't seem to ever get enough. Ah, the injustice of it all.

Of course, such a momentous occasion as the introduction of food had to be documented. So, here are the photos of her first taste of the white goo.

And here she is all cute and tiny in the high chair. Don't you want to just squish her cheeks? Love that baby girl (and I really must since she still insists on waking twice at night to nurse).

Ski Utah

Now for the real reason for our trip (or at least the real reason for Josh): skiing. Josh, his dad and his brother skied every day and then the kids would come up to ski at Alta where it's free after 3. Will still adores skiing, powder and falling down, making Josh's job a whole lot of fun (meaning a whole lot of work). Will also enjoyed jumping around in the snow, eating the "chocolate houses" (a.k.a. Toblerone) and drinking the hot chocolate--the prized rewards for a job well-done of skiing. With a nursing newborn, I only made it up to ski for one afternoon, so this was far from a ski trip for me. That's all right, though, because there is a time and a season for everything and this is not my season to ski (plus, skiing is reaaaaaaaallllllly, reaaaaaaaalllllly killer on my legs and I've grown far too lazy in my old age to want to willingly make myself suffer. And let's not even mention the super-hero powers I have to conjure just to put my ski boots on--even with the strength of the bear, I usually must elicit the help of some poor family member to assist in the process). I've just resigned myself to the fact that Will, at the age of four, is a far superior skiier than I ever will be.