6 Months

Lucy at six months (here is a report of Lucy that I failed to post even though she is now nearing seven months)

• still gets up twice at night to nurse (heaven help us)
• still is apathetic to the idea of solid food
• still is a little thing, though she is growing (15.7 lbs. 50%)
• still isn't mobile (phew, a crawling child would rock my world)
• still hasn't mastered the art of sitting up
• still is adored/mauled by her older brother
• still has the best smile (though I failed to get any of those smiles on film below)
• still is such a content baby that she gets away with waking up twice at night
• still is our favorite Goose Bug, Sweets and Pie!

Because I couldn't resist...

I went in to check on Luce the other night and found her sleeping like this:

And it reminded me of this photo taken of Will around the same time. So once again, I couldn't resist taking a photo of my cute sleeping baby.

Since she was facing the opposite direction, I just held out the camera and tried to get one of her face. It took a few tries, but I finally got a decent one w/o waking her up. Is she not the sweetest?

Dressed for Success

When the Madsen clan came for Easter, Amy brought me a bin of clothes that were Beth's that she is letting Lu Lu borrow. And in that bin was the cutest khaki Ralph Lauren jumper that I ever did see (that girl Beth was decked. As a result, my girl Lucy is decked). I couldn't get enough of this jumper, so I had to do a photo shoot of our baby girl in her little outfit (the photos don't really do it justice--I'm a far cry from a photographer):

And now feel free to gush over not only the darling outfit but also my squishy, squishy baby.

The Easter Post

If you were to come to my house for Easter this year, this is what you would have found.

1. An Easter egg hunt at Will's school, complete with some handmade Easter Bunny Ears. I just wanted to squish those little cheeks, he looked so cute.

2. A visit from our VT Madsen cousins and our NYC aunt Jane. This visit consisted of the usual mayhem: bike rides, Target trips, a girls' movie afternoon with Beans (we saw Mirror, Mirror--darling), food, good company and sheer craziness with 5 kiddos running around.

3. An Easter egg hunt in our very own backyard.

4. Kids who would NOT pose for picture for said Easter egg hunt, as evidenced below:

5: The dying of Easter eggs wherein I took no pictures b/c I was nursing one little baby girl (maybe one day I'll get those photos from Amy).

6. The discovery of the Easter baskets:

Sam got a peep in his basket, which he clearly loved.

Will discovering some presents from his basket.

And more sand toys for his sand box. But no sand. Which is all he asked for--sand for his sand box. But the Easter bunny didn't deliver. He was a good sport about it, though.

All three big kids got spinning toothbrushes which were a big hit (Will LOVES it!).

And Lucy enjoying some Easter loot.

7. The mad-dash to get to 9:00 church wherein ten people needed to shower. We were only a little late.

8. The preparation of a homemade Easter dinner wherein two glasses were shattered on the tile floor and one little boy vomited raspberries all over the kitchen floor all within minutes of each other and all amid the crazy kitchen chaos of preparing a big meal.

9. The eating of the yummy dinner and enjoying some peace and quiet as adults while the little ones jumped down in the jump and bounce in the basement (and we berated ourselves for not sending them down there hours earlier).

10. The gratitude felt for the knowledge that because the Savior lives, so can we. This is the true meaning of Easter and hopefully, didn't get overshadowed by the big Bunny. Next year, hopefully, I will be better about focusing more on that. Happy Easter!

Cupcake

My sister-in-law, Michelle, knit this darling cupcake hat for Lu Lu (along with the cutest dress and sweater--thanks, Michelle!). I wanted Lucy to wear it for a walk one day so I threw it down the stairs so I could put it on her. When I came down the stairs, Will had tried to put the hat on our baby girl and this is what I found:

Lucy with a crooked hat. Looking back, it really isn't that funny at all, but at the time, Will and I thought it was just about the funniest thing ever. We giggled so hard we decided we needed to snap a photo.

Then we decided we needed to snap a few photos with the hat on correctly. Such a cute hat (I so wish I had me some skills!). Such a cute baby. Such a cute brother.

Hike

We went on a hike. Here are the photos. I don't have much more to say about it than that. Well, except that I love to hike (and so does Will. This kid was born for the outdoors). And I love my cute, little family. And I love nature. But I hate mosquitoes. And I hate humidity (especially in April, for crying out loud!). There. Now I'm done (you knew I would have more to say, didn't you?).

This parenting gig ain't for no sissies

Let me tell you--it ain't for no sissies. Here's proof. This was my night last night:

1:45 am--Lucy wakes up. Let her cry for a bit, then go nurse her.
2:10 am--put her back in her crib, wherein she starts to giggle and play in her bed (literally giggling).
2:40 am--Lucy stops playing and starts crying. I choose to ignore her, hoping to break this habit (she's been doing this the last few nights and it has taken me a while to shush her or rock her back to sleep and I determined we need to stop that. I'm tired. Darn tired).
3:30 am--Lucy finally falls back asleep after off and on crying for almost a full hour. I cannot sleep while she's crying, so I've been tossing and turning in bed and finally, just up checking blogs on the computer (it's strange--no one updates their blog at 3 am. Imagine!).
3:40 am--I sneak in to make sure Lucy's okay and tuck her in and I tell her I love her (I always have to do that after some sleep training).
3:50 am--I finally go back to bed after being up for two full hours.
5:40 am--Will up, in my room crying about something. Josh returns him to bed. This is only b/c he's up since his alarm clock went off. Josh is a great dad, but no good to me at night since he sleeps like the dead.
6:15 am--Will back in my room. Again, Josh puts him back in bed, with lots of threats if he gets out again.
6:25 am--Lucy wakes up again. Nurse her, put her back to bed.
6:35 am--Finally, check on Will and he's gone back to sleep, thank heavens.
8:30 am--We're all up to start the day. And what a lovely start to the day it was.

Getting up four times in the night (and staying up) sure ain't what it's all cracked up to be, people. No sir. It ain't for no sissies, all right. You know things are bad when, at breakfast, Will prays that, "Lucy won't get hungry in the night." I pray for that, too, Will--trust me, I pray for that, too. And I also pray that you, Will, won't need a fan. Or water. Or have a bad dream. Or whatever it is you seem to have needed last night. Here's to hoping (and praying) for a better night.

Sweet Potato Pie

Here's our sweet little "Pie" as Will refers to her, enjoying some sweet potato pie. If only more of it got in her mouth, then she may not be such a little pie any more.

Conference

I love conference. I truly love it. I love to hear the prophets' words. I love the spirit I feel. I love the chance to re-evaluate my spiritual life and commit to do better, to be better. But this year, I loved it the most because this year we had conference "Utah style" as I like to refer to it. It was a "Utah style" conference because we finally, finally, got to watch conference on our TELEVISION, our brand-spankin' new, flat screen television. We got to wear our jammies, eat treats, sit on our couch, let the baby nap when needed, and we did not have to deal with Internet glitches nor did we have to drag our trash to the church to wrestle with two kids for two hours. It was divine. I imagine this is how everyone who lives in Utah gets to watch conference; hence, the "Utah style" conference.

I made Will this "Conference Corner" with all sorts of activities, a few treats and a brand new set of markers (he thought he hit the jackpot. He adores markers).
Here is conference--straight to our television, thanks to our Roku machine. Best investment ever.

We made these yummy, homemade roasted cinnamon almonds. They were seriously a dream. Josh thought they were the best thing ever; hence the photo (he even talks about them on his conference notes). You have to try them. Go here for the recipe.

And Lucy was there, too, in her Rocky outfit, the pink sweatsuit.

And there may have been a little napping done as well. But that's just to be consistent with our "Utah style" conference, right?

A Baby Story

Today Lucy is 6 months. (Can you believe it?? I sure can't). And while a post is pending celebrating this milestone, I wanted to take a moment to record the details of her birth, since I haven't done it yet and I wanted it for my own records. For some strange reason, I find reading others' birth stories fascinating, so if you are one of those, please read on. However, if you are not one of those and you are uncomfortable with the gory details, then please do NOT read on.

It was October 12. Only one day to due date. I was beyond ready to give birth to this little lady, yet as far as I could tell I hadn't had a single contraction. Besides large and bloated, I really couldn't sleep, due to the constant pressure on my bladder and my lower back pain. My own doctor was out of town (which is ironic b/c I switched to that practice for the sole purpose of only seeing ONE doctor and having that SAME doctor deliver me. But of course, my doctor went on vacation for the week of my due date and for ONLY THE WEEK OF MY DUE DATE. The nerve). So, the morning before, I went to an entirely different practice and met with an entirely different doctor whom I had never even laid eyes on before. There, she told me that I was slowly dilating (up to a 3ish, she claimed) and that she'd schedule an ultra sound for two days later when I was past my due date (I begged and begged her to induce me--I really didn't want to have to wait for my doctor to return to do it). But alas, she laughed it off and said, "I'll see you Thursday."

That night, I went to bed--convinced I would never have this baby. Josh and I had been sleeping on the floor of the guest room, since that bed was far more comfortable than our king-sized bed. I got up to go to the bathroom--and I mean really go to the bathroom--at 12:54 (I remember because I looked at the clock). I was uncomfortable and wasn't sure if it was contractions or just indigestion. I went back to bed, but about 15 minutes later I had to go to the bathroom again and then again and again. This had happened when I was in labor with Will, so I was wondering if I was in labor or if, again, it was just a bad case of the runs. I decided to hop in the shower and see if the pain I was feeling was contractions. Sure enough, I would feel minor pain every 2-3 minutes for about 30 seconds to one minute in duration. I debated on whether or not to call the doctor because, though frequent, the contractions were more uncomfortable than painful. Josh just went back to bed because he thought there was no way I was in labor (that's what he did when I was in labor with Will, too. Josh claimed that there was no way I could be in labor since I was the world's biggest wuss and I didn't even seem that uncomfortable). But I just had this impression to call the doctor. At this point it was 2:00 and so I called the doctor and our nice neighbors to come over to be with Will.

We arrived at the hospital at 2:15 and while we were checking in, I started to have strong enough contractions that I had to sit down. By the time we got checked in, walked down to the labor and delivery rooms and changed into a hospital gown, it was 2:30. The labor and delivery nurse started to ask me questions and fill out the paperwork. At this point, I was really uncomfortable and I kept begging her, "Please just check me. Call the anesthesiologist. I need my epidural." I had decided long ago that this would be my one and only birth plan: call the anesthesiologist the second we arrived to hook me up for an epidural (b/c with Will, I almost delivered so quickly that I didn't have time for an epidural. Luckily, I just barely got one with Will but I didn't want to cut it so close this time). However, the nurse was NOT on board with my birthing plan. I kept begging her to check me, all the while having strong contractions, and she kept reassuring me that I was fine and wanted to ask me such mundane questions as my social security number and medical history. Finally, I got mad and yelled, "Check me NOW!" As with most laboring women, my manners went out the window. Exasperated, she said, "Fine, I'll check you," but she acted as though she was doing me the world's biggest favor (if you couldn't tell, the nurse was NOT my favorite--I don't even remember her name). Well, it was a good thing she checked me b/c she discovered I was fully dilated and she could see the baby's head. When she told me this, I yelled at her, "I told you! Please, please, please call the anesthesiologist." Of course, she told me it was far too late for that to which I replied, "Well, I'm NOT having this baby without the drugs. I never signed up for this! I never signed up for this!" (Josh told me later that I just kept yelling this over and over). In fact, I was so insistent that I wasn't having the baby without drugs, I closed my legs, proclaiming no baby was coming until they hooked me up with some modern medicine.

Well, I was wrong because whether I liked it or not, the baby was coming. I had the urge to push, but the lovely nurse told me I needed to wait, since the doctor wasn't there yet. While everyone was busy getting ready for the birth (and ignoring me), my water broke, as in gushing-across-the-room broke. It was pleasant. That was at 3:00. The nurse called in the on-call doctor, who pulled on his gloves and got ready to deliver the baby. Just as I was about to give birth, my doctor (well, my stand-in doctor) arrived to deliver the baby. After about 6 pushes, Lucy arrived at 3:15 a.m. on October 12. I had the baby within one hour from arriving at the hospital. It was fast, furious and a crazy ride. My doctor told me if there ever is another baby, they will probably have to induce me so I will be able to make it to the hospital on time (Will's birth was pretty quick, too, especially for a first time birth). I told my doctor, if ever there is another baby I will have the anesthesiologist on speed-dial and walk around for the last few weeks of pregnancy with an IV in my arm so I'm ready and rollin' for that epidural.

The first thing I thought of when they handed me Lucy Lu was, "Wow, it's a mini-Will." Then I checked her parts to make sure she was a girl--they had promised me a girl. Then my next thought was, "I can't believe I just did that without any drugs." Really, I was in awe of myself because that was NEVER my intention. And I won't lie--if I have my way, that will never, never happen again. I have a strong testimony of modern medicine; I believe I was put on this earth at this time so that I could be a recipient of said medicine. End of story. Amen.

And that's the story of little Lu Lu's birth.

Sometimes we do fun things with our kids....

.....like take them ice skating or go bowling. But sometimes we make our kids work--like cleaning toilets and washing dishes. And sometimes, just sometimes, we completely ignore our kids while we try to sneak in some naps and/or reading time. Mostly, though, it's just a variation of all three: work, play, ignore. Hopefully, we aren't messing our kids up too much. Here's some pictures of the fun things (b/c, let's be honest, no one wants to see pictures of the other things):