Lucy is ONE!

February 16, 2011

My baby girl is one! Lucy is the most amazing little baby girl I have ever known, she is so peaceful, so loving, so cuddly, so perfect. The changes that she has brought to our family are fantastic. I have loved seeing the effect that she has on each member of our family. She has even started to tame her wild brother. I will forever feel guilty for her first year being in such chaos around her, but life is calming down, and she has taken it all in stride.

We started the birthday celebration by taking her in for her 12 month photos. It was quite the circus act just getting there! I made the appointment for 9am. I have only left the house prior to 9am a total of 3 times since becoming a mom so this was a challenge! We made it out of the house on time, but halfway there Jay reminded me of the cake that we were supposed to pick up! We turned around, picked up the cake and got back on track. Once we arrived at the photographer's, I realized that I left the bag of outfits at home! We got back in the car, went back home and started all over again! I was exhausted before we ever even started and we were so late that we were getting dangerously close to Lucy's nap time.

I was thrilled with how the pictures turned out. Our little Lucy is such a doll!

Spring Photos

I have been trying to post this video for a year. Seriously, a year. For some reason, Blogger wouldn't let me load it, so it has just been sitting in my computer waiting for me to do something with it. Tonight I tried again much to my surprise it loaded! The video is from photos that were taken in our yard when Lucy was three months old and Jack had just turned two.

My kids did not cooperate at all for this photo shoot. Lucy was sleeping (no surprise there, as she was always asleep at that age!) and it was quite difficult to get a photo with her eyes open, much less one with a smile as well! Jack would not stop running (no surprise there either!) and we could only get him to stop moving by feeding him Reece's Pieces. The photographer was able to get some great shots despite my children's lack of cooperation.

Flashback to Summer

On this cold January day, I am missing summer. Jack is too. We are both definitely missing him being able to ride his bike.

His bike is meant to teach kids how to glide so that they won't need training wheels when they get a big bike, it looks like it just might work for Jack!

Jack loves his bike, he loves riding a two wheeler like the big kids!

I have to add, that the purchase of this bike was my worst parenting move ever. Not actually the bike, but the way I purchased it. Jack, Lucy and I were at a trendy toy store where this bike was on display for kids to ride around the store. When it was time to leave, I wanted the bike to stay at the store, Jack did not. What followed was an out and out tantrum from Jack, with me holding a squirmy Lucy and trying to carry Jack, while Jack was still hanging onto the bike for dear life and refusing to let go. I ended up having to yell (to be heard over the tantrum) to the sales clerk, "HOW MUCH IS THE BIKE?". Jack had decided we were NOT leaving the store without the bike or I would be leaving without Jack. I decided that Jay might notice if Jack was gone and so I went against everything I would normally do and say, gave in to the tantrum and bought the kid the bike. As much as I am disappointed with my bad parenting move that day, I have to say, Jack got more use out of this toy and loved it more than anything else we have ever bought him.

Happy Girl

If you needed something to make you smile today, then this is just for you.

Lucy is becoming much more alert and active, she is so much fun! She is always full of smiles, I still can't believe what a happy baby she is! The whole time that I was pregnant with her, Jay and I feared, "What if this one is so wild it makes Jack look mild?" Lucy wasn't even a week old before we realized that we had nothing to fear; Jack is definitely our wild child and Lucy is our mild child.

Ta-Da

This video was taken during Christmas 2009. (I just finally figured out how to get video from Jay's phone onto my computer.) The story behind it is, Jack was given a step-stool from Nana and Papa and Jack decided it was a stage. He had recently been taught to say "Ta-Da" after he does something cool and he thought that standing on the stool was a pretty cool trick.

I think this has to be one of my favorite videos of Jack, I am so glad that Jay had his phone handy to capture this! Although, it wasn't exactly hard to capture this video, as this video might only be about a minute long, Jack actually did it for about 45 minutes!

Isn't She Lovely

When Lucy was two weeks old, we had a fantastic photographer, Jessica Smith come to our house for a little photo session. Jessica was so very patient and kind with our children. I would highly recommend her! We were thrilled with how the photos turned out!

This probably seemed like a ton of pictures, but I actually had a hard time narrowing down which ones to use for the video. Jessica gave us a DVD with 125 gorgeous photos!

The Best Part of Summer!

Jack has a new favorite food!

TV Time

I am not a fan of letting children watch TV. I strongly feel that there are much better things to occupy their time, so, I do try to limit Jack's TV time. I do, however allow him to occasionally watch two shows. Which ones would my little child choose, Bob the Builder, Clifford the Big Red Dog, maybe even Scooby Doo? Oh, no...not little man Jack. He prefers Desperate Housewives and Ellen. No joke.

If Desperate Housewives is on, Jack will crawl up on lap and SIT AND CUDDLE with me. If you know Jack, then you know that it is a rare occurrence to catch the kid sitting much less cuddling. So, I take advantage of it. Everyday after lunch, Jack and I watch a little bit of the show. Most days only about 15 minutes, but if I am really needing more cuddle time, then I leave the TV on a little longer and soak up all the cuddling I can get.

Jack's other favorite show is Ellen--the daytime talk show. He LOVES the dancing, the music, the games and all of the clapping and laughing. We only get the chance to watch this show about once a week, but I enjoy watching Jack watch it even more than I enjoy the show.

This week, Jack really enjoyed Beyonce's performance! Here is a video of him dancing along with her.

Yes, Jack's dancing is....well, let's just say that he dances as well as his parents! If you would like to come and teach the poor child how to dance, by all means, go ahead!

1 Year Video

I compiled some of the pictures that were taken of Jack over the last year. My baby is turning ONE in less than two weeks. My....Baby...Turning...One...(sniff-sniff)... I think that it is a cruel joke that babies grow so fast and that you are so sleep deprived that you can barely remember how to tie your shoes, much less what they looked like last week. Just today (well, I am blogging early in the morning, so actually yesterday), I was asking Jay if he remembered that when Jack first started sitting up, if he smiled too big, he would loose all concentration and fall over. Sadly, Jay said that he does not remember this. This only makes me wonder, "What have I forgotten?", what cute little things have occurred and is now a moment lost in time?

Jack's birthday party is in just a couple weeks. My sister keeps asking me what theme I have picked and what all do I have done for the party. Truth is, nothing is done. I am not willing to accept that Jack is actually turning one, so there for, I am not dealing with it. I really should just get over it. Really, I should...I am hoping if I keep typing it that I will...not working so far...I know that if I let him turn one, that next year he will just insist on turning two...definitely can't let that happen... The other day, I was reading in one of my parenting books about what your child is up to at this age. The book called my baby "Your Toddler". I am not ready for him to be a toddler. If you watched him race up and down the aisles at Lowe's yesterday afternoon, you would insist that I actually have a Preschooler, but no, in my heart, he is a baby.

More Walking!

Jack's walking has really improved over the last week! Jay was gone all week and couldn't believe how much Jack had improved in only a few days! Jack is still not able to stand himself up without pulling up on something (Jay claims he saw Jack stand himself up without holding on to anything way back in December, but I still don't believe him) so he still uses crawling to get to something to stand himself up. Otherwise, he is pretty much just walking!

So Big!

***WARNING--Turn down the volume on your computer before pressing play!***
****WARNING--Loud, Annoying Mommy in the backround!****

Last Monday, my friend Becky taught Jack "So Big"! I had been working on it with him for weeks and he had no interest at all. Becky said "So big" twice and lifted her arms and Jack followed her lead instantly! It is so fun to watch him learn something new!

Walking Man!

On Saturday, Jack decided it was time to start walking!!!

He would take up to 10 steps at a time! Jay and I were so excited!

Unfortunately, by Monday, Jack decided that walking is over-rated and has gone back to crawling and only will walk if we coax him along. I can't say that I blame him, you can see at the end of the video that landing is not easy!

Again, please ignore the annoying mommy in the backround.

The Great Pacifier Conundrum

Here is a video of Jack deciding between pacifiers. Please ignore the annoying Mommy in the backround.