Lucy’s Blog

 

What a year! You have grown, in incredible ways, in every facet of your life this year.

September 2012:

You got your new piano!

You turned 4!

You got your first pedicure

You got your first pair of cowboy boots and decided to chop your hair off:

October 2012:

You started ballet.

You got your Blending Badge!

We took family pictures:

You were a pumpkin for Halloween!

November 2012:

You practiced your name (and drew a skeleton):

You took a really unfortunate school picture:

And then a MUCH better one!

December 2012:

We picked out our Christmas Tree. You actually had a blast this year, you were just cold by the time we got a picture!

You got your very first Bogus Season Pass!

You got some serious ski gear for Christmas. You learned how to REALLY ski! We started going down blues this year!

January 2013:

You had your very first piano recital.

February:

You and Daddy built a rocket!

You did a Flower Girl Fashion Tour

March:

We learned that you were NOT allergic to wheat and you got to spend the day in the hospital when they put a camera down into your stomach.

April 2013:

You drew this amazing picture of Daddy.  He’s eating a burger.

You had a sushi date with Mommy:

We went to see Swan Lake.

May 2013:

You drew some amazing cows!

You started reading non-Challenger books!

You rode the mower with Daddy.

You learned to ride a two-wheel bike!

You and Tessa discovered getting your faces painted at the Farmer’s Market!

You had your second piano recital.

You had your first dance recital.

June 2013:

You grew-A LOT!

You got your first Library Card!

You caught your first fish.

You love your whole family and wish your cat didn’t die.

July 2013:

You played at home with Mommy.

You had your first lemonade stand and bought ice cream with the profits.

You cuddled with Daddy in McCall.

Your style!

Aunt Marci made you this one

You giggled A LOT with Aunt Marci.

You went on a farm tour.

You learned how to swim UNDER WATER this month and you learned how to ride your BIG two-wheeler bike!!!

We went to San Diego to visit Mommy’s side of the family.

August 2013:

You got new fast shoes for kindergarten.

You hung out with Miss Amelia!

We did a Tour de Fat.

You started kindergarten!!!!

With Mrs. Joelson and Mrs. Matheson.

You discovered your LOVE of homework.

September:

Your handwriting blows Mommy out of the water.

We went camping in Silver City, ID.

You wrote your own spotlight paper with very little help from Mommy.

You turned 5!!!

 

Happy birthday big girl.  You continue to amaze me and Daddy every day.  We are so thankful that you were brought into our life.  You make us be better people, you challenge us, you open our eyes to new things, you make our family complete. We love you.

What a night! Let me preface this by saying that Lucy is okay!

We were over at Danny and Sarah’s tonight for Friend Dinner and Lu was having a blast. She was giggly and silly and jumping around and just having fun. She started throwing herself back on the couch-like jumping back and hitting the back of the couch and then giggling hysterically. Shaun had just asked her to stop and she did it again. Only this time, she was on part of the couch with no back and she fell HARD, off the couch, right on her head. It was a carpeted surface but it was hard. We picked her up and she was limp, then she squirmed in such a way that I thought she had paralyzed herself, I was worried about her neck. She then had about 30 seconds of the “silent cry” followed by wailing and crying. After I calmed her down and got her ice she was acting strange. She did read us a book but she was lethargic and off. We sat down for dinner and she just wanted to lay in my lap. She then asked to go home. I was finishing dinner and at this point we were worried about concussion. We were on our phones trying to figure out symptoms and I sent a text to Dr Waj asking what I should do when she fell asleep in my lap which is totally NOT NORMAL. We woke her up and she puked everywhere.

We took her straight to the ER. They took us right back and we instantly had 5 people in the room checking her out. It was frightening. The Dr. said that she was probably fine but he wanted a CT scan (or MRI-I can’t remember which one). Immediately the lady was there to do the scan. Lucy fell asleep while getting the scan (the hospital encouraged her to sleep). After the scan, we were told that we should have results in 20 minutes. After we got back from that, the “Children’s Trauma Team” came to visit and see how she was doing. At this point we had been at the hospital maybe 30 minutes and we had seen 8 different people. Shaun and I were quietly freaking the fuck out. Lucy slept on my lap through the whole thing.

After 30 minutes of waiting (the longest wait of my life) the Dr. came in to let us know that her scan was normal and she just had a slight concussion. He told us to sleep with her and monitor her breathing. If her breathing changed or she puked to bring her right back in.

Dr. Waj was away from his phone during the ordeal. I texted him after the scan and then after we got the results. He texted back after the results and apologized profusely for not having his phone. The ER doctor did hear a murmur in Lucy’s heart (unrelated to the concussion) so we’ll be going to see Dr. Waj soon to get that checked out. I apologized to Waj for bothering him and he said “Oh gosh no bother at all- sorry for your scare!” What an amazing doctor, eh?

Shaun and I commented the whole time that we were happy that we were in Boise when this happened. We got amazing and prompt care. We were headed home when we probably still would have been in the waiting room in San Mateo. I know that if something had been wrong that we don’t have a pediatric neurologist but I’m friends with a woman whose sister is one and is in the interview process to come to Boise. If one had, god forbid, been needed we could always get Lucy to one relatively easily. The ER doctor was even calling Waj by first name and wasn’t surprised in the least that I was texting him. It was really an amazing experience.

It was also a really scary one that I never want to repeat again!!!

Lu is doing great! She had a headache yesterday and was more tired than normal but other than that, you wouldn’t even know anything had happened. She went to school and had an awesome day.

I was asking her about the scan and if it was scary (I was right with her the whole time) and she said it was fun and she wanted to do it again! She also said that the hospital was fun and that she wanted to go back. Crazy girl!

That really does speak to the amazing care we had. I am SO thankful for St. Luke’s and the amazing medical care we receive in Boise.

Here’s a picture of Lu with “Teddy”. Aunt Marci and Uncle Richard sent a balloon bouquet and Teddy was part if it. Lucy keeps saying, “Teddy, I LOVE YOU!” Teddy is sleeping with all of us right now. 🙂

Lucy’s turning 4 in one week from today. Her big present from us is piano lessons and a keyboard. She took her second lesson today and her teacher hooked us up with a very nice used keyboard.

She’s one happy girl!

This morning Lucy woke up at 6 am.  Rather than get up with her I asked her to play in her play room for a while.  A little after 8 she came in to show us what she was up to… practicing drawing caterpillars!

These pictures don’t do our trip justice.  It was more amazing than I can ever relate. 

The first morning, I unzipped the tent to find snow had fallen in the 25* night.  We, surprisingly, stayed pretty warm in our tent.

We decided to check out Old Faithful first:

One of the amazing pools around Old Faithful:

We hiked about a mile to see Old Faithful go off and to avoid the crowds:

Here’s our view, before it went off:

We waited, in the snow, with one other couple and their 3 year old and then it went off:

Lu didn’t want her picture taken:

Old Faithful, the snow, and us:

We saw a few Yellow Bellied Marmots:

The next day we went on a 6 mile hike to Shoshone Lake.  It’s the largest lake in the contiguous United States that you can’t get to by car.  It was also right in the middle of a bear area.  We had our spray and we made A LOT of noise! No bears were seen!

 

The lake!

Shaun’s favorite part of Yellowstone was Hayden Valley, we had our best grizzly sighting here-too bad I don’t have a good zoom lens!

Some of the hundreds of bison we saw:

Lucy counting them:

A hot spring run off:

The Grand Prismatic Pool-AMAZING!

Lu and Daddy watching an Osprey.

As it gets a fish!

One of the MANY elk we saw!

The view of Yellowstone Lake from our campground:

A cute, but blurry picture of my Lu:

The Lower Falls:

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone:

Hiking down Uncle Tom’s Trail to the bottom of the Lower Falls:

At the bottom of the 327 steps:

And back up:

The Lower Falls from Artist’s Point:

Hello there, bison!

A fox! The only thing to actually scare us-it ran right at Lucy and Shaun!  We were very careful to follow the 25/100 yard rule while there!

The Petrified Tree:

We got to see babies nursing in this heard of bison:

Lu and Mommy having a peanut butter cup at lunch

ELK!

8 big horn sheep-4 ewes and 4 lambs:

We also got to see the sheep nursing!

Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces:

Bison sparring:

A heard of bison right outside of the Old Faithful Inn:

Our last sunset:

Sorry about that!  So much has happened since I last posted!!  We moved, we love it!

Lucy awesome and gets more awesome everyday. There’s no more baby in her -except maybe her totally kissable cheeks. She’s a full on KID, like woah! She has a great sense of humor, she’s reading one vowel words, she’s working on mastering the monkey bars, and she’s counting to 100! She is loving the new house. She plays independently for large chunks of time outside on her “playground” or upstairs in her playroom. She LOVES to play school and is constantly drilling us or practicing her writing on her “magna noodle” or white board. Since her third birthday, she’s gone from a shy little girl to a girl who has no problem talking to people, asking their names, and being inquisitive (while hopefully still being polite!). I fully attribute this to Challenger. I knew when I went to observe the program that she would thrive. I’m glad I was right!

We only have one more week of school and then we’re off to Yellowstone.  We’re all very excited.

Here’s some pictures!

January:

She picked this outfit out herself:

When she started reading and spelling:

 

February-Skiing!

Her first ride up the big girl lift:

Her sense of style never disappoints!

Awesome artwork!

Valentines Day:

Doing dishes:

More awesome artwork:

March:

Her first movie in a theater-The Lorax!

Her rendition of a Triceratops:

Sleeping like she did when she was a baby <3

April:

More crazy outfits:

Writing a note to her friend at school named Sophie:

After gymnastics

More dishes-she LOVES doing them!

Her first sleepover with Tessa:

First swing in the new backyard:

More artwork!

May:

Lucy’s new big girl room:

Taking a bath in the new tub!

More awesome artwork:

Before her Spring Performance:

 

If you want to see a 15 minute video of her performance, email me and I’ll send you the link.  I don’t want to post publically since it has other people’s kids in it.

Kicking back, reading a book from Grandma Titus:

Cuddling with Daddy:

At her friend’s birthday party:

That’s the update!

I also have a few iPhone video tours of our new pad.  If you want to see them, email me and I’ll send you the link.

So….we’re moving!!! We’re staying in Boise but in 2 months we will be upgrading-BIG TIME. We’re moving about 4 miles away from our current house-we’ll be less than a mile away from Megan, Luke, and Porter!

My Aunt and Uncle are planning on retiring here in 2014.  They were here to visit at the beginning of January and found a house that they LOVED.  They put an offer in, it was accepted, and it closed today!One thing-they needed tenants!  The house is amazing-absolutely amazing.  One of the things that Shaun and I had to discuss was the fact that it might be hard to move out when the time comes because our future home probably won’t be this nice.  We ultimately decided that we could do it and the fact that the house is not in the neighborhood that we ultimately want to end up in would help us move out . Plus when we move, that means my Aunt and Uncle are here to stay!

We are very excited and a little freaked out.  I’m freaked out that I have to pack this house up-our last move was so massive-1,000 miles!!!! So I’m a little moving gun shy.  Shaun is freaked out about keeping the new place clean and the yard maintained.  The new house is TWICE as big as our current place (and almost 3 times as big as our condo in San Mateo).

I took screenshots of the virtual tour so I could show you our new abode (for the next 2 years!).

Front of the house:

Entry/Formal Living Room:

Formal Dining Room:

Eating Area/Kitchen:

Kitchen (See the counter space? The cupboards? The double ovens?):

Family Room:

Laundry Room (with heated floors!!!)

A bad picture of the downstairs powder room:

Office/Entry to Master Bedroom:

Master Bedroom:

Master Closet:

Master Bath (with heated floors!!):

Lucy’s Bedroom:

 

Lucy’s Playroom:

Guest Bedroom:

A bad picture of Lucy’s bathroom/guest bathroom:

Backyard:

Lucy’s play structure and play house (fully carpeted, working windows, and electric):

BBQ/Fireplace/Storage shed:

So yeah-we’re excited.  It’s going to be nice.  And even better?  My Aunt and Uncle will live here when it’s all over!!!

I have a lot of videos to share! If there is only one you watch, make it this one of Lucy riding her 2 wheel bike ALL BY HERSELF!

I can’t believe that on my last post that I didn’t mention Lucy’s LOVE of Sound of Music.  Tessa started watching it and passed her love to Lucy.  We watch certain scenes of that movie on loop it seems.  Here is what bedtime looks like almost every day in this house:

 

She knows all the words to MANY Sound of Music songs. It’s cute, but we’re pretty Sound of Music’d out!

Here’s what Lucy has to say about Santa Claus:

And here she is on Christmas morning!:

 

Here’s another video of her riding her bike this morning!

Now for some pictures! Santa brings Lu 3 gifts as do Mommy and Daddy.  The rest of this? Is from all her relatives that don’t live here in Boise!

Little girl was SPOILED!!!

Here she is trying her bike out for the first time:

 

Through the house!

And opening her MAKE-UP!!!! (one of her persistent wishes)

No worries, it’s just hardened nail polish.

It was a great Christmas and we’re looking forward to an awesome New Year!

I’m on Christmas break so I have some time to catch up.  I really should make it a priority to post on here more often because I don’t want to forget all the sweet things that Lucy is doing.  My very favorite thing right now is that she says “Super, duper, bery” (for “very") all the time.  For example, “Mommy, I am super, duper, bery hungry!”  It makes me melt every time.

Last you heard from me, it was her birthday. Look at my 3 year old!

A Jeep!

At Flat Bread Community Oven watching her pizza getting cooked.

Happy Birthday little one!

There was a zoo birthday party!

With big balls:

And more candles to blow out:

Porter was there!

Mommy was too!

Papa too!

Isabelle, Vanessa, Kaitlyn, Lucy, Tessa, and Claudia at the zoo with popcorn!

On the carousel.

Then it was Lucy’s first day of school!!!

And then the Harvest Festival at the Botanical Gardens:

And then we went pumpkin picking with Jack and Tessa:

And then Lu got a haircut!

Halloween!

Which Lu LOVED! She totally got the concept and we told her that if a light was on, it meant the people had candy.  She would yell, “Their light is on! CANDY!!!!” And then totally said, “Trick or Treat!”  She told me later that it was her favorite holiday and that she couldn’t wait an entire year to go again.

We took a Girl’s Trip to Portlland and Lu got to see her friend Madeline:

Her Challenger school picture.  We’ve titled it “I Pity The Fool.”

Lucy’s art skills since starting at Challenger have taken off!

Thanksgiving at school:

Turkey day at our house:

Our annual Thanksgiving hike:

Lucy’s favorite friend!

(we’ve seen Santa 4 times this year-she LOVES him)

The next pictures I have are of Christmas tree hunting.

And sledding!

Our tree:

Decorated:

Lucy also got her Alphabet crown this month!

That means that she went up to the Director’s office and knew all the letters and what sound they make.  Lu is the youngest at the school to have her crown.  As she would say, it’s a “super duper” big deal!

She got ice cream for that accomplishment!

And just this morning, frosting cookies with Mommy:

Now we’re off to her very first dentist appointment!

 

Merry Christmas all!

I cannot believe that you are 3! It seems like just yesterday I was holding you in that hospital bed staring lovingly at your face.

What a year this has been little one! You’ve become little miss personality and smarty pants! Holy moly (one of your favorite expressions) you never cease to amaze Daddy and I. You LOVE to sing, ride your bike, play with Tessa, SWING ALL BY YOURSELF on the big kid swing!, love your ABCs, you are scarily good at math, you love to camp, to read, and to play with your baby dolls. You also LOVE to eat! Especially blueberries, raspberries, and frozen peas (yes, you eat them frozen and get really upset when they thaw). I love you more than words can describe.

A look back at the year, in pictures:

September 2010-your 2nd birthday:

October, at the zoo:

Cabo in November:

And then SNOW!

December, getting out Christmas Tree:

January, at the Library!

February, Tessa’s Birthday:

March, striking a pose for Mommy:

Easter in April:

Camping in May:

Disneyland in May:

LA in June:

PA in July:

Camping in July:

Fireworks in July!

Fresh Veggies in August!

My almost 3 year old in September:

You just woke up and said, “I was 2 yesterday and today I’m THREE!”

Smarty pants indeed.

You take my breath away every day: