Wow was this weekend ever busy!  We had a blast though.

Saturday was pretty warm and we discovered that Lucy needs some clothes for warmer weather.  I put her in a dress that her Aunt Kelly and Uncle Ricky got her.  How cute is she?!?!?!

Shaun’s comment was that she just melt his heart everyday 🙂

Yesterday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  It was pretty cool.  It wasn’t as big as I was expecting but we still had fun.

Some cool pictures:

Jelly Fish!

Seahorses!

These aren’t plants-they’re sea horses!

No, really!

Feed time!

Hello shark!

Lu just kicking back:

Cute Lu pics!

She went around yelling “FISHIE!!!!” It was very cute.

Daddy and a very tired Lu:

Here’s Lu this morning playing with a new toy I got her.  It’s magnets and it sings the ABC’s.  When you put the letters into the big thing you see there it says “B goes buh, B goes buh. Every letter has a sound, B goes buh”.  She played with it in the cart yesterday at Target and listened to the ABC’s about 100 times.

This morning I woke up to Lucy singing “A B C D” hum hum “G” hum hum hum hum “L M N O P” hum hum hum “T” hum hum hum hum hum “Z!”  I about crapped my pants. Seriously.  The letters that she did remember were said in the correct place!  That was INSANE!  I have a kid-she’s no longer a baby!

Her 18 month appointment was this morning and here are her stats:

Height=30 3/4”-25th percentile
Weight=19 pounds 8 ounce-Less than 5th percentile
Head=19.25”-95th percentile

She’s trending exactly where she was at 15 months. She’s a peanut but she’s a just right peanut. She’s still pretty advanced in terms of language and talking and HOPEFULLY the tantrums will start to subside as she can communicate more.  All in all, it was a great visit.  She only had 1 shot and she cried briefly and then was okay. She was VERY proud of her sticker that she got.

In short, she’s awesome 🙂

I can’t believe that Lu is 18 months old.  She’s become such a KID but she’s still our baby.  We love her so much, she continues to amaze us every day!

The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree it seems 😉

As you can see, she’s learned how to take off her diaper!  She’s been sitting on her potty and can tell us when she’s going potty but she hasn’t put the two together yet.  She has yet to go potty in the actual potty. 🙂

When she was nakey on Friday she peed in her plastic chair and then as I was cleaning the chair she was in the kitchen with me and started peeing again.  She looked at the pee like “WHAT IS THAT?!?!?  WHY IS THERE WATER coming out of me?”  I explained to her that it was pee and that’s what she did when she went potty.  I told her that her diaper catches it now and asked if she wanted to put her diaper back on.  She nodded her head emphatically “YES” and went and got a diaper for me to put on her.

How cute is she?

We have her 18 months appointment next Monday.  I’ll be sure to update you!  And just because it’s my favorite picture, here she is again!

Lucy has learned how to REALLY kiss.  In the past she would lean her head in with her mouth open to “kiss” you.  She now knows how to pucker up and really give a kiss!  We spent 5 minutes before bed tonight kissing Mommy and Daddy.  It was about the sweetest thing that I’ve ever experienced.

We had a big weekend this past weekend.  We went to Lu’s first swim lesson of the year (minus the bonus swim lesson with cousin Tessa), we went to the beach and then we went on an organic farm tour.  We had TONS of fun.

Playing with Daddy:

Swimming:

At the beach (I LOVE the next 4 pictures):

Pictures from the farm:

Of Lu at the farm:

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Wow!  Mommy, Daddy, and Lucy have been sick the last 2 weeks.  Daddy probably the worst but it has hit us all hard.  Both Mommy and Daddy have missed 3 days of work over the last 2 weeks dealing with all the sickness.

We think it has passed us finally.  Lu is now getting some teeth (we think the bottom canines-if it’s not that then it’s the 2 year old molars) and so she’s now grumpy, feverish, and tired.  It never ends!

Here’s some healthy pictures!

Daddy and Lu playing with a green bean before dinner:

Lu in shoes and clothes that Mimi got her (thanks Mimi!):

Eating?

With her first fat lip :( 

We were at the park and I encouraged her to go down the big slide by herself and without laying down.  Normally when she goes by herself she lays all the way down on her back.  Last weekend she wanted to go down while sitting up and I totally encouraged it.  Everything was fine until she got to the end and her shoe got caught on the slide and she face planted.

Thank god I was wearing a dark pink fleece because I got a lot of blood on me.  She only cried for about 30 seconds and the bleeding stopped after about a minute or so.  She did end up going down the slide multiple times after that, so she wasn’t too scared.  It was still traumatic (for me) though    She recovered much more quickly than I!

In her new Spring dress!

2 good shots of her GREEN eyes:

Sick Lu:

She’s still working on talking.  Tons and tons of new words. “sick” :(, “sit”, “cuddle”, “up please” just to name a few.

She’s also mastered nodding YES and NO all.the.time.  Today I asked her if she liked it that she could tell Mommy what she wanted by nodding.  She nodded YES.  It was pretty funny 🙂

I know, I know, it’s been 2 weeks.  Lucy and I went to Idaho last weekend for Tessa’s birthday and when I got home I was too exhausted.  I’m equally exhausted this week-but I won’t make you wait!  I got great pictures in Idaho-the two cousins were SO incredibly cute together.

Here are a few of my favorites-more to come soon!

Uncle Willy pulls Tessa and Lu in the wagon!

Tessa had a swim lesson and Lu and I got to crash it-it was a blast.

The girls got a bath together and then got changed into matching PJs.  They thought it was pretty cool.

The night before the party, Lissa, Papa, Mimi, and I slaved away on cupcakes and goodie bags.

Then it was time for Tessa’s tea party!

The birthday girl has her (cup)cake!

Lu developed a new skill.  She can now walk with her hands behind her back.  She thinks this is fabulous and does it any chance she gets.  Daddy and I call her “Inspector”.

Lucy really didn’t want to take a picture with the whole gang!

She’d rather ponder what life is all about.

Wha? Mom?

A sure fire way to get Lucy cuddles?  Hold cousin Tessa!

The girls played.

And Lucy ate!

Lucy’s vocabulary has just taken off!  She has some 2 word sentences and says thing that just amaze us.  On Friday, Shaun went to pick her up from daycare and she pointed at the driver seat in the car and said, “Dada seat”.  Um okay, little mite!  I think my favorite word of hers so far is “Aquaphor”. We put it on her in the morning and the evening (it’s like vaseline) and apparently we talk about it quite a bit because she says it! 

Here’s a list of some of her words:

-Dada
-Mama 
-Up
-Down
-Daycare
-Banana
-Ball
-Teeth
-Shoes
-Socks
-Feet
-Brush
-Cheese
-Cracker
-Cookie
-All Done
-Nigh-Nigh
-Birdie (while signing it as well)
-Kitty cat
-Woah!
-Uh-Oh
-Papa
-Tessa
-Lucy
-Here you go
-I do it
-I got it

There are a ton more but I need to start writing them down when I hear them.

As I mentioned above, she can now walk with her hands behind her back but she can also walk backwards!

She got 2 new teeth while we were in Idaho-her upper canines came it on the 13th.  She now has 14 teeth and loves to brush them.

Here she is yesterday with her beloved banana:

And today, “helping” Mommy and Daddy fold:

Those were words that I heard tonight, coming from my sweet daughter.  No, the ball wasn’t hers but she sure wanted it to be!  We went to our friend’s house who have a lil’ one who is a month younger than Lu.  Sophia LOVED hugging Lu.  Lu wasn’t so sure:

Yes, I did say that Sophia is a month YOUNGER than Lu.  She’s 5+ inches taller than Lu and about 6 pounds more.  Despite that picture, they really did have a good time together.

I didn’t get many pictures this week.  We did go on a beautiful hike yesterday.

Lu’s personality is REALLY starting to emerge.  She’s a silly girl.  She LOVES to be chased and LOVES to dance.  She can GET DOWN.  She’s got both her Mommy and her Daddy (especially her Daddy) wrapped around her little finger.

Earlier this week, I was wearing a headband and she really liked it, so I let her wear one too:

Pretty soon, we were in an episode of Star Trek:

She’s awesome.

On Monday we went out to dinner.

Afterward Lu wanted to walk home.  She walked the entire way.  It was .382 miles!!!  That’s really far for her little legs!!!

~~~

On Tuesday, I had to fly to Redmond to visit the Mothership.

The business trip part of the day was fine-the meeting went really well and it was nice to be on campus with the 40,000 other people that work up there.

At the end of the day I got to the airport and discover that I LOST MY PHONE. ARGH.  Come to fine out, I’m a little addicted to my iPhone.  What bums me out is that there are pictures on that phone that I don’t think I have saved anywhere.  I do have Lucy’s VERY first picture EVER saved (thankfully):

Awww, look at this one:

Or her first time in a carseat,right before we went home:

Okay, sorry, I got distracted.  Anyway, it’s been awhile since I last backed up my phone so there are a few pictures that are lost The good news? I’m back on Verizon with my new DROID!

Lucy was so excited to see me Wednesday morning and that was fun.  I guess Tuesday night she went looking around the house calling out “Mama?” “Mama?” “MAMA?”  Awwwww.  I hate not seeing her    I have many more LONGER business trips coming up and I am NOT excited.

~~~

I got a call on Thursday that Lu had a 102* temp.  100.4 and above is considered a temperature for wee ones and that’s when daycare has you come get them.  I went to pick her up and she did have a temperature but she was acting FINE.  I couldn’t figure it out. UNTIL…I noticed the swollen gum and bit of white poking through her gum.  She’s getting her left upper eye tooth!  Poor thing. 

It doesn’t seem to be bothering her:

She’s trying to chew the necklace!

She finally got it!

I also took 9 minutes of video on Thursday of Lu eating.  I edited it down to 4 for your viewing pleasure.  It’s actually quite entertaining.  She’s an eater, that one!

~~~

On Friday, I worked from home and played with a very NOT SICK Lu.

This sequence of pictures CRACK ME UP.  She’s funny.

She’s putting my lens on my camera.  Isn’t she smart?

~~~

We met up with Lucy’s friend Avi this week.  Lu and Avi have been hanging out since Lu was 6 weeks old.  Here they are in December 2008-she’s in the middle, he’s the one on the end with one eye closed:

Here they are Friday:

Wow    They were so active, it was hard to get a good picture. But you can tell-they’ve GROWN!

~~~

On Friday night, I made artichokes.  Lu asked for some and I almost said “You won’t like this.” BUT! I stopped myself and gave her a leaf.

She LOVED it and knew just how to eat it! She ate 5!!! She’s such a foodie!

~~~

Shaun got me a juicer for Christmas.  Saturday, I made carrot, beet, apple, lemon and ginger juice.

Lu decided she loved it:

You can see the juice all the way up on her forehead:

A circle of juice:

~~~

Saturday, we walked to the Coyote Point Museum-it’s an Environmental Museum that Shaun took Lu to last weekend.  They liked it so much that they wanted to take me.  We got a membership so we’ll be going back!

Out front is a Inka Biospheric System.

It uses solar power, plants, and water to run this fish tank.

The plants naturally clean the water!

Lu LOVED the magnet gears.

They also had a water bottle wall that she thought was pretty cool.

She’s pretty shy around other little kids/unfamiliar situations and only wanted to play on the toys that were pretty unpopular.

We saw owls:

A badger:

Some fighting otters:

A tame hawk-when she saw the hawk she made the sign-language sign for “bird”.  She knows it because of Azul-our bird.  We were impressed that she made the connection that they were the same thing.

And a little sleeping fox:

We also saw frogs, snakes, a coyote, a ferret, eagles, and other interesting animals that I didn’t get a picture of.

It was COOL.  It’s about a 3.5 mile walk roundtrip and was a great way to spend our morning.

Lu was so tuckered she fell asleep in the stroller on the way home.

~~~

Sunday!

Lucy’s love affair with Bear continues.  At the start of breakfast:

BED HEAD!

Halfway through breakfast she decided that Bear needed to eat too.

~~~

Today, Lucy decided that Mommy’s underwear was SO MUCH FUN.  She danced around with it on her head for a good 30 minutes today while we were folding.

Don’t worry-it’s clean!!!

~~~

I know I sound so cliché, but really, it all needs to SLOW DOWN.  Lucy is a LITTLE KID now.  The only time I feel like she’s a baby is when I’m rocking her to sleep-and she’s even getting too big to fit in my lap comfortably.

She’s really starting to try and verbalize.  The words we heard a lot this week? “Daycare” (yes really), “Banana”, “Ball”, “Teeth”, “Shoes”, “Feet”, “Mama”, “Dada”, “Daddy”, “Cheese”, “Up”, “Down”, and “Nigh-Nigh”.  She’s trying to say much more but those are the ones that we can understand.

She’s also running now!  And climbing!  She’s still very cautious but she did get a bloody nose at daycare this week :(  She tripped over a toy she was playing with and bonked her nose pretty hard.

Lu can also point out her nose, eyes, mouth, teeth, ears, head, tummy, knees and toes.  She can point them out on US too 😉

We’re also going through what I’ve dubbed the “Willful Ones”.  Many more fits are getting thrown :(  On Monday I want to pick her up from Daycare and she didn’t want to get in the car.  She SCREAMED and arched her back for 15 minutes-I’m not exaggerating.  I was that parent out in the daycare parking lot.  Once I got her in her seat, she cried halfway home and then was all giggles.  She’s also started fighting us in the morning and the evening with diaper changes.  Thankfully, she’s finally attached herself to something-a bear that cousin Luke gave her over a year ago.  She’s never really had any sort of “lovie” but on Friday night she was upset before bed and she pointed at the bear.  Shaun got the bear and Lu stopped screaming.  The bear hasn’t left her side since.  When you ask her “Where’s Bear?”  she’ll hold him up-it’s very cute.

Lu has always had an appetite but it’s grown all of the sudden! I feel like she’s constantly eating!  I joke that I’m on the Lu diet because she’ll eat her serving and then half of mine.

She’s still under 20 pounds though-at 19 pounds 4 ounces.

Alright, the fun stuff. Pictures!

Playing with the tunnel that Mimi and Papa got her:

Looking VERY serious:

Coloring with her notebook and crayon:

Playing with Mommy’s keys (very off limits-she was excited):

What Mom? (Bananas are her new favorite food.  She eats at least one a day.  I have to cut her off or else she’d eat many more)

With Bear:

Playing around:

Watching cartoons with Daddy.  She really doesn’t watch much tv but Daddy gets cuddles when he puts on a cartoon.  She watched for about 10 minutes today.  I think that’s her first 10 minutes of tv this year.

A blurry, but cute, picture:

A more in focus, but not as cute one (notice Bear):

Eating frozen yogurt:

Why yes, she is eating in almost ALL of these pictures.  That’s because she’s almost ALWAYS eating.  Plus it’s the only time she’s still enough for me to get a picture.

Don’t forget to leave a comment!  We read them to Lu!

Lucy’s daycare had their Winter Gala last night, where all the classes performed.  Lu’s class did Wheels on the Bus and Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.

They had all the parents sitting in one of the classrooms on teeny tiny chairs.

Here’s Lucy coming in for her big moment:

She was happy and smiley at first:

Then she realized that there was a big crowd of STRANGERS watching her, she cuddled up to her friend Carter and looked like a deer in the headlights:

(I know it’s blurry, but she seriously stood there for a good 45 seconds just.like.that).

And then she decided that it was all too much and cuddled Miss Tisha:

And she pretty much stayed that way the entire rest of the time :(  Poor thing.

If you REALLY want the full experience, I posted a video to You Tube.  It’s over 3 minutes long and is really low res and she basically just stands there.  It’s kinda sad but I captured her first performance!  It’s only up from here, right?

No worries-she recovered!

Shaun brought up that Lucy’s hair was getting pretty long and scraggly and that she should get a haircut.  At first I was resistant to the idea, but then I did have to admit that her hair was a bit uneven.

Look at those chops!

So we found a kids haircutting place in Burlingame and took her in.

She wasn’t really sure about it but overall, she was a good girl and came out looking a little less messy.

The “stylist” was concerned that she would look like a boy if we cut it any shorter.  I think it’s just right 🙂

In other, exciting Lucy news, my friend childhood friend, Natalie, is a photographer and she came and took pictures of us last month.  You’ve seen some of her images from our holiday card but I have a CD with over 300 photos that I FINALLY got downloaded onto my computer.  Natalie gives you the rights to all your images, so you pay for the session and the processing of the pictures and then she burns you a CD that is 100% yours.  She caught some AMAZING images of our family.