Hosting friends and celebrating birthdays

Lucy invited her friends over on February 16 to help her get out every. single. toy.
She was asleep when the first carload pulled up but while I watching the Burnses from the doorway, I heard a Lucy peep and raced upstairs to get her.
She'd been sleeping in the guest bed and I was in a rush to get to her - before she started to cy and get upset, before our friends got to the door - and was taking the stairs a few at a time.  
It was pretty dark with the stairway light off and the lights off in the dining room and the blinds drawn. 
Thankfully something stopped me on about the fifth step.  I don't know what it was but I stopped in my tracks and let my eyes adjust to the darkness and there was Lucy...on the sixth step.  Luckily our friends were arriving and I didn't have time time to dwell on what I'd almost done to my sweet baby...

All morning we had discussed the fact that our friends were coming over but her nap had gotten started a little later than planned and she had no time to finish waking up and adjust to the invasion so she started crying before the twins even made it inside.  Soon the Kennedy girls were there, too, and Lucy realized I wasn't going anywhere and started to relax a bit.  I dare say she had a fun afternoon!  She still lost it a time or two and sharing is still not her favorite, but it was a pretty fun day:

 

We played in the basement a lot.  As his mother put it, "Elijah is a dumper!"  That's not to say the girls played no part in this, though, because every one of them had fun exploring the toy collection.

At this point, Lucy is more of a play-alongside kind of friend...she's not much for interaction or sharing and from what I've read, that is normal.  We do still try to emphasize sharing, though, and one of these days she may actually give it a try!
At one point, she and I were upstairs fetching her Little People Ariel and when we got back to the top of the steps, she tossed her down...(this is kind of her thing - she constantly throws baby dolls down the stairs to meet her when she makes it to the bottom).  Hearing the noise, EJ came running and picked up the toy...and Lucy lost her shit.  I told her she had to share...which made her lose her shit some more.  She had to go sit on the steps (leading to her bedroom) until she could calm down after that one.
Lucy wasn't the only screamer of the day, though...Karli let loose when anyone besides her mama tried to hold her (I can certainly relate to Christa there!) and the twins made some noise over a fight for the police car.
They all agreed to sit close and pose for a pic afterward, though, so I think they're definitely all friends for life!

And this was big for Lucy, letting a pal share her table:

The aftermath seems to say a good time was had by all:

The following weekend, we had some birthdays to celebrate:

We went to the Knotty Pine for dinner and then back to our house for a birthday cake made by guess who:

More purple clothes...pants from Grandma and Grandpa Meyers, shirt from the RC collection

She had almost as much fun eating the cake as she did making the cake!

She was such a good girl at the restaurant...the girl loves going "out to eat" and she does really well.  She packed her dinner just in case and while she did end up eating a lot of what she packed, she also chowed down on my French fries and a bowl of applesause that a very special chef (her grandpa!) brought out for her!
Back at home, she had fun with the birthday girls:

She sings "Happy Birthday" a LOT.  In the car, walking around the house, in the tub...a LOT.  She has yet to sing along at a birthday party, though...I can't wait until everyone is singing to HER next month...she's going to love it!!

L-C-Y

Lucy calls herself by name now (though, of course, she still says "me" frequently) and can even spell it...sort of!
I think the letter "u" confuses her since it sounds like the word "you" so she spells her name: 
L-C-Y.  Not bad!


Swim lessons are coming to an end - tomorrow is the last class.  After a rocky start (that also coincided with a brief bath time aversion), we have all really enjoyed it.  Last week she wore her bumble bee swimsuit from last year...maybe a tiny bit tight but still technically a fit:

The teacher seems to really like her but then again, the teacher is a very nice woman who seems to really like all of the kids in the class.  Daddy got in with her last Thursday and things went well so he got in with her again last night.  All three of us may get in for the final class.

The teacher had a doll that blows bubbles in the water to use
as an example on the night that blowing bubbles was the lesson...
Lucy was the teacher's BFF when she let her play with the doll after the lesson!

Lucy continues to love purple and often requests to wear purple clothes...we had all of our bases covered one night last week when we stopped at the library for a little trouble-making (rows of bookshelves make for a good running maze):

We are fortunate enough to have a doubled wardrobe by way of hand-me-downs-on-loan from our friend Reese Morgan.  These shoes (still a little big but this girl was not taking no for an answer) and this shirt are on loan from the RC collection and the pants are a recent awesome find by GranJan.



Lately Lucy is completely obsessed with "helping."  Dave and I try to tag team it in the evenings...one of us will play with Lucy while the other cooks dinner and sometimes we even have to switch partway through...but when Lucy catches wind of one of us cooking, she zooms to the kitchen, grabs the stool and scoots it over to the counter, climbs up and says, "Help!  Me!"  We do try to let her help but when we're heating a frozen pizza for dinner, what is there for her to help with??  We struggle...
But last week I was making a snack for Ashley's birthday party and my girl wanted to help.  Don't worry, party-goers, she washed her hands first:

At first she was just putting the rolled up ones onto the tray but then I got too slow and she wanted to roll them up...she's such a good little helper!

She had fun at the party, too:

She LOVED Cleo's doll house and spent a lot of time playing with it.
Sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to find a place for her to eat at Donna's house but we spotted this desk and knew it would be perfect!



She has a "wacky smile" she like to give:

Yes, she is definitely wacky...but she's oh-so-sweet (especially when sleeping, ha!)

Couldn't resist snapping this pic one morning before dropping her off with the sitter

My Baby

I logged into one of my baby websites earlier today and was greeted with this message:
There are 38 days until your child's birthday!

Hard to believe, but it's true...my baby is almost 2!  We have started planning for her little birthday party this year and I think she's really going to enjoy it.  She had a lot of fun getting and giving valentines this week and will surely get a kick out of being the center of attention (even more so!) on her birthday.

Most often, I take pictures of my girl with my phone, since it's always right there.  I use my own camera frequently, too, and usually have that with me at all times.  Sometimes my camera is dead or Dave's is simply closer but I am not as quick with retrieving those images...here are a few gems I found when I stuck his memory card in the reader today:

Lucy got a few valentines in the mail which made her very happy...some even came with stickers, which both she and her baby enjoyed wearing!
When we got home yesterday, there was a valentine on the porch from Grandma and Grandpa and she could NOT wait to check it out - literally!  She would not let us bring it inside first; she had to dig right in:

She took a few bites of these pure sugar Peep hearts and we warned Grandma:
If Lucy was still awake when she got off work, she could come play with her while Dave and I slept!

New baby - in giraffe clothes! - from mom and dad

After valentines and dinner, it was time for our V-Day swim:

The swimsuit Nick & Stacy got her for her birthday last year still fits!

Swim class continues to go well but 30 minutes is plenty of time...she's definitely fine with getting out of the pool when class ends.  She had a good time last night with her yellow duck.

Bath time has improved as well...last night I bathed her and there were no tears, even during hair washing, and Dave had a good experience bathing her on Tuesday as well.
She is soooooooo obsessed with Ariel and insists on watching it every night before bed...we'd also gotten her a Signing Time DVD for Valentine's Day but she only wanted to watch The Little Mermaid...

Funnies:
*The other night she needed help with something in the living room and I was in the kitchen and she yelled, "Help, Dani!"
*Last night in the pool she was swimming and I said, "You're swimming just like a fish...can I call you Flounder?" and she said no so I asked her what I should call her and she said, "Ootsy."  That's how she pronounces her name!  It was the cutest thing because she usually only says "me!" about herself.
*She's putting more and more words together at a time and last night she kept saying "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Fish face!!

Lucy love

We try to pick up after her - and get her help in doing so - but this is the reality during her waking hours.  She loves her kitchen and she loves her table and chairs - but above all, she loves her babies!  She takes care of them - she takes their temperature when they are sick, she changes their diapers (and is very thorough, using a whole package of wipes each time), she bundles them, she sh's them and she puts them to bed.

This is our world

 Cute Lucy pics:

Just being cute

She got a new flashlight for Valentine's Day from GranJan and Grandpa!

I sat in the backseat one night with my sweet car-ride partner
(looking at herself in the mirror)

We have been having some bath-time troubles lately but on Sunday at my parents' house, she agreed to go up with GranJan to take a bath and things went well!  I told Jan we'd be back every night at 8pm...

She told me she was making "hot tea"

She and Patty were "at work" having a "nice day"

Swimming has been going much better.  As you may remember from a previous blog post, day one was a disaster.  She only lasted about 15 minutes of the 30 minute class because she was crying so loudly that the other little swimmers couldn't hear the instructor...She was in the water with Daddy and he insisted that I be her swimming partner for the next adventure:

I can't lie - day two started off a little shaky as well...she was excited that evening as we talked about it at dinner and was excited when she got into her purple swimsuit and she was even excited as we entered the pool...but a few minutes later, she was "done" and started to cry.  I am not sure what I did (it probably wasn't anything I did at all) but she soon got over herself and had a fun time:

 

She practiced jumping into the pool and swimming around by kicking her feet and moving her arms.  At the end of class, we sang a song which she really liked...we sang "Hokey Pokey" where she stuck her right arm in and splashed it all about, etc.

Day three of swimming was also a success - swimming with Mama while Daddy takes pictures:

The song at the end of that class was "Wheels on the Bus" which also involved a lot of fun splashing.  
The teacher gives each kid a little toy during class and on Tuesday, Lucy got a red crab and she told the teacher it was Sebastian which made her laugh!  
More swimming tonight with my little Valentine!



Lucy and I went to the doctor yesterday.  She's had something going on with the bottom of her feet - not a rash, exactly, but we've been watching it and it started to change this week.  A couple of nights she told us it "hurt" so we made an appointment.  We talked about the doctor and she acted excited about our appointment.  We met with Dr. Vance who was very nice...and told us that Lucy has eczema.  We bought some expensive new lotion to slather on her little tootsies twice a day.
She did pretty well at the appointment...the nurse paid absolutely no attention to her even though she kept trying to tell her about and show her her baby doll.  It was weird - you work in a pediatric office but don't interact with kids??  Anyway, the doctor came in and listened to Lucy talk about her doll and actually engaged her so that was nice.  Lucy let her look in her ears, listen to her chest and her back, look along her hairline and on her feet and on her arms and legs with no problem, as she sat on my lap.  As soon as the doctor wanted to look in her mouth, though, all hell broke loose.  She was NOT a fan of that and would not open her mouth when asked so Dr. Vance had to put the wooden stick in there and Lucy dramatically gagged and screamed.
I am still counting it as a success, though, because historically she has started crying much earlier in the appointment.  We'll see how things go at her 2 year appointment on March 29...