Everyday funnies...

Baby Sister is due in 3 weeks! (March 25th)

(just in case that's the only reason you're here)

Lucy just gets more and more funny every day. She's totally hit her terrible twos--oh boy! It is killing me! She's such a stinker, but such a hoot too! Here are some of her recents:

• Lucy throws MAJOR fits when she doesn't get her way. She runs around in circles screaming, then lowers herself to the floor (carefully) and cries. I think it's kinda funny. I'm a bad mom.
• Lucy loves music. Her favorite song right now is "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Mis, sung by Susan Boyle. She asks to listen to the "princess song" every time we get in the car. Over and over. And she sings along loudly, with the vibrato. She's very talented.
• Lucy still only calls her dad "honey". It's super great.
• Lucy is super confused about who "baby sister" is. Right now, she thinks we mean her new cousin, baby Tommy. She uses the names "baby sister" and "baby Tommy" interchangeably. She is in for a BIG surprise.
• Lucy mostly talks in third person these days: "Lucy's toy!", "Lucy have treat?", etc.
• Lucy is still in love with her "binkia" (binky). But she's only allowed to have it at resting time. That doesn't stop her from sneaking into her room and somehow getting in out of her crib. Problem: she can't help but come show me how naughty she's being. Immediately. :)
• Lucy is really interested in potty training, but I think she'll have to go right back into diapers when the shock of baby sister arrives. So I'm not willing to put the effort into training right now. But almost every night when Kyle comes home, Lucy will have him help her go sit on the potty so she can go. I should just do it.
• I have trained Lucy well. She goes NUTS in the shoe section of stores. Like, out-of-control nuts.
• This morning in the car on the way to my internship, Lucy reminded me that we forgot to have family prayers. I told her we could have one now, and she could say it (with my help). She really liked that, because we then had to say 4 more prayers in the car on the way to grandma's house. They all included things like "Ellie be at grandma's", "play with toys at grandma's", "baby Tommy have a binkia" and "Uncle Travy" (Kyle's little brother who is on a mission. That one was complete with my made-up sign for Travis, an "L" on her forehead.
• Every time Lucy looks in the mirror she says "I'm so cute!". Yes you are, darlin'.
• Kyle always empties his pockets onto his nightstand at the end of the day. Usually, he has a few coins, so he's got quite the collection there now. Lucy is obsessed with dad's "moneys". She carries them around and hides them, then proudly shows Kyle where to find them. Lucy will also take my wallet if she can find it, looking for moneys.
• Lucy will literally (and has) sing the "Fun to do, to do, to do" song for a full hour. At first it's easy to think of things that are fun to do, but then she starts needing help. She'll say "Fun to do...hmmm....fun to do..." until I give her a suggestion. Basically anything is fun to do when you're singing about it.
• Lucy loves to have her picture taken now. The other day, she found one of my newborn props (a rug). She set it by the window, then ran over to me and said "take Lucy's picture! Ka-ching!".
• If mom's too busy, Lucy will set up photo shoots for her toys and take pictures of them with her pretend camera.
• 

Lucy "having a rest" so that she could have her "binkia".

Having a picnic with Dora.

Lucy's First Hair Cut!

Baby Sister is due in 4 weeks! (March 25th)

(just in case that's the only reason you're here)

I was so torn about whether or not I should get Lucy's hair cut.

All along, the plan had been that when it gets about shoulder length I would cut Lucy's hair into a bob, so that it had some shape to it and would be full and pretty. Then I would just let it keep growing after that so that she has long, but styled hair when she's bigger. Well, shoulder length came and went. In the back (the mullet area). But the front took longer to grow. I wasn't going to cut it then, and make it look all goofy.

Now it has finally come to a point where the front is a decent length. But the back was about 5 inches past her shoulders. So now what to do?!

*Kyle was funny about it, he cared way more about cutting her hair than he ever has about mine. He did not want it cut! I guess daddy just wanted his girl to have long pretty hair.*

Anyway, I finally decided it needed to be done. She's awesome about letting me do anything with her hair, but it just didn't look that cute down. And I hate that look when little girls have longish, scraggly, uncombed hair. I don't ever want Lucy's to look like that.

So I set up a hair appointment for me on Tuesday, and while we waited for my color to process, I had her cut Lucy's hair.

Can you see how long it was in the back?!

She was such a good girl!

...and voila!

and the back.

She sure was proud of how pretty she looked! (She did her own posing for the pictures, funny girl.) I really like it too! And it will grow back fast, I'm sure of it!

Hmm...

Psh...that 52 week challenge was a success, huh? Ha. Apparently now is not a good time in my to be taking on something like that. We're too busy.

Because I know this is all some of you care about:

Baby Sister is due in 5 weeks! (March 25th)

No, we haven't picked a name yet. Starting to panic, just a little bit.

Here is what the rest of us are up to:

Kyle is busy working. He loves his job and gets to design the coolest things. He is really lucky to have found a place where they need him to do so much, many of the people who graduate with his degree end up designing a little piece of a part of something. Kyle has already designed a whole bunch of big, full projects. We're so grateful that he even has a job with this economy, and that the company is so great.

I feel like I'm going to fall over dead. I'm trying to fit a 3 month internship into about 6 weeks, and we're really hoping the baby doesn't come early! :) I'm going to the internship every morning and to class one night a week. It needs to be done before the baby comes, because if I don't get every single hour, I will fail the class. Dang. On top of that, I'm so excited because I have already booked 8 weddings (as the photographer) between the end of January and the end of May! I feel like my photography business is really going now, and I absolutely love it! The down side? I'm having a baby the end of March. In the middle of it all. So we've been trying to rush to fit in engagement and bridals sessions (and of course wedding day sessions) galore! Oh, and did I mention that I've volunteered to take newborn pictures for 5 different people, so I can practice before our baby comes. Yup. I'm doing that too.

And I don't know if other moms feel this way before they have baby number 2, but I'm really feeling guilty for having another one because I wont have as much time for Lucy Jo. I know in my mind that having a sister will be the best thing in the world for her. But my heart feels bad that I'm not going to be able to give her as much attention. So, I really am trying to cherish every minute I have left with her as my only child.

Lucy is doing great! Getting so big! She loves to play with her babies, talk, sing songs, make up songs, and go to Costco. She's also loving spending her mornings with her two grandmas. They're so nice to her. She's definitely a pest, but we just adore her. She's getting excited for baby sister to come, and always show's people that the baby is in "mommy's tum-tum".

And a blog post isn't a blog post without pictures, right?

Here is Lucy playing with Uncle Mark:

My birthday!

Lucy with Daddy. When she saw this picture she said "Ooh! Honey! Honey! Honey! Honey! Honey! Honey! Gran?!"

(Yup, she calls her daddy "Honey". All the time.)

And a rare picture of me! With my two sisters. We all are matching now, because Chelsey colored her hair the same color as mine and Megan's. :) Cute.

Everyday funnies...

Lucy is getting funnier every day. I just crack up at everything she's saying and doing-she thinks she's so big. Examples:

• Whenever Lucy sees or hears about something cool she says "oh awesome!". I have no idea where she picked it up.
• Whenever Lucy sees or hears about something she doesn't like she says "oh man!". That one probably came from me.
• Lucy can't sleep when she knows she is going to see her cousin Ellie. She's that excited.
• Lucy wants to name baby sister "Lillia Costco". For reals. After her cool cousin Lillie and her favorite store.
• Speaking of Costco, Lucy asks to go there every single day. She has a true obsession with the place. It's awesome.
• Whenever Lucy sees anything with letters on it, she says "abcd, abcd". At least she recognizes what letters are!
• When we go to Costco, Lucy reads the sign. She says "abcd, abcd, Costco".
• Lucy loves her Uncle John (Don Don). She likes to pretend to call John on the phone. When he isn't home, then she says "Oh...Josh!", and pretends to call his friend Josh. Then she says "Hi Josh. Don Don? Bye Josh". She knows how to get ahold of John when she needs him.
• Lucy likes to have her babies all fold their arms for family prayers with us. She helps them.
• Lucy's favorite drink is "kakolat wa-wa". It's code for chocolate milk.
• Whenever someone asks Lucy where her baby sister is, she comes and kisses my belly.
• Lucy got the book "There's a wocket in my pocket" for Christmas. We have read it at least 5 times a day since then. She also got a stuffed animal that goes with it. His name is Pocket, and he is our constant companion.

If any of you haven't seen my Photo-a-Day challenge on my photography blog, you're missing out. :) Anyway, here are two of the millions of out takes. I love them as much as I love the good ones, because these are so Lucy Jo.

Finding the Joy - Week 2

{Finding the Joy: A project I have taken on for 2011 where I will post a photo of something each week that helps me see the joy in daily life.}

The joy of cabbage.

Actually, I despise cabbage. But it's a joy this week because "baby sister" is 30 weeks old, about 15.5 inches, and 3 lbs-so approximately the same size as a cabbage!

I'm so glad that I'm down to the last 10 weeks. Okay lets be honest, it will actually be more like 11 or 12 weeks, but still...

-I am getting huge.

-I now weigh almost as much as I did when Lucy was born. And there are still 10 weeks left.

-My ribs hurt all the time.

-I can't sleep.

-It means I'll be done with my next school internship.

-And we'll finally get to meet our new girl!

Finding the Joy-Week 1

{Finding the Joy: A project I have taken on for 2011 where I will post a photo of something each week that helps me see the joy in daily life.}

The joy of discovering a new book.

Challenges

I can't believe it's already 2011!! How did that happen? I'm pretty sure once you have kids life starts moving double time! I feel like I'm going to miss so much if I don't document life like crazy!

That brings me to my challenges for 2011.

The first challenge I've set for myself is the Photo-A-Day challenge, which I will be documenting on my photography blog. I will be taking a picture of Lucy each day for the month of January and posting it on that blog. Please check it out and leave a comment or two-totally makes my day!

The second challenge also has to do with pictures-of course! I've decided to do a "Finding Joy-52 Week Challenge". Each week I will post a photo of something that helps me see the joy and happiness in life. Sometime life gets so crazy, I forget to look.

Okay, now that I've posted them for all the world to see, hopefully I'll do okay and actually doing the challenges! I'm going to do my best!

Happy New Year!