Jellybeans, chickens and marshmallows

Lucy celebrated her birthday with Pops and Grandma yesterday. She had a great day and played on the waterslide for more than 5 hours total. She water bombed Uncle D and went sliding with Pops and Uncle D (yes, we have video of Pops going down the water slide- it's priceless and will be posted upon returning to Virginia). We didn't tell her about her birthday party until she woke up- boy was that a happy wakening! She said there were two requirements for a birthday party- balloons and party hats, good thing we had thought of both! She is still hesitant to say that she is 3, I guess she doesn't want to wish away her days of being young a carefree at 2. Instead, she will hold up 2 fingers and then quickly 3, and then back to 2- her way of saying that she is in between the two.
Today when we got to Bon Bon and Grandpa's house she proclaimed that she got jellybeans, chickens and marshmallows from Pops and Grandma for her birthday- of course, this was all made up and she found it absolutely hilarious to think that they would splurge on "chickens, chickens and chickens" for her birthday. I think it is hilarious that she was crying fowl.

My Old Kentucky Home

The blog will be taking a break for a week or so while the girls and I hit the friendly skies and plant ourselves in Kentucky. Our trip entails plans to meet Max, introduce Harper to the family as a whole, including two of her great grandmas and a great grandpa, and begin Lucy's birthday celebration (3 parties in 3 days for a girl who is turning 3, what more could we ask for?)
In the meantime, Ian and Reggie will "man" the household. In Lucy's words, "Later Gator".

The Birds Nest

If you watched the Beijing Olympics, you may have admired the construction and intricate design of the "Birds Nest". Here is Lucy's take. Not so pretty, not so accomodating. This is how she woke up from a nap the other day. You can see how pleased she is upon my asking "where's the bird? Is there a robin in your room because I think it has been hard at work while you were napping." You can only imagine how much fun it was to dismantle this masterpiece.

Harper 15 weeks

Bathtime- pretty serious business
A hat out of Scarlet O'Hara's playbook


Playing peekaboo with Lucy

This video is Harper attempting to giggle. It is getting bolder and more audible, but this is pretty cute in the meantime.

Daddy "Do" or "Don't"?

For 3 years now I have been in charge of fixing Lucy's hair. No big deal, it is just the way it has been. The only problem is, we can't ever get out of the house. It takes us (me) forever to get ready. Not because I am primping in front of the mirror, but because I have so many people to ready before we leave. It isn't that Ian doesn't help, there just seem to be things that are for me to do that he can't help with. Lucy's hair has been one of those things. The other day I finally said, "You know, we have two girls. You will have to learn how to do a ponytail at some point". His response? "Did your dad ever fix your hair". He already knew the answer had to have been yes since he was also in charge of 2 girls and their hair from time to time. The next morning, mission accomplished. Lucy had a ponytail in her hair and it was perfect. He accepted the challenge and it even survived a day at the pool. Next week, braids.

Last Splash

We are sadly packing in our last few days at the pool. We are excited to be gearing up for Lucy's birthday and party, school, and a change in weather (Lucy is VERY excited about the prospect of wearing pants everyday. Not sure why, but it is a reoccurring theme around here and is directly related to her wanting to wear shirts.)

The end of the pool season is making us realize how much Lucy has grown this summer. She started out shorter, less sure, and a lot less blonde! Now she has super-long legs, white hair, muscles all over and can do things she never even attempted this spring. She is climbing on anything, loves hanging from tree branches, is getting the hang of peddling her bike, and can jump on only one foot (a trick she has been practicing a lot).

In the pool she is going under water and holding her breath for up to 5 or 6 seconds sometimes, paddling with her arms, kicking with her legs, jumping from the side and going under. She can kick across the pool holding on to just a kickboard and loves to "swim laps" or "practice for the Olympics".

When she is sitting still, which doesn't happen very often, she can name several words that begin with each letter of the alphabet, she is beginning to write more and more letters (X and H are her favorites to write), she can trace lines and color within the lines. She can count to 25. She is very proud of the fact that she can make the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 by holding up the correct fingers (3 is her favorite, wonder why!)

On a social level she is he best big sister ever. She is so concerned with Harper and loves to make her happy by bringing her toys, getting her to smile, singing her songs and greeting her when she wakes up from naps and in the morning. She is connecting to her friends more and will actually play with them, not just next to them (of course, they still have no idea what she is talking about since she casually talks about Gaga, playing instruments, uses strange adjectives to describe things and sings made-up songs. If you want to know what I mean about "strange" adjectives then know that Lucy will throw in a random "crispy", "sick" or even just a made up word to describe what she is talking about.)

It has been a great summer full of family visits, friends (and all their birthday parties!), pool time, new baby fun, and lots of learning. Lucy and I have a debate nearly every day about whether I should "let her" get bigger. I say no. She is adamament about turning 3 and being a big girl. I think we will compromise and take all the great things that getting "bigger" entails- less whining, more independence and new experiences- and hang on to what makes Lucy such a fun "little" girl- silly stories, the need to have boo boos kissed, the ability to eat spoonfuls of sour cream or butter (and lovin' it), songs for everything and imaginary friends.

This can all be summed up when Ian and I see the sight of Lucy standing next to someone really tall and always realizing that she is so little to the world but so big to us.

Ian's birthday

32!!

What a year Ian had. He doesn't think he accomplished much- I always beg to differ. Ian has excelled at work this year and is now gearing up to lead his first project at work. He helped bring Harper into this world and was there hour by hour the first few weeks to help make the transition easier not only for the two of us, but for Lucy. I think Lucy has certainly become a Daddy's girl in the past few months in no small part to all the extra effort and attention he has given her. He still gets home everyday, quickly changes his clothes and is on the job. He is the best dad around and loves doting on his girls, all 3 of us. And we are certainly better for it.

The highlight of the birthday celebration wasn't Lucy trying to tell Ian what his gifts were the second she woke up that morning. It wasn't the decorations that Lucy chose especially for him or her not understanding why we didn't invite all his friends over for a birthday party. It was when she blew out his candles for him, before he even had time to invite her to do so. Then she quickly began talking about her birthday. Well, he got a few hours in. In her world, Lucy's birthday begins when she hits the ground in KY and continues for the next 3 weeks. An hour or two for Ian on August 23rd is enough- and he would never beg to differ.

Picnic in the Sculpture Garden

On Thursday we decided to meet Ian in DC to have a picnic in the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden. The weather was perfect and we decided to hang out on the mall for a little while afterwards. Here is Lucy in front of a sculpture that she saw others getting their photos taken in front of, so she had to do it too. Harper was giving me some great faces so I couldn't help but take a zillion photos of her. Being that I never came to DC when I was growing up and I haven't tired of it at all, I am still in total awe of the buildings and the setting in general. Hopefully picnics and taking time to just hang out in DC and not just run in and out all the time will help Harper and Lucy to appreciate it the way I do.

Favorite Spot

Lucy proclaimed 2 days ago that she had a "favorite spot". It is a location right smack dab in the middle of the dining room/ living room. For an entire day she had to do everything in her favorite spot- play, drink from her straw cup, stand and talk, do forward rolls, etc. Nothing was better than her favorite spot and I was reprimanded more than once for not honoring the favorite spot. The next day when I was trying to get her to finish her breakfast and told her she could finish in her "favorite spot" she looked at me as though she had no idea what I was talking about. Ahhh, the fickle mind of an almost-3 year old. For a day at least, it was a very good spot.

Leaning tower of Harper

Here is Harper being cute. What can I say? She's a cutie. She is starting to be able to balance herself sitting while being propped up, she is still trying to master rolling, and is now playing peekaboo.

I think the funniest thing Harper has going on these days is the inaudible giggle. You can tickle under her chin, play "peekaboo"or "its bitsy spider" or "this little piggy" and she giggles. Her whole body goes into giggle mode, but no sound comes out. It's like watching her on mute.

At 14 weeks she is super interested in Lucy and Reggie and tries to watch them as they move about the room. She is also very interested in her clothes and anything soft you place near her. This means that she likes to raise her dress, chew on burp cloths, grab hair and cuddle up with soft cloth books and little stuffed animals. She is definitely little miss sunshine with morning being her most alert, smiley time, although she remains happy throughout the day. I made the comment that sometimes, even when I am holding her, I forget that she is around because she is so quiet and good natured. In conjunction with Lucy going through a terribly whiney stage, she seems even better than she even is. I guess that it's true, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Of course when I told this to Lucy she said, "Harper can't have oil, she only drinks milk."

I went all over the world and all I got was this...

Souvenir t-shirt. Lucy loves one. While it is totally expected that at this age she should be voicing an opinion on what she is going to wear on any given day, it was also expected that she would want to wear frilly, girly dresses and skirts. Things with sparkles. Things with more pink than anyone should wear in a single outfit. What is not expected is her absolute love for souvenir tshirts. It doesn't matter what it has on it, where it came from or who gave it to her. Her request everyday is "I want to wear a shirt". That means no dresses- a shirt must be part of the outfit. And those shirts, more often than not, say Topsail Island, Chincoteague Island, Italy, or Sapalo Island. Several of these don't even fit her very well, they are too small or too big, stretched out, covered in paint spills, or, because a couple came from the $3.99 bin at the local beach store, just worn out and ragged even after just a wear or two.
Her drawers overflow with adorable tops and dresses that I beg and insist that she wear every couple of days. But I have decided that most of the time it just isn't worth the fight. I am thinking about having a stamp made that says, "Somebody who loves me went to the trouble of buying me this souvenir garment" and stamping the inside of all her clothes just so I can say, "See, Grandma went to The Trouble to buy you this souvenir dress. Wasn't that nice of her?"

Little Daddy

We met up with our friends Miriam and Gabe over the weekend. When we were leaving Lucy wanted to know where "Miriam and her little Daddy were going". While this is funny in its own right, it reminded me that Lucy seems to think that everyone is a child one way or the other. She is constantly referring to waiters at restaurants, salesclerks, and other people on the street as "little boys" or "little girls". She will ask me where a waiter's Daddy or Mommy is. All of this is harmless, except is does get a little embarrassing when she won't let the questions stop and eventually asks the adult "where is your mommy?" Of course, the adults usually don't have any clue what she is talking about. That makes many, many of us. Much like the other day when she was talking nonstop to a litte girl about "her grandchildren". Maybe Lucy just thinks she is the mature one among us.

Little Boy Blue

We are proud to announce the arrival of Lucy and Harper's baby cousin, Maxwell Joseph Fahey. Max was born at 6:37 pm after 17 hours of labor today, August 14. He weighs 5lbs 9oz and is 18 inches long. Lauren says he has blonde hair, dark blue eyes and is perfect!

Max Watch

Lauren went into the hospital shortly after midnight to be induced. Lucy asks me every 20 minutes if "Baby Max has come out of the big belly yet?" I think that is the question of the day. These are Harper's last hours of being the baby in the family- it was a short, but joyous ride,now she'll have some big cousin responsibilities- perhaps she will show Max how to crap up and down his outfits- a Harper specialty this week.

A little box of sunshine

When Harper was born some of the Jefferies' friends sent us some new children's cds. They have taken over my life. Every hour or so Lucy asks if she can listen to some of "her music" (Raffi's little box of sunshine). Her favorite is "He's got the whole world". We listen to the song 20 times everytime we get into the car and 99% of Lucy's made-up songs are to the same tune. Also on the cd, many songs with kazoos. Hence the reason Lucy was overheard saying yesterday that her favorite instruments are "guitars, drums and kazoos." (this is where I should add, thanks, but no thanks, we do not need any additional guitars, drums or kazoos in our home!) It all makes me remember a time when Lauren and I would whine and complain that Rob made us listen to NPR on our way to school in the mornings. Ahhh, how I crave some NPR now!

Little Miss

I told Lucy yesterday that she was Trouble with a capital T. She said, no I'm not. Then I said well, you might be "Little Miss Naughty" and she replied, "No, I'm little Miss Giggles, sometimes I just giggle when I'm naughty." Enough said.

Olympic Training

Lucy loves the Olympics, especially gymnastics and swimming. Yesterday she tried to combine the two into "Gymnastic Swimming". This included twirling and jumping around in the water, doing some sort of strange gig around the pool (I think you know what I'm talking about if you have ever seen Ian tear up a dance floor) and trying to do forward rolls on the pavement. She says that she is really good at the Olympics and she wins a lot of points.

But, I love her!

Lucy has had some trouble with naps this week. In her words, "I'm just a little bit naughty". I think it is due to the fact that she is still adjusting to getting back into the swing of things since the beach and since she has been sleeping until nearly 9am everyday. I'm trying to get her back on track. Today though, LaLa was causing a lot of trouble. Lucy couldn't stop playing with her, swaddling, nursing, singing, etc- she was forgetting that SHE was the kid that needed to go to sleep, not her stuffed animal. I had to take LaLa away. Her response? Well, it was the most dramatic thing ever. Lucy was sobbing into her pillow, screaming in a high pitched voice that "She's my best friend. I will never see her again, but I love her! She loves me. " and on and on. It made me feel awful. I went in to calm her down, with tears streaming down her face, told her I loved her and she said, "LaLa is my best friend, I just want to be with her." Stay tuned viewers, for These are the Days of Lala'a life".

Rolly Polly

So on August 1 I wrote that Harper was heavy headed and that she would never even try to lift her head. No longer is this the case. She is now an expert at holding her head up and she loves belly time, especially when I set up books for her to look at the bold pictures. As soon as she decided to hold her head up, she began holding up her chest as well. That led to rolling from her back to her belly just a couple days later. In response, we have moved her from the cradle to the pack n play so that she has more room to move in the night and doesn't get stuck in the corner of her cradle anymore. She is still trying to move her legs- looks like we might have an early crawler!

Toots

Lucy has a new fascination with toots, bottoms and all things related. For instance, when we were at the doctor for her 3 yr check up today (26 pnds, 25th percentile both weight and height) the nurse made a squeaking sound with her chair. While I am trying to have a conversation with the nurse, Lucy is tugging on me, giggling and saying over and over again, "Momma, who tooted?" "Did that lady toot?" "What? What was that? A toot?" No one is safe. On vacation, she and I were in the bathroom and some noise was made from above. Lucy asked me if it was a toot. I said no. That did little to squelch her giggles. Apparently she ran upstairs and announced to everyone in the house that I was downstairs tooting.
Her new favorite story: "The Emperor's New Clothes" Why? Because in our story there is a silly illustration with the Emperor's butt exposed. She kept turning back to that page today to show me "the king's bottom". Always with a giggle.
While I am tired of talking "potty talk" with her, the universe got it's sweet revenge on her tonight: she fell in the toilet.

Beach bums

Not much to say- we spent a wonderful week at Surf City on Topsail Island, NC with the Jefferies. Harper slept, ate, saw the beach and repeated. Lucy played, splashed, ran, jumped, stomped and got lots of Parker time. Her favorite part of the day was late afternoon at low tide when she and Parker could go out on "the big beach" and fly kites, splash in the tidal pools and play shadow tag. Ian asked many times, "why don't we live near the beach?" and I basked in the sun while the girls slept at naptime and Zanne pulled monitor duty. All in all, not bad!

Harper's first dip in the ocean. A little cold for those little toes!

Parker was told not to get wet. Here he is soaking himself- what's another bath!

Lucy loved late in the day- splashing in puddles and stripping down to nothing.