21 months...a few days late

well it finally happened. i've been thinking Luci was 22 months old for weeks now. so i guess that answers the question of when you lose track of the months!

our pea is QUITE the funny duck. she keeps us laughing and smiling all day. a few notes...

-the answer to any question you might ask her is 'okay'. doesn't matter if okay is really an appropriate response, that is what you get. it is adorable and i'll try to capture it on video.

-she mixes up her sounds a ton. amanda told me the fancy name for this (and said it was normal for this age), but i've forgotten it already. like waffle is fahwaa, and potato is toe-pay-toe. she had another funny one the other day but we've both forgotten it already!

-every morning i ask her if she had sweet dreams. she says okay. then i used to ask her who she dreamed about, and then what they did together. now she just says, 'okay. guh. wahh.' translated this means: yes I had sweet dreams, I was with Grandma, and we went on a walk.

-she tells us if she has poops, but still prefers to just run around giggling when diaper-less...she's not into anything regarding the potty except for the little bear who is on the front of it.

-whenever you ask her where something is or where it went, she says, "i-uh-know" (I don't know), and then says, "hmmmmmmmm"...thinking about where it might be.

-the girl LOVES her milk. it is pretty tough to get her to drink water these days...if I give her a cup with just water she gets a scrunched up face after the first sip and says, 'miihhh, miihhh', meaning of course, milk.

-she LOVES Little Einstiens. I'm not going to tell you how many we might watch on a given day...depending on the weather & her mood, of course. She calls them all by name. June was first, "nune", next was Leo "eeyyoo, eeyyoo", then Annie "nennie", then Rocket "ocket", and then Quincy "quince". She pats & claps & raises her arms for blast-off every time.

-her next favorite show is Blue's Clues. she asks for Buhhe? Buhhe? She loves to do the little think think think dance with Steve or Joe. every time she sees a paw print anywhere it is "a-cue! a-cue!" aka - a clue :)

-she's really starting to fight sleep times. she used to be very agreeable when we'd announce it was nap or bath & night time. Now there are usually lots of tears and screaming, most of which are often gone by the time we get to her room. there is a fight for a third book...which she doesn't win. followed by more fussing. then once in her crib, she asks for a cup, and then a snack. she's figured out stalling, i guess.

-this fighting of sleep is resulting in some more tiredness than usual. she's been waking up at like 6a and is then just exhausted by noon. 7a is a much better wake up time for her (and mom), but if she's up at 6a there seems to be little chance that she'll go back to sleep. she will sit & chat & yell maaaamm for an hour though. I go in once at 6a and tell her it is still night time (and change her diaper), and then again usually at 6:30a when she starts to get mad, and tell her it is STILL night-time, and that I'll come get her when it is light out.

-I guess I must often ask her, "Do you want mama to carry you?" because when she wants to be held she puts her arms out & says "carryou? carryou?"or if she wants us to hold Bea she'll say "carryou Bea?"

-She's VERY into her 'boo-boos'. I bet we look at & kiss (and subsequently make 'all better') boo-boos 30 times a day. all better sounds like 'awbeyah'. Last night her little bath toy had a spot on it...Luce said, 'boo-boo' and kissed the toy...and then proclaimed, all better!!

-"Wait" is her new word of the week. And yes, she uses it correctly. I think I say "wait for mama" about 50 times a day.

-She can climb up the monkey bars part at the park. But today she basically walked off & fell down...I've been warning her for weeks that we only go up the bars, not down. Hopefully she figured that out today. Somehow I'm guessing not, though.

-Shoes. She wants to wear her crocs (or alligators, as she still calls them), but hates getting dirt or mulch in there. We probably take her shoes off once every 5 minutes while we are at the park. Today we tried socks in the crocs...same result. Guess tennis shoes will be the big summer shoe after all!

-Church. Shh. Jesus. She gets it. Yet somehow 90 minutes is just too long for a pea to sit still & be quiet once a week. She tries though.

-Ugh. I know there is at least one more big one I wanted to mention. but i can't think of it. so this is it for now!

this

is how much fun Luci had at the birthday party we attended this morning (Allie turned 2 and Bryan turned 4). We had been in the car about 5 minutes and it was 11:30a. The party was at Pump It Up (a big jump house), followed by pizza & a cupcake. While a bit pensive at first, soon she was conquering it all with a wiped out mama close behind. It was our first time there...next time I'll wear work out gear...or better yet...send her with Dad!!

Thanks for such a fun party Turns Family!!

and yes, she's still sleeping now, an hour later. she slept all the way out of the car, up the stairs and into bed.

hat

at. at. at. aka, hat. we wear a hat all the time....she definitely has her own sense of style...she did this all by herself!!

blessed again

written, but not published last thursday....
we've been blessed again. pregnancy #4, pea #5, was confirmed today by our favorite nurse after a blood draw. it is very, very, very early...as in, it could not be confirmed if it were any earlier. but i'm sharing anyway this time, because one the hardest things about our previous losses was not having the pregnancy, and therefore, loss, acknowledged....because we hadn't shared. not that i wanted to make my grief public, but it seemed unauthentic to pretend life was going on as normal when it was actually anything but. those pregnancies and those babies are forever a part of who i am. in my mind and in my heart i have one baby i get to live with now, and three that i don't. but i will someday, and i do feel in my heart as though i am a mama of 4...and now...5.

todays update, monday...
the second blood draw today showed that our pea is still growing...but it is still very, very, very early...i won't even be 5 weeks until friday. and i'm quite certain i ovulated late, so really i don't think our pea will be 5 weeks yet. that being said, all looks to be as well as it can be at this point. my favorite nurse has hooked me up with another check on my blood work a week from today, and if all looks well at that point, we'll get a quick peak at our pea on the big screen two weeks from today (aka an ultrasound).

we are so, so blessed.

Guh Guh & Guh-pa or Pa-pa

Luce has been going through serious Grandparent withdrawal...come back soon!!

no...we didn't get a dog...we just loved on one Abbey dog for a few hours on Friday while said pup's house was being shown...

our cats came back several hours later...

Easter

Hope you all had a Happy Easter! We sure did! It started off a little rough as we were late for mass (they had changed service times but I apparently missed that memo) but a sweet family gave up a seat for me (they held a toddler instead of giving him his own seat) & Luce and it all worked out. After church Luci checked out her Easter basket & had fun opening the eggs...she didn't seem to mind one bit that they were empty. In fact, the highlight seemed to be throwing the yellow, green & pink 'grass' all over the house, much to her dad's chagrin!

Grandma & Grandpa Pierse arrived on Thursday & we've had a lovely visit. They are leaving early tomorrow & we'll all be sad to see them go! Lucky for us they are great about coming back soon!

Congrats Aunt Baylee!

Luci's Aunt Baylee secured herself a great internship today for the summer with GE Capital! In Connecticut! Then this fall she'll be heading to London for a year at the London School of Economics! What a superstar Aunt!! We are very excited for her, but a bit selfishly sad that it'll be hard to see her for the next year+.

YAY AUNT BAYLEE!!

noteworthy

goofy girl with her cake & Bea...and Mom's shoes...

A few notes on our weekend worth documenting. I know I'm forgetting some, but for now, here goes...

Luci has started to tell us how she's feeling physically....Saturday morning while playing by our single pane windows she said, "cohh, brrr, coak" (cold, brr, coat).

Her eyes are VERY sensitive to light. When she wakes up from a nap even the tiniest bit of light seems to really bother her until her eyes adjust. On Friday she woke up & as I was changing her diaper she said, "eyes, eyes" in a moany, painful kind of way. We sort of knew this even when she was a teeny baby...she'd always bury her head in our shoulders when we took her first out of the car on a sunny day.

After gas is passed, she says "toot" and giggles. She almost always lets us know now before she poops, and is delighted to go sit on the potty...for all of 3 seconds before running around giggling. I think pooping in the diaper is preferable to the floor for now, so she usually ends up back in a diaper for the actual poops.

Every time she hears an airplane she says "paaaine" (plane) followed by "DAD".

She loves her some Miss Amanda. More & more every time we see her.

She likes to let the water out of the bathtub...and tells it 'byyyeeeee' and tries to touch the little whirlpool that is created as the water is sucked out...

She seems to have a rough time in large group settings. At the Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday she melted before the festivities even started. Then later that day at her big girl friend Caroline's 4th birthday party she was similarly...shall we say...challenging...

Happy Birthday Guh, Guh & Uncle Keith

yes...this was the best photo I managed to get...and yes...it is both of her grandpa's birthdays today...as well as the birthday of her Uncle Keith!

cake

tonight, having healthy "cake" she's very into feeding the cats right now. or better said, taking food from the cupboard & stacking it. and tormenting Milo by opening & shutting the lid to the dry food container 1000x a day.

she LOVES her trike. it is still just a bit too big for her...her little feet don't reach the pedals all of the way around...she seems unfazed by this & still insists riding it is something she'd like to do all day. and by riding it I mean having mom or dad push her all over the 'hood. all day.

she stays busy taking toys from one room and collecting them in another room. for the past week or so she likes to have things lined up...on the stairs, windowsill, or in the main thorough-fare of the house....

And of course, she loves her some daddy...

The obsession with cake continues. Yesterday she had to take 'cake' (plastic ice cream cone) with us out to dinner with our girlfriends Trina & Margeaux. I also had to wear a frog barrette, so that she would wear the monkey one.

She woke up from her nap today moaning 'caaaake, caaaaaake' and only wants to read "George, Cake" (aka the story in our Curious George book about his birthday party).

So what is a good mama to do? Find a recipe for Wholesome Oat Muffins, go to the store to buy ingredients, make them, and tell her she gets to have cake tonight before bed. What does sweet baby do? Eat her cake half-heartedly, and then dump the MANY crumbs onto the floor proclaiming, "all done!" At which point good mama puts sweet baby in time out. In turn, sweet baby offers an immediate "hug? hug? hug?" with a HUGE grin the entire time. Good mama talks about working hard to make sweet baby cake, and that it makes mama sad when sweet baby throws cake on the floor. Sweet baby offers hugs & laughter to the point that in order to remain a good mama (per original intentions) we had to just hug & call it a day...