the state of Luci

Droopy eyes after coming home from preschool with a cold. She was cold & wanted to wear a coat...I had to talk her out of her big heavy winter coat and into the fleece. She may have been born here, but she's a northerner! Sporting her new backpack in time for day 2 of school...

I love it!

Sometimes weeks go by without any real change in our Luci. We play, we get fixated on things like play-doh or birthday parties or hitting, but for the most part life chugs on.

Then there are weeks like this. In the last week she's grown and regressed all at the same time..throwing me for a huge loop. Last weekend she started this new thing...."mooooommmm-MEEEEEE". Suddenly I'm Mommy. It's a very whiny Mommy. Separation anxiety is back and worse than ever. She had a cow last Sunday night when Clay tried to give her a bath. She freaked out at gymnastics on Monday when her teacher tried to help her with a move...she cowered & just clung to my leg. Tuesday she started preschool...Tuesday afternoon nap took almost an hour of crying (she's always been quite an agreeable napper for the most part), and was then followed by only 30 minutes of sleep before the tears started again. Since then sleeping has been AWFUL. It's like she's having separation anxiety about being left in her room...and she loves her room...nothing in there has changed since we got the big girl bed months ago. It is making for a very tired 2 year old and a very tired mama.

She did well Thursday at preschool. At 8:15a she was trying to open the door to get out to the car...telling Clay & me to 'come on'. Obviously that made us feel good about taking her. Once we got to school she knew we were leaving, but the ever-so-crafty teachers kept them busy as soon as they arrived by having them all wash their hands as the moms & dads left. We each gave her a high five and were off! Clay left for work while she was there, so I headed to pick her up a bit early as I needed to sign something and I saw her out on the playground having fun. After play time they bring the kiddos into the cafeteria type room to find their parents. As soon as she walked in she realized that I was going to be there and with the biggest frown you've ever seen she headed to the door frantically looking for me. I called her name and as soon as she saw me she burst into tears and clung to my neck. Miss Lori said she only got teary once during a diaper change, but aside from that she did great. I think she's just very conflicted about it...she has a great time while she's there and looks forward to it, but really really misses us at the same time. Hopefully it'll get better as she gets more into the routine of it. Oh...and she came home Thursday with a monster runny nose and saying the phrase "no pushing". Hmmm...I don't really wonder how that came about.

The other big thing is that her vocabulary/speech is blowing up. She's started to say a few sentences, and yesterday even told me "I have to go to the potty, Mom". Of course we made it just in time to smear poo all over the chair while the majority of it stayed in the diaper. Maybe it was a good start...although she hasn't mentioned the potty since. I think we'll do the "3 Day Potty Training Method" in October once our September travels are over. It'd be great to have her out of diapers by the time Gus arrives!

Other latest Luci notes....

-no, mY book. MY chair, MY lunchbox, MY backpack...you get the idea
-polka dots...she can now identify polka dots
-anything brown is chocolate (pants, cats, bags..you name it)
-I like it! I like Cubs shirt. I like TV. I like Mom. I like Dad. I like Choo Choo Soul. I like outside.
-I'll show you boondoots (balloons). I'll show you book. I'll show you baby.
-HEYYELP! Mom do it! Mom do it too! (I don't want to do the task I wanted completed...you do it Mom)
-up-a-stairs you (will you please come up the stairs with me)
-daddya here? check...check. (in anticipation of Dad's arrival...wanting to check & see if his car is in the garage)
-banana wait? (I'd like a banana while I wait for breakfast/lunch/dinner to be ready)
-know come from? (I don't know where that noise is coming from?)
-she's a counting fool...and almost always gets 1-6, 8-10 right. It's that pesky 7 she can't seem to remember. she also does it in Spanish...and goes right from seis to ocho.
-she spends half of her day putting shoes on & taking them off. her shoes, my shoes, clay's shoes...doesn't matter.
-she's very into coins and loves to count them. she has been keeping them in her pocket, but when her shorts don't have a pocket she uses what we call her 'coin purse'.

I think that is it for now!

Augustine Rutherford Pierse

That's right. Our sweet boy shall be named Augustine Rutherford Pierse. Augustine is pronounced Uh-GUS-tin. Not AWE-gus-teen. Aka....Gus. Just Gus. And Rutherford is Grandma Pierse's maiden name....and given our daughter's name is Lucia Rosonke Pierse you may have figured out that I have a penchant for using the middle names of our children to honor maiden names. We know...it's a big name for a little boy but we love it...so if you don't please keep it to yourself!


My OB informed me today that Gus has long, long limbs, and they've got some meat on them. Our ultrasound tech said he had big feet back at 18 weeks, so I'm guessing we are looking at another 8lb+, 22in+ baby. And we wonder why I get so big so fast? I'm only 5'3! I mean, I know I look much taller & leaner when not pregnant ;), but I'm a short-waisted 5'3 and there is just isn't anywhere to go but out!


That said, my uterus is measuring 24 weeks as opposed to the 22 1/2 that the calendar indicates, but Dr. J says no problem. I've gained 12lbs total so far and she was thrilled that I 'finally gained some weight' this month (5lbs in the last month)...which totally cracks Clay & me up. We weren't worried...have you seen me? She also thought that it looked like my placenta had moved up...she even pushed on it to see it move on screen to verify it was what she thought...and Gus pushed back! She said he might have a bit of a 'tude already! Our child? Never!

Luci's first day of preschool

Shaking her head...no, no hitting friends...

We survived the first day of preschool! All three of us! Of course this morning was hectic...making her lunch...not being able to locate the bag I was going to have her use until her new little backpack comes in...putting on sunscreen (always a battle)...but we made it on time. Of course I spent the whole morning lamenting that I didn't order her backpack or lunchbox in time for the big first day, but she survived anyway, just as I suspected she would.

I had noticed last week during the meet the teacher that they had her name printed as Lucia all over, so I had to let them know this morning that she probably wouldn't answer to anything but Luci. They seemed to get it, and less than 5 minutes after arriving we said good-bye to our pea. She seemed sort of oblivious to the fact that we were leaving and I was a bit troubled by that, but nonetheless we headed out...and I made it all the way to the parking lot before there were tears. And then more tears in the car. Thank goodness Clay was home & we were able to go out for breakfast and just spend the morning together.

By 11a I was very ready to go get her and the minutes seemed to crawl by. Finally it was time...and she was just as ready to see us as we were her! Miss Lori said she did okay...more good than bad...but that there were a few times when she cried so they did their best to re-direct her attention each time. Of course when told Luci had cried I almost started crying, but I held it together. I asked Miss Lori if she hit any other kids and Miss Lori looked shocked...I have a feeling that Luci's little personality stayed pretty hidden today. Clay thought she looked a little pensive when we picked her up and I'd have to agree; she was definitely out of her comfort zone.

I do still think that the time was right for all of us to make this transition. She rarely has baby-sitters and hasn't been left with people she doesn't know super well since she was about 9 months old (and that was all of 45 minutes at the YMCA..and just once). She's a young 2 (in the 2's class), but she'll be young when she starts kindergarten, so really I think this is a good start. 8:30a - 12:00p, just T/Th. It really is just a structured play time with 2 teachers & 11 other kids, 7 hours a week. I'm already looking forward to & dreading Thursday all at the same time. That said, I know we can do it!

ps. I can hear my dad right now..."have you convinced yourself yet, dear?" I'm working on it Dad, I'm working on it...

ugh

Ugh...it's one of those days. I'm grouchy. Luci started gymnastics on a new day (Monday instead of Thursday) this morning and she didn't do very well...and she's done spectacularly since her very first class. Not sure if it was the new kids or what, but she was not a very good listener, seemed to be afraid of her teacher (who shes adores), and even hit a few kids. Fun times. Just what mama wants the day before preschool starts to feel confident in her choice. Ugh.

Speaking of preschool, just thinking about dropping her off tomorrow makes me weepy. Looking at pictures of my girlfriends' kiddos starting school makes me weepy. Good thing Clay will be home to go with us...I might have to sit in the car or something. Ugh.

My other complaints? My $15 hair cut is TOTALLY crooked when you look at it from the back. I swear I didn't see it in the mirror at the salon....but everyday since then I fret when I look at the back. I finally asked Clay today if he had noticed it...he said yes, right when I got home...but he thought it was supposed to be that way. I have a feeling he just didn't want to validate the then necessary follow up appointment with my usual stylist. Which is tomorrow at 3p, by the way. Think I'll have to cancel the highlights to pay for the cut tomorrow. Ugh.

Oh, and did I mention I have a rash on my left ring finger? So I'm walking around without my rings. I feel like I'm missing an appendage. I've been wearing just the band for a few weeks now as my fingers have been swollen...the band seems to fit just a bit better than my engagement ring. And now, no rings at all, just an ugly scaly red rash. When I was pregnant with Luci I wore my rings right up until the end. Not this time I guess. Ugh.

And lastly? Another week of the heat index between 100 - 110 degrees. Since June. Literally. This is the worst summer here yet. Ugh.

And blessings, yes, blessings abound. Maybe I should have posted about all of my blessings instead of wallowing in my ugh-ness. Or maybe I'll save that for later today or tomorrow. These photos do make me smile...here is Luce showing off her birthday hat from Aunt Deb the Great...

Happy Birthday Grandma Pierse

"good as gold"..."she's a gem"..."you're so lucky!"...I've heard all of these things in reference to my dear MIL (mother-in-law) from the other moms in my 'hood. Anyone who sees you with Luci recognizes what a special grandma you are and how giving your spirit is. I read this quote on the Lawrence blog and you immediately popped into my head:



WHEN I STAND BEFORE GOD AT THE END OF MY LIFE, I WOULD HOPE THAT I WOULD NOT HAVE A SINGLE BIT OF TALENT LEFT, AND COULD SAY, "I USED EVERYTHING YOU GAVE ME." ~ERMA BOMBECK



Thank you for sharing your talents with us, and for providing me with a real life lofty example of how to fulfill this tall order in such a gracious way. Happy Birthday & lots of love today and always.

another one

Not-to-be due date that is. #2. Babies 3 & 4. Two sweet baby girls based on the chromosomal testing we had done (which came back normal). Only for a few hours back in January did I actually contemplate what life could be like right now. Obviously when we found out there were two we also found out they were probably not well. But for the weeks before that, I thought we'd be welcoming another child into our earthly family about now.

Today has been easier than the last due date was five months ago...mostly because I'm filled with peace knowing that in less than five months from now (God willing, as always) we'll be holding our sweet boy. With every kick (and there are lots of them...he's an active one) he reminds me that he is the earthly child we were meant to have. Yet that human part of me still can't help but wish I could have all of our babies here with me to hold.

Luci met her teachers today and I was the only weepy mom in the room. It wasn't even her first day & I got weepy! She did great though, and was extra sweet to me after we returned home from school...it isn't often that I get unsolicited hugs & kisses...yet somehow today she must have known I needed them. We played with our good friends the Lawrences this afternoon and I'm grateful that the day flew by. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps & bounds and her associations & generalizations are always cracking me up. Tonight on the way home it was raining really hard...about half way home during a particularly hard rain she proclaimed "CRUNCHY!". And then when we got in the house and she was having a hard time taking her shoes off she shouted "HEAVY!" Thank you for being you, sweet girl.

21 weeks & a goofy girl

this is how she takes pictures...

and this is how she gets our attention...by crossing her eyes & staring at us until we acknowledge her!

upside down!

Well the 21st week is here...I'm almost forgetting which week I'm on now...weeks 17-20 flew by (maybe due to all of the parties?) and now things have slowed down again...although not for too long I suppose. Clay & I are planning a mini-vacation/should we live here exploration trip to Portland, OR on 9/14 while Grandma Pierse stays with Luci. We'll come back on Thursday and then turn right around on Friday to head up to Indiana with Grandma Pierse for the big Edinburgh Fall Festival. Fun times!

The boy is following in his big sister's footsteps and seems to be moving higher & higher up my torso. I'm feeling him kick really high...much higher than I know theoretically he should. After I'd been pushing for like 2 hours with Luci my OB told me that I'd made a lot of progress given that Luce started in my throat...good thing I didn't know that I had well more than an hour of pushing to go...

And do you like my new 'do? I went to the Aveda Institute this morning and paid FIFTEEN DOLLARS for this cut. And I love it!! So much so that I'm going back a week from Saturday to have the same student give me highlights for $35....highlights oh highlights...how I've missed you!!

good listener

sweet boy is such a good listener. i'm sitting at my favorite workstation (starbucks) and just thinking...hmmm...I haven't felt sweet boy in awhile. hey sweet boy, it'd be great if you could give me a kick hello...

and not 2 minutes later here he is. at least one of our kids is a good listener today ;)

photos from iowa...

a hug or a choke hold...you decide... luci, cousin Asher & Aunt Brooke

no idea why this one is so small...but Luci absolutely LOVES to swing with her dad!

Grandpy...such a good sport...

big girl bed adventures

Sleep time (as Luci calls it) has become quite unpredictable these days. Yesterday she slept from 1:30p to 4:45p...with nap time ending because I woke her up for fear she wouldn't sleep last night!

Yet today she's still not asleep now...and she's been up there 30 minutes. Books were read (or more accurately narrated in our own words), prayers were said, and I left the room. I went to change into my comfy clothes...wondering how it's possible to be this big with 1/2 of the pregnancy still to go when I see Luci creep to the end of her bed on the monitor. I see her starting to climb down - to which I yell "Mama sees you...stay in bed!" Before I know it I hear her trying to turn the door knob (thank you Safety First child proofing) yelling "HEH-YELP, HEH-YELP!" (her new way of saying help. she used to say it correctly...no idea where this goofy version came from). "ROCK-A-BABY TREETOP! ROCK-A-BABY TREETOP! HEH-YELP HEH-YEEEELLLLLLLP!"

I opened her door and she ran as fast as she could into her rocker. We rocked for all of 15 seconds before she proclaimed "BED!" So I put her back into bed...where she remains, despite some wall kicking and arm & feet flailing. Ugh. I miss the crib.

whew!

The second trip to NE Iowa in less than a month is complete...thank goodness. I love being there, just hate the getting there & getting home part. Thursday morning I started panicking...flights looked FULL to everywhere...and I mean Minneapolis, Des Moines, Chicago & Omaha...I was starting to get really worried. That said, I decided there was no reason to skip gymnastics at 10:30a as Clay wasn't getting home until 12:30p or so....when we got home I checked flights again...and suddenly there were 6 open seats on the 2p to Des Moines!! I frantically finished packing, rented a car from the Enterprise across the street from the airport, and as soon as Clay walked in the door at 12:40p we turned right around & headed back to the airport. We pulled in about 45 minutes before our flight and Clay dropped me off to check our luggage while he parked in the closest short term parking available (CAL employees call it princess parking). We made it to the airplane, successfully begged our fellow passengers into letting us have 3 seats together, and arrived at DSM on time at 4:15p. We then found out the car rental situation was a mess and our luggage hadn't made it. UGH. After some help from travel agent Grammy, we secured a hotel room and a rental car...we then patiently waited for our luggage praying it would show up on the flight that landed at 10:10p, which it did. Trip saved.

Ben & Chelsi's shower went off well with just a few glitches including no table service from the caterer and a once an Iowa summer heat index >100 degrees. We found plates & people found shade & a breeze and all was well. Hot and with too much food, but well. Ben & Chelsi received lots of great gifts and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Luci had a blast beating up cousin Asher. Literally. Hopefully she got some good shots in because I have a feeling next time he'll be better able to hold his own! He's SUCH a sweet boy and it made my day that he came right to me when we arrived on Friday. It was great to see him & I hope & pray that we'll all be able to live within a reasonable distance of each other some day.

Per usual I brought my camera and then didn't use it. Luckily Aunt Brooke & Uncle Sunidh used their fancy camera quite a bit, so as soon as I see those photos I'll post them...with their permission, of course.

In other noteworthy news...Clay felt our sweet baby boy kick for the first time on Saturday night! Baby boy also received his first gifts...an adorable airplane sleeper and super soft airplane blanket from Grammy Rosonke. Both are kind of a gray-ish blue and now I'm toying with the idea of using them as inspiration for the nursery....hmmm.

twos...by a very late mama

I'm getting quite tardy, aren't I? I'm going to blame it on the birthday party for which too many crafts were undertaken, and the fairly large couples baby shower I'm throwing (along with my silent partner sister Brooke) for my little brother Ben, his wife Chelsi and their sweet baby girl...in Iowa this weekend...planned from Texas. We head out on Thursday afternoon for Iowa and I'm just hoping the little space that exists on the airplane stays over the next couple of days. We are stuck flying into Minneapolis as car rentals in Des Moines are like $100/day. Minneapolis is fine, and I actually prefer that drive, but the flight is an hour longer...which can seem like forever when you are on said flight with a 2 year old. Ugh.

But, I digress. This post is about Luci....being two. Or, twos, as she says. Twos, dos, twos, dos. (We might watch Handy Manny some mornings).

Stats at two...

Weight: 26.8lbs...50%

Height: 34 1/8 inches...75%-90%

Head: 19 inches...75%

BMI: 16.17...50% (who knew they measured this at two?)

Notes at two...
-my favorite new thing is that she tells me how she's feeling...Luci happy! Luci sad. Luci mad. Luci sleepy.

-She loves her daddy. He spent 6 days with the Navy and got home Monday...and Luci woke up yesterday morning saying "Awake! Happy! Daddya Home! Happy!"
-Whenever there is a lull in conversation or activity she crosses her arms and says, "So. Now What?"
-When I ask her what she wants to do the response is either play! or show! or eat time! Never ever is it bath, nap, or bed.
-She has started to tell us no diapey change. We've explained all she has to do is sit on the potty and we can get rid of the diapers. To which she responds "no potty".
-She loves to add an "a" on the end of some words. Homa. Daddy-a. Wally-a.
-Our poor, poor cats. Luci has realized they are an interactive play thing and that she is the bigger force. She screams MYOH, MYOH, MYOH (Milo, Milo, Milo) as loud as she can whenever she seems him. In turn though, our cats seem to have realized that she should know better than to mess with them and that if she does it is now fair game to fight back...one of them is going to get her any day now. And Clay & I are totally fine with it. Milo will stick his paw out & make a swipe but so far not with claws...to which Luci gets pouty and says, "Myoh gotcha gotcha"...as in Milo got me! We'll see how she changes her tune when one of them does get her!
-When not watched on a video monitor she will absolutely get out of bed & run around her room. And empty all of her drawers. And stand on her nightstand...which causes it to tip over & land on her...an experiment she's up for repeating unless mama sees it on the monitor and runs right in.

-She loves to 'swim' in the bath tub...which means laying (or lying, I'm not even going to pretend to know) down on her back or on her belly.

-She no longer tolerates having books read to her. SHE must hold the book. SHE must turn the page...and her OWN speed. So I just ask questions about whatever page she happens to feel like looking at...and when I'm ready to be done I ask her to find something that I know is on the last page...cause I'm sneaky like that.

-She loves her Grandma & Grandpa Pierse and Grammy & Grandpy Rosonke. And knows the difference between them.

-She has a little crush on two very crush worthy men...Mr. Jamie (Clara's dad) and Mr. Drew (Aunt Baylee's very long term boyfriend). Her dad finds this less amusing than I do.

-She is excited to have a little brother or sister. And since we've found out said sibling is a brother she only calls him sister a few times a day.

-She is learning to be gentle around the belly...and when she kicks me I tell her she's hurting brother. And then she says "sorry brother", and hugs my giant belly. It is sweet...till she kicks again...and then I wonder how genuine the whole display is.

-She can be sweet as can be, and turn on a dime. She's not afraid to hit either of her parents in the face, and then look at us with this smiley poker face. To say it is infuriating would be an understatement.

-She absolutely understands when she isn't supposed to do something and does it anyway...sometimes she'll even put herself in time out.

-Time out doesn't seem to bother her in the least. I think we need to up the time she has to sit & get better at ignoring her pleas of sorrow & kisses.

-Right now she is SUPER excited to head to Grammy's House tomorrow!!

this boy

loves him some Starbucks....some iced decaf grande french vanilla skinny latte and chocolate chip cookie to be exact. He's kickin up a storm and it is very distracting...I'd so much rather just marvel about getting to be his mama than focus on work...alas...the first doesn't monetarily pay nearly as well so I best get back at it...