Birthday Extravaganza

Yesterday was both Brad and Lucy's birthday so it required a double the fun celebration! I started the day by making a big breakfast for everyone. Lucy had heart-shaped pancakes and an omelet. Brad had potato, bacon and cheese breakfast tacos- his fave! We decided that Lucy would have her birthday cupcake for breakfast since we were going to dinner that night and thought it would be too messy for the restaurant. It was so fun- I'm thinking we might make cupcakes for breakfast a birthday tradition!

Heart-shaped pancakes

My throne!

Lucy LOVED the cupcake. As most of my mommy friends will tell you, I'm "mean" because although I've let Lucy have cake, I don't usually give her the icing. Since it was her birthday, I let her go wild with the icing- and the sugar rush ensued! She was so pleased with herself as she demolished and ate the cupcake, at one point she tried to shove the whole thing in her mouth!

Woohoo for cupcakes!

She really like when we sang Happy Birthday to her, she clapped for herself afterwards. Then we went to Gymboree to see our friends there. She had a wonderful time playing with everyone and she got the birthday song again!

Happy Birthday to me!

Brad came home for lunch so we could all eat together and we gave Lucy some of her presents. She loved her elmo books (combining two of her favorite things) but was pretty unsure about the shoes. She also loved the dolly from Oma and Pa! My sister had come up last weekend and brought her birthday present early. It's a Little Tikes castle slide- and it is a blast! Lucy can't climb up it yet(luckily) but she loves to slide down it!

Tissue Paper- almost better than presents!

Slide!

We ended the birthday celebrations with a longstanding tradition- Rudi Lechner's. Rudi Lechner's is a German restaurant in Houston- complete with yodeling and oompah band. We started going for Brad's birthday when we first move to Houston in 2003 and have been every year since except for last year(since I was having Lucy- I guess that's forgivable). It is such a fun place- good food, fun music and cold beer. Lucy enjoyed the music and her German mac n cheese and potato pancakes.

All in all it was a great day for both Lucy and Brad!

The birthday duo!

Mommy and Lucy

First smash!

Whole cupcake to the mouth!
Lookin' guilty!

Cupcake hands

Too fun!

Presents for me!

Got my piggies and ready for dinner!

12 Month Stats

We had Lucy's 12 month appointment today.

Lucy is 31.5 inches long(97%) and 21 lbs 13 oz(50-75%). This has pretty much been her growth pattern over the past year.
Yay for my tall girl!

We didn't do shots because she had a high fever earlier in the week but they did check her iron levels which were slightly low. So now I have to give her iron drops in her food once a day. The doctor said that this is pretty common in breastfed babies so not to worry.

Happy Birthday Lucy and Brad!

It's hard to believe that one year ago today I had just laid eyes on my daughter for the first time. I felt like I knew nothing about her yet I knew that I loved her with everything I had. It has been a joy and a privilege to watch Lucy grow and change over this past year. She went from being a helpless baby to a smiling, laughing, walking(somewhat), strong-willed little girl. Even though I now know so much about her, she is always changing and surprising me- I guess that's what makes parenthood so fun!
I thought it would be fun to list a few of Lucy's favorite things right now:
1. Books of all kinds- but she LOVES those with photographs in them.
2. Music- the girl loves to dance. She seems to be especially fond of Conway Twitty, Ted Nugent, The Sir Douglas Quintet(She's About a mover) and all cajun music(according to Brad).
3.Elmo- anything Elmo.
4. Mac-n-cheese
5. Saying "uh-oh" anytime she drops or throws anything.

I can't wait to see what the next year brings. Happy Birthday Lucy- I love you!!!

Of course, it also has to be said that today is Brad's birthday too. So Happy Birthday to the best husband and daddy that two girls could ask for. We love you!

Tot Spot

I've been meaning to upload these pics for a while, but you know... The point is- I'm doing it now :)
There is an exhibit called the Tot Spot at the Children's Museum in Houston and it is absolutely amazing! It is for tots 6-36 months. Lucy loves that everything there is her size and she is free to roam where she wants. Her favorite things there are the ball pit and the the walking ramp.
We've been several times and each time we go, she discovers something new!

Tunnel Time

Driving around in my automobile

Ball pit!

Blocks!

,She loved this thing so much, I had to buy her one at Gymboree!

Big Lite Brite

Love the little chair

Who's that cute baby looking at me?

Lucy "walking"

Firecracker, Firecracker, Boom Boom Boom

I love any holiday where you can dress festively, and the Fourth is no exception! Aunt Valerie got Lucy the cutest outfit so I had to capture a few pictures of my little firecracker!

Self-portrait


Happy girl!

Mommy and Me Swim Classes

Some friends and I decided that it would be fun to enroll the kiddos in a swim class. So Lucy and I signed up for a two week course, with four sessions per week. The age range was of the class was 6-18 months so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.
We sang a bunch of songs and did activities. Lucy really liked the one where I'd hold her on her belly facing me and she'd kick her legs as we walked up and down the pool(singing a kicking song of course). She also liked Humpty Dumpty, where the babies sat on the edge of the pool and then would be pulled in on the "had a great fall" verse. They quickly learned to anticipate this and would lean in during that part
The one thing that scared me a little is when we had to dunk our babies. We would count to three and then blow in their face(so they'd hold their breath) and the quickly dunk them. Lucy didn't seem to mind it at all but it freaked me out!
Swim class was fun and I'll definitely do it again next year!

About to be dunked!

Humpty Dumpty

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Pass the baby

Get your toy!

9 Months

Lucy was 9 months old as of the 2nd. My baby is almost a toddler... hard to believe. Her dr.'s appt went well. She was 20lb 2 oz (50-75%) and 29 inches (75-90%). The doctor said she was a happy and talkative baby :) She also had to get one shot, but she recovered in less than a minute- I was impressed!

She is now crawling EVERYWHERE, and usually in the opposite direction that I want her to go. When she first started to crawl, she would follow me around and stay close. Now she is more independent and ventures out on her own. Which means I am constantly chasing her around. Thank goodness for doors and baby gates! She can also climb up stairs, though she hasn't figured out how to climb down. She just plops on her booty and leans back- needless to say I am there to catch her. Lucy also has started to "hug" her stuffed animals, pillows, and me. It is really sweet and breaks my heart every time she does it. She also likes to try to bite my face, though I'm told she is trying to "kiss" me. I guess I need to teach her that kisses don't involve teeth!

Lucy is also pulling up to standing on anything she can- the dishwasher, walls, couches, your leg. She started cruising and will walk around the bed, the couch etc. She even will let go and can balance for a second or two before crashing down.

With all of this mobility has come quite a few scratches, bumps and bruises. Luckily she is resilient and usually won't even cry. Of course, it scares the bejezus out of me every time. I keep joking that I'm going to put her in a helmet, knee pads and elbow pads. Well, part of me is serious but maybe that would be a bit too cautious.

Lucy is also talking up a storm, it seems once she started to crawl the floodgates opened. She loves to "read" a book to herself- it is adorable! I think this age is my favorite so far as she is just so happy, inquisitive, and hilarious. She really is the best baby I could have hoped for.

I love you monkey!

On the move

Up the stairs

Reading her book

Pillow snuggles

Bear hug or half nelson... you decide.

Lucy is a crawler!

Lucy crawled for the first time last night! Brad was home so we both got to see the maiden voyage(although it was a short trip of only about 4-6 crawl steps). I guess I better start babyproofing!

I was able to capture some of it on video today. Excuse Lucy's nakedness, she had just eaten lunch. Yay Lucy!!!!!!

The Downtown Aquarium

At a mom's night out last week, we decided that since the babies liked the aquarium part of the zoo so much we should take them to the Houston Aquarium. So this past Monday a few moms and I loaded up and headed downtown. I have been wanting to go for a few years now- it was actually outside the aquarium in a limo that Brad proposed to me!

We got there right when it opened and there were only a handful of other people there. The aquarium is not very big and probably takes about 30 minutes to go through so we went through the whole thing twice, once with babies in strollers and once holding them. They really liked when they could get up close to everything.The babies LOVED it!

In addition to of all of the fish, there is a white tiger exhibit and a little amusement park outside. The white tigers were pretty scary, there is only a sheet of glass separating you from the massive beast. He was walking back in forth in front of the babies and then I walked up to the glass and he POUNCED at me. Holy moly, my life passed before my eyes- I jumped and squawked and everyone got a good laugh! We also went on the shark voyage train, which was awesome. You go on a ride around the park and through a shark tunnel where they are swimming all around you. At the end of the ride, a huge fake shark jumps out of the water and that scared poor Lucy to death. I guess mom and baby are both scaredy cats!

Reagan, Evann and Lucy

Me, Lucy and the scary tiger

Self-portrait

The real scary tiger


Shark tunnel

It's zoo time!

Lucy, Ethan, Chloe, Carter, Evann and Reagan

We went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago with some of our Gymboree friends. Although there seemed to be a million school buses at the front gate, the zoo was relatively quiet. The weather was also perfect while we were there, not too hot and not too humid- not an easy thing in Houston. And we left the zoo at the perfect time- it started to POUR about 10 minutes after we left!

If you have never been to the Houston Zoo, I would highly recommend it. The exhibits are amazing and the children's zoo is neat too. Lucy enjoyed being outside and seeing new things, but I don't think she was able to see a lot of the animals. The animals are shown in their natural habitat so it was hard for the babies to find them. Her favorite seemed to be the aquarium and the monkeys. My favorite was the snakes!

The beginning of the day

The aquarium

The giraffes

Worn out!

Georgetown

A few weeks ago Lucy and I went to visit some of our friends, The Bretts. Brad and I became friends with Shannon and Tami at SWT and they are now the proud and busy parents of THREE kids! Throughout my pregnancy and since Lucy's birth, Tami has been my sounding board, advice giver, parental mentor, breastfeeding cheerleader and then some. I hadn't seen her since my baby shower, so we were very excited to have a chance to see her and also the day in the life of a mother of three(ages 6, 2.5, and 4 month old).

We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone. Georgetown is such a fun city, I absolutely love the big park with the river and ducks- all within walking distance! We played in the front yard with a splash pad and enjoyed the deck in their backyard.

Bailey and Reece were so good with Lucy and she got the biggest kick out of watching them play! And Reagan(the baby) is an absolute doll. She is so laid back and sweet! The funniest part of the visit were how many other mommies called Tami with questions, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one!

All in all the trip was a blast and we can't wait to see them again! Lucy is banging away

Bailey, Lucy, Reagan and Reece

Me and Lucy

Lucy is having fun

Bailey and Lucy

Lucy

Bailey and Reece jumping away!

A baby stare-off