joy

Lucy is such a joy.

I had a superfun shopping trip today... we picked out our Halloween costume and our birthday outfit (at a second hand store, of course!).  I felt like such a MAMA.  It was pretty great.

And, I have to share about last weekend.  Thursday started out with a crazy poopy diaper that took a quick morning bath to totally clean up from (clean up the BABY, the changing pad was still quite... stinky, but we were running late, so I left it!).  Lucy then sneezed during a mouthful of applesause.  Which sprayed it all over me.  We were running late (did I mention that already?) but I had to go address the applesause situation.  Which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because if I hadn't had to look in a mirror again before work, I wouldn't have discovered the lil' bit of poop ON MY NOSE!  Yowza!  What a morning. 

That evening, I wasn't feeling so hot.  Then (sorry to be so frank) I puked myself silly.  My sweet friends brought me diet 7up, which was delicious (but also didn't stay down).   And I fell asleep, and woke up with my heart pounding like it was going to jump out of my chest.  I felt so weird, I called in the calvary (my mom and aunt Bonnie).  Bonnie stayed with Lucy, and mom drove me to the ER.  Where I had an EKG, which showed everything was fine (but I obviously wasn't fine, because a guy had his hands all over my chest and I didn't even enjoy it.)  They said I probably had food poisoning and was dehydrated, gave me some iv fluids, and sent me home. 

Home sick with a baby was hard to imagine.  But I didn't have to!  My family is really wonderfully awesome.  My aunt stayed with Lucy and cleaned my house (remember the sintky Lucy mess and add the pukey bathroom mess and realize the huge amount of love she must have for us!).  Then my mama, who had stayed up all night with me in the er, drove me home and went to work, and my dad  got me medicine and more sprite, and my brother woke me up to drink every 2 hours and fixed me broth, and dad and JW took care of Lucy all afternoon.  I am SO blessed!!

I couldn't do this alone, and I'm SO thankful that I don't have to.  I'm thanking God for the good family and friends he's blessed us with!

on the move

Hola amigos!

I've been rather lapse in my photography, despite having such a wonderful subject.

She looked ADORABLE today, so I thought it was time to have a little photo shoot during play time.  Then I realized why I've not taken many pictures lately... she's hard to catch!  She's on the move constantly!  There is a lot of climbing and crawling and twisting.  I'd have a beautiful smile, click the button, and end up with something like this:

So, her face is blurry (she's on the move) but check out those cute shoes!

I caught this one mid-roll--check out the gravity defying (cute) shoes.  :)

  

We took a time out for some clapping.  We do a LOT of clapping!

My little mover gave me a sweet smile over her shoulder on her quest to reach the window,
beautifully displaying her heart jean pocket.  She's a sweetie!

Climbing on my leg... this little model really can't be bothered to look at the camera for too long :)

SO, here is the recap.  We climb, we clap, we crawl a lot, we roll.  It's good times!

clapping

Lucy is really enjoying her hands--she learned to clap, and claps A LOT!

I love how she kind of gets distracted looking at them, slows it down to check out the process, and then just has to clap for how great at clapping she is :)

She is such a friendly girl!  She smiles and peeks at everyone we meet.  At the grocery yesterday, there was a large, kind of rough-looking man behind us in line.  She was leaning to the side to peek around me and she was smiling all twinkly-eyed like she does.  She said a big, "Hi!" and waved.  I turned around to see his reaction.  He was leaned forward and grinning right back.  He even waved!  We're making friends everywhere!

This was the first week of school.  It went SO well--I think I'm going to love my new job (teaching English learners in our district).  It's very different, but really good.  I HATED leaving Lucy, but I can tell she's having such a good time.  I walked in one afternoon to find her in an exersaucer, surrounded by 4 or 5 older kids, who were singing and keeping her entertained.  She LOVES the kids, and her sweet sitter.  I'm just missing her--it seems like we only get a few hours to play now.

Here is another little bit of her talking.  I like how she starts out smiley and then gets so serious!  And I love the lips all puckered out when she's serious.  So sweet!

crawling!

Well, there you have it folks!  She's on the move!  It's been so funny to see Lucy work up to crawling.  She got on her hands and knees for a long time and kind of rocked, but didn't go anywhere.  Then she frantically moved her arms and legs with her belly on th floor, and that didn't get her anywhere.  Finally, she figured out this kind of desperate army crawl.  Sometimes her legs are straight and her bum is way up in the air, sometimes there are lunges, but she's fallen into this manuever and it works!  She can get about anywhere she wants to go.  What's really fun is that I'll walk over to where she is (well, okay, dance and sing my way over) and she gets all excited and starts crawling toward me, like, "Don't worry about it, I'll meecha' half way."  What a big girl.

She's also really into giving kisses.  She gives one about any time I ask for one, but the best ones are the unsolicited ones.  We're just playing and laughing, and she gives me a big, drooly kiss (usually a whole lot of tongue!).  I can just see her sweet personality coming out more and more!  What a joy!

A praise/prayer update:  Thanks so much for praying for Bonnie and Justin.  Praise the Lord that they passed court and were able to spend some time with their sweet children.  Please keep praying, as they are waiting on some paperwork so that they can move on to embassy and get their little ones home!  You can see their blog at the right (Team Myers)

Also... I'm starting school Monday.  I'm really excited about my new job teaching English as a Second language to kiddos in our district!  BUT it's hard to give up that time with sweet Lucy.  She's got a wonderful care-giver, who obviously loves her, but just pray that it continues to go well and that Lucy knows how very loved she is!  Thanks!

waving and hi

Lucy Joy shows off two of her newest skills:

I'm pretty sure she's brilliant!

  (And sorry for all the Kristy "hi's" you were subjected to in that video.)

She waved at me when I got her up this morning.  She waved at the TV and said a cheerful "Hi!" to the mirror.  I think she's enjoying being able to communicate :)

Also:  PLEASE take a moment to pray for Bonnie and Justin, who have been waiting since September to get their hands on their children in Ethiopia.  They are scrambling to get there TODAY having just heard that they have a court date!  Please pray that they make it in time, that they pass court, and that their children are able to stay at the Transition house while they wait for embassy.  This sweet couple has faced some really rough set-backs and have really set a beautiful example of clinging to God's promises even in the midst of things not making sense and painful circumstances.  I'm praising God for this miricle court date--so PRAY please!

sweet and sad

I saw this note on another family's blog.  They adopted a boy, who was about 12 I think, from Ethiopia.  He wrote this note to our program director after hearing the news that he had a family.

It made me cry.
It made me admire the strength of this boy, who has had a difficult life but chose to praise God, be thankful, and look out for his friends.
It made me thankful that I've never been without my family.
It makes me think Lucy needs an older brother.

You can see this awesome family's blog and this post at:
http://6downand2-2go.blogspot.com/2011/07/picture-is-worth-thousand-words.html

Lucy's room

Lucy, it was time for you to move into your own room.  It sounds crazy, it seems we both highly value our sleep, so it seemed like a necessary step.  So we (with help from Angel and Jeremiah!) worked on your room, and I think you LOVE it! 

I love the dolls in the top middle--Olga, my favorite doll as a child, and a little doll from Ethiopia for Lucy are sharing space :)

You weren't nervous at all about sleeping there, but somehow I was nervous... so I just slept in there with you the first night. Neither of us even made a peep, so I think we're good to go!

And, because no blog post is complete without a little Lucy adorable-ness...