Luck O' the Irish!

 We are lucky!  Today is Lucy's "10 Month Birthday" and I am as in love with her as ever.  She is just. so. cute.  But I can't believe she is getting so big.  It's a happy and sad feeling to know that she's almost a big one year old.  Her favorite activities are swimming, playing "How big is Lucy?...SOOO Big!(see the black and white picture below)" peek-a-boo, dancing, being on Dad's shoulders, and being thrown in the air or swung all around.  She has learned how to shake her head "NO" and does this...a lot.  She has learned how to clap and say "Yaaay!" in the sweetest voice.  She knows how to wave hello. She learned how to clear off her highchair tray in a matter of seconds and fling food everywhere!  She is so silly and cracks everyone up who meets her.  She has a tough stubborn streak, but still loves to cuddle, hug, and kiss more than any baby I have ever met.  It makes the other mom's jealous :)  How did I get SO incredibly lucky to be her Mommy?????  I am in love with Lucy.

Other news: we've had an abundance of SUNSHINE this past week, and Lucy and I took advantage of it everyday! Along with our very good friends, we went swimming, bike riding, and picnicking.  Lucky for us, we were able to get a bike trailer with some Christmas money we had and she absolutely loves to ride around on the trails.  I don't have a picture of that yet, but you can be sure I'll get one soon :) There is lots to look forward to with her this summer!

This is a hilarious picture of Lucy and her best buddy Adeline

 

 And FINALLY, we get to post pictures of Lucy's FIRST St. Patrick's Day.  We went over to our good friend's, Joe and Christy's place where Christy made a delicious corned beef and cabbage recipe and we all had too much fun.  We had a Skip-bo competition and Joe and Christy beat us all.  They always win at games- I swear, they are one of "those couples" who dominates every time! Haha!  All 3 of our baby girls had fun wrestling and playing with each other all night, and the adults enjoyed a lot of green food! What a fun Holiday we had!  We love our friends, we love Colorado, and we love our life! We really are those lucky Irish people I keep hearing about ;)

Hope everyone had a good Holiday :)  Hopefully it won't be another month before I blog again.  March just seems extra busy this year!

UNTIL NEXT TIME!

Did I catch a "Niner" in There?

The Little Princess turned 9 months old today…it’s so crazy for me because I think of how today is the only time in her entire life where she could say (if she could talk) “I’ve lived half my life in Mommy’s belly, and half my life on Earth.”  Never again will her life be split 50/50 like this.  I can’t believe I carried her for what felt like the longest 9 months of my life, and now that she’s been here, it’s been the fastest 9 months of my life! How strange that seems to me :)  I love this little spunky Peanut more than she will ever know!

Lulu weights 18 lbs 11oz (50%).  Is 28 ¼ inches tall (76%!) and her little head is 15 ½ inches (31%).

Her personality has doubled in the last month! She’s a ball of energy that just never stops! She is a little behind on the big stuff (crawling, pulling herself up on furniture, walking assisted, etc.).  Her doctor said she has the core strength for these movements, but just might be a little bit lazy ;) She will come around when she's ready… But she is excelling in “problem solving,” speech, communication and fine motor skills.  Basically, she’s smart but lazy haha!!

I cannot believe she’s ¾ of the way to being a big 1 year old. Her first birthday will be here before we know it!!!

Love you Lucy Lu.  You are Mommy’s precious little Angel. 

 

L.O.V.E.

I will never understand the people who don't celebrate Valentine's Day.  Their questions of "Why should we only have ONE day where we show our love?" can be argued that, "Why should we only have ONE day where we dress up and ask for candy?  Why should we only have ONE day to eat Turkey and give thanks?  Why should we only have ONE day where we..."...etc, you get it.  That is the point of Holidays.  To focus on a theme and spend an ENTIRE day having a good time.  It breaks up the year into fun events, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. We show our love year round, but it is nice to have one day that separates the rest to celebrate our love and do mushy, gushy things :)  I guess since that's the way I grew up, I just can't quite seem to understand those pessimists ;)  Luckily, my husband grew up with a Mom who taught him that Valentine's Day is a holy day for Women.  So he gets in the spirit too- the night before, he was even picking out his red shirt for work!  However, this year was my first year "at home" on Valentine's Day instead of working, so I was able to spoil him a little.  Here is how our day went.  I woke up an hour early so that I could make him Red Velvet and Cocoa heart shaped Pancakes for breakfast.  Then I got to work on making a marinade for steak we would have later for dinner.  After that, I baked Pink Velvet cupcakes and made homemade cream cheese frosting.  For dinner I cut out a ton of little hearts and sprinkled them all over the table (along with red glitter) and put candies out too.  I had love songs playing all day as well- just an added bonus.  I got Lucy all dressed up and we made Daddy some cute Valentines.  And of course, I took a billion pictures of her with my new camera- which I am OBSESSED with! (My old camera quit working and I saved up enough for a really nice one so I am very in love with it.) When Shawn got home, we ate a yummy dinner, gave Lucy some steak and cupcakes (shhh, that's our little secret!) and after she went to bed, we cuddled up and watched Breaking Dawn, since I hadn't seen it yet.  It was a perfect day. Shawn promised me when we were dating that he would ALWAYS get me flowers on Valentine's Day.  Well, flowers are expensive and we couldn't do gifts this year, but he followed through and bought me a single rose on his way home so that he wouldn't break his promise, or the bank ;) I am in love with being in love and I love love LOVE Valentine's Day.

 

Today Was Hard

Today was a hard day.  It’s funny- not many people post the bad stuff, but occasionally, I think it helps to “virtually vent.” It’s kinda therapeutic.

So here I go: Lucy was up for 3 hours in the night screaming.  From 2-5am just wailing. NOTHING calmed her down until I gave in and brought her to bed with me.  I got so tired of resisting, so I gave in.  I was crying from exhaustion and frustration and I just said “screw it- I’m bringing her to bed with us.”  And guess what, after 3 NON STOP hours of arching her back crying, she stopped.  If the only thing that quiets her is co-sleeping…what the heck am I supposed to do?  So, after only 4 hours of sleep for me (and interrupted sleep, that is), she wakes up bright and early this morning…and very cranky.  So cranky.  I’m so tired, she’s so tired, she’s so cranky, I’m so cranky…that leads to a bad day.  And today I yelled at Lucy.  I walked into her room after she had been screaming and thrashing around in her crib for a solid hour after I put her down for her nap, and I yelled at her.  I said “LUCY! Just STOP! NO MORE CRYING!”  And what did she do? She flapped her arms from excitement of seeing me entering her room and smiled hugely at me.  She thought I was coming in to pick her up, not scold her.  I felt utter failure.  My heart broke and I cried even more.  I finally got her to sleep and immediately called my Mom.  I just needed her.  I don’t think I’ll ever not need my Mom. I needed to ask her if it’s “normal” to feel overwhelmed and exhausted as a Mom. She assured me that it’s completely normal to feel the way I’m feeling and that it’s OK to cry.  Because I know Mom’s get mad and tired.  But do they feel this way with only one baby?  What happens when I have 3 or 4 kids? I called the one person who I knew would hear me out, but also offer wisdom, knowledge, and comfort.  I just felt low.  And of course, the best thing about Mom’s is that they lift you up and make you feel so much better.  I think today hit me harder than other days because yes, I’ve lost my patience with Lucy and have felt irritated and even snappy with her a couple of times.  But I have never yelled at her.  I have never said “NO!” to her.  She doesn’t even know what it means to have her Mommy get mad at her.  Today was the first day I felt like a failure as a Mom.

Taking a step back now, I know we will have our ups and downs.  I know my love for her is unconditional and she can drive me crazy, but no matter what, I will love her.  I know she probably doesn’t even remember or understand what happened this morning.  And I know that someday she will probably call me up when her little baby won’t stop screaming and I will tell her my stories.  And she will cry, and I will comfort.  It’s the cycle of motherhood.  And even though today was rough, Lucy and I have tomorrow to make up for it, and the next day, and everyday, until forever.  And I will love her through it all.  

Thank you, Mom, for your support.  It means the world to me. 

********************************************************************************

I'm posting some pictures of the little stinker on here since I haven't really posted any of her in her "8th Month" of life.  I know they're a little irrelevant to this post, but it's always nice to look at such a pretty face :)

My little Wonder Baby.  She might make go crazy at times...but what would I do without her?

A Question For Moms Out There

It is quite known that when women become pregnant, they experience a surge of hormones that causes them to act irrationally but they don't think they're being irrational at all.  I was a crazed woman when Lucy was in my belly but I had "valid" points to justify all of my absurd and sometimes harsh demands and NONE of them had to do with the fact that I was hormonal- dang it! At least that's what I told myself, my family, and Shawn.  Poor Shawn....but what a good sport he was!
Anyway, we have the babies, and we are once again swimming in a pool of hormones for those first blurry, sleep deprived weeks of our newborn's life.  Then we breastfeed, and again, we have intensified hormones that linger until you stop breastfeeding....right?  I was under the impression that soon after I stopped breastfeeding and was back to "normal," I wouldn't cry at the drop of a hat...(or in this case, the drop of a pacifier).  So how come, 8 months after I gave birth, I still feel extra emotional???  It's not bad emotions.  It's just...heavy emotions.
Example: Today I tip-toed into Lucy's room to put something away in her closet while she was taking her nap, and I looked into her crib and burst into tears.  She is just SO beautiful, and there is something wonderful and precious about a sleeping baby.  I have seen her sleep a thousand times, and each time I look at my sleeping beauty, I almost always get teary eyed.  Granted, I've always been a crier- movies, books, songs, etc.  But now it's like, I see a cute puppy on TV and cry.  I see a little kid trip at the playground and I hurt (even when they don't get hurt).  I see a cute baby outfit at the store, and my heart drops.  What the heck???  Certainly motherhood is a roller coaster of emotions- that one's a known fact.  And TRUST ME- I've already experienced the days when I want to scream in frustration because Lucy WILL. NOT. STOP. SCREAMING!  And then 24 hours later she's cuddling with me and kissing me, and pulling my hair because it's fun for her, and it erases all frustrations from the past events.  But I didn't think that I would get so emotional over the smallest things!  I am NOT pregnant again- hahaha trust me!  And I realize that I'm extra emotional (as opposed to when I was pregnant I wouldn't acknowledge the fact that I was).  So, is this what I signed up for when I chose to have kids?  Will I be this way for the rest of my life?  Or does it taper off a little bit....? Tell me, sweet, wise Mommy's out there with more experience- is being on an emotional high my new way of life?  Man.... I better warn Shawn now! ;)

This is the moment I talked about; in between my blurry, teary blinks, I took a picture of her.  To you, this is a sweet, sleepy baby.  To me, this is my whole world.  And I guess I cry because it hurts to love someone so fiercely.  I just hope I can reign in the emotions a little bit down the road...or else on her first day of Kindergarten, they're going to be escorting me off the premises! ;)

...Oh, the life of a Mom.....