getting behind

I haven't forgotten about my blog. But with birthday parties and Christmas just around the corner. My plate has been full and I've been too tired to think about blogging. I'll be back once the craziness is over. Till then, Merry Christmas everyone.

Oh, and if anyone is interested in seeing all the birthday pics from Lucy's party. Let me know and I'll send you the link.

12 months old

Today my baby turned 1 year old. I still can't believe that a whole year has gone by. This has been a year of such joy. We have had a few challanges along the way, but overall it's been a great year. Dan and I have learned a lot and still have so much more to learn. Now that we're parenting a toddler, it's a whole new ballgame.

Lucy isn't walking yet. She loves to push the kitchen chairs around and walk with them. She looks like a little old lady with her walker-cracks me up. I think it'll be at least another month if not longer before she attempts to take a step. She's also getting a few more teeth. She currently has 9, almost 10. I noticed that she might be getting 2 more back teeth. It's hard to tell though because Lucy will not let you look in her mouth. I am very thankful that teething has never really bothered her.

Lucy is also pulling her hair out. Several months ago she started pulling at her hair when she sucked she thumb. It was pretty cute to watch the thumb go in her mouth and the other hand go to her head. At the time she started it, I didn't think much about it. But in the last few weeks her hair is starting to get really thin on one side. There's really no way to get her to stop because she does it when she sucks her thumb. I know it's a comfort thing and it's now become a habit. I'm going to have a bald headed baby in another month or so. The one good thing is that she only sucks her thumb when she's tired and not all day long.

Well, here is our last monthly picture. The onesie made it to the end!!

I am looking forward to the months ahead and all the new things Lucy will be learning.

Sunny days, sweepin' the clouds away

I have recently renewed my love for Sesame Street. Growing up with only six TV channels, the only choice for anything remotely entertaining for a child on Sunday mornings was Sesame Street. After getting ready for church I would turn on PBS and watch till we had to leave. I know for a fact that I watched it till I was way over the viewing age limit.
In the last month I have been letting Lucy watch an episode each afternoon when she gets up from her nap. I really don't let her watch any other shows for the simple fact that I find so many of them annoying. I have to give a lot of credit to the writers of Sesame Street. They write for the adults as well as the children. I find myself actually watching with her.
Here are a few examples of what I have found so entertaining. One episode we saw had a spoof on Indiana Jones. The show featured "Texas Telly" trying to find the Golden Triangle of Destiny. Another show had a song and dance number titled "Pre-school Musical", and I watched an episode that spoofed Law and Order. On today's show they had a segment called "30 Rocks". As you can probably guess, they were spoofing Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin's show 30 Rock. What gets me is that they get the muppets to look and sound so much like the real charaters. I find myself laughing out loud while watching. Little kids are not going to get it, so thank you Sesame Street for entertaining me as well.

a few new things

I want to blog about this so I have it documented somewhere. Even though I think that I'll remember this stuff forever, I know that's just not the case. 

Lucy is saying a few words. She's been saying da-da for a while, but now it's definitely with meaning.  She's also learned "Hi" and "baby". 

One of my favorite things she does right now is sing along to Old MacDonald. She knows that the duck says quack and as soon as I start singing "Old MacDonald had a farm", she will very loudly join in with her "kack, kack, kacking"  So we sing the same animal over and over because it's the only one she knows. I need to get it on video because it really is funny. 

It seems I not "off my rocker" as much as I thought

In my last post I talked about how I strive to keep my floors clean. One way we do it is by kicking off our shoes when we come in the door.  This morning my quirkiness has been validated.  The Today Show had a segment about how our vacuum cleaners are spreading bacteria and germs. It was quite alarming.  The bristles on the vacuum they tested had e. coli and fecal material present, enough to make a child sick. How did it get on the vacuum?  The reported stated that shoes and pets are big contributers. One of the suggestions to help keep your carpets clean, remove your shoes.  

I just need to stop watching TV. I learn too many disgusting facts. 

Public enemy #1

I hate a dirty floor.  In my house, this is my number 1 enemy.  It is a daily battle for me to keep my kitchen and dining area floors clean.  Lucy is not the neatest eater and much of her food ends up on the floor. I find myself Swiffering the floors 2, sometimes 3 times a day depending on what we've been eating.  I am always amazed everytime I pull that Swiffer pad off and it's filthy. I'm thinking, I just did this a few hours ago, how in the world does it get so dirty so fast.

I know it doesn't bother some people. Heck, growing up we didn't always have the cleanest floor. With 4 kids running in and out the door tracking stuff in I think my mom just figured there were bigger things to worry about. Not that my mom is a poor housekeeper. In fact, she's very particular when it comes to cleaning. But I think back then, she was busier with other things.  

Part of my obsession stems from the fact that Lucy is on the floor all day long. She crawls and scoots and I don't want her getting crumbs and dust all over her. Besides, she will find the tiniest piece of whatnot on the floor and anything she finds goes straight in her mouth. She found an old Cheerio I had missed under the counter the other day and she popped it right in her mouth. She looked very pleased with herself for that one.

In our effort to keep our floors clean, we are a "no-shoes-in-the-house" family. We always take our shoes off at the door and usually ask our guests to do the same.  I know some people think it's a bit extreme, but just think about all the places you've walked during the day. Then you come in and put that on your floors and carpet. YUCK.  Do you really want the germs from the public restroom you visited to end up on your carpet?  You think I'm weird, I know. But I saw a segment on some morning show and it was about all the stuff you bring in on your shoes.  You're probably thinking, how did I ever survive to be this old because we never worried about this growing up and we lived!  Well, now that I'm old enough to understand it all, it bothers me.  I realize that some germs are healthy and we need germs to build our immune system. I am just not ok with the germs on your shoes.  

11 months old

Lucy is 11 months old. Where did the time go? I can't believe that I have to start seriously planning her 1st birthday party. She is growing up so fast and in a month I will no longer have a baby, but a toddler. 

In the last month Lucy has gone from barely crawling to standing and pulling up on everything. She's starting to cruise around the furniture. She's pushing the kitchen chairs and walking behind them. She figured out how to climb the stairs last week so out came the baby gate.

  We are pretty much done with bottles and formula. I'm still giving her a bottle in the morning, but only because I am trying to use up the last of the formula. She loves drinking milk and water from her sippy. She becomes very territorial with her cup when you try to take it away. :)  She's such a good eater and likes a wide variety of foods. Cheese is by far her favorite though. 

Dan and I measured and weighed her a few days ago. She's a little over 28 pounds and about 32 inches. She's mostly in 24 months size clothes, but occasionaly I can find some 18 months stuff that runs big.  I've definitely built some upper body strength in the last few months. Carrying her around is no easy task. 

Lucy has such a fun personality.  I can see her being a bit of a ham as she gets older. 

Here is our monthly picture.  And surprisingly, the onesie still fits. It's tight, but it fits.

What a face!!!

confession

I'm addicted to Diet Coke.  My favorite Dt Coke though is the fountain drink from McDonalds. I don't know why but the Dt coke from any McD's always tastes so much better than anywhere else. Lately I find myself going through the drive-thru several times a week while I'm out just so I can get a Dt Coke. It doesn't help that I have a drive-thru 3 minutes from my house. Darn you McD's for making your Dt Coke so tastey.  

Becky, I'm calling you out. You're a cheater! 

cheater, cheater, cheater!!!!!!

LOL..............................................................

taking my turn

A few blogs that I read have been doing this "game" so I thought I'd steal the idea and start it here too.
The directions: Open the 6th album/folder and post the 6th picture in the album. So, here is my picture.

This was taken at Pastor Matt's annual tree triming party. Every year right before Thanksgiving he invites a bunch of friends over and has them decorate his house for Christmas. There's lots of food and music and it's always a fun time. This picture was taken in 2006. It's one of our famous "self portraits". For some reason we usually have pretty good luck with taking pictures this way. 

Ok, now it's your turn, Abbie, Becky, Karen and anyone out there who has a blog.

a few pictures

Last Saturday Dan and I took Lucy to the pumpkin patch in Arthur and then went to Uncle Richard's birthday party. Here are some pictures from our day.

Checkin' out the chickens with dad.

Let's see how tall you are.

Wow, that pumpkin is big!!

I think we'll take these two.

I'm a horrible mother. This is the first time Lucy has been in a baby swing. By the time the weather got warm this summer we were in the midst of packing and moving. Then we were trying to get settled in the new house. Also, not every park has baby swings. I was having a hard time finding one. But, it was worth the wait. She loved it and laughed the whole time. Make sure to watch the video below. 

10 months old

I should have posted this last week, but the time has gotten away from me.
Lucy turned 10 months old on October 4th. I remembered to take her picture on the right day this month too. Yay me!

Lucy is growing up too fast. It's so much fun to see her personality coming out and to be able to interact with her in new ways. She's learned to give "kisses" and we've been working on learning to clap. She catches on pretty quick. I am amazed everyday at the new things she learns.

This month Lucy has finally figured out how to crawl. She's doing it more and more everyday. She still reverts back to the army crawl because she's much faster that way. She's into everything and she's "talking" nonstop. She is really good at mimicking the sounds we make.

Here are a few pictures from this months photo shoot.

This one cracks me up. This is what we go through each month.

I caved

I posted a while back that my laptop died and I was trying to make do with Dan's business computer. I was hoping to wait and then maybe get something closer to Christmas. HA, that didn't work. Sunday after trying to upload my digital pics to his computer and having a heck of a time doing so, I gave in and told Dan he could buy me a new laptop. So, last night he made a trip to Circuit City and here I am typing a new post on my new computer. It's pretty cool cause it has a fingerprint reader so when I want to log on I just swipe my thumb across this little doo-hickey and it reads my thumb print. Also, it has a touch screen so I can navigate webpages by just touching the screen. the only downside is that I don't like having to try and figure out all the bells and whistles. I know that once I become familiar with it all I'll love it and wonder how I ever lived without it.

Oops

Today Lucy and I made a quick trip to Springfield to Babies R Us. I hadn't planned on going to Springfield today, but after I backed over Lucy's stroller when leaving the garage, I needed to go buy a new one. What a day!

Whatever, Martha

Since we moved and got our cable reconnected we've been getting some extra channels. I know we didn't sign up for these channels, so I'm not sure if we are actually paying for them. I am not sure how long we'll have them so I am going to enjoy the mistake while it lasts. One of these new channels we get is called the Fine Living Channel (FLN). It has some cooking shows and home improvement type shows. I have discovered my absolute new favorite show. It's called "Whatever, Martha". It's a show with Alexis Stewart and her friend Jennifer and they sit and watch old Martha Stewart clips and make fun of Martha and her projects. Alexis is Martha's daughter and so she can get away with making fun of her mother. This show is hysterical. If you have the FLN check it out.

baby feet

I have been searching for the last month to find a pair of shoes for Lucy. Now that the weather is getting cooler I want her feet to stay warm and I also just want her to get used to wearing something on her feet. I have looked at all the local stores. I haven't been able to find anything that fits. Yesterday, Mom and I took Lucy to Luers Shoe Store in Springfield. They are a children's specialty store and it's been around forever. I figured if anyone could help me find shoes for Lucy it was this store. We walked in and within 5 minutes she had her first real pair of shoes. Unfortunately, the size Lucy wears made the selection limited. In fact, we only had one choice. When you wear a size 4 extra, extra wide you take what you can get! No wonder I couldn't find shoes at a regular store. She's an extra, extra wide!!!! We came home with your basic white Striderite baby shoe. It'll have to go with everything! :)

M.I.A.

I haven't been blogging too much the last few weeks. I guess I've gotten lazy and I just keep putting in off.
I need a new computer. As I said in my last post, my laptop bit the dust. Which totally stinks cause it was only 2.5 years old. Dan, being the amazing husband that he is, was willing to go out that day and buy me a new laptop. We went and looked but the $700-$800 price tag is a little hard to swallow.
Do I really NEED a new laptop? No. Do I want a new one? YES. I am trying to be content with the fact that I can use Dan's business computer, but it's not the most convenient thing. His computer is in the basement and it's scary down there! Not really, but it is COLD. I have to dress for a winter day just to go check my email.
I am trying to wait it out and maybe for Christmas I'll give in and let Dan shop till he drops. Who am I kidding, I won't make it till Christmas!

Ok Becky, here's your new post.

I am thinking of planning a funeral for my laptop. It died today.

Family history

I haven't always been interested in History. During High School I didn't have much interest in it at all. By the time I finished college I was only a few credits short of a History Minor. It's funny how things change and how your interests grow and change over time. I have come to really enjoy History and learning about the past. One particular area that fascinates me is family history. I often wish I had sat down with my grandparents and asked more questions. There's a lot of things I'd like to know that no one else can answer. Sadly, even though my Grandma Ryan just passed away a year ago, for the last 10 years at least she had suffered from dementia and couldn't answer much about her childhood or early years of marriage. What I am left with are beautiful historic family pictures and no one to tell me about them. I am lucky that on both sides of my family there are many old photographs that at least give me glimpse into where I come from and who my adcestors are.

I thought I would share a photo with you. This is a picture of my great-great grandparents and their 3 children. The oldest girl in the picture is my great-grandmother, the mother of my grandpa Elmer Ryan. This picture had a date on it and it's sometime in 1888-89. I love looking at these old photos and imagining what their lives must have been like. It amazes me that this picture has survived over 100 years. I'm sure they would have never dreamed that their great-great grand-daughter would some day be blogging about it.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Montgomery with Harriet Ann, Rayment,(not sure on this name, that's what it looks like it says) and Charlie.

new trick

Lucy has learned a new trick this week. It's something she's been working toward for awhile, but finally, she can do it. Lucy has learned to sit up on her own. Now, she's been sitting by herself for over a month now, but she would be in that position because we sat her down that way. What she has figured out is how to go from lying down to sitting up. What is funny about it is the way she does it. I've been around lots of babies and have never seen one do what she does. Most babies will get to a sitting position from being on their tummy. They'll get on all fours and then push themselves back to a sit. Lucy's figured out a different way. She will roll onto her side and prop herself up on her arm and from there she will use her arm and lots of tummy muscles to pull herself up to a sitting position. She did it once last week and we thought it was a fluke. Today she was able to do it several times. I haven't been able to capture it on video yet. When I do I'll post it so you all can see it.

Meeting the neighbors

Dan and I have now lived in our new home for about 6 weeks. In that time we've had 2 different sets of neighbors come by with a plate of goodies and welcome us to the neighborhood. It's kind of funny though, the people who live on either side of us have yet to show their faces. Anyway, it's been nice to know there are a few friendly people on the street. One of the neighbors, Rachel, that came by lives about 4 houses down and has a daughter that just turned one in August. We seemed to hit off just from our 5 minute conversation at my door. She is super nice and we have already had our first playdate. From what she's told me, Lucy is the only other baby on the street close in age to her daughter Elizabeth. I can already picture them in a few years running back an forth between houses and riding the school bus together. I am glad Lucy will have a little friend to play with.

9 months old

On Sept. 4th Lucy turned 9 months old. I took the traditional picture and I even remembered to do it on the actual day!

We went to the doctor on Friday and found out that Lucy weighs 26 pounds and is 31 inches long. She's a healthy girl. We've been exploring finger foods and trying lots of different things. Now that she's learning to self feed, I have such a fear of her choking. Poor girl, I break her food into such small bites she probably can't even taste it.

She's not crawling yet. She can get up on all fours but then doesn't know what to do from there. I guess she figures she doesn't need to know how to crawl since she gets where she wants to go by rolling.

This year has flown by and I know the next 3 months are going to bring lots of new accomplishments. Part of me can't wait for what she's going to learn next, but it also makes me a bit sad because she's not going to be a baby much longer.

My girl

I think my favorite time with Lucy is bathtime. She loves getting in the tub and starts jabbering and "talking" the minute I start the water. Once she's in the tub, I think I get just as wet as she does. She makes sure to splash me. I have her in a baby tub, although she's almost too big for it even though it says "up to 24 months". I haven't put her in just the big tub yet. I like having her somewhat contained. She's so wiggly and squirmy as it is.

After bath I wrap her in her "bunny" towel and let her look at herself in the mirror. She loves that and immediately gives a big grin and a little chuckle. We took some pictures of her the other night because she's so funny. I wanted to capture these small moments on film.

One of the new games she's learned to play is peek-a-boo. Tonight she was laying on her changing table with the towel under her as I dried her off and rubbed lotion on her. She kept pulling the towel over her face and when I'd say "Where's Lucy", she would peek out from under it. She was so funny and I got her laughing pretty good. It's moments like this that I wish would last forever.

food and blogs

As I have gotten older I have come to really enjoy cooking and especially baking. Unfortunately after having Lucy, I can't seem to find the time to do it as much as I'd like but it's getting a little easier to get in the kitchen now that she's older.

According to Pastor Matt, I am the best baker he knows. He even told me I'm better than his mom. Now, I have only briefly met his mom and I do not know what kind of baker she is, but I still took that as quite the compliment. Pastor Matt is always nosin' around our house looking for any homebaked treats I might have. He was very disappointed a few weeks ago when I sent left-over peach cobbler to work with Dan, and Dan had eaten it all before P.Matt had a chance to sample any.

So where am I going with this? Well, I recently happened upon several blogs all about food and cooking. I am not new to the world of blogging. I have had this blog for over a year, but for whatever reason I didn't know there were "food blogs" out there.

I have bookmarked several cooking blogs and I love how these people take pictures and show you step by step how the recipe is supposed to come together. I thought I would share with you one of the blogs I came across. Apparently this woman is trying to use her crockpot everyday for a year. I don't know that I would want to do this but it looks like she has some tasty recipes.
I thought some of you out there might enjoy this blog as well.

go to: crockpot365.blogspot.com

HAPPY COOKING...AND BAKING

Lingo

In previous posts I've mentioned that I frequent internet message boards. The boards I visit are parenting boards and I get to chat with other moms of 6-12 month olds. As a stay at home mom, it's really nice to get some adult conversation, even if it is with people I don't know and can't actually see. Mostly I lurk and read the threads. I will ask questions and give answers if I think I may be helpful. Anyway, my point with this post is that there is a whole other language out there in cyberspace. When I first started checking out the message boards I had a difficult time decoding what I was reading. I am sure some of this lingo also goes along with texting, but as I am not really into that at the moment, I can't say for sure. I am still learning the lingo, but here are a few "words" for you.

dh= dear husband... or if you're mad at him, use another D word in there.
dd= darling daughter
ds= darling son
poas= pee on a stick (pregnacy boards)
fffc= flame free friday confessions
lmao= laughing my a-- off
tia= thanks in advance
pip=pic in post
lip= link in post
mil=mother in law
fil= father in law
wdyt= what do you think
kwim= know what i mean
mud= made up drama
bfn= big fat negative
bfp= big fat postive

This is just a sampling of the internet lingo I have picked up. It's funny because I find myself wanting to say DH in real life. Sad, but true.

Feel free to add any more that you know.

Moving: part 2

Today was moving day number 2. On our last moving day about 2 weeks ago we cleared out the house except for Dan's work area, the big furnace room in our basement, and the garage. Since moving in, Dan's been working non-stop to try and get our new basement ready for his business. This included framing off a room for his office and drywalling. Framing the perimeter of the basement so he could hang peg board, insulating the ceilings, and putting down a foam flooring material, and running new electrical and installing work lights, etc... Needless to say he's had a full plate with working full time and then doing what he could in the evenings and weekends.

Last night the clock was ticking. There was still alot of work to be done before anything could be moved in. Dan stayed up all night working to get it ready. I went to bed around 11pm and Dan headed to work. At 6 am this morning when I got up with Lucy, we went downstairs to find Dan finishing up the floor. He took a quick shower and then headed over to the old house to start tearing things down. Luckly we had a few friends and some very devoted family comeback to help for a second time. This move didn't go as quick. I think around 4:30 the guys had finished unloading everything and were on their way home. My poor husband had been up 36 hours when he finally was able to crawl in bed at 7pm. He is getting some much deserved rest. I told him I wasn't waking him up for church in the morning. :)

8 months

Ok, so it's really 8 months and a few days. I can't seem to get her picture taken on time. It seems like every month her "birthday" is on a day that's full of activity and I don't have the time to get her picture taken.

I have had the realization over the last couple weeks that I am going to be in trouble when she starts cruising. In the last 2 weeks she has gotten the hang of rolling in both directions. Now, I can't keep her in one place. She rolls all over the downstairs floor. And she is so busy. Everything she sees she wants to touch or put in her mouth. Once she gets the hang of crawling, I am in for it! :)

Last week she started waving hi and bye. It's so cute to see her do it. I love to stand in front of the mirror and let her wave at herself. Too funny!

Lucy has 2 more teeth. You'd probably guess that she got her front teeth, right? Well, she got one of them, but she also got the side tooth next to it at the same time. Her other front tooth looks like it'll be coming in before too long. She has the funniest smile right now. Because she got a side tooth and her teeth aren't lined up, she has a crooked little smile.

Here are a few more pictures. She couldn't leave the paper alone. I had such a hard time getting her to sit still...ah, I see lots of chasing in my future.

It's a good thing that we moved 3 weeks before our closing date because it's going to take every bit of the next 2 weeks to get everything out of that house. We had a great group of friends and family come over last Saturday and help load up the 16 foot rental truck. We weren't really sure how big of a truck to get. We didn't feel like we had a ton of stuff because Dan and I had already moved over the contents of the dining room, living room and most of the kitchen as well as about 50% of my closet. All we really had was furniture. So a 16 ft truck seemed big enough. Not exactly. Dan said he had that truck packed as full as he could get it and there are still 2 rooms in the basement that need to be packed and all of Dan's business - which is a alot because of all his equipment and inventory. Oh, and we didn't even touch the garage. I don't know where that stuff will go when it gets moved over. It's mind boggling how much stuff we have accumulated over the last 3 years and I have never been more motivated to get rid of stuff. As I unpack I am making a big pile for the next yard sale. I really tried to declutter before we moved, but having Lucy made it hard for me to find the time to really go through things.

I don't have much time to blog at the moment, but I thought I'd let everyone know that we moved this past Saturday and we finally have internet at the new house. We have been busy trying to get settled in and unpacked. There's just so much stuff!!!! I never want to move again!

I'll be back soon with a full story of all the past weeks event!

Bathing Beauty

Yesterday I finally got the chance to take Lucy swimming for the first time. My Aunt Bev lives in Taylorville and her pool was finally warm enough for Lucy. I was pretty sure that Lucy would like the water because she LOVES bathtime. But, you never know how babies are going to react.
I put her in a little tankini that I picked up at a yard sale a while back. This was the 4th bathing suit I had gotten for her. I had 2 hand-me-down suits from my neighbor and a bikini I bought at at a resale shop. They were all size 12 months. The tankini I had was an 18 month, so I took that one for her to wear. It was so cute on her, but the top was a bit snug. I should have bought a 24 month instead. Here are a few pictures of our fun afternoon in the pool.

another milestone

This past week, Lucy has really gotten the hang of sitting by herself. She is finally able to sit and play with her toys for quite awhile before teetering over to the side or falling backwards. Now, if we could just get her to roll over from her tummy to her back, we'd be doing great. She actually knows how to roll, we've seen her do it a few times. For some reason though, she doesn't like to do it. Maybe she forgets she knows how, or maybe she's just lazy and knows that one of us will flip her over.

Here's a cute clip of her. I just love all her chunky rolls!

moving

I am in the throws of packing. It's such a tedious job and I really don't enjoy it. I will also admit, that I am not a very good packer. I get a bit lazy with things. Since we're are only moving across town, I just can't see packing everything in boxes when I'd just have to unpack it at the house. So I find myself loading up the car with odds and ends and taking them over. We are trying to take as much over before Saturday as we can. It will make Saturday go faster if we don't have a lot of little things to load and unload. We are blessed to be in the situation where we have both houses for the next few weeks. It makes moving so much easier. If I had to have everything in boxes and ready to go for Saturday I think I would be stessed beyond imagination. But, I know that as long as all the big stuff gets moved on Saturday, then I can come back the following week to get the little things.

Here's a totally random announcement that has nothing to do with my post. If anyone reading this needs, or knows someone who needs a washer/dryer we have a set that we are wanting to get rid of. We will give them to anyone who wants to come and haul them away. They are Whirlpool brand and about 15 years old. They still work, but they are noisey. So ask around and let me know!!

We are moving next Saturday. So far I have only packed up the dining room. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the packing that needs to happen in the next week. I can't seem to get much done with a 7 month old...

If you're bored next Saturday with nothing to do, give me a call. I have some boxes you can carry.

confession

I ate Doritos for supper last night.

7 months old...

I'm a little late at posting Lucy's 7 month picture and update. She was 7 months on July 4th and with eveything else going on, I just didn't around to posting it. So here is her picture. The onesie still fits!

It was hard to get a good picture of her because she was very interested in the paper.

I took her to the doctor this week because she had a cold that turned into a cough. She sounded horrible Thursday morning when she woke so I took her in to be checked over. The nurse weighed her and she's now up to 24 1/2 pounds!!! I can't believe it. She's gained 2 more pounds this month. I had to go buy her some more summer outfits because many of her 12 month size clothes are getting too tight. So everything I bought her was size 18 months.

I had wanted to buy her a Jonny Jump-up to hang in the doorway. I know she'd love it. However, the weight limit is around 25 pounds. So that's out. She's getting a bit bored with the exersaucer. She still likes it and is in it quite a bit. I was hoping to get something else that she could sit in to occupy her, but now I'm not sure what to do. She's almost too big for her swing but she doesn't sit in it very much anymore anyway. She gets bored in it and she's starting to lean all the way forward and I'm afraid it'll tip.

She is still not sitting unassisted. I am anxious for her to be able to sit on her own. That will give us more options for play when she can sit by herself.

Lucy is loving the solid foods. We started after her 6 month appt. I have been making most of her babyfood. It's really very easy and does not take that much time to do. I steam or bake whatever food I need and then puree it in the food processor. I then freeze it in ice cube trays and store it in ziplock bags. Then I just take out 2-3 cubes and microwave. She really seems to like everything she's tried so far. I did try giving her greenbeans from the jar when we were out one evening. She made faces and didn't seem to like the jarred variety.

Here is a video clip of her trying peas for the first time. I was wanting to capture the funny way she eats her food. She has to get her thumb in her mouth after every bite. If it weren't so cute, I'd be more annoyed.

Pictures

I finally got Lucy's 6 month pictures and our family pictures. We had them taken a month ago and because of my inability to make up my mind, we are just now getting them. They all turned out so good that I couldn't decide, so I just got them all. We were able to buy the "rights" to the photos and so now we can print whatever we need to.

Here are a few of the pictures. I have the rest on my dropshots page, so if you want to see a bunch more pics of Lucy, let me know and I'll give you the link. I'm not posting it hear since I have no idea who all is reading this.

Finally

We sold our house today! Got a pretty good price. We close Aug 15.

The "Yellow Beast" rides again

As some of you remember, this fancy 1973 Chevy Impala was our family car when I was growing up. There are so many "fond" memories of adventures in this car. This car took us on many family vacations to Corn Growers Coventions and up north to visit our family friends. Before Kyle was born, Kim, Kraig and I would share the big backseat. In the days before seatbelt laws, Kraig would take his pillow and lay on the floor and sleep while Kim and I split the bench seat.

As my siblings and I grew up, we got the honor of driving this car. This was it, if you didn't want to drive this beast, you rode the bus. (Except for Kyle, he refused to drive it and got a truck. Funny how the youngest child gets out of it)

By the time we were old enough to drive, this car was not considered "cool". In fact the kids at Mt. Auburn had lots of nicknames for it. It has been known as "The Yellow Beast", "The Banana Boat", "The Yellow Bomb", and "Old Yeller".

Each one of us could probably tell you a great story about this car and I'm sure if this car could talk, it would have some good secrets to tell.

So why am I reminiscing about this old car? Well, believe it or not, it's coming back in all it's glory. Dad has been hanging on to this car with the hopes of having it restored one day. That day has finally come.

We've been joking amongst ourselves that Kim, Kraig and I should drive it in the Annual

Mt. Auburn Parade. What do you think?

4th of July celebrations

Yesterday was a busy day. Here on Cobb Ave, the neighborhood was a buzz with it's annual 4th of July street celebration. This year was the 50th anniversary of the first 4th of July block party. Mrs. Baird who just moved off the street into a nursing home last year, started the fun 50 years ago. It's amazing that as families have come and gone this tradition is still going strong.

Because this year was such a special year, the neighbors who organized it really went all out. They wanted to make this year really stand out and they succeeded. There were red,white and blue ribbons on all the lamp posts and well as banners hanging out over the street, all the trees that lined the street had patriotic bows. At the end of Cobb Ave, there was a large tent set up with about a dozen round tables that were decorated for the occasion. There was a bounce house for the kids as well as the mobile zoo.

The celebration kicked off with the traditional canon firing. And then Mrs. Baird sat in the back of a convertable and rode as Grand Marshall of the parade. It was so cute to see her and then all the kids riding biks, or being pulled/pushed in wagons or strollers. Some of the kids had their dogs all fancied up and marched them down the street and back. It almost made me tear up a little to see Dan pushing Lucy in her decorated stroller for her first, and last, Cobb Ave. parade. Once the parade was over the kids put on a skit that was really funny. I'm not sure who wrote it, but it was a hoot!

It was really a great event and there were lots of former residents that came back to participate in the celebration.

If you are a subscriber to the Herald-Review paper here in town then you probably saw Lucy's picture on the front page today. For a party this big, they made sure the media was here to do a story.

Here are a few pictures from our fun day.

Dan made the banner. Doesn't it look great?

The parade!

Lucy's first time in parade!

Dan decorated her stroller.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."
- Erma Bombeck


That's all for now, stay tuned, more to come later...

Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PaPa, Can I drive your tractor next?

What do you dream of?

Here's a dream question for you. When you have a dream about living in a house, is it the house you are currently living in? I have found that in almost every dream that I can remember that takes place in a house, I am always living in the old house where I grew up. Even though I haven't lived there for 14-15 years, I'm always back in that old house.
So I am curious if that's just me or if other people experience that as well.

The swap

Over the weekend we swapped out our nice appliances with the older ones that came with our new home. We didn't want to go through the headache of trying to sell this house without appliances because any buyer we had was going to want to try and keep them. I don't blame them, they are nice appliances. So on Sunday afternoon with the help of Mike and Pastor Matt, Dan traded the fridge and stove. The job was long and tedious. The doors off both refrigerators had to come off in order to get them in, and out, of each house. And once in place the door had to go back on. So after 4 long hours, the job was done. However, for me, the job was just beginning. Since we are now having to use these older appliances, they had to be cleaned. Let me just tell you, they were DISGUSTING! I am guessing they are both about 7-8 years old since that is how old the house is. I honestly do not think that either appliance had ever been cleaned. I was cleaning out dust bunnies from the inside of the fridge. Yes, INSIDE! I wanted to vomit-it was that bad.
It's one thing to clean your own dirt and grime, but when it's someone elses, it's down right gross!
Once I got done with the fridge I had to tackle the oven. The bottom was mostly black from all the baked on food and dirt. I cleaned the outside and then sprayed EasyOff and let it sit about 12 hours. I finally got it as clean as it's going to get.
I just hope our house sells soon...

Getting close

Today was our final walk-through of our new house. We officially close on it on Wednesday. The garage doors and openers still do not work properly so our realtor said she'd contact the appropriate people and try and get this straightened out. This was supposed to be corrected before we close.

I am starting to get excited but at the same time I am overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done. The entire house is filthy and will need a good scrubbing. We also want to paint the laundry room, Lucy's room and the entire downstairs before we move. The other rooms will have to wait till after we move in. Dan also needs to get the basement ready so he can move his business down there. Then there's the packing and the actual moving. And doing this all with a 6 month old who will not sleep anywhere but her crib is going to make it hard for me to get much done. Calling all babysitters!!!! Any vounteers???

On Demand

For those of you who don't have Comcast or Insight digital cable, you may not be familiar with the ON DEMAND button. It's a great little feature that lets you access extra programming like movies and kids programs. My favorite section is called The Free Spot. Just like the title suggests, everything in this section is available to watch free of charge. Now, within this section, there are many, many different channels to choose from.

One of Dan's favorite channels on The Free Spot is G4. He loves to watch this crazy Japanese show. It is funny and I will watch it with him without complaining, but I am glad we don't have this channel on our regular lineup.

I recently discoverd a channel called Tube Time. It's a selection of about 10 old TV shows. Currently you can choose from Fantasy Island, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Party of Five, Facts of Life, Silver Spoons, One Day at a Time, and... the rest I can't think of right now. My favorites are Facts of Life and Silver Spoons. The other night I watched an episode of Silver Spoons and it made me realize just how bad the acting was and how even more horrible the clothing and fashion was! YIKES! I was laughing so hard because this was the episode where Ricky promises that he will have Menuedo sing at his party. I remember the Menuedo days and how I really liked them at the time. I was 7 or 8 years old, I didn't know any better!
Check out the outfits! Classy!

He's so much better looking now! So cute!

follow-up to my last post

I have been thinking alot during the last 24 hours about this whole house selling business. The more I think about it, the more irritated I get.
Yesterday we had a lady make an offer but it was extremely low and she was asking for our washer/dryer, our extra fridge in the basement, our kitchen appliances, and all window treatments, and a few other things that would naturally come with the house. Call me selfish, but I want to keep my things. I realize people negotiate other things when buying homes, but I don't know why it's expected that we should just be willing to give away our belongings that we worked so hard to buy. I would hate to lose a potential buyer over the curtains in my living room, but darn it, it took me forever to find ones that I liked and JCP doesn't sell them anymore. So it's not like I could go buy new ones.
So buy my house, not my things!

new perspective

Good news: we got an offer on our house. Bad news: it's a lowball offer.

Dan and I have now had experience in purchasing 2 homes, but this is our first experience at selling. I understand how the game works, both parties go back and forth till a price is agreed upon. It kind of reminds me of a mating dance or something from a show on the Nature Channel. I feel like we "dance" back and forth and ruffle our feathers in this whole real estate game.

I am also shocked by what people ask for when they put in an offer. Not only did this girl put in a very low offer. She's also asking for some of our belongings; Some of our very expensive belongings. That is totally crazy to me. If she wants our stuff, then she needs to put in a better offer!

oops

On Monday afternoon, I took Lucy for a drive out to my parents. She wasn't wanting to nap and I thought a drive would at least get her a little bit of sleep. I left and Dan was working down in the basement on decals. After I got home, Dan had some news to tell me. Apparently, about 30 minutes after I left Dan heard the door open upstairs and heard footsteps and voices. At first he thought I was back home, but then her heard mulitple voices. Not sure what was going on, He came upstairs just in time to find a realtor with clients walking through our kitchen. Thank goodness Dan was home and caught them. I was not expecting anyone that day and therefore Lucy's toys were all over the living room floor, her exersaucer and swing were out in the middle of the room, my bed wasn't made and there was stuff on the table and counters. The house wasn't a total disaster, but it sure wasn't presentable for a showing. The realtor even asked Dan if they could go ahead a look around since they were already there. Dan told her that the house wasn't picked up and they'd have to come back.
Our realtor called to apologize after realizing what had happened. She said there had been some miscommunication between them. These people were looking at a few houses that day and thought that our house was open to see. OOPS

6 month update

Today was Lucy's 6 month appointment. Once again, she cried when they weighed her and when they took her temp. She's healthy and right on target for what she should be doing at her age.

She weighs a hefty 22 pounds and is 28 inches long. She also got a few more shots today and she really didn't like that. We got the go ahead to start solids. I need to go to the store and buy a few things. I think I am going to try making some of her food and freezing it. I found a great website with lots of information. If you're interested it's wholesomebabyfood.com.

current obsession

I have recently become aware that I have little restraint when it comes to buying hair accessories for Lucy. There is a great website called etsy.com and it's a site for all things handmade. It's a great site cause it allows crafters a place to sell their products. You can buy jewelry, purses, clothing, baby items, and thousands of other handmade items. I'm addicted, plain and simple.
I love to go on and browse the baby headbands and hair clips. You would never find stuff this cute at the mall or Target. Here's a picture of the latest headband I bought. I love it because the clips are interchangeable. I just bought her a few more flower clips yesterday. I can't wait to get them in the mail.

6 months

Today Lucy is 6 months old. It's hard to believe she's 1/2 a year old already. December will be before I am ready.

Here is her 6 month picture. The outfit hasn't gotten too tight yet, maybe we'll make it another month or 2.

Her doctor's appt is next Monday, so we'll find out then her official height and weight.

cover girl

Baby feet

About a week before Mother's Day Dan asks about what I would like as a gift. What I really wanted was for him to come up with a creative gift all on his own. Dan has a sensitive, romantic side and has wowed me with surprises in the past. But, with all that was going on this year, he needed a little help. I didn't get this on Mother's Day because it was a last minute request and he had to make time to do it, and then we all got sick, but here it is. My Mother's Day gift. I LOVE it and I LOVE my husband for doing it. Thanks Honey!



Dan says he still needs to do a bit of tweeking on it. And he hasn't signed or titled it just yet.

For Sale

Our home is officially on the market. As is turns out there are 2 other houses on our street for sale. One of them is right next door. We had a last minute realtor walk-thru on Thursday morning and I was here while they did it. Homeowners are not usually present for these things, but because it was last minute and I had Lucy, I got to stay. It was interesting to hear what people had to say. All the comments were good and I heard a few say that our house is the nicest they've seen for sale on this end of town. That's encouraging. We love our home and all the improvements we've done to it, but to have that affirmed by 15-20 realtors is a good feeling.

If you want to see our listing you can go to brinkoetter.com. Click on the detailed property search and put in Cobb. You should get our listing -246 Cobb - and our neighbors-256.

If I were more computer savy, I'd put a direct link in here, but I don't know how to do that.

Anyone want to buy a house?

Teeth!

About a week ago I noticed that Lucy had a tooth poking through on the bottom. I checked in her mouth today to assess the progress and surprise! there was another tooth. So now she has 2 little teeth coming in on the bottom. She hasn't acted like they've bothered her too bad. Thank goodness!

I took some pictures this morning. I loved the new outfit I put on her so I had to take her picture. Here are a few of my favorites


.

She loves to look at herself in the mirror. I read that they won't recognize themselves till about 7-8 months of age, but she gets a kick out of something.

Channeling Davey Milligan

This post will not make any sense to you if you did not grow up in Mt. Auburn. For my fellow MTA friends reading this, I think you'll get a laugh.

This week Lucy has been "talking" much more. She makes all kinds of sounds and noises. Tonight she made me laugh when every so often the sounds "woo-woo" would come out of her mouth. All I could think of was good old Davey.

What a week!

This has been a rough week in the Niebrugge household. I am glad things are slowly returning to normal.

It all started last Thursday when I noticed that Lucy was coughing/choking while she was sleeping. It scared me to death. She'd cough and then it would sound like she was gasping for air. I checked on her every time and she seemed to be fine, but I called the doctor and made an appt. for the next day. So Friday I took her to see Dr. Newcome and I am glad I did. As it turned out, the doctor thought it sounded like she was starting to get the croup. The doctor gave a Rx for Lucy and she warned me that this medicine tasted especially awful. She suggested putting it in her bottle if we couldn't get her to take it straight. So I dropped off the Rx at Walgreens and asked to have it flavored, hoping that would help, and later that evening we began the task of getting Lucy to swallow the awful tasting medicine. This turned out to be a bigger trick than I bargined for. We had a syringe (did I spell that right?) that came with her medicine so we tried the tactic of squirting it in her mouth. Poor thing, she kept shuddering as she swallowed some of it. Most of it came rolling right back out her mouth. We decided that the next day we'd try putting it in her bottle. That didn't work either, she took a few drinks and realized that it tasted bad and then refused to take anymore. So we went back to trying to squirt it in her mouth. We just weren't having any luck. She'd get some down, but most would come running out the side. On Monday I called the doctor back because I knew Lucy wasn't getting a full dose and I didn't know what else to try. They decided to redose the medicine, which meant that we had to start all over again! UGH. I aslo asked if we could divide the dose - I thought maybe that might work- 3/4 of a tsp at one time was too much.

So what finally worked? We divided the dose into 1/4 tsp and gave it 3 times. I also mixed up some sugar water to squirt in her mouth after to help her swallow and get rid of the horrible medicine taste. She seemed to be ok with taking it that way and did much better with it after that.

I also got sick on Tuesday with what I think must have been a cold. But, it was the WORST cold I have ever had in my life. By Wed, I was worthless. Thank goodness Dan works from home on Wed, because he had to watch Lucy and take care of her most the day. My eyes watered so bad I looked like I was crying, my nose was running so bad that I couldn't do anything because I was blowing every 10 seconds and I also had a fever. At 3pm I crawled in bed and stayed there the rest of the night.

I am happy to say that as of today, we are feeling almost back to normal. Dan caught the cold as well, but it hasn't knocked him out yet.

And in the midst of all this sickness there was Mother's Day. It was a pretty good day. We went to church and then headed to Springfield to go to Babies R Us, and then went to my sister's house that evening to spend time with the family. The evening ended abruptly when Griffin my 4 year old nephew got his hands caught in the treadmill while it was running. My sister has a nice finished basement and the kids were playing down there in the playroom while the adults were upstairs finishing their meal. We don't know exactly what happened but one of them got the key to the treadmill and turned it on and poor Griffin was caught. When we realized what was happening, all panic broke loose and people went flying thought the house to get downstairs. Luckily, Griffin still had all his fingers intact. He did have some pretty bad tread burns and he lost some skin from his fingers. Praise God is all I can say!

Whew! I could write more, but I'll save the rest for another post.

I am so thankful for Lucy

A few months back I was doing my usual online surfing. I frequent a few different baby message boards and chat with other moms who have babies around the same age as Lucy. It's a way for me to connect with other moms and talk about what our babies are doing. Well it was on one of these boards that I came across this story. I don't know these people, but when I read their story I was overwhelmed with sadness. Being a new mom, their story is especially hard. I have bookmarked their blog and I continue to read and pray for them as they are trying to move forward. I won't go into details, you can read the blog if you like. I would just like to ask you all to pray for them as well. They are going through a loss that I never, ever want to know. Grab a tissue before you read.

go to: richandjenn.blogspot.com

Chub

Before I had Lucy I was excited to register for one of these Bumbo Sitters. They are a foam seat that helps babies sit unassisted. I thought it was a great concept and was so thanful when my cousins Angie and Jennifer bought this for us. When Lucy was around 3 months I tried her in the seat and she did pretty well, but after a few minutes she cried and wanted out. Since then I have been getting it out every few weeks and trying her in it again. This morning I decided to pull it back out of the closet and try her in it again. She did pretty well and seemed to like it better than the previous attempts. I didn't leave her in very long so I'm not sure how she'd do for an extended time period. It was really funny when I went to take her out and the chair stuck to her butt. She's so chubby that I had to have Dan pull the seat off her. Her legs are so chubby that they are really stuck in there good. Maybe that's why she has never been too fond of this seat. Her chubbiness makes it uncomfortable??? Not sure, but she does look cute sitting in it. *sigh* she looks like such a big girl.