and then I wasn't frustrated anymore...

 

I know it is hard to believe, but sometimes babies give us parents a hard time. And then they smile like this, and the world is right again...

New "talents"

It is always exciting to see how Lucy develops and grows as a little person. We get excited to see her reach for things, roll, etc... But recently she has discovered, to an even more elevated state, the ability she has to yell. Before she would shriek happily when she was excited. Now she yells, and in a more continuous manner. It is not because she happy. She seems quite upset about something. It is difficult to handle.

We love her, but honestly lately I have really enjoyed her nap time. It gives my ears a chance to stop ringing. Yesterday I spent an hour (after Jimmy spent the first hour with her) of church walking around the building while she wailed at me. It was like she was telling me that she wanted to sleep, but she just couldn't commit herself to a nap.

My hypothesis is unsure, but I think it could be a combination of shots, lack of good sleep (which we tried to compensate with some rice cereal), just plain being sick, or something that we can not account for. I am rambling/whining simply because I know I am not alone and wouldn't mind a consoling opinion/advice. She really is a lovely little girl just going through a phase of aggravated yelling and tantrums. We pray it will begin to subside into a completely new phase (one of which we probably won't be able to handle either...).

Happy 4 months baby Lucy

Today we took Lucy to the doctor's for her 4 month appointment. Today is exactly 4 months from when she was born. Exciting huh?!  Well, it was a good appointment. We met the pediatrician here in Lexington, Lucy charmed her with her excellent ability to smile and wiggle. And then she had to get some shots. Ugh...

But she was very brave and cried only a little. And 20 minutes later she was asleep...conked out!

We are so happy to say she is healthy (50th percentile for weight and height, 90th percentile for head size!) and happy.

In other news, it is raining a lot today. I went for a run in the rain, and Jimmy thought I was crazy. I thought it was marvelous. It wasn't hot, and it was like taking a shower while exercising. Who can beat that? Today we are laying low. In fact we slept into 7 am. Yes, that is sleeping in....

What we have been doing lately

Mostly I wanted a chance to post some fantastic pictures of Lucy, but I will use them to talk about what we have been doing. It is not a lie to say that most of what we do involves Lucy.

I have been doing some other sewing projects besides the cloth diapers. One is this pencil bag Jimmy asked me to make. Nothing fancy, but the snaps just make me so excited. Thanks Melanie for suggesting it. 

 Lucy has been hanging around. She just wants to make sure she is safe. I am glad she is so conscious of her surroundings.

 She has also been working on her mullet. It will continue to thrive until the rest decides to come in thicker....

 She is learning to hug...stuffed animals. She still isn't a snuggler...

 And she is helping dad play the ukelele banjo. I adore this picture!!

 And she is getting more dressed up for the cooler weather. I stretched a hat Grandma Coop made for her. It stayed on her head for 5 minutes...

Basically I just love her sleeping pictures...

So that is what has been going on. Please keep trying the comments. I am not sure what is wrong with it, but I would love more feedback!

Please try the comments

So apparently there is still a problem with the comments. Please try. You shouldn't have to go through word verification, and I have it open to anyone...

And thoughts on why it may be giving me a problem? Post in the comments if you have ideas or if you want to test it.

Thanks!

Lucy goosey....

Isn't she cute? I really do think so. Below she is modeling the new cloth diapers I am in the process of making. Currently we have 4, which really only last half a day. I think I will make some more this weekend. I haven't been motivated to sew this week.

This week has been kind of weird. We are struggling with figuring out what to do to help Lucy to get into a better schedule. We want to be flexible to her needs, but we also want to help her normalize to a more or less predictable routine. Lately her nighttime sleep has been very sporadic, meaning each night seems to be different. One night she is up at 2am, another night 11pm, then 3 pm. It makes it difficult to start the day at the same time. Plus, she has decided she doesn't like getting her breast milk from a bottle. Oh, and her pacifier....Oh, well she is still figuring things out--and so are we.
 
Can you believe she is almost 4 months? She is learning to roll over, reach for things, play with her feet, and she likes to have squealing conversations sometimes. I can't believe how exciting and aware she is becoming. She is awesome. We love her.

By the way, my sister Gretchen went into the MTC this week. I miss her already, but I super excited for her desire to serve as a missionary. She is going to be fantastic! That brings the count of family members serving missions to three.  Come December, when Peder leaves, there will be four. I am so proud of each and every one of them. Which reminds me, I need to send out those letters I wrote a week ago...

Just to prove me wrong

Today I was talking to my sister about our little children learning how to roll over. Her son, who happens to be only 4 days older than Lucy has started rolling over. I told her that Lucy didn't seem to be anywhere near close to rolling over. Lucy was sitting with me at the time, and must have been taking mental notes, because an hour or so later, while she was doing some tummy time with Jimmy, she decided "you know, mommy said that I can't roll over...she doesn't know me! Haha! Watch me mom, here I go!" And as I walked into the room she went from her tummy to her back. Just like it was no big deal. And she did two more times, one of which I caught on camera. Sneaky little girl. I hope she doesn't make this a habit, proving me wrong all the time. Those teenager years might be a little tricky, if that is the case...

In other news, we have made it through 2 full weeks of working and schooling. I thought we might not make it, but everything seems to working out just fine. In fact, as Lucy begins to take more predictable naps, I am beginning some more substantial projects. Right now I am in the throws of cloth diaper making. Not easy for me, but easier on our overall budget, so it is worth it. We tried one of my homemade diapers on Lucy today, it leaked... But we are not giving up, I still have some patterns to tweak and some trick to try. Motherhood is so exciting, even when it is all about diapers and rolling over!

Our digs

I finally got around to taking a few picture of our apartment. Then I realized, maybe I shouldn't put the entire thing on our blog, because it is in fact public. Some crazy might want to take it from us... Anyways I will include a few pictures so that I can talk about why I so deeply and lovingly adore this apartment. 

The above picture really says it all. We have a screened in porch with a very functional porch swing. Jimmy put up some white Christmas light, and voila! Something this is nice night and day. It might be one of the most frequently used rooms because it is also one of Lucy's favorite places to be. She loves sitting on the porch swing. It is especially useful right around naptime!

We also have a very nice kitchen/dining area. This picture shows more of the dining part, but honestly who doesn't love them a bay window type of thing?! I think it is very quaint. Unfortunately our internet does not make it all the way to this end of the apartment, so we currently do all our computer work in our room. Blek! That is in the process of being fixed. Both Jimmy and I agree this is a much better space for homework/teaching prep.  More sunshine, more ability to distract oneself with the pleasant backyard view.

Our living room is well, similar to what it looked like before with the exception of the magnificent wooden floors. I L-O-V-E them! It is such an upgrade from our cement (covered with a million rugs) floors. I can't wait to get some furniture that looks more like we are grown-ups. We still look like poor college students--Oh wait! We are...

We have all the other great things like a bathroom (with a TUB--that would have been fabulous while I was a giant pregnant mess!) a bedroom for Lucy with two gigantic storage closets, a washer and dryer, and a bedroom for us.

But I will be honest, even though I am thrilled to have a much nicer place, for a still somewhat decent price, it all doesn't compare to the cutest of this little one. She is what makes this place awesome! I can almost overlook her ridiculously short 20-minute naps....