The day I actually put makeup on

Maybe some of your know this about me, but I really don't do the make-up thing. I am like a child who has his/her face painted. I want to touch it and rub it, and in the end there really isn't much left.

Well, my friends I decided last year around this time that it would be a good idea for Jimmy and I to go to what is called Barrister's, which is really just a law school prom sort of event. We haven't gone in the past because we didn't have any friends that would be sober at the event. But this year, there are two other couples in our Church that were going so it worked out. And it meant that I would need to put on some make-up and dress up more than I usually do. I mean, I haven't really dressed up like this since our...ahem... wedding. Yes, it has been that long. I am just not a fancy person. So here are some pictures from the event. Our camera decided to be silly and most of the pictures are kind of blurry.

I only put this picture because I want you to see some of other interesting attire at this event. Apparently cow-print is fancy!

We had a good time, even though we didn't stay for the whole thing. We ate, we tried to dance and we attempted to converse although the music was extremely loud so I am not entirely sure any of our conversations were completely understood.

In general I would say that this was people watching at its finest.

A little on Lucy

Can I just talk about Lucy for bit? Sure, why not this is my blog and it is about my family and Lucy is a very entertaining little person. So yes, I am going to talk about her.

This little girl has grown overnight, as they say. Her ability to communicate astounds us daily and she walks around the house like a little adult. Let me expound upon this.

First and foremost she repeats EVERYTHING! That includes prayers, when we are frustrated, the songs we sing, the numbers we count and, as we found out today, even some of the things that she hears on her Mickey CD. Today we heard her say "oh boy!" That is not  something that either of us say normally, so I stood their perplexed until her Mickey music chimed in with a loud "oh boy!" She loves that CD, I tell you. Especially because she is tall enough to reach the volume controls and will turn it up to full volume so everyone in town can hear. Sorry next door neighbor!

She also is becoming a little demanding when it comes to play time. "Mommy, lego too! Mommy run fast! Mommy walk fast! Mommy dance too! Mommy read it! Mommy play too!" Yes, she says all those things and then expects you to follow through promptly. So we do our best to entertain her, singing, dancing and reading, oh yes and running circles in her room. It is exhausting, though pretty darn cute.

And the last little tidbit of hilarity is her new found love of undressing while falling asleep. In the last few weeks there have been several times where we have entered her room after she has fallen asleep to find her un-zipped past her diaper. In fact just recently she will actually ask for help, if she is not too tired to "zip up!". Yesterday was my favorite, we walked in to find her bare-armed and her PJs around her feet. She was asleep mind you, more than half naked in her crib. So we had to pick her up to re-dress her, all this time while she was half sleep, quite confused.

And for another time, here is a picture to whet your appetite. Lucy is getting ready for the baby. She has always loved swaddling her stuffed animals, but recently she took her baby caring skills to a new level. I also think this is because Jimmy wants to get out of changing diapers. He did this by the way, but that was after Lucy attempted to do it herself.

From the mouth of our babe

It is 9:15 ish and I am literally dragging. Mondays are a crazy day around here, but let's be frank everyday has been crazy as of late. But back to Mondays. It is crazy because normally none of us are terribly excited about the coming week and we kind of take it all out on Mondays. Sorry Monday, you will just have to deal.

Today was not any different than the last. We got up, I went running/walking, we showered, packed our things and all went to our fulfill our duties. I went to teach at VMI, Jimmy went to Staunton, and Lucy went to her babysitters. When we all met up around 2pm we all looked a little worn-torn. Jimmy said our car has been grinding and I was just extremely tired. When we got home I saw the state of our house and went into stress-mode (i.e. try to clean everything all at once). It is not very productive because I continually find new things to clean and usually I can't finish what I started initially. And then I am even more tired and maybe just a wee bit emotional to boot. Lucy was fine. She was such a trooper. Jimmy and I are such basket cases about figuring our the next few months and Lucy just brings so much happiness to the situation. I called someone about borrowing a car until we could get our car in and out of the mechanics and then we all had some snacks. Sounds bad right? I know it was mostly our attitudes, but times seem perilous when you are cranky.

And that was how 3:00 pm looked, Jimmy and I dragging, Lucy running around like a banshee, happy and giddy. When Jimmy left to go back to school I decided, well I should do the dishes. And so I did the dishes and started the laundry, and, and, etc... To this I heard miss Lucy cry, "Mommy play!" I think she knows, like Jimmy, when I need to slow down and relax. So I went into her room and we played with her Duplos. By golly it made me feel better. Not to mention she actually played out a little scene for me when she took the cougar, which she calls "roar!", and fed it a carrot and then said "tasty!" Yes, her cougar likes carrots.

Later as I was making dinner she was rolling around on the floor with the quilt I made her, pretending to be sleeping, sporadically questioning "dinner-time?" It wasn't nagging which was a pleasant surprise.

When Lucy and I finally sat down for dinner, pancakes with peanut butter and cinnamon apples she enthusiastically announced her love for peanut butter and happily ate. In fact she didn't spill any on the floor or really on herself. It was just the miracle I needed today. Dead serious. After dinner, we cleaned up, got our wiggles out, cleaned up our toys and right before the bath read some of Lucy's books. Simple, not stressful and again, just what I needed on this Monday.

Mondays are terrible(I am being very dramatic), but thankfully Lucy doesn't care about that. She really did turn my whole mood around. Let's give a hip-hip- hooray for Lucy! She has saved us all from another hard Monday. 

Mr. Coopito

For completeness sake, I thought I would write a little something about our most recent news. Yesterday we had the 20 week sonogram to look at Coopito. You know the exam where they look at the head, the heart, the stomach, the brain and oh yeah, if you are having a chica or chico? And it was pretty darn obvious when the technician pointed it out to us. We are having a boy! Awesome huh?

Let's be real for a second. A girl would have been equally as awesome. We already have a TON of girl clothes. We like girls. Lucy is pretty awesome, and we can only assume if Coopito had been a girl it would have been just as awesome. I only write this so you don't think I was counting on a boy, and would have been disappointed if it was a girl. That is definitely not the case. Hooray for girls and hooray for boys!

So, just so you know this is the first Cooprider (Jimmy's parents) grandson. That is pretty cool. And that is that. I can definitely see why people choose not to find out the gender until the end. Besides being able to plan for clothes and nursery colors, it really doesn't matter. As long as they are healthy, right?

Here are a few pictures of the little man.