Lucy Love

A gluttony of Lucy photos for your viewing pleasure.

My favorite, favorite, favorite thing that Lucy does right now is, hold my face in her sweet little hands, and tell me, "I love you much." Sometimes she says, "I love you much, mom." It makes up for the time, and then some, when she pushed me, and said, "I push you."

Naughty and nice habits sometimes go hand in hand. And for the record, I think Lucy is the prettiest girl I have ever seen. And I'm her momma, so I get to think that.

Also, I don't want to forget how she yells, "YESS!! and runs (and her run is pretty darn cute) to the pool when I ask her if she wants to go swimming. Or how she says no to everything we say when she is grouchy. No bath! No treats! No milk! No crickets! No dragons! No octopus! We start making up ridiculous things when she is in this mood.

Or how she says, "I grouchy." Or adds an s, after everything. "I go in waters. Baths!!! Bye byes." It kills me when she says, "Ollie, sad," when Oliver sits under the table. She decided that all on her own. Or that she skips when she is super excited. I love that she is minimally whiney, super adventurous, cudley and affectionate, smart as can be, loves babies, a picky eater (OK I hate that she is a picky eater), happy, climbs into bed in the morning and snuggles, dances and is friends with everyone she meets. She is not my baby anymore. She is my Lucy and we get to be buddies. Pretty cool, right?

P.S. These are the kind of photos you get, when your child refuses to look at you and is super into daddy and not so much you at that particular moment. You get lots of running away from you photos.

I love every single one.

Miss Trouble

Lucy goes where Lucy wants to go.

Picture this: Clothes soaked through from the swim diaper, near naked baby, sacred birth stones and quiet special moments, from all those not connected to Lucy.

She ran screaming and crying through 1,000 year old birth stones. The place where Hawaiian Royalty came for centuries to have their babies. There may or may not have been tourists putting their hands on the stones, laying down wreaths of flowers, and attempting to absorb, what I can only imagine was feminine energy from the rocks.

I think their experience may or may not have been affected by a wild child running around, attempting to climb on the birthstones and otherwise wrecking havoc. For the record, we DID NOT, let her climb on the stones. But we lost the battle as far as clothes and tantrums went. I like to call this stance, "Whatever you do Mom, don't EVEN THINK ABOUT PICKING ME UP, or I will karate chop you in half."

Summer Fun

Scott and I have been wanting to plan an outdoor movie night ever since we moved into our house. And 4 years later, we never have. We got close last year, with our Lost Party Finale, but typical, it rained. Magically, though, I had a Friday free AND it was sunny and nice. Since we have disastrously burned pizza on the grill twice, we wanted to give calzones a try.

And it ended up being a win, win, win. We invited some family over, made up some dough, hung up a sheet and were ready to go. The only small problem with outdoor movies, is that it doesn't really work until 9 PM. It's not for the faint of heart (all you over 30 and younger than 3!) Wait, that was just about all of us.

Here are some photos of the affair. Yeah, our yard is big and crazy. Do you see all the gopher mounds? Or the huge patches of dirt. For some reason, that never stops little 20-month old toes.

A lucky star does not hang over me. I took this photo literally 2 seconds before it started raining. Until that moment, we had no idea it was coming. Reminds me of the time it rained out our Lost Party. Or my wedding. Or pretty much any part I plan.

Oh Happy Paris

Do you ever read the blog,

Oh Happy Day?! If you don't, you should. It's one of my favorites, and the author, Jordan, is living in Paris right now with her family. And she is giving away a trip to Paris. What?!? Scott and I have always talked about living in Italy for a year or two, but so far, we have never had the guts to just do it. Her experiences are making me rethink that. But, in the meantime I wouldn't mind a trip to Paris. I took 4 years of French in high school, with the sole goal of making a trip there. I even watch French films. And I sure like striped shirts. Doesn't that mean I we deserve it? It would be a dream. If we could manage getting the baby part, Paris would be the perfect Babymoon.

So, if you want to enter, (and you should, although it makes my chances worse), go here,

Oh Happy Day Goes to Paris

My fingers are crossed and triple crossed.

Now You See Her! Now You Don't!

Peak a Boo, is awfully entertaining. Her hands splayed out in the first photo kills me. She made sure to do that every time.

A Common Lament

How did this happen? How did my baby grow out of being a baby? In this photo she looks so grown-up. In a blink of an eye she is not even going to be a toddler anymore. I can see glimpses of the woman she is going to grow up to be. This makes me infinitely sad, yet utterly blessed. Lucy is my greatest joy. I still think that, even though Lucy cried screamed during every car ride today. I feel incredibly lucky to have such a beautiful, precocious, loving, happy, stubborn, independent, fashion loving little girl.

But oh, sometimes I miss her as a baby. Is there a way I can enjoy all the loveliness of today AND yesterday, whenever I want? Walk down the block, skipping with her, and hold her sweet little newborn body against mine when we fall asleep? And I guess that is one very good reason on why we have more babies. So we can have the best of both worlds.

I would like the best of both worlds, please.

The Longest Day EVER

The Polynesian Cultural Center seemed like a good idea at the time. $200, 10 melt-downs, 8 hours, epic puking, and two very worn out parents later, not so much.

More pictures and stories to follow.

A Girl and Her Dog

How can I be sad when I have these two?

I love when Lucy tells Oliver, "Ollie come on up!" and pats the bed. Getting Oliver was one of the best thing we could have done for Lucy. She has such a sweet heart around animals.