Phone Update

I don't think I have done a phone picture update since Lucy was born, I knew I was behind when my phone ran out of storage and I had 355 pictures on my phone.

This is how Lucy and I spent most of her first 4 weeks of life.

 Both of us were completely exhausted and the only way we could get rest was with Lucy nuzzled into my neck like a tiny kitten.

I am not sure what I was thinking, but during my pregnancy it had completely slipped my mind that newborns were utterly exhausting.

A few hundred of those pictures I mentioned earlier were daily pictures of Lucy.  How do you narrow it down when you love your baby so much??

Or when your other children love your baby so much??

Or when your baby is so sweet??

We are slowly starting to get back to normal and do other things besides adore Lucy.

For example the children are working on their cleaning skills.  Here is Jack's room and the picture below that one is his closet.  He cleans the same way my sister and I used to clean our rooms.

Jack, Lucy, and I joined Lilly at her school for a fundraiser walk.  All the kids loved peeking in at Lucy during the walk.

Jim and I went on a date when Lucy was three weeks old to the movies.  She screamed the whole way there and the whole way back but didn't make a peep during the movie.  We saw The Great Gatsby and I was very disappointed. It was not worth the money or the time away from sleep.

Oh and Lucy has cute hands.

Mother's day sign from Lilly.  It was too bright outside so I could not see the picture I was taking.

Lucy and I accompanied Jack on his field trip to the Bloomsburg children's museum.  Jack had a great time, he loves preschool.

I decided that I was fed up with answering the door and finding pushy sales people on the other side, so I took it upon myself to install a peep hole.  I drilled a hole through our solid wood door (pictured below) with my giant narwhal drill (pictured further below).

After I drilled the hole I painted the door and surrounding trim.  While the door was ajar drying a salesman rang my doorbell.  Are you kidding?? That peep hole couldn't come soon enough!  

This is how I function after I have a baby, I paint things.  After Lilly was born I stained two dressers.  After Jack was born I refinished a bedroom set.  Now, after Lucy was born I painted Jack's room and ceiling and redid the front door. I have many more painting projects I would like to tackle but Jim asked me to please stop.  I am really trying hard to stop. It's hard on everyone when I tear the house apart in my exhausted condition and then use all my energy on household projects.

Last night Jack went on his first campout with Jim to our ward's Father/Son camp out.  They had a fantastic time! Jack called the tent a blue castle and he slept the whole night in the blue castle.

Jack's imagination is growing by the day.  We play a lot of pretend with various animals, mostly alligators, dragons, sharks, and tigers.  He likes to pretend that we are all bee's and calls us "bee."  He will say "Bye, bee!" or "Where did bee go?" this can be in reference to any one of us, I imagine it's how the smurfs feel.  He refers to Lucy as baby bee.  He loves Lucy and always asks if he can "hold it" and is very interested in what she is doing.  When we are in public he introduces her and says "this is my baby Lucy."  He has come a long way from the first day we brought her home and he ran away from her declaring her a monster.

I have some pretty cute kids!

First day of church

Lucy went to church for the first time on Mother's Day.  She wore the dress my mother made for Lilly, both girls wore the dress on their first day of church.  I love that I have another daughter to share in the dresses.

Sister traditions!

Here are my other babies on Mother's Day.

I recreated the same picture of Jim and I holding Lilly as a baby but now with Lucy (below).  Lilly took the picture for us...now I just have to get my external hard drive to find the original picture from 7 years ago.

Lilly also took this picture on Mother's Day looking out our front door through the screen porch.  I love the perspective of a child (and all that blue sky).

Weekend with my Dad

My dad came to visit the first weekend in May.  He came to play with my children so I could sleep, and he could meet Lucy, visit us, and run in the Danville half marathon for the third year in a row.

It's always fun when papa comes to visit. He took us to restaurants all weekend and brought lots of treats and presents. I am still in the totally exhausted fatigued stage of early motherhood so I didn't participate in all the activities but my father kept my children occupied and highly entertained.

There was a lot of playing and jumping on the trampoline, aka the jumpoline, 

and a trip to Knoebels.

Race day we ventured downtown with the new stroller from papa and watched him cross the finish line. We ran into some friends who were also waiting for a runner.

Thanks for visiting Daddy and thanks for all the treats and wonderful stroller, we wish you could visit more!

Week with my mom

My wonderful mother was able to come and take care of us the week after Lucy was born.

She brought a car full of treats, food, presents, and goodies for everyone.  She made blankets and burp cloths for Lucy and clothes for me.

She took care of my house, laundry, dishes, and children so I could sleep.  I wish she could have stayed for a few months. It was very gracious of her to take a week off of work to come and work hard at my house.

She dressed Lucy and changed her diapers and held her and loved her.

My mom also made this beautiful quilt for Lucy.

(Jack was finished taking pictures.)

Here is Lucy at one week old on the beautiful quilt made by her loving grandma. I wish my mom could go back to full time sewing for her children and grandchildren, it's all beautiful and lovely.

Thank you for taking care of us Mommy.

The Great Tree Removal of 2013

These were the giant trees in our front yard.  The branches hung over our roof and every time we had a thunderstorm we worried that the trees would crush our home.

After years of quotes from professionals and debate we hired a guy to cut down the trees.  Of course we did not know Lucy would be born 9 days early so she was only 3 days old during the tree cutting.

We were all pretty sad to say goodbye to the trees but it needed to happen.  Luckily we got a few pictures of Lucy under the tree before they were cut down.  The one tree in my front yard is the tree where I took all my pictures outside, now I need a new spot.

And my tulips that we planted in the fall worked!