8 Months

Lucy turned 8 months last week! Wow, is she a big girl!

Shes wearing 12 month clothes and drinks a solid 8 oz everytime she eats. She still only has two teeth (tooth #2 came in on May 13th) but I'm pretty sure the top two are working their way down. Shes not a very consistent sleeper but I guess we can't have 2 great sleepers..that wouldn't be fair right?
She has the Dadadada sound mastered and is now working on Nananana. She loves to sit in her bouncer and watch Mickey Mouse clubhouse and she loves to play on the floor with her toys. She sits up completely by herself now and has started showing the first signs of getting ready to crawl. She actually got up on all 4s the other day! Since she can't crawl she is content with rolling around EVERYWHERE.

Shes getting really interested in eating. If she sees you eating something she usually wants some too. She watched me eating a Hawaiian Ice the other day and started screaming until I gave her some. Oh my, did she love it! I couldn't get it in her mouth fast enough.

Lucy is such a cutie pie! She laughs all the time and has the cutest cheeser grin. Shes been doing this super funny thing with her tongue where she makes these smacking sounds. I need to get in on camera but its seriously hilarious.

She loves her swing and loves sitting in the grass. I put her in the swing today with the sprinklers on...she didn't like that much.

Loves her baths and has just started splashing alot. So cute!

She prefers her mommy to pretty much everyone which I'm totally fine with and she still thinks her big brother is the funniest thing ever!

I can't believe that in 4 short months she'll be a year old.
We're taking her on her first vacation to Lake Powell in a couple of days so I guess we'll find out what kind of a water baby she really is!

6 months!

Lucy turned 6 months on 4/13/2011.

She weighs 18lbs 1 oz and is 80%
She is 26.25 inches tall and 70%
Her head is 44.5cm and 90% (My babies must have big brains to need a noggin that big)
Shes pretty much outgrown size 2 diapers and I just bought a case of size 3
Shes wearing 6-9 months clothes and sometimes, depending on the brand, 12 months.

Poor princess got 2 shots at her checkup

On 4/20/2011 Lucy started rolling over, ON PURPOSE. Around this same time she also started sitting up by herself for short periods.

Tooth # 1 came in on 4/25/2011, bottom left. The bottom right has been slooooowly working its way out for about a week. Hopefully it breaks through cause poor little baby girl is hurtin! She hasn't been sleeping very well and has been waking up in the middle of the night for more teething tablets or tylenol. Poor thing :(

Here are a few of her likes (and dislikes):
-#1 LOVES to be held!
- #2 LOVES her big brother! Seriously belly laughs at him all the time. Noone else can get her to laugh like he does. Good thing he loves her as much as she loves him!
- loves to sit in her highchair and watch mommy cook
- loves her bouncer
- loves her crinkly flower and crinkly fish toys
- loves bathtime
- hates getting dressed
- hates keeping her poo in her diaper (no, this isn't her fault but I'm pretty sure she doesn't like it)
- still hates loud noises. She'll cry everytime someone even laughs to loud.
- loves to swing outside on the playground
- loves walks in the stroller
- hates having the sun in her eyes
- loves story time and loves when mommy sings to her

Some silly things she's been doing lately
-screams just to hear her own voice
-sticks her tounge out the side of her mouth.
-rolls over and over and over all over the floor.
-when she gets mad, and I mean really mad she blows raspberries.
-loves being tossed in the air
-is getting better at eating solids. Has had cereal, oatmeal, bananas, avocados, carrots and pears
-is getting better at playing on her own for extended periods of time. Yay!
-last but not least, no more colic!

Happy 6 months Princess Pie!! Love you Sweets!

Avocados and Cereal

I seriously didn't think it would happen but she likes them! Lucy L-O-V-E-S avocados! Oh, and she had decided to like rice cereal after several attempts with it :)

quickie

Couple quick updates before I forget about them and their gone forever from my malfunctioning memory

Yesterday 03/18/2011 Lucy rolled over!
I seriously doubt it was on purpose but nonetheless she did it!
I layed her on the her blanket on the floor, turned around to grab the camera (like barely half a second) and by the time I turned back around, she was on her back staring at me like "what the crap just happened!" So cute!

On 03/17/2011 We attempted bananas. Lucy loved them! Since then she has been eating about an inch of banana a day. I'm pretty happy since the attempt with rice cereal was a complete bomb.

On 3/17/2011 We had Parker's SEP conference. He is doing so well! He's reading at a level E, can count perfectly to 100 and past it, has all of his homework in, and has the best classroom manners ever! I'm super proud of that little bug! His goals for the end of the year are to read 3 leveled library books per night instead of one and to work on writing all the letters of the alphabet correctly.

*5 months*

My little 5 month old baby girl is getting so big! It was only a few weeks ago that I broke out the 3-6 month clothes and she's already to big for alot of them. I don't think shes even worn every outfit yet. Over the weekend I washed and hung all of her clothes up to 12 months....wow, she is gonna be a DIVA! her closet is fuller than mine :)

Not a whole lot has changed with Lucy since the 4 month update. She is getting stronger though. I think she'll be sitting up on her own and rolling over in no time.

Today while I was taking a quick nap before work, John came into the bedroom totally FREAKING OUT. He goes off on telling me about how Lucy has the worst poopy diaper he has ever seen and that its all the way up her back up to her neck, on her arms, etc etc and he has NO IDEA what to do. So, after getting about a 15 minute nap I got up, calmly (poop really isn't that big of a deal!) re moved the poopy clothes and diaper, got her cleaned up and bathed and in her jammies for the night. The entire time John is nowhere to be found. Seriously. He disappeared LOL. The man can gut an animal with best of them but when it comes to baby poo....NO WAY!

Lucy is such a talker! She coos and screams, yes screams, all day long. The screaming isn't crying is more like "Oh my gosh I found my voice and I'm gonna use it!" squealing. It's seriously hilarious and pretty darn cute!

The past couple of days she has been fussier than normal and today after I got to work John texted me saying she was burning up and had a fever of 102.5. After some tylenol and cool bath it was down to 101.9 by bedtime. John said she seemed to be feeling alot better when he put her down. I really hope so. I hate hate hate it when my babies are sick :(

Lucy gets prettier and prettier every day. It seems like her eyes are a different color every time I look at them. Sometimes they're all blue, sometimes mostly brown with some blue and on days like today they look green! I think she inherited her mommy's kaleidascope eyes!

The next few months are going to be soo exciting! I can't wait to watch her learn and grow and discover everything that this world has to offer!

Lucy said Dada!

I know she didn't intentionally say it but yesterday morning while Lucy was hanging out in her swing, babbling away, she said "dada". Clear as day! John and I looked at eachother and we were both like "Did she really just say that!!" John was seriously grinning from EAR to EAR!!
Daddy loves his little girl :)

~**4 months**~

LucyLu is 1/3 of the way through her first year. This month has been a BLAST with her. She is such a happy little stinker!
Here's her 4 month stats and a few things that she's been up to this month.

She is 25 inches tall, 14lbs 11oz, 42cm head. 75% all around.
-smiles and laughs so much these days!
-still sleeping through the night like a champ. 8pm-8am baby!!
-she is very interactive with her toys now
-chews on everything...mostly her fist but likes her toys and blankets too.
-we tried to feed her cereal on Tuesday but she wanted NOTHING to do with it
-consistently eats 5 6oz bottles a day
-we now have a daily schedule in place that has Drastically changed her little diva attitude. She has a bottle around 8:30, takes a nap with mommy from 9-11:15 when we pick Parker up from school. Then its home for play time and another bottle. For playtime she likes to lay on the floor watching her musical light up toy. She also LOVES watching her big brother play. At around 2pm she starts getting a little fussy, which is cue for 'I'm tired and hungry'. After a bottle is down for a nap. She usually sleeps for a good 3 hours during this nap, which is lovely for me since I work graves and the only sleep I get during the day is when she naps. After waking up she has another bottle and some more playtime until dinner. At around 8-9 she gets a bath, bottle and bed. And thats a wrap!
-she's mobile! While laying on her back she can turn herself in a circle.
-LOVES to snuggle....totally fine by me!
-loves being tossed in the air and swung around...she seriously belly laughs every time.
-loves to hold her hands or hold my hands
-holds her bottle by herself when it's not to full
-loves her big brother!! She watches him like a hawk!
-loves her daddy...he can make her smile everytime he looks at her. So sweet!
-looks just like Parker...not even kidding. Almost the spitting image
-going bald....I know, so sad! *sniff*
-has the absolute most cutest little thunder thighs ever! I love love love to squeeze them.
-has the most beautiful little face ever! Big dark eyes (can't tell if theyre going to stay blue or go brown) long dark lashes, cute little button nose...I could go on and on and on!
Love her!

Lucy wearing Parkers onsie...everytime I look at this picture I think I'm looking at Parker!

Happy 4 months (on 2/13) princess

(Yes, this is a couple weeks late :)

Winter ride

Finally!! We got the horses out and headed up the hills. It felt so great to get out. I haven't ridden since I found out I was pregnant! I was a little nervous that Cyera was gonna try and throw me, but she actually did very well. I'm one super proud momma!

Me and Cyera

John and Park riding...um, I can't remember his name!
I swear my dad has told me his name probably 50 times and I still can't remember it. In my defense, I did just have a baby...mommy brain!

Watch out Titanic

During the windstorm and the warm weather we had a couple of weeks ago the ice on Utah Lake broke up and was washed ashore...in HUGE piles. This is the west side of West Mt. The pictures do not do this mounds of ice justice. I've never seen anything like this before in my life! It was AWESOME!

John and P man getting ready to scale the iceburg

Bird Island...it has never been visible from Lincoln beach but, lo and behold, here it is. Covered in ice. Covered!

They made it! Now, hopefully then can get back down

~*Silly Faces!*~

I have thee cutest kiddies ever!

LuLu Bell just hangin' out

First time in the high chair!

Peek-a-boo!

Parker made Lucy 'Queen of the day!'

He L-O-V-E-S his little sissy

Lovey Dovey Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

My super cute tulips picked out especially for me by my sweet little Parker man

Parker's Valentine's cards for his class. We spent an afternoon doodling on the cards and making a huge mess with shaving cream and food coloring but they turned out awesome and the kids LOVED them!


Every year I buy one or two new decorations for each holiday but this year I couldn't find any Lovey Dovey Day ones that I liked so, what did I do? I made my own :) I think they turned out pretty darn cute.

This was by far the easiest. With the help of my handy dandy Cricut I whipped out this baby in abou 5 minutes flat.

Can I just say how much I LOVE how this topiary turned out? This project had dual purposes...the first to beautify my home and the second to keep me awake during a graveyard shift. Both missions accomplished! On a side note...how darling are my cute little birds?? I am absolutely in love with these little guys!

This project was also dual purpose, and so easy! All this one took was a metal hanger (lucky me, the hubs had a pink one :) and some fabric and VOILA...a cute VDay wreath. My fingers were a little tired by the end of the night after tying all those knots but it was worth it!

Alright, so this one is a little bitter sweet for me. I had actually just put the last piece of candy on the big one when there was an unexpected knock at the door and a man waiting there to tell me that my sweet little Moo was gone. I'm half tempted to chuck it since every time I look at it I think of my little Moo and how maybe if I hadn't been preoccupied with this stupid thing she may still be here. But, then again, I love having little reminders of her around the house, so I think I'll hang on to it for awhile. At least until the candy starts rotting. Anyone know the shelf life for a conversation heart??

Overcoming the 'R' word

Well, it's 5:20 am. Only 1.5 hours left of work. Here I sit hoping and praying that I can keep my eyes open until my relief gets here. Only 1.5 more hours and I can go curl up in my comfy bed and go to sleep.

At least, thats what I should do. But I won't. I won't because my sweet little princess will be waking up soon. 7:30, on the dot. I won't go to sleep because I miss her. I miss listening to her coo in her crib before I get her up. I miss her happy little morning self as she smiles and giggles for no reason. I miss snuggling with her while she has her breakfast. Rocking her and enjoying the peaceful quiet of the morning.

I won't go to sleep because I miss waking up my little man for school. I miss making him breakfast every morning..."toast and eggs please, Mom" I miss eating breakfast with him and talking about what the day might bring. These times go by way to fast, and I'm missing them.

Since returning to work these moments are very few and far between. I know that I should be getting some decent rest since I have to be back to work in 12 short hours for another long 12 hour shift but the guilt eats at me and I can't sleep. I feel guilty that I'm home but not spending time with my kids. How selfish of me to be sleeping while they wait for me to wake up to play. Selfish that I leave them with their Grandpa who has a million things to get done but doesn't do them so he can take care of my kids. How grateful we are for Grandpa!!

These feelings of guilt lead me to feel sad, then the sadness leads to anger. I'm angry that I have to go back to work instead of being able to stay home with my babies and watch them grow up. Anger turns into resentment. Resentment towards myself that I'm not a stay-at- home mom. Resentment towards my husband for not being able to 'provide' for us on his own. And then resentment back on myself for resenting my husband for something he can't control. Thats alot of dang resentment! Ugh, this is an evil evil cycle that I have no idea how to break.

The only thing I can think of is to sell our home and downsize, downsize, downsize. But then the selfish in my creeps back in and I don't want to give up my beautiful home or my awesome neighborhood. I don't want Parker to have to change schools. I don't want to move away from my family that are all so close. Enter resentment. Why do I have to be so selfish?? Is it wrong to want to live in a nice home with great neighbors in a neighborhood where I know for a fact that NOTHING EVER HAPPENS! A neighborhood where I feel safe letting my son play with all the other kids in the area. I don't have to worry that their parents are dealing drugs or commiting crimes or any of the other crazy stuff that I see happen on a daily basis.

So, for now, I'll live with these feelings and do my best to compensate for my absence. I'll squeeze in many more hugs and kisses and 'I love yous' when we're all together (including the hubs who doesn't get those things nearly as much as he deserves. He really is great!). I will resist the urge to say 'yes' to the overtime calls. I will not bring work home with me or allow it to alter my attitude at home. I will play extra hard and laugh extra long with my babies. We will snuggle, read, play, and snuggle some more. I may not be able to spend every waking minute with them but I WILL maximize every minute that we have together!

J, P and L... I love you to the moon and back!

15 weeks!

As of today Lucy is 15 weeks old. Wow, where does the time go....

Couple of quick updates about how shes growing.
According to my bathroom scale she is about 14lbs...chunky monkey!
I just broke out all of her 3-6 month clothes. Some of her 0-3 clothes still fit but the majority of them don't.
She is so smiley!! I love getting her up in the morning because she just giggles and coos and is all smiles for mommy! It's so funny to listen to her through the monitor giggle at only she knows what.
She's drinking between 6-8 oz at one time now.
She wakes up at 7:30 ON THE DOT...seriously, every day, without fail. I think its because thats when the sun comes up and she wakes up when her room gets light. She'll have a bottle, play for about 30 minutes and then its down for nappy time. She only sleeps for about an hour at a time unless we're in the car...car rides Knock Her Out! Throughout the day she'll take naps but they hardly ever last longer than an hour.
She is starting to really love her swing and loves taking her naps in it. She's also really started enjoying her time playing on the floor. She loves to lay on her back and watch the lights on her toy light up. She has started taking interest in toys! I caught her swatting at one, making in jingle. Pretty sure she thought that was fantabulous cause she went at it for a good 30 minutes.
Lucy can hold her head up pretty much on her own yet and loves to play 'Big Girl' where she gets a death grip on my fingers and I pull her up to a sitting position. I think she'll be attempting to sit on her own here pretty quick.
She is not nearly as colicky as she used to be. I've even stopped giving her Prevacid for reflux. I stopped about a week ago and she's still fine so hopefully that phase is over and done with.
We had her blessing on the 9th. We just did it at our house and invited our immediate family. Lucy looked adorable in her blessing dress!! My dad blessed her for us...it was such a sweet blessing.

She has her 4 month appointment in a couple of weeks. She'll be getting, of course, more shots but I'm excited to see her stats and how much she has grown.
She is seriously such a sweet little angel and we are so so blessed to have her as part of our family!

2 Months!!

2 months have passed since our little princess joined our family and we couldn't be happier!

Lucys checkup went well. She got 3 shots which was super sad :( but the Dr. said she looks great! She weighs 11lbs 8 oz (70%) shes 24.25 " tall (95%) and her head is 40.25cm (80%)
He prescribed her some Prevacid to see if it helps her tummy. Poor thing could use some relief!

Lucy has Finally started smiling!! Not alot, but enough for me :) She started cracking little grins about a week ago but now I can get her to smile a couple of times a day. It's pretty sad that 2 or 3 smiles a day makes me happy but she is seriously such a grumpy little thing that I'll take anything I can get LOL.

She ALWAYS sleeps through the night. I put her to bed around 10 or 11 and she'll sleep until 7:30-8:30ish. She'll wake up, have breakfast, and go back to sleep until 11:30. I am SO thankful that she is a good sleeper, even if it is only at night. And, I'm happy to announce that she is SLEEPING ON HER BACK!! Yay!

She rarely sleeps during the day. She cries when I put her down and if I'm holding her she has to be bounced or rocked. I can't imagine how bad her tummy must hurt if she can't even sleep during the day. I've tried so many different things to get her some relief but I don't know if any of it helps. I've tried changing my diet around, giving her formula, mixing formula and milk etc etc. I'm at a loss! But, this to shall pass right?!

On the tooth front, the Dr. said he doesn't think her teeth are breaking through but that they may be pushing on her gums enough that it causes her discomfort. Duh! I can feel them under her gums Doc. She's also started drooling ALOT! That was a huge indicator that Parker was teething so we'll see what happens.

She's completely grown out of her newborn clothes and is comfortably snug in her 0-3 month clothes. She'll be moving up before I know it!

She still really likes her baths and LOVES showers! She just really really hates getting out.

She can hold her head up pretty much all by herself now and shes got quite the grip! I can put a toy in her hand and she'll hang on for dear life. She really doesn't have any interest in them though LOL.

Lucy is such a cutie and so so sweet!! Happy 2 month birthday Lulu! Mommy loves you!

Speaking of teeth...

update: The tooth vacated its residence on Dec 16th. Yay Parker!

Parker has his first loose tooth!! Its his bottom middle tooth and it's already got a tooth coming in behind it...weird! He's super excited for the tooth fairy experience to start :)

Teeth!!

Yesterday was a pretty hard day. I went shopping while Parker was at school thinking Lucy would sleep the whole time. Boy was I wrong! She cried from the minute we walked in until we left, cried all during the drive home. The only time she wasn't crying was when I was holding her or she was sucking on her binkie. So while I was holding her she spit out her binkie and started crying. As I went to put her binkie back in her mouth I saw this little white dot on her gums. I didn't even think about it being a tooth at first cause she's only 7 weeks old. Honestly I had no idea what it was. I stuck my finger in there to get it out. Needless to say, it wasn't going to come off LOL. No wonder she was so grumpy! she has this little teeny white tooth poking its way through her gums. She didn't sleep ALL DAY! She was awake from 8am until midnight last night...and let me tell you, I was EXHAUSTED! But surprisingly, she did sleep all night and woke up around 7:30. And now, guess what?! She's taking a nap! I have a feeling today will be much better than yesterday :)

**6 weeks!**

Happy 6 weeks birthday Lucy Lu!

Here's a couple of quick updates on how much Lucy is changing:

She can cry REAL tears! Sad huh! A couple of days ago I left her crying in her crib while I was getting dressed and man was she MAD! When I went in to get her she had little baby tears streaming down her face and her eyes were all red and puffy. I felt so so bad but at the same time it was kind of a sweet moment...getting to see someones first tear drops :)

This past week has been kind of a nightmare. Lucy cried all day for two days. If she wasn't being held she'd cry. If she wasn't being held the way that she wanted she would cry. She wouldn't sleep. She was throwing up all of her food after every meal. I was at my wits end and wanted to run away! So I was trying to figure out if my milk was causing it. I fed her formula for a couple of feedings and , what do ya know, she kept it down and went to sleep! HEAVEN!! So I started doing some research to figure out if maybe she's allergic to my milk. Everything I read said babies cannot be allergic to their moms milk BUT that she may be having a reaction to the cows milk that I drink. Either that or nuts causes alot of issues for newborns. Since I don't eat nuts I figured it must be the cows milk....I seriously drink like 4-5 glasses of milk a day. And thats not including my milk and cookies snack. So yesterday I cut all dairy out of my diet and, guess what!? It worked! She slept like an angel yesterday and slept 8 hours last night! I hope that as she gets older I can gradually work the milk back in to my diet but we'll see.

She HATES laying on her back. She screams and flails her arms around like shes falling. She does love laying on her tummy though! It makes getting her comfy at night hard. They say babies should sleep on their back. So what do you do if your baby WILL NOT sleep on their back?? So, I'm gonna get the Mom of the Year award for this, but I let her sleep on her tummy. I know, I'm gonna go to hell, but she's gotta sleep right?! At night, in her crib, she sleeps on her boppy, kind of in an upright position but during they day it's all tummy time! She curls up in a little ball with her feet tucked under her and her arms under her head. So cute!! Tonight I'm going to try to raise her mattress up at one end so she's not flat on her back...hopefully that helps!

Speaking of tummy time, her little neck is so strong! She can easily flip her head from side to side and can hold it up for a good minute or so at a time. When shes laying on my chest on her tummy she'll hold her head up and just stare at me. It's the cutest thing ever!!

She's doing much much better nursing and really only gets bottles when we're in public and when she wakes up for the first time in the morning. I'm so glad cause I was seriously losing my patience with the whole thing and was thinking about just quitting altogether.

Lucy has pretty much outgrown her newborn sized clothes and its fitting into the 0-3 months. And, as of about a week ago, she upgraded from newborn to size 1 diapers. Wow! She weighs about 10 lbs and is as cute as ever! She still gets the hiccups alot and has started cooing :) Last night I could have swore she smiled a little too.

Love you Lucy babe!

Pumpkin Carving and Halloween Fun

For Halloween this year Parker chose to be a dragon from How To Train Your Dragon. He is a Deadly Nadder...scary! I seriously hate these stupid cheap costumes from Walmart but with a new baby in the house I really didn't have time to make him one. Oh well, the mask is pretty cool! Lucy was a little Pumpkin since that has been her nickname since we found out we were having an October baby. I did make her costume since Icouldn't find an infant sized one. I tye dyed a onsie orange, made a bow and a tutu and called it good :)

The Deadly Nadder and Lil' Pumpkin

A couple of nights before Halloween we finally got around to carving pumpkins. Park had a blast!

I think Dad did too :)

Lucy Marie Robbins 10/13/2010

Ok, Ok, I know I'm only about 4 weeks late with this post but here it is :)

Baby Lucy's birth story

Wednesday Oct 13th started like every other day. It was my first official day of maternity leave and I had A MILLION things to get done. We were planning on going to Lake Powell for a few days for a little relaxation and we were leaving late that night.

I started the day bright and early at 7:30. I got Parker ready for school and got a load of laundry going. While Parker was at school I went to the grocery store and got all the shopping for the trip done. After picking Parker up from school we came home and I got to cleaning. I did both bathrooms, cleaned my room, did more laundry, dusted, etc etc. I have this huge issue with leaving my house messy while I go on vacation. What can I say, I like coming home to a clean house :)

After I got the majority of the dirty work done I got myself cleaned up. I still had a few errands to run so I was rushing and pushing myself alot more than I should have been. After I showered and got dressed I went to switch the laundry again. It was about 2:30 and I was moving the clothes from the washer to the dryer when I dropped one of Parker's little socks. I bent down to pick it up and SPLASH!!! Gross right?! I sat there for a couple of seconds kind of shocked then said "Oh shit!"

After I came to terms with what was going on I got moving again. John got that dreaded call of "Honey, we're having a baby." So, while he was on his way home I put my makeup on and started getting my hair done. I couldn't show up at the hospital looking like a drowned rat right?! So, John got home and wanted to go right to the hospital. I, on the other hand, had a ton of stuff to get done before we went. However, it was slightly uncomfortable doing ANYTHING while feeling like every time I moved I was peeing my pants!

I didn't have my hospital bag actually packed but I had made a very detailed list of things we would need. So, I got John started on the list while I finished my hair. Then I realized that Parker needed somewhere to go, so I called my mom and dad and neither answered. So I kind of started freaking out at that point. I mean, seriously, of all days for this to happen it HAD to be today. She couldn't have waited three days to let me go on vacation. She couldn't wait until I was all the way ready for her. Nope, my kids ARE NOT patient.

So anyway, my dad finally called me back and said he'd come get Parker. I got my bag all packed and I got the rest of the laundry done. I had been yelling at Park all day to get his room cleaned. As my luck would have it, he didn't clean any of it. Not one little bit. So, I went in and got it semi straightened up. I know, I'm kind of psychotic. It drives me CRAZY to come home from vacation or whatever to a messy house. I wanted to get the floors vacuumed and the kitchen floor mopped but by this point it was already 4:30 and John was getting really, and I mean really pissed off that I wasn't ready to go yet. Not to mention Dr. Nance told me to go straight to the hospital when my water broke. So, we finally got Parker and Maisy off to Grandma and Grandpas and we left for the hospital.

As we pulled into the hospital I took one look at the parking lot and started refreaking. There were so many cars there! And here I was looking like I had peed my pants! I had to walk all the way from the parking lot to the labor and delivery unit with John walking behind me so noone would see my 'accident' LOL.

We got all checked in and settled in our room by 5:15. The nurse checked me and I was at a whoppin 2 and 90% effaced. I wasn't having any noticeable contractions. Dr. Nance wanted to induce me but I really didn't want any Pitocin. I wanted to start labor naturally but he decided that since my water had broken 3 hours earlier and I still wasn't having any contractions that he wanted to start me. So, they started me at 4 of pitocin to see if that would get me moving along. I had them do the epidural at 6:20 since when they started me with Park I went from a 1 to a 10 in an hour. I didn't want to be caught without it. At 7 I was checked again and was about a 3. So, a couple hours rolled by with very little progress and still no noticeable contractions. I was starving, thirsty and SO uncomfortable from the epidural. I had tubes coming out of my hand, my back, and two tubes up my yoohoo! The nurse checked me again at 9:20 and I had upgraded to a freaking 3. I was seriously almost in tears. I was wishing I hadn't even had the epidural cause it was causing me so much stress and discomfort. Around 10pm John headed down to the cafeteria to get some dinner. I was laying there, by myself ten minutes later when I started feeling hard contractions. After about 15-20 minutes they started getting more and more intense until they were coming every minute or so. I was in SO much pain so I tried to push my epidural dose button but the damn thing was nowhere to be found. So, I tried to call for the nurse but the damn nurse calling thing was nowhere to be found either. I couldn't move from the waist down so I was feeling around everywhere trying to find those damn buttons! I gave up and just laid there. Miserable and alone. Waiting for my husband to come back from his dinner run. I assumed he was going to get his food and come back to the room and eat it, but no...he stayed in the cafeteria to leisurly eat his food while I laid there, alone and in pain!! He FINALLY came back about the same time the nurse came in to check on me. At 10:40 she checked me and I was FINALLY at a 10! She had given me my epidural button to push but told me it would take at least 15 minutes to start working. I pushed that sucker like there was no tomorrow!! She had the anesthesiologist come in and give me an extra dose of epidural at 11:00. Dr. Nance called at a quarter to 11 and said he was stuck in traffic. CRAP! But at about 11:10 he FINALLY made it. He took one look at me and said "Get ready, you're gonna have a baby!" Seriously, why does everyone say that? Do they think I don't know?? So, he gets all situated down there and about 1 minute later tells me to get ready to push. I pushed 6 times through 2 contractions and little Lucy was here!! She was born at 11:22pm weighing 8lbs 9 oz and she was 20 inches long and absolutely perfect!!

While they were getting her all cleaned up the weirdest thing happened...I started itching, like crazy! All over my face, neck and head. I seriously could not scratch my head hard enough. The anesthesiologist didn't know why but gave me some benadryl. It only lasted about 20 minutes and then stopped. Weird!

Finally at about 2am we got all settled into our room and we finally got a little rest!

During our time at the hospital Lucy's blood sugar levels were low so they had to test her every three hours. Her poor little feet were so bruised :(

Finally on Friday we got to go home! When we left the hospital she was down to 8lbs 1oz but was doing fantastic.

Her first couple of weeks she was such a good sleeper! She would sleep all day and only wake up to eat. She would sleep for 5-6 hours at a time.

At her 2 week checkup she was up to 8lbs 11oz (64%) 22in (95%) and her head was 37.5cm (83%). I have a feeling shes going to be tall and skinny like everyone else in the family, except me! I'll be the short chunky one in all of our family picutres LOL.

Now, at 4 weeks, shes starting to show that she has quite the attitude! She is still sleeping really well at night. Anywhere from 5-8 hours. But the daytime is a completely different story. She loves loves loves being held and she cries if I put her down. Needless to say I don't get a whole lot done during the day. It's ok though. I forces me to slow down and relax and enjoy my time with her. Lucy is a super good eater. She eats every 4-5 hours during the day and once during the night, usually about 5 oz at a time. She gets the hiccups after almost every feeding, just like when she was still in my tummy. I knew she was gonna be a hiccuper LOL. Shes started making eye contact and she LOVES to stare at my face. She also really likes to be on her tummy which is completely opposite from Parker. He hated tummy time! Lucy is super strong and can turn her head from side to side while shes laying on her tummy and she can hold it up for a couple of seconds while shes laying over my shoulder. She still has a ton of dark curly hair and her eyelashes seem to grow longer overnight. Oh, and weird thing that I totally did not expect, she has BLUE EYES! Huge, gorgeous blue eyes. We are definitely gonna have our hands full with this one!

On a side note, Parker has done great with transitioning to big brother instead of only child. He was a little jealous at first but is completely over it and LOVES to help out. He loves to hold her and 'pet' her head. He loves to help mommy by getting diapers, blankets, burp rags etc. I do feel bad that I don't have as much time with him as I used to and I tend to have less patience. I think its been harder for me to deal with having another child in the house than it has been for him. However, it has been hardest on Maisy. She gets so jealous of Lucy and she has to be touching me wherever I am. She'll even sleep on my foot if I'm sitting on the couch with my feet on the floor. She seems to be getting better and is accepting the way things are now but it was really very sad for the first couple weeks.

I'll end this post before it becomes a novel but I'm going to try and do weekly posts so I'm not so overwhelmed :)

What a gentleman!

This morning while getting ready to leave for work, Parker and I were walking out the garage door. He opens the door, pauses, then steps aside and says "Ladies first!" as he waves his hand at me to walk ahead of him. Seriously, how cute is that?!?! Love my little man!