Today's Appointment

Lucy had her 1-year appointment and immunizations today. All weekend she has had a horrible runny nose keeping her up all night, which I attributed to another tooth coming in. Yesterday her left eye had boogers too. So she has pink eye and has to take drops for a week (should be fun trying to administer those!) Our appointment was at 9:40 this morning and we did not get into the office until 10:40. Now, believing that we would be somewhat on time, all I had packed was a sippy cup with water and a few goldfish crackers. We were cutting into nap time too. But I love my doctor and really, what could she do? So we got our measurements and checked out and then it took them forever to get the drugs ready or something so I had to sing the "zipper" song to Lucy and she almost conked out but then the nurse came in to give her the shots, ugh. So it was 11:30 by the time we finally got out of there! She was super good with the shots though, normally it's ensued by loud screachy crying for a long time, but she had a small cry and was done. I think she was just too pooped to give it her all.

Height: 30 1/4" (85th percentile)
Weight: 19 lbs. 10.5 oz. (25th percentile)

The weight is funny. When we were in in February she was 19 lbs. 2 oz. So we figured her close to 21lbs by now. Troy guessed her at 23 lbs. Ha! Skinny little stinker.

Still not walking yet. She took 3 steps on the sidewalk last week on her own but none since. She's so there though. Today she was hanging on to the drawstring on my sweatshirt and using that to hold on to while walking (obviously not much support!). Yesterday I took her down to the park to swing and wish I had taken my camera because she loved it so much!

On the work front, the merger of my company (Thomson) and Reuters was complete last week. Still no word on who our management will be for a few more weeks.

Lucy's 1-year Photos

are online at http://www.suzannewynveenphotography.com/. Suzie is now doing a bound book for your proofs which is kind of cool. They "accidentally" did duplicates of all her shots, some of which are in a different format (b&w, sepia, intense color, etc). So hard to choose! Not sure if we'll order any family shots. We took those pictures last Thursday which was a sleeting/windy/blizzard and it did wonders for the hair.

It's finally spring here. Yesterday I had Lucy out on the sidewalk in her barefeet and was talking to a neighbor as she took a few steps on her own. I think she had better traction than she does in our house. Another thing she's learned how to do is Houdini her way out of the high chair! Yep, give me a heart attack kid. She was eating breakfast in the kitchen and I was down the hall doing the laundry only to come back to find her standing in her high chair and giggling! (Yes, she does have a strap around her waist and one between her legs!)

Birthday Fun

Although Lucy's 1st birthday isn't until the 11th we had her big party this past Saturday with 40+ guests! On Friday night some of the Trautman families arrived for the weekend, so I had lots of help with food prep and cleaning from the ladies and errands and "heavy stuff" from the men, and the kids kept Lucy occupied. The party was from 2-5 on Saturday and it was the perfect day to have windows open and kids playing outside in the 60-degree weather (and today it is snowing again!). Lucy was such a trooper, in much need of an afternoon nap she dozed for about a half hour towards the end of the party.

Here she is getting a hug from Great-Grandma Duffy:

And in her new wagon with Cousin Kate, and Cousin Olivia in the Radio Flyer box:

With her new baby and baby crib from the Jones' family (do you think she is addicted to the Nuk?):

And now it's time for cake and nose pickin':

An upside-down Matt Jones:


Lucy with her stash:

Telling Papa all about my day:

Napping

What is this new phase? Lucy was so predictable before - morning nap, afternoon nap and to bed at 7 no questions asked. Now we've reached the whiney needy phase and an hour and a half of complaining when put to bed at night. Huh? It's like colic phase 2 over here. Could it be her teeth? Maybe. Is it because she's switched to whole milk? I dunno. Is it because she's a female? Most likely. Here are some photos of her napping recently, totally out of it, we snuck in to take her pictures just laughing to ourselves.

Today we had playgroup and the snack today was not made for children. The theme has been spring and rain and today the kids made...mud. Chocolate pudding with crushed up oreos and a gummy worm in it. Tell me what part of that sounds like a nice clean snack for an 11 month old? I secretly wanted the Oreo for myself. Her hand immediately went into the pudding cup, which then went on her face and on her chair. Don't get me wrong, it was funny and cute, but next time I'm bringing a garbage bag bib for her.

Lots of things going on in our household and for friends and family. Last weekend I had a day of scrapbooking up at GLC and got most of Lucy's baby book completed, yay! But then Troy had called me to say Lucy wasn't "right". Figuring her teeth might be bothering her he gave her some Motrin. When I got home though she was just whimpering in her crip with a fever of 102. By the next day it was up to 102.7. She just cuddled with us all day, not feeling good, just laying there. It was kind of sweet as she never just sits, but we didn't want her feeling bad either. Sunday night I looked and saw yet another new tooth sprouting up below. That makes 3 1/2 up top and 2 1/2 on the bottom.

And while we were feeling bad for Lucy Saturday night, we got some bad news on other fronts. Good friends of ours' son was involved in a horrible car crash over the weekend, so our thoughts and prayers are with their family in this time of unknown. As well another friend suffered a miscarriage over the weekend, so lots of unhappy news everywhere.

Troy has been sick with various things from this eye disease to some sore throat/coughing combo this week. I think it's old age. He's going to be 31 on Friday. Then we had that lovely dumping of snow. I'm ready for Spring! Have I mentioned that enough already?

Things to look forward to - this weekend the Trautmas will be here as well as we're celebrating Lucy's 1st birthday on Saturday. I should have lots of pictures to post next week!

Easter Weekend

Another weekend has flown by way too fast. On Friday Troy and I made a trip out to the Mall of America for some much-needed clothes shopping for myself. We made a pretty good dent in that while Grandma Val watched Lucy.

On Saturday my dad and Mary stopped by to bring Lucy her Easter basket and in it were some Twinkies! And she now has a new favorite junk food! We then made a trip to my favorite (not) store Walmart Superstore for some grocery shopping as was everyone else in St. Croix County. Oh well, serves me right for shopping the day before a holiday! Got home and Lucy napped, so much so that we couldn't wake her up :)

Sunday almost ended before it began. Lucy started a meltdown well before we even left for church and was in such a snit that she fell on the coffee table, biting her tongue and blood all over. Good thing for TEC spot remover. Daddy removed the spot and we had a bottle and headed to church where we squirmed for the entire service. We did get to see a couple faces I haven't seen in church before (they could be C & E's), from our playgroup. Then it was home for a quick nap before heading out to Auntie Vicki's in Maple Grove for the afternoon.

We had a big lunch and the younger kids did an Easter Egg hunt. Here are some shots of Lucy with the other younger cousins. Got to visit and catch up with family and Lucy conked out on grandma's lap. All in all it was a great Easter day.

Now it's Monday and back to icky post-winter weather and work!

Top 'o the Mornin'

Going to the Zoo and Sunday School

Yesterday Kellie and I took the kids to the MN Zoo and it was a good time! We were there for almost 4 hours and the kids were great! Our first stop was Discovery Bay where you can see the dolphins underwater and Lucy smashed her face against the glass, as did every kid (surprisingly she has no illnesses today from licking all those germs yesterday!). We just took our time meandering thru the indoors of the zoo and then ended our day with a trip on the monorail! No camera with me but maybe Kellie can send some for me to post.

I have been battling this ugly head cold for a few days now with no relief so I was asleep by 8. Lately Lucy's been having some cranky nights where she just can't soothe herself so it was one of those nights last night too.

Today was my last Sunday School group. It was the 4th and 5th graders and I really tried to remember all their names (I am so horrible with names!) Each age group was different in their own. My first Sunday was with 2nd graders, a very chatty group with one trying to outtalk the other. I can only remember about half of their names and I think there were 8 kids. Then the second week I made it a point to remember the kids' names (lucky me, there were only 2!) of the 1st graders. When I read the story of Jesus' death for them, one would stop me every sentence to define a word I had just read, so I knew they were paying attention so that was good. The other would tell me random things as I read the story like "my mom likes pink!". ok... Then this group today. As they came in the room I asked their name, and then I would add it to the next person's name, hoping that by the time I got to the 8th person I'd have everyone down pat. (I'm home now and I remember 5 of them.) This group seemed the most "mature". After I read the story, I got more "in deep" questions like, why was Jesus punished? What crime did he commit? So that was fun, because I still ask those questions! Then we got to talking about Easter break and vacations and where we've been in the past. So a little more easy conversation/interaction with this age group. I hope I can teach Sunday School again, although next time it may be with another church!

The sign is up in our yard now. I do like the Century 21 signs, they aren't a bright eye sore as some realtor signs can be. Not sure if that's good or bad, but I think the neighbors have already noticed the sign. No bites yet though, I think this house selling is going to be a long road.

I wish we could have the 'perfect' circumstances in our lives right now - a new job opportunity for Troy in Wisconsin, that would allow me to stay home with Lucy and we could stay in Baldwin. But it didn't happen like that. So you weigh what's the most important to you and make the sacrifices. When I think of us moving to Rochester I feel like it's a temporary thing like in two years we'll be back and I know that's not the case. We'll move there and we'll have to get involved in church and community activities to start making it feel like home. I'm worried that I won't be able to go to the grocery store and see at least 3 people I know. I'm worried that the churches will be too big down there that we won't get to know people or be involved on a smaller level. I'm worried about feeling safe and letting my daughter play outside in a community we don't know or leaving the door unlocked or the garage open if I'm just making a quick trip to the store. I've lived in Baldwin three years now and it took the first two for it to start feeling like home. I love that I see the same people at church as I do in the bank as I do in the grocery store as I do on a walk.

Another huge concern is my flexible job not being flexible anymore. We are not doing this huge change in our lives so that I'll have to find full-time daycare for Lucy and commute an hour and a half to work every day. But management has their own ideas of how things should be and me working second shift from home isn't one of them. So a lot is on my mind and heart in what 'should' be an exciting time for us.

But it's a beautiful sunny day out today. Troy and Abby are doing spring poop cleanup in the yard and Lucy is napping. Have a great week!