Multiple uses for a bumbo seat

The first choice is the obvious...sit an adorable baby in it. She's such a happy little thing... Or of course, you can put it on your head, along with some silly, lensless glasses and and a wooden ducky whistle to complete the look.

Merry Christmas from the Hay family

4 month old Lucy Lu

Wow...it's actually pushing five months that Lucy has been with us...in 1 hour 46 minutes, in fact. This time, five months ago, I believe I had just been admitted as a patient, to the hospital, and was getting all ready to meet our little punkin...she's just getting so big...so fast...I find myself mourning each milestone, rather than celebrating. How wrong is that??? For example, "Oh no, this will be the last time we have a four month old in our home!!!!" I know, how silly is that? I just want to slow her down...a little bit. I might try the ole brick trick...see how that works out for us.

At any rate, she's a beautiful baby who we, as a family, are so blessed to have been chosen to call Lucy Lu our daughter, sister, baby...

This little piggy ate roastbeef...

Ahhhhhhh, only four days before I return to work, and leave my little porkchop to fend for herself with Daddy-o. I'm certain they'll get on swimmingly...surely, I'll live to tell about it, too.

So, I began reflecting on the past 9 weeks and 5 days. I look at little Lucy, and can't help but notice she's finally gettin' the chunk on. Just look at that round face. And she's got a little roll on her leg. Much of the beginning of our little life together was spent worrying about how long it was taking her to get that chunk on. It took her four weeks to get back to birth weight...yeah, they tell you that should happen by two weeks. Then, the lazy little thing...sleep seemed better than getting the chunk on. But that did no good when it was time to plop the porkchop on the scales.

To say we endured a breastfeeding nightmare...yeah, I think that's fair. Our regimen took an hour to complete...we nursed, then supplemented, then pumped, then washed pump parts, then got ready for the next feeding. Take that, times about 8-10 times a day...yeah, I think that qualifies as nightmarish. But, we kept on keeping on, and, we made it. Today, when Lucy hopped on those scales, and we saw the numbers 10 pounds 9-2 ounces...we high fived and Porkchop celebrated with another 3.5 ounce milk shake. Today, Lucy whispered to me, "Mommy, we did it." I heard it...I really did!

So, it was a long haul, but I do believe we've arrived. We've arrived at our goal of having a happy, healthy, porkchop of a baby. It made our crazy beginnings definitely worth it...just in time for Mommy to return to work. Yep, Luce and Daddy-o will get on just fine, I just know it. And I will survive, too, I just know it.

Little Miss Lucy is 2 months

Wow, wow, wow...Lucy is 2 months old, already. In some respects, it seems like she's been around, forever. In others, it seems like just yesterday we were meeting her at 1:09 a.m., among many friends. Either way, the girl has grown! Given her laziness initially, and the fact that she chose sleep over eating, I think she's put the chunk on, nicely.
And, she's learned to smile since her 1 month pictures. I think she does it rather well...surely, she's advanced.

These pictures are a sequence of her getting more and more excited. I.heart.her.

I realize there is some blur to this one, but she was flailing everything that was flailable...again, heart her.

We fell in love from moment one...but we keep falling in love again and again. We love you Lucy. :)

Wucy is 8 weeks old

Wucy is 8 weeks old...hard to believe. Why do we call her Wucy, you might ask? You would think it's because somebody can't pronounce their L's...but Lawson says her name just fine. We just do...we call her Wucy, Sucy, Lucy Lu, Lu Lu...it's just hard to look at her without some kind of baby talk coming out of your mouth. I mean really, just look at the baby blues on wittle Wucy... And when she comes up with a big smile...ahhhh, Lucy Lu, are you smilin' at us?

Sucy, what are you thinking about?

Wucy wuvs to pway wif her tongue...don't you baby Wucy...

Awwww, does Sucy have a headache?

Oh, baby Lu Lu...you're so preeeeeeetttttttttty.

Doesn't she just look like a Lu Lu, here? :)

Baby Wucy...

The first day of school

August 18 came so quickly, yet so slowly. I'm not going to lie...it was a long 6 weeks being holed up inside. 100 degree temperatures and newborn babies don't really mix. The kids didn't want to play outside on the driveway, because I'm certain the asphault was roughly 192 degrees. Who can blame them? I think we were all ready for school to start, littles included.

Landen continues to humor me with our pictures by the rock on the first day of school...my big 3rd grader.

Lily still scampers out to do the pictures...my little, big 1st grader.

Our quick shot in front of the school...oh, you didn't see one of these of Landen? Yeah, he chose to have us drop him off rather than walk him in. I think he may have changed his mind a split second before he got out of the van, but by that time, it was too late...we had sat in traffic for 15 minutes, and we had just enough time to get Lily to class.

Lawson didn't start school until the following Monday.

Lawson's first ever side view...looks like he may still have some sleep in his eyes.

Lawson has been talking about the new playground equipment "they put it there for me" all summer...he's pointing out the finer details to Lily.

He looks so little opening such a big door...you can bet, he got the job done.

This photo turned out a little blurry, and it was captured a little late, but a friend from daycare, Zoe, put her arm around Lawson and was showing him the ropes...you know, the ropes she had learned about 3 minutes earlier. :)

B2S with Sneak Peek

Ah, it's August again...that can mean only one thing...school is starting! Every year, we pack up the back packs, and head into the school for Sneak Peek. The difference this year...we had three classrooms at two buildings to visit, in a matter of 90 minutes. Doesn't sound that bad, does it? Well, when you're married to Chatty Charlie, it can be a bit of a challenge. But, we made it.

This is Miss Suzy...we enjoy her, so. She was Lily's preschool teacher, and, well, she rocks! Miss Suzy has some really cool toys and centers in her room.

This Mr. Hermreck...we also find him enjoyable. He was Landen's 1st grade teacher. He's definitely a kid fave.

This is Mr. Stotler. Jimmy has taught Junior Achievement in his classroom for several years. He also appears to be a kid fave...when Landen would tell friends who his teacher was, it was usually followed with an "Uh!!!! LUCKY!" :)

Looking forward to an awesome preschool, 1st grade, and 3rd grade year...siiiiiiiiiigh, my kids are growing up on me.

Lucy is a month old

Well, she's actually 6 weeks old, but what mom of a newborn isn't a couple weeks behind? Lucy liked her picky stickies that Karalie got for her...fun way to mark each month of her first year. Here we are getting ready for her church debut...admittedly not our best picture-taking effort, but at 8:30 a.m., I thought any picture-taking effort was a success.

Here kitty kitty

Yep, Jill just had another litter of kittens, so it seemed like it would be way past time to get the last litter on the blog. It seems like just yesterday (seriously, it was probably less than two months ago, so yeah, we'll go with just yesterday) that we gave away Chili and Handsome to some people through an ad in the paper. These are parting pictures...first, Landen and Chili. She was awfully cute. Then Landen holding Handsome and Lily with her Chili...it was Chili who saw Humpty Lily through taking a great fall from when she was sitting on the wall. They'll forever have that little bond.

The day the tonsils were no more

After lots of sore throats and many many rounds of yucky tasting medicine, it was finally time for the tonsils to come out. June 25 was the big day. We had no idea we would be cutting it so close to the arrival of little Lucy...but it all worked out well.

Really, I couldn't have asked for a better experience for our little man. He complained very little, and slowed down almost none at all. Much more worry went into it than was necessary...it all went off without a hitch.

Our toothless wonder

Well, maybe "toothless" is a bit of an exaggeration, but Miss Lil' did in fact lose a tooth this summer! I'm "back blogging", so I don't have the exact date, but by looking at my camera dates, and knowing it was when she had her cast on her leg, I've narrowed it down to the end of May or the first of June. The tooth fairy was very good to her. :)

Happy Due Date, Lucy

Thursday, July 15, is officially Lucy's estimated due date. It's just kinda weird for us to celebrate such a thing...Landen didn't make his appearance until he was 8 days overdue; Lily was a day overdue; and we celebrated Lawson's due date while in the hospital when he was a day old. So, how exciting that Lucy is already 2 weeks old on her due date? :)

She came into the world with a pouty face. Maybe she didn't like her sudden entrance into the world, falling out of mom's c-section incision. Maybe she was sad because her blood sugar was so low? Or maybe she knew of the heel pricks to come to assess her blood sugar and level of jaundice. Whatever...the pout is adorable, in my opinion. We had just arrived back to our room, after surgery. I remember the trip this time - yay! My recovery has been most definitely awesome, in comparison to the one I experienced post Lawson. Couldn't have been better, in fact.

Proud Daddy...LOVE the hat.

Proud brother...really, very proud.

Proud sister...couldn't love her more.

Proud BIG brother (that sounds weird)...hasn't offered a hint of jealousy...only tender-loving kisses and hugs. Gotta love those eyelashes.

Thanks Molly Ann Photography for the beautiful pics to remember Lucy's special, first days.