Luci at bathtime... Josh and Luci in the ball pit and More Tween Pary fun...

Playing catch-up

It feels like when Lucia hit one year old life went into hyper drive or warp speed. She learned to walk at 9 months but by one year I have to run to keep Lucia out of anything and everything. Remember those first 3 months when I was asking, "Where is the challenge?" and "When does it get hard?"
It got challenging. It got hard. I don't mean to complain- I will have to work hard to find myself depressed with Lucia to do something goofy everyday to cheer me up. However, Lucia is a climber. She scales couches, chairs, tables, shelving, beds, cabinets, stairs, dressers... She will open any cupboard she can get to and promptly pulls out the contents before I lope the 5 or 6 steps between us to stop her.
I also remember writing about how Lucia would bang her head on my chest when she was hungry. Well, I'll be darned if our girl hasn't carried that behavior into toddler hood. We have endured many a bump on our noggin for either not getting her out the door fast enough so she can play outside or for those crabby times when she just can't communicate what she's feeling or wanting... Her poor little forehead has taken the brunt of many of her frustrations. As she grows and develops tools and language to communicate we are seeing less of it. We also were unable to continue putting her in her crib in efforts to establish a "bedtime". She started head banging and sobbing instead of sleeping. We commenced a routine of bath time, then reading, then rocking and ultimately sleeping in our bed (its mine 4 nights out of the week-"ours" for only two due to Daddy's work schedule) in order to curb more head banging. Now, I'm dangerously content sleeping with her. Luckily, we have largely been able to transfer her after she falls asleep into her crib.
When Lucia is bored with meal times she has come up with a few creative ways to express she's finished. For awhile she fed the dog her food. This caused the dog to bark to go outside to crap a gazillion times a day. So then we only put small amounts on her tray at a time. That works but when she's done she will start stuffing the food down her shirt and smear it in her hair. So that's been amusing...
Its been increasingly entertaining finding myself in a variety of "Lucia conversations."
Lucia: "Buh bye!"
Me: "Oh! See you later! Auf Weidersehen"
Lucia: "af-veee-say say! Bye! (Lucia hides b/w two large dressers while she maniacally grins at me for a minute and I pretend not to notice her then reveals herself again....... ) "Hi YA!"
Me: "Welcome Back"
...Repeat 20 times...
... or ...
Lucia (nodding): "Uh-huh! Okay?"
Me: "Okay."
Lucia (lifting shirt, looking at belly button): "Bee Ba?"
Me: "Yes, that's your belly button"
Lucia (laughing hysterically and racking at my shirt to uncover my belly button): "Grrrrrr!"

Lucia has visited her grandparents and my brother's family in AZ since her first birthday. I celebrated my 32nd birthday (right? I lose count all the time now). For my birthday I invited my tween nieces, the Coghill-Behrends tweens, as well as my Twilight obsessed friend Genevieve and the Barrons over for a Tween pajama party. We ate mushroom ravioli, looked at tweenie twilight magazines and watched the movie.
My friend Genevieve and I also went to the "Tulip Time Festival". It was my first time there. We took our toddlers and watched the parade, ate "dutch fair food" and took pretty pictures in the Tulips. I went to college for one trimester in Pella. It was really neat to see out the town has changes and ogle all the clean cut Norman Rockwell Central students with their little dutch hats and whatnot. Genevieve and Josh caused quite a ruckus at the port-a-potty. But I'll let her tell that one.
Lastly, and most importantly, I've been gearing up to open my house up as a daycare! I'm in the process of getting registered with the Department of Human Services. That means I've been going to trainings, filling out paperwork, and meeting with people who know about these things. I have two little guys lined up and I'm still looking for a couple more to make ends meet. I'm very excited about it. I've most recently enjoyed printing out schedule pieces on Boardmaker and laminating them at work (he he). I can't wait to have my own mini-early childhood classroom and to be able to have Lucia involved in all the things I have planned! I have fun ideas about having a cooking class (adapted, of course), craft ideas, monthly or weekly themes, centers, singing to all that great music I copied from teachers along the way... Sometimes, a decision in life is made easier when everything sort of just points to it. Committing to doing daycare became easy once I gave into the logic of doing in home daycare. Something stubborn inside me resists things when they make so much sense it seems too easy as if its somehow cheating. I don't know where I got that but I've struggled with it for as long as I can remember. I ALWAYS over complicate things for myself. Therefore, I'm glad my brain gave up and gave in on this one because it should make like that much more enjoyable for my family.

Lucia is a goof ball and she is very physical. Every night its something new. Well, her favorite place right now is inside our end table. She crawls in there and likes to dangle her legs. She also seems to have a new favorite blanket everyday. In the above picture she is wrapping herself up in this orange one I used to have for my Cabbage Patch dolls (I think someone in the family made it).

I just wanted to post this for Genevieve and my family in Ohio. I got this cute little starter hoodie sweat suit at Goodwill's 25 cent sale. It is dirty in the pic b/c I just got done feeding her and Lucia refuses to wear bibs. Anyway, It was very new looking when I bought it.

W

Thanksgiving 08

Thanksgiving was at my home this year. The In-laws joined us and I cooked the meal. It was very pleasant and Lucia really enjoyed seeing family.

• The Menu:
  1 10 lb Turkey
• Mashed Taters and homemade gravy
• Stuffing with apricot
• Cranberry-Mango Relish
• G. Bean casserole
• Spinach Salad
• Oriental Salad
• Sweet Pot.s with marshmallow (Elaine)
  cranberries in Coolwhip and marshmallow (Kay)
• Crescent Rolls (Elaine)
• Homemade Honey Butter
• Village Inn Pie (Kay)
• Oatmeal pie with Cinnamon Ice Cream (Bought by me from Bread Garden)
• Appies were simple cheese meat and crackers, cookies, and trail mix for when we played cards later in the evening.

Lucia conked out really early while we were watching "Epic Surge"- a movie made by our local news station about the flood of June 08. It was really long. I couldn't blame her. Then I finally got to play cards. Luci slept soundly in her crib until 3am (blech). Everyone left around 8 pm and our family was collectively in bed by 9pm. We joked at 3 am (as we were all up) that we could hit the stores (NOT!). Lucia and I fell asleep again in the recliner while watching "Bugsy" this morning and I got to sleep in to c. 8:30 am.

NEW TOY

G-ma and G-pa Ob. let Lucia open a gift early this Thanksgiving. It has become a favorite. At first Lucia would run around back and forth with it. Now her favorite activities involve climbing over it and then sitting down side saddle, dangle her legs and then start over again. She also loves scooting it up to the TV and standing on it while she either turns off the TV or changes the channels. I show her opening the gift and then eating the gift out of pure excitement.

Who's Gettin' Nothing for Christmas?

Lucia was exhausted after "Franksgiving" (our annual thanksgiving with friends last Tuesday) and I took this picture (I took away her sippy cup in efforts to get a nicer shot).

I was going to send this out as a Christmas card with the caption, "Lucia's gettin' nothing for Christmas". But quickly reconsidered that it would be overly misinterpreted as either cruel or serious. I still think it is a funny idea tho'.

p.s. Thank you to Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary for the cute outfit! Perfect timing for the holidays.

I FINALLY GOT THE HALLOWEEN PICS!

Here is Lucia making her debut as a monkey...

The first one is of the "Shamrock girls."

Girl on Lucia's right is dressed as Hermoine and the girl on her left is dressed as "Harry Potter." I made the mistake of asking if she was also Hermoine and I got an earful from her!

Two teeth Luci-

Something I failed to mention about our little ankle biter in the quarterly update is that she has popped out the two bottom teeth. Here she is showing that off- and BOY DO THEY DO DAMAGE!

This picture serves three functions:

1. To show little girl at 9 months old
2. To say THANK YOU for the completed Christmas '07 gift from my parents: new curtains! Aren't they gorgeous? Mom made them.
3. To express love to my momma for her birthday

Momma is on the road to recovery!

Yesterday, my mom had a growth removed from her thyroid the size of a pecan (to quote my Pop-o). She is doing well. Blood levels are already showing that her calcium levels down... NO MORE KIDNEY STONES, YEA!

I love you Momma! I hope this surgery helps you enjoy life a little easier! Just seeing your smiling face up there brightens my cloudy temperament tonight.

Is it strange that I'm already nostalgic for when Lucia was as small as she was in the above picture. Today she's just such a tornado of energy and curiosity. That dress doesn't fit her anymore and I have to put it into storage for the possibility of maybe Baby #2 in the future.

We are all headed for a weekend in Wisconsin and I will be meeting my nephew Aaron Obert for the first time! I'm super excited and, of course, I always have fun with one Mr. Patrick Obert. We will be camping at Lake Farm County Park in Dane Co. (I think its actually in Madison!) Kent will be there too! I'm really looking forward to time with family and for Lucia to meet her cousins. I may cancel Lucia's appt. on Monday and stay to enjoy a trip to Wisconsin Dells. I have not decided yet. I will post some pictures of our weekend when I return.

Next week (on Thursday) I go back to school as a Paraeducator. I will be working at another elementary in a 1st grade classroom doing 1 on 1 work with an individual with autism. I'm looking forward to the distraction of work. I'm a much better person when I have structure to my day. Lucia is structured but I like to have things to do on my own. It will be nice to get out of the house.

Some of you might also know that I'm studying for the Postal Battery Exam. I am going to try to become a postal worker. The school job is fine but the summer months were so stressful and tight that we need something more reliable for our little family. I like the idea of delivering mail on foot. I can get exercise and get paid for it. The more I think about it the more I like this latest idea. So wish me luck! The test isn't very easy. It goes so fast you hardly have enough time to answer the questions.

Well, I better get to sleep now as I will be going to the Iowa State Fair bright and early tomorrow morning with my neighbor friend Cindy! I will be off by 6am to be part of the largest group of people simultaneously eating a corn dog. It comes with free admission and a free corn dog. I'm very excited. I will be stopping by to visit the Butter Cow while I'm there as well.I just wanted to sit down tonight and type to cheer myself up a little and take my mind off what is upsetting me. I think it worked. Good night.

Today's reason why Lucia is growing up too fast...

She decided to pull her self up to standing in her pack 'n' play then she walked back and forth in it. She supported her weight while she walked by holding on the the edge as you see here. *Sigh*

OMG! WTF?

Since Mom and Dad refuse to post anything I guess I will have to. Josie, their new Rat Terrier mixed breed dog, got her mences this morning! I cut a hole in one of Lucia's diapers and stuck it on her and it fell off.
The funny part is that Mom just took her to the vet yesterday and he pointed out a scar and told her that she was already spayed. Mom called again today and the vet said, "Opps."
So mom and I headed to the Petco and picked her up some more diapers made specifically for doggies. She has already slipped out of that and is sleeping on top of their leather couch where mom also happens to be taking a nap. She is probably bleeding all over it.
For the sake of not humiliating poor Josie I won't post a picture of her but I can't help laughing! Mom said, "Why didn't you tell me?"
I said (speaking for Josie), "Well, mom, what more can I do? I was bitchy all last week!"
wat wat waaaaaaaa...

Keeping things light...

I was going to get this book for Pop-o but it's out of stock.

Get well soon.

Lucia'nne Baby is 4 months Today.

"She is the sunshine in my life," to quote dear old Stevie Wonder. She's grown so much I'm already anxious that she is growing out of baby-dom. She went to her first wedding this month in Ohio. Therefore, she endured her first long car trip. Thank goodness Grandma and Grandpa Obert were there to drive us. She had Mommy and Daddy to smile, coo, caress, and soothe her the entire drive. She only cried when she was tired or hungry. We would stop and I would fulfill all her needs and then I would say, "Thank you for letting me know what you needed, Lucia."
She would smile and me and make some lovely baby jabber sound that is like music to my ears.
Mommy and Daddy love their little girl.
I will save most of the milestones for the quarterly lovenote but I'm proud of my little girl for being so strong this month. She rolls over now, grabs things she wants, "inchworms" around the floor, holds herself up very high on her arms during tummytime, and sits up for stroller walks. She can do so much she has to cry in order to alert Mommy that she just needs to be cuddled and held.
Lucia is a wonderful little girl to have in our family and we were very happy for the opportunity to show her off to friends and family this month. Lucia met her great Aunt Marsha,Gini, Theresa, Mary and Uncles Mike, Chet, Jim, and Bernie. Not to mention she got to visit again with little Madeleine and various 2nd cousins and more! She has yet to meet Uncle Mikey, Aunt Angie, and cousins Patrick and Aaron save a video phone conversation on Mother's Day. That was very sweet because Patrick made Lucia many little drawings that he showed us over video chat. We plan on seeing them in August in Madison if all things go right.
I will upload a 4 month picture tomorrow. The batteries on my camera are dead and I was too lazy to leave the house today after work.

Mistakes or something better?

I just have a quote from a movie running through my head tonight:

Lounge singer: "I can't... Sometimes do you feel like you can't tell your life from all the mistakes you made?:

Piano player: "Come on baby- Mistakes are what make it interesting... They make life fun."

When you are lying in your deathbed will you be running the mistakes you made through your head and ruing every moment of it or will you be smiling and reliving every moment of sheer joy. Tonight I am thinking of those moments of sheer joy:

• Spending all night working on a painting/drawing, smoking cigarettes and drinking wine.
• Dancing with my Pop-o at Mikey's wedding
• climbing to the top of the Duomo and looking out at sunset over Florence.
• Singing and dancing at the Deadwood
• Walking dogs with hot coffee in my hand with JR at sunrise. Swimming with the dogs.
• Laying with Lucia on my chest asleep- kissing her forehead.
• My mother giving me a pedicure.
• Lying in the sun on my Pop-o's boat
• Kent's tears at my wedding
• Looks of love from Kent
• cuddling up with my family in bed

Life is something precious.

To a very special Mamacita-

You are:

• hilarious.
• my best friend.
• so important to me.
• a great mom who always does the best you can.
• full of heart.
• talented.
• a great conversationalist.
• a granderma.
• strong and supportive.
• forgiving.
• always the most beautiful - pretty woman I know.
• interesting.
• a good story teller.
• an enormous part of my life.

... and I will always love you.

Just wanted to remind you of that on Mother's Day. You deserve everything you desire in life. Tell that grumpy old man of a husband to give you a hug and a kiss from me. I'm sorry I couldn't make it there to be with you this weekend. We will come for a weekend soon when I can stay awhile.

Lucia meets Aunt Kim!

I was convinced anew how wonderful Aunt Kim was when Lucia met her last weekend. She is just wonderful and Lucia fell in love with her instantly. You can tell they are having a very nice discussion in this picture. She loves our Kurt very much and has a sensible head on her shoulders. We are all happy and relieved that they are doing so well and are so in love. There is nothing wrong with Kurt's PDA, Kim. Olson men are tried and true blue.

p.s. Isn't the outfit Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary got Lucia adorable?

p.p.s. If you zoom in you can catch a glimpse of Lucia's Cabbage Patch doll belly button.

Strut Miss Luci!

(This is my first video upload... )

Lucia LOVES being "bipedal" as Kent puts it. So, I went to Kidworks and bought this used Jumperoo for cheap. At first, Lucia wasn't long enough but now she can just barely touch down and she can't get enough of it. I often sing "Strut Miss Luci" (and have video of me doing so...) like my Momma but I didn't want to torture anyone with my singing voice. It may be a bit boring and long for the average anonymous reader but I can't help excersizing some of my bragging rights as a mother that she is so strong!