Happy Birthday Sweet Lucy!

It's been a mix of emotions anticipating Lucy's 1st birthday! It's hard to believe that she is ONE YEAR OLD! What happened to the past year?! It just went by so quickly...each year seems to go quicker!
It has been a really amazing year watching sweet Lucy grow up! There have been lots of firsts and lots of love!
One year ago, Steven and I were watching the GT-UGA game and decorating the Christmas tree. About half way through the game, I bent down to pick up another ornament and felt a big pop. I stood up and barely made it to the bathroom before reenacting a scene from a movie! My water broke...and it broke big! We were well on our way to meeting baby Lucy! It was such an exciting night! It's crazy to think that there was at time when we didn't know Lucy! She has brought so much joy to our lives!

Lucy is quite the independent little girl! She LOVES going to bed (She does not prefer to be rocked or cuddled). She loves holding her blanket (it doesn't have to be a certain one) and sucking her right thumb when going to sleep.  She only sucks her thumb in bed with her blanket (I hope that won't be a really hard habit to break!) She is easily entertained by playing by herself. She rarely fusses and smiles all the time! She has been such a happy baby! She was sleeping 8 hours at night at 4 weeks and was sleeping 12 hours at night by 7-8 weeks. She is still taking two naps per day. I am not sure she is ready to drop one yet. She really enjoys them and still sleeps almost 2 hours at each one. Lucy LOVES her bottle. I think this is going to be a challenge for us. She is capable of drinking from a sippy cup but does NOT like them. She will push it away or throw it on the ground. Hmmmm...this one might take some tough love! I think this is the stubborn side of our little angel coming out! Lucy started crawling at 7 months and took steps at 10 months. She was walking at 11 months. She now walks most of the time. She loves any toys..and seems to really love Jack's toys! She loves his tool bench and the big T-Rex! (It growls and it's eyes light up.... shouldn't she be scared?!) Maybe Santa will bring a few more girl toys! There is one pretty significant thing about Lucy...she really loves to eat ...not just enjoys it....she LOVES it! She goes crazy whenever she thinks it might be time to eat! It is entertaining, but sometimes it's tough because she is VERY impatient while waiting on her meal! She eats all table foods and has been off baby food for a few months. She is also more dramatic than Jack! While she doesn't fuss very often, if she does get upset...she is a drama queen! She will throw her head down on the ground like the world is ending! She can also turn on the tears! BIG crocodile tears! It may only last 30 seconds...but she is dramatic!
Lucy loves Jack so much! He can make her giggle until she can't breathe! She wants to do whatever he is doing and smiles at him all the time. It has been so much fun seeing them together. Lucy is a sweet little girl that makes us smile EVERY day. We love her so much! It's amazing how you can love another child just as much! She is so special and unique in so many ways! We can't wait to see what she has in store for us next!

Happy Birthday baby girl!

Lucy's Birth Day 11-28-10

Lucy at 1 week

Lucy at 2 weeks

Lucy at 3 weeks

Lucy at 4 months

Lucy at 7 months

Lucy at 8 months - What a figure!

Lucy at 10 months

Lucy at 11 months

Happy girl!

Lucy's 1st Birthday! Good morning baby girl!

Candle in my pancakes! Jack helped me blow it out!

Look! Aunt Ansley sent me a baby doll!

Daddy is home!!!!

Is this for me?!

I LOVE CUPCAKES!

This is so great!

That is enough with the camera!

Mmmmmmm! That icing is good stuff!

A first.... five times!

Our sweet precious little man is sporting his first set of stitches! I still can't believe it! Some of the time I think, "well he's a boy and it's no big deal!"....then the other part of me says, "My perfect little man and that perfect little face has now been cut open!!!!!"

I wanted to document the event..it's a big first for us! Thursday night we were playing after bath time in the kitchen at Poppa and Nunno's. After bath, we started with a quick game of Go Fish! and then Lucy and Jack went to play with the magnets. I was sitting right on the floor near them as they played. He was just playing around and about to get up and dance to "Run Run Rudolph!" He fell and must have hit just the right way. I think because he was so tired that he might not have caught himself.  I grabbed him and was looking at his face and didnt see anything. I asked him where it hurt and he pointed to his chin.... Ohhhhhhhh. It was split open in a perfect line. I was waiting for the blood to start flowing. It was so hard to see his little chin cut like that. We went back and forth on whether to take him to the ER.. one of the problems was that he was so tired that once he relaxed and laid back while we kept pressure on it he was falling asleep. Poor little guy was so tired. So there he was completely asleep as we wake him up and put him in the car. He was such a champ. He said once when we were getting in the car that he didnt want to leave. (Break my heart....) but once we got to the ER, he was great! He told the nurses that he hit his chin on the floor...he did whatever they said! He seemed so grown up as he walked through behind the nurse to his exam room. 
They came in to put in the stitches and I braced myself for one of the more horrible moments in my life. I was picturing him screaming and being held down......but Jack laid right back with a nurse at his head and Daddy sitting next to him and didnt make a sound! In fact...they were going to put 2-3 stitches in and ended up putting FIVE just because he was laying there so calmly!!! They said they didnt have 30 year olds that did that well! I teared up watching my brave little man lay there!
After they were done, he said he didnt want to keep the stitches in...but he has done so great with them! He doesnt really mess with them and he goes back and forth on whether he wants to show them off.
I know it's not the biggest deal in the world for your child to get hurt and go to the ER, but it was really tough to see that little man hurt.  We are so very proud of him! He continues to amaze us everyday!

So.... a first for us! FIVE STITCHES IN THE CHIN!!!!

Happy Turkey Day!

We talk all year about how much we love Thanksgiving at Poppa and Nunno's! We talk about getting up to watch the parade, eating a YUMMY lunch with all of the family that Nunno makes, taking naps, and getting up to eat leftovers and watch Christmas Vacation that night. We are never disappointed! It was another really great year! (We did have a SMALL issue Thursday night that resulted in an ER visit and Jack's first stitches...I will dedicate an entire post to the little man and his stitches..so stay tuned! This is dedicated to our Thanksgiving!)

We headed up to Gainesville on Tuesday night after work. We got up there fairly late and the kids were both sound asleep in the car! It was nice to be up there and beat the traffic! The kids and I headed to Aunt Ruby's house to hang out for the morning. It was so great! We drank coffee and talked while the kids played. We left there and met Daddy, Poppa and Nunno for lunch at a great burger place! We did a little shopping while the kids napped and then had pizza with Aunt Jennifer, Uncle John, and Caitlin that night!

Thursday morning was soooo great! We got up and watched the parade in the basement on the "BIG" TV (as Jack says) while the "boys" fried the turkey! THREE turkeys actually! Two for us and one for a great family friend! I literally teared up watching Jack and Lucy watch the parade together (I know that is a little corny..but to see the excitement and fun between them was so great!) They both danced to the music and Jack jumped up and screamed for us to look at each and every thing he saw! He said his favorites were Spiderman, the marching bands, Charlie Brown, and Santa! Steven and I love it too and had a great time drinking coffee and watching it with the kids!

Sweet Thanksgiving Princess!

Lucy actually sitting in the oven!

Both kids stopping to check out what is going on in the parade

Watching the parade.... VERY comfortably!

Watching the parade together

Jack and Poppa checking the turkey!

The boys frying the turkey!

Happy Mommy and Daddy

Jack helped Poppa carve the turkey breast!

Family on Thanksgiving (Not great at getting everyone looking!)

Nunno made such a yummy lunch! We had lots of family there to enjoy it and Jack said the blessing for everyone! Lucy LOVED the lunch. She actually loves any time she gets to eat. It has gotten a little crazy how excited she gets about eating and how much she can eat! I think this may be her favorite holiday! Everything focused around eating! I have got to get it on video more often! You would think we never feed her!

First Thanksgiving

Daddy and his babies!

Matching Turkey shirts from Nunno!

ON THE MOVE!

Granny and her kids!

VERY lucky to have such a great Poppa and Nunno!

The afternoon was spent lounging around and talking with the family! We eventually decided to heat up some leftovers and enjoy it all over again! (However, before we got to enjoy our leftovers..... about TWO minutes before Jack was going to bed..he fell in the kitchen and busted his chin. It was split right open and we took him to the ER to get stitches. We were back in less than 1.5 hours. Jack was amazing... again, more to come on that!) It was a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving!

Fun bathtime!

Matching PJs!!! (Minutes before the fall!)

Happy girl (Notice tired Jack in the back...probably didnt help with the fall!)

The adults finishing Jack's "GO-Fish!" game!

We got up this morning and packed up and headed out to Highlands, NC.  Steven, Jack, Lucy and I went to get the LEONARD FAMILY CHRISTMAS TREE!!!! It's our first time heading to the mountains to cut down our own tree! (Home Depot has been our Christmas tree provide for the past eight years!) We had a good time and it was so pretty up there! It was Jack's first trip to the mountains and he was fascinated seeing the BIG mountains and how high we were! He kept saying, "That is the BIGGEST mountain...I couldnt climb all the way to the top of that!" We rode out into the farm on an old truck and then walked around awhile looking for our tree! Jack would point out that "this one is too small, this one is too big, this one is JUST perfect!!!" Lucy enjoyed playing with the leaves on the ground! Hahaha! We found just the right one and Daddy cut it down! (all by himself!) We put it on the top of the MINIVAN and headed home! It was a fun new family tradition! We will spend tomorrow decorating the tree and hanging out just the four of us! It should be a really nice weekend! (anything that helps me forget that Miss Lucy's bday is just a few days away!) WOW - get ready for several blog posts.

Daddy and Sweet Luce!

On the truck headed out to the farm!

We've got our stick! Let's go!!!

How about this one?!

Hiking up the hill to find the perfect tree!

I think this is our size!

Fun at the farm!

Happy girl! Let the boys do the work!

Here come the boys...and the saw!

Daddy cutting down his first Christmas tree!

Here I come!

Strong Daddy!

Enjoying a cookie together after getting our tree!

....and it was hard work!

Happy Thanksgiving! We are thankful for our family and friends! Each day is a blessing to us!

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