Party Time

Lucy and her cousin May are only seven days apart in age, and we had a lovely 1st birthday party for the girls last weekend in Spokane. Here are some highlights:

carrot cake cupcakes, handmade by Aunt Holli

Reilly and Gus, playing in the sprinkler

Presents (Lucy was obsessed with the cards, May loved the baby dolls)

Lucy (in pink) and May making a darling scrunchy face

Hugs from brother

Frisbee with Aunt Holli

May takes a rest on Matt's shoulder

T Ball

Sometimes, Gus likes it:

And sometimes, its like this:

(yes, that is Gus in the blue undershirt, with a very frowny face)

But the best thing to come out of it his his new friendships (Leo, Andrew, Savannah). And spending time out doors, and of course, snack time.

Birthday Girl

Lucy had a wonderful birthday. The weather was beautiful, her party was fun, we had a good crowd (7 adults and 7 kids) and delicious burgers, hot dogs and cupcakes.

Her day started off with just the four of us, she opened her gift (a ride-on toy lion) and absolutely loved it.




Here she is riding her little lion.

Later, the doorbell rang. Grammy Kath and Grandpa Tim sent some balloons. She absolutely loved them:

(and even loved the card)

pink cupcakes

Lulu and Daddy

Lucy and Mom

Lucy and Sawyer James

.....more pics to come.

Happy Birthday Lucy!

I woke up early this morning, with that excited nervous feeling you sometimes get before a party, and thought about what happened on this day last year.

Matt and I didn't talk much on the 45 minute drive to the hospital. We were both pretty nervous, of course. We were in Grandma Connie's Prius, and Gus was still asleep at home in bed with Grandma Connie and Aunt Molly there to care for him. We checked in to the hospital about 7 am. The nurses got my IV and catheter going. There was a baby being born before it was my turn, so at this point we waited and waited and chatted with the nurses. With a scheduled C section, it is really surreal. No "just get this baby out of me!" moment at all.

Finally, Dr. Bradford walked in my room around 9:45. Then he proceeded to tell us stories of his trip to Germany. He had just got back two days beforehand. I still can recount details of the beverages he consumed, schnitzel he ate, etc. He has a thick Texas accent and to hear him speak some German phrases was hilarious. And all the nurses gathered around to hear his funny stories.

I finally raised my hand and said, "Can I have a baby?" (this was the closest I got to the 'just get this kid out of me' moment.)

The anesthesiologist came in briefly, he was the same we had when Gus was born. He is such a great guy, yet on this day, this morning, there was a tiny little, er.. dribble wet mark on the front of his pants. You know what I am talking about. He left the room. Matt and I looked at each other with a do-we-laugh-or-cry look. (in my mind, he hadn't scrubbed up yet, so I am telling myself all will be well).

They take me back around 10:30 and give me a spinal. That was the scariest part. I hop up on the operating table and they insert the needle and right away I can feel my legs starting to go numb. I lay down and they do the prep work for the C section.

Meanwhile in the hallway, Matt is practicing all those breathing techniques we learned in our birthing classes.

Matt walks in, sits down next to me. The anesthesiologist is on my left, Matt is on my right. Everyone takes a guess. Boy, girl, boy girl, girl boy.....

Here comes your baby, here is the head, we have some hair, and at 10:51: "Its a girl!"

Happiest moment ever. Tears are streaming down our faces. I continue to blubber and discuss the lack of pink anything in our house.



And so it began, Dear Lucille Kathleen, we love you so much, more every day in fact. Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Not Making This Up

So today, I am trying to clean and straighten and get the house ready for a little birthday barbeque we are having this weekend. I am running around, throwing laundry in, taking laundry out, you know the drill.... I tell Gus to put his flip flops up somewhere Lucy won't get them. (She has a thing for flip flops, thinks that they are yummy to put in her mouth- gross, I know). Anyways, I walk into the kitchen and look what I see:



I literally laughed out loud for a few moments.

And here is the fip flop eating troublemaker:

Who likes Brussels Sprouts?

According to Reilly, Brussels are more desirable than nap time.

Weekend in Spokane

This past weekend we enjoyed a visit with some of our closest friends who have moved away. Jake and Andi and their daughter, Reine, live in Indiana. We haven't seen them since Andi's baby shower- and it was so nice to see them as parents with their gorgeous daughter.

Katie and Joe live in Oman, and Katie is home with the boys, Reilly and Sawyer. Joe will be home for a visit in June.

Anyways, it was so fun to get the kiddos together. Sawyer is just two months older than Lucy, and he is walking all over the place. Reine is a January baby and she is also walking/running/skipping/jumping.

Reine and Lucy at the Japanese Gardens in Manito Park

Sawyer with his beach-boy blonde hair. He is a mini- Joe.

Trying to take a pic of all 5 kids was nearly impossible. Lucy was best behaved and Gus just doesn't like being photographed. Chaos ensued.

It's May! (a sentimental post)

I can't believe May is finally here. What a long winter and cold spring we've had.

It is so hard to believe our baby is turning one in two weeks. What a year this has been. Its hard to wrap my mind around it. One year ago...... We were building the fence in the back yard and busy getting everything ready for the new baby. I was still working 40 hours a week and totally exhausted. And I thought for sure we were having another boy! We were still debating boy names- really, we never settled on one so it was a good thing Lucy came along.

Gus and Lucy are sitting here playing with Mr. Potato Head. Lucy is trying to talk to Gus all about it, but the only words she really says are: da da, dis, dus, aaaahhhhh, ccccrrrr, zha. I think he understands her, though.

Have a wonderful weekend!