LuLu the Littlest Lady Bug

Lucy was a Lady Bug for Halloween, and she helped make it the best Halloween ever for Will and I. We couldn't help but laugh every time we looked at her, and she would just stare back at us with a confused look on her face. She just couldn't figure out what was so funny!

Lucy and the Great Pumpkin!

We celebrated Lucy's 6 month birthday yesterday with a pumpkin photo shoot. We didn't really get any smiles out of her, but Will and I had a ton of laughs. I mean, look at those droopy cheeks and those beautiful eyes! If Lucy could have only seen herself, she wouldn't have been able to stop smiling.


It was definitely an interesting feeling, remembering how we felt on Luke's 6 month birthday. Lucy has made us so happy, and given us the ability to hope and dream again. Looking at her, we can't help but be reminded of her older brother and it is a strange mix of sadness and joy all rolled into one. In the below picture, Lucy is celebrating her dad's birthday. Again, we were reminded of how we felt last year on Will's birthday where the present he wanted more than anything was to have Luke celebrating with him. And although Will still wants Luke to be here more than anything, we can't help but feel grateful and happy that Lucy is here with us now.
This past month we brought up the highchair from the basement to help Lucy get used to sitting in it like a big girl. She loves to sit there now, and play with her toys while we take care of things around the kitchen. It is a big help to us, since she can entertain herself for longer periods of time now.

Lucy hit a funny and adorable milestone this past month. She can now put not one, but both feet in her mouth at the same time. The picture below reveals her new found ability, unencumbered by a bulky diaper - or clothes for that matter!

Last but not least, here is one of my favorite pictures from this month showing a new personality trait of Lucy's. When she is excited or happy, she sticks her tongue out as far as it can go (which isn't far, since it's tied!) and exhales loudly. At first I thought she had a sore throat or something, but as my mom pointed out - it's just Lucy being Lucy! Wow, we love this little girl! Happy Half Year Birthday Lulu!

Sleepless in September

Lucy is 5 months old today, and what a month it has been at our house! We have been going through "Sleep Boot Camp" in an attempt to get Lucy to sleep better. Our social calendar has been almost nonexistent as we focused on consistency and patience. I do think our efforts are paying off, as Lucy began the month getting about 9 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period - and being quite cranky - to getting about 11 and a half hours. She is much happier now, but we still have a little bit to go. I can only imagine how content she will be when she gets closer to the 15 hours a baby of her age should typically be sleeping. Who knows why she has been sleeping so little, but we are trying everything to modify that. I've been reading up like crazy on sleep and know way more about sleep cycles than I ever thought possible. Last week I took her to see a pediatric therapist that does cranial sacral therapy which so far seems to have helped the most. We go back this week, so hopefully we see even more improvements.

Here are some pictures of our little lady, as she pulled an "all-monther" (think "all-nighter" just without coffee, and for an entire month!).

Will took an early morning shift with Lucy on a Saturday morning this past month, and when I woke up to a quiet house, I got out of bed to investigate. I found Daddy and daughter sound asleep on the floor. You can't tell from the picture, but Lucy had her fingers tightly wrapped around Will's finger. When you are sleep deprived, it is amazing the things you will try to get Lucy to sleep!Here Will is trying to take a nap, but Lucy clearly has other plans.

When we weren't busy trying to get Lucy to take a nap, we were picking the plethora of tomatoes from our garden. Here's Lucy holding on to some of the harvest. It's a little ironic to me because a year ago at this time I was pregnant with her, and tomatoes made me want to gag!

We were excited when Lucy hit the four month mark, because it meant she could finally play in her little activity center we have for her. Her feet were a little shy from touching the ground, but we found something to put under them so that she could fit. She has a love hate relationship with the little purple hippo she is holding in her right hand. Nothing excites her more than to get that into her mouth, and nothing frustrates her more than not being able to.



Lucy loves to play on the floor. She surprised us both a couple of weeks ago when she rolled over as we were trying to put her pajamas on. Will and I think she was trying to escape bedtime. We were happy we both were there to catch this major milestone. She also has discovered her feet and likes to play with them while we change her diaper.Yesterday we went on our annual apple picking trip with the Timmerman side of the family. It was a big day for Lucy, as she represented the fourth generation of the Timmermans who have been picking apples in the same orchard for over 40 years. The Timmermans are extra excited because on September 24, another fourth generation Timmerman, Gavin, was born. Hopefully next fall Lucy and Gavin will be gnawing on apples together. Here we are below with Will's dad standing in front of a Golden Delicious apple tree.




Will's back at work now, and Lucy and I have found a new routine. We can still hardly believe that Lucy is finally here in our arms. When I was pregnant with her I couldn't wait to hold her and cover her in kisses. Little did I know just how kissable she would be with her chubby little cheeks. We still miss Luke in ways that we can't even begin to describe, but it is a comfort to be able to tell his little sister all about her big brother in heaven. And as we whisper to Lucy when she cuddles her head into our shoulder, Lukey is with us every day and is so proud of his baby sister.

A Day at the Portrait Studio

Lucy had a big day today, as she hammed it up in front of the camera! You'd never know that she screamed most of the car trip there. She knows when to turn on the charm and we had a riot watching her pose for the different shots.

The Four Month Cat Napper

It's hard to believe, but Lucy is 4 months old today. Luke continues to be heavy in our hearts as he would have been 18 months old on the 19th of August. It was also a year ago on the 19th that we shared the news that we were pregnant again. A couple of nights ago, Lucy fell asleep in my arms and took our breath away with her resemblance to Luke.

It has been a busy last month for Lucy, and she is growing and learning by leaps and bounds. As usual, I will give the updates in pictures.

Here we are on the shore of Lake Huron where we rented a house with my family to celebrate my parents 30th wedding anniversary. We were supposed to be there an entire week, but to make a long story short, we ended up heading home after only two nights because the septic field backed up! Everyone kept their humor about them, and it was definitely a bonding experience. Looking back now, it was pretty funny, but while in the thick of it with sewage coming up out of the toilets and shower drains and flooding the bathrooms it was pretty stinky and messy. In the picture above we are sitting by a fire we built on the beach our last night there. Lucy loved the sound of the waves, and slept really well while we were there. To make up for our shortened vacation, we headed to Shipshewana, Indiana where we toured an Amish settlement, ate extremely rich and delicious food and baked goods and bought six dining room table chairs that are currently being built by an Amish guy named Casper. I'll have to remember to post a picture of them when they arrive, as they are absolutely beautiful.

Lucy is many things and especially cute, but she is definitely NOT a sleeper. Here she is in her swing, fighting a much needed nap. We find she sleeps great in the car, but other than that will only take 15 minute cat naps throughout the day. This makes it seem like we are trying to settle a fussy and sleepy baby for most of the day. She can't stand to miss a thing, and if there is anything new or remotely interesting going on she will refuse to sleep. She is getting better about sleeping at night, but of course last night proved us wrong when she decided that she preferred to be wide awake from 1:30 a.m. until somewhere around 4:00 a.m. We are assuming she finally did fall asleep - all we know is that the last time either of us looked at the clock it read 3:58 a.m. She woke me up somewhere after that about 6:30 a.m. It's amazing to me that she seems to require less sleep than her parents. We should have known she didn't need much sleep when she was wide awake the first few days of her life. We kept looking on with pride - "Look how alert she is!" As if to say, wow, we must have something special here. Every other newborn we've seen sleeps the day away! Little did we know how in for it we were! But seriously, we wouldn't have her any other way.
Lucy still loves her bath and insists that we run the water while she is in the tub. We've tried turning off the water in an effort to conserve it once her tub is filled up, but she starts crying as soon as the water turns off. Being the push overs we are for our Little Lucy, we let it run and brace ourselves for the next water bill. Lately, her favorite part of bathtime is getting dried off. She smiles and smiles in her little duck towel and even enjoys it when I swab out her ears with a q-tip. She is a creature of habit already - she knows when it is bath night (every other night) and if we forget - look out! She will cry and cry until we remember. And if we don't bathe her in the exact same pattern as every other time, she will also protest. Again, we think it is adorable - hopefully this isn't a precursor to OCD or something like that!

Here is Lucy with her dolly named Brenda that Grandma Timmerman gave her. She loves to chew on Brenda, and pretty much loves to chew on anything she gets into her hands. We think she is teething, which could also explain some of the sleepless nights we have been having. She is getting really good at grasping objects and putting them in her mouth - her hand eye coordination is definitely progressing.I think this above picture speaks volumes. Currently her favorite book to chew on - I mean read - is "The Belly Button Book."

Lucy has gained a couple of nicknames in her short 4 months of life, our favorites being LuLu and Mumma's Littlest Baby. In the above picture, LuLu pauses before answering her father's question on how to factor a simple polynomial function.

Will goes back to work on Monday, and his girls are going to miss him.

3 Months Old Already!

Time is just flying by with Lucy! She is now 3 months old, and just this evening was trying really hard to roll over. She almost did it, but instead kept rotating around in a circle. Lucy is able to lay on her belly and hold her head up for 'tummy time' really well now too. It is amazing how strong she is getting and the difference even one day can make in her development. She still loves her bath, and is becoming more vocal with vowel sounds and what we call 'owl' sounds. We have been incredibly busy this month, and sometimes feel bad that she spends a good majority of her time it seems in her car seat as we drive here and there. We are hoping that August is a bit more laid back for us, and that we can continue to enjoy Lucy before Will has to go back to school.

Something amazing that gives us chills is Lucy's fascination of the picture of Luke we have sitting on our end table in the living room. The first time we caught her staring at it we couldn't break her gaze, it was so strong. We hope that Lucy knows who Luke is, and recognizes his face in the picture. I also like to think that Luke visits Lucy, and lets her know that she is safe with him watching over her. We would give anything to have both of our children in our arms right now. As we watch Lucy grow, we can't help but feel wistful that we missed the joy of seeing Luke achieve those same milestones. Bittersweet is the only way I know how to describe it. We still miss our little guy more than we know how to say. Lucy does keep us busy enough that we don't have as much time to dwell on our grief, but it is still there, a constant longing in our heart for the little boy we never got to see smile up at us. I remind myself that he is smiling down at us, but it just isn't the same.

Here are some updated pictures of Luke's little sister.

Lucy is starting to cuddle more.

Lucy in the car.

Lucy sitting up like a big girl! Lucy smiling!
Lucy doing 'tummy time'.Lucy and Grandpa.

Lucy is Two Months Old!

We are having a wonderful summer so far, and loving the fact that Will is home. I am so glad that Will is a teacher, and that we can build such great memories during our first summer with Lucy. Lucy loves the outdoors which we are happy about since we practically live outside as soon as the thermometer hits above 40 degrees. At our new home we are able to walk to pretty much anything including Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house so we try to walk whenever possible. The other day I could be seen walking home from the grocery store with a giant 20 roll package of Quilted Northern that happened to be on sale resting precariously atop the stroller. I have no shame! Although I will admit I had several panicked seconds when I realized the package wouldn't fit in the basket under the stroller.

As for the changes in Lucy since our last post - besides the fact that we can practically see her growing before our eyes, she is smiling more and starting to coo. It is adorable. It even melts our hearts at 3 in the morning. Speaking of 3 in the morning, Lucy is still quite the night owl, and our one complaint is the lack of sleep we get at night.

I've had several friends and family request more pictures of Lucy. Because I know that is really why you are here, I'll tell the rest of the updates with pictures of our little lady!

Lucy's Baptism was Sunday, June 14.

Great Grandpa knows how to make Lucy smile!

The Pope Himself came to Lucy's Baptism and gave her His Blessing!

Here she is sleeping...

And sleeping some more... did I mention that it is daytime?

Here she is cuddled in yet another laundry basket - clean of course!

It is actually night time here - past midnight though, and this is how she finally fell asleep.

She is holding her head up more, and able to sit for short periods of time.

Lucy loves to stand! Look at those droopy cheeks!
They are probably kissed a hundred times a day!