19 Months - Came in like a lion and went out like a lamb

Let's just say that Lucy's 19th month of life started kind of rough. If I had to pick two words to describe Lucy at the beginning of this past month, they would be 'sleepless' and 'defiant'. The time change did not help things. Up until this year, I had always loved when the clock 'fell' back, and I would gain an extra hour of sleep. This year, for Lucy, the time change meant that 5 a.m was the new 6. We tried putting her to bed earlier to compensate for her early rising, but to get enough sleep, she would have to be in bed at 5 in the evening and this was just not practical. So she woke up early and CRANKY. To add to this sleep trouble, we spoke with Lucy's pediatrician about her restless sleep, and she suggested that maybe Lucy has a food allergy that is making her uncomfortable and keeping her from sleeping. She advised that we try eliminating dairy from her diet and see what happens. I can only assume from the results since, that dairy was the issue because slowly but surely Lucy has been doing better with her sleep. Lucy must have known that I was going to write a post tonight, and so woke up this morning at 7 a.m., making last night the first night she slept almost eleven hours straight! Even if this is a one time thing for now, it gives me hope that she is capable of sleeping more, and we will continue to work towards that goal! From the beginning of the month to be up every 40 minutes with her, to an almost eleven hour night is definitely promising. Her mood today was nothing short of sweet, funny and happy. Amazing what a well rested child is like! Look at her just lounging in her bean bag chair - my happy, well rested little girl!Lucy has a great sense of direction (which she definitely does NOT get from me). She knows when we are going to towards Grandma's house, the library, a billboard with a baby on it, and the cider mill to name a few. This is both good and bad. Good when she is right about our destination, bad when we are going elsewhere, and she has a melt down when she realizes we weren't in fact going to the cider mill to get donuts. In the below two pictures we took advantage of one of the warm days we had this past month and went to the cider mill where she likes to eat donuts, look at the goats, and then throw rocks in the stream by the mill while watching the ducks. Everything needs to be done in this order too, or she will let you know the sequence is off!Besides the regular weekly activities like a trip to the chiropractor, story time at the library, the grocery store and play dates with friends our days are mostly spent playing around the house. We go outside as much as possible but lately, as the days have gotten colder, we have been trying to find creative things to do indoors. She watches Elmo once a day, usually at the end of the afternoon while we are waiting for Will to come home. This makes for great bribery leading up to Elmo Time and why I will almost never let her watch it first thing in the morning. When we are not eating, spending time on the potty, watching Elmo or playing outside, we are usually changing the diapers of Lucy's multiple stuffed animals and dolls. The best is when I hear Lucy telling me on the baby monitor at 4 in the morning that her stuffed Elmo "pooped". Finally I had to tell her that dolls and stuffed animals do not poop at night time - only in the day time! Here she is below kissing her doll Simone. Lucy likes to hold a doll on her lap while I push them both around the house in the doll stroller. One of these days those wheels are going to break, and I'm just shocked it hasn't happened yet.

Lucy's other favorite past time - second to watching Elmo and changing dirty doll diapers is looking at babies on the computer. We go through the pictures we have of her, stored in month by month folders and we also look at our friend's babies on facebook. Holly, James, Ella, Gavin, Tommy, Adam, Chloe and Eleanor are her favorites to 'stalk' and she would do it all day if she could. If your baby was mentioned in the above sentence, could you do me a favor and post more pictures? There can never be enough - Lucy has an endless appetite for viewing babies, and I have to say that she probably got that from me.

Will and I had a great find this past month on garbage day - a house near us was throwing out not one, but two Little Tikes Cozy Coupes! After a bucket of bleach water, they were as good as almost new, and Lucy loves riding in them. I'm just bummed that the riding season for cars without windshields - and windows and floorboards for that matter - is coming to an end here in Michigan. Our solution was to put one in the garage and keep one in the basement so Lucy can now ride her car while I do laundry.

Lucy's speech continues to improve. This month's favorite vocabulary additions include the word "more" which she repeats over and over again as if that would make the "more" happen faster. More Elmo. More oranges. More tickles. More laundry basket rides. More doll diaper changes! She also is quite fond of telling us to "seat". "Seat" next to me while I eat. "Seat" and play with me. "Seat" here and change my dolly's diaper! She has also discovered the moon, and excitedly screams "moon!" each time she sees it either in the evening sky, in books, or even on the bottom pad of my computer mouse which is shaped like a moon. Just recently she began referring to herself as 'me'. It is quite humorous when I try to do something for her like put on her shoes, her coat or buckle her into something and she yells "ME!" meaning, let me do it Mama! Finally, she has learned two simple phrases this month - the most scary being "No Dada!!" with quite an attitude, and the cutest being "Here you go" which she says at appropriate times. I just love hearing her little voice!

I couldn't resist posting this picture below. The expression on her face sums up the look she has been giving most of the month to me, Will and perfect strangers. "No! Me!!!!"

Emma Elise Timmerman

Baby T Three has officially been named! It is a relief and a joy to have our third child named. For Will and I, it is very important to have our children named as soon as possible. We believe giving and publicly announcing our child's name acknowledges their existence as more than just a passing thing, and turns a thought into a very personal reality. To us, it validates our child as a unique and very much loved individual and proves to the world that our child is here NOW, and is already a part of our family - worthy of a name.

As some of you know, one of my biggest regrets after losing Luke was not confirming his gender before he was born, and not publicly calling him by name. I personally was calling him Luke and believed in my heart that he was a boy, but we were waiting for his birth to confirm his gender and announce his name. This element of surprise that we were hoping to have for ourselves and our friends and family in retrospect seems like a silly game to me now. I sincerely regret that I took for granted that my baby would be born alive and that we used a human life for the fun of a surprise. Luke was alive inside of me for 35 weeks - he deserved to be acknowledged and known with a name by the world. The hurt of this is something I will probably deal with for the rest of my life. I have never experienced a regret like this before - something so major and that I can never change. So I will not let it happen again if I can help it. My children will be named as soon as we have a confirmed gender at our 18 week ultrasound, and then as soon as we decide on a name.

This is a very painful subject for me, and I know it is based on my own personal regrets and issues. It is tough though when the majority of society waits to name their child at their birth and makes it known to me that they do not agree with how Will and I are naming a child before we physically see them. It is human nature to judge things that you do not yourself understand and I get that. I am guilty of judging what I do not understand either. However, going through the experience of losing a child who you very much expected and assumed would live has opened my eyes to the fact that each person is making their own way in this world. I do not know how or why they came to the conclusions they have about how they live their life and it is not up to me to judge them on their choices. I also do not know what personal issues they are dealing with and can only assume then that they are making the choice that is right for them. In this post I am by no means saying that I believe everyone should name their children and find out their gender before they are born. That is a highly personal choice and one that each individual has to make based on their own circumstances and experiences. From where I am coming from, this is the choice I make and will forever make in regards to naming my children. I can only hope that my friends and family can go easy on judging me for my choices and the people that don't know me as well to accept that sometimes people do things differently then they would and we don't have to know why or judge. I promise to try to do the same for you!

With that being said, I would like to tell you the story of Emma's name! As I have mentioned in a previous post, Will and I were convinced that Baby T Three was a boy. We had a boy's first and middle name ready to go at the time of our ultrasound, but had not agreed upon a girl name. When we heard the beautiful news that we were having a healthy baby GIRL we looked at each other and threw our hands up in the air on what to name her! Based on the background information I gave you above, the fact that we didn't have a name for our blessed baby girl was really stressing me out. We had the ultrasound last Tuesday, and by the weekend it was keeping me up at night. I feel so strongly about never making the same mistake I did with Luke, it was turning into a fear that something bad was going to happen to Emma if I didn't name her and I would have a second regret for the rest of my life. A psychiatrist I'm sure would have a field day with me and my issues on this, but this is the reality I was dealing with. After many prayers with no answers we checked out a baby name book from the library (for the second time this pregnancy!) and our plan was to go through each individual name and write down on a secret ballot each name we thought would work for Baby T Three. I got to the J's and called it a night on Saturday. My plan was to finish the next day, and then pass the book to Will to do the same. When he was finished we would compare lists, and whatever names were on both lists would be our new name pool which we would hopefully be able to narrow down from there.

Now here's where we believe Divine Intervention revealed Emma's name in a most unexpected manner. After church on Sunday, Lucy asked to color a picture. I got out her crayons and some paper and while I was sitting at the table with her and Will, consumed in my own thoughts - and worries - about what to name Baby T Three, I casually asked Lucy: "What should we name your baby sister?" Really not expecting any answer, and going back to my stressed out thoughts, Lucy looked up from her drawing and clearly and proudly yelled "EMMA!!!" I looked at Will and he looked at me, and then we both looked at Lucy and almost said in unison "what??" Lucy looked at both of us again with a huge smile on her face and said a little softer this time "Emma!". I looked at Will again, and he looked at me and we both started laughing. Keep in mind we don't personally know a single Emma, and have never even said the name Emma to Lucy. Where she came up with that name we can only guess. Will and I started rationalizing - did she say Elmo? After all, that is her favorite character and we were drawing Sesame Street characters before I asked Lucy what Baby T Three's name should be. Or did she combine two of her favorite words - Elmo and Mama - and come up with Emma? So we asked her if Emma was the name of her baby sister. Lucy's reply? "Yes! Emma. Mama. Tummy." At this point Will and I decided to drop it and not draw any more attention to what just transpired. A couple of minutes later I casually asked her what she was drawing a picture of and she proudly replied: "EMMA!" Okay, that caught us off guard too! Up until the ultrasound, she never really acknowledged the baby in my tummy any differently than she acknowledged the fact that in her mind everyone seemed to have a baby in their tummy. And never did she call the baby a name. Then Lucy started talking on her own. "Hair" as she was scribbling with a brown crayon. I asked her "Does Emma have brown hair?" Lucy: "Yes!" Then she started coloring with a different crayon. "Back" Lucy said. I asked her "Does Emma have a healthy back?" Lucy: "Yes!". For the rest of the day, Lucy chatted about and to Emma. She even found a soft baby doll with a rattle in it and put it to my tummy and said "Emma." I asked her if she was giving her doll to her baby sister and she proudly responded "Yes!" From that day on, she refers to that particular doll as Emma's. I suppose Will and I could have stepped in at any time and said no, Baby T Three didn't have a name yet but we held back. Something just felt right about Emma. It has always been a favorite name of mine, and Will also liked it but it never made any of our lists because it is so popular right now. We were looking for a name that wasn't in the top ten of the last decade for our little girl. But again, something just felt right about Emma and it was the first girl name since we found out we were pregnant that left us with a feeling of peace and a smile on both of our faces. That night after Lucy went to sleep talking about "beebee Emma" we agreed with Lucy that Emma would be the name of our third child. We can only wonder as to where Lucy got Emma from, and I will be the first to tell you that my thoughts are that Luke told her in a dream that her baby sister was named Emma and had a healthy back in much the same way Luke told me shortly after I found out I was pregnant with Lucy that I would be having a healthy baby girl named Lucy.


Once we agreed on Emma, the middle name was easy. We chose Elise which is a Hebrew and German derivative of Elizabeth, after me of course! Below is the picture that Lucy drew when she told us what her baby sister's name was. In case you are worried that Emma looks like a Sesame Street character, the Ernie head and the other monster head were drawn by Will before Lucy revealed to us that she was in fact drawing a family heirloom. Oops! The brown scribbles are Emma's hair, and the blue dots are Emma's eyes according to the artist. She asked us to hold her hand to write Emma's name, and then Mama's and Dada's. We then asked if she wanted to write Lucy and Luke, and she agreed.

So now you know the rest of the story as to how Baby T Three got her name! Emma Elise Timmerman. Since giving our baby a name, a great feeling of peace has come over me. No matter what happens to our baby girl - if she lives a week more or 80-some years, in my heart she has been confirmed as important enough to have a name and be a member of this world. I now fall asleep smiling as I think about my beautiful children and go over and over in my head their names... Luke Thomas, Lucy Anne and Emma Elise. God is good and I am blessed!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

It's a GIRL!!!

We had our 18 week ultrasound this afternoon, and found out that Baby T Three is a HEALTHY baby GIRL!!! We are so relieved and grateful to know Baby T Three is healthy, and we are on cloud nine knowing Baby T Three is a SHE! To be honest, I was convinced that this little one was a boy, and in fact have been referring to him - er, her - as a him for quite some time. It is still sinking in that we are in fact having another girl. Driving home from the ultrasound the conversation went something like this...

Me: "We're having a girl!"

Will: "A girl!"

Me: "A girl!"

Will: "We're having a girl!"

Pause...

Will: "Well, we have all the clothes, and all the toys for a girl so this should be relatively inexpensive."

Me: "We'll have to buy stock in Kotex pads, that's for sure."

Will: "Wha-wha-what? I never thought of that!"

Pause...

Will: "And then there's paying for weddings..."

Pause...

Will: "I am no longer going to be third in command in my own house."

Me: "Nope. You will be fourth!"

Will: "Three against one."

Yet another pause...

Will: "Well, you forget that I have Luke on my side, and you can't argue the fact that my team member has some serious strings he can pull in Heaven for me."

Me: "True."

Will: "It's going to be an est-fest, isn't it."

Me: "Is that a question or a statement?"

Will: "I think I need to get an outdoor hobby."

Silence.

The funny thing is, Will has told me all along that he thinks we are having a girl, and has even told me that he would love to have a house full of girls. I think the reality of that wish is starting to hit him. All I know is these girls are the luckiest girls around to have Will as their dad. Another confession, I am dealing with a strange mix of sadness and joy at the news of a little girl. I think I was hoping for a boy so that I could have a connection with my little guy in heaven. I know in my mind that no boy or girl could ever replace Luke, but in my heart it felt like the gaping hole that was left when Luke went to heaven could at least get a well fitting band-aid if Baby T Three was a boy. I cry at weddings during the mother/son dance, and wistfully watch mothers have sweet interactions with their little boys. My mind knows that even if I were to someday have another son, that I would still probably cry during the mother/son dance at weddings and wistfully watch sweet moments between mothers and sons because I would still never know how it would feel to have those with Luke. But my heart believes that a son would make a tiny bit of that hurt go away. With Lucy, I knew that I needed a girl because I wasn't emotionally strong enough to have another boy so soon after Luke. It would have been difficult to separate my hopes and dreams for Luke with my hopes and dreams for his little brother. But now I do feel like I am in an emotionally stronger place, and that I am ready for another boy. God's plan is infinitely better than any I could come up with though, and I am now switching my train of thought from boys to girls. Another girl! Who knew! Certainly not me!

We took Lucy to the ultrasound this afternoon which may or may not have been a good idea. She freaked out as soon as I laid down on the table and was screaming so loudly she kept forgetting to breath. Will had to remove her from the room, and thus missed the first half of the ultrasound. He brought back a slightly calmer child, and we got her through the rest of the exam by feeding her animal crackers and singing "Happy Tappin' With Elmo". There is no shame when you are trying to keep your toddler from throwing a public fit. It did work out in the end though, because once Lucy calmed down, she realized that there was a baby on the screen and was all eyes and ears then. She pointed out the baby's hand, feet, toes, and then asked us if the baby had thumbs. This isn't as odd sounding as you think, as this week she just discovered the word thumb, and that she has two. A couple of days ago she was concerned that her Uncle Johnny didn't have thumbs. Fortunately, we were visiting him later that day and she was able to see first hand that he did in fact have thumbs. I think she finally understands that there is a baby in my tummy. We had up-talked the ultrasound all day in hopes of avoiding any tantrums, and she was super excited to go to the 'hop-tal' to see the 'bee-bee'. She kept saying "Bee-bee. Back." and would then point to her back. It gave me chills each time she did it, and I couldn't help but wonder if somehow she had picked up on Will's and my thoughts and worries about whether or not Baby T Three was healthy. I really don't ever recall telling Lucy that Luke had spina bifida, or anything about a 'boo-boo' on his back, but who knows. She seems very intuitive about certain things, and the entire point of the ultrasound for Will and I was to see first hand that our Baby T Three had a healthy spine. Thank you God, Baby T Three is a healthy baby girl!

So that's my story, and I'm signing off as a mother-to-be of another little girl!

Lucy's Second Halloween

Here is Lucy on her second Halloween, this year dressed up as a black cat! In the below picture she is riding the elevator at her Great Grandma Hines' nursing home on Friday.Below is Lucy with her Great Grandma Hines.Here Lucy is with her Grandma Timmerman and Great Grandma Juszczyk this morning. Lucy on the car ride home from seeing her Grandmas (and Grandpas) this morning...

And Lucy on the car ride home from seeing her Grandparents last year on Halloween. See how big she's grown?!? Still the same pouty face that I love to kiss though!Here is Lucy caught in the candy bowl when we were trying to get ready for trick or treating tonight. As usual, we knew something was up when it got quiet...

In case you were wondering where her pants were, at the time of this picture they were being washed/dried because they got pee on them (sorry Aunt Jenna and Uncle Mike)! It's tough being a toddler, and having to keep the same outfit clean for an entire day. We almost made it, but thank goodness for washers and dryers.

Here Lucy is caught again, this time instead of eating the wrapper of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, she swiped a pack of Whoppers and actually got the package open.
Caught with Whopper's the size of her big brown eyes!

This is the expression she gave Will when he asked what she was eating. Her response? "Can-Dee!!"Yes, we bribed her with candy to get her to stay still for this picture next to the pumpkin Will carved. Next time I will be sure to add another piece of candy to ensure a smile. Looks like Will needed a bribe as well!Here we are walking down our street trick or treating. We went to five houses which is all of the neighbors that we know, and just enough walking for Lucy to have her fill.Happy Halloween!

18 Months = An Offical Grown-Up Toddler

I can hardly believe that our little Lucy is 18 months old now! I remember clearly the day that Luke would have turned 18 months old, and I remember wondering how that was possible too. Milestones are so bittersweet with both of my children, but the bitter and the sweet is wrapped differently with each. With Luke, I wistfully imagine what he would be doing at particular calendar milestones. With Lucy, I watch with pride as she accomplishes each milestone, but then realize how fast she is growing up. It was only a year and a half ago that we brought our long awaited baby home from the hospital but even now, the memories are a sleep deprived blur. I wish I could remember more clearly every moment and wonder how my memories will be in ten, twenty, and heck - fifty years. I keep telling myself that with Baby T Three, I am going to try and focus more on the moment and not let the sleeplessness interfere with my ability to remember the preciousness of babyhood. Now that we are planning for a new baby, and we are bonding with Baby T Three, I really feel like Lucy is no longer a baby and officially a toddler.

She still has those squishy cheeks that I love to press my face against when I hold her, but she squirms away so fast now that it's hard to get my cuddle quota met. As if to prove my point that she is now an official grown-up toddler, in the below picture I caught her (the house got too quiet, and I went searching) at my computer trying her hand at some emails.

To prove my point even further that she is now officially a grown-up toddler, she not only is earning her keep at freelance writing, but can also literally fill in Will's shoes and take the garbage out while saying "heavy!"Speaking of shoes, she can also put her own shoes on now, and most of the time even gets them on the correct feet! The other day I told her to go find her shoes. A couple of months ago she would have done this promptly and proudly, but now that she has her own mind she is quite over following any sort of direction from her mom. So the house got quiet again, and in an exhausted tone I said loudly (I never yell of course! ha ha) "LUCY, I said get your shoes!" Then out popped a head from behind the couch ottoman and a proud little face that smiled and said "SHOES! YEAH!" She had put both of her shoes on the proper feet all by herself for the very first time! I can't tell you the joy that washed over me - you would have thought that I had just opened an envelope with a surprise tax refund. This is huge for us, especially with my expanding belly. Oh, the sweet freedom to not have to get down on the floor, pin down a resisting and squirmy toddler and try and get a pair of shoes on feet that refuse to take the shape of a shoe! Here she is below, showing how she puts on her shoes. If you notice the criss-cross of the velcro tabs on her shoes - that was all her, and apparently that is how all the cool kids are wearing their velcro these days.

On a final note about feet, Lucy loves dancing to the song "Happy Tappin' with Elmo." If you are going to be around us any time soon, make sure you request that Lucy dance to it because it is absolutely hilarious. It reminds me of the way the Peanuts characters dance on Charlie Brown. She gets a really serious look on her face, and then her feet start going wild while her upper body stays stationary. I'm thinking of enrolling her in either Irish Step dancing or tap dancing.

Will's birthday was this past month which brought no end of anticipation and excitement for Lucy. Her favorite song is "Happy Birthday", which she refers to as "Happy", and she loves birthday cakes and blowing out candles. She can now color pictures without eating the crayons this month, which worked out well for Will's birthday card that she is coloring below.She even is beginning to learn about her colors, and has green and orange down pretty well. When in doubt though, green is her trusted standby when asked to name a color. Here she is below helping her Dada blow out his birthday candles.Besides loving birthday cake, her favorite new food words this past month are "donuts" and "orange juice". She loves these new words so much, she actually says them over and over as she is falling asleep. In fact, we have to designate a specific time in the future when we will get her donuts or orange juice for her to relax enough to fall asleep. For example, on a Thursday night when Lucy won't go to sleep because she keeps saying "donuts, donuts, donuts" we will break down and promise her: "Sunday after church we will go get donuts." The next morning she wakes up and tells us first thing: "Church. Donuts. Dada. Mama." She has a killer memory.

With her expanding vocabulary she is able to convey more and more how accurate her memory really is. She fills in the words now when we read her books or tell her nursery rhymes. She is so proud of this skill that she will shout the word slightly in advance of us saying it.

When reading 'Go, Dog. Go.'

Us: "Go by skates, go by bike, go by foot, run, skip-"

Lucy: "HIKE!!!"

Us: "Stop, dogs, stop, the light-"

Lucy: "RED!!!"

Us: "Go dogs, go it's-"

Lucy: "GREEN!!!"

And then there is the book 'Good Night Moon' which Lucy's favorite part to say follows us reading: "Goodnight to the little old lady whispering-" Lucy: "hush" which she whispers and says oh so sweetly.

Lucy is now stringing together her first attempt at sentences, which are only lacking the connective words. A couple of weeks ago Will took Lucy to the duck park by our house and met up with her friend Aeden and his dad. Aeden is a couple of years older than Lucy and took a spill while riding his bike. Apparently this made quite an impression on Lucy, as she has been talking about it ever since, saying: "Aeden. Boo-boo. Bike. Duck. Dada." It's like playing Mad Libs for Will and I except for the fact that we have the nouns, and have to fill in the rest of the story. We went to friends of ours baptism for their baby son two weeks ago, and ever since this is what Lucy tells us about that: "Beebee James. Bat. Wa-wa. Cry. Mama. Dada. Home. Swing. Rock. Nap." To which we translate: "We saw baby James get baptised in the water and he cried. Then his mom and dad hugged him and he stopped crying. Then they took him home and put him in his swing where he rocked to sleep for a nap." Pretty good that she can convey all that in only eleven words, and it took me around forty! My other favorite 'sentence' that she repeats multiple times every day that Will is at work: "Dada. Home. Lunch. Nap." To which I translate: "Daddy is at work, and will be home after lunch and after our nap."

I guess most of this post is going to revolve around the things Lucy has said this past month, and I apologize if this is getting a bit boring. It's just that next month she will be on another level completely with her vocabulary, and I don't want to forget all the cute things she said. Besides from updating family and friends on our life, my purpose with this blog is to create my own version of a scrapbook of my children's lives. I hope that one day they can look back on it and know how loved they are, and I can look back on it and remember their childhoods.

Okay, so back to Lucy talking. She has picked up on phrases that Will and I say often, and in fact has pegged each of us with one word. The funny thing is that neither Will or I realized we had a signature word, until Lucy started repeating it when imitating us. While Will is at work and she does something cute or good I will say to her: "When daddy gets home we'll tell him how you colored like a big girl today. What do you think he will say?" Lucy: "Woooow!" Me: "You got dressed so nicely this morning. What do you think daddy will say when we tell him?" Lucy: "Woooow!" And then there's me. Will: "What do you think Mama will say when she finds out you ate a good lunch?" Lucy: "Umhumm." In the below picture, Lucy is pretending to be me on her play phone. How do I know? She just keeps repeating the word "Umhumm!"

Her play phone was given to her by her Aunt Denise and Uncle Bob. When Aunt Denise saw the pictures on the blog of Lucy talking on my cell phone, she decided Lucy needed a phone of her own. After Lucy opened the present from "Bob and Neese" as she now refers to them, Aunt Neese pretended to talk on the phone to someone named Bernie. Aunt Neese and Uncle Bob have since gone home, and Will and I have been trapped into talking to this Bernie person, who Lucy has not forgotten, multiple times a day. Aunt Denise, that Bernie is a talker! Thanks a lot for putting her number on speed dial for Lucy!

Last month Lucy loved saying "No!" to every question we asked her, even if we knew she really meant yes. This month we have reached a break through as she now will say "Yeah" when she means yes. I find it funny that she is talking in the same Midwest American form of English that Will and I do. Oops!

Finally, Lucy loves to play Patty Cake this month, and so cutely will sing "Peetey cake, peetey cake, woll, woll, pat!" She then points to herself and says "Beebee". When asked what her name is, she says "Beebee" and we're not sure if she really thinks her name is Baby, or if she can't say the 'L' part of Lucy and so has found another way of referring to herself. Either way, I have caught myself referring to her as baby way more than I thought I did, and have tried making an effort to call her Lucy!

Okay, enough about what I think are Lucy's cute phrases and sayings. Below is a little less talk and a lot more pictures! Remember this picture from exactly a year ago on Lucy's six month birthday?

Here she is a year later with a different pumpkin and slightly smaller cheeks!My, oh my, how much she has grown in a year! My little grown-up toddler!

18 Month Sneak Peek

Today Lucy is 18 months old and we decided to celebrate by taking her for a photo shoot. The last time we took her for photos, she was just barely walking at one years old. This time was a little more tricky to get her to stay put long enough for the camera to catch her! I have a new respect for photographers, as I would have given up long before these pictures were taken.

I promise to have a full 18 month update posted in the next couple of days. Hopefully these pictures will tide you over until then!

From Summer to Fall at 17 Months

Lucy has been a mover and a shaker this month, and is definitely exerting her independence more and more. If it's time to get dressed, she will run in the opposite direction. If it's time to get her shoes on to go somewhere, again, she will run in the opposite direction as fast as she can. Really, this past month has just been constant running with Will or I chasing after her and ending it in a tackle. It is quite exhausting, and my mega-tiredness from the first trimester of pregnancy isn't helping. Some days I just sit and hold her shoes while she runs around full speed and then eventually gets bored because no one is chasing her. Then she'll slowly wander over to me, and as soon as she is close enough, I snag her and put her in a vice like hold until I have her shoes on, or whatever other article of clothing I am trying to have her wear. She of course puts up a champion-worthy struggle and lets me know her frustration at being confined. And as if to prove her independence, Lucy's favorite phrase this month is "Bye Mom!" In the picture below she is yelling it while Will gives her wheelbarrow rides around the yard. She also is yelling "Bye Mom!" in the picture below. She likes to swing objects that I am assuming represent purses over her shoulder while waving goodbye to me. I usually reply "Bye Lucy, I'll miss you!" which Lucy thinks is hilarious.
Other favorite words this month included "more", "hot", "Elmo" and "no". The "no" is used most of the time when she means "yes" so we are never sure if and when she actually means "no". Screaming usually clues us in though. Lucy also knows her opposites - in, out, up, down, on and off and uses them at the appropriate times. She has really improved on her talking and will repeat whatever we say when prompted. If we don't understand a word she is saying she will keep repeating it louder and louder until we repeat back what we think she said. She knows when we aren't comprehending what she said, and it is tough to not know what she means. Lately it takes a couple of days, and then it dawns on Will or I what the word means and we repeat it back to her and she claps her hands like we are the ones learning the language.

Lucy has begun climbing on everything this past month. One of her more useful climbing tricks has allowed her to see out the windows by standing on the heating register and pulling herself up by the window sill. Here she is at the kitchen window watching for Will to come home from work.
She also can now climb into her doll stroller at which point she demands to be buckled (safety first!) and then pushed around the living room.

She is super proud of herself for being able to climb into her rocking chair from her Aunt Michele.

She can't quite climb up on the toilet yet, but that hasn't stopped her from making good use of it. She has gone potty on several random occasions in the toilet, and Will and I are starting to wonder when we should officially start potty training since she also says "poop" and "pee" when she is doing the respective action in her diaper.

And with all the climbing, she is sleeping just a tad better. I think her sleep has improved because she has finally finished cutting her last molar! It has taken the majority of the summer, but Lucy now sports four molars and only needs to cut in her four canines before she (and Will and I!) gets a nice long break before her two year molars are supposed to come in. In the picture below, Lucy is sleeping with her favorite items in the world - Hopps, Brenda, and Huggums who is snuggled under her arm.A couple of weeks ago Lucy found a little frog in our garden. Since then, every chance she gets she finds a stick and pokes around the garden looking for him. I feel bad that she hasn't seen him since. Grandma T donated a fake frog from her garden though, and that seems to pacify her disappointment somewhat.

Lucy went to the beach over Labor Day weekend for sadly the first and last time of the summer. We rented a cabin on Lake Huron with my brother Mike and my new sister in law Jenna. We had a blast even though the weather was cold and rainy most of the weekend. Lucy didn't like the feel of the sand on her bare feet, but tolerated it with her sandals on. She loved trying to skip rocks and spending time with her Uncle and Aunt.

Here she is cuddling with her Uncle Mike. Ever since our weekend with Mike and Jenna, she will not stop talking about "Mike". It has gotten to the point where she will just repeat his name over and over again until I break down and call him on the phone and she gets to talk to him. I ask Lucy where Uncle Mike is and she says "home wit Jenna" in a very sad voice.

The first night we arrived at the beach, Lucy refused to walk on the sand. She definitely enjoyed the alternative.

It was absolutely beautiful at the lake, and a perfect way to end our summer.

To kick off our fall, we went on our annual apple picking trip with the Timmerman family last weekend. Lucy has come a long way from last year's apple picking trip where she slept most of the time in her backpack carrier. She loved picking the apples off the tree this year.
She however found a much easier way to gather apples, and was very proud of her discovery.

No apple bag is too heavy for Miss Lucy!

Happy Fall!