Seasons of Love

I absolutely love this song ... I think it's one of the best of all time. We are one hour away from being done with school and a little over 24 hours away from boarding the plane. This year's Season of Love is about to begin.


Hopefully my next post will be from P-town!

Four More Get Ups

I don't have much to say these days because all that is on my mind is making it to break. Here are some pics though:

And, here is a video of Lucy rolling over. She's a rolling little princess every time you put her down.

And, one more thing ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! I love you! Lucy and Pete love you too!

An Official Roll Over

Lucy did a total roll over today, pulling her arm out from under her and everything! This picture is right after the event occurred.

one week

This time next week we'll be on our way home!!! Pete scored us a bulkhead seat with a bassinet today! Yeah Pete!

Isn't it Saturday yet???

This week has gone by fast, but I am exhausted. I seriously cannot wait for it to be Friday. Lucy has been sleeping better (10 hours last night!!!), but I'm still completely drained. This working and parenting thing is not for the faint of heart, I can assure you. I am still missing her horribly during the day, despite how busy I am. I wish I could just go visit her every hour or two. Being back at work does have it's ups - I do like the mental stimulation and it's fun to be around adults and work with kids, but my number one kid is at home smiling to someone else :( One more week, though, and then two weeks of break! I'm dreading the long flight, but I can't wait to get home to the fam!
Here are two not very exciting videos, but at least you can see her trying to roll over. She's just so darn cute!

Milestones

Sorry I missed a blog yesterday - I was beat! I fell asleep at 8:00 last night. And, big news - Lucy slept from 8:00 until 4:30 in the morning! 8.5 hours! Of course, I still woke up every hour to check on her (will that ever stop!), but it was nice to just pop back into bed. I did have to put her pacifier in at 11:30, but she fell right back asleep, so I figure she couldn't have been too hungry, if she was hungry at all. In other news, you won't believe it, but she rolled over today! For a while now, ever time you put her on her back she immediately goes to her side and tries to roll over and gets very frustrated that she can't. Well, today when I came home from school, we had her on the bed and she totally did it! She still hasn't figured out how to pull her arm out from under her, but she did roll. We tried to put her on her back to see if she could do it again, but she just went back to trying and being frustrated. Anyway, I think that is pretty cool, although now I'll probably be waking up more often at night to check on her, I bet.
Work is just clicking along. I'm really trying not to have a bad attitude, but some times I slip. It's just really hard to care about work right now, especially when I am often so tired. I think it will get better after Christmas - it's also hard because I have to write these letters and I don't know the kids AT ALL. So, I am utterly and completely b.s.ing my way through (pardon my French). These letter have every "recommendation word" I know in them. Every student is "diligent" "dedicated" and "an enthusiastic learner." They could all be total schmucks for all I know. Hopefully they have a couple of good teacher letters to balance mine out. I feel badly, but what can you do?

So sweet

Pete and Lucy took a nap together this afternoon ... so sweet.

Back to work tomorrow for a full week. I spent two full days with Lucy and I still don't want to go back to work. She is such a lovebug. She is smiling and giggling all the time. We just love it.
I packed up all of Lucy's 0-3 month clothes today - she's now in 3-6 months. There still a bit big, but the others were way too small. She's growing up so fast!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom! You are the best mom a girl could ask for! Lucy, Pete and I all wish we could be there to give you a great big hug. We'll have to celebrate in two weeks. I love you!

Thank you Carolyn for the cute Pike Place Market shirt!

Friday at last!

I know I only worked three days this week, but I am SOOOOOOOO glad it is Friday! Two whole days ahead with Pete and Lucy - what more could a girl ask for! Tonight we are going over to Bob and Jenn's for an Italian Christmas Dinner. I am looking forward to it. As Pete said this morning, "Only one and a half more Fridays until Christmas Break!" Yeah!

Day Two

Here's another bath pic for you :)

The morning of day two went a little smoother. However, I am exhausted! Little Miss decided to be awake from 2:30-4:30 last night. Not really awake, per se, but she was pulling a "I don't want to sleep in my crib, I am much more comfortable on you" night. She hasn't done that in a while ... maybe it's because she missed me yesterday. Anyway, I hope tonight goes better. My famous quote this morning was, "I really need to get up at 5:00 to get everything done, but I just couldn't this morning ... 5:00 comes real fast when you go to bed at 4:30." Pete thought that was funny. Pete keeps trying to tell me to share the night duties, but I'm just not used to it. I think I might have to, though, to keep my sanity.

We survived

Well, we made it through my first day back. The morning was crazy and rushed, despite getting up at 5:20am. I can't believe it is possible to be running late at 6:00 in the morning - there is something very wrong with that. As Pete and I got onto the elevator I was definitely holding back the tears, but I managed to not mess up my make up. I called home twice and all was going well, which made me feel better. It is a comfort to know that I am only 10 minutes from home if need be. Pumping at work went better than expected, although I have to admit it is weird to get half naked in your office three times a day. I'll do it as long as I can, though - we'll see how it goes. I'm not going to beat myself up either way. There is SO much work to do between now and Christmas break. During my leave I practically forgot about college applications. I guess the kids didn't, though. I have 19 letters to write by next week - that's enough to keep me from being homesick for Lucy. Well, probably not, but I'll try and fake it.

No more maternity leave

This face always cracks me up. She does it a lot when I take pictures of her. I think it's the flash.
Well, tomorrow is D-Day. I leave the most precious thing in the world to me for nearly 10 hours. I hate the thought of it ... I could cry, but I'm going to try not to. Anyway, wish me luck. I think I'm going to need it.

Another movie for you

Lucy had a doctor's appointment today. She's 23 inches and weighs just over 12 pounds. She's our growing little girl. Of course, the doctor meant immunizations - she was such a brave girl though. Mommy was proud!

Sorry it isn't more exciting, but people seemed to enjoy the movie last time.
I only have one more day of maternity leave ... I can't even talk about it. :(

Shen Zhen

Here are some photos taken according to Shannon's suggestion. She holds her head up like a champ usually, but not so much when I was trying to take these.


Today was super, super fun! Pete watched the shmoo and I went into mainland China to a place called Shen Zhen. Seriously, it is a shoppers paradise - everything you can possibly imagine for cheap, cheap, cheap! I bought knockoff purses: 3 Prada, 2 D&G, and one Chloe. Yes, some of them are Christmas presents. I had such a good time I can't even tell you. If any of you are coming to visit, it is essential that you get a China visa so I can take you there - it's awesome.

Chilly

It's been a bit colder around here lately, so I had to put Lucy into this cute fleece with cat ears. I love it! Other than that, it was a pretty lazy Saturday around here - we didn't even leave the house. It actually felt really nice.

Same picture

I feel like sometimes I take the same picture over and over again ... I swear I took these pictures this morning. We run out of creative poises - our apartment is only 650 square feet, ya know :)
My last full week of maternity leave went too fast! At lease it means we are closer to Christmas break, and, of course, I am glad it is the weekend because Pete gets to be home with us.

I love this girl!

Pete and I just got back from date night. It was wonderful to be out with my love. I almost forgot how fun he was! We went downtown to a Mexican restaurant - great food and great company. Both of us were ready to get home to our shmoo though. We missed her so much.

Late again

Pete and I fell asleep early last night watching a movie, so I am late with my post - sorry. Not much is new here, except that Lucy has learned to bite, which is not my favorite thing in the world. I screamed "Ouch!!" last night really loud and it startled her and she started howling. I felt badly that I made her cry ... buy my gosh, girl! You hurt your mama!




Lucy is really liking books lately, which makes us happy! We are currently reading her "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," "Guess How Much I Love You," "The Lady With the Alligator Purse," and "Daddy Loves Me" (of course!).
Marianne is staying late tonight, so that Pete and I can have a date night. Of course I hate to leave Lucy, as usual, but hopefully it will be fun. Wish us luck!

Something New

O.K. I realize I sound like a total dork in this video and Lucy isn't doing anything too interesting, but I thought I would try something different today. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! (Sorry it's blurry at times - I was just using my camera. Oh, and "A-boo" usually makes her smile, but I think she gets totally distracted when I have the camera in front of her.)
Christmas is right around the corner!

Monday

Here's some pictures of Lucy after bath time:


I swear she gets cuter every day. She has been smiling so much today - I love it. Marianne told me today that she is a very good girl - just what a mom wants to hear.
I went into school today for a while. I did some work and in the afternoon I got a flu shot - fun! I'm not going to go in anymore though until I really have to go back. Every time I end up doing work or talking work, and I'm not officially on the clock yet, so no more for me!

GO COUGS!!!!

Fight, fight, fight for Washington State!!!! Whoo hoo!!! The Cougs won ... and they won in SEATTLE!!!! Lucy and I couldn't be happier (she decided today she was a Coug fan - I am so proud of her!) Anyway, I don't have a Coug outfit to put her in, but I do have this cute owl shirt that Shannon sent. (The Owl is the Chi Omega mascot.) Shan - when I put this on, I realized that I never sent you a thank you note for this! Lucy loves her shirt and her socks! She's a cute little Chi-O in the making.
Other than the Apple Cup, we were just lazy today - it felt great!

Family Outing

Pete, Lucy and I finally went on our family outing to Lamma Island. It was a very good day - even with a few bumps here and there. The pictures below outline the story of the day:
Here are pics of Lucy playing this morning:


When Pete woke up he read Lucy a story and she read along with him.

We took the 1:30 ferry to a cute town on Lamma Island. We have been to the island before, but we went to the town we hadn't visited yet. Our first mission was food and, amazingly, we found a Turkish restaurant. We love Turkish food, but I thought it would be a long time before we ate it again. It was great!


We then hiked to the town we have visited before (the one with the seafood restaurant where you can pick a live fish and they cook it for you.) The hike took about two hours with a short pit stop to feed Lucy. I think Lucy enjoyed the hike, although she did fuss a bit.







When we arrived at the other town, that is when things started to go downhill a bit. Lucy was asleep, so Pete and I decided that we would eat at the restaurant before catching the ferry back to Aberdeen. When we arrived there was no one there and we thought we could eat quickly and catch the 6:00 ferry - we were wrong. They totally forgot our order and we were waiting for an hour and a half for food. Half way through our wait Lucy woke up and was NOT happy. We constantly were walking her around, but she continued to howl. Finally some of our food arrived, but we were still waiting for our shrimp (the main reason we went there). Eventually I decided to express my extreme frustration to the waiter. When I was finished, Pete was in shock - he had never seen me that adamant before - usually I just think these things and don't actually say them out loud. He said he had never seen that side of me before. I told him, I'm a mom now and my kid is upset - I have to do what I have to do (total musk ox - inside family joke).


We got home safe and sound, and Lucy is now fast asleep in her swing. She was pooped. Overall it was a great day and we are glad we got out of the house, even with the restaurant situation.

So glad it's the weekend

Sorry I'm a bit late today. Lucy and I just took a nap for a couple of hours. It's now midnight and I'm on my way to bed, but I wanted to post before dreamland. :)
We're so glad it's Friday! Hopefully our weekend adventures will go a little better this time. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day everyone! I wish we were there to celebrate with all of you! We miss you more than words. I hope everyone has a great day eating tons, watching football, and falling asleep on the coach. Lucy wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving too!