Our Lady of Perpetual Motion

I've probably said it a million times since my firstborn's birth, "If I could bottle her energy...". This child DOES NOT SLOW DOWN. Ever. It took her 15 months to start walking, but once she did, she's been in a full sprint ever since. Lucy literally runs everywhere -- from room to room in the house, in circles in the yard, playing red light/green light down the sidewalk, through the halls of church... And when she gets where she's going, she flashes an enormous smile and starts talking so quickly about whatever's churning in her brain that you can barely understand her. I couldn't love that beautiful heart-shaped face with the gap-toothed grin and sparkling eyes any more if I tried.

Lucy talks all.of.the.time. She rarely employs her "inside voice", regardless of the social situation. She is stubborn and spends a lot of time in time out for choosing not to listen the first time. But, she is ever so funny and really smart and creative and sweet to Sister. The best way to describe her energy comes from one of my favorite children's books, "Olivia". While tucking Olivia in at night, her mom says, "You really wear me out, but I love you anyway."

It's relentless at times, but she reminds me that life is meant to be lived joyfully and to the full extent. Run on, baby girl!

Wordless Wednesday: Ballerina girl edition

Big wheels

Big girl riding her big girl bike through the neighborhood. She is so proud of herself!  :)

Waited on hand and foot

You know you're a lucky little girl when your aunt opens up her very exclusive nail salon for an impromptu mani/pedi on Easter Sunday.

Please come back soon, Aunt Katie! We miss you already!!!

Tiny bubbles make me me feel happy, make me feel fine

Bubbles, Mommy, BUBBLES!


Lucy's favorite present from the Easter bunny this year by far is this plastic bubble blower. She's asked to "play bubbles" outside every single day this week as soon as we get home. She alternates between running through the bubbles and instructing us to catch them, and then squeals with delight over the abundance of soapy circles in the driveway. It's lovely to behold the sheer simplicity that brings such unbridled joy to the preschool set.  :)

Wordless Wednesday: Easter egg hunt edition

If you're happy and you know it

...your face will surely show it!

Can you tell how much fun I'm having with my new camera?  It helps to have such amazingly beautiful subject matter.

The world according to Lucy

The "fairy queen" bossing around Honey during her recent visit

Being the parent of a 2-year-old toddler (with a seemingly endless supply of energy) can severely try your patience, leave you incredibly frustrated, and drive you to the edge of exhaustion.  When she's not throwing sippy cups off the table, declining naps, demanding graham crackers, or refusing to get dressed, etc., Lucy has a very strong and funny little personality which keeps us laughing and highly entertained... most of the time.  We may be tired, but we're frequently bored.

Here are some of her current favorite catch phrases, comments, and observations:

"I wanna paint my finger toes, too!"

Upon seeing my painted toe nails propped up on the coffee table.

"Don't be not nice to Lucy. Gots to be nice to me.  ALL. DAY. LONG!"

This is usually spoken whenever one of us tells her to stop doing something wrong. You know, like hurling toys clear across the room or coloring on the walls with crayons.  Basically your standard unreasonable requests.

"I talking to baby Hannah, I not talking to you."

Well.  Okay, then.

"I done told you already."

It's usually necessary to remind your royal subjects when you will not be taking a bath or when they are not fetching your string cheese at a fast enough rate.

"Are you coming to my birthday par-lee?  Gots to have cupcake and candy and balloons and chocolate..."

The list of invitees and menu demands for this fictitious party grow daily.  Apparently Lucy didn't really understand the concept of "birthday party" when she turned two, but having been to several since, she's all about it now.  I'm truly nervous about what kind of 3rd birthday bash we're going to have to throw to match her grand expectations.  And we're still six months away from it.

"I loves you anyway, too."

We're very into Olivia right now (a character that truly matches both sides of my firstborn's disposition -- sweet and saucy).  The phrase above comes at the end of the original book when Olivia's mom tell her, "You know you really wear me out, but I love you anyway."  Olivia responds with, "I love you anyway, too." 

This last one just about sums up our relationship with Hurricane Lucy right now.  And we wouldn't have her any other way.  J

Wordless Wednesday ~ For Aunt Katie

Lucy ~ 28 months

Hannah ~ 4 months

Now who's lame?  :)

Five for Friday

Since it's been a while since I've had a post exclusively dedicated to my first-born (who has been happily declaring, "I a big gurl!" this week), here's a glimpse into five of her current favorite things:

1.  Pockets, as in "I pockets, Mama!" (oh, and saying 'cheese' for the camera).

2.  Playing the guitar like Daddy.  Current favorite hits include: The Alphabet Song, Mommy's Song (a variation on the Elmo's World theme song), and The Wheels on the Bus.  She's even got the strumming and singing at the same time thing down pat.  Watch out, Taylor Swift!

3.  Dora sunglasses, and well... everything Dora.  She's more than a little obsessed with everyone's favorite 'super cool exploradora' right now.  If I hear, "I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the maaaaap!" one more time...

4.  Sparkly princess shoes.  I mean, with kicks this fabulous, who can really blame her?

5.  Chocolate milk.  We pretty much ask for "chocko malk" all day long, every single day.  At least she's getting plenty of calcium, right? 

Summer time and the livin' is easy when you're two!  I love you, big girl.  Just stop getting big so fast.

Things that delighted me this weekend

Pop Pop watching Sesame Street with his two best girls

Andrew's first attempt at Mickey Mouse pancakes

A swaddled baby Hannah napping in my bed

Andrew and his dad taking Lucy on a boat ride so I could rest and catch up on e-mail and paying bills

 A beautiful bouquet of summer roses picked out by my husband and delivered by a beaming toddler 

 Pop Pop supervising Lucy's afternoon play session while we cooked a delicious steak dinner

Hannah's still eating almost every 3 hours on the dot (including at night), which means I'm pretty much in a constant state of exhaustion.  Combine this with the release of some serious post-pregnancy hormones and the picture is not always pretty in our house right now.  So... I'm trying to revert back to the idea of the gratitude journal I kept in college and make it a point to recognize all the small things that I'm thankful for, no matter how mundane.  Today, I'm grateful that I finally got to talk to my mom on the phone and that the laundry got put away.  It's the little things...

Sibling rivalry

All Andrew and I could keep saying about little sister in the delivery room was, "She looks just like Lucy!".  The resemblance is truly uncanny.  Take a look... 

                                         

Lucy ~ 8 lbs., 4 oz., 20 in.

Hannah ~ 8 lbs., 10 oz., 21.5 in.

Lucy ~ 6/22/08

Hannah ~ 6/29/10

But, I'm starting to notice slight differences between my two girls now.  At birth, Lucy's head was bigger while Hannah's cheeks are as round as a chipmunk's.  Lucy's hair was light brown, while Hannah's peach fuzz is almost blonde.  Lucy was always a little chunk, while Hannah is long and has lean arms and legs that go on for days (even though she weighs more). 

Either way, I can't seem to help myself from kissing either one of their sweet baby heads endlessly.  One thing is for sure ~ that Powers gene sure runs strong!

Flashes before your eyes

Birth day

1 year

2 years

Dear Lucy,
Happy, happy birthday sweet baby girl!  This new year of your life has brought about an incredible amount of change as you have developed and grown.  It's been amazing to see you morph into a little person with a big personality.  You went from crawling to walking to running and jumping, from saying just a few words to forming complete sentences ("Baby is sleepy" and "I eat cheese, mama" are some of your current favorites), from being fed to feeding yourself using utensils and drinking from a sippy cup, from holding balls to throwing and kicking them...  all in the span of just 12 months.  You love to laugh, sing and dance, swing, play with Evie and chase Ella, rock baby dolls, read books, talk on the computer with Aunt Michelle and Aunt Katie, blow bubbles, make animal noises, avoid taking naps, watch Curious George and Elmo, and swim and splash around in the water. 

You might be small, but your enthusiasm and passion for life is oversized and you are an absolute joy to be around.  You pout with determination, but love fiercely and deeply.  And you continue to teach me and your Daddy about the true meaning of unconditional love.  We can't wait to see what the next year of your life has in store as you continue the remarkable journey from baby girl to big sister.  I have a pretty good feeling that "Hadda" will spend the rest of her life looking up to you.  :)

XOXO,
Mama

A very merry un-birthday

Since baby sister's birth day is fast impending upon Lucy's birthday, we decided to start celebrating our big girl turning 2 a little bit early!  While in Shreveport for Aunt Katie's graduation party, we gathered together with family and a few friends to wish Lucy a very merry "unbirthday", complete with Johnny's pizza, ice cream, and an adorable Elmo cake from Julie Ann's.  She absolutely loved her new pink tricycle (with a basket in front for baby to ride) and My Little Pony baby, but I think the balloons captivated her attention more than any of the presents!

I wasn't completely sure that she knew what was going on, so while changing her diaper in the middle of the festivities I said, "Isn't this fun?  It's a birthday party just for Lucy!"  She smiled widely and clapped her hands while exclaiming "Yeah!!!"  It's a memory I'll never forget.  Thanks to the Powers clan for making such a special day happen for our precious girl.

A few of my favorite things...

Wearing my Elmo t-shirt

Swinging (whee!)

Pulling off my socks and shoes

Giving kisses to Evie

Life is good!

XOXO, ♥Lucy

Pouty princess

You can make me play dress up, but you can't make me smile!

Just say no

We were trying to get a picture of Lucy with yogurt all over her face after a messy self-feeding session, and as soon as Andrew turned the camera on her all we got was a resounding, "NO!" This is one of the few sentiments we seem to be able to convey with absolutely no confusion these days.

Lucy's BIG news

I'M GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER! Hooray!!! I'm so excited to have a new baby to play with.

At least I was until I found out that Mommy's almost 12 weeks along which means that my little brother or sister has the same due date that I did (June 25) and might even be born on my birthday. I don't want to share my birthday! I'm still a really big deal, right?

My Daddy is secretly thrilled at the idea of only having to pay for one party. :) I get to see pictures of the new baby for the first time on Dec. 15th. I'll share them with you soon. Yeah!

Love, Lucy

Walkin', for your love

Lucy's gone from only taking a couple of steps at a time to crossing an entire room with confidence and without holding on to anything. YEAH!!! We're almost there...

Little pink riding hood

Fall is coming! Well... it's a little cooler now than it was a few weeks ago anyway. Hooray!!! Of course, I had to take this off of her right after this picture was snapped because it was too big. We're experiencing a bit of a wardrobe conundrum right now -- most of Lucy's summer clothes are now too snug and are season inappropriate, but a majority of her fall clothes are still too big and it's still too hot to wear long sleeves.

And yes, I do in fact realize that a vast majority of the pictures I've taken of Lucy lately are of her in the high chair, but it seems like that's the only spot I can get her to be still! Baby girl loves to eat. And from the looks of this picture, she's figuring out the whole posing thing when she sees the camera flash. Would you like some ham with that cheese? :)