Eating at Ted's

On our way home from convention, we stopped at Ted's Montana Grill which was very appropriate given Lucia's cool cowgirl boots.

My first convention

Ok, technically this photo was taken at Phoebe's second church convention, but they were only two weeks apart.  At this stage, two weeks is a BIG deal and the second convention was somewhat easier than the first,  just given the decreased frequency of feedings, if nothing else.

Siamese grapes

Ever see these kinds of twins?  I never have before, either.

"Lucia, why don't you get into bed and read"

So, our ever-obedient (ahem!) and sweet girl did just that the other night.  She loves her "BIG BOOK" as she calls her Richard Scarry book. We read it every night before falling asleep and she has memorized much of it already.  Troy happened to walk past to see what she was doing and found her propping the "BIG BOOK" up with one leg stuck into the air in order to read it.  By the time I grabbed my camera/phone, she had already turned the book over.

Sick of being bored, and bored of being sick

When the cold bug hits, there isn't much to do (except to beg for "one more Micky Mouse Clubhouse" and tell Mommy about every friend she missed).  We didn't go out of the house much for seven days, which is a miraculous feat around here.  One day last week, the loud, dark thunderstorms and subsequent heavy rain provided some entertainment.  Lucia gazed out the front door for quite awhile and didn't want me to shut it.

If I had just 15 minutes....

My sister in law once asked me if I ever wished I had just 15 minutes knowing how much one could get done during that time. I think of her words often when the housework is piling up and kids are demanding attention. The other morning, I got my unexpected 15 minutes and what a difference it made! Phoebe woke up congested but fell back asleep relatively quickly. The rest of the house was still. I quickly unloaded the dishwasher, started breakfast and coffee, gathered Troy's lunch and pulled out a load of kids laundry to fold all in 15 minutes. The rest of the day passed much more smoothly having had those 15 minutes of prep. But if I had planned those 15 minutes as I've tried in the past, you know it wouldn't have worked out!

Happy birthday to "us"

Since Lucia learned about her birthday last month, birthdays are a big deal. It was mine yesterday and Lucia had gone with her Daddy earlier in the week to find a gift and a Minnie Mouse birthday card. While she was singing the birthday song the previous night (just before we dove into my birthday brownies), she included her own name in it with a twinkle in her eye. Yesterday morning, after having hibernated for a few days with colds, we finally ventured out to the nearby Caribou coffee shop for a birthday treat. Lucia enjoyed her hot chocolate and I drank up every last drop of a calorie-laden sugar bomb known as Mint Condition. We also shared a croissant. The funny moment occurred when Lucia turned back to the car and said "oh, I forgot my books." Somehow she knows that coffee shops and books go together, even though she hasn't really hung out there before.  We might have started something here...

Awesome brownies from Blue Moon Bakery

Caribou croissant and hot chocolate

She had been reading a minute before...

Yoora

The Chinese characters of Phoebe's Korean middle name have multiple (like hundreds) of meanings.  Halabuhgee was kind enough to figure out the best ones for us.  The top is Chinese, the bottom is Korean.

This particular "Yoo" contains multiple meanings as well. One is abundance, another is accepting, another is laid-back, and the one we like is soft (or warm) hearted.  The "ra" part is the same as her sister's name and means prosperous.

College? check!

We stopped to pick up Daddy from school one evening, and Lucia insisted on going up to his office.  In an attempt to divert her from making the trek to the third floor, I suggested we go to the Natural Resources library instead, which is located on the first floor, right by the entrance.  She agreed and when Daddy stepped off the elevator, excitedly told him to go to the library.  Inside, she found the white board and figured out how to reach the books.  So for a few minutes, she enjoyed the education ranks of Troy, Kelly, Christian, Stephen, Stephen, Zach, etc.

Picnic at the lake

The weather turned beautiful this past week, and we enjoyed an evening picnic at the lake of KGC and KFC.  The famous Kentucky chain now makes grilled chicken so we got a bucket of mixed grilled and fried, along with mac-n-cheese, biscuits and nuggets.  Soon after this photo was snapped, the chicken leg fell to the ground.  Oh well.

Happy Birthday (for Sept 15)

Waiting at the doctor's office with Mommy

So, I thought I could sneak off during Lucia's nap time and not tell her that I was going to a doctor's appointment.  Unfortunately, she woke up about 10 minutes after I left and sobbed hard, so I turned back around, held her and apologized for not telling her about my leaving.  Of course, then she didn't want to go back to sleep and jumped at the chance to go with me (without baby sister!).  Despite only a 20 minute nap, Lucia was very happy and entertained the entire waiting room by wearing my sunglasses, carrying the cell phone in her pocket and making witty comments.  What an afternoon!

Lucia's buddy

These two girls enjoy twirling, giggling, jumping, and sometimes sharing.  I love watching them play together, as shown by this photo taken at the library recently.

Travelling

Our little lady carted her own suitcase out to the car, despite a short night of sleep.  

The sweet trio

Lucia loved the annual church convention this past weekend.  She especially loved playing with her friends in between the meetings.  The girls were fascinated by the cows.  This would be a great photo to take again in the same post a few years down the road.

You know you're a mom of a newborn when...

1) you have perma-stain on each shoulder of EVERY shirt from spit-ups
2) you think an hour and a half stretch of sleep is "doing great"
3) you almost wish evolution really did happen because then moms would have three arms
4) mastitis is no longer a foreign concept
5) you hear lots of "awww, she's so tiny" comments (read: "you are crazy, why did you bring a newborn out in public?!")
6) hand sanitizer is your new weapon of mass destruction
7) your new obsession is the frequency, color and consistency of baby poo
8) you have lots of doctors appointments, which your totally sleep-deprived brain can't keep straight
9) you have yet another boss with a loud voice (even if this one can't say anything yet...)
10) you do laundry ALL the time.  In fact, while a load is being washed, a pile of dirty laundry already mounded up.

Annual downtown art festival

We spent a couple hours one Saturday enjoying the hubbub of people while walking around the booths of the downtown art festival.  We met up with some friends and the girls played around the funky horse that permanently resides on the lawn of the one of the buildings downtown.

Bunny love

I love this post-bath, happy baby shot!

LPGA in the future?

The big sister finally got Mommy time while running a quick errand to Walgreens.  She adamantly refused to leave her golf gear (albeit plastic!) in the car.  So, we trekked inside clutching the golf club and ball.  The pharmacist was amused and wondered if she was meeting a future LPGA player.  With that kind of possessiveness of the little white ball and driver, who knows?!

Little queen in a king bed

Goo-goo, gah-gah

We are so in love with this girl.  Here she is at two weeks of age!