What a difference a year makes...

Making cookies last Christmas - 2010

Making cookies this Christmas - 2011

Christmas morning 2010

Christmas morning 2011

I cannot believe the difference between last year and this year.  Who is this little person?  She is crazy, silly, funny, sassy, wild, affectionate, and so much fun!  And don't worry, I didn't forget about Lucy, but it's hard to take pictures of her since she naps so often!  But she had a fun Christmas too and I'll post pics later!

One Year Ago...

Can you believe how much this girl has changed in a year?

November 2010

November 2011

Christmas Cards

I love Christmas cards!  I love getting them and I especially love choosing the one we'll send out for our family card.  Usually I send them out super early, and obviously this year, not so much.  I'm hoping to get them out before Christmas, but I haven't even ordered them yet, so maybe not!  I love Tiny Prints for our cards, invitations, announcements, etc.  I got Emma's birth announcement from there, and since Lucy is only a few weeks old, I thought I could find a cute birth announcement that also doubled as a Christmas card.  Here is a link to Tiny Print's collection of holiday cards.

I love this card because I can fit several pictures on it.  Plus it's cute and colorful!

I also like this one.  It's simple but cute.

I love love love this one.  Lucy would look so cute on this.  I would obviously have to find a picture with Emma in it too, but I am definitely leaning towards this one.

I think this one is cute too.  It only has one picture, but if I could take a cute family pic, it would be great.  I'm not sure how easy it would be to take a family pic with a 6 week old and a 2 year old though.

I think these ornament birth announcements are so cute.  They would be something different for sure.

TinyPrints also has a lot of holiday and winter themed birth announcements here.

This one is nice and has multiple photos, so I could feature one of Lucy but also include Emma.

I love this one

Check out this one

So, basically I have no idea which card I'm going to pick.  There are so many cute ones, and I have the hardest time making a decision every year.  But now I have two cute little girls to put on a card!  Any suggestions?

Fussy

Lucy is so fussy! I am at a loss for what to do. Do I just cut out all foods from my diet? Do I go with formula? Do I pump and give bottles? When do I find extra time in my day to pump? I can do it sometimes, when Nick is here to watch the girls, or if by chance Lucy takes a good nap. It's so frustrating.

I'm all about breastfeeding and totally understand the health benefits of it. But it is really hard. And there's so much guilt that goes along with it, whether you do it or not. If I keep going, I feel like I am possibly causing her fussiness. Is my milk hiring her stomach? She seems hungry all the time...so I not have enough milk? If I go with formula, I can know exactly how much she's eating, but I have to figure out which formula works best for her. And I'd she's just as fussy in formula, well then I look stupid for switching.

Also, no one told me that nursing would make my hormones nuts. Seriously it's bad enough having a baby, but bf'ing has kept my hormones all over the place. I am acting like a crazy person. If going with formula helps me get back to myself and makes me a better mom and wife, isn't that what's best?

Maybe my baby just has colic and she will harps out of it eventually...in that case, it doesn't matter what she's eating. Also I hate the breast pump.

This is a random post and something most people probably don't care to read about, but I have lots of time to kill while nursing!

Big sister

Is it bad that I still take more pics of Emma than Lucy?!

Lucy Belle

I guess I'm a little behind, but these past 2 weeks have been a little...busy...overwhelming...stressful.

Lucy Belle Addington was born on Tuesday, October 18th at 8:08am.  She weighed 6lbs 10 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.  Her weight was almost exactly the same as Emma's (she was 6lbs 9 3/4 oz), but Emma was only 18 inches long.  Unfortunately, I had to be put to sleep during my c-section, which we didn't find out until about 30 minutes before.  I didn't like not being able to see Lucy as soon as she was born or not having Nick with me.  I also didn't like how groggy the medication made both me and Lucy.  I don't really remember the first time I did meet Lucy, and Lucy especially was very sleepy while we were at the hospital.  It has taken her a while to really start opening her eyes, but this week she is starting to be much more alert.  Her eyes look exactly like her sister's did (guess she better get used to being compared to Emma all the time...that's probably terrible parenting but oh well).

I would not call Lucy an easy baby!  She cries through diaper changes and really almost anytime she's on her back (although today I got in two diaper changes and a few minutes of playtime in the pack & play without any crying, so that's progress!).  She is a big eater.  I started out trying for a 3 hour schedule, but have had to push it back to 2 1/2 because she eats so much.  She does well for her first 3 naps during the day, and then gets fussy when we put her down in the afternoon and early evening.  We usually end up putting her in the carseat for those naps.  At night, she has not been a great sleeper.  She eats every 3 hours or so (although last night she went for 5 hours!), and then has a very hard time falling back to sleep.  She's sleeping in the carseat, since she can't stand the bassinet.  We try hard not to let her wake Emma up, but Emma has apparently the best hearing ever.  Seriously, she can hear anything, anywhere in the house.  It's crazy.  We're figuring things out as we go, but Nick and I are exhausted.  There's not much time to nap during the day.

Emma is adjusting.  She seems to love Lucy and constantly wants to hold her and play with her.  She doesn't quite understand that she has to be gentle with her, or quiet when she's asleep.  She's been a little wild, and Nick and I have probably made it worse by being somewhat lenient on her.  But now I am going to have to get back to disciplining her.  Three of her molars are STILL coming in and she has been pretty miserable.  Today she has a slight fever and runny nose, and she took a VERY short nap.  I hate those molars.  So Nick and I have had our hands full.  I have to brag on my husband though...he's been so helpful.  I have no idea what I'd do if not for him.  He is exhausted when he gets home from work, but he takes care of Lucy and plays with Emma, and at night he is up with her to change diapers and get her back to sleep.  Once Lucy starts taking bottles, she won't even need me!

Here are a few of Lucy's first pictures.

I week old

We might never get through these letters

I just wanted to do a quick update.  We have 4 more weeks until baby #2, so things have been pretty hectic around here.  There's still a long list of things to do for our house projects, but the nursery is mostly finished.  I'm still working with Emma on her letters, and we're also throwing in some colors and shapes to our learning activities too.  We're on the letter M (I know, we should have probably been done by now, but I've not been as consistent as I should have), and our color for the week is red.  I'm hoping to also get a little work on circle in there somewhere.  It has worked out really well because for the past 2 weeks, the theme of storytime at the main library has gone right along with our theme at home.  Last week it was the letter L, and this week the color red.  We're also starting to work on one to one correspondence.  Emma loves to count, but she'll see 2 items and count to 20.  So I'm trying to be more intentional by counting anything and everything.  Here are a few pictures from the past week or two.

Finger painting her ladybug

L activities

Playing with the alphabet soup sensory bowl I made at MOPS!

She loves this!

Daddy brought home some headphones for the football games...she is terrified of fireworks right now

Anxiety

Sorry, no fun pictures today.  This week I have been having some anxiety over the next few weeks, months (years?).  How am I ever going to get everything ready for another baby?  How will the house ever be ready to put on the market for real (there's lots of painting to be done, and that's just for starters)?  If we do list it, will we even get enough out of it for it to make sense to sell?  And if we did happen to sell, where will we go?  How can I manage that with a toddler and a newborn?  How in the world is Emma going to react to a baby?  Will she hate her?  Will she hate me?  We discovered that the car Nick drives has transmission trouble, but don't know the extent of it yet.  A new transmission will cost more than the car is worth.  Why is it that new babies and cars and life in general is so expensive?  Ugh, these thoughts keep me up at night.  That and the baby who never sleeps (the one in my tummy, not Emma...though we've been having some sleep issues with her too lately).

I know that God will provide for us and take care of all these things in his time, but you see, I have a need to control everything.  To try to get God to cooperate with me and my plan, which is of course, awesome.  But as it turns out, I can't control everything and my plan has some holes in it.  I know in my heart that I need to trust God and completely submit all of my worries and plans and desires to Him.  But in my head, I need to know what is going to happen.  If God could just toss me down a little Excel sheet, I'd be much more relaxed.

PHILLIPPIANS 4:6-7 (NIV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Fun Weekend

We had a great weekend.  On Saturday, Nick and I took Emma to the Louisville Zoo.  She's at a really fun age where she loves animals, and she was really excited and talking a lot about all the animals she'd get to see.  She did really well, especially considering that she skipped her nap.  We really liked this zoo better than the others we've been to; the animals seem closer to you.  Emma's favorite part was the splash park.  She played there for over an hour and would have stayed all day.  I can't believe how much she loves water.  At the beginning of the summer, she was scared to run through our tiny sprinkler, and now she loves anything water.  It was a pretty hot day and we were all tired by the time we got home, but it was a fun day.

Sunday afternoon we decided to take Emma swimming at Nick's parents' house.  It's a little harder because their pool is all the same depth (that depth being above Emma's head), and little Miss Independent hates being held or being in her float now.  We took lots of toys and tried to keep her entertained.  She did enjoy trying to jump in.  She had fun but was wound up.  She got to bed just 15 minutes late or so, but ended up not falling asleep until 9:00pm.  Lucky me!  Ha, she's been ok today but will definitely be going to bed early tonight.

Our week is shaping up to be busy, as always.  I do think we're going to get our nursery painted this week.  We (I) finally decided on a color.  Our crib is in and ready to be picked up, and I just need to wash the bedding.  Hopefully I'll have some pictures by next week.  Our church is having a parenting seminar this weekend, and I'm excited if for no other reason than that it will be some "alone" time for me and Nick.  It will be as close to a date as we have had in a few months.

Here are some pictures from our fun weekend:

Soaking it up

Emma and I have been trying to soak up these last couple of months of just us.  Emma obviously still doesn't really know what's coming, so mostly I am trying to plan lots of fun activities for us.  And sometimes, we just plan to stay home and be silly together.  I cannot believe how fast Emma is developing right now.  It makes me super grateful to be at home with her, where I can see it daily.  She speaks in full sentences, and we can hold actual conversations now.  They're usually very random conversations, and I'm probably the only person who can understand all of it, but it makes the day so much more entertaining to have someone to talk and listen to.  She also loves to talk to the dogs, which is hilarious.  She tells them when she'll be right back, says bye before we leave, and I can hear her saying things to them just like I do (mostly no, which is making me just how aware of how often I say that).  Here are some pictures of some of the fun times we've had lately.

Chasing Daddy at the playground

Her new favorite activity: feeding the ducks

Moving all of her diapers to the baby's room!

Playing dress up

Checking out the water at a Concert in the Park

Wearing her tutu on her head...she thought this was hilarious

Our "J" activities

Turning into such a good helper

"I" week...the colored ice was a big hit