Happy 2 years Lucy Lu!

I'm so not ready for my tiny 6lb 1 oz baby Lu to be two years old already; however she's fully ready and totally embracing her "big girl" status.  Lucy is so full of life, personality, and sweetness.  We have said since day one that there is no way she can stay this sweet and easy forever-but so far she's stayed pretty close.   While she certainly starting having her 2 year old moments, overall she's absolutely precious to us and I just soak up every minute with my Lucy and keep my fingers crossed that she never turns into a moody teenager.    I don't know if it is truly the stark personality differences between Lucy and Hank or if it is simply second child status but she's always been so mellow and independent-both qualities that her older brother does not have.  

Lucy isn't necessarily a girly girl, and not really a full tomboy either--she does have strong opinions about what she wears-and typically ends up looking like Punky Brewster everyday.  Recently, out of the blue she became suddenly interested in princesses and as you can see got her first princess dress for her birthday and wore it for 48 hours continuously.  She'll pick out her outfit in the morning, and say "pretty dress mommy?".  Lucy is my little mommy's helper most days.  She loves to do anything I am doing, and will help when "baby Junie crying".  Her language has exploded in recent months-as parents you learn that you compare all subsequent children to your first.  Hank's language has always been unbelievably ahead of schedule, so we say that Lucy's has been slower to develop; however lest we forget that this is what I do for a living-her language is actually ahead of schedule as well, but not quite like Hank.  I think it has been difficult to get a word in with her overly talkative older bro.  She's so independent, and our house is so chaotic and noisy all the time, that she's frequently flying under the radar and we honestly don't know what she's doing, learning, hearing etc.  Recently it has become so clear just how smart this little girl is.  She's doing things now that Hank certainly wasn't doing at her age-counting to 20, and back down from 10, saying the alphabet, identifying all shapes (including obscure things like octagons and pentagons!), labeling all her colors.  Her vocabulary is HUGE and she spouts off new words daily that I have no idea where she learned them.  

Lucy is our animal lover, likely from the amount of time she's spent at the zoo in her short life. There isn't an animal she doesn't love, and can always be found quietly reading animal books or playing with her farm animals.  She is also a huge music lover-she dances and requests "I want to rock mama" daily. She's coined herself the rock n' roll princess which I think suits Lucy's personality perfectly-girly with an edge :)  Lucy just loves life-she soaks up all new experiences with such a fun-loving attitude.  She loves throwing rocks in bodies of water-and this would keep her easily entertained for an entire day if we let her.  She adores both mommy and daddy and always has snuggles and laughs for both of us; but Hank is likely her favorite person  on earth.  Luckily, he has recently been learning the value of a little sister, and now that she's a bit older the two of them have started playing quite a bit together which makes Lucy immensely happy.  

Lucy is still a rather petite princess; but it is certainly not related to the amount she eats.  She loves food like she loves life, and typically has a snack close by.  Most of her 2 year old drama moments are related to food-or the lack of food-and is easily corrected once we have established that she needs the "rainbow goldfish in the blue cup" rather than the "pretzel goldfish in the pink cup" (anyone with a 2 year old will understand this).  

In honor of the big 0-2 Lucy had a zoo party that included a trip to the zoo with some pals followed by pizza and cupcakes at the house on a beautiful 70 degree early spring day.  It was so nice to see Lucy enjoying all the attention on her for once-she so rarely demands the center of attention unlike Hank and June, and it was nice to give it to her on her special day.  

I could go on and on about my precious second born-she's such a doll.  Happiest of birthdays to our littlest rockstar! What a gem she is!

Junie Bug 5/6 Months

I know, I know....I fell off the blog wagon again.  To say our life is hectic would be the understatement of the century, but we'll save all that for another day.  Now we focus on my precious Junie who in standard 3rd child form is getting her 5th and 6th month all wrapped into one post.  June is my happy, giggly, roly poly dark hair and eyed baby.  She is almost always smiling, and giggles at the drop of a hat-likely due to the number of adoring faces always around.  She will grab my face and start chattering to me like she has something very important to tell me, and then will blow raspberries in my face and think it's hilarious.  She's just about to the point of sitting up well enough that we can leave her unsupported and trust that she's not going to plop over. Sitting is my favorite milestone, babes seem so much happier in the upright position, AND I find that it drastically reduces the amount of baby toting I have to do (and I do plenty).  June loves her jump up and her exersaucer, and will happily hang out in her baby contraptions- especially if big bro or big sis is playing with her.

We have just started on foods, and I always start out with the standard firsts-sweet potatoes, bananas etc, but have found after about a month it's just easier if they eat regular people food. No surprise, we haven't fed her anything she didn't like.  Sleep? what's that?  June went from my best sleeper to the worst in recent months.  I assume this has something to do with the fact that she's still stuck in our room in a pack-n-play due to the home renovation process.  She's learned that mom is right there, and she may as well wake up every 2 hours all night long to snack away.  I can' remember the last time I got a stretch of sleep longer than 2 hours, but it won't last forever, and every morning when she's snuck into my bed and chattering happily while playing with her toes I tell her it's a good thing she's so adorable or I might be less tolerant of this whole no sleeping thing.

At her 6 month check up she was weighing in at 16lbs 8oz and 27 inches long.  Placing her in the perfectly plump and juicy percentile--She's my chubbiest baby, and I just love it!

Junie is adored by all in the house, and loves to cuddle with anyone who is willing--and typically there's always someone available.