Labor Day Weekend

Last weekend, we headed down to Dallas to spend the weekend with Mike's sister and family. Lucy had fun playing with her cousins and we had fun relaxing and shopping. Have you ever been to a Harry and David's? They feed you, a lot! It's a great place for a pregnant gal to go... Elizabeth, I will never forget you.

We also thought it would be a great idea to potty train the girls (Lucy and Gracie are both 2) together in a weekend... it didn't happen. They did look super cute running around in little undies.

We have continued with the potty training since we are home and Lucy has pooped on the potty twice. She also has pooped in her underwear and on the coffee table in her play room. We asked her what happened and she said she was jumping and it fell out...don't you hate when that happens.

So here is a picture of me 29 weeks pregnant. I can't believe it is September and this little one will be coming in 11 weeks. Lucy likes to lift my shirt and kiss my belly button to kiss the baby, or she will stick her finger in my belly button and say tickle tickle. They are

already playing together.

When Jesus Comes

Last night we were singing songs... Lucy loves to sing. If you sing one song, she will keep saying, let's sing another one. So we sang This Little Light of Mine and Lucy loves that last verse that says "let it shine until Jesus comes," so we finish the song and she looks up at me and says "Mommy, will you tell me when Jesus gets here?" She just had the look in her face like, wake me up because I've been singing about Him coming for a long time now and I don't want to miss out. It was such an innocent statement and a great teaching moment.

Yesterday, Lucy went to the dentist for the first time. I wish I had brought my camera because she was so tiny on that big chair. She let the hygienist clean her teeth and floss them, but she was a little apprehensive about the dentist looking in her mouth. We found out that once her big teeth start coming in that we will probably start to have problems because her teeth are close together. It's really not a big surprise because Mike and I both had braces for a long time and I had like 7 teeth pulled before I could get braces, but for now she has a pretty cute smile!! She liked picking out a toy from the toy box and getting stickers... it was all worth it. Although, she is into wrapping presents to give to you, so she used one sticker to wrap the other sticker to give me a present and ruined them both. I guess the love language of giving of gifts is coming out. She'll take tissues and wrap up coasters or some small toy and say "open your present." Her 2 year old attitude is also coming out a lot. I hear this so often through out the day... "I don't want to." So of course I have come to sound like a true parent and say the ever popular "I don't care if you don't want to do it, do it anyway" or "change your attitude or I'll change it for you." I think I even used a phrase my Dad said to us a lot growing up... "you're going to have to do a lot of things you don't want to do in life." Like she even has a clue what I am talking about, but I said it anyway.

The day came too soon

This morning when Michael went to get Lucy from bed, he set her down and went to the bathroom, so of course she climbed up into bed and laid on his pillow. When he came back her response was "I took your spot." I sat up and said, what did you say and she said "I took Daddy's spot." I thought surely she didn't say that the correct way, so I asked her to say spider and spicy... actually I said, say pider and picy and she said spider and spicy. I almost cried because it's just another sign that my baby is growing up.

Funny Lucy

I love having a 2 year old. The things that Lucy comes up with are just hilarious and the way she says it makes it all the more funny. She thinks it is so funny to take your spot when you get up. So I was reading in bed and I got up to go to the bathroom and she comes in the room, climbs into bed, picks up my book and pretends to read it. When I come back, she peeks from behind the book and says "I took your pot." She misses the "s" on a lot of words and I love it! She will say "mommy, a pider, get it." I even encourage the mispronunciation because I like it and I know it will end too soon.

Last night we were rocking before bed and when we finished praying I told Lucy that Jesus loves her very much. She said "Jesus loves Mommy and Jesus loves Daddy" and she continued on with just about everyone in our family. Well, she has 2 Uncle Mark's so we are always trying to think of a way to distinguish them, and last night she came up with her very own way. She said "Jesus loves Uncle Mark without glasses and Uncle Mark with glasses."

Fashion Smarts

So tonight I told Lucy that we were going to go to the store to find Daddy some new tennis shoes. So she looked at me and said, "does him want green shoes." I said I didn't know and that she would have to ask him. So in the car on the way to the store she asked him if he wanted green shoes. He laughed and said that he probably wouldn't get green shoes. She told him that he should get green shoes to match his green shirt. That's my girl, always thinking about fashion.

Too sweet

Last night I was rocking Lucy and the baby started moving a lot. So I asked Lucy if she wanted to feel the baby. So she put her hand on my tummy and I moved it down to where I was feeling the baby move. Lucy sat there for 5 minutes feeling the baby move with her hand on my tummy and as still as can be. I would say, did you feel that, and she would nod her head yes. I think the baby knew that it was Lucy because the baby just kept squirming around inside like crazy. I was telling Lucy how much the baby liked her already. All of a sudden Lucy said, I wanna go nigh, nigh. It was a pretty sweet moment to share with my babies!!

Land that I Love

We spent 11 days up in Wisconsin with my family and we had such a great time. Lucy was a great traveler for 13 hour car ride and was so excited to go to Grandpa and Grandma's house. I made the mistake of telling her we were going, so for about 5 days before we left whenever I would get her in the morning or after a nap she would say "we leaving for Papa and Grandma's house now." We went up there for my Dad's 70th birthday party. My parents went all out with a pig roast in their backyard and there were about 55 people there. My Dad and Mom have the most beautiful yard because my Dad loves gardening. We took all the pictures of the party on my parents camera because it's nicer, so I don't have any party pictures yet. So the first few days up there we were getting ready for the party. Michael was the official pig roaster and had a fun time doing it. If I hadn't been so busy getting things ready I would have gotten a picture of him with his pig. I thought of it the day after the party... just a little late. We saw family and friends that we hadn't seen since our wedding 5 years ago, so it was a fun time. The only bummer was that is rained for about a 1/2 an hour. Thankfully, the guys had set up tents all over the yard, so everyone stayed dry. Lucy and her cousins were playing with the kids that Heather and I used to babysit, so every now and then I would look around to make sure I could see Lucy. Well, all of a sudden all the kids were gone and Lucy was still under a tent, sitting under a table. She was sitting there for a really long time so quietly, so I finally got up and walked closer and there she sat under the table with a bowl full of mints chowing down on them saying "mmm, mints."

One of our most favorite things all week was going up to our cottage in northern Wisconsin. We spent a lot of our summer's up there growing up, so it was fun to take our kids up there and let them experience all the fun too. Our cottage is on a peninsula, so most of the pictures I have of Lucy she is wearing her life jacket. I come by it honestly though, my Mom did the same thing with us when we were little. So we had fun going for walks in the woods, swimming, fishing, and going for rides in the boat. We asked Lucy if she wanted to go fishing and she said "yes, I'm gonna catch a purple fish." Her Dora fishing pole has a purple fish at the end, so that's the fish she always catches, but this time she actually did catch a real fish. She was pretty excited.

One of the funniest moments was when I caught a frog and gave it to Lucy. My Dad said why don't you kiss it and see if it turns into a prince, so she kept kissing the frog. She even gave the frog a little hug before throwing him back into the water. It was so funny because none of the other kids would touch the frog, but here Lucy is kissing and hugging it.

Michael thinks I am a little crazy, but I love to go strawberry picking. So since it is strawberry season up there, on the 4th I took Lucy strawberry picking. I caught Lucy eating the strawberries that my Mom was picking... she would take a bite and then throw it back in the bucket and take another one. She also was picking green strawberries and trying to eat them and then she would tell me that it was yucky and then take another bite. So we got our fill of strawberries, well not really I can never have enough, and I made 27 jars of strawberry jam. That night we walked to the fairgrounds and watched the fireworks. Michael was catching lightening bugs on the way and giving them to Lucy. She was holding them and squishing them. There was a glowing mess on the ground behind us as we walked. When the fireworks started Lucy covered her ears, but then she enjoyed watching them. She told us she liked the pink ones, surprise, surprise!!

On our last day, my Mom and I took Lucy and my niece to a water park. The girls had so much fun on the water slides and I did too. Lucy was so brave, she didn't even want to go down with anyone, she would say "I do it myself." So down she would go and my Mom would catch her at the bottom.

The only bummer from the whole trip is that the time up there went too fast and I came back with a cold. It's just so much fun having a cold while you are pregnant!! What does Tylenol cold do for you anyhow, I haven't noticed a thing???