Lots Going On

Sorry it has been so long since I last checked in. There has been a lot going on. Lucy started preschool in January. She really likes it. There are a lot of other children her age and a lot of activities. Now that the weather is warming up, they go outside a lot. She really loves being outside in the sunshine. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of germs. She was sick through most of January and February. Last week she had an allergic reaction to augmenton, the antibiotic she was on, and developed a terrible moving rash (big red bands that were hot and itchy). Her hands and feet swelled up really bad as well. They actually felt like plastic. We had to take her to the emergency room on Sunday night after taking her to the doctor Friday and Saturday. She is okay now (although a little stuffy again), but it was really scary for awhile.

I finished my dissertation and defended it successfully on February 21st. I've been wrapping up some copy edits and hope to submit it to the University by April 1. Generally, people at the university consider you finished when you defend, so everyone keeps calling me doctor. It is kind of weird but nice. Major is thinking about going back to school because he doesn't like being Dr. and Mr. Chapman.

Lucy has developed a lot. She is starting to talk slowly. Her latest new word is uh-oh. Sometimes I thinks she drops stuff on purpose so she can say it. She also says blue, boo, and hi. She is beautiful. I'll try to post some pictures soon. I am currently sans laptop, but Major promises to have something up and running soon.

Christmas is coming

Wow how the time flies by. Lucy is growing by leaps and bounds (including her brain...she is just getting to be such a smart little cookie). Besides Mama and Dada, she says Tee (Kitty) and yeah. She said no once when I put her down, but has yet to say it again. She has also said bye-bye a couple of times, but nothing consistant. She totally understands what we're saying though and will follow directions occassionaly (when she feels like it). She has much more fun laughing a people who tell her to do something though.

So many people have brought her early Christmas presents that she is beginning to think she should get a present each and every day. However, Daddy is a little bit irritated by this and I think some serious Chistmas policy changes might be in the works. I'll keep people posted.

Lucy is walking. It is has been kind of a slow process and she still plops down to crawl when she wants to go fast or if she has to go a long way. She walked from the center of the playroom to the door this morning though, all by herslef. It is wonderful, but I have to admit I am a little sad (she doesn't need me anymore :>( ). Her Daddy is thrilled.

I have a lot of work to do today, so I'll have to sign off now. The dissertation defense is coming up. I'll let people know when it is over.

Not much time, but here are some photos

I don't have a lot of time today. I need to get the revisions of my dissertation to my advisor. We want to get it to committee so they can read it and I can defend in January. I'll write about Lucy's birthday and our trip to Denver as soon as I'm done. In the mean time, here are some pictures (and video clips) of our adventures.

PS -Halloween is included.

Eleven Months

Lucy is 11 months old now and quite a character. She is not walking yet, but is climbing everything she can get her hands (and feet) on. She also talks. She talks a lot and uses her hands (like her Mama), but we have no idea what she is saying. Sometimes she'll stand and talk for a good five to ten minutes, gesturing and making appropriate tones for a conversation, but she might as well be speaking Chinese for what her father and I understand of it. It is really cute though and I hope to someday catch it on camera.

We went to the zoo yesterday. She enjoyed the animals, but was kind of afraid of the tigers (as much as she likes kittys). She really liked the monkys though (of course they have a lot of monkys at the Kansas City zoo). Her daddy bought her a bright yellow lion with an orange mane and big purple eyes. She really likes that too. Her daddy might spoil her a little bit.

Speaking of Major, he scratched his eye again. Someone needs to talk to him about not doing this anymore because someday he might do some real damage (and it looks pretty painful). The doctor gave him some antiobiotics and said his eye would feel better tomorrow. The doctor also said there shouldn't be any permanant damage, but that he needs to knock it off.

She has lots of teeth (5). Three on bottom and two on top. I think she is working on another one on the bottom too. She prefers big people food and discovered tonight that she likes apple pie and ice cream (cause who doesn't). I felt bad for Major (because of his eye), so I baked him a pie (we have so many apples right now). I also got him some French vanilla (his favorite and possibly Lucy's too, but it is hard to say because of course she hasn't had chocolate yet...that will be interesting...will she be more like her father and prefer vanilla or more like her mother and identify chocolate as the only valid food group).

Lucy loves kittys. We found her a book that is nothing but pictures of cats. It is the first book she reads on her own. She looks at it almost everyday. She sits on the floor and opens it and talks to the kitties and (it has different textures, so some kittys have furry tails, etc.) and pulls their hair. Her father is getting her kittys for her birthday. Her mother is making sure they (the kitties) are over six months and have a reasonable chance of escaping. Her daycare provider has two cats, so she has been around them since she was just a few weeks old. We also never really leave Lucy alone, so it should be okay.

Well I think that is all I have to report right now. We still need to do the invitations for Lucy's birthday, so if you haven't gotten one don't feel bad. We haven't even started them yet. Oh well. Just remember it is the 14th of November.

PS - No she hasn't slept through the night yet, but her father no longer allows me to get up and feed her before two a.m. If she wakes up before two, he goes in and holds her until she goes back to sleep (because otherwise I would go crazy). She did pretty good last night and only woke up at midnight and 4:30 a.m. Of course the night before she woke up and cried every ten minutes for two hours starting at 12:30 a.m. (even while her father was holding her she woke up and cried every ten minutes...Major thinks I should sleep when he is with her. It is very sweet, but I can't sleep when my baby is crying...Mommies don't sleep while their babies are crying. It is a physical immpossibility).

Haven't heard from my advisor on my dissertation yet, but he's got it.

Ten Months and Counting

Sorry it has been almost a month. We've been crazy busy as usual. I turned in a rough draft of my full dissertation (via email). I will turn in a printed copy to my adviser's box tomorrow. It is around 220 pages (without the bibliography which adds another 20 pages or so) in 11 pt, times new roman font (standard 1 inch margins). Some people compare writing a dissertation to having a baby. Having done both at the same time, I can honestly say that is not really a very good metaphor. Anyway, this blog is about Lucy not my dissertation, so here goes...

Lucy has at least one and possibly two new teeth. She has a for sure new tooth on the bottom (bringing her incisor count up to three) and may have a new incisor on top. She doesn't like to show the top of her mouth, so I've only caught glimpses of something. The teething has been rough. There were a couple of nights of tears nearly all night. Major and I were at our wits end, but we made it through (and she only slept with us once). I'm really glad we don't remember teething. It looks awful. Oh and no, she has not slept through the night yet. Some babies are just like that...I was, so I can't really be too critical of her.

Lucy has some of her chunky monkey status back. She seems to gain all her weight and then grow into it. She'll think back out especially when she starts to walk, which she is trying to do now. She just hasn't quite got it figured out. She will though and then her dad and I'll lose a lot of our baby weight too ;)

With doctor's approval, she has been eating some people food (besides the standard baby purees I mean). She loves ice cream and whip cream (just a little though) and pancakes. She thinks most foods mom eats are great (way better than her food) except oatmeal which always gets the, 'I'm dying why did you give me this horrid stuff' face. She isn't too thrilled with meats either, but she seems to like the soups I make (chicken and beef) okay. She just isn't too into Gerber and their, 'this tastes like Campbell's veggie beef soup after it's been in a blender' flavors.

Lucy loves to feed herself, but Daddy hates it. He wants to skip the messy stage, but I'm pretty sure we can't do that...isn't the next three years all one big messy stage. Anyway, it is okay. Mommy loves making mud pies (and is big enough to give Daddy a taste of his medicine if he turns the hose on her).

We're going to Denver at the beginning of November, but will be back on the 12th. Lucy's first birthday and our house warming are scheduled for Sunday November 14th. Exact times to follow. There will be cake and snacks. Lucy has an Amazon wish list. I'll put a link on the blog. Some of the stuff really isn't age appropriate. I mostly made it so I could remember stuff I thought she might like now and in the future. If you decide to get her something from the list(and please don't feel that you have to get her anything), please take that into account. I do understand people's desire to buy baby's presents (Daddy won't let me near the Babies R Us anymore especially if I have the credit card). Also, Daddy set up one of those college accounts (501 something or other like that). If you want details, please talk to him. He's kind of freaking out...we got the tuition schedule for the Montessori preschool (through junior high). Ah well what are you going to do...and don't say Public School. I believe in Public School, but they need so much work right now that it wouldn't be fair to Lucy to put her in one just to make a point. I'll keep fighting so that hopefully her kids will be able to go to public school, but for now she's our daughter not a political cause.

Now that I've gone all soap boxy, I better stop and check on the little one. She's been napping for about half an hour and usually needs to be repositioned about now (she falls asleep in the strangest positions). Oh...check out the new pictures...the nursery photos are finally in there as promised. We're going to remove the tall white book case though...now that she is almost walking.

Running Behind

Running behind as always. I haven't had the chance to post the pictures of Lucy's room (different camera than I normally use), but take a look at the latest posted above. They include Lucy's first ice cream (doctor approved). She really seemed to love it and her look of sadness is a result of my handing the cone to her father to take a bite. Apparently she thought we should keep the whole thing for just the two of us. While I understand her displeasure, the doctor said a few bites...not a hot fudge sundae.

We've also got a few of her in the big girl pool. We went on a hot day in late July (they had it closed for maintenance for a couple weeks in August) and got lighteninged out after about an hour and a half. She had a lot of fun and we're ready to go back.

Nine Months Tomorrow

I just got the little one down for a nap and thought I better post something while I had a minute. It is easier to download pictures, so I'll get some up when Major gets home. He promises that he will figure out how to post video (because I never could...just not the technologically savvy). We've got a good one. Lucy has learned how to crawl. She loves to chase her big red ball (she pushes it with her head) around the living room and play room. She'll also come to you if you hold out your arms for her. She is so cute. She prefers to wear long pants when she is moving around through because the carpet is a little rough on her knees.

No new teeth, but she is teething again. Major's mom likes to tell a story about him chewing on a wooden chair. Well this morning I caught her chewing on the bottom of her wooden rocking horse (no paint was removed). I pulled her off of it and gave her a toy that was a little more appropriate. She is putting everything in her mouth and drooling excessively. Hopefully she'll have some top teeth to match her bottom teeth soon.

Lucy is right on schedule with her milestones including separation anxiety and clinging to her Mommy and Daddy. She has given up sleep because it requires she be away from Major and I for too long. She still prefers me, but only because I'm more of a sucker and let her have her way more often. Daddy tries to be firm and tell her she has to go to sleep on her own (and then Mommy sneaks in and holds her in the rocking chair until she calms down and goes to sleep). Of course Major is right, but it is so hard to see her unhappy. Yeah, I know, we'll both get over it.

In other news...

With the new crawling, it became imperative for Major to finish the kitchen cupboards. He did, at least the bottom ones. They look really nice. If he finishes the top...I mean when he finishes the top ones, I'll post a picture. After that we'll get new counter tops (from Home Depot...very reasonable) and a new faucet and the kitchen will be done. So excited. We changed how we plan to paint the living and play rooms because we bought different curtains than we originally intended. We now plan to paint to match the curtains. This weekend we should finish Lucy's room by hanging wall art. We're going to put up some Winnie the Pooh decals and some framed pictures I've been collecting. I'll try to remember to take a picture.

Well dissertations don't write themselves and I have so little time. It is coming together nicely though, so hope to be done before Major finishes the kitchen (don't tell him I said that).