the sweetest sound in the world...

Lilly Francis Barnard

Congrats to our friends, Aaron and Carolyn Barnard on the birth of their baby girl, Lilly Francis, born October 24th! We love you guys and can't wait to share this journey of parenthood with you! Check out Lilly at their blog.

First Trip

It has been a week of firsts! This week Lucy has laughed, rolled over, and flown in a plane for the first time! This past weekend Lucy and I, along with my mom and brother, flew to Indiana to visit some family. Sadly, we had to leave Mark and Heidi at home, so I was nervous about flying with Lucy without Mark for support. Fortunately, my mom is an expert on flying, and flew with both Jake and I before we were 6 weeks old, so I knew I was in good hands. Lucy literally could not have been better. I'm not just saying that to brag either; she was an angel. She nursed during take off and landing, and when she wasn't sleeping she was sitting on my lap smiling. Once we landed, we had to rent a car and drive 3 hours to our destination. We ended up renting a carseat so we wouldn't have to drag hers on the plane, and it worked great. It wasn't quite the luxurious ride her Chicco is, but she didn't seem to mind. We stayed at my Uncle Dave and Aunt Jan's farm, where Lucy had her own room. She slept in a pack and play they keep there for their grandkids, and of course, she slept great. I was amazed. Mark says I underestimate our child, because I really had no idea how she would sleep in a strange house and a strange bed, but she was perfect.

The trip seemed short, but was well worth it. I'm so glad my family got to meet Lucy at such a young age. Thank you mom and Jake for putting up with us :) Here are some pictures of Lucy's first of many trips to Indiana.

This is us on the plane...I don't know what she was smiling at

I'm so excited to fly!

Lucy with my Aunt Dawn

Bridget, my cousin, is the family babysitter. Lucy loved her and spent most of the time in her arms.

My grandparents with their THIRD great grandchild!

Jake and I out by the barn at my aunt and uncle's house

While Lucy was napping, we played croquet. I won! (of course)

This is Lucy watching tv. I put her on her stomach in the living room and she watched tv like this for probably 20 minutes. It was hilarious.

All bundled up to go for a walk. We're not used to the cold.

There are Amish people EVERYWHERE here, and this is us in front of one of their farms. Two of the kids came out and let us pet one of their horses.

My cousin Amy getting some baby holding practice. She is due any day now with her first baby girl!

The proud grandmas

My grandparents with their five children

Lucy with her Dee Dee waiting to board the plane. She was sucking her fingers.

New phone...new pictures

Mark received the new iphone a few days ago as an early Christmas present. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how its working out because I haven't seen or heard from him since he got it. Although occasionally I will find him in the office downloading new "apps", and I've even passed him in the hall a few times jamming to his itunes playlist with headphones on. Seriously though, while most couples agree that lack of money, kids, and stress cause the most arguments in a marriage, I would have to say that in our marriage, it's new gadgets. The same thing happened when Mark got a PS3 last year for Christmas from my parents. I literally didn't see him for a week. It was all about Grand Theft Auto and Tiger Woods. Oh well, boys will be boys. Anyway, Mark has been snapping pictures all around the house with his phone, so I thought I would put some up. They aren't the greatest quality (which is NOT the iphone's fault apparently), but it is hard to get a still picture of Lucy since she's so wobbly and squirmy these days. Also, on a side note, she's now sleeping 12 hours at night. From 8pm to 8 am we don't see her. Its kind of weird...yet awesome. Enjoy the pictures!

Enjoying her favorite time of day...bathtime. She also constantly has her hands in this position, unless of course they are in her mouth.

A good naked picture, just so we can blackmail her when she's a teenager

I love this one...that tongue is always out

Here she is on daddy's lap, playing with her hands again

Still loving her carseat

Sitting up on her boppy with a little help from mommy. You'll notice the enormous bowl of Fiesta Ranch dip that I finished off by myself in the background...its crazy, I eat more now than when I was pregnant.

Look at those chunky arms!

Heidi got her mouth really good in this one

A Pumpkin For Our Punkin

We officially had a family outing today. I've noticed how we have fallen into stereotypical weekend activities for families. You know what I'm talking about...a Saturday trip to Target, maybe Home Depot if there's time before the big kick off, (this week Georgia vs. Tennessee) followed by grilling out and watching the neighborhood kids run around yards they don't live in. Its fabulous. Anyway, we decided to get in the fall spirit and go to Uncle Bob's Pumpkin Patch in Newnan. I highly recommend it. They have hay rides, animals everywhere, picnic tables, a gift shop, plenty of room to run around, and of course, pumpkins! It costs $12 per person, but if you go only to buy pumpkins then they let you in free (which is what we did...I don't think Lucy would appreciate hay rides or petting goats yet). It was fun, and really got me in the mood for Fall. I love holiday decorations and traditions. I was so excited about our batch of pumpkins that in the car on the way home I was going on and on about making memories and "wasn't that worth the time and money" and blah blah blah, then Mark said, "Oh no...you're gonna want to buy a Christmas tree aren't you." I did not respond. A look did the job. Don't get me wrong, Mark loves holidays too, but I think he's already stressed out about me going overboard with Christmas decorations this year since its our first Christmas in a house. But don't worry, we'll have a Christmas tree if I have to chop it down myself.

So enough of that Christmas talk...let's enjoy the Fall! Here are some pictures from our outing.

Can't you tell she's loving it?

Lucy picked this one out

Mark with all of our pumpkins. I don't know why I had to have one in every size.

Lucy with her pumpkin

2 month check up

Lucy had her 2 month check up on Tuesday! Two months is the dreaded visit....it's the first set of SHOTS! Most of you know I was a pediatric nurse for two years, and I've probably given thousands of shots, but when it's my sweet Lucy on the receiving end it makes me so sad! Mark chose not to go because he couldn't stand to watch her get the shots...thanks for the help partner. My mom decided to be brave and go with me, but when it came time for the shots, she chickened out and turned and faced the corner because she "couldn't watch". I had to put on the brave face and hold Lucy down as the evil nurse came at her (who I was watching very carefully as the shots were going in to be sure she had correct technique). Lucy actually did great, and immediately stopped crying once I picked her up. Her face turned about as red as a tomato out of anger, but surprisingly she got over it quickly and so far I haven't noticed any reactions from the shots. She doesn't even act sore, which is great. I know you're all anxiously awaiting her stats, because she looks like a 2 year old she's so huge...she weighed 12lbs. 7oz. and was 23 1/2" long! That puts her in the 75th percentile for both weight and height! Everything else looked great and Lucy even smiled and talked to the doctor while she was examining her...she's such a little socialite. At home, Lucy is doing great. She really has her schedule down perfectly now, and doesn't cry at all for her naps anymore, which is a great relief :) She has also been sleeping 9 hours through the night consistently for the past 2 weeks. It's so different having a full night's sleep. I'm not one of those people who can function on no sleep, so accomplishing sleeping through the night has been amazing. She is SO talkative and smiley, but of course whenever I go to video it, she becomes mesmerized by the light and won't talk. She's also started to suck her thumb now! Its so cute...she only sucks the left one though, which is weird.

FYI: Mark and I saw this thing on Fox News today about factors associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Apparently you can reduce the risk of SIDS by 72% just by putting a fan in your baby's room, as long as it isn't blowing directly on them, of course. Something about the circulation of air helps trigger them to breathe, so making sure baby is in a room with good air circulation and good air quality is important. Remember to always put your baby to sleep on their BACK, and according to Fox, turn on the fan! Ok I'll get off my soapbox now...

On another note, Mark has been working hard from home to really get the business growing. He and Jonathan are constantly on the phone, and Mark jokes that I'm his secretary...I, of course, do not laugh at this. Seriously though, it's taken some adjusting to having him home all the time, but it is nice when I want to get out of the house and don't feel like bringing Lucy with me. I just wait until naptime and say...Lucy's asleep, be back in 2 hours! It really has been working out well, and although sometimes we get annoyed being around each other all day, I know we'll dread those long trips to Birmingham when they come.

This past weekend my friend Emily came to visit so she could meet Lucy. We went to a BBQ cook off in Newnan and had a great time. Thanks for the visit, Em, I'm so glad we got to see you and meet Ben! Unfortunately, I'm not putting any pictures up from this weekend because I look like an enormous beast :) Enjoy the pics of Lucy though!

I know it seems gruesome...but I wanted a picture of Lucy's first shot! I got my mom to take it before she retreated to the corner.

Lucy's 2 month photo in her chair

She's gotten so much bigger!

That's a sweet face :)

So, during bathtime, Lucy is always VERY talkative and happy, so I attempted to get it on camera. Of course it didn't work, she was much more interested in her feet and the water. It's still a cute video though, so enjoy!