Lucy's First Bath

Back on Tuesday, September 17th I took Lucy in for her 2 week check up.  The pediatrician was very pleased with everything, and said she is doing great.  She weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz, which put her back up to 9 ounces above her birth weight already.  

I have a love hate relationship with that fact.  I mean, obviously I want her to be growing and thriving and doing well, but I also just wish I could keep her small and teeny a little while longer.  Granted it's been another couple of weeks already, but she's already way too long to fit in actual newborn sized sleepers anymore.  *sigh*

She's still a peanut I suppose, just a bit of a bigger one.

Anyway, the only part of the dicussion with the doctor that took any real amount of time and examination was the stuff about her belly button.  Now, the belly buttons of my kids seem to be just slightly out to mess with me.  Most of Peter's fell off after 15 days (in the parking lot of Whole Foods when I was changing his diaper in the back of my car.)  A.J.'s fell off sooner.  I'd have to check back in this blog for specifics, but I can remember for sure that it was earlier that her brother's because I remember thinking at the time that it was the first sign of sibling rivalry.  

Well, little Miss Lucy?  She apparently isn't going to be one to be left behind either.  I'm not kidding, her stump fell off when she was 5 days old.  Seriously.  Under different circumstances, we might have still be in the hospital with her.  I didn't think too much about it, other than to put something up on Facebook about it.... only to hear from several of my friends that their third kid's stumps all fell off surprisingly early as well. So apparently that's a thing now.  Third kids loose their belly button stumps freakishly early.  Who knew?

My friends mentioned actually consulting a doctor about it at the time.  I did not.  It looked fine to me, there was still a small scab, just no stump to speak of.  

However, by the time her 2 week check up rolled around that little scabby bit was still there so I mentioned it to the doc.  I mean, when was the last time you had a scab last for over 10 days?

The doctor poked and prodded at the thing a bit and said it was just good and stuck.  She suggested we go ahead and get her in a bath tub already and soak it a bit to make it fall off on it's own.  

I'm not going to lie, I still put it off until the next day.  Bath time is stressful and trying enough with our 2 older kids all by itself.  I'd be lying if I didn't admit to dreading adding a third child to that mix.

Anyway, on Wednesday night we went ahead and bathed the girl.  

She did amazing actually.  Didn't even make a peep.

(That's surprising because her siblings were in there trying to help and the two of them were really making me want to scream and all I was doing was taking the pictures.)

You can see the little scabby belly button bit in most of the pictures.

And if you're wondering, it did eventually fall off but it took several more days and a couple more baths.  

Wrapping up T Ball

Hi again.

I have only one more post (this one) before I am officially all caught up.  (Unless of course you count the more recent pictures that I have still on the camera card.) Naturally this means I've been putting off getting it done.  But gosh if I didn't get a phone call the other day that Fall Soccer starts soon so I guess I'd better put the T ball season to bed before soccer starts up or I may never get my feet back firmly on the ground.

Actually, now that we're a family with three kids, loads of people have been telling me I might never feel like I've got anything straight ever again.  So maybe that's okay.

Anyway, back on September 14th we had our last game and the trophy ceremony.

Peter played well.  He didn't hit as well as he might have liked, but it isn't like he went down swinging.  (Yes, even in t ball there always seem to be a few kids who miss the ball SO many times that the mean part of your brain can't help but silently think about how that poor sweet little angle should have struck out like 10 minutes ago...  But THAT?  That is mean, so you keep your thoughts to yourself and clap politely when every child finally connects with the ball and then you feel even prouder still when your own kids hits it fairly well on his first try nearly ever time.)

He also had a couple of good "catches."  All of them were grounders, but he's 4 so I say those count.  

There was one boy on his team in that last game that had a ball take a high bounce and then fall right into his glove (like, so he caught it in the air) and it was amazing.  Whenever Peter makes a good play he tends to do a little happy dance.  That other kid did a happy dance too after his big play.  You really have to love 4 year olds.  

A.J.?  She kept herself busy during the game as usual... playing in the dirt, looking all kinds of ragamuffin, playing with the other little sisters and occasionally doing random tumbling acts.  

One last team photo.  (This one is so so much better than the one we took earlier that went on the coach's gifts.)

Lucy was there too, of course.

Anyway, after the game, Peter was thrilled to receive a 4th trophy for his collection.  (It's already been broken too, but fear not friends for Mommy has mad skills with super glue!)

Anyway, so that was that.

I'm hoping he can play in the city league in the spring, but we'll see.

Finally, here's a little video from one of the games of him hitting and running the bases since he was the last to bat.  Please ignore me talking at the beginning.  Notice his Dad cheering for him at the end and the QUALITY slide into home plate.  Heaven help us if he ever plays in a league where that isn't allowed.  Haha.

Anyway, that's my boy!

Random Cuties

Hi all!

So, I'm really close to being caught up here with the pictures, but of course, I still have loads of cute ones to share that don't fit nicely into any of my previous posts.  

Ya'll know what that means right, a random hodge podge of pictures I have randomly deemed too cute not so share.  

Enjoy!

A.J. holding Lucy during their visit to the hospital on Wednesday.
Just look at her smile.  Such a proud big sister.  :)

Lucy's first go on the baby play mat.  

Lucy, trying to stay cool at Peter's T ball game 5 days after she was born.

Lucy cuddling with Gramma

Teeny cute baby feet close up!!!!

For these next two:  Men just have such a different approach to caring for their teeny new babies don't they. Especially when the Buckeyes are playing and the game needs watching.

So sweet.  She looks so sweet it makes me sleepy.
(Then again, I am always sleepy these days.)

Peter and his littlest sister.  He's very protective of her (at least when
he's thinking clearly.)  If she cries he will try to give her back her pacy or give this swing a
gentle push to get it moving again for her if needed.  

This swing was a late purchase for 4 month old A.J.when we moved to WA
and she still wouldn't sleep in her crib.  Lucy doesn't seem to NEED it as much
as her bigger sister did, but it still might be one of the nest investments we've ever made.   

Me and my girls.  

See what I mean about Matt.  For some reason, when he holds her he just
doesn't have the same interest in staring lovingly at her for hours as I do...
Apparently, crushing candy is more important to him.

More snuggles with Gramma.  I hope she soaked in enough Grandmotherly love
because it might be awhile before there's a chance for her to get more.  :(

Lucy: meet your Lavender Bunny.  It will likely be your best friend.
Just don't mix it up with the dirty Blue and Pink ones just like it... those belong to your brother and sister.
Also, A.J. desperately wants a purple bunny of her own too, so if she tries
to take yours, just squawk a bit and we'll help fix the situation.

I love when she smiles in her sleep.  She's smiled a little while awake too, though
probably still by accident, but I haven't been quick enough to get a picture of it yet.

Lucy's Baptism

Call us crazy if you want.  

Call us over achievers.

(Don't worry, plenty of our friends from both school and church already have.)

Because in the early afternoon on Sunday, September 8, 2013, right after the 12:30 pm mass, we were blessed and honored to have our little Lucy baptized.

Already.

She was only 5 days old.

:)

Back in April or May when we were already setting dates for her (namely, scheduling her delivery) so that we knew when Gramma would need to be here and she could think about requesting time off from her work and purchasing plane tickets, it also occurred to me that I should at least ask about what would need to do to get her baptized well ahead of time.  This way, 1.) maybe I wouldn't procrastinate once she actually was born and we got really busy and wind off putting  it off too much.  And also 2.) if we planned ahead enough, maybe we could get it done while Matt's mother was still in town for the birth so she wouldn't have to miss it.  

We wound up completing the Baptism class in June and then quickly selected the baptism date the weekend after her scheduled arrival.   That is definitely a benefit to scheduling an induction or planning a birth by section.  You can't fully eliminate the possibility of the baby arriving sooner, but you have a pretty good idea what the latest is you'll be pregnant, so you can start planning your life again after the birth.

Granted, the big concern was that she'd have some sort of issues, or whatever, and wouldn't be able to leave the hospital by then, but Bless the Lord that again, our baby was born healthy and this was not the case.  

Probably, we should have just bitten the bullet and attended the 12:30 service as a whole family that day.  But I honestly think Gramma wanted to be able to hear the message.  And to be honest, I really did too.  Getting anything out of the service while battling with a 4 year old and a 2 1/2 year old can be a bit tough.  Also, Peter's regular Sunday School class was starting up for the new school year again during the 9:00 service and he learns so many amazing lessons there, I hated to have him miss.  So Matt's mother took him to his class at 9 and she sat through Mass then while Matt and I stayed home with A.J. and Lucy.  Also, sometime that morning, Matt's youngest brother Marcus blew in on his motorcycle since was going to be the God Father.  

Then at 12:30 Matt, Marcus and myself went to church with Lucy while Matt's mother stayed home with Peter and A.J.  Then at about 1:15, just shortly before the regular service was ending she brought them up to the church.  This arrangement worked really well because both kids weren't already feeling impatient and ornery from sitting still for an hour, so they both behaved really really well for the baptismal ceremony of their sister.  

The big brother and big sister, once they joined us after Church.

When the regular crowd from Mass had cleared, Father called all of the guests for the Baptisms to gather around the Baptismal Fount.

There were 3 children getting blessed with the Holy water that day.  Another baby girl, but one who was several months older than our newborn, our Lucy, and then a bigger girl who was probably 7 or 8 years old and was perhaps nearing the age of First Communion.

We had the smallest group, so we fell in towards the middle.

Father blessed her and put some oils on her before we began.

(A better Catholic than me would probably be able to give you a better play-by-play on this by the way.  I can never remember what anything is called.)

Listening to Father explain the Baptismal Rite. 

I love how A.J. is standing on the lower part of the fountain
watching in fascination as the Priest pours the water over the baby's.
 Somewhere, there is a picture of Peter looking
on in much the same manner when A.J. was baptized.  :)

Holy oils were rubbed into her head after the water.  Oil sticks better than water after all.

Father placed a small white scarf around her shoulders.

All of us, (except Gramma who was taking the pictures) with the
baptismal candle. 

Lucy and her God Father, Uncle Marcus.
It seems so simple, but she's the only one of my 3 who I actually managed
to get a picture with their Godparent(s) on the day of their baptism 

All of us (again, minus photographer Gramma) with Father.  Peter found him terrifying, which is
so ridiculous if you've ever met him.  A.J. just seemed to think her brother was acting really
oddly.

When the little To-Do was over and we all prepared to head home, Peter and A.J. got all upset.  They'd ridden in the van with Gramma of course, and we'd come with Uncle Marcus in their Dads car.  For whatever reason, they didn't want to leave their Dad so we all switched keys so they could ride home with him.

Not sure if it was because he wore his uniform or not, but the sight of them walking away to
the car like that just melted my heart.  :)

Once we were all home, Matt got to work making a nice steak dinner for everyone and I tried my darndest to snap a few nice pictures of my beautiful littlest girl in her lovely white dress.  (It was the entire same outfit that A.J. wore, right down to the bow and the satin slippers.)

She wasn't having any of it though as she was sleeping soundly and downright refused to wake up and let me see her eyes or let go of that pacy.

Tiny Sleeping Beauty?

Perhaps.

Every baby needs a great first pair of shoes. Even when they're hand me down from a big sis.

Finally, Gramma snapped a couple shots of me snuggling my littlest lady a bit before I changed her out of her fancy clothes.  I was feeling exceptionally swollen and plump and uncomfortable still that afternoon (like maybe I'd had a baby only 5 days earlier) so it is hard for me to share them.  Do me a favor and just focus on the sweet little bundle in white, okay.  Thanks

God Bless you little Elizabeth Lucille!