Merry Christmas and Happy 2 Years

So I am obviously a little behind here. We have just been having too much fun to find the time to edit pictures and then actually type something out. Let me do a recap of the past week starting off by saying that Lucy is finally 100% well and Annie and I escaped getting even a little ill. YEAH!!! Lucy was fine a few days before Christmas and I have never been so relieved to have her back to her normal self. That was one rough week for my sweet girl.

We started out in OK with Justin's side of the family. Lucy and Austen got so much cool stuff - golf clubs, keyboards, dance cams, Little People sets, etc. Lots and lots of goodies. Annie and Jaksen raked in some great toys also, but Lucy did the honors of opening pretty much everything for the little bitties. Nana and Grandy really went above and beyond in the gift department and the kids were in heaven. Cayce had several fun Christmas activities for Lucy and Austen to do and I was so happy about that because Lucy missed out on all of her fun Christmas things we had planned when we were home. They made Christmas sugar cookies and Christmas placemats. These kinds of things are right up Lucy's alley.

Late Christmas Eve we left OK to head to my parent's house. We have done all of our driving during the girls' bedtime. It has worked out great so far. Annie has slept the entire time and Lucy has slept and watched some movies. We were kind of late getting up Christmas morning because the girls were up so late. Lucy was still kind of asleep when she came down and found her Santa presents. She just sat in Justin's lap and checked everything out. She was definitely happy with what Santa brought her - an ironing board and iron, cash register, broom set, mailbox, etc. Lucy and John played in the toys for a while and we all ate breakfast. Then it was time for all of the presents from this side of the family. Again, a zillion things for all of the kids. It was crazy. Lots of great books, puzzles, dolls, a Barbie laptop, a scooter, and dress up shoes. Lucy just adores opening presents, so she has loved all of this activity.

We have just been playing and having a lot of fun with our families. Lucy has once again, been VERY slow to open up to her cousin, John, but starting yesterday we are seeing some improvement. Annie is the center of attention all of the time and she has just loved it. She is so easy going and relaxed now. Still having sleep issues, but I know that will get better with time. She is such a joy to have around and everyone cannot get enough of her.

I have become 100% obsessed with Rock Band. Seriously, I love it. We all kind of do, except for my mom. Of course Justin rocks out on the drums at expert level and can nail it, but the rest of us are improving. I prefer either the guitar or bass, but I am not scared to belt out the vocals. Let's just say I have no chance at a career as a vocalist! :) It is so much fun and we are all not getting nearly enough sleep because we are staying up late and playing.

Finally and most importantly, yesterday was our 2 year anniversary of Lucy's Giving and Receiving Ceremony in Vietnam. 2 years since the queen of the house moved in. Unbelievable. Life would not be anywhere near as fun without her with us everyday. Lucy, you are funny, intelligent, a great big sister, and our baby girl. We love you so much. You are such a blessing.

I am going to have to break the pictures down into several different posts. I will start with the ones from OK and keep catching up over the next few days. I hope you all had a lovely holiday season filled with love and laughter.

Getting started on the Christmas cookies.




Everyone should try the icing to make sure it is okay. :)






Annie and Jaksen - they are basically the exact same size even though there are almost 5 months between them.


Opening one present the night before - precious jammies and a movie from Nana and Grandy.


Present opening professional.

Baby Steps

Lucy is very very slowly getting better. Her fever is gone and has been for a day and a half now. I am very pleased about that. She is still pitiful. Today was the first time I have seen her walk in days. She was all stumbly because she has literally eaten nothing since Monday night. Since Monday, all that she has eaten is 5 bites of TCBY yogurt, half of an ice cream pop, and I force fed her 5 bites of regular yogurt this morning. That is it until she did eat a push up tonight. I would let her eat anything at this point. For Lucy to turn down ice cream or any kind of sweet, she most be deathly ill. She turned down those things for days. Until today, she has basically been asleep for three days. She was sleeping between 19 and 20 hours a day. The time that she was awake she was miserable. It was really lucky that she slept so much because she obviously needed it to get well and she wasn't so miserable in her sleep. One night she went to bed for the night at 4 pm and woke up at 8 the next morning. That was after a 4 hour nap in the day. Then last night she slept from 6 pm to 8:30 am. Unbelievable to me. She has been more awake today but still went to bed around 6:15 and took a long nap in the afternoon. This has been the first sickness that Lucy has ever had that actually really scared me. I have never seen her like this before, not even close actually.

Both girls completely lost it in the bath tub tonight. It was awful. Lucy had to have a bath because the push up was all over her. Annie needs a bath every day because she spits up and Justin and I hate that smell. They both screamed bloody murder for the entire bath. I had them bathed, out, lotion and redressed in record time. Lucy went straight to bed from there. Annie and I read books to her and then sang her songs and she was out by 6:30. Annie goes to bed at 7 so I am getting a nice break in the evenings. It would be really nice if Annie would not wake up for her dumb paci over and over. She had a good night last night, so hopefully I will be so lucky again tonight.

Thanks for all of the prayers and kind comments! Here is proof of how pitiful Lucy has been. This is from this afternoon and yes, she is still wearing her Halloween pjs because they fit so well.

Just Hanging On

Lucy is so so sick and she has been since Sunday. She has a high fever, horrible cough, congestion, etc. She is miserable. I have never seen her like this. She slept almost all day today. We have been to the doctor and started an antibiotic in case it is a severe sinus infection, but I am scared she has the flu. I am REALLY scared we are all going to have it next week while we are supposed to be with family for Christmas. Justin or I have held Lucy all day the past few days. She just wimpers all day. She has no appetite but she is drinking water and juice. Please say a prayer for her healing. She really feels awful.

We are all EXHAUSTED. Annie is having a terrible time sleeping at night and Lucy is up several times as well because of big coughing fits. So between the two girls up and down all night, I feel like I am sleep walking through life at the moment. We never get more than a 45 minute stretch of sleep before one of them is up again.

I am so sad for Lucy because she missed her school Christmas party today and her playgroup is decorating Christmas cookies tomorrow. She would have loved both of these things, but she can barely lift her head up. I also planned on taking the girls to Santa this week, but there is no way at the rate we are going. Again, please pray for her to get better and for the rest of us to stay well so that we can care for her.

No pictures because I have had at least one girl in my arms non stop since Saturday. There is no way I could have taken any pictures and trust me, Lucy looks as pitiful as she feels. I got Lucy's school pictures today and I can't wait to post them. They are too cute.

Personalities

I know, terrible blogger. As I said on Annie's blog, I am trying to figure out how to balance 2 babies now and make sure that everyone gets the attention that they need. It is a work in progress, but we are definitely getting there. I have been most concerned about bath and bedtime when I am here alone, but we successfully did both last night, so I know we can do it! Justin is back so I won't have to worry about that for a while. It is so much easier when there are two people, especially at bath time.

Lucy and Annie have the complete opposite personalities, and I just love it. It is so fun to notice all of the differences and what I love so much about both. As I have said many times and those who have met her know, Lucy is a pretty serious child around strangers. She would literally never smile at a stranger and would never go to a stranger. She has always been like this. It took a long time once we were home with her for her to be comfortable going to anyone other than me or Justin. She is head over heels in love with all of her grandparents now, but Nana and Lee Lee hold the most special place in her heart. She is finally comfortable with my sisters and Justin's sister. She loves Mandy and Christy in special ways, but that is pretty much it for her. She likes several of her little friend's moms, but is still very hesitant around them. She has to see someone LOTS of times and in a comfortable setting before she will start to open up to a specific person. She will play and have fun out of the house around other people, but it takes her a while and I have to always be right by her side in order for her to feel safe. You have to earn Lucy's trust, but once you are in, you will always be in. People feel very very special when Lucy opens up to them and it makes me smile. I like that she is reserved around people she doesn't know. She would never run off in a store, walk off with someone she didn't know, etc. She is very cautious. Unfortunately, sometimes her little personality comes off in a "snooty" kind of way, but it is not that she is snooty, she just needs her time and space. This was hard for the Vietnamese to understand when we were just there since they are so hands on. She hated when they all wanted to touch her and hold her. It made her very uncomfortable and they just didn't get that. Most of the time when they would touch her arm, she would shrug away and wipe her arm where they touched. It is funny to me, but comes across quite rudely to others. I don't know where she would even pick something like that up. I think it is just a natural reaction for her. She is my intelligent, quiet, reserved, non-touchy, cautious little girl and I love her just the way she is. Again, this is only around strangers. She is always a studier and a thinker. She can focus on a detailed task for long periods of time. She is quite a different child when we are at home with just our family. She is a nonstop talker, full of laughter, busy body at our house.

Annie is really starting to show her personality to us. She is going to be our super friendly, easy going, always smiling child. I am sure we will have to keep a close eye on her because she just loves people and wants to smile and coo at everyone. All someone has to do is look at her and grin and she lights up. She will smile at everyone, which is obviously so different from Lucy. She is very calm now and is happy on the floor with one or two toys, which allows me to actually get some stuff done around our house. I really am enjoying seeing her personality come through and can't wait to see more. But from the part we know now, I know that her disposition is quite different from Lucy. It is so obvious already. I am really thankful to have two such different girls. It should be fun and I think that they will balance one another out.

I have been terrible about taking pictures lately. I promise to get better soon. This is all I have for today and these are not good pictures at all. She got to go to another birthday party with a pony and she was once again, in heaven. She rode so many times. Her daddy really needs to get her a pony for Christmas. Maybe next year, right honey?

This one is actually from Vietnam. It is blurry, but still cute to me.


Lee Lee walked next to her on the pony. Lee Lee was so scared Lucy was going to fall off of that pony.

The Big Sister

In case you haven't had time to read up on Annie's blog, I want to say that Lucy has transitioned into her role as the big sister as smoothly as could have ever happened. She has done awesome. I know that it won't always be this smooth because today she did start claiming toys as hers and only hers, but really, Justin and I have been so proud of her. She is very loving towards Annie, she does not get upset about me having to hold Annie all of the time, etc. She just rocks!

Lucy started back to school this week and she has seemed to be pretty happy to see her friends and teachers again. Things have been so busy around here, but once we get settled back down, it will be nice for me to have that one on one time with Annie. Lucy has been really excited about all of the Christmas decorations being out and she has only broken one ornament. She has been *pretty* good about not touching the ornaments and only touching the special ones just for her, but sometimes curiosity just gets the best of her. Understandable. I will try and get Christmas pics up soon, but it really looks the exact same as last year.

Lucy got back on US time so quickly after our trip to Vietnam. She is right back on schedule, which has been so nice. I think she is really happy to have her own quiet place to sleep again without a screaming baby in the background the entire time! :) She is so happy to have all of her toys again and has been busy as a bee ever since we have gotten home.

It seems like Lucy has gone through a vocabulary explosion recently. She says things every day that just crack us up. She is understanding concepts much more now. The other day she was just talking away and I mentioned that if something happened it would not be good. I don't remember what we were talking about, but she responded with, "Well, we don't want that to happen momma." It just seemed like such a big statement. She seems HUGE now that Annie is here. Huge size wise but also just so grown up. She is definitely not my baby anymore, even though I always want her to be my baby. Every time we tell her we love her, she responds with, "I love you too, honey." Sweet girl.

Lucy Goose, we just love you more and more and you have amazed your dad and me with your maturity and loving heart. Thank you baby girl. You are such a wonderful sister and we can't wait to see all of the fun times you and Annie have together.