Last Saturday

Last Saturday was one of those days, or I guess I should say nights.  I was eating an ice cream cone and holding Lucia at the same time.  I thought it would be fun to let her have her first taste of ice cream and she was begging for it with her baby body language.  What could it hurt, right?

It ends up that she had a pretty quick allergic reaction-eyes red, swollen, and itchy.  She got hives all over her torso and back.  I started to worry about her breathing and ran and got the Benedryl. We gave her a dose and then Martin gave her a blessing.  While we worried over Lucia, Ezra found himself with the opportunity to get into some unsupervised mischief.  In the bathroom, I found Ezra and a mostly empty bottle of Benedryl.  We asked him if he had drunk  the medicine, and like any good one-year old would, he said yes. Chances are he dumped it down the sink, but we didn't want to take any chances.

A taste of ice cream turned into an evening in the hospital for Papa and Ezra.  The gave him a charcoal drink to absorb his stomach contents and kept him under observation for several hours.  The doctor said he doubted that any child would be able to tolerate drinking that much medicine and then he saw Ezra down the charcoal like it was nothing.  He said he had never seen anything like it.

Everything ended up being okay and Ezra talks about this hospital time fondly. What's better than one-on-one time with your dad, a cab ride, Jell-o (his first experience with it), and as much t.v. as you want?

Father's Day

Our neighbor, Jamie, had a great idea for Father's Day. Not only did she share her idea, she also offered to take and edit the photos.  To top it off, she did this kind thing not just for us, but for many families in our little playgroup. Sweet Jamie keeps on proving again and again to be an extremely thoughtful and talented person.

Getting the kiddies to look at the camera and hold the letters just right was challenging, to say the least. To complicate things, Lucia was still not a sitter at the time, so we kind of had to prop her up. After the photo session, there weren't any pictures of Ezra and Lucia together where both were looking or that Lucia wasn't tipping over. Jamie ended up having to Photoshop Lucia's head onto her body. Take a good look at the second picture. You can't even tell, right?

Papa loved his gift!

Rocks with PePaw

I haven't posted anything for months and so here I am playing catch up. I ran across these photos that I took in the late afternoon on a gorgeous, April day. I love how the low sun makes long shadows in the grass and how the silhouetted figures show Ezra and his Grandpa engaged in one of Ezra's favorite activities in the whole world--throwing rocks in the creek. A warm sun, a crisp breeze, and a bubbling, singing creek. It was one of those afternoons when the world truly seemed carefree and perfect. (Especially since Ezra didn't take an unintentional swim, like he had the day before.)

Not So Very Long Ago

I don't really have any nice newborn pictures of Ezra. I discovered with him, too late, that you only have a few days, a couple weeks at most, when they actually look like newborns (before the bald spots and baby acne). So when Lucia was born, I knew that I had to act fast. I asked my neighbor to takes a few photos for me and she happily obliged. Thank you, Jamie!

Look how teenie-tiny beautiful she was!

And now, she looks like this:

Last week, a little girl at church was sitting next to me as a took off Lucia's jacket. She said, with amazement, "Wow! She has big muscles."

Just think how impressed she would have been if she had seen her legs.

Also, as proof of her growing self, Lucia learned two new tricks last week- rolling over and thumb sucking. She can't seem to get enough of either one.

sweet as can be

Little Lucia,

You are such a marvelous addition to our family. It's been three months since you were born, and already I pull out the little clothes that drowned you when you were first born and can't believe that you were ever that small. You've got a healthy appetite and a belly and cheeks to match. Oh, how I love your cheeks! You've really figured out the smiling thing the last couple of weeks and that joyous, open-mouthed grin was well worth the two and a half month wait.

You are such a patient little girl. You put up with your Papa's kisses, although you do so with a look of displeasure on you face. At times you even seem to enjoy the overdoses of love that Ezra sends your way. The other day Ezra wanted to look into your eyes and decided the best way to do it was to plop his 27 pound body right on top of your tininess. When I turned around to find you squished under your brother, you had a huge grin on your face. Thank you so much for your example of patience, especially during a period when Ezra hasn't the slightest idea what that might be.

What more can I say of your 3 month old self? You're a very grunty-snorty baby, which is actually quite endearing. You spit up ALL the time which is quite the opposite of endearing and keeps the two of us perpetually smelling of sour milk. I find your body shape amusing. You are a big round belly with short, little fat-petite legs sticking out. I know that's a lot of adjectives stuck together to describe you legs, but I don't know how else to describe them. Tiny and petite, yet fat at the same time. Simply put, your thighs are adorable.

Simply put, you are adorable. I love you!

routinely happy

I feel like I don't have anything exciting to blog about and haven't for some time. We've settled into a winter schedule that gets us out of the house a few times a week for playgroup and music class, but mostly we just stay inside our apartment, sheltered from the cold. And while the world may not want to hear about how today Ezra ate oatmeal for breakfast or that we read "The Little Engine that Could" 8 times, I am truly happy. We are holed up in our little one bedroom with smiles on our faces. Smiles that get even bigger with dreams of the spring.

Lucia Wakes Up

After almost two months, Lucia is finally putting in some good awake time. It is so much fun to see her eyes and to watch her little body kick around. I love her more and more everyday.