Easter 2007

We had a great Easter weekend. We headed down to my parents' house on the Cape on Friday night (we put Lucy to sleep in the car -- good move, because she slept the whole way there). On Saturday, we got the luxury of sleeping late (8 am!!) because my mom took Lucy when she woke up at 7. That was SOOOO nice! On Saturday, Lucy got to color Easter eggs. It started out as my mom and me coloring them while Lucy watched from her highchair. Well, I looked over and there were my parents helping Lucy coloring her own eggs...nice to have grandparents who let you do things like that! She had a lot of fun and actually seemed to understand what she was doing...although she did kind of bash the eggs around in the dye a bit. The best part of Saturday (not that egg coloring wasn't fun, of course) was that my parents babysat while Jeff and I went to a movie AND dinner to celebrate our second anniversary, which is tomorrow (April 9). We saw Blades of Glory, which we both thought was horrible yet still entertaining (perhaps it was so bad, it was good??) and then we went to a great Tapas restaurant called Gracie's Kitchen. It was delicious! Today was Easter Sunday and we took Lucy to Mass in the morning, though Jeff had to take her out halfway through. Oh, well. I didn't really expect her to sit through the whole thing. After Mass, we took a long ride so that Lulu would sleep at lunch. We drove through Wellfleet and Truro and saw some really pretty houses...we can dare to dream! We had lunch at the Dan'l Webster Inn in Sandwich with my parents, my in-laws, my grandparents, uncle, and cousins. It was a great time and Lucy was on her best behavior. By the time we were done, the entire staff knew her name! She looked adorable in her little sailor dress and I just loved the way the bow looked in her hair. A successful holiday!

Lucy in her Easter finery

LOVE that hair bow!

At lunch

Coloring eggs

Froggy helped with the eggs

Oooooh, green is pretty!

In the category of "The more things change, the more they stay the same," here is Lucy on Easter last year...

And here she is this year. I thought I recognized that face! ;)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy Birthday to my Dad/Lucy's "Nonno"! We love you! You don't look a day over 60...
xoxoxo

Great weekend

We had a great weekend. It seemed to start early because Jeff worked from home on Friday afternoon while I went to the doctor for the second time in a week because of my persistent flu-like illness. Ok, it doesn't sound like that has the makings of a great weekend, but: (1) by the time I went to the doctor I was actually feeling a lot better; (2) I got to get out of the house by myself for a little while, which I don't do nearly enough, and I must admit it felt nice (even though it was for a doctor's office visit!); and (3) it is now Sunday and I feel almost totally recovered. I WILL get a flu shot next year...I should be made to write that on a chalkboard 100 times. This is really the first time I have gotten the flu, and although it was a mild case it was a very persistent one and it took me a few weeks to shake it. When I got home the weather was really nice, so we took Lucy to the local playground and she had a blast. We let her run around on her own (closely supervised, of course!) and were amazed at how far she rambled away from us without fear. She is one independent lady!

Saturday was another gorgeous day out. It finally felt like spring for real! Jeff had started last weekend to put lattice up on our deck. This will provide us some privacy and also will make it safe for Lucy to run around out there, which will be so much fun this summer! He finished the project yesterday and it looks great. We even sat out there in the afternoon and had some lemonade before Lulu woke up from her nap. When she got up, we took a walk to two local playgrounds and again let her run around. At the second playground, she became obsessed with a piece of equipment with stairs and a slide -- she quickly learned how to get up the stairs and over to the slide, which she then promplty barreled down head first. Clearly, fear is not a factor for Lucy.

Today (Sunday), we had breakfast at home and then headed out. We drove up to the north shore and Cape Ann, driving through some of the pretty towns up there while Lucy napped in the car. We arrived in Gloucester as she woke up and had lunch at a nice place called "Passports," which was right on Main Street. She was such a good girl at lunch! That was a relief, because it's really hard to tell lately how she will do when out at a restaurant. Sometimes she just gets really antsy and it's hard to make it through a meal in peace. But today she was happy and charming...yeah! After lunch we walked around a little bit and took some pictures near one of many big anchors in town (this is Gloucester after all -- home of the Gorton's Fisherman and the Perfect Storm). We also had some ice cream and Lucy got a few tastes :) We then headed back to Boston and did some clothes shopping for Lucy at Old Navy before heading back to our neigborhood and yet another visit to the park...and more head-first trips down the slide! It was a really fun family weekend and we are sad to see it end!

Oh and Lucy has a few new words..."uh oh" (said whenever she drops something) and "no" (accompanied by a head shake)!

Out to lunch...she smiled when she saw the camera. I think she's starting to catch on!

Posing with the anchor

With Daddy

With Mommy

Nothing in particular

Nothing in particular to post...I just realized it's been a while since I have posted anything, so I figured I'd put up a few recent pictures of my very busy little girl! Her hair is getting so thick and curly and she is really looking more and more like a little girl (instead of a baby) every day.

Baby blue

This sweater was knit years ago by my mom's Godmother, Mae, and I wore it when I was a baby (so, I should say, it was knit many, many years ago!). It has little doggies on it and they have rhinestone collars and actual little chain "leashes" attached to the sweater that lead into the pockets. Isn't it so precious? You should definitely click on the picture to make it bigger so that you can see the detail. I'm a pretty good knitter but I can't do color-block knitting like this, so I realize what a work of art it really is. And I think that Lucy looks great in blue.

Life with a one year old

This is something we need. Desparately.

Lucy is a classic example of the very, very busy one year old. She is into EVERYTHING! She really seems to have a knack for knowing exactly when our backs are turned and making a bee-line for trouble. Yesterday, we were enjoying a nice, relaxing Saturday morning. Jeff was in the kitchen, which is on one end of the apartment, and I was in the office on the other end. We both thought that the other one "had" Lucy (this has been happening a lot lately and we really need to be more careful about it). I suddenly asked Jeff, "Do you have her?" and when he said no, we made a mad dash to find her. She was in the guest bathroom, having tons of fun splashing her hands in the toilet! A bath and outfit change ensued. We realize that her having access to the toilet can be quite dangerous because of the drowning risk and so, like everything else in our home, we need to child-proof the toilet. Oh and the toilet paper as well, because she loves to grab the end of it and trail it down the hallway -- so much fun!!!

Little Jackson Pollack

Miss Star Eyes

When I was little, the character Laura (of Luke and Laura fame) on General Hospital became something called "Miss Star Eyes" for a cosmetics company. A spokesmodel I think. I have always remembered this for some reason -- I guess I thought this was a very glamorous title! Anyway when I saw this photo of Lucy, I just thought, aaah, Miss Star Eyes. Is it ok to think your own child is perfect?

Aruba

We just got back from a week-long trip to Aruba! It was wonderful. The weather was perfect (as it almost always is in Aruba) and Lucy had SO much fun playing in the pool and at the beach. Although it was a lot less relaxing for Jeff and I than it was the previous two times we had been there (gee, I wonder why???), it was a ton of fun to see Lucy having such a ball...and we had a ball playing with her! We're now home to the cold and hoping that the frigid weather that is predicted for tomorrow is the beginning of the end of winter...we're sure ready for spring now. And, as you can see below, Lucy certainly has the wardrobe for it!

The pool at our hotel

Lucy playing her favorite beach game: "Carry the Flip-Flops"

And this is her favorite hotel room game: "Carry Mommy's Purse"

Visiting the Butterfly Farm

Kisses from Mommy!

She was fearless of the water

Way up in the air!

At breakfast

All this activity sure does make a girl tired!

With Mommy on the balcony to our room...not a bad view!

It's fun to feed Daddy

Here we are at the Flying Fishbone restaurant in April 2005 (on our honeymoon)...

And here we were last week, two short years later!

Our dessert then...

And now (a bit premature, but it got us a great table)!

Pretty in Pink

My Funny Valentine

Now that Lucy is over a year old, I love to look back to see what she was like one year ago. A year ago this Valentine's Day, Lucy still had a raging case of baby acne! Poor baby! I am glad I took her picture anyway because she looked so small and cute. So, here she was, "Miss Baby Acne Valentine, 2006":

But WOW, what a difference a year makes. Here is our girl on Valentine's Day 2007!



And some video...

Hanging out

A lazy Saturday afternoon...

Kisses

I realized today that Lucy knows how to give kisses! I say "realize" because it's not like she just learned today -- like many things with Lucy, she had it all figured out already and just needed to be asked to do it! I wonder what else she has got figured out in that pretty head of hers...a lot, I am sure. Here she is...

Here, I ask her to kiss the reindeer toy, but she'd rather dance with it. She saves her kisses for her kitty cat (of course)! If you listen closely, you can actually hear a little kiss noise.

But Mommy, I don't want to sleep!

This is how I found Lucy in her crib this morning. She's in a swim diaper because I was getting her ready for swimming lessons when I THOUGHT she wanted a nap. But when I put her in the crib, she had other plans. I think she just wanted to get out of going outside this morning because it is 13 degrees. I decided that I was on the same page as her, so we are inside and cozy and planning to make soup!

Lucy's latest antics

Jeff got home from London on Friday night and we have been spending the weekend relaxing at home. Travel is wonderful, but so is being at home as a family. Here is some video of Lucy last night. We had this little booster chair on the floor in the kitchen (it actually belongs to her friend Dylan) -- Jeff and I were cleaning up and all of a sudden we looked down and she was sitting in it. We hadn't even shown her what it was or how to sit in it! She just amazes us every day. So, of course, we had her sit in it again so that we could film it. She sits in it for a bit, but then gets up and runs to me for a hug...priceless.


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Here is a picture from this morning of Lucy modeling one of her new outifts for her next travel adventure...Aruba! In just 3 more weeks! I LOVE THESE SHOES!

Trip to Bristol

As I mentioned before, Lucy and I went out to see Angela in Bristol (Compton Greenfield, to be exact) while we were in the U.K. this week. Angela's family hosted me when I was in sixth grade and my school took a trip to England. Her son, Joe, is my age and is one of my very close friends. Joe lives in Dubai now, so we didn't see him on this trip. But it was so wonderful to see Angela and to see her home in Bristol, which I had not visited in the four years that she has been living there. Lucy and I took the train to Bristol Temple Meads Station on Monday from Paddington Station in London. The journey was an hour and 45 minutes and fortunately she slept the whole way there! Angela picked us up at the station -- it was SO great to see her. We went back to her house and had a lovely tea before taking a walk around the property. Here are some photos...

Me and Lucy in front of the pond behind the house

Angela and Lucy -- I think you can see the hills of Wales in the distance!

Lucy having fun in the grass

She had such a blast playing outside! Look at those teeth!

Later on, Angela cooked a wonderful dinner (salmon, green beans, new potatoes) and we enjoyed some wine while catching up. Lucy went to bed so nicely and got a real treat sleeping in the bed with Mommy :) On Tuesday, we spent more time at the house and took some fun pictures...

Look!!!!!!!!!!

Angela loved meeting her little Lucy

We got a train back to London in the afternoon. The trip to Bristol was short but we are really glad that we went. We will definitely stay longer next time!