Summer is in full swing and we're having a great time! We spent a week up on the island with the hottest temps the island has seen in 3 years! Great for swimming no doubt but hard with a baby and no air conditioner. At one point I was convinced George had an ear infection because was just so cranky. We took him to the island doc and he was perfectly fine. We summed it up to just being really hot. We started giving him baths on the deck throughout the day and that improved his mood dramatically. Magnolia meanwhile spent a lot of time on our latest addition, a giant raft! We had such a nice family time as a family of four. By mid week we had visitors. Our good friends and old neighbors came over from Minnesota. It was the first time meeting their daughter, Bedelia, who is Magnolia's age. We are their son, Liam's, godparents. It was so great visiting, we had a great time. We always seem to pick up right where we left off. Don't you love friends like that? The picture above is Magnolia diving into exploration upon arriving. Below are the two Georges on Father's Day.
This is the first time we were able to capture George's smile on camera. He was loving his outdoor bath and all smiles!
The guys hanging out on the raft with Magnolia and Liam. This is my favorite shot of our friends that George took at School House Beach. I always love interesting compositions and this one looks like an ad out of magazine. They are such a beautiful family too!

While they stayed on at our place we came home to more visitors! Update on that soon!

Happy Father's Day George! Happy Father's Day Dad!

xoxo

Weight that is. I packed on a whopping 50lbs in my pregnancy. Do I regret it? Nope, not one single bit. I think it was one of the most enjoyable parts of my pregnancy. I ate my way through all of the stress and worry. I dreamed of food, I poured over cookbooks, I baked and I cooked to my hearts content. During the month of December I baked a batch of cookies every single day for Christmas. It was great fun and every single thing I put in my mouth tasted wonderful. Just two weeks post partum I lost 30 lbs. Since then I have worked hard to lose 10 more. I've got 10 more to get to pre-pregnancy weight and then 10 more just because I was overweight to begin with. I'm working on it and I'm motivated. George bought me a gift after having the baby of a huge gift card to my favorite store. (With Magnolia I got a strand of pearls. We've certainly gotten more practical!) I'm so excited at the prospect of getting a complete wardrobe makeover and will only allow myself to do so when I get all this weight off. I still can't get my wedding rings on either, I haven't worn them in months! I've been walking alone at night. Alone. All by myself. Alone. With music. It is heaven. I haven't walked alone in 2 years! Now every night after dinner I head out the door for 30 minutes of absolute ALONE time and I love it. I went out this afternoon to buy new running shoes. Nothing like a new pair of shoes to motivate! Magnolia discovered high heels while we where shopping. She promptly took off her maryjanes and traded them in for a pair of black stilettos. I will never forget the sight of her walking towards me in those things! With tears in my eyes from laughing she ran from me...yes, she ran from me! I witnessed a woman's amazing natural born ability to run in heels in that moment...from my two year old! She insisted we bring them home, refused to take them off, hid from me wearing them, told me to go away, and that if mommy was getting shoes she should too! I wish I had a picture!

Wonderful weekend at home catching up on a lot of things. George did a lot of baby watching so I was able to tackle projects that I was dying to do. We had a beautifully sunny morning. Here's George being carried in his new favorite position and looking a lot like his daddy! It was finally warm enough to try out Magnolia's new pool! Spring showers and Magnolia dug out her boots and raincoat, put them on herself, and headed outside! A snapshot of a typical moment around here. Magnolia's in the baby bouncer keeping the baby entertained while she waits for dinner. Always good to be home!

We had a great time in South Bend last weekend. I drove all by myself with both kids and it went much better than I had anticipated. I was dreading having to pull over at gas stations or worse yet, be stuck in Chicago traffic with Magnolia needing to go potty and George screaming. I discovered a Whole Foods right outside of Chicago that was my saving grace going and coming. It was clean, I could feed the baby, Magnolia could stretch her legs, and we could get healthy snacks. It was great to be back in South Bend. My parents are living there temporarily of sorts and have an adorable bungalow with a fabulous front porch. We made a trip to the zoo and visits to see family in town. It was a great time and of course, it's always nice to get spoiled by mom and dad!

Magnolia having her first GoGurt on the porch.

Nana & Baby George

Magnolia and her Papa at the Zoo
Magnolia feeding the fish Thank you for everything mom & dad! We love and miss you!!!

Well, our anniversary sure was a memorable one. We ended up in the E.R. Magnolia was climbing on her stool to get on her bed when she fell backwards and hit her head on the corner of a partially opened dresser drawer. The gash was big enough to require 3 staples. Poor thing but she was such a good sport. Thankfully she's really into a band aid wearing phase because we told her we needed to go the hospital to get a band aid on her head. She thought it was great fun that we were all going together, at night, in pjs! I think the staples hurt going in because she cried pretty hard but then they gave her a popsicle and that made up for it. Here she is today, you'd never even know she got hurt. She was right back to her old self, climbing, jumping, and staying very busy!
I'm feeling so behind on a lot of things & worn out from traveling alone with the two kids. We had a great time and I have some pics to post. I'll be back soon. :)

George and I were married 9 years ago today! It was a beautiful Wisconsin summer day. We got married outside my then parent's old stone farmhouse. Parts of the movie, Novocaine, were filmed there one month before. Because they added & changed a few things to look better on film, it made an even more beautiful setting for a wedding. It was a perfect day!

Happy Anniversary George! xoxo Lucy

Referral Anniversary 2008

The photo below came the day after Referral Day. I loved seeing her pushing herself up. I loved her hair pushed over to one side. I loved her little mouth and that sweet expression on her face. I loved the sweet yellow outfit they dressed her in. I took one look at her left thumb and saw how red it was and knew she was a thumb sucker although her reports claimed she wasn't. Within minutes of getting her on Gotcha Day she put her thumb in her mouth and there's a photo of me with my mouth wide open saying, "I knew it!" I think she will always suck her thumb! :) Below was the first glimpse of our daughter. We will never forget that moment. It all made sense the moment we saw her. We had been waiting for her our whole lives.

Happy Referral Day Magnolia!

xoxo mommy & daddy

George is 2 months! He's doing really well. He's 13.3lbs & 22.5 inches. He's smiling and even a little cooing! It can be really hard taking his photo so this was the best I got. I always aspire to do better but boy is it hard! He's wearing one of Magnolia's outfits that she wore when she was 11 months old! I have a feeling he's going to surpass her in size in no time. :)

Here's a little of what's been happening around here. George is getting bigger by the minute. He'll be 2 months tomorrow. His eyelashes have turned from blond to brown. The hair he lost on the top of his head is coming in now. He's smiling a little more. He copies me sticking my tongue out and blowing bubbles. He's starting to make a little cooing sounds. What a difference two months makes. His cries don't intimidate me as much any more. We can settle him down one way or another. He loves his bath and is a good sleeper at night. He's still waking up but we're getting him down to one feeding and hopefully none soon! I love to hold him and cuddle him, I love it when I have alone time with him. He's such a little doll baby and I'm enjoying him very much!
Magnolia continues to delight us everyday. She's really into jumping lately. Here she is jumping off of her picnic table. She is such a daddy's girl, she will not leave his sight...ever! Here she is helping him lay the mulch.

Here she is giving him a back rub after he put down 10 yards of mulch!
Playing in her water table. Love that her swimsuit is on backwards to show off that cute little behind. :)

Here she is going potty before heading out to run errands with her daddy. We're still working on getting her completely potty trained. We're taking a very relaxed approach to it so we'll see if it works. :)

Here she is wearing pigtails. She loves her pigtails. I'm always torn about whether or not to grow her hair out yet. I often get it to this length and then cave and go for the inverted bob which looks so cute on her. I also love pigtails so I'm going to try to hold out a little longer and see how it goes.

One last shot of George sleeping in his bouncer.

So, that's what's been going on around here. George will have his two month checkup this week and we also celebrate Magnolia's referral day. I'm also going to be heading out of town to visit my parents. They have only seen George for the first couple of hours on the day he was born!