The girls.

OH Lucy. Juicy Lucy. Lulu. Little sister....Lucy is 6 months now. Her weight, 21 lbs. Her length, 27.5 and her head....it's big. Just like Madeline. Actually, her measurements are quite in line with her big sister's at that age. Whoever says Lucy is chubby is right, she is! She's been given the nickname "Porkulous". I shall keep that person's name a secret, however. She's a healthy babe. Doctor says she's impressed at how well she sits up and stays balanced. While Lucy is having some difficulties in the sleeping department, meaning, she doesn't....and when she cries it's not a small whimper but a full out scream, and while she's challenging us on so many levels of patience, she is a very sweet baby when she's happy. She eats her cereal and her fruit and some veggies like a champ and she puts anything she can hold onto into her mouth for a suck, a chew and a taste. She loves to laugh at her big sister. She loves to watch Jersey and Sophie puppies in the house, and if they get close enough she'll grab onto their fur and pull. Her eyes light up when she smiles- and even on the worst of days, the most tired of days, the most I'm-annoyed-at-you-Lucy days....when she smiles her whole body smiles and that makes it okay....for that moment anyway ;-) Madeline is 2 years and 8 months now- her weight, 32 lbs and her length is 36 inches. Her head has caught up with the rest of her and she's doing fabulous. She's a chatterbox, she speaks so clearly most of the time and usually in complete, or somewhat broken, sentences. Madeline...sweet Madeline. She's a gentle-hearted, charming little girl. See that...."little girl". She's not a baby anymore, and hardly a toddler. Where does the time go? It goes fast, that's where. Madeline is into a name phase now- Daddy is John. Mom is mommy for the most part, but lately it's been Jeff....I correct her and tell her Bubba's name is Jeff. Then she just calls me "Jec-ca-ca." It's pretty funny actually- and of course when she does it we laugh, which only makes her want to do it more. She is a wonderful big sister. She's nurturing and for the most part very gentle with little sister. Occasionally they get into it, like sisters must (I wouldn't know, I don't have one). Lucy pulls on Madeline's hair, tries to chew on whatever Madeline is holding- Madeline likes to take whatever Lucy has in her hand and say "mine". Madeline, if she doesn't think I'm looking, likes to sit on Lucy and tickle her. I'm sure someday the tickles will turn into a full blown push, I'm sure the hair pulling will undoubtedly be reciprocated into a full scuffle and I"m sure the phrase, "it's mine..", perhaps followed by a thud.....will be a familiar one in years to come. For now, it's sweet to watch. I'm going to find myself some lunch now. Tuesday is a "school day" for Madeline and Lucy is still napping in her carseat from her appointment this morning. Have a lovely day and thanks for reading.

Florida

Dateline - Savage, MN. Today is March 23. The high temperature was 33 degrees. When I look out my window, I see 4-6 inches of wet snow blanketing my yard. How did we arrive here? Why did we decide to come home.

Yesterday, we returned from Florida, everyone in tact. Lucy and Madeline were very good little travelers. In fact, many people commented how well behaved our children were. This feedback is very comforting since traveling with two young kids, 4 carry on bags full of toys, and two tired parents, melcholony parents can make for a long day. Lucy slept most of the trip while Madeline played on her new iTouch and watched Mickey on the DVD.

As for Florida, it was, as usual, a beautiful time. The temperature was warm, the skies were blue, and the grass was green. It's been a long time since we've seen that where we live.

Nana and Papa took very good care of us. Madeline had her own room equipped with a princess bed. While she loved her bed and room, some things never change. Once daddy arrived, or as Madeline calls him "John" to get his attention, Madeline wanted him to sleep by her on the floor. Lucy had a lovely crib set up with very cozy pillows. I need to somehow steal this crib because Lucy hasn't slept that good since birth. It must be the Florida air.

Our days were filled with sunshine, swimming pools, walks, beaches and lots of different activities. For the most part though, water was part of every day. Ironically, our little Madeline wanted nothing to do with swimming. She was comfortable putting her feet in the water and wading in the swallow end, but the mention of swimming with mommy and daddy seemed to frighten her. It's ironic because when I was in Florida a year ago, I couldn't keep her out of the water. As for Lucy, she might very well be a swimmer. We could've put her in her her floating star and left for the day and she would've been just fine. She absolutely loved the water.

Of course some things never change, for example, Mickey Mouse seemed to be playing continuously no matter what we were doing. Madeline and Mickey are pretty tight these days. When Madeline wakes up, she says, "Mommy, watch Mickey." Everything seems to be "I wanna watch Mickey." It's good thing considering the next trip to Florida in May 2012 we'll be to Disney World. For today though, next May seems so far away considering the weather.

Make sure to check out our pictures below. We took some of the same poses with Lucy that we did with Madeline when she was a baby. Click the links below to compare and let us know what you think.

Go here: http://themaslows.blogspot.com/2009/03/day-at-beach.html

Go here: http://themaslows.blogspot.com/2009/03/chillin-in-pool.html-

Go here: http://themaslows.blogspot.com/2009/03/turning-7-months-old-in-florida.html

Lucy is 5 months old today!

Lucy has reached another mark in her short life- 5 months!

At 5 months she has both her mom and dad pulling out their hair with her incessant screaming and fussiness. However, when she is happy, she is very happy and so much fun to be around.

It's fun to look back on my blog here which was started prior to Madeline's birth. Here's a link to Madeline's 5 month mark.

http://themaslows.blogspot.com/2009/01/im-5-months-old.html


It would appear that they are both following the similar track in terms of developmental milestones. Lucy has just started sitting up independently but topples rather easily too. She seems to want to do though, always ends up on her tummy hoping to go somewhere, but she gets stuck and let's us know. The toy shown in Madeline's post, that too has become one of Lucy's favorites. Lucy hates rice cereal- loves all fruit and I've slowly introduced vegetables. So far, the sweet potato is the winner. Peas make her gag. She really is quite a chunky baby. Unsure of her measurements yet, but next month we'll find out!
Let's see- Lucy loves to watch her big sister jump around and really gets the giggles when she watches her at bathtime or while she's dancing around the living room. Lucy was sleeping through the night pretty solid, but lately she's hit a bit of a bump. I suppose it was too good to be true when she was sleeping all night so young! Madeline is going through some phase where she likes to wake a couple times each night too- as my husband said this morning- Sleep has become a luxury in our household. And I thought massages and pedicures were a luxury.
Cabin fever has set in so I'm packing up the babies and taking them to my parents in Florida next week for 10 days. John is meeting us the last couple of days down there. I can't wait.
Here's a few photos of the girls. They really are sweet babies.

A must read.

If you haven't please take a moment to read the blog, written by friends of ours, "Fresh Picked by Flynn". We have a link to this blog along the right hand side of our blog. Or, click here: www.freshpickedbyflynn.blogspot.com

I didn't ask you to read this to make you sad, but to make you appreciate what you have a little more. So give your little, or big, baby an extra squeeze and I love you tonight, because no matter how difficult they might be or how much they make you want to pull out your hair sometimes, nothing could compare to what our friends have had to go through this week.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Or, as my husband calls it, Happy "love" day. Madeline had a Valentine's Day party at school today. She made a hat, as seen below, she made a butterfly and a special I L U heart for mommy and daddy and sister Lucy. Parents were welcome to her party and so I went. Pink Jello snack, a special book reading and a game of musical hugs made a perfect way to spend my Valentine's Day. I am still waiting for flowers from my husband ;-)

We also started Lucy on rice cereal today. Now I'll always remember when we started her. It's a little earlier than when we started Madeline, but the doctor would agree that she's more than ready.

We hope you and your family had a special day...or, a special night!

xoxoxo

Ahhh, warmth.

Madeline's got her shades and her purse and she's ready to go! A few weeks ago we went to the Como Zoo Conservatory. It's a lovely tropical climate and a nice break from the house and the mall. Flowers, fish, plants and trees and other interesting things to look at. Madeline enjoyed the Koi ponds specifically. She liked them so much she stuck her finger into the pond and one of the fish decided to taste it. She never again went within a foot of the pond the rest of our visit, in fact, she would peer over the ledge to see the fish, but with her arms and hands hugging her body. "Fishies bitted me!"

We took a little break on a bench and behind us was a lovely chalk board of words that she started reading from- very educational. She was reading about a Tamarind-"The tree of life".

And then, on our way to the car, she decided to eat snow. Where does she learn this stuff?

Lucy's 4....months

At 4 months old Lucy is 17 lbs and 26 inches long. She's starting to roll over and has a strong will to sit up on her own soon, too. She is a very oral baby, something Madeline was not, so this is new and interesting to us. Everything goes into the mouth....everything. Her bouts of fussiness are minimal now, as they related to gas. She's generally a happy baby that just wants attention- sounds normal to me. Today, though, we're on day 3 of an ear infection and a touch of what the doc believes to be RSV. It's sad to see her and hear her so congested. Lots of TLC, warm steamy baths and Vicks. Other than a few tears when she can't breathe or when I'm cleaning her nose, she's just happy and smiley.