Lucy is 2 months (and 13 days)

I am a tad behind on my two month update. The only reason I make note of this, is in the event that I am on time with her three month update I don't want people to worry or think she is not growing. She will be 3 months in two weeks, so the growth will not be as noticeable. You see??

Baltimore

Jim had a conference in Baltimore this past weekend and we got to tag along and take advantage of all those great business perks.

Jim's office booked us in the same hotel we stayed in almost 10 years ago on our wedding day. I was pretty excited about the fact, but the lady who checked us in wasn't too impressed.  She said "Oh, that's a long time."  Although she did give us a free internet code, I think she was secretly happy for us.

10 years and 3 kids later...

Walking around the inner harbor...

Eating at the Lebanese Taverna. Lebanese food is delicious.  

We found this park that had chimes and bells to play and super fun sculptures to slide down.

Around this park there are many homonyms in the ground.  I love homonyms (Jim claims that they are called heterographs, but I refuse to accept this). 

Our sit n' stand stroller still comes in handy in a crowded area.  Despite the fact that some stranger recently made a rude comment in reference to my child about how she HATES it when big kids ride in strollers.  Really? That's what you hate in life? You hate when someone else's child rides in a stroller?  How do you have the time to hate other children riding in strollers? I am so tired and annoyed by real things that I don't have time to think about other kids and whether they ride strollers for too long or drink bottles for too long or refuse to be potty trained or any other issue that a child might have that doesn't match up to someone else's timeline. Although, clearly I take issue with rudeness, so I guess we all have our things (end rant).

We were also in the harbor during the super moon. Can you see it through the ship?  Too bad pictures never seem to do the super moon justice.

And of course the best part about a hotel and kids is the pool.

Our hotel overlooked Camden Yards, which is my favorite ball park ever.  Jim was able to take in a game with some Penn State colleagues.  It was a fantastic weekend put on by Jim. Great start to summer.

We were also able to spend some quality time with each of my parents and we didn't take any pictures.  We were enjoying each other's company too much that we forgot about pictures.  Very lovely weekend, now we just need to catch up on some sleep.

My phone update

All my phone pictures with corresponding stories...

After Lucy got over her rhinovirus she contracted pink eye. What?! After some eye drops she is all better.

 Jim has talked about purchasing a banjo for over a year now.  He would like to learn to play the banjo.  He went back and forth between wanting a banjo for father's day for awhile.  We even went to a music store to try some out.  Did you know that the banjo is HEAVY? Seriously heavy.  One of them I had a hard time lifting. To be fair to banjo's, I have the upper body strength of a 10 year old, but still, they are heavy instruments.

He looks like a natural.

Side note -

Last week we took a family walk and ran into a friend  with her adult daughters.  Jack made all the necessary introductions as follows: "This is my baby Lucy.  This is my friend Lilly.  This is my friend Dad.  This is my mom, she says no more iPad."  We all laughed and he now regularly tells strangers "My mom said no more iPad."  He always gets a laugh and I think he likes that. I hope one day to also be bumped to friend status, but I am ok with being the mom who said no more iPad. Kids need to play!

Below was our first day of summer vacation.  Lucy and I were still sick and we all enjoyed watching a few cartoons in bed.  Although, I will tell you that someone who just finished the first grade and spent a year with very structured days of learning does not easily fall into laid back summer days. She spends her days writing lists, songs, stories, creating art, and demanding all of us to be much more productive members of society.

Jack is so adorable, but now he knows he is adorable which can make for some power struggles.  

I have pretty adorable daughters too.

We went to the drive in to see Monsters University on the summer solstice.  We all had a great time, I seriously love the drive-in (I took some real pictures with my camera, that will come later),

Jim's phone update

Father's day weekend we went to Corning, NY with my father to visit some local attractions.  I spent the weekend in a hotel super sick while the others did touristy things.  Don't get me wrong, I am not bitter at all. It was a very nice hotel to be sick in and I could lay there and be sick in peace without thinking about all the chores I needed to be doing. It also kept me from planning home improvement projects.  When I stay in bed for too long I get antsy and look around to find things that need to be improved.  This was a welcome respite to be sick at a hotel.

As a result, Jim was in charge of documenting everything on HIS phone.

All my information about this weekend came from their mouths and Jim's pictures.  They went to the Corning Museum of Glass, toured the museum and made their own glass.  One of them had to pose as a 4 year old to make glass since 3 year old's are not allowed to make glass.  They all came home with very impressive works of art....I should take some pictures of the glass they made.  The highlight of the tour seemed to be when they went to a glass making demonstration and Lilly won the raffle.

Her prize was this very large dragon goblet.  It might have been the happiest day of her life, in terms of winning glass prizes.  The dragon goblet has now been deemed the birthday goblet.  If it's your birthday at our house you can drink out of the dragon goblet.

Then on the actual father's day my dad and Jim were able to do some early morning hiking.  Meanwhile, I was super sick at the hotel and the day ended with me in the emergency room with breathing treatments and chest x-rays. So I think I owe Jim a do-over on father's day.

More pictures from Jim's phone.

At the drive in...

This post has been brought to you by Jim's phone.

Random Updates

Even further back in May I accompanied Jack on his preschool field trip to the Bloomsburg Children's museum.  He had a great time and I lugged Lucy around from exhibit to exhibit.  It was a great year of preschool for him and he had a wonderful teacher.  Lilly attended that preschool for two years and Jack for one year.  We just found out that their preschool has been shut down next year, but we are grateful for 3 great years at the DACC preschool.

Then one Sunday Jim had meetings all day and the kids and I went outside and had a picnic and lots of fun. I took plenty of adorable pictures of us at our picnic, but that was on the old phone.  Luckily I sent one picture to Jim while he was at his meetings.

On a side note - we were crossing the street last night and Jim was trying to make a joke but spoke it way too fast to some strangers on the corner.  He tried to say "Watch out for THAT lady." Only he spoke so fast it came out "Watch out FAT lady." We all stared at him in shock as we kept walking (the strangers, Lilly, and myself) until he clarified the confusion.  Only the woman he had called fat didn't hear the clarification.  Luckily she was like 19 and super skinny.

I think I have mentioned that we have had our share of communicable diseases this year.  The night before the last day of school I had to take Lucy into the emergency room at 3AM because of a high fever.  After exhaustive IV's and chest x-rays and other invasive testing it was discovered she had the rhinovirus. Which is basically a bad cold.  I came down with some nasty bronchitis and quasi pneumonia, but I am feeling better now.  I am so grateful summer is here!

(Poor Lucy at home after her ER visit recovering from multiple IV attempts.)

She was still a pretty happy baby in between procedures.  Sweet girl.

More updates to come....

Behind

Trying to catch up my blog...

At some point in the last month my iPhone stopped working and I lost all my pictures and video that normally help me to document the every day passing of time when I don't get my big camera out.  Luckily my phone was still on warranty and I was able to get it replaced.  I can now continue to document my life with my phone.  I also made sure to log into the iCloud so that my pictures would be automatically backed up, along with my contacts, etc. I know you feel better knowing that. And now the govermnet can track me even more.

The sadness I feel is still very profound for the loss of beautiful Charlotte. Just know that as I post pictures of happiness, the grief is still very raw for my sister and her family. My heart is breaking for them every day. There is so much sadness but we do believe we will see Charlotte again and that she will be reunited with her family. I know Charlotte is watching over baby Alice and sweet Andon.  She is their guardian angel now.

Before my last post in May, Lucy turned one month (she has since turned two months and 9 days but I am behind on my pictures). My sister has documented her son Lincoln in the most adorable way.  I thought about copying her, but I don't really have the follow through that Jessamyn has.

She had the forethought to use the same blanket (that I made) and to position Lincoln in the same spot and dress him in the same onesie. She also had the forethought to tell me to do the same thing but I can't follow directions all the time.

I also can't take a straight picture.  Just a reminder - My mom made this beautiful blanket for Lucy.  Of course these little nightgowns don't fit her anymore so if I continue to copy my sister in this unsuccessful manner Lucy will be in a different outfit. Also while I can remember she is now past 2 months and weighs 9lbs 8oz. She is a tiny thing like her sister. I think she is in the 5-10th percentile for weight, 25th for height, and 50th for head. She has a lot of brains.  Speaking of sisters, last night Lilly had her head in the baby carrier talking to Lucy and I asked her what she was doing.  She said to me "Just hanging out, like sisters should."

On May 22 Lilly had her awards ceremony for her funnastics class.  She had a great year of tumbling and hopes to participate next year.  She was able to take this class with a lot of friends from school.  Here she is with some of her closest friends from this past year.

Lilly (1st grade, 7), Alysson (2nd grade, 8), Alyssa (2nd grade, 8)

This year was a transition year for funnastics and they did not have a show.  As a result they also did not have matching uniforms so I didn't feel a need for the group picture.  However, when I arrived at the awards night I saw the picture and took a picture of it with my camera (I'm class like that) and then begged Miss Kim to buy the extra copy for $7. Parents are suckers for pictures of their kids.  Anyway I need to at one point scan the picture and upload it, but I will post this one for now considering my extreme aversion to scanning and uploading.

Then one time we went outside to check out the work on our roof and a storm came and I was holding a baby. The end.

Oh and now that it is summer Jack says he doesn't want to wear a shirt he only wants to wear his tummy. Now that it's summer we let him wear just his tummy. The end (for real).

Update?

I promised my mom a happy blog post, and after this one I will try to comply.

I am behind on my blog. Not just because I am exhausted or have three children or had a few visits to the emergency room but because there has been so much sadness in our family.

My sister and brother in law lost their beautiful sister Charlotte to cancer at age 25 on June 16.   Because she is my sister's sister, I always felt like she was my sister too.  The Barnette and Low families battled a mighty hard fight this past year and every step was exhausting for them. Charlotte was sent home with hospice and passed away at home with her family.  Now she is our angel and will look after her babies from heaven.

My sister posted some pictures of Charlotte:
http://brianandjessamyn.blogspot.com/

Did you ever see anyone with a more beautiful smile than Charlotte Barnette Low?

Mosiah 18:9 Yea, and are ^awilling to mourn with those that ^bmourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as^cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things.

This week in particular I am mourning with those that mourn and hopefully I can find someway to comfort those that stand in need of comfort.