Luca and her 'girls'.

The past two weekends have been full of fun playdates for Luca. And you just KNOW I had to practice using my shwanky new camera to capture some pictures of the cuteness.

First up, Elle came over to hang out while Darrick was helping her family move. Elle's 6 months old and just such a chill baby. I swear she could be content just staring at people and chewing on a toy. Luca ADORES her and was dying to share toys with her. You can see the huge pile Elle accumulated throughout the afternoon.











Next up was Madison, who is 4 months younger than Luca. The two of them have a blast together, though it seems they are going through the 'mine!' stage at the same time, which can be interesting. Madison's mom sometimes watches Luca for me for a few hours at a time, and Luca is mildly obsessed with her, in a good way. When she sees pictures of her, she says her name and sometimes when we're out places she'll see something that makes her think of Madison and she'll talk about her. It's really, really cute. We hung out with Madison for a few hours so her mom and dad could go watch the Cardinals win the game that got them into the Super Bowl.









And then, just this past weekend, Luca's BFF Melody came to play for a few hours. These two had SO much fun together. We read books, they chased each other around, Luca tortured Melody with kisses, they shared applesauce and yogurt. It was SO much fun having Melody over. My favorite part of the night was when they started stacking bouncy balls on the baby bouncy seat. Luca would place the larger one in the seat, Melody would balance the smaller one on top, and then they bounce the seat, sending the balls flying. Both girls would run after the balls, in fits of giggles, only to end up repeating the process over and over. SO cute!

Sweet Little Pumpkins.

Luca and her BFF Melody paid a visit to the pumpkin patch yesterday. As far as pumpkin patches go, the one we went to was fair to middlin', but all we really wanted was the photo op and some outside time for the kids, so it served its purpose. We also left with 2 pumpkins. Darrick had to find 'the biggest pumpkin here', and then we let Luca choose one her size. We finished up the evening by going out for pizza and root beer (that's about as wild as it gets when you have 2 toddlers and 2 pregnant women at the table). Luca had so much fun that she crashed out as soon as she was strapper in her carseat, and slept 12 straight hours.

And now....the pictures.

Happy 15 Months!!

Miss Lu Lu Belle turned 15 months yeterday. She had a big month. I swear, each one gets more fun than the last...hard as that is to imagine. I swear we are ALWAYS looking at each other and saying, "THIS is the best age!"...and we've been doing that since the day she was born. Ok, maybe not the day she was born, but at least the day she started sleeping more than 45 minutes at a time! ;)

She had her 15 months appointment this morning, and it was all good news. She's now up just over 21 pounds (25th %) and 31 inches tall (75th %). She's right on track with development, and although the nurses seemed to make her very leery, she loves her Dr. It is funny, though, because Pediatric appointments with your little one start to feel a little like Parenting: Pop Quiz!

Questions and Answer Key:
1. "Is she drinking from a cup now?"
Give yourself 5 points for drinking from a straw, 2 points for drinking from a sippy, and -9 points for still only taking the bottle.
2. "Do you brush her teeth?"
Give yourself 7 points for brushing after each meal, 3 points for brushing once a day and letting baby play with her toothbrush, -5 points for "Brushing her teeth?"
3. "Can she climb up stairs?"
Give yourself 5 points for yes, 3 points for "She could do that before she could even walk.", and 0 points for "Not sure, we haven't exposed her yet."
4. "Does she mimic you?"
Give yourself 8 points for yes, 0 points for not really, and -16 points for "Yup, she's already perfected yelling 'Oh SHIT!' whenever she drops a toy."
5. "How many words does she have?"
Give yourself 10 points for more than 12 words, 3 points for 5-11 words, and -5 points for, "Just 'Oh SHIT!'."
6. "Does she recognize words even if she can't say them?"
Give yourself 6 points for yes, 2 points for very rarely, and -6 points for "Just 'Oh SHIT!."
7. "Can she feed herself with a fork and/or spoon?"
Give yourself 5 points if baby tries, 2 points if she has no interest, and -7 points if your answer is, "Shoot, her DADDY barely knows how to use a fork!".
8. "Does she understand and respond to basic commands?"
Give yourself 10 points for "Yes, she does and she even throws away her own trash.", 3 points for "She understands basics like 'no', 'stop', and 'come here', and -4 points for, "She's excellent at fetching Mommy's valium and Daddy's beer."

Lucky us, we scored 45 points, so we were sent home with a sticker for Luca and a follow up appointment at 18 months.

The one question that did make me pause and think was how many words she has. I know she has quite a few, but I've never sat down and counted. So, in order to help me remember in the long term, here are her words:

~Hi
~Bye
~Up
~Ball
~Dog
~Uh-Oh
~Mama
~Dada
~Wow
~God! (blasephmy at it's finest)
~Shoe
~Apple
~Nana
~Hot
~Go

She also can tell you what dogs, cats, monkeys, and monsters say. She has an obsession with shoes (if you take yours off in our house, she'll bring them back and try to put them on for you), is very into closing things like doors and drawers, and loves to give kisses. In fact, if you tell her to 'be nice' to the dogs or one of her stuffed animals, she gives them a giant hug and a kiss.

In other Luca news, she had a pretty big month. She visited the Mesa Museum for Youth with her BFF Melody. They had so much fun playing with the fake veggie garden, sitting on the couch together with some books, and going down the slide feet first.










We also took Luca's first 'real' vacation, to California. She got to see her Great Grandma and Great Aunt, as well as her Aunt Ann. She also saw Yosemite for the first time, and went on her first boat ride. It was such a blast!!





Last, but not least, Luca helped her Daddy celebrate his 30th birthday in style! It was a great month for all of us, and I can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Things on my mind.

First, Mere, I hope you are happy. I changed my colors just to please you. See the power you have over me? See?!?!

It's Sunday, my kid is napping (since I typed that out, it's almost a guarantee she will be awake within 4 minutes), and the sun is shining. We had a super busy day yesterday. We were up early and grocery shopping before 8 a.m. I love grocery shopping early on a weekend morning. The best thing about it is that it's typically the parents with little babies, the senior citizens, and the random dude in cycling gear who's stopping in for a Power Bar and a water. I love having the aisles to myself and seeing the stacks of fruits and veggies neatly laid out. On our way out of the store, we saw 3 giant stuffed dogs up by the front of the store. I was carrying Luca, who also saw the dogs and decided that it would be a good time to kick me in the hipbones (oh, who am I kidding? she kicked the fat covering where I can only assume my hipbones are), point, and yell out "DOHG!".

Once we got home, Kristin brought her little girl, Melody, over so we could babysit. Monday is Kristin's birthday (24, version 7.0) so she and her sister had plans to go get mani/pedis and have lunch. K's hubby was at work, so we agreed to watch Melody, who is 3 months older than Luca. The first thing Melody did when they got here was play ball with Luca. They sat facing each other on the floor, and Luca had a big bouncy ball which she pushed toward Melody, and Melody pushed it back. Those girls are bound for Mensa.



Anyhow, as soon as Kristin left, Melody decided she wasn't that into us after all. I ran upstairs to change into some comfy clothes, and Darrick tried his hardest (put on bunny ears, sing a song, wiggle a little, take off bunny ears, show her screaming monkey toy) to amuse her, and still she sat stoic and wouldn't even crack a smile. I jumped in to try to warm her up and she wouldn't crack for me either. Luca even tried to join in by pulling on Melody's shirt and handing her toys. It even got to a point where we started putting stuffed animals on our heads and Melody's (putting a toy of any variety on your head is a sure-fire way to get a laugh from Luca), but no luck. The stuffed bear on her head only succeeded in giving Luca a reason to crawl up Melody's shoulder.






Luca soon decided to take a nap, so I got Melody situated in the stroller to go for a walk. We were out for almost an hour, during which time she was completely silent. This is so foreign to me, because if you put my kid in a stroller, you are guaranteed to hear some noise from her. Generally she's not a huge fan of long walks because she's always got to be doing something and sitting for so long doesn't excite her. Even if she is happy about the walk, she will babble and hum to herself almost the whole time. The silent baby routine was so not something I was used to.



Melody and I got back from our walk and both Darrick and Luca were snoozing. I took her out of the stroller and put her on the floor with a bucket o' fun (plastic pink easter bucket filled with plastic eggs and books). That FINALLY won her over, and she started crawling around and playing like a crazy, happy baby. We had a blast playing together, and when Kristin called to tell me she was on her way to pick Melody up, I was actually kinda sad. Right when Kristin got here, Luca woke from her nap and the two of them played together some. It was so cute to see them being little buddies. Sometimes I look at them and wonder if they will be friends when they get older. It's strange to imagine them in each others' weddings and their kids being friends. I hope it happens...how cool would that be?!?!







Babysitting did give me comfort, though, because I sometimes wonder about Luca's gassiness and poop habits. Yeah, it's gross - whatever. Since she was a baby, she's had Man Farts. People don't believe such giant toots can come from such a small feminine looking baby. But, they can and BOY how they do! Her nanny has 2 grandsons, and I remember her telling me when Luca was about 3 months old that one of the boys heard Luca farting up a storm and was cracking up. I do believe he started the 'man fart' jokes by telling Lu's nanny that she farted like a man.

Anyhow, her other somewhat disturbing quirk involves her poop habits. The poor kid cannot, for the life of her, poop without everyone within a 20-foot radius knowing that's what is going on. First off, she grunts. Loud. Second, her whole face turns red, with the little rims of her eyes turning reddest (most red?), and she kind of quivers a bit. Third, she locks eyes with whoever is closest to her. Yes, friends...my kid likes to make eye contact when pooping. It's almost as though she's saying, "I know you see me pooping. You best get that diaper and a few wipes ready, because I have NO intention of sitting around in this mess."

So, anyhow, I was slightly comforted to realize that, eye-locking gaze nonwithstanding, Melody has the same little habits when it comes to dropping the deuce. I guess, if nothing else, I can at least take comfort in knowing that. And, other moms have told me that when their kiddos started walking, they would actually hide behind furniture to carry out their diaper-dirtying business. Is it wrong that I look forward to those days?