Where the heck do we live again?

Connecticut? Boston? Utah? Lake Tahoe? Maine??? Um no. We really like all of those places, but we actually live in Portland, OR. You wouldn't know it by looking outside though...we've been getting lots of snow this week and it's going to continue. It's a winter wonderland here! Check out the next few posts for some cute videos of Lucy...

I'm good at sharing...

No Mommy, I can feed myself!

Lucy is officially a walker!!!

So Lucy took her first steps the night of her birthday after the party was all over. Since then she's been walking more and more and can now walk like 20 steps or more in a row! Check out this short video clip of her cruising around in the kitchen right before her bath!

Lucy's First Birthday!

Lucy had a great first birthday! My dear friend Tina from dental school surprised me and flew in for her birthday! It was so good to see her. And my dad also came up for Lucy's birthday. We had a great time. Lucy enjoyed trying cake for the first time and received so many nice gifts! Enjoy the photos and also check out the post after this one to see her eating yummy cake!

Birthday cake, yum yum!

Fun Play Date

Last weekend, we got together with a few moms & babies from our mom's group. We went to a very baby/kid-friendly restaurant that actually has a big play room. So after we ate, we played in their play room for awhile. We all had a blast! Here are some fun photos.

Gymboree

Lucy loves to go to Gymboree. It's a fun activity to do on a rainy day, gets her out and about, and she loves all the fun stuff they have to climb on and play with. She also loves the songs, the parachute and just checking out the other babies. Here's a cute video.

A year in the life...

Last year at this time, I wouldn't have been able to fathom how much was life was going to change in such a short time. This year, we have had tremendous joy in celebrating Lucy's birth and watching her grow, and we have also been able to celebrate many other births in our family and group of friends. My niece Tessa was born in May, our friend Kim's baby Sam was born in June, our friend (and Lucy's old nanny) Bethany had her baby this month, and my dear friend Dianna's daughter Julia was born just a few weeks ago. We are also eagerly awaiting the birth of my dear friend Gina's daughter Elena in the next month and another friend Andi whose baby (also a girl!) is due in February. This is the year of babies!!! We also celebrated marriages of two other dear college friends, Lauren in September and Alma just a week ago! Along with all of these tremendous blessings, we have also suffered tremendous loss with the death of Chris' mother in May of this year. We love you and miss you every day. We had a difficult month not too long ago when I had to have that lump removed on my thyroid but were able to celebrate the good results when it was finally all over. So I'd have to say this year has truly been a roller coaster ride for our family, but Lucy has continued to bring us more and more happiness than we ever thought possible. We love being her parents, we completely adore her. The first picture was taken a year ago on hall-o-ween when Lucy was still in my belly. Look at how she's grown. Lucy, I love you.

5 New Posts!

Hi everyone...I haven't updated the blog in awhile, we've had a busy September with my surgery and traveling to see family and for Lauren's wedding. Check out what we've been up to...I posted 5 new posts today with lots of fun pictures and a few videos.

Little Pumpkin, Big World

If you've ever seen the show on TLC called "Little People, Big World" you'll think this post is pretty cool (maybe)!! I watch the show a lot...I tend to like that kind of reality family TV. Anyway, the show is about a family who live here in Oregon, about 20 minutes outside of Portland. The parents, Amy and Matt Roloff are dwarfs and they have 4 kids, one of whom is also a dwarf. The live on a big farm, and they grow pumpkins. Every year, during pumpkin season, they open their farm to the public. I've always wanted to go, so today we went! I thought it might be super crowded, but it wasn't that bad, and the weather held out too! It was a great day. We put Lucy in her Hall-o-ween costume (fittingly, she was a pumpkin), and it was so fun to put her in the little wagon with the pumpkins we chose in her little pumpkin costume!

We took a picture with the mom on the show, Amy Roloff; we also got a shot of their son Jacob with his grandpa (Matt Roloff's dad) hugging him. Their dog Rocky, a boxer who is always on the show, was roaming around the farm today too, so we got to pet him and got a picture with him. We saw Matt Roloff from afar with the camera crew of the show. Check out the link to the show: http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/lpbw/lpbw.html

Fishies in the ocean, fishies in the sea...

we all go in on 1-2-3!!! This is a song we sing a lot at Lucy's swim class. Here are some fun little videos from her last swim class.

Lauren's wedding

We had a great time at Lauren's wedding. Lauren is a dear friend of mine for over ten years now. We met in college. Her wedding was in Pismo Beach, CA, which is on the central coast of California. I was honored to be her matron of honor. It was great to see so many of my girlfriends from college! I had a blast. I miss all of you so much!

Lucy and her cousins!

Lucy is lucky enough to have 3 beautiful cousins so far...all girls! Phoebe and Emma are her older cousins, age 7 and 5, and are my sister Kristi's girls. Tessa is Lucy's younger cousin who is 4 months old and she is my brother's daughter. Aren't they adorable???

Tessa and Lucy enjoyed story time together before bed with their binkies and wearing their halo sleepsacks. Too cute!

Watch out...Lucy's on the go!!

This past month, Lucy has been on the go, and that means that Chris & I have been on the go chasing after her. She crawls around at lightning speed, and is now pulling herself up on everything! This includes pulling herself up in her crib and standing there wailing when she doesn't want to go to bed!!! I think Chris and I have entered a whole new world with Lucy...and pretty soon she'll be walking! Scary...

Surgery went well

Thank you everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers! The surgery went very well. I was feeling back to myself by Friday, and Chris, Lucy and I left for California as planned on Saturday to visit friends and family and to attend Lauren's wedding this coming weekend. We're having a great time. The best news of all is that the pathology report came back and the bump was a benign thyroid nodule. Yay!! I'm so relieved. I have a small bandage on my neck still...should be able to remove the bandage this week. So I just wanted to leave this quick post for all of you who have been thinking of us during this time. We love you!

Lucy loves to wave hello and bye bye!

Let's try this again

A fun morning with Lucy