Of New Toys and Pictures

Ok. So as you know, I got an iPhone. After years of having normal (read: "boring") phones I am having so much fun with my new "Smart" phone. I have even had to put it in my room and shut the door on a few occasions because I have been so distracted by it! Don't worry - Lucy has not suffered because of my new toy, I was having a hard time focusing on reading one day and just needed to put my phone in "time-out" for a little bit. lol... Anywho, because I have been having so much fun with it - I have kind of forgotten about our camera this past week. But have no fear! one of the perks of phones these days is that they all come with cameras built in - so I still have an abundance of pictures to share with you.

As some of you have noticed, I have been putting pictures on Facebook this last week too. Usually I just update the blog and figure that people on Facebook are smart enough to click on the link on my wall to see pictures I post here. It was just too much for me to update both Facebook and the blog. But now that I can upload photos straight from my phone to Facebook (seriously, no cords required. Simply. Wonderful.) all my online buddies get to see fresh (usually just moments old) pictures of Lucy more often.

Ok, enough chit chat... Here are the pictures I know you came to see. :)

I love them chubby cheeks! So pinchable!

"Seriously mom? you have your phone in my face again?!?! This is getting annoying."

Lucy was so cheerful on Sunday morning after I got her ready for church, I am convinced she was excited to go see friends. :)
(You can click on the picture to enlarge it)

Sunday afternoon - we went into her room and found her like this after her nap: Wide-Eyed.

Sometimes her mohawk makes its appearance - you can barely see it here because of the rest of her poofy hair, but it's there. :)

Brad enjoyed placing all of Lucy's stuffed animals in her crib - she enjoyed it too! If you haven't seen it yet, check out the cute video of her reaction here.

Lucy is almost grown out of all of her Newborn sized clothes - I am trying to get them on her one-last-time. She is growing way too fast.

Cloth Diapers! :) We ordered a few last week so that I could try out different brands, see the differences and make an educated decision as to which ones we wanted to go with. The winning diaper? Bum Genius 4.0 w/ Snaps. We are debating weather we want to go 100% cloth before the move or after.... most likely it is going to be after because of how stinkin' easy (though pricey) it is to use disposables.

So that you can see then extra, but surprisingly minimal, bulk that the cloth diaper adds to Lucy's cutie patutie booty... the above picture is with a normal disposable diaper.

And this one is with the cloth diaper. Sorry - I realize that the way she has her legs kinda makes them hard to compare... I didn't realize that til now.

I love this little skirt - it has a cute flip-flop t-shirt that matches it (I'm sure you'll see pictures of it eventually).

In other news:

• We have a woman coming back for a second showing this weekend, and she is bringing her dad! We are praying she LOVES it and makes an offer.We have been really encouraged by the amount of "traffic" we have had, coming and going through our house, this week.
  
• I am planning on starting the packing process next week. Let life surrounded by boxes begin! :)

"I have to get out of the house!"

The title of this post is not reflective of my current mindset. Although there have been days that I have gotten a bit stir crazy here at home, I have been really content to be home most days. However, I have had to get out of the house whenever we have a showing - which, thankfully has been a handful of times in the past few weeks. When I have to vacate the premises I usually take a trip to the Salvation Army - which is, literally, right around the corner. I simply strap the babe into the Bjorn and we are off on a treasure hunt. :)

Here are some of my finds from my past few visits. :)

Some pretty votive candle holders - love the bumpy texture on them! I think my mom has some blue ones similar to these.

I'm enjoying summer - but warm red/yellow tones make me excited for fall, sweatshirts and hot chocolate. :)

These were a fun project - although their original color was okay and would have worked in our house, I felt that I would use them more if they were white.

Out came the spray paint! :) I love the shape of these candle sticks.

I'm going to Hancock fabrics later today to get some fabric for a new table runner, depending on the colors in the cloth I find - I'd love to have some light blue pillars for these candle sticks. We shall see. I'll keep you updated. ;)

This basket was a whopping $0.80. I've been looking for something to keep my Bible and journals in for a bit and this basket fits the bill perfectly.

Once I got rid of the yucky ribbon and rinsed the dust off - the basket looked even better! I'm really happy with it.

I have also found Lucy a few books, a dress (its 4t - WAY to big for her now - but it was $1.25, in really good shape and so cute - I figure she will grow into it), and a cute glass for my sister-in-law (not showing pictures, because it's a surprise :) ).

What about you? Are you an avid thrift store hunter? Or do second-hand shops kinda freak you out? Have you found any fun treasures lately? Please do tell....

All My Toys...

Brad again... If I could I would like to lay in an adult play-pen with every single electronic device that I own: my iPad, iPhone, iMac, xbox, wii, blue ray, my tv, you get the picture. This of course is not possible, mainly do to the fact that I think my adult play-pen would catch on fire. But for my sweet daughter Lucy she in fact can be surrounded by every single stuffed toy she owns!! So that is what I proceeded to do, set up her crib with her in the center, surrounded by a fuzzy army of stuffiedness... the video below shows the cuteness that ensued.



BTW this one was uploaded in HD ENJOY! (to watch in 720p after you start playing the video on the right there is a button that say 360p click it and you will see other options)

Lucy in Stunning HD, thanks to iphone 4

Well ladies and gents its that time again, that's right you guessed it Brad is writing/posting, fulfilling his one blog post a quarter stipulation from our pre-nup. Well sad to say I really do not have much to write other than to just introduce this video clip, which I think you all should know was shot on Sarah's new iphone 4, :) So here is a cute video staring the two loves of my life!

Swing Time Lovin'

We keep the swing in the kitchen/dining room so that Lucy can be apart of the family activities that happen there. Yesterday, as I was making lunch I couldn't help but snap some pictures of Lucy - she was having a great time. :)

(If you would like, you can click on the image above to enlarge)

Interactions

Are words necessary for meaningful interaction? I think not. :)

Kidder Update

Well, the blog has been a lot about Lucy lately - mostly because we are proud parents, but also because she has been a huge part of our lives lately. :) But now that we have been a family of 3 for over a month now, our attention has turned more fully to the next change for our family. Namely: our move to Pampa, Texas.

As most of you know, our house has been on the market since early May and although there have been a good number of showings and people seem to like the finishes and price of our place - the location has not been ideal for lookers so far (we live on the far north side of Chicago in a diverse, but safe, neighborhood).

We have been saying all along that we would move to Pampa at the end of August, regardless of whether or not our house has sold. Trusting the Lord has been hard but we did our best acknowledge the fact that God knows what we can and can not handle - financially, emotionally and physically.

As we were praying last week for God to provide a way for us to move, Rusty (an Elder from The Bible Church of Pampa) called and told us that the apartment in church has opened up and we can live there - if we want to - rent free, until our house here sells. If we want to?! Yes! We want to! Great is His faithfulness!

The apartment has 4 rooms and 2 full bathrooms, no kitchen - but we can use the church kitchen which is just downstairs* (can you say adventure?!? :) ). We will use one room as a storage space since we will not unpack all our stuff until we are settled into our new home. One room will be the Master Bedroom, one will be a Living Room/Dining Room combo and the last room will be Lucy Lu's transitional nursery (with maybe some more storage stuff in there). :) I can't wait to show you pictures and share the (I'm sure sometimes funny) details with you!

*I shared the above news with our Small Group last night and Abby said (my paraphrase) "You guys love to entertain! What could be better than a large kitchen for you to use!" She is so right! I know it will be a change and may be annoying at times, but it is only for a time - and we are so thankful for this opportunity.

So that's whats up here. :)

Updated Prayer Concerns:

• Continue to pray for the sale of our home here in Chicago, we would love to sever all financial ties to Chicago as soon as possible.
• Pray for our family as we have a busy month ahead of us - two weekend trips, one to Minnesota and one to Michigan, as well as saying goodbye to all our Chicago friends and packing up.
• A safe and uneventful move.
• Please pray for the ministry of The Bible Church of Pampa, we have grown to love the church there and can not wait to be there to minister to them in person. Pray for a smooth transition.
• Praise! We are so thankful that Lucy is such a happy and content baby, all the travel and change that we have ahead of us will be so much easier because of her cheerful disposition.

Morning "Wake" Time

After Lucy's breakfast is her most alert and happy time of the day. We get her dressed and ready for the day (Baths happen every-other morning) and then we hit the ground running... er... laying. :)

Minnie Mouse is a favorite friend. :) She loves it when Brad does his Minnie impression - smiles all around!

No giggles yet, but we are so close!

We have begun a morning ritual of reading a few books, usually 2. Lucy seems to really enjoy it, the above picture best portrays her expressions when I read her her first book. I wasn't able to get pictures of the actual event because I haven't figured out how to be in two places at once. ;)

Love this picture! Her eyes are still changing, and we can't quite predict what color they will be yet. They are green/blue in some lights and brown in others.

Chloe likes to be apart of the morning activities, often, she joins us on the blanket. :)

Look At My New Trick!

Lucy has gotten really good at holding up her head while we are supporting her body - lifting her head while she is on her tummy is still a work in progress, but we are sure she will master that soon too. :)

Doesn't she look like a little china doll?

One Month Old

Getting SO big!

GIANT Lucy! Ellie shrunk! :)

Baby Ellie is so cute!

There - back to normal :)

Don't be fooled! It takes lots of pictures to get a good one! :) Click on the above image to see some fun captions under the pictures. Her facial expressions are so funny!

My Loves

So peaceful. So beautiful and handsome.

Makes me so happy. :)

"Just chattin' with my buddies."

Lucy is so content to be placed in her crib for a few minutes each morning as I putter around her room and make my coffee. I usually put a few of her stuffed animals by her head for her to look at - I came in to check on her the other morning and she was cooing to her little friends. :)