One Year Later

Being at the Kopp family cabin this past weekend, I couldn't help but think about the last July we were there... I found out that I was pregnant!! Since I started this blog at 12 weeks of pregnancy, I didn't have a chance to record what happened that day, so I'm going to do that now...

Last July 4th, we headed up to Lake Wawasee with Katy and Brandon. Ben and I had been trying to get pregnant since February, and were having a little trouble tracking my cycle so we had been tracking my temperature to get a better feeling of when I might be ovulating. Because of that, I knew that the weekend of July 4th fell right around when I could be pregnant. I brought a pregnancy test with me, not because I thought I was pregnant, but mostly because I wanted to be able to drink and not have any doubt in my mind that I wasn't influencing an unborn child in my belly.

In fact, I was so confident (I had taken lots of other tests leading up to this that were all negative) I told Katy I was going to take the test in the morning.

I woke up Saturday morning before everyone else to take the test and it was positive!!! Suddenly I panicked - this was not at all what I was expecting, and I realized I was in a strange place to find out I was pregnant. Ben and I were sleeping in seperate rooms, so I snuck over to his room (with all the boys) and pulled him out to share the news... I whispered the good news, we held each other for a bit, then snuck back into our respective rooms to wait until everyone else woke up.

I, of course, couldn't fall back asleep so as soon as Brandon poked his head in to see who wanted to go skiing, I jumped up to go, eager to have something to distract the millions of thoughts in my head. That's when Katy said she knew :) I wasn't the type to be eager about skiing at 7:30 in the morning... something must have been giving me extra energy!

Ben and I both decided we wanted to wait till the first doctor appointment to tell anyone, so the rest of the day/weekend I spent trying to convince Katy that I was not pregnant and tried to act as normal as possible. Looking back, she says I didn't do a great job and she knew that I was pregnant... but I tried really hard! Not knowing what was ok, and what wasn't I would pour coffee and grab beers, then when no one was looking have Ben chug my drinks so I didn't have to.

Ben and I were ecstatic. Any chance we got alone we'd ask each other a million questions, like when would the baby be born, what did it feel like, did we think it was a boy or a girl, what things were ok for me to do - and I would try to look up as much information as possible on my phone in between activities.

I was so thankful when we got home - it was tricky keeping a secret when you are with people 24 hours a day, and my head had been pounding from my cold turkey approach to kicking my caffeine habit (I didn't realize it's actually ok to have some caffeine when you're pregnant).

We kept the secret from family and friends for 8 weeks, till we met little Olive on the ultrasound. And I spent those 8 weeks hiding my exhaustion, cravings, and nausea... trying to act like I felt perfectly normal!

Visitors!

Our friends Katie and Brent visited two weekends ago, and we had such a wonderful weekend with them. We started out at the Monon Center (which I soon learned was where every person in Carmel spends their Saturday)


And then went to Symphony on the Prairie on Saturday night. Lucy loves hanging out with Aunt KiKi and Uncle Brent... and they love her too!


Getting smothered with kisses...


Our picnic at Symphony on the Prairie


Lucy did really well, we tried to get her to fall asleep on the blanket, but she just wanted to stay up and watch everyone. Note - she loves touching faces now... every time I am talking with her, she reaches up to grab my lips and my cheeks...


Staring at daddy...


Ruthie had a friend during the weekend too - Walter Kruithof. They didn't stop playing the whole time!

My best friend

Meet my best friend, Ruthie. Whenever I'm playing on the ground, she always likes to play right next to me. She's always careful not to step on me, but she sure does like to give me kisses! She also let's me pet her and swat at her, like I do with my toys. I can't wait till I can crawl next to her and some day chase her around the back yard!



Ruthie got tired, but I'm still going strong!

4 Months

Stats: 13.9 pounds (57%), 25.5 inches long (90%), head is 15.9 inches around (38%)

Lucy went to the doctor on July 8th, so a little over a week before she turned officially 4 months. So I'm not sure if the percentile takes that into account or not. I weighed her this past weekend and she came in at 14.8 pounds on our home scale - so I think she might already be a pound heavier. Which could definitely be possible after the growth spurt she went through this past week - I couldn't feed that girl enough!

Doctor's appointment went well, Lucy is healthy as can be. She is obviously very tall and skinny (not sure who she is getting that from!) and is meeting all of the appropriate milestones. She did great with shots again, little crying right afterward, but then was totally calm once I held her. Doctor wants us to wait till 6 months to start solids, so we've got a little more time before we move on to real food.

This past month has been full of changes, surprises and so much growth! Lucy is really moving from the infant stages into the pre-toddler stages - she is super engaging, talkative and getting so strong. As mentioned in a previous post she has mastered rolling over. This has been fun at play time, but I have a feeling has led to lots of waking up in the middle of the night as she gets turned over, the paci falls out, and then she needs someone to come put it back in. When the paci doesn't fall out, I think she must really enjoy sleeping on her tummy because I often go in after her naps and find her sleeping on her stomach (and sometimes flipped around and on the opposite side of the crib - she's doing a lot of moving around in there!)

She has also gotten pretty good at sitting up unsupported. I wouldn't leave her with out pillows because after sitting on her own she typically likes to reach for her toes or a toy that's to the side, which leads her to topple over - but her torso has definitely gotten stronger and her balance is getting there too. I think she just needs to understand the consequences of reaching a little better.

She is reaching for everything now, and anything she can get her hands on goes directly into her mouth. Whether it's her toes, fingers, toys, or any other random object - everything in our house seems to be getting slimmed by this little girl! And when something isn't in her mouth, she has a lot of fun blowing spit bubbles, drooling, or sucking on her lip.

She does a great job at following ben and my voices and loves to smile at us all the time. I found ways to get real hearty laughs out of her too, whether it's flying her through the air or surprising her with "pop goes the weasel". I don't always get a laugh out of her, but I'll typically at least get a big grin or a squeal in delight.

While she is still an extremely happy baby, she has definitely gotten a lot more opinionated about where and when she will go to sleep, when she wants to eat, and when she is "done" with an activity. It's funny, everyone says that the first 3 months are the hardest, but I think this past month has been a little trickier as Lucy is learning to communicate her needs - meaning a lot more fussing when she isn't getting her way. I spent the first 3 months setting my alarm and watching the clock to make sure I fed her enough - now I rarely have to wake her up, she's usually shouting for me from her bedroom, ready to eat. She also doesn't lay down as easily - she used to get nice and drowsy as I rocked her in my arms, now she doesn't want to be rocked for long at all before she is squirming and moving around trying to escape... so I end up just laying her down in the crib wide awake, and go to pop her paci in anywhere from 1-5 times before she finally conks out. When she used to lay down for a nap, she'd be out in no time, now the process seems to take closer to 20-30 minutes as she plays around in the crib, spits her paci out, starts to fuss, I put it back in, and repeat. Hoping this is only a short phase - maybe something brought on by the growth spurt, or her new found skill of rolling over - or maybe it will be time to take the paci away soon...

We took her to a couple different outings this past month and I also realized that the days of my little girl passing out wherever/whenever are over - there is far too much for her to take in and observe, we found she needed much more coercing to fall asleep in a public place.

After going to the doctor, I was told we could now let Lucy sleep as long as she wanted throughout the night. I was finding that after waking her for a 5 am feeding, she would then have really restless sleep from 5-8am, and doc said that was probably from disturbing her sleep at 5 am. So we got to test out this new sleep schedule, and got a couple amazing nights of rest - one night she slept from 9pm-7am with no interruptions, a couple others she would go from 8pm-7am, but I ended up having to go in 3-5 times to put the paci in (again, not sure how much longer I can take the paci-game we play!). It seemed like things were moving in the right direction sleep-wise, and then a growth spurt hit this past week, which led to 2 night time feeds and feeding every 2.5 hours during the day (she usually eats every 3-3.5 hours). Needless to say this led to a cranky baby and cranky mom, so I'm hoping that this next week brings more sleep, less eating, and less crying!

Ok - now for the fun part... updated pictures!





Reaching for my toes, my favorite thing to do! And I want to sit on my own now too - no back of the chair necessary for me!




Who me?

Rolling Over

Lucy learned to roll over this week, and now we can't keep her on her back! In fact the first night that she learned to roll from back to stomach, we ended up having to go roll her back over every couple hours through out the night in her crib. I think she'd get flipped over and then got a little freaked out that she was on her tummy and couldn't find her paci.

She is such a strong/smart little girl, it was amazing to watch as she grunted and twisted and finally made it over for the very first time. We had been practicing, I'd help her make the full roll - and then on Wednesday, it was like things just clicked!

Now she's a pro...

Spa Day

When dad headed off to Kings Island, mom and I decided to head to the pool, sun bathe, and soak in a nice hot bath... my pink robe was only fitting for our girls day. Thank goodness mom didn't put a face mask on me or paint my nails!

4th of July

Lucy's first 4th of July! Although we were sad that we weren't up at Lake Wawasee with the Millers (where we've gone the past several years) we ended up having a pretty jam packed weekend here in Indy. We spent the day down at Lake Lemon with the Hudsons who came back in town to visit, and Jill got to meet Lucy for the first time!







Lucy wasn't too interested in watching the fireworks, but she was fascinated by all of the people there that she got to meet. And everyone was loving on her! Everyone kept commenting on what a great baby she is, and I couldn't agree more - she didn't fuss the entire time we were with the Hudson's and slept on the way down, on the way home, and took a nice nap by the lake while Jill and I sun-bathed and caught up. I am so thankful that Lucy is so easy going and such a great sleeper!

Once we got home - we cleaned up and got ready for Lucy's first party! Beth had people over to hang out and watch fireworks over Geist...


(me and two of my favorite "aunts")

Lucy again did great at the party! She put on quite a show, talking and smiling then headed off to bed in Mr. and Mrs. Kinney's bathroom (a quiet spot) around 9, just in time for us to go catch the fireworks. I was so grateful again that Lucy went with the flow, and had no trouble falling asleep in a foreign place, so Ben and I could enjoy the party.


(Thanks for my 4th of July outfit mimi!)


(trying to suck on daddy's fingers while he holds me - I'm grabbing everything these days and putting it straight in my mouth!)

Finally, on the 5th - Ben headed off to Kings Island with his brothers and Lucy and I went to the pool with my mom, Beth, Courtney and Donna. Snagged this picture after our fun filled day!

Lunch with Daddy

The weather was so nice last week, Lucy, Ruthie and I decided to meet Ben for lunch for a picnic in the park.

Lucy of course dressed up for the occasion...


And Ruthie, of course, got a little wild (we were so focused on Lucy, we didn't notice all of the sudden Ruthie climbed up on top of the picnic table... I had to snap this photo before we reprimanded her!)


This was also after her collar slipped off in the middle of down town and she was running wildly throughout the park - of course I was freaking out the whole time that she was going to run into the street and get hit, but she luckily came back to Ben!

Being a good girl...