My Doodle

Shortly after Lucy was born,  I started calling her Doodle. And many derivatives of that. Lucy doodle. Baby doodle. Yankee Doodle.  When we sing Yankee Doodle, We change the words to Lucy Doodle.  In fact, Lucy probably thinks she was named after that song instead of "Lucy in the sky with diamonds".
When Lucy wakes up from her nap, Maggie tells me "your doodle is awake".
I think she looks just like my husband and his mother. She has my hair although the red could come from either side. In my opinion,  her eyes are the shape of Devon's and the color of my mom's. A dark blue that are almost purple.
Every now and then, I will catch a glimpse of her where she looks just like my grandma (my dad's mom). Every now and then I catch a glimpse of her where she looks like me. 
It's funny because I posted this picture on Facebook last week and a few of my cousins commented on how much Lucy and I both look like my grandma.  (I never thought I looked like her). After two years of feeling like this little girl got nothing from me but her stubbornness,  I finally feel like I had something to do with this little girl.  

Mermaids

The girls are taking baths together, which I love for several reasons. They have fun in the bath so we don't have to fight about it. Plus, they are both done at the same time. I found these bath fizzies at Target a while ago (they used to have Elmo on box, he disappeared for some reason). They are basically like colored alka seltzer. You drop them in the bath water and they fizz away while coloring the water. The color is pretty vibrant but it doesn't stay on skin or wash cloths, which I love. Maggie calls it mermaid water and loves picking out what color their bath will be every night. Tonight it was two pink fizzies. There are few things that I love more than watching them splash and laugh and play in their mermaid water.

Happy Birthday Lucy!

Saturday was Lucy's birthday. We had a backyard barbecue with our closest friends. Luckily the weather cooperated, not too hot! We started the party later in the afternoon when the yard would be mostly in the shade and it was perfect! This was also the first party we've had in a long time where all the grandparents were able to attend (not an easy feat when they all live out of town!)

We tried not to go overboard with the presents, but we wanted to get something fun that she would play with for a while, so we went with the Princess Cruiser (complete with flower bow from Grandma). She loved it!

Otherwise, she got mostly fall clothes. I know it's boring, but honestly, she won't remember this birthday and we have a lot of one year old type toys. Plus, Maggie was in 12-18 month clothes during the summer, so there aren't many hand-me-downs that we can use. She got some really cute stuff and I can't wait for the weather to cool off so we can try them on. (Since she still lets me pick out all her clothes, unlike her sister...)

We got a cupcake cake for her party. It was easy and cute. Lucy got her own cupcake of course and she devoured it! All in all it was a great day and a fun party. Now on to toddlerhood.

Eleven Months

Lucy will turn one in exactly three weeks. I am simultaneously excited and terrified by this idea. I can't believe it has been almost a full year since I was last pregnant. A year since that crazy day where I denied being in labor and wouldn't let my husband take me to the hospital until about three hours before she was born. A year since I first looked at this beautiful little girl with her huge eyes and her mile wide smile. In the past few weeks, Lucy has learned how to give open mouth kisses (ALL THE TIME), take small steps while pushing her baby stroller, and how to say "dadadadada" and whisper "tatata". Now, to plan a first birthday party worthy of such a wonderful little girl.

The girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Since my last post was about Maggie, I thought I would write a little about Lucy.
Lucy is my fiery baby. She is very passionate about everything she does. When she's happy, she is smiling and laughing at everything. When she is upset, she screams so loud I think they can probably hear her in Wisconsin.
Picking her name was very difficult for me. I had picked Maggie's name out when I was much younger, so that was a no-brainer. I was at a total loss for what to name a second daughter. I had considered Lily, but I thought two flower names would be weird. My husband and I discussed her name endlessly and decided on Lucy. We considered Lucille or Lucia, but neither seemed right.
Being a huge Beatles fan, she is also named after the song "Lucy in the sky". When she was born, the first thing I noticed about her was her huge eyes. They are so dark blue that they're almost purple. When she's happy they are shiny and clear. When she's sad, they are dark and cloudy. She truly is the girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
I can't wait to see who she grows up to be!

Raising Girls

I grew up with two younger brothers and spent the first ten years of my life wishing for a little sister. Then, I realized that I hated girl drama and I was glad that I didn't have any sisters so that I could avoid all of that at home.
When my first daughter was born almost two years ago, I was elated. We didn't know until she was born whether she would be a boy or a girl. I would have been happy either way, but I secretly wanted a girl.
When I got pregnant with my second daughter, the idea of having two girls so close in age terrified me. When I realized that they would be only a year apart in school, I cried. My friend who have sisters tried to tell me that having sisters was awesome and they wouldn't really fight, but I remember those same friends having terrible fights with their sisters growing up. Fights far worse than any I ever had with my brothers.
So now I have two little girls, nineteen months apart in age. For right now, things are good. Maggie can't get enough of her little sister. When Lucy cries, Maggie is the first one there to comfort her. I always find little toys or treasures in Lucy's swing or bouncer that Maggie leaves there for her.
I'm also worried that I'm not girly enough to have girls. I'm not a tomboy, but I am not into a lot of girly things. I hate getting my hair cut, I've only gotten one pedicure in my life and that was more than enough for the next ten years. I can't even put eyeliner on correctly. I know that I will be able to teach them to be strong, independent powerful women. It's the other things that worry me.
Tonight while I was sitting on the floor reading bedtime stories to Maggie while breastfeeding Lucy, Maggie stopped me and asked me to unzip the top of her pj's so that she could breastfeed her doll. Moments like that make me think that I am going to do just fine raising my little girls.