Little Girl!

I posted this picture on facebook a few weeks ago, but I forgot to add it here as well! Here I am at my parent's house, 16 weeks:

We lost baby Christian shortly before 16 weeks, and so even though the doctors don't think this will happen again, it was still a huge relief to get past that point. 

And then, at 17 weeks (on Friday, Sept. 28th) I had an ultrasound and found out that this new little baby is a GIRL!

Check out that button nose! And look at this perfect profile:

We are SO excited to have another little girl in our family. Lucy is such a girly-girl and I can already imagine the tea-parties and dress-up games that will become a regular occurrence at our house. I know how much I loved having a sister so close in age, so I'm thrilled to think of Lucy getting to experience that same close friendship with her sister. 

Lucy is excited too, although for a slightly different reason. Today at lunch, after I took her in with me for my routine ob check-up, she told me in a hushed, excited voice: "There's a baby in MY tummy!" :) 

All it takes is a towel

Lucy and I have been staying with my parents in Moscow while Joel is on a business trip. During this stay, Lucy has discovered my camera. And dress-up clothes. But not expensive ballerina outfits or fairy costumes. No, Lucy is happy to play dress-up with towels. 

And once she puts on her wardrobe, she asks me to take her picture so she can admire herself. 

I think it's pretty adorable. Another game she likes to play is "show teeth", where she'll bare her cute little pearls and ask "take my picture?" 

And one more, because the cuteness tank isn't quite full yet. Here's Lucy preparing to "go to the park" complete with her "purse". I love this little girl!

The Hair Edition

It seems every time I cut my hair it just keeps getting shorter and shorter. This time around my hair stylist (the fabulous Loni at Moss Hair Studio) actually got out the shaver to shave some neck hairs in the back, which did have me a little worried, but once again I love it!

If there were other adults around I could have gotten a shot of the a-line look, but since I don't trust Lucy with my camera yet, I had to make do with mirror self portraits. 

I don't think I'm ever going to have long hair again! It's just way too fun having it short. But I do firmly believe that if you're going to have short hair and if you have very thick hair like mine, then it is SO worth it to pay more money and have a professional do it. I've had short hair cuts that made me look like a mushroom, and for a while I was convinced that I couldn't pull off short hair. 

Speaking of short hair.... I have waited for this day to come, and I am finally able to pull a portion of Lu's hair into a ponytail holder!

Granted it had to happen while she was watching a movie, and I imagine it will slip out soon enough:

But I think it's definitely progress from when she was a 6 month old bebe, don't you?

Lucy Says and an Announcement

We have one chatty little girl! The doctor was impressed by Lucy's ability to string words together, apparently she's ahead of the curve which is always nice to hear! This is such a fun stage (haven't they all been, though?) as she learns to articulate what she's thinking about and learning. I love the little mistakes she makes in her vocabulary: the other day a car drove off and Lucy turned to me in excitement. "It flew away!"

At about 6 when Joel is due to get home from work soon, Lucy begins to stand at the front door expectantly looking out the window. Yesterday I heard her muttering, "Dada, where are you?" to herself.

And of course, when she picks up my cellphone and says in a concerned tone, "Hello? Can hear me?"

And Lord willing, come March, Lucy will have a little brother or sister to converse with as well. Announcing the newest Baby Cohen at about 12 weeks old!

The other day I showed that picture to Lucy and said, "Lucy, did you know that baby is in my tummy?" She looked at the picture for a minute and burst into tears. When I asked her what was wrong, all I could get out of her was "MY mama!" So perhaps it's a little early to be introducing this new sibling to Lu-lu, but hopefully she will learn to accept her new playmate in time. :)

We'd appreciate all of your prayers as this new baby grows inside me. I'm not termed a high risk pregnancy at this point, but they are keeping a much closer eye on me this time around. We're so grateful for modern technology and the fact that they can monitor things like cervical length and stress levels.But ultimately we know that this baby is sustained in the hands of Our Heavenly Father, and whether He chooses to give us this child to raise and know now, or save him for us to meet later, it is well with our souls.

A fair is a veritable smorgasbord!

"Go to the fair, Templeton. You will find that it surpasses your wildest dreams!" 

Lucy can't stop talking about all the animals she saw. 

Although Dada had to hold her for the bigger, scarier animals (anything larger than a bunny):

She loved the pig-racing:

And was enchanted by the puppet show:

But I think the highlight of Lucy's day was being held by dada for so long. What could be better than that?

5 dollar artwork

One of my favorite ways to collect artwork is finding matted prints on sale and then scouring Goodwill for matching frames. Sometimes it takes a few trips, but so far I have always been able to find frames that work well with the art.

I found two adorable bird prints at World Market for two dollars (75 percent off!) each. they lay around my house for a while on various surfaces looking beautiful and incomplete. But after several trips to Goodwill I finally found their frame-mates. 

And there were even two matching ones! At 2.99 each I felt confident I could do a quick paint job and freshen them up in no time.

So, during one of Lucy's naps, I headed out to the garage and reacquainted myself with spray paint.

One of the frames had to be taped because the glass refused to come out.

After two coats I sanded them a little so they didn't look too polished.

And inserted my two beautiful birds:

Success! The elegant leafy pattern on the frame pairs nicely with these charming aves.

And here's a slightly blurry shot of where they're currently hanging. I paused a moment before sharing this photo, because it really illustrates well the timbre of our house right now: two finished frames on a very unfinished wall.

But it's still an accomplishment, no matter how small. And someday soon we will get to painting the wall behind it. In the meantime, I will enjoy my new artwork, and remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day. :)

The perils of nature

Lucy and I went on a little nature walk this morning, and along the way we picked up a snail shell that looked like it had recently lost its snail. As in we looked inside of it and it was empty, and the shell was cracked, so it had somehow met a very sad end.

So we brought it inside (Lucy's request) and set it on the table to admire while we ate lunch (during which time it continued to be dead). Then it was nap time and I put Lucy down and spent a healthy hour stripping wallpaper out of our downstairs bathroom. When I finished I went back into the kitchen to find this.

I'll be honest, it gave me the creeps, partially because that's MY water glass, but more so because when you think something's dead, you don't expect it to head towards a water source when your back is turned. Perhaps I shall suggest to Lucy that we name it Lazarus when she wakes up. 

Speaking of Lucy, here's a couple baby child shots. The first is what a typical post-spaghetti face looks like:

Probably due to the fact that Lucy *always* chooses meals as the prime time to play peek-a-boo. Crazy child.

And then we have story time with dada, one of Lucy's favorite activities. She's currently obsessed with the cat in the hat, which I can almost repeat from memory now.