The Hankie Hat

We're getting ready for Lucy's baptism in a couple of weeks and there was one thing for her that I wanted but hadn't been able to find recently. And that is a hankie hat. I had one (given to me by my aunt I think), but it seems to have disappeared. So, my mom agreed to make one for Lucy. Basically, it is a little bonnet made out of a hankerchief that the baby wears for their baptism. Then, when she grows up and gets married, she just pulls the ribbon out and it becomes the hankerchief to carry. Her "something old."

Lucy is wearing a gown that was worn by my grandfather when he was a baby, and my mom had some others of his also. So, she used that material to make the hat. Basically that means this really is a family heirloom, and the fabric is nearly 100 years old, as he was born in 1915.

Here are some pictures of Lucy modeling the bonnet, along with the poem that goes with it.

I'm just a little hankerchief,
Quite square as you can see,
But with a stitch or two they made
A bonnet out of me.

I'll be worn home from the hospital
Or on the christening day;
Then neatly pressed and folded,
I'll be carefully packed away.

On her wedding day a bride must have,
Traditionally, something old--
Good luck, good health and happiness
It brings her, so it's told.

Then what could be more pleasant
Than to unpack little me,
To snip a stitch or two and find
Her hankerchief I'll be.

And if I'm first worn by a boy
He'll surely someday wed;
Then he can give his lovely bride
The hanky once worn on his head.

5 Months Old and On a Roll!

Here we are, Lucy is 5 months old and we can hardly believe it! The months are just flying by!



She has had a very busy last couple of weeks. Lucy got her first ear infection, and we're on our 2nd antibiotic trying to get rid of it. So, the great sleeper she once was has faded into the background here lately. There's been lots of waking and crying (and screaming). Poor thing even has what looks like freckles under her eyes, except they are actually broken blood vessels from screaming and crying with her ear pain. This whole experience has really thrown her for a loop. She's not sleeping well at night or during the day; she's started to refuse bottles, presumably from the ear pain; she's just fussier in general and just not herself.

This could also be due to some developmental leaps she's been making here lately as well. The day after her 5-month-aversary she learned to roll from her back to her tummy (she's gone the other way for a while now). Every time you lay her down she rolls over to her tummy, but is quickly frustrated with how little she can do in that position. Sometimes she'll roll herself back over, but this doesn't seem to help her outlook much either.



Lucy has also started to do what we like to call the "frog sit." Leaning forward and propping herself up with both hands. It won't be long before she's full-on sitting unsupported.



Partly because she nearly dives into your plate if you have food nearby, and partly because we thought it might be a good idea if someone else could feed her, since she's refusing bottles--we gave Lucy her first taste of cereal this past weekend. As you can see in the video and pictures below, she seemed to like it pretty well. Ethan was funny too, playing with his trains right there in the room while we were feeding her, and not paying much attention, but repeatedly saying that he didn't "want to miss it," and was anxious to watch the video on the tv when we were done.

Because Babies Don't Keep

I saw part of this in a friend's facebook status the other day and I've been thinking about it ever since, so I went to find the whole poem. As all moms know, the days of sweet cuddling with your baby don't last forever, and you miss them when they're gone. But many are the days where you don't cherish those moments because of chores, errands, work, and all the other things we try to cram into our days. So now, as Lucy is in a phase of wanting to be held a lot, and needing a little more cuddling to get to sleep at nap time, I'm reminding myself that this time will never come again, and the chores will still be there whenever I get to them.

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

-Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Happy Valentines Day!

I created this collage at www.picnik.com. It's free for simple things like this, or you can upgrade to premium for more fun stuff.

SNOW! (Again)

I know I said before that we had snow at Christmas and again right after. But this time I really mean it. We had nearly 8 inches in our yard, and some places had over a foot. It set records for Texas, took out power all over the place (ours for 10 hours, which, as it turned out, was on the very low end--many were without for 3 days. Here are some of our pictures of the big event.

Waking Up Is Hard to Do

This morning, I went in to wake Ethan up. I crawled up on the bed next to him, rubbed his back and said, "Ethan, it's time to start waking up."

He rolled over to me, cuddled close and said, "You've got to quit making that cow noise."

Then he went back to sleep!

My Sweet Boy

On the way to school yesterday:

M: "Ethan, see those flowers, those are called pansies."
E: "Pansies? I wish I had some for you."
E: "I'm going to pick some flowers for Mommy."
M: "Aww."

Love that little munchkin!!

Lucy Babbling

4 Months Old!

Lucy's 4 month stats:
12 lbs. 9 oz. (30th percentile)
25 3/4 inches (90th percentile)
Head circ. 16 inches (50th percentile)

She's 1/2 inch longer than Ethan was at 4 months, but 2 lbs. lighter. Lucy has found her thumb at nighttime (not so much during the day), and that has helped her sleeping tremendously. She usually sleeps about 9 pm to between 6 and 7 am, but every once in a while (like today!) gives us a full 12 hours. She is still more of a cat napper during the day, but has napped longer stretches at daycare, so we're hopeful that will become more of a habit at home too.

She's been at daycare for 2 weeks now, attending just Tues. through Thurs. and staying with me when I work from home on Mondays and Fridays. It has been much harder on me than on her so far. It really is amazing the amount of preparation it now takes to get us out the door in the morning. I'm up daily at 5:30 to pump, wash bottles and pump stuff, pack everything for the day, nurse her when she wakes and get myself showered and ready. We are out the door by 8:15 and I'm getting to work at 9:00. It was my goal to start getting in earlier, but I just don't know that I can get up much earlier than 5:30, so I may just leave earlier in the evenings on Tues.-Thurs. and make up the extra hours on the days I work from home.

Lucy's play area when I'm working from home:

Ethan is still in the running for best big brother ever, helping bathe Lucy, bringing burp cloths, and giving her kisses on the head. He gets extra points for being the first to make her really laugh. He sneezed in the bathtub last night and she just laughed and laughed (until we brought out the video camera of course). Lucy is very close to rolling over from back to tummy, she just needs a little bit more push to get her hips over, so we're looking forward to that any day now (and reminding ourselves not to walk away from the changing table or anywhere else we lay her down).

Lucy has acquired several nicknames around our house:
Lucy Lou
Lu Lu
LuBird
Babycakes
Luey
Lucy Luce
Little Lu
Sweet Pea

I'm sure I'm missing some from that list too.

Here are a few other recent photos of Lucy:

Learning Adventures

Ethan's new favorite saying? "Never write a Q without a U." He says it A LOT. :-)