Sugar Pie Honey

Okay, I guess the movie titles are over with--for the moment. Bring on the songs. Soooo...how many times will Lucye be 19 on the 19th? Not many, but for this day she is 19 months on the 19th of November. We HAD to celebrate. Especially after the 18 month birthday bringing such a disappointing showing. So, we made cupcakes. Lucye picked out the green sugar crystals on top. She loved the dark chocolate icing...her father's daughter. I was surprised by this fact, because when we attended a friend's birthday party not too long ago, she wasn't particularly interested in the cupcakes...but then Mommy took care of that for her. What sacrifices this mommy makes ;-) She is saying "baby" constantly now. She said "how cool" in the bathtub (was repeating her Dad referring to the water temperature, not something neat) and "wow" when she saw her new pink winter coat. Time to really watch what we say I guess...heavy sigh.

Halloween (yes, this qualifies as a movie title)

It’s hard to catch a train…or a ladybug. But I (Mommy) did catch the food poisoning bug, so I apologize for the delay in keeping the website up-to-date. Now that I’m a domestic engineer (thanks to India outsourcing), that should improve (she says). Enough about me.

To catch you up on Lucye’s latest accomplishments: she walks pretty good up and down the stairs (with help) now, and she said “toes” and “three” once. When she is finished with something, such as a meal, she spreads her arms open wide to indicate “all done.” She amazes us with her smarts every single day. She knows everything now, and is ready for college. Well, in just a short while anyway.

A Beautiful Mind

I’m on a roll with the movie titles. So, her 18th month birthday came and went with little fanfare. Poor Lucye. We planned to make a cake—even bought the fixings, but that never happened. She did get a few gifts however. She always does in these kinds of movies.

That was a Sunday. On Thursday, she had her doctor’s visit for the shots. She has a record of “difficult” visits, and in fact, I think they have marked her file (hee hee).
This time, she did pretty good. No vomiting on the doctor, no screaming (until the shots), and she was quite, well…"energetic" if you will. When the doctor attempted to exam her (Lucye had other ideas), the doc stated “Well, she certainly has a mind of her own.”

Robert decided that visit was much like a Seinfeld episode. What, exactly, did she mean by that comment? She probably examines 20 babies a day. It was reminiscent of the doctor calling both the ugly baby and Elaine “breathtaking.” Was her comment good or bad? Above is a picture of her. You be the judge…

The Crying Game

Ever see this movie from the 80’s about the Irish Republican Army? If so, you are probably asking yourself what on earth this has to do with a picture of Lucye…Nothing…I just liked the title because it was also the title of our life for about a week or so. We finally “did it”…the modified cry out. This picture was taken just a few days before her 18 month doctor visit at the Christian church Pumpkin Patch on Spalding (our annual trip to the Berry Patch Farms didn’t happen because it rained the night before and we didn’t want to get out there in the mud).

Anyway, the doc convinced me that I needed a life after dark (enter your own vampire comment here), and my entire nights shouldn’t be spent rocking the baby to sleep and being her crutch and "soother" all night long either. So we did it. And, amazingly enough…it worked! My family will be thrilled. Cruel as it may sound, it only took a few really tough nights of her crying herself to sleep in the beginning. Now, she goes down in an instant, and I’m free! Why didn’t I do this before? Well, I have no regrets…I loved holding her every night (ok, maybe my back wasn’t so thrilled) and rocking her in the glider until she was fast asleep, and I just wasn’t ready to let go of my precious baby I guess. What do I do with my newly acquired hours you might ask? Sleep, of course!

KissTrips Trip

10-4-08 Somewhere off West Sandtown Road, Parts Unknown

Matthew double-clicks the Internet Explorer button while setting down his sippy cup. He finds the Favorites menu and selects Lucye.net. “It must be here…we must have made the blog,” he mutters under his stinky formula breath. Addie laughs at him in the background. Kate yells “HA! After the way you treated Lucye this weekend, I bet she never writes about you.” Matthew throws a Cheerio at her and says “Ahhh, what do you know about women, Kate? They love it when you ignore them.”
And so it goes….If you haven’t already guessed, we visited the Kisselburgs at their home this past weekend. After driving for more than 30 minutes on the interstate, Lucye decided to take a nap as we got off at their exit, of course. So we toured their subdivision so she could have a 30-minute nap before the fun started. Us late?
We were so excited to see their new Southern mansion and we weren’t disappointed. Quite the stately manor! And a yard our Anna-dog would envy, so it was a good thing she didn’t make the trip with us.
The KissTrips were awake and ready to play. We toured the house and let the tots play—that means Lucye attempted to kiss all the “babies” (they are 14 months) and got only a little push back on occasion. She also fell in love with a penguin figurine. Go figure. And the shoes came off, as usual. The KissTrips found them for her though, and I heard one say “Keds are my favorite flavor” between bites.
Then we strolled the neighborhood. A neighbor attacked Scott (they always do in these kinds of movies) and solicited help moving a dresser in their house. Since the wife was 9 months preggers, we understood. And clearly, Scott has nothing but free time these days with only a full-time job and three little ones. Seriously, he was happy to help. But I didn’t hear Robert offering…hmmmm. Think he was too busy trying to stop Isabel (the neighbor’s little girl) from touching Lucye. Izzy told us she had an eye infection or some such. These things freak us out, as you might imagine. We couldn’t think clearly.
Back at the house, we had to say good-bye after Lucye decided to step on the cat’s tail. This was after she hugged it. She hugs everything soft. Hear that Matthew? Your day will come. That is if you aren’t running in the opposite direction!

Baby Lucye Stuns World: One of Ours?

GOTHAM CITY -

With the family still reeling from accusations of a possible (but not probable) botched BNA test, news today out of Roswell, GA, once again sheds doubts on Baby Lucye’s parental makeup.
Although Baby Lucye has been babbling and butchering the English language for months, her first clear and concise word was spoken today. According to sources, the word was “Batman” was uttered to the dismay of her parents somewhere around the breakfast hour.
FOX News was the first to cover the story in Atlanta, with local Emory University’s leading Psychiatrist, Homer Bell, contributing to the story. “This is the first case of SHFS (SuperHero Fixation Syndrome) I’ve seen since a 4 year-old boy from Blairsville said ‘Shazam’ in 1972. I wonder how many TVs Baby Lucye’s family owns. Clearly, this is a case of media saturation.”
As usual, Lucye’s mother dismissed the conclusion as ridiculous. “Baby Lucye has never seen Batman on TV, in the movies, or in comic books. Yes, Batman is on the cover of all her Cheerios boxes –there’s a free toy inside, you know. But what does that prove? Anybody who runs in the Peachtree Road Race can get their picture on the box. This is ludicrous.”
While Lucye’s mother was denying an over saturation of the comic book hero, word came from Nashville, TN, that childhood friend Clay Scott had been spotted with Lucye’s father at a North Point movie theater in Alpharetta, GA, on Labor Day weekend. When questioned about the movie they saw, Robert replied: “I won’t live a lie. I did see the new Batman movie with Clay in September. I have no regrets. It was excellent. And, I’d go again if I had the chance. Now get that camera out of my face.”
With Lucye’s genetic makeup once again in the spotlight, Commissioner Gordon was forced to call several men in for questioning. However, the main suspect, Bruce Wayne, is still at large.

BNA Results Published

Roswell, GA --August 2nd 2008

It official! Lucye now knows who her mother is. Lucye's biological father has long been accepted (from Lucye's physical appearance) and widely known. But this new test now proves without a doubt who her mother is. In a taste test conducted at her residence, Lucye passed the BNA test (Broccolini Nod of Approval) with flying colors on Saturday evening with Mom, Dad and Anna all in attendance. Mom was just beaming when Lucye smiled and said "ummm" quite loudly after her first chunk of the garlic-soaked broccoli. She moved on to pasta pieces later in the meal.

Of course critics are stating the results are inconclusive. "Oh please. I heard Audrey didn't even use Parmesan Cheese in this farce of a recipe. She had nothing but a 6-cheese blend from Kroger on hand. It's a joke! And what about the multi-grain pasta? And the fat-free half n' half she used on her so-called diet? I demand another BNA test. Anyone who believes this test is clearly a family member." Sadly, the debate may live on for years unless the American Academy of Pediatrics changes their recommendations for the Krystal test. Currently, they recommend age 40 or over.

Lunch with Great-Grandparents from Ohio

Well, we have had so many adventures and things happen since the last blog, it will take a few entries to keep you up to date. Where to begin I don't know. We'll have to write up separate blogs for Lucye's visit with Jessica Patrice Burdett, in May, I think. And then the beach trip to Savannah, and then her play date this past weekend with Hady Pickard. So much to do, so little time to blog.

On the 4th of July, we had the honor of having lunch with her Great-grandmother Kitty and Great-grandfather Art in Commerce, GA (they live in Ohio and came to GA for Art's grandson's wedding). We went to Applebee's and Lucye did very well at the restaurant.

Highlights of the lunch (in no particular order):

• Jewelry - a gift for Lucye of 2 pieces of heirloom antique jewelry originally from Kitty's mother (including a locket with old photos)
• Baby - seeing a very, very large baby
• Dog - A new brown, very soft dog stuffed dog for Lucye
• Bear - A teddy bear pillow for Lucye's room
• Cane - Lucye was thrilled to play with Art's cane
• Photos - Lucye's gift to them (pink gingham 5x7 photo album, complete with the Baby Lucye glamour shots)

It was quite warm that day so we didn't last long in the parking lot. Even the car had to be cooled down before putting the tot back in for the long drive ahead. Welcome to Georgia!

Bathing Beauty

We had a swim suit trying on event today in preparation for our big trip and I hope to have a lot of the pictures in the May folder soon. She is so darn cute.....Enjoy this one...

New Videos!

Yes, it's true. We've loaded two new Lucye videos. As you'll see, we're in big trouble now. Check out the Videos page.

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow...

There are many things we can’t control in this life, and this one of those things. Our pastor, the Reverend Joy Ledoux has been re-assigned by the United Methodist Church to a church in the Emory area. Having grown up Methodist, re-assignment is something that happens frequently to the preachers in my life, but I am still sometimes dismayed by the decisions that are made.

We joined Winters Chapel UMC earlier this year. From our very first visit, we felt so welcomed there and could tell this was one special group of people. Lucye was baptized by Rev. Joy with water from the Jordan River. Rev. Joy always left us with a thought-provoking message during each service. She has inspired us to leave our comfort zone and serve in ways we’ve never considered before. But our journey with Rev. Joy had only just begun…and there lies the problem. As I told her on Sunday, our loss is certainly someone else’s gain. I know she will help others in their journey… We will miss you and Jim! The Loverins….

You Say It's Your Birthday....

Ahh...Breakfast with the Beatles...a tradition we start tomorrow AM by moving the pink iPod alarm clock from the nursery to the kitchen. I just can't imagine a better life than: Breakfast with the B-Lu, the Beatles, and the Bob (not nessa in that order).
Yes, we all survived birthday number 1 last Saturday, and I'm just now recovering enough to blog about it. In attendance were the great grandparents from Ohio (Kitty and Art), grandparents in from CT (Marilee) and Savannah, GA (Allan and Gloria), our Roswell Howard family (Jo and Paul), two great aunts (Jojo and Beverly) from Marietta, GA and Tybee Island, GA, respectively, and last, but never least, the Cumming Four (David, Vicki, Katherine and Andrew). And, of course, our dearest Anna. We had a pizza party, and actually ran out and had to have more delivered. Marliee made Lucye this adorable Dora (the Explorer) cake...decorated freehand mind you...and the pictures should be up on the website this weekend. Lucye did finally decide to make an appearance (the party started at 4:00pm; she awoke from her nap somewhere between 5:00-5:30pm). Everything was going pretty well until we strapped her into her booster seat in the dining room (mistake #1) and all started singing (mistake #2) Happy Birthday. She lost it....We knew better...she is such a sensitive child. With everyone staring at her and fire and singing...sensory overload! And she had no idea what to do with the cupcake...no one else had started eating so she smacked it on the floor! Ha! She calmed down pretty quick though (thank goodness) after being whisked away for a few minutes of peace and quiet. Later, safe in her kitchen, she watched us eat more cake and did try it then. Milestone: First pure refined sugar ever (that we know of). She also indulged in her first sampling of pizza ever. We were so proud! Toys and clothes....I can't begin to list them all and can't thank everyone enough...For those gifts we got from those not in attendance: Can't wait to read the Caterpillar book to her from the Loverins in CT and Isabel actually got her a push buggy car to ride around the house in....And I know she'll love the new CD from the Sergis. See website pics....This weekend we have BIG plans....to relax. Love to you all and thank you for helping us in so many ways get through "the year of the B-Lu".....Aud and Bob

Walking Tall Part 1

Mommy: It's true. Mark your calendars. Lucye walked by herself (a whole 2 steps) from the couch in her playroom to the end table where her CD player resides. She points to the player for music all the time now, and this time she just walked towards it. Then later, right in front of my very eyes, walked two steps from her play house to Isabel. I was soooo proud. She is trying!!! Her legs are short so her outfits have extra material at the feet, making this an incredible feat (or feet-hee hee).
Lucye: Mommy pulled a funny this AM at breakfast. She said "Lucye, honey, we can't do a pony and gun show every morning for you....." Now exactly what a "pony and gun show" is, I have no idea. I guess it's something you get to go to when you get older. Maybe when I'm five, please?
Anna: So this happened...to give you a little background...Lucye likes to feed me puffs under her chair after dinner. Often she hands them to me or sometimes tosses them to me. I like that. So this weekend, Lucye tried to "feed" me her plastic toy doll called Strawberry Shortcake. Daddy was really sick and grumpy-face said "Lucye, that's not food, Anna doesn't want that toy." If you could have seen the look Lucye gave Daddy! She cut her eyes in what was a classic Allan Eitel look as if to say "Don't you tell me what that dog wants..." If only I'd had my paw on a camera!

Hello, My name is Lucye and I Have Stranger Anxiety

Hello, My name is Lucye and I have stranger anxiety. There I said it. Last night when Dawn came over, I had a classic case. Sitting at the table having dinner, I was fine when she stood in the doorway and admired me. And I was even amazed and fascinated that another person was in the house and watched her with awe and wonder. But when she got closer, I started bawling.

My mommy and daddy have talked to the doctor and done a lot of reading on this. The doctor says it is perfectly normal and a very good thing in many respects (although it terribly upsets friends and family members who want nothing more than to be close). It means I am very sensitive (with these parents....go figure). It is also an excellent means of protection, because if someone tries to take me (a stranger at the mall) I will not go quietly!!!! Pick another kid. It is very unkind, if I start to cry, to force the attention on me. It will not make me quiet down; it will only upset me further. I need to get to know you and trust you first. This takes a while unfortunately, and it will not happen overnight. So please keep your distance until I am more comfortable. Please, please, try to understand this is not personal. If mommy or daddy wisks me away from you, try not to get your feelings hurt. They are only trying to relieve me of the stress. It's not personal. I will get over this phase at some point and embrace anyone my parents trust. Be patient with me....I love you all (really, I do)!!!!

P.S. Oddly enough, I seem to be perfectly fine with all dogs and all kids.

Service Pak 1 Coming Soon

What a joyous day. Lucye is getting better for sure. Only one sneeze (and that was probably from the saline I shoved up her nose)! And, this morning she --for the first time ever--drank from her small Dora plastic cup with a top! She has succeeded before with small Solo plastic bathroom cups, but having her drink from them all day long would not be feasible. She likes to swat at it, which results in many wardrobe changes. This is a real breakthrough for us because she would never put plastic things in her mouth before (besides a bottle)! Funny how life changes what you get excited over.....
While discussing the upcoming day off from work (and no nanny), Robert commented on how hard it might be for me to take care of this "version" completely alone all day long. This version? She is now apparently in the same category as a software package! This means next weekend (her birthday) will be the SP1 version of the B-Lu...
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it...Psalm 118:24

Sick Baby

We had to ask the grandparents to stay in Savannah this weekend so they wouldn't get sick :-( The B-Lu has now had her first diagnosed cold. We thought it was allergies because Mommy took her out on the screened porch Tuesday evening to water plants during the warm weather. That night the congestion set in. And it just got worse and worse...coughing and sneezing and the most pitiful watery eyes you've ever seen. But her apetite was good, no fever and her spirits were high. We called the nurse on Thursday and she suspected allergies (tree allergies are in the extremely high range). But Friday AM upon awaking...gross...green snot (don't read this if you aren't expecting details) so we took her in to see Doc Brown. She said it wasn't allergies because the Benadryl/Malox (also called Magic-in-a-Bottle) we had been giving her wasn't working miracles at night and she had a lot more congestion than was typical with an allergy. She told us to keep the room cool, 3 nights of nose drops (yes, you can repeat the dose during the middle of the night if needed) plus Tyn/Motrim and no Vicks Vapor scents. So, although she has a cold virus, at least she should be over it in 10 days and we can resume all outdoor activities. She hates not being able to go on the porch and stroll the neighborhood and walk Isabel (well, be carried) to the mailbox when she leaves every day. She is an outdoor baby for sure! Bless her little heart. This whole episode has scarred her Daddy for life. He loves her soooo much and it kills him to see her so sick (only she doesn't act that sick). Get well soon my love.....

Exciting News

Hey Lulu,
It's me Mama. I'm trying to stay up later now and fill your family in on everything going on in your life. I'll do my best. You are having special visitors from Savannah this weekend! No tossing your cookies like you did this AM. But since we think it was the applesauce, we know not to serve it to you now. Your delicate constitution can't handle all that acid. It's okay...one day you'll be able to eat all sorts of things...namely Krystals with the rest of us....Goodnight sweetheart...I love you!

Jan. 2008

5 teeth (well, almost 6 teeth) and counting. Happy New Year. New pictures in the picture section. And, everyone should be able to leave comments now. Sorry for taking so long, but now that Lucye is crawling, there is even less time for updates.