Four

My girl turned four. Leaving three behind in a mess of krabby patty wrappers and jellyfish still hanging from our ceiling (more on that later), she is SO proud of her new age.


Insane Spongebob party pictures coming, but for now... sisterly love.
Aren't sisters great? I need to give a shout-out to my five amazing ladies and tell them it's been TOO long since there has been a girls trip!!!!

Seems like overnight

The comments have changed from "she's SO tiny!" and "oh, I LOVE the newborn stage!" to--
"Look at those THIGHS!" and "She's not missing any meals, is she..."




Baby Lu is:

Chunky
Smiley
Happy
Adorable
Smitten (with Ava and Mase)
Anxious (about new faces)
WIGGLY
Loved
Obsessed (with ME!)
PERFECT!!!

Top Twenty

Our Top Twenty pictures of the last 3 months--
(Or, in other words, a quick way for a busy mom to redeem herself from slacking on posts for a LONG time!)

#20-

Fun times at Goofy's Kitchen.

#19-

Mission beach. Too cold for swimming, but the sand was fun for HOURS!

#18-

The cousin club.

#17-

Squishy perfection!

#16-

Best ride on Splash Mountain! This one makes me cry... miss you Kare!!!

#15-


Ro made a FABULOUS Valentine's dinner. Seriously. Fabulous.

#14-

Sisters.

#13-

My favorite boy turned SIX! I cannot freakin believe it. He is huge and I am old.

#12-

The kids tolerated my green dinner for St. Patrick's Day. After convincing them all green food doesn't taste like brussel sprouts, they actually enjoyed it.

#11-

A princess at Disneyland.



Wait- I mean TWO princesses at Disneyland. (:

#10-

Cousin time with Pax!

#9-

This funky hand-me-down nightdress is ALL she wants to wear. We call her Cindy Lou Who when she has it on. See the similarities?



#8-

Our beautiful baby was given a beautiful blessing in a beautiful dress made by her beautiful grandma. :)

#7-

Cindy Lou Who channeling Anakin Skywalker dressed as a cat complete with a sword AND a lightsaber.

#6-

The face of a kid who was FINALLY tall enough to ride Indiana Jones.

#5-

A cute daddy protecting his girl from the scary fireworks.

#4-

The loves of my life.

#3-

Best kids on the planet.

#2-

The smiliest baby we have had yet. LOVE this baby!

#1-

No words necessary.


Honorable Mention:



Lu in her "grandma outfit". Love the knee-highs and gown? (: We could not stop cracking up at her that night.

Just a tiny bit of snow...

Equals some good fun!!!



p.s. In no way is the word "tiny" meant to act as a request to Mother Nature for more snow. The novelty of the dusted front yard is quite enough for me.

Moments

In the last six weeks, there has been a lot happening in our home. Sleepless nights, changing routines, Christmas, millions of diapers, traveling for Christmas, sharing attention, people (who shall remain nameless) struggling to follow directions at school possibly to seek more attention... all the fun stuff.
BUT... There are moments in our lives that make everything feel worth it. The world stops for just a minute and your little bubble feels like the very best place you could ever imagine. I have to document these moments when I can tear myself away for a second to grab the camera.





After a long Saturday of three great kids including a working husband, 7 loads of laundry, grocery shopping, trampoline jumping, cleaning, and lots more it was finally bedtime. I had just brought in the last of the groceries and asked the kids to be careful because I put Lucy on Ava's bed. This little sibling gathering was totally unsolicited, and as I switched the last load of laundry to the dryer, I heard laughing in Ava's room. Peeking in, I found this adorable sight. There they were, holding her attention completely. Each of them took turns reading her books and showing her pictures and she was clearly mesmerized. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing my kids interact happily and lovingly with each other.

Oh and one more perfect "moment"? Some of her first smiles!

Update

The holidays are officially over. We had a fun time playing and visiting with family and friends but I will be happy to settle into a routine again. A new one, of course, since our baby was born right in the middle of things.
Just wanted to document a few things about little Lucy. She is a great baby. She eats well, is generally content, sleeps well at night... Not to mention she is super cute! I love having a baby again.
During the day, though, she hates to close her eyes. I don't mean that she is all fussy and won't sleep- I just mean she is SO interested in what is going on around her that she fights to keep them open. When she was one day old before we even left the hospital, the nurses were calling her "Nosy" because of her habit of looking around all of the time. There was no "newborn sleep all day" phase for this one! But I can't complain about her funny trait because first of all I find it endearing, and second of all, she sleeps 5-7 hours between her feedings at night.
Oh and her nickname is "The Gruntster". She is noisy at night in her sleep and is always grunting around. She takes after her big brother this way. The kids nicknamed her "Lu Lu" and they are both just loving her. Ava took a little more getting used to sharing mommy but Mase was smitten immediately. We feel very blessed!
I have a ton of holiday pictures and she already looks so different, but these were taken at 2 1/2 weeks of age.

Lovin these...

Dimples!

Our new one!

We are SO happy to introduce Lucy Marie Hancock to the family. She was born Dec. 1st at 4:22 pm. We were so excited to meet her- hope this isn't TMI but both Ro and I were literally laughing our heads off when she first entered the world. It all seemed too easy and perfect. (OBVIOUSLY I had an epidural...) She weighed 7 lbs. and 7 oz. and was 19.5 inches long.









We were able to come home last night (after we begged and helped speed up the process because we missed our kids so much) and everyone is doing great. She was welcomed with open arms by Mason and Ava and they can't get enough of her. More pictures soon!

It's Really Never Good...

To take a photo of yourself 3 days before having a baby. However, this is for posterity's sake. I realized that I have hardly allowed myself to be in pictures for the last 6 months, and someday this little girl may want to see herself when we were together. Anyway, I think my tummy is pretty funny jutting out there like a watermelon. Just ignore the puffiness of everything else. :)



I am being induced Tuesday morning and we can't wait to meet our new little girl!

Festivities

Ava came running into my bedroom the other night saying, "I am hiding from Daddy because he says it's bedtime!"
I said, "Then you better go to bed..."
She looked at me with an irritated look and said, "Would I be TELLING you this if I wanted to go to bed????"

Here is my sassy girl these days:




This picture is blurry but if you see the guy in the red Flash costume in the middle, it's Mase at his school Halloween parade. Standing in front of the whole school with a major power stance. LOVE this kid!



And just a few of my cuties at Halloween. I always mean to get better pictures but time gets away from us when there is candy to obtained from strangers!





Only 3 1/2 weeks til this baby gets here. The family is very excited and I am VERY done being pregnant!

My thoughts today

I miss my boy. Today we are celebrating his 1/2 birthday because 5 1/2 seems like a big deal to him this year. Yummy pudding-filled cupcakes with chocolate frosting and smashed oreos and worms on top. So... BOYish. Ava said, "Those worms are eating the Pupcakes! I don't want the worms to talk to me..."
The first week he was at school I had an aching in my heart. Seriously, I thought I would be fine, but thinking about the fact that I was no longer the center of his world cut me pretty deep. He actually happens to love school so much that he was upset that yesterday was early release. I am thankful for that. But this post wasn't even supposed to be about him...
My bond with my girl has grown SO much in the past 10 days. We spend our days doing "praw-jeKS" and crafts, reading books, dressing up, or just lounging around the house. And laughing. I really GET her sense of humor. Now I am not one that is into crafts or any art for that matter, but it is so much fun to see her get creative. She misses her brother and asks about him every day, but I know that both of us are treasuring this time until her baby sister arrives. Originally, I would have liked to have the spacing be a little closer, but I am SO grateful for this period where she and I can be alone for a few months.


To further prove my love for her, I have included a not-so-flattering picture of myself at 6 months pregnant, just because I know she is happy in it.

Now what am I going to do when I can't call them "MY boy" and "MY girl" because there just happens to be an extra one? (: