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Today I am thankful for both of my girls going to bed VERY early. They were both asleep by 6:45, which is so bizarre for Lucy. Justin got home today and it is so nice to have a quiet, relaxing evening. We had a dumb open house today from 1-3, which just happens to be the girls exact nap times. So Annie napped on me at our neighbor's house and Lucy just skipped out on nap. After the open house was over, we took the girls swimming for a while. When we got home, we went straight to the shower and Lucy disappeared afterwards. Justin went to check on her in her room and she was dead asleep - at 6:30. He tried to wake her up because she didn't eat dinner, but she said, "No Dada. I need to go night night." She has been asleep ever since. She will probably be up at 5 am, but we still enjoyed our early bedtime.

I have so much to do tonight it is not even funny. These pictures are straight out of the camera. No editing. In case you were wondering why the girls are naked in so many of the pictures lately, they have pretty much decided that it is too hot for clothes. I can't say that I blame them. It really is too hot for clothes. I just love the pictures of Lucy today. She looks so happy and carefree.

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This face is SO Lucy. Whenever I ask her a question, she looks up and to her right. Love that girl.


Today I am thankful for the fact that Annie is so curious. All of the time. I find myself complaining that she is always into everything, but really it is such a blessing. Her first few months with us she was curious about nothing. She didn't want to touch or taste anything at all. And now she is the complete opposite and I need to remember how wonderful that is. Even when it wears me out. She wants to learn about everything. I need to document her all day and show you guys everything that she manages to get into. It would be humorous. I will try and work on that soon.

I had a session this morning that was blazing hot. It was crazy, but the pictures are so sweet. Then the girls and I just stuck close to home and ate dinner with our neighbors. I am trying not to constantly complain about this weather, but it is just horrible. I really don't like to get the girls out because I worry about how hot it must be for Annie facing backwards. There are no vents that blow right on her, so she must be miserable. I feel too guilty making her suffer through that most of the time unless a pool is involved.

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I love this picture of Lucy because she is looks like a baby in it, which never happens anymore.


Today I am thankful for days when I get the pictures of the girls done before their nap and then can get them all ready to go while they are napping. When I am able to do that, this project is a breeze. Unfortunately, this does not happen most days. But today was one of those days. Love it.

We had another great day. We met our playgroup at the best neighborhood pool I have ever been to. The kids area is HUGE. It has a giant kid pool that only gets to 2 feet deep and it has the gradual entrance so the babies and moms could sit on that part. All of the babies were splashing and crawling around. It was great for them. And we didn't have to worry about the bigger kids since it was only two feet deep. I still went ahead and put Lucy's floaties on her just in case she tripped. I didn't want her to get freaked out if she went under. Lucy loved the gradual entrance as well. She would run full force from the start down into the deeper water. Also in the kids area is a fabulous spray park. All of the kids were running through the fountains/sprayers. Annie was a little scared at first, but by the end, she was seriously fearless. She would let the sprayers spray right into her face and she was loving the pool. She was a maniac almost the entire time we were there. We ate lunch there and then played some more.

We didn't get home for naps until about 1:45. Annie was dead asleep in her carseat before we even got out of our parking place. I moved her to her bed and she proceeded to nap for 4 HOURS!! She was asleep by 1:35ish and I had to wake her up at 5:30 because I was quite certain that 4 hours was enough. She obviously didn't go to bed at her normal 7, but at 8 she went right down. I need to take her there everyday. Seriously.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I would have liked to have taken more pictures, but it was scary to have my camera around all of this water and when we were in the pool, there was obviously no way it would be possible.










This girl is trouble. She is in. to. everything! She literally hauls butt to get to the dishwasher when she hears me open it.

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Today I am thankful for Justin's dad, Andy/Grandy. Today is his birthday! Happy Birthday Grandy! We are so glad you guys get to be with Justin tonight. Hope you have a wonderful time. As I have said many times on here, Andy is the first to get anything and everything done that needs to be done. He has done so much for us it is ridiculous. Every year him and June come in the spring and get our yard all beautiful for the year. He can fix anything. He has a huge heart and he loves his family so very much. We love you Grandy!! Hope you had a super duper day.

The girls and I had a great day today. They were so sweet all day and made my job as their momma so very easy. Love them so much, even on a bad day, but the good days are so wonderful.

I am very unmotivated to take pictures at the moment because of the heat. We were outside for 4 minutes to try and take a few snaps when I just gave up because it was so ridiculously hot. Over 100 degrees after 6 pm is just too hot. I always go through ups and downs with taking pictures and this project and I am definitely in a down swing at the moment. I hope to snap out of it very very soon.

Lucy looked so cute today in her Blondie dress and Chucks. She got several compliments on this outfit.




Please Mom. Please don't take my picture any more. I am begging you.




Lucy loves to lay all the way down in the tub and sing songs while I am getting Annie dressed. It is very cute.

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Today I am thankful for Annie's doctor being really pleased with her progress and not seeing a reason in the immediate future for some of the testing that we thought she might need a few months ago. He said that it is something that could still be needed if we don't continue to see improvement, but for now, I am not worrying about it. She had her 15 month check up today. Her stats were 18 lbs 2 oz - below the 3rd percentile - and 28.25 inches long - the 4th percentile. The doctor assured us that we were not likely to have a volleyball player on our hands!! She got three shots, which I just hate, but she seems to be just fine.

We had a low key day. The heat is back in an awful way. At 6 tonight it was 100 degrees and then we had a big hail storm for about 10 minutes and now the blazing sun is back out. Uck.

I have been meaning to say this, but I will be in Little Rock next week and Northwest AR next weekend if anyone is interested in booking a La La session. Spots will be limited because of time issues, so email me at info@lala-photography.com.





Yummy.

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Today I am thankful for my date with Lucy. She didn't take a nap today, which is very strange for her. Justin had laid her down for nap and a while later I was upstairs on the computer and could hear her talking away in her bed. She still had not gone to sleep. About 15 minutes later she walked in our room and tried to convince me she had, in fact, taken her nap. Silly girl. I told her I would lay down with her for a bit and she was fine with that. However, she could not stop talking. Anything she could think of, she told me. One interesting tidbit she told me was that Sasha (her stuffed elephant) had gotten put in time out earlier. When I asked why, she told me that Sasha had been acting ugly and that she wasn't listening. And then Lucy said, "I am Sasha's momma and she needs to listen and use her manners and not act ugly to others." I promptly agreed with Lucy on this one. One other thing she did that was just so sweet was to put both of her hands on my cheeks and say, "You are MY momma. I love you so much." And then she kissed me on the forehead. I do this to her all of the time saying that she is my special Lucy. I love it when they are sweet pumpkins. I decided nap was out so I took her with me to the mall while Justin stayed with Annie, who was napping. I let her pick out a special treat of her choice - ice cream, we went to the toy store and looked around for birthday ideas, and we visited the ducks and turtles. She had a blast. When we got home, she asked me to lay her down because she was too tired. She was out in about 10 seconds. She thinks she is big and doesn't need a nap, but it caught up with her today!

I am always shocked at how some people have no respect for a child's personal space. I was in a store and this woman who worked there was fascinated by Lucy, who was sitting in her stroller. She bent down and was within a foot of Lucy's face talking in this weird voice. It made me uncomfortable and I know Lucy was about to flip. I just moved the stroller back and told her that Lucy is very shy around strangers. Weird. I mean she was right in her face. I actually thought she was going to kiss her.

I have my playgroup mom's dinner tonight. I always love it and am looking forward to it.

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Today I am thankful that from this point forward, Annie will have been with us and a part of our family for longer than she was without us. On day 231 of her short little life, she was officially our daughter according to Vietnamese law. Today is her 231st day with us. Pretty amazing, huh? The transformation that she has made in those 231 days is simply unbelievable. She is nothing like the scared, sick, sad baby she was when she was handed to us in Vietnam. She loves us and loves to be loved by us. Not a day goes by when I don't think about what she used to be like compared to who she is today. She is such a special girl.

We have had two pretty nice days compared to what we were having. I think it stayed around 90 degrees and I am not kidding when I say it feels so awesome compared to the 102 it was a few days ago. We took the girls swimming before nap today. After naps, I went to the grocery store and made a nice healthy dinner for us. Even Lucy ate well! Speaking of eating, Annie is willing to eat anything we give her. It is so crazy to us, but such an enormous relief that she is over her fear of food/eating. She still is not "normal" in her eating because she still has some anxiety about actually swallowing the food occasionally, but it is a zillion times better than it was and she does swallow bites now. Tonight she ate avocado, deli turkey, mango, baked chicken, zucchini, and hard boiled egg. I would say in another month she will be eating twice the amount that Lucy does. I love watching her try something new. Every time she tries something new, she makes this face like it was the most awful thing she has every eaten, but then a few seconds later her bird mouth is wide open for more. Funny.

Her hair will only stay in the mohawk when it has sunscreen in it. Justin and I both love it so much we wish we could style it like this every day. She looks so stinkin cute with a hawk.