Our little house stays pretty cold in the morning (since the walls are made of cement).
So normally Lucy wears pants for the day. But it's starting to warm up! So I pulled out her cute sundresses and today she wore the little red dress. And it just looked too cute. Here's the proof.
Lucy loves taking a bath. Since I don't want to waste water filling up the whole bathtub, we have a little storage container that she bathes in. It's just her size!
And to make the experience even less frills...we don't have any real bath toys. Mostly she plays with household items and tupperware. In fact her favorite toys around the house are old Zone Bar boxes and empty Nestle Choc Chip bags (not that we're going through bags of chocolate chips or anything).
So back to the tub...she loves playing with a Cool Whip lid, and last night I decided to stick it on her head. Normally she pulls things right off her head. But last night she let the lid just sit there, on her head, like a little hat. I thought, wow she doesn't even know it's there! So I ran to get my camera and of course it had fallen off by the time I got back. So I put it on again, and again she just let it sit there. I then thought, huh, I guess she likes it. So I snapped a photo, while she splashed away in the water. She definitely keeps me laughing.
What better way to spend date night than behind home plate at a Dodger Game?! One of Casey's friends offered him tickets an hour before the game. Of course we said YES, and of course we lured Eric and Laura into driving up here so they could enjoy it with us.
The seats were awesome. I've never sat that close before. Actually "watching" the game took on new meaning. 
Ava even enjoyed it, even if she did fall alseep in the middle of all the noise. Of course we had just as much fun acting silly, checking out the hard-core fans around us, and my favorite part: the seventh inning stretch (check out the people behind us singing).
The game went into extra innings, but the Dodgers closed the game with a grand slam finish! It was awesome! Crowds went wild and players rushed the mound.
Eric's favorite part of the night, however, was when they asked, "guess the attendance of the game?" Everyone started spouting off numbers in the high thousands...then I gave my estimate, "um, 3 thousand?" Eric could not stop laughing.
THREE thousand?!
The real total: 49,000.
Yea, I was a little off.
Keep laughing Eric.
Fun times with the Dodgers! And we didn't even park at Dodger Hill.
THINK BLUE!
Last week was a bit on the dreary side. And I gotta be honest, I'm much more chipper when the sun is out. So on Friday, I got my day in the sun. 
Laura planned a little outing for everyone, to the Long Beach Museum of Art. Eric, Laura, Ava, Camille, Jeremy, Karen, Lucy, and I met up in the LBC where it happened to be quite sunny and very beautiful.
First things first: Lunch,
at In N Out. Yum Yum.
And then we drove along Ocean Blvd to the Museum, which overlooked the water...a gorgeous view. The artwork inside was good, but the kids had more fun climbing up and down the stairs. Lucy was not using her "museum voice", but there weren't too many people there, so we let her go-at-it on the cement stairs.
And then when we headed outside, she and Jeremy found a small puddle of water on the sidewalk (since it had rained all week) and 
she spent a 1/2 hour splashing and playing in that little puddle. And she got drenched. 
Laura was concerned, "I'm totally stressed right now, watching her in those wet clothes." But I came prepared with an extra set (or two) of clothes. A mom always has some, right?
It was quite a fun outing for everyone. Thanks Laura for planning!
And to top it off, the freeways all day were a breeze! No traffic, on a Friday, when it had been raining earlier, in LA? I couldn't figure it out. But I loved it. We stopped in Venice Beach to pick up Casey from his work Treasure Hunt and then we hit up Tito's Tacos for dinner. If you've never been there, you gotta go. Best Mexican/American tacos on the westside. And the song on their website is annoyingly addictive.
What a fun Friday!
As many of you know, Lucy is int the lower percentile for weight. And at her gain-rate, we thought she'd be in her infant car seat till she was 18 months. The law in California states: 20 lbs AND 1 year old before the child can sit forward facing. At her 1 year mark, Lucy was still at 17 1/2 pounds. But it's a been a couple months now....so...we got antsy and decided to weigh her ourselves, at the grocery store. Casey advised me to be as covert as possible, so no one in the produce dept would see what we were doing. Of course the minute we sat her on the scale, a couple nearby looked over and laughed and chatted. Oh well, we smiled and laughed back.
And the tipping point, folks: 19 lbs!
Woohoo!
We decided her weight was close enough (please don't tell the authorities). So we bought her a forward facing carseat and she rode in it for the first time yesterday. I think she just gazed out the window for the first 10 minutes of our drive, loving the new view.
As luck would have it, however, our little bulimic daughter decided to gag herself on the drive home and now the seat is christened with her throw-up. We won't show any pictures of that.
But overall, a good change. Our little girl is growing up!
Here she is in her new seat.
(p.s. her forehead bears the war wounds of walking. She fell on the cement this past weekend.)
The never ending question...who does your daughter look like?
Being part of the family, it's hard for me to tell. Some say Lucy looks like me. Some say she looks like Casey. 
My mom told me that when Lucy smiles, she sees a glimpse of Linda Willard in her face...just that same cute Linda face. So who knows!
There are times, though, when I think she looks like Grandpa Bill. Maybe it's cause they have the same hairline. But I think it's something in their face...their smile? I guess only time will tell, as her little face grows up. But here are some pics, so you can decide!
Well, spoke too soon.
Here's what Lucy got into Saturday morning. Rice was everywhere.
I guess it's time to lock the pantry doors.
Today was the perfect day.
Lucy ate 3 full meals of solid food (a first) and did it with a smile.
She played for hours on end while I cleaned the entire house.
She quieted down in the car when I sang my silly songs.
She played on the mall toys with the big kids and held her own.
She took a good nap.
She stayed up for Casey to get home and played with him for another hour.
She laughed when he threw pillows at her head.
She went to bed by 8pm and was out for the night.
If only every day could be this way...actually, they usually are.
Here's another perfect day:
After a great day at church, we headed down to Orange County to spend Easter evening with the Sumans. My mom made yummy pork ribs, we had fresh bread, and of course....we did a little easter egg hunt. Without 5 year old Jeremy there to lead the hunt, however, Lucy and Carter (2 yrs old) just sat there in the grass. They spent 10 minutes putting eggs in their baskets, then pulling them out. Put the eggs in, pull them out again. Well, at least that's what Lucy wanted to do. I guess Carter finally got sick of it. And then Lucy cried. (That's what you get for stealing some else's loot!)
We had a real fun time. It's great to have family living near by!
This morning Lucy slept-in till 11am! She hasn't done that, well, ever.
It was great! I did check in on her once, to make sure she was breathing.
And I sure got a lot done this morning. Here's what she looked like when she finally woke up:
I took a picture of Lucy in her highchair yesterday and realized....I had taken the SAME picture 6 months ago. Same shirt, same background. As you can tell, that short hair of hers IS growing.
Here's Lucy at 8 months, and 14 months.
