15 Months

Dear Lucy,

Have I mentioned how much fun you are?  I'm sure I have.  Lucy, you are rocking our world!  You funny, funny little girl.

It's still crazy to look at pictures of my rolly polly chunky monkey baby, and then watch my feisty little bean pole twirl around the living room and then take off running in circles through the house.  You are still hovering around what you weighed at 6 months (21ish pounds), you just keep on stretching.

You like to try and imitate the animal sounds I make, which might not be the best thing.  Some of those I'm pretty terrible at.  Like an Elephant?  You have an Elephant puppet that you love and you come running over to me trying to place it on my hand.  I'm sorry kid.  You might be going to school thinking that an Elephant makes a different sound every time it opens it's mouth.  Sounds that range from a trumpet, to a motor boat, to a sneeze.

Summer has been pretty kind to us so far.  Lots of outside time still.  We have had some good bike rides and strolls this last month and plenty of backyard explorations.  There's lots of open grassy space, but your favorite thing is to bushwhack through the bushes coming out on the other side grinning from ear to ear, covered with twigs and leaves.

You love coming in the garden with us.  There are times when I watch you and you're so careful and gentle with these plants, like you are truly in awe of the produce.  Then there are the times when you come stumbling through the hay piles and we have to keep you from trampling everything green.

We had a quick trip to see Aunt Amanda and Uncle Tyler on Wilmington Island.  I don't think they have had that much one on one time with you ever!  They love you so much, and you will learn so much from them.  While we were there, there was news of a tropical storm brewing.  None of our plans were messed up, and it actually brought in some cooler weather for us.  It also, however, brought 35 mph winds down on the beach.  But you were thrilled.  You clung to me as we walked through the blowing sand storm but once we got down to the packed sand by the water, you took it in for a second and then wanted to take off.  You ran up and down the beach, squealing as the wind took your breath and carried your squeal away before you could even hear it.  You would have preferred running straight into that angry ocean...but Mama and Daddy wouldn't let you.  I'm afraid you might find the beach pretty boring next visit :)  Your dad also bought you an airbrush t-shirt.  I figure you have to have one per lifetime, so mark that off your list.  So when you are a Senior in High School and I'm chaperoning your Spring Break beach trip, save your 30 bucks.

You've also had your first week of survival swimming lessons through Infant Aquatics.  It is unbelievable!  Only one week and you are already launching yourself from me and swimming UNDERWATER for 5 to 9 seconds to get to your dad.  You really are amazing.  You are so courageous and fearless.  Which is actually a big reason we sought this out for you :)  You love to explore and we find ourselves by lakes, rivers, ponds, oceans and pools a lot.  And this will give you the base to have a lifetime of fun and safety in the water.  I will definitely write more on this later.  It's a 6 week course, so I can only imagine what you'll be doing by the end.

I'll end with one of my favorite family outings from this past Saturday.  You love blueberries,  I mean LOVE them.  We planted some bushes of our own because it was getting hard to afford your habit.  And they are producing, but you eat them off the bushes before we can get them in the house.  Your father and I dream of blueberry pancakes, blueberry muffins, maybe even some blueberry scones.  Our bushes only support your intake.  So we found a farm.  We drove up, walked over to a table, picked up our buckets and started wandering through rows and rows of giant blueberry bushes and picked away.  It was such a delightful afternoon.  We spent two hours, just wandering.  It was like the whole place was ours.  You were in your element.  You are so peaceful when you're outside.  Just like at home, you wanted to walk under the bushes and cross through the bushes instead of going around.  You were so scratched up, but it didn't phase you one bit.  And yes, you ate some berries.  Some green ones, some red ones, some lots off the ground, and some nice big juicy ones out of my bucket.  It was just perfect.  And I love that you already show signs of not being afraid to put in the effort for something you love.  You never got frustrated, you were just soaking in the experience.  It was all just perfect...

Well, there was one minor mishap.  I really don't know how to tell you this.  Here it goes...

You might have, sort of, maybe, probably, pretty much ate some deer poop.

You were sitting under a bush, looking so content.  I was lovingly gazing at you thinking about what a sweet, precious little girl I have.  And man does my girl love her blueberries.  Wait a minute...those are some dark blueberries, they kind of look black.  Like some oval shaped pellets.  HOLY CRAP THAT'S DEER CRAP!

I can't say for certain that you consumed any or if you did, how much.  But you certainly had some handfuls. Lucy, if you feel like holding this against me one day, just know that I tweaked an old knee injury when I did a leap, twist, dash to get to you.

Here's to a good immune system!

Your dad has already said that the first thing we'll do when we buy our land is go out and plant plenty of berry bushes. 

Happy year and a quarter baby.

Love,
Mama