Lucy is 8 months old!

Lucy Jane is 8 months old today! As I reflect on her life, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness.  I know all things in life are true gifts from God, but every single time I look into her lovely face, I am reminded of God's goodness, mercy and love in not only sparing her life, but in causing her to thrive.

At her 6 month check up a month ago, she weighed 18 pounds, 4 ounces (73rd percentile on the normal charts!).  Again, so thankful.

Lucy is spunky, fun, and a joy to be around.  I love her squeals of delight when we dance in the living room and her shrieks of happiness whenever she sees her brother.  Brian and I find ourselves laughing at her so much - she shouts for only a second if she's in a position she doesn't like; she very forcefully pushes her bottles away when she's had enough; and she grunts "Bah" when she hasn't been looked at for a few minutes...as if we've forgotten she was there!  I am thankful to the LORD for her very fun, magnetic personality.

Lucy has always been very a mover and a shaker.  About 3 weeks ago, she began rolling over like crazy.  I'm thankful for a video monitor because she rolls over in her crib, even when swaddled, and needs to be repositioned often.

She loves sweet potatoes!  Shortly after Christmas we began with avocados and rice cereal, neither of which she is a fan of.  Today was the first day she ate an entire frozen cube of food.  I'm thankful for the progress!  No, she doesn't have teeth yet.

While I was on bedrest last May, a friend (also the mom of a preemie) sent me an online poster-thingy via FB that said, "I'm the mom of a preemie.  What's your superpower?"  I didn't understand, at all, the true meaning of that at the time, but now I do...somewhat.  Having Lucy eight weeks early nearly did me in.  It's only been in the last couple of weeks that I've finally felt like a normal human being.  Those early months of feeding her every 3 hours around the clock were incredibly difficult.  Since last week, she's been going to sleep at 7:30 pm, enjoys a dream-feed at 11 pm, and sleeps until 7:30 am.  It's simply glorious.  My eyes are still red and the black circles remain, but I have energy!  

With this energy I am planning to blog again, Tweet, rise early to spend time with Jesus, and do "school" more regularly with Aidan.  I'm thankful to be out of the survival mode.  Today I started my first online course through Morningside.  It is the first of three classes to obtain my TAG endorsement.  Yes, I still enjoy teaching 7-8th grade TAG for two hours/week.

Thank you to those of you who have continued to pray for us on this journey with Lucy!  Who could have imagined how amazing the outcome would be!?

And we can't forget about my favorite boy.  Aidan is doing so well too.  He prides himself in the ability to make his sister laugh, enjoys his tumbling and music classes, loves memorizing Bible verses and catechism questions, and is a HUGE ball of energy.  Both he and I are anxiously awaiting spring's arrival so he can burn energy off outside.  He also enjoys playing games (Cheery-O, Dominoes, Old Maid, etc.) and putting puzzles together.

Here is my boy on one of our recent dates:

Love him.