Lucy Day! One Year Home

I can't even believe it's been one year since we met Lucy. It feels like yesterday, but also feels like she's been with us forever, we can't imagine our life without our girl. 

One year ago, I lifted a very concerned and sleepy girl from the baby seat and into my arms. Poor babe, was dead asleep and woke up to a stranger!

 The year has been full of so many milestones and celebrations. And, I'm not gonna lie...lots of challenges as well. I'm going to post more about that later, but this post is about celebrating!

Lucy has gone from a tiny little bean of a girl, to a full blown toddler. She has gained 10 lbs this year and grown so tall! We are always commenting on how long her arms and legs are, and her feet are size 8!!! Seems crazy huge for a girl who's not even two! She's gone from this tiny timid girl...

 

To our little princess...or Puff-Uff, as she likes to call herself! She loves to wear her tiara and tutu..over her jammies, while she eats breakfast...any time, anywhere. 

This girl can CLEAN UP a plate of dairy free pancakes, like nobody's b

usiness!

To celebrate our first year together...we went to our fave local Ethiopian restaurant, Enat Kitchen. Our whole family LOVED it. Every time we have Ethiopian, our whole family likes it more and more. Lucy LOVES injera. It was so so tasty. Then, we went to Yo Cream for dessert...and they even had Dairy Free sorbet for Lulu! It was a great family night together...although the boys didn't quite get why Lucy get ANOTHER day besides her birthday! It truly felt like a birthday to me...after all, it was the first day I held her in my arms, and that day with our boys was the "birth" day. You know?

The kiddos

our tasty platter

lulu and daddy

me and my girl!

Of course, being a gal who loves to give (and get) gifts, I had to give my girlie a gift. She's liking her baby dolls alot lately, and sort of pretending a bit. I thought she'd love this baby cradle. I found it at Goodwill, and rehabed it. I got my inspiration from Pottery Barn Kids, here.

Here is the PBkids version:

Lucy even has this little baby doll from my sis-in-law...her name is really Lucy, so who could resist that? And the cute thing is, the white one's name is Abby, which is my neice's name, so of course, grammy got her one too.  But for $5 for the cradle at Goodwill, and $4 in paint...I saved myself about $50. I did the lettering with my Cricut cutting machine and adhesive vinyl (which I love and am completely addicted to). I loved the fun way PBK documented the birth info, but since we don't know Lucy's birth weight and such, I though I'd add her birthday in ET, and the day we met her. I love how it turned out!

We had a fun day celebrating our girl. Our journey of adoption is far from over. We continue to learn and grow toghether all the time, and God has used this precious girl to teach us how to truly depend on the Lord daily, for wisdom, for unconditional love, and patience.

jumping jack.

Oh, this boy.

He has long had me a pile of mush.

One lazy day at home about a month ago, during Lucy's nap, we played in my bed.

I knew it was a moment I wanted to remember and I'm so glad I grabbed my camera. I think I had a rented lens this day, Canon 50mm 1.2L series.....sigh. I really want to own this lens!! It's like butta. I digress.

My sweet, sweet boy. He oozes personality. His Nana says he will be on TV someday. I wouldn't be surprised.  He is a mama's boy through and through, and don't tell my hubby, but I like it that way :)

I love the dirty fingernails, the scrapes, bruises, and freckles...it's just Jack.
ps...this video slideshow is best viewed here small. If you try to blow it up full screen, it's grainy. I'm still trying to figure out how to best post video here!