18 months and a second go-around

It's been a good six months since I've even thought about this blog. A toddler will do that to you!

We have been a busy bunch since August! In October my sweet sister had a baby boy - which obviously took up most of our Autumnal months. He is the best kiddo and Lucy is truly in love.

Halloween arrived, and Lucy dressed as a sock monkey. She also figured out that candy thing pretty quickly. Maybe the fact that we attended no less than 87 Halloween events had something to do with it?

November brought Thanksgiving and a visit from my brother and his wife, who are expecting their first baby NEXT WEEK (Let's do this thing Hollis)! Another cousin for Lucy to love on, and we couldn't be more excited. We spent the week visiting San Diego landmarks and visiting the animals at the zoo. It was a fantastic week.

In early December we took a week-long trip to Hawaii and Matt's parents came too! It was so nice, and so relaxing. We took Lucy's first train ride, went on lots of hikes, spent tons of time at the beach, and generally had a fantastic vacation! Can we go back now?

At Christmas we spent time as a family enjoying the season, and trying to help Lucy love it too.
We spent a family night looking at lights, which floored this little gal.

I was also asked to organize the Christmas party for our church, and Lucy was such a champ. This party ended up taking days of planning, organizing, running errands, and then about 12 hours of decorating at the church on the day of the party. We did a nativity, so Lucy got these sparkly angel wings as her prize for being the best-behaved one-year-old that week.

For the week between Christmas and the New Year, we headed up north to Sacramento to be with family. This Christmas Lucy understood very little about the situation outside of that she was getting "TOYS!" She had no clue why she was getting toys, but she was pumped to wear "Mimmie" PJ's and open presents that she could play with.

In the new year, we have been chugging along, spending our days at the zoo, the museums, and the beach when we can. It's a pretty simple life, but one that we like a lot!

As for Matt and I, we both have new jobs. I began working when Lucy turned one in August. I was hired back on with a company I had worked with when I first moved here to San Diego over a decade ago! I am doing medical record review, histories, and insurance coding from home part-time and it has been working out really well! I love having a little something of my own to work hard on. Matt applied for a new position at his bank right before Christmas and was hired in the New Year 2016 as a Database Developer/Business Analyst. It has been a bit of a learning curve for him working with a new group, but he is enjoying it more each day.

In February 2016 we found out some pretty crazy news as well:

Lucy will be a big sister in the Fall! She is obviously as confused and astounded as we were.

These pictures were taken a few months ago, and our baby is looking a lot different now with an actual body, head, legs, and arms instead of just a sac. We don't know the flavor of baby yet, but should know in the next few weeks.

Here we go for round two! And because people ask, and I am a patent over-sharer who has basically explained all of our fertility issues on this blog, we did no fertility treatments to bring this baby to our family. As with Lucy, my body apparently just decided to get pregnant. So...way to go body!

That's all of it folks - and happy Easter this Sunday to those who celebrate it! Love to you all.