A Whole Lot of Hair

First day of school tomorrow for Audrée...very exciting!!! I thought we'd start off on the right foot and send her in clean. As she was finishing up her bath she said, "Mom, I want my hair to be beautiful tomorrow, can you put it in buns so it's very curly?"

I think she may end up with a complex about those golden locks of hers, but only time will tell. I've already caught her asking a family friend if he thought her hair was beautiful. As a father of three boys and a one year old girl (who is working on growing a beautiful mane) he dutifully nodded. She then proceeded to demonstrate how she brushes it to keep it shiny and smooth.

Of course, if Audrée has buns, then her protegé must have them too. Luci was surprisingly still as I put them in and didn't complain about it hurting. Audrée tells me that it hurts but is worth it. Lucienne loves having her hair done and will often ask for a ponytail.

And Evelyn followed suit. With her we tried an experimental cornrow attempt.

I wondered how long Lucienne would keep them in but as of bedtime they were still there. However, she's a hair twirler, especially to soothe herself to sleep, so as I nursed her she had no idea what to do with her hands and fingers. They were all over the place looking for something to twirl or fiddle. I have a feeling those buns aren't all going to be there in the morning!

A friend posted on Facebook, "I don't know how you do it with 4 girls...I have a hard enough time with just doing Kenzie's hair!" To which I responded, "This happens once every 4-5 months. I'm lucky if a brush runs through everyone's hair on a normal day". Erica seconded that.


Postscript: Audree woke me up at 2 in the morning to let me know she had taken out her buns so that her hair wouldn't be too poufy in the morning. And since she was already there...she snuggled in for the rest of the night. When Lucienne crawled in around 4 hers were still holding on. She'd pulled them a bit but at least the bottom half of her hair should be curly.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's......yep, it's a plane.

Lucienne's new obsession are planes. She can hear them before anyone else and will start incessantly say, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..." until I finally say, "Yes Luci" and she'll excitingly point up to the sky and say "Plane!!" although it comes out sounding more like "pane". I think she has actually seen maybe 4 of the 500 she's pointed out.

Today a bright red one flew really low over our house and I thought her little almost-2-year-old body was going to explode. It was kind of infectious. We all stood in the backyard screaming plane while waving at it.

I think she just might have a little bit of her Grandpa in her.

A Little More of Lucienne

Lucienne is such a character. Her own personallity is emerging stronger every day - her sense of humour and her stubborness and her clownyness and her wanting to do whatever her sisters are doing and her loving to make people laugh. She loves putting things on and taking things off. The loves getting into things and onto things. Have I said yet how much I love this kid?

Looks like a hat to me.

Available in stores for a limited time only.

5 seconds.

Baby needs to nurse.

Escape accomplises.

The toddler smile on command smile.

Poor, Sweet, Lucienne...NOT

What am I going to do with Lucienne? There's no way around it, she's a bit of a brute. A very cute brute, but a brute nontheless. She had her poor cousin Clara running for her life all of Christmas while they were here. It's like she surveys the room for the "weakest" link and just terrorizes them every time they're around. She'll pull hair (her favourite pasttime), pinch skin, scratch (arms or face) and hit. Biting happens when they have something she wants and won't hand it over, the other things are all unprovoked.

We had a playdate with a new group of friends today and there was a 3-year-old we'd never met. She was a dainty, petite girl, just the kind Lucienne likes to pick on. It's so hard at this age because there isn't much I can do other than remove her from the situation. When it's her sisters at the receiving end I'll move her away and cuddle them (which is probably the worst thing I could do to her as she's a bit jealous of any other use of my lap other than her bum). But when the other children aren't mine I can only move her away, which doesn't always feel like enough when she's holding a fistful of their hair. I hate the whole forcing them to say "sorry" when they're probably not so we've always used "are you okay?" but that doesn't even matter at this point as she doesn't speak yet and doesn't have any sense of other's feelings. Yesterday this little girl finally gave her a shove. The other mother was mortified, I just said, "finally, they're almost even."

I know it's a stage she'll eventually grow out of but I hope it's soon. She's so full of spunk and life this one. She loves making people laugh. She has the cutest I'm-trying-not-to-smile smile. She wants so much to be a part of everything and do exactly what Audree is doing. She never runs out of hugs and kisses. She loves to climb and has figured out that dragging a chair around makes counters and tables much more accessible (with the Jaws theme running through my head as the chair comes scraping across the floor). She loves putting on hats and boots but her favourite thing to wear is her birthday suit. She's often running around naked in someone else's boots. She is so 18 months. 

Move Over, it's my Turn

Today I had a good friend look after Lucienne and Audree while I took Amelia to the dentist (more on that in a bit). Lucienne has really started showing recognition of people she knows lately. At church, if she sees this friend she will run up to her with a huge grin and ask to be picked up, often not wanting to come to my arms (which is okay because it means I get to snuggle with her 5 month old...good deal!).

So today I left her and she barely blinked as I walked out the door without her. When I returned my friend said she was completely fine until her little baby got up from her nap and needed to nurse. I assumed that it was because Lucienne then looked around for me, wanting to breastfeed herself but it turns out she spent the feed trying to get the baby off so she could have a snack herself. Good to know I'm so easily replaced!

When I told Rene he asked if I would ever nurse someone else's baby. I would, if they asked. Lots of communities enjoy communal mothering, and wet nurses were the norm not too long ago. I remember reading a story about a mother who died during childbirth in the US and knowing how important breastfeeding was to her, the father asked for help from lactating mothers. Her friends rallied around this mourning family and took shifts nursing the little baby.

Now for Amelia at the dentist. She's had this molar that started to reabsorb itself the past few months. The dentist just said to keep an eye on it and come in if it starts to bother her. Erica mentioned that on her last cleaning she thought it looked like it was time to pull it out. I made an appointment and the next day Amelia complained that it was hurting her. Nice timing! So we went in and the dentist said it was holding on by about 20%. I said pull it (Amelia wasn't as gung ho but eventually consented).  So out it came, quite easily. When I went to pay the bill I was floored...$178 to pull the tooth. I could have bought a few fancy pliers to the job myself at that price! Thank goodness for insurance.

A Lucienne Update

Lucienne's theme song: set to Diana Ross' "Ain't no Mountain High Enough"

Ain't no counter high enough
Ain't no cupboard low enough
Ain't no scream that's loud enough
To keep me from you.

(you being the phone, or toothbrush, or computer mouse or pen or toilet paper or oatmeal bin)

There is nothing too tall to climb. There is always a way up whether it be to get into the bathroom sink, on top of the diningroom table (where she spends half her time), or perched on the toilet. Thanks goodness she hasn't discovered the splash of what's inside or what happens when you flush but I have glimpses of this in the future. Many a toilet paper roll has been unfurled (then eaten by Paris, they really are quite the pair).

Evelyn would be a close second to the amount of things she got into at this age but Lucienne is the climber of the family. I don't remember any of the other girls being so determined to be at eye level with the world.

And her screams are still earth shattering, they leave my ears ringing. She's taken to a frantic scream when she's discovered getting into something, white-knuckling the item in her clutch.

She's working on a great pout whenever the word no is thrown in her direction. A slow, deliberate frown with big blinking eyes.

But, she gives a killer hug with her arms wrapped tightly around your neck and is liberal with sloppy, wet kisses.

She loves to laugh. When we're all laughing she'll match it with a boisterous belly laugh as if she's in on the joke.

Aunt Becca has nicknamed her Chewie for her being able to speak Chewbacca. She has perfected the language and we're just waiting for her to translate it into English. Words that have appeared are bye, mama and poop (the girls love that one).

She'll never keep hair elastics in and I'm scared to keep trimming up her bangs in case it turns mulletish.

She is persistent, inquisitive and loves her family. This is a girl who knows what she wants and will stop at nothing until it's in her hands. A trait that keeps me on my feet but will serve her well as she gets older.


Gosh we love this baby.

Christmas Will be Cancelled Until Further Notice

Today was yet another one of those days that I feel I played interference between the toddler and her climbing/getting into things and the dog with her chewing. I seriously think they have figured out some way to communicate with each other. While I get something out of the dogs mouth, Lucienne is climbing up onto the table and dumping out the contents of my wallet. I turn to get her down and put everything back and the dog is getting into something else. As I pry it out of her mouth, Luci has found a stool at the sink (placed by Audree) and is playing with the water. I turn it off and dry her off only to find the dog has returned from the toyroom with yet another Pet Shop half destroyed. While I pick up all the pieces, Luci is climbing up the stairs to find what Audree is up to. And so it goes, and goes, and goes.

On another note, in the middle of this constant stream of destruction, I had a not-so-steller mother moment with Audree. I hate when that voice in my head is saying that I need to stop talking yet my mouth just keeps going. It all really starts with my wallet. Audree saw Lucienne getting into it and really wanted to join in the fun. I think, what's the harm in letting her play store with my cards so I let her have my wallet warning her that I expect everything back in it when she's done (mistake #1). Audree happily plays her game while I run back and forth between the dog, not watching exactly what she's doing with it (mistake #2). Later in the day as I'm picking up around the livingroom and diningroom I find my empty wallet...and nothing else. No cards (I never have any money in it so that's not really a concern). When I ask Audree where everything is she gives me that really cute, innocent, doe-eyed look that she has down to a tee and says, "I don't know".

I'd kind of had it with Luci and the dog and unfortunately Audree suffered the consequence of my frustration. I told her that without the contents of my wallet I would no longer be able to buy anything or to drive anywhere. Christmas would have no presents, birthdays would be non-existant, we were never going to go anywhere, ever again. No vacations, no playdates. She is of course in tears but I just keep going (in my defense, I wasn't yelling, just bringing down her world in a calm, orderly manner). The sad part was that I didn't really have any important cards in my wallet to begin with. My credit cards and license were safely attached to my key chain. Health cards and temple recommend in my purse. It was just full of the "point" cards from various stores and other things I haven't used for months, even years.

We looked for the cards all day. We cleaned the toyroom and her bedroom. We took apart the couch and moved all the furniture. It was as if she ate them, although more likely that the dog had eaten them. They were all gone. Just disappeared in thin air. It was actually kind of weird because she had no recollection of what she did with them and we couldn't find them anywhere.

I finally just gave up. I knew they weren't that important and I'd already cancelled Christmas so there wasn't too much to be done. Plus I'd burned off some steam with all the cleaning so I was feeling a bit better.

Within ten minutes of the girls being home from school Evelyn comes up to me with Audree's big book of Dora stories and asks why all my cards are in the pages. Then it all comes back to Audree who says, "I remember now, I put them in my Dora book." 

Mystery solved. Christmas and birthdays are free to go ahead. We'll leave the house. And I score a point in the mother-of-year competition I'm surely in the running for.

Lucienne Turns One

My baby is one. I can hardly believe it. I know they all grow up so fast but I think this year set the record as being the fastest year ever.

She is a delightful baby. A complete joy and perfect addition to our family. She's quick to smile and easy to stop crying (usually just needs to be in my arms and she's good to go). In her baby blessing Rene blessed her to be a peacemaker...and it worked! I now tell all father's preparing to bless their babies to make sure they mention this word, it's a miracle word!

I LOVE  her little curls.  Fingers crossed she has Rene's hair! They are especially cute when it's really hot out and she's sweaty. And she has stayed brunette!! I now tell people we were never trying for a boy, just for a brunette.


She loves to get reactions, especially from her sisters. I love watching her face in anticipation of having one of her sisters see her latest antic. Sometimes I see her watching them, waiting for them to look at her so she can put on a show. She loves being right in the middle of things and will always position herself accordingly, bum-scooching herself to wear the action is.

She wins, hands down, for the loudest, most ear-piercing scream. My ears actually ring after she screams, and because of the reaction she gets there's always more than one scream in a row. Evelyn loves this the most and will usually join in. Somehow, that doesn't surprise me. She also loves to yell, more specifically, she loves to join in the yelling. Even if it's just me yelling that dinner is ready she'll yell right along with me.

She also loves to laugh and has a great fake laugh for when everyone around is laughing.

She has always loved hair. I don't know if this is because my hair is the longest it's ever been but if there's hair anywhere near her she will pull it. I have to remember to have an elastic on my wrist for when I nurse her or else I'm constantly wrestling fistfuls out of her fingers. I looked after a friend's little boy who seemed to love having his hair pulled, a match made in heaven. He would lay his head in her lap and she would go to town on his head. She gets very excited when Roxy or Paris come close and since she's learned to move I have to always watch to make sure they don't get mangled. Audree seems to get the worst of it, especially when they're strapped in the bike trailer together. She's actually taken to wearing hoodies so Lucienne can't get a hold of her hair. She'll often pull at her own hair when going to sleep. I guess she figures since she finds it soothing we must all feel the same.

She hates diaper changes and is my first baby to squirm to get away mid change. Thankfully I always change on the floor so no real danger, just annoying! Especially on the poopy ones.

She loves standing up on things but will cry until someone helps her sit down again. My latest walker (we're still waiting for those first steps) but by now I've learned the longer you can keep them relatively immobile, the better. She does love stairs though and will be entertained forever on one stair, going up and down, up and down, up and down. She also loves doors thresholds and will scooch back and forth over them over and over again.

Her first word is officially bye-bye with the wave to match it. But she'll only say it if someone is actually leaving.

She loves her Daddy and lights up when he comes home. I think she'd break all records for bum-scooching in her race to get to him. And when he picks her up she always looks back to me with the biggest grin on her face.

She loves to drop things...food off her tray (Paris loves this one), anything down the stairs (especially laundry baskets, and if there's laundry in them, bonus), everything out of her crib. She'll grab things out of my hand just to drop them on the floor. Over the side of the couch is even better. Of course, she wants them picked up again so she can throw them again...and being put on the ground is not an option for this game.

She LOVES bathtime, especially if one of her sisters is in to play with her.  She's figured out how to work the nozzles and the plug and of course loves throwing all the toys out of the tub.

She has many nicknames (I knew that would happen when we decided on Lucienne). I call her Lucie or Luce or Lucie-Lu, Audree says Lucie-Goosie, Rene is Lu-Lu. But whatever she's called she's as cute as a button and I love her to bits.

Aches and Pains

Lately my lower back has been consistently bothering me. And I get these weird muscle spasms/pains in my left arm. I chalked it up to getting old...although I don't really consider myself THAT old. Then last night while giving the girls a bath I decided to weigh Lucienne - it has been awhile. She's 20 lbs. I'm carrying around a 20 lb weight all day (she prefers to see the action from high rather than the floor).

She is finally trying to get around by doing the classic Lalonde scoot. A bum shuffle that looks like a crab with a broken leg. It deceiving because she's always "sitting" so not always obvious that she's moving until I see her getting into the dirt of the plants, the dog's water dish or she's stuck under the table.

Her favourite thing these days is knocking down towers. I love how she always looks up to see my reaction. She still loves pulling hair and has taken clumps out of poor Audree's hair. I've been on the receiving end of her frenzies (she does resemble a shark at a feeding frenzy...she really gets intense when she gets close enough to someone's head) and she's not gentle. It really hurts. If only babies weren't so cute it would be easier to be stern with her. She also loves to bite but the more stern I am with her the louder she laughs. Luckily she hasn't decided to play this game while feeding.

She has 6 teeth now. And I don't know if it's because no more are coming in but she slept 8 hours last night!!!!!! That's the first time in a few months she's gone that long. Also the first time in the last few months I haven't felt like something is breaking through her mouth. I guess the real test will be tonight to see if it was a lucky break for me or if she really has been suffering with teething. Audree and Roxy were in our bed so I didn't actually sleep the whole time but at least I didn't have to get out of bed.

Lucienne is such a joyful baby. She LOVES her sisters. And she LOVES her Mom. She loves her Dad only if I'm not in the room...we're working on that!!