Visit to the doctor

We visited the doctor's office this morning because Lucy has had a persistent diaper rash for the past month that we just can't shake! She was super cute today - just playing with her car as she patiently  waited for the provider to come see her. It turns out that she just has an eczema outbreak on her bottom! Poor little peanut! We have some hydrocortisone cream ready to go - hopefully things will clear up fast now!

 

 

SausageFest 2013

While Lucy and I spent a quiet weekend at home, Daniel went to Arena, WI to spend time with his friends Jake and Jason making sausage! This is their second annual event - they make delicious pork and venison mix sausages, brats, and kielbasas! Good stuff!

 

Meat and brews

 

The finished product

 

 Jake's smoker - check out these yummy kielbasas drying out

The guys had a lot of fun and our freezer is full of sausage! Yay!

Go Jacks!

 Last night the SDSU Jackrabbits played Michigan as part of March Madness. We were excited to watch them play basketball on television. Lucy wore her SDSU sweatshirt for the big event (thanks to cousin Abigail for letting us borrow it!) and cheered on the guys from South Dakota. Unfortunately, our Jacks lost! But it was still fun to watch some basketball with Daddy. :)

Can you tell that this kid doesn't get to watch TV very often? Here is Lucy captivated by the game.

 

 

Lounging with Dad

 

Happy Spring?

Happy First full day of Spring!?! It definitely does not feel very spring-like in Madison these days. :(

Here is the view from the Storm household. I can't wait for this snow to melt and for it to warm up around here!

 

St. Patrick's Day 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! To celebrate the Storm household attended Madison's St. Patty's day parade.

 

Lucy dressed up in all of her festive green clothing. Thanks for the great shirt, Grandma Nola!

 

We had to bundle up for the parade - it was c-o-l-d outside!! It was a full 50 degrees colder than St. Patrick's Day last year.

Lucy had a bird's eye view from her Dad's arms.

 

The parade included:

 

People dressed up like Leprechauns...

Bagpipes...

 



 

and, D-list celebrity, McGruff the Crime Dog!! Crazy! I remember McGruff taking a bite of crime circa 1985 - I didn't know that he was still around and relevant. Haha! This guy has to be at least 200 years old in dog years, right?

 

Hope everyone had a great day!

Irish Dancers

On Saturday I took Lucy to see some Irish dancers as part of our St. Patrick's Day celebrations. It was part of the Kids in the Rotunda series at the Overture Center. We got there early so we were sure to find a seat.

 

Here is Lucy patiently waiting for the show to begin. She loved watching the crew test the lights and sound.

 

 

Here are some of the dancers. It was fun to watch - especially the small kids. :) And, just so you know, that sweet curly hair on the dancers is actually a wig! So, no worries, Lucy could be an Irish dancer too. Hair is not a requirement. haha!

 

 

Lucy was pretty interested throughout the show, she even danced a little bit in her seat. What a great way to start St. Patty's Day weekend!

Blast from the past

We are continuing to clean/declutter our house in preparation for getting it on the market (the never ending project!). We are finding lots of little treasures along the way. One of those blast from the past items was a little orange Epic stress ball from a go-live that I worked at probably 5 years ago. Lucy now plays with it and squeezes it with all her might. Who knew that being a 16 month old was so stressful? :)

 

Some of Lucy's Favorite Places

 

We had a pretty low key weekend at the Storm household. On Saturday, Mama and Lucy attended our annual community garden meeting to claim our plot. The meeting/registration session is required and it can be kind of a long commitment so I took Lucy to the library beforehand to burn off some energy. :) She loves, loves, loves, going to the library. I don't know that we have ever read a single book in its entirety during a library visit but Lucy definitely enjoys their puppets, puzzles, doll house, climbing toys, etc. Good stuff. The library was a busy place on Saturday morning because they were offering free tax help but Lucy was the only kid in the children's section so she had the toys all to herself.

 

Lucy climbing

 

 

At the top!

 

 

You can tell by the smile on Lucy's face that she enjoys ironing a lot more than her mama. :)

 

Racing around the shelves with puppets in hand

 

Checking out the doll house

 

 

Yay for the local library!

 

On Sunday we spent some time at the zoo. It was cold and rainy outside so we focused on the indoor exhibits. Lucy loved the birds, fish, and turtles. She wasn't so sure about the monkeys.

 

Squeals of delight for the macaws.

 

Venturing over to the aquariums

 

We love spending time with our little peanut!

Sweet 16

Two sweet 16's to celebrate this week. Today Lucy turned 16 months old and yesterday I had my 16 week prenatal appointment. Everything continues to go well with Baby Storm. I am measuring right at 16 weeks and the baby's heartrate was at 158 bpm.

 

Lucy is such a fun toddler. :) Her favorites these days include: reading books, knocking down towers of blocks, coloring, splashing in the bath, playing with the dogs, playing little games like peek-a-boo and hide and go seek! She is also trying some new foods. She ate some orange segments, cheese pieces, frittata, and a piece of cantaloupe this week!! We are so thrilled with her progress in the past month!

 

Here are some recent Peek-A-Boo pictures:

 

 

Running at the airport!

As you know, I need to travel for my job. Although I am on the road much much less now than my pre-Lucy years, I am still gone more than I would prefer! Luckily my primary customer is just outside of Chicago so I am able to make the quick drive in just a couple of hours. This week, however, I did need to be out of town on a trip that required a flight to Portland. Somehow I have managed to steer clear of the Madison airport for 8 full months (unprecedented!) but this week I made the trek to MSN. Lucy and Daniel dropped me off! My flight was delayed (of course) so Lucy and Dan came to hang out with me for an hour while Lucy ran laps around the airport. Seeing how curious and full of energy Lucy was in the airport lobby makes me think that airline travel with her + a sibling will be c-r-a-z-y!! Let's just say that the Storm family won't be going on any faraway vacations anytime soon. haha!

 

Our curious little girl at the airport

 

 

Running down the long corridors!

Grandma and Grandpa Time!

As I mentioned earlier, Ken and Nola came to visit us for the week. They helped with lots of house projects and painting (we are so very grateful!!). And, best of all, they were able to spend their afternoons with little Lucy. Lucy was so excited for grandma and grandpa to pick her up from day care. Here are some recent pictures of Lucy Bear:

 

 

I love her little smile in this photo! She has 6 teeth these days.

 

Stretching tall

 

Cuddling with Grandma and Dolly

 Grandma time!

Eating lunch with Grandpa

 

 As we put our house on the market this spring, we were worried about dogs + spring + mud + keeping the yard and house presentable! Dan talked to his family and they agreed to board Chief and Scout for a couple of months. Chief is living with Ken and Nola and Scout will be residing with her Uncle Brad for the next couple of months. We will miss them very much but we know that they will enjoy their time in North Dakota and that our house will * hopefully* be easier to keep clean in the meanwhile. They have only been gone for a couple of days and it already feels really strange! Thanks for watching our pups, Brad, Ken & Nola! We really appreciate it.

 

Our sweet dogs. :)

Reading with Grandpa

Ken and Nola have been spending the week with us and, wow, we have been spoiled!! They have been helping out with house projects, making us food, and spending lots of time with Lucy. They are the best! We are so grateful!

 

Here is how Lucy has been spending her mornings this week - reading with Grandpa!

So sweet.

 

Love you guys!