Just Dance

I have totally skipped all the Christmas posting, and I promise I will backtrack and put up a few cute Chritsmas photos and moments with family in Spokane, for now I have to post the most hilarious music video ever!



My sisters crack me up! They just made a music video to the song "Just Dance" by Lady Ga Ga ( I am so out of it, I don't even know who that is). Heidi rocks at video editing, and with Sierra for a director you can't go wrong. I thought it was worth your time to take a peak, (besides Lucy has a sweet dance solo for all the Lucy fans) so I posted it!



Does anyone else's family do weird things like this in their free time? Just curious.

Hi Daddy! Look what I can do...

This post is dedicated to David. There is really nothing too novel about a baby crawling...unless it is yours! Lucy started kind of crawling a few weeks ago. It was a combination of rolling, getting up on her hands and knees moving her hands forward then backward, back to sitting and then just rolling where she wanted to go in the first place. By the end of last week she did a tiny bit of a crawl with her legs (like maybe 3 crawls) and then, of course, the day David left she started crawling circles around the entire house. Anyway, David had been missing out on all the excitement I have been trying to explain on the phone, so here it is!

And it took about 10 minutes of bribing to get it. It only took 2 seconds once I threw Reeses all over the floor!


While trying to get the crawling moment, I got some hilarious mirror footage:



I turned the camera off when she bonked her head because I was sure she would cry and I was getting ready to rescue her. I couldn't believe she didn't even make a peep and just kept enjoying the mirror. I don't think it will be too long before Lucy can pull herself up on things. She is trying really hard, but has a hard time getting a good grip. Anyway, Lucy has quite the little mirror friend!

We sure love and miss you Dave! We are thinking of you all the time. Lucy says she will work really hard on her tricks while you are gone so she can show off when you get home!

Lucy This Week

I thought we would give you a little glimpse of Lucy's personality these days...

Lucy has always loved her tongue. Now she is really enjoying the different sounds she can make! Watch Lucy's tongue tricks here:

I love this trick. I go around mimicking Lucy all day and am really starting to feel like, just a silly big kid!That is one of my favorite parts of being a parent... you definitely get all that built up silliness out!

With David for a Daddy, Lucy is pretty much always having a blast! If you need some new ideas for play with your baby watch Lucy and her Dad here:


Babies are definitely born with their own personality! Neither David nor I have ever really been thrilled by Mariachi music, but apparently Lucy has a little Latin Sass from somewhere! While flipping through the stations, trying to distract Lucy, we found that none of the stations really did anything, except the Spanish station. She just started moving! For your enjoyment we caught a little clip:



This is pretty much what Lucy is like these days. She also started crawling backward, although I am pretty sure she is trying to crawl forward. The other day she was trying to get closer to me and just kept getting farther. Every time she moved she got a little more upset until she was far away and starting to cry. It was a very funny scene, despite the fact that our daughter was very sad.

We are watching her personality emerge everyday. As much as I thought I liked being a Mom before, I am finding that it is really starting to become an absolute joy! I have moments everyday where I am just tickled by the new skill Lucy Masters or a cute smile she gives me (sometimes I just enjoy it and then other times I run for the camera as you can see). I can't help giving her little hugs and kissing her head all day long! I even wrote a poem about her at 2 a.m. a few nights ago! What a Crazy Mom! Hey when you get the inspiration you gotta do it! And watching your little baby sleep definitely puts me in a "Life is Beautiful" kind of inspirational mood! I am also currently working on a children's story about Lucy. I don't really know how to get published, but after reading Lucy some rather dull stories in my opinion, I thought "I could write one of these!" It is turning out really sweet (maybe I will put a sneak peak up on my blog one of these days) and I am really excited! If any of you are artists and think you could help me out, please let me know! I seriously lack art skills! There are probably 3rd graders who are better than me! Of course, I have seen some pretty bad art in some of these books as well! Anyway, for now...all is well in the Pendergrass Home!

Lights, Camera, Action!

Yesterday Lucy started clapping on command. I asked her "Lucy can you clap for Lani?" and she did it. I didn't even clap to show her what I was talking about. Thinking it was just a coincidence, I asked her again and it worked. After trying it multiple times on multiple people that evening, I concluded that she knows what is going on and definitely knows what "clap" means! She is just loving the attention she gets from it!

Here are the highlights of the video we did of Lucy last week:

Watch Lucy Learn to Clap:



Ever seen the lizards that run on water? We think Lucy takes a close second!
Don't Miss Lucy's Lizard Run:



Find out who wins the battle in "Lucy v.s. The Bug":



You just have to Love David's commentary on that one or maybe I just love it because I'm in love with the guy!

Check back soon for exclusive pictures of David's Rebel Facial Hair!

Little Irish Jig

This may catch you off guard, but St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays. I am not Catholic and I am not even Irish, but I love it! I think it is because it holds so many dear memories from my childhood. I remember wearing green the night before so that no one could come pinch me in the morning before I woke up. Sometimes I tried to be really tricky and wear green underwear so that when somebody pinched me, wrongly thinking I wasn't wearing green, I could pinch them back twice (does everybody pinch back twice if you are wrongly pinched or is that just my family?). I always had my outfit picked for this special day weeks in advance. Then as I walked into the kitchen I always knew that, because the Leprechaun had been all through the house, we would be eating something green. The milk was green, the pancakes were green, and anything else you could think of was green. I think we even ate green eggs one time. Anyway, I used to look all through the house trying to find the Leprechaun. It was really a fun day!



Now, our family traditions at the Pendergrass House include Lucky Charms (okay, we actually ate Marshmallow Mateys the cheap version) for breakfast and Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner (which David so delightfully introduced me to on our first St. Patrick's Day of our married life). Oh, and of course, all of our holidays now include a Lucy photo shoot! I am hoping to develop more traditions as we go along! If you have any really fun traditions with your family please do tell!

Here is Lucy just enjoying some of her family's traditions for the first time!

As for this St. Patrick's Day, I think I finally caught that little Leprechaun. Watch Lucy perform her Irish Jig:



If that isn't the cutest little leprechaun there ever was, what is? She definitely has some Irish Pendergrass blood. I am so excited to have an Irish daughter!


Lucy would like to leave you with a St. Patrick's Day wish:


"LET YOUR SHAM ROCK!"

I know I did!

Daddy's Little Girl

Lucy Loves her Daddy! Here are a few of their favorite moments together caught on video

They love to chat it up! Check out Lucy's first phone call:


Do you think Lucy will be a little social Bee?

Daddy just knows how to do it! Watch this video for tips on how to make your day to day life with your baby more fun for both of you:


It cracked me up when I walked out ready to head out the door and saw David in action with his little girl. Getting a free Massage, what a funny pair! I thought to myself "He was definitely meant to be a Dad!"

Daddy just really knows how to make his little girl laugh:


I put this one up just 'cuz who can resist smiling when they hear a baby laughing!

Anyway this was just a short look into our day to day life with Lucy!

Exclusive Interview: My Weight Loss Secret

Weight is one of my least favorite topics to talk about! It isn't fun if you have lost weight because you feel like people are analyzing you and what new diet you went on. It isn't fun if you have gained weight because ... well...this one needs no elaboration. It is especially miserable if it is some ridiculous new diet someone is trying to convince you to try! If someone starts telling you about a diet, are you supposed to assume that they think you need to go on one? And really what do you say to your friend that has lost weight? You know that they want you to notice, but if you say "wow, you look great!" you are pretty much saying "you looked lousy before," but if you don't say anything they think all their hard work is for nothing! Because of this very predicament, I made a conscious decision a few years ago never to comment on people losing weight because I want them to know I value them regardless of what is happening with their weight.

Sometimes I think people are especially drawn to talk about weight with me because I majored in Fitness & Wellness. They want me to evaluate their diet or tell me about a new exercise program they are on which will somehow make them a good person in my mind because I obviously care about fitness.

I'm actually more of a Wellness than Fitness person. Really my passion lies with helping women to realize their true potential and love themselves for who they are, completely separating their divine potential from how much they weigh. There is nothing more heartbreaking to me than seeing absolutely amazing women obsessing over how they look and feeling bad about themselves. Right now this is how everything in our society tells us we should feel. In fact, if you act happy about how you look, it is so rare that people will probably isolate you because they don't know how to react. This topic means even more to me, now that I have a daughter who I know is absolutely perfect to me and to our Heavenly Father. I never want her to worry if she is good enough for anyone or anything. It is especially important for parents to stop obsessing about weight because those perfect children will model your behavior and be worried about their weight and looks if that is what they see.

I understand how incredibly hard it is to not care about how you look. I used to really hate myself and always be on some ridiculous diet and extreme exercise program, but after a lot of prayer, reading books, help from David, attending a great class at BYU (Hlth 403 R by Dr. Hawks "Body Image, Self Esteem & Weight Loss"), oh and I can't forget going off Birth Control (that stuff can really mess you up), I actually really love who I am, like how I look and try to exercise just for the fun of it! If I'm not feeling it that day, I don't do it and I don't give myself a guilt trip about it. This is one of the biggest accomplishments in my life and it is very hard to explain to people who ask me questions about exercise really wanting to lose weight because I don't want them to obsess about it. I always just want to tell them "Just try your best, but don't try so hard it makes you miserable" but that is not the answer people want to hear.

So hear is how my conversation went a few weeks ago with a friend at church:

Friend: "Wow, Wendy! How did you lose all your baby weight so quickly?"

Me: "Oh, well it's my first baby. You have three kids. I am sure it just gets harder with each one"

Friend: "Oh no, it still took me quite a while with my first and I really never fully got it off. Really what is your secret? How did you do it?"

Me: "Well, I guess I should tell you my secret. I just dance with Lucy."

Friend: "You just dance with her? How do you do it? Do you have a videotape or something?"

Me: "No. I just turn the music on and go to town. She absolutely loves it and starts dancing along. I get so caught up trying to make her laugh and dance that I end up going for an hour. It is really the best part of my day!"

And now you know the truth about weight loss. If you stop worrying about it and just have fun, I promise it is way easier to lose weight! Stressing is the worst thing you can do for your weight and your family. Trying to eat healthy, while definitely allowing yourself to have treats and finding a fun way to exercise is the best thing you can do for yourself and your children!

And now you are thinking "Oh man! I read this whole article for that! I thought there would be some awesome secret!"

If you don't believe me,
ask Lucy what she thinks about life:

It's True. We Really Just Dance!

(Here we are rocking out to our favorite music from "Hairspray." She gets really into it and after the whole CD I have to play Mozart for at least 20 minutes to help her calm down.)

Watching Lucy Dance reminds me of this truth and scripture "... and men are that they might have joy!" (2 Nephi 2:25).

As David always says "A Happy Wife is a Happy Life!" words of infinite wisdom!

I know this is so much easier to say than believe, but really each of you is an incredible creation of our Heavenly Father and if you don't like the way that you are, that is Satan talking. I think this is one of his best tactics against great faithful people. If you can get someone to wallow in self pity you can sure stop a lot of awesome things they could be doing to move the work along.

In conclusion to this ever so long blog I would like to leave you with one of my favorite quotations:

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

So get out there and start enjoying life!

Dance like nobody is watching, because really God is the only one watching who matters and I am sure he loves watching his children when their joy is at its fullest.

Lucy's First Meal

My first meal was kind of fun...

...messy...

...and totally gross if you ask me!

love,

Lucy


Watch Some Clips of My First Meal Here!

Coordination Troubles

This is a hilarious video of Lucy that you can't go without seeing. Watch her learning to use those cute little hands and laugh! Too bad Lucy's New Year's Resolution was never to take her binky again. We sure miss being able to calm her so easily. This video was taken December 15, 2007.

A sample of Lucy Today

Here is Lucy jabbering away. Just a little sample of what she is like these days. Somebody likes the spotlight!

Lucy's First Roll 11-25-07

So, Lucy did her first roll back on November 25, 2007. I couldn't believe she did it again right after for the video camera! I meant to put it up earlier, but didn't know how to put movies on the video. Now, she rolls all the time, but you can still enjoy this moment in history!