Lucy’s Blog

This was supposed to be a post about our first successful camping trip however 2 very big milestones just happened that I had to blog about. Don’t worry the camping trip will be blogged about-we are just waiting for the pictures from our friends.

Lucy has been teething this past week and we had some really bad nights but while camping Lucy did great. I wasn’t able to check her mouth all weekend because when you’re camping, your hands are never clean. After my shower today (ahhh…what a nice shower) I checked Lucy gums and there was nothing. I thought to myself, “I wonder if I’ll know when a tooth actually comes?”

This afternoon Shaun suggested taking a walk down to get some yogurt. While walking she was chewing furiously on Shaun’s finger. I looked again, and nothing.

We got home and had Lucy on her tummy. She was very happy, inching along on her tummy (yes she’s sort of moving while on her tummy-veeeery slowly). Suddenly Lucy started screaming. I thought she was just frustrated being on her tummy. She can flip over but wasn’t and kept getting more and more upset. I flipped her over and her crying just got worse. I picked her up (which is a sure fire way to get her to stop crying), the crying got even worse. I looked in her mouth and saw a blood spot and a sliver of white. I felt and there it was-her first tooth! She cut her first tooth on the right front! I was sure it was going to be on the left-that’s where she’s been chewing, but NO-right front.

I was amazed that I could pinpoint when the tooth actually came in-around 6:20 PM on April 12th! Very cool.

About 20 minutes later, we had a happy Lucy again. I started feeding her avocado and oatmeal. She was eating it voraciously when a pain wave hit again. I got her out of her seat and soothed her. After she calmed down she pointed at her sippy cup. I gave it to her and got a big smile. For those of you who don’t have kids or don’t remember-this is HUGE. Lucy can show us what she wants now. Shaun saw it and said “Did she just point at her sippy cup?” We thought maybe it was a fluke, but then she did it again in the bathtub. She wanted her ducky and she let me know by pointing at it. WOW.

The munchkin cut a tooth and started pointing at what she wants all within an hour!

This past weekend my Mom, Lucy’s MiMi came to visit. We had a really great time. Here’s some pictures:

Lucy shows MiMi how she can sit up:

How she’s a champ at tummy time:

And how she can use a sippy cup:

MiMi got Lucy some bunny ears and Lucy really loved them:

No Really:

Lucy thought MiMi was pretty fun!:

We celebrated Easter a week early:

And then we had a photo shoot!

And 2 pictures from 2 weekends ago just because they’re cute!

I went to Virginia on a business trip last week and I feel like life has been crazy ever since. I was gone for 1 full night but Lucy and Daddy did bedtime 2 nights in a row with no Mommy. It was difficult! Our crazy life continues with us going camping-yes camping-this weekend. We’re hoping for good weather!!!

Today was Lucy’s 6 month well baby check-up. She really is a little munchkin! Here are the stats:

Weight: 13 pounds 3 ounces – 10th Percentile
Height: 25 and 3/4 inches – 75th Percentile
Head Circumference: 17 inches – 75th Percentile

She was in the 75th Percentile at 4 months for both her height and her head but was in the 25th Percentile for weight. The doctor isn’t worried though and neither are we. She’s a happy, healthy little girl with big cheeks and little baby rolls on her arms and legs. The doctor said we would only worry if she continues to go down in percentiles and/or isn’t gaining any weight, which isn’t the case.

We’ve had some pretty big developments lately. I swear she’s just exploded in terms of what she can do. My friend Audrey posted a six month list on her blog and I’m going to steal it because it worked really well:

Gathered from various websites, these are the 6 month milestones that describe Ev Lucy ;):

– Begins to speak single (hard) consonants, like “dada” (sorry mom!) She’s making many more vowel sounds (and lots of them) but I’ve heard “P” sounds and “G” sounds

– Begins to “tripod” (sits with one hand on the ground for support) and soon will begin to sit without support. She sat up with no support for about 30 seconds last night and then put her hand down and in the “tripod” method for about another 15 before toppling over.

– Is able to recognize each parent and may even begin to show some stranger anxiety. Lucy isn’t as quick to smile at people anymore but after a few minutes of very concentrated staring she’ll start to smile.

-Signs of separation anxiety. She’s started to cry when I’m not in her line of sight and she has to be in someone’s arms at daycare when I leave or she cries.

– Makes attempts to feed himself or herself. This is about the funniest thing I’ve seen! It just started a few days ago. She holds the spoon really tightly in her fist and tries to shove it in her mouth and chokes herself. Silly girl.

– Smiles, laughs, squeals and begins to imitate sounds. This is so fun. Yesterday on the way to daycare she was sitting in her car seat just cracking up. I have no clue what at but she thought it was hilarious.

– Can be content in a playpen crib/co-sleeper/floor/upright seats for a while playing with one or two toys. She’s always been this way but now it’s for longer and longer periods of time.

– Can bear weight on his or her legs when held in a standing position (no, it will not make him or her bowlegged). She’s been able to do this since December!

– Will bounce when held in a standing position. She did do something exciting/scary at the doctor’s office today though-she took a step! Like I said she’s been standing with support since December but has never tried to move her legs. I had her on the table standing up and looking into the mirror and she totally tried to walk towards the mirror! I’m not ready for that yet!!!

– Shows more intentionality during play. You should see her with books now. She wants to hold them and she wants to feel the pages and try to turn them.

– Makes wet razzing sounds. She just started this today.

-Knows her name.

This isn’t mentioned anywhere but we’ve been signing with her-using American Sign Language and she’s started to sign for milk and she totally understands the sign for bathtime. We can’t do it unless she’s getting in the bath in the next few minutes. She’s gets so excited when we sign for bath!

ETA: She’s started waving!!! I can’t believe I forgot that one. If Mommy or Daddy or a daycare teacher waves, she waves back….well she kond of flails her arm up and down but that’s definitely what she’s doing. She’s also given both me and Shaun high fives!

She has also gotten over her disgust with green beans. She’s eats them like a champ now! Today we tried avocado and she liked it so we’ll be mixing avocado into things now. I think the next up is sweet potatoes.

Here’s some silly pictures of our sweet girl:

And a fan favorite:

Lucy turns 6 months tomorrow-can you believe it? I can’t. To mark her 6 months birthday we started vegetables.

She was doing pretty good on rice cereal until last week when we realized that she hadn’t pooped for 3 days. Well that day she POOPED and pooped alot. In fact, she pooped in the bathtub and once we got her out, she pooped in the towel for 10 Minutes!!!! It was quite the poop experience. I called her doctor the next day to see what we could give her to help unblock the situation. The nurse suggested either pears or pear juice mixed in her cereal. We tried that, here was the result:

She didn’t like pears very much. She made that face before we even got the pears in her mouth. Just the smell made her gag.

So we tried oatmeal. She didn’t love oatmeal but she could tolerate it and by the fourth day of oatmeal she was eating an entire serving.

Well, now that she’s six months it was time to start vegetables and fruit. Ms. Azar, at daycare, suggested we start with green beans. I went looking online and figured out how to make green beans for a baby. For anyone who’s interested www.wholesomebabyfood.com is a great resource for making your own baby food. It’s easy and cheap-I got 1 pound of organic green beans for $1.99 at Whole Foods. I made up a batch of the green beans last night and decided to compare it with the Gerber Organic Green Beans that some friends had given us:

As you can see, the homemade stuff is much more vibrant and fresh looking-not surprising. I tasted both and the homemade was edible and kind of yummy. The Gerber? Tasted like overcooked green beans and the texture was awful. No wonder kids don’t like vegetables!

Alright, so here I am all excited to get Lucy started on green beans. They suggest that you do it in the morning so that you can watch for allergic reactions. Shaun went for a mountain bike ride this morning and I fed Lucy green beans. Here she is before:

There’s my happy girl. After the pear incident I didn’t have high hopes but as I approached her mouth the smell didn’t gag her-this is good! But still, she isn’t sure:

Then she decides that green beans aren’t really that cool:

This was about the time we stopped:

Oh well, we’ll try again tomorrow. We can only introduce new things every 4 days or so, so she’ll get something new next weekend. Maybe some avocado?

On Saturday Lucy had her first swim lesson. The lesson was at 11:15 a.m. and we had to run some errands beforehand so Lucy didn’t have a very good nap before the lessons. We thought it was going to be a difficult time, but she ended up doing really well despite being a bit tired.

Lucy Tests the Water

Kickboard Action

Lucy Floats

Lucy Goes Under

Warming Up Afterwards

Overall this was an excellent experience and we look forward to 7 more Saturdays of swim classes. However, the volume of children in the pool area can be quite overwhelming – actually if you’re looking for a new form of birth control you could just go sit at the pool once a week.

Hi there! We’ve been getting calls asking if we’re okay since we haven’t posted in 2 weeks. We’re fine, just busy. Working puts a kink in my free time 😉

Shaun and I were talking about how scheduled our life is now. A typical day:

5 AM-Lucy wakes for a feeding and sometimes for the day. When we’re lucky she goes back down for an hour or so
6:30 AM-Wake up. Feed Lucy.
6:45 AM-Showers-I take one and then Shaun and Lucy hangs out in her bouncy seat in the bathroom to get a steam to help clear her sinuses (we’ve been battling colds since January)
7:15 AM-Dress Lucy
7:30 AM-Get everything ready for daycare, Shaun leaves for work at this point
7:45 AM-Leave for Daycare
8 AM-Drop Lucy off at Daycare
8:30 AM-Get on the Train
9-5:30 PM-Work where I have to pump 3 times. I’ve had some issues with supply and had to rent a hospital grade pump. Check this puppy out!

I’m happy to report that the supply issues have been solved by that fine piece of machinery, fenugreek supplements, oatmeal, and lots and lots of water!

Back to the schedule:

5:30 PM-Shaun picks up Lucy from Daycare
6 PM-Feed and then play with Lucy for an hour
6:30 PM-Feed Lucy her cereal
6:45 PM-start the heater in the bathroom and set up for bathtime
7 PM-Bathtime
7:15 PM-Storytime
7:25 PM-Feed Lucy
7:30-7:35 PM-Lucy is OUT.

After she’s out I have to make dinner, Shaun cleans up, then I make her bottles for the next day, and then we veg in front of the tv, and repeat 🙂

As you can see bathtime is an integral part of our schedule. It signals to Lucy that it’s time to go to bed soon and it washes the daycare germs off of her. Lucy has just discovered that bathtime is FUN. Before she just sort of hung out in the bath. I’d get smiles but it wasn’t anything special. Then she discovered splashing! Here’s the first night she started splashing:

She’s gotten even more enthusiastic about it now and gets mad when we take her out of the tub. Here she is tonight having fun:

That girl likes her bath! I can’t wait to get her started with swim lessons. She can start when she’s 6 months old-which is coming up on March 22nd!!! We went to Santa Cruz this weekend and happened to find a Lucy sized swim suit:

We also hung out at the beach:

It was a really nice day! It actually started off with Shaun letting me sleep in (what a guy!) and getting up with Lucy at 6:30. While they were hanging out she discovered Chunky Monkey in her crib. Chunky Monkey was a Christmas gift from Santa. It has sat in Lucy’s crib (the only thing since it’s a “safe” crib toy) since Christmas and she’s never noticed it. Now Lucy LOVES Chunky Monkey:

We finished off the weekend basking in the sun (kitty and all):

Lucy is 5 months old today.  Time flies, eh?

Last night we fed her rice cereal. We’ll be attempting to feed her rice cereal this month to try and get her used to a spoon.  The real fun starts at 6 months when she starts to get vegetables and fruit.

I got the rice cereal, spoon, high chair, and bib all ready-I was expecting a mess.  She actually did surprisingly well.  She opened her mouth for Mommy and seemed to really like her first taste of “real food”.

Here’s a (pretty boring) video of the experience:

Daddy fed her today-it was messier!

She’s also been working on tummy time. She’s started to “swim” while on her tummy. She moves her arms and her legs like she’s crawling but she’s not strong enough to go anywhere. It’s pretty darn cute:

And now I give you Serious Lucy:

But really she was more interested in her pants. They were so bright and fun!

Shaun and I got to go on our first date since Lucy was born last night. Our friend Amanda came over and watched Lucy’s bedtime routine (in case she ever has to do it) and then after we got her to bed, Shaun and I went out to dinner. Here we are leaving:

It’s the first time we’ve been alone since September 21st! We had a really good time and Lucy never knew we were gone.

Lucy has really grown up in the last week. She no longer needs to be swaddled to go to sleep. She’s been sleeping from 7:30 PM through 6-6:30 AM without waking up. She can now soothe herself to sleep (by sucking her thumb). She loves tummy time now (she used to hate it) and even got her knees up under her a few times this week. Today she was laying on her back and she very deliberately rolled to her side and then couldn’t figure out how to get her arm out of the way. Both Shaun and I helped her a few times and then once she was on her tummy, she rolled back to her back. She’s figuring out how to move around! I don’t know if I should be excited or scared…I think I’m a little bit of both. She’s also quite good at standing now-she only needs Shaun or me to help her balance. And, she’s starting to sit on her own…only for about 10-20 seconds-but it’s a start!

Today, she also got her high chair. Check out our big girl!

We’re really not going to start solids until 6 months but her Doctor recommended that we start giving her a little bit of rice cereal everyday starting at 5 months to get her used to a spoon. Since Lucy has such an aversion to foreign objects in her mouth (she won’t even put teethers in her mouth-they make her gag) we’re going to go ahead and try the rice cereal. She turns 5 months next weekend, so stay tuned for first feeding pictures next week!

I love you!!!!

I got many emails from friends giving me moral support as I started work full time this week. They were much appreciated! I wanted to capture something I wrote to Kim as I think it sums up my feelings nicely:

…This week has been going better than expected. I decided that since I have to work (there’s no option for me not to) that I should just be okay with this. If I’m miserable, all it does is make me miserable because there’s nothing I can do about it. Lucy is adjusting very well to daycare-we’ve had some kinks to work out with bottles and such but I am really happy with her daycare. They are very loving with her and she gets a lot of really good playtime. They actually have an “Activity Plan” for the day where I know she’s doing certain things. She’s smiley and happy when I drop her off and when we pick her up and smiley at home. I figure she wouldn’t be so happy if they were horrible to her, ya know? They also take all my calls with a smile and let me know how she’s doing. I call once a day to check in on her. Work has also been pretty great. Everybody here is so supportive and I work with really nice people. You can’t ask for anything more-especially when you see so many people getting laid off!

I won’t lie, I do miss her and the fact that they get the majority of her “good” (awake) hours does suck but it’s not the end of the world. I’m working really hard on making our time together really quality. In the morning I play with her and then when I get ready I sit her in her bouncy chair and talk with her and make her laugh (she makes me laugh too 😉 ). At night, we don’t eat dinner until she goes to bed so that we can play with her, give her her bath, read to her and put her to bed. No tv, no computer, no video games, no Mommy in the kitchen cooking. It’s just Mommy, Daddy, and Lucy time…

Today was our first weekend day after a full week of work-it was great to spend so much time with Lucy. She’s feeling a bit under the weather with a cough-which she got from the Doctor’s office NOT from daycare-although I’m sure daycare didn’t help matters. At daycare, she’s learned to really like tummy time-I don’t know how they did it but she likes it now. She can also put her self to sleep, which she showed us today:

Here she is with Miss Azar after her first day of daycare-she was really tired and you can tell in this picture:

Miss Azar and Miss Maria LOVE Lucy and that’s so nice to see. They are really great people.

Here is Daddy and Lucy hanging out one night after “school”:

The family last weekend-this picture is up on the wall at “school” so that Lucy can see us anytime she wants:

And lastly, our adorable little girl: