Since I'm only starting this blog now, I thought I'd stick all the updates I've emailed to family and friends in the first post, just to get up to date.
Let's start at the beginning:
Lucy's Newborn Photos
This is an online album hosted by the friendly folks who came to the hospital to photograph our little bundle, less than 24 hours after her grand entrance. She's so beautiful... I wish she still slept so peacefully...
Enjoy a few of my personal favorites from her first month at home :)
Mark said:
"All the hyperbole about parenthood is true. I'm so in love with this
little girl that we made. I was completely unprepared for the intensity
of it. Here's a quote I like: "
Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is
to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your
body." ~Elizabeth Stone (Incidentally, I'm glad other, more
eloquent people are also parents, so I can borrow their words.) She's
perfect. Every sound she makes tugs at my heart, and every face is just
adorable. I feel like she's an old soul.
Today she's 4 weeks old! Yay! Practically speaking, we're all doing very well.
Lucy
is gaining weight steadily; she's perfectly healthy. Eating well...
pooping well... sleeping -- um... Hey, at least she's sleeping. She's on
a pretty random schedule right now, which is a bit of a headache,
especially for Julia, who has be the one to feed her. Very soon Dad will
be helping Mom out by feeding with a bottle. We've been able to keep
her only on breast milk, which is supposed to have significant immune
benefits for
Lucy (apparently, Julia gives antibodies to
Lucy right through the milk! Isn't that amazing?).
Lucy
hasn't gotten to be very interactive yet, so all her toys are still new
and un-puked upon. Everyone says she looks lots like me; when she was
born, I couldn't see anyone's face in her except for my mom. Now, she
looks more like her own self, but the most distinct features (mouth,
nose, furrowed/worried brow) seem to come from me. She still has
beautiful, dark blue eyes - we think she'll either keep those or go
green. I look closely every day for Julia's features to show up - so
far, she has dainty, slender feet like Julia... I'm sure more will show
up!
"
After that, it took me quite a while to get collected enough to start updating... But now I get a chance to make up for it, by posting tons of photos here!
Lucy at one month old:
A cool side-by-side showing how much she grew during her second month :)
2 months:
3 months:
4 months: (next to the outfit she came home from the hospital in)
playing with finger paints:
This is the point where I started to send email updates to our friends and family, in the spirit of keeping everyone up to date!
August 1, 2012:
"Luciella reached 5 months today!
Her milestones for the last couple
weeks include sitting up on her own, pinching (does that count as a
milestone?), and putting herself to sleep at night. She can now sit
without support for several minutes at a time, only losing her balance
and falling over when she tries to reach for things beside her or out of
her reach. She's pretty good at falling without hurting herself,
although it gives Mommy a bit of a scare - especially when she falls
forward! We're a little less proud of her pinching... She met her baby
cousin, Amelia (Re and Charlie's daughter), on Sunday, and the first
thing she did was grab her arm and pinch. Poor Amelia! Although
Lucy
has been sleeping through the night (mostly) in her own crib for a
couple of months now, just in the last week she has resisted being
rocked to sleep. It breaks my heart, but she wants me to put her down
in the crib and let her fall asleep on her own :(. I kind of miss my
little baby, although every new stage is amazing in its own way :)
It's been a big month for our little girl. In July she got a new
baby cousin and a new baby friend (Kho and Nicole's little boy,
Benjamin), took her first (second, third, fourth, and fifth) airplane
ride, met her great-aunts, great-grandparents, Aunts Michelle & Liz,
and many of her cousins on her Daddy's side, experimented with finger
paints, attended her Uncle John & Aunt Megahn's wedding, took her
first swim, and (much to my relief) started napping in her crib.
Lucy's favorite things right now include
soft things, like stuffed animals, the indestructible books Aunts Carol
& Maggie gave her, and toys she can manipulate on her own (and put
in her mouth). She likes music, and bobs her head to the rhythm. She
also loves water! We went swimming for the very first time in Aunt
Carol & Aunt Maggie's pool while we were in New York last week, and
she couldn't get enough of it. She looked pretty adorable in her little
bathing suit and floaty :)
I hope you enjoy these photos!"
Shortly after we got home from New York, Charlie set up a photo studio in our living room, and we had our very first family photo taken!
On August 26, 2012, I sent this update:
"As of last Wednesday,
Lucy weighs 15lbs 10oz, and is 25" tall!
In the
last two weeks,
Lucy has started pulling up on EVERYTHING. She still
can't get herself to sitting (or standing) from laying down, but if she
is sitting up within reach of anything, she pulls herself to her feet.
As a result (and on the doctor's recommendation), we lowered the crib
mattress to the lowest setting last week so she can't stand up and fall
out. We also started "solid" foods, beginning with banana, then trying
pears, and finally spinach. So far, she likes it all!
We can't believe she's nearly 6 months old already - the time has
really flown by. She's really starting to show us her unique
personality, with a love for music and books, and a healthy stubborn
streak (we have NO idea where that came from...). Every new stage comes
with new excitement. We can't wait to see what comes next!"
Then I missed a couple months, while trying to settle into my new role as Mommy-who-goes-to-school. Here are a few photos to fill in the gap :)
6 months:
7 months:
Most recently, on November 2, 2012, I sent the following update:
"
Lucy is 8 months old!
In the last few weeks,
she finally figured out real crawling, and learned to climb the step
between the playroom and the dining room... Prompting us to frantically
install baby gates and move the fish tank. She's pulling up on
everything, and practicing letting go to stand without holding on (which
is terrifying to Mommy and Daddy), and cruising along the edges of all
the furniture. She also figured out all by herself that she could pull
up on the step-stool, and push it around like a walker! We're pretty
sure she'll be walking before Christmas, at this rate!
We've started solid foods, and Mommy is making most of the baby food
so far. It isn't really as hard as it sounds... Especially with a
personal blender on hand. So far, she loves oatmeal with blueberries,
isn't sure how she feels about spinach, and can't stand watermelon. She
really, really likes the Gerber cereal puffs, but I think it's mostly
because she gets to practice eating with her fingers. She isn't very
good at picking things up with her thumb and finger yet, but she's
determined to master it :)
Lucy also really enjoys playing with a sippy cup, and sometimes manages to drink out of it.
With all this new activity, she isn't sleeping very well at night.
She's suffering a little separation anxiety, and I think she has trouble
shutting off her brain and settling down. Fortunately for me, Mark is
amazing and gets up with her a few nights a week so I can sleep."
Follow this link to an awesome slideshow of the photos Uncle Charlie took of Lucy at 8 months:
8 month slideshow
And here are a few snapshots of her playing :)
Being a Mama sure has a lot of ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade my life for anybody's. Yesterday morning, Lucy said her first word: "MAMA"!!! It melted my heart. One of the oh-so-frequent moments that reminds me why I'm missing so much sleep <3
