Lucy goes to the beach

Lucy's first trip to the beach was a success!  Maybe not in Daddy's book since he hates the beach, but he loves his girls so he took us to the Wilmette beach this weekend to humor me.  Look at our Little Sunshine in her little yellow swimsuit!  I've noticed Lucy loves to be outside and feel the breeze, and we did just that while slathered in sunblock.

  

Another Year Older

The best part of your birthday is sometimes not the gift itself, but watching your husband try to sneak the gift in the house without you seeing it.  Smooth.  Joking aside, I am thrilled with my cruiser!  It's a total Mom bike, but that's exactly what I wanted.  I am slowly on a quest to give my daughter the kind of childhood I remember: family bike rides at dusk, Indian summers with firepits and smores, camping in the backyard, and sprinklers to name a few.

And in all honesty, all I really ever want is my Saturday pajama mornings.  My favorite part of my week is watching my little family play together with a good cup of strong coffee in our PJs.  Best gift ever.

  

Chicago Botanic Garden

Can you tell my favorite color is orange yet?

Lucy and I spent the day at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  I fell in love with this place the first time I went with Jay years ago, but really it was Thora who showed me what Botanic Gardens were all about.  I must have been fourteen years old then, but she opened up a whole new outdoor world for me.

We met our friend Brendan and his Mommy Kim for a play date there!  This time they actually played together!  It has been so cool to see Lucy interact more with people and babies lately.  She always tries to touch faces or anything that makes noise.  The problem is she then grabs on to whatever she can get her hands on and won't let go.  This poses an interesting problem because yesterday I swear I found a dog whisker in the folds of her clothes...poor Roxy.

Brendan the Love Bug...What a Cutie!

BBQ Weekend

Sweet potato face!  My baby girl has been on solids for a few weeks now, and she's so good about eating.  She opens her mouth and leans forward as if she's trying to catch the spoon like it's a moving target.  So while the rest of us ate burgers and hotdogs at Mark and Sue's BBQ, Lucy ate pureed sweet potato and bananas.  Doesn't quite compare, but she doesn't know the difference.  

Even better, Lucy got to hang with a baby her own age!  She shared a nice girl chat with her cousin Maebry who is 2 months younger.  It consisted of mouthing each other's toys, Lucy trying to poke Maebry in the eye, and Maebry eating her placemat.  Good times.  It was all fun and games until a boy came between them...and so it begins:

Sitting Up

She teeters back and forth, and eventually tips over, but everyday Lucy can balance herself longer in the seated position using her tummy muscles.  I'm so impressed by how strong she seems to be.  I didn't realize babies were this strong when so young.  My favorite is the "mini-crunch"...she straightens her arms and legs tensing all of those muscles and then pulls her chin up to her chest, as if she's trying to sit up.  I don't understand why she does this, especially seeing as I spent the evening doing my first Pilates session since my former pre-baby self, and it's not necessarily easy or an enjoyable experience.

I Believe I Can Fly

United Center

We decided to show Lucy a little bit of her home town over the past weekend.  So of course we had to prioritize :)  First, we took her to see the statue of Jordan at the United Center.

UIC

Then we took her to Daddy's college, UIC.  Start 'em young I say.  We had a picnic on the grounds at the school.  Well, Lucy ate prunes and we just watched, but it was a nice day.

I spoke to soon

Kidney Stones 8/7/10

So the kidney stones arrived a few days late this year.  They missed his birthday by a week, but we ended up in the ER again for this one.  It's been a couple years since we've had to head to the hospital (usually Jay can pass them on his own), but apparently Lutheran General missed him so.  Lucy sure was a hit to say the least.  The nurses loved her!

Daddy is back home, feeling 100% better, and finally seeing a urologist.  He's also cut back on the coffee intake, so you KNOW he's serious about kicking these stones now!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

"My Old Man is one year older" she says.  Happy Birthday to Jay!  Thank goodness he wasn't blessed with the infamous kidney stone attack of 2007.  Must I remind everyone about how we had to cancel his big 30th birthday plans for a trip to the ER three years ago...

6 Months Old

One of my favorite pictures so far.  Too bad it was only taken with an iPhone...thanks for capturing it though Papa!  Lucy spent a day snapping photos in Lincoln Park with her cousins this day.  She looked beautiful.

Catching Up

An Amazing Moment.  Welcome to the World Sweetie!

Two Days Old

Our Little Girl

Little Lucy

Best Friends

First Smiles

3 Months Old

Baptism at St. Isaac Jogues

Growing Up

Trip to Kentucky

Rolling Over

So much has happened in the last 6 months.  She's growing up before our eyes, and I can't make it stop!  So many firsts to record:  First baths, first smiles, first laughs (those are the best!), first roll over, first Baptism, first trip to meet Great Grandparents and family, and first teeth!  Ouch!  Our baby is 6 1/2 months old as of today.  Looking forward to sharing our story.

The start of something new

I'm not a writer, nor ever claimed to be...I'm an artist.  But, if I can try my hand at this blogging thing, I thought it would be a nice way to capture a little bit of my baby's childhood, the craziness that is my husband's kidney stones, and all of my bumblings in between.  If my baby can look back on this to have and read as a record of all of her "firsts" and discover how our little family evolved, then I accomplished what I've set out to do.  Now if I can just figure out how to attach a picture...