9 Months

Dear Lucy,
Each month I think you've changed so much, but in the past few weeks, you're like a whole other kid. Complete with temper, personality, and mobility. Yes, you can crawl now! This, of course, has opened up a whole new world for both you and your parents. With your newfound ability comes a lot of frustration. When I tell you not to climb up on something or not to grab something you shouldn't, you get upset and yell at me. Miss Lucy does not like the word 'no' already! You haven't yet mastered going from knees to feet, but I'm sure it won't be long before you're standing up on everything.

Your favorite toys aren't even the expensive ones -- you are pretty content with your hairbrush, empty water bottles, and the whisk. You are very tactile lately. When you're drinking a bottle, you always grab at my face, hair, nose. Now that you're mobile, you love grabbing onto anything you see, and of course, putting it in your mouth. With all  the new changes, your temperament has changed. You're quick to whine, cry, and get frustrated. But you have a lot going on, so I'm going to let it slide for now. :)

Your sleeping has improved. Sometimes you get up to eat, but more often than not, you're good until 6 am. When I'm getting ready for work, you follow me from room to room. I'd like to think it's because you like to be close to me. You have your daddy's and my heart. I look at you all the time and think "How is this beautiful baby girl MINE?"

Love you, baby girl.

Lucy at 39 Weeks

Weight:  18 lbs maybe? 

Medical Issues: A little bit of dry skin/rash next to her mouth that I'm attributing to the new canine teeth I noticed. I put some excema lotion on it which helped. 

Sleep:  She had a few mornings she "slept in" until 6:30 am. I wondered if it was a result of being tired from the crawling, but the one night she woke at 4 am out of nowhere. Her naps seem to be getting better. She'll get at least one hour nap in a day. But mostly she takes 4-5 naps a day during the week. 

Clothes: Fully into 6-9 now! I'm almost afraid she'll cruise right though this size though. 

Social: Still loves people. We are always on the move it seems. Many trips to Target, Sam's Club, the grocery store, restaurants, people's houses. For traveling, she's still in her Graco Snugride infant seat, even though she's too long for it. I can't make a decision on purchasing her main carseat, but we do have one (uninstalled) for W's car. 

Food: Lots of purees. We're up to three "meals" a day -- oatmeal for breakfast, a puree at lunch, and a puree at dinner. I've also been introducing a few "people foods" as deemed necessary. Yesterday she had herbed bread and a taste of spaghetti sauce.

Crying: She was pretty cranky when we got back home, but I'm blaming that on all the physical milestones she just had. It's not easy doing that much growing!

Play: Water bottles! And her hairbrush. And every other non-toy. 

Milestones:  Standing assisted. She hasn't mastered pulling up to things on her own, but when I put her on something, she loves to just stand and clutch on. We also had our first bloodshed from said milestone when she fell and bumped her chin on the way down. :( She's been gaining some speed on the crawling. When I'm getting ready in the morning, she'll try to follow me, but she usually hasn't made it out of the room by the time I'm walking back. I kind of hope she just likes to be around me.  

She also got two new teeth that poked through -- her canines. I wasn't expecting that; I was told the top two would come in next.

Lucy at 38 Weeks

Weight:  18 lbs maybe? 

Sleep:  About the same. Still an early riser! And apparently likes to nap at minor league baseball games. 

Clothes: Pretty much into most of her 6-9 month stuff, though the arms/shoulder area are usually too big for her. She's a long baby though. 

Social: She had her first overnight, out of town trip this week! We stayed with one of my besties in Pittsburgh. There she got to meet/play with a doggie and sleep in a PnP in the guest room. She did amazingly well on the drive down and through most of the trip. She amazed me. 

Food: Purees (about 2-3 times a day). She eats anything I give her, but has a special love for the green beans and sweet potatoes.

Crying: When she gets overtired. She also cries a lot when she wakes up because she must be starving! 

Play: Still likes her Zany Zoo and her jumperoo, but she's getting more content to play with little toys on the floor now. 

Milestones:  CRAWLING!! Wes brought her by the day we left for our trip. Within five minutes, she was clapping (first for us to see!) and then crawled when I set my iPhone on the floor. Fortunately we were able to capture it on video! 

8 Months

Dear Lucy,
You're becoming quite the biggie girl! Every week you bust out some new tricks to surprise me. You are an unassisted sitting pro now! You want to crawl so bad but all you have been doing the past few weeks is rocking on all fours. Also in gross motor skill news, your pincher grasp seems pretty good for an 8 month old. You love to babble and say things like dada, blah, abah, and when you're upset you say "M" sounds so I think you're trying to call me Mama. 

You wrapped up your first extracurricular activity -- swim class! It was a fun Saturday morning tradition, but I think you're on to better things, like outside swimming pools. Maybe soon you'll graduate from the laundry basket in the tub to just the tub. :) You can now sit in restaurant high chairs and grocery carts. But you're super chatty and loud in restaurants, so we've been scaling back our dining out recently. 

Your favorite things to grab are remote controls and our iPhones. You adore bouncing in your bounceroos and always laugh when we kiss your belly and make weird sounds. Your sleep is still about the same.You can sometimes lie down without crying, but often you'll rotate yourself to face the door, rock on all fours and cry. I think you're just really nosy and don't want to miss anything. 

You continue to amaze me, and I love you more just a bit more than the previous day which I didn't think was possible. If it continues at this rate, my heart will collapse from all the pressure by the time you're 5. You're simply the best baby anyone could ever ask for. I know I'm incredibly blessed. 

Love, Mommy

Lucy at 36 Weeks

Weight:  Somewhere between 17 and 18 lbs I'm guessing.

Medical Issues: Nothing really. I'm happy to report (and hopefully not jinxing us) that ever since summer started and we switched daycare, she's been really healthy. 

Sleep:  The past four days naps have been pretty decent in length, but that could be because she's been at home (4th of July vacation). The past few weeks it would take about 20 minutes of crying and rocking on all fours before she would finally submit to sleep, but now it's taking about 3 minutes after I turn on her sleep sheep. Therefore, the sleep sheep is my new old favorite baby gadget. :) 

Clothes: Getting more into the 6-9 months stuff, though some of it is too big, especially in the shoulder/arm area. I put her in onesies and cotton pants to go to daycare, and at home she lounges in onesies. Weekends are dresses and rompers. 

Social:  Taking her to restaurants is getting a lot more challenging. She doesn't cry; she'll just yell. I thought with her being able to hang out in her highchair and nibble on food, she'd be distracted, but I fear our days of eating out are coming to an end for a while. She's still a social butterfly and loves smiling and "talking" to any stranger that looks at her. She's never developed the fear of other people yet. If that's supposed to happen by now, I think she skipped it. She loves people. 

Food: She likes fruit purees after all! I've been getting more adventurous with other non puree food. This week she's had puffs, watermelon, and pancakes. She's really getting the hang of it. I've also started giving her "breakfast" before school.

Crying: Same

Play: She's still in love with her Fisher Price Remote Control. Also Sophie. Blows raspberries like it's her job. 

Milestones: First Fourth of July! 

Lucy at 35 Weeks

Weight:  Somewhere between 17 and 18 lbs I'm guessing.

Medical Issues: None!

Sleep:  We had one night where she woke at 11 am and had a hard time lying back down. She's been a little clingy, wanting to be rocked to sleep and hating to be put down. Naps at daycare at pretty inconsistent, so she takes about 4-5 naps a day. She'll take on in the evening too unless we have company. 

And her new favorite sleeping position. She usually gets into this position after rocking on all fours crying toward the corner of her crib closest to the door. 

Clothes: Getting more into the 6-9 months stuff. She's a lot more tall than she is wide. I just love little rompers on her. Wish they'd be half as cute on adults. 

Social:  Got to visit with her cousins from NC. It's so cute to watch her interact with other babies. 

Food: Stage 2 purees with oatmeal. This week I gave her a banana to see what she'd do with it. It was messy, but I think she got a few bites into her tummy.

Crying: Same

Play: Her new Fisher-Price Remote Control! Still the bounceroo. And when we play in her room, we play with the Zany Zoo Activity Cube. 

Milestones: Just more summer adventures. 

Lucy at 32 Weeks

Weight:  Somewhere between 17 and 18 lbs I'm guessing.

Medical Issues: Her bottom two teeth have popped through the gumline! There were a few rough days where she just wasn't herself (yet not chewing on her hand or teething toys) and lo and behold, the teeth emerged. I can't believe she has teeth now!! Her nose has been a little snotty too, which I attribute to the teething. Still as drooly as ever of course. 

Sleep:  Naps are still short (worse at daycare than at home). Nighttime sleeping is generally okay, though she woke up during the night two nights in a row lately. She's still awakens with the dawn. It's funny to see her through the video monitor because she moves positions; she'll start the normal way and end up lying vertically at the top or bottom of her crib with her head almost smushed into the side. (Thank you, mesh bumpers.) 

Clothes: 3-6 months, though some 6-9 can fit her if it's cut smaller. Still crazy to me that she can fit into the 3-6. She's longer than she is wide. 

Social: Swimming classes, errands, dinners out (which are getting more challenging by the minute). She still loves strangers, but has some aversion to her grandfather. A 10 month old boy at her daycare and she talk and blow raspberries at each all day. It's the cutest thing. 

Food: We moved her to Stage 2 purees, which she likes better. Not a fan of peaches (or most fruits in general), but loves green beans and garden vegetable. I let her lick a soft pretzel and some frozen yogurt. Can I call that BLW? LOL

Crying: Teething. Hungry. The world has to come to an end when Lucy wants her bottle. 

Play: She loves her bouncers, stacking blocks, links, teething rings, and our iPhones. We just got her this cool wooden activity cube which should entertain her for awhile and promote her sitting skills. 

Milestones: First teeth! Sitting up like an expert these days. Rocking back and forth on hands and knees like she's gearing up to crawl.