Giggling games

Lucy and I have started playing a game I call "Mama's looking at me!!". I'll look around the room for a few seconds, and then will look back at Lucy and smile, and she starts giggling. We do it over and over, usually in the late afternoon, which seems to be her silly time. Here's a video from yesterday.

Celebrating Generations

It's been a full (pleasantly so) few weeks for us here. My grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 14th! All the relatives got together for a wonderful party, and my mom came for a 5-day visit as well. It was so nice to see her again.

Here are some pictures from the party- the first 3 represent 4 generations of women.

Needless to say, Lucy was super cute in her party dress, and a big hit, especially with all my girl cousins.

Here are my grandparents in front of the Littleton Baptist Church where they got married in '58 and Matt and I got married in '04!

We also celebrated Matt's first father's day with Lucy.

One of our favorite new books is "You are my I love you." It's a series of phrases describing the parent-child relationship ("I am your parent, you are my child; I am your quiet, you are my wild...I am your wait, you are my wiggle." We've thought of a few more to add, like, "You are my alarm clock, I am your snooze" and "I am your stem, you are my flower." That second one describes the picture below (ie, with mom in green and Lucy in yellow/white).


Here is Lucy getting her first piano "lesson". :)


And our little grown-up baby sitting in her bumpo chair. (I think that's what it is called).
Although the picture above doesn't reflect it, Lucy is getting a lot more wiggly and active. She can hold onto blocks and toys for long chunks of time, often batting herself in the head with them accidently. She continues to get more and more alert and aware. She now stretches out her hand when I'm holding her and walking around the house, trying to touch whatever she can. She is such a delight, and is getting more fun every day!

The woodland creatures are no longer safe

So for most of Lucy's short life, her times on the changing table were pleasant and calm idles (she's always loved having her diaper changed), when she would flail her limbs gently and gaze up at the Winnie the Pooh mobile hanging overhead. At some point she started trying to touch the animals, but had so little control over her limbs that they just moved in the general direction of the creatures only to go somewhere else. Lucy eventually grew more adept at controlling her limbs, and could reach out to bat them, though most of the time she would miss. Then in these last weeks she has gotten really good at holding onto things and putting them in her mouth- blankets, shopping lists, my hair, washcloths. Still, the mobile was just a bit out of reach and usually turned peacefully in its little circle.

That was until this past week, when it became very clear to the Hundred-Acre-Woods critters that they were no longer safe. One morning, Lucy reached out and grabbed Eeyore down so she could suck on him, causing the whole contraption to shake and twist violently. Since then she's also gotten Pooh Bear a few times, and I'm sure Piglet is a little nervous that he'll be next. When she's not grabbing them down, she will sometimes hold her hand out steadily, her fingers just brushing the feet of the animals. She also talks to them, staring with great concentration at their little faces.

We're amazed at how much Lucy is growing- sometimes she wakes up in the morning and seems like a whole new baby! She is such a delight and is getting cuter every day. We'll try to post some pictures and another video soon, though my mom is visiting this next week so it may not be for a few days.

In Lucy news

Are you ready for the big (somewhat belated) news? Drumroll.....Lucy rolled over for the first time! It was the Saturday of memorial day weekend, and she rolled over 3 times from her tummy to her back. Since then she's rolled over a few more times (including once from her back to her tummy on a slightly inclined bed). We don't want to be too accomplishment-focused, but it's so fun to see her growing and developing.

She's getting more and more vocal. Sometimes now she just goes "ahhh" for a long time, as if she's testing out her vocal chords. She's also much happier with life in general, and doesn't fight sleep so much. She's a great sleeper- sleeps from about 8:30-6:30, just getting up once to eat.

Here she is in a onesie Matt's cousin Sarah gave her.

Lucy always enjoys going for walks, as do I. I'm so thankful that the weather is nicer now. Walking with Lucy is a bit like being a movie star (as I imagine it). Heads turn, people stare, everyone wants to talk with her (at least we don't have to battle paparazzi). It's fun how she brightens the days of people we see just by being who she is.

My grandparents have been coming to watch Lucy once a week while I work. We love seeing them, and are so glad Lucy is getting to know them from an early age. Here she is with my grandma.

A walk in the woods

Lucy went on her first hike over memorial day weekend. We headed to the trails by Walden pond with our good friends Susan and Brian on a beautiful summer day. Lucy seemed to really enjoy the hike- we were out there for at least 3 hours or so and she didn't fuss at all, just kept looking around and taking everything in. Here she is with Brian.


Our "chirpie birdie" as I call her. The group of us, about to head up a Steep (with a capital S) hill.

It was so green and lush- I love the New England woods. We got lost a few times (where are those breadcrumbs when you need them!?!) so our hike was extra long, but it was great exercise and so wonderful to be outdoors.

College reunion plus 5 little ones!

So it's been a bit longer than a few days since the last post. Life with an almost 4 month old, what can I say?

Back to two weekends ago. The fun started Friday night with dinner with friends from college. Matt and Tara were in town for a wedding, and Michael and Laura graciously hosted us all at their place (3 couples and 5 kids between us!). We had a really wonderful time together- it's always a delight to be with old friends (Matt, Tara, Laura and I all went to college together).

Matt with his son Emmett and Michael with his daughter Naomi.


Irene (Matt and Tara's daughter) in the front and Sabrina (Michael and Laura's daughter) in back. The girls got along well, and had fun dancing together later in the evening.
Emmett showing Lucy how to play with the block.
Our family.
Matt, Tara, Irene and Emmett.
Sadly we didn't get a family photo of Laura and Michael, as they were being awesome hosts and getting dinner ready!
The next day a friend from our small group came over for lunch and helped with stuff around the house (such a blessing!), and then we had dinner with other good friends from our small group. On Sunday we had a super fun and relaxing picnic with dear friends in Brookline, and then on Monday we went hiking in Walden Pond, which brings us to our next post...

Giggling!

Lucy has been smiling and laughing a lot more of late. Sometimes she looks up at me while I'm eating and laughs- apparently it looks pretty funny. We managed to catch a bit of her giggling on camera- enjoy!

More to come on our fabulous, friend-filled memorial day weekend in the next few days...