Our little one

I thought I'd make up for the paucity (go vocab) of pictures of Lucy in that last post. It feels like she's starting to change from a baby into more of a little person. She can do all these real person things now, like sitting up on her own and eating cheerios. She is also crawling for real on hands and knees, pulling up so she's kneeling, and most recently saying "Ma, ma, ma" and also clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth. It's so fun to see her growing and developing!

Lucy really likes going grocery shopping with me- so much to look at, and lots of people to smile at. She seems to enjoy sitting in the front of the cart too, though she often turns around to see where we're going.

We visited our good friends Laura and Michael recently, and had a wonderful dinner and grown-up socializing time after the kids were in bed. Their younger daughter, Naomi, is about 3 months older than Lucy- Lucy was fascinated with her.


Our little crawler.

I couldn't resist this picture of Lucy in her snowsuit. She reminds me of Maggie from the Simpsons in it.

And here's Lucy in her footsie pajamas with her Papa. Matt and I both feel so blessed to have Lucy in our lives- she is such a joy and a delight.

Trees

So trees are already really beautiful in their normal greens and browns (think light shimmering through lush leaves or stark branches against a night sky). But then twice a year they throw a lavish ball and put on extravagant crimson-orange satin gowns (or pale pink and lilac taffeta ones in the spring). Each time it catches me by surprise. I'll be driving down a road and suddenly realize- there's a feast of colors out there, and it just happened, without anyone doing anything. And I get to enjoy it. Trees are like fruit that way- easy, natural bundles of beautiful goodness. Praise God for colors and his creation!

Speaking of which, here's the view from our back deck. We love our view, and the smell of the woods.

A few weekends ago we went for a hike with a friend around Walden Pond- a beautiful day, and the trees were- well, you'll see.

Puddle pictures.
And for the finale, red, yellow and green fireworks!

A few weeks in pictures

Here's a catch-up post, with some pictures from the last few weeks. Lucy has been moving around a lot, and sometimes gets wedged in places.



My mom is so great with Lucy- she has an amazing talent for making her laugh and guffaw, and they seemed to have a fun time together.



Lucy hardly ever cuddles, except when she's tired or hungry (or both, as in the picture below).

Our little munchkin.

An early reader. :)

"Mama, I'm not so sure I agree with what they're saying about post-modern theoretical discourse in the face of the changing politicial-economic climate."

4 generations together!

There's a beautiful wooded street near where we live- it's a dead end and loops at the end. Lucy and I like to go walking there.

There's even a bridge where you can play pooh sticks!


Lucy loves playing with stacking cups- one of her favorite toys. She'll bang them against each other and then when one rolls away, will go scooching after it. You can also see her two bottom teeth in the picture below. Speaking of which- Lucy has two more teeth coming in on the top! We just discovered them earlier this week.

And another exciting development- as of this past week, Lucy has finally decided to start eating solids. She really enjoyed munching/gumming on some dried apricots (pictured below). And then has gone on to applesauce, sweet potatoes, a bit of a whole wheat bagel, banana pieces, and cheerios! Hooray for our big eater.

Way behind

That describes how I'm feeling about most everything in life right now- unpacking, keeping in touch with friends, journaling...and blogging! Sorry loyal readers for keeping you hanging for so long. We're still trying to get unpacked, which doesn't happen quickly when you're working/taking classes and hanging out with a delightfully fun and active 8-month old. We're all loving our new place, though- especially the room to walk/crawl around, and the forest right out back. There's also a street nearby where we go walking- it has beautiful houses and woods on either side.

This post isn't going to be that long (I'll try to post some pictures soon!), but in the meantime here's a video of Lucy "commando scooching" as we call it.

Lucy's the only one in our family who doesn't seem to be feeling stressed or overwhelmed- ah to be a carefree baby.

Home at Last

Hooray and hallelujah! We've finally moved into our new home! We had a wonderful time with my grandparents, but are looking forward to settling into our new place. Below is the view from the back deck.

And here is my mom in our kitchen- she's been a real trooper, helping us move in. I'll try to take and post more pictures once we've gotten things somewhat organized.

In the meantime, here are some recent pictures. Matt and Lucy, in my grandparents' backyard.

My dad visited us last week, before going on to see other family. Here he and Lucy are playing with his ring.

Our little cowgirl. Our cutie in her pjs with Mimi.

Another day in limbo...

So we're still at my grandparents (4 weeks and counting...). We were going to close on the new place last week but there was a last minute snag, so it will be probably another week or so. I have some choice words regarding building developers and the construction industry as a whole, but I'll spare you the venting. Instead, we'll proceed on a more positive note with our usual picture fest.

Here's our little chick, in a cool outfit Jake and Emily got for her.

Lucy and my grandparents have been having a great time together. We'll really miss the bonus entertainment for her, and I'm sure they'll miss seeing her grow and develop every day. Even though we didn't expect to stay here so long, it's really been a blessing overall. Matt and I have been thrilled to be able to go out in the evenings while Lucy sleeps and they man the fort. We've also gone swimming a few times in the afternoon while they watch her. It's also so special to be spending more time with them. We're glad we're only moving about 10 minutes down the road! Here is Grandma, my cousin Alma, and Lucy playing a board game.


And Grandpa playing with Lucy on her own level.

We started solids a few weeks ago (banana with rice cereal, carrots with rice cereal, etc). It went well for about a week, but then came to a screeching halt (lips closed, twisting head from side to side). She seems to want to feed herself, so we're going to try some finger foods and the mesh feeder next. Tonight she had a great time playing with Cheerios, though none made it in her mouth.

Lucy LOVES her exersaucer. She loves standing up and being able to twist around and play with different toys.

I'm reading a book to Lucy here- the page I was on said "can you stick your tongue out like a gecko?"

Lucy loves her Papa.
I couldn't resist putting this one in as well- such a cute outfit!

ps- does anyone know the song reference in the post title? (I'll bet Papa Jack does)

The glories of nature

I thought I'd take some pictures in my grandparents' backyard tonight (inspired by some of my mom's detailed nature posts), and present them here for your viewing enjoyment- isn't God an awesome artist?

Hydrangia

Peaches!
Hill of flowers.
The lettuce patch- we have fresh lettuce every night, which is such a treat.

Here are my humble attempts at capturing the delicate and twirling tendrils of the grape vine (I got very frustrated with my automatic camera's capabilities, but some of them came out okay).