Enjoying Morocco

We're having a great time with my family in Morocco. Lucy was such a trooper on the flight over, despite only getting 6 hours of sleep combined that night (the usual is 13 1/2). She's a big fan of her cousin Sam, always crawling over to where he is. They especially enjoy playing in a gigantic fort John made out of cardboard boxes. Lucy's other favorite is a tricycle- she holds onto the handlebars and walks with it in circles, as long as we make sure it doesn't go too fast.

I haven't uploaded any pix from the trip yet, so in the meantime here are some from the past few weeks before we left.

Lucy usually is standing up in her crib when I come into get her after naps.

She also likes crawling into small places.

Here is Lucy with Juanita, our wonderful babysitter. I've been trying to get a good picture of them together, but this is the best we have so far. She's very playful and keeps Lucy amused while I work.

Our thoughtful sweetheart.

It's good to be alive, isn't it?

My uncle Clark and his girlfriend, Kelly, were over recently. She was quite fascinated by his adult beverage, but don't worry- she didn't get a sip in. :)

Our (still in process) home

I've been promising to put up some pictures of our new home. With our delightful 10-month old, setting up has taken a little longer than we'd hope, but the rooms are getting there.

Below is our front hallway.



Here is our dining room and back deck, with place cards from Thanksgiving.

Here is a picture of the living room- this is the front half. It's much more in process than the other rooms.

That's all for now- upstairs to follow at a later date!

Things that make me happy

So I've been saving up pictures of a few things that make me happy (aside from my wonderful family and friends, of course). Who knows, maybe this will be an ongoing blog series!

I've started painting a bit again. This is quite different from what most of you probably think of painting- I use kid paint, big brushes, and large pieces of paper (the one below is abt 3 feet tall by 5 feet wide). I just love mixing the different colors.


I've been taking the commuter rail into work 1 day a week. Each time I ride, the conducter punches a hole in the 12-ride pass. Apparently each conducter has a different hole punch, and I love seeing what the newest one is.

And finally, my Whole Foods recyclable bags. I used to feel awful about how many plastic bags we used shopping, and then they'd overflow in our closet. So I finally went out and bought a whole bunch of recyclable bags. They're so pretty and environmentally friendly, and I feel so happy to not be wasting plastic bags.

Feast

Happy Thanksgiving, faithful blog readers!


Now that we've all enjoyed the traditional culinary banquet, here is a feast of Lucy pix and videos, starting with a few pictures from our trip to Philly earlier in November.

Our little mountain goat. She climbed up onto the suitcase but couldn't get back down.

Like father, like daughter.

Having fun at the hotel. As I recall, we were rocking out singing ABBA's "Super Trooper" at this point.Another picture of our smiley one.
And just so you see that she does have other expressions...

She's quite an eager crawler these days, and can really pick up speed.

We noticed that whenever we brushed our teeth Lucy would climb over and pull up on us, trying to get the toothbrush. So I got her a little toothbrush, which she loves. As soon as we give it to her she puts it right in her mouth and chomps away.

I love this sweater my mom got for Lucy.

And now here are a few videos. Sometimes Lucy has fun making different noises- one of her favorites is the raspberry, which she'll do for a long time, as you can see in this one.

Lucy also plays her version of soccer, pushing something ahead of her and then chasing after it (in this case, a tupperware).

Just this past week Lucy has started climbing stairs (with our close supervision, of course). She also has become even more talkative- lots of "ba, ba, ba's" and "da, da, da's".

Keeping up with Lucy

At least, that's what we've been trying to do, now that she's crawling (or should I say, speeding) around. She can move at quite a good clip, and is keeping us on her toes. She is also now loves pulling herself up onto her knees and feet using any available furniture or surface. I captured one of her first attempts a few weeks ago.

She's much more adept now, and is quite good at balancing and even leaning over to try and touch the floor. She hasn't quite mastered the sitting back down part, though.

Many more pictures to come, once I get them off my camera, including some fun shots from our hotel room in Philly (we were there the week before last for my work conference).

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!