Welcome to the golden age of babyhood, Lucy-love. In truth, you've been here for a while already. Sitting, independent, and happy happy happy.
This month we celebrated your first Valentine's Day!
Stats:
Should be in 12-month clothes, mostly wearing a few 9-month outfits that we bought, and occasionally squeezing into a handful of 6-month clothes that still fit. (We are finishing our basement and moved all of our storage room up into the nursery, not realizing that we were trapping ALL of Lucy's boxes of clothes in the closet, ha. We've been making do, thinking that we will move the storage stuff SOON, but things are getting a little desperate. I just don't want to go buy a whole new wardrobe.) No teeth. Size 3 diapers. No shoes, ever. Lovely little hair growth, but I can't tell if it's blonde, white, or strawberry. Hats forever.
I didn't take very many pictures this month but here are a few things to note:
Lucy is eating like a champion. She quickly went from puree, to long soft wedges, to small pieces. She likes peas, carrots, black beans, and small pieces of pasta. She doesn't like cantaloupe. One day I had given her a wedge of cantaloupe and it kept ending up on the floor. I said something about it being "just so slippery" but then Lydia started laughing because what was actually happening was Lucy was grabbing the cantaloupe, holding it over the edge, waiting until Lydia was watching, then dropping it on the floor. We laughed a lot about that.
She's SUCH a great sitter. I often put her on the counter while I'm making dinner or doing the dishes. A favorite memory is when I had her sitting on the counter while I was making pizza dough and she reached all the way over and pulled the flour canister to her. She reached her hands in and started playing with the flour, her face the picture of interest and curiosity. She has SUCH a long reach but keeps her bum firmly and stably planted.
The kids have been taking advantage of this, too. Lydia has started sitting her up in boxes and pushing her around. One day I came in and Lydia had put her in the back of our little yellow dump truck and tied her in with her blanket and was pushing her around the kitchen. Whether the dump truck, boxes, counters, or couches - we are loving this super-stable sitting phase.
Lucy is still sleeping in the pack and play in our bedroom. (See note above about the nursery being converted into our temporary storage room, crib and all.) She sleeps the first half of the night in her pack and play. If she wakes up after 3 a.m. I don't even try to put her back into her own bed, I just pull her into bed with me. I'm not even a little sad about it. She snuggles right up to me and we both sleep really well together. If she's my last baby to hold and sleep with through the night, I will soak up each and every minute of holding her tiny body in my arms, feeling her breath on my neck, and letting our heartbeats slow down and keep time together. It also helps because she naps really well during her bed in the daytime, and that makes it so I am not so worried about nighttime.
She is a tough little girl. She likes her siblings and tolerates them quite well. These pictures are a great example of this. I left her laying on the bed and came back in to see that Austin had pulled her up on top of him and was talking to her, and Caleb had laid his whole body down covering the bottom half of her body. She is a happy girl and a trooper.
We've been spending a lot of time with Bruce (and Cal and Sue) lately. We go to West Jordan every Tuesday- and Cal & Bruce frequently come down on Saturday (and sometimes bring Sue with them). I love that Lucy is able to spend so much time with them. Bruce especially loves her and spends a lot of time playing with her. We have a running joke about how he thinks she can roll over, but I don't believe it because I've never seen it. (Everyone said she for sure did at Christmas, but I didn't see it, so...) He often is telling me to come watch, but whenever I do she freezes and doesn't move an inch. So, I would say, she's not rolling yet, not officially anyway.
One day David sat Lucy on this little couch facing forward while he went to get something and when he came back she was on her back on the ground. She must have tipped over and rolled off. We laughed about it. I think it shows that she is getting closer to being mobile because she's starting to be less content just sitting there - she wants to grab things just a little far out of her reach. It's coming, I know it is. But I've been loving this happy stage right now.
-She has a special relationship with my Dad. He's been coming down to help us with our basement and I love spending so much time with him. He loves her so much and has been very openly praying for her. I have felt those prayers in our life. His faith in the power of God is impactful and I want Lucy to grow up feeling that power in her life. My Dad works with the Stake Presidency in the Morgan Stake and he shared with them about Lucy's eyesight. Hearing him speak about those good men praying for Lucy has been powerful and special. My dad has a special special place in his heart for Lucy and I love to watch him with her. I love to watch them together.
We are starting to see Lucy's personality come out. She's exploratory and happy. We don't have any official update on her eyesight. But I'm happy to see that it seems that she's seeing things and learning and growing wonderfully. We are so grateful for her every milestone. The other day, she reached out to grab a tiny lone cheerio on her tan tray and I about cried with happiness to know that she could see such a tiny same-colored object.
She especially loves her daddy. I love to watch the two of them together. David is such an incredible father. One of my favorite things that he does is that he greets her each day when he gets home from work. (He greets all the kids, but always includes her). "Hello Lucy, *kiss on forhead* How was your day?" I love it so much.
She loves her siblings. She babbles while Lydia sings to her and sounds like she's singing right along with her. Austin can make her laugh more than anyone or anything else. She tolerates Caleb, which is so good because he adores her and is constantly in her face about something or other.
Oh Lucy, we love you.
