Lucy's First Thanksgiving!

On Thursday, November 24th, we celebrated our first Thanksgiving with Lucy. We held our first Turkey day gathering at our home in Colorado, where Bryan's family (Gramma and Papa, Uncle Brad and Aunt Mandy, and Aunt Blair) joined us. Since we were in charge of the meal, and I had the week off, Lucy spent a lot of time with me at the grocery store before they came! She absolutely loved it though; getting to ride in the cart and see the sights, grin at people walking by, and trying to pull unwanted objects into the cart. She was a pro by our 4th trip to Whole Foods on Wednesday!

Our guests arrived on Wednesday and we spent the afternoon doing what Bryan and I do best--stare and ooh and ahh over Lucy and how cute she is. Lucy was a bit timid at first, and stayed near by us, but finally ventured out throughout the week. She got to go for a run in her stroller Thanksgiving morning with Papa and Aunt Blair, while we got the turkey in, pies made, and everything else cooking. The meal turned out wonderful, but Lucy's outfit stole the show. Yes, I made her a Fall colored tutu with matching massive headband bow thingy. Absolutely adorable. Since it was an amazing 65 degrees outside, not only did Lucy get an outdoor photo shoot, but we got to eat our meal outside! The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with the fam: taking Lucy and Bailey to the park, karaoke at Armida's Friday night, going tubing in Frisco Saturday (Lucy got to stay home with Gramma), and of course a trip to Sweet Action ice cream.

Lucy made her best raspberry noises for her Uncle Brad, got to swing with Aunt Mandy, read with Papa, cuddle with Gramma, and have a crawling race with Aunt Blair. She is one lucky girl to have such great people in her life! That said, we also got to skype with my family on Thanksgiving so Lucy could show off her tutu cuteness. It was hard not being able to be in St. Louis with them too, and we missed them all dearly. We are so thankful for skype and are counting down the days until Lucy gets to play with her Nana and Poppe, Aunts and Uncles, and all of her cousins!

We have so much to be thankful for, especially with this new spunky, chubby cheeked bundle of joy in our lives. She is the life of every party (until 6:30) and makes us smile from ear to ear. It was so fun being able to share all her little cute moments and characteristics with our family. It was a great Thanksgiving! Hope you enjoyed yours as well!

Love, The Fingland's

9 Months

The past month has been great around here. Lucy went to the doctor (first time since 6 months) and her new stats are:
Height: 27.5 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 17lb 13 oz. (30th percentile)
Everything looks good! Lucy took her first "quiz" all about how she is developing and she is doing great. We have some activities to work on with her based on that, like putting a cheerio in a clear jar and seeing if she tries to get it out (seriously, who does this with their child?)

Favorite Games to Play: Lucy loves playing at daycare with her friends (2 two year olds and a 5 month old). She chases them around and tries to act older than she really is. At home, she loves playing peek a boo, dancing, reading books and turning the pages, and her keys! One of my favorite things she does is crawl towards the kitchen, wait at the wall, and then poke her head around with raised eyebrows as if to say "Surprise!" It's adorable. She also loves her Bailey dog, and playing in our storage ottoman (aka "Lucy's Toy Box"). Oh, and she thinks that Bailey's water dish, cords, laptop, and outlets are her favorite toys, but we've been teaching her otherwise.

Firsts:
Lucy's firsts this month included: sitting up from tummy position, taking steps while holding on to the upside down laundry basket, learning (and loving) how to eat her puff cereal, standing up in her crib, and making lots of new sounds. Not to mention her first Thanksgiving (read all about that here). She also received her first big "ouchie" when she tried to climb on a plug, then fell on the prongs of the plug when it came out of the wall. Poor thing.

We can't wait to celebrate her first Christmas! I am attempting to make her first Christmas dress and stocking, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to share if they turn out!

Love,
The Fingland's

8 Months!

The past month has been marked with fun, milestones, and memories! Lucy is at such a fun age right now, although I think we now say that every month :) Trying to keep it all straight, so of course I made a list, enjoy!

*Lucy's First Halloween: Click here to read all about how we celebrated (or scroll down after this post to see it)

*Lucky Lucy: This month we got to watch our hometown Redbirds bring home a World Series title (the 2nd since we've been in CO). I used my barely there sewing skills to create an adorable skirted Cardinals onesie for Lucy to wear during the series. Not too shabby for the 2nd thing I had ever sewn. And although Lucy was sleeping through most of the games, she still brought us good luck! I think one of the best parts was watching that memorable Game 6, and trying to make snorts/grunts/whisper cheers/kicking legs as to not wake our sleeping good luck charm.

*Foodie in training: Lucy absolutely loves her solid foods. So much so that she is starting to push away her milk as to say "give me the real stuff!". Her faves include: peaches, bananas, any type of squash (I've kind of been obsessed with carrying home all the different types that I've never heard of/tried), peas, pears (now she likes them!) oatmeal, and of course her staples: sweet potatoes and avocados. We are looking forward to trying a bunch more this month, and start testing out her grasping skills with some finger foods. We also started giving her a cup a couple weeks ago for water, which she loves. Even if she is trying to get the water from the bottom of it...

*Strong Girl: We have an inkling that Lucy is going to skip the "real" crawling all together and go into walking. Who knows, but we like to dream big for her. She has been army crawling for a little over a month now. On Friday, October 28th though, we all witnessed (including the video camera) her crawl over to our ottoman, pull up to her knees, and then miraculously stand and take 2 steps forward! Since then, she is testing out every piece of furniture/toy/etc. to hold her up. She spent the past few days at daycare ignoring toys and kids, just pulling up on stuff. She is also taking after her daddy and Aunt Blair, and LOVES climbing. It's fun to make obstacles with pillows and ourselves and she climbs away!

*Sleeping Beauty: Well, we finally bit the bullet and tried to stop our "dream feed" (feed Lucy at 10:30pm before we went to sleep while she is still half asleep) that had been going on since she was about 4 months old. November 2nd we geared up for it, trying to feed her a little more at dinner, putting her giant Rump a Rooz overnight cloth diaper on her before putting her down, and having a bottle ready to go in case she woke up hungry. We crossed our fingers, went to bed, and woke up at 5:30am to the sound of--my alarm. Lucy got to sleep until 6:20, making it her first full night of sleep with no night feedings--6:30pm-6:20am. Such a sweet present for her 8 month birthday today :) Can't believe she is that old already...

*Learning Lucy: Lucy is starting to use those motor skills (preparing for a lifetime of crafts with Mommy) especially in the past two weeks. Her new favorite toy--a set of play keys--have buttons which she now points and presses, rather than accidentally rolling on top of them with her belly. She loves using that little index finger now to point out necklaces, buttons, and anything else that looks interesting, like Bailey's paws. We also started consistently using some baby sign language with her, and she is fascinated at our hands moving around. She just cracks up when we sign, "more, milk, water, food, mom, dad, dog" and so on. She also discovered on accident that she could whistle. It happened one day at daycare and for the past week, she makes an "o" with her lips and I can feel air going in/out. She's trying really hard to make that noise again!

*Talk Show Host: Lucy loves talking. Well, babbling LOUDLY. If you are in our house at 6:30am, be prepared for a wake up call full of babbling, gurgly, shrieking, sounds. I hear her in the shower while she is hanging out with Bryan each morning and it makes me crack up.

*Mommy's model: I finally decided to buy a sewing machine and just start teaching myself/learning as I go, with the help of some way advanced sewing friends! So far I've made 2 hats, her Cards outfit, her Halloween costume, and am now adding some jazz to her plain gray hoodie with a needle and embroidery thread. Let's hope she lets me make/bedazzle her clothes for a while. She's the best model because no matter how much I messed up on it, she still pulls it off with that extra adorable cuteness she has.

Whew. There you have it. A month of amazingness with a little girl who is the biggest blessing and joy ever. Sorry for the long post, we just don't want to forget a moment of her. She lights up the room and our lives, and gives out smiles that melt your heart. We are looking forward to creating some new memories and traditions as we head into the holiday season! Click on the new picture in the top right for this month's many photos and videos!

Love,
The Gushing Proud Parents

Lucy's First Halloween

We celebrated Lucy's first Halloween all weekend long! Bryan and I made Lucy her first Halloween costume--a pink octopus!

She was cute as can be and got to wear it 3 different times since she had a full spooky agenda. On October 28th, she got to come to my school for the Halloween parties. She came and we paraded her around to various classrooms, students, and staff so she could show off her smile and costume. She loved being at school and loved discovering that this costume makes a good chew toy! On Saturday we were going to attend a Halloween festival at church, but Lucy slept through the majority of it. By the time we left, we scrapped that idea and went to the park to have a costume photo shoot instead since she was all ready. Those pictures and more in her album this month! Finally, Lucy attended her first birthday party for her friends Carter and Davis (ages 4 and 2). She got to wear her costume, and play with her mermaid friend Annabelle, who's only about 2 months older than her.

Although I got very sick the weekend we were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch, we still attended a close by "roadside" version to pick up some pumpkins. Lucy and I then decorated her first pumpkin with her foot print. We turned them into ghosts after they dried, and it turned out great! The process itself was way fun too. She loved it (which is a good sign seeing as though I already have thousands of art projects planned for her!).

Overall, we had a great time celebrating with our little eight(ten?) legged sea creature all weekend long. Despite a gorgeous near 70 degree Halloween, Lucy had her dinner, and went to bed around 6:30, before the trick or treating festivities began. After all, her mom and dad don't need any candy laying around the house! Next year...