Avocado...Mmm

Hey, guess what?

Avocado is just SO much tastier than squash!

Although not much of it got caught on camera, I opened my mouth over and over again for more avocado. Mmm.

It's Official, I'm Sitting!

I am finally sitting without any support - it's amazing! I just started out of nowhere.

I can even do it while playing with my blanket. Look mama, no hands!

Trying some food!

It is my birthday weekend so I thought I would try something fun to celebrate: giving Lucy her first taste of solid food. She's been sitting up in her high chair so confidently these days and acting quite curious about food when she watches Matt and I eat. She slaps her hands down onto her tray in excitement when she sees us eating - this is her way of communicating "I want it!" about many things.

We went to the Farmer's Market last weekend and bought several winter squashes for Lucy from Rosie Creek Farm to eat this winter. We started with the Sweet Mama squash. I prepared and spooned some into a wee bowl for her. Below you can see her immediate reaction after her first taste from my finger.

Despite the look, she grabbed for more so I passed the duty on to Matt to give it a try. There is quite a range of expression that came from her first tastes!

I shot a quick video of Lucy and you can see how she both disliked and wanted to taste the food! So silly. All in all we decided she isn't quite ready as there were a number of gags and tongue-reflexes that came from this experience. The dislikes outweighed the interest for her for now. We'll try again next week with something different!

The Last Weekend of Summer

Lucy lounged on the lawn today enjoying the sunshine while mom and dad did chores around the yard. She is very good at amusing herself and we think she is pretty independent.

The outdoors is her favorite place to be.

We spent some relaxing time together on the lawn while I shelled a huge bowl of peas. All the animals wanted to participate as well. If only I could have stayed in that spot all day!

Always curious, Lucy needed to dig her hands into the big bowl of green peas. She loves to feel new textures.

For about an hour I watched closely as Lucy further discovered leaves and grass. Only once did I catch a leaf going into her mouth. Mostly she wanted to touch and move the leaves to her side. She would have kept going with this activity except that I decided it was time for her afternoon nap, fed her, and put her down to enjoy the fresh air while she slept. Her concentration is evident by the long line of drool that develops while she works!

Dad finally stopped working for a few minutes so I took advantage of the time and shot a family portrait because of course Oliver and Canute joined Matt and Lucy on the stone wall. Oscar was busy galavanting in the forest. We ended the day exhausted and satisfied.

Our first cranberry harvest

Lucy loves to go out picking berries with us. She rides in her fancy Chariot and takes in the view as she off-roads. We only picked for an hour but we came home with a big container full of delicious cranberries!

She is so curious and enjoyed running her little hands through all the berries.

Little Laughing Lucy

5 Months on a Fall Day

What a beautiful morning it has been to celebrate Lucy's 5-months with us! It was one of those days where when I woke up I could see through the bottom slit of the window below the blinds and the birch trees were glowing in golden amber - my favorite time of year. I got up to make a spiced apple bread for breakfast and then we all headed out for a morning walk while it baked.

The other night Lucy was being very snuggly on Dad. She has just started to let him lay her on his chest when she is tired and she will fall asleep. In the past Lucy would only do this with Mom so Dad has been enjoying the closeness. This comes along with being silly together too!

Part-Time Working Mom

Wow, I cannot believe so much time has passed since our last post!

I am sorry for the absence but since starting back at work part-time at the end of August, I have been SO TIRED! I am at work for four hours a day for one month and the time quickly passes though it is still hard to part with Lucy. She is being watched by the super-nanny, Anna, at a good friend's house. Lucy quickly discovered that if she sleeps most of the time while with Anna, she gets more hours awake with mama. Lucky me, those hours mean in the middle of the night, nursing and cuddling on mom. It isn't all that bad, because I do miss her but I haven't ever been this tired for days on end.

Developments:

Lucy is reaching for things with both her arms. This started this past week. She reaches for mom, dad's face, Canute, the cats, and her toys. Very sweet.

Lucy also does the "airplane" while lying down and will push herself up very confidently with both arms. I find her looking at me this way when she wakes up in the morning since she most often sleeps on her belly - pretty adorable.

I should also mention she is very intent on watching us eat. Solid food will come soon but I hope to delay it another month. She slurps out of a water glass very enthusiastically if I hold one to her mouth. It is very cute! She then repeatedly hold her arms out and coos for the glass over and over because she loves to "gum" at the rim. It feels good where those teeth will come in sometime soon.

So, weekends are spent hanging out very close together and gaining back some relaxing quality time. Lucy does not want to be put down very often and wants to stay snug against mom or dad. We don't mind one bit! In fact, she is such a good baby: we were able to go to a two-hour art opening the other night and then go to have cocktails and appetizers together with good friends at a nice restaurant and she never fussed...just hung out until 11pm. We love her so much!

This afternoon Lucy helped dad lay out the concrete blocks that will line the pond he's been working on. How exciting!