7 Months

Our sweet baby girl turned 7 months old last week! How is this possible? I can't believe it has already been 7 months. It feels like yesterday that I birthed her, but like she has been with us forever. Lucy continues to be a ray of sunshine in our lives and home. She is the sweetest baby around and we love her so unbelievably much.

At 7 months, Lucy:

• can sit up on her own! She has only taken one fall while sitting and she's been doing it for almost a month. She has great balance and control.
• rolls allllll over the place all the time. She is a little tumble weed and is never in the same place I put her, even after just a few seconds.
• reaches for EVERYTHING! Whether we are holding her, she is in her stroller, or she's on the ground, she tries to touch everything in sight. Who knew the vacuum handle, wall corners, remote controls, door knobs, etc could be so interesting? I try to let her touch as much as possible, because I know that is how she learns at this age. I love that she is so interested and that she loves to learn.
• eats a ton! She still loves to nurse, and she is a champion with solids. Girlfriend eats everything we give her. The only thing she hasn't liked is edemame, which I'm ok with because it is a soy bean and I don't want her to eat a lot of soy. I still make all her food. She loves everything from mangoes to lentil soup and has had no tummy issues with anything we've given her. She still hasn't had any gluten, dairy, or meat- only fruits, veggies, grains, and legumes. I will probably introduce the other foods groups to her in the next couple of months.
• still naps 6-7 hours a day. She is such a good little sleeper. She sleeps through the night most nights. For a while she had stopped, I think between traveling and growth spurts, she was waking up once a night. She just needed her bink and she'd fall asleep again. Now she's back on track and we all are loving it!
• is still toothless, which I love! I thought for sure she was teething a few weeks ago, but there are no teeth in sight yet. I love her gummy little grin.
• is extra squishy! I love her rolls and her quadruple chin. Yum!
• notices other babies and little kids. She gets so excited when she sees another little one. She has to touch them and giggles. It's pretty cute.
• gives me kisses and I love it! They are open mouthed, wet and amazing. I love her.
• loves her mama and daddy. She smiles at us all day long and thinks we are the greatest people om Earth. We love it and will take it while it lasts. I hate to think that one day we will embarrass her and that she won't need us anymore.
  
• has started to notice when I'm not paying attention to her and she fake coughs/gags to get me to look her way. Little stinker.
• has terrible eczema. We all hate it. She scratches at it all day, and even in her sleep sometimes. It bleeds and scabs, and looks so uncomfortable. I'm determined to figure out the cause of her eczema and eliminate it completely.
• loves to suck on her toes! It's so funny.
  
• is still the happiest, funniest baby ever. She smiles at everyone and is just a bundle of happiness.
  

We love our little Lucy! She continues to amaze us, every day. We feel so lucky she is ours.
We are so very blessed.

Tulip Festival

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was a gorgeous day and it was so nice to be outside enjoying the lovely colors of spring!

We all loved this bridge and want to replicate it at the cabin, crossing our stream.

Lucy and her favorite uncle, Luke.

Lindsay and I always wanted these ribbon crowns when we were little, so of course when I saw them there I had to get one for Lucy.

Luke, my dad and my mom.

Joshy taking care of his Lucy pants baby-cakes.

She was exhausted by the end of the day. She was such a champ. She missed 2 of her naps and still managed to be happy through everything!

Happy Easter!

Our sweet girl

We had Lucy's 6 month pictures taken a few weeks back. They are quite precious, if I do say so myself. I was sure none of them turned out. It happened to be during her nap time, she face planted within minutes of starting, and then I poked her eye. I was happy to see that I was wrong, and that the pictures came out beautifully. I will cherish them forever.

I just snapped these in our yard, quickly the other morning because she was being so dang cute.

Our funny girl

So long sweet swaddle

The time has come for us to say goodbye to Lucy's beloved swaddle. I know this probably seems over due (seeing that she is 6 months old) and like no big deal to everyone except me, Josh and Lucy, but it really is a big deal for us. It means our baby is growing up and it breaks my heart. I knew that this would have to happen eventually, and that I would never be ready for it. Lucy has loved being wrapped up all tight since birth. I think it's because she was living in such tight quarters, inside me for so long. Her swaddle always made her feel safe and comforted. It calmed her instantly when she would start to get upset before bedtime. It was our go-to source of relief. She would get so excited when we would start to swaddle her and was always so happy and calm when she was all wrapped up. It was her sleep cue and it worked wonders. We had a little bedtime routine. We would bathe, put jammies on, read, do kisses and loves, etc., then we would swaddle her and lay her in her crib and press her little glow seahorse. Instantly she would turn slightly to her right, arch her back and conk out. It was hilarious. She would fall asleep instantly once she was snug in her little cocoon. She looked like my own little caterpillar when she was swaddled. Her face always looked so cute and fat sticking out of the top of her little burrito wrapped body. Oooooh, I love her.

Our pediatrician told us that once she could roll over we needed to stop swaddling her. Two months later, we have listened to her advice. We tried to take it away a couple of times, but poor little Luc just wasn't ready. She would cry and seemed so confused as to why she was in her crib without her wrap. She never would fall asleep and it was miserable for all of us. So, we kept swaddling her. We would leave her legs out sometimes to try to ween her of it.

Eventually she started rolling over, and waking herself up, several times a night. Once it started to affect her sleep in a negative way, we decided it was time for a change. We started with her morning nap, just to see how it would go. I was dreading this. She fussed and whined for about 5 minutes, but fell asleep! Her nap only lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, but it was waaaay better than I expected. She continued to surprise us by falling right to sleep, and eventually her naps got longer and longer. It took about a week for her to start sleeping through the night again. Her naps are now getting back up to between 2 and 3 hours and she is doing great (most of the time)! She is so funny. We put a couple extra binkies in her crib so she can always find one. A few times when I've gone in to get her, she'll have one in her mouth and one in each hand. As much as I have missed and will miss seeing her little face poking out of her swaddle, I do love seeing her tiny little body in her cute jammies all the time. She sleeps on her tummy now and her bum just looks so cute in her jams, I love it!

Part of me feels terribly guilty for taking something she loved so very much away from her. I know it seems so small but it was the first time I had to make a hard choice in her behalf. I feel like she has grown up so much over the past week and that I forced it upon her- I hate that. I washed her swaddles and folded them for the last time two nights ago. My eyes were watering and I wanted so badly to go get her from her crib and wrap her up again. I always want her to be my sweet little tiny baby, and I felt like she was still so new when she was all bundled up. So, I've been mourning the fact that my baby is growing. Things are changing and it really is truly wonderful, a blessing really, but it kills me sometimes.

She gets more and more fun every single day. She laughs and plays with me. She grabs my face and gives me a big wet open mouthed kisses. She smiles every time I look at her. She loves to nurse and to cuddle with me in our rocking chair. She thinks the wind is hilarious, it's so funny to watch. She loves to be outside! She really is a happy little girl. It brings bliss to my heart to see her enjoying everything around her. She is so smart and I can't wait to see what she chooses to do with her life. I have so enjoyed having Lucy as my daughter. She has been the greatest source joy Josh and I have ever known. She is a wonder and we love her to the moon and back.

Lucy's swaddle journey from birth to 6 months:

And now, without her swaddle. Could her arms be any cuter? Seriously.

Lucy happy as a clam, all wrapped up. Don't mind the red eye, I had the night vision on, or the booger in her eye. Kinda gross.