Approaching a milestone

Luciana's first birthday is fast approaching, on September 30th! I've been going through all of our photos lately, as I put together some projects for her big birthday party, and I find myself feeling so sappy and sentimental. What love I have for this little girl, who has brought so much joy and happiness to our life. Her first six months were full of ups and downs, sleepless nights and an overall fog that I just couldn't shake as I tried to figure out this whole "life with two kids" things. There is so much about her first six months that just seem to be a blur to me, almost as if it happened in another life (ohhh, sleep deprivation, how strong your grip can be). But once we got her reflux, food allergies, eczema and sleeping problems figured out, it's been pretty smooth sailing for the past four months or so. And what a joy she is! Always smiling, silly as can be, easy going, and just the most pleasant baby I have ever had the pleasure of meeting .... and I'm so glad she's ours!! What a blessed life we have.

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Luci on Film

Seems like it's ridiculously tough these days to 1.) find time to grab a camera and capture all of the adorableness that ensues around here all day long, and 2.) find even more time to dump, upload and blog about said cuteness.

But both girls are napping right now. And we might be on the verge of maintaining a decent and/or predictable daily schedule of things around these parts (which I of course just jinxed by blogging about it).

That's where the iPhone comes in. Thank you almighty Steve Jobs for making life so much easier (and fun!) to capture on film (film? Not really. I actually don't know what you would consider phone pics and video).

I give you, Luci, who has been sadly overlooked on this little blog. I think about it all the time and it bothers me to no end that I no longer have the time to keep up with regular blog posts. Because our little Luci is so fun, so adorable and such a dynamic little bugger (with personality and opinions to boot!).

Here are two videos of her. The first, in all her bath splashing glory (at 6.5 months, almost two months ago now), and the second, of her practicing her latest trick: waving (at 7 months, a few weeks ago).

Easter 2012

Gimme gimme more

At 6 months old, Luciana got her first bites of solid food today. Our little allergenic bubble baby has turned out to have some pretty severe food allergies to milk, eggs, sesame seeds, tree nuts an peanuts, so we are taking things very slow when it comes to food.


She loved the bites she took today and quickly got the hang of this eating thing. Fingers crossed she doesn't have any allergies to other foods and that she outgrows the ones she already has!

Welcome

A few weeks ago, our close family came to town to help us celebrate Luciana's baptism into the Catholic church. She wore a beautiful little white dress that was a gift from family friends and a diamond cross given to her on her baptism day by her godparents, my Aunt Tina and Uncle Jim. She looked like a beautiful little doll and was the best behaved baby of the bunch. God bless Luciana Marie!

 

Three

Our little girl turned 3. Our Belle of the Ball. The big sister of the house. She spent her birthday weekend with Grandma Michelle and PopPop in town for the occasion, and we brunched with family to celebrate her big day. It was a nice, quiet few days to welcome another blessed year with our leading lady. 

New Family Tradition

This year marks the first time that our Christmas tree didn't emerge in three pieces from an under-the-stairs storage room in our basement. We finally ditched our artificial tree and got ourselves a real, live, needle-dropping, pine-smelling, sap-slinging tree this year. We paced around the small tree lot for quite some time before settling on the one we lugged home, and lucky for us, it went up without a problem and didn't require much trimming. It was a fun experience that is sure to become a yearly tradition, although next time I could do without the 68-degree weather. It was so warm that the farm didn't offer its usual complimentary hot chocolate.

Glamour Shots

These pictures are too cute not to share. This particular day, Luciana was in a good mood, she had on an adorable outfit and the lighting was perfect. I took advantage of the ideal conditions and tried to capture the essence of Luci ... yummy baby chub, heart-melting smiles, beautiful blue eyes and dimples (actually, she just has one dimple, but it's delicious), and just the sweetest personality in one little package. This little darling completely has my heart.

Soaking it in

It occurred to me today that I've been "staying at home" for three months now. No work, no emails, no meetings (and, umm, no drying my hair) for three whole months. Yet it only feels like a month has passed since saying goodbye to the professional world. Life is just flying by at an intense pace as Halloween, Thanksgiving and all of our fall birthdays (our families have so many Sept/Oct/Nov birthdays!) passed by in a fog. And now, we've got December and Christmas staring us in the face. There's no chance this month is going to be any different, so I'm just holding on for dear life as we start decorating and Christmas shopping.

As Luciana grows right before our eyes, I want to take the time to savor her newborn-ness as much as possible. I felt like with Maribelle, I was an anxious mess from the time she was born to the time she turned 1 year old. With her stressful early arrival and time in the NICU, I worried about every little thing she did and each little noise she made, wondering whether or not she was ok or secretly suffering from some sort of health issue (vision problems? hip dysplasia? heart defects? Yeah, those were just a few of the ones I considered). I freaked out about every milestone (and the fact that she never rolled or crawled) and was convinced that she would be a late walker. Obviously, everything turned out just fine (as my mom repeatedly told me it would) and I wish I would have let myself enjoy her baby days a whole lot more.

So, lesson learned, right? And now, with Luciana, I'm breathing it all in, trying to be more relaxed and keeping the anxiety at bay. It helps that she's a wonderfully sweet, yummy little girl who eats and sleeps like a dream. She's so much sturdier than Maribelle was, and just seeing her chubby little rolls and cheeks makes me happy and convinced that we're doing things right. To think that the little chunker I stare at all day long is something that I've grown and nourished, all by my lonesome. From the womb to the real-world, she's been fully dependent on my body and all that it consumes and produces. It's so gratifying, so empowering, and so reassuring that we can do this.

Two Month Stats
Weight: 12 pounds 2 ounces (83rd percentile)
Height: 22.3 inches (47th percentile)

At this point, Luciana is still eating about every two to three hours, and fairly regularly goes one stretch of four to six hours overnight between feedings. She still has her fussy period, or "witching hour" as we like to call it, anywhere from 5:30 p.m. until the time she goes to bed around 9:30 or 10 p.m. every night, where she wants to constantly nurse. It makes doing bedtime with Belle a bit of a challenge, shall I say. 

Luci is such a smiley little girl, and is just on the brink of breaking out into a giggle or laugh. She makes a few baby noises here and there and is mesmerized by watching us talk to her. The doctor commented about how good her muscle tone is, which is something we've been saying for weeks because she's so good at holding up her head and keeping it steady. Oh, and, she LOVES being carried in the Baby Bjorn. It's the only way to calm her down sometimes and the only way I can get anything done. 

Another point worth noting, I just had to run out last night to buy Luciana a few more sleepers in size 6 months. And she's only two months old. I never thought I'd have to buy MORE girl clothes, in addition to the countless bins of girls clothes we already have. But Belle's 3-6 month and 6-9 month clothing is all summer stuff. Soon enough we're going to need a bigger house to fit all the baby clothes we've collected.