Sunday, October 31, 2010

Is Halloween over yet?


We are still about 2 hours away from a festive night of trick-or-treating. I hate to say it, but I'm over it. After Friday at my office, the Villa Park Community Center Festival, and gorging on candy all day - I'm ready for Thanksgiving.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

My Nina...

Nina….
I love my daycare provider. She is the most amazing and kind woman. And the best part is that LJ loves her. I generally try and give her a hug and a kiss before we walk through the door. Once we get inside, Lucy starts making her “well hello there” sounds and lunges out of my arms to get to Nina.

“Buenos días Lucilla. ¿Quieres que tu leche?” Meanwhile, arms are flapping, teeth are showing (I swear she shows you her teeth when she is smiling), and there is zero interest in mama anymore.

I thought I was going to be way more neurotic about my LJ. Nina has done a few things that have caught me off guard. But then I remember that she has been doing this for 30 plus years. While some things she does may be frowned upon (i.e., popsicles for teething, pizza crust for hand-mouth coordination, etc.), Nina is raising my daughter with as much care and attention as I would. I think she loves LJ as much as I do - and vise versa.

She is so flexible and accommodating. Every afternoon, LJ is singing a song, playing with toys, eating delicious smelling home made food… life is so simple when you are a baby.

A few months ago Nina offered to watch LJ overnight so that I could have a little shindig at my house. When I walked through the door (albeit a little slow) the next morning, Nina had LJ bouncing in her arms. “Look Lucilla, it’s the woman who watches you at night.”

Sad, but true.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The simple things...

Don't get me wrong - I was ridiculously excited when LJ started crawling, the first smile she gave mama, and when her little razor-sharp teeth came in... but the best thing I've experienced to date has been her bringing her chubby little hands together.

Clapping! Our average afternoon consists of us sitting on the living room floor, singing silly songs and saying, "clap clap clap." She gets so excited and starts slapping her thighs (seriously - she slaps her legs so hard they get red), and then she realizes that mama is telling her to clap. Her little cabbage patch "where are my knuckles" fingers come together and she starts mimicking the "clap" sound. It makes me want to cry every single time.

I'm a silly woman. I don't know why it makes me so happy.

(and I wish I had an uber-cute photo of her clapping - I suck)

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

8.5 months old....


Where did the time go? I can't believe I haven't been keeping this up. At first I thought it would be a great idea to jot down my daughter's life on a weekly basis - something cool for her to read. Years later when she looks at this, she will only be thinking that her mother is a flake.

As I sit here on the couch writing this blog, my husband and daughter are sitting on the floor in front of me. She is up on her knees playing with the hubby's awesome stereo (hello class of 1983!) She is so freaking big!! She crawls, talks non-stop (no idea where she got that from), has 6 teeth, says dada, loves to splash, laughs, smiles and flirts with every passer-by. I can't believe she is already 8.5 months old.

I still cannot go to Target or the grocery store without being stopped my people admiring my beautiful baby. Her big blue eyes melt every heart she smiles at, and her chubby(yyy) thighs scream to be pinched.

Luckily for me, I've finally gotten my body back. Just as my sister said, "9 months up - 9 months down." Who thought that'd be true?!

It is now my official goal to post at least twice a week. Ms. Lucy is getting too big too quick for me not to keep up with this thing.