Doggies. . .

Jeopardy here we come. At nine months old, my little fatty can now say quite a few words:

Dad/Dada
Cup (she likes to yell this out when she’s holding her bottle cap)
Dog/Doggie

LJ came with mommy last night to a Cookie Lee Jewelry party (a clever excuse to drink margaritas and gossip). The host of the party, Ms. Erin, has a sweet little mutt of a dog named Hannah. LJ lost her mind when she spotted this small dog - lost her mind in an arms flapping, drooling, Pterodactyl noises kinda way. Unfortunately for Hannah, LJ had 4 pounds on her. Luckily for Hannah, Lucy is still slightly slow and easily distracted. Oh yeah…the point: LJ kept pointing to the dog, staring at me, and saying “dog.” I was so proud.

The big question is why can’t the little fatty say Mama? Really? My ass grew to the size of Texas while I created kidneys and lungs for you - and you can’t say Mama?

Hopefully having an older brother who never shuts up (remember the day I wished he would talk more?) will help Lucy be advanced in the language department. Hopefully not in the “act like a 5 year old boy” sort of way. Holy crap!

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.

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.

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)

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.

Food...

(Yes, I suck - it's been forever!)

Ms. Lucy June has moved onto solids. She has been eating food for about 3 weeks now. Oddly enough, her favorite things to eat are veggies. Peas, Carrots, Squash, Sweet Potatoes...she loves them all.

We have also developed teeth!!! Her first one popped in the beginning of June, and the second one followed shortly after. She's been practicing her biting skills on mommy. Each time I pull her off and say "no biting," she laughs at me. Apparently it's funny when mama talks sternly.

We've also learned to laugh. A real laugh. Straight from the gut-baby giggle. When we sing "wheels on the bus" she cracks up when we get to the "horn on the bus" part. And the amazing baby skill of getting our feet into our mouth is a serious rib-tickler.

Next week will be our first High Sierra Music Festival. I can't wait to be a hippie and whip my boob out without a cover. Kinda funny that I'm most excited about the most natural thing about being a mommy.

Mama's been practicing with Photoshop...

Slacker...

Man...this working mom thing is hard work. My day begins at 4:45 a.m. and doesn't end until 10:00 p.m. I've barely had time for myself, let alone tend to my ramblings.

So It's been almost two full weeks that I've been back at work. Honestly, it's been easier than I thought it would be. Having an amazing daycare lady to take chubby to as made it so much easier. I feel like I'm dropping her off at my grandmother's house.

Pumping has been pretty easy too. I've mastered the art of taking over our mini-break room (aka the "lactation closet") three times a day to pump out my liquid gold. The stock-pile of milk bags (or "white bricks" as the hubby calls 'em) in the freezer is quite impressive. The only disadvantage to her taking the bottle all day, is that she wants to nurse non-stop when we get home. I feel like I'm hooked up to a milking machine for hours.

The hard part of going back to work is only seeing her for 4 hours a day. Who invented this concept? Who said we should procreate, fall madly in love with our little mini-me's, and then go back to work for the entire day. As much as I love my job, I love my baby more. I wish there was a way to find a happy medium.

One more day and I get two full days with my baby... I can't wait (plus MiMi is here).

p.s. I know I shouldn't say this because karma is a bitch, but my daughter is a grumpy girl when I have to wake her up in the morning. She's used to sleeping until 7:30 and now mean-mama wakes her up at 5:45 a.m.