Catching Up

Lucia has been keeping her parents busy for the past couple of months. She has been on a serious nap strike for almost two months and her appetite is out of this world so she eats every one to two hours. Dad has been keeping longer hours at work and Mom multitasks between feeding, changing, and entertaining wide-awake Lucia while housekeeping, fulfilling job obligations, and growing her home business. Throw in some traveling, and needless to say, it has been difficult to keep you all updated. Here is our attempt to fill you in on what's happened in July.

Lucia finally outgrew her bouncy "Electric Chair". This was useful for zapping her into a calm state and helping her fall asleep. Thanks to Philip, Kari, and Pierson for loaning it to us. We loved you, Electric Chair!

Now Lucia has moved on to standing in her new entertaining jumpy contraption. This thing helps to keep Mom and Dad's hands free for up to 20 minutes at a time. We love you, Jumpy Chair!

A huge highlight of the month was when Grandma Roxana was finally well enough for a visit up to Minneapolis. "Mama Roxana"and "Papi John" came for their very first visit over the Fourth of July holiday. It was a wonderful long weekend. We shared some good food, visited a horse track, and enjoyed our own private, baby-friendly firework show complete with sparklers.

Lucia showed off her talking skills. As you'll see in the video below, she really puts full force into making sounds. Her speech therapist mother is confident Lucia will soon discover that talking really doesn't have to be as exhausting as she makes it.

She regressed in taking bottles. Mom hopes for a break soon. Stay tuned for Lucia's first spoon feeding!

Lucia & Sue

That Tongue!

Tongue is always sticking out these days. And what fun to blow raspberries!

Camp Jellystone

Lucia taking a dip in the water park at Camp Jellystone.

Three Bears Lodge and Jellystone Park

Vacation time! Mom, Dad, Lucia, Grandpa Jim, Grandma Sue, Uncle Philip, Auntie Kari, and Pierson all headed to the Three Bears Lodge near the Dells for a weekend. Lots of relaxation, swimming, napping, and fun. Pierson showed off great napping skills and smiley faces. Lucia anti-napped and anti-smiled.

Unbelieveably, it was cold and windy in the middle of July so we spent our time at the indoor water park. Lucia wore her Dora swimsuit. She wasn't sure what to make of all the kids and splashing and sitting around in cool water.

Here is Lucia anti-smiling.

4 Months!

Lucia is four months now! Lots of changes!

What's New in June

Lucia has done a lot this month. See what's new in June....

No, that's not a baby toupee. Lucia has managed to rub a big bald spot into the back of her head. Now her swirly is just a half-swirly.She's decided that laying down all the time is a real drag and that "standing" allows a better view of the world.

Tummy time is always better shared with a friend...

Things are becoming more interesting...

Hands are for doing lots of things...

...like grabbing...

...and chewing...

Visits with grandmas...

Of course, lots of laughs were had...

And finally, Mom turned 30 this month. She bought a van. She is now officially old...

Baby Bottle Drama

Starting at about 6 weeks of age, Lucia has refused to take a bottle. She would rather scream and starve than drink from one. Mom could never leave the house for more than an hour and half. Since she would have to go back to work for a couple of weeks starting June 2, we were worried. We spent a small fortune trying different types of bottles and worked with her to take one several times a day for over a month.
Turned out that Grand Aunt Carol finally coaxed Lucia into taking a bottle while Mom was away for an entire day to work at a pet event just days before starting back at work. She poked several extra holes in the Playtex bottle, sat Lucia in the bouncy seat on "vibrate", had Ben dangle toys and turn on the hair dryer as distraction, and shoved the nipple into her mouth. Success! 3 ounces in! It's still not a smooth road but Mom is happily back at work.

She's 3 Months!

Here is Lucia's 3-month picture with Rowlf.

Road Trip #4

Lucia has been keeping her parents busy...and vice-versa. She has done a lot over the past several weeks and it's been hard to keep up with the postings. Here is what she has been doing!

We took another week-long road trip to Chicago to visit with Grandma Roxana and Grandpa John around Memorial Day. She watched the Preakness horse race with Grandpa John. It looks like her grandfather is priming Lucia to beg for a pony sometime in the near future. ...and setting her up for TV addiction...

Uncle JR helped with tummy time...

...and showed Lucia how to grab onto her toys.

She visited with friend, Max, who tried some moves on Lucia. She made it clear she was a daddy's girl, though (see bib).

Grandma Roxana taught her some songs and rhymes in Spanish.

Lucia took her first Metra ride to the city to see Grand Auntie Lynn and Uncle Jim's apartment in the Loop.

Nice view!

On the way home, Lucia practiced copying her mom's facial expressions.

Later in the week as an extra Mother's Day event, we took a brunch cruise on the boat The Odyssey on Lake Michigan with Lucia's grandparents, great grandmother, uncle, and aunt. Lucia had a sailor suit just for the occassion.

On Memorial Day, Lucia went with Grandpa John to the big Memorial Day parade in Elmhurst. There, they ran into Catherine's cousin Lynn and her kids Kevin, Matthew, Jack, and Annie. She was quite taken with all the kids.