Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Best Part of Waking Up...


Nothing is sweeter than Lucca in the mornings.

Story Time

Yes, we are still in Seattle (sorry San Francisco friends...). We have been staying with Karla and Brian while Rustin is finishing a new Sprint/NASCAR commercial up here. Hotel Swisher is treating us right, and they will be lucky if we ever move out!

Today I took Lucca to the local Covington Library for Baby story time. I put Lucca in the Baby Bjorn and with the diaper bag on my back, we walked/sweated down the hill to the library. It was 90 degrees here in Seattle on the first day of fall! Needless to say, wearing Lucca AND my mama bag on my back, I was HOT and hoping story time would be worth it! It definitely was. Lucca LOVED it. The Librarian read the babies books, we sang songs, she blew bubbles, used puppets and more... It was soooo cute watching Lucca having fun with all the other little guys. She listened so carefully to the story and kept looking around at all the other kids when we were singing songs. The bubbles were her favorite. Such a fun experience with my girl.

excited to go to the library...
the best 6 month old listener in the room...

Friday, September 11, 2009

Go Bees!

Daddy & Lucca watched their 1st Georgia Tech football game together last night. It was pretty adorable seeing those two cheering on the Yellow Jackets (AKA "the Bees") together, wearing their GT hats. Can't wait to take her to her first LIVE football game at Thanksgiving. Next, we have to teach her the fight song. And yes, Rustin wanted to dress Lucca in white & gold last night, just like the song says...
I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer,
A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer,
Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear,
I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.
Oh, if I had a daughter, sir, I'd dress her in White and Gold,
And put her on the campus, to cheer the brave and bold.
But if I had a son, sir, I'll tell you what he'd do.
He would yell, "To Hell with Georgia," like his daddy used to do.
Oh, I wish I had a barrel of rum and sugar three thousand pounds,
A college bell to put it in and a clapper to stir it around.
I'd drink to all good fellows who come from far and near.
I'm a ramblin', gamblin', hell of an engineer.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Baby Boot Camp!

Welcome to what I have officially called "Baby Boot Camp Week" in the Chao household. We are teaching Lucca how to sleep! The primary goal this week is putting Lucca on a nap schedule and teaching her how to sleep in her cradle/crib for naps. Since she was born, we have been on the GO-GO-GO! In the past few months, we have taken her to New Zealand, Los Angeles (many times), Seattle (three times).... She has been such a phenomenal lil traveler, but we have unfortunately taught her how to take naps in her stroller, in a car, or in an airplane, since we are always on the move.

Also, Mama was still working full-time for EA (from home!) for the past two months, so the stroller worked like magic to get Lucca to sleep. I would take Lucca on a walk (or even stroll her on our patio) just before a meeting, so she would sleep while I could work or get on a conference call. This has started to backfire because now Lucca expects to be walked or driven around while she sleeps, instead of napping in her bed :) Some days, it feels like I take 100 walks! Now that I am officially a SAHM (stay-at-home-mommy....yeah!!!!), I have time to re-train our baby girl how to sleep properly and on a schedule.

We are on day 2 of Boot Camp. Yesterday, Lucca took 2 naps in her bed. I'm trying out the "Cry it Out" method and it's HARD! When I put her down for her first nap, she cried for 20 minutes before falling asleep. I actually expected worse. For her afternoon nap, she cried for 45-minutes (FORTYFIVEMINUTES!!!!), which felt like an eternity, but then she finally fell asleep. You better believe I was standing right outside her door, ready to go in and pick her up...but I didn't! And we are making progress. Today she cried for 5 minutes before her AM nap, and only 2 MINUTES for her late afternoon nap! God must know it breaks my heart to hear that girl crying for too long.

Proof of yesterday's first successful daytime nap in the cradle:



Thursday, September 3, 2009

Tubby Time

Lucca LOVES her baths. And mama looks forward to her baths every night because it buys us an extra 10 minutes of happiness before bedtime. This week, we are up in Seattle at the Swisher's house and Lucca has enjoyed playing with Lincoln & Lila's bath toys. Last night, instead of playing with the toys, she decided to eat the toys. This duck stayed in her mouth (hands-free!) the entire time she was in the tubby. Hilarious.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Our lil Coco

Well, we moved. And unfortunately, in the process of moving, lost the camera battery so we haven't been able to take many photos, and thus, have neglected the blog. However, mama got a new iPhone so we've been taking lots of mobile pictures of our lil Coconut. We are starting to think that Lady Lucca will become more familiar with us calling her "Coco" than Lucca :)

Here she is, Miss Personality: