Pancakes with Daddy

Lucca Dayz

Today was a simple day. The sun was shining and we had no agenda. We spent the day stacking, reading, snuggling and eating gigantic heart shaped San Francisco sourdough bread rolls...

(*not pictured: birdwatching, napping, shopping, walking, tubby...)

10 months!

Did I say 9 months old was my favorite? Because certainly I meant 10 months old! Our baby girl keeps us entertained and on our toes ALL DAY LONG. Lucca is changing every day and as soon as she's mastered one thing, it's on to discover the next. Each night before we go to bed, Rustin asks me to tell him all the new things Lucca did that day. The list keeps getting longer and longer!

Here's the latest:

Stands up from a sitting position. This is awesome...I'll try to capture it on video.

Claps

Says "bye-bye" and "baby" (with a mysterious Southern accent)

Takes more and more steps unassisted.

Snuggles on demand: priceless

Gives kisses

Takes bites of the banana FROM THE BANANA. A personal fave.

Recognizes new words: "tubby" "window" "wave" "monkey" "walk"

Dogs and birds are still Lucca's favorite animals.

Cords, keys and iPhones are her favorite toys.

Little Bunny Foo-Foo and Wheels on the Bus are her favorite songs.

And BOOKS! Still loves books. Goodnight Gorilla, Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom, Baby Hands Love and any animal book are at the top of the list.

She just gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by....oh what love between my Lucca and I.

the Happiest of Birthdays

We had a big weekend celebrating Daddy's birthday! The day started at IHOP in our jammies for endless pancakes. As soon as we sat down, the waiter brought Lucca a balloon, which kept her entertained the whole time. I think IHOP might be the only family friendly restaurant in San Francisco, there were babies everywhere and they actually had high chairs! Always a plus. Daddy was in heaven with pancakes, Lucca was in heaven with her balloon, and mama was in heaven with a happy baby and happy man in a baby friendly restaurant...who cares that it was IHOP!

After breakfast, daddy got a massage, and then my fab parents babysat Lucca while Rustin and I went to go see Wicked (with a stop at Philz coffee on the way...). The play was amazing, and it was so fun to get dressed up and go on a DATE! It's been way too long! The night ended at Hard Knox for some southern home cookin' with cornbread and chicken and waffles for my Southern man. Life is so sweet, even sweeter with a baby to help celebrate! Happy birthday, babe!

Taking Monkey for a Walk

Daddy bought Lucca a new stroller to walk all her babies/animals around the house. Needless to say, she LOVES it.

Favorite Food

Lately, I can't get my baby to eat anything for dinner, except avocado. This is Day 4 of Lucca's strike against every other food on earth, but avocado's...endless amounts of avocado. It's funny because she usually eats whatever I give her. She is not picky. But this week, she is turning her nose to anything I try to feed her. Sweet potatoes (another fave...), nope. Bananas, nope. Chicken with veggies, nope. Cheerios, nope. Avocado, yep. We wonder how long this expensive eating streak will last. She's definitely her mama's girl.

Lucca's 1st steps!

Lucca surprised us the other night and decided to try out walking, just a couple days shy of her 10 month birthday! Daddy had just come home from work, so Lucca was trying to show off for him. All of the sudden, she just let go of the couch and started walking towards him. Her daddy screamed loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear...and I've warned him to never scream that loud again ;)

Here are a couple of her first steps, captured by the trusty iPhone:

Milestone #75: The Nursery

At almost 10 months of age, I finally put Lucca in the church nursery....for the 1st time. Anytime we have left Lucca, it's been with our family or a few, maybe 2, close friends. A 2010 goal of mine was to try out MOPS at the local church in Marin to try to get plugged in with other mothers in the area. I have been meaning to do this since October, but schedules and busyness and naptime have all interfered with actually going to MOPS. Oh, and not to mention the fear of putting our most precious possession, our little angel baby in the hands of strangers. Insert mom freak out here. And multiply that by 100 to get Lucca's dad's freak out factor.

My heart was pounding the whole drive to the church. Then started pounding faster as I approached the nursery counter. Then I filled out Lucca's name tag, stuck it on her back, and wanted to cry. As my throat was tightening up so much to the point I could hardly breath, I handed Lucca to the pretty woman who would be watching her for the next 2.5 hours (AKA eternity). I walked out of there as fast as I could to avoid any tears (my own tears), and made my way upstairs to MOPS to experience the longest 2 hours of my life. I stared at the digital screen the whole time, just waiting for Lucca's number to pop up, signifying that she needed something, or just missed her mama too badly. For 2 hours, the screen was blank. My baby was doing just fine.

MOPS was wrapping up and thankfully almost finished. I was getting anxious and wishing time would speed up when all of the sudden I see 804 pop up on the screen. All of the mama's looked at the screen and were asking whose number that was. That was my LUCCA. She needed me. YES, YES, YES! Finally. I have never moved so fast in my entire life as I did flying down those stairs to go rescue my baby! When I got there, she was sobbing. The nice lady assured me she was just soooo tired, which makes sense since we skipped her morning nap to be there.

We walked out to the car, I put Lucca in her carseat, and she was sleeping within minutes. She did so good for 2 hours and 15 minutes. Mama did so good for 2 hours and 15 minutes. It was a big day. We survived, and thankfully we have the next two weeks to recover before the next MOPS meeting :)

Swinging in January

i love 9 months

Every stage of Lucca's young life has been my favorite. I feel like I'm saying that all the time. She was so cuddly and warm as a newborn. Then a couple months later, she melted our hearts with her smile, laugh and sweet voice. Then she began crawling and playing chase with us around the house. Now, she is on the verge of walking. This time, for real, 9 months old is my absolute favorite little baby stage so far.

This past month has been such a treasure. Lucca is such a lover. There's nothing sweeter in this world than the slobbery, open mouth kisses my baby gives me! When she is not loving on us, she is exploring. She is so curious. She wants to touch, hold and taste everything. She loves when we read to her, and she loves reading her books to herself (which is priceless). She waves at everyone. She goes crazy for dogs. She dances to music. She sings. She eats Cheerios. She knows dada, mama, bye-bye, hi, dog, ball, bear and bubble. Our little baby is turning into a little girl!

And they say it just keeps getting better???

We've gone mobile

Mama's testing out mobile blogging, while Lucca is getting a dose of
Yo Gabba Gabba!

Christmas photos

As the family holiday photos are slowly trickling in and getting uploaded, here are a few pics my brother took with my amazing new camera from my Father-in-law! Thank you, thank you!

Christmas Morning! 7AM!

Loving her new book

Christmas Eve 2009

1st Christmas!

What a Merry Christmas it was! The Holidays are always amazing, and 2009 went out with a bang. We were up in Seattle for over a week spending Christmas with my family at my sister's house this year. Nothing like 12 people (+ a dog) staying in one house, with three of those (little) people less than a year old! Yep, merry and bright. And chaotic.

Lucca's 1st Christmas was a memorable one. Entertaining all three babies during the candlelight Christmas Eve service was a highlight. In fact, I don't think there was a dull moment in the house all week! On Christmas morning, Lucca woke up at 5:45AM, as if she somehow knew Santa had come and filled her stocking. We got a nice taste of what the next 10+ years will be like in our household on Christmas morn. Thankfully her twin cousins woke up quickly after...so in the EARLIEST CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION ON EARTH, the family began exchanging and unwrapping presents at 7AM :)

Too much fun and excitement to capture with one blog post, it was the best time. We took lots of great photos, so there will be plenty more blog updates coming soon!