742 Days

Two weeks ago at the school's open house, I signed up for the PEA (Parent Educators Association). Last week, I got my first call for volunteer services- for the Scholastic Book Fair! I love books so I was really excited and signed up to volunteer on Tuesday. I dropped Lucy off with a good friend and got to the school around 9:00am. I wasn't scheduled to volunteer until 9:30am so I stopped by Arianna's classroom to say hi and to let her teacher know not to put her on the bus after school (since I would be there when she got out). She was SO excited to see me! I wasn't able to stay long, but I definitely want to go back soon so that I can see everything she does in the classroom. I gave her a hug before I left and as I went out the door, I heard a little boy ask her, "Why did your mom give you a hug?" She replied, "Because my mommy LOVES ME!" It melted my heart and I'm happy that she's not (yet) to the point that she's embarrassed by me hugging her <3

I started my volunteer shift at 9:30am and actually had a lot of fun. A few of the classrooms had signed up to come in so that the kids could make wish lists of all of the books they wanted to show their parents. Some of the kids had brought money with them to buy books. Watching how excited the kids got picking out their books and then paying for them by themselves was just adorable and I couldn't wait to bring Arianna (her class didn't sign up to go during the day)!

Arianna came straight to the library after school and immediately started plucking books off of the shelves and putting them in a pile. I just can't say no to books so we ended up getting them all. We actually did need some new books though as we've been reading the same ones over and over at bedtime. My shift ended, we paid for our books and went home for a few hours before heading back again for the ice cream social.

So excited to get some new books!

She has very eclectic taste in books.....

We were one of the first families to arrive at the ice cream social so we headed back into the book fair before it got too busy. Arianna looked at everything again before bringing me a book called Princess Party by Joy Allen. I hadn't planned on buying any more books since we had bought so many earlier in the day, but she explained that she wanted to buy it for her friend Noelani since Noelani wasn't able to come to the book fair that evening. Let me tell you, it's a great feeling when your child comes to you, with no prompting, wanting to do something for another person. We bought the book and Arianna gave it to her at school today. She came home and told me excitedly, "Noelani loves her book, mommy!" It makes me so incredibly proud that doing nice things for others brings my little girl such joy.

A special guest at the ice cream social!

738 Days

TEN MONTHS!

Eating:
She's still got a hearty appetite and will eat almost anything that's put in front of her. I don't think we've added any new foods this month, just the same stuff that she's had before. I did buy her some of the Plum Organics Just Fruits pouches after she had one at a playdate's house and loved it. We started with the small pouches, but I think we might try some of the bigger ones because they are a combination of fruits and veggies and she went through the small pouch really quickly and still wanted more. I also like them because it allows her to eat things that aren't really easy for me to prepare (ex: blueberries. Straining blueberries takes way too much time for the small amount of puree that you end up with, but I can't give them to her straight because they would be a choking hazard) while still feeding herself.

She did sample some grass during the photoshoot....

Sleep:
I've come to accept that the days of Lucy being a good sleeper are long gone. I'm not sure if it's her teeth or if she's just grown used to waking up multiple times a night to nurse, but her sleep habits haven't gotten any better since the last update. The other "problem" is that she seems to have become a very light sleeper. Any amount of noise, light, or movement wakes her up. She sleeps for a good two hours after she initially goes down, but once she wakes up for that first night feeding, she just can't seem to get back to that deep sleep.

A short nap....

She still sleeps the best when she's sleeping on me....

Milestones:
Walking! On September 22nd, motivated by the cookie I was eating, Lucy stood up and walked across the room without stumbling or falling once (hey, I told you she loves food). It was probably about 10-15 steps. She hasn't taken that many since then, but she can take between 5-10 without a problem. Unfortunately, I didn't get her on video because I really wasn't expecting it and didn't have time to grab anything to record her.

Waving! She waves bye-bye when Daddy leaves for work and Ari leaves for school. It's a backwards wave, but that makes it even cuter.

Kisses! She just picked this one up in the past couple of days. If you give her a kiss or make a kissing sound at her, she will mimic it. Sometimes she will also open her mouth and give you a slobbery baby kiss.

Weight/Height:
20.3 pounds (with a diaper) and 28 inches and starting to move out of 9 month clothing. I gave away pretty much all of Arianna's old baby clothes up to the 12 month stuff so I'm excited to start putting some of it on Lucy.

Wearing one of big sister's old dresses (that didn't fit her big sister until she was 18 months old)....

Health:
Her two top middle teeth have come in completely and the ones on either side of those two have broken through the gums.

We're moving in to winter and flu season, but so far *knock on wood* she hasn't been sick. I'm wondering if she doesn't have a few minor allergies because I've noticed that tends to get a runny nose after spending time outside. It doesn't seem to bother her and there are no other symptoms so I'm thinking that it's just the humidity and the climate.

Next month we'll celebrate Lucy's first Halloween! It's going to be so bittersweet celebrating her last first holiday so thankfully it's a fun one! I've got a few different costume ideas, I just need to decide which one we're going to go with. The final decision will be revealed in her 11 month pictures so stay tuned.....

Happy Ten Months, baby.....

737 Days

It's been 17 days since my last update....no good reason, we've just been really busy and I haven't had time to sit down and let everyone know what we've been up to!

Highlights:

*Jon and I celebrated our two year anniversary on the 18th. We didn't go out because the kids were sick, but we're going to get a sitter just as soon as we can coordinate a weekend. I know it's sounds awful that a husband and wife have to "pencil each other in", but it was simply due to a combination of Jon's crazy work schedule and some birthday parties that I had RSVP'd to and agreed to photograph several weeks ago.

*We booked our tickets to AZ! We will see all of our AZ friends and family soon (contact me for the dates that we will be out there)! Please let us know ASAP if there are any dates we need to save so that we can plan around them. We can't wait!

*Lucy turns 10 months old tomorrow and I will get her 10 month update up later this evening or tomorrow. I also need to take her pictures. I like doing outdoor pictures with her and the weather hasn't been great for taking the camera outside.

*Arianna is doing great in school and has her first book fair next week! I cannot believe how much progress she's made in just one month and how much interest she's showing in learning new things. She also started dance last week and loves it (ballet/tap).

I think that's all of the big stuff. I will have Lucy's update and pictures up soon!

721 Days

This evening was open house at Arianna's school! I was a little bit thrown off on her first day when we (the parents) were not invited into the classroom to look around and observe the daily routine. When I was in preschool and kindergarten, I remember my parents coming to class with me on the first day and I was expecting to do the same with Arianna. I found out this evening that the reason they discourage that is because they want to teach the kids early on how to be independent while they're in school. We are welcome to drop in any time we want and there are also plenty of in-class volunteer opportunities, but for the first week, it's important that they do it on their own.

She went over the daily routine and let us know what to expect out of the school year. I really love Arianna's teacher and I can tell that she loves what she does. I feel 100% confident that putting Arianna in school was the right choice for our family (for those who don't know, I considered homeschooling, but strongly believe that Arianna will do better in a learning environment outside of the home).

However, Jon and I do plan to play an active role in her education and contribute to her school as much as we can. I've already filled out all of the volunteer forms and they are going to call me as they need help. I am going to do as much as I can and the teacher said that Jon is welcome to come in on any of his days off. I asked Arianna on the way home if that is something that she would like and she gave me a very enthusiastic, "yes!"

Arianna's family picture

This makes my heart happy <3

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

718 Days

I'm not sure how good the quality on this is going to be since I'm posting it directly from my phone, but I'm so excited to share!

If the quality of the videos is low, I'll put them on YouTube and repost them when I get a minute.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone