Babies Babies Everywhere

Last Sunday we got to go to a reunion of the couples from our birth class. Six couples (and therefore six babies) showed up. It was a lot of fun. Not only was it fun to see all of the babies and watch them interact (Lucy was quite confused with all of the little people and crying), it was nice to share stories and ask questions. After all, we're all going through the same thing!!

Lucy was super happy to be playing with all the babies. She's so stinkin' cute!

Lucy's first boyfriend

We are happy to introduce all of you to Lucy's first boyfriend, Mr. Banana Grabber (for those Arrested Development fans...) He is one of the four friends she has hanging from her home gym (Mr. Monkey Pants, Henry the Hippo, and Jerry the Giraffe are the others). Mr. Banana Grabber happens to hang the farthest down and now that Lucy has started to discover that she has control over her hands, she can hit him an move him around. She loves doing this and we love watching her do this...for hours... While playing with Mr. Banana Grabber, she has absolutely no interest in her parents and she gets upset if you move her away from him. It's hilarious.

The New Saturday Night for Jessie and Justin

Now that we don't/can't go out on a Saturday night....we decided to bring the bar to us. Justin got an array of German beers so that we could have a taste test. Please note the baby monitor in front and the Cubs game in back.

Random Pics

Lucy LOVES to take a bath. She sits in the water and kicks and kicks and kicks. I think she's going to be a swimmer!

This is Lucy's groovy dress. I think it looks like she should be in an Austin Powers movie.

Lucy has gotten much more interactive in the past week or so. When I get home from work, we talk about what happened during the day. She was clearly interested in whatever story I was telling.

Story time is part of our bedtime routine. Beady Bear was one of my favorites growing up.

Day One of Daycare

Well, we made it through the first day of daycare. For me, the anticipation was much worse than the reality. Only a few tears on the way to work. But, I'm not convinced that it wasn't just because I cried myself dry Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

For those of you who don't know, we're sending Lucy to an at-home daycare. Miss Sandra and Miss Barbara will be caring for our little bundle. Miss Sandra is the mother of a friend of a friend....so I know she's not totally crazy. In December, there will be 8 kids from 2 months to 5 years old. Three of them will be infants. Lucy is the oldest infant and will be the only infant until September, which is great because it will give her time to acclimate to everything while still getting a lot of individual attention.

Today, Justin and I both dropped her off at 7:30 a.m. I managed to make it until noon before calling to see how she was doing. According to Miss Barbara, she'd already eaten twice and was in the process of taking her second nap. I find the first part easy to believe. I find the second part impossible to believe. But, as Justin said....if they want to lie to me today, that's okay.

I picked her up at 5:00 p.m. When I got there, everyone was on the back porch for story time. As I walked up and said hello, Lucy cried. Miss Barbara said that was the first time she'd fussed. (Ya right!) When I picked her up, she stopped crying. That melted my heart.

I think the whole experience was a bit exciting/overwhelming for Lucy. She was a tad worked up this evening, but eventually calmed down and went to bed at 8:00 p.m. Hopefully she sleeps through the night!!

Lucy's First Street Fair

For those of you who have not lived in Chicago, summertime is the best time. Each neighborhood has a different street fair/festival. Last Saturday was one of our favorites, Retro on Roscoe. We decided to take Lucy. It was a little cold, so she had to go in her PJs, but she still looked damn cute. As with her pub crawl, Lucy did awesome.

Lucy's First Pub Crawl

In order to mourn .... uh celebrate ... the end of my maternity leave I decided I needed to mark the moment. What better way than a cold beer on a beautiful summer afternoon. Lucy and I headed to a local bar/restaurant by our house called Justin's and waited for Dad to get off work. Once Dad joined us, we headed to another local bar/restaurant, Sheffield's, for a few more. It was a wonderful time and Lucy was the best baby in the world.