6-month appointment

Lucia just finished up her 6-month check up at the doctor’s office. She survived the shots with only a little bit of crying and a look of betrayal. :) I was excited that she wouldn't have to get shots for at least another 6 months but it turn out she will have to get 4 during flu season! Can you believe that...4! 2 are for the regular flu and then another 2 for piggy flu. Sheesh, poor kid. Apparently pregnant women and babies are in the high-risk category for the shot and then Pat and I will be in the next because we have an infant. More baby thigh pain awaits my little Lucia. I have to say that the whole ordeal does put her to sleep quickly. We hit the freeway on the way home and she fell immediately to sleep and has been passed out in her car seat on the floor of the nursery for over an hour. Such a sleepy girl.

Fall has also started to show up on the scene. There will be a few days of rain and clouds followed by 70+ degree weather. I busted out some fall clothes for Lucy the other day and couldn't help but take a few pictures. Heck, what am I talking about, I take pictures of that kid every day! Anyway, I thought that she was crazy cute in her little jeans. Such a big girl now.

Cute things that the little 6 month Lucia is doing:

1. Loves to flap her jingling carrot around (featured in a picture below)
2. Gets a HUGE smile when looking in the mirror at herself
3. Starts dancing and smiling whenever Dad comes home from work
4. Tries to bend over backwards to see anyone that may be within sight while eating her bottle.
5. Wants you to kiss her fingers or let her play with your hair when feeding her a bottle.
6. Always wants to sit at the table with the big kids and swat the edge of the table.
7. Tries to make a fire with her feet by rubbing them together with crazy baby speed.
8. Freaks out whenever strangers want to hold her.
9. My favorite, of course, is making her smile and laugh. Her toothless grin is unbeatable in cuteness as is her hilarious baby laugh.

I thank the Lord for my baby girl!

Fun with Rice Cereal

Lucia had her first taste of rice cereal today or at least I think she tasted some of it. Most of it ended up on her shirt, her face, her hands, and my arms. :) She thought it was pretty great to gurgle with it, so I am not sure how much nutrition was actually provided. If nothing else, she was cute and it brought me great joy to watch her and know that she is growing and learning. It is hard to believe that we are starting the solid food process. It will be fun to see how she does with the rice cereal over the next few weeks before we move her on to more advanced foods. I am sure that I was the most excited about the experiment. Pat humored me and went along with the over exuberance, did the filming and took pictures to document the big day!

Sure Mom, I'll take the whole bowl at once. Bring it!
Yeah for rice cereal bubbles
Just keep going with it even if nothing is actually making it into her mouth

TaDa!


Warning that this video will only be interesting to intense Lucy fans. It is the full feeding video.

Visit to Victoria

We took a great family trip to Victoria, BC this past week. It was Lucia's second trip to Canada in her 5 months on this earth. We had a great time enjoying the city and Butchart gardens. We were there from Wednesday to Saturday and spent most of the time wandering the city, eating good food, enjoying our crazy little lady, and visiting the gardens. We found a few good pastry and coffee shops for breakfast including a Danish Bakery that was impressive. We took our breakfast out to the Parliament lawn where we could sit on a bench, people watch, and enjoy view. The highlight on Wednesday was this French Bistro that we went to for lunch/dinner. It was so cute and quiet. Lucia slept for over two hours while we enjoyed the French cooking, wine, and chill setting. It was great to say the least. It felt like we were out on a date! Thursday was Butchart Gardens day. I could have spent the entire day there! I would have just found a quite bench and read a book all day long. It was amazingly beautiful. Lucia did really well there too. She loved walking around in the baby front pack and then slept for a good portion of the trip as well. On Friday, we walked around the city a bit, ate a lunch at a great place on a pier, and walked the waterfront...we got a lot of walking in. :)

It was a great trip and the weather was perfect! Here are some pictures from the week

Lucia did a nice job balancing on this massive pillow log and we found it pretty darn funny. Here she is after one of the rolls off of the log.
Lucia and I on one of our many walks in Victoria along the waterfront

And now Pat and Lucia on the same walk

Patrick and Lucia on the waterfront with the Empress in the background
The thugs at the dinner spot along the waterfront
Lucia looking cute after waking up from her nap
Butchart Gardens
Family shot in front on the sunken garden. The picture doesn't do it justice. That place is seriously amazing!
Another shot of the sunken garden
Pat trying to feed Lucy a hot dog.
A pond just in the parking lot of the gardens
Lucy out after her bottle given by Dad
Our little tulip :)
Me and the little lady having breakfast in front of the Parliament building

Fun with Grandma and a Giraffe

We had so much fun with my mom in town. Lucia loved playing with her and Grandma soaked it all in. We can't wait for the next visit. Here is video of Grandma Janice playing with Lucia. Unfortunately I only captured the tail end of the laugh attack.

Visit from Grandma Janice

My mom was up to visit this past week and it was so much fun to have her here. She loves Lucia like crazy and I love to watch them interact. Lucia definitely loves her Grandma Janice. It was amazing to see how much more can get done with my mom's help during the day. I was spoiled for the week and am now back to real life...sigh. We were able to fit in a lot of fun outings while she was up. Here are a few shots from the visit.

Family shot after church last SundayFlying Lucia
The best baby thighs to be caught on camera!
Mom and Craig at Joe Bar in Seattle
Mom and I on our shopping day. Lucia slept for 2.5 hours in the stroller as we shopped around. She really is the best baby ever! I can't believe how much she sleeps and when she is not asleep, she is so chill!
Lucy fighting off the bottle
Mom won the fight! :)

Lucia contemplating life and Craig's beard
Enjoying the waterfall at UVillage on one of the crazy hot days
Who could resist that face!

Lucia at 4 months

It is summertime and we are loving the sun, visits with family, and time outside. Lucia is growing so quickly and looks so different now. We went to her 4-month dr. visit the other day and she weighed in at 13 pounds and is 25 inches long. No major issues at the doctor's visit though we do have to get an ultrasound of her hip in Tacoma at the end of this month because, when she was born, the NICU doctor noted that there was a clicking sound in her hip. They just want to be sure that her leg is properly in the socket. I am sure it will be a quick and easy procedure. The hardest part will be the long drive down there through all of the Seattle traffic.

We have had a full summer so far and have spent the last two weekends over at Pat's parent's house. It is such a relaxing place. I love being out of the city. I'll include some pictures below from our latest visit. My mom is coming into town this week and we are so excited to have her and to show off our little girl. My mom hasn't seen Lucia since she was 2-3 weeks old, so it will be great fun.

Just two photos from this morning. Lucia loves to be outside like her mom! We were able to enjoy the fresh air and shade in the back yard before it hit the 80s.


Me with my two favorite little people!
The fam...


Birthday cake for the birthday ladies but I should note that this was no ordinary cake. It was chocolate coconut cream pie made by Sten and anything that Sten makes is amazing
The Hood Canal view from the Murphy's house. You can see the Olympics too just not in this picture.
Cousin Solveig loving on Lucia.



Jai and I with our little ladies. Jai bought matching outfits for Solveig and Lucia. They were too cute together.
Jai and the matching girls

My rolling baby

Lucia hit a new milestone recently. She is now able to roll! It is pretty cute to watch. She doesn't have it down perfectly yet but she's getting there. She rolled first from her stomach to her back on 6/25 and then her stomach to her back on 7/6. She is much better at getting from her back to her stomach, so she has managed to wake herself up now a number of times all freaked out that she is on her stomach but can't figure out how to undo the issue. I now have her in rolling boot camp so that she can figure out how to consistently get back from her stomach to her back. It is pretty funny to walk away for a few minutes and come back to find her in an entirely different position. I know, I know, it seems silly that this is an amazing thing but we have been dealing with a stationary tiny human being and now we have an ever so slightly mobile tiny human being. :)

Here are some pictures of her in position to roll. I think that her little head hovering above the ground being held up by that little baby neck is so cute! I haven't caught it yet on video. The video below is me trying to get her to roll but she sneezes instead which is also pretty cute...at least to me, Pat, and maybe the grandparents. :)






Unrelated to rolling but still cute, here are a few of Lucia enjoying summertime. Here she is showing off those baby arm muscles

We had to get her a little baby hat so that I can walk around outside with her on the sunny days. She loves the walks.