Christmas Day

Happy second day of Christmas! Lucy thoroughly enjoyed her first Christmas, at least that's how we interpret all the grins and "ah-goo" cooing. And although she couldn't open her presents, we know she is going to enjoy them immensely. Particularly the mobile and the johnny-jump-up. So much entertainment for our busy baby!



We went to a fabulous Christmas Eve service at our church on Friday. Here is Lucy in her fancy outfit:



Christmas day we opened presents with our immediate family (my mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew) in the morning, and in the afternoon our extended family on my mom's side came to celebrate! It was a blast. Lucy was introduced to her many loving relatives. My uncle Bob snapped a few photos of her with her great-grandma and great-grandpa.





And then one of me with her.


It has been SO much fun having my sister and her family in town, I just can't get enough of my adorable nephew!



Lastly, a picture of the whole fam. What a Merry Christmas!

Happy Two Months Lucy!

Lucy had her two month check-up yesterday (her actual two-month birthday was on the 15th, the same day as her Nana's birthday). She weighed 11 pounds 14 ounces, healthy baby! She's in the 75th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height. We're very proud of our growing gal who now says "ah-goo" and looks at us as if she conveyed something very important. She has also discovered that her fists make excellent eye-rubbing tools and also that that they taste wonderful. No rolling over yet, but she's getting close! Happy Birthday Baby!

Christmas Decor

I finally got around to finishing the Advent calendar that I started last year (hey, better late than never!). I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I managed to finish it on December 4th, so I was only a few days past the beginning of Advent season. And really it worked out quite well since we got to eat four days worth of candy in one go. :)



This year we put Dove chocolates (dark for me, milk for Joel) in each day. Next year Lucy will be old enough to appreciate getting her own treat.



The only thing I would have done differently is that I used felt glue to fix the letters to the white background, and they're having trouble holding the weight of the candies. I'm going to have to go back and hand-stitch the letters back on. Other than that it turned out great!

And here's a terrible shot of our Christmas tree. It really is very pretty, we promise!



And a cute decoration for our bookshelf:



Our santa figurines:

Outtakes

In an effort to get the "perfect" Christmas card photo, we ended up having several photography sessions (many thanks to my very patient mother, husband and baby who let me be so picky). While I haven't decided which one we'll use yet, I thought I'd share these two which will not be making the cut.

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Dinner

These days I've limited myself to feeling accomplished if I get one thing done during the day (besides feeding Lucy/entertaining Lucy/changing diapers/making dinner). Yesterday I tried a new bread recipe and it was delicious! That has been a major perk of being home most of the time: I actually have time to make bread! So here's the original recipe, and here's my version (it looked much prettier in person, I promise).



I served it with slow-cooked tuscan pork, a recipe I found here that was equally good. Her picture is a lot prettier than mine, I didn't think about taking it until after we'd eaten. Oh well!



And on the topic of keeping Lucy entertained, she has found a new favorite toy: the glowing sea horse.

Getting the Christmas Tree

We went with my parents to a tree farm a little ways out of town for our tree this year. It was a very, very cold day. So of course we needed to get Lucy all bundled up to face the cold trek through the snow to find that perfect tree. She has three snowsuits, and naturally I first pulled out the only one that is 0-3 months. This is what she looked like.



I have to admit, Joel and I laughed long and hard after putting her in this suit. I'm not sure she appreciated the humor, but she still managed to look very cute.



So that suit was nixed, and we pulled out the second suit, which actually said 3-6 months but looked smaller. I think this one was from grandma sunny and grandpa howard. This one fit much better.



Off we went to the tree farm, and here Lucy is settling down for a nap in dad's arms before we began the walk out through the trees.



Even though it was frigid, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. We found our trees and the guys sawed them down. Behold Joel using his strong muscles:



After conquering the tree:



Joel and I next to our felled tree:



Mom holding Lucy while she slept:



Lucy Sleeping:



A landscape shot:



Here's Joel and dad loading the trees into the truck. They were both over 10 feet, although we cut them down to about 8.



Lucy was exhausted from all her hard work. She napped in the car on the way home...



and continued her nap in her snowsuit in her crib once we got home.



She somehow managed to sleep through us dragging the trees into the house and putting them in their stands. But they look great! I'll have to post pictures of our decorated tree later.

7 weeks

Happy 7 weeks Lucy! A few nights ago she slept for 6 1/2 hours, a record for her! This photo is actually from church on Sunday so it's a little old, but she looked so cute in her church outfit I had to share it!



And happy 4th day of Advent to everyone! We are going to get our Christmas tree tomorrow, I'm very excited to decorate it! And hopefully I'll also have our advent calendar finished tomorrow as well, I'm ready to get these Christmas decorations up!