5 months old

Lucy is 5 months old today! Her growth from month 4 to 5 is amazing. It's like she has gone from being a baby to a kid!  (I will look back at this and be like - dude, you don't even KNOW.)

It is so much fun now that Lucy is so playful and interactive. She gets a lot of use out of all of her toys, buther favorite toy?  Her feet.  Kudos on that one, creator of the universe - making FEET a baby's favorite thing to play with.  For example: We were at the doctor this morning and Lucy was getting fussy, so I'm like Lucy, LOOK! And brought her feet up where she could see them.  She was like WHAT! YOU BROUGHT THOSE? and couldn't have been happier that good old Mom remembered to pack them.  Don't say I never did anything for you, Lu.

Other things she has picked up this month include (as pictured below)... sucking on her bottom lip and a love for Rasta music.

Toy tote!

So as I often mention, I am totally addicted to Etsy.  My latest purchase is this adorable fabric storage tote by Sewing Momma.  What a great solution for Lucy's toy messiness!  She has accumulated so many tiny infant toys that are all over the place.  Right now they are all piled in her activity chair.  Not good, not good. 

The imported Japanese fabric is SO SWOONWORTHY; a much more stylish alternative to plastic bins or baskets, right?  Plus I can just throw it in the wash. And the perk is that I'm supporting the business of a stay-at-home mom with 4 kiddos, who creates beautiful and useful items from her love of the craft.  More power to you, Momma. 

Professional photos

Lucy had her first professional photos taken by Elle Photography on Monday and I am DYING to show them to you! I just got the proofs today and I can’t stop looking at them. I am so sentimentally attached to every picture of Lucy that I am having memory card issues with every device that can save images, so that's not saying much... But these are really good.

Unfortuantely I can't show them to you because they are all protected.  I got this photo shoot at a great deal from Groupon and didn’t realize that I don’t get to own the digital negatives, but I CAN purchase prints at an astronomical price ($7 for a 4x6 and up from there), so there goes the rest of my salary to buy each one in each size to hoard.

Lucy was really good during the 1-hour shoot. No crying, no blow-outs, and cooperated during the costume changes.  In her room she was smiling like crazy at the camera, but then once we took her outside, she was completely deadpan. The photographer, the nanny, and I were all making crazy noises and jumping up and down trying to get her to smile, but she was just like *blink blink*.

Here are a few that I copied with the watermark so you can see:

I love that munchkin.

Daddy love

We’ve been really good about traveling and taking Lucy to all kinds of places so that we don't fall into recluse, which can be easy to do when home and sweatpants are so comfortable and packing all of Lucy's things can require a lot of forethought.  However, I haven’t been as good about going out without Lucy...

Because she doesn’t take a bottle, I have all kinds of guilt when I leave for stretches of more than 2-3 hours at a time.  She sleeps for long stretches without eating and doesn’t seem to mind so it's not that I think she'll starve, but I know she’ll be upset and frustrated that she’s left in the care of these helpless schmoes and DANGIT THAT GIANT BOOB LADY HAS GONE AND ESCAPED AGAIN. Somebody lock those doors!

At her 4-month check-up, her pediatrician told me to lay off the bottle battle and give myself permission to go out without guilt. If I know she’s going to miss a meal because of it, she’ll be OK and will compensate by eating more when I am home. As long as she’s with safe people in a safe place, she’ll be fine even if she’s a little hungry.

So I have upped the socialness this week, and it’s so nice to be catching up with the buddies. And Lucy has been spending some more one-on-one time with her dad, which they both love. She is totally going to be a daddy’s girl once she’s off the boob and we have a level playing field – the scales are kind of tipped in my favor right now. I mean, who would you choose – the Dad or the one who looks like a giant ham?

Well at least we know who picked her jammies.

Lucy's Room

I actually cleaned up Lucy's room!  Which required me packing up another pile of clothes she has grown out of, a pile that I keep adding to faster than I can believe.  Here she is hanging out in her room... where I'm headed right now since the little kiddo just woke up. 

Interregnum

Sorry for the lack of posts!  I really want to blog more, but I just haven't found the time since I have spent the last week breathing into a paper bag.

I will explain at some point, but right now I'm prioritizing precious, elusive sleep.  Let me just say that there have been some nanny issues over here in the Ferrante household.  Long story short, our 3rd nanny - that's right, THIRD - left without giving notice, but thankfully my awesome mom, dad, and husband split the time so Lucy could have a break from being handed off to strangers while I work.  AND LOOK FOR NANNY #4.

Having Lucy be with family was a nice mental break for all of us and the kiddo really enjoyed her week.  It's amazing how much happier she is when with family.  And my dad took a ton of great pictures while he was here...  Like this one, where Lucy was explaining to him how juvenile these child toys are and may she just have the car keys now please.

4 month check-up

Lucy had her 4-month check-up today, which was very exciting since she has changed so much in the 2 months since her last doctor visit. In the beginning, she was going to the doctor twice a week PLUS a visiting nurse 1-2 times per week because of her weight loss and trouble eating. At that time, she was in the 3rd percentile for weight for her age. That doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s unhealthy though, it just means that 97% of baby girls her age weigh more.

Today our little shrimp weighed in at 14 LBS 3 OZ! Which is the 50th percentile! FIFTIETH! Which is exactly average, and given the scares we had her first few weeks, I couldn’t be happier for her to be exactly, perfectly average. I think I deserve a cupcake or something, since technically I’m still eating for two – and all those pies and enchiladas I’ve been eating have really paid off for the little one. You know, because I eat like that for HER.

And it gets better… she was measured at over 26 inches long which puts her at the 95th percentile for height! We guessed she’d be above average height, because looking at her she is just so obviously long. When she stands up she looks like a little string bean. I asked the nurse if this is any indication of her height as an adult, and she that while they don’t like making that association because there’s really no truth to it, it can be. So not really an answer, but so far it looks like Lucy is going to be tall and skinny. I GUESS WE WON’T BE SHARING CLOTHES AT ANY POINT. But oh we will share shoes, Sasquatch child.

The other measurement they take is head circumference. Lucy’s head is 42 centimeters, which is 75th percentile, and before this visit it was a little less than 50th. Which I think means her complex algorithms mobile and bedtime story of A Brief History Of Time is paying off. If her waifiness doesn’t do it, we’re hoping her extreme intelligence gets Mommy and Daddy an early retirement.

And then, the hard part… two shots and a drink at the end of the appointment. Lu was sleeping from all the activity and OH BOY did she get a rude awakening. Shot in the left leg, shot in the right leg, super sad cries, face turning purple, big tears… I think it’s 10x harder for us just to watch. But all in all, Lucy is a very healthy girl. She impressed the doctor with her alertness and communication skills (or was she just flattering us since Lucy was CLEARLY communicating that she wanted to GET OUT OF THERE?). Either way, we are so happy that she’s a healthy one, and I bet she’s happy no more shots for a while.