Some vids of the gooster

As I typed the title of this post, I realized just how much we use little nicknames for Lucy.  I hardly even notice anymore until my nephew started calling her "gooser" and my friend's little girl started calling her "Lucy goosie" and "Lucy Lu."

This video shows one of Lucy's first times crawling.  She loves to move over to where the carpet meets the kitchen or entryway floor and hit it with her hand since it makes a noise.
 

For some reason Lucy loves to explore her voice every time I feed her.  It's cute unless she starts to spit food all over me and her and the floor.  Okay, it's still cute even then.  Here she is chatting away:


This funny girl is apprehensive about touching grass- she doesn't get upset, she just doesn't know what to think about it.  Notice her foot in this video that always quickly moves if it comes in contact with grass.  At my friend's house tonight, I sat her on the grass in their yard and she lifted up one whole leg until it got tired and then she switched to the other leg.  When I picked her up she kept her legs straight out still so it would be far away from the grass.


Lucy has been figuring out how to make all sort of noises these days, and on this particular afternoon she figured this one out while Ryan was bouncing her.

Our typical summer Sunday evening

We love the direction our house faces because the backyard is shaded in afternoon/evenings.  We love to take out a blanket and some chairs on the grass and just hang out all evening.  It's awesome because Lucy loves being outside and will stay happy for SO much longer if we are outdoors.  And it often involved popsicles. :)  

This was Lucy's first taste of a popsicle, followed by her reaction.  Despite the scrunched face, she loved it:

 This particular Sunday we skyped with some family too (hence the ipad).  Also, Ryan had a painful kidney stone the day before (hence the large water bottle).

 Then comes bath time, which Ryan is always in charge of, and Lucy loves to snuggle up to him after she is all warm in her towel.  It's funny because she kicks like crazy when you take her out of the water until she is all wrapped up in her towel and as soon as you pick her up she just stays like that in your arms as content as can be.

 ...unless you're trying to take a picture of it, and then she busts out of it all and goes crazy. :)

A good night and Goodnight!

Bed head

Lucy's hair is finally long enough to sport some awesome bed head in the mornings and after naps.  I love it for now... until the knots start coming. :)

Eight months

Yesterday Lucy turned eight months!  I can hardly believe it.  This last month has been equally as awesome as the previous one.  She's a fun girl!  Here's a little bit about Lucy at eight months:

• Crawling!  She started this about a week ago but she has yet to figure out how to use her legs in this endeavor.  She will just have her legs stiff and straight out behind her and use her arms to pull her body everywhere.  She's been getting up on her knees and rocking a bit the last day or two so I think she's on the verge of really getting the hang of it.
• One of her favorite things to do now is pull herself through our living room over to where the kitchen floor starts and pat her hand on the floor.  She likes that it's a new feel and makes a loud noise. :)
• Her reflux flared up pretty bad again and I think it's from all of this crawling-without-legs business because her little tummy has so much pressure on it now.  The doctor just had me double her dosage of medicine to help (from 2.5ml to 5ml).  I hope she grows out of this soon- for both her health's sake and our budget- the meds aren't super cheap!
• Lucy loves to babble like crazy and I love it!  She will sit and "talk" to me for like 20 minutes every morning after I feed her.  Lately she's been exploring her super high-pitched voice but softly and it's so cute to hear.  She always looks so shocked and happy when she realized those noises came from her.  haha. 
• Struggling with naps these days.  They're not lasting very long, which is making her tired and a bit cranky in between.  Not sure what to do about it and not really worrying about it either... one less thing to stress about and I'm sure it will fix itself sometime.  As long as she's still sleeping through the night, which she is, I'm fine.
• When I read books to Lucy now, she actually listens and looks at each page instead of just trying to get the whole thing in her mouth at once.  We need more books now because I'm sick of the same 5 we always read.
• The nicknames that have really stuck are: The Gooster (if we're talking about her), or Gooser, Goosie Girl, and Loose-Goose.  It sounds weird, but seems totally normal to us now.  I actually called her 'Lucy' the other day and it seemed odd for a second.  haha.
• Lucy can finally eat more solids such as puffs and yogurt melts without choking and, as of the last couple days, can grab them from my hand and get them into her mouth most of the time.  She is also drinking water from a sippy cup at dinner time.  It keeps her thoroughly entertained while Ryan and I eat.
• Loves the pool, which is great since we go on an almost-daily basis.  The best part is that she grew into her floatie (that we're borrowing- thanks, Marci!) a little more and loves floating around the big pool so I don't have to stick to just the kiddie pool.  All three of us love going as a family on the weekends.
• Lucy is becoming a bit more cuddly these days and obviously I LOVE it!  Sometimes when she's sitting on my lap just reading or playing with toys, she will lean into me and just "hug" me for a minute.  Sometimes it's just because she's tired... but I'll take it anyway!
• She still doesn't like her car seat but she is getting so much better at putting up with being in it and tagging along for errands, which makes things a bit less stressful.
• I almost forgot- she waves hi and bye!  It's kind of the cutest thing ever.  She sticks out her arm straight and flicks her wrist up and down while her fingers form a fist.  Love it.
• Also, she totally just ate a corner of a cardboard box as I was writing this post.  Add that to her list of food.  And my mom-of-the-year credentials.  

I realize that to most people, these pictures are kind of all the same, but I liked them all because there are little things about each one that I, as her mom, love.  So, they all get posted!  I also realize that she is not wearing any head decor, which goes against everything I believe in as far as baby girls are concerned... unless it's a million degrees outside with a billion percent humidity, in which case all headbands go out the window because who has the energy to go back inside and get it?  Not I.

older and wiser, too

Ryan just turned the big three-two!  We celebrated by having a picnic at the pool, swimming, and relaxing... and then Ryan came home from work and joined the party (of course we wished he could have skipped work and joined us). :)  One of his coworkers made a fruit pizza for him, and then, per Ryan's request, we all went to Chipotle for dinner and went for Cherry and Raspberry Cheese Pies instead of a traditional cake.  He also got a few presents and cards, which is always a fun part of birthdays.  It was fun celebrating Ryan for the day because he sure is great and I'm convinced that he just gets better each year!  Happy Birthday Ry!

Jastal's visit

My sister and her family were able to stop in at our house in Columbus for a few nights during their trip to Ohio and we had a lot of fun with them.  They came Sunday afternoon and left today.  We played at the pool for a while, took lunches and ate them outside, sat outside in the evenings and talked, and relaxed a lot.  It was fun for Lucy to meet her cousin Ashlynn.  Also, my grandma and mom were able to come down on Monday, which happened to be Ryan's birthday.

Fourth of July

For this year's fourth of July, we rented a vacation home with two other families in our ward at the Red Fork Lake Farm out in Hillsboro, Ohio.  This could also be known as the vacation in which I gained 5 pounds in less than 24 hours.  True story.  Anyway, it was about an hour and a half away, and in the middle of nowehere/some small Amish community, but it was SO beautiful and right on a big lake.  The home was very spacious and decorated so cute but I forgot to take pictures inside.  We drove down the afternoon of the 3rd and came home the 4th.  The first night there, the men stayed at the house and hung out and prepared dinner while us women took the kids to the beach.  That's my kind of set-up! :)  After our BBQ, we played a lot cornhole and other games, did sparklers, ate junk food like it was my job, and laughed so hard our stomaches hurt.  The next morning, we made a huge pancake/bacon/sausage/eggs/fruit breakfast, then left the house for the beach.  It was a fun because we actually felt like we left Ohio and got away for a little bit.