lucy 9 months

month 9 for lucy has been so fun. i know i say it every month but she really is a dream baby.

she has been really clingy to mom this month and tends to scream if i'm in the room and someone else is holding her, but besides that is a complete joy.

she is learning the joy of toys and enjoys playing with all the toys in her basket. she currently has a great affinity towards balls.

food continues to be a favorite and she is eating an ever growing variety and quantity of food. she has also learned to drink through a straw.

lucy found her voice this month and does a lot of babbling. it's a joy to watch her and williams relationship develop. he can make her laugh more than anyone else.

she is loving books more as well. she enjoys any book that is interactive.

she had a good 9 month check up and is perfectly healthy. she is 26 inches (8%), 16 lb 8 oz (12%), and a head circumference of 44 centimeters (67%). i guess we have a petite girl with a good head! we love our lucy.

summer of fun part 1

i have many favorite things about california, but a top one is that i never feel the need to really vacation too far away since there is so much to do in such close proximity. besides a couple quick trips to arizona we've stayed local this summer and loved it. one warm weekend on the peninsula we ventured into the city to be the ultimate tourists. we started in union square and rode the cable cars to pier 39 where we watched the famous sea lions. 

at pier 39 we watched a magic show, rode the carousel, visited the shops, ate sourdough at boudins, looked at the boats, then caught the cable car back to union square.

another weekend we joined our dear friends the tanners at half moon bay for a beach day. the men rode their bikes to the beach where they met the mom's and kids. we had a great time even though it was the typical windy and chilly day in half moon bay.

uncle aaron returned home from his mission in madrid, spain in june so of course we had to meet him at the airport in arizona to welcome him home!

while in arizona we tortured our kids with swimming and dress-up.  

we've spent many a day out at grandma and grandpa shafer's house. generally another cousin joins us. 

we did experience a dreadful heat wave. on the positive side lucy discovered the joys of ice cream during the heat.

we love summer.

family photos

in june we had some much needed family photos taken. we chose stanford university as our backdrop. here are a few highlights.

 i love our little family.

lucy 8 months

our baby lucy is 8 months!

we are still amazed at what a delight she always is, we hope she never changes.

her best features are her big blue eyes and gummy smile. she's willing to show them off to anyone.

i think the great hair loss has finally ceased and some of her dark locks are growing back again, just not as dark.

she continues to be a great eater and can now manage getting food into her mouth all on her own.

and the most significant milestone was perfecting sitting up although she refused to sit for her photo shoot! we love you lucy!

may travels

we spent the month of may out and about quite a bit. our first outing was a weekend in carmel-by-the-sea. it's so beautiful there. 

of course we went to the monterey bay aquarium since we were in the neighborhood. william enjoyed the sea horse exhibit.

we did lots of relaxing. one evening we tried to visit the beach but it was too windy and cold to stay long. lucy didn't seem to mind too much. 

the following weekend was cousin cal's 2nd birthday! we joined all the local shafers at lake berryessa in napa for a day of lake fun. everyone seemed to enjoy the boat except william. the only way we got him on the boat was bribery by licorice. 

we ate, relaxed, ate, threw rocks into the lake, ate, went tubing, ate, celebrated cal's birthday, and ate some more. a perfect day. 

our final trip of may was to hot arizona to celebrate jon's high school graduation. we enjoyed lots of cousin time.

 time in the princess room. 

 and lots of pool time!

 may was a busy but really fun month. 

lucy 7 months

lu lu bug is 7 months! be warned a picture overload is coming.

the best thing about 7 months is lucy decided to start sleeping through the night! it is amazing. it all happened the same time we decided to move her into williams room. maybe we were the ones bothering her?

william and lucy share a room - it's fantastic. they nap in different rooms but so far everyone is loving the new sleeping arrangement.

lucy is still perfecting the art of sitting, but we practice all the time so she should have it down soon.

she loves to play with toys, especially toys that she can get into her mouth.

one of her favorite places is her jumper, she's gotten very good at bouncing.

she continues to enjoy the pacifier and she uses it to go to sleep.

lucy loves solid food. she hasn't turned anything away yet and we always have to guess when she is full because sometimes we feel like she doesn't know when to stop! so it's making for some nice rolls.

and as you can tell from all the pictures she's become very expressive. it's adorable.

lucy continues to be my dream baby. i just adore her in every way.