Family Photo Shoot, August 2011

My best friend from college is a great photographer.



Her name is Jennifer, and she lives with her husband in Austin.



A couple weekends ago, she came into town and offered to take some family photos for us.



So... I asked her to meet us at a park in Richardson.  At 6:30 AM.  Because that is when the light is best.



Like I said, she's a good friend.



Unfortunately, Lucy is usually still asleep at that time.

 

So there are very few pictures of a smiling Lucy.

 

But out of 400+ photos, there were definitely some keepers!

Thanks, Jennifer!

Two Months Old (Lucy's Monthly Photo)

 

Inspired by this blogger, I'll be photographing Lucy each month in her green outfit until her second birthday.



Gotta say, the second month with Lucy was much more pleasant than the first month. 
She is such a snuggle bug now!  She is a big fan of the breast milk - can you tell?

 

In person, you can definitely tell.  She has gotten to be quite the little chunk.  In fact, we went to the doctor the other day for her 2 month check-up, and she weighs 12 lbs 3 oz now!  That's up 3 lbs from birth.



Other developments in the last month: she smiles more and more, and we are beginning to see her try to laugh every once in a while (more like a grinny "glreeee" right now); and she sometime sleeps 5-6 hours in a row now, up from 3-4 of last month; and she makes eye contact all the time now -- if she is riding in the back seat and I am beside her, she stares intently into my eyes; she's getting some serious lift during tummy time now - I would say at least 5-6 inches off the floor.



OH, and of course (how could I forget?) -- she's beginning to sleep in her own room at night!   

It is so neat to watch a little person develop!  She is still so tiny, but the changes that occur in 1 month are amazing! 

Bedtime

Daniel and I are still experimenting with the bedtime routine.  I think Lucy is just beginning to approach the age when it starts to matter.  Everybody seems to have strong opinions about this "bedtime routine" thing, and I definitely agree that it's important.  We just haven't cemented what ours is, yet. 

So far, it goes something like this:  Daniel gets home from work (YEA!).  We eat dinner.  If Lucy is awake, I wear her in the Baby Bjorn or the wrap I made a while back. 



Or if she is starving, Daniel feeds her a bottle while I eat, and then we swap. 



After dinner is bath time.  We are not hitting 100% on the bath thing yet, but at least a few nights/week she gets a bath after dinner. 



I am waiting to be able to use the Tummy Tub until Lucy has a little better head control.  Actually, we may pull it out again and try soon.  So far, bath time has continued to be a 2-person endeavor. 



After bath, Daniel brushes her hair and gets her into her onesie and swaddler.  He is the swaddle master.

 

I am in love with this device.  It is a video monitor.  The sound quality is excellent, and the video works well, even when it is almost pitch black in her room.



I ghetto-rigged attached one of Lucy's sleep-aid toys to her mobile, and the result is that blue stars light up the ceiling above Lucy, spinning slowly in a circle to the tune of "Rockabye Baby".  It's amazing how much she enjoys watching it.  Beautiful.

 

The last two nights, she's fallen asleep this way.  Pacifier in mouth, stars overhead.  It's the good life. 

Tummy Time

Tummy time is exactly what it sounds like.

 

It helps babies develop the muscle tone and coordination they need to eventually crawl and is thought to be good for their general development.



We don't necessarily remember to do tummy time every day.  But most days.



She usually has a few minutes of good lift.

 

Like this.  Pretty good, right?



And then she gets tired, and her head does this hovering thing, about a centimeter or two off the ground.



We did a photo shoot with my good friend over the weekend, and I cannot wait to see the results!



Will post photos when I have them.

 Hope your week is off to a good start!

Pesto

If you have never made pesto, you should try it out.  Lucy and I made it the other day.  Well, I did most of the work.  But Lucy watched.



Remember how I started a small garden?  I said that it would be worth the effort if I even got to cook with my own fresh herbs once.



Well, check that off the list, b/c the other day I made pesto with basil from my garden! 
Here's what you need:  fresh basil, pine nuts (toasted, if you like.  I used raw), olive oil, salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese, and garlic.  I forgot to put the cheese into the picture below. 

One of the things I love about making pesto is that you don't really measure anything.  Start by putting a handful of pine nuts into your food processor.

Dice up a clove of garlic.

And add that in with the pine nuts.

Fill the processor up with fresh basil leaves (make sure you separate the leaves from the stems first).

See?  You want to put a lot of basil in there.  Full to the top.

Now pulse the processor a few times to begin chopping up all the goodness.

Add a pinch of salt.

And add a few shakes of ground pepper.

Next you want to stream in some olive oil. 

Keep the food processor on while you add enough olive oil through the top to make this texture:

Now taste it to see what it's missing.  Mine was missing garlic. 

So I added some more in there.

Process a little more so that all the garlic pieces are finely diced and not crunch-able.  Crunch-able garlic in your pesto is not a good thing.

Okay now at this point, you want to grate some Parmesan cheese.

  
And fold it into the pesto.   



What to do with pesto:
1 - Serve atop cheese toast with sliced tomatoes for yummy open-faced sandwiches.
2 - Toss with pasta and fresh tomatoes for an easy summer lunch.
3 - Spread over baked chicken for chicken a la pesto.  (Don't cook the pesto though--just spread it over the chicken once it's finished baking)
4 - Eat it from a spoon.  Yum.



Go buy some basil and make this.  It is delicious! 



Enjoy!