Our little piggy!

Like mother and father, like daughter!

This was day 2 of cereal. We were at my parents' house for our weekly Thursday dinner (in the driveway as you can tell due to the nice weather).

Ignore the conversation in the background!

Girls' Night Out

John's cousin Meghan is getting married in October, and yesterday was her shower and bachelorette party. I was hesitant on going to the bachelorette party and leaving Luci for the evening, mainly because John was going to the bachelor party, my mom was working, and my mother-in-law was also going to the bachelorette party.

After some discussion with friends, I was convinced that it is a good idea to get out every once in a while to have some fun without the baby. I was able to drop Luci off at my aunt's house on my way out and I am really happy that I did it.

We went to "Sing Sing," which is a dueling piano bar. I used to frequent there before John and I got married. I was even invited to dance on the piano once...so much fun! The music was great, the atmosphere was great, and the people were great. My friend, Melany, and I traveled together (she has 2 kids) and we seemed to be enjoying ourselves a little more than the rest of the group. We realized that this is because we seldom get to do stuff like this anymore...kinda sad, but at least we know that we will have a good time. I even had a beer...the first one in over a year!

The best part was that my mom picked Luci up from my aunt's house on her way home from work, took her to my house, bathed her, and put her to sleep. I have the best family!

Melany and I vowed to make this a ritual every other month or so.

OUCH!

So I mentioned that I am joining my neighbor in the "Couch to 5K" program - and all I have to say is: OUCH!

It is amazing how much it hurts when you haven't run in...hmmm...4 years! Running is so different from swimming and hurts a lot more. I thought that easing into the distances as instructed by this program would help in lessening the pain...WRONG!

I just hope that the pain starts to subside soon. At least the pounds are coming off more easily now!

So Proud!

John bought a 1997 Chevy Tahoe back in 2001. Here it is:He has loved this vehicle so much. But as you can imagine, it is a gas-guzzler. Also, being a 2-door SUV, it has not been conducive getting the carrier in and out easily.

After months of discussion, we FINALLY did it...actually - HE finally did it.
This is our new car - a Chevy Traverse. John is in mourning, but we know it was for the best.

This was SO hard for him, and I am so proud of him!

Luciana - 4 months

This has been an eventful month!

My return to work was probably the most difficult transition ever for me! But I must say that it's not as bad as I had anticipated, which is a HUGE relief. This past Wednesday was the worst so far because I left the house at 5am and didn't get home until 7 pm. So I only had about an hour and a half with her before we started our nightly routine. Days like that are not too frequent, so I guess I can just learn to deal with it.

Luci has grown so much! She is still sucking her thumb - she LOVES it. At this time, I am not going to worry - it pacifies her so much, and she won't take a binky, so this is a good alternative. I will start to worry if she is 3 and still sucking her thumb. People tell me that "a baby that sucks his/her thumb is a satisfied baby." I think that they are just trying to appease me.

She has mastered the art of rolling over now and she is finally a fan of tummy time. We lay her in her play yard on her back, and within seconds she is on her belly either with her thumb in her mouth and falling asleep, or holding that head up so high and smiling as to say "hey look at me - did you see what I just did?!?!"

Our new favorite part of her body is her neck, which we refer to as her "Birdy Neck." It was hiding the first 3 months, but we have been seeing a lot of it over the past few weeks.

We go to the doctor on Tuesday for some more shots. But we are excited to see how much she has grown over the past 2 months. And soon she will be starting on baby food!

Here are pictures from the past month:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1865487009/a=40662473_40662473/

London Fog?

Nope, Pittsburgh fog.This was the view out our back deck last night.

I'm in!

My neighbor is trying the "Couch to 5K" work-out (you can check it out on her blog). We should be done with the running plan just in time to do Pittsburgh's Great Race in September. We are just doing the 5K though...10K is a little intimidating for me right now. (I know that Becky is reading this and laughing).

We are even going to continue it so we can do more 5K's throughout the Fall. There is one at the Pittsburgh Zoo in early October, which sounds like a lot of fun.

Cara's motivation is getting the t-shirts, mine is still those lingering baby-pounds!

We'll see how this exercise plan goes...

We missed it!

I mentioned in a prior post that Luci loves her little play-yard. She is totally entertained by all the hanging toys, and is content lying there for long periods of time.

But she is a mover and a shaker. I will lay her down and then 5 minutes later, she is turned 180 degrees, still on her back. She is able to do this by continuously rolling onto her side and then onto her back again.

Well earlier this evening, Luci was in her play-yard on her back when John and I sat down for dinner. Our family room, eating area, and kitchen all flow into one another, so it's nice to be able to sit at the table and eat while still keeping an eye on her. Anyway, we weren't sitting for more than a few minutes when I looked over at her - and she was ON HER BELLY!

WE MISSED THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL ROLL!

I was so disappointed. There she was on her belly, holding her head up proudly. I guess I will just have to settle for witnessing the second roll.

Not so bad...so far!

It was like I never left...minus all the questions about Luci and showing pictures of her to everyone.

I got right back into the swing of things and I was pretty busy which made for a nice first day away from her because I didn't have time to think about what I was missing.

However, I did find time to call John at around 8:15am to see how she was doing. To my surprise, he said that she was still sleeping! She usually wakes up between 6:30 and 7:30am. Last night, I put her in her crib at around 9:30pm, which is a little earlier than usual, so I thought for sure that she would be up by 6 or 6:30am. NOPE! That little bugger slept for 11 hours! Then John gave her a bottle, played with her for a little bit in her play-yard, and she fell asleep again...so I only missed about an hour and a half of awake Luci-time today.

So, of course I'm thinking that this is going to be a breeze, but I got home pretty early today - I have late OR days tomorrow, Wednesday, and Friday - so those days will be the true tests!

Time's Up!

Sadly, today was my last full day with my little Luci before I go back to work full time. As I alluded to in a previous post, I am not looking forward to it.

I know that there are a lot of moms out there who actually can't wait to get back to work. I really thought that I would be so ready to get back into the swing of things, but I find myself really sad. I know that I am not going to cry daily (or even tomorrow), but I also know that I am not going to be so relieved to be back at work.

My solution - just focus on the positives: 1. I have a really nice work schedule that allows me to get out at a decent time on most days (at the cost of getting up at 4AM), 2. John is taking his vacation week this week to be with Luci full time, 3. When John returns to work, I have a great network to watch her (my mom, John's mom, and my neighbor), and finally 4. I am working for her - to help create a comfortable up-bringing and so that later (if and when more bambinos arrive), I can possibly go part time.

I just know that I will running home every day to see those big blue eyes!