Visit with family - part deux

Sorry it's been so long! Things have been a bit busy since we got home from our trip to South Carolina and Atlanta. Melissa is back at work part time, and Lucia is battling with some reflux (no fun), so finding a spare moment is not easy these days. But we wanted to post some pictures from our time in Atlanta (see below for those)... Lucia is now anxiously awaiting her first Christmas! Okay, maybe she's not really sure what's going on, but she does like looking at the lights on the Christmas tree, and she doesn't seem to be bothered by the cold Chicago winter! Good thing since winter will be here for a looooooong time. And now for the pictures...

Here Lucia is reading The Foot Book with her papi:


Swinging on the porch with Grammy:


Taking a bite out of Flopsy, her new doll that Uncle Layne made for her:


Hanging out with Uncle Bryan and Aunt Katy:


Chilling with Uncle Layne:

Visit with family - part one

We headed down south at the end of last week for an extended visit with our families over the Thanksgiving holidays. We're in South Carolina this week visiting Melissa's family and will be in Atlanta next week to see Kyle's family. Lucia did very well on her first plane trip, so we are thankful for that! And she has loved meeting lots of relatives so far (and I think the feeling is mutual!). Here are some pictures from our first few days here:

With great grandparents:



With great aunts:



With cousin Emily:


With uncle Tommy:

And a few good pix from before we left Chicago (one with Aunt Patricia and Uncle Evan, one with mom and one with me having a good laugh!):

Halloween Fun

So we decided to wait a few years before diving into the endeavors of costumes and trick or treating, but thanks to the awesome Aunt Susy, Lucia was decked out in her festive Halloween bib and ready to pass out candy. It was a crazily temperate day in Chicago - highs in the 70s and parents in shorts and t-shirts bringing around their kiddos. We went to Tricia and Evan's house to field the masses and we ran out of candy by 7 pm, much to the chagrin of the few latecomers who rang the bell. Luckily, their bags were not very empty so we didn't feel too guilty.

In other news, we're still awaiting some sort of daytime routine. Lucy is nursing a lot more easily which is fabulous, but her napping is erratic at best! She's so much more alert and has a ton more awake time, though, which makes taking her out more fun. Such a squirmer, though, we have a feeling that as soon as she starts crawling she will be off in a flash, so we're enjoying her time of immobility while we have it. She went to her first party the other night, where we celebrated the new president-elect emotionally and watched the massive crowds at Chicago's Grant Park (just a few miles away!) in awe and wonder.

Amy generously loaned me her sunglasses. Perfect fit!

Getting ready for trick-or-treaters...

The cutest candy-passer-outer on the block!

Showing off my smile.

Addition to the last post - a new video!

Lucia giggles and squirms...

Hey friends and fam... we've been trying so hard to be a little more on the ball about blog posts, but we've had a busy past few weeks with lots of fun visitors and milk supply issues and a baby with reflux (which equals unbelievably massive spit-ups!) who isn't always so happy about nursing. Things are looking up but whew, are we worn out. On the plus side, we're starting to get lots of rewarding smiles and giggles amidst the squalling, for which we are extremely grateful! They're hard to capture on camera with Squirmy McGhee but we'll catch some yet. Here are some snapshots of our latest adventures...

The cheeks, oh how we love the cheeks on this girl!


The tail (and slightly blurry) end of one of her new smiles which always come at the strangest times.

Lucy loves hanging out with Grammy Garrett...

Poppy gets in on the action.

We heart Pilsen (the predominantly Mexican Chicago neighorhood where we live) and Lucia hearts our friends Jane and Adam who made this glorious fashion statement!

Park day with friends!

This past weekend, we enjoyed our longest outing to date with Lucia - an entire afternoon in the park! We're trying to enjoy the warm (well, warm for Chicago anyway) weather before the winter comes... Here are a few new pictures.

Look at me, I'm super-baby!

Here I am with Nicole in the park, sleeping the afternoon away.

Happy with mom.

Our first family photo.

My new friends, our next-door neighbors, love to visit me!

I think Marci would take me home with her if my parents aren't careful.

Happy Month-i-versary

As of last Wednesday, Lucia was 1 month old! A worthy occasion for a photo shoot and a blog post, though since long naps seem to be a thing of the past, it's taken a while to get these beauties up and at 'em. So here's a glimpse into the life of Lucy the great...

What's up, peeps, I'm a month old! Belching is my fave...



Per your request, I am ready to be cute for the cam!


Ok, I'm just about done being cute. Can we please get the camera outta my face?


No worries, I just needed to spit up my lunch. Happy times are here again!



Full tummy, clean, happy baby. But seriously? More naked pics of me on the web?

Family fun time...

So Kyle has officially started his paternity leave (he gets 13 paid weeks - let's hear it for non-profits with great, progressive benefits!) so we are having ample family bonding time. Lucia even experienced her first public transit adventure yesterday - we took the bus northward for church. She slept through the whole adventure, which seems to be her favorite way to soak up the world. Here's some fresh pics from the past few weeks...

A recent pic with mom - check out those deliciously chunky cheeks!

Hanging on the couch with papa (this is about a week old - before her eating frenzy)

We call this look "one-eyed Willie" (this pic is a few weeks old, but we thought it was worth sharing)

Pictures!!

Finally, some long awaited pics from the past few weeks. Special thanks to friend Beth who is over here holding luscious babe so I can blog, blog, blog the morning away!

Aaah, peaceful naptime with Dad.


Lucy's first bath!! She loves the warm, toasty water. Not so much the getting out part.


Thanks for coming to visit, Grandma Waites!

The Science of Sleep...

Well if there's one thing that makes or breaks new parents (as we've discovered), it's the sleep patterns of babypallooza. After 3 weeks of never having a stretch longer than 2ish hours, we think that our champion daughter has entered a new phase of deliciousity and happiness for me and Kyle - for the last 4 nights, she's had a beginning sleep of anywhere from 3 to 5 hours. For now, these longer sleeps are starting around 7 or 8 pm - so that's when I'm going to bed. A wild life I lead! We're working on pushing it back a bit but mostly are just elated to feel slightly more normal and less bleary eyed. She also seems to be napping longer during the days, so if all goes according to plan, look for some more posts with updated pictures later in the day.

A new video!

Lucia is starting to be much more alert! That means more fussing, but it also means more cuteness, as evidenced below. Many thanks to Lucia's Uncle Layne for this video's soundtrack. Enjoy...

Welcome everyone!

We didn't think we'd do it... but we did. We started a blog to chronicle our adventures with the newest addition to our family, Lucia Wynn. It's now been just over two weeks with her here in this world, and, depending on the day, hour, or even minute that you ask us, we are either adjusting nicely to our new lives or completely overwhelmed. There's not a lot of middle ground. But that's okay; we hear that that's normal for new parents. We will keep this first post short, but here is a short video of little Lucia at just a few days old: