Lucy watch

We did a “Lucy watch”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/lucy-watch/ back in May, when Lucy was just 5 weeks old. This past Tuesday she turned 28 weeks old, and things look a little different now.

*6:30 am Lucy wakes up.* This is a wee bit earlier than we would like (although not bad, considering we haven’t heard a peep from her since 11:00 pm), so Mama stumbles in to Lucy’s room to feed her “dream-feed-style” — which means half-asleep and on the daybed. Lucy is not tricked into sleepyland and begins to look around and caw around 7:30 am. At least Mama got a little bit of a snooze.

*7:35 am Diaper change.* Lucy has not pooped for over 24 hours, and again we encounter a diaper that is merely wet. When will the poop come out? Not pooping doesn’t make her quite as “cranky”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/youd-be-cranky-too/ as it did in the past, but we still encourage regularity in the Boyd household.

*7:45 am Shower time.* Rather, this is shower time for Mama, while Lucy enjoys relaxing in her “bouncy seat”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/sleep-smile/. She used to just sit there and chill with the vibrating feature, but these days she wrestles the animals off their hanging bar and gnaws on them. When she has had enough, Lucy lets me know. In the meantime, Papa heads off to “teach his class”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/first-day-of-school/ at North Park.

*8:15 am Voting.* Since today is Election Day, and since Lucy is still looking happy, we don our BabyBjörn and head down the street to vote at Northeastern Illinois University. People smile as they see “Baby’s head poking from my coat”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/pumpkin-head/. The election officials don’t seem to mind that Lucy is joining me in the election booth. Upon returning home, Lucy tries to devour my voting receipt.

*8:50 am Lucy naps.* Lucy usually has a lovely, long morning nap, and today is no exception. She is getting the hang of the one-arm-out-swaddle-sleep. Nearly two glorious hours of restorative slumber. Mama works on revising a retreat guide for her “InterVarsity”:http://intervarsity.org/ job.

*10:38 am Lucy wakes up.* Lucy has had a nice long nap, so she “wakes up happy”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/luv-2-b-swaddled/ and chatty. We love it when our baby is well-rested! Lucy has a mid-morning meal and diaper change — alas, no poop yet!

*11:15 am Grocery shopping.* Tuesday is “Grocery Day”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/grocery-shopping-with-lucy/ at the Boyd household. Armed with our organized-by-aisle list, we head off to the local Jewel to buy ingredients for this week’s menu: enchiladas, brownies, cornbread, fish. We see Jennifer, our favorite grocery bagger, and a few other familiar employees. No one can resist cooing at Lucy. She has taken to chewing on “the sling”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/ready-for-august/, which makes it a bit damp, but Lucy doesn’t seem to mind.

*12:10 pm The exersaucer lunch.* Lucy has a romp in the “exersaucer”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/just-out-for-a-spin-in-my-convertible/ while Mama and Papa eat their lunch. Lucy jumps up and down for exercise: “ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk!” She gets tired of that after awhile and requests a lap-sit, and Papa obliges. Lucy chews on a spoon.

*1:15 pm Afternoon tea.* Lucy has taken to indulging in an afternoon snack, especially since giving up her third nap. The trick is feeding her late enough that she is hungry, but early enough that she isn’t falling asleep while nursing.

*1:40 pm Reading time.* Lucy gets to enjoy a book or two before her naps, so we dig into “BabyFaces”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789436507/octothorppres-20/, her very favorite tome. She rubs her eyes just like the baby on the “tired” page, and we know is it naptime.

*3:00 pm Baking.* Lucy hops into the Baby Björn again to “help Mama bake”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/babywearing-limits/, but quickly gets bored. “The swing! I want the swing!” Lucy swings away happily for an unprecedented hour-plus while Mama bakes toffee blondies, cornbread, and her fabulous “chocolate caramel graham crackers”:http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/107612, all in anticipation of our upcoming feasting weekend at the Marions’. Mama feels briefly guilty about leaving Lucy in the swing for so long, but decides to just go with the flow. Lucy chews contentedly on the bar.

*5:30 pm Family walk.* Papa’s done with work for the day, so he straps Lucy onto his torso and we all head out for an evening walk. Lucy seems to enjoy looking around and smelling the air. Her nose and cheeks are so cute when they’re rosy from the autumn chill!

*6:00 pm Dinner.* Lucy enjoys another exersaucer romp while the ’rents eat supper. (What did we do before the exersaucer?) She punctuates our conversation with her percussive “ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk!” She knows that pretty soon, she’ll get a supper of her own.

*6:45 pm Playing with Papa.* After Lucy’s dinner and Mama’s departure to “Bible study”:http://microchurch.org/, the baby doesn’t look too sleepy, so Papa and Lulu have some “floor rolling time”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/room/. Lucy rolls around contentedly for several minutes. At one point, she acquires a curious pensive look, which Papa later discovers was…

*7:15 pm Poopulus Maximus.* Not only did Lucy poop while she was playing on the floor, but she continues to poop while Papa is changing the diaper. (Is this too much information?) Jon takes it in stride until Lucy also pees a great, bubbling stream all over the diaper pad. Luckily, bathtime is rapidly approaching.

*7:30 pm Bathtime.* Our “little water nymph”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/ill-have-the-duck/ receives a thorough cleansing after the elimination explosion. Papa “dries off the baby”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/bath-bug/ and applies “jum-jums”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/unstable/.

*7:50 pm Bedtime.* After another book or two, Lucy gets wrapped up and put down for the night. She must be tired, as it only takes two or three brief cries before she slips into “dreamland”:http://boydsnest.org/news/2006/cheeky/.

*8:15-8:33 pm Hovering.* In an attempt to train Lucy out of her 40-minute evening wake-up, we are experimenting with Keri’s idea of hovering in Lucy’s room during the wakey window. Papa’s first run with this technique works smoothly.

*10:45 pm Dream Feed.* With Mama back in the house and in her own jummies, and Lucy swaddled up tight, they snuggle down in Lucy’s darkened room for the final, sleepy feeding of the day. Good night!