We've been really busy so I haven't had the time to post anything in a while... First, we finally got around to having our house painted (now it's gray) which was well worth the $$ - It looks like we got brand new siding and Mike and I agree we should have had it done a long time ago! We also had a deck built off the back of our house. I love it! There's built in benches and flower boxes and they made a spot to put our grill. After all of that was completed, we thought it was time for a family va-ca so we took the train up to Toronto over my birthday. I've never been there before and quickly learned that it's not really the most family friendly place to go but we had a great time just being away from home and somewhere new. Luciana had a blast in the hotel pool (her 1st time in a big pool) and in the hotel room where there was plenty of space for games of "chase me down the hall" and she got to take a bath in the big tub! We went to the CN tower too where we all stood on a glass floor 100-something stories up and went outside (again at 100-something stories up). It was so windy being that high in the air! Luciana, of course, was a complete ham the entire time waiving to everyone that walked by as if she was the official CN Tower greeter.

Now we're getting ready for her 1st birthday party - I can't believe it's already here!








Singing in the hotel room


Having fun in the big bathtub


The view from the glass floor in the CN Tower


Pointing down to the ground below


Luciana "NO FEAR" Catalano!
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My little baby is growing up... Too fast

Okay - So we all know Luciana looks a LITTLE bit like her dad. The good news (or bad news) is that her personality is just like her mommy's (I think my mom is saying a little "thank you" prayer right now).
She was reluctant to change out her "baby" stage but once she decided it was time - IT WAS TIME!

In the past 2 weeks she's got her 1st tooth (and 5 more), started crawling, pulling herself up onto the furniture, standing with the furniture and started feeding herself! What happened?? She was just a little baby and now she's getting so big! She had her 9 month check up too where we found out she's 21 pounds (90th percentile) and 29.5 inches long/tall (97 percentile).

Here are a few pics I thought you might like.



Playing at the park


Chatting with Great-Grandma


Stopping to pose for a pic


Rockin' out in the bathtub


Being cute outside


Riding on Mr. Moo-Cow
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Peek-A-Boo

Luciana has figured out how to do peek-a-boo all on her own!

Trying to move

Luciana is really trying to crawl now! She's gone through all of the pre-crawling stages (pushing up on her arms, rocking up on her knees and scooting backwards). I think she'll be crawling any day now. She likes to go on our wood floors and scoot backwards because they're so slippery. Mike and I just get nervous because sometimes she tries to drop her head on the hard floor and we're very overprotective. She's also a fan of sometimes licking the floor which is not gross at all! ;) Everything's going into her mouth these days and she's drooling a ton so teeth might be right around the corner too. She's talking non stop (which is odd because Mike and I are so quiet...). Her favorite words are mama, dada and babagagaththpppththpp :)

I can't believe how fast she's growing up.





Reading a book


Playing before a bath


Relaxing and chatting


Practicing sitting poolside
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Lots of updates

Luciana had a lot of fun over the holidays. She was a trooper too and made it through not 1 but 2 nights of being put to bed at Grandma and Papa's house (Catalano on Christmas eve and then Eberhardt on Christmas Day), being woke up to go in the car and then back to bed at our house. The 1st night didn't go so well and she was awake for about 2 hours after we got home. Mike and I are quick learners though and on Christmas we were able to get her out of the pack-and-play, into her car seat, into the car, out of the car and into her crib without her ever waking up!! Mike calls it a 'Christmas Miracle' :)
She decided to wake up at 11:45 on New Years Eve to make sure she didn't miss the ball dropping too...

She's also eating a ton of new foods with sweet potato and bananas topping the list of her favorites. She also loves her breakfasts of oatmeal and pears. She started rolling over a while ago and now does it all the time. She loves to play on her belly but still doesn't know how to roll back over so she needs some help when she's tired of being that way. This gives Mike and I a lot to do in the middle of the night since she really likes to roll over in her crib! She's actually had a few nights where she rolled over and stayed asleep so she might turn out to be a tummy sleeper.

Overall she thinks life is pretty fun and that her mom and dad are really funny (or crazy but at least she's laughing)!!!

Here are some pics of our lives lately...


In her chair with her bear that she's bigger then now


Playing in her bumbo seat


Here she is in her new bathtub that she loves (she already outgrew the 1st one)



Action shot from the bath - After this bath everyone and everything was soaked. It's time to move to the bathroom!
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Countdown to Christmas

Mike and I can't wait for Luciana's 1st Christmas. We're so excited! We're a little behind on all of the prep work though. We just got our tree last week and decorated it on Wed. We also just sent out our Christmas cards (sorry if you get yours after the holiday... It's the thought that counts right) :) Things definitely take a lot longer and a lot more planning with a little one but it's SO worth every minute.
We took Lucy to see Santa Claus over the weekend which was great. She absolutely loved him and got to tell him all of the things she wants for Christmas. Mike and I have tried not to buy her too many things but we find that on every outing, somehow we come back with another gift for her - baby toys are just to fun to buy!!

We also went to Ari's 1st birthday party this past weekend which was a lot of fun. They had a woman from a place called Music Together who led the kids in songs and dancing and Luciana had a blast. I'm looking into signing her up for a class but it's been hard to find anything on the weekends - so let me know if you hear of anything.

Here are some photos from this weekend and a few from her 'photo shoot'.




Laughing about 'tummy time'


Hanging out with a Christmas Reindeer


Telling Santa what she wants for Christmas


Making sure he heard everything


So cute I can't stand it!!!!!!

Food time!!

Luciana has been able to have a few foods now so we've been having a lot of fun with that. She got to start out with rice cereal which she loved but apparently her system did not... She became quite "backed up" so we had to stop that. We're actually on a little bit of a hold on all food (outside of nursing) because we want to make sure she's ready to process it.
She still has the occasional jar of pears or prunes though. Here's how her first experience with prunes went.... We had to share!