Happy Birthday Jeff!

Potty Training

We have unintentionally started the potty training process. A few months ago we showed Lucas the sign for "bathroom" and he started telling us when he needed a diaper change by using the sign. He wouldn't do it every time and we didn't rely on it at all. I guess a few weeks ago he started saying "pee-pee" when he went #2 and would show us the sign at the same time. He was such a spaz when we changed his diaper that I tried to make it more fun by telling him that we needed to say bye-bye to his pee-pee and his poop. We would take off his diaper by the toilet, empty the contents, and wave bye-bye as we flushed the toilet. He caught on quickly... now when he goes #2 he runs into the bathroom as he says "pee-pee" and wiggles his fist back and forth.

We have a potty sitting beside the toilet, but he really hasn't shown much interest in it. I'm thinking of switching back to cloth diapers since we're dumping it in the toilet anyway. I just cringe every time I carry that huge pack of diapers to the checkout counter at Target.

Operation Get-Lucas-To-Sleep Update

We are still in complete shock, but after the first three somewhat hard nights that I posted about earlier, Lucas figured it out. On the fourth night he still woke up twice, but when he did he called for da-da instead of mama and when Jeff went in there he just curled up next to Jeff and went back to sleep. He woke up again a few hours later and did the same thing. Jeff says that he is usually sitting up in his bed when he walks in there and when he sees Jeff he just plops back on the bed, but it's usually horizontal instead of vertical, so Jeff has to reposition him when he lays down.

The fifth night was about the same, but instead of only sleeping four hours initially, he slept five. Last night was one of his best nights ever. He slept almost 7 hours before waking up and calling for Jeff! He's gotten us excited before with a fluke, so we're trying not to count on the same performance tonight. What we have achieved, however, is that Lucas isn't nursing at night anymore (at least for 6 nights in a row). That was really keeping me awake and I think it was waking him up too... if it was right beside him he felt he had to indulge.

Jeff asked me this morning if I missed him at night and I quickly, to my surprise, said no. I felt my heart twinge a little the first time I heard him call for Jeff instead of me, but it's better for us all because we're better rested. I asked Jeff if he minded going in there and he said that he actually enjoyed it... so everyone is happy!

Sandy, thanks again... we needed a third person to get us started (and to teach Lucas to call for dada).

Merry Christmas!

We had a very nice and relaxing Christmas Day. We got up around 7am, a little before Lucas woke up. Sandy and I were having coffee on the couch when we heard Da-Daaaaa coming from Lucas's room. They setup the video camera while I got him up and moving. Every morning he runs out of his room and exclaims wowwwwww! when he sees the tree. I was looking forward to getting that on video Christmas morning, but I think he was a little shy since we were all watching him. After a few minutes he got the hang of it and enjoyed opening a few gifts. The only thing that he seemed to get really excited about was Tyson's new bed, but since then he seems to like all of his gifts - which included a bean bag chair, plasma car, broom, truck, wallet, books, flute, a horse puppet, and his first Abercrombie shirt (from erika). I think that's it... he's a lucky boy.

After gifts SaSa made biscuits and we had bacon, eggs, pastries, coffee and OJ along with them. We were sad that SaSa had to leave as Lucas was going down for his nap. The lazy bug must have bitten Jeff, Erika and me because we just napped and layed around all afternoon. It was the most I had relaxed since before Lucas was born... a great Christmas gift to myself. Luckily Lucas cooperated and slept most of the afternoon.

We had such a good time with SaSa and Erika in town! We're so glad that we got to spend Christmas in our new home with family. I did miss seeing my parents, sister, brother, and their families, but it turned out that they all had a great Christmas too, so it worked out.

Santa came! Waiting on Lucas to wake up...

Helping to open gifts.

Still helping...

Showing DaDa his new horse puppet.

Cute baby playing with his new wallet.
We gave him our old school ID's and he keeps opening it and saying, "Mama!" and "Dada!"

Later that day at the park.

Tyson also had a great Christmas!

A Glimpse of Lucas's Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas Eve from Lucas and Tyson

Cousin Erika

Jeff's cousin arrived this afternoon and she is a big hit with Lucas...

Here they are watching the Wiggles while we prepared our Christmas Eve dinner...

Lucas playing with Dada right before dinner.

Cool cousin Erika putting whipped cream on Lucas's fingers.

Sweet Baby Tyson

Sweet Baby Lucas

Yay, I found one...

... with his eyes open.

Does it get any cuter?

Gift Exchange with Charles and Christopher

Lucas exchanged gifts with his best buds earlier this week. Wendy, Kim and I just keep pinching ourselves because we just feel so lucky that we all have boys that are the same age, that they are all healthy, and that we live just a few miles apart and get together several times a week. Here are the little stinkers enjoying Lucas's gift to them (a book shaped like a car with wheels).

Christopher with his mommy and Charles with his mommy.

Wiggles and DVR

We have one Wiggles DVD that Lucas watches all the time (thanks Charles!). I was going to get him another one the other day when we realized that we should just DVR the show that comes on every morning from 7am. I can't believe we hadn't thought of this before. Lucas asks to watch it all the time and can do a few of the dances. Jeff and I even catch ourselves watching them, although Jeff says he's had enough. They are great though. For anyone that doesn't know who they are, I posted a video link below the picture of Jeff and Lucas watching them on my computer (they are doing hot potato, hot potato).

Anybody seen Lucas?

Mama Got Her Wish

Thank goodness I posted about this cute little shirt before SaSa arrived. She saw the post and came ready to give me a few nights of good sleep...

Lucas's pattern now is that he goes to bed around 9pm and then wakes up at 1am, 3am and 5am... or something like that... I quit looking at the clock weeks ago because it just stressed me out. We got into a good routine where I'd go to bed in our bed and then go into his room at 1am for the rest of the night (for a few weeks I would go back to our bed every time, but that got exhausting). Sandy and Jeff had to talk me into letting them help the first night, but since then I look forward to going to bed and cuddling up for 8 hours of peaceful sleep. I have been sleeping upstairs in the guest room and Jeff and Sandy have been sleeping downstairs. When Lucas wakes up they go in and soothe him in 20 min shifts. The first night he woke up at 1am and was up for about an hour. He cried a little, but was okay if they rocked him. He woke up a few hours later, but went back to sleep quickly when Jeff came in and laid with him. Sandy and Jeff just kept saying, "Mama is sleeping. She needs her rest." Sandy said that he would call for me at first, but when she went in for her shift he would call for "da-DA!". The second night of this was a little worse, but the third night Lucas really challenged them. Lucas was replacing the nursing crutch with rocking in the rocking chair and when they tried to put him in the bed he would wake up and point back to the chair. They said they must have done this over 10 times and they finally told him that they were going to lie in the bed and he could come lie down next to them. He threw a fit and banged on the door for an hour before falling asleep next to Jeff. We'll see what tonight brings, but it seems that his will gets stronger each night, so our expectations are low. Lucas is out to prove everyone wrong that tells us that it takes 3 hard nights to get your baby to sleep.

At the very least I have gotten 4 great nights of sleep and feel like a new person. I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful mother-in-law. Sandy, thank you!

Max and Ben

Lucas's 2nd cousins came over yesterday for a few hours with their daddy so that their mommy could wrap some presents. It was really fun... we took them to the park and then we all went to Mellow Mushroom for lunch.

Max, Lucas and Ben

A sweet hug

SaSa is here!

Sandy, Jeff's mom, got here last night. I am so looking forward to having her here for the next few days. Here she is with Jeff and Lucas outside of our house... oh yeah, can't forget Tyson (in the window).

Lucas and Kate

Here is a picture that Kate took today of Lucas at Marbles, the Raleigh Children's Museum. We're so lucky to have found yet another wonderful nanny. Lucas loves Kate and she seems to love him right back. When she arrives each morning he runs to her to show her something (whatever is the closest thing that he can pick up), and when she leaves he always gives her a high five and then, as she's leaving, makes her come back and give him a kiss.

Keeper of The Tree

Lucas is making this holiday season so much fun for me. I didn't think he'd be old enough, but he is really into Frosty, Santa, Christmas lights, and presents. When we are driving down the road we pass many Frostys, Santas and lights. When we pass Frosty Lucas says "me-me!", when we pass Santa he says "ho-ho-ho", and when we pass lights he says "wow, cool!". And as far as presents, yesterday I wrapped all of the stuff for people that we won't see this year and put them under the tree. Lucas ran over to the gifts, grabbed the biggest one, and started pulling at the paper as he said, "wow, cool". I really wanted to give him a present to open right then, but Jeff talked me into waiting.

Each morning when Lucas wakes up the first thing he does is run and turn on the tree. This morning I was kind of in a grumpy mood because I had to be at work early and didn't sleep well because of that. It was 7am and I was about to walk out the door when I heard some rustling around in Lucas's room. All of a sudden his door flew open and he came running out into the family room saying, "wow, cool. wow, cool. wow, cool." as he ran toward the tree to turn it on. Like magic, I wasn't in a grumpy mood anymore! As I left for work Lucas was sitting in Jeff's lap and The Wiggles were just coming on - Lucas's new favorite show.

Finally caught a smile on camera...

look familiar?

Wesley - Lucas's 3yr old cousin

We've got this kid figured out...

This morning I got snotted twice before 8am. The first time was when I told Lucas to get away from the dog bowl. The second was when I told him to drop his toy and give me his arm so I could put on his shirt. Jeff was standing there and I said, "Well, that's good Lucas because you probably needed to clear out your nose anyway. Do it again for mama." (as I put a tissue to his nose). Lucas just looked at me and grinned. Jeff then said, "Lucas, don't do that anymore. It's not nice." And of course Lucas then blew his nose as hard as he could. Haha. We won.

Winter Coat

This weather in Raleigh is crazy right now. Lucas was invited to a birthday party at the park by your house last Friday. I'm sure the mom thought that it would be a nice day,but it turned out that it was 37 degrees! I hadn't gotten Lucas a winter coat yet, so he had on like 5 layers and we spent most of the party in car with the heat on. The little boy's mom told me that she had tons of winter coats that people had given her as hand-me-downs, and later that day she dropped one off at our house. Lucas wore it that afternoon for a few hours, but the next day it was 70 degrees and has been ever since, so he hasn't worn it since then. This weekend I hear the high is going to be 45, so maybe he'll get more use out of it soon. I'm in shorts today. Hard to believe it is almost Christmas. Maybe Al is right.

Mama's Southern Boy

We didn't know that Lucas could say "baseball", but he said it today when we were looking through a book.... this is what it sounded like.

I got snotted.

This is a phrase heard frequently around our house the past few days. Lucas has had a cold for the past week, which has meant lots of nose wiping. The little smarty has learned to use his extra fluids as a weapon by blowing his nose as hard as he can when he gets mad. It's funny because it doesn't do us any harm - it just leaves him with snot running down his chin. It's actually easier for us because we can then wipe it away and know he is clear for awhile. Examples of times we have gotten snotted are....

- we told him he couldn't have a cookie - snotted.

- I told him that he needed to give me the pen he was carrying around - snotted.

- Jeff told him to quit messing with Tyson's dog food - snotted.

Kate, our nanny, told me that she got snotted today too. She said that she and Lucas were at the park this morning and he seemed like he wanted to leave. He waved bye-bye to all of his friends and she put him in the car seat. She said then he decided that he wanted to stay and snotted her (really himself, but it was meant for her). She asked if he wanted to go see her kitties, he replied by meowing, so they went to her house. She said she went to the bathroom for only 2 min, but he wasn't happy about it. He banged on the door and called her name. When she didn't respond fast enough he snotted over and over again. She said when she came out of the bathroom he had snot all over his face and was using her curtains as a kleenex! Poor Kate - they had to take the curtains down and wash them, but she told me this story as she was laughing, so I guess it wasn't that bad.

Good times with our little boy...

36 Things About Lucas

1. He likes to eat a pear when we go grocery shopping.

2. He's always up for a game of naming body parts.

3. When he's tired of doing something, like playing a game, he locks eyes with us and shows us the sign for "all done".

4. When he sees something that excited him he exclaims, "Wowwwww!"

5. When he wakes up he doesn't cry, but calls out, "Ma-MUH"

6. He likes to be rocked to sleep these days.

7. He likes to act silly when it's time for a diaper change, but if we say please he will usually plop down on his back to be serviced.

8. His favorite part of Kindermusik is the stamps he gets on each hand after class.

9. He likes to copy his da-da when he does sit-ups. He puts his hands on his ears and shakes his head back and forth.

10. He likes to help out around the house. He helps us unload the dishwasher, throw away trash, put laundry away, bring everyone shoes when it's time to go, and of course sweep.

11. His favorite Christmas character is Frosty.

12. When we are eating dinner he likes to play a game where he points at everything around us and waits for us to name it.

13. He likes to put his food in his water... and then drink it.

14. He peed in the shower today and thought it was hilarious.

15. He sometimes shows us the sign for bathroom and says "pee-pee" when it's time for a diaper change.

16. He likes for me to hum "Hush, Little Baby" when I'm rocking him to sleep. If I stop humming he does the sign for "more".

17. When we wake up in the morning he puts his face one inch from mine and grins until I open my eyes.

18. He doesn't like to ride in a stroller.

19. He runs everywhere he goes.

20. His favorite real food is broccoli.

21. His favorite junk food is ice cream - he asks for it by going to the freezer and licking his hand (like an ice cream cone).

22. The past few times I've taken him to the park he's just wanted to stay in my arms.

23. If he sees Jeff's glasses sitting somewhere he makes his sucking in sound, grabs the glasses, says "da-da" and runs off to find Jeff and give him his glasses.

24. If he sees a knife, or something else sharp, he says "owwww!"

25. He saw Jeff putting on a band aid today and said "boo-boo"

26. Jeff wanted a hug the other day and pretended to be crying because Lucas wasn't giving him one... Lucas looked really concerned and rushed over to hug him.

27. Lucas gives the best hugs - tight squeeze around the neck with a pat on the back.

28. When we put Vaseline on his chapped lips he tries to bite our finger as he giggles.

29. When he's tired he gets whiny and when he's ready for bed he puts his hand to his ear and runs into his room.

30. The other night he woke up around 1am, yelled for me, and then climbed in the rocking chair to wait for me.

31. He likes to put on Jeff's swim cap.

32. He gets his hair styled most days. We go into our bathroom, put Lucas on the counter, wet his hair, and the brush it and dry it. He looks into the mirror and grins at himself.

33. He has all of his teeth (except for 2yr molars).

34. He insists on holding Tyson's leash on walks now.

35. I think his favorite animal right now is an elephant.

36. He can be bribed with stickers.

Lucas's First Friends

Lucas is very lucky to have so many friends his age. Naomi was the very first friend that he met after being born. She was born just 8 hours after him in the same hospital, so we were able to introduce them on their very first day here on Earth. The next friend that he met was Charles, who came over with his mommy and daddy when Lucas was just 3 days old. Just a couple of weeks later he met Christopher, Nora, and Blane.

Now Lucas can repeat just about any word we ask him too. You can't always understand it, but you can tell he is trying. Before he was that good at it, when he only could say a few words, he started saying Charles's name. It sounds like "choz". We would ask him, and still do, to say his other friend's names and he makes a great effort, but Charles is still the clearest. When we ask him to say Christopher he just looks confused : ). Now, to tie to the pictures below, Naomi came over last week. Naomi refers to herself as "me-me", so now Lucas does too. She left her stuffed horse at our house that day and Lucas kept saying "me-me, neighhhh".

So, Lucas, when you read this in 20 years I thought it would be neat for you to know who you met in your first days and which names you said first.

Lucas and Naomi

Sick Babies

Both Lucas and Tyson are sick this week. Lucas had his first cold of the season hit him about three days ago. No fevers, just lots of nose wiping. He was coughing a little during his nap today, but hopefully that was a fluke and he is getting better. We've figured out how to wipe his nose without a fuss - we ask him to blow his nose into the tissue and he thinks it's funny. At first he was blowing with his mouth, but this cold has allowed him to master blowing out of his nose.

Tyson's right eye looked a little cloudy on Monday, so we made an appointment with the eye doctor for Tuesday afternoon. Turns out that he has a mild bacterial infection that should be easy to fix with some antibiotics. Eye issues are common with his breed because their eyes are so big. Half the time Tyson sleeps with his eyes open, which makes it even worse because it dries them out and his tears aren't able to keep his eyes as clean as they should be.

Nothing serious, just a crazy week. I need to catch up. Lucas is 20 months old now!

Fort Lucas

Lucas Fort - Final

View from center of room. LB's bed will be on the wall under the squirrel.

The squirrel built the fort.. along with Mr. Frog.

This is where LB will sleep - No Girls Allowed!

Lucas Fort - Final

View when you walk into the room

View of closet door and left side of room.

Lucas's Reading Corner

A Silver Lining

The good thing about having a kid that doesn't sleep is that I get to buy cute t-shirts like this:

Reconnect with Spouse Evening

Jon Stewart said that one time and I liked it. Jeff and I had a sans Lucas Bryant couple of hours last night. Kate came over at 6:00. We went to dinner at North Hills and then went to a toy store and had fun picking out Lucas's Christmas gifts. It was really nice - I'm finally starting to be able to relax when we go out because I know Lucas is okay and having a good time. Kate did have to call us 15min into our date, but it was for Tyson, not Lucas! She asked if Tyson had had dinner yet, as I heard Tyson barking his head off in the background. Tyson was totally taking advantage of the situation. We joked that Tyson was saying, in his tough voice, "Come on Kate, do you your job. You're babysitting me too. I'd like some chicken and steak, please."

A lot of our friends get out once a week. We're hoping to start doing this more because we really enjoyed ourselves. And it was fun to come home to this crazy guy...

Holiday Fun at Pullen Park

Last night we took Lucas to Pullen Park - for the first time ever they decorated it with Christmas lights and had a Santa there for pictures. You can't tell from Lucas's expression in these pictures, but he really enjoyed it.

Dad double knotting those little Keds.

"Wait, something looks different about this park. I've never been here at night!"

Lucas on the carousel with Jeff. We asked him which animal he wanted to ride and he snorted like a pig. Lucas, can we get a smile?

Oh wait, I see a little smile! Too bad the jacket was covering up his little grin.

"It was fun when it first started, now I'm bored with it. Can we ride the train next?"