Proud Papa

Lucas has always been a mommy's boy, but last night he cried for "da-da". Jeff was so proud.

We dropped Lucas off at Blane's house so that we could go on our weekly dinner, sans Lucas. Lucas was playing well, so we snuck out, but then I remembered that we needed to tell Carol and Rob about Lucas's dinner. I asked Jeff to go back into the house because I knew Lucas would cry if he saw me again. Much to our surprise, when Lucas saw Jeff leave he started crying, yelling da-da-da-da, and reaching for Jeff. Jeff went back in to soothe him, but he cried for him a second time. Poor baby. Rob said he only cried for a minute. It was so sweet that he wanted his daddy so badly. Like I said, I could tell that Jeff was tickled by the affection that Lucas showed for him...so sweet.

Where's Lucas?

A couple of weeks ago Lucas realized that there is a whole other world underneath things. When he wants to look under something he crawls up to it and then puts his little bottom in reverse and sticks it up in the air while he lowers his little head down to take a peek. It's one of my favorite things that he has done. Shortly after discovering this he realized that his crib, which he apparently hates, can also be used as a fort. Maybe he'll soon learn to like the rest of the crib.

Sleepy Boys

It's hard to tell what this is, but it's a pic of our two little boys asleep this morning. As you can see, there isn't much room left for Jeff and me...

Hi Mom and Pop

My grandparents, Mom and Pop, are getting into the blog. We're happy that they will be able to keep up with Ty and Lucas's little lives...

Spring is on the way...

It was 60 degrees yesterday with blue skies. It looks like the rest of the week will be the same. I totally have spring fever. I have the windows open today and can hear the birds chirping outside.

Jeff and I want to go on a date this Friday, so we made a deal with Kristen that we'd watch Sophie last night if she will watch Lucas on Friday night. I wasn't sure what else to do with two babies and a dog, so we went to the park. There were moments when I thought that two kids was easier than one, especially with Lucas's personality. He likes to be entertained and Sophie is the perfect entertainer. He is totally content when she is around. He seems more like a little boy than a baby because he is not needy and watches her and tries to copy what she does. Here are some pics of the two little cuties...

Tupperware Fun

We don't need any toy cars - we have these big plastic containers for Lucas (and Tyson) to play in....

Little Climber

Charles's mom, Wendy, just asked me the other day if Lucas had entered into the climbing stage. I wasn't sure what she meant, but now I know. Here he is on the chair in our office. He has also learned how to climb on our bed, which is low to the ground, so we have to be careful because he doesn't know how to get down yet. Little monkey.

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall

For a few days in November we were blessed with a few of Lucas's sweet kisses, but since then he only has eyes for himself. If we ask him for a kiss we usually get a giggle and pushed away. If he sees his own reflection, however, he's all about kisses.

A Day in The Life

On Kristen's first day I wrote down an example of what Lucas does all day, by the hour. She wrote down his activities that day, and has kept doing it for me every day since. She said when Sophie was in daycare they did that for her, and she thought it was great. Here is what our little guy did yesterday (can his life be anymore documented???)...

8:15am - woke up, nursed, diaper change
9:00am - diaper change
got dressed
saw Sophie was combing her hair and picked up the brush and combed HIS hair
9:15am - breakfast - cheerios, banana, and a yo baby yogurt
10:00am -played with toys
chased sophie
practiced signs: more, milk, eat, food, please, ball, all gone
danced
read 2 books - "he really likes Brown Bear and Polar Bear"
climbed the stairs
11:45am - diaper change
12:00pm - nap - "we were dancing and I was singing songs...when his eyes closed I
rocked him and then put him in his crib"
12:45pm - woke up (short nap), nursed
2:30pm - lunch - 1 cup sweet potatoes and 1/2 cup peas
practiced kisses and blowing bubbles with lips
3:00pm - changed diaper
4:00pm - gave the sign for "sleep" twice, rocked him, but no nap

V-Day Dinner

My boys treated me to a night off from cooking dinner tonight. They always help - Jeff is in charge of starches, Lucas pulls everything out of the bottom drawer and drags it all over the kitchen, and Tyson jumps on the back of my legs barking - but tonight they did everything. Since Jeff is the only one of them that can drive, he was in charge of going to the grocery store. The menu was veggie quesadillas, rice, pomegranate juice and ice cream. It was nice to be served!

"I don't know Tyson, he said he'd be back in 10 min!"

"Tyson, Tyson, he's home! He's home!"

"Hurry Dad, Mom's right behind me and she may see you!"

River Hike

We finally got around to visiting Eno River State Park yesterday. It is about 20 min west of Raleigh. We chose a trail that was a little too long. It took us about 2 hours to get through it, but the river and the weather were awesome, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Lucas squealed with delight and kicked his legs with excitement for about the first 90 min. The last 30 min he screamed. We think he was tired of the front carrier because he wasn't interested in nursing and when we'd sit him on the ground he'd start playing in the leaves and the dirt. It wasn't that big of a deal for us...but I can't speak for the folks that thought they were going to take a nice, peaceful afternoon stroll in the park...

Here are some pics...

Naked Baby

This is Lucas after his bath tonight. It's one of my favorite times of the day. After dinner we all usually go straight to the bath (even Tyson) because Lucas is covered in food. After the bath we go to his room, where we've had the space heater on to warm up the room, and play until Lucas crawls up to me and starts grabbing at my shirt..which means he's ready to go to sleep. Post bath play time is usually about 20 min. Jeff usually gets a story in, but tonight Lucas was too busy going through drawers and containers to pay attention. Check out his hair. I usually brush it to the side, but Jeff likes the messy look, so this is his styling skills at work...

Feeling Better

Lucas felt better almost immediately after getting the antibiotics in his system. Now he is pretty much back to his old self. Here he is being silly in his high chair....

Pitiful Lucas

Lucas has had some runny noses and tiny colds in the past, but this time he's not messing around. The night before last he would only sleep for 20 min at a time and he had to be sitting up and leaning against me. He woke up with his eyes sealed shut from all of the drainage that was built up and had nowhere else to go since his nose was already doing it's fair share of draining. We went to the doctor and they said that he definitely has two ear infections and may have pink eye. The doc said it didn't really matter if he had pink eye because he was going to be on antibiotics for his ears anyway. Thank goodness for good drugs! This little guy was so pitiful yesterday morning, but was almost back to his old self by the afternoon. This morning he is very happy and I hear lots of laughter coming from downstairs. I think this picture does a good job of showing how bad Lucas felt yesterday....

Little Sophie

Here is a picture of Lucas's new little friend that comes over and plays with him everyday...

10 Months Old!

Jeff told Lucas this morning that he is now in the double digits. Here is what Lucas is doing as a 10 month old....

Signs: Lucas can get the sign for dog right all the time now. We ask him where Tyson is and he looks around to find him and pats his hand against his thigh. If I'm rocking Lucas and Tyson barks somewhere else in the house, Lucas will sit up and say, "woof, woof" and pat his hand against his thigh. He's so smart! (just kidding - this is normal stuff - but I do think he's a baby genius sometimes...just like all first time moms). Lucas does the sign for milk, but I still don't think he means milk every time. I think it means "mommy" or "mommy's chest".

Security: We've tried and tried to get Lucas to like a stuffed animal or blanket, so that when he wakes up he will have something comforting to cuddle up to. Unfortunately the thing that Lucas has chosen as his comfort item is me (more specifically, my chest). Actually, he has no problem with sticking his hand down anyone's shirt if mommy isn't around. Even Jeff.'s We have to keep his nails trimmed because we both have claw marks from him opening and closing his hand against our skin.

Words - Lucas babbles da-da-da and ma-ma-ma the most. Kristen, our nanny, says that she thinks he only says ma-ma when I'm around, but I am not sure about that yet. These sounds, barking, and "uh-oh" are his four "words" for now.

Mobility - We thought Lucas would be walking by 10 months, but now I wouldn't be surprised if it was closer to 1 year. He doesn't practice walking because, well, he just has more important things to do. If we try to practice by holding his hands he still pulls the wet noodle move so that he can get away to explore in the plants or cords. He's a pro at going up the stairs and is way too fast for us. We've started to put a gate at the bottom of the stairs because too many times have we looked over to see him half way up...with a big, goofy grin on his face.

Teeth - Lucas now has 8 teeth! They are so cute.

Kristen and Sophie - Lucas seems to really love his time with his nanny and her daughter. I never hear a peep from him and he can fall asleep for naps with Kristen as easy, if not easier, than he does for me. Kristen is a music teacher, so she sings to Lucas a lot - which he loves.

Books - Just this week Lucas has started to pay attention to us when we read him books. His favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Polar Bear, Polar Bear. He laughs at these books the same way he laughs at the green lizard on the Baby Einstein DVDs. We usually read Brown Bear, Brown Bear 7 or 8 times a night.

Food - Lucas is eating most meals by himself now. The only things that we feed him with a spoon are oatmeal, yogurt, and squash. He'll have cheerios and a banana for breakfast and then the rest of the meals are usually a hodge posh of whatever we are having or what I have in the fridge. His favorite foods are bananas, butternut squash and sweet potatoes. He has yet to keep a piece of cheese in his mouth. We're still nursing 3-5 times a day. I have no idea how much milk he is getting.

Sleep - I'm bored with this subject, as I'm sure all of you are by now. Let's just say that Lucas has given his mommy and daddy two restful nights in 10 months. At least there is a lot of room for improvement.

Here are Lucas and Tyson at 3am this morning. Lucas's teeth are bothering him, so instead of trying to get him to sleep, we just got up for a little snack. Lucas likes to look out for his little buddy by dropping food down for him...

An Inspiration

My maternal grandmother is a very strong woman. Among other things, she got married at 15 years old, had 5 kids by the time she was 23 years old, and is a breast cancer surviver.

The other day she woke up with Bell's Palsy, a viral attack on the facial nerves that cause one side of the face to be paralyzed (temporarily, we hope). Her left eye can't close completely, so she is wearing a patch over it. What I find an inspiration is that we talked for an hour on the phone last night and she didn't even mention it. She only talked about it when Jeff asked her about it, and what she said was something like this, "It isn't that big of a big deal. I can't close my eye so I just wear a patch with a sticker of a tiger on it."

A sticker of a tiger. I think that is awesome. She reminds me that perspective and attitude can make any situation better (or worse)....

Bath time

Lucas now enjoys bath time in the tub without any baby props (duck tub or baby tub). Of course he is all over the place. He pulls up and then sits down, pulls up and then sits down...over and over again. It's actually good that he uses so much energy before bedtime. He is fascinated by the running water and likes to suck on the wash rag. Last night he would be on all 4's and would then plop down so that he was on his belly, his chin barely above the water...then he did it about 10 more times. I'm always surprised at how he can do the same thing over and over without getting bored.