Moving Day

We're all packed up and ready to move... well, mostly packed, but very ready. We can't wait to sleep in our new house for the first time tonight. Here is a map of the move.

I added a few extra posts below since it may be a few days until we get everything hooked up.

Lucas and His Spices

I promise that he has blocks and other toys!!!

Backyard Fun

My view from the kitchen of Lucas having fun with Kristin and Sophie.

Ewww! A worm.

Last Day at the Pool with Friends

Our new neighborhood doesn't have a pool. We'll really miss this pool because it is new and super nice, but there are a few public pools that we'll be able to visit. Charles and Christopher came over a couple of days ago to get in one last swim.

Charles and Lucas

... and Christopher makes 3!

Too busy for a picture.

Finally a shot without that bright green shirt!

Silly sign for Cold

The other night we had ice cream after dinner and we showed Lucas the sign for cold. He thought it was so funny for some reason. When we did the sign we said, "brrrrrr", so when he did it he made a growling sound and then burst into giggles. Now it's a game with him and Jeff at the dinner table... they take turns and there is lots of giggling.

Pretzels and Peanut Butter - Yum!

Our Sweet Friend, Tyson

Tyson has yet to see our new house. We feel bad that the home that he's know his whole life will change in a few days and he has no clue! Our townhouse has windows beside the front door and windows low enough in the front upstairs and downstairs room for him to look out and wait for us to come home. We're going to have to put a box under the window in our new house so that he has a place to sit and look out the window.

Tyson would never admit it (if he could talk), but he and Lucas are good friends. When Lucas sees him in the morning he sucks in his breath and points to him with a big smile on his face. Sometimes he gets so excited that he hits Tyson. When he does this we say, "We don't hit Tyson. We love him. He's our best friend and we give him kisses. Nice Tyson." Then Lucas pats him gently and gives him a kiss on the head. When he gives kisses he makes the noise, mmmm-muh.

Tyson's favorite game is "this is mine". We take a toy, or anything else really, and wave it in front of him as we say "this is mine." He attacks and we drag him around the room with the toy in his mouth. He and Lucas play their version of this game, but Tyson knows that he's a baby and isn't is as aggressive. Lucas will often initiate the game by grabbing a raw hide, sticking it in Tyson's face, and then running away with it.

I just wanted to update on our first baby is doing. Here are some cute pics.

Best Friends

"Will you guys please just leave me alone?"

"mmmmmm - muh!"

Sweet baby

Sign for Eat

Lucas is so cute with his signing lately. The latest one that he has mastered is the sign for eat.

On Friday he hadn't eaten that much all day, but since he's still nursing I don't ever worry much about that. I offer him 3 meals and 2 snacks. He usually eats a few bites, but often gives me the sign for "all done" a few minutes into the meal. I am trying to respect his wishes, so we end the meal then. Anyway, we were at the pool and a family that we didn't know ordered some burgers and fries for dinner. When Lucas saw them he got out of the pool and walked toward them pointing at them and doing the sign for "eat" and making an "uh-uh-uh" noise, which means that he wants something. I tried to re-direct him, but he was insisting that he was hungry. Luckily we did know someone else sitting nearby and they gave him a french fry, and then another and another.

It's moments like these when I can relate to a saying I heard recently, "I was a great parent before I had kids."

I have another story that I like regarding his new favorite sign. The three of us went to the grocery store this weekend. Jeff was pushing Lucas in the cart and had stopped near an ad for pretzels. We heard his "uh-uh-uh" noise and looked over to see him pointing at the pretzel and doing the sign for "eat". Oh, it was the cutest thing ever! Of course I opened up those pretzels and gave him one.

Sign for Thank You

We are working on the signs for please and thank you. We've been spending more time on "thank you", but Lucas is a little confused. Whenever he hands me something I tell him thank you and do the sign, so now he thinks that he should do this sign whenever he hands us something. The other day he brought one of my shoes over to Jeff, sat it down by his foot, quickly did the sign for thank you, and ran away. He'll get it eventually.

Sign for I love you

We have also been working on the sign for I love you. The link here only shows the "love-you" part, but we add in the "I" by pointing to our eyes. When we do the sign we say, "IIIIIIII, luvvvvv, YOU". Lucas giggles and points back at us. Yesterday he surprised us by mimicking the intonation. A few times it sounded like he got lucky and almost said "love" the same way we did. It was another awesome parenting moment.

Science Saturday

The day started around 7am. We snoozed in bed for a few minutes, but had to get up as soon as Lucas decided we were done being lazy. Lucas and I had breakfast while Jeff went for a bike ride (have I mentioned he's training for his first sprint triathlon?). Then I got Lucas ready while Jeff got ready, and then they were out the door for their first Daddy and Lucas Saturday morning field trip. This week they visited the Museum of Life and Science in Durham.

We carefully packed the diaper bag with diapers, wipes, snacks for Lucas, snacks for Jeff, a binky and an emergency empty container of chap stick (in case Lucas lost it at any point... chap stick fascinates him). None of that was necessary though - they had a great time. Jeff said that they road the train first and Lucas got a kick out of that. Then they visited the Butterfly House, which had hundreds of butterflies flying around. Then they checked out the playground, the Music Exhibit, the Insecterium, the Weather Exhibit, and the Farmyard. Jeff's favorite was the Insecterium and Lucas's favorite was the Weather Exhibit.

Who needs a neighborhood pool?

Lucas got this cool little pool for his birthday, but I'm just now getting around to setting it up for him. You hook the hose up to it and water sprays up out of little holes to give a fountain effect. It really wasn't working right because something is up with our water pressure, but Lucas had a ball. He stayed outside for over an hour and would have stayed longer if I let him. It looked really lame to me, but he really enjoyed filling up the cups and then pouring them out. I thought that I could relax a few minutes while he played, but then he figured out that it was more fun if mommy held the blue cup while he poured water into it. Here is he asking to play our new game, "blue cup-orange cup".

Waking Lucas

Jeff and I love it when Lucas wakes up from a nap. He doesn't play in his crib, but he usually doesn't cry either. We just hear sounds like "uh" and "ah" and other talking coming from his room. When we open the door this is what we see... little Lucas hanging against the railing, reaching for us. It takes him a minute to wake up, so we get to enjoy sweet, cuddly Lucas before he starts "working" again. (we say that Lucas goes to work because he acts like he has business to take care of - so intense and focused).

"Mom, do all kids have to sleep in their shoes?"

Sweet Boy

We were just in Lucas's room and Tyson got sick (probably from eating something he shouldn't have). I was quick and put a towel under his mouth so that it didn't get on the carpet. I was holding Lucas at the time. A few minutes later I put Lucas on the floor and he went over and looked at the towel that I had folded up and set by the door. Then he walked across the room and picked up Tyson's favorite toy and took it to him. He usually teases him with it so that Tyson will chase him, but this time he just dropped it beside him. I think he felt sorry for him because he got sick and I was saying, "Poor Tyson, he doesn't feel well.".

What a sweetie. It's so cool that he's at age where he understands these things.

Best Buds

Isn't this cute?

Hat and Spinach

We found this hat in a bag of hand-me-downs that are the next size up. Lucas wore it around all day on Saturday.

Lucas is eating Dr. Praeger's Spinach Patties here. His new fav.

Spice Art

The other day Lucas got all of the spices with red tops and put them on the kitchen chair. Then he stepped back and looked at them and thought about it for a second. Next he ran over and got the two spices with yellow tops. Stepped back. Thought. Then got the blue and the black. Finally he stepped back, looked at them, smiled, and ran away.

Tyson's New Challenge

I've challenged Tyson to step it up to this level.

Looks Like Ty

In this picture Lucas had just gotten into the plant and is getting upset with us for telling him that he can't put dirt on the rug. Jenn, doesn't this look like Ty? Does he have this outfit? I know Ty never cries, but something resembles him.

Starting to Pack

We started packing last Friday. We are procrastinators and so I fear that the moving day will arrive and we won't be ready. We're going to try and pack a couple of hours each night and then a lot this weekend. We close on the 28th and will move the 29th through the 4th.

These pictures are from Saturday. As you can see, we took many breaks to take pictures of Lucas in the boxes and trying on shirts and hats. He had a blast.

Picking Our Battles

Lucas is COMPLETELY OBSESSED with anything small that has a lid. On the top of his list is chapstick, lip stick, vasoline, and Sharpies (permanent markers that we use for writing on the boxes). If we carry him past a countertop that has any of these items he says "uh-uh-uh-uh" and reaches for it. We have to use our quickly improving diversion skills to avoid a tantrum.

This weekend Jeff was playing golf (for Father's Day) and I was packing up some stuff in Lucas's room. Lucas was in the bathroom and I knew it was quiet, but it was so nice to have a few minutes to finish what I was working on. When I checked on him I found him dipping his toothbrush into the vasoline. I could have gotten upset and taken it away from him, but the damage was done and I figured it wasn't that big of a deal... so I got out the camera.

"Hi Mom. Did you get a lot of packing done?"

Vasoline Monster
(make sure you click on this one to make it bigger).

Silly Vasoline hair picture.
We had to wash his hair.

Sound asleep after the fun.

Happy Father's Day

Dear Da Da,

Happy 2nd Father's Day. I love you.

Lucas Bryant

Happy Birthday Ty!

Dear Ty,
Happy Birthday dude. Now we are the same age.
Love,
Lucas

Ty enjoying his birthday cake.

"Shhhh!"

I was just singing a song to Lucas as I changed his diaper. He looked at me, put his finger to his lips and said "shhh, shhh!". Little stinker.

Jeff's Baby Picture

And all this time I thought Lucas looked like me!

Spaghetti and Watermelon

Obsession with the Glider

Maddie Inspired Breakfast

I was motivated to provide a better breakfast for Lucas after seeing what his friend Maddie was eating on a blog picture last week. Lucas is not a big solid food eater in the mornings. I usually offer him a banana and some cheerios, with maybe some oatmeal or yogurt. He only eats a few bites, probably because he nurses for most of the night. That is another story for another day, but on a side note... last night I tried to not use the pacifier because he seems like he's losing interest, but Lucas found a substitute for his binky... so mommy didn't get much sleep. Anyway, back to breakfast. Lucas has gotten homemade whole wheat pancakes and blueberries this week. He still doesn't eat that much, but seems to be more interested in playing with the blueberries than he was the bananas. He's having fun learning to use a fork and a spoon. He occasionally gets a piece of food in his mouth while using them.

So close!

What is up with this hair?
It is growing longer on one side than the other.

Whip cream makes every breakfast better.

Bad Hair Day

Trend Setter

Collared shirt and Robeez. That's it.

Our New Neighbors

There are a lot of things about our new house that make me think that this house was meant for us. On the day that we first saw it we had met our realtor during our lunch hour and had a few houses on our list to visit. This house wasn't on our list, but as we were leaving the area our realtor said, "Well, we're close, so let's swing by this other house." We hesitated because we were in a hurry, but decided to go by there. When we were leaving the house I told Jeff that we had found our house.

Later that week I was telling a friend about it and she said that the address sounded familiar. She called me later and said that she looked in her address book and that one of her friends lived right next door! I really knew it was meant for us then... what a coincidence! Anyway, my friend introduced me to Ele and we all got together for the first time on Saturday. We had some drinks at their place and then walked to a nearby restaurant. It was so fun to be able to walk to dinner.

Ele and Will have a dog named Emma that Lucas loved. He's usually shy around new people, but was running around their house playing with Emma from the moment we arrived. We can't wait for Tyson to meet Emma. They will be backyard buddies through the fence (if either one of them ever go outside).

Jeff and Lucas playing with Emma

Will, Ele and Emma