2nd Haircut and 1st Face Painting

I took the turkey to get his 2nd haircut this morning. His first haircut was almost four months ago... his hair has grown out, but not down. I expected crying and clinging, and he WAS a little hesitant at first, but once we sat down and she started cutting I was able to talk to him to keep him distracted for the 4 min it took her to trim his hair.

I planned on taking him to the park or something afterwards, but there was a clown in the store that was making balloon creatures and painting faces. Lucas watched a few other kids get their faces painted before he asked to get his painted. I was shocked that he actually sat in the chair while she did this! She painted a clown face on his little face and it was just about the cutest thing I'd ever seen. He doesn't look thrilled in the video or the picture, but he was so proud of it. Most of it wore off throughout the day, but he insisted on keeping his clown eyebrows on for dinner at Melissa and Shawn's house that night : )

Tree Progress

I think it's kind of neat when things like this happen because it brings people together. We have been overwhelmed with support from our neighbors and friends. As a matter of fact, Jeff and a couple of friends have nearly finished removing the tree from our neighbor's yard - $1200 in savings for us! Yes, you are in the wrong business, according to the quotes we received on Friday.

We were ready to hire a service because we don't own a chainsaw and really didn't think it was something that we should mess with anyway because of the way the tree was positioned. Before realizing this we asked our neighbor Craig if we could borrow his chainsaw, but later in the day we emailed him that we had underestimated the size of the branch. Craig, loving a chainsaw related challenge, came over around 4:30 on Friday and said, "awww, we can handle this. I'll be right over." My jaw dropped as he walked home to get his chainsaw. That was the first act of kindness. The second was when I called my friend Melissa to tell her we'd have to cancel our dinner plans at their house because we couldn't pass up the chance for Craig to help us. She responded by saying that she'd send Shawn right over with his chainsaw! So two hours later we had Craig, Shawn and Jeff in the backyard working hard and Melissa, Michelle, me and the two boys inside preparing dinner (pizza, salad and watermelon). It was a really fun night after all!

On Saturday morning Craig came over to help Jeff finish the job, Mark brought his chainsaw over to help, Will let us borrow his wheel barrel and Kim made calls to friends to see if they had a chainsaw we could borrow. I was humbled by the love that our friends and neighbors showed us this weekend. We are so thankful for all of their help.

The first pic is what the tree looked like on Friday morning... in our neighbor's backyard, covering their garden.

This is what the backyard looked like on Friday evening after a few hours of work (taken from our upstairs window). The boys had cut down a lot of the limbs and thrown them over the fence into our backyard. The goal was to remove them asap to try and salvage our neighbor's garden. The couple is in their late 70's/80's and spend a lot of time in their yard and it looks great. It looks like a few of their plants won't make it, but hopefully most of them will bounce back.

Here are Craig and Shawn working hard...

Pierson and Lucas Keeping Cool

Pierson is Melissa and Shawn's little boy. He's only 18 months old, but really acts like a 2 yr old, so Lucas is having a great time playing with him. They go at it though! For the most part they play well together, but if there is a toy they both want they will fight. At the park this week Melissa and I had to break them up because they were hitting, scratching, and pulling hair! Melissa and I are getting some good parenting training. No worries though, they are quick to make up with a hug and a kiss.

While the boys worked on the tree these two stinkers decided they'd get into the water pail with their cute little outfits on...

Fun in Mama's Swim Cover Up

Island Eating

Every night when we make dinner we try to give Lucas a little task so that he feels included. He sits on the island and helps to sort the veggies, put the cut veggies in a bowl, etc. He usually ends up sampling a lot of the food during the prep phase, but he's occupied and seems to like helping us.

Okra is his favorite veggie right now. Apparently it even tastes good raw!

And he was just checking to make sure that this bread was fresh...

And here he had just finished a watermelon snack. He asked for us to tie this rag around his neck so that he didn't get sticky : )

This morning...

...in our backyard.

The first guy we had come give us an estimate said he'd recommend cutting the tree down all together (just a branch fell). That's not going to be cheap.

On a brighter note, look how tall our tomato plants are growing!

Chocolate Lover... like Mama

After telling Lucas that we were going to go to listen to music tonight and get an ice cream treat:

Lucas: "Ice cream please."

Mama: "Okay, you can have a few bites now before we leave."

Mama gets strawberry sorbet out of freezer and gives to Lucas with a spoon.

Lucas: "no, no, no mama... BROWN!"

Observant Lucas

Lucas is way more observant than I am. He gets it from Jeff. Jeff and I will be riding down the road and he'll ask me if I know what business a new building contains - my answer is usually that I had no clue it was even there. I don't pay attention to anything I don't have to. Lucas is like Jeff - he doesn't miss anything. A few examples... 1) We'll be walking through the grocery store and he'll spot a little dolphin on a can 10 feet away and point it out. 2) He seems to always be scanning signs for letters that he recognizes when we're driving. I'll look at him in the mirror and he'll have his serious look on and then will suddenly scream out a letter and then look at me to make sure I see it too. 3) He knows what kind of shoes all of his friends wear at school. The kids have a pair of shoes that they wear outside only, so they are kept in a basket outside of the door when the kids are inside. Every morning when we get to school and every afternoon when I pick him up Lucas tells me who each pair of shoes belong to. The other day we were looking at pictures on his class website and one of the pictures had a tiny picture of a kid's shoes in the top corner. Lucas pointed them out and knew who they belonged to.

Lucas's First Name Suggestion

Lucas's class is learning the letter M this week (muh, muh, muh sound). Last week they did L, but Lucas couldn't say it that well, so he's still practicing his K sound. We asked him last night what he wanted to name Baby Sister and he said, "kuh, kuh, kuh... Maddie".

Little cutie. I wonder where he got that? We have a few friends named Maddie, so I doubt if that is what we will go with, but it was still cute.

Watch Mommy! Watch Daddy!

We heard this over and over and over again this weekend. Lucas has figured out how to get our attention and he loves it! He'll say, "watch, watch" and when he sees that he has our attention he'll do something totally silly, like shake his head back and forth. This morning he would ask us to watch and then sprint from one side of the kitchen to the other, each time turning to see that we were watching with a big, proud grin on his face. After doing that a few times he would ask us to watch and then would make up a silly movement, like jumping in place as he turned around in a circle, to keep us entertained.

I thought he was only doing this with us, but Mrs. Xenia said that on Friday he would ask her to watch and then dive into the mulch in the playground.

He is such a silly goose right now. We're loving this age.

Little Negotiator

Recently heard at our house. Note that "babies" are gummy bear vitamins and/or little gummy treats. He usually gets two vitamins a day.

Lucas: Baby? Baby? Two please.
Mama: Lucas, you've already had four babies today and you usually only get two.
Lucas: Nooo, noooo, noooo. One!
Dada: Lucas, you've already had four babies, you don't need another one.
Lucas: Ooooh, ooooh... FIVE!


Also recently heard at our house:

Lucas: Baby please.
Dada: Lucas, you've already had one baby. You can have another one after you get dressed.
Lucas: Nooo, nooo, nooo. One!
Mama: Lucas, let's make a deal. Look at mama's eyes. The deal is that you get ONE baby after you get dressed.
Dada: Deal or No Deal (like the corny guy on t.v.)
Lucas: No deal.

Baby Sister Prep

We've been talking a lot about Baby Sister lately. If Lucas sees my bare belly he says "Baby Sister" and gives it a kiss and a pat (although I must admit he has done the same thing to Jeff once or twice : )). If we see a baby at the store or the pool he calls her baby sister and waves to her... or says, "Baby Sister, shhhh" if she is sleeping.

We bought him a baby doll and have been trying to teach him to be gentle with it, how to hold it, burp it, etc. He likes to feed her a bottle. To my surprise he even let the doll sit with us and he taught it how to nurse. These things were very sweet, but a few minutes later I saw him feeding her goldfish and covering her head with a blanket... so we have some work to do.

In addition to the baby doll, we've ordered a book that we can all read together about him becoming a big brother. We're also starting to work on moving him upstairs to his big boy room. The doctor advised that we should do this well before Baby Sister's arrival. I've ordered the bedding and we plan to order the furniture next week. We have a fun idea for the theme of the room (more on that later), so I'm really excited about it.

Here is Lucas with the Baby Sister doll...

Looks like we need to work on prepping Tyson for Baby Sister too!! Here he is in his new favorite nap spot...

Lucas's First Gift

Our Father's Day morning was fun. I ran out at about 6:45 to get some biscuits, but the place I wanted to go wasn't open yet, so I picked some pancake mix up at the grocery store instead. Lucas and Jeff made the pancakes, which was right up Lucas's alley. His teacher said that his favorite part of class is the practical stuff... measuring, pouring, etc.

After breakfast it was time for Lucas to give Jeff his Father's Day gift. It was something that he had made at school and his teacher had wrapped for him (how nice!), so I didn't have to do anything. It was Lucas's very first gift giving experience! It didn't go exactly as planned, however, because Lucas got so excited that he had the gift half way open by the time he got to Jeff! Oh well...

Here it is... Lucas's gift to Jeff for Father's Day 2008!

Short Shorts

Lucas's pjs are mixed and matched for the summer. Since I figured that he sleeps well in just a t-shirt he's even been wearing some of his more comfy play t-shirts to bed at night. On this night, however, I had just cleaned out his drawers and found these cute little shorts. They are size 18 months, so they fit but were a little tight. When Lucas walked out of his room Jeff commented that it wasn't the 70's anymore : )

Summer at the Pool!

Our lucky boy went to the pool three days in a row this past weekend. Friday night we got invited to go to Max and Ben's neighborhood pool, Saturday to Christopher's club pool and Sunday we went to the public pool. We love, love, love our new house... but I think we will miss the pool that our old neighborhood had this summer. The public pool is very nice, but just not the same. That is from my perspective, however... I don't think Lucas knows the difference... he had a blast each time.

He was all sunscreened up and ready to go in this picture...

When we got there we played in the baby pool and then in the big pool for a couple of hours before getting dressed for a nice lunch...

And I did manage to get one picture of Christopher and Lucas together...

School Friends

Lucas's class has a website where the teacher has an individual picture of all of the kids in his class. This weekend we pulled up the site to see what Lucas would think. We scrolled down to each kid's picture and he would scream out their name as he was grinning from ear to ear. I think he is really enjoying his new world of learning and new experiences with his little friends...

(Jeff doesn't have a tatoo (arm). Those are markings from his race)

2 Year Check-Up

We were a little late in scheduling Lucas's check-up, but we finally made it there last week. Here are his stats:

Weight: 26.2lbs (20%)

Height: 35.25 inches (60%)

Head Circum: 19" (35%)

So our kid is long and lean... not a big surprise. He has long legs like his dada.

Lucas's doctor must have made a good impression on him the last time he saw him because he has been saying his names at random times for the past few weeks. It was fun to see him get excited when we told him that he'd get to see him again soon. When we walked into the waiting room he looked around and said, "Hmmm, Dr. Wiles"? I told him that Nurse Janet would see us first. He couldn't say "nurse", surprisingly, so by the end of the appointment he was running down the hallway waving to Janet and saying, "Hi Janet"! When we finally did the doctor he gave him a big grin and a high five.

I didn't have many questions for the doctor this time, but we did cover the topics of two year olds being unreasonable and potty training. I asked him why Lucas throws his cereal down in the backseat and then cries that he wants more - he said because two year olds are unreasonable. I asked him if I should potty train Lucas over a 3 day period (like I've heard that some people have done) and he told me no way. He said that I didn't teach him to walk in one weekend and that potty training is no different. He said just to give him the opportunity and encourage him and that it would happen eventually.

Lucas enjoyed the exam. He plopped right down on the table and giggled as the doctor listened to his heartbeat and looked in his ears. When the nurse pricked his finger to check his iron his little lip trembled, but he held back the tears and then was distracted by the band-aid.

We're not scheduled to go for another check-up until he's three.

New Shoes

Lucas got a new pair of red shoes last week. He had some red tennis shoes, but they were getting a little small and I figured that his teacher gets tired of tying them, so we opted for some slip-ons this time. I was going to order them on-line, but decided at the last minute just to run out to the store. I'm glad I did because was very sure of which pair of shoes that he wanted. I had all of the colors lined up in front of him - green, light blue, dark blue, red and orange. I suggested the blue or green so that they'd go with more outfits, but he was SURE that he wanted the red ones. When I picked up the blue ones to put them back he thought that I was going to make him get those and he said, "no, no. red"!

I'm glad I let him pick them out because he is so proud of them. He puts them on first thing in the morning and even fell asleep wearing them the other night.

Happy Birthday Ty!!!!

Ty is 2 today!!!

We love you Ty! Happy Birthday!

Dada's Triathlon

Jeff raced in his second triathlon of the year on Saturday in Charlotte. I think he was kind of dreading it because he had to drive to Charlotte on Friday night, get up at 4am, drive 30 min, park 2 miles away and bike to the race. However, when he called me at 8:30 on Saturday morning he sounded tired, but proud and happy that he'd finished. He did awesome on the swim and better on the run than last time. He said he needs to work on his bike, but he has a crappy bike, so maybe that's part of it. Lucas and I are proud of him!

Happy Father's Day, Dada, from your future tri-athlete!

Happy Father's Day!

Seriously, does it get any cuter?

MacBen

That is what Lucas calls cousins, Max and Ben. He idolizes them! These pics are from last week, but we saw them again last night. I was going to do Mike and Jill a favor (Jeff is at his triathlon) and watch the boys while they went to a movie (to pay them back for watching Tyson), but at the last minute we decided to go their pool instead. Lucas had the best time! He used to spend more time with Max, but now he follows them around an equal amount. You can just see the sparkle in his eyes when he is around them. He also loves Mike and Jill - when we got there yesterday he ran to Mike with his arms up for Mike to pick him up. We're so happy they live here now! (Mike is Jeff's 1st cousin. They moved here last fall from Virginia. Jeff lived with Mike and Jill for a year when he worked in D.C. right of out college).

A hug for Ben

And one for Max

Crocs Warning : )

These are Lucas's shoes that are thankfully not our favorite anymore because he can take the strap off the back. Anyway, the shoe on the right ended up in the back of our car so that the sun beamed on it through the back window for a few days. Look how the sun made it shrink in size! Lucas hasn't warn them in a couple of weeks, so when I pulled it out of the car I thought - wow, his feet have really grown!.. but then I found the other one and realized what had happened. Lucas says it's "broken".

(These aren't really Crocs, they are a knock-off from Stride Right, but still)

Loyal Tyson...

always up for a snooze.

Milkshake Mustache

Since it's so hot we have had to come up with some new inside activities in the afternoons. One of our favorites is to make "moothies". Lucas is a big helper. He gets the blender out of the cabinet and sits it on the floor. Then he goes to the fridge, pulls on the door (sometimes getting it open) and starts naming ingredients... "ogurt, booberry, sawberry, jooose". Sometimes we use frozen fruit, OJ and yogurt. Yesterday we used just milk and frozen bananas. Lucas looks forward to making mustaches with his and then either looking in the mirror or having me take a picture on the digital camera and looking at it afterwards.

Mama likes making mustaches too! The pink flowers in my hair were from Lucas. My little gentleman picks me flowers daily and I always stick them behind my ear. We took this picture ourselves. I put my arm around Lucas and then he put his little arm around me and said "cheese"! He's such a big boy now!

Routine? Heat? Milk?

Lucas slept from 9:00-7:30 again last night (had to wake him up at 7:30). Not only did he sleep well, but the bedtime routine has also gotten super easy. It used to take 1-2 hours to get him to sleep each night, but last night it took about 5 min. Like the past several nights, we ate at 6:30, bath at 7:30, snack at 8:00, Sesame Street at 8:30, rocker at 8:45 and asleep by 9:00. And, another first was when I turned off Sesame Street and picked him up he laid his little head down on my shoulder - that has never happened! When I came out of his room Jeff and I talked about how easy that was and why we think his behavior has changed. I commented that maybe it's just his new routine (with school) and it just took him a couple of months to get really into it. But then there is my milk supply... and I also think the 100 degree weather is making us all more tired.

You can be sure of one thing, I'm going to try and get the new baby on a routine asap!

Playing with Dada

Lucas invented a game where he positions either Jeff or me on the rug in the family room, runs to the back door, and then sprints back into the family room and dives on us. He is very sure of where he wants us to sit and how he wants us to sit. Sometimes he wants us to sit up and other times he wants us to lay down. If he sees that you've changed positions before he gets out of the room he says, "no, no, no. dis! dis!" as he positions you exactly where he wants you for the second time. You can see from his grin that he loves this little game...

Night # 4 of Sleep

Last night wasn't as good as the previous three nights... he went down a little before 9pm and woke up a little before 5am, but he went back to sleep soundly within 20 min of me going into his room. Woke up around 7:30am for the day.

3 Nights in a Row!

Last night he went to sleep a little before 9pm and got up this morning at 7:15am. I forgot to document that for the past three nights he has worn a short sleeved pj shirt and a diaper (not pants). Also, the sheet on his bed someone ended up on the floor (because he was making tents with it), so for the past three nights he has been covered up with just his light-weight comforter. Before these three nights he wore shirt and pants and didn't cover up at all.

Just so I remember, here is what Lucas's night sleep patterns have been like over the past 6 months:

- Fall 2007- woke up at least twice a night to nurse
- Christmas 2007 - Sandy and Jeff got Lucas to where he would call for Jeff when he woke up (still twice a night). Did not nurse at night from end of December through first of April.
- Early April 2008 - Lucas and I got a viral infection (kind of like the flu) and then Jeff got it. When Lucas and I were sick we spent a lot of time napping together and I nursed him at night when he woke up with a fever. When Jeff got sick he couldn't care for Lucas at night, so he started nursing again when I would go in to him. Jeff got better the day before Lucas started Montessori school... we didn't want Lucas to have a "bad" night the day before school, so I continued to go in and nurse him during the transition to school.
- End of May 2008 - We had a very tough few weeks in a row. I think my milk was decreasing, but it was made worse because we went out of town (a triathlon and Memorial Day weekend) and Lucas had to sleep with us. When we returned home we decided to try and get Jeff to go in to soothe Lucas at night again. We tried it for 2 nights in a row. Both nights Jeff tried to get Lucas to sleep for 3 hours. The first night he fell asleep sitting up because he was so tired (but woke up 2 hours later). The second night we gave in after three hours and I nursed him and cuddled with him. He was so shaken up that I was thinking that we had damaged him... we swore we'd just go with his needs and not try to force night weaning again.
- Early June 2008 - Lucas was consistently going to bed around 9pm, getting up around 1am, 5am, and up for day around 6:30am. I was staying up at least an hour with him each night because I couldn't sleep with him anymore while he nursed.
- June 8, 2008 - Lucas surprised us by sleeping through the night.

Tyson

Tyson is still our sweet punkin, but I realized that I don't blog about him anymore. He's such a great little guy. Our company last week said that he doesn't have a life because when Jeff and I leave he just sits on the chair and looks out the window until we get home. We left him somewhere over Memorial Day and they said that he sat by their front window most of the time. When we do finally get home he greets us like he hasn't seen us in years. He's so loyal. When our family is at home and doing something, he is involved... dinner, watching t.v., Lucas's bedtime routine and cuddled up next to Jeff and me at night. We love him so much.

Here he is one night before Jeff and I got into bed...

In case you can't tell, his head is on the left and tail on the right...

And here he is making himself comfortable in piles of clothes that I was sorting through...

"All gone. Bye-Bye milk!"

This is what my sweet boy says when I ask him if there is any milk left in the, um... boobies. I'm pretty sure there isn't much, if any, in there for him anymore. My doctor warned me that most pregnant women that are still nursing have their milk decrease drastically, if not totally, in the 2nd trimester.

It makes sense because a couple of weeks ago we had a really hard time for about a week or so. Lucas was getting up 2-3 times a night and was very restless during these times, keeping me up for at least an hour each time. He would nurse, but then flip-flop around and just couldn't seem to get comfortable. Then after about an hour he'd ask to go to the rocker. I was so frustrated and actually had these thoughts, "I hate nursing! This is ridiculous. We have got to put a stop this, starting tomorrow. It's time wean him." Then in the morning I would feel guilty because I hadn't been more patient during this time where he needed me emotionally. I even reached out to a local Attachment Parenting group to see if there was anyone there that had experienced this while pregnant. Anyway, looking back, I think that must have been when my milk was decreasing. Lucas would wake up wanting to get milk, like he had done for over two years, and couldn't go back to sleep without it being there for him. He was also probably hungry and thirsty (one night we even got up and had a snack).

I'm not depending AT ALL on him sleeping through the night from here on out, but I do think, however, that this may be a turning point for him. There is no more milk and he seems to be adjusting.

How do I feel about this? Kind of sad because it's one more step towards being a little boy and away from a baby, but I want what's best for Lucas and if it's time for him then I will encourage and support him. This is only the beginning of the weaning process anyway. He still asks for a boobie snack, as Jeff has always called it, when we are together... he just doesn't stay latched on for as long as he used to. I guess it would be better for him to totally wean before the baby is born because I don't know how I could nurse them both at the same time. I think lots of women have done it, but that just seems like a lot to take on... although I guess I'd lose my baby weight pretty quickly!

10 and 1/2 Hours!

Lucas gave us an unprecedented two nights of sleep in a row. Last night he went down at 9pm and didn't get up until 7:30am. When I peeked in his room at 7:30 to see if he was stirring he was sitting up in his bed smiling at me... little cutie.

I made sure last night that he wore the same pjs as the night before, so I have to document what we did yesterday so that I'll remember what to do tonight and going forward. I'm superstitious, but who knows what was the one thing that made him sleep all night... can't risk missing anything.

Lucas had a snack at school at 3:30 and then some crackers in the car on the way home at 4:30. We stayed outside for a few min when we got home and then went in to get some water around 5:00. Lucas wanted "boobie on the purple couch" so we went upstairs and cuddled/nursed for 30-45 min. Jeff was on the computer at the time, so it was just a quiet, cool time for us to hang out (was 102 degrees outside). At 5:45 we packed up and all three went to the grocery store. At 6:30 Lucas and I started dinner while Jeff went to gym for swim class (he has triathlon this wknd). Lucas and I ate around 7:00 - he had a little of all of this: spaghetti, watermelon, broccoli, and mac/cheese. We had a moment at 7:15 because I let him help me water the plants and he didn't want to turn off the water hose. At 7:30 Lucas took a quick bath. At 7:45 he was dressed in pjs. At 8:00 we watched "street" (sesame street) while he had a yo baby yogurt and a small bowl of oatmeal. I told him that after Elmo he would have to go night-night, but I let him watch the Oscar segment since Oscar's worm, Slimey, was going night-night. Jeff came home around 8:15. At 8:30 I asked Lucas where he wanted to go night-night (it's either the rocker, mama's bed, black couch or purple couch) and he chose the purple couch. After about 15 min he was asleep and I carried him down to his bed and cuddled with him for a few min until I knew he was sound asleep.

Sweet Friends

When I picked Lucas up from school last Thursday he was sitting in a circle with 3 of the other children in his class... Mrs. Xenia was reading them a story. When Lucas saw me walk in the door he hopped up, ran to me and gave me a big hug with the biggest smile on his face. It is so great every day when that happens! Anyway, he then walked around the corner to wave good-bye to his friends and the oldest child of 4 years came to him with his arms extended for a hug. After that hug the 2 year old gave Lucas a hug and then the 3 year old. It was very, very sweet. Lucas returned the hug to the first child and kind of stood there in shock at the show of affection by the other two children. Over the wknd he was showering his cousins with hugs, so the love and kindness must be having an effect!

8 and 1/2 Hours!

The turkey slept from 11:00-7:30 last night - yippee!! He actually went to sleep a little before 9:00, but it was in our bed, and when I transferred him at 11:00 he woke up and nursed for a few minutes. Jeff and I had to wake him up at 7:30 since we have to leave for school at 8:00. We think he's having a growth spurt because he's sleeping more (not usually uninterrupted) and eating more solid foods.

Oh my gosh, it's hot!

It is the hottest I've ever experienced in Raleigh. It's been about 100 degrees the past several days. Jeff said it's supposed to cool down by the end of the week, which means get down to 89 degrees. Yikes, it's bad when 89 degrees is considered cool. I'm just hoping that this doesn't last all summer - I already feel like I'm moving in slow motion in this heat and I'm only going to get bigger. But we do have a few things to be thankful for...

Water hoses and big buckets...

Sprinkler pools...

Tanks tops, summer skirts and ponytails!

21 Week Checkup

Everything is going well with Baby Sister. At our checkup yesterday they said that she felt like she was right where she should be and her heart rate was good (150s). My blood pressure was 102/64. My weight has gone from 118 to 133, so I'm on track to gain 34 lbs if I gain 1 lb a week for the next 19 wks (I gained 33 with Lucas).

She seems to be more active than Lucas was in the womb. The other night at dinner she kicked me or punched me so hard that I gave Jeff a dirty look because I thought he had poked me in the belly!

I thought we had a good name picked out, but Jenn told me a possible nickname that could be made from it, so I'm not sure now. Also, Jeff said last night he's not sure he's on board with the "theme" of name, or at least isn't ready to commit. Sigh.. back to the drawing board. That's okay, we have plenty of time!

Love Him, Love Him, Love Him!

Grandpa is here!

Grandpa Schroeder is here for a long weekend to visit with Lucas and play golf with Jeff. Lucas LOVES him! He calls him P-Pa instead of Grandpa. The first picture was taken only about an hour after Dennis arrived. Lucas grabbed him by the finger, told him to sit where he is sitting and started playing with him. Every morning when Lucas wakes up and sees Dennis in the kitchen he grabs his finger and leads him to his table to begin some clay work or Mr. Potato Head work.

Lucas also likes to sit in Grandpa's lap at night...

And even scare Grandpa by standing on the side of the chair and jumping into his arms...