Backyard Buddies

Here is little Lucas striking up a conversation with our next door neighbor, Will. He and Tyson love to talk to him and the lady that lives behind us, Alberta. Sometimes Tyson will sit at the back fence and just look at Alberta's house... I guess he's hoping that she'll come out and talk to him. So Tyson prefers Alberta, but Lucas definitely prefers Will... or really any guy. If there is a man and a woman in the room, Lucas always initiates conversation with the man first. He'll take them a book or a toy, or ask them to pick him up. I think it's because he knows that the man will play rough with him... Jeff plays rougher with him than I do and he loves it. Will flips him in the air, Neil lifts him to touch the fan, Mark throws him in the air, etc. Lucas definitely loves adventure and doesn't have much fear. Good thing I'm not a scaredy... I think this is great and we have a lot of fun playing around.

"Mr. Will, are you out there?"

"Hello Mr. Will!"

"So, how's your day going?"

New Rocking Chairs

We have a long list of things that we need to get for our house. Rocking chairs probably shouldn't have been that high up on the list, but they were one of the least expensive items and they add so much to the front of the house. Next on the list is blinds.

Best buds.

Lucas's expression for all pictures these days...

"Will somebody please take me to get a haircut?"

Can you say?

Lucas's vocabulary is taking off. It's so cute to hear his voice as he experiments with new sounds. When he wakes up from a nap or in the morning we like to play a little game where we say, "Can you say ___?" The list of words that we go through are mama, dada, sasa, grandma, grandpa, truck, trash, witch, ball, uh-oh, bye-bye, tyson, moses, ty, mom, pop, and moon. We'll throw in a few new words each time and he'll try to pronounce those... sometimes it sounds like the word and sometimes it is mumbo-jumbo, but you can tell he's thinking about it. He'll really be into the game for about 10 words and then he'll show us the sign for "all done".

Christmas Wreaths

Our good friends, Sean and Rachel, have decided to adopt two children from Ethiopia. Sean was a fraternity brother of Jeff's at Georgia Tech and I got to know him well when we went on our study abroad trip in 1998 (also the trip where Jeff and I started dating). Sean met Rachel in grad school and they got married around the same time that we did. They are wonderful people and I admire them for helping the world by adopting two little babies that are in need of parents.

Adoption is very expensive. To help with the costs they are making and selling wreaths this Christmas. So if you were thinking of buying a wreath this Christmas, please consider buying one from them.

Visit http://www.bringourbabieshome.com/ to check out the wreaths, and if you'd like to follow them on their journey through adopting, visit http://www.kerriganadoptionstory.blogspot.com/.

Our Flight to Atlanta

We had such a great time when Ty and Jenn came to Raleigh that Lucas and I decided to fly spend a weekend at their house in Atlanta (actually almost an hour south of Atlanta). Our little turkey did SO GREAT on the flight. We were lucky to get 3 seats to ourselves, so he could move around a lot. I was planning on taking his carseat on the plane, but it didn't fit on the stroller and I couldn't figure out how to carry it through the terminal, so we checked it. Lucas was paying no attention to me checking in, but when he saw his carseat moving down the conveyor belt he completely freaked. He went running and crying up to the check in counter... big ole tears streaming down his cheeks. Jeff and I laughed - who knew he was so attached to it?

We had very nice people sitting behind us on the plane. Lucas had a ball playing peek-a-boo with them througout the flight. He started to get ancy the last 15 min our so. He told me so by doing the sign for "all-done". Luckily we were descending and I could show him the trucks down below. I hope the novelty hasn't worn off when we fly home on Monday....

Pretzels on the plane... and nuts, and water, and cookies as a back-up.

Peeking at the lady behind us.

Lucas made up a game of drinking from my water bottle and then letting the water run down his chin... whatever works!

Lucas is loving all of Ty's toys. His favorite is a school bus and Ty's favorite is a dump truck.
They are playing really well together.

"Ty, I'm the big cousin, so I get to push you."

Aren't they cute?

Lucas is sweet, but Ty is SWEET. He is just a laid back little dude that smiles all of the time. Last night on the 1 hour car trip home from Bryan's house, Lucas needed lots of attention from me in the backseat. It was an hour past Ty's bedtime, but every time I'd look at him he would just grin at me and say "hey". I've given his fluffy cheeks about a million kisses.

And what trip would be complete without pictures of the boys taking a bath together?

Lucas loves Jenn, but he LOVES Neil. Probably because Neil throws him around and keeps lifting him up to touch the ceiling fans. Here they are watching Sesame Street on Saturday monring...

Just about the same size.

Lounging around in our pj's.

After we got dressed and Ty had his morning nap we went over to Mom and Pop's for the afternoon (Mom and Pop are my mother's parents). It was a perfect day and the boys had a great time playing outside... they especially had fun on Mom's cool electric wheelchair. I posted a lot of pics of this, but it was just too cute not to. Lucas doesn't smile a lot when we're around other people (he laughs all the time at home with just us). Mom was making faces here so that he'd smile for the camera. He tried hard not to, but she finally broke him...

"I'm not sure about this!"

You can't really tell, but we were zooming down the driveway in this picture.
Ty was screaming : )

I'm glad that Mom and Pop got to spend so much time with Lucas. They usually only see him on holidays when there are tons of other people around. Yesterday they got 3-4 hours of quality time with him. At first Lucas was pretty stoic, but Mom had him giggling and playing games with her before long...

"Hey Mom, can I play with this bear?"

We took tons of pictures!

Having so much fun...

Last night we drove to my brother's house in Canton. We had the best time hanging out with Bryan, Angela and Wesley. Wesley told us that he was a Ninja Turtle for Halloween and then said, "How was your Halloween?". The bat in all of the pictures is his Ninja sword. He didn't want any pictures taken of him... he'd close his eyes and pretend he was asleep (like Jeff from The Wiggles).

Angela and Wesley. Wesley compromised here and opened one eye.

Silly Wesley.

I tricked him here by putting the camera on a timer... so he didn't know he was getting a picture with me.

Sweet little family.

Jenn, Ty, Me, Lucas, Bryan, and Wesley

It was great to see Bryan and Jenn at the same time.

What is going on?

When we moved into our new house on June 30th we started having Lucas sleep in his crib. Until then he had been in and out of our bed - we were constantly trying to create a sleeping environment that worked for our family. We finally got into a groove when we moved into this house. He'd still wake up 2-3 times a night, but I'd go right in there and cuddle with him and nurse him until he fell back asleep. I was finally getting a good night's sleep, despite waking up a few times each night. There were several nights when he only woke up one time. We were thrilled that we were making progress. Something is going on with this kid now, though. He is waking up every 30-60 min and wants to nurse continuously. I don't want him back in our bed, because we don't sleep well that way either, but the past two nights I've tried that just to try and get some sleep (I have to work during the day and can't nap). The night before last he was up and down all night, and then decided to get up for the day at 4:30am. I figured he'd crash before Kate even arrived, but he stayed up until 1pm as happy as could be. Last night he just couldn't sleep unless he was completely touching me. Up at 6:30am. Jeff tried both mornings to entertain him so I could sleep in, but he just screams "ma-maaaa" until he finds me. Is this some kind of super separation anxiety??? My goodness, I hope this passes soon. I'm a much better mother and wife when I'm getting rest.

For my records, this has been going on about a week. Other changes are that he's eating a lot more solid foods (still nursing a lot) and having several dirty diapers a day. Also, he had a low fever on Tuesday morning at 3am. I never took him temp, but it seemed to linger on and off for a day. He had no other symptoms and didn't seem like the fever affected him.

Still Running

Jeff and I think it's cute how Lucas feels the need to run everywhere he goes. He runs from the living room to the kitchen and back again about a million times a night. When we go on walks, and we let him walk, he runs the whole time. Last week we were sure that he ran at least a mile. Did it phase him or wear him out? No, of course not. As a matter of fact he has been running around since 4:30 this morning... sigh.

Lucas's Silly Games

Lucas can be such a silly boy. I think he invents a new game that makes him giggle just about every day. One of his favorites is to ask us to sing a song for him and then to switch his request mid-song, and then switch again, etc. For example, he'll put his hands on the top of his head indicating that he wants us to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", but just as we start singing he'll roll his fists for "The Wheels on the Bus". Just as we get into that song he'll giggle and scratch his armpits for "Three Little Monkeys". We switch the songs just as fast as he requests them and he thinks it's hilarious. He can almost do the whole song and sign for "Three Little Monkeys", although he wasn't cooperating in this video...

Kitty

My aunt, JoAnn, brought this kitty for Lucas when she came up a few weeks ago. Just this past week he has taken an interest in it and another stuffed animal - a dog that we have named Tito. The kitty's name is Kitty. I find it funny that Lucas always carry the cat as he is carrying it in this picture... head down, tail up. He's had to take it to the park with him a few times and asks for hit by meowing and then doing the sign for "Where is it?" (a made up sign). I hoping that he will eventually find comfort in Tito and Kitty when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Until then, I'm happy with our little midnight rendezvous.

19 Months Old

Our sweet, little, Lucas Bryant turned 19 months old today. I don't think a day goes by that I don't say to Jeff, "Can you believe he can do that?" or "Did you see that?" or "Don't you think he's the coolest thing ever?" or "Don't you think he's the cutest thing ever?". My aunt spent a day with us a few weeks ago and at the end of the day she said that she now knows what I mean when I say how much fun we are having with Lucas. From the moment he opens his eyes each morning he is full of energy, life, love, and happiness. I am learning so much from him. For example, Lucas waves to EVERYONE that he sees. He sticks his little arm out and twists his open palm to the left and right until the person acknowledges him. This sweet innocence comes natural to him - he hasn't yet learned that people aren't that friendly. Until he figures that out, however, much joy is being spread. Every time we go grocery shopping I have someone comment on him. Sometimes it is that he's cute, but more often it's how happy and sweet he is. One lady last week even spent several minutes talking to us and telling me how Lucas made her day when she turned down the isle and saw his face light up as he waved to her. I'm so proud of him. Every single day he does something that amazes me and reminds me how lucky I am to be his mother.

This Morning

Lucas brushing his teeth.

"Come on, Dad. We're going to be late for Kindermusik."

Eating More Solids

Lucas has been eating more solid foods over the past couple of weeks. As a matter of fact, yesterday morning he asked to eat when he woke up and didn't ask to nurse. That was the first time that had ever happened. I think a big part of it is being able to sit at the table, eat with utensils and drink from a cup. It's great for us! We can actually relax for 2 min before he says he's "all done". In this picture he was eating yogurt and granola - one of his favorites lately.

Rockers Don't Trick-or-Treat...

...or at least our's doesn't!

We were sure that Lucas would love knocking on the doors and getting candy with his older cousins. We went over to Max and Ben's house around 6pm and went over to their neighbor's house for some drinks and snacks. Lucas DID enjoy that part. As soon as we got to their house Max picked Lucas up and carried him a few feet (that's as long as he can carry him). Lucas loves Max and Ben. When we got over to the neighbor's house Lucas went around and examined every candle that was lit in the house. Then they announced that dinner was ready and Lucas took his seat at the table with the big kids - no booster or high chair. We've tried this at home and he lasts about 2 min, but last night he sat there as long as everyone else did and ate his dinner with a fork... just like the other kids.

After dinner he spent about 15 minutes watching a pair of singing and dancing skeletons. Then it was time to Trick-or-Treat...

The first house we went to Lucas totally ignored the basket of candy and went straight to the jack-o-lantern with the dancing fire beside the front door. The lady threw a piece of candy into his bucket and then offered him the bowl to select a piece for himself. Lucas picked up 3 candy bars and said "roar!" as he threw them on the ground. Onto the next house...

Jeff took him to this house and said that Lucas got mad because he wanted to go inside the house. When Jeff redirected him he threw down his bucket. No interest in the shiny candy in the nice big Halloween bowl. Here is little Lucas and Jeff walking up to the house...

Jeff and I decided that Lucas would have much more fun if he just did his own thing, so we enjoyed a nice stroll through the neighborhood while Lucas ran from driveway to driveway checking out the candles and lighted pumpkins. He also took a liking to some guy dressed like the character in Scream. He was scared when the guy would come up to him, but would cry for him to come back when he walked away.

After about 45 min of just walking down the middle of the streets we decided to head back to our neighborhood and hit a few of the neighbor's houses. We had a great time because we got to meet with some of our neighbors that we hadn't met yet and got to visit with others that we hadn't seen in a while. Tyson even came along for this part. Lucas met 4 dogs on our little outing and enjoyed saying "Ruff!" over and over again. He especially enjoyed playing with his next door neighbor dog, Miss Emma.