Thursday, April 30, 2015

Zoo! In March and Today

When we decided to move to Colorado I was so excited to try out all the museums, zoo, aquarium, and other kid-friendly places with our future children. Jason and I finally went to the zoo about a month ago but I never posted pictures.  Lucas and I also went with some friends today so I thought I'd share pics from both days. The first time we went Lucas barked like a dog at every animal. We enjoyed our lunches by the elephants. It was a lot of fun, so much so that Lucas fell asleep almost the second he was in the car. Very fun family and animal-filled day!





Today we went with a couple friends< Val and Laura. Lucas enjoyed the snake and fish in the aquarium. I loved the giraffes...I've never been up that close to them before, they're enormous! We also went for a ride on the train which I thought Lucas would love. Not so much, he wasn't into being held the entire time. Go figure! We had beautiful weather and a fantastic time. This time I was expecting him to fall asleep on the way home but nope...wide awake the whole drive.  He likes to keep me guessing!



 Snakes!





Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Its Been a LONG While...An Update on Lucas

I haven't blogged in forever. Time is passing way too fast and I want to remember every single moment of Lucas. I am on Instagram and post almost daily just for the sole reason that I can look back and remember these super awesome, yet challenging, tiring times. I just want to freeze time. Or make every day last a week long. So much is happening in each day and our baby boy is growing so fast. I need it to all slow down!

Lucas is now 15 months old...almost 16 months old.  All parents say it, how did this happen?  Where did the time go? But seriously, where did it go? My Timehop app is showing me pictures of him last year at this time when I had to leave him to go back to work. When I was so heartbroken every day that I couldn't be with my baby. I still look back and am not sure how I made it through those days. But it's been a year since then!  A YEAR!!

Lucas cracks me up daily...more every minute. He is the most active boy I've ever met. Yes, all moms who have boys say, "he's all boy." But I am not kidding. This kid never stops moving. Ever. He chases Cooper around to the point where they have to be separated...at least twice a day. For safety reasons, we have a gate at the top of the stairs, and the bottom. We have a safety latch on our stove and on our toilet, on our door to the stairs to the basement. I've had to move our entryway table to the basement because when he wasn't crawling on it he was pushing it through the house. We've had to move our cable box out of reach because if we ever turn the TV on he immediately goes and pushes the button to turn it off. He trips on his own feet or Coopers about 300 times a day but never cries. He's a toughie, very rarely cries. He gives super fast hugs often, and loves to lay on the floor for .05 seconds. If  you're on the floor he'll come over and rest his head on you. As I've mentioned, him and Cooper are the best of friends, constantly playing ball or playing hide and seek with Coopers favorite toys. His favorite hiding spot is the bathroom...but Cooper finds it every time. Time to find a new spot Lucas. Adorable.

He loves stacking blocks, but especially loves stacking anything he can find in the pantry. Boxes, tubs, anything he can get to stack. He likes to put things in, then takes them out...anything he can find that he can put in or take out. Boxes, bins, cups, bowls, pot and pans.

He likes to throw things away. Yeah, that's awesome right?!  We have a garbage can with a sensor to open it. He knows how to work the garbage can! Mostly he throws away receipts or things that have fallen on the floor which for the most part can be thrown away. But he has thrown away valuables too...we usually catch him as it's happening but one of his hats are missing. I'm almost positive it went in the trash when I wasn't looking. Only time will tell.

The doctor has told me not more bottles but as I already said, he never stops moving and the only way I've found to calm him down before bed is with a bottle. He doesn't do pacifiers anymore, he's not a cuddler. If giving him a bottle before bed calms him enough for him to relax and to go to sleep each night, I will pick my battles. Give it a couple more months and we'll have hopefully have come up with a better solution. But for now, he loves his bottle and so do I.

He loves bathtime and swimming. He is a little fish. We went swimming a few days ago and were in the deep end and he did NOT want to be held. Nope...he threw his arms up and arched his back. Um Lucas if I let you go, you will drown!  He wants to do everything himself. Next time I think we'll try his life jacket, give him a little bit of independence.

Lucas is impossible to change. Not only does he squirm but he flips over faster than I can blink. What should take 2-3 minute to change him generally takes 5-10, I am sweating like a pig, hardly able to catch my breath and we are both covered in diaper cream from head to toe from all the squirming. It's awesome.

He is finally starting to enjoy or at least pretend to enjoy reading books with me. At night when he takes that bottle before bed he is calm enough to sit in my lap and listen to a story. He loves "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See."  He points to it and then sits and listens and flips all the pages until the last page that takes longer to read. He just sits there and points to all the animals on the last page. My heart melts. Best feeling.

Oh and on the subject of  books, I'll share a fun little story. We went to what will be our last storytime a few weeks ago. There were 25 children there all aged 0-2 years old. They all sat or crawled/walked around quietly while being read to and sang to. Lucas was ALL OVER THE PLACE. I mean ALL OVER. Off to the front of the library, to the back, trying to climb down (AKA fall down) the stairs. Then he'd scream and arch his back when I'd pick him up.Then back to the adult (supposed to be quiet) section of the library. Then for two seconds of the 20 minutes we were remotely near the children's section just barely in earshot of where the story was being read, the librarian told me, "oh sweetie,  its okay if he wants to squirm...he is still getting part of the story." My eyes were welling up, my adrenalin was pumping and sweat was streaming down my face from chasing him. I'm pretty sure he's not getting any bit of this story, super sweet lady. He is more concerned about stealing that other calm, attentive boys lovie away from him for the two seconds we're "engaged." I know she meant really well but it's just added to my frustration. But while I left the library in tears that day (I later learned I was PMS'ing which explains the extra emotions) I decided Lucas needs to be moving, all the time. The park, a trampoline, a pool or anywhere he can be moving is a better option for us and from that day forward, we were going to go with it!  No more story time!

He doesn't really say many words, yet. But he says "hi."... to every single person he encounters. Literally, every single  person. He is so much fun to have around. We were on a run the other day at the park and a lady rode her bike by and from a mile out, Lucas sees her coming and he's waving like crazy and says in his little voice, "hi!" as she rode past. It was the cutest thing. Along with his waving he gives high 5's. Jason's also taught him how to throw his hand in the air then clap when the Cubs win. (which by the way, has been a LOT this season...woohoo!!) He also still barks like a dog EVERY single time he sees a dog. The dog park where we run is entertaining to say the least. He roars like a lion and oooo's like a cow. Just oooo, no -M- sound. He said mama for a couple days but I can't get him to say it again. He says dada constantly and also knows to say it when Daddy is around. He loves shouting up the stairs when Daddy is at work..."Dada, Dada! Dada!!"

If we cough or sneeze he fake coughs and sneezes. Ever since his surgery, whenever he sneezes he usually sneezes three times instead of twice. I tell him, "God bless you" and he laughs then continues to fake sneeze until I stop blessing him.

He loves to clap. If we are watching a church service online and they clap he immediately starts clapping. When Jason travels I watch TV in the morning to keep me company and yesterday while I was watching the Today Show the Toyota concert came on. Lucas heard them all clapping and screaming and he stopped to clap and then started dancing along to the music.

He folds his hands to pray every time Jason and I sit down at the table. Every time. So if I get up to get something, Lucas wants to pray again as I sit back down. Seriously, so sweet. And he folds his hands one over the other...and so fast. Which makes it even sweeter!

I love this kid. LOVE LOVE LOVE him! I am so thankful for all the days I get to spend with him at a stay at home mom. Okay so honestly, last month when he was into his hitting phase, that wasn't so much fun. And all those diaper and clothes changes those times I'd like to swap out too. But other than that I am just loving this parenting gig. I am beyond thankful that I get to be Lucas' mom and spend so much time with him! He is such an absolute joy with, oh so much energy!! Love you sweet boy!!