Pots and Pans

An activity intended for Luca, but enjoyed by both boys. :-)

Halloween

Our little family had a nice fall weekend. We enjoyed some much needed family time. We had a little BBQ, ate outdoors, carved a pumpkin, roasted some pumpkin seeds and watched a good football game. Here we have Sporticus and a Skunk completing the weekend with a little trick or treating.

Luca-15 Months

At 15 months Luca:

1. is little. At his 15 month appointment he weighed 19 lbs. He is the smallest in his Mother's Day Out class but totally the cutest! ;-)

2. is developing language daily. Words: Mama, Dada, cracker, up, get down, shoes, and choo choo..Baby talk: Bubu for bubbles, baba, for ball, da for dog, wawa for water, ticka, ticka for tickle, tickle and occasionally mimics things like thank you and go go. :-)

3. likes to eat waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, bacon, quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches, sometimes turkey, fishsticks, fruit, yogurt and raisins. (He is not a big meat or vegetable eater.) However, he is starting to try new things. His most recent items are broccoli, strawberries, oranges and couscous.

4. likes to read books, play with balls and cars, blow bubbles, play outside, sing songs, dance to fun music, and play with his big brother. (Their most recent fun time has been playing under the dining room table with an empty car seat box.. they play, giggle and scribble on the inside of the box. It is super cute.)

5. likes watching Baby Einstein's Baby Beethoven and requires us to watch it with him.

6. makes animal sounds for the cow, dog, lion, duck, rooster, and monkey

7. got bitten on the head by a girl at Mother's Day Out.

8. is totally a Momma's boy right now. Although this does not allow for me to eat, go to the bathroom or even walk in or of a room without him wanting me to carry him.... I know in the blink of an eye this phase will be gone so I am trying to embrace and love him as much as possible. He is quite the sweetie pie. :-)

Hello

Just a short hello and a background change for today. Note: I am not the butterfly type. Just the only thing I could find that kind of goes with our banner. I need a complete blog overhaul. In November that photo up there will be a whole year old!!

June Swim Lessons

The summer is quickly coming to an end and I haven't shared many photos of our summer. Jack took swimming lessons in June and this about sums it up..

Sometimes he went willingly.

Sometimes not so willingly..

He was not a natural in the water and was terribly afraid of putting his head under water.

He was definitely one of the younger and smaller kids in his group!

Overall, Jack did a great job. And we are proud of him. He went everyday and he got in the water each day. He attempted everything that was asked of him. It was rather humorous watching and listening to him negotiate head submersion with the instructor. :-) He is quirky kid and we love him!

My Office

This is my home office. Not really. But it is some of the stuff that would be in my office if I had one. :-) I don't often blog about myself but I thought I would take a little break from studying to solicit prayers. I have preliminary exams the week of August 2nd-August 5th. I am in the trenches right now. The above picture is the material I am responsible for knowing. If you are a friend or family member and you wonder why I haven't called or emailed you, it is because I have my nose in the books right now. I promise to emerge back into the world once this is over.

Please keep Todd and the kids in your prayers too! He is playing the role of Mr. Mom right now.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

The Latest and Greatest..

Since I last posted (which was only 3 days ago) Luca has displayed some new tricks. :-)

He is mimicking us.. and combing our hair.

When asked where his belly is.. he grabs and gestures to his belly.

He is walking around with his push toy.

And he has made the connection that shoes go on feet and has been helping me put mine on..

He is at a super cute and fun age right now!

Our Little Luca Turned One!

Before his haircut

At one year Luca:

1. Is not interested in cake

2. Points to everything

3. Enjoys playing with adult eating utensils.. particularly forks

4. Stands and cruises furniture

5. Just this past week has started to walk while holding onto our hands

6. Likes taking naps with a burp cloth in hand/mouth

7. Nods his head yes and no

8. Likes to open and close doors

9. Likes to turn lights on and off

10. Gives really sweet and big hugs to stuffed animals

11. Can throw a ball back and forth to us

12. Has a few favorite toys.. some of Jack's plastic golf clubs, Daddy's drum sticks and mallets and a little orange paper panda face...which he has totally destroyed.

13. Has a few favorite books.. Pat the Bunny and The Foot Book.

13. Is practicing using a spoon to feed himself

14. Still takes a morning and evening bottle..we will cut those out after seeing the doctor next week.

15. Has been referred to as a she, her, sister multiple times in public and for that reason we went ahead and gave him a hair cut prior to his one year birthday. :-)

And... we still don't know what color his eyes are..

Post-haircut

Not interested in cake at all

We love you Luca!

Wow!

A whole month without any blog entries. I even missed Luca's 11 month update. Summer school, swim lessons, birthday parties, and a vacation has been keeping us very busy! We are living and enjoying life with a little layer of stress of course. Hope to be able to share this summer's adventures when things slow down a bit. :-)

Jack at 4 Years

Favorite Foods

watermelon, broccoli, oatmeal, black olives, penne pasta

w/ alfredo sauce, chicken w/ cream of chicken on white rice,

cheese, banana pudding, banana bread, bacon and coffee cake

(Despite his food allergies he eats and enjoys a lot of food. These are just the stand outs.)

Favorite Restaurants: Gratziano's, Chuy's, Chipotle,

chick-fil-a, and Starbucks

Favorite Show: Lazy Town

Favorite Activities: Geotrax, playing with his friends,

playing in the backyard with water, dirt and shovels,

playing with Luca, going to the park and the children's

museum, Mom or Dad reading him books

Favorite things to wear: His green beach hat, sunglasses

and his watch

Jack's General Dislikes

beans, potatoes (including fries!), hamburgers and corn

going to the bathroom...he avoids it until he can no longer

avoid it!

going to church :-(

getting a haircut

cleaning up after himself

Firsts for this year: class field trip, walking on the school's

"wibbly wobbly bridge," actually playing at the spray park and

a wasp sting

Jack really enjoys going to his preschool. We are proud of all

the progress that Jack has made this year. He knows his letter sounds and can write and sound out short vowel words.

We love his teacher and he has a good little group of friends at school. He has been much braver this year and has

attempted things that he would not of attempted in the past. He will start swimming lessons next week and we hope he continues to be brave. :-)

There are not enough words to express how much we love this guy. We learn daily from him and through him about our heavenly Father. Since having children we have had new revelations about how much God loves us and about His patience and unconditional love for us. There are times when Jack and I are dealing with some "growing pains"and I see a total reflection of my relationship with God. We thank God for him and we pray for continued guidance in raising him.

10 and some...

Busy. Busy. Busy. Luca is very busy. At 10 and a half months old he is mobile and keeping himself very active. :-)

Luca

1. crawls everywhere.

2. pulls up on furniture.

3. gets into a lot of things. (constantly wants whatever Jack has and desperately wants the remote controls, is VERY attracted to wires)

4. bounces balls.

5. waves bye, bye.

6. gets very upset when we take something away.

7. has started to object to solids. And totally refuses to eat any table food that has a soft or squishy texture. He does however love any snack that is hard or crunchy.

8. drinks from a sippy cup.

9. has recently experienced a little bit of separation and stranger anxiety.

10. went swimming for the first time at Mimi's house. Loved it.

11. has taken an interest in books (as in knocking down Mommy and Daddy books located on a shelf and attempting to eat them)

12. sleeps very well at night. Goes down around 7:30 or 8:00 and gets up around 6:00 am. (that is good for our sleep history)

13. babbles and mimics Jack.

14. tolerates the rest of us as best as he can! :-)

It has been so fun to watch Luca grow and develop but as we approach the one year mark...I am kind of sad to see my baby not be so much of a baby. And I am in total shock at how quickly the time is flying by! We love you Luca! You are so special and we cannot say enough wonderful things about you!

SOOOO

I thought once school was out for me that I would be able to keep up with the blog better. However, everything that our family put off during the school year is being dealt with now. Soooo, I haven't exactly kept up with the blog. I have about a million pictures and a new camera but I have not had time to do anything with them. And to be honest..sorting through pictures stresses me out. School is back in session for me next week. I hope to get a late blog entry on Luca at 10 months before he turns 11 months! That one year mark is approaching much too quickly!

Being Married to Todd

As most of you know, Todd is a musician. He tries very hard to keep us living a "normal" life. Aside from travel and odd work hours we live a relatively normal life. At times however, there are a few things that are not so normal. Like...we get packages in the mail ALL of the time. Delivery trucks drop things off pretty frequently. Packages like this...

Pretty normal looking...right.

But then we get packages that look like this..still not so questionable.

But occasionally we get strange deliveries like this! What the heck is in that bag? And what do the neighbors think?!?

When I drive my car...I hear and find things in the trunk that look like this.

And what is this you ask? Why it's my husband's carry on bag of course.

On this particular trip he traveled with a triangle and other strange paraphernalia. What is that back there? Fishing line?

And I am pretty sure these are bungee cords. (no really..Mr. Security Guy. I promise I am not a terrorist. I just have this gig I am playing...that requires me to use bungee cord!)

I should have started taking pictures of this stuff when we first got married. At one point we had a row of different sized wooden planks laying on our apartment floor. That's when I started to make some noise about not letting too much gear inside our living quarters. Don't get me wrong. I want to support my husband in his career. I just don't want to have to jump over planks of wood to get to my ironing board. :-)

Love you Todd and all of your weirdness!

Jack in the Country

9 Months

At 9 months Luca

1. is crawling

2. is feeding himself snacks

3. waves bye, bye

4. can sit himself up from lying down

4. laughs when a group of people laugh (cute b/c he has no idea why he is laughing just knows he should join in)

5. is not a fan of being strapped into his highchair

6. has become very squirmy on the changing table

7. constantly pulls off his socks

8. enjoys babytime at the library

9. likes it when I sing just about anything to him

10. has a personality much like his father's..very even keel

It has been a while...

I apologize for the lack of blogging. Life has been kicking us in the rear lately! Todd is in the middle of a hectic work season. School has kept me up at all hours of the night. (Just between us...I have actually been enjoying these strange late night hours of the night when my house is quiet and I have it all to myself. I have the freedom to do whatever I need without interruptions and at my own pace.) We have been living life and taking pictures, there just has not been much free time to upload and post. So for now let me update you on our lives. In the last couple of weeks...

1. We had a baby dedication for Luca.

2. Todd traveled to Arizona, North Carolina, and Florida.

3. Todd developed a sinus infection.

4. Jack got a stomach bug.

5. Jack and I went on a school field trip.

6. We traveled for Easter and saw Grandma and Grandpa.

7. I signed Luca up for MDO (Mother's Day Out) in the fall.

8. I read several books and have written several papers. (and probably gained 10 pounds in the process-late night snacking!)

9. We planted some herbs and a few fruiting plants. (when I say a few, I mean like 3)

10. And we managed to make vacation plans for the summer.

I am sure there are other things I am forgetting but those are the highlights. :-) Pictures and posts to come....I hope!

St. Patrick's Day

Now all I have to do is find cinco de mayo shirts....

One more thing..

Sweet Lucaboo started handing me things today. Just random things he was playing with he would joyfully hand over to me. :-) Funny guy.

8 Months Old

I was changing Luca's clothes and couldn't

resist taking pictures of him

and his sweet bare baby skin.

At 8 months Luca:

1. continues to be a cooperative and flexible baby. He is always up for anything/everything.

2. is currently cutting a tooth. He doesn't seem too unhappy about it right now. Let's hope this continues tonight when we are all trying to get some sleep.

3. has been sleeping through the night w/ an occasional waking. Big improvements! Thank you Lord!

4. has chosen to get up EARLY everyday. (no later than 6:00 am-Just like his brother)

5. LOVES to see Daddy and Jack walk in the room. (I am apparently old news and boring. I guess he gets enough of me during the day)

6. sits up on his own.

7. willingly eats all of his solids.

8. feeds himself snack puffs and is slightly addicted to them.

9. has recently developed stranger anxiety.

10. wants to play with big brother's toys.

11. will lean forward onto his hands and knees when sitting down as if about to crawl.

12. does not like being on his stomach very long.

13. has picked up a couple of high pitched screeches.

14. and has hair that hangs over his ears.

My Quirky Little Boy

Jack is currently obsessed with the #4. I think it's because he is going to be 4 and all of his friends at school are turning 4. One day he decided to practice writing the number and then decided he wanted to post all of his work on the wall! He was so proud of his work and it would have destroyed him if I had said no. So off he went to use his CHRISTMAS GIFT-TAPE to put up all of his fours. -No I do not like the added decor but I figure it is only temporary. As a matter of fact this morning he said he was ready to take them down. I was so glad until he said he thought he should replace them with the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10! :-)

Just a Swinging

and a running

Just for fun:

Is that Uncle Sean?

And P?

Our P is MUCH cuter but we were having fun with some look a likes.