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!