Happy 15 Months!

This adorable little guy is 15 moths old!!

Can you believe it? I hardly can. While he is still significantly smaller than Tyler was at that age, he is growing well. He continues to be beneath the 5th percentile for his weight, but is steadily going up on the charts for his height. He started around the 35th percentile, I believe, and is up to 55th. While some believe that most preemies catch up by age 1, I find that there are really a lot of different opinions on this. In fact, a friend who had a very early preemie (28 weeks) says she didn't notice her son catching up until he was nearly 3!! So, I guess there still is the possibility that Daddy's prediction can come true, and that Lucas will be bigger than Tyler. If his appetite and eating have anything to say about it, I'd say it is a definite possibility. This kid is an eater. He will eat nearly anything I put in front of him and A LOT of it, more than Tyler, for sure.

He is not yet walking, but crawls SUPER fast (I think he could probably win a baby crawling contest) and cruises very well. He nearly took off running the other day behind one of his push toy. He has take a step or two here or there, but I think within the next couple of weeks, he will be outright running on his own! That should make for a fun beach trip

Lucas' top two molars came in last week and boy am I glad that is over. (He now has a total of 10 teeth). Poor little one was so miserable. Unfortunately though, I think the bottom two have plans to move in soon. Hopefully for the sake of our vacation, that will happen within the next couple of weeks.

He is saying a few words clearly (mama and dada frequently), but he babbles constantly. And is a drool factory. He is totally having a conversation with us, now...if we could just understand it. :) He loves to play with his big brother. We are constantly amazed at how much he picks up from Tyler. He will "drive" cars along the floor, pretend to talk on a phone, build with blocks, "read" books, and sing with the SpiderMan microphone. They are so much fun to watch together.

I look for a HUGE explosion of new tricks to come from Luke in the next couple of months and figure by 18 months, we'll be able to report that he is running, talking and that we are loving watching him learn so much more!

We are so blessed that he has been SO healthy and that really the only reminder of the fact that he was 6 weeks early is that he is still a little small.

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On a separate, more housekeeping related note. I have installed a new commenting system. I like this system, because I can comment back to you, right under your original comment! It's pretty neat. You will be given the option to login using your Facebook account if you have one, or you can simply use your name, as before by inserting your name/email in the fields underneath the commenting box. Hope you will all leave me some comments...I love to see what you have to say!!

Road Trip

Yesterday I left for my first "true" road trip with both boys, complete with an overnight stay in a hotel!  (Sure, we've taken many trips to Nana and Pap's house in the past year, but those don't qualify as a "road trip" really, since it is just over a 2-hour trip and we stay with Nana and Pap when we get there.)  This was the first time I have stayed in a hotel by myself with the two boys...maybe even one boy, for that matter!!  Oh, and one more fun detail about this road trip...it lasted only 24 hours (from the time we left our house, until the time we got home)!!  What was I thinking, you ask?  Well, it was for my grandmother's 85th birthday.  She is moving to an assisted living home today and this was her last night her home, as well as her 85th birthday.  A birthday/relocation party was planned and I really wanted to be there for her.  It was a hard decision for me to make, because I wasn't sure I could do it logistically, by myself.  Les was unable to go, due to work commitments, so it was going to be just me and the boys!  After really thinking about it, I decided it was worth any stress I might have (afterall, it was only going to last 24 hours, right?).  So, on our way, we went!  7 hours in a car with two young boys and a stay in a hotel didn't make for a very relaxing trip, but it could have been worse.  In fact,  the most stressful time of the trip occured when we stopped at the hotel to check in and change clothes.  I hadn't really thought about how difficult it would be to get two boys and all of our stuff into our room.  To complicate matters, our key did not work!!  After running struggling to get back downstairs with the boys and our bags to get a new key, and then back upstairs again we finally made it into our room...only to see that it had started to POUR rain, and I had no umbrellas.  This was all compounded by the fact that I was on a pretty tight time-line at this point and didn't really have room for these small inconveniences!  Luckily though, by the time we were ready to get back in the car, the rain had subsided.  And unbelievably, we made it to the party only two minutes late!!  Anyone who knows me, knows that I am rarely anything less tha 5 minutes late, so I'd say this was a huge success!!

The party was a good time and it was nice to visit with family.  I am very glad we went.  While, I am not sure I will be taking another 24-hour road trip any time soon, (we no sooner got there than we were turning around to leave) I can definitely see more road trips!!  Now that I am home and unpacked, I can look back and say that it was actually fun to get out of the house for a little trip.  For future trips though, I'd say a 36-hour trip (minimum) might be set. 

While at my grandmothers, Tyler enjoyed exploring her yard.  He found the neighbors grapevines,

 

and a field full of friends.  Well...he thought they were friendly...they on the other hand seemed to be a little frightened of the small boy running toward them with a loud voice!! "Hi Cows!"

  

He was chewing his first starburst ever here.  He REALLY liked it.

  

Lucas enjoyed the scenery, too!   Luckily Tyler was too busy exploring on his own to realize that Lucas had taken his position atop Pap's shoulders.  He also became best buddies with Aunt Carol. 

 

Lucas wasn't exactly smiles the ENTIRE trip, but it could have been much worse.  For the most part, a snack or drink, or maybe a little toy, would cheer him up pretty quickly. 

And Tyler was happy to watch "The Incredibles" two times (with a short intermission of "Blues Clues" - which Lucas enjoyed, too).

All in all, it wasn't a terrible trip...maybe not something I would try again in just a short 24-hour period, but I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with myself for attempting such a trip, alone...and for having such a great time that I'd be willing to do it all again!!  Where shall we go next??

Not My Child! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! Except this week...it's Not My Child! Monday!!  This blog carnival was created by MckMama, where everyone has fun telling all the things they did not (but really did) do over the past week. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I recently came across this blog and find it so uplifting and inspirational and I LOVED her idea for Not Me! Monday, so here I am joining in on the fun. Check out what I my children did not do this week!

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My child does not like to pee outside.  He never pulls down his pants in the middle of our back yard, and aims on whatever fun object might be closest.  And he has certainly NEVER stood at the top of our slide and peed straight down it!!  Not my child!

My child did not call his adult male Awana teacher "God" for the better part of the year.  Nope, not my child.

My baby is not a messy eater.  He would never eat with his hands, he always uses a fork, correctly!  And, if he did eat with his hands, he certainly would not run those messy hands through his hair.  And...he definitely would not throw food on the floor deliberately, when he is finished eating.  Not my child!

My child did not try to help me clean the toilet, before flushing!!!

My child did not hide-out with my nail polish, and in an attempt to paint his toes, end up spilling an entire bottle of nail polish on his legs...while sitting on my bed!  Definitely not my child.

Hmmm...someone should really be watching that child!!

Best Buds & Crazy Hair

Today was a busy fun day for us.  After spending nearly four hours at the pool with Bryce, one of Tyler's best buds, the boys came home and took great naps.  Wisely Luckily I had thought to take a change of clothes to the pool for Ty, so that when he fell asleep in the car on the way home I could easily transfer him to his bed.  After previous pool excursions, I have had to wake him up to change him out of his wet swimming trunks, consequently interrupting nap time for the entire day!!  I did forget to take a change for Lucas though, so he got to sleep in a dry swim diaper and a t-shirt.  He didn't mind though, it was a little cooler for him on this HOT Virginia day.

We had been having some, quite unusual, but VERY pleasant weather over the past several weeks.  Dare I say, "cool" even.  Uhm, cool related to pool weather, that is.  With highs in the low 80's and nearly no humidity, the pool water didn't hadn't a chance to warm up much, so the boys would end up shivering and miserable.  That has made our previous trips to the pool rather brief!  With the temperature reaching 98 whopping degrees today (hot, but not quite the blistering 100+ degree days we experienced for days on end while living in Texas), the water was quite warm.  In fact, after spending some time in the big pool and then returning to the baby pool, it felt almost like bath water!

I was too busy playing with the boys,  worrying about Tyler tackling Lucas in the pool, again (and chatting of course) to remember to take too many pictures (or to be brave enough to bring it that close to the water), but I did get one cute one of the boys as we were leaving.  Tyler was having so much fun with Bryce that he climbed in their car to go home with them.  Even Miss Amy suggesting a nap didn't deter him any...he just said "OK", when she told him he'd have to take a nap if he went home with them!!

All that swimming sure did work up an appetite for the boys, too.  They woke up just long enough to eat dinner and play a little, before crashing again.  This is the first night in MANY nights that we haven't had to perform an encore multiple encore bedtime routines with Tyler.

Lucas has always played with his hair when he gets tired.  Apparently he was getting sleepy while enjoying his peaches!!

 

 

Homerun Derby

Tyler had his own Homerun Derby a few nights ago in our yard.  Armed with his bat, tee and a bucket of balls, he and daddy went out to have some fun.  And oh man...this kid was cracking those balls.  It was so much fun watching he and daddy have fun.

 

 We picked up a toddler size glove for Tyler over the weekend and he and Daddy have fun playing catch, as well.  He's slowing getting the hang of catching the ball in the glove.  I just can't believe how much he is growing up. 

 

Friday Fun - Pool Time

Today Aunt Jenn came to visit and we went to enjoy a picnic lunch and some time at the pool. Tyler enjoyed his new goggles and practiced his swimming in his new swim vest.

He is still a little leary of "floating" in the pool in his vest, but is making great strides in his comfort.  He would allow me to help him float on the water while he kicked his arms and legs, and even allowed me to take my hands off so he could float...but only for just a second, because he swallowed a big gulp of water and it scared him just enough.

Lucas loved being in the big pool in his floatie, but the water was slightly too cool for him, as he began shivering after just a few minutes in the pool.  So, we headed back to the baby pool, which then felt very much like bath water!

 The boys had a great time at the pool with Aunt Jenn.

Tyler looks like such a "big" boy walking out of the pool.

Wordless Wednesday - Keeping in Touch

 

  

"I'm in here Mom.  I'm sending Aly an email."

Happy 4th!

 

Since moving back to Virginia, we have been attending an awesome fireworks show not far from our house at the Great Meadows, in The Plains, Va.  Two years ago, we were new to the event and didn't know what to expect, so we only got there shortly before dusk to watch the fireworks.  We learned later that we should have gone early to check out the kids activities.  Last year the weather was not so cooperative, so again we headed out rather late.  Both years we faced HOURS of sitting amongst parked cars, while waiting to get out of the parking lot.

This year though, we decided to pack a picnic dinner and go early to check out all of the fun.  WOW...were we SO glad to have done that!!  We were parked in one of the first three rows of the HUGE field and were out of the parking lot and back at our home less than 30 minutes after the show was over (it's a nearly 20 minute drive from our home, and we had to change a diaper prior to packing up the car!!)  Yes...we will definitely be planning it that way for the years to come!

Not only did an early arrival assist in an early departure, be we had a lot of fun, too! The weather was as perfect as it could be.  Warm, and slightly overcast (but not one drop of rain).  The clouds protected us from the normally very hot mid-summer sun.  It was nearly perfect weather!

 

Tyler played in a HUGE moon bounce and slid down this BIG slide.  He was a little scared to do it by himself though, so Mommy went with him.

  

 

Both boys really loved the animals. 

  

  

Years ago, before we had any babies of our own, Les and I were planning a visit to the Ivey family 4th of July reunion.  This was the first year in a long time that Les and both of his sisters would be attending with their entire families.  Their mother had always loved the family to wear patriotic t-shirts for the day, so I thought it would be cute to get the Old Navy matching T-shirts in matching colors for each family.  I drove around to five (I think) Old Navy stores in the Dallas area looking for shirts in the correct sizes and colors for each family.  Yeah, I know...kinda crazy, but it made a really cute photo.  And so now, it's kind of tradition for us to have matching shirts each year.  

  

 

  

And our 2009 4th of July Family Photo:

 

The Fourth of July has always been one of my favorite holidays.  From those hot summer days, long ago when we would sit on my Aunt Shirley's hill eating homemade ice cream, watching our small town fireworks...to now being able to make new memories and traditions with our own little ones, it's such a fun family day!!

Hope everyone had as great a day as we did!

A Day to Remember

July 3, 2004 is a day I am sure to never forget.  Sure there are many pictures in our home to remind me of that truly special day, but I need no pictures to remember how lucky I felt to be marrying the man I knew was meant to be my husband.  I can't claim to remember every word of the vows we wrote for one another, but there are four special words that I will never forget, "Today, Tomorrow and Forever."  I know words like these are easy to say on such a special day, but even now, 5 years after marrying the love of my life I still feel that those words carry the same meaning as they did when first spoken in our wedding ceremony.  Or maybe, I feel that they carry more meaning now.  I won't attempt to claim that we have a perfect marriage, but rather I think we are still perfecting our marriage.  I know that we have both made the commitment to be with one another Forever and so with each misstep we make, I take comfort in the fact that we will use those missteps as a chance to learn and grow with each other. 

It is such a blessing to know that I am forever with the man I was meant to be with.  I know that I sometimes take this wonderful blessing, and man, for granted and can only hope that he always knows how much he means to me and how lucky I feel to be his wife. 

Thank you Les for being the one for me and for always believing in me, and us!  I love you Today, Tomorrow and Forever."  Happy 5th Anniversary!!

No Words for Wednesday - Playtimes, Funtimes