Monday, May 31, 2010

There is always something to do with a toddler boy in May!

The end of May was crazy busy for us! Each week we have our regular play dates one day and Gymboree on another day. In between we keep busy around the house or running errands. Trust me, we are never bored around here! Who in the world could be busy with a toddler boy running around and exploring every corner of the house and yard! Lucas has really grown up in just a short amount of time. He learns things at such an exponential rate that he surprises even us daily. Lucas absolutely loves cars and is determined to learn about all of the ones we see every day. He also enjoys trying new things to make us laugh (like standing on one leg for as long as he can or counting.) He has definitely hit a rough patch when it comes to his eating. Lucas loves pizza, hummus, and fruits; which makes it a little difficult to hide veggies in his food, but we are determined to keep trying. We are so proud of the little man that he is becoming (well, minus the yelling stage that he has hit!)

Playgroup at Joanne's house was wild this week with 12 moms and kids running around. One advantage of that many moms thought is the amazing assortment of food! However, another great thing happened at playgroup...Lucas and Boris began playing with each other rather than competing over a toy! This is great news for Boris' mom and I because the boys have been so competitive lately.


Later that afternoon, Ben came home early and we headed to the Greenway for a family walk. Along the way, we met up with Mrs. Sindy, Selina and their dog Rocky. Dippy and Rocky had their first introduction and let's just say that Rocky was far better behaved than Dippy.




Our concept at Gymboree this week was side by side. It was a little hard for the kids to grasp, but we will keep working on it at home. You would think this would be their favorite concept because they got to be next to each other the entire class! Lucas did his famous move at the end of class by sitting on Olivia's lap and making everyone crack up. Olivia is so good and just lets Lucas sit on her.



















Later this week, we joined Olivia, Selina and Boris at Catch Air, the indoor inflatable playground that is right around the corner from us. They all love the balloon room which is full of balloons that are pushed around by big air blowers. Another favorite is the huge slide (this is a problem for us moms because we are the ones who have to carry them all the way up to the top by putting our feet on tiny bumps made for children, without falling, and with socks on!) I hope no one videos us making that hike up!












The next day Lucas, Ben and I went looking for new bedroom furniture. Since we were so close to Grandmama's office, Lucas and I stopped by and joined her for lunch while Ben headed back to work. Grandmama walked us around her office and talked to everyone that she works with. Mr. Dennis gave Lucas a UGA golf ball which has quickly turned into a weapon. His office had so much UGA memorabilia that Lucas couldn't even say a word because he was studying everything his eyes focused on. Lucas was super quiet until we went to the warehouse and he got to see a ton of construction vehicles. Mr. Charles let him sit on a fork lift and made it beep for him. Lucas also got to see a bobcat up close and personal which he has not stopped talking about. Before we left, Lucas discovered how much fun it was to go under Grandmama's desk and play. After the tour of the office, we all went to eat Mexican for lunch. After lunch, Lucas refused to go to sleep in the car so we (meaning I) sang nursery rhymes all the way home.


That weekend, with the help of all our family and their trucks, we picked up our new bedroom furniture! Thank you Uncle Taylor and Poppie for lifting and hauling the furniture and new mattress, and thank you Grandmama and Pop Pop for watching Lucas all day while we set everything up. The furniture is absolutely beautiful and we LOVE having a king size bed for all of us to snuggle in. The only thing left for me to do in the room is to finish painting 3 more walls; definitely not looking forward to the chore, but can't wait to see the end result!









Ben left for a few days to go to New York on business, but before he left, we took the time to take Dippy and Lucas to the park for some family playtime. We are working on getting Dippy in better shape so we threw tennis balls for her, but that lazy dog was worn out from the walk down to the park and couldn't even run for them! Lucas enjoyed pushing his wagon around and climbing on all of the equipment. He really wants to be independent while playing, but still calls out for us to, "Help catch Lucas!"










So, Ben left town and Lucas and I enjoyed our first night together in the big bed. He doesn't usually sleep in our bed, but for some reason, he woke up crying and fell fast asleep when I laid him down in bed with me.

We are also sooooo excited to announce that we finally SOLD our house! We didn't want to jinx anything so we kept quiet until the closing actually went through. The only downfall to our excitement was that Ben was going to be out of town when we closed so I had to do it, for the first time, alone. To add to my nerves, that morning did not go as planned because Lucas woke up with a fever. Thank goodness he was supposed to be with GiGi while I closed, because I do not know if I could have left him with just anyone since he was sick. GiGi took great care of him and spoiled him rotten! We all hate to see him so sick, but he is such a cuddle-bug when he is not feeling well. Thank you GiGi for watching our sick baby boy and we really enjoyed spending the day with you!

When Lucas woke up the next day, he still had a fever of over 102 and no other symptoms, so I decided to take him to the doctor. Unfortunately, it was also the day for Gymboree, and we hated to miss it! The doctor checked him out and found out that it was his throat. She checked for strep and it came back negative but she said she wouldn't be surprised if she checked in a day or two that it would come back positive. Fortunately for us, it never was strep, but it was a virus. All we could do was wait it out, give him fluids, and pretty much spoil him. He is a trooper and only really had two bad days where he didn't want to do anything.

That night, we met up with Ben's parents for dinner because they were going out of town for several days. We had dinner at Ninja because Lucas loves Japanese soup and we thought it would be good for his throat. While we were at dinner, another family was celebrating a birthday and gave Lucas a great, big, blue cupcake...he was in heaven! What I didn't foresee happening the next day came as a great surprise. For all of the moms out there, BLUE icing equals neon GREEN poop! After talking to the doctor and going online, apparently it is very common and is a result of the blue and red dye they put in it. Well we now all know what NOT to give Lucas!






Memorial Day weekend was packed with family time and being lazy. We really enjoyed Ben being home for three days with us. We started off Friday night at GiGi's house for a delicious family dinner. As a treat, Grandmama and Pop Pop fed Lucas for us since he was being especially difficult when it came to eating.









The next night, Uncle Taylor called us and said he was making his famous hot wings! Since they really are amazing, we jumped at the chance and joined them for dinner. Lucas had a great time running around the house with his toys and playing outside on their new grass.









The next day, Lucas and I joined Grandmama and did a little shopping at TJ Maxx (which Lucas calls "the mall"). When we got home Lucas had a special treat waiting on him...Pop Pop brought out the four wheeler! Lucas had such a great time riding with Pop Pop up and down the drive way and around the cul-de-sac. It was so bittersweet watching Lucas riding around because he was having such a great time, but he looked like such a grown up little boy.
We are very anxious for some warm weather, minus the rain! Lucas loves playing outside and he really wants to play at the pool and go down the "big, blu side Daddy" (big, blue slide with Daddy) in our neighborhood. I'll get some pictures posted soon of our new adventures in the summer!




Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day!

Since I am a few weeks behind, I will make this brief for all the followers so that I can catch up on some more recent blog posts.

We had a play date with a new friend, Emma. Lucas only refers to her as "baby Emma" which is so darn cute! Emma was sleeping when we arrived, so Lucas thought he was being spoiled getting to play with all of her toys by himself. Poor Emma woke up to a room full of visitors and decided that she was staying quiet the rest of the day. She did start to perk up again after a group lunch, which included Lucas' favorite, homemade hummus. Emma was not sure what to think about Lucas, especially since he was acting silly and throwing toys everywhere while trying to impress her! Maybe next play date Emma will be more awake and start showing some more of her personality.









We also had Gymboree this week and on the way there, Lucas started showing off his new talent of naming cars. I had to pull over to get this much out of him!


Lucas and Olivia did a great job learning about "push and pull" this week. At the end of every lesson, all of the children are called onto the center of the parachute. I don't know where Lucas got this from, but when he is called over, he runs to find Olivia to sit on her lap! Fortunately, she finds this just as funny as we do, and allows us to capture the moment on film! I am so glad that Lucas has such a close friend.









Thursday afternoon, Ben got home from work early and suggested we go to the park. Lucas had a great time riding on his new tricycle and playing on all of the outdoor equipment. After the park, we decided to splurge and go out to eat Mexican. Lucas was in such a great mood from all of the attention from daddy. After dinner, we stopped by Shawn and Dylan's house to say hi to everyone. Lucas was shown his first magic trick by Mr. Daugherty, and I hope it didn't scar him too badly. At first he looked around for the hidden piece of paper and then he just decided it was too risky to get close to him so he stayed far away.










Friday morning, we met up with a few other mommies and went for a walk. Lucas and Olivia had such a good time playing and screaming with each other on this walk. On the video below, they each took turns screaming or laughing at each other. It's a good thing we are out in the open and around other moms!










Later that night we all celebrated Aunt Brooke's birthday at The Cheesecake Factory. Lucas enjoyed entertaining us all by putting on Pop's sunglasses. The food was absolutely wonderful and Lucas ate a pretty good dinner. After dinner was of course, the best part of the meal, where we all got different cheesecakes. Lucas liked the cheesecakes, but definitely loved the whipped cream. He decided he needed to be a little bit different and eat the whipped cream by dipping his school bus in it first.











Ben started off this Mother's Day weekend right when he came home with tickets to the Zac Brown Band concert. My parents where such a help and they watched Lucas overnight so that we could enjoy the concert. Uncle Taylor and Matt joined us at the concert where we all had such a great time!









On Mother's Day, Ben and I woke up early to head over and pick up little man at my parent's house. Before we left, Ben let me open my present, and surprised me with a kit of 28 new lens filters for my Canon Eos XSi! I am so excited to start using them but am a little overwhelmed about learning it all! I am thinking about taking a photography class sometime this summer so I can pick up a few more photography tips.
When we got to my parents house, we hung out awhile for some pictures and then headed back home for lunch and a nap. After the nap, Ben's parents came over and we all went back over to my parent's house for a big family Mother's Day meal. It was a lot of driving for us, but definitely worth it!
Here are the pictures below...

I had such a great Mother's Day and am so fortunate to not only have a great mother, grandmother, and mother-in-law, but also to have such a great group of mom's around me.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

A boy that likes trucks, motorcylces and bikes!

Ben and I have started walking on the new Greenway trail that is down the road in the evenings. One day, we joined Shawn and Dylan for a walk and also ran into Shawn's sister Lisa. Lisa's little boy Aidan fascinates Lucas and always makes him laugh. He even allowed Lucas to ride on his bike for a few minutes. Lucas thought he was hot stuff and loved every minute on the bike!

We now have absolute proof that Lucas is Ben's child...he loves playing in wires! We bought a new entertainment center and needed to re-paint the wall so Ben took all of the wires out to put them in the new tv stand, but Lucas found them first and got busy organizing them his way!









Lucas is obsessed with cars and motorcycles so we got really excited when we arrived at GiGi's house one day and her neighbor, Mr. Phil, was about to take a motorcycle ride. He was so kind and allowed Lucas to sit on the motorcycle; but unfortunately, Lucas freaked out and only wanted to look at it from a distance and while someone was holding him. I feel a lot better now knowing that Lucas is scared of a dangerous toy!






















Daddy and Lucas went to the store while I got to cook in peace and quiet! When they came back, Lucas had a cookie monster treat that he devoured after his dinner!








Gymboree the other day was even better when after class, we went to Taco Mac with Olivia and Mrs. Sam. Olivia got to sit in a booster seat for the first time while Lucas grossed everyone out by dipping his Oreo in cheese dip. The more we all laughed at him, the faster he dipped! After lunch, Olivia made it clear that she was not leaving until she got to play on the "beep-beep" which is the arcade car game. Both kids had a blast playing and finished the lunch date with a group potty event!












Since MiMi was out of town visiting her mom in Arizona, Pop's came over and hung out with us for awhile. We all went to CiCi's for lunch and then Lucas got to ride back to our house in Pop's truck. When we got home, Lucas took Pop's outside to run around and play on the slide.








Later that night, we headed over to my parent's house to see Uncle Taylor and his best friend Stephen who was in town for the night. Stephen has had some health problems that scared us all so we couldn't wait to see him and give him a big hug! We hung around for a while at the house and admired my parent's new landscaping and then headed out to dinner. Stephen's dad, Mr. Jim, shocked Lucas at dinner when he handed Lucas his phone and let Lucas play with it. Obviously, Lucas fell in love with him and sat next to him when he ate. We were even invited to go to Charleston and stay at their new house for a visit, which we cannot wait to plan!









This weekend we also headed out to some garage sales to get outside play toys for Lucas. We found an adorable tricycle that had a parent handle to help steer. Lucas really likes to ring the little bell and ride on it so we took it with us to GiGi's house for dinner. We all took turns pushing him, but honestly, he is still happier just pushing it himself. I'm sure one day he will want to ride around on something, but for now, he just prefers to push!








It was also a bittersweet day for Uncle Taylor and Lucas because Uncle Taylor is selling his "big" truck and it will be the last time that Lucas sees it. Lucas took the opportunity to go for a ride around the neighborhood in Daddy's lap and "drive" it one last time.









My little jokester kept me entertained in the car the other day while we were waiting on Daddy to fill up the propane tank. He has learned how to say "sweetheart" and likes to joke around about his mommy and Olivia being his sweetheart! His sense of humor makes Ben and I laugh out loud at night reminiscing of what he has said or done during the day.



On a side note, Lucas has definitely mastered the concept of what a Jeep, Tahoe, and Hummer are. His new discovery is the Honda and questions me daily about if the car he just saw is is Honda or not. Lucas is definitely a boy with the love of cars! At night, he requests either a car or a tool (mostly the screwdriver) to be in bed with him.