Happy 1st Birthday, Lucas!!

Tuesday, June 28th

Happiest of Birthdays to my sweet baby, Lucas!!  What a year it's been for you, for me, for Joe, and for Ryan!!  You are the sweetest, most relaxed/chilled-out baby!  You are such an easy going, smiling, happy-go-lucky boy and we are so amazed by you every single day!  We can't help but to smile when we see you and your smile lights up the room.  We are so thankful you are part of our family and we love you "infinity much"!  

This year has taught all of us so much about you and about us as a family, and I love that you've helped us shift and grow in our family.  Life is so much sweeter with you in it!  You absolutely adore your big brother and smile and squeal when you see him in the mornings or when he's doing something silly.  You are a forever playmate for Ryan, and watching your brother relationship form and grow is so wonderful, so precious.  Not just brothers, but best friends already.  Ryan dotes on you, and you love to be around him.  Thank you for being what Joe, Ryan, and I needed in our lives.  You've given us all so much happiness, confidence, and more love than we could ever imagine.  You've given Ryan the opportunity to become the best big brother ever, a title he takes so seriously and treasures.  You've allowed Joe and I to grow as parents and learn how to balance raising two kids and you've taught us so much! 

You love to be held, to be snuggled, to be loved on all the time - there isn't such a thing as "too many hugs" with you.  While you are very easy going, you are also fiercely independent and stubborn to the core; when you set your mind to something, you make sure it happens one way or another.  I love this balance in you.  You are incredibly curious, and (just like your brother) it seems that your biggest goal in life is to have fun, be silly, and be happy.  Your giggle is incredibly infectious and is one of the best sounds in the world!  You really and truly do make everyday and everything so much better!

Thank you for such a wonderful, incredible, happy year!  We love you so so SO much and can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us!  Happy Birthday, sweet Lucas!!
 

Summer 2016 - most of June

Where's that wagon that everyone talks about?  Anyone seen it??

I love everything there is about summer - the sun rises early and sets late; so many fruits being in season; grilling outdoors; going to the pool; the smell of sunscreen; the beach!; eating all kinds of seafood; playing outside; the lighting at 7pm on a summer evening; my list can go on and on and on.  Summer is such a magical, special time and I am SO SO thankful that I have summers again to spend with my sweet boys!

I had big hopes of posting something every two days (like I've done for a few summers now), but I can't seem to get a handle on things, so I'm aiming for once a week!

I finished work on June 16th and have been off since, but I feel like I haven't started unwinding just yet.  I know that feeling will come (hopefully), but until then, I'm going to try to continue to keep my head above water and savor these moments with my sweet boys.

With that being said, here are some of the highlights so far from June of Summer 2016!

--Lucas took his first few steps the weekend before his first birthday!  Of course he's going to walk to Ryan, his idol!

Summer 2015 - last half of August

Man, this summer has gone by so so quickly!

Some things that have happened in the second half of August:

--Joe had a birthday!  Happy Birthday, Joe!  His parents came down on Sunday, cooked a special dinner (Joe's request), and celebrated his birthday with us on Monday morning.  We hope you had a great birthday, Joe!  We love you!!

Ryan loves Daddy's birthday present!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!  You're my best friend!

Lucas enjoying his first outdoor dining experience on Daddy's birthday

--Ryan started preschool!!  I think he might have been a little nervous at first, but so far, things have gone really smoothly!

"I'm not going to smile"...but I promise, he was still excited!

A nervous smile :)  My big preschooler!

Moving around like ocean creatures

--Lucas turned 2 months old on August 28th - and we celebrated by going to the doctor and getting his first round of vaccinations!  He's also ahead of Ryan on the growth curve - he came in at 12lbs 9oz (60th-ish percentile), 23.5" long (75th percentile), and he's in the 95th percentile for head circumference.  I have another lollipop baby!  He's a much better sleeper than Ryan was at this age (knock on wood) - but he's kind of backwards with his sleep.  He takes FOREVER to get him to go to sleep in the evenings (we're talking about 2 hours of putting him down asleep, him waking up, us trying to get him to go back to sleep, him going to sleep, us putting him back down, he wakes up, the cycle continues).  After he's asleep, Lucas will wake up after about two hours, will go back down after a feeding, sleep for 4-5 hours (closer to 5 than to 4), wake up for another feeding, go back to sleep for another 3-4 hours.  Either way, it's working out for us.  Ryan still comes in first thing in the morning to check on Lucas and give him a kiss and a hug, and then usually goes to wake up Joe.  Ryan still loves Lucas so so much!

Two months!  How is this possible?!?

He is such a happy baby....

...except after his shots.  Poor guy!

--Lucas has started to smile A LOT!  He is such an expressive baby - he likes to coo lots and tries to "talk" to us when we talk to him - Joe and I hope that he's just as animated as Ryan :)

Funny faces from my funny baby

Lucas has started rolling over from belly to back - he doesn't get much tummy time on the floor (which he doesn't really enjoy), but I've been told that holding him upright and baby-wearing him counts as tummy time as well.  He can push himself up pretty well on the floor (in the "seal" position) so I figure he's doing pretty well with his muscle development.  He bears weight on his legs all the time and has even started "bouncing" a few times when we're holding him upright - just like his older brother did!  

Here are some other random pictures from the second half of the month:

We might have a thumb sucker on our hands!

Ryan at the park

Pullen Park - Lucas's first trip!

"Mommy, take a serious picture of me and Lucas"

Fun in the sprinkler at Nora's 3rd birthday party!

Carousel at Pullen Park

I love this picture :)

A lunch date with Julien!

We're excited to see what September brings!! Hopefully some cooler weather so we can spend more time outside :)

Summer 2015 - first part of August

Everyone told me that time goes by so much faster during the second baby, but I didn't believe them.  Time dragged by with Ryan - it felt like it took a week for a day to pass, a year for a month - so I thought the same thing would happen with Lucas.  Boy, was I WRONG!  Time has been flying!  I can't believe that it's already mid-August!

Here's what's happened so far this month:

--I've been flying solo during the days and I'm doing pretty well, I think!  Some days are better than others, and I try to have some kind of outing or event for Ryan every day - whether it's going to the library, going to Target, having a playdate, going to Marbles, etc.  It gives him a chance to run around and have some fun while I sit with Lucas.  And a happy Ryan makes me happy, too :)

--I took Ryan to his first movie!  Our local movie theater plays $1 movies on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays during the summer, so I took Ryan to go see the Lego movie.  Ryan was very excited about going to his first movie and liked sitting in a big tall seat and watching what he called "a big TV screen"

--Ryan had ANOTHER sleepover - this time, at Oma's house!  Oma decided to take all the boys "camping" (read: set up a tent in the living room and Levi, Julien, and Ryan all slept in there...WITH OMA - how she will willingly sleep on the ground is beyond me).  Ryan LOVED IT.  When I picked him up the next morning, I found out that all the boys didn't go to sleep until 12:30am...and woke up at 6:00am.  Oh boy!  Anyway, Ryan is very excited about going "camping" again!

--Ryan is still super sweet with Lucas.  Every morning, he comes in to check on Lucas, give him a hug/kiss if Lucas is awake and then goes to wake up Joe.  He loves Lucas so so much and says that Lucas is his "very best friend" (granted, he also says this about Mommy, Daddy, Levi, Julien, and baby Nadia).

--Lucas is well out of newborn clothes and in 3 month clothes...and in some cases, in 6 month clothes.  He's a big boy!

--Lucas turned 7 weeks today (Sunday).  He's gaining more head/neck control, is more aware of his surroundings, likes looking at the ceiling fan, the blinds, and going outside.  He still doesn't really like the car seat, but will eventually settle in (and stop screaming) after a couple of minutes.  Usually.

--Lucas is still doing ok at night - I say this very carefully.  He has good nights and bad nights.  We still haven't transitioned him to a crib yet, and mostly either sleeps in the Rock N Play OR in bed with me (I love it...I know it's a bad habit and a habit that's really hard to break if we do it too often...but I LOVE snuggling up to him).

Excited to see the Lego movie in a theater!

Beautiful!

One day shy of 7 weeks!

My boys!

Ryan keeping Lucas company during tummy time

6 weeks old!

Enjoying a breakfast out with Mommy and Lucas

Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

Ryan LOVES going to Bounce-U!

Learning how to use chopsticks!

Making zombie juice

Zombie repellent juice is ready!

I made sure that this zombie juice was spread OUTSIDE...

Summer 2015 - first photo shoot!

We had my awesome coworker, Sara, take pictures of Lucas and the family a few weeks ago when Lucas was only two and a half weeks old.  I really wanted to document these first few weeks at home with Lucas since this is such a special time for us.  She did such an awesome job - I feel that she captured our feelings and expressions so well.  As you can tell from the pictures, Ryan is SUCH A GREAT BIG BROTHER!!  He really is so gentle, so caring, so involved with Lucas.  I love that this is their start to a (hopefully) beautiful relationship!

Here are some of my favorite pictures (it was hard to narrow them down, I promise!) :)