No Phone Home

Lucas and I arrived in ABQ today at 9:45 safe and sound after what I thought was going to be a dreadful morning.

Lucas woke up at 5:00 this morning and didn't go back to sleep. He usually wakes up at 9:00, so I was so worried that he was going to go ballistic. He was a good boy, though. Ben came to our gate with us, which is always so helpful. Lucas fell asleep right as we took off, but I had to hold his head up while he slept because he was perched at such an angle in his car seat. He probably slept for 40 minutes, then ate his not-so-tasty Express Jet bagel, followed by a viewing of Teletubbies on his new DVD player.

He got a little mad when we had to turn off the movie, but didn't throw a fit. After we landed Lucas was such a good boy. He walked off the plane all by himself and held my hand the entire way to baggage claim where we found my mom. If you know Lucas, you know having him hold hands and walk sweetly though the airport is a big feat.

I had a hard time getting him down for his nap. He wanted to play with all the toys and the dog. He climbed out of the pack 'n' play over and over, which is new, but managed to sleep for about 1.5 hours in the end.

If you need to get a hold of me, you'll have to email me. I forgot my phone at home. Yes, its true. I, Suzanne, forgot my phone... Ben is going to mail it to me, though.

Eggs, anyone?

This is what happens while Mom is looking for a portable DVD player on craigslist. Way to go, Mom!

He started crying right away, so I got really scared. Luckily it was just eggs all over the floor...

Rainy Day

We got a good amount of rain yesterday thanks to Hurricane Dolly. Lucas and I played in the rain a little throughout the day. Here's a little video of Lucas running in the rain, then playing on his bike. AND saying "wuv woo" for the first and only time so far.
Grandparents: to see Lucas frolicking better, click on the video and it will take you to YouTube, then you can make it full screen.

See ya later alligators!

My heart broke a little bit this morning at approximately 5:00. That's when Tanner and Danielle pulled out of Austin and headed west, towards Mesa.

We had a good last week with them, though. On Saturday we had little going away party for three families moving. Then Danielle made what Ben proclaimed to be the "best dinner he's had in at least two months" on Sunday, then on Tuesday we all gathered at the Hollands for Clay and Andrea's yummy pizza. You might say I was having trouble letting go...

Lucas and Addie even had a fun week together. Lucas taught Addie how to completely destroy the house and make a huge mess.But, for the first time, they really played together and never once fought. It was perfect. They even got a little smooch in.

(notice how they even closed their eyes)

Last night a bunch of people went to help load the truck - a big truck, I might add... no one can figure out how they fit all that stuff into a little apartment. At about 9:15 we said our goodbyes and I made it all the way out to the parking lot before I stuck my lip out and started to cry! I was very proud of myself.

Girls: Andrea, me, Dani, Megan (w/twin boys), Missy, Baby Eli
Boys: Tanner, Jeff, Clay, Ben, Adam, Greg

Anyhow, we love you guys and we'll miss you so much! Have fun in AZ and go to Bahama Bucks for us. AND, come back to Austin after graduation!

PS - maybe I can buy a new black shirt in Buy Lots of Stuff August...

And, here's a video at the Holland's from this week:

Cake Poll

Lucas is turning 2 on August 29th. I have a busy month ahead of me, so I want to start planning the cake and come up with ideas. Vote in the poll at the upper left corner for my cake ideas.
1. Watermelon - Lucas loves watermelon and with this handy cake pan set, I could make a domed watermelon cake. Green frosting on the outside, a layer of white cake, and then pink cake on the inside with chocolate chips for seeds...
2. Teletubbies - as annoying as they are, Lucas thinks they are great. Sometimes he gets to watch them for a few minutes before his nap. I used to think they were dirty and wrong, but now I see that they are just acting like toddlers (not dirty toddlers, regular ones).
3. Hippopotamus - Lucas has a thing for the hippo in the Eric Carle book, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Every time we get to the hippo page he gets so happy and points to the hippo's mouth. For some reason it's really amusing to him.
4. A Stacking Toy - We all know Lucas loves to stack. I could make a cake replica of something similar to what Lisa bought him... This would require lots of cakes stacked on top of each other and carved into different sizes. It would be a lot of work and could end up a complete mess or really cool.

So, go ahead and vote. I'll probably go with what you choose. Let me know if you have any better ideas, too.

Ice Cream Sandwich

Tonight Lucas had his first ice cream sandwich. Mmm.

Beep, beep, beep...

If you come to our house from now on you will hear that annoying little chime, "beep, beep, beep" every time the door opens. Lucas has officially learned how to unlock the front, garage, and back doors and open them. The other day I heard Lucas open the front door so I ran over and locked it, thinking I had just left it unlocked the day before. Then a few minutes later it happened again, so I thought maybe I was crazy. But, it's for real. Lucas can unlock the door and run away if he wants.

As soon as "Buy Lots of Stuff August" rolls around, Ben will be heading to Lowe's to buy more locks for the doors so our son can't run away. Maybe he can buy some of those drawer latches while he's there.

A few funny things from this week...

Lucas is such a funny boy. Here are a few happenings from this week:
We scored a watermelon at the Pioneer/Patriots festival last Saturday, which was great since it's No Buy July! Lucas found it to be quite useful - not only could he roll it around, he could use it to get into stuff. Then he got to eat it - watermelon is one of his favorites foods.
On Monday I made cinnamon rolls for the very first time by myself, without my mom. I actually did a good job. I used a recipe from a cookbook, so they weren't as good as my moms, and I didn't put enough sugar and cinnamon in the middle, which is a pretty common mistake in the cinnamon roll world, but they were good none the less.

Ben was reading books to Lucas the other day. This was the view from upstairs:

And finally Lucas saw me drinking my noni juice the other morning and wanted some also. So, I gave him about a teaspoon in a glass (I only drink an ounce) and he made the funniest face when he drank it. But, he kept wanting more. He did this every time I remembered to get the noni out this week. Here's a video of him on his second glass.

Thanks, Lisa!

Aunt Lisa sent Lucas some new wooden toys. Back in April we went to Lisa's office to distract her from her charts and Lucas found a wooden stacking toy in the waiting room. He really liked it, so ever since then, Lisa has been on the search for cool wooden toys. Yesterday, a box containing two wooden toys appeared at the door - one just like Lisa's and the other just like Kate's. Lucas has been really happy playing with them - so much so, that nap time was delayed a whole hour today due to magical wooden stacking fun!
Thanks for being so generous, kind and thoughtful, Lisa! We love you.

The Pill

Lucas has been a little bit of a pill the past few days: not sleeping... going crazy... not sleeping... climbing things... not sleeping... being destructive. Before I think too many negative thoughts about the kid, I need to think about how sweet, smart, and funny he is before I go to bed exhausted and alone. (now you really feel sorry for me, huh?)

We broke out the bubbles the other night to celebrate having Daddy home for once. Lucas had a good time trying to eat them. He really eats a lot of soap - every time we play with bubbles, the wand goes right into his mouth. He also licks soap off his hands when I wash his hands, and he eats it in the bath tub if he can. Gross. Anyhow, here's Bubble Boy:
Lucas has been getting into everything lately. It's driving me a little crazy. He says, "mine, mine, mine..." and dives into the silverware drawer, junk drawer, utensil drawer, or pantry. He has managed to come away unscathed even after reaching for the Cutco knives.
Today I came down the stairs to find him happily playing with the bag of rubberbands from the junk drawer. He likes to sort things, so they were all over the floor. Then he chewed on a couple, but I don't think he ate any.

I'm going to have to start toddler proofing now. He's outgrowing all the babyproofed things because he's so tall! I really don't want to have to put latches on my drawers, but I might have to before I go nuts.
He still loves the fridge of course, and this is our current method of babyproofing there:
I guess the last naughty thing he does is climb. He loves to climb and will climb anything remotely climbable. It's a miracle we haven't had a trip to the emergency room. Yesterday I realized things in the pantry weren't quite right, then I discovered Lucas climbing half-way up "organizing" things for me. Tonight I went into the toy room while I was cooking dinner and discovered him half-way up the book shelf with a bottle of cold medicine in his hands. I had hidden it up there so it would be safe. I think he was after a piggy bank we got for our wedding. I just mentioned to Ben how dangerous the book shelf was a couple months ago... we need to anchor it to the wall OR buy something better in Buy Lots Of Stuff August.

Lastly, here's a video of Lucas practicing his colors with his spoons. He loves these stupid spoons, so I finally gave up keeping them in the drawer. Happy Friday!

Helpful Hands

I love this kid.

This morning we came downstairs for breakfast and Lucas's alphabet magnets were on the table. He picked up the H and said, "H." I was very impressed... and a little doubtful, so I asked him again which one was the H and he pointed it out. I asked Ben if they worked on that last night while I was out and they didn't, so I guess he learned it from the singing magnet toy.

Another funny Lucasism: at night when he's all ready for bed we say prayers (quickly) and Lucas always listens for the "amen" and says it right along with us. Recently he will listen for a second, but run away really quickly to his room in the middle of the prayer. We find him in there waiting for us to put him in his crib. I guess he must be really tired!

Lucas has become very helpful at times. He loves to put things in the trash can. At the pool he spends a lot of time cleaning up the litter... I've only had to go fish someone's goggles out of the trash once. Here's a little video of Lucas helping me with the trash at home.

Town Lake Park

Today we went to Town Lake Park with the Petersons. TWP is one of the coolest parks ever. It's right downtown by Town Lake and it has one of those cool fountain things for the kids to play in. Lucas isn't so much a fan of the fountains, but we like them. Lucas prefers looking into the nasty pond that is full of algae. You can see he was a little afraid for me to put him down:

We left Ben at work and on the way home I gave Lucas a big box of raisins to curb his hunger. He munched on them almost all the way home. Then suddenly I looked back and found him asleep. I tried to wake him up and he barely opened his eyes to look at me, then promptly fell back asleep. If you click on the picture, you can see the some raisins perched ontop of his car seat buckle.

I carried him in the house, changed him into his PJ's and put him in his crib all while he was asleep. Poor little guy was exhausted!

No Buy July, Day 2

Today was officially day two of NBJ. And, I'm glad to report that I haven't spent a cent. Last night for dinner Jeana and I decided it would be fun to have a baked potato bar, so together we created quite the delicious feast. Jeana made great chili and I made the cheese/broccoli sauce. We rolled the potatoes in kosher salt before baking and they were really yummy. We were stuffed by the end of our meal. We finished it off with the worlds best reduced-fat mint brownies and we were all quite happy.
Tonight I decided I should try something with beans and rice since that's what we've been joking about. So, I found this recipe and altered it a bit. I used two cans of beans, threw in some garlic, a cup of tomato/chicken bouillon, and more cumin than it called for, and topped it with a dollop of sour cream. It would have been good with a squeeze of lime juice, too. And if you're feeling totally wild, you could grill a chicken breast or something to go in it, too.

I liked it, Lucas liked it - especially after he dipped the beans in his blueberry yogurt, and Ben liked it also. It was a success and a totally cheap meal. it probably cost $3 total and it's enough for two meals. It would have been $3.75, but I grew my own onions on the back patio this spring!

I used my leftover rice and some leftover canned milk from last week and made some rice pudding, which I love. I basically just made a stirred custard and added the rice to it (as opposed to baked rice pudding).

FYI - if you eat dinner at our house and you throw your food on the floor, you have to pick it up. If you're Lucas, you can even eat it off the floor, just as long as it gets picked up.

Then you can go out to play.

**If you have any fun, cheap recipe ideas let me know. We can all share on the blog! And let me know if you want to participate in NBJ - we can all share our results in August!**