Saturday, August 30, 2008

more vids

My sister requested some post b-day party blogging and I haven't had a chance to sit at the computer. But until then, there are some vids up at our YouTube site.

Birthday Singing

Here's Lucas's birthday song from tonight. I'll post more tomorrow... there's some good stuff - starring Kate!

Friday, August 29, 2008

The Big 2!




Happy Birthday to our sweet little man!


Thursday, August 28, 2008

Help Ben Help Me

Hey Everyone,
Ben has a shirt up on a new site, uneetee, where it is awaiting your vote.
Go check it out and vote if you like it... Yes, it probably looks familiar to some of you.

Thanks a bunch!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Scardy Pants

Last night Ben and I stayed up until about 12:30 watching a stupid movie, so we were already missing about an hour of valuable sleep. Then at 4:00 we both woke up...
Ben: Did you hear that?
Suzy: Yeah. It was Lucas's toy.
Ben: How did it sound?
Suzy: Duuh-duh-duh-duuuh-duh-duh (singing)
Ben: Yeah, that's what I heard too (making sure it wasn't a dream).
Suzy: Sometimes it just does that.
A few minutes later it did it again...
Suzy: I'm kind of scared now.
Ben: Usually burglars don't play with children's toys
It does it again... Ben goes downstairs to turn off toy.
Now we're having trouble getting back to sleep.
At 5:00 there's another noise.

Ben: I just turned it off!
Suzy: No, that's the fish toy.
Ben: What fish toy?
Suzy: You know, the other big toy with fish on it.
Ben: Ahhh... I turned off the wrong toy.
More toy noises....
Suzy: You should go turn it off because I'm too scared.
Ben goes to turn off the toy. Crash! Ben falls down the stairs.
Suzy runs out to make sure he's ok. Ben turns off toy and comes back to bed unharmed.
6:30 - Ben runs out of bed. Suzy hears a door open. Suzy assumes he needed to write something down for work in the office. Ben comes back.
Suzy: What did you do?
Ben: I was having a dream that Lucas was screaming because he was stuck or something.
Suzy: So, did you run into his room?
Ben: Yeah. I'm lucky I didn't wake him up.
Suzy: Yeah. This sucks. Usually when we have crappy nights of sleep it is Lucas's fault.

The alarm went off at 7:45, Ben went to work. Suzy got up at 8:00 to get ready for VT. Lucas woke up at 8:30... a good night's sleep for him at least. Lucas and Suzy had naps, Ben did not.
Ben's such a brave hero! We always talk about how we need a plan of action in case someone breaks into our house. So far the plan is: Ben runs into bathroom, puts in contacts (or glasses), Suzy grabs flashlight from under bed with which she can see (and use as a blunt object). Together they defeat the intruder in their underoos.

While I was awake I thought of two other really funny sleep stories, which added to my inability to sleep... I'll write them later.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Port Aransas


Last weekend we spent four blissful days in Port Aransas. We went with the Petersons and the Hollands, so it was guaranteed fun from day one.
Friday: We left in the afternoon and went the whole way without stopping. Lucas was stuck in his car seat from 12:45 to about 6:00 and did a great job. He got out for a few minutes on the ferry from Aransas Pass to the island, which he thought was pretty cool. It's weird sitting in your car on a ferry, by the way.

Friday night we were the first to get to the beach house, so we unpacked and went for a little walk on the beach. When Clay and Andrea got in we went to a little mexican restaurant for dinner. Lucas really enjoyed eating the spicy salsa. He would make faces when he ate it, but then would dig in again. It was quite funny.
Saturday: After breakfast we spent a few hours at the beach. Lucas was screaming for the first hour while everyone else had fun. He just wanted to play on the golf carts, so he threw a fit when he couldn't. After a walk to the pier and back he was ok and played in the sand with Ocean and Eden. I played on the boogie board a bit and Andrea and I saw a couple dolphins, which was fun. Clay and I got royally sunburned because we are both white and pasty. I don't know who was worse... my bet is on Clay. That night after dinner we went to the DQ. I think this was Lucas's favorite part of the trip.
Sunday: It rained all day. That night we headed to the jetty to take some pictures. Lucas was done before everyone else so I hung out on the beach with him and watched the people fishing. That night after the kids went to bed, the grownups had a blast. We were exhausted but stayed up playing games in a state of delirium. It was great!

Monday: Ben took Lucas on the patio to look at the neighbor's dogs. Instead Lucas punched Ben in the eye and his contact fell below into the grass. But, he managed to get a $5 replacement from a doc in Aransas Pass. Monday was also beach day again. This time we went higher up on the beach and I was very pleased because there was no seaweed! Lucas was crabby in the beginning, but managed to last until 2:30 when it started to blow and rain. I had fun boogie boarding with Jamie and Andrea and the boys played their weird games on shore. The kids ate sand and built sand castles.
While Ben, Clay and Andrea packed our car, I headed to the showers with Lucas. Just as Ben drove up I was getting ready to take Lucas's diaper off when Ben informed me from the car that Lucas's diaper was fully loaded - I was close to getting poo all over me! I managed to take his diaper off w/o making a mess and rinse his little bum in the shower, then get a new diaper for the ride home - all at the beach shower.
Monday night we went to dinner at a local seafood joint. It was ok, but no fireworks.
Tuesday: We spent all morning packing and cleaning before our 11:00 c/o time. The Hollands had to leave early, but the Pete's and Harmanators stayed until 11:10 to get our money's worth.
Ben drove on the way home. Just as we were pulling into Austin we got pulled over and poor Ben got a ticket for going 80 in a 65. I say Ben needs to flirt a little more with the cops!
THEN that night on the way to basketball, Ben was sitting at the stop sign on our street and some girl turned the corner right into him! The bumper fell off the Honda, but it isn't too damaged. Hopefully the girl's insurance will get back with us this week so we can get it fixed. Silly girl... don't talk on your cell if you can't multi-task! Ben got a couple witnesses saying it was the girl's fault, so that was good. Turns out she does the witness' nails, though.
All in all our vacation in Port A was a success. I recommend it for a close beach escape. The only thing is that there isn't really anything to do besides the beach, so if you don't like the beach it wouldn't be fun. I'm always a little grossed out by the beach for the first hour or so, but once I get used to the sand and sticky salt water, I'm ok.


Here's our attempt at a family photo. You can see the rest of our pictures here. We forgot our camera every time we went to the beach, so I'll have to post some from the Pete's and Holland's when they get them up.

Other funny notes:
Friday night Adam and Jamie got pulled over in Aransas Pass and didn't get a ticket - Adam knows how to flirt with the cops, I guess. Then they got stuck in the sand while driving on the beach. Adam had to dig his way out of the sand. He also mentioned that the sand was different than any sand he's even encountered - very powdery. I guess we just didn't notice because we weren't digging our cars out of it.
Lucas calls Eden "baby" instead of using an actual name... maybe he learned that from his parents. He cheated on Addie and gave her a smackeroo. Sorry, Addie.
Clay got a gold medal for chasing a cardboard box and volleyball all the way down the beach when the wind picked up. He ran for a long time.
Jamie got the gold medal for making the rest of us feel like lazy glutenous pigs. She went running twice to prepare for her marathon.
Ocean: "How are they gonna turn our car into a fairy?" before arriving to the ferry.
Lucas kept screaming, "shark" (sounds like schar)over and over... and over. There are a lot of sharks built in to the beach shops in Port A. Pretty much every beach shop has a shark, squid, or dolphin in the architecture some how. On the way home he would yell "shark" or "boat" because of the ferry.
Andrea succeeded in her goal of wearing flip flops for four days straight.
Lucas learned how to crawl in and out of his pack'n'play. He also started getting out of his crib this week - bad news! Here's a little video:

Friday, August 15, 2008

lip insurance

Lucas is known for his voluptuous lips. He got them from Ben, not me. I wish I had a pucker like his.
Yesterday Lucas was sitting/standing on a chair at the kitchen table coloring and we were singing our Rehab song. When it was his part he looked over at me and before he could sing, "no, no, no" he had fallen down, face first, onto the chair next to him (the one holding his high chair). Loud screaming ensued, and as I picked him up I saw blood in his mouth and on his lips.

Luckily none of his teeth were injured (always a fear of mine), but his lip got cut when it hit the chair. See the picture below where there are teeth marks from his upper teeth in the chair - his little lip just got cut from ramming into the corner of the wood - OUCH!

I took him upstairs to evaluate the situation and determine if we needed a stitch, which translates to: take pictures to email to my sister or brother and have them determine if we needed a stitch. After a few minutes when the bleeding and crying stopped, I decided it was really ok and didn't bother my siblings.

I hope it doesn't hurt so bad that he can't eat. And hopefully his lip won't scar. If Lucas ends up being a lip model we'll have to get lip insurance for accidents like this.

Monday, August 11, 2008

ABQ in Review

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Albuquerque:

Lucas pushing Madison on the wiggle car.
Lucas and Grandma cleaning up after the ketchup mishap.

A few weeks ago my mom and sister slept outside on the deck with my nephews. The air matress was still out so we took advantage of it. I never got to sleep outside because I was afraid that Lucas would wake up and wander around in the night, but Maddie, my mom, and Lisa slept out one night (and Lucas did wake up and wander that night).


Lucas always loves to spend time outside. The grass is soft, it's not too hot, not too humid. It's just right! Plus the backyard is much more beautiful and interesting than the grass box we have at home.

Here are Lucas and Maddie admiring the flowers.

For pictures of the yummy cakes we made check out my other blog.

Dog Treats

Here's an old video I got off my dad's computer. Lucas really wanted one of Oscar's dog treats, but quickly changed his mind once he tasted it.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Advice #2

So Lucas's climbing skills have improved over the last couple weeks. I'm really worried what will happen when we get home. We have a half-wall that overlooks the entry way and I'm afraid he will try to climb it and succeed - all the way to the tile below or to the stairs on the other side.
I'm trying to think of ways to Lucas proof the ledge. Any ideas? An electric fence? The pokey things they put on signs so birds won't sit on them? My mom says we might just have to move... to Albuquerque ;). They don't have one story houses in Austin, you know.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Catch up on Lucas

Today Lucas got into the refrigerator and pulled out the ketchup. My mom and I were busy icing a cake and it got a little too quiet, so I looked around the corner to find Lucas with an exploded bottle of ketchup next to an expensive Persian rug. Luckily, Lucas and the rug made it away unharmed. Here's a video:

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Advice?

Lucas is driving me absolutely insane. He's usually such a good napper and sleeper - generally going down w/o a fight. But now that we're at Grandma's house, there are fun toys, dogs, and people. He just wants to run non-stop. The main problem is that he can climb out of his bed. So I will put him in for nap time and he will lay down, but five minutes later he's playing with blocks or Mr. Potato Head in the living room.

I have resorted to locking the door to the bedroom and staying in there with him until he is exhausted from fighting me. Then I have to lay next to him until he falls asleep, then he's all sweet and precious, and after 15 or 20 minutes I can put him in the pack 'n' play. Our 12:30 nap time and changed to 2:00 because of all the protesting. And last night he slept from 11:00 - 6:45, which is NOT cool.

Any advice? We have some friends who will loan us a real crib that he won't climb out of... at least he wouldn't a week ago. We might have to do that.

On a fun note, my mom and I are making a mint chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting, so that should make me happier.