I'm still alive, really.

Aloha,

I have officially been away from home for three weeks, one day, and 7 hours. I will go back on Wednesday so Ben can remember who we are and hopefully he will get to eat something besides microwave burritos (aside from what he eats at our friends' houses - thanks!)

Tonight I found out that I have been making a grammatical error (and you know I hate grammatical errors) for the past 16 months. My sister, Lisa, told me that when I write about Lucas and his posessions, I am supposed to use an apostrophe-s, not just an apostrophe. So, I've been saying Lucas' ball, etc. for over a year. Oops. The only case you use just the apostrophe in a first name is in the case of Jesus. Interesting, huh?

She did say that there are probably exceptions in rule books somewhere, so I shouldn't feel too dumb...

That said, if you wish to see some of Lucas's updated pictures, go here.

Lucas has grown and learned so much in the past three weeks. Last year, Lucas got two front teeth for Christmas. This year, he got four teeth for Christmas (his canines)! Now we only have a couple more sets molars to go and we're done with teeth!

Lucas has also really started to love animals. In Arizona he got to meet Riley, Ben's aunt's dog. He also got to see the duck pond. He was quite scared at first, but then tried to climb into the pond feet first like he goes down the stairs. He even started saying a new word that sounds a lot like "dog" or "duck".... we think it might be a German word. But, I think it is the word for all things not human.

In Albuquerque, Lucas was excited to see Nala and Oscar again. They weren't quite so excited to see him. We have made it two weeks without any bites - just a couple growls. Lucas has learned to be careful with the dogs and not poke them in the face. Last week Lisa was giving Lucas a bath and they heard Oscar walk down the hall and Lucas said, "Oska." I didn't believe her at first, but now he says it quite often when he sees the dog. (Ben isn't a fan of Oscar, so he wasn't happy when I told him this...). I now hear "Oska" and the German dog word much more than Mama.

Oh, and Lucas finally did his first sign! I've been trying to get this kid to sign for ten months. Now he'll do the sign for "all done" when he wants down from his high chair. Next we'll work on "milk" and "more."

Lucas has some fun toys to play with here (toys way older than me). There's a pretty cool Tonka dump truck, a doll crib, and a little set of wooden beads and a big string. He enjoys playing with the beads and has started to string them onto the string with some help. And of course, Lucas's favorite activity is the sorting, stacking, and organizing. Lucas has emptied every single drawer in my parent's house, and several drawers in Ben's parent's house. He loves it.

I was supposed to go home last Thursday, but stayed longer because Ben had work to do in Austin and I didn't want to go home and be alone while Ben worked. The first week home after being with my family is always really hard - the empty house, doing all the work by myself, etc. Here I have about 6 assistants to help with watching Lucas and it makes for a nice break. And the great thing is that they really enjoy playing with Lucas... and instead of being a chore, bath time is a really FUN time.

The good news is that my sister showed Lucas some pictures on the computer tonight. He got really excited when he saw Ben, so he still remembers him! Ben and I have wondered before how long it would take him to forget one of us. I said he'd be over me in a week, but now I know that's not true. He misses and loves his daddy very much. We'll see you soon, Baby!

7 Things - Tag

Ok, this tag is for Danielle. I don't owe her $18 that I know of, but she did do an awesomely bad ace job helping me plan Enrichment this month. So, this ones for you, my little clean freak.

7 Random Things About Me:

1. When I was a senior in high school apparently I saw the world a little differently. Yeah, I was a little weird, pretty optimistic, slightly hyperactive, and a little crazy, but I was a good kid. Anyhow my brother named the dimension I lived in "Suzy Land." Whenever I didn't get something quite right, or was a little too optimistic for reality, Robert would say, "Oh, is that how things are in Suzy Land?" Suzy Land was a great place. I don't go back nearly often enough.

2. When I was a toddler we were dropping my sister off at Chapel Hill her Freshman year. Without knowing just how awkward it was to be a Freshman in the first place, I pulled the fire alarm in her dorm just to make her first week of school a little more miserable. Hey, everyone needs a fire drill once in a while.

3. When Ben walks out the door in the morning Lucas and I begin our daily opera. We (I) sing about all things from diapers to lunch to love. We're really quite good. This singing thing is genetic. My mom sang my whole childhood, too. There were specific songs for getting the dog to go pee and for stomping your feet in the garage... "Stomp your feet 49 times, stomp your feet 49 times...." Yep, 49 times is a lot.

4. I have an addictive personality. It's good I don't drink. My first addiction that I can remember aside from candy as a kid is Carmex. I was at The Academy (my school) and I carried it with me always. They eventually had to stop selling it in the bookstore because I think reports came out about it being addictive. They also had to stop selling rubber cement, which was sad - you could make great little rubbery balls with that stuff. Apparently you could also get high. My other addictions were gum, Advil - the candy coating, Jolt Cola, and slurpees. My most recent problem was with Nutella, but I kept it under control and didn't buy another jar.

5. I like thrills - roller coasters, water slides, high dives, etc. I was really sore/bruised after cliff jumping in Utah off a 60 foot cliff. But even more fun than that was when I worked at The Beach and we had our employee party. It was such a rush! We would turn on The Destroyers (the biggest waves) in the wave pool, and not follow any of the rules. The best was making trains on the slides. Sure, we suffered a broken leg now and again, but it was fun... and it was never my leg. I do remember hitting my head on the bottom of the wave pool because I dove off head wall (the timing is very important because you have to hit the water at the crest of the wave), and I think I almost drowned once, but other than that I was good. By the time I was a supervisor, the parties had come to an end - too many injuries. I was grateful, though, because then I was in charge of all the crazy kids. I'm not as wild as I was before. I think I was kind of stupid then....I was 17.

6.When I met Ben he had a girlfriend and I had a boyfriend, but they were in different zip codes, so it didn't count. Ben was upfront and honest with his GF after a few weeks, but she was only an hour away. Mine was 12 hours away, so I could put it off until I went back to ABQ. I thought I broke up with him at Thanksgiving, but then he broke up with me over the phone at Christmas. I just played along with it. I didn't tell him about Ben until we were engaged. He must have thought I was a freak. I guess I don't have a lot of guts when it comes to hurting people's feelings. I think I'm more mature now and I would handle the situation better.

7. I'm PREGNANT! Hahaha. Did you just pee your pants? Good. I'm really not pregnant, but I thought that would be funny. Don't worry - Lucas won't have a little sibling to torture for a while. But, I'm so grateful for Lucas. He has taught me so much about myself. He's given me a reason to really try to make the world a better place. And he brings so much joy to our lives. We love our little creeper so much. I'm so grateful that Lucas is healthy and strong, not to mention very good looking. He's also very funny and I'm so glad that I get to stay home and laugh with him during the day.

7 1/2. I have to include this because I just caught a grammatical error in my entry. There are certain grammatical errors that drive me INSANE. I would like America to strive to use myself and me correctly. Please, America, don't say, "You can give Joe or myself a call if you suffer sever stomach cramps." You would never say, "Hey Joe, call myself Friday night!" You only call ME. Thank you, America.