Happy 2nd Birthday, Evan!

From this...

to this...

The past two years have just flown by. I'm so thankful for sweet little Evan.
Happy Birthday, buddy.

First Day!

Today was Lucas's first day at a Mom's Day Out program at Capitol Gymnastics. He had a great time, ate almost all his lunch, and was reportedly a good boy. I didn't quite know what to do with myself, so I made baby food for Evan, played with Evan, and tried to get Evan to nap.
Here are the before and after pics:

Birthday Weekend

Four years ago my heart and life were forever changed. For the first time, I was solely responsible for the health and well being of more than a plant. He was much cuter than the cactus we let die the year before. And I think we've done a better job taking care of him, too. He is Lucas.

On Saturday Lucas got to go to the library with Ben, followed by lunch at Chick-fil-A. They go to the library every few weeks and Lucas loves it. While they were gone I worked hard icing cakes and cupcakes. Here is the recipe for Lucas's s'more birthday cake. It was awesome. I filled it with a chocolate/marshmallow ganache, which made it even awesomer. I tinted the frosting blue, so it would be perfect water for our sea animals. It ended up being one of the least attractive cakes I've made, but it was delish! Lucas thought it looked cool, and that's what counts. As for the cupcakes, Lucas wanted strawberry. I only had frozen raspberries at the time, so I opted for that. I Just threw some raspberry puree into a white cake mix, and made uber-yummy raspberry frosting. Done and done.

We met our friends at the pool at 4:00. There was swimming, there was cake, and then there was more swimming. It was perfect. After the party, we went to Freebirds for dinner with the Hollands. As we were munching on our burritos, I remembered that we ate there with my mom the night before Lucas was born - exactly 4 years earlier!

Today Lucas opened some new church clothes my mom sent. He was psyched to look so manly for church today. He was so cute. And he was a good boy, too. He liked it when everyone sang to him for his birthday. He was so cute at the front of the room in his red tie. After church we headed to the biggest potluck I've ever witnessed at the Baldwins. Lucas played the entire time and finally ate some chips and chicken salad when it was over.

(Fancy boys. "Lucas, stand up big and tall!")

When we got home Lucas had the last raspberry cupcake. We sang to him and he blew out the candle. He said he wished for the happiest family. He's so sweet. And no, it's not because right now he has the unhappiest family, he just always wants to be happy.

Then we let him open the rest of his presents. He scored some sweet Vans, a pirate costume, two cool puzzles, a floor puzzle, a homeschool Kindergarten activity book, and a Dr. Seuss book. Thanks awesome family!

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent in pirate/play/puzzle mode. I made pizza for dinner, we Skyped Ben's parents, and it was off to showerland.

I'm so thankful for our sweet boy. He's such an silly, smart and spunky little goof.

Happy 4th Birthday, Lucas!

Post-Circus Depression

We decided to take Lucas to the circus for his birthday present. See, he watches all these shows about trains and they always talk about the circus trains in the show and he gets so excited. We thought it would be a fun surprise to take him to the circus.
Our tickets were for the 11:30 show on Saturday. Unfortunately we kept him up until 10:00 Friday night and he didn't sleep in at all Saturday morning, so he was already grouchy as we drove downtown. We thought it was going to be a complete nightmare, but he was ok once we got there.
As we were walking in, some people handed us a flier with "circus information." It was PETA talking about animal abuse at the circus. Then it hit me: I'm not a circus person. We never went to the circus when I was little. I always thought the circus was mean and I started to feel guilty. Hoping that things had changed, I put their flier in my back pocket.
We got there early for the little pre-show where you could go down on the floor and meet the clowns, watch magic and performers. We missed the animal open house by about 5 minutes when we got there, but I was really curious to see the animals.
About 15 minutes before the show we took our seats. As I sat down the PETA flier painfully poked me in the bum, reminding me of my decision to fund animal cruelty. Lucas happily munched on a granola bar and I realized I should have packed a lunch (instead we ended up sharing a hot dog, a little pizza, some popcorn, and about a month's worth of sodium).
The show started with lots of music and excitement: a parade of animals, dancers and crazy clowns. Lucas fell asleep after probably 15 minutes. We thought it best that he take a little nap anyways. He didn't miss much, except for the dogs, which happened to be the only animals I didn't feel sorry for.
They had zebras and horses basically come out and run in circles. They all looked irritated. The elephants all looked sad. The tigers looked really ticked off. Not only was their trainer in their cage with a whip, but there were people outside the cage poking them if they didn't move when they were supposed to. It was obvious that the tigers didn't want to perform their tricks. And quite frankly, the animal stuff was pretty boring. The circus doesn't need animals - the circus folk are all the entertainment you need. Of course without the animals, we wouldn't have had the fun of watching people scurry to clean up animal poo and dodging the spotlight during performances.
Oh and another thing, circus people. Your music is annoying. You don't need constant music. Sometimes we want to be able to hear ourselves think.
Anyhow, we had a lovely day. We probably should have saved $60 and taken him to the park to ride the train, but it was an adventure.
Ben and I enjoyed the people who got shot out of cannons. They were awesome. Evan, we learned, hates the sound of a canon. As for Lucas, I think he enjoyed his first and last circus.

From now on I'm boycotting circuses with animals. We'll just go on a safari instead.

Left: The elephants practicing their natural herd formation. Right: Asia, the elephant, after painting a picture during the preshow. Probably giving us all the bird in elephant language :)

Better to bite you with...

After a week of eating solid foods, Evan said, "Enough of this!" and got his first tooth!

Now he's ready for bbq brisket, green chile chicken enchiladas, and caramel popcorn balls. Chew on, my little man. Chew on.
(He also thinks it's fun to clap his hands, by the way).

Happy 6 months, Evan!

Six months ago today my littlest angel was born. He made his debut faster than I had ever dreamed, and was bigger than I'd ever imagined. I got the epidural that I thought had ruined my life, and my little Lucas became a big brother. I also spent my very first night away from Lucas. EVER.

To celebrate I took Evan to the doctor. His stats are:
Weight: 18 lbs. 10 oz (73%)
Height: 28 in. (92%)
Head: 45 cm. (75%)
Lucas was 18 lbs. 9 oz, 29 in. and 46 cm. Pretty close!

Tonight at dinner Evan got to have solid food for the first time. I whipped up a batch of the finest rice cereal with the most delectable breast milk money can buy. He didn't quite know what to think. He made some really funny faces, and convulsed a bit if he got a thicker bite of cereal. Evan did love to play with the spoon, though. That was his favorite part. It was a mess. My life just got a little bit harder...

Evan is rolling over like a champ. He loves to get into things and he's a big fan of cell phones and remote controls. He cries if you take the remote away from him, just like a man. He is so laid back and relaxed. Evan's quite the dream baby. He laughs at all the silly things Lucas does and thinks I'm pretty hilarious, too. I just love this kid so so so so much. I'm so thankful for him!

Drawing With Lucas

The other day Lucas and I had fun with the MagnaDoodle. First he wrote his name, which I didn't know he could do (way to pay attention, mom) and then he drew some other awesome things!
a) my mouth, teeth and all
b) a whale, complete with eyes, nose, mouth and blowhole.
And then he wrote his name on paper today. I'm pretty impressed with my man - he hasn't done much drawing before, just scribbling.

Singing the ABC's

Ok, grandparents and aunties, here's a video of our boy singing his letters and sounds. He loves to get the letter magnets out every day and line them up in order. It's quite impressive - he can do it all by himself.

Future Soccer Mom

Well, folks, the results are in. Lucas will indeed have a baby brother! I am destined to a life at the soccer/baseball/football fields... and hopefully the swimming pool, too. (These boys will have perfect swimmers bodies, you know).
Ben, Lucas and I went to the doctor this morning for the ultrasound. Lucas sat on the floor and quietly watched a DVD while the doctor did the ultrasound. Ben and I watched big globs move around on the tv screen and occasionally recognized what appeared to be a head, hand, or foot. It was quite obvious that he was a boy once we got to that part of his body. The doctor actually thought it was a boy when I had an ultrasound at 12 weeks, so I wasn't too surprised.
Lucas didn't really pay much attention to the ultrasound - Word Factory was much more interesting.
This whole time Lucas has been saying that the baby was a girl named Ella. And when I said it might be a boy, he said it would be a boy named Ella. When we went out to the car we told him that the baby was indeed a boy, he then proclaimed that he needed a snack. Later he asked what that boy's name was gonna be - glad to see we've moved past Ella.
Today I am 21 weeks, 3 days along, and the average of all the measurements were exactly 21 weeks & 3 days, he was also 45th percentile, which is good. His little heart, umbilical cord, hands, lips, and nose, are all perfect. I'm sure he'll be a supermodel when he comes out.
After the doctor, we headed to IKEA to return some stuff, then headed home/work. After lunch I became a real actress. More on that later....

The Big Reveal

We finished the room last night after Lucas went to bed. This morning before Ben went to work we had the big reveal to Lucas. He had no clue we had been working on a room for 2 weeks - he just knew that for a couple weeks his house was full of cardboard boxes, clutter, and that there had been some drilling/hammering last night. Here's the video from this morning:

All we wanted was for Lucas to say, "Oh my GOODNESS," which he says so sweetly. Instead he got hung up on the idea of a present he saw downstairs... It was actually a present from Ben's parent's last year, that we hid for a year b/c he wasn't quite old enough yet (very cool cars).

Anyhow, Lucas seems to like his new room. He thinks the bed is "cool." Ben did such an awesome job working his bum off on this room. I worked really hard at trying to help a little.

We let Lucas open the cars from last year after the big reveal. I had been saving them for a big potty training reward, but when he saw the present last night Ben told him he could open it. And guess what, Nana and Grandpa Pat? You got an "Oh my GOODNESS!" Congratulations.

Look who turned 3!

Well folks, we survived! The terrible twos have passed us by, and now the blissful threes are upon us.
Lucas woke up this morning in a great mood to find lots of little balloons scattered on the living room floor. I made the mistake of displaying the presents, but not wanting him to open them all right away...

We let him open one right away, and another when he accompanied Ben on a trip to the gas staion for ice. While they were there, the attendant also gave Lucas $1 for his birthday - very sweet. Then we were off to his 10:30 party. On the way to the party we realized we never fed the kid breakfast, so I passed a fruit leather back to him hoping it would suffice. (It's not like I didn't try to feed him, he was just too busy playing with his new cars, then I was too busy getting ready for the party!).
We met some friends at a cute little park so the kids could play. I made subs for lunch accompanied by fruit, carrots, and chips. FYI - kids love cheese Doritos. Lucas only dined on watermelon, chips, carrots, and about 5 Capri Suns. Seriously, F-I-V-E.
I made a bug cake for Lucas this year. I was going to make an ice cream cake, but decided that would bite me in the bum if I tried to bring an ice cream cake to a Texas park in August. Instead I made a log roll cake (white cake, orange chocolate whipped cream filling, chocolate/orange frosting) topped with bugs. Lucas loved his cake.

Unfortunately he was upset about something right before cake time and didn't want us to sing to him, he also slapped the cake in outrage that we would suggest singing at a time like that. But, he was very willing to sit and eat the frosting while I served up the cake. He dipped his "3" candle in the frosting over and over. I tried to provide him with his own pile of frosting, but sometimes he chose to scoop directly off the cake instead... sorry, guys. I just realized he never had a cupcake either - just frosting. No breakfast, no sandwich, no cake.

(Here you can see the damage done to the cake. The last picture is supposed to be a shot of Lucas's chocolaty hand, but you can also admire my blossoming physique).

The kids played around the park and the dads played soccer in the heat. Luckily, no one suffered heat exhaustion.
After the party we headed home for a much needed nap time for all of us. (During my nap, I did make note when it was almost 2:36 - the time Lucas entered the world, then I drifted back to sleep). After naps, Lucas enjoyed playing with his new toys and then we headed out for a night of IKEA and outlet malls, followed by more presents at home. I felt bad for taking the poor kid to IKEA on his birthday. Hopefully I can make it up to him tomorrow. I already promised pancakes for breakfast, but then we need to shove as many veggies down the kid's throat as possible.

Happy Birthday to my little man!

Recent Lucasisms - April

Smarty Pants - Lucas and I were graciously invited to participate in a home school preschool with a few friends from the 'hood. It's been a great experience. Lucas has had a lot of fun learning and it's been good for him to sit down and have some structure. He is the youngest, and often most wild of the group, so sometimes I do a lot of chasing, but he's 2, right?

Rocket Ships - Ever since Rocket Ship week in preschool I have learned that we have about 8 different rocket ships in our house. Who knew? The pantry, Lucas's cupboard, under the crib, under the TV in my room, various boxes, nooks and crannies, etc. Lucas likes to get in the rocket ships to go visit grandparents... or go to the moon.

Name Game - My brother has a gift when it comes to nick names. He calls Lucas, Lukie Lau Lau. And since Christmas, Lucas has referred to himself as Lukie Lau Lau. Part of this was my doing, and now it's just Lucas's name. BUT, this week he has finally started calling himself Lucas, which is equally cute coming from his mouth.

Counting Machine - Lucas loves to count. He can count to 30 now. He generally skips 13-15, but manages to get all the way to 30... or 2010, as it was first called.

Babble Mouth - Lucas has become quite the talking machine. He learns new words each week, so we get increasingly confused each week trying to decipher the new words. Also, he likes to repeat himself a lot until we acknowledge what he is saying and repeat it back. The other day Ben said, "Remember when we wanted Lucas to talk so bad? Why did we do that?"

Shhhhh - Lucas will do anything for a piece of candy. Last weekend we were shopping in Pier 1 and Lucas was whining about wanting a piece of candy. "I want candy, I want candy...." Finally Ben told him he needed to be quite if he wanted a piece of candy. So, for the next several minutes Lucas whispered, "I want candy, I want candy, I want candy..."

Pee for Sarge - Did I mention Lucas is easy to bribe with candy or cars? Well, in our house if you pee on the potty you get a toy car. Last weekend Ben and Lucas spent a lot of time in the bathroom drinking orange soda and Gatorade. Lucas decided that he wanted Sarge (from Cars) and Ben was determined to help Lucas get him. So, the boys spent an hour and 45 minutes in the bathroom and finally, finally, Lucas went pee in the potty. I heard the celebration from downstairs and got in the car to go buy Sarge.

Spelling Bee - Lucas can read/spell: mom, dad, cat, dog, Lucas, wow, and stop. I think that's it.

Hop on Pop - When my parents came to visit over Easter, they gave Lucas Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. My mom was reading it to him on the way to the airport and said, "He'll be able to read this to you before too long." I thought it was a long shot, but sure enough, he has it memorized. Here's a video. By the way, it's kind of nice now that Lucas can "read" to me before nap time! I added little subtitles so you can understand what he's saying.


No Push, No Hit - Lucas has a great memory. He got in trouble at a Valentine's Day party in February for pushing James and hitting Kate and we left the party. To this day he still talks about it. "Lukie push James, hit Kate's head at party..." And before we go anywhere with friends, he always says, "No push. No hit." Now if he would only listen to himself.

Eggs in a Basket - Lucas still has fun with his Easter eggs. My mom hid them for him many times in the back yard on Easter and he still loves to play with them just as much as he did then. Sometimes he lines them up, sometimes I hide them. Most of the time he watches from the kitchen while I hide them. And he always takes them apart after he finds them.

Dress Me - Lucas isn't too keen on the idea of learning to do some things by himself. He's not too excited to start potty training, doesn't want to dress himself, etc. The other night we decided we'd try to teach him to change his clothes. So, there we were in the living room taking our shirts off together. It was rad. Then we were offering Lucas candy to take his pants off. Grrrreat. We'll have to learn about stranger danger next time. But, hey, he did finally learn to take his pants off just in time to take his candy into the shower.

Elmo Pee Pee

I got Lucas an Elmo potty last month hoping that it would interest him in potty training. Sometimes he will sit on the big potty, but for some reason he's afraid to sit on the Elmo potty unless it's on the ground. So, this is how we're rolling right now until we're ready to go full speed ahead.

2 Year Visit

Today was Lucas's 2 year checkup with the pediatrician. It was traumatic at first because he wanted to play in the waiting room with the cool toys, but instead got taken to an exam room where he had an absolute fit. Have I told you about Lucas's new screaming talent? He must have gotten it for his b-day. It's LOUD.

He chilled out eventually... when the exam was over. Here are our stats:
Weight: 30 lbs 1 oz. - 75%
Height: 37 1/4 inches - 95% (he was throwing a fit, so this could be off)
Head Circ.: 50.1 cm - 80%

The doctor said he looked good. Luckily, he started saying two word phrases the other day or she might have sent us to a specialist. He said, "bye bye Daddy", "more Daddy" (he said this to me, but oh well... two words is two words), "mama's shoes", and of course, "all done" which he has been saying since he learned to eat.

I asked her about autism because a few people have shown concern. She said he is definitely not autistic (she told me this last year, too). He's so social, has good eye contact, etc. When she was walking out of the room he even blew her a kiss and as she walked away she said, "yep, definitely not autistic."

You just have to understand that Lucas is gonna be a different kind of kid. His dad is Ben. And if he gets his dad's DNA, he's going to be extremely smart, get into a lot of trouble, do funny things, and drive me insane. As far as the sorting goes, I think he gets that from me.

After the appointment we went to Brushy Creek Park with our friends and had fun there. (After a tantrum from leaving the doctors office/cool toys).