ONE.

Lucas,

I'm not usually one who is short of words, but I've been working this post out in my head for over a week now simply because I couldn't figure out how to express all of the words I want to say.  You're ONE!  I can't believe that one whole year has gone by since we welcomed you into this world.  I remember your wiggly self being in my tummy like it was yesterday.  And now you're not a baby anymore.  You're ONE.

Every month, I've documented pictures of you and how much you are growing.  I want to remember every detail.  At your one year pediatrician visit, you weighed 22 pounds and were 30 inches tall.  You have 6 teeth (4 on the top, 2 on the bottom) and a full head of blonde hair.  You are a flirt.  You are silly.  You are wild.  You are perfect.

You have grown into such a sweet and joyful little boy.  Your smile is contagious and really you make it hard to concentrate on anything else in the room when you flash your big dimples and new teeth.  It's too much.  

You are 100% boy and it is adorable.  You don't know what sounds different animals make yet, but when we ask you what sound the truck makes, you light up and say "vroom!vroom!"  When you hear airplanes, you shoot your chubby little arm into the air to point up to the sky, but instead of looking up to the sky you look around to everyone around you as if to notify them that there is a plane flying overhead.  So courteous of you!  You love anything with wheels.  The bigger the better.  You wake up happy and sit and talk in your crib for a while.  When you're ready for us to come and get you, you say "da da da da" and get louder and louder until we get the hint.  It's okay that you call for your daddy, you love him a lot.  And it does my heart good.  You love to play rough with him, getting tossed in the air and rolling around on the floor.  You like to build towers with your blocks and crash your dump truck through them.  You love to watch daddy fix things...and one day soon I know you'll be right there beside him with a hammer in hand.  But those snuggles?  Those are mine :)

You clap your hands and are so close to walking and crawl like a mad man.  You eat and drink and share food with the dog.  You give kisses and wave bye-bye and smile a lot. 

You have taught your daddy and me so much.  We are better because of you.  We know a different kind of love because of you, a love that is designed to be like the love of our Father.  We pray for you and pray that you will grow up to love Jesus.  

When I was putting you to bed on the night of your birthday, I rocked you for an extra long time.  I cried tears of joy for who you are.  (I know, moms cry sometimes for silly reasons, but this was a good thing, I promise.) I have wanted to slow down time over the past year, but at the same time I love seeing you grow and develop.  It just keeps getting better!  Every stage of your little life, I think "this is my favorite."  But I keep saying it over and over and over, because it keeps getting sweeter and sweeter.  

You are such a blessing, little boy.  We thank God every day for the gift that you are, and we are continually on our knees in prayer and thanksgiving that you have been entrusted to us while we are all on this earth.  Thank you for teaching us more than we could have ever imagined this year.  It's been sweet, and it's been fun.  We love you!

moving day.

Remind me to never move with a small child again.  Actually, remind me to never move again...period. It is HARD work.  We had lots of help from some great friends, but I feel like we haven't stopped packing/unpacking/organizing/cleaning for months!  Confession, it's actually March 22 today.  Even though I back-dated this post to when it happened.  It's for my sanity in my virtual scrap book, so back off about it!  I know it's been f.o.r.e.v.e.r. but this is why.  It's been a busy month.

Packing was hard because of the little guy's discovery that he can CLIMB.  The kid isn't walking yet, but somehow he has managed to climb boxes like a jungle monkey.  That kid is 100% boy.

Lucas's favorite part of moving by far was seeing the big moving truck.  He is obsessed with trucks.  Obsessed.  Every time he sees one, he says "vroom!vroom!" And it's adorable. 

Of course on the day that we got the truck and were ready to load up, it was freezing outside.  And windy.  Like 40mph winds.  So Lucas and I watched from inside mostly except for a quick run outside to see the big truck.

We loaded everything except for the mattresses and the crib, and the next morning tied up the loose ends and headed to the new house!  We had guys helping us unload and girls entertaining Lucas.  I was too busy helping and directing traffic to take pictures except for this one:

And yes, that's the love seat in the breakfast room.  And don't worry, it only stayed there for a few hours.

Then came the unpacking.  There were boxes on boxes and boxes on boxes and boxes everywhere.  We kept unpacking and the pile didn't seem to get any smaller!  Lucas helped:

And now we're in the new house and we love it.  We are getting settled and slowly regaining our sanity. My mom and dad came the next weekend and helped a ton with organizing, and then my mom stayed the next week until Lucas's birthday party (!!! we'll get to that soon) and really helped get things the way they needed to be.  And she helped me pull off a fantastic party in a new house barely over a week after moving.  We are nuts, I know.  More on that later.  And maybe you'll see some pictures of the house if I ever get caught up on posts!  (Don't hold your breath for that happening any time soon, friends.)

charleston getaway

We did it. We had a weekend away just the two of us, away from Lucas.  And we survived!

We ventured to Charleston, SC for the weekend. Charleston is a special place for us.  Charleston is the place where Brandon asked me to be his wife 6 years ago...and I said yes.

We went back last weekend for the first time since we got engaged.  We revisited familiar sites and wandered beautiful streets.  We ate and ate and ate!  But mostly we just enjoyed being together and remembering the past 7 years we have been together, almost 5 years we have been married, and almost 1 year of being parents.

We went back to the same spots along the waterfront park where we got engaged!

Then:

 

Now:

Then and now:

The first evening we were there, it was rainy.  We got checked into our hotel and ventured out with raincoats and umbrellas.  We ended up ducking inside a bar to watch the UNC/NC State game, because that's just what you have to do when you live in a house divided.

We went to bed that night fully expecting to sleep like we did before our little Lucas completely changed everything.  Brandon said to me before we went to sleep, "we can sleep until 9:00 tomorrow morning if we want to!"  Well you would know, I tossed and turned all night and woke up wide awake at 7:30.  Seriously??!  Cheers to being a mom.

We woke up to the sun shining and a high of 70, so out we went!

We did a lot of dolphin watching...I squealed like a little kid every time they got close :)

And we walked with really nowhere to go, and it was wonderful.

Charleston has inspired me to have pretty window boxes this year.  We'll see how that goes.  Every window was spilling the most beautiful flowers out of planter boxes below.  Charleston is the only city I've ever seen that has gorgeous allies.  In between buildings in places that should be sketchy looking, you see trellises and benches and artwork and flowers.  It's magical.

And we ate.  Oh boy, we ate!  We had lunch on Sunday at Fleets Landing on the water.  I had a crab cake sandwich and collard greens and about died it was so delicious.

For dinner we tried to make reservations at Poogan's Porch.  The reservations were all booked, but they had first come first serve seating outside and at the bar.  We headed over for an early dinner and requested an outdoor table because it was still daylight and pretty warm.  They took us upstairs to the balcony and sat us at a table, and we had the entire balcony to ourselves the whole time!  It was quiet and charming and wonderful.

They brought us the menu and gave us a huge surprise.  Poogan's Porch was celebrating their 35th anniversary, so they had a throwback menu where everything was priced as it was in 1978.  What?!  So we got 2 drinks, an appetizer (fried green tomatoes), and 2 entrees (shrimp and grits for me, and pork and mac and cheese and collards for B) all for $33.  Unbelievable.

Then we went to Les Mis!  We went to the theater in North Charleston and watched the live Broadway performance.  The music and the set were both wonderful.  Brandon has a slight obsession with Les Mis and he was in heaven.

Then after a big breakfast the next morning, we headed home back to our boy.  

I'm so thankful that Brandon's parents were able to come and watch Lucas for us.  We needed a weekend away to regroup and recharge before the big move.  MiMi and PawPaw of course took great care of Lucas, chased our wild boy around nonstop, and spoiled.him.rotten!

late night drama

Y'all.  We are pretty sure Lucas is allergic to peanut butter.

And we had a Hitch moment in the middle of the night like this one:

Long story short, Lucas had a few bites of peanut butter spread on toast over the course of the last week.  He had 2-3 bites on Monday, 2 bites on Wednesday, and 2 bites on Saturday.  Saturday night, Lucas wakes up at like 11:30 screaming bloody murder and we find him with fire engine red ears and covered in raised hives from his neck down, front and back.  Even his little butt cheeks had hives on them.  It was SO sad.

And this pediatric nurse mommy had NO BENADRYL in the house.  Nada.  None.  Brandon flew to the 24hour Walgreens that is thankfully right down the street and we dosed him up. [Sidebar:  While he was gone, I went into freak out mommy mode and called my mom and woke her up, FaceTimed with her so she could affirm that we didn't need to go to the hospital, and I called up to my floor at work to double check the dose of benadryl to give him.  It was a hot mess.]

We juiced him with benadryl and he finally went to sleep.  

We called the pediatrician to give her a heads up on what had happened, and now we are the proud owners of 2 EpiPen Juniors ($250 worth might I add) and have an appointment with an allergist the first week in May for confirmation testing.  

It was scary and a pretty bad reaction for a first reaction.  But I'm so thankful that he didn't have a true anaphylactic reaction.  And I'm also thankful for a mom that doesn't mind me waking her up in the middle of the night to keep me calm and tell me that I'm a good nurse and a good mom.

So until we hear otherwise, we're avoiding all things nutty!!

pom pom

Lucas's sweet Aunt Pom Pom came to visit!!

Let me tell you a little about Pom. She is my sister.  Don't we look alike?

My mom was kind enough to send me some pictures of me and Pom from back in the day to give you a better glimpse into our friendship.  But I must say a disclaimer:  most of these pictures were from 2001 and 2002, and some of my wardrobe choices were nothing short of questionable.  Acid washed jeans?  Ok!  Big belts?  You bet.  Anyway, I digress. 

Pom and I met in the fall of 2001...  she was the quiet foreign exchange student from Thailand that was going to be living with our neighbors and starting at my high school.  Mom and I walked up the street to meet her, and when we did, we were met with this little pint sized 5-foot nothing girl who barely uttered a peep to us fast talking loud mouthed southerners.  But over a short period of time, Pom and I quickly became good friends, and soon referred to each other as sisters.  Kindred spirits.  Soul sisters.

Pom's birthday is 2 days after mine.  On my 16th birthday (to throw her off), we took her iceskating and then pulled off the best surprise birthday party for her in the entire world with a cake that said 'happy birthday' in Thai and everything and a giant sign made out of a bed sheet that said 'happy birthday pom!' (in English).

Pom was the first brave person to ride solo with me once I got my driver's license.  We thought we were hot stuff riding around Asheville and eating dinner out like grown ups and going to music stores.  We played in the snow together, talked about boys together, went to the lake together, went to prom together, laughed together, cried together.  Her friends from the exchange program became my friends, and my friends became her friends.  We were sisters. 

Prom 2002- this picture is in my scrap book

When it came time for her to leave after that year, it was hard.  It was really hard.  We were 16 and 17 years old, and what did that look like?  Living on opposite sides of the world?  She was moving back to a place that she felt she didn't belong to anymore.  But we made it work.  She came back for an internship in Pennsylvania after that, then once when her mom (her host mom) was fighting cancer. In the meantime, she finished college in Thailand and worked in the film industry. Then she came back for my wedding, because I couldn't imagine marrying Brandon without her by my side. We sent her bridesmaid dress to her in Thailand and she had to have it completely taken apart and put back together because she's so stinking tiny.

She went back to Thailand after the wedding and then came back to the states a few years later to live the Hollywood lifestyle in Los Angeles.  She did a graduate program in film at UCLA and worked for cool places like Focus Features.  Brandon and I went out west to visit her and she was the most fantastic tour guide!  She and Brandon were in heaven in the land of the LA Lakers.  They share a love for that team that to this day I still don't understand.

When Brandon and I found out we were pregnant with our little guy, Pom soon became Aunt Pom (or Auntie Pom Pom as we call her) and she was so so excited! She came to see Lucas back in August and then again this week because she is moving back to Thailand (not by choice, thank you US government).

We had such a fun visit.  We did a whole lot of nothing, talked and talked, and took Lucas to the park.  Per usual, Pom took like 8 million pictures of Lucas while she was here, so I can't wait to get my hands on those.  I will be sharing them once I get the file!

We were so sad to see her go.  Even Lucas tried to get her to stay.  He was thinking, 'maybe if I hold on to her bag, she won't go!'  I know little buddy, we don't want her to leave either.  But it's not goodbye, it's just "see you later."

Pom is one of those once-in-a-lifetime friends.  11 years ago we spent nights crying together about boys and drama, now we cry together about losing loved ones and the fact that growing up sometimes is just plain hard.  11 years ago we laughed a lot.  You should hear us now...we still laugh a lot! 11 years ago we were able to not say a word and yet speak a thousand words at the same time.  Today, we do the same.  Sometimes we go years without seeing each other and make do with emails and Skype dates, but we always pick up right where we left off.  That's what sisters do, right?

be mine, valentine

Will you be my Valentine?

Lucas is using this new trick to impress the ladies.  And apparently it works.  That kid makes the weirdest faces and is still SO.INCREDIBLY.CUTE!

11 months

Big boy...almost a year!  How is it time for this monthly update already?  You are becoming more of a little boy and less of a baby every day.  It's a little scary, but it's fun to see you grow.

A few things about you...you're somewhere around 22 pounds according to our little bathroom scale.  You seem to be growing in length like a weed, quickly outgrowing your zip up pajamas. And sweet boy, you are wild.  Sometimes you resemble a tornado, flying through the house and tearing through a basket of toys in a heartbeat.  You sure do know how to make a mess, but it's okay.  It's a good thing you're cute.

You are mischievous. I'm still trying to figure out how you learned that. Like in this picture:

In the few seconds I had my eyes off of you while I was in the shower, you managed to shimmy your way over to the toilet paper in your doorway jumper.  You pulled the entire roll of toilet paper off...the entire roll.  And I couldn't even be mad at you because it was so so funny.

Your daddy sent me this picture at work, taken while he was in the shower:

 He said you started leaning, and leaning, and walked your little fit up the door frame until you were upside down.  And you just stayed there, smiling behind your pacifier until he could jump out of the shower, take a picture, then rescue you.  Was that fun?  Maybe the moral of the story is that we need a new way to entertain you while we're in the shower.

You are a FLIRT. In the grocery store, you stop people in their tracks with your smile.  You think it's necessary to wave to everyone.  And if they look at you and don't wave back, you keep waving and smiling.  And then they have no choice, because they are captivated by the cuteness and are completely under your spell, just like we are.  It makes grocery shopping fun, but more often than not, I forget to buy things that I went there for in the first place because you're so distractingly cute.

You had your first kiss this month.  Miss Tenley Mae Martin was the lucky recipient.  She's an older woman, too.

Why is it when daddy and I try to kiss you, you stiff arm us and turn away?  I understand Tenley is pretty and all, but we're your parents!  And you are so kissable.  

You are 100% boy.  Trucks, tractors, anything big and loud, you love it all.  You thought you were hot stuff on the gator at daddy's workshop.

You love to crawl in, over, and under things.  Including cabinets...

And tunnels...

 

And one of your favorite things to do is watch out the front door, waiting for dad to get home from work.   You and Lexi look out the door together, and for a brief moment in time you're both calm and still.  When you see your daddy, you yell (and I mean yell) DA DA DA DA! And do a little happy dance.  It melts my heart.

We bought you your first baseball hat.  And you don't mind wearing it!  I love it.  It reminds me of your Uncle J when he was a little boy.  Always wearing a hat.  It makes you look like such a little boy, with no hints of a baby left.  You wore it to the park a few days ago and kept it on the whole time, swinging and playing and riding in the stroller.

Then you wore it to dinner, but we took it off after we got to the table because that's the polite thing to do.

You want to walk.  Oh you want to walk so badly.  This is your new trick:

 

 Pushing the kitchen chairs around, from the table to the stove and back...twice.  You think you're hot stuff, walking around like that.  For some reason, you'd much rather push the chair than walk in your walker.

You have your front teeth coming in!  It's made sleeping and eating rough, but the snaggletooth will soon be no more!  You won't let me get a picture, but trust me...they are poked through your gums!

This morning you woke up at 6:30.  It hurt. You normally sleep until 8:00.  This collage of pictures was from this morning...Hence the coffee.

We love you more than words can say.  You are wild and crazy and sweet and lovable.  Keep being you. 

love,

mom and dad.