Lucas the Traveller

This past weekend, we drove to Austin, TX for Ben's friend's wedding. He went to the Academy with Ben and is a great guy. Ben was a groomsman, so we got to be part of the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It was a beautiful wedding of two awesome people who are just perfect together. I'm so glad I got to go be part of it.

That being said, travelling with a one year old, to a formal event, is not the most relaxing thing. The drive was 7.5 hours each way. Luckily, we could drive in one car, unlike our drive to and from San Antonio. Lucas handled the drive down to Austin so well. He never melted down, and only slept about an hour that whole day. He just wasn't interested in napping that afternoon, even though we were in the car. We got to Austin around 5 pm, checked into the hotel, went swimming in the indoor pool, ordered Carabba's to go, and ate in our room. The hotel room was really nice, but it was just a room, not a suite. So we had to sleep in the same room as Lucas. We put his pack and play in the corner and draped the extra duvet and comforter around the sides so he couldn't see out unless he stood up. He slept great! Only woke up once, just like normal.

The next day was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. We went shopping at Target in the morning (yay!) and then went back to the room for Lucas's nap. He slept in the room while Ben and I ate lunch in the hallway. It was a little funny sitting in the hallway, watching a movie on an iPad. The maids probably thought we were crazy. He only slept about 1.5 hours and that was his only nap for the day. Yikes! But we went to the rehearsal, about a 20 minute drive from the hotel. Lucas ran around and explored the courtyard and porch of the historic mansion while Ben was rehearsing. Then, we drove about 45 minutes to the restaurant that the rehearsal dinner was going to be held. It was casual and on a lake, so beautiful views. Lucas had fun playing in the gravel for about an hour. The food wasn't served until around 7, which is a lot later than Little Man is used to eating. But he wasn't too upset by this, and ate some fajitas and enchiladas. We ended up leaving around 8:15, driving 30 minutes back to the hotel, and putting Lucas in the bath and bed. The funniest part of the day was when Ben took Lucas's diaper off for the bath. It was FULL of gravel! It had to have been uncomfortable sitting in his carseat! But he never complained.

Lucas slept great again and the next day was the wedding. Ben got picked up by another groomsman so I could try to get Lucas to take a second nap before going to the wedding, which started at 5:30. He did sleep about 45 minutes, and I was happy with any extra sleep since I knew we would be out much later than normal. The wedding was gorgeous, with so many little details that the bride and groom did themselves. Lucas was great, easily distracted by the snacks I brought, until he saw Daddy up front. Then he wanted to go up there with Daddy. I had to take him to the back because I didn't want him to scream during the vows. But he didn't fuss too much, and was not a distraction during the short ceremony.

The reception immediately followed, and was in a ballroom overlooking the courtyard where the ceremony had taken place. It was pretty hot, even though it was evening at this point, so I let Lucas walk around barefoot. He had a blast wandering around, "talking" to pretty much everyone who saw him. He was definitely a hit, in his little vest and pants outfit, barefoot, and his normal adorable self. Its funny how many people are so open and friendly to my little man. I love that he has this effect on people. We ate a delicious dinner of barbeque, but served beautifully in a buffet, and got to know the other people at our table. They were all Academy guys and their wives. After dinner, the music came on and we danced with the bride and groom. Lucas was, again, a hit. Ben had him on his shoulders at one point, in the middle of everyone dancing. It was so cute, I hope the photographers took a picture.

We partied until 9:15 and I just had to take Lucas home. His normal bedtime is 8:00, and I didn't want the great day to end in a meltdown, when he had been perfect so far. We headed back to the hotel, and went to bed. He never even cried.

The next day we drove home. Lucas was pretty much over the car by about 4 hours into the drive. We stopped at Target in OKC (I'm sensing a trend...) and let him wander around. The last hour and a half in the car wasn't fun, but we made it home.

***End of long story, moral of the story below***

 

Wow, this is a long post, sorry if you are completely bored by now! Anyways, the point I wanted to make was that this weekend was a complete change from our normal schedule. Lucas was pretty whiney a few times, but overall he was great. He really rolled with the punches, and I think he even enjoyed most of it. I need to look back at this in the future when I am thinking about doing something that will probably be stressful and hard, but will also be fun and something I will remember. I want to be the kind of mom, and family, that is able to adapt and do whatever I want to do. I don't want Lucas to be the reason I don't do things I want to do, I want him to be part of things. I want him to look back at pictures and see how much fun we have always had with him. He makes everything that much better, and I want to experience all kinds of things with him.

One Year

Well, it has happened. My baby turned one. We had a really nice party this Saturday and celebrated with our friends here in Enid. I made way too much food, Lucas had fun being a cowboy, and my friend, Lindsey, took some awesome pictures.

Looking back on this year, it is amazing how much has changed. I have become so much more confidant in my abilities as a mom. I know that I can handle whatever is thrown at me. I know that Lucas is happy and healthy, and that I will make the best decisions that I can for him. I am so much more relaxed now about big things and little things. Obviously there are some things that I still worry about, but overall I just feel like I have grown so much as a parent and as a person.

Lucas has grown up before our eyes. It is crazy looking at the pictures from month to month, seeing the changes that happened so quickly. One day he was a squishy baby, the next a wriggling infant, and then all of the sudden he was crawling and walking around. I have loved watching him learn and discover new things. He is constantly surprising us and I just can't wait to see what he does next.

So Happy First Birthday to my baby. It has been the best year of my life, not to mention the craziest, most sleepless, most emotional year. I can't imagine my life without my precious little man.

Almost One. (WHAT?!)

How is it possible that almost one year has gone by since we met our perfect little baby? It seems like I was just pregnant and waiting expectantly for labor to start. And now we have this funny, genius, beautiful almost TODDLER. I don't believe it, even though I've been with him every day of the past year. So again, I realize how quickly this is all going by and how much I want to remember the little details. Here are a few "snapshots" of Lucas right now.

Silly Boy-
Lucas is so silly sometimes. He cracks me up every day. He will make the cutest faces, or sing to himself in his carseat. He immitates our voices, the tone and the expression. I will play a game with him where I hide from him and say "Where's Mommy?" in a sing-song voice. He immitates it and then cracks up when I pop out. This can last for 5 minutes or more. He is always smiling, and when he smiles at me, I have to grin back. That is how precious his little face is. He looks for me whenever he is off playing by himself, checking in with me to make sure he's ok. I smile at him and he always gets a huge smile on his face. I realized yesterday that my cheeks hurt in the evening because I had been smiling so much :)

CRAZY Smart. -
I know, I know, everyone says their baby is a genius. But he is! Lucas waves, blows kisses, gives kisses, high fives, and shakes his head no no. Whenever we tell him "no no" he looks at us and shakes his head. He is starting to really listen sometimes. Sometimes being the key word, but hey, a few months ago he wouldn't listen at all. He's only 11 months. He knows what he is not supposed to do, too. He will think about doing something he knows he shouldn't, and he will shake his head. He gives himself away! Then, he sometimes goes ahead and does it anyways, but still!

Lucas knows certain words and will listen when we tell him to do things. We will say "Where is your _______?" And he will go and find things. He knows ball, cookie monster, Einstein (His stuffed puppy), and truck. He knows Momma and Daddy, and says them. He knows MeMe (my mom) and Poppy. I will tell him that we are going to talk to MeMe and he looks for the iPad. (We facetime her.) He is always doing things that show how much he understands and is absorbing and learning. He is such a little sponge!

Well, I could just talk about Lucas forever, but I'm going to stop for now. He is asleep, and Ben is at a solo party, so Mommy gets to relax a bit. Til next time!

A Few of Lucas's Favorite Things

There are a few things that little man finds hysterical or just really likes right now. I thought I would write them down so I dont forget down the road.

1. When you drop something. He finds this so funny. Jenn was out here a few weeks ago and she dropped his nook. She tried to catch it a couple times as it was falling. Well, Lucas thought this was the funniest thing ever. He cracked up. And now, whenever we pretend to drop something and try to catch it, he still cracks up.

2. The pool. Loves it. He gets excited if we even walk down to get the mail because we have to walk by the pool. He especially loves the waterfall in the pool. He will kick himself in his little floaty to try to get to the waterfall.

3. Stinky feet! We smell his feet and say PU stinky feet!! He cracks up.

4. When mom or dad crawls around on the floor with him. He thinks it is great when we get down on the floor and crawl around. He will follow us or we will try to get him. He will go from his room all the way out to the living room or kitchen.

5. Ben's patches on his flight suit. Lucas has recently figured out how to rip them off. They are Velcroed on, so they make a satisfying noise. And then he has the patch. You can't get much better than that.

6. Real food. He wants whatever we are having. We will try to give him little pieces of things like bread, soft pretzels, rice, rice crispies, pears, etc. He would much rather have what the grown ups are eating than his baby food.

Lots of other things make him happy and he comes up with new things all the time. But right now, these are a few of his favorite things. :)

Reasons I'm Excited to Go Home

Well, our time here in San Antonio is coming to a close. Ben will probably be finishing up his training in 2 or 3 weeks. My mom is going to fly out here to drive back with me and lucas to Oklahoma. (thank goodness!!) I will miss the many restaurants, stores, and things to do here in San Antonio, but here are the reasons I am soo excited to go back to enid:

Not an apartment-- Our house in Oklahoma is a HOUSE! I do not understand how people with kids live in apartments. The apartment we have in Texas has nice amenities, but there are so many things I cannot stand. I hate being able to hear the people that live below us talking, what they are watcng on tv, and their dog barking constantly. I thought this was annoying, until the people moved in above us! They have a toddler and a huge dog. We can now hear them walking around, and whenever the dog jumps down off furniture or maybe just runs fast? we h a huge crash. It sounds like someone is banging on our ceiling. Normally this happens right when Lucas goes down for a nap, or when he goes to sleep for the night. Fun times. I cannot wait to have our own, quiet house back!

Decorating-- We moved into our new house on base in January. We will be living there for around 3 years. I feel like we can really make this house into our home now. We can paint, baby proof!, decorate, and relax in this house without having to worry that we will have to take it all down in a few months. I'm excited to make this house our own, starting with adding to the patio when we get back!!

Our stuff-- I want to have our things back. We had to leave almost all our things in Oklahoma when we came here because we could only bring what fit in our cars. It will be nice to have our things back again.

Friends-- I was very lucky that one of my friends from enid moved down here when we did, so at least I had one person to hang out with. But I am very much looking forward to catching up with old friends in Enid, as well as making new friends with the other IP's wives. Lucas loves seeing people and enjoys going out and doing things. I want him to be used to playing with other kids and interacting with other adults. Being back in Enid, I will be taking him to play group once a week, story time, and play dates.

All in all, I am definitely glad we had the opportunity to come to San antonio. I would not have wanted to be away from Ben for months if it wasnt necessary. And we got to do things like see the Alamo, go to sea world, eat out at lots of places, and go to the zoo. But I am happy to go back to our home in Oklahoma.

Going Jack Jack

While we were home for Christmas, my mom coined the phrase "going Jack Jack" in regard to Lucas. When he would get really upset, he would cry until he turned red. If he didn't turn red, he wasn't really that upset. If he did, he was going Jack Jack. If you haven't seen the movie The Incredibles, it comes from there. At the end of the movie, the baby, Jack Jack, goes ballistic, and shows his super powers. One of them is bursting into flames and then turning into a red demon baby.
Here is a clip of part of it
http://kled-animations.blogspot.com/2010/10/pixar-short-jack-jack-attack.html

Anyways, Lucas does not go Jack Jack very often, in fact he hasn't done it in a long time. The time that my mom refers to as the worst Jack Jack was when we were down in Florida in February. I got a stomach ache and my mom and aunt Donna took Lucas with them to pick Jenn up from the airport. He was fine for awhile but then he had a huge meltdown in the car. They said he cried for about 40 minutes before he finally fell asleep. He has never cried that long in his life, mainly because he calms down when I am with him. So this was his classic Jack Jack attack that my mom and aunt refer to.

I still think it is a funny reference for anyone with a baby who has a melt down every once in a while. Just wanted to make sure I remember this so I can tease the little man about it when he is a big boy!

10 for April

Since it's the beginning of a new month, I decided to write do a post idea I got from a friend's blog. It will be ten things about this past month!
1. Lucas's first Easter was this month! The Easter bunny found him in San Antonio :) He will probably be more excited about it next year, but it was still a lot of fun this year.

2. My parents came out for Easter, which made it even better. They got to spend time with their favorite grandson, I got to relax a little! And Lucas was happy to see MiMi and Poppy. He definitely recognized my mom, whom he saw in late February, but was a little unsure about my dad at first. That lasted about the first hour, and then he decided that poppy must be ok if we were all happy to have him here. I can't wait to see them again!

3. Lucas is on the move! He started crawling. First, it was army crawling all over the place. As in, from his room to the kitchen. He just started crawling on his hands and knees in the past few days. For now he is only doing that for a few feet, then reverting to army crawling. He is faster at army crawling now, but I'm sure it won't be long til he is crawling around on all fours. It is scary having him so mobile, but also a relief. He would get so frustrated before he could move himself around. He would want something he couldn't reach and do his skydiving arch and scream. So now he just goes and gets what he wants. But I definitely have to watch him constantly! He is a little stinker and is so curious about everything that he will find trouble anywhere!

4. Our friends from Enid moved down to San antonio! One of my good fiends from Vance came down in the middle of April with her son Tanner. Her husband is in the same training as Ben, so they are only here for a few months like we are. They are living in the same apartment complex as us! So we get to hang out with them a lot. It is so nice having someone I know down here now! Plus, lucas has a buddy too! Tanner is exactly 3 months younger than Lucas. They will be together back at Vance until they are almost 4 years old! Crazy. I'm very happy to have them with us now and for the next few years :)

5. Our favorite tv show is The Big Bang Theory. Favorite quote from this month "Howard, that's the nicest thing I've ever heard anyone say. And it came out of you!" -Penny

6. I realized this month that one year ago, I was struggling to finish my graduate year at WVU. It was a crazy time for me, and I cannot believe it has only been one year. It seems like a lifetime ago. I'm happy to be where I am now, instead of where I was then. Although I miss my friends in west virginia like crazy!!

7. I tried a new recipe from a book Aunt Donne gave me for Chocolate Lovers Cake. It was amazing. Let me know if you want to try it out.

8. Lucas is now taking all of his naps in his crib! This is extremely different to what he was doing a month ago. Up u til recently, he would take most of his naps while being held, in the car seat, or taking a nap with mommy. I was alright with this because I am a stay at home mom and love holding him :) So I didn't work too hard to change the situation. But I decided that he was getting Older, and I also think his falling asleep and staying asleep for naps helps him sleep at night. We gradually started shifting nap time to the pack and play, first one nap a day, then two, now all of them. I miss snuggling with him sometimes, but I can always nap with him one day if I really want to. This new arrangement gives me more free time than I have had in months! It is so nice to be able to get a few things done or just relax a little. I'm happy I had my time to snuggle with him but also happy to have time to myself now.

9. While my mom and dad were here, we went to the Alamo again. It is a neat place to go, since I have read about it and heard about it in history forever. However, Ben is unconvinced that it is something to celebrate. He doesn't understand why we are celebrating the taking of land from other people. Which is a valid question. But probably not something to ask while surrounded by very proud Texans. Haha. We had fun though, and it is a beautiful, historic place to see in San Antonio.

10. This is the longest post I've done do far! I decided that as an incentive to myself to keep posting, I am going to get a nice cover that has a keyboard in it for my iPad once I do 10 posts. It is a little hard typing on my iPad, NAND I don't have a computer down here. So it will be nice to have a normal keyboard! Hopefully that happens soon, so I better get to work posting :)