Little Eden post #1...

A week ago last Saturday, Mom, Dad, Sophie, Lucas, and I ventured north to Little Eden... our family's favorite summer vacation spot (Okay, sorry, Dad- Montana ranks right there, too!). If you didn't know, we've gone to LE ever since Zach and I were wee tykes. The past several years it's been hard to make it up there because of school conflicts, but since I'm on maternity leave now I was able to go. Unfortunately, school and football both started for Eric so he couldn't go at all. :(

I wasn't sure how to organize these posts... so this one will be pix of our swimming/beach adventures. We had two swimming spots- the Portage Lake beach ("little beach" as Lucas referred to) and Lake Michigan beach ("big beach"). These 1st 2 pics are at Lake Michigan. Of course Lucas was fascinated with all the sand...and water. He didn't hesitate for a second when we arrived...he ran right in and got all wet- head to toe!

Here are pics from the small beach... the first is a pic of Lucas' 2nd cousins running wild around the beach. Funny story--there was also a group of kids that he didn't even know on the beach (mostly older) and Lucas just ventured right up to them several times and asked, "What are you doing, guys??" He joined right in as they built their sand castle. I thought that was pretty cute.

Katherine, holding Sophie for the 1st time...

1st beach experience... (no worries..she was hidden under the umbrella the entire time)

Yes, in this last pic it wasn't too warm out. Didn't stop Lucas one bit though...

2 week appointment

On Monday I took Sophie in for her 2-week check up with the Pediatrician. She's doing great and believe it or not...has gained almost TWO POUNDS!!! She weighs 8 lbs 6 oz. already-- I almost fell over when the nurse told me that. She's actually getting too big for the little Swaddler newborn diapers already!!! Crazy girl! :)

Stay Tuned...

So we've been on vacation the past week- hence the long lull in posts... I'll update you soon with pix and stories from the past week at Little Eden. Until then- check out this pic. Eric is a master- packer. There was just enough spare room for the 2 kids. :)

Happy "Birth" day...

At the hospital they always provide you with a small birthday cake when you deliver your baby. Well, things were busy and we never got around to celebrating at the hospital so we brought it home and enjoyed it last night. As you can see, Sophie wasn't too into it... but Lucas and I LOVED it!! :)

Settling in...

I'm not sure why I'm stumped as to what to say on this post...basically I was just looking for an excuse to post some new pics from today and yesterday. Oh here's something- we went to the doctor for a quick check-up and weigh-in. She's already up to 7 lbs. 1 oz. which is amazing since they don't expect them to be back to their original weight for 2 weeks! Hooray for Sophie being a GREAT eater... and hooray for a good report from the nurse. Now the pictures... :)

LOVE this smile...

It's been just plain WONDERFUL having my mom here to help out these past few days...and to watch Lucas while we were at the hospital. She'll be headed home tomorrow which we're all very sad about. Sniff...sniff... But not to worry... we're not being completely abandoned quite yet... haha. Eric's mom is coming in to town tomorrow afternoon/evening so we're super excited about that!! Yeah for mom's/grandma's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bonding with my Lil' Sis...

Lucas seems to be getting more used to the idea of having Miss Sophie around. For the most part, he doesn't pay much attention to her, which isn't too surprising since he's always going going going. :) Here are a few pics from the past 2 days of them together, though. When asked to hold Sophie he didn't hesitate one bit. In fact without asking, he put both hands out like he was about to catch a football... and he was very gentle with her. Enjoy...

Home Sweet Home...

We're home and busy adjusting back to our new normal life... Sophie was awake all but 5 minutes today it seemed so she hasn't experienced home quite yet. Lucas did his best to wake her up all throughout the afternoon/evening. He's sung many songs to her and even shared his famous "Lucas squeal" with her. Many of you know that it's quite ear piercing, yet, Sophie slept on. :)

I'm going to leave you with that and give you more details later but right now I'm tired and ready for bed. Enjoy the pictures- they're especially for our family and friends who haven't seen sweet Sophie in person yet. She's the snuggliest, sweetest, most precious little girl... can't wait for you all to meet her.

Baby sister...

Well, Lucas gets to meet his new baby sister soon after he wakes up from his nap.

Sophie Nicole arrived right on time, high noon on July 31, her due date.

Weighing in at 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 1/4 inches long. Everything went smoothly and my girls are doing great. We are currently hanging out in our room, waiting for Mindy's mom and Lucas to show up.

Sophie has a nice head of dark hair, we think very similar to Lucas at birth, except girl. Here are some pics to tide you over.

I guess we'll change blogs soon. Watch for the updates.

fyi, we are in the same room we had for Lucas. Rm 355 at Carmel St. Vincent

we have cell phones charged, so go ahead and call or text.

No baby yet...

Nope. Little Miss B has chosen not to make her appearance yet. How am I feeling?? Actually pretty good, physically. Every other part of me is more than ready for this baby to arrive. The waiting game has been very hard recently. My to-do list has been long done and I'm actually starting to re-do my to-do list. AGH. The boys have been great- Lucas is my source of motivation right now... we've been doing all sorts of activities together lately... And Eric's been extremely helpful-- around the house...and just supporting my "baking addiction" and constant need to be DOING SOMETHING. Haha. What would I do without my boys.


Anyway, I'll leave you with a few pictures. Like I've said, we've been keeping ourselves busy. This past weekend we went to the Westfield AND Noblesville Farmer's Markets, played at several parks, did some school shopping, and went to the Noblesville Street Dance where Lucas got to sit on some tractors and old fire engines (see below). Today we went swimming, played at his buddy Augie's house, walked around the outdoor shopping mall, and ate some YUMMY Wisconsin-style Mac and Cheese at a great restaurant called The Noodle Company.


Hopefully soon we'll bring you the exciting news about the baby. In the meantime, please pray for patience... :)

Odds and Ends to catch you up....

My great friend Amanda came over to entertain Lucas earlier this week so I could get some work done. They had a blast together playing ball outside, painting t-shirts, running circles around the house, taking walks, and I think Lucas' favorite-- eating freshly baked smores. (See below!!)
Lucas' new room is decorated, cleaned, re-organized, and ready to go. We're giving him the option of when he wants to sleep in it since his toddler bed is still in the nursery. While he usually prefers to just stay in his old room, Eric did convince him to take a nap in his new room the other day. Here's the proof. Is it just me or does he look SO LITTLE in that big twin bed??

It's now okay to have the baby. :) Our double stroller was shipped this week and it's all set to go.

Lucas has absolutely no clothes on in this picture below. Lucas loves it that way... such a crazy kid.

Blog-worthy??? I think so.

Eric claims this video isn't "blog-worthy". I think he's just embarassed and doesn't want me to post it. Ha ha haaaaa. Check out my 2 favorite boys, in action. This just happened 5 minutes ago and I couldn't wait to share it with you all.

Baby Update...

Well, the baby update is...there is no baby yet! With less than 2 weeks until the official due date I'm feeling pretty good. Sleeping at night has been the biggest challenge, but I can handle it. My doctor feels Little Miss B could make her appearance at any time so I think we're to the point where we're all ready. Here's a few things we've done lately--

- Lucas' new room is redecorated and ready for him but when we gave him the option of where to sleep he has chosen to stay in his old room. For now, that's fine with us.

- Bags are packed.

-Pack-n-play is set up in our room.

-Eric finished up football camp this past week and will be "just" busy this week doing odds and ends around the house and working on his master's class- so we're VERY thankful he'll be around.

-house is in tip-top shape (clean as a whistle!!)

-several back-up plans are set and in place for where to take Lucas depending on when we head to the hospital. Thanks to all of our family/friends who are willing to be here in a moment's notice to help out!!

And on a totally unrelated note... I'll leave you with these pictures. We're starting to enjoy the fruits of our labor from the garden. Lucas LOVES picking the peas and red (and green!) tomatoes from the garden and devouring them on the spot. Eric is busy cutting up a kohlrabi. YUMMMM!

For your listening pleasure...

Lucas' current FAVORITE book is called Freight Train by Donald Crews. We've read it so many times he's got it memorized (there isn't a whole lot of text)... so I decided to videotape him reading it. It took 3, 1-minute clips. Here goes.

Fun with Daddy

The other day I had a few errands to run uptown and Lucas and Daddy hung out for awhile. When I got home, they were playing this in the driveway (see video). I thought it was so cute and quite creative!!!

P.S. Can I just say I have the best husband. Here's one of many reasons... this week he has football camp all day, every day... and get this. He's wearing the same shorts EVERY DAY because they're the only ones with a pocket to hold his cell phone, in case I need him (ya know... since the baby may make her appearance... anytime). Talk about sacrifice. :) No, I have no idea if they're getting washed after each day. I don't even care.

Me and my buddies...together at last!

Yesterday Lucas and I hosted a playdate with his buddies from TOTS. During the school year he gets to hang out with them daily, but the summer tends to be a bit lonely without his best buds. We moms decided it'd be a good idea to meet once a week at rotating houses so the kids can get together and play. We had a blast yesterday with all the kiddos around. The crazy thing is, our group is getting bigger and bigger... lots of his friends have new little brothers and sisters, too. We had 10 kiddos and 6 mommies in all...and boy, was it FUN!!!!

The sprinkles and cool weather didn't stop them, either. Here's just a few pix I took.

4th of July Festivities

Eric and I had the great privilege of hosting our good friends, Trent and Sarah Miller, for 5 days over the 4th of July. We got to meet their daughter, Miss Zoe, who is 6 months old...and the SWEETEST little thing ever. (I can say that because we haven't met Little Miss Bland yet. :))

We were able to have lots of hangout time and good food with them along with many of Eric's TU friends who were also visiting. My favorite was getting the kids all together and seeing them interact. Lucas loved it and still talks about Zoe and Corbin (not to mention Trent and "Gaimes" too).

Here are some great pictures we caught from the fun we had.

Here's Corbin and Lucas "serenading" us on the piano... and what beautiful music it was.
Lucas was great with Zoe...most of the time. He didn't appreciate when she so innocently tried pulling his hair. He enjoyed reading to her and singing her "Jesus Loves Me", and even sharing his toys.

This is my absolute favorite picture. I can't get enough of those cute faces!!

Oh yeah, and if you're wondering where are the pictures of the Mommies and Daddies and fireworks??? We didn't take any.

Lucas...

So I have been thinking a lot lately about how much life around here will change soon... of course, in many good ways. I've spent a lot of time just reflecting on Lucas and how much joy he's brought to us (and our family and friends). This morning he came in our room around 6:30 all smiles. He crawled into bed by me and actually fell asleep until a little after 8:00. I was able to just lay there and stare at him... and I decided I need to document more about him on the blog. More for me to have...in 5, 10, 50 years... silly stuff, and just what kind of kid he is. So here are just a few things I thought were important to record:
Lucas is 2 years and almost 9 months old.

Favorite things to do: Playing with his barn, tractor, and animals; read books to himself and be read to, all kinds of sports (particularly basketball, golf, football, and baseball), stealing people's chairs and waiting for you to come and sit on him, playing in the sink with lots of water and non-breakable dishes, bubbles, DANCING!, digging for worms in the garden, the "silo" park near Mommy's school, Toddler swim at Forest Park, dressing himself, bathtime, big machines (he can point out excavators, bull dozers, cranes, concrete mixers, big rigs, and back hoes a mile away), swinging, playing with his TOTS buddies, being tickled, Bible songs/Wee Sing songs, singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" and "Old McDonald", playing Hide and Seek (but he always yells out where he is), playing with vacuum cleaners/mops/brooms, grocery shopping (he calls it going to the "shopping store"), Thomas the Train, and looking at photographs on the fridge (and telling us who everyone is).

Things he does NOT like to do: Going potty in his potty chair (He claims that it's only for Mommies and Daddies), getting out of the bathtub, getting rocks or dirt in his shoes, loud noises (firecrackers), having to get out of Grandpa's tractor,

Favorite sayings: "Look what I found!!" "Lucas' music please!" (in the car), when asked what he wants for breakfast almost every time he'll say, "toast, Cheerios, and yogurt, please", when measuring things with his measuring tape or weighing himself on the scale he always says, "8.99!" (no idea why!), "What's that called?", "What's that girl's/boy's name?", "Pot Roast Attack!" (you'll have to ask Eric about that one...it's a father/son thing)

Favorite foods: hot dogs, ketchup, any fruit (especially raisins and apples), Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, pasta salad, any cheese, toast, chocolate milkshakes, Daddy's homemade burgers, broccoli (yes!), peas, EL Fudge cookies

**While these are all his faves, he goes through spurts where he eats some things and then needs a break from them for awhile. Sounds a bit like his Momma!

Favorite books: This list could go on and on and on, so I'll just pick his absolute favorites: Freight Train (memorized), his little kid Bible (Jonah is his favorite), Mr. Funny, Cuddle, Curious George Goes to the Zoo, The Fire Engine Book, Matt, Wocket in my Pocket, My Big Truck Book, My First Words Book (Richard Scarry), The Tractor Book

Routines: (Summer schedule) Lucas wakes up anywhere from 6:30-7:30ish and just comes into our room and climbs in bed. Sometimes we get lucky and he falls asleep and we get some extra Zzz's. Call us crazy but I don't care- we do still give him soy formula once a day (as suggested by Dr. H) so he gets a little extra nourishment since he's a little guy. He gets to watch Curious George at 8:00 while enjoying his breakfast hors d'eurve (the formula). After breakfast is playtime- sometimes we head to the pool for Toddler Swim or swim in the plastic pool outside. After lunch is always naptime and he typically naps from about 1-4ish. Dinner is around 6 or 7. He plays outside (often basketball or in the garden) a lot. Bedtime is aimed at 8:45-9:00 but it's more likely that we finally put him to sleep closer to 10. Hey! The days are long and the weather is great-- why not! :) Naps/bedtime routine consists of reading 2-3 books of his choice, singing a few songs, and tucking him in "Snug as a bug in a rug!"

Lucas' Personality: Lucas keeps us laughing all day long. He's so full of energy and LOVES anything that involves playing. He's definitely all boy. Lucas doesn't ever mind getting scratched or bumped and could play with his sports equip/tractors/trains all day long. He's a great listener and repeats things that we say all the time (which can be a bit scary). Lucas loves to know ahead of time what's going on so Eric and I like to talk to him about upcoming changes/plans and he responds so well to it. It's amazing how much he understands! He likes being around people, especially his TOTS friends/family, but there are certain times he goes off on his own and plays by himself. Lately he has liked to sit on his rocking chair and read his books outloud. Lucas doesn't get upset about much of anything, but occasionally there are times he shows his frustration over things (tyipcal 2-year old things). We can usually talk him through it, though (this is getting better).

He's in size 4 diapers, 2T clothes, and size 7 shoes. Last weigh-in he was 26 lbs. but that was quite a while ago.

Question--

Does anyone know of a way for me to publish my blog into a book of some sort??? I've heard of this being done, but was curious if anyone has a website they've used or have knowledge of... any info is appreciated!! Thanks!