new adventures in mommyhood

a video of lucas watching a video about cats

2009-10-09T13:31:00.001-05:00

a video of lucas watching a video about cats, originally uploaded by alibean731.

once again let me reiterate: lucas loves cats.

my husband, who i'm very proud of.

2009-09-18T18:43:00.000-05:00

joel started a new blog last week, and it is really starting to take off!

the blog, morons with signs, is a funny look at all the protesters out there with misspelled, misinformed, and just plain funny signs. check it out, because it really is a lot of fun!

now, keep your fingers crossed that it continues to go viral!

chalk time!

2009-09-09T10:01:00.001-05:00

moving his artwork to the patio, originally uploaded by alibean731.

lucas and i made some beautiful chalk artwork this weekend. his favorite part? coloring the tree!

meowing

2009-08-24T20:57:00.001-05:00

meowing, originally uploaded by alibean731.

lucas makes a crazy noise when he meows. it's so funny!

here he is, happily playing (and also exerting his ability to say 'no').

where's lucas?

2009-08-24T20:04:00.001-05:00

where's lucas?, originally uploaded by alibean731.

lucas plays a hilarious game of hide and seek. we were cracking up!!

fun site!

2009-07-28T15:18:00.003-05:00

found this new site today, and it is a fun way to spend a couple of minutes wishing it wasn't over 100 degrees.

make a snowflake!

sprinklers!

2009-07-27T12:48:00.002-05:00

getting wet is fun!, originally uploaded by alibean731.

lucas loves the water! which is a good thing, because it is HOT this summer!

our poor dead front lawn needed some watering, and lucas loved playing in the sprinkler. he was cracking joel and i up, leaning into the water stream so it would get his face. love my silly boy!

more potty success!

2009-07-25T22:42:00.002-05:00

i swear i'm not going to post every single time lucas uses the bathroom, but i'm just so excited!

tonight he peed on the potty again, but this time he really did know he was going. in fact, he looked down and then tried to grab the stream. :) while i don't really want that to keep happening, i'm glad he knew that he was going to the bathroom.

ok, i promise no more talk of pee. for at least a while.

potty time!

2009-07-24T13:28:00.003-05:00

we bought a potty for lucas last week. while we don't expect him to magically be trained in the next month or anything, we wanted to get him used to sitting on the potty and hopefully have him figure out what it's used for.

he immediately liked sitting up there, quietly reading his book. we put him on the potty before and after naps for 5-10 minutes each time. and, what do you know, on tuesday (just 4 days after we got it) he went! i don't think he had any idea that he peed, but pee he did! i praised him a lot, and boy was he excited to get to flush the potty.

we'll keep it up, and hopefully he'll start learning how this whole "bathroom" thing works!

stay-cation: austin children's museum

2009-07-24T13:06:00.002-05:00

the last time i went to the austin children's museum, jackson was a youngster. and, my, have things changed!

the children's museum is 2 stories, with things for kids of all ages to do. there was a penned in play area with toddler sized toys, a construction area, train area, mi casa area, reading area, plus tons of stations to create all sorts of crafts. we went on a "science sunday," so there were also animals (snake, lizard, tarantulas - yuck!) and learning stations about them.

grandma joan and aunt natalie joined us there, and we all had a lot of fun. luke's favorite things were the mi casa area (where he got to play drums and pretend at a kitchen table) and a small slide which he did over and over and over. he never wanted to slide down though - he liked walking down the slide! weirdo :).

lucas got a little overwhelmed near the end, but overall he had a good time and we will definitely be going back. on sundays, it is free from 4-5. since we found out lucas can only handle about an hour anyway, that will be perfect!

stay-cation: playing with trains

2009-07-23T09:27:00.003-05:00

aunt marcy and uncle john gave lucas awesome train sets for his birthday and christmas, but we didn't get the tracks out then. we knew he would be interested in the trains and wheels, but back then he was still more interested in putting things in his mouth than in actually playing with them.

well, we decidedit was time to set up the track and lucas loved it! he can't quite doit perfectly yet, but he gets the basic idea. his favorite thing is to put the trains on the track, then take them off. over and over.

he also calls all the trains "cars," which i love because it's a word i understand!

stay-cation: fountain!

2009-07-21T08:52:00.001-05:00

getting his face wet and having a blast!, originally uploaded by alibean731.

lucas really loves the water. at the shopping center near both grandparents' houses is this fun fountain. as you can see, lucas has the best time playing in it!

he likes to dunk his head in all the fountain streams - almost like he wants to take a drink. he also just likes running around and getting splashed on the head. he was probably playing in the fountain for a good 40 minutes...yet still wasn't tired for a nap after.

stay-cation: austin zoo

2009-07-21T08:38:00.003-05:00

joel, lucas, grandma sue and i all went to the austin zoo this past wednesday. the austin zoo is pretty small, but there were some nice animals in there. however, it was HOT. i will definitely remember this for the future and never go there in the summer again.

we got to see lots of peacocks, some monkeys, lions, tigers, wolves, a bear and goats in the petting zoo. however, i think lucas's favorite animal was the cat laying in the grass. go figure.

the goats at the petting zoo cracked us up. one was standing in his food trough and didn't look like he could get out, and another was quite simply the ugliest goat i've ever seen. lucas didn't really want to pet them, but he did like looking at them and being up close. i tried to let him feed the goats their pellets, but he just tried to eat the pellets himself. ew.

stay-cation: schlitterbahn!

2009-07-15T18:16:00.002-05:00

tuesday, my mom and dad watched lucas while joel, jackson, his friend andy, and i all went to schlitterbahn! for those of you not in the know, schlitterbahn is the #1 waterpark in the country (and "the hottest coolest time in texas").

we had so much fun down there. joel and i loved the black knight and the wave pool the best. it was such a fun, relaxing day. however, by 10pm when i got home i was pooped!

stay-cation: chill sunday

2009-07-13T08:59:00.002-05:00

nihlean family band
Originally uploaded by alibean731

we had a pretty easy day at home on sunday, with lots of playing. joel and lucas started a family band, but i think lucas really just wants to be a solo artist.

stay-cation: saturday

2009-07-12T12:28:00.003-05:00

for the first full day of our stay-cation, we decided to head over to grandma sue's house for some swimming! lucas is getting more and more comfortable in the water. he doesn't mind floatingon his own, and actually tries to float on his back and get his hair wet. although, he's still not too happy about getting his face wet!

here are two videos of lucas in action: video 1, video 2

after the pool, we played in the sandbox for awhile, then went in for some snacks and rest. harry potter and the chamber of secrets was on tv...and lucas was totally amazed. he paid a lot of attention to it. i knew i was raising my boy right!

stay-cation!

2009-07-11T09:18:00.002-05:00

joel and i took this next week off, and we are super excited for a stay-cation! hopefully, it will involve lots of playing, swimming, and fun!

this morning (while it was still under 100 degrees) we went outside and played with bubbles! it was windy out, so they went all over the place. lucas liked helping dip the bubble wand, but couldn't quite figure out how to blow and make the bubbles appear. he did like chasing them.

"jackson"

2009-07-09T08:13:00.004-05:00

most of you are familiar with lucas's inability to communicate. or, i should say, his love of exploring and running and climbing, and his boredom with actually trying to speak or point or tell me much of anything. sure, he says "key-cat" all day long , and really that's about it.

so, imagine my surprise when at my mom's house yesterday he all of a sudden said "jackson." clear as day. not sure if it was a fluke or what, i had to leave to go to work. well, apparently it wasn't a fluke because he continued to yell "jackson" at my brother when he went upstairs!

sure, he can't say bye bye, but jackson he masters perfectly. go figure.

happy 4th!

2009-07-06T15:37:00.004-05:00

the fam had a great 4th of july this year. we started off the day at grandma sue's house. swimming, playing wii, delicious steaks. joel of course managed to get sunburned within 45 minutes.

then we went over to papa and grandma joan's house for dinner and sparklers. lucas was pretty wary of the sparklers, but loved eating the special dessert mom had made (from the directions from aunt cindy).

i love weekends when we get to hang out with family!

mom's birthday!

2009-07-01T09:20:00.002-05:00

mom turned 50 last month, but because of her business with school and our business with all sorts of things, we weren't able to go out until this past weekend for all the celebrations. but we had a lot of fun on saturday to celebrate mom!

we went to pf changs (and were waited on by the lovely miss corey) where we had all sorts of yummy food. then we broke out the gifts. we each got mom a type of "bag," along with some money for her to pick out a nice new bag of her own! marcy and john gave her a "going out" bag. joel, lucas and i gave her a "mommy" bag. natalie and will gave her a "beach" bag. and dad and jackson gave her a "shnacky" bag. (dad even used markers and drew her a picture!) inside that bag, there were also green and gold m&m's with a special message for mom printed on them.

with cake from the cheesecake factory, it was a really fun night! we love you mom!

,

oh goodness

2009-06-28T16:56:00.001-05:00

oh goodness
Originally uploaded by alibean731

i just love this picture!

lucas has been practicing his yells lately, so he'll just for no good reason shout at the top of his voice. usually, he's running around while this is going on.

also, look at his crazy teeth! i mean, whoah.

where's daddy?!

2009-06-26T20:57:00.001-05:00

where's daddy?!
Originally uploaded by alibean731

we spent a fantastic night playing around together. we all took turns hiding under the blanket and having lucas find us. so much laughter!!

imagination movers

2009-06-25T19:36:00.000-05:00

the imagination movers are lucas's favorite show. he loves the songs so much, and they sing at least 5 times an episode. whenever they come on, he stops everything that he is doing and watches with a big grin on his face.

this is his favorite:
imagination movers theme

lately, we spend about 20 minutes every day watching videos of their songs online. watching this show is pretty much the only times he sits still and lets you cuddle! it's the best.

clang!

2009-06-25T09:46:00.001-05:00

new member of the cymbal line
Originally uploaded by alibean731

fun weekend

2009-06-24T13:23:00.001-05:00

learning from dr. aunt marcy, originally uploaded by alibean731.

while joel and i had a great time with his shows this past weekend at emo's, lucas had fun at the grandparents. he even got to see his dr. aunt marcy!

here he is, being a little bit like his momma, playing the cymbals.

my bad

2009-06-24T13:19:00.001-05:00

as you may have noticed, i haven't posted anything since....holy crap, since january. shame on me. sorry guys.

i'll try and be better.

lucas is 1!

2009-01-03T12:45:00.004-06:00

(late in posting, but the holidays are busy!)

i cannot believe that a year has passed and lucas is 1! so much has happened this year, and it all seems to have flown by. at 1, he can walk, say 3 words (doggy, kitty and ducky), sort of feed himself, give kisses (when he wants to) -- and he just has this happy and sweet personality. my life would feel really empty without him.

for his birthday party, we had people over to our house for snacks, some playing, cake and presents. it was a really fun afternoon!

lots of presents!

aunt marcy and aunt natalie

will brought his dog champ over. he and lucas stared at each other through the glass door a lot.

it's a dino cake!

chomp! cake is good!

family photo!

new wagon and new whistle. what a great birthday!

fossil! geezer! old fart!

2009-01-03T12:03:00.004-06:00

(late in posting this, but the holidays are busy!)

my dad turned 50 on 12/13. what an old man!

we had a great birthday party for him at my parent's house. everybody gave dad $100 toward new golf clubs, but we each did it in a unique way. marcy and john made him a big 'happy gilmore' style check. jackson gave him golf clothes with "cart money" in the pockets. joel and i gave him a flower with a 'caddyshack' quote on the pot. natalie gave him an empty box (cause he'll get nothing and like it!) and mom gave him a basket of 'greens.' (which included jelly bellies, which he's obsessed with).

mom and marcy made some really awesome golf travel posters. for dinner we had a delicious italian medley of pastas, and natalie and will brought out the big guns with gelato and cake.

it was such a fun birthday party!

walking!

2008-12-08T10:24:00.001-06:00

walking!, originally uploaded by alibean731.

we've got a walker in our house!

lucas is walking more and more instead of crawling. he doesn't even seem to realize that he's doing it!

it gets steadier every day. such a big boy!

thanksgiving

2008-12-01T22:06:00.004-06:00

what a delicious holiday! the family first ate at the kothe household for a late lunch, then we were at the nihleans for dinner. this really is a great holiday for lucas, because he can fully participate! all of the food is fairly soft and mushy so he can eat everything - which he did. and food at both houses was so good!

lucas also truly enjoyed showing off his new, tentative walking ability as well as chasing after some kitties. check video here.

unfortunately, the holiday weekend did not come without some hiccups. with the new found ability to walk, there also comes some bumps in the road. or, on his head. lucas keeps knocking himself in the same spot on his forehead :(.

and this is also lucas's first time being sick. he's had a cold since friday. its mostly just a stuffy nose, but when you're 11 months old and can't blow your nose, that really sucks.

this morning he woke up pretty crabby. we were eating breakfast when all of a sudden he sneezed mid-bite. i was expecting him to be upset afterward, but he got a big grin on his face because he had sneezed out the snot that was making it hard to breathe. and, when i say sneezed it out, i mean he sneezed it ALL out:

i was laughing so hard when this happened - and lucas was happy too. all that pressure that was building up was finally alleviated! his nose is still runny, but i hope it's getting better.

first words!

2008-11-26T09:07:00.001-06:00

lucas officially can say 2 words! goggy (doggy) and key-ee (kitty)., originally uploaded by alibean731.

lucas has said his first words! we've been *pretty* sure he was saying them for awhile, but now we're positive. and the words are....

goggy and key-ee! or, for those who don't speak lucas, doggy and kitty!

in this video, you can see lucas chasing around some of the animals at grandma sue's house. aunt bethany's dog simba is there too, but he's so tiny that lucas thinks he's a kitty!

little walker

2008-11-19T19:54:00.001-06:00

while i'm not sure this counts as first steps, it sure is close!, originally uploaded by alibean731.

well, joel and i don't think this counts as walking quite yet (more like falling with style), he's very, very close!

first haircut

2008-11-17T20:30:00.001-06:00

on saturday, lucas got his first haircut! we went to a place that specializes in kids cuts, and they were awesome. the cut was less than 10 minutes, which is perfect since that's pretty much his attention span. plus, he got to sit in a fire truck - awesome!

he looks very grown up now - can you believe he's already 11 months old?!?

.....also, now he looks even more like joel. i have almost given up hope that my genes are anywhere to be found!

obamanos!

2008-11-05T08:48:00.002-06:00

for the first time since i was able to vote, my candidate of choice has made it to the white house! joel and i (lucas too) are so excited about the possibility for change that electing obama means: for our health care, taxes, job security, education system, social liberties and, most importantly, for our son's future.

when the news came in, tears swelled up and then overflowed during obama's acceptance speech. i am so excited to see this country moving in a different direction - and so excited for president barack obama.

cracker barrel!

2008-11-03T12:44:00.005-06:00

joel and i love breakfast foods. we are cereal eaters all week long, but on the weekends we like to make at least one big breakfast. breakfast tacos, scrambled eggs with veggies or even eggs florentine, we like to do breakfast right. and sometimes, we'll venture out for a delicious breakfast, which is what we did on sunday.

we made our way to the cracker barrel! oh man i love this place. all the rocking chairs out front, the kitschy crap in the "country store," the bikers and redneck families - all of that gets you in the mood before you even get to your seat!

joel ended up getting pancakes, eggs and bacon while i got eggs in a basket and hashbrown casserole. sooo yummy. but lucas might have eaten more than either of us! this was his first trip to the barrel, and he definitely enjoyed it. he ate: a thing of banana-applesauce, some cereal (as we waited for the food), a piece of toast, almost an entire pancake, an orange wedge, half of my hashbrown casserole and even a small piece of bacon! after his last bite, he leaned back in his high chair and gave us a look that said "i can't believe i ate so much - i'm full!"

as we got in the car to go home, lucas ended up taking a full-tummy nap. i think he liked cracker barrel just as much as we do.

halloween

2008-11-03T12:27:00.003-06:00

this was lucas's first halloween, and man was it fun. after joel graduated this past december, he made the comment that he really wanted to wear his graduation robes again. after all, they were $50. the easiest costume we could think of was for his to dress up as a wizard. which led to our thinking about what lucas would end up being - and genius joel thought of an owl!

i made the costume, using my very limited crafting skills. it was actually pretty easy, once i planned out the different parts of the costume and what materials i needed (and once nancy pointed out the crafting glue to me when we were shopping). i made the costume out of a onesie and felt, and it only took about 30 minutes - perfect! joel was pretty adamant that those are the last tights he'll ever wear though :).

we went to grandpa pat and grandma joan's house first, then stopped by mirella and cheryl's houses. then we went to grandma sue's house, and on over to lynne and pat's. by that point, our little owl was all tuckered out. being that cute is hard work!

super fun weekend!!

2008-10-20T20:38:00.004-05:00

what a fun weekend!

first off, on friday night one of my childhood dreams finally came true - i went to see the new kids on the block!! i cannot explain how amazing it was. marcy, natalie and 4 of my other friends all went to the concert, which featured 2 hours full of some of our favorite songs. we screamed a lot watching all the dudes sing and dance around. jordan can still hit all the high notes, and danny still looks like a monkey face.

saturday was a perfect day here in austin. the weather was sunny, slightly breezy and about 80 degrees. joel, lucas and i went down to the hike and bike trail, where we walked the trail and watched the ducks, swans and canoers. later that night, lucas got to have some "nakey-time" after his bath. he was so funny crawling around with his towel draped around him, then he finally took it off and was full-on naked. baby rumpers are super cute!

on sunday, we did some shopping (which lucas really enjoys), then we played in the front yard. and by "played," i mean lucas sat in the grass and watched cars. he had a great time, and it was a nice relaxing cap on a fun weekend. here are some pictures, but there are plenty more on my flickr page. plus, there are nkotb videos there too. :)

fun time!!!

2008-10-10T22:50:00.001-05:00

fun time!!!, originally uploaded by alibean731.

lucas loves playing on joel and i's bed. all the pillows to crawl over, sheets to hide in - it's basically a big playground.

here's some fun, with lots of giggling and moving around. also, about halfway through, you can hear a clicking noise - that's lucas grinding his 4 teeth! what a weirdsmobile!!!

pbbsssst

2008-10-07T21:57:00.001-05:00

pbbsssst, originally uploaded by alibean731.

he's all boy.

chuy's

2008-10-06T09:21:00.003-05:00

we went for a family lunch to chuy's yesterday. lucas had a blast. he enjoyed

playing hide and seek with the menus
dropping his toys, watching mom or dad pick them up, then dropping them again
flirting with the waitstaff
watching everyone around him
trying to grab everything on the table

he was also a really good eater. he ate some delicious tortillas (which he shared with mom and dad), beans, rice, cheese and even some chicken. joel and i had good food too.

plus, just out of coincidence, lucas was wearing a chuy's t-shirt that grandma sue had gotten him! you can't see it in the picture, but it says "i wanna rock n roll all night, and potty everyday." cute!

it was a really fun lunch, and i'm so glad lucas can go and do things like this now without causing any problems. yea!

poop-tastrophe!

2008-10-02T14:02:00.002-05:00

where do i even being with this one?!

i woke up around 8am today, and lucas was still asleep. so i used my alone-time to take a shower and eat breakfast. he was still asleep when i finished with that, so i just waited for him to wake up, which i expected would be any minute.

around 9:15 i decided he needed to get up, because i had things to do. i walked upstairs and about halfway up the stairs i could smell poop.

i walked into lucas's room, and he was sitting in bed, smiling at me. then a wave of poop smell hit me, and i looked at him. it was everywhere - up his back, down his legs, on his feet, hands, even his hair. plus it was all over his sheets, animals and the bars of his crib. GROSS!

i stood him up and tried to shake the bigger pieces off of him, then laid a towel out on his changing table, trying to wet wipe most of it up. then came a bath, which he hated because i scrubbed him hard - even his face (something he cannot stand at any time). i didn't even give him his bath toys - this bath was all business.

after the bath i brought him back over to the changing table and did another once over with the wipes to make sure i didn't miss anything. brought him downstairs for a bottle, then stuck him in his play chair and went back to tackle the mess with my lysol. half a roll of paper towels and a load of laundry later (not to mention some febreeze), i think we're clean upstairs again.

as for lucas, he seemed fairly unfazed by the whole ordeal. no temperature, holding his food down, still happy - so i'm not sure if he's sick or if this morning's diarrhea was just a fluke.

either way, i bet joel is very glad he wasn't at home.

sleepy boy

2008-09-29T22:31:00.001-05:00

sweet sleeper (if you listen real closely, you can hear him snoring), originally uploaded by alibean731.

it's always so endearing when i see lucas sleeping. he's so active and busy when he's awake, that it always melts me a little bit when i see him so peaceful and quiet.

this was when i went to get him up to go to grandma sue's house. i was expecting to see him awake (because i thought i had heard him moving), so it was a surprise to see him still asleep. if you listen real close, you can hear his little snores.

9 month check-up

2008-09-26T16:20:00.002-05:00

lucas and i went to the doctor today for his 9 month check-up. it all went very well, even though he did have to get a shot.

we found out that he weighs 17lbs 12 oz, which is just the 10th percentile (he's a beanpole!). he is 27 1/2 in tall, which is the 25th percentile. but his head is 47 cm around - in the 75th percentile. the doctor asked us if big heads run in the family.....

she wasn't worried about his weight or anything though because she could see just how active he is! she was impressed with his crawling and cruising, as well as his pincer grip. and everyone at the office was enchanted by his flirty faces!

we stopped by west ridge after the doctor to say hi to grandma joan and all of her friends. he was a charmer there too!

ollie the octopus!

2008-09-15T09:51:00.003-05:00

before lucas was born, joel and i were trying to figure out how to decorate the baby's room. we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl, so it couldn't be anything gender specific.

all our questions were solved once we saw ollie. a big, soft octopus chair. we designed lucas's entire room concept around him!

well, it was finally time for lucas to truly meet ollie this weekend - and they became fast friends! lucas liked playing hide and seek around ollie the best. joel or i would go behind him, then lucas would crawl around and chase us. lots of fun!!

squinty smile

2008-09-08T15:13:00.002-05:00

squinty smile, originally uploaded by alibean731.

lucas has decided that this is going to be his new smile. it cracks me up! he's all cheeks, and his eyes disappear.

i guess it's because he's just so happy. :)

zoo!

2008-09-01T07:59:00.005-05:00

this saturday we took a trip down to san antonio to visit aunt marcy and uncle john, and it was a blast!

we went to the san antonio zoo, and it is one of my favorite zoos i've ever been to. even though after about 5 minutes of being there a bird had pooped on my head.

the best things there were definitely the reptile house, the underwater hippo exhibit, the petting zoo and an escaped monkey!

the reptile house was really cool, because most of the snakes and stuff were awake and moving around. and, since they were in smaller enclosures, lucas was able to see them and really pay attention to what they were doing. the prettiest snake, and the one he liked the best, was the green mamba. there were also baby kimodo dragons who moved around a lot - here's a video!

the underwater hippo exhibit was hilarious. hippo butts are really big, and their toes are pretty gross. also - lots of poop in the water.

the petting zoo was fun, and lucas was fearless. we took him up to a goat that was resting, and he started petting it. thank goodness he wasn't trying to pull its hair like he does to grandma sue's animals! then we got some food, and he and joel fed one of them. lucas seemed pretty fascinated. here's a video.

but, the coolest thing was a monkey escape! a little baby monkey got out of the netting around his enclosure and started playing with some of the cables and stuff directly outside his enclosure. he was swinging around and sliding around stuff and it was so cute! some handlers came up, and they said he wouldn't go far because his mom was still inside. and, sure enough, he ended up going back in to be by his mommy. so cute!

we went home and lucas took a nap and the big kids played some wii. then, we had some delicious fajitas and awesome candy ice cream, and it was time to go home. a great visit, and i hope we can do it again soon! here are some pictures, but you can see more here.

busy bee

2008-08-26T18:16:00.003-05:00

did anyone else realize that it's already the end of august? how did this happen?

the nihlean household is busy, as usual.

lucas is crawling and cruising all over the place, stopping only to chew on things. he got his first black eye last week - trying to move from the fireplace to one of his other toys, he slid and knocked his brow bone right in the corner of the fireplace. joel and i of course saw it in slo-mo as it was happening, but couldn't get to him in time. it was very traumatic, for all three of us. luckily, lucas forgot he was upset about 5 minutes after it happened, and the bruise only last about 2 or 3 days. still, it's hard to get used to the fact that this will be the first of very many injuries.

we're also experimenting with new foods for lucas, and he's been pretty receptive to everything. he's had lots of different types of fruits, crackers, toast, pancakes, popsicles, macaroni and cheese, soup and even some string cheese, all successful (and messy).

joel and i have been working a bunch, and had a lot of fun on our 1 year anniversary. it was a great date night - seeing wall-e and eating out at our favorite restaurant uchi. yummm. we've also both been trying to lose a little baby weight, me on the wii fit and joel running in teh afternoons. eh - no stellar results yet, but we're trying. lots of healthy home cooking too :).

i'm looking for a new job right now. hopefully i'll find either

a. a well-paying job in my field so i can afford day care
b. a job in a school district that is less well-paying but has affordable day care

either way, joel and i are ready to get a house and we need to start saving some money. luckily, there is no super rush on the job hunt so i can really try and find something that works for me and the family. but, i so desperately want an actual kitchen table and to not share a wall with captain crazy and his karate classes that he runs out of his garage. weirdos!

i'll get better about posting more often and keeping everyone up to date on lucas's adorableness. this morning he told me "gah" which means i love you. well, to me it does.

i'm writing about once a week for the new bookpeople blog if any of you care to read. i like the first post i have up there, and it's pretty fun to do.

am i good or bad?

2008-08-18T22:51:00.001-05:00

i haven't posted in a while (i'll get to that soon, i promise), but i just found this quiz i had to share. so true!

good mom/bad mom

lucas crawling, playing, being awesome

2008-07-31T10:04:00.001-05:00

lucas crawling, playing, being awesome, originally uploaded by alibean731.

today is my birthday. i hope it will consist of lots of cute moments like this.

standing by the couch

2008-07-28T10:52:00.001-05:00

standing by the couch, originally uploaded by alibean731.

he's a great stander, but hasn't progressed to moving while standing yet...

haha! hi mom!

2008-07-22T10:25:00.001-05:00

haha! hi mom!, originally uploaded by alibean731.

this is pretty much what i see everytime i go get lucas after his nap. i love knowing he's so happy to see me, but i kinda liked it better when i wasn't worried about him falling and knocking his head all the time.

my son is a genius!

2008-07-15T14:20:00.002-05:00

lucas is standing. already. he turns 7 months on thursday, yet he has already reached a normal 10 month milestone! he is pulling himself up on everything - bookshelves, the stairs, tables, chairs, grandma sue's dogs. and he is standing up in his crib now too!

i'll get some pictures up soon, but i don't have a computer at home right now since joel took it on tour. i'm going to the store soon to get some foam and padding for all the corners in the house, plus baby proof stuff for our kitchen cabinets.....

where's daddy?

2008-07-10T13:29:00.001-05:00

joel left this morning to go on tour with his band, the sweethearts. he's going to be gone until 7/21, and lucas and i are going to miss him a lot. have fun daddy!

joel gives lucas raspberries and lucas laughs

2008-07-09T09:58:00.001-05:00

joel gives lucas raspberries and lucas laughs, originally uploaded by alibean731.

natalie and lucas singing

2008-07-07T08:56:00.001-05:00

natalie and lucas singing, originally uploaded by alibean731.

from the fourth of july - hilarious.

fourth of july!

2008-07-05T10:26:00.003-05:00

lucas's first 7/4 was pretty low key. he has been a little crabby the past few days, as he's teething, so we really didn't want to do too much.

we went over to grandpa pat and grandma joan's house for some delicious brisket! yum! while the rest of us were chowing down on the brisket and beans, lucas starting devouring some pickles - he loves them!

he had a hard time sleeping and was up pretty late, but it was still a great fourth.

baptism

2008-07-05T09:43:00.006-05:00

lucas got baptized on 6/29. he was a very good boy during the baptism, even if he did spit up right before we went up. he looked super cute in his baptism outfit, and he used the same blanket joel was baptized in. marcy and john are his godparents, and they threw up a fun pool party over at grandma sue's. it was a great day.

breaking news!

2008-06-26T14:09:00.003-05:00

lucas is getting his first tooth! it broke ground this morning. i'll try and pry his mouth open later to get a picture of it to post.

he is so big, i can hardly believe it. last week was his 6 month birthday, he's about to crawl, he learned how to sit himself up yesterday, first tooth today and then baptism on sunday. by this time next week he'll probably be driving...

fun sunday!

2008-06-24T09:52:00.001-05:00

sunday was a fun filled day! my cousin brody and his friend max have been in town this past week, and we finally got to hang out with them. dad rented a pontoon boat which we took out on lake austin. (lucas stayed at home with grandma). lots of fun swimming, throwing the football around, eating shnackies and cruising the lake.

then, we went back to my parent's house for brats and hamburgers. lucas showed off his crawling techniques and we all had fun.

the only downside to the great day is how sun burnt joel and i are now!

eating....sort of

2008-06-21T21:18:00.001-05:00

eating....sort of, originally uploaded by alibean731.

lucas has decided that he likes oatmeal much more than rice cereal. and he really likes it when we mix some carrots in too.

here's him at the tail end of eating, when he doesn't really want to eat much anymore. pretty awesome and messy.

happy lucas!

2008-06-17T08:07:00.001-05:00

happy lucas!, originally uploaded by alibean731.

here's my little man, having a grand ole time with his toys!

puppy!

2008-06-13T09:07:00.001-05:00

lucas really loves the animals he's been in contact with so far. he loves to try and grab all the cats at grandma sue's house. i'm not sure how much they love it though, since he inevitably pulls hair.

he likes the dogs a lot too, and they like him. they are always going up to him and sniffing. now that he's started scooching all over the place, he can go up to them and try and grab them too - they don't like that quite as much.

we all went over to our friend erica's house for delicious bbq the other night, and lucas was so excited to meet a dog who was just as excited to meet him!

gizmo, an awesome dachshund who i love, is sweet and cool. and he apparently really likes kids. which was just fine with lucas - he was so happy to have a puppy around him that he could hold onto.

it was really cute, watching gizmo try to lick lucas like crazy and lucas try to pull gizmo's ears. i can't wait until he's old enough so we can get a dog of our own!

twins!

2008-06-08T08:37:00.004-05:00

joel tried to take a shower with lucas yesterday. not a good idea. luke was ok looking at the water, but as soon as he was underneath the spray, he definitely voiced his displeasure. so, the shower was super quick.

once they finished, i got in. and, after i finished, i was greeted by twins!

so cute i could hardly stand it...they were both wearing camo shorts and t-shirts designed by our friend kepi.

then we headed out to visit uncle jeff for his birthday! while lucas couldn't eat cake with us, he did partake in a delicious spoon, which he was completely happy with.

being gone/pitfalls of eating

2008-06-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

i had to go out of town for almost a week for a conference in la. leaving lucas at home was so hard! i cried when i walked into the airport and he and sue drove away. but, since i had my laptop with me, i looked at pictures of him every night before i went to bed. i also called and checked up on him a bunch, but it just wasn't the same.

since he can't talk, all of our communication is looks and actions. yes he does make a lot of noise, but not when you shove a phone in his face. he is only interested in eating phones, not talking on them.

i was so excited to come home and hug him again! it was the best feeling.

but he had gotten so big while i was away! he has definitely grown taller, and his actions have for sure progressed. he is so close to crawling (yikes!) and is more purposeful in all his actions. i know he had fun at his grandparents houses, but i'm so glad to be home and with my little man yet again.

one thing we have been working on since i got home is "solid foods." not that these foods are anything even resembling solids. we're working on rice cereal right now, and it is nasty, goopy, gross, runny and disgusting. lucas hates it, and i don't blame him.

he's really into the spoon and doing things like mommy and daddy. but the actual eating of the rice cereal is not fun. he'll always take a big first bite, but then he makes an "eww" face and pretty much rejects all subsequent spoonfuls.

i've tried making it different temps and different consistencies, but that doesn't seem to work. he simply does not like it. i think we're going to try veggies, and come back to rice cereal. anybody have any ideas?

maybe we should just skip baby food all together?

bathtime is funtime!

2008-06-05T12:41:00.002-05:00

bathtime is funtime!
Originally uploaded by alibean731

how cute is he!

also, joel has lame dad jokes....

when lucas came home

2008-05-27T08:22:00.013-05:00

i've been meaning to write about labor and delivery for, oh, 5 months or so. here goes.

the day before it all went down, joel and i were over at my parents house. hanging out, playing spoons, mario kart, and even some basketball. actually, i was not playing basketball, but was joel's good luck charm for the infamous "belly shot."

basically, i felt totally normal. i wasn't expecting lucas for at least another week. in fact, i was counting on it. i had so much more stuff to do! my last official day of work was 12/14, and was really looking forward to being able to get the car seat ready, our bags totally packed and the house completely immaculate.

however, in what was the first of i'm sure to be many "no way mom" maneuvers, lucas decided he was ready to come on 12/17. i had gotten up to pee at 4:45 (by this point, i was peeing ever 2-3 hours during the night) and was getting back into bed. joel was, of course, completely asleep. i laid down, got myself comfy....and felt like i pissed my pants. holy crap! i bolted out of bed, straight to the bathroom.

now, i had reason to think i had peed myself, based on quite a few close calls those last few weeks. but while sitting on th potty, i realized that i hadn't peed - it wasn't a pee sensation, nor was it yellow. i had simply leaked a clear, watery fluid with tiny little red flecks in it. AHH - MY WATER BROKE!

i yelled to joel. "honey, my water just broke." i've never seen him bolt out of bed faster, and he was by my side, checking out the fluid in no time.

"are you sure?"

"yeah."

"well, what do we do?"

i decided that i really wanted to take a shower. plus, i still had to get the car seat ready, and tidy up a bit. i didn't want to come home with towels in the laundry basket or glasses in the sink. so, we called our moms and let them know the status report - water is broken, we're going to chill at home for as long as possible. this was what the awesome nurse on our hospital tour had suggested we do. the longer you can be at home, the better. he also recommended that i eat, because i wouldn't be allowed to do that at the hospital until the baby came. i didn't listen to him on that one, but i should have. i was starving a few hours later!

i had put on some panties and one of 2 random pads that were in the bathroom, and already i was soaking wet again. one thing they don't tell you about your water breaking is that it doesn't just happen all at once. yes, there's the initial surge of water. but that s then followed by a steady water leakage for hours afterwards. so, i joel to the store for more pads. plus some new toothbrushes for while we were at the hospital. the things that i was concerned about...i'm a loon.

i folded the towels, then popped into the shower, and that was where i felt my first, very mild, contraction. it felt like a barely there period cramp. no big deal at all.

joel got home with the goods, then he cleaned the few dishes in the sink while i dressed and tried to make the bed - a difficult feat for a pregnant woman. it's hard to bend and pull the sheets up, but i managed. joel jumped in the shower too while i checked through our bags.

by now it was about 6:20, and i was starting to feel contractions more often. they tell you to wait for the 5-1-1 rule, and that was where i was at. i decided we needed to go. plus, i wanted to beat traffic. joel stuck in traffic is not a pretty sight, and i wanted to minimize stress for both of us. so, joel sat me on some beach towels so i wouldn't leak all over the car (by this time i had already gone through about 4 pads), and we headed out.

as we were driving, the contractions really started to change. they became much more intense on the drive over. plus, i really needed to pee again, so i was very glad when we parked the car.

we got to the hospital right before 7, checked in, and made our way to the l&d room. room 1.

i loved the hospital we were at. really homey feeling, with lots of space and no blank white walls. i changed into my oh-so-fabulous hospital gown, and met my amazing nurse, aubrey. she was there the entire day with me, and was so great.

i got hooked up on all the machines and everything. man. it's so strange to see yourself on all those monitors, watching your contractions rise and fall. she checked me out to see how dilated i was - about 2 centimeters at this point. however, i wasn't very effaced at all. now, i still don't quite know what that term means. but what i do know is that you have to be 100%, and i was not even close.

so, we called our moms again, and they both let us know that they were coming up to the hospital. my dad was in houston - he had to go to a business meeting that morning really early and would hopefully be back before the baby was born.

so, we hung out and waited. i really wanted to do the birth all natural - no drugs whatsoever. my doctor came and checked on me. he wasn't able to actually deliver the baby, as he had a surgery scheduled for later that day. i didn't mind though. as long as joel (and super nurse aubrey) were there, i knew i'd be ok.

when he checked on me, around 9:30, i was still only 2 cm and not very effaced. he wanted to give me petosin, a medicine that induces labor. basically, it just gets the ball rolling and helps to dilate you and get you fully effaced.

i really wasn't excited about doing that. aubrey said we could wait an hour, see if i could do it naturally, and then they would give me the petosin. once your water is broken, it's important to have everything move quickly so that you don't get an infection. so i understood why they wanted to give it to me, i was still just hoping that i could do it all on my own.

mom and sue showed up shortly after. they hung out in the room with me, and were really sweet. checking on how i was doing, but not being overbearing or anything like that.

joel was the best. he was absolutely what i needed all day long. i never had to ask him for anything - he just knew what i wanted and needed, and was there for me, holding my hand.

at 10:30, i got checked out again and had barely changed. so i got the petosin, and things started moving along.

the real bad thing about the petosin is what it does to your contractions. they intensify dramatically. at around noon, i was having a minute long contraction every 2 minutes. they were so intense, i was almost crying. i cannot describe how bad contractions feel. joel was holding my hand through all of it, and i know i was squeezing hard.

i got checked out again, and i was kind of at a cross roads. if i was about 6cm, i was going to continue sticking it out. i really wanted to continue doing it as naturally as possible. however, when i got checked at noon, i was only at 4cm. they were projecting that i wouldn't give birth until at least 10pm that night. i knew i couldn't handle it until then, so i decided to get an epidural.

epidurals are magical. seriously. it feels super weird getting one, but 10 minutes after the shot, i felt nothing. i could watch the contractions on the monitor, but i couldn't feel them anymore. i had been near tears with how painful they were, but all of a sudden i was totally fine. it was so awesome.

i think everyone was relieved that i got the epidural. i know mom, sue and joel didn't like seeing me in pain. it was a much more relaxed process after that.

well, for me at least. little baby wasn't too happy. it turns out that the umbilical cord was crimped around an arm or leg. i had to lay all sorts of different ways to try and figure out what was best for him. i also was put on oxygen.

i was still progressing slowly, but at least i was progressing. around 3pm, it was just joel and i in the room. he started to take a nap, since we'd been up for a long time. at around 4, i even fell asleep. that's how good the epidural is - you can fall asleep during labor!

i woke up at 5pm, and could tell things were different. there was a lot of pressure, and i felt like my epidural had worn off. i called aubrey, and she informed me that the pressure was due to the fact that i was finally dilated and ready to go!

at 5:30 we got into pushing position, and she and joel each grabbed a leg. i started to push. the pushing part came really easy to me. within about 10 minutes, i had pushed lucas down into the perfect position for the doctor to take over. he got into the room, along with 2 other nurses. one nurse was for lucas, and the other nurse was assisting the doctor. at about 5:50, it was time to push again!

first though, i had to take care of something. joel had turned on the tv in the room, which was directly across from me. they were running a marathon of 'little people big world.' i needed to make sure that it wasn't playing while i was giving birth though. i didn't want my first glimpse of my new child to include matt roloff.

with that fixed, it was time to push for real. after a couple of minutes, we could see the top of the head - and tons of hair! the doctor kept asking me if this really was my first child - apparently, i was pushing well. and then, before i knew it, at 6:03pm, out came my baby! joel and i didn't know the sex of the baby ahead of time, and i still get tears in my eyes when i think of joel telling me "it's a boy!" they put him on my chest, and i got to officially meet my new son, lucas edward.

the nurses grabbed lucas and joel went with too, taking pictures of his weigh in (7lbs 11oz) and measurements (19.5in). i was cleaned up, and then ready to hold lucas for real. they got him all wrapped up, and joel and i got to love on him.

until you become a parent, i cannot explain this feeling of pure joy and love. when i think back to 12/17/07 and how much my life changed, i am so happy and thankful.

the beginning

2008-05-25T14:43:00.001-05:00

well, really, the beginning of mommyhood came over a year ago. when 1 plus 1 suddenly created a third person!

it is intense and wonderful, but i could really use a nap most days.

so here is the beginning of my mommy blogging. it seems appropriate to separate it from my pre-mommy blogging, as there were definitely things included in those posts that would perhaps make people wonder if i was indeed mommy material.