walking!

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

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!

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

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

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!

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!

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

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!!

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!!!

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

pbbsssst, originally uploaded by alibean731.

he's all boy.

chuy's

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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?

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

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

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!

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!

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?

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

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

natalie and lucas singing

natalie and lucas singing, originally uploaded by alibean731.

from the fourth of july - hilarious.

fourth of july!

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

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.