Did I say sitting?

Try standing! I mentioned in a previous post that we have been finding Lucas sitting up in his crib, well now, we are standing!

The past two days Lucas can be found standing in his crib when we go in there in the morning or after a nap. I think this may be a "problem" for us until he gets over this standing thing...yesterday morning was the first time that we found him standing and he had a big ol' grin on his face! Then at 5:30 this morning (which is pretty early for him to be awake), I heard some super cute sounds coming from Lucas' room so I went in and found him standing again! But I could tell he was still pretty tired...he did fall back asleep for a bit. Then when I was putting him down for his morning nap today (which he was definitely ready for), every time I would lay him down, he would pop back up to standing, this happened twice and by the third time I think he finally realized he was just too tired to be standing. Now, to our afternoon nap, he went down right away, but was standing and chatting away when I went up to get him.

I brought the camera up with me after his morning and afternoon naps...I had a feeling he was going to be in this same position and I was right!

After his morning nap (a short one) - love the 'cheese' smile! And yes, he is still in his pajamas at approx. 11:30. We stay in our jammies as long as possible when I am home on Fridays!


And after his afternoon nap (another short one - oh boy)!




And just a little taste of what goes on when I am working from home :)

"I wanna go outside to play too!"

I think that is what was going through Lucas' head in this picture. A bunch of neighborhood kids were playing outside and tossing a football around across our yard. Soon enough little man, soon enough (but too soon for me!).

(If you haven't noticed, I get on blogging "kicks" where I tend to post multiple posts in one night. I can't help it. It usually means I actually have the time and am in the mood. So pace yourself and read one a day (all 4 of you that read this blog [:)] because you may not get another post for a week!)

High Pitch

Lucas is in this screaming phase...it is not always because he is upset either - sometimes he just does it for...uh, fun I guess! See video below....

He also has been making a rolling "rrrrr" sound and making lots of "kkkk" sounds lately. I swear he said the word "drink" the other day...it sounded like "dwink"...no lie!! Wally and I just looked at each other like "did we hear that right??" But, of course, we haven't heard it again since. It seems like he is getting closer and closer to actually saying some words though...at least I am hoping. Then again, he is very busy working on his gross motor skills these days. He is crawling all over and finally up on those knees and not just scooting, well until he wants to get there faster and realizes he is still a better scooter. He can get himself into a sitting position from laying down (I love this - it is so cute to walk into his room after a nap or in the morning and see him just sitting there playing and knowing that he got himself there all by himself), is pulling himself up on everything, will let go while standing and is slowly realizing that he can't do that yet [:)], and will walk pretty well (assisted of course). He is a busy boy and is growing and developing like crazy. It is hard to believe at one point he couldn't even hold his head up...they grow up so fast :(

Some Summer Projects

A couple of summer projects we had going on were to refinish our deck and to put up a new fence. Both are finished - FINALLY!! The fence went up today. Below are some before and after pics. All that is left is to put up the new gazebo and stain the fence, but those things might just wait until Spring along with new landscaping!

BEFORE:












AFTER:


Some of these were taken from Lucas' room so the screen makes it a bit blurry.

Fence posts are in!







The gazebo goes here (over this patio furniture) just like in the before picture.

Outdoor Fun

It was beautiful outside tonight so we enjoyed some good old-fashioned backyard fun.







Even Nala joined in on the fun!
























Enough pictures Mom - I'm outta here!


Oh and by the way...Lucas is sort of a big deal around this house :)

"Newly" Things

Newly Wed


Newly Engaged


It was a great weekend! As you can see tell from the pictures above. Saturday one of my good friends from college, Stephanie, got married in Milwaukee. It was a beautiful day (albeit a bit chilly for August). The wedding was outside in the streets of the Third Ward. The reception was held at Cuvee, a fantastic champagne bar. It was the first night that both Wally and I were away from Lucas overnight. We knew he was in good hands with my parents though so we made sure to have a good time and take advantage of the night out. We enjoyed good friends, good food, good drinks, good music, and good dancing! In the midst of the reception, my BFF Jes and her bf Charlie slipped away. All of us friends knew why (Charlie gave us all the heads up), but we were waiting to hear the news. After the reception was over, we headed out to a bar for the remainder of the night where we celebrated the newly engaged couple!!! Jes was completely surprised (and she doesn't like surprises, LOL). It ended up being a fabulous night!! The next day Charlie planned another surprise for Jes...we were all meeting for lunch to celebrate the engagement some more, but she thought she was just meeting two other people for lunch so she was surprised (again!) to see about 12 of us at the table. It was a very nice lunch, but a little quiet...everyone seemed a bit "tired" from the night before. By about 1:45 though, Wally and I were itching to get home...we were missing our little guy! He of course was "sooo good" (in the words of my mom)...we didn't really expect anything less! Oh and my mom did some laundry and had meatloaf and ravs in broth waiting for us when we got home....not too shabby! Thanks Mom (and Dad)!

Congrats to both Steph & Mike and Jes & Charlie!

Oh and did I mention that Charlie and Jes haved moved about 15 minutes from us now - we are super excited to have new "neighbors"!

Here are some pics from our night (you will get your Lucas fix on the next post - sorry!).


A beautiful ceremony


Chaz and Wally


Some of the Augie girls


All of the Augie girls!

Toilet Paper

I told you below he found it. I stopped the video just as he was shoving it into his mouth... :)

8 Months and 1 Day

Here are the pics I said I would take...there is no more sitting still and looking at the camera. Lucas either wants the camera or is looking for something else to occupy him so these are what I got...they are still pretty cute!

Bath time







There's a smile!


Lucas and his buddies - Horton and George!




Hope you enjoyed!

Happy 8 Months!

Can you believe it??? Lucas is 8 months old already! He is a happy boy, which makes for a happy mommy and daddy! Here are some things that Lucas has accomplished in his short 8 months of life:

- He can army crawl with the best of them.
- He can pull himself up to a standing position (but only using the bread box drawer, we are working on this using other objects).
- He LOVES to stand.
- He is eating all fruits and veggies and having a taste of whatever Wally and I are eating for supper.
- He is an amazing sleeper. I can count maybe 2-3 times since he started sleeping through the night at 3 1/2 months that he has woken up in the middle of the night.
- He loves to go for walks in his stroller.
- He is nosy, just likes his parents.
- He has been to the zoo 3 times.
- He has been to more professional baseball games than any other 8-month old I have ever met.
- He has the BEST laugh and gets a kick out of the craziest things.
- He LOVES his Nala (our dog).
- He says no words yet, but Wally and him have some crazy cavemen talk that I swear they are able to communicate using.
- When I shake my head and say "no, no", he gives me the cutest smile. (I don't think this will be as cute down the road.)
- He is TERRIFIED of the Dyson.
- He has 5 teeth and is a teething champ. We used orajel only one time and I think it was more because I felt bad for him, and not because he needed it. I consider us VERY lucky!
- He can maneuver his walker like no 8-month old should be able to.
- He found the toilet paper in the bathroom and finds great joy in pulling it and trying to eat it.
- He reaches out for you and touches our arm when sitting next to us. I like to think that is his way of showing affection or just making sure we are still there :)
- He is PERFECT (in our eyes).

The little guy wasn't much in the mood for pictures tonight so I will try to get some tomorrow night instead.

Disclaimer (for my mom and Carly): All of the above are true and not falsified in any way. This is our Lucas and we would never make this stuff up. :)

Weekend In a Glance

We had a great weekend! I was off work on Friday, and we had plans to go to the Brookfield Zoo. The weather wasn't the best (75 degrees and drizzly), but we were determined to have a good time at the zoo. We have a membership so we decided that if it started raining too hard, we would just leave and go back again another day. The heavy rain held off for most of the day. It wasn't until we came out of the monkey house that it was coming down pretty good and Lucas was ready for a nap anyways so we headed home. This was Lucas' third time at the zoo already, and it is so fun to see how the experience changes for him each time. You could really see him watching the animals. It is just going to get more fun each time we go!



LOVE those cheeks!




So tiny!








Saturday was pretty typical, but it was HOT! Only in Illinois can the weather go from 75 and rainy to 95 and hot! Lucas and I had our standard Saturday morning dance party (we dance and sing to Toddler Tunes), played with his new activity table, and then I headed to the grocery store and for my monthly Sam's Club run. Once I got home, I changed Lucas into his "conductor" outfit, and the three of us headed off to Choo Choo Johnny's in Frankfort for lunch. Wally and I have been wanting to eat here for awhile, but it only made sense to wait until Lucas was a bit older and could have some fun too. The idea behind Choo Choo Johnny's is that your meal is delivered on train wheels. When we walked in, the set-up wasn't anything like what Wally and I were expecting, but then again, we can't figure out what we really thought it would be like, but it just didn't fit into our expectations. Anyways, we sat down and ordered some food (which ended up being really good). There was a train that ran along the ceiling that Lucas really enjoyed watching. It was kind of neat, but maybe Wally and I will appreciate it more when Lucas is even older. We wrapped up our Saturday with church. Have I mentioned how good Luke is in church these days....he does really well and is pretty content throughout mass. Oh and I found a book at Sam's Club called Walter, the Farting Dog. Is this book about my life??? Haha - j/k! I had to get it though. I gave it to Wally and Lucas when I got home. Wally started reading it to Luke right away. Lucas didn't think it was that funny, but Wally was cracking up :) It is a series so I have a feeling I will be picking up some more of these each month. And one more thing...this new activity table was free!!! Well, basically! We get reward points for every purchase we make using our debit card and considering that that is all we ever really use, we rack up some major points pretty quickly. So we had quite a few to use and this activity table was one of the things you could get. I have been eyeing this for awhile, but I don't think I was ever going to pay $40 for it so this was perfect! Lucas is really into "standing" these days so the activity table is great for him.

Enjoying his new toy!






My attempt at getting a pic of the train delivering the meals...




Lucas and his baseball "conductor" outfit - thanks Grandma Z!


Wally, Lucas, and Walter, the Farting Dog!


Sunday we hosted a pool party and cookout for my family. It was another HOT day, but when you have a pool right next to you, it isn't too bad! Lucas enjoyed himself in the pool, but after the first dip in, he was wiped out. Wally swam with Lucas once this past week and he said he had laid him on a towel on the deck and then covered him with another towel and Lucas just laid there in heaven. We are guessing he loved how warm it was! So we did it again today, and he sure did love it. He was smiling and making "aaahhh" noises. He was also so tired that I think he would have fallen asleep right there. I brought him down to the pack-n-play under the gazebo and he fell fast alseep (and I mean fast!). He slept for almost an hour and a half out there - he was pooped! Then he went for a second dip in the pool, which didn't last as long. It was a good day full of family, food (hamburgers, some fantastic sweet corn and other yummy side dishes), and fun!





In heaven!


He's too cute!


Exhausted