Goodbye 2012

Another year has come and gone.  It felt like an eternity yet a blink of an eye.  I'm anxious to see where the next year takes us and how Lucian will grow as a person. He amazes me every single day and I feel blessed to call him my son. I'm a proud Mama.

Some parental successes of 2012:

Back to potty training more regularly
Regular bowel movements
Will let me put gloves on him and a hat
Will halt when we need him to
Dancing and gymnastics are a win

Recent Lucian successes of 2012:

Learned how to text message from Mama's phone
Can turn the remote control car on and off by himself
Assists in putting on his shoes when willing
Uses the potty like a big boy
Can speak a few words and conversation has improved
Is more intelligent than Mama and Daddy can comprehend
Climbing, balancing, and jumping have all improved
Has turned his bed into a personal trampoline and diving board ;-)

It was nice to be able to take a few relaxed breaths recently and realize how far we've come.  I think Lucian is starting to settle down from his craziness/testing stage. Though some days will be better than others, I can certainly see the difference. I'm mostly just happy we all survived the craziness and hope we do in the upcoming year as well. If I could make a toast right now it would be to less self induced head injuries in the upcoming year. Maybe we will make that a resolution. Happy New Year's everyone.

Merry Christmas

Today was a wonderful Christmas day.  Last night it was snowing.  Lucian was able to watch it out the window.  I know he wanted to go out and touch it, but he had to wait.  I was excited myself.  I love snow. After I was able to get him to sleep, Joe graciously cleaned out the front room in preparation and built a cute little track with Lucian's wooden train track.  Nothing elaborate.  Just a nice little track to place his gifts about.  After the boys went to sleep, I moved all the presents in the room and placed them around the track in the corner.  I was excited about morning.  Especially now that Lucian is in the present opening stage.

This morning was fun.  Every morning Lucian wakes up and goes to the front room to play.  That is why we chose to set everything up in that room.  Plus our little tree, which we will be moving outdoors soon, is in the window of that room.  When he woke up this morning he did his usual move to the front room.  As he broke through the threshold I heard this big "Ohhh".  I knew he noticed the difference and the added presents wrapped in pretty paper.  Daddy and I made our way into the room and Lucian wasted no time in jumping into the action.  He played with his train for a little and then went to the presents.  He did a great job opening and exploring each gift with curiosity.  If he talked more, he probably would have asked a million questions. It was great. We played, we ate, and then we got dressed.  There was snow for us to explore!

After the struggle of getting everyone dressed and ready to go.  We grabbed his new sled (thanks grandpop!) and my camera and took off.  After getting him into the sled, Joe pulled him around the yard.  He loved it.  We decided to go the field across the way since there wasn't that much snow left from it melting.  Plenty for us to drag him in though.  He enjoyed the little ride.  Then we built a little snowman.  Lucian helped roll the balls of snow and pack extra on the sides. We stacked them up into a snowman shape.  He loved it.  Then Daddy taught him how to taste the snowman.  Lucian was ecstatic about having built a giant snow cone.  Even with the snow melting as we went, we all had a great time.  After visiting my family for the holiday and enjoying some food and company we came back home to find no more snow on the ground.  Our snowman, however, can still be seen across the way.  He's not too big and not too small - he's just right.  The boys went over to see him and say hello.  He was doing well even after some more tastings from Lucian.

Overall, it was a successful holiday season.  There was snow on the ground making it a white Christmas.  We built a snowman, sledded, opened presents, visited loved ones, and ate snow (not yellow of course).  Lucian received a lot of presents that he is currently enjoying.  Out of everything he received, I think he enjoyed the play scarves that Daddy and I have been hand sewing for him to play with.  They brought lots of laughs and several falls.  Doesn't get much better than happy tears.  Merry Christmas everyone. I hope the next year is just as fruitful.

Pictures

Pictures are officially updated through Halloween.  There are quite a few - phew.  Next time I'll put up the holiday pictures. You are welcome :)

Holiday Pictures and New Years

It's official.  We have our annual holiday pictures done and ready.  The location and weather ended up working in our favor for these beauties.  That means the holidays are officially here.

Photo with santa = complete
Family photo = complete
Wrapping presents = incomplete
Shopping = incomplete

So we have a little work to do before the end of the year - big deal. Doesn't everybody?  I know one thing I'm going to complete before that pesky ball drops - getting these pictures online of course! At least we can all enjoy the season with family, good memories and a big cup of cocoa. Maybe we will even get a bit of snow? I hope so.  We could use a big snowman in our little yard.

Visiting Santa

Every year our borough has a little Christmas party.  Well, it's really just a chance to enjoy some snacks and take a picture with santa.  It's one of the two free pictures we get every year (the other being the Halloween hayride).  We got to the hall too early and ended up coming back.  When we returned we immediately got in line for the picture since it was very short.  Figured it would be better to get the picture done right away.  Lucian, naturally, didn't want to sit on santa's lap.  Mama had to sit on santa's lap too.  Daddy had to get his attention for the picture.  In the end, the picture came out pretty good.  The second photographer, who I thought was just affiliated with the first, was actually a reporter for the local paper.  That's right, the next day Mama and Lucian was featured in the Berks and Beyond section of the Sunday paper.  How awesome is that? Super awesome.  We ended up getting a copy of the paper so we can treasure the moment.  I will see if they have any online.  Otherwise, we will attempt to scan it to post.  We will see.  Just thought I'd share such a fun moment.  Afterward, we enjoyed cookies.

Coconut oil makes us Nuts

So we found out that extra virgin coconut oil is not only antibacterial, but a natural laxative. Lesson learned. It's funny though because I've used this as an oil for massage, the cat eats it, and I cook with it.  I guess raw is the way to go.  I'm glad we know now though.  Definitely a better solution than pain, holding, and miralax. Yay for small victories, even if they come out of discomfort.

On a brighter note, my grandparents came to visit.  That would be lucian's great grand parents. It was a wonderful visit and I'm thankful they were able to come down.  They treated us to lunch and Lucian was very well behaved.  One of the best I've ever seen him.  Watch out grandpop, he's taken a liking to you!

Now it's time to count down to the holidays and new year.  I hope everyone has a wonderful season as winter is officially right around the corner.  There is nothing I can think of that the little man needs. Maybe some fresh air? Until tomorrow....

The Holiday Season

This is the time of year where it is always more difficult for me to post things.   Mostly because I can't post from the nook and Lucian likes to "help" on the computer.  I am going to do my best to keep up.  I want to thank everyone for sending birthday wishes to Lucian in October.  He will be more stylishly clothed this year.      We definitely are all set in the clothes and shoe realm.  So thank you all again.  Now that the holiday season is coming up I have to try to come up with new gift ideas.  Honestly, I don't think he really needs anything.  If anything, I need to go through his toys and weed out the stuff that he doesn't play with anymore.

I'm hoping to start him in gymnastics class this friday and see how it goes.  The hardest part is going to be getting him into the car since he hates being in the carseat. I'm hoping that he'll like the class and want to go.  Otherwise I'm going to have to bribe him with cartoons or snacks. I'm definitely ready for the holidays to come.  People are always crazy this time of year, especially on the road.

Joe and I have been working opposite days and spending the weekends together.  We are patiently waiting to hear about graduate school.  I'm excited to see where we go next.  Will we return to Bloomington or head up to North Dakota?  I'm kind of intrigued by ND.  Close to Canada and Minneapolis. I think it would be a nice new experience.  And I'm sure there are some beautiful sites, including the stars.  We will keep you all up to date with the news and our decision.  We love you all :)