Happy New Year

As 2008 comes to a close, I am grateful for all that the year brought. I look forward to a new year with new beginnings and new resolutions.

I love my boys...

While I was feeding Sam...Part 2

Tonight while I was feeding Sam, Lucas ran off to his room to get a toy. He emerged a few minutes later with Chloe (his glow worm). He then came and sat down next to me on the couch and proceeded to try to feed Chloe:




When he realized it wasn't working, he exclaimed, "It's not working because I don't have one." As you can see, he was NOT happy:


I suggested he try a bottle. I went and found one and all was right in the world again:

Our baby boy smiles...

Sam will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. And he is all smiles today!

An old tradition made new...

When I was growing up, we had a small advent calendar that my mom put up at beginning of December. In each small pocket, there was a piece of candy or a piece of paper telling of a special activity that we would do. It is a great family tradition, but one that I have not continued as an adult. Jolene/Grandma Jo sends us a chocolate advent calendar every year, but I have yet to add activities into the mix. But thanks to the chocolate advent calendar this year, Lucas gets the basic concept (and loves to eat the chocolates - begging to eat all of them at once each morning).

This year, we drew names among the siblings on Doug's side for a family gift exchange. Doug's older sister, Becky, drew our family. Here is a photo of what Becky sent us for Christmas...a beautiful advent calendar, WHICH SHE MADE HERSELF...

Thank you, Becky. We will now have this to look forward to every year...I think it will help me make the holidays more special and do more Christmas-y things with my boys. (This year, we were in survival mode with a new baby and a recent hand surgery for me, so we were lucky to make it to Bloomingdale's to see Santa.) But next year will be different.

Insight into the mind of a 3-year-old...

Today I took Lucas to get an ice cream cone for his actual birthday. As he was eating it, he was kind of quiet. Then we had a conversation that went like this:

Lucas: Why did I turn 3?
Me: Well, you were 2 last year, so this year you are 3 and next year you will be 4.
Lucas: I don't want to be 3.
Me: 3 is great!
Lucas: 3 is not great.
Me: Well, what is great then?
Lucas: 2 is great!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lucas!!!

Luc's 3rd birthday is actually tomorrow (December 28th), but we celebrated it today. We let him open a few presents when he woke up this morning:


Then we had a party for him at Chuck E. Cheese. Here are some pictures of the birthday fun followed by some video clips:






Opening "Birthday Thomas"


Dancing with Lexi


Dancing with Chuck E. Cheese (Lucas was terrified when he first saw Chuck E. Cheese coming toward him. Luckily, Lexi is older and not afraid, so Lucas followed her lead...Thank you, Lexi!)


Blowing out the birthday candles


And after the party, Lucas opened presents at home:





And the happy day ended like this:

Belated Christmas Photos

Christmas Eve (click on photo to see the a larger version):




Christmas Day:

I dare you to try not to laugh at this one...

A few months ago I managed to arrive at church without a spare diaper for Lucas. I ended up borrowing one from a friend. Even though Lucas wears a size 6 (the biggest size available through Huggies), I squeezed him into a 3. It was hilarious and I have often thought of that when rushing out of the house, making sure to check twice that I have an extra diaper for Lucas.

The other night Lucas came running into the living room sporting one of Sam's diapers. Apparently that's what he requested, so Doug obliged. I am surprised that it fit at all...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our day was full of wonderful memories. Thanks to all of you for your gifts and phone calls. It was definitely a Christmas to remember! We will post more pictures later...

One more thing please, Santa...

Lucas realized after our visit to see Santa that he forgot to ask for one more thing...Mavis (a train, of course). He quickly wrote a letter to Santa and we mailed it Sunday morning. (Of course, yesterday, he told me that he also wants a bird and a blowfish...lol!)


Lucas was resting yesterday with Sam's binkie in his mouth. Lucas told me that he does not want to turn 3:


Aren't the boys cute together?! Lucas loves to get up on the bed and check on Sam. He constantly says, "I love my brother."

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We put up our Christmas tree a few weeks ago, but it wasn't until we visited Santa and had a huge snow storm today that we have started to feel like Christmas is really coming! We are excited to spend another Christmas in New York City - we love this time of year here.

My mom and I took the boys to see Santa at Bloomingdales.
There was NO LINE and it was awesome!

(Lucas told Santa that he wants a yellow taxi for Christmas. Of course, I failed to explain that he would not receive the gift on the spot, which was cause for some crying.)

Sam didn't ask for anything for Christmas. Although if he could talk, he would probably request some peace and quiet while he is napping.

Hand Surgery Update

This past Monday I had hand surgery. I had a mass in my finger (left index finger) that was completely wrapped around the nerve. So, I had it removed and have been doing my best to function with one good hand ever since. I will get my stitches out (and find out what the mass was) on Tuesday:


Thanks to all of you who have called, visited, brought meals and goodies, and checked in on us. Here are pictures of some of our visitors.

Becca & Henry



Angie:


Hillary & Henry:

Lucas loves to sing...

Lucas has learned a lot of new songs at school. Here is one of his favorites:

Mema & Pop-Pop came to NYC

Pop-Pop met Sam for the first time:


And we had time to see a few sights as well:

Our Sam is growing...

Our little Sam is 6 weeks old now. Two weeks ago I took him to Doug's office:


Here are some pictures of what Sam does best:

Play dates & Old Friends in town

A play date at Sela's house followed by one at our house:


(Looking for monsters with their flashlights):


A play date at the Cope's house:


And some old friends of mine were in town - the Forssell girls (Danna, Marcie, & Lara). We had lunch at Carnegie Deli:

We may have bad sleeping habits as a family . . .

. . . but at least we are consistent.

While I was feeding Sam...

Lucas wanted a "drink yogurt" (pictured next to the regular yogurt above). After he was finished with it, I reminded him that he needed to put the empty bottle in the garbage. He disappeared for a few minutes and then returned to the living room with a big grin on his face. I asked him where he put the yogurt container. He said, "maybe in the toilet." I thought for sure it would not go down, but I went to check it out anyway. Sure enough the toilet was empty. I figured he probably really put it in the garbage (since he is quite the joker), but I could not find it anywhere. So I flushed the toilet and it was clogged (that "drink yogurt" must have had some help in order to go down). Anyway, the handyman came to fix it and had to remove the entire toilet in order to get the bottle out (the whole ordeal took about an hour and a half). But it was indeed in there. I had a long talk with Lucas about putting things in the toilet to which he responded, "Maybe next time I won't."

Sam is 5 weeks old today

Oh, how I love my boys...

Lucas & Sam


This is how Doug gets work done at home:


Lucas loves to check on Sam in his crib:


Lucas loves the show "Maggie & the Ferocious Beast." There is a character on the show named Hamilton who lives in a box and keeps all of his belongings in it. So, when we saw a Lucas-sized box in the basement recently, he had to have it. Here's a picture, followed by a video clip:

Bowling

We went bowling with some friends the day after Thanksgiving. Lucas told me that morning that he didn't want to go bowling and that he didn't like to go bowling. After his first turn, he said, "I love going bowling!"
Here's a video of Lucas in action:

Hand Surgery

***WARNING - this post is boring and does not contain any adorable pictures of my boys!***

When I was about 6 weeks pregnant with Sam, I woke up one morning with a swollen finger. When it did not go away, I went to the doctor. He said it was a cyst that would most likely resolve itself. But as the pregnancy progressed, I started to have a little pain from the cyst and then some numbness in my finger. My doctor then referred me to a hand specialist. The hand specialist said that because I was pregnant, he could not do x-rays. He looked at my finger and said it was one of three things: (1) a weird cyst related to the pregnancy that might resolve itself after delivery, (2) a fluid-filled cyst that might resolve itself or could be drained in the office, or (3) a solid growth that would need to be removed. He told me to come back one month after Sam was born.

Well, I went back to see the specialist yesterday. It's a solid growth that has to be removed. Since our insurance is changing January 1st, I am opting to do it immediately because we have better coverage now. But also, the doctor recommended not waiting since it could cause permanent nerve damage and also because he doesn't know what the growth actually is. So, I will have it removed on December 15th so they can do a biopsy.

No fun for me... I am picturing myself with stitches and my hand bandaged up while trying to blow-dry my hair or change the baby's diaper! Who knows, maybe my recovery will be like Luc's recovery in October - when he was out riding his scooter and playing at the park the afternoon of his surgery.

Sam is one month old today!

At his one month check up today, Sam weighed in at 9 lbs even. He is definitely getting to be a big boy! He is as sweet as ever. And Lucas is a great big brother.


Also this past week, Burton was back in town visiting for Scott's ordination (Congrats, Scott!).


And he came bearing Christmas gifts (actually, they were pre-Christmas gifts to help us get in the Christmas spirit!) Thank you, Grandpa & Grandma Jo.