Halloween 2008

Lucas had a good Halloween. We had a couple different parties with our playgroups and we had fun trick-or-treating. We didn't actually trick-or-treat, but we did visit a couple of friends here in Ashburn. Lucas liked seeing all the other kids dressed up and tried to chase them all down the street. He loves kids that are older than him. Here's the address to the Halloween pics...

Halloween 2008

The last couple of months

Sorry we haven't blogged lately. Lucas is doing really well. He's going to be a pirate for Halloween. Hopefully we'll get some good pictures to show. Lucas is sleeping through the night now and has been for about a month. It took a long time to get to that point, but he is doing really well now. He takes a good nap everyday too. Here's some pictures from the last couple months...

Lucas Oct 08

Lucasson

Hi everybody,

Last week was pretty funny for us. Lucas caught a fly and tried to eat it, but Jeff caught Lucas right before the fly went into the mouth. We also ate at a Japanese steakhouse and Lucas loved it. He thought the guy cooking was his personal chef. Lucas loved watching him cook and kept reaching out for the food. The cook was really nice and even cooked Lucas an egg. Lucas ate the fried rice, veggies, some steak, and one of my scallops and shrimp. The boy loves to eat. I guess he'll be ok when we go to Japan.

He still loves to stand in boxes and put on everyone's shoes, even heels =) Needless to say, we are not without entertainment around here.

More pictures on the link below

Lucas almost 14 months

Back from Texas

Lucas and Alicia are back home from a trip to Texas to visit Aunt Karen, cousins Sarah and Wes, and Alicia's friend Allison. Karen had a pool that Lucas loved to swim in. We went swimming at least twice a day. Lucas is a great swimmer. He kicks and moves his arms. He even puts his face in the water and blows bubbles. While we were in Texas, Lucas had his first snow cone and his first popsicle. Aunt Karen was spoiling him. =)

Here's a few pictures from July 4th, Lucas' first piece of sushi, and the trip to Texas.

Lucas 13 months plus 3 weeks

So smart

Lucas amazed me tonight. We got home from doing some errands this evening and I wanted to take his shoes off. I sat on the floor and I told him "Sit down and we'll take your shoes off." He immediately sat on the floor and stuck his foot out. I just can't believe how smart he is!

New shoes

We bought Lucas a pair of new shoes this week. They are a cross between a tennis shoes and a sandal. He is wearing a size 6. I think that's pretty big, but I don't have too much to judge that against.

We've been taking bicycle rides on the weekends. We have a trailer that we pull Lucas in. He seems to like it, but he doesn't like to be in there more than 30-45 minutes.

More pictures...

Lucas 1 year plus 4 weeks

It's been too long..

It's been way too long since we blogged. Things here are going very well. Lucas is growing so big. At his 1 year appointment, he was 25lbs and 30.5" tall. He is such a sweet kid. He loves to give hugs and kisses to anything and everything. That includes Mommy and Daddy, Biscuit the dog, all of his stuffed toys, and other little kids. It's just the cutest thing you've ever seen.

Lucas loves to read. He even makes a few animal sounds such as moo, meow, and something that kind of sounds like quack.

Here's a link to a couple of recent pictures.

Lucas 1 year plus 3 weeks

Lucas' Surgery

We're home!!! We were able to bring Lucas home from the hospital today. Words cannot describe how happy we are to have him home and to have his surgery complete. We have a post-op appointment next week, but after that,all of this should be behind us. Lucas should not have any long term effects from the CCAM. His lungs, like any other kid, will continue to grow until he is about 9. The tissue in the remaining part of his lung will eventually expand and fill in the space from the removed lower lobe. He has a few battle wounds, but that we can live with. Lucas is doing remarkable. He is a little bit cranky and we're having to keep him on medication for a few days, but besides that he is pretty close to normal. We have to be careful how we pick him up, but we are probably being more cautious than we need to be. He was crawling this afternoon and even pulling himself up to a standing position, so we don't think he is too sore. We can't believe how quickly he is healing. We were miserable a couple days ago and now we're home and back to our normal routine. Amazing. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. We know that is one of the reasons Lucas is getting better so quickly.

Lucas' Surgery

Lucas thru 4.5 months

Hi all,

Lucas is visiting his grandparents in Indiana. He's having a good time showing off for everyone. We're eating sweet potatoes, bananas, and peas. He loves the sweet potatoes and bananas, but he's not real sure about the peas. We went to Wes and Sarah's wedding last weekend. Wes is Alicia's nephew and Sarah is one of Alicia's best friends from college and former roommate and big sister from her sorority. The wedding was really nice and we all had a great time. Alicia got to also see some of her friends from high school and their kids. We went to the pumpkin patch on Friday. Lucas had a good time, but it was cold and windy so we didn't stay long. Hope everyone is doing well.

Lucas 4.5 months

Lucas thru 16 weeks

Hello Again. Lucas has been improving over the last couple of weeks. He can now hold his head up while lying on his stomach. And, finally (knock on wood), he is beginning to get into a better sleeping pattern. He has been grabbing at things and shoving them in his mouth, and pinching our arms when we pick him up. Lucas likes to sit up now, although he can't quite do it on his own. Also, he has been trying to sit up while lying on his back. He has also been laughing on occasion, which is very entertaining for Alicia and me. His speech is getting more complex, and he is able to change pitch of his calls and coos. He is also very sociable -- he enjoys being around other kids and people, and we sometimes think he gets bored being around just us :).

We received his Passport last week. We sent out to get one because of all the back ups that are occurring because you are now required to have one to travel to Canada and Mexico. We were surprised how quickly we got it. It will be funny to see how quickly his picture looks nothing like him, though.

Since it has been a while since we have updated the blog, we have plenty of pictures to share. We hope you enjoy them. We hope you all are doing well, and we look forward to seeing you.

Lucas thru 14 weeks

Lucas thru 15 weeks

Lucas thru 16 weeks

Lucas thru 13 weeks

Greetings all. This week, Lucas turned three months old. He seems to be getting bigger both in weight and height. I guess we won't find out by how much until our next visit to the pediatrician. Lucas has been really grasping at objects now, and seems to have awareness about his hands. He can definitely put them in his mouth. He has also been leaning forward and trying to sit up. He can almost roll over, and has been constantly trying. You never know what direction you will find him in the crib anymore.

Alicia took a "Baby Massage" class to learn how she can relax the kid. In her first class she learned how to massage the baby's legs and stomach. Generally, he seems to like it. If nothing else, we think it has increased his "regularity." She has one more class to attend this week, where she'll learn to massage the chest, back and arms. Stay tuned.

We hope this writing finds you all in good health. Stay in touch!

Lucas thru 12 weeks

Lucas thru 13 weeks

Jeff's New Haircut

I thought it might be amusing to share this with you. I finally got fed up with people cutting my hair longer each time I went -- I think they were afraid I wasn't aware of my receding hairline. So, I chopped it all off. Enjoy the pictures!

Lucas thru 11 weeks

Greetings! This week, Lucas is starting to sleep a little better through the nights. Let's not get ahead of ourselves and claim he is sleeping through the night -- that is not the case. However, he is giving Alicia a break in the nights by not making her get up every two hours. He is still eating good, and seems to be gaining more weight. Also, we went swimming again last weekend and Luke was a little more comfortable in the water. Although the water is still a little cold for him, he was not as upset as last week. We hope everyone is still doing well! A, J & L

Lucas thru 11 weeks

Lucas - 10 weeks

Lucas has really been enjoying his jumperoo this week. He's been reaching for the bear and the sliding blocks. He even lifts his feet off of the ground to jump. Today has been the first day that he has started to go a little longer between feedings. Hopefully, that trend will continue. He's still eating about 3 times during the night, but we're starting to get used to that. Hope everyone is doing well!

Lucas thru 10 weeks

Lucas thru 9 weeks

Howdy. Lucas turned 9 weeks last week, and also had his two month check-up. He is doing really good, and is now up to 13 lbs 9oz and 24.25 inches in length which is around the 90th percentile for his age. That is a huge difference from last time we went to the doctor. Unfortunately, he also got four shots while at the doctor's office. He really did not enjoy the shots and was crying loudly all that afternoon. Luckily the tylenol he was taking was able to calm him down by that evening, and he did not end up with any fever. However, it's always good to get the reassurance that your baby is doing well -- and we are very glad. Don't forget to check out the 9 week pictures! We hope to see you all soon!

Lucas thru 9 weeks

Lucas thru 8 weeks

Greetings! Everything has been going pretty good here. Lucas is starting to enjoy cooing .. he especially likes "ahh goooo". It is very cute to see him do it over and over. We have had him in the jumper quite a bit, although he is still a little small for it, he seems to have fun. He is holding up his head very well now, but still needs some practice on his belly to increase his forearm strength. We think he is growing pretty well, we'll find out when he goes to his 2-month pediatrician visit this week.

I updated his 8 week pictures -- you can use the link below. We wish everyone well!

Lucas thru 8 weeks

Lucas can Swim

This morning, Alicia and I brought the little guy over to the pool. Although a little difficult logistically, we had a lot of fun. I'm not 100% sure he enjoyed it, but we did. I'm sure he'll be loving it once we can take him into the outdoor baby pool they have here. Hope you like the pictures.

Lucas can Swim

p.s. nobody will believe I have been updating my blog this often -- maybe I was body snatched...

Lucas can Smile

He can smile -- when he wants too. We added a few more pictures to the website of Alicia trying to catch Luke mid-smile. This proved harder than expected, but we got a couple of results. I'm sure we'll see that smile a lot in the coming weeks! We hope you have a great weekend.

Lucas thru 7 weeks

Lucas in 7th week

Greetings, all. We had several visitors over the last few weeks. Gwen came into town to check out some apartments, my cousin Derek and his wife Jenn stopped by in passing, and Alicia's parents were in town. So the guest bedroom has been going through the ropes. It was good to see everyone!

Lucas has been doing very good. He is cooing and gurgling a little more this week, which is always better than crying. He has also been standing with support for the last week or so. He can pretty much hold 100% of his weight if you stabilize his upper body for him. I think he is way ahead of time on that one. He has been eating a ton. Alicia is getting a workout when he is feeding nearly every hour during the day, ugh. He is pretty healthy, and for that we are very thankful.

I updated with some of the recent pictures, so please enjoy. We hope you are all doing well.

Lucas thru 6 weeks

Lucas thru 7 weeks

Lucas Birth Experience

Greetings, all. Luke is doing pretty good. He has begun occasionally smiling. Not very much for me, but everyone else seems to be seeing it. He has also become a lot more attentive, and really concentrates when he is looking at you. Also, he appears pretty healthy and we think he has been gaining some weight, which is good. His eyes are still a grayish blue and maybe they will be staying that way. Hope you all are doing well!

I have spliced some of the video that we shot surrounding the birth together to share with you all. I hope you enjoy it.

View Video