Some more pictures

Upside Down!


Coloring. I love the crossed legs!

Dancing

Some Videos

Here are a couple videos for our friends and family who don't get to see Lucas often.

The Munchkin

These first two pictures cracked me up. Lucas is eating his first oreo, a golden oreo which are delicious. Anyway, instinct told him to pull it apart and lick the cream filling first. I don't eat them this way and Brian is a dunker. Instinct I tell ya!

Here he is licking the spatula after I made Caramel Apple Salad. Thanks for the recipe Steph. It was yummy and we got positive reviews! :)

Our Home

I'm sure Rach will have something to post about soon, but I thought I'd jump on here and post about our house (and provide some pictures which have been requested). After waiting about 10 months, our townhouse in Bloomington finally sold this past March. Until that point, we had been living with Rach's parents. Luckily, their house is big enough that it was able to accommodate Rach, Lucas, Pacey, and I without the feeling that we were on top of each other. We are so very lucky to have had the opportunity to live there, because I can't honestly say what other options we would have had. (Thanks Alex and Deb!!) However much we appreciated living there, we were still very much ready to be in our own place.

Once we sold the house we were able to start looking around. A big speed bump occurred when I found out from my bank that because I'm technically self-employed (as an independent optometrist) I'm not eligible for a mortgage loan until I've been working for 2 years! Let's just say that took the wind right out of our sails... After very briefly looking into the option of renting (which I'll post about later if we haven't already blogged about our encounter with a real estate scam), we were lucky enough to find an opportunity to enter into a lease-purchase agreement. This agreement gets us into the house, we pay the sellers so much rent per month, and part of that rent will be put toward the purchase of the house. Once my two years are reached, then we can go ahead and get the loan to buy the house. I won't bore you with the complicated details, but let's just say it took a while to nail down the specifics of the contract... After all that was done, we finally got to move into our house the last week in April. We got ourselves settled in, but Rach wanted me to stress that we are definitely a long way from being done in terms of decorating. So keep that in mind when you see the pictures of the inside. Also, I photoshop'd some pictures together to show more of the rooms inside, so bear with me on the quality of my work...

Back of House

Living Room

Dining Room (Converted into Lucas's Playroom)

Office

Kitchen

Family Room

Stairs (with Pacey in one of his favorite spots)

Master Bedroom (upstairs)

Lucas's Room (upstairs)

Spare bedrooms upstairs (empty except for the bed you see on the left)

I'll try to update soon!

I Miss My Mommy...

Well, Crohn's disease has put Rach back in the hospital as of Thursday night... Lucas copes fairly well, but things are just not right without his mommy home. That goes for me, too (obviously). We've been blessed to have wonderful parents on both sides help us out in our time of need. We got Rach's mom out of bed Thursday night so I could rush Rach to the emergency room, and she came over to stay with Lucas until around 3am (after I took Rach to the hospital, they ran tests on her, and admitted her). Early saturday morning my parents drove up and spent the day with Lucas so I could go to work. Lucas had a ball with Memaw and Papa, as always, but he still will go into a mode where all he'll do is ask for Rach and look for her. We really don't know what we'd do without the love and support of our family.

Unlike the first time Rach had to be hospitalized due to the Crohn's, this time wasn't nearly as severe, and she didn't have to have the N-G tube up her nose. Last time we didn't want to bring Lucas to see her in the hospital because #1 we worried about him getting scared at how Rach looked with the tube in her nose, and #2 we were worried he'd try to pull it out. Without the tube this time, he's been able to see Rach at least once each day (Friday and Saturday).

We're very hopeful that Rach can come home tomorrow. She's had her food slowly re-introduced to her (with bowel problems they can't just go straight back to normal food or the condition can revert back and make things worse), but she progressed pretty quickly today. She's pretty much back to normal food, so when the doctor sees her tomorrow morning we are pretty sure he'll send her home.

Lucas and I very badly miss having his mommy at home, so we can't wait until she's back. I went back and found some older pictures with Lucas and his Mommy... Enjoy!

Friends, Fun & Sun

It was HOT and sunny on Wednesday so we spent the afternoon with our play group. The kids had so much fun running in the sprinklers and playing with the water table. Lucas had a blast!


Showing me "Ora" (Dora).

Having lunch

Lucas made a new friend, Riley. She is adorable and Lucas was a little flirty!

Mr. Fix It

Last night Lucas was cracking us up. He was using one of his play wooden spoons as a screwdriver on his booster seat. Brian and I don't know where he picked this up. Brian thinks it is male instinct, but then I remembered I have been letting him watch a few episodes of Handy Manny. He is full on into the "monkey see, monkey do" stage. I guess it is time for his first tool set.

Visitors

Our good friends, Jim and Arica, came for a visit this weekend. We had a great time hanging out and Lucas LOVED all the extra attention. He even got us all up at 6:30am this morning because he couldn't wait to play. Jim and Arica are real troopers!

Lucas, "im" & Arica

Lucas shared his "boppy" with "Im." (He actually shoved it into his mouth!)


Then he took it back and snuggled a bit.

Then it was time to go and Lucas helped carry their bags

Wrestle Mania

In true boy fashion, Lucas loves to wrestle with his Daddy. Here are a few shots from the wrestling match last night.

Outside

Lucas definitely prefers being outside. We spent the evening blowing bubbles and drawing with sidewalk chalk. Even the allure of his bath didn't get him inside without a tantrum.

Stop and smell the roses, errr, lilacs!

My parents have this gorgeous lilac bush/tree. It has been blooming every year since I was in high school. It smells so good, I just love it.

Calling all decorators and creative people!!!!

This picture is taken from the edge of the living room. Right now the room is very neutral. I plan to buy some new throw pillows to spice it up and we will put some stuff on the walls as well. Right now I don't know what to put on the wall above the TV. There is a big space for something, but what???

Close up picture.

Some ideas I had were:

1. A Medium to Large Clock

2. A Painting or Artwork

3. Family Pictures (which I kinda want to put on the left side wall)

4. Vinyl Lettering click here (maybe not this particular one, but you get the idea)

Do you like any of these ideas? Any suggestions? Please. Anyone?

Lucas' new horse

Pacey tolerates Lucas so well. This morning while we were getting ready I saw Lucas climb onto Pacey and he just laid there. What a good boy!

PS- Excuse the pacifier. I HATE that thing!

Pacey is actually yawning in this picture.

Uh-oh! The horse fell over....