The end of 07

The first pic is Luke's reaction to seeing all of the presents that his two sets of Grandparents lavished on him. Lucky kid, as Mom and Dad kept it very very simple this year. A shot of Luke with Becca and I, my cousins with the little ladies man, and one with Mom Mom on Christmas morning round out the group.

Tonight is the grand finale to 07. Luke's birth year rolls to a close at the strike of midnight. I have to say that 07 has (hands down) been the very best year of my life to date. The proverbial cup overfloweth. I'm emotional tonight as I think about where we were this time last year (about 6 weeks away from Luke's birth) Where we are this year (in our new home, with a healthy totally fab little critter we call our son chirping away in the other room) and where we will be in just a few short months (with another baby welcomed into our family).


I feel like I have so much to catch up on, but there simply isn't time at the moment. We went down to the Farmers Market in Suburban Square to try to come up with some wildly creative menu for tonight's meal....but ended up with the same, or very close to the same, thing that we have made the past 4 years now....Filet Mignon and Lobster tail, washed down with a healthy serving of cheesecake. My Sparkling Cider is on ice. Party time. A happy and healthy New Years eve to everyone.

A Very Merry Kiss-mas

My son is a lover. Matters not if its alive, stuffed, plastic, food or dangerous materials ~ odds are if its in arms reach, it's getting kissed. As I reviewed the two million Christmas pics I took the recurring theme was Luke's mouth on someone or something.

I'm way way too tired to post, but it was a great Christmas and I am sure that I will get caught up at some point. Next life, maybe.

PS ~ Jen ~ The pic of Luke mauling the Fox was taken especially for you ~ we were thinking of you and Julien on Christmas day!

Christmas Eve

I can't believe that it is Christmas Eve already! We woke up to a beautiful, cold, clear day after a couple of days of fog and rain. Luke and I snuggled by the fireplace all morning, and I just put him down for his morning nap. Last night was our 7 fish dinner, it was so wonderful to have my family together and to get to see my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins enjoying Luke. He got some great books that I can't wait to read to him. Pics to follow once I download them.

Today I have to go to Carlinos to make the Antipasti for dinner tomorrow, and we are going to all go to the gym together. Church and opening our presents tonight. We will give Luke his presents tonight as well, and then in the morning go to Mom Mom and Grandpops (Where I have a little feeling that there may be just one or two more presents for Luke ;) Deuce was spazzing out last night ~ Baby is getting big in there all of a sudden. I have been getting requests from friends that I have not seen in a while for a current pic of the ole belly, so I am including a pic that I took at 27 weeks along.(The other pic appears to be my little Polar Bear wondering just what the hell is going on with his Mom's burgeoning belly) Anyone care to put in a guess on who lurks in there, a son or a daughter? I am also open to any and all name suggestions......Nate and I really should start talking about names soon, so if anyone wants to offer up some ideas I need em! The official "baby pool" will be coming out soon.....Jen Otto is already formulating her bet to be a repeat winner so lookout, all. I can't even believe that I am in my third trimester already. I am so happy and grateful to say that I am still feeling great, have lots of energy, and no complaints! Another easy pregnancy, thus far.

The invitations have started rolling in. Luke just got two birthday party invitations in two days. I can't believe that I going to be taking my son to first birthday parties already?!?!? How did this happen? And does this mean that I have to host a birthday party? What are the birthday party rules? I guess I go to the party too, eh? Sheesh. I need a book on this stuff.

A walking spaghetti noodle

Here is Luke. This is a tiny tiny snapshot of about 5 minutes in a normal day with my active little bugger.

Captain Curiosity has simply been utterly charming lately. I'm smitten. And busy!

Also, he now wants to run between things. Only issue, he can't run (like, at all). So he goes flying around the house looking like a marionette who has had his strings cut, or a bit like a wobbly cooked spaghetti noodle might if it decided to try to run around.

#100

We are in! Moving in turned out to be way easier than moving out, thanks mostly to the family and friends who helped with Luke so that Nate and I could unpack! Big thanks to both sets of Grandparents, Kevin and my Sibs, and my friends. All of our boxes are unpacked and we are all set up. There will be lots of furniture shopping and decorating down the road, but for now its time to hunker down, relax, and start getting mentally prepared for little Deuce's arrival in just a few short months. The house is awesome. I cant believe how homey and comfortable it feels already. We put up our tree on Monday night and Nate left Tues for LA....he gets in in the morning and I cant wait ~ Luke and I are missing him.
I had my first "I'm 27 weeks pregnant and have a little baby and Christmas shopping is HARD" breakdown at KOP yesterday. I (idiotically) thought that I could let Luke nap in his stroller while I shopped. Yeah.....not so much. Between the throngs of bit**y fur clad women, frantic men who all looked as though they were in desperate need of a drink, and the horrible, too loud piped in "rockin Christmas" music it was a nightmare. Luke was miserable. I was miserable. Shops were all so crammed with merchandise that it was a huge chore to simply navigate the stroller around. I cursed (more than once) as the stroller got snagged on racks. I kept looking down at my sweet, easygoing baby who was crying in his stroller with the knowledge that I DID THIS TO HIM by dragging him out at the wrong time of day. I was sweating, and lugging the stroller up and down escalators (walk around the entire mega-lo-mall to find an elevator??? Just not my style) and meanwhile the mantra "this is NOT what Christmas is about" kept swirling around my head over and over. I finally called Nate in tears. Poor Nate. He was in LA. I think that I just needed someone to feel sorry for me for just a moment. He told me to go home, relax, and that he would watch Luke for me on Friday afternoon so that I could go finish up sans baby. I pretty much RAN out of the mall, and smothered Luke in apologetic (and teary) kisses as I loaded him in the car seat. We came home, and cooked up some dinner as Jeannie was coming over to eat with us. Christmas music and candles did the trick until about 6 PM....I was feeding Luke when suddenly all hell broke loose outside with firetrucks and police cars swarming the street and front yard.....our neighbors home was on fire. Men with ladders and axes were running down the street, fire hoses wound through my front yard (well....what will someday be yard, right now its straw covered dirt/seed :)).......I could hear breaking glass as they broke the windows. It was about 3 houses down and across the street. The house has a lot of trees around it, so I don't know the extent of the damage or what exactly happened. How terrible to have a fire this time of year. It freaked me out and I will admit that I was scared going to bed....all alone in this big house I just felt vulnerable and wanted to gather up Luke and have a snuggley sleepover in my bed with him. However, I resisted the urge....went to sleep and lived through the night. Seeing that fire and my breakdown at the mall helped me regain some perspective......
Christmas is about family, and gratitude, and joy. NOT about gifts, or frantically "doing" everything, or obligations. I know all of that in my heart, but sometimes lose sight of it in my zeal to get everything done just "so".

#3

So short of our wedding day, and the day that Luke was born, today probably registers as "Important Day #3" in our history (It will get booted down to #4 come March when little Deuce is born). Today we buy our new home. We had both bought houses before we were married, but somehow seeing both of our names on that deed makes this one even more special to me. I'm anxious, and excited, and worried, and calm all at the very same time (yes, that is tiring, luckily I am a gemini and rather used to being a conflicted emotional mess). Nate is over at Biddle now doing some last minute things as I am here at Mom and Dad's while Luke naps. Settlement on Biddle is at 12 and the new house is at 2. Then the move in begins (forewarning: moving in complaints to start soon, now that moving out complaints are over with :)) I started to cry today talking about selling Biddle, so many wonderful things happened there! Much as I am anxious to move on to a larger space I will really miss that little chapter of our lives. I will treasure it.

Luke is having so much fun showing off his new walking skills ~ and he is absolutely in Looooooove with this stuffed animal that is here at Mom and Dad's ~ just hold up Mr. Fox and Luke will walk right over for a giant "kiss" a la Luke (he shoves the Fox's whole snout into his mouth ~ Its hilarious because the Fox is about the same size as Luke is, so they really look funny, this fancy Fox in his hunt attire and this crazed little baby with his slobbery mouth just kissing away).

Here we go.........

Sneaky like Me

So Luke has the sneaky gene, just like his Mama. (I would like to say that Nate plays a part, but Nate is such a bad bad liar that I really cant even categorize him as sneaky. He gives himself away before he even has the chance to be sneaky) (That is a compliment Nate :)) Anyway. Luke has this new face. I see it whenever I turn around and catch him right after he has put a piece of dog food or some other contraband into his mouth. He honest to God affects this "innocent" big eyed look as he shifts the offending item into the side of his mouth. His face just SCREAMS, "absolutely nothin to look at here Mom, no siree.....nothing going on here at all" as he locks his jaw to keep my probing finger from fishing out whatever the item is. Then he affects total moral outrage that I feel the need to fish out the item. It completely reminds me of the "gum shift" that I used to do frequently when chewing gum in class during highschool. God help us.

We are boxing up the computers today, so I may not be on here as frequently in the coming couple of days. The movers come tomorrow, and then we settle on both houses and move into our new house on Friday. I cant wait. The house is done, just getting cleaned at this point, so we are ready to go. We still have some last things left to pack up but all things considered we are in great shape. Luke is going to playgroup today with sweet Laura who offered to take him so that Nate and I could get the rest of the house packed away. Im so jealous but so happy that even if I cant go he can go hang with all of his little buddies. HUGE thanks again to all of the friends and family who have helped us this past 2 weeks.

OH! Luke took 4 steps in a row last night ~ our kid is WALKING!

TOUCHDOWN!

So the Eagles stink, and the Jets really stink (sorry Nate) but at least Luke is cool. He learned how to do "Touchdown!" yesterday ~ We say TOUCHDOWN and he gleefully thrown his arms over his head as we get inordinately excited (essentially the "Who's so big?" version for athletic families). If our teams were better maybe he would have learned this months ago, there simply have not been enough opportunities to celebrate touchdowns this season ;) The pic is of him yesterday watching football with us.

The other pic is my big guy in his new carseat......he loves it. Packing madness continues around here. The big move out is Thursday......move in on FRIDAY!

I can't stop playing with this

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1255200022


Luke laughs out loud when he watches this, and so do I.

Enjoy.

Grandparents

So I had a long and productive day. We woke up to crystal blue skies and a couple of inches of snow all white and lovely clinging to everything in sight. Due to the snow, biblestudy was canceled, so I unexpectedly had the morning free. Mom called me to see if she could watch Luke for me to enable me to get some packing done. She picked him up around 11.30 and took him for the afternoon. I went to town on the basement, raising a veritible dust storm as I ruthlessly threw away, organized and repacked boxes. It was a lot of work, but getting it done felt great. We went over to the new house to check out the progress and make some decisions re: blinds. The house looks simply amazing....all of the hardwood flooring is in, all of the light fixtures, both decks are finished, and the office and downstairs powder room are completed. I still cant believe that in just a week we are going to be living there. Anyway. We picked Luke up and came home for a hasty dinner before I had to run out to my "reward" of a facial over at ACAC. I left my two men hanging out in the living room and escaped towards the relaxation that I needed.

I may well be the first person to cry while getting a pampering, relaxing facial! The estetician and I were talking about my move, and pregnancy, and Luke etc etc....I started talking about how lucky Nate and I felt to have all of the support of family and friends that we do during this hectic and stressful time. I went on to talk about what a blessing it is that Luke has four wonderful grandparents, three great grandmothers and a great grandfather. I was talking about how no one can really prepare you for the love that you feel for your child, but how I had known going into this whole parenthood thing that I was going to feel a love unlike any I have ever experienced. I was telling her that my biggest surprise of motherhood thusfar is the unbelievable and indescribable joy that I feel when I see the love that Luke's grandparents have for him. To see their faces light up when they see my child awes me. To see Luke kissing Carolyn's face, or him sitting so snug in Mom's lap this afternoon drinking his bottle cozy and safe and warm just utterly melts me. As I was talking about this I promptly burst into tears. I dont know if its exhaustion, pregnancy hormones, or simply a heightened awareness of all of the love in our life and in Lukes life, but either way, I feel a little awed tonight. In this world, with all of its unrest, strife, and pain, to have a little joy is a beautiful thing. Tonight I feel blessed beyond measure.

Boxed In

I am feeling hemmed in. There is a light at the end of the tunnel (Dec 14th has become my new mantra, over and over and over) ~ But my house is currently a very uncomfortable place for me to be. I need to rant a little. There is danger everywhere ~ it seems that every time I turn around I see a pair of scissors that we left on the floor while taping boxes, a marker with no lid on it....a knife or glass or silverware or loose change, all directly within the reach of the little hoover I call my son. Luke is living in a war zone with wickedly dangerous and enticing items all around him, ~ he has an insane mother who is obsessed with finding the "right" box for every job (if the box is too big I can only put light things in it or risk busting the box, if its too small its virtually useless. My quest for the perfect packing box continues, if anyone has any advice please do let me know) he has a dog who has been ignored too much and sorely needs a walk, and a father who is trying to keep his mother calm, make phone calls, travel for work, help pack and even earn a dime or two along the way. Poor guy. Thank God I married a great man. More venting: I hate all of my clothes, yet still have to pack them all up. Pregnancy really does a number on your wardrobe and fashion pride, let me tell you. I used to have a lovely collection of size 2 and 4 clothing, bikinis, high heels etc etc etc..... Now this is my wardrobe:

* an ugly hodgepodge of borrowed, stained tattered maternity clothes
* "fat" post pregnancy clothes ~ misshapen, unflattering, and stained with about 6 distinctly different types of bodily fluids....not only ugly but cheap to boot as I prayed to God that I would not stay those "in between" sizes for long so I didn't want to spend a lot on the fat clothe
* "almost cute" clothes that I got to wear for about a month before falling pregnant again.
* A confused jumble of shoes. I still have not gotten the "stay at home mom" shoe part of the wardrobe down. Big heels ~ too cumbersome when carrying the child. Flats, are just too, well, FLAT when you are short like me. I'm not the "wear sneakers all day" sort of girl, and flip flops are simply out when its 30 outside. I'm in a pickle over shoes of late.

I can't throw any of the ugly stuff away as God knows what size I will be this spring. It pains me, physically pains me, to pack up ugly clothes that make me feel icky simply looking at them. But I have to. Enjoy your stilettos my single or childless friends. Enjoy them. I look at mine like a lost love that I still pine for. They are like relics, archaeological interest pieces in my closet. They are actually dusty. I hate packing up cans of food. I hate the terror that is my basement, looming over my head with the thought of paint cans and varnish and dust and beat to hell boxes stuffed hastily down here one holiday after the other. I hate the trillion and one nicknack's that have somehow snuck into my home at night when I was blissfully sleeping upstairs. I hate figuring out how to pack up vases, and large pictures, and flat panel TV's. I hate packing tape and the way that it sticks to itself way way better than it sticks to anything else. I hate the way my hands hurt from washing them all day long.

There are some bright spots. I really really do enjoy bubble wrap, and so does Luke (its not dangerous to let him nibble on a little bubble wrap now and again, right? Uh, right???). I take a long, self indulgent bath every day and fantasize about the huge giant jacuzzi tub in the new house. I throw away some things that I probably should not when Nate is not looking, just to make myself feel as though I have some control. I get to listen to cheesy Christmas Music all day long on Direct TV and am learning some of those obscure 2nd and 3rd verses to the old favorites. I like watching Luke explore and delight in the ever shifting landscape of our dining room as it fills with boxes. I like finding goofy pics of Nate and I from years ago, and sweet cards that he has written me. I like sticking Luke inside a box every now and then and listening to him laugh at his predicament. I like this long drawn out somewhat painful goodbye that I am saying to the house we have made our home. I like the memories that I get to savor in the warm little house while its cold outside. I love the way that my friends and family have offered over and over to help with Luke or with packing. It makes me feel very loved, so thank you all. Rant over.

S S S Santa comes to town

Last night was "Old Fashioned Christmas" in WC. The family and the Rud's came over for some food before we walked up for the big parade, Santa's grand entrance to town, and Christmas Tree lighting. Town was HOPPING, there was a great turnout. I was a little nostalgic with the knowledge that it was our last time living in the borough and walking to a town event......
It was a perfect night for it, cold and crisp. Luke surprised me by actually managing to stay awake for the entire parade. Right now I am completely and utterly exhausted after an entire day of packing. Its amazing how much stuff (junk) we have accrued in a relatively short period of time. I have nothing interesting to say and am too tired to think, so I best sign off.