Happy Birthday/New Year!!

Today Lucas turned one! He could hardly contain his excitement.


Ellen baked a cake and we went over to Shieh Jian's to celebrate. I am happy to report that Lucas didn't get too much spit on his cake while trying to blow out the candle!


I think he approved of the cake.



We gave him a frying pan for his birthday. He loves it.


Kat was hoping we wouldn't notice her when we went for a walk.

Happy New Year everyone! Next year should be fun.

Xmas Miracle

Lucas walks, it's a miracle! Actually, he started walking a few days ago, so its not really a xmas miracle, but still very exciting. I guess now we really need to child proof our house!



Happy holidays to all!

Snow

Lucas just keeps getting bigger (as he should). He has been filling out over the past weeks, probably getting ready to grow quite a bit. He's almost walking, easily standing on his own for short periods of time. Here he's standing outside in the snow.


He liked playing in the snow, though he hates wearing mittens.


I had to make sure there was no yellow snow before letting him loose on the sidewalk.



Here's a fall picture with his Grandpa.


Lucas loves his new bear from Uncle Peter and Aunt Donna.


Don't know how to explain this next one other than saying he had a blast playing with the bucket.


Check out his Chucks! They don't fit him anymore.


After playing in the snow we headed over to Starbucks for coffee. Lucas just wanted to eat the cup sleeve.

General Cuteness

It's almost Thanksgiving so here are some pictures of our little turkey.

"Ahhhh"

After a nice hot bath, Lucas likes to put on his bathrobe and lounge around the house.


I am sad to report Lucas may be a hockey fan. Kate, it's all your fault!
Notice what he is standing on.


At least he also likes playing the piano. Behind him you can admire our missing spindles on our staircase, the same staircase he loves to climb. Probably should fix those someday...
Notice the cool hat. Will post more pictures of the hat later.


Obviously Lucas is not tall enough to reach the piano, so he's figured out how to compensate for his shorter stature.


He is looking very cute these days...

Halloween

As many of you know, I hate Halloween. However, I now have something to look forward to: Lucas dressing up!


Liz and Chris down the street have two wonderful kids that are a bit too big for this costume, so they passed it on. Thanks guys!


We carved two pumpkins, and I like how they turned out.



This last one already got smashed by neighborhood idiots, but I think I can put it back together, just to show them.
So another Halloween and we managed not to run out of candy and I didn't get arrested for choking any teenagers asking for candy without a costume. Can't wait for next year.

And to finish out this post, here are some recent pictures of Lucas.

This is the tiger that Eddie and Jacquie gave to him when he was tiny. He loves it.


For some reason, Lucas doesn't like having his diaper changed. He just flips over and runs off.


I can't remember if he had his diaper on for this next one, but he sure is happy.

He Posts Again!

Well, about time I posted. Had I not posted today I would have missed having a September post and I'm sure Lucas would have held that against me some day.

Lucas is doing very well. He had his 9 month check up recently. We found out our baby is a light weight. He would probably weigh more if he were not so active all the time. More on that later. And it turns out he has a big head! In the last three months his head grew a whole inch around. No wonder some outfits are hard to pull over his head. He's lots of fun, even though it can be exhausting to keep up with him.

As you already know, Lucas loves his solids.


He also started eating fruits whole. Ellen and I are petrified when he eats large things like that, fearing he'll choke. But he hasn't yet and he loves feeding himself.



Here he is with his former Sippy Cup (turns out that some plastics can release toxins, blah blah blah. Next thing you know they'll tell us smoking is bad for babies too).


As I mentioned above, Lucas hasn't gained much weight recently. Here's why.


Yes, he can walk, at least assisted! And when not walking, he's crawling all over the place. He also likes to stand up at the coffee table, especially while eating my keys.


Here's a close up. Cute, no?


This is Lucas having a bottle while Ellen teaches. I'm not sure if this is a yoga pose, looks more like Pilates.


And here we are taking one of those rare naps.

Portland

We were recently in Portland, Oregon for Christine and Kristopher's wedding. Lucas had a great time traveling. Many firsts for him. He embarked on his quest to become concert pianist. Just wait till he can reach the pedals!


We stayed in a Marriott Residence Inn, much to Lucas's delight.


He loved rolling/crawling around on the carpet...


...especially if a bag was lying around!


Also, the hotel room had mirrored closet doors which provided hours of entertainment.


Lucas got to meet Uncle Mike (aka The Godfather (not Lucas's)).


We visited the International Rose Test Garden, acres and acres of roses.




Though Portland is about 100 miles from the ocean (I thought it was closer), we took a day trip to the see the Pacific Northwest Coastline, which I had never seen. Neither had Lucas. We stopped at the Ecola State Park (which I keep confusing with Ebola, which is a potentially lethal virus). Lucas enjoyed sand for the very first time. Strangely enough, he didn't try to eat it (which is a good thing, with all that ebola).




And then the wedding! Here's Uncle Erich feeding Lucas as Aunt Lee looks on.


Mmm, beer...


Aunt Jane (his great-aunt) was awesome! She and Lucas had a blast.


Aunt Bunny (aka Christine) and Uncle Kristopher (aka Kristopher) were kind enough to dance with Lucas on their wedding day!


Aunt Bunny has a fascinating necklace. Can Lucas eat it?!?


Too much excitement for a boy of just 7 months.