11 months old!

Holy cow! Where has time gone? Our little tiny baby boy is no longer tiny and hardly a baby anymore. Lukas brings us more joy and laughter with each day. Right now, he is a very huggy boy and starting to give us sloppy, wet kisses on the cheek. He also LOVES to share his bottle, toys & food with Mommy, Daddy & Jordi. Tonight I watched as he fed peas, one kernel at a time to Jordi. Lukas has mastered crawling on his hands and knees and is FAST! He can also cruise around on furniture, kitchen appliances, even the screen door. And he loves to practice his walking. Gone are the days when I could leave him in the living room to grab a quick shower. Lukas has also outgrown his crazy nap strikes. Now he takes a very dependable 1 hour nap in the morning and 2 hour nap in the afternoon. It has made life so much easier, mostly because he is well rested and happy! Lukas' favorite toys continue to be things that aren't toys; my makeup case and their contents, kitchen utensils, spice bottles, empty plastic containers and magazines or manuals. We are often puzzled by his choices since he has plenty of toys to play with. I guess it's a sign that he is learning about the world around him. Clapping and waving are also fairly new skills. Just this week, he began clapping in time to music -- now THAT I think is impressive! Most of all, I love seeing Lukas' growing sense of humor and the love he has not only for us, but for other members of our family. Papa Choo Choo, Opa and Grande have been so generous in helping us with Lukas this year. What they probably weren't expecting was how much of a bond would form between them. Lukas has never cried when I walked out the door, leaving him with one of his grandparents. Lukas & Jordi are also becoming fast friends, equally bothering and entertaining one another. Lukas tries to avoid Jordi's licks while Jordi tries to avoid the inevitable ear tug. I'm pretty proud of Jordi for learning to put up with this abuse and wait for me to help him. This week, I started working from home which means I get to spend a lot more time with Lukas. After a really really hard year, all is right with the world.

Swimming at McGeorge Pool!

Lukas enjoyed the Mcgeorge School of Law Pool which Andrew has access to as an alum. Glad we get something tangible and fun out of all that very expensive law school tuition! It is so nice to have a "neighborhood" pool to go to. We were able to load up the BOB and walk there as a family. This was Lukas' first time in a full size pool and he loved it! I was really proud of how well he did -- I think we will have to do some swim lessons in the fall.

On a side note, Andrew may have tucked a PBR or 2 into the stroller so we'd have drinks poolside...no big vacations for us this summer, but this was as close to Mexico as we've gotten in a while!

4th of July

We spent Lukas' first 4th of July with Ann, Kathy, Jerry and Jeannie in Santa Cruz. Kathy and Ann spoiled us by making dinner both nights we were down. It was so nice not to have to do anything!! Lukas was right at home with his family and loved all the attention. His Opa helped us out a lot that weekend. I hope we make it back every year for the 4th!

Solids

A picture is worth a thousand words! Lukas is still unsure if he likes solids. His favorite foods are peas & brown rice, pears and bananas from the jar. We have also given homemade sweet potatoes and yogurt a try this week and he has liked both. He was not such a fan of the quinoa and zucchini I made for him from scratch tonight. Nor did he like the very expensive organic blueberries I painstakingly boiled and made a syrup out of for him.In fact, he spit both of them all over me. Oh well. I tried Lukas. No one will ever say I didn't try to feed you healthy, wholesome food!

Lukas & Dada

Andrew and Lukas have a really amazing bond. They not only look alike but Lukas lights up when his dada walks into the room. And Andrew lights up too. I love watching these two together.

Crawling

Lukas has mastered his army crawl over the past several weeks. He loves to follow us around the house, ask to be picked up and then ask to be put down again so he can crawl some more. One of his favorite things to do in the morning is to crawl over to Jordi's house and say good morning. Not so sure how much Jordi enjoys sharing the floor with Lukas. He seems a bit annoyed by the whole thing. But he is very protective when Lukas is on the floor and our neighbors dogs come over to play. He pretends to be annoyed but really loves Lukas. I have a feeling these two are going to start getting into a lot of trouble together!

Our little swinger

Yesterday Andrew left for Seattle for work and Lukas and I decided to have a little evening activity at the park. He enjoyed the swing and then eating a little bit of sand. I can't wait to go back to the same park so we can enjoy the wading pool. Sacramento is such a great place to live with all the parks. I've been waiting to have a little baby boy to go to the park with for a long time. I'm a happy mama.