A letter to my 3-year old

At my baby shower for Luke, my dear friend Joanna planned a wonderful activity where each person at the shower wrote a letter to Luke for us to open on a particular birthday. I have really looked forward to and enjoyed the letters that we have opened on each of his birthdays so far (and especially the one that my grandmother wrote for his BIRTHday that I read in the hospital after he arrived). What a fabulous idea.

I took two blank letters for ages 3 and 7 at the shower with every intention of sitting down to write them before Luke was ever born ... well, I never did write them.

So, the night before his birthday this year, I got out that blank letter for his 3rd birthday, and wrote him this letter:

Dear Luke,

On the eve of your 3rd birthday, I am finally sitting down to write you this letter, which was supposed to be done before you were born. The truth is: I had no idea what I wanted to tell my 3 year old little boy until now.

Luke, you are everything I could ever have hoped or wished for in a little boy. Before now I didn't know what kind of child would be my ideal, but I now know that he is you. You are perfect. A perfect 3 year old. You make us laugh so often; you are incredibly sweet and loving; you are wild and rambunctious; you are curious and inquisitive; you talk a ton...and then sometimes not at all; you challenge us (right now in particular, but I wouldn't want it any other way); you are incredibly CUTE and amazingly smart; you are the perfect boy for us.

Thank you for being you. Thank you for all of the joy you have brought us in the past 3 years - our lives and hearts have never felt so full. Happy Birthday, my sweet boy! I love you more than you can imagine.

XO and love,
Mommy

Smiles for Brother

Mia is completely in love with her big brother. I took these photos while he was chatting it up with her - too cute. You can just see the adoration and love for him in her eyes.

Brown bear

That's what I've been calling Luke lately ... and he just gets more brown by the day, lucky boy!

Poor Mia, she got Mommy's skin color. No sunbathing for her!

Green girl

This girl is going GREEN!


Yep, after being annoyed with the Pamper's debacle this year (the ridiculous levels of chemicals in their new and "improved," but not really improved, just cheaper to make, diapers), followed by a long quest for diapers that I liked as much as I liked the old Pampers swaddlers and cruisers, I finally came across Huggies Pure & Natural. They are great, but at $0.35 a piece, I hated to buy them and then watch them just be thrown away. Not to mention the impact on the environment (Really?! 500 years to decompose IF they are exposed to sunlight and in biodegradable plastic ... GROSS!).

I researched the cloth diaper options (SO many to choose from ... these aren't just your mom's/grandma's cloth diapers and pins anymore - think velcro closures, cute covers, and even ones that you use once and then throw the whole thing in the wash!), and ended up ordering a trial pack through the "Changing Diapers, Changing Minds" program at Jillian's Drawers. Essentially, they sent us a sampling of several different types and brands of cloth diapers to try risk free. We could keep the ones we like, return the ones we didn't for a full refund minus $10. It is a GREAT program for anyone considering cloth.



We have certainly found what we do and don't like, and I have returned some to Jillian's Drawers and have ordered our permanent stash! So, I guess despite my hesitation and concern over the time investment (YES, it is more time, but not much and completely manageable once you have the hang of it) and the whole swishing poopy diapers in the toilet thing, we are going green in the diapering world.



It doesn't hurt that Mia just looks so darn cute in them :)!

First Yankee Game

We took Luke to his first ever real baseball game yesterday. Of course, we couldn't see just any old team for his first game, it had to be the Yankees! Daddy bought tickets quite a long time ago when we knew that they would be in town playing the A's.

Our favorite A's fans, the Moore family, joined us for tailgating, the ballgame, and an evening of watching the Yankees WIN :).

Luke had fun, but didn't understand at first why we were sitting down ... he wanted to get out there and PLAY some baseball. Once the treats started rolling in, he was happy to be a wild man in the stands.

Aidan was so cute. He started the night telling me that he couldn't hug me because I was a Yankees fan, but ended it walking out of the stadium and saying, "Well, the Yankees ARE my 2nd favorite team." Too cute - love him!

Tailgating with his Togo's sandwich:

Buddies in opposing gear:

"Go Yankees!"

"JETER!"

The cotton candy has kicked in!

Morning snuggles

4th of July

We had a rough week or two in our house - with many (MANY) trips to the pediatrician to try to take care of Luke's case of pink eye that conveniently arrived while we were on vacation in southern California, two kids with runny noses and colds, and some sort of facial rash on Luke, it has been F.U.N. times, I tell you.

So, our intentions to get out and do something for the 4th were quickly squashed since both kids were pretty much at the peak of their colds and Luke's eyes still had not improved. We ended up just hanging out in the backyard for most of the day, eating a fantastic dinner of steak and crab legs, and having fun with the sparklers left over from our wedding.

It wasn't fancy, but still fun...

Oh, and yes, Luke is absolutely filthy and wearing only a t-shirt and underwear in these photos. Hey, that's just the way it was :)

Happy Half Birthday, Mia

Dear Mia,

Today you are 6 months old - hard to believe. First of all, I want you to know how much pure JOY you bring to our lives every day. You are such a sweet and easy baby, full of smiles and giggles. It's hard not to just smile every time I look at you.


You've been busy learning and growing (exact weight and length measurments to come after official appointment on Thursday). You learned to roll from back to tummy on Father's Day and have been rolling all over the place ever since. You are very close to being able to sit on your own - in the next few weeks I'm sure you'll be an official "sitter." You really love to make raspberries with your mouth, and you can certainly yell quite loud when you want us to know you are unhappy. You are very social and are happy to smile and "talk" to anyone who looks your direction. You continue to get Mommy up at night :( ... usually only once, but there are those nights here and there that you will surprise us by sleeping through, or waking up several times.

In the last week we have started giving you foods other than rice cereal. You love your food and are happy to try new things. Sometimes if we are eating and you aren't, you will let us know that you are NOT happy about it! Your first food other than cereal was avocado, followed by bananas, and then sweet potatoes. You like it all, but the sweet potatoes seem to be your favorite so far.


You are so cute right now because you are absolutely OBSESSED with your daddy. You just adore him. If he's in the room, you just want to look at him, smile at him, and let him know that you want his attention. Your favorite form of entertainment is your big brother - you love to watch him ... and he loves to make you laugh.

You light up our lives ... we LOVE you!

Love,

Mommy

Laguna Niguel

So, most who know me well know that I am blessed to have the best group of girlfriends EVER (okay, perhaps I'm biased ... but it is sort of true).  We have grown from 6 friends in college, to twelve adults and 9 kids (with 2 more on the way!).  We like to get together at least once a year as an entire group, but given our size, this is becoming increasingly more difficult.

Thankfully, Stephanie is an expert researcher.  Want to know something?  Need some statistics?  Just ask Steph!  So, it was clear that she was our girl when it came to finding and securing a place that would accommodate all of us this summer.

She found a great place in Laguna Niguel and it was decided, especially since we have so many kids who had never been, that Disneyland would be on the agenda.  Along with a little pre-baby celebrating for Joanna and Gina, pool time, and a birthday party for Peyton.

Brian, our resident photographer was on site, so we were well photographed.  Yes, I just narrowed down from over 2,000 pictures to come up with the ones left over for this post.

 

There was lots of playtime in and around the house:

Pretty girls Peyton and Mia

Tub mohawks

Friends forever (good thing!):  Luke and Jack (taking a whiz!)

Thomas the Tank Engine

Must be a very worrisome part of the Thomas episode!

"Troublesome trucks!"

Sweet friends Ava and Luke

Tons of swimming and hanging out by the pool:

Mommy and her sweet girl

Aidan

The boys with Gina

There was time to meet baby Zach:

There was girl time to celebrate the upcoming babies:

There was boy time (ummm ... yeah):

There was time to party with Birthday Girl Peyton:

umm, so do you think they may have had some sugar?

And then there was Disneyland!

Waiting in the first line of the day for Peter Pan

Poor Luke had what we soon realized was just about the worst case of pink eye that I have ever seen.  His eyes were bothering him, but he was such a trooper all day ... and we made an early morning visit the following day to the emergency drop in clinic.

Daddy and Luke on Dumbo

Riding the Carousel

Mommy and Luke on Casey Jr.

The ladies (minus Jess) in front of It's a Small World



Luke on Small World - he was completely enchanted

This is our mode of transportation

I thought we'd never make it to evening time at Disneyland, but right after lunch many of the kids  fell asleep (Mia slept in cat naps all day), which was key to us making it through the day and into the evening hours.

Mia and Gina take a break while Jack and Luke nap in their strollers

Luke's first request upon waking from his nap:  a lollipop

Steph, Darin, and Ava on the cars

Daddy and Luke drive their car

Jack and Mia

Teacups!

Watching the street parade

Aidan, Jack, Peyton, and Easton

A parade and a giant sized lollipop - what could be better?

Toby, Aidan, Jess, and Bailey

It's a Small World round 2

Luke got to choose his favorite ride of the day to repeat at the end of the day....he chose "It's a Small World"

Brian and Jack

Luke gets his ears!



We make it to the fireworks show

Luke and Mia both love watching the fireworks ... and I am amazed that we've stayed so late with such happy kids

All in all, it was a wonderful first Disneyland experience for Luke.  If you ask him his favorite parts, he'll tell you:  the parade, the lollipop, and "It's a Small World." 

What a great vacation.
 Great fun, great friends ... can't wait till next year :)!