Luca at 15 months (ish)

Naps: Make that nap! Down to mostly one nap a day, sometime after 11:00 am and for 2-3 hours. 

Feeding/Eating: He loves to eat and will eat mostly what we eat. Bananas are by far his favorite, and really, all fruit is very popular. He's able to do things like eat a whole pluot by biting into it and seems so big! We work on the silverware eating at that is hit or miss, sometimes ending with thrown forks and being "all done." 

Clothing: He's still wearing some Carter's onesies that are 6 month but mostly 9 month sizes are in the rotation. Some 12 month clothes, especially footie PJs. A lot of the summer clothes we have are either gifts or hand me downs so I haven't had to buy much for quite some time. And now he wears size 4 shoes. And boy does he LOVE shoes. He likes to be wearing his and/or carrying a pair around. And he's pretty adament about getting Matt and my shoes and carrying them to us even when we really don't want them. He prefers Matt's bright green running shoes and my plasticy silver flip flops. But at least he understands the concept of pairs and mostly brings us pairs and mostly brings the right shoes to the right person. 

He's still pretty slight despite how much he likes to eat!  

He also really likes hats. He will chose to wear a hat around the house and mostly leaves it on, or takes it off only to put it back on. This morning he even saw my visor and said "hat" and insisted I put it on.

Bedtime: Luca goes to sleep anywhere from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. We still rock him to sleep but are trying to put him down before he's completely out at least some of the time so he can learn to soothe himself to bed. 

Sleeping: He's capable of sleeping through the night but doesn't always do so. He was REALLY sick for a week and we let him come to bed with us when he awoke upset and not feeling well. So then we had to break that habit but we're mostly there. Now he may wake up in the middle of the night but we let him work it out and he's normally back asleep within 15 minutes.

Teeth: Eight full chompers in the front and molars are at the surface. Can't wait for those molars to get through!

Development: So much development! He's walking all over, can comprehend lots of what we're saying and will respond to instruction. The earliest signs of this were with food...being able to sign more and hungry and now he pushes his high chair to you if he wants to eat and walks to the fridge and grunts if he wants his milk. (We're working on words to pair with those!) He still really likes books and is favoring the ones that have some element of interaction like a pop up, texture, moving parts, etc. He also really likes his 100 words books so we spend time pointing at things and naming them. 

On August 11 he started the transition to the Toddler Room at daycare and he's SO ready. He has jumped right in to the morning routine with the "big" kids and seems to really enjoy it. And it totally wore him out on the first two days so he was happy to take a nap in the infant room. The transition has also seemed to encourage his vocal development. He was a regular chatter bug since his first morning with the toddlers.

Personality: Luca is still really laid back. The most fired up he gets is around water. He got his first goose egg on his forehead when he tried to run to a splash pad to play in the water. And at the Kelly's he was so vigorously splashing that Finn was upset by it. We did swim lessons with him at the YMCA and he was the splashiest, happiest kid there. 

He shows his toddler-ness though, occasionally throwing himself on the ground, arching his back, grunting at us, etc. And continually splashing in the dogs' water bowl no matter how many times we say no. 

Mama/Daddy update: Matt and I are doing well. Matt is in summer mode so he's pretty laid back and works from home a lot to help us juggle the dogs, and life in general, a little easier. Sometimes I think we're crazy to have added Frenzy to the mix but we love her and she's such a sweetie. Hopefully Bounce likes the change as that was our biggest hope! 

I've been really stressed with work and trying to stay positive which just makes me appreciate my home life and Luca even more. Poor Matt just has to be my sounding board as I process all of the changes. I've been trying to keep up the workouts to balance things but am only running 3-4 miles per run. I did a strict diet/cleanse that helped me drop some stubborn weight so that's been a definite plus!

Matt is training for a half marathon and is really rocking his runs. It's the most serious he's been about this training and I'm so excited to see that paying off.

He needs privacy, okay?

One of Luca's signature moves lately is shutting the door. He'll toddle off to his room and you can bet that a few seconds later you will hear the door slam shut. I can just picture how this might happen all over again when he's a teen and wants his own space.

Fortunately for us, he's happy if you go in his room with him and he shuts the door with you both in the room to play without interruptions. 

My first half marathon - lessons learned

On June 1, 2014 I ran 13.1 miles for the first time in the Windermere Half Marathon in Spokane. I'm certainly glad I did it but I have to say it was hard. Here's what I learned...

What I will do again

• Train with friends. I had Linda and Sarah to run with during work lunch breaks and Brenna to run my long runs with on the weekends and that was key for successful training.
• Race with friend(s). I had Brenna by my side for the race and for that I am so grateful. It meant I had someone to anxiously wait with before the race and someone to push me when I wanted to quit during the race.
• Recruit cheerleaders. We had Matt, Luca, Colin, Evelyn, Ciaran and Finn following along the course with us and then I say other friends along the way which just gives you that added boost of energy every so often. 
• Hang with the right people. I have to thank Matt for being such a good support during my training and for being so proud of me. And thank people like Linda who kept me accountable and reminded me to have fun with it. So grateful.

What I will do differently

• Start with base mileage. I went from running 0 miles to 13.1 in twelve weeks and that was a lot for my body to handle. If I had been running at least 5 miles on a regular basis before my training plan started, I would have been much better off.
• Run more. I followed Hal Higdon's Novice 2 Training Plan and it was good, it did get me across the finish line, but I'd add more week day mileage to go along with the long runs and probably stretch it out to be longer than 12 weeks so I could have more than one week running distances like 10-12 miles. I felt GREAT six miles in and wanted to quit at 10/11 miles so I want to push it so the feeling I had at six miles lasts longer into the race.
• Eat differently. I don't know what the magic combination is for me leading up to my race day but my stomach could have been much better off than it was for this race. 
• Break the rules. I stupidly didn't wear headphones for the race since the race rules say they are discouraged. Never again.
  

Our laid back babe

The most common thing we hear about Luca from our friends that see him regularly? How laid back he is. And we happen to degree (and have no complaints!). When we are out and about he is really calm and seems to enjoy just soaking it all in. And then when we are pushing him in the stroller, he takes on full relaxation mode and props his arms and feet up like he is in a recliner. Here he is just lounging and casually munching on watermelon. Love my laid back babe. 

Meet Frenzy

We've wanted another Wheaten for awhile so Bounce could have a buddy but the timing just didn't work out the past two summers. We figured this was the summer to do it so Matt can work from home and keep an eye on the dogs. On May 18 I emailed Bounce's breeder who happens to be in South Carolina to see if she expected any puppies this summer. Three days later I heard back from her that puppies are available NOW. The next thing I knew, we had coordinated with her to get a female Wheaten Terrier puppy during our trip to Washington DC so she could fly home in the cabin with us.

I was ready for a puppy, but wasn't ready for it to happen that fast! But now she's here and is the perfect match for our family.

The night we got her. Matt picked Frenzy out between the two females available.

Bounce and Frenzy meet for the first time.

Frenzy likes to follow and chase Bounce.

Bounce approves.

Frenzy - 13 weeks old.

Buds

It just warms my heart to see how quickly Bounce and Frenzy seemed to bond. You definitely see breed similarities in their personalities, like being trouble makers who love to get muddy. Ultimately I think it's great that Bounce has a friend but we are in trouble!

Luca's 12 month update

Well we officially have a one year old, which completely blows my mind, but I'm learning to accept it. And here's the snapshot into our little guy at 12 months.

Naps: Still at two naps a day.

Feeding/Eating: At one year we are making the transition to cow's milk. Right now we're still giving him a bottle of formula in the morning and before bed. That'll probably stop in the next week or so. I won't miss formula at all but I'm sad about giving up the bottle as silly as that sounds. Luca seems to have a sensitivity to milk (like his Mama) and has a rash from it around his mouth. Not sure what we'll end up doing about it, we're just watching it for now. And he had no reaction to peanut butter other than loving it. And honey is officially in the menu mix now too.

Clothing: Pretty consistently in 9 month clothes. And I'm excited to transition to summer clothes if it would ever warm up in Spokane!

Bedtime: Between 8 and 9 pm

Sleeping: After vacation and with teething, Luca's nighttime sleep was disrupted but he seems to have gone back to sleeping through the night again. Although on those few nights that he wakes up, I try and enjoy the midnight snuggles as much as possible!

Teeth: He has three cute front teeth and surprisingly the fourth (second top tooth) is really taking it's time but you can see it is getting close.

Development: Luca's primary mode of getting around is still crawling. He is getting really steady on his feet though. On April 15 he took two small steps unassisted. Brenda, his pediatrician was over for his well visit, and he just didn't think about it and took the steps to get to me. You can tell every other time he could walk, he thinks about it too much to just go for it. (Telling of his personality perhaps?)

After work on April 22, Luca was having so much fun playing with is laundry hamper that he was standing and clapping simultaneously and just balancing on his own.

He still doesn't talk a ton but he is getting better at repeating sounds. He says "Hi" and seems to understand how/when to use it. He also kind of gets "uh oh" in the right context.

He claps even more often than last month. And he blows kisses which he learned at daycare and completely surprised us with when he saw him blowing kisses to one of the other parents in the room.


Personality: Luca is very smiley and happy in general. One of my favorite things is getting him out of the car. He knows when the car is stopped and you're walking around the car to get him and has a perm-a-grin on his face waiting for you when you open the door. It melts me every single time.

He is still showing his social side. At daycare they say he loves when new people come in the room. And he likes playing with his friends so much that sometimes has to be calmed down a bit. He's had a few times where we've seen him really favor men, though I'm the exception as he'll always go to me too (thank goodness - I'd cry otherwise!). At my office the other day he was determined to only be held by the men in the office, aka, my boss. Silly kid.

His cousins were in town for his birthday and doted on him like crazy. He loved every second of it. Even his mealtimes were full of cousins dancing, singing and/or talking to him.

While he's still laid back, we're certainly seeing a change at this age as he gets busier and busier. He gets pretty determined to do something, most frequently it's to splash in Bounce's dog bowl.

Mama/Daddy update: We're keeping busy, that's for sure! Matt is in the race to the end of the semester for work so he's had a busy month with advising and is already looking ahead to a busy summer as he preps for and then teaches an intensive summer course. And I'm actually in a quiet place at work that allows me to get projects done. And my work is ramping up to be busy in a completely exciting way so I find that energizing.

I am currently training for my first half marathon on June 1 in Spokane. That's been time consuming and a bit exhausting at times but really good for me overall. And Matt seems to be motivated by all the runners in our lives and is picking up his mileage and pace. Last Sunday we each ran 8 miles which is up from the 3 SLOW miles we ran together in March.

Oh, and we hired someone to clean our house once a month and the landscape service begins next week so we're really treating ourselves to some splurges to keep ourselves more sane. I seriously can't wait to see the house clean on Monday and not from my own doing!

Standing Steady

Luca is getting steady on his feet...until he falls. But he is successfully standing and clapping at the same time!