Pool Progress

The pool is coming together and everytime they work on it I feel like we are so much closer to swimming! Thursday they did the tile, yesterday they did all the coping and stone work, and today they are doing the plumbing!

Isaac asks me daily, "Is there water in the pool yet? Can we swim today?" I'm thankful he's so excited about it...it's where we will spend the summer! So if you're in the area and have some free time, come on over, we'll be out back and we'd love to have your company! The more the merrier!!!

We have a 1 year old!

May 2011

May 2010

Our Sweet Luke turned one this week, and I think I'm still in denial. ;-) The first year is tough, but it's also so special and sweet. I am in awe of my little one and the toddler he is becoming. He is full of energy and spunk, but also full of love and kisses. He goes nonstop, chasing his brother all day, and exploring all the new things he can find. He is a curious boy, he wants to know what everything is and how it tastes. Yes, how it tastes, everything goes in his mouth...pineneedles, pollen, toys, food, everything! Ha! He also loves to crawl quickly over to give kisses and hugs, but they are brief and he's off again to explore and play. He is still crawling, I think he's decided there's no reason to walk, he can crawl fast and get everywhere he wants. He walks really well when holding someone's hand or pushing a walking toy, but as soon as he's free he sits down and crawls. He is a climber, major climber! Thankfully he's really good, he rarely falls when climbing, but he sure scares me often. He climbs on toys that are meant for climbing, he climbs on kid size furniture, he climbs on the fireplace hearth (argh!), he climbs the stairs (perfectly!), and he climbs anywhere else we will let him. He wants to be independent, he will let us feed him for a little bit, but then he gets mad and wants to do it alone...so I'm trying to find a variety of tasty fingerfoods for him. He has 5 teeth (3 on top, 2 on the bottom), but two more are trying to break through. We are currently weaning him from the bottle, he only gets one before bedtime these days. He is doing great with his sippy cup, he will drink milk and water from it. The pacifier is also being phased out, only at naptime now, which he has gotten used to and is handling well. Luke is definitely a Griffin boy, he loves anything with wheels...he is almost always pushing around a toy car, sometimes small and sometimes 5 times as big as him. He also likes to take things out of containers and then put them back in, so we do a lot of that these days. He still thoroughly enjoys swinging, we spend a good amount of time outside on the swing every day. He has graduated from his infant carseat, not due to size, he still fits in it, but due to the fact that he wants to face the front. He was starting to throw a fit anytime I'd put him in the car, and then I realized it was probably because he's bored and lonely. So we bought him a big boy carseat, installed it next to Isaac's, and now he's a happy traveler again! If he does get even a little bit upset Isaac holds his hand to make him happy...and it works everytime. It is the most precious thing to look back and see them back there holding hands and smiling. Luke adores Isaac, he wants to be with him at all times. He often crawls to hug and kiss him, which looks more like he's tackling him, but it's all in love. Isaac doesn't mind, he's a cuddler, too, so they share a moment before they're off to play. His stranger anxiety is lessening, he does well now with friends and family, which is a huge improvement. But if we see someone new he is sure to give them his serious look and check them out for a while before smiling or waving.

My Luke is still a peanut, but I don't mind a bit. He wears 6-9 month clothes, and is just too cute. Strangers are always suprised by his age, I love to see the look on their faces when I say he's a year old.

Luke's 1st Birthday!

Today is Peanut's first birthday! I can't believe it, where did the year go!?! He is such a joy...we love him so much! I don't have time to write much now, so I will write a full update on him later!

Mother's Day Tea

All lined up and ready to sing.

Showing me the cookie he made (I don't know why this picture is the wrong way, sorry).

Me and my boy!

Today was a special day for me and Isaac, our first Mother's Day Tea at his school. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was much better than I imagined! They started the event with a small program in the sanctuary, during which all of the preschool kids got on stage and sang 4 songs to us, all about Mommy. After that we headed to the classroom for tea, water, and cookies! Isaac made me a cookie with red sprinkles, and made one for himself with multicolored sprinkles. He also made me a beautiful card with flowers (his fingerprints were the petals), and the front of the card read "I love you bunches!" The inside read, "Happy Mother's Day! Love, Isaac" They died carnations pink and blue, the teacher let them choose what color they wanted to give their mamas, Isaac picked a blue one and oh so sweetly said to me, "I love you." Later, he told me he gave me a blue flower because it matched the blue shirt I was wearing.
I know it doesn't sound like much, but this was a special day, one that I will always remember!

Day Three

Yesterday's work was the pipes (plumbing).

Isaac in front of the pool as they were shooting the gunite. (Day 3)

Day 3's finished product.

I still can't believe this is all happening in my backyard...

Yesterday, was not an exciting day, they did the stub out plumbing. It's not exciting, but I included a picture.

Today, however, was a fun day! Today they did the gunite, which makes it look more like a real pool! They drove three big trucks over, which were the gunite trucks, I guess you'd call them. Isaac couldn't decide if they were concrete trucks or tanker trucks. They were loud, so he was scared of them at first. Eventually he came around and was brave enough to go out. Those trucks stayed in the street and they ran a big hose to the backyard and into the pool. It looked like such an exhausting job! It took them about 4.5 hours to do today's work, they worked diligently. Isaac is ready to fill it with water and start swimming, but sadly he will have to wait a little longer.
Carl has been gone for the first three days of the pool process, so he has missed all of the fun stuff. I'm so bummed for him, I know he would have loved to see all of this. I tried to do my best to help him feel involved, I took lots of pictures which I e-mailed and texted to him.

Day One

This is what it looked like at the end of the day!

It was a big day over here today, and they were all very curious about all the activity going on in the backyard. It was funny to watch them look out the window and keep an eye on what the workers were doing. I can't believe how fast they worked and how much they got done today! The hole was dug in 3 hours! And the steel was laid in about 3 hours! It's so exciting to see it all coming together...I am still in disbelief that it is happening in my backyard...I am so thankful!

Milestones

Climbing up the rock wall...

...ready to slide down!

This has been a big couple of weeks for Luke, he is growing and maturing daily, and in the last couple of weeks he has hit some big milestones. The first thing is that we lowered his bed to it's lowest level, which is crazy that he's already to that point! We have limited the pacifier to only at nap time, which has gone easier than I expected, but I know he misses it. He hangs on tight to it when he wakes up from his nap, but eventually gives it up. And just this week I weaned him from breastfeeding. I had planned on going to his first birthday and then stopping shortly after, but I got sick with the flu this week, which meant I was forced to take medicine and while I could still pump and dump to keep up with my supply, I decided it would be a good time to wean him. He was away from me for two complete days because I didn't want him getting sick, and while that was hard for all of us I think it helped with the weaning. Tonight he finished his last bottle of my frozen supply, so as of tomorrow he is officially done...only cow's milk for him. Wow! Of course this is a day I've been waiting for, the day I get my body back, and other people can meet his nutrional needs, but it's been harder for me than I expected. I am sad to not share that special time with him any more, to not be the one he needs for food (I know that is contradicting what I just said), and knowing that I may never nurse again (we are still undecided on baby #3) is making this time more difficult than I expected.

One more thing he has conquered this week is the slide and rockwall in the playroom. I know it's not a big deal in life's big scheme, but he loves it and I can't believe he's climbing and sliding all by himself already!