Bouncy

Ian and Luke loved the bouncy and thanks to the cold & wet weather our foyer was transformed into a bouncy house! Ian bounced his heart out and it's probably one of our favorite gifts of all times!! Thanks Santa :)

Christmas Day

Christmas Day

Lots more family time on Christmas Day--and of course SANTA!!

Christmas

Boys on Christmas Eve in Knoxville

Merry Christmas

The boys were such a joy this holiday. Seeing Luke experience the everything and this year Ian really "got it" for Christmas. He understood the Santa, the giving and oh boy the receiving of gifts. He also started to understand that it's the season for the birth of Jesus. It is such a beautiful thing getting to experience everything again through the kids eyes!

Having fun at Dollywood

Hopefully one of our new Holiday traditions will be visiting Dollywood near the Smokey Mountains. Ian just love the park and it was decorated so wonderful with thousands of lights for this Christmas. We rode the carousel, the train, the tea cups and saw the Babes in Toyland play. It was so late but Ian watched every second of the play and had such a wonderful time. It was a great way to start our Holiday break!

Watch out NHL

Ian has always been fascinated with Hockey. Marco and I always thought it was because we were watching the Olympics hockey when I was in labor with him at the hospital but who knows. he had his first time on the ice and was a natural. He LOVED it and I think he even did better than his dad on the ice (Marco bit it a couple of times hee heee..). For over an hour, he went round and round the rink in Alpharetta--so much fun to watch. He swore to us after he put his shoes on that he WAS a hockey player. He is already missing his front tooth so he has the look down. We hope to take him to see the Thrashers this season and maybe see them practice one day! The Zamboni was also a huge hit!! He kept calling it the ice "schimene"?.?.?.?.

Luke slept all bundled up on the sidelines!!

The hot chocolate was also yummy after the skating.

I Can Stand

Luke took a big leap this week and decided to stand up in his crib and then the same day in his "box" (Dutch playpen)!! Watch out world -- my first steps are not far away!!

PS.. He was sooo sooo mad at us for not picking him up!

Little about Luke - almost 8 months

OK--before I start all my Christmas related posts (and it has been a busy 2 weeks so there are several) I realized that I haven't made many updates on Luke lately. Well--maybe I am still learning how to balance with both boys...

Luke had his six month visit at the end of November because Mommy was sick at his originally scheduled visit. He is growing so fast and was 28 inches and 16 lbs 15 oz. He was "ranked" at 50% for weight, 50% for head and 80% for height which means he is staying consistent with his growth. He did great and we talked AGAIN about his sleep or rather the lack of it. Tough love was the recommendation and out of desperation, I am going to do it. Otherwise a very happy and healthy little man!!

He is also making huge leaps-

• Full crawling now and can really move with the right motivation. He loves to follow Ian and to be right in the middle of anything that Ian is doing. He loves toys and most definitely anything that rolls (just like big brother) and hammers! Hitting is just so much fun if you are a boy.
• Pulling up and pushing up on anything that he can get on. He will also sit in his bouncy seat forever and goes nuts in it!
• Moves from a crawl to a full sit now and can go back and forth between the sit and crawl.
• He loves everyone--no strangers for this babe!
• His favorite thing is to be with Ian and really misses him when he has been away. Laughs at his brother all the time and is so ticklish.
• He is trying to wave and has mastered clapping. Along with the clapping we usually get shrieks of happiness (most think he is angry but it's all fun when he starts yelling).
• The crying fits have completely ended and we have taken him off the reflux medicines with huge success.
• His little tooth is finally finally here and it is a little bittersweet because the end of the baby toothless smiles are over! The lower right tooth came through around Dec 18th and now the left side is all puffy. Won't be long until he has two!!
• He ate his first crackers and waggon wheels this week and loves to have the finger food.

• And now maybe the most important milestone.. HE SLEEPS!!! Luke started sleeping through the night and is taking naps like a real baby! Marco and I are different people--sleep really is a beautiful thing for the WHOLE family. Great job Luke!!!

I am sure there are tons of things I am forgetting because he is changing so much right now.

Reindeer

Reindeer Sightings

We went to visit Santa's Reindeer today at Harry's Farmers Market and Ian loved seeing them up close. We talked to them, watched them eat and then had tons of questions for Santa about the reindeer. Ian went back to Santa three or four times with questions:

• What do the reindeer eat?
• How do you get the reindeer to come to you?
• Why won't the reindeer listen?

It was so great!

We also went downtown to Centennial Park to check out the lights and to ice skate. Ian was so exited to try out the ice and practiced all afternoon on the carpet. It was so sweet!! The hot chocolate was actually the hit of the night and we had to even make a second run to get a second cup.

Thanksgiving Feast

Ian is just loving school this year and is making so many new friends. I am one of the class moms and get to help coordinate some of the class events and parties. It really is lots of fun to see the kiddos all together and they are such a well behaved group of 3 and 4 year old kiddos! For the Thanksgiving feast, each child could pick if they would be an Indian or a Pilgrim--Ian definitely wanted to be an Indian. He also made a great oreo cookie turkey for the desert.

More funny from Ian

Ian wanted to know why we would put baby Jesus in a nest! I guess a manger looks lots like a nest if you look close :)

Santa Visit

The boys met Santa earlier this month and did fabulous! Ian told him all the secrets and Luke did super when he sat in his lap. He really loved the big guy in red--Luke loves everyone!!

Little Lamb

Christmas Play

Ian had his Christmas Play at school today and was the cutest little lamb EVER!!! He did amazing and sang every song with the hand movements and all. Marco and I were so proud we could just burst watching him. He is quite the little performer!!

Pictures coming soon!! With more updates. I am having a WONDERFUL holdiay but just jumping from one event to another without many breathers. Marco leaves for Austrilia tomorrow and I'm going to Knoxville for several days. Hopefully a chance for a breather and to catch up a little. Christmas cards are coming but may just be here in time for the holiday!! I love this time of the year more than any other!!!

More funny

So anyone that knows us in the last 7 months knows how we have struggled with Luke's sleep. It's not been easy to get the little guy to take naps or sleep without waking 2-3 times per night. We are finally turning a corner with the sleep but not before I was almost committed!! Sometimes Ian and I talk funny about Luke and his sleep and I said that maybe we should just throw him away ! OK.. not my finest mother moment but we were just joking around. Later that night, Ian told Marco that I wanted to throw the baby in the trash but he just thinks we need to recycle him! Watch what you say but I am still laughing.


The neighbors behind our house have decided to decorate their house with lights in the back and on the deck. Ian peeked through the trees and decided the lights were monster eyes. (Monsters are actually getting a ton of discussion time in our family right now!) I asked Ian if it was a good monster and he said NO! He is a bad monster that wants to steal Christmas. I asked Ian if he would protect our Christmas and he said that he could until he was tired then I would have to do it. Then he told me that to scare the monster away, I would just have to tell him it was Halloween!

Funny things from Ian

Ian is getting more adorable by the day and his brain is on overdrive lately! I love it and here are some of my favorite conversations...

• When talking about Santa he had several revelations-- I asked him what he wanted ask for in his letter to Santa and he decided that Santa could just figure it out! He already knows everything else. (then he thought about it more and decided he should ask for something specific like Handy Manny tools)

• When we were figuring how Santa would get in the house he was very concerned that Santa would make a hole in the wall ! (maybe he knows how "handy" his dad is with home repair projects) And he wouldn't fit in the fire place. And landing on the roof--he wasn't convinced.

• Today he asked me for the first time who is God? and what does he look like? We talked for a while and then I told him God could look different to different people. He decided that God is Tall with Long Legs. Beautiful !!

• I just thought it was a great idea to get all the boys presents wrapped while they were with the grandparents and was so proud of myself. Well--not suprizing--this one bit me in the booty.. Ian was so upset he couldn't open them--grrrrr.... So I pimped Santa and told him that Daddy and I called Santa and he said that we couldn't open them until Christmas. Still so frustrated but I thought this one was won--yeah right. As we were in the car to go have dinner with Santa, he informed me that he would be asking Santa if he could open just one present... Smartie--called my bluff!!