two months.

Time is flying by! I can't even believe our Luca loo is almost three months old! (I know, I am a bit behind on blogging. My mom was here for a couple of weeks recently and when she first got here I was telling her that sometimes the day goes by and it's 4:00 and I realize I haven't eaten lunch yet. I am not sure what exactly I do all day, but somehow the day seems to disappear and while my day is incredibly busy, I don't seem to get a whole lot done. My mom told me that was ridiculous and I needed to make time to eat. By the end of the week- she knew exactly what I was talking about. And after she babysat for us? She was saying the same thing.) 

Anyways, here is what happened in Luca's second month: 

- Luca took his first plane ride to CT. He did great on the airplane. He slept on the first flight to CT and on our connecting flight he was awake and smiling, looking all around. On our way home,  he did the same thing. He was either asleep or smiling. It was wonderful being home to see as many family members and friends as we could squeeze in. I will attempt to write a separate post about our trip. Expect it to be up sometime around Christmas. Just kidding. Or not. 

- While we were in CT, we had Luca dedicated. It was so incredibly special to dedicate our boy to The Lord in our home church by the pastor that married us. It was such a beautiful life moment that I will never forget. I will write a separate post for this too. 

 - Sarah visited again. She takes time off of work, drives from Nashville and gets to Charlotte around 11 pm on Friday night, and leaves on Sunday afternoon around 4. She makes this trip once a month. I am so grateful that she makes the time and sacrifices to come see us so often- even if it is for less than 48 hours.

- We brought Luca to church for the first time. I arranged to attend the campus and service time that I knew my friends would be volunteering in the nursery. It was really hard leaving him, and I still struggle with it each week. I definitely cried as we walked away that first time (or every time). I make Lee pray with me each week after we drop him off, and I keep my phone in hand the entire service. I know it's whats best for us, but it is still really hard. Thankfully for me, for his first nursery trip Sarah was in town. She blogged about it here. She wrote "life just feels a little easier when you have your best people by your side. even in the small moments, like leaving your baby under the care of people who aren't family". I couldn't have said it better myself. 

- Luca started smiling a ton! He is a very happy boy. His smile seriously lights up my world. 

- He started grunting while he was smiling- like a laugh, but not quite. Lee kept telling me that he thought a laugh was coming soon. 

- Lee was right! Luca finally laughed for the first time on September 18. Lee was on his way home from work and I was sitting on the couch talking to Luca as we waited for Lee to get home. While we were talking, he started laughing. I was so excited that I said loudly, "oh my gosh! you laughed!" and I scared him and he stopped laughing. Way to ruin the moment Tiffany.

- He started focusing on something and following it with his eyes this month. 

- He fights sleep so hard. He will scream and scream, and then all of a sudden he's out. 

- His favorite song is "Be Still" by The Fray.  He takes after his Auntie Sarah on that one. :) 

Here are a few photos:

Luca met the family that I used to work for. It was so nice to see them (I miss those kids like crazy), and it was also so sweet to see their excitement to meet Luca. They were so cute- of course wanting to touch him and hold him. I wasn't expecting Jack (who just turned 2) to be too interested, but let me tell you, he was so engaged and didn't really leave our side the entire visit. At one point, Luca started crying because he was hungry and Jack instantly went to hug him to try and comfort him (see the picture below). It was probably the sweetest thing I have ever seen. 

(above photo: first smiles I captured with my camera)

(cuddles with Layla)

(grumpy 2 month photo shoot)