Mother's Day

This year for Mother's Day Sarah drove to Charlotte for the weekend. It was such a nice weekend- low key, full of love and lots of laughs.

On Friday Sarah arrived around lunch time (which means she woke up super early in the morning in order to get here that early in the day- props to her, especially since since she is by far the worst morning person I've ever known. I say that with all the love in my heart Sarah.) After she arrived and we hugged with our eyes closed for an awkwardly long (for those around us) period of time we went out to lunch. Lee and Luca met us at the office (where my mom, dad, and I work).

After lunch Sarah and I drove to Starbucks to grab double chocolatey chip frappuccinos before we headed to get pedicures. Sarah is the sweetest and treated me to such a nice afternoon in honor of Mother's Day. It was really nice to have my toe nails painted (they were not looking so hot) but it was also so nice to be able to have one on one time with Sarah. We don't get to do that as often as we would like since we live in two different cities now, so I savored each moment with her.

After we got our pedicures Sarah and I headed back to my house so we could play with Luca. After some serious play time, I put Luca to bed and headed over to my parents house to watch a movie with my mom and Sarah (my dad and Josh opted out for some reason). It was so much fun to laugh, to cry,  and to pause the movie way too many times for snack and bathroom breaks. It was the kind of night that used to be the norm for us. But since it is now the kind of night that is very rare, I have learned to cherish it even more.

My parents had blue painter's tape on their floors to show their builder areas that needed to get fixed. This area of tape just happened to be in the shape of a tic-tac-toe board so how could we not play a few games?

On Saturday Lee, Luca and I went out to lunch and then headed over to my parents to hang out and let Luca play in their yard. To be completely honest, I had this idea in my head of how I wanted the weekend to go/things I wanted to do with Luca. I knew Sunday would be a short day so I wanted to do something we wouldn't normally do on Saturday.  Sometimes I think I get caught up in creating special moments by doing fun, one of a kind things when in reality the special moments are those we live every day. Watching Luca get excited by the water fountains or stop to sniff every flower lining the walkway or the smile he gets when he sees a milkshake treat and he knows he is going to get a bite- those are the moments that matter. Those are the moments that make life full, moments that I will cherish and hold close to my heart forever. Moments that make life so sweet and remind me of the beauty of motherhood.

The Saturday before Mother's Day was full of those moments and it was absolutely perfect.

(It doesn't matter how many times he has seen the same fountain, you would think each time was his first time.)

After an afternoon full of playing in the dirt pile, running, leaf blowing/mowing, roller coaster rides, giggling, bending down to look at different bugs- Lee left to bring Luca home to go to bed and my mom, Sarah, and I left for the Needtobreathe concert.

For someone who loves playing in the dirt, he really doesn't like when the dirt gets in his shoes. 

The concert was so, so much fun. Colony House, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, Ben Rector, and Needtobreathe played. Sarah works for the management company for Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors so she hooked us up with some free lawn tickets. After Ben Rector played, Sarah's friend who is also the manager of Colony House hooked us up with some VIP box seat tickets. The VIP box seats were incredible- we were so much closer to the stage and we also had more room to dance. All the performers put on a great show and it was so nice to be able to spend that time with my mom (and sister) in honor of Mother's Day. The only thing that would've made it better is if H were able to be there with us.

Funny story:  After Drew played "Here We Go" I thought it would be appropriate to tell the guys that were sitting in front of us that my sister was in Drew's music video for the song he just played. They were so excited, so they all took out their phones and watched and we all cheered when Sarah/the bottle of ketchup got .2 seconds of camera time during the video (which you can watch here). Sarah loved that I drew such attention to her. She will thank me someday. (I had to document this moment by snapping this creeper picture because I knew Lee would be so proud of me, since he is always trying to get Sarah a boyfriend.)

VIP seats!

Bear's surprise performance for the people on the lawn just happened to be directly behind our box seats. 

On Sunday, Lee, Luca, and I had a low key morning just hanging out. We took our time getting ready and eating breakfast together. After we were all ready we went over to my parents house to have Mother's Day lunch with my mom (my dad, Sarah, and Josh too). We spent the majority of our time together playing with Luca and following him from activity to activity. Late in the afternoon, Lee and I left because we were serving at church that night.

The first Mother's Day card that Luca picked out for me (mostly) by himself.

(more playing in that dirt pile!)

I feel like the picture above captures what motherhood looks like: pretending to make a leaf blower noise with a wiffle ball bat while your son "mows" the lawn beside you. 

THOSE CURLS! 

This smile is my favorite. 

It felt a little strange leaving my child on Mother's Day to go serve at church. I struggled with it a bit, to be completely honest. But the more I thought about it the more I felt strongly about doing it instead of telling them I couldn't be there (which I thought about doing multiple times). While it made for less time with my boy, I felt like it was something I needed to do. There are so many things I want to teach Luca and I think a lot of the things that I want him to learn I can't tell him, I have to show him. When he sees me, I want him to see a woman who loves the Lord with her whole heart, a woman that serves others with a genuine smile and big heart, a woman that has compassion for others like Jesus did, a woman who honors her commitments even when she doesn't always feel like it- all traits that I pray he harbors in his heart and exhibits in his own life someday. Traits that I pray he values so deeply and looks for in his future bride. So while I didn't love the idea of leaving him, I told myself that the example I long to set for him far outweighed my selfish desires.

The weight of being a mother is a heavy load, but it is one that is an honor to carry. I am so thankful that I get to be Luca's mother. I am also so thankful that I was blessed with a mother that taught me the lessons I long to teach Luca.

Luca Lately (almost 2)

When do people stop telling their child's age in months? I always felt like after your child turned one was appropriate. Until I had Luca and moms at the park would ask how old he was and when I responded with "he's one" their confused stares that were practically begging me to give them more information said otherwise. So I would quickly add, "he's 16.5 months" in order to end the awkwardness.

So maybe it's more socially acceptable after 18 months? That's when I stopped keeping track at least. Because then I started to look more like a mom who doesn't know her sons age when asked because I would say, "what day is today? well let's see- August, September, October..." Because I can barely remember to brush my hair let alone remember what day of the month it is or better yet whether or not my child is 16, 16.5, or 17 months old. He's one, one and a half, almost 2, and then 2. 

Anyway, all that to say here is what Luca has been up to lately. He is currently 2 months and 8 days away from turning 2 (I may or may not have used my fingers to figure that one out).

- he is a very picky eater. He doesn't like to try new things, and he also doesn't like to eat the same things over and over again. Which poses quite the dilemma. He really enjoys the spinach, raspberry and greek yogurt Plum pouches. He would eat those all day every day if we let him. He also loves his  Annie's bunnies, Annie's fruit snacks, oatmeal, and yogurt. These foods seem to be ones he never gets sick of, no matter how often he eats them. Some foods that he likes but only every so often are strawberries, cottage cheese, peanut butter sandwich on cinnamon bread, toast, and Annie's mac and cheese. 

- we have never given him juice- the only thing he ever drinks is water and occasionally (but rarely) milk. He likes milk, but doesn't like to drink it from a cup. 

- we have noticed that when we give Luca sweets he gets really, really grumpy after the sugar high has worn off. Needless to say we try not to give him sweets very often so we can avoid the meltdowns that are inevitable a few hours later (and of course the unhealthy sugar). 

- in the past few weeks Luca has decided he hates napping in his crib. We know he is tired and needs to nap, and he will, just not in his crib. He will nap in your arms or in the car, but if you move him to his crib or try laying him down for a nap- it's game over. He sleeps wonderfully at night though- from 7/730 pm to 730/8 am. He tends to sleep in on the weekends which we very much appreciate (even though his bedtime is the same). 

- he has recently become obsessed with lawn mowers, weed whackers, and leaf/grass blowers. He LOVES when the landscapers come to take care of our neighborhood. He will stand in the window and watch for hours. 

- Luca has a plastic tee ball stand that he received for Christmas this year. A few weeks ago he took the pole that the ball sits on off of the stand and started going around the house making a loud "uhhhhhhh" noise. He had a very serious look on his face too and it took me a minute to realize what he was doing. He was doing his own "leaf blowing" around the house. He loves to have you mow while he blows the grass, and then he will rotate roles. I couldn't believe how creative that was- he thought to do that all on his own. He still does it too- all day long. But now almost everything that sort of resembles a pole/stick is a leaf blower. 

- while he is busy mowing or leaf blowing, he will do this certain bounce/half dance/walk. It is the cutest thing- he bobs up and down and slightly side to side while he works. He has a hop in his step as he works tirelessly to get all the yard work done. 

-another activity he loves to do is "go to work". He will sit on his bike or push his mower/blower- he will wave goodbye, smile, say "love you!", sometimes give a kiss and then ride off. After his loop around the house he will come back in the room beaming and expects to hear "how was work? did you have a good day?" and then he laughs and laughs. 

- Luca has learned how to schmooze. He knows that his smile with the nose scrunch and head tilt just melts us. It may or may not work most of the time. 

- he has began to really understand humor. He will do something intentionally to make us or himself laugh, and truly understand what's going on. 

- he doesn't say many words clearly. I keep trying not to worry or stress about it but it's hard not to. He says no and yes clearly- with beginning and ending sounds. Lee and I have noticed that he is saying more and he's also saying new sounds which is good, but they aren't always real, complete words. 

- we can't bring ourselves to cut his hair. I can acknowledge that from certain angles it appears as though he has a mullet. But those curls! I just can't do it. And believe it or not, Lee is more adamant about not cutting his hair than I am. 

- Luca is the high maintenance child in his class at church. He likes to be held and is a bit needy as he doesn't like going and being away from us. I was called out of church once because he wouldn't calm down after an hour or so of non stop crying. His teachers always reassure us that he (usually) calms down and plays well and so I cling to that after they pry him from my arms while he's screaming. And I also pray over him and the workers as I am walking away, in an attempt to keep myself from running back to get him saying "We'll just watch church from home, thanks!"

- Luca loves to play hide and seek. He loves to be chased, he laughs and squeals and if I could just bottle that noise up to listen to on repeat for the rest of my life I would be one happy momma. Sometimes when he is being chased he will run into your arms and will curl his arms and legs around you as he laughs and is giddy with anticipation.  

- Luca also likes to play the "pretend you're sleeping!" game. I started typing out what the game is exactly but it made my siblings and I seem a little crazy. So I will just simply state he likes to play that game, and I will know what it means when I look back on this post in the future.

- Luca still loves books. He will randomly grab them during the day and we always read multiple books before bed each night. 

- I love our nighttime routine. We usually put him to bed together, which I love. Here's what our night usually looks like: Luca and I run upstairs ahead of lee and hide, which Luca finds hilarious. Lee will find us or we jump out to "scare" him, we get Luca in a new diaper and in his sleep sack, then we read a bible story and a few other books. We say Luca's prayers, rock him for a few minutes, then lay him down in his crib whispering "I love you" as he waves and whispers "love you" back. It is hands down the best part of my day, every day. I love our routine, I love the snuggles, I love the bond the three of us share, I love teaching our boy about Jesus, I love all of it- every single part. 

Easter cuteness!

Luca got a new bike and helmet for Easter from Nana and Pops. He wore that helmet around the house for days.

He got first first scraped knee this month. :( Poor guy. We learned after this injury how dramatic our boy is. He still points to his knee and says "boo" even though it is completely healed and has been for weeks. He also limped and walked by dragging his leg behind him while the cut was fresh. I have no idea where he gets his tendency towards the dramatics from...

Sometimes Lee and Luca FaceTime me while I am at work. Which, of course, is the best surprise.

Eating with utensils like a big boy! 

A king on his throne (that he demanded I stack high before he sat down).

Kid bowling with Dad!

One of Luca's jokes is to "forget" to open the straw and pretend to drink. He thinks it's hilarious and does it daily. 

I see so much of my brother (left) in Luca. So H texted the picture above. And I said something about  how my son looks nothing like me and I am the one who carried him around inside of me for 40 weeks so H sent the picture below to make me feel a bit better. 

Doing some leaf blowing.

The above face is the one he makes while he makes the "uhhhh" leaf blower noise.

Sometimes Luca thinks it's funny to "blow" at mom. 

Lee took Luca to a new museum this day, this was Luca's favorite part of the trip

It's hard work but somebody's gotta do it. 

Just doing some mowing and blowing (the yellow wiffle ball bat is the honorary leaf blower at Nana and Pops house). 

I can't seem to use the bathroom in peace these days. Although, I wouldn't trade these interruptions for anything.

Sometimes Luca likes to hold my hand while we watch TV. And it's in these sweet moments that my heart does this weird thing where it feels like it might explode with love for this boy.

Another thing Luca likes to do is run. He will literally just run circles around the house, outside, anywhere. Not in a "I'm full of energy so this is how I will get it out" way. It's more of a "I like doing this fun activity and I would like for you to join me" way.

Auntie H always sends Luca a sticker and a card in the mail. Luca gets very excited to put the sticker on. Then take it off and put it back on. And repeat until the sticker is no longer sticky.

A house is being built next door to my parent's and Luca is beside himself with excitement. There have been diggers, tools, saws going and DIRT! 

Luca loves to smell flowers. In real life, in books- he is always pointing them out and then he makes the face below while sniffing them. 

This face and the kisses he gives are the best thing ever. 

Love my family, love my life. 

I am blessed beyond measure.