Thursday, February 28, 2008

More video goodness

Mommy and Lucas playing in the chair.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Flapper

We haven't taken any new pictures in the last couple of days so I'm putting up a video from this past Sunday. It was taken right around the same time Lucas and I were playing with the new toy ottoman. I figured it would be a good example of why I've taken to calling Lucas "Flapper" lately. The kid LOVES to flap his arms. He does it in the bath, he does it on the floor, he does it while being changed; you name it, he flaps.



In other news, Lucas pulled himself up to a sitting position for the first time today. Okay, I also said that last week, but Marilu clarified afterwards that she had given him a little assistance. I wasn't aware of that when I wrote the entry and then forgot to mention it. Well, today, he went from a crawling position to sitting three separate times with no help from either parent. Now he just needs to figure out how to propel himself forward. And letting out a huge fart for propulsion doesn't count!

Last and least, I'll be out of town two weeks from today. I have a work trip down to Alexandria, Virginia (basically the Washington DC area), for 4-5 days sometime during the week of March 10th. Just figured I'd warn you now in case you were hoping for hundreds of picture updates of Lucas each day that week.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

The Week in Photos

Once again, this was a quiet week at home. We didn't really do much, and as such, not a lot of pictures got taken. Relatively speaking, of course. I still took more pictures in a week than I used to in a month, pre-baby. Here's some of the highlights from the week. As always, you can see more in the photo albums.

Here we see Mr. Man chowing down on some Cheerios while kicking back in his Bumbo. I keep thinking he's going to outgrow that soon since he has little tree trunks for thighs, but then kids twice his age are still able to use it so go figure.


Although he's good most of the time, Lucas can make a mess at mealtime with the best of them. It's hard to see it here, but he's smushed a bunch of cottage cheese on his tray.


Another Bumbo shot, but I'm including it since his expression amuses me.


Here we see the future superstar maraca player.


Saturday, Lucas got a visit from the girl who gave him his first kiss way back on July 4 (see here). Seven months later, Gwen seemed mostly concerned with what toys were available, and although she gave him a little kiss before she left, she also smacked him upside the head 2 or 3 times during the visit. Poor Lucas, your experiences with females aren't likely to get any better when you're an adult, I'm afraid to say. :)


Last week, we bought a storage ottoman to replace our coffee table downstairs (which has been moved to the end of our bed). This served two purposes. First, the edges are much softer so once Lucas is walking around, it will be much safer for him. Second, it gave us a place to put the mounds of toys that have been spreading across our floor like high tide coming in at Candyland. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to walk across the living room without stepping on something that then sings to you.

Today, Lucas first investigated it (with a little help getting up to that position)...


...and then he took a dip in the toy jacuzzi. Once again, with an ample amount of daddy help. :)


We wrap things up with the Deal boys playing with blocks together. Or more accurately, I'd stack them, and Lucas would reach over and knock them over, like the fist of an angry god.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Progress

No pictures tonight, but I have some updates on Lucas's "QUEST TO CRAWL!" There, now I've given it a name that would make FoxNews proud. He had two moments of note today. First off, this morning he actually got up on to his knees unaided while on his belly, which was a first, but before he could actually propel himself, he flattened his legs out again. So close. Then tonight, he was able to get himself into a sitting position from being on his belly. Once again, a first. Okay, so the latter isn't directly related to crawling, but it's still pretty cool.

It seems like there's some neat thing he's doing everyday lately. For instance, when I came down the stairs last week, he turned when he heard the stairs creak. I quickly ducked down so I was partially obscured by the couch. In the past, he would normally have just gone back to doing what he was doing, but now he's actually stretching to look around things so as I popped up a little, he was able to see me. And of course, I received that award-winning smile.

I tell ya, I never thought a kid would affect me this way, but damn, that little boy makes me happy. :)

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Mister Military

Just a couple of quick shots from yesterday and today since I'm feeling crappy and am going to bed really early (8:30ish versus my typical 1 AM).

Joe Cool and I in front of the mirror.


Here's Lucas's first time in his commando outfit. Watch out, bad guys!



And the little General signs off with a salute to the troops.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Happy Eight Month Old Day!

What a week! First, we have Valentine's Day, and today sees Lucas mark his 8th month in this wacky world. I'm going to go out on a limb and make the prediction that before his 9th month, you'll see video of the little guy crawling. He's SO close right now that I figure it can't be more than a week or two away. So keep your eyes peeled for that news. On a completely unrelated note, any idea where "keep your eyes peeled" came from? Man, that conjures up some pretty nasty images.

Here's a couple of pictures of Lucas from his big day.

I took Lucas for a ride down the stairs while he sat in the clothes hamper thingamabob. As you can tell in the following picture, he enjoyed the experience.


Later in the day, Lucas handled his very first football. Twenty-two years from now, when he's a star rookie in the NFL, he can look back to today as the moment the magic started. With any luck, when he's in the NFL, he won't attempt to eat the ball like he did today. :)


And finally, a video! Recently, our friends Wes and Kelly bought Lucas a little sports playset. Whenever you throw the basketball through the hoop, it plays some sound effects. Lucas hasn't really figured out the whole ball through the hoop thing yet, but he did realize that if you stick your hand in the hoop and push the lever, you can get the reward without any of that pesky work. Here we see him "cheating" at basketball.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day!

Best wishes from the little heart breakin' flirt! (gotta love the seasonal section at Babies R Us)



Tuesday, February 12, 2008

A Day in the Life

Thought I'd try something different this time around. In this post, we're going to take a look at a day in the life of little Lucas. Not one, not two, but FIVE videos of him from today plus a couple of photos. You don't even want to know how long it took to upload the videos on YouTube, that infernal service.

Before I get to that, I wanted to quickly mention that Lucas's health is fine. I probably should have mentioned this last night, since Marilu was able to get an appointment on Monday, but I guess I forgot. The doctor said his chest is clear and that the gurgling sound is coming from his esophagus area so it's likely just phlegm or something from his cold last week. Apparently, he's not completely over it yet. As for the eating and sleeping issues, it sounds like they are just typical baby problems, and she gave Marilu some tips on how to make life easier on all of us. So worry not, he's still a healthy baby boy!

Speaking of eating, let's kick off the multimedia extravaganza with two videos of Lucas attempting to eat watermelon by himself. He's never handled any food with the texture of watermelon, and as you'll see in the videos, he wasn't sure what to make of it.





We've been trying to teach Lucas how to crawl over the past few weeks, using a variety of different methods. Here, I think Marilu was resorting to the drag philosophy.


Moments later, I finally let Lucas handle the camera for the first time. Now that he's old enough to recognize things, I think he's fascinated by it since I've taken so many pictures of him. While I didn't let him have control of it totally, I showed what Lucas looks like from the camera's point of view. Hope you don't get motion sickness easily. :)



Later on, it was bath time! We finally got a good video of Lucas doing what he does best, going crazy in the bath tub. Since I don't want to have too many embarrassing videos of him for his future girlfriends, we helped keep him modest with a cloth over his lower parts.



Oh, who am I kidding? I can't help but take humiliating shots of him. This next video ought to get some good play a couple decades from now at his wedding reception. If, y'know, we still use videos and don't just beam things directly into our brains. Anyway, Lucas is hell bent on getting the Lion King book in the bathtub. He may not be able to crawl on the regular floor, but put some water under him, and he becomes a little motorboat.



And to wrap up the day, a parting shot from the bathtub. Hope you enjoyed your day with Lucas!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Highlights from last week

Although we're probably just being worried parents, Marilu is making an appointment for Lucas to see the doctor tomorrow. First off, his breathing has sounded pretty nasty at times for the last couple of weeks. It's very rough and it sounds almost gurgly from his chest. It's probably remnants of the cold he had last week, but better safe than sorry. For what it's worth, it doesn't seem to bother him so that's a good sign.

In addition, we've had a really hard time with both his sleeping and eating lately. For instance, it's rare for his naps to go much longer than a half hour nowadays, and at night, he seems to wake up every hour or so. The "letting him cry" solution didn't help so it can get a little frustrating having to go in there every 5-10 minutes between 1-3 AM since he apparently doesn't want to sleep. Then, throw in the fact that he wakes up around 5:30 sometimes, and it can be kind of rough on us, particularly Marilu since she's kind enough to get up most of the times.

As for the eating, Lucas is getting worse and worse and taking any liquid form of feeding. He has no problems with "solids," but getting him to drink formula or breastmilk out of a bottle or sippy cup can be a massive ordeal. He's a little bit better at actual breastfeeding, but that's probably not saying much. In addition, he tends to spit up at least half of whatever he drinks when it's not breastfed. So that led us to the conclusion that he could potentially be allergic to the stuff. Or something.

Anyway, we'll hopefully have an appointment early in the week, at which point I'll update you with his breathing, feeding, and sleeping diagnoses.

Onward to the pictures from the past week...

From last Saturday, you can see that while he can't stand by himself just yet (or crawl, for that matter), he sure doesn't mind the position.


You can never have too much of the bear outfit.


Last Sunday, we had a combined birthday party (for me) and Super Bowl party. Sure, things didn't turn out the way we would have liked (the Patriots lost, for those of you who don't follow football), but it was still a fun time with lots of friends and great eats.


Lucas even had the perfect bib for the occasion.


This next one isn't the most creative photo, but I wanted to take a shot from my typical perspective of the little man.


I had to include this next shot since it's one of those very rare times where the picture is of multiple babies and they are--gasp--cooperating with the photographer by actually looking at the camera. Here, Lucas poses with his friend Thierry.


Unbelievably, he repeated the action next day with neighbor Tyler.


Later on that day, Marilu got a picture of me holding him right after dinner. He was in a good mood, and as per usual, his bib was a mess.


Friday night, Lucas and I practiced some more standing with one of his vehicles that transforms into a walker of sorts. Kids' toys are so cool nowadays.


As you've seen in the past, Lucas loves it when Marilu lifts him up in a sitting position. Here's another example of his delight from earlier today.


The next one is from the same series. I'll admit it's a really crappy shot from a technical standpoint since I haven't centered the subjects well at all. That's because I was snapping my fingers at the time, trying to get Lucas to look at me. Oh well. Anyway, I included the shot because he looks so damn happy here. It was too good to pass up.


Just as Lucas discovered with his food below, that's it for the pictures! See you in a couple of days!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Sick Lucas

It took the better part of 2 nights to get YouTube to upload this video, but it finally wrapped up last night after I went to bed. This video is Lucas hamming it up in front of the camera, even though he was on the first day of a cold. Sure, he likes to yell and scream sometimes, but as this video shows, even during a time when he ought to be miserable, the little guy finds a way to be happy.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Roar!

I said I wanted to post 2 videos tonight, but the second video is taking forever to upload so I've decided to post the first one and then try again with the second one tomorrow night. Enjoy the return of the bear outfit.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Wrapping up January

Now that we're several days into February, it seems prudent to catch up on all the photos from the last week or two of January. Before I get to those, two items of note: first, for the very few of you who don't know already, today (Feb 4, which is just about over) is my 37th birthday. I took the day off from work, and Marilu and I played a board game (7 times), ate lots of food, and watched TV. In my opinion, that's the prescription for a damned good birthday.

Speaking of prescription, the second thing I wanted to mention is that Lucas is suffering through his very first cold. In the past, we've thought he may have had something here or there, but there were never any legitimate symptoms. This time, he had a runny nose, a hacking cough, and he just seemed miserable. Thankfully, it seemed to be a 36 hour thing, as it started on Saturday and the worst of it was only on Sunday. By today, the nose was almost back to normal, and while he was still coughing, he didn't seem as down in the dumps as he did on the previous day. Good to know the antibodies are working right.

I should note that we skipped his swimming lesson on Saturday morning due to his condition, not to mention we had a foot or so of snow dropped on us Friday night so just getting out of the driveway would have been an adventure. I made up for it my taking a bath with Lucas on Saturday night and filling the bathtub much higher than normal (for him) so that he could kind of float. I think he enjoyed it.

From Jan 27...Lucas had blueberries for the first time that day. Like just about everything he's had (other than broccoli), he didn't mind it. He seems to really like fruit so that's a good thing. The best thing about blueberries is that if you don't get them in the mouth directly, it makes for a funny picture afterwards. Observe...


From the same day, Marilu gets Lucas to laugh while snorting at him. Amusing sidenote: about halfway through the video, you can actually hear my stomach growl. This health kick I've been on for a month is fine and well, but sometimes, the belly likes to let its feelings on the matter be known.



Here's a picture from the same timeframe. Lucas appears to have found the perfect position to relax and watch TV. Poor Marilu though when he decides to let some air out of his backside.


I thought putting Lucas in one of the cubbyholes in our coffee table would make for a funny picture. Unfortunately, he didn't share in my assessment and voiced his displeasure through a variety of high-pitched, high volume screams. Suffice to say, he won't be going back in the cubbyholes involuntarily anytime soon.


From Jan 31...we've yet to give Lucas a haircut in his first 7 1/2 months, and that's saying something since he has quite a bit more hair than a lot of babies. Of course, the dark side of lots of hair is that it can get pretty crazy. We took this photo of him (with a blanket held up behind him for contrast) to show off how wacky his hair was that night.


Ok, the video is still uploading to YouTube so I may as well continue on to February. From the 1st, here's a shot of Lucas and me. I think this may be the first pic I've posted since I got most of the mop cut off my head a few weeks back. Quite the distinguished gentleman, eh? Oh, and I look good too. :)


I'd move on to the 2nd, but there are 2 videos from that day I want to post, and if I did that, I'd be here for another hour or so. As a result, I'll try and get those up tomorrow. As a hint of what to expect, it's the return of one of his cutest outfits. If you really can't wait, check out the February 2008 photo album as the photos are already uploaded there.

Talk to y'all later!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Bursting with cute!

If you ask me, it's just about impossible to be in a bad mood on a Saturday morning. However, on the off-chance you are, I think it will be just as impossible to stay in such a mood after seeing a picture like this.



For the record, no, you didn't miss the photos where Lucas can now walk and hold himself up. Marilu just happened to get really lucky with this shot. Most of the time, he slumps over the little yellow handle or slides off to the slide before falling over. This is just one of those super-photogenic shots that Lucas has become really good at providing.