14 months!

This is Lucas' favorite book- a touch-n-feel story about ponies. Here he is waving bye bye to the pony as it loads up in a trailer on the back page.

Austin Children's Museum

This giant-sized light-bright entertained him for 20 minutes!

Early Christmas Presents Arrive!

Thanks Meemom! :)

Blanton Museum

We joined Sufyan, Ravyn and Faris' brother, Tariq at the art museum downtown on their free admission day. Lucas was a little too excited about touching everything so we cut our visit short and played in the medical tubing art installation outside that invited interaction! Sufyan was working on mastering his walking so he was apparently more than happy to lead Ravyn by the hand all over the place!

Cuteness Overload

Naps

For the past month or 2, I've gotten in the habit of walking Lucas in the jogger during his morning naptime. He can either sleep or relax and look around. Either way, I get some exercise and he gets the quiet time he needs in order to be the happy baby that he is!

13 months

Okay, so I couldn't just stop taking Lucas' monthly photos after doing it a whole year! This one won't be added to the 1-through-12 collage, but I still wanted to have it. :) Isn't he cute?

GrandDad and Lao Lao Visit From Guam!

And a photo we took at their last visit! I'm crazy for those 'watch us grow' type photos. Hopefully we can repeat this one each year! :)

We had a wonderful time with my Dad and Janice while they were visiting us at the end of November. We celebrated Thanksgiving together and Janice's delicious cooking skills saved the day when I managed to both burn and forget ingredients for a labor-intensive homemade apple walnut sausage stuffing. Everyone had a few bites of it but it was probably just to make me feel better. :) The weather was rainy for about half the time but we still had a great time together relaxing at the house, playing outside, reading out on the patio, eating at Whole Foods, and going on walks. I'm so glad Lucas has such great relationships with ALL of his grandparents- he loved playing games with Granddad; and on the night he awoke before Laith and I returned from our date, Janice got him to fall back asleep in her arms (which is a REALLY big deal since Lucas is so particular about his sleep habits/routine). Laith and I had the opportunity to go out on a date twice (!) while Dad and Janice were visiting. Thanks so much guys! :) Also, thank you Janice for reading some stories in Chinese on tape for Lucas and also for bringing us those great language learning materials. We hope to have a multi-lingual kid in no time! :)
Here are our photos from the visit:

More Firsts!

So many changes for our just-turned-one-year-old! In addition to getting two new teeth (#9 and #10... molars!), Lucas' skills are bringing him closer and closer to toddler-land. Just 2 weeks ago I broke out the crayons in hopes for some scribbling. He just wanted to eat them. Now check it out! I think he drew a tiger. :)


He also has performed his first 'downward dog' yoga pose. The classic baby/toddler position. I love it!

Tucson!

So much activity these past several weeks. I'm getting behind again with the blog posts! Especially with all our family visits and all the cute new things Lucas has been learning.

I was so happy to get to spend some time last month with my mom in AZ and that she got to experience all the Lucas-joy that I'm enjoying right now. Lucas warmed up to Meemom right away and especially enjoyed all the birthday toys she had waiting for him: Baby-sized legos, a couple of trucks, a see-and-say and a batman ball! He is so much fun and such a happy baby- especially around animals. By the end of the visit, Sierra was hiding from Lucas- not because he was rough with her at all but because he was too loudly exuberant as he quickly crawled toward her in an effort to either head-butt her or crawl under her- we're not sure what the goal was. :) I need to get more of this dog-related excitement on video. We had a great time relaxing at the house, getting in the hot tub (at a cooler temp setting), going to the playground, and shopping. Lucas loved all the chatting and playtime he got from Meemom. He wishes he could've spent more time there to have the chance to bond with Paul as well but a few days was all we could manage with Lucas' sleepless traveler tendencies. Next visit we'll hopefully have more time with the whole family and he'll certainly be even more fun to be around as he learns new things and gets more communicative. Thanks for the wonderful visit Meemom! And thanks for selecting such great toys, Paul! We love and you and look forward to seeing you again soon!

Grammy's visit and Laith's Secret Talent...

Grammy visited us from WV 2 weeks ago and we had a great time playing, enjoying the weather, relaxing on the patio and eating great meals. Laith and I even got a date night out as Grammy stayed up to be 'on call' should Lucas awake while we were out. Yay! While here, Laith cashed in on his birthday present from his mom and sister Janeen... flying trapeze lessons! Apparently this is one of Laith's hidden natural talents- he was the only one there who had such great form, strength, and fluidity. Check out his moves!