4 months old today!

Yay!

Lucas hasn't slept since 12:30 this afternoon... it's now 7:40pm. We've been trying to put him down since 2:15. After 3 hours of fruitless labor, we gave up and decided to play with him. Laith put Lucas on the changing table and sang a funny song while smacking him on the butt with the disposable diaper we were going to put him in for the night. Right then, in the middle of Laith's song, all of our exhaustion was wiped away instantly when Lucas laughed for the first time!!!
Usually he just smiles and maybe makes a quick little vocalization when he's happy but this was an unmistakable, joyful laugh! Weeeeeeee!

Cutie Patootie!

Austin Marathon

Our sister-in-law Andrea came into town for the Austin Marathon this past weekend and we had the chance to cheer her on and have a short visit with her and little Amity. Andrea ran really well and qualified for Boston! Yay!

New milestones

This post is a little late in coming- these pictures are a couple of weeks old. Lucas has got some strong legs and abs and we're wondering what we're in for once he uses these skills to move himself! He's already doing these little commando motions on his tummy- getting ready to crawl. He gets really frustrated when he doesn't get anywhere. Time to baby-proof! :)

Active baby!

Mama Hormones, Sheesh!

I was at the gym this morning, running on the treadmill, hoping to go a full mile at 9 minute pace when a commercial came on the little TV that's built into the machine. I have no idea what it was advertising, but it had a cute little girl who snook her stuffed monkey doll into her dad's briefcase before he left for a business trip. Her dad took pictures of the monkey at a meeting and various other places while he was gone- transmitting the images back to his wife and daughter instantly. Then when he came home he took a picture of the monkey in front of their home and the daughter comes running outside to hug her dad. It's not even a mother-son moment (which I would obviously relate to more) and I'm crying while I'm gasping for breath mid-stride. Arghhh. I wonder what my neighbor treadmill runners thought- that I was so tough that I ran until I cried? That I'm crazy? That I'm a hormone-riddled new mommy? That would be a good guess. :)

Happy Valentines Day!

Welcome Baby Sufyan!

I know many of you blog readers have heard Laith and I talk about our friends across the street who were expecting a baby boy.... well, he's here! Sufyan was born yesterday and we're soooo excited! He and Lucas are close enough in age to play together (eventually) and it's been great sharing pregnancy stories with his mom Ravyn throughout the whole process. We have yet to meet this beautiful new baby (as they are still getting to know eachother as a new family), but luckily they posted a few pictures. Welcome Sufyan!

Lucas and Daddy

Laith is able to get Lucas to smile like no one else! It's so fun to see them enjoying each other.

Giant Caterpillar!

Look what Lucas got in the mail from Grammy! It came in a little 11" x 18" box and his new stuffed toy kept coming out further and further like it was in a clown car! I wish I had known to get out the camera to record his reaction but his 2nd reaction was still fun. Thanks Grammy!

Sleepytime

Sportler!

Laith has been following a 5k training program for the past 4 weeks as a way to motivate himself to stay active and to improve his running. It's easy to let your activities slip away from you when you're all wrapped up in the daily doings of being new parents. Even though we do take Lucas on a hike nearly every weekend, we also need to do things that are fun for us more than just once every 7 days. Soooo, today was Laith's 5k race to see how the training paid off. Lucas and I cheered from the sidelines. He beat his goal he set for himself and is now excited to see how fast he can get over the next several months. His next goal is to beat 22 minutes. Go Laith!

I also went running today- for the first time since I was 9 weeks pregnant! It's been 10 months since I lengthened my stride into a run and even though I could only go half a mile I felt really good and light. I didn't want to just shuffle around the track- I wanted to actually run fast enough for my hair to blow back behind me so that I could see what my body could do. Fun! I want to keep up this pace and just increase the distance little by little. My first 5k will be March 15th and I'm not expecting to be able to run the whole thing- though that would be nice if I could.