Aunt Janice's 60th

Lucas is Three

At age 3, Lucas is 28 pounds and 37.5 inches. He wears size 24 months/2T clothing and size 8 shoes.

During this past year Lucas has learned how to ride his balance bike (2 wheeler with no pedals), how to dress himself (most of the time), how to get his own cups/dishes/snacks and help with pouring, and how to scale the walls (literally! He stands on windowsills and tries to climb anything else with the slightest foothold). He had lots of life changes and upheaval at the end of his 3rd year with a new house, starting preschool for the first time, and a new baby sister. Though he's a boy who likes and needs routine, he's made it through these challenges wonderfully! He's growing and learning so fast, and we're enjoying every new thing Lucas does and becomes!

Lucas Likes:

* The color orange and "wheat" (light) green

* His 7 year old neighbor, Lara

* Cheese and cheese and cheese

* Chocolate

* Lining up his matchbox cars in a "parking lot"

* Painting

* Bouncing, jumping, rough-housing, climbing mommy to perch on her head "I'm an octopus!" and other crazy monkey activities.

* Outings with Daddy

* Singing. And starting to make up his own songs!

* Juice

* His baby sister (yay!)

* Taking things apart and putting them back together

* Flashlights

* Peppa the Pig cartoon

* Super Heroes

* Robots

* Spaceships

Lucas' THIRD Birthday!

We invited our neighborhood friends over for pizza and cupcakes and general mayhem! Lucas requested rainbow streamers and balloons- when he awoke from his nap the day of the party, he had a nice surprise of 15(!) helium balloons in his bedroom and streamers all over the kitchen!

Happy Birthday, Lucas! We love you SOOOO much!

Happy Birthday, Laith!

2 days after Sophie's birth, we celebrated Laith's birthday! Unfortunately this year's celebration was quite overshadowed. But we still managed cake and candles!

Welcome to our family, Sophie June!

Sophie June Vincent was born at dawn on October 13th- the day a cold front blew in and turned Charlottesville's leaves their beautiful autumn reds and golds. The perfect day for a birth day.

All together, it was 12 hours of labor (after 2 false starts in past 2 weeks) with the first 6 hours so easy that after Lucas was dropped off with friends, Laith and I went out for a leisurely stroll and then ate dinner out! Contractions were 2-5 min apart the whole time! I suppose I could have gone on for another day like that but we were ready to get the show on the road so we checked into the hospital. By then, Laith's mom arrived from WV so Lucas had her to stay the night with him. The intensity of the contractions didn't ramp up until the Dr broke my water. 6 hours later (30 min of pushing), Sophie June arrived! It was so nice to be mentally present for this birth. With Lucas I was so exhausted from the 29 hrs of torturous back-labor and 4 hrs of pushing that his birth is all a surreal blur. Luckily we have pictures of him from those first several days! I still vividly remember seeing Sophie for the first time. I couldn't believe she was out of me already- it was too simple! We had a REAL baby! I saw her back and chubby (!) legs first. And then her CUTE face! I noticed right away she has Laith's (and Lucas') nose. And I think my eye-shape. Her head was perfectly round like a ball and her feet were so tiny. I love Lucas so much that I couldn't imagine loving another baby but as soon as I saw Sophie, that love was instantly there. I was just amazed by her simple existence. I got to hold her for a few seconds while her mouth and nose were suctioned. She had swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid. Then the nurse took her to a little isolette where a mechanical suction machine was used for a few minutes before she was returned to me. Later that morning, Lucas and Grammy arrived to meet Sophie for the first time. I was ready with my camera and caught Lucas' expression upon first seeing us. The rest of the photos were taken by the talented Laith as I lay in bed recovering.

Welcome Laila Abboushi!

She was born at 11:15am and I was invited to come over at 11:23! Here she is only minutes old! I feel so honored and happy that I got to photograph the new little family so soon after the birth- it was the sweetest, most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

Happy Birthday Lucas!

Lucas turned TWO this past weekend! We had a small party with friends and enjoyed eating and relaxing out on the patio while the kids played. Lucas had been enthusiastically (an understatement) practicing blowing out candles for the past month and so was incredibly excited to have the opportunity to blow out many candles all at once while everyone sang and clapped for him!

And, for all who ask about such things, at his 2 year old well-child check up, we found out that Lucas is continuing to slowly climb up the chart on his weight. He's now at the 5th percentile (yay!) and is 23 pounds. His height is 50th percentile and he's 34" tall. In general that equates to size 18 months clothing but for long-sleeve shirts he'd need "18-24 months" or "24 months"

Happy Birthday Laith!

This post written by Laith...

Happy birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I was able to get not one, or two, but four days or relaxing for this birthday. The highlights included a one hour massage on a body that felt wrecked; lighting, relighting, and relighting and re-singing happy birthday to various things, including me, monkey, candles, cake, apple juice, and Annie Pie; going to a movie with my lovely wife; playing outside with both Lucas and Jenna while seeing the Amtrak train come and go; and finally some pun-kin picking. At the pumpkin picking place, the pickin' was sparse.. until an 18 wheeler full of them showed up, to Lucas' delight!

Thanks for making my extended weekend a great time, Jenna! I love you!