when our hero comes home

Caleb yells with excitement, "hi dad! hi daddy! oh boy!! hellllooo!" Lucas' entire body shakes with delight and his face scrunches up into a gigantic smile.

laughs and giggles fill the room

even mama smiles with delight.

because our hero is home.

The love that greets him at the door, everyday, must feel kinda good. Kisses and smiles. Big daddy hugs. I hope he knows how much he is loved by his little family at home. He keeps mama calm and the boys happy with fun. We love him and appreciate our hero every single day.

this is why

i am a mother. for the love between these two, the love that I get to witness every single day. God knew what he was doing when he blessed us with these boys of ours. I feel so blessed. It is worth the lack of sleep, the tantrums, the stress of illnesses and teething, the growing pains that will soon come, the tears, the countless diaper changes, spit ups, pure exhaustion at the end of the day, the pain, the worry, the fear. Every hard moment of my day, the haggard way I feel most evenings, it is so worth it. It is worth it to watch the love these little boys have for each other. They teach me in their simple way, the way they look at each other, the way they touch and smile, coo and talk. They teach me what love is all about. The simple love of two brothers. I am so proud to be their mama.

Happy Friday!

where oh where did they go?

those thunder thighs that is.

Caleb's were so big  i literally  could not wrap my hands around them. those chunky chunky thunder thighs

just take a look, lucas' are developing quite nicely! As I undressed the boys for bath time last night I took delight in those thunder thighs' of lucas. chunk. chunk. chunk. just can't get enough!

then I went to Caleb's. And I realized, they are gone! Seriously. They are muscle and skin. The chunky chunky fat. is there no more. My baby isn't a baby anymore! I almost started crying. When did that happen? when did the chunk go away? i missed it. somewhere between those days of chunky everywhere. those triple chin rolls and endless thigh chunks, the rolls on the arms, and the chubby cheeks, they left. and in their place is a toddler boy who can swing from the monkey bars and jump off the swing set, who runs and climbs. My little baby boy is now a toddler boy. I'm glad I still have chunky thighs to kiss on my littlest boy. I'm going to kiss them even more now. These days go much too fast.
                                                   I'm gonna miss them.

Happy 5 months Lucas!

To my littlest man. Happy 5 months!

You bring us so much joy Lucas! You are so happy and smile all the time! We love all your giggles and laughter.

Your favorite thing is sucking on your hands. Whether it be your entire fist or just your thumb, you do it for hours and it makes you very happy.

You also adore your big brother. You both take delight in one another and this makes your mama so happy and proud to have two sweet boys. I hope you'll always look out for one another and always be best friends.

Oh lucas, we love you so much. I can't get enough of those sweet rosy chunky cheeks, those big blue eyes, your chunky little hands, little toes, and thunder thighs! You are so calm and content and add the perfect balance to our family. You keep Caleb calm and Caleb keeps you entertained. It works out nicely for your mama! I am happy to be your mama and I hope you'll always know how much you are loved!

Happy 5 months little man.

Here is what you've been up to this month:

weight 20.5 lbs

length 27.5 in

you are wearing 12 month clothes

you still sleep pretty great. at night you snooze for about 13 hrs. lately 7pm-8am then you take two short 20 minute naps in the morning and a long one in the afternoon with brother (about 2-3 hrs) if your afternoon one is shorter than usual you'll take another snooze in the evening before bed. We rock you to sleep and swaddle you still (we'll be stopping soon though :(. with the swaddle that is. i can't get enough of the rocking and loving on my little man so we'll continue with that!) you wake up about 2 or 3 times in the night and nurse and then go right back to sleep. i love those quiet moments with you. just you and i in the peaceful dark of the night. they are precious alone moments that i Cherish this time around knowing it won't last forever.

we've tried rice cereal a couple times, not a huge fan yet.

you giggle and laugh all the time! you are so entertained by the littlest f things :)

you are content to lay and watch caleb while sucking on your hands most of the day

you still enjoy tummy time and have now rolled over a few times

you are cooing, mostly whenever it is just you and dad or i, when caleb's around you get quiet watching him. sometimes the two of you will carry on a conversation that no one else can understand, this is kinda cute!

that's all i can think of for now. we love watching you grow and learn and take delight in the world around you! we love you so much lucas gregory!

love, mama

lately

lately, my little baby doesns't feel so little anymore. he's been watching big brother a lot, a smile lights up his face whenever Caleb comes into the room. it makes me happy to imagine how much fun they'll have when lucas is a little bit bigger. even though lucas can't do much in the way of playing, caleb still thinks to include him. coming over with toys or blankets. chit chatting away to lucas.

lately, caleb has been talking non-stop. and i do not exaggerate. from sun up to sun down, a constant babble stream. which makes me so happy, and so tired at the same time. he's as sweet as can be with lucas. really just so tender and gentle and i am continually amazed by this.  i am also just amazed at how much growth is occurring at this stage. emotions continue to be all over the place. most days i feel like i am living with a mini-teenager.
i love you both more than you'll ever know.
love,mama

sister

my sisters are my very best friends. i love being surrounded by my sweet boys, it makes for those special moments with my sisters a real treasure! we had a real treat last week when my sister jenny came up for a short trip. life is so sweet when we get together! i just love my sister time. the boys love their auntie time. the three of us are struggling to adjust after five fun days with auntie 'jen'. i feel so blessed to be so close with my sisters and feel so happy as I watch them with my boys. they love them so much and listening to happy chatter in the other room or watching the sweet cuddles and kisses between them gives me many a heart squeeze.. My sisters are going to be amazing mamas some day.
Thanks for a wonderful visit as always jenny!

Lucas' Baptism

jennifermichelephotography

a beautiful day, surrounded by family.

more to come....

what i'm loving right now

dinner recipes with rachel ray (thanks to my mother in law for an entire year's worth!)

starting up a new study in my bible study (beth moore, and can i just say..she is hilarious! I am so enjoying it. Fruits of the spirit...)

the decrease in tantrums with the increase of communication from the toddler. stringing words together into sentences has just amazed me these past couple weeks!

lucas' smiling face every morning when he wakes up and after naps, and well, pretty much all the time :) makes my day.

alone time in the evening with my hubs now that both boys are going to bed at the same time

starting up on my running again...sore muscles have never felt so good!

and here are some of my favorite conversations I've had with Caleb as of late....

i lauvvvve youuuuuuuuu mama. i lauvvve you lukie. i lauvvve you daddy. (smile)

lucas makes a noise and caleb hears it... "ohhhhhh lucasth!" (like it is the greatest thing since cookies and ice cream!)

i got it mama, i hold it mama, thank you mama, i help u mama, i sorry mama

sit wi (with) mama or i sit wi (with) you mama

a running! (in case we couldn't tell)

what i love most is how much less frustration there is now that caleb can tell us just about everything. from the time he wakes up until he goes to bed, non stop talking my friends. which is nice...but when nap time comes around it is nice to have some quiet :)

I also just can't get enough of the love between my two sweet boys. lucas lights up when caleb is around. he watches caleb all of the time and then gets a big ol' grin whenever caleb shimmies right up to lucas. caleb adores lucas just as much. he loves giving lucas toys to hold or play with, he requests lucas' help for things (doesn't quite get that he isn't old enough to help yet!), he constantly wants to hold lucas' hands or tickle his toes. i'm touched with how gentle he is with him, i usually don't have to tell him to be gentle (sometimes, but not usually) and i'm always surprised by the sweetness of it all. i think caleb has such a gentle, empathetic, little soul. i wish there was some way to truly capture the sweetness of these brothers together. I think for now, I'll just treasure the moments and keep the memories close to my heart.

Beach day

Spent at our favorite place

                              Monterey with my happy boys

                   sunshine, water, playtime at the park, lunch at pizza my heart

                                                                 
                                  nursing by the bay

                                              relaxing in the sun

a walk to the warf

                                and all just a forty five minute drive from our home.

At our favorite place

      so blessed. to spend and enjoy the day with my three favorite boys :)
A happy weekend. Just resting and relaxing.

my sweetness

my sweet lucas, i can't get enough of you. your eyes, your round, rosy cheeks i get to kiss all day long, your chunky lil hands, your dark eye lashes that curl up around your big blue eyes, your sweet baby scent and soft fuzzy hair, the way you hold you hands as you drift off to sleep; twirling them around and around. The way you suck your fingers and give me sweet smiles. You coos and giggles when i tickle you. your love of the world. you watch and you smile, you are my gentle and peaceful spirit. you bring such happiness to my life. so blessed by you my little one.
love, mama

If the camera was rolling...

at the dinner table tonight it would have captured this little scene between brothers....
Caleb sneezing (and spraying Lucas and I) so gross! While I sat there telling Caleb to cover and getting grossed out, Lucas started cracking up! (who would have thought a sneeze could be so hysterical) Lucas' laughter of course made Caleb start laughing, which made us all just crack up. These boys. For the next ten minutes the boys were just laughing and talking (toddler talk/baby talk). I got a kick out of the entire thing. It was a sweet way to end the week with my boys while we waited for dad to come home from work :)

I'm also happy to say that Caleb can now say Lucas. He usually says Lukie, but he also proudly calls Lucas "Lucasth" slight lisp..."

Happy Friday :)

Twins at Starbucks

make for a mama who is home relaxing. Nani is flying home today, which means after almost 3 weeks of having a continual supply of helping hands from family, I"ll be flying solo once again.( Perhaps we can convince our Oregon family and our Santa Clarita family to move to Hollister (there are two houses for sale down the street).

1st visit to the dentist

And it was a success! Caleb did great. The office staff was amazing. Everything was so child centered. Dr. McKeever was awesome with Caleb. They had a salt water fish tank and the entire office was ocean themed. It was pretty cool!

     We got a lot of comments on how cute the boys looked at the dentist today. They also commented on how much alike they look. The cheeks, the eyes, the shirts!

Don't look at me with the matching shirts, that's all nani :)

a memory

something sweet. on our long drive to berkley lucas was trying to fall asleep. he found his hand and was sucking on his thumb. i was so excited he was soothing himself to sleep! we later realized he was also going to sleep so good because big brother had reached over and given him his hand and they were holding hands all along (we just didn't realize till later). Caleb was just sitting there, like it was no big deal; pretty much brought tears to my eyes though ;) I've started to notice it now, I'll glance back there and sure enough, Caleb has reached over and is just holding hands with Lucas.

                                                           

These two.  I just can't get enough :)

Favorites

Caleb loves to sing
  

Lucas loves to laugh!

So I had to capture it on video :)

Berkley Eye Center

Today we took a field trip. My mom and I took the boys to the Berkley Eye Center. It was a specific trip for Caleb and his eyes. I mentioned his eye situation awhile back but basically one eye isn't focusing with the other eye all the time. Our eyes should work together and his don't always. We have been to a local eye dr. a few times and weren't getting answers. So by recommendation of a friend we took quite a trip up to the Berkley Eye Center. From the moment we arrived we were treated like royalty! Front row parking (literally up to the sparkly glass door entrance) to the welcome committee of our dr. and her intern. They weren't just beyond nice, they were very extensive in their exam. They gave us answers and a diagnosis.

                                                            hanging out on campus

                                                                  in front of the eye center

                                                               taking a walk through campus

                                                                 loving on our boys!

The eye dr. diagnosed Caleb with Exotropia. We will be following up in 6 months. For now, it is very intermittent and we don't need to do anything at the moment. He'll most likely end up doing eye exercises to help his eyes focus and work together. In the future there are more things we can do to help, but for now he is too young to do anything too extreme. I can write more about this once I get the actual description from the dr. since I am recalling from memory right now!I'm just so grateful we have an answer with his eyes!

Napping with Nani

Priceless.                                       the scene we found after our walk around the neighborhood

brothers at play

                                          right before caleb fell asleep playing with his toys

                                         brothers at play, lucas rolls over for the first time!

                                                        enjoying the day with familly :)

hard workers

                                                         using the stick as a rake ;)
                           

                                                             grandma's lil helper

                                                    helping uncle craig with the leaves

first taste