A Letter to My 1 Year Old Boy


Dear Luke-
I had to leave you this morning to go away on a business trip. Those are the worst mornings for me, because it feels unnatural to leave you and being apart from you makes me sad. Before I go, I always sneak into your room where you are all snuggly in your crib and just wish I could climb in there with you and watch you snore your little baby snores all morning. This morning I heard you waking up on the monitor when I was down in the kitchen and although I should have been leaving, I raced upstairs to tell you good morning and get you dressed. I almost missed my flight but it was well worth it to see your sleepy little face!

In a few days you will be turning 1 year old. It makes my eyes well up to think about telling people I have a 1 year old at home. People always say they wish they could keep their babies from growing up, but watching you grow is so amazing that I would never want to hold you back. Every day you surprise me with something new you’ve learned. It seems like overnight I’ve gone from having a baby boy to a toddler. And toddle you do! You pull up on anything you can wrap your little fingers around and spend hours each week circling the coffee table, each time a little faster. I just know you’ll be taking those first steps any day now and I pray that you’ll wait for me to get home in a few days so I can see you do it.

You are getting so confident and brave now. You let go of whatever piece of furniture you’re holding onto and look over at me with an expression that says “Are you seeing this? I’m standing!” It makes me smile until my face hurts some days. I never thought I could be so proud of someone as I am of you.

We think you said your first word recently, “Daisy”. And I am not entirely sure but you may be trying to say “dog” now when you see the dogs in the morning and at night when you come home from school. You laugh when you see them and have taken to crawling straight over Roux’s belly when he is stretched out on the floor in the living room. Luckily he doesn’t seem to mind.

When I pick you up out of your crib in the mornings, you wrap your tiny arm around my neck to hold onto me. It is the best feeling in the world. I am glad our birthdays are so close together because you coming into my life last year was the best gift you could ever give me, and I get to be reminded of that every year now.

Your Daddy and I love you so much Luke. No matter what is going on around us, if you are happy, we are happy. If you are laughing we can’t help but laugh with you. And it is so hard not to spoil you, because we would give you anything to make you smile, on your first birthday and every day. I hope you always know that. You have my heart sweet angel, no matter where I am, it is always with you.

All my love,
Mama

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How We Roll: Moving & Mother's Day

Just a quick update from me. Things have been crazy at my house between the move, traveling for work and trying to unpack boxes in between. Let's just say I will be very happy when I get the chance to spend more than 3 consecutive nights in my house. I think next week is the week!

When moving, Jay and I are always sure to take extra special care of our valuables, as you can see here:


My first mother's day was pretty awesome. Luke got me one of the mother's necklaces that I really wanted. And I didn't even know he was keeping up with my blog like that. Our kid is advanced! After a morning at home in which no boxes were unpacked (at my request) and we sat and read the paper and skyped with all the grandparents, the boys took me out for lunch at On the Border. It was pretty awesome and I can see myself incorporating margaritas into every mother's day celebration moving forward. The best part of the day was just hanging out as a family since we have been so busy lately. I love spending time with my two favorite boys!

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What Old Women Want: 2010 Edition

Been thinking about my birthday wish list and came up with a few things:

  • One thing I'd love is a mother's necklace, something like one of these:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/43318655/custom-hand-stamped-sterling-silver-i-lo?ref=sr_gallery_10&ga_search_query=to+the+moon+and+back&ga_search_type=&ga_page=3&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title

http://www.etsy.com/listing/40615097/hand-stamped-sterling-silver-charm-neckl

http://www.etsy.com/listing/38847108/love-you-to-the-moon-sterling-silver-cir?ref=sr_list_6&ga_search_query=mother%26%2339%3Bs+necklace+star&ga_search_type=&ga_page=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title

http://www.etsy.com/listing/16619996/on-the-day-you-were-born-necklacepersona?ref=sr_list_23&ga_search_query=mother%26%2339%3Bs+necklace+star&ga_search_type=&ga_page=2&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title

  • Subscription to Food Network and/or Cooking Light magazine.
  • Bubble bath
  • A new watch
  • Rain barrels, gardening books (see Amazon wish list), composter.
  • Fabulous purse hook
  • A carpet steam cleaner. Is this sad? Kind of like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Bissell-ProHeat-Select-Upright-Cleaner/dp/B000ASDCWK/ref=sr_1_41?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1271817322&sr=1-41

  • New nonstick cookware. Now that we are going to have two kitchens I would like to shift my stainless steel gear to the basement. I like this set for upstairs:

http://www.amazon.com/Anolon-Professional-12-Piece-Nonstick-Hard-Anodized/dp/B00006910G/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1271818251&sr=1-12

  • One of these for the new screened in porch would be sweet:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=16807184&RN=2172

Or I'd take a wanna be equivalent such as this: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=14871942&RN=2172

  • Giftcards are always nice!

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Picture Day

Here are some scans from Luke's school pictures a few weeks ago. Can you tell he just woke up? What gave it away first, the bedhead or red eyes? These were taken the day he turned 10 months old. And because I am biased and think he is gorgeous even if he did just roll out of bed and have these taken, I am posting them here!




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I'm Back! Back in the Single Digits, That Is.

A quick bikini quest 2010 update: I am under the 10 pound mark! Yes, after a disappointing week last week, I got back on track and am down 2 more pounds today for a total of 16.8 pounds lost since January 1st. That means I have only 9.6 pounds to lose to get to my goal weight. Hallelujah!

The best news this week is that while I was in the middle of packing for our move I pulled out a bunch of pants from the spare room closet that I haven't worn in two years and I was able to not only squeeze into, but also button several pairs. These are pre-pregnancy pants people! Maybe everything isn't squeezing back in exactly how it used to, but who cares? Yay for shopping in my own closet! It's way fun.

And since we are heading to up to the 80 degree mark and beyond this weekend maybe I will sweat off a few more pounds since I am a cheapass who won't turn on the AC until absolutely necessary!

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Shamrockin' & Rollin'

Last weekend, Jay, Luke and I headed up to Virginia Beach to see my brother for his birthday and oh yeah, I also ran a half marathon while I was there too! The race was St. Patrick's Day themed and had about 8000 runners so there was a lot of good people watching along the way. I am pleased to report I finished with my fastest half marathon time ever: 2:11:17. Slow in many runners' books, but shockingly fast for me, considering it was my first distance event since Luke was born. I even stopped once to use the bathroom and still beat my best time. Booya!

My Mom met us at Matt & Caroline's and rode back to NC with us. But she didn't stay long...by Wednesday she was headed to up to Massachusetts to see her parents. We are hoping she makes another appearance at our place while she is on her East Coast tour. Until then, I will be packing up the house like a madwoman, since our move is officially 1 month away. I can't believe it. So much has changed in the last year and we can't wait to start making memories in our new home in just a few short weeks!

Here are some pics from the weekend. Sorry if I am a little blurry in my race photo, I was just going THAT fast you know...


As an added bonus, here are a few pics we took at the St. Patty's Run Green 8K in Raleigh a few weekends ago. We went downtown to cheer on Amy & Jackie who both did an awesome job!

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Halfway to Goal!

This week's Bikini Quest Update:

Okay, so I am a little more than halfway to goal actually. 14.6 pounds down, with 11.8 left to lose. I've lost a whole stone now! I am kind of shocked. When I first started on this weight loss mission, it seemed near impossible. I thought I would have to spend the rest of my life holding onto this extra pregnancy weight. However it seems to be coming off slowly but surely, and the more I lose, the more confident I am in myself that I can really do this.

The best part is that now that my body has adjusted to the portion control I really don't feel deprived. I still get to have my glass of wine with dinner and that is good because the way work has been going lately, I have needed it! Honestly, I feel great. I was really missing feeling good about myself and I feel like I have that back now. It's pretty awesome.

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