Happy Birthday Lucas!

Lucas is 1 year old today! Josh and I went shopping for Josh's gift to Lucas yesterday, which Lucas opened this morning. Here is Lucas trying to open his present:

and receiving a little help (or, a lot) from big brother:

It's a Lucas-sized basketball! It's a Gertie ball, the very best for babies, with a sticky/tacky surface that's easy to grip and a squeezable feel that's easy to hold and throw.


A happy birthday boy:

We're doing cake and more presents tonight, so check back later for more birthday pictures!

Sweet Nothings

This was a difficult weekend with Josh. He has been very emotional and prone to whining, fake (and loud) crying, and temper tantrums. It's been exhausting. But, of course, it is never all bad. Even in times like this he has some very sweet and cute moments.
I was flipping through a catalog and saw a bathing suit with a reticulated pattern (like a giraffe). I asked Josh what he thought I would look like in it, expecting him to say I would look like a giraffe. His answer: "I think you would look beautiful."
Later the same day, after John changed the TV channel from basketball playoffs to a cartoon, Josh said, "Thanks for sharing Daddy. You're a good man."

A Job Well Done

Our receptionist buzzed me today to tell me I had a delivery. I assumed it was one of Josh's birthday presents which I ordered shipped to my office. Imagine my surprise when this showed up at my office:

I couldn't imagine who had sent me flowers. It's not my birthday, anniversary, Mother's Day, I haven't done anything particularly noteworthy for anyone lately. So I opened the card, and was pleasantly surprised to see the flowers were sent by a former client, whose custody case I won for him on appeal a year ago today. He wrote that one year ago, I gave him the greatest gift when I won the return of his son, and he wanted to send this small gift to me in thanks. So kind and thoughtful.

Inflatable Spiderman

The latest addition to our Spiderman collection. Josh picked this one up at the last waterfront festival. He is already looking forward to Rose Festival later this month, and checks daily on the status of truck arrivals and unloadings as they set up the tents and rides.

Futsal -- Playoffs!

Against the odds, my futsal team made it to the playoffs as the fourth seed, and then defeated the number 1 seed to advance to the championship game! We of course lost in the finals, but it was so exciting to get that far. Here I am after returning home from our victory Monday night:


Summer session starts next week, so wish us well!

Oregon for Obama

Barack Obama held a rally in Portland today, and although I really wanted to go (given my support for him, and also because I took Josh to see John Kerry at the Portland Waterfront in the 2004 campaign and wanted to give Lucas the same opportunity at early political involvement), it was in the 90s today and I knew from past experience that it would be a long hot wait in a very large crowd. So, I was not that upset when we ended up with a playdate scheduled for Josh at noon (bowling! It was really fun.)

But after the bowling adventure, I had to at least get a glimpse of Obama and this historic moment. I made John drive me down to the eastside waterfront (the rally was across the river on the west side waterfront). I couldn't see the stage (it was blocked by a bridge from where we stopped), but I could see that Obama was not yet speaking. I couldn't take it; I grabbed bus fare (to get home afterward) and got out of the car. Josh needed to get home for his nap, but I took Lucas with me. We trekked across the bridge and into the rally.

It was hot, and the crowd was large, but I am still glad we went. The Obama staffers were prepared as usual, with tons of water to hand out, and had other volunteers walking around spraying water to keep people cool. The crowd was so diverse: all ages, all races, even skater kids, the gamut. Lucas befriended a dog and some college aged girls, and kept himself entertained playing with one or the other. I am sunburned, but it was worth it (I only put SPF on Lucas before we rushed out of the car, and forgot to take similar care of myself). Obama is a great speaker, an inspiring leader, and hopefully, our next President.

Portland set the record for crowd size for an Obama rally, and that's saying something. There were 75,000 people there. Lucas and I stuck to the back, in case we needed to leave (another lesson learned from the Kerry rally).

Here is Senator Obama speaking to the throngs:

And here is the full crowd. We are in the waaaaaay back, about 20 yards in front of the trees (the ones that look like bushes given the distance, at the top of the photo):

It really didn't feel as far back as we were, and because we were on a hill, we had a great view of the stage. Lucas has learned to clap, which he most often does when others are clapping (such as when he watches sports on TV and the crowd is clapping), so he clapped right along with the crowd, much to the amusement of those around us. Babies for Obama!

Hello Virginia!

Goooooooooal!

Two months ago I was invited to join my friend Ingrid's futsal team. I did not play soccer growing up, and did not know about futsal, which is a form of indoor soccer (but is a bit more true to the outdoor game, with no playing off the walls). Ingrid's co-ed team needed more women, and they invited me for my athleticism despite my lack of soccer knowledge. When I logged on the website to learn the rules, however, I was horrified to read the banner: "Futsal -- Faster, Skilled Play." Ingrid, I said, I have no skills, much less fast ones! From portlandfutsal.com:

"What exactly is Futsal? The game was invented in Montevideo, Uruguay back in 1930 to provide the World Cup winning Uruguayans a way to get even better and more creative on the ball. The word Futsal comes from shortening the Spanish phrase “Futbol de Salon” which literally translates to indoor soccer. You play 5 v 5, with four field players and a goalie.

Futsal is the only FIFA-sanctioned indoor soccer game in the world, and every single Brazilian swears by it and grows up playing it, then taking those well-honed skills into their outdoor games. Ronaldo attributed his winning goal against Turkey in World Cup 2002 to a technique he learned in futsal. He told FIFA.COM after the game that “it was a difficult move because my way was blocked. Nobody expected me to shoot it because I had to use the point of my toe and you don’t see many players try it. But it swerved through the defenders and went in. It was instinctive and I owe it all to playing a lot of futsal when I was younger.” Most of Latin America plays it; Argentina calls it Cinco, Mexico calls it Rapido."

My first game was a disaster, but I have gradually improved over the season. Last night, in our last game of the spring season, I finally scored my first assist! I was so excited. But it only got better from there. I also went on to score 3 goals! I hadn't scored any goals, or any assists, all season. The only downside is that it was the last game--where was this earlier?? But, it looks like we will be able to field a team for the summer session, so maybe I can keep it up!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mothers' Prayer for Peace

Excerpts from the Mother's Day Proclamation, 1870, by Julia Ward Howe

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!

Say firmly:

"Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of women of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to kill theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!"

Ceremony Pictures

Many thanks to Gail and Gene (John's mom and dad) for sharing their pictures with us.

The research symposium:



The hooding ceremony:



(The thing tied to Josh's wrist and cutting through the photo, which Lucas is staring up at, is one of the decorative balloons that were on the stage.)

Cinco de Mayo Festival

Josh's preschool is one block from waterfront park, and his class walks down to the waterfront everyday to run around and get some fresh air. Monday, the trucks and trailers started arriving with the rides for this weekend's Cinco de Mayo festival, and it was all Josh and his friends could talk about. Every day he has asked if he could go ride the helicopters; Friday night, he finally got to go. About four rides in, he spotted his bud Terence from school, and it was so much fun to watch them ride the rides together. Terence's dad got this great picture of the boys on the swings and sent it to us.

April Update

It has been a busy month. The pro is that we have some things to blog about; the con is that we've been too busy to blog about them. I'm going to try to catch up on my entries, and post-date (pre-date?) them to the actual day of the event. So do scroll through April for all our news and updates.

Graduation day

This is a terrible picture of John, it is at the wrong angle and is terribly unflattering, but unfortunately it is the only one I have for now. I will replace it as soon as I have a better one.
John graduated today with his Master's degree. It was a great ceremony. It was only for the post-graduate students (the undergrads had their ceremony earlier in the day), so it was nice to see all the colors on the hoods and regalia as these Master's and Doctoral students graduated. I think the scope of John's achievement finally began to sink in, although we still need some time, and sleep, to really feel his accomplishment. (A job offer would also go a long way!)
Congratulations John!

Marcel Mouly

John's graduation gift was this painting by Marcel Mouly. Mouly was the last living person to have studied with Picasso. He just died, in January 2008. Once again, our many thanks to our friend Leslie for facilitating our purchase of this painting, and for helping me keep it a surprise for so long!

the Hooding Ceremony

Today was a busy day for John. In addition to student teaching, he had to complete an "action research" project this semester, which meant a research project using the students as subjects to pursue a question about education. John's question was whether using journaling would improve the emotional literacy (understanding of feelings) for middle school boys, and whether that would improve their school performance. The boys really liked the project and benefitted from it, and the feedback was great and rewarding. The downside, from a pragmatic standpoint, was that it took a long time to do the "research" because of the many weeks spent journaling, which left very little time at the end to analyze the data, write the paper, and prepare the presentation. Add to that the stomach flu that hit us last Friday and gradually worked its way through all four of us over the course of five days, and it's been hectic.
But, it's over now. The master's program Research Symposium was today, and John got great feedback on his project. Josh, on the other hand, gave great feedback to the reception line, where he spent easily 60% of the evening, making repeated trips to the fruit plate for more strawberries.
Immediately following the symposium was the Hooding Ceremony. While graduation is Saturday, this ceremony was for John's department only--just the two "cohorts" of MAT students who did the 2-year program with night classes, so it was intimate and personal. Each student was presented with his or her Master's hood to wear on graduation day, and there were short speeches, video tributes, and lots of picture taking, hugging, and goodbyes. Unfortunately for me, John had our camera, so I don't have any pictures of him. I'm hoping John's parents got a good picture or two to send me. In the meantime, here is John's picture of us:

School pictures

These are the boys' school picture proofs for Spring 2008.

Josh (a really great one, IMO):


Lucas:


Lucas smiling, but not at the camera:


Josh saying, "Hey, I'm doing the best I can here":

5 years

Today is our five year anniversary. In honor of the occasion, we have been looking back over the past five years and seeing how drastically changed our lives are now. Here are the highlights:

Married April 12, 2003

1st year of marriage:
I became pregnant with Josh
We bought our first house (we moved in on our first anniversary)

2nd year of marriage:
We had our first baby when Josh was born June 14, 2004
Our lives changed completely when we became parents

3rd year of marriage:
After almost seven years working for the state, I made a career change and entered private practice.
Meanwhile, John was taking standardized test after standardized test to pursue his own career change

4th year of marriage:
John enters graduate school to get a Master's degree and become a teacher
We got pregnant with Lucas

5th year of marriage:
Lucas was born June 4, 2007. We thought we knew how to parent, but we only knew how to co-parent. With two kids, we were outnumbered (its sounds like bad math, but if you have 2 or more kids, you know I am right), and once again we learned a lot.
John left his job at Morrison Child and Family Services after 6 years, to begin student teaching as part of his master's program. They threw a very nice farewell party for him, with many touching comments as everyone went around the room to say goodbye.
John continued through his master's program, and graduates this month.

We had smaller changes too. We both drive different cars now. Sadly, we lost Scout to cancer. We travelled to Belize, John's first trip out of the country (given, it was for our honeymoon, but technically that is within our five years of marriage).

We are so glad for all of our developments, as we continue to become the people we want to be. But, we are also hoping for some rest, at least for year 6!

HE DID IT!

It's official, Lucas is walking. He walked to me today in Josh's classroom when I was picking them up after school, and then he walked between John and me in the kitchen at home. He can walk seemingly at will now! Josh's teacher Danni called it a zombie walk. His arms aren't sticking out in front, but he does have that stilted, side-to-side zombie wobble. We will enjoy it while it lasts, because I'm sure that like Josh, he will be running by this time next month!

Weekend at the Park

Blogger is doing something weird and I can't see my pictures before posting this entry, so all my commentary will be above the photos. I hope this is a temporary error and not a new formatting thing, because I hate it.
Anyway, we took advantage of some sunny weather this weekend to go to the park. The city is in the process of replacing and updating some of the equipment, and we were bummed to see that the swings are still missing. Josh's current favorite thing is to go really really fast on the tire swing. He goes so fast it swings around in a tight circle on an angle, no arc or anything, just a rocket-man slinging around. He loves it, but it is hard on my arm to keep pushing him fast enough to maintain. John does it better. Lucas loves watching him too, he laughs and laughs at Josh and thinks he is the coolest thing.
So, with the baby swings missing, I made Josh take a few slow, regular swings on the tire swing as well, with Lucas in his lap. Lucas thought he was a big boy too and loved it. The other pictures are the boys on the rocking equipment. Lucas went slowly; Josh took it all the way back.

Luke's Favorite Game

We still have not quite transitioned from "Lucas" to "Luke." In my view, Lucas needs to grow into the nickname Luke. There is something fitting about "baby Lucas," and something strong about the name Luke, and our little Lucas is still just a peanut, so he's still Lucas to me.
Except, when I have to type a second "S", such as in the possessive. "Lucas's" is just annoying to say and to read. So he's Luke for this post.

Snow Day!

Well, after our spring-like weather, which brought forth our daffodils, it is snowing today. Even on the coast, which is really strange looking to me (snow on a beach?!). These pictures are from when it had just started this morning; by now, an hour later, it is accumulating on the ground. Very pretty, but odd for spring break here.

Lucas takes his first steps

According to daycare, Lucas took his first real steps today (no hands!). We haven't been able to get him to do it with us yet, in his zeal to get to me (he is very attached, and entering the separation anxiety phase on top of that), he'll consider taking a real step but then just drop down and crawl instead, because it's faster. But he is crawling and cruising like a champ, and also is walking around very well with his push toys:



To play the video, click on the > arrow twice (once to activate the control, and a second time to start "play").

We can't wait to see his hands-free walking for ourselves!

Belated Easter Post #2

After dyeing eggs Saturday morning, Josh put the eggs in his basket to leave out for the Easter Bunny Saturday night. He was very eager to get to bed, so "the bunny" (as he said) could come hide the eggs for us. We awoke Sunday morning to find our dyed eggs hidden, along with several hidden plastic eggs of candy, and our baskets re-filled with even more treats!

Josh was proud of his "Josh" egg.

We really enjoyed the easter egg hunt. It was rainy (hey, at least we got nice weather on Saturday), so the hunt was inside, but for a 3-year-old it was plenty!

Belated Easter Post #1

On the Saturday before Easter, the weather was gorgeous here, and we headed to the zoo for the "Rabbit Romp." Here are Josh and Lucas meeting a bunny:


Observe the beautiful sunny weather:


And now, meeting THE bunny:

Josh was so excited that he shook hands with the Easter Bunny!

You can barely see it in his little hand, but here Lucas is enjoying a lollipop from Josh's successful egg hunt on the zoo concert lawn. Much like the popsicle, we offered him a taste, and he loved it and would not give it back. He ate the whole thing.

Little Lucas

Lucas turned 9 months old on Tuesday and went in for his check up. After starting life at a squarely average 50th percentile for weight, he has gradually decreased, to 25th, then 15th at 6 months, and only 5th percentile at 7 months. Well, he is now off the chart completely. Zero percentile. He is not comparable in size to even one percent of other 9-month-olds. He is my little peanut.
He did finally start to get a tooth on Monday, just in time to beat the 9-month deadline Josh met. Of course, we still cannot actually see a tooth, even now at the end of the week, but I can definitely feel a cutting edge in there, so it's coming.
John is using our camera in his 7th grade classroom, and the computer gave a warning sign when I tried to upload video, so I am without any kind of photographic representation to give you at this time. Will be forthcoming when I am able! I have some cute footage of Lucas I want to post.
Until then, if anyone has any connections in Major League Baseball, get us some human growth hormone, it looks like we're going to need it!

(to any feds surveilling my blog, that was a joke, not a solicitation.) (One never knows these days.)

Happy Leap Day

I haven't posted for awhile, so I will dump some photos from different days into this one post to bring us current. We've had a spate of nice weather here in Portland the past two weeks. Every two days they tell us the weather will turn rainy again, but so far it hasn't. It's been mild, dry, and blue skies. Very nice.
This picture shows some brotherly bonding. Josh loves to pick up Lucas now. We have to keep reminding him to ask first, so I can be sure I'm aware and watching when it comes time to put him back down. But it is great how much they enjoy each other. No matter how upset Lucas gets, Josh can always make him laugh.

This is some Mommy and sons bonding on the couch, rolling around and giving lots of kisses:


Last weekend, we settled down on our front porch to enjoy the sunshine on our new blanket (thanks again Curt and Jeni!). We decided to let Lucas try Josh's popsicle, and that was the end of that--he would not give it back! He loved it. I think it has changed his whole outlook on life. He didn't know there was more to life than strained fruits and vegetables, and he was very pleased at this discovery (even if we couldn't quite convince him to hold it by the stick).

Josh took the opportunity on the same day to try the disc swing again, but he is still too small (or thin) to properly counterweight the thing and just ends up hanging off backwards. Maybe next year.

Mohawk!

I tried to give Josh a mohawk using hair paste, but it looks more trendy/spiky than mohawky, probably due in part to his resistance efforts. He was not as into it as I thought he would be. I thought he looked cool, but he just wanted his regular hair back.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The boys loved all their valentines cards and gifts (and we loved all the candy they couldn't eat!). Thank you! I am sorry to report that nearly half of it is gone already, after just one night. Josh made a very pretty Valentine for us at school. It was a red heart doily with lots and lots of small beads in various shades of red glued to it. Not his usual taste! He usually goes for big, messy art. He told me repeatedly that he made it for "Mommy, Daddy, Lucas, and Sammy!" But all his teachers wrote on it was "To Mommy, Daddy and Lucas." They must not have understood what he was saying or who Sammy is.

Speaking of Sammy, he got quite the Valentines day surprise. I let him out into the back yard in the morning as I helped load Josh and Lucas into the car for school, and he started howling like never before, a long steady guttural noise. We quickly but apprehensively moved to the back to see what was going on, and a HUGE raccoon was cornered in the back with Sammy. It was as big as Sammy, who is 80 lbs. It didn't even look like a raccoon, except for the telltale markings. (After doing some research later, I am afraid that perhaps it was a pregnant raccoon.) We were able to call Sammy away before he got hurt, and the raccoon leapt over the fence into another neighbor's yard, and shortly thereafter we heard terrible noises coming from that yard. We are hoping it was the crows in the trees the raccoon climbed into, but we are fearful it was a cat making that noise. A harrowing morning. We live in the city, people! There is not supposed to be wildlife in our yard!

Gummy smiles

Lucas still has no teeth and a cute, gummy baby smile. Most babies get their first teeth between 4 and 7 months of age. Lucas turned 8 months old last Monday, and still nothing. He drools and chews like crazy, and has for months, which continually tricks us into thinking he is teething. Josh got his first tooth at 9 months, so we must make late teethers.

Super Tuesday -- Please Vote Obama '08

8 months old

Today, February 4, at exactly 8 months old:

Yesterday, with Daddy for Super Bowl Sunday:

Look Who's Crawling!

It's been a week of movement milestones for Lucas. Last Friday (I know, bad mommy with the late post) he crawled for the first time. That morning, he was doing the modified propeller-leg crawl: with one leg he used his knee on the floor to crawl and maintain balance, with the other leg he put his foot on the floor to propel. But by Saturday he could just crawl (regularly), and now he's all over the place. Especially if he is in sight of Sammy's bowls. What is it about dog bowls that so fascinates babies?
However, he is an ambitious soul, and was not satisfied with this pace. He continues to try very hard to learn to stand and walk. If we stand him up around a low surface (like the coffee table), he can stand there forever, and can even move around it some. If he give him our fingers, he'll walk (at an impressively brisk pace) around the room, although he is still adorably wobbly. Last night (Thursday) he pulled himself up to his feet, using the coffee table, for the first time. This morning, he "cruised" from his play cube to the table for the first time. First steps! (as a cruiser). Won't be long now before his real first steps, with no hands! I give it another month, I think he will be walking by himself in March. He is very motivated.

Copying pictures

Some people have asked how to copy pictures from this blog. Just put your mouse pointer over the photo you want, right-click on the photo, and a menu window will open. You can select options such as "Save Picture As", and then save it into your own directory.
If that fails, just ask me to email it to you!
I have also enabled the email feature on this blog. Under each post there is now a little envelope icon with an arrow. You can click on that to email the entire post to yourself (or someone else).