Happy 6th Birthday to my big boy!

Well, it's been a few months since I've had any time to update this blog ... Maybe nobody is even reading it anymore.

Life has been extremely busy since last I posted. I'm just a few days away from my due date, and I pray the baby will hold out till then. I'm not the typical pregnant lady who can't wait to deliver. I PREFER to wait :)

Today is Lucas' 6th birthday. I'm so proud of my baby. He is EXTREMELY oinery, but one of the most affectionate and funniest boys I know. Since last I've posted, he's been exceling academically in Kindergarten, he's had a few sessions of ice skating lessons that he's done great in and is currently playing soccer, which I think is his favorite sport so far. He is an EXCELLENT reader, writer ... he's learning lots of math, history ... etc. I have a hard time keeping up with it all, but I love having him read to ME now. :)

We continue to struggle with his behavior at school - trying to get him to listen, complete his work, and not distract his classmates. We have a counselor that we meet with that is really working with Lucas, and is a great advocate for us with the schools. It's been extremely stressful trying to figure out why Lucas does some of the things he does when we know he can do better and has done better. It's also frustrating to hear your baby is in trouble so frequently at school ... you wonder if this could be breaking his spirit. But, Lucas is such a great kid, I think it'd be pretty tough to break him. :)

This past weekend we had his birthday party with the family. He got his Wii that he's been begging for since Christmas. I've been hesitant to buy it for several reasons ... but, we're so glad to have it now. We had a blast playing it this past weekend.

Another change Gary and I have undergone since last I've posted is Gary now works 2nd shift ... which, to spare myself typing it all out and explaining .. it basically means we only see each other twice a week. This has not been a fun transition, especially so early on in our marriage and with a baby on the way. As a result, Gary misses out on a LOT of activities Lucas is in, and I am overburdened with being a single parent once again. We are trying to be content during this time period because there is no indication of it changing any time soon.

Other than that, we're anxiously awaiting our baby boy to arrive. I am excited to be off work for a while, and happy that Gary will be taking off a few weeks during this too :) I'm taking off 10 weeks and Gary will have 2 weeks in the beginning and 2 weeks at the end of my leave! It's been so long since I've had a baby ... I am a bit anxious about it all. I hope it's kinda like riding a bike and I haven't forgotten how to do things.

Here are some pics of our recent activities ...

my friend Arminda asked to take some pics of me preggo. It was a lot of fun and I thought she did a great job. :)

Here is Lucas' bday party. He got the long awaited wii.

Easter Sunday ... a little colder than I expected or I would've bought him some pants :P

A sleepover w/ his cousin Mason in from Pittsburgh

Mommy, Poppy and Gma took Lucas to his first Hockey game. I was a bit disturbed at how much Lucas enjoyed the fighting portion.

This is an egghunt at my neighbor's church's property. I have never been to such a large egg hunt. There were masses of kids and eggs.

Christmas 2008

Tomorrow marks my first day back to work after Gary, Lucas and I enjoyed a two week vacation. It was soooo nice!!! We had a really nice Christmas. Lucas is always a ton of fun and seems to become funnier each year.

Our New Years was nice too. We stayed in for the first time in a few years and it was perfect. I'm not naturally a homebody ... I like DOING things and being around people. I was pretty annoyed at first that we had no plans, but turns out it was exactly what I wanted to do - nothing!

We also got the baby's room together. We had a lot of cleaning out to do in the room, and I'm soooo glad it's done. I was fortunate enough to receive a very nice crib bedding set from a lady at church, so I don't have to worry about getting any of that stuff. I also put Lucas' old crib up and surprisingly had all the parts and pieces to it. As unorganized as I am, that was a true shocker! Not to mention, I've moved 3 times since using it. Unfortunately, since Lucas will be 6 years old by the time the baby is here and I wasn't exactly expecting to have any more children any time soon after having him ... I kept NONE OF my stuff. So, having those couple things taken care of already is GREAT!

Here are a few pics of our last couple weeks.

Our vaca began w/ a night at the Columbus Zoo to see the lights. We went w/ the old farts, who were hilarious the whole time.








Christmas morning I took very few pics since all I do anymore is take video. Whoops!

Lucas LOVED his guitar and made up the funniest songs. Maybe if I get around to it I'll upload one. Otherwise, got to my facebook page and check him out. I guarantee you'll laugh at the short video I posted of him ;)

A few days before Christmas we had my family's Christmas at my parents house. Only about once a year do we all get together. All the grandchildren were present, so we had to take a photo. Hard to believe next year there will be TEN grandchildren. I wish we could've had several of these nights together. Never enough time together.

This is just a silly mistake my dad made on one of my brothers' cards and I thought it was hilarious.

Dad was opening up a present from someone and kept saying "Oh, this is nice, oh this is nice". I happened to be sitting right next to him as he opened it and as he kept saying how nice the present was, I couldn't figure out what it was. I started thinking ... he cant' know what this is, it's still all covered up. So, I grabbed it from his hands and I said "Okay Dad, if this is "so nice" tell me ... what is it?". He started laughing, he had no idea!! Anyhow, maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was hilarious and everyone was cracking up. My dad is so funny!