Accelerated Play

Pulling up on this little trike

knocking down my tower

It is truly amazing to watch the way Lucas plays with his toys and how they have become tools for his development. He has been playing with his stacking cups and busy balls for several months now and just this past week he began putting a ball in the cup. Then he realized how much fun it is to put stuff in other things (maybe because I cheered and acted ridiculously happy) so he took it to the next level and has been putting lots of stuff in his shape sorter cube (seriously, I found the remote in there the other night). He still knocks down any towers I make...maybe stacking will be the next!

Putting the busy balls in the shape sorter cube

Ball in the cup

Trip to the Aquarium

We took Lucas the the Newport Aquarium for a fun family day. This aquarium is awesome! It has lots of tunnels to walk through that make you feel like you are in the ocean with the fish and sharks swimming all around you. Lucas was pretty quiet the entire trip - just observing all the tanks and the people around us. He even did great for the little show they had which was a diver underwater in the shark tank telling us about the sharks and answering questions. I think this trip really highlighted for me the joys of being a parent - watching Lucas learn and be excited about the world around him. I found myself always looking at Lucas to see his reaction to the sharks, Denver the sea turtle, the brightly colored fish, or the jellyfish. I just love seeing the world through the eyes of someone who is experiencing it for the first time because it makes you stop and appreciate life. At the very end of the aquarium they had a penguin exhibit. I love penguins! Lucas was too sleepy by this point to really get into their funny antics. Maybe next time :)

Reason to Celebrate!

Lucas has finally learned to clap! We were at the Reds game on Monday night and I think he saw everyone around him clapping and smiling and just had to get in on the fun! I have played patty cake and clapped at the silliest things to teach him to start clapping with no success. All it took was a big crowd I guess!

Paul McCartney Concert

I went to the Paul Mccartney concert at Great American Ballpark...it was AMAZING! It is a little embarrassing to admit that I cried twice without even realizing it. I guess there are some songs that I love so much and I never imagined I would hear them live that I was just overcome with emotion. This was undoubtedly the best concert of my life - 3+ hours of pure musical genius :)

The Girls!

setlist:

1. Hello, Goodbye

2. Junior's Farm

3. All My Loving

4. Jet

5. Drive My Car

6. Sing the Changes

7. The Night Before

8. Let Me Roll It / Foxy Lady Tease

9. Paperback Writer

10. The Long and Winding Road

11. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

12. Let 'Em In

13. Maybe I'm Amazed

14. I've Just Seen a Face

15. I Will

16. Blackbird

17. Here Today

18. Dance Tonight

19. Mrs. Vandebilt

20. Eleanor Rigby

21. Something

22. Band on the Run

23. Obla Di Obla Da

24. Back in the USSR

25. I've Got a Feeling

26. A Day in the Life / Give Peace a Chance

27. Let it Be

28. Live and Let Die

29. Hey Jude

Encore

30. Lady Madonna

31. Day Tripper

32. Get Back

Encore 2

33. Yesterday

34. Helter Skelter

35. Golden Slumbers / Carry that Weight / The End

#18 Find something I love at a garage sale and buy it!

I found this great train toy at a garage sale drive by and I must admit that I love how much Lucas loves it. Every morning he crawls straight to it and squeals with excitement when it lights up and plays music. He has been using it to learn to pull up to standing and then sitting back down as well as pushing it while crawling. It won't be long before he is walking behind it! I would recommend this toy or something similar for all babies at this stage of development!

Camping

Our Columbus family met at Indian Lake for a camping weekend. Let me just tell you that I am not the outdoorsy-type of girl (I hate being dirty - and was even known to cry about being dirty when I was little) and I had my doubts about camping with a 10 month old who is a crawling maniac. Not to mention it has been a HOT summer and babies can have a hard time regulating their body heat. When my friend who is in her third trimester announced she would be joining us and was super excited about it...I knew I had to put all my doubts aside :) And I am so glad I did! With a little planning and some sweet new camping gear, my little family successfully braved the outdoors for 2 nights, 1 shower in the camp shower, 1 swim in the lake, all meals prepared outside, and countless smores. There was only one coffee run to macdo ;0)

I did lots of online research about camping with wee ones and prepared accordingly. Here is what I learned:

• Bring extra everything - diapers, wipes, clothes, pjs, towels, blankets, pacifiers


• Prepare for bugs - spray and thermacell's seemed to do a decent job


• Prepare for the weather - I brought a blow up baby pool for the campground that Lucas played in while we all sat in camp chairs sweating and watching him have a ball, I got a battery operated tent fan that I aimed directly at Lucas while he slept, a tailgate tent was great for creating shade


• Bring lots of food options and offer them regularly - There was so much going on that was out of the ordinary that Lucas was never focused enough to have a regular meal. He loved snacking on blueberries, edamame, black beans, and of course puffs


• Have a plan for crawling - At 10 months Lucas is pretty much over being held all the time and wants to be down exploring. I had a tablecloth that covered quite a bit of space and we sort of made a human barrier around it and the pool on one end. He had a ball crawling in this "playpen" especially when he thought he was sneaking out of it unnoticed :)


• Get a tent large enough for a pack and play and tall enough to stand and rock


• Do not overdo it yourself - this is especially hard when you are camping with friends you haven't seen in some time and you just want to stay up gabbing all night. You just can't do that with a little one who is going to get his 10-12 hours and be super energized when he is awake. Or you could opt to do what Ross and I did - take turns hanging out with friends...Ross stayed up the first night with the guys while I slept and then I stayed up the second night (admittedly he stayed up much later than I did)


• Have a sense of humor - Lucas got dirty, crawled on the grass, took a bath in the same pool water he had played in all day (yes, naked outside), and laughed hysterically at a fuzzy caterpillar crawling on our tent.

Straws can be amazing toys

Carrying the tailgate tent to the beach for shade

Lucas was so tired but did not want to sleep! Look at the determination on his face...I will not fall asleep, I will not fall asleep!

Lucas asleep in our sweet tent

Pie irons - the other camp item splurge I had to have. We made pizzas for dinner. YUM!

#25 Go to a concert of a band or singer I really like

NKOTBSB
My best friend and I went to the highly anticipated NKOTBSB concert in Cleveland this past week!! It was super fun to sing to songs I remember from way back, dance/jump nonstop for 3 hours, and scream at the top of my lungs (I mean, Donnie Wahlberg took off his shirt....what else was I going to do?). This concert was hilarious because the fans were mainly women (ages 20-40) and we were all acting like teenagers cheering for heart throbs from the past who were singing on a gigantic stage shaped in the most phallic shape you can imagine. We made some sweet 80's inspired shirts using fabric paint, stencils, and iron-on letters. Too fabulous for words!