Christmas

We had a wonderful holiday. Lucas was alot more interested in his gifts than we thought he would be. He got excited about everything he opened and had to check them all out before going to the next one. He couldn't even wait for Daddy to get them out of the box which in some cases is a great task in itself.

On Christmas Eve we exchanged our family gifts in the morning. Andy got me a new camera which we have used a bunch over the holidays. We got Lucas a baby doll, tent, and a tub of food which he loves to dump everywhere. We then headed over to the Will Family Christmas for lunch at the Blankenbergers. Lucas had a great time showing off for all Mommy's cousins. Then we headed home for a nap before Grandma Kay, Grandpa Tony, Aunt Carrie and Brandon came over for supper and the Rudolph Family celebration. Lucas received so many gifts and loved them all. Aunt Carrie's gifts of a wagon and Elmo chair were big hits.

Lucas gave his Grandpa Tony a reprint of the book Half Chick which was a book Grandpa read when he was a boy. Aunt Carrie and Grandma Kay got earrings that were almost alike :) We got our family picture taken in front of the live Christmas tree so that we have a good pic to compare it to many years from now when it's growing big in the backyard.

Santa came Christmas morning and brought Lucas a shopping cart, sports toy and ball bopper. He also got lots of goodies in his stocking including a big boy tooth brush. We went to mass at St. Wendel and then came home and we all 3 took a nap. We played with all the new toys. In the eveningwe went to Grandma Eileen's and Grandpa Jim's to celebrate with the Embrey's. We had a wonderful meal and then we got to open gifts. Lucas did a great job opening his presents. Uncle Nathan and Aunt Amber got him an activity walker and he took off across the floor proudly on his first try. Hopefully this will give him the courage to take off on his own.

I've added a slide show of all of our holiday photos. It's a big one. We had a great Christmas enjoying time with family, friends, wonderful food, and great holiday celebrations.

Baking Day

We held our annual holiday baking day this weekend. Carrie Elizabeth, Dena, and Amber came over and we made tea rings, buckeyes, sugar cookies, chocolate dip pretzels, baklava, and divinity. Lucas got to help with the sugar cookies. As you can tell he had a really good time getting to play in the flour and dough.

St. Nicks Breakfast

We went to the St. Nicks Breakfast at Church this weekend for pancakes and homemade St. Wendel sausage. Our friends Sean and Amy showed up too and we got Lucas and Audrey to sit with St. Nick for a picture. Here they are sharing their candy canes with each other. Lucas got a little frisky later. God Job Audrey. Defend that candy cane.

Rudolph Family Update

Lucas is getting very close to walking. He is now pushing things around the house. The video shows him pushing is high chair which is kinda heavy and not on wheels. When he pushes things on wheels he is nearly running. He is into everything, opening all the cabinets and drawers and letting us know where he wants to play whether upstairs, in the living room, kitchen, or basement. He has turned into quite the hugger. He says "hug" and then will give me about 5 in a row. This morning he even hugged Daddy good bye. He cut 2 more teeth this week so now he has 4 on top.



Over Thanksgiving we started working on Lucas's sleeping pattern and he now goes to bed awake and falls asleep on his own. He is waking up at most once a night wanting a pacifier, which only takes me 30 secs and then I can go back to sleep. So I'm feeling much more rested.

Adam is growing and getting stronger every day. I sit in meetings and get distracted because it feels like he is throwing a party in there :) In the last week I had several kidney stones, so I had to get a renal ultrasound done and Adam peaked his little head in front of my bladder and waved, it was just like he was saying Hi Mommy! I'm feeling much better now.

Andy is in his element this weekend, helping the St. Wendel Men's Club butcher around 30 hogs and making sausage. He's also finished up his Dart league for the season, so no more Wednesday nights out :) This week Andy picked out our first real Christmas tree. He got one with a ball so we can plant it and save Lucas's first Christmas tree :) We are ready for Christmas and enjoying watching Lucas grow up so fast.

Busy Weekend

After a wonderful Thanksgiving on Thursday, we kept busy this weekend. Lucas's cousins Evan and Olivia spent the night with us on Thursday and Friday. Lucas was quite infatuated with Olivia (2 months old). He wanted to rock her, touch her, and tried to take her pacifier in and out of her mouth. He even posed for a few pictures but wouldn't take his eyes off her. I was quite impressed with how well he did with her. Hopefully in 4 months he will be just as interested in his new baby brother.

On Friday evening and Saturday morning we put up the Christmas Tree. Lucas helped with the branches and lights. So far has not been too interested in it. It pricks him when he touches it, so it's not very much fun. He even got bundled up and helped us put a few items outside.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Lucas had a great 1st Thanksgiving. He spent the morning watching the Macy's Day Parade and helping Mommy make pies and Daddy make gnocci. Then we had lunch at Great Aunt Tammy's with the Will side of the family. We had supper at Grandma Kay's and Grandpa Tony's with the Taylor family. Lucas loved all the attention he got.


Although he and Daddy didn't get a chance to watch any football they played with the ball at home for while. This has become one of Lucas's favorite toys.

It's a ...

boy!! We had our ultrasound today and we found out we are having a boy!! Two boys 14 months apart, we are going to be busy and loving every minute of it :) Everything looked great with me and with the baby. We've picked a name too, Adam Christopher. Adam is Andy's middle name and we each have family members with that name as well. Here's a profile shot of little Adam.

BTW, we found out that our neighbors are having a boy and my cousin Justin is expecting a boy too. Both are due within 6 weeks of us so Adam and Lucas will have lots of playmates.

STAIRS!!!

Lucas just learned what Stairs are this week. I think the Blankenberger's have been helping practice too. He made it up all by himself tonight. (with me playing catcher in case he fell backward of course) He knows the bath is up at the top of the stairs and that's one of his favorite things each night.

Cranky

We took Lucas to the doctor this week because he was being really cranky and was pulling on his ear. Thankfully he doesn't have an ear infection. The doctor said that there is a nerve that gets inflamed when babies are teething that runs right below the ear and will cause babies to pull on their ear since it hurts. I thought it was too good to be true how well Lucas had handled his 3 teeth coming in at once. Apparently the breaking through wasn't nearly as bad for him as the dropping of the teeth. The pain is causing him to wake up every 1-2 hours at night, so we have been giving him a lot of Tylenol and it's working.

Lucas weighed in at 21.5 lbs this week a whole 1.5 lbs more than a month ago. He seems to be getting taller too since many of his pants are getting too short. He is getting brave now and has taken a few steps by himself. Nothing regular more of a he forgot he needs someone to hold his hands when he walks. He is also trying to climb the stairs and has made it to step number 2. He is trying climb on a lot of things. He hikes his leg up trying to climb into the bath tub, dishwasher door, oven drawer, toys, etc. We're in trouble :)

Big Halloween

The Rudolph Family's Halloween was an exciting one. Lucas 's third new tooth broke through so now he has a total of 5! 3 on bottom and 2 on top. We went Trick or Treating in Grandma Kay and Grandpa Tony's subdivision (Oakfield) and we met up with Lucas's friends Patrick, Lucy, and Jacob. Lucas rode in his stroller and Patrick rang the doorbells. We had a picnic snack in Jamie and Justin's driveway. Next year they will be able to go trick or treating with us cause they will have a little one.

Then after all that excitement when we got home, I felt the baby move for the first time. Sometimes I get so wrapped up with Lucas and things going on I don't know if he has sunk in yet that there is another baby growing in there until I felt it move and all the memories of Lucas moving all around came back. We are almost half way through this pregnancy and get to find out Monday November 17th what we are having if this little one cooperates.

On Saturday we finished up our trick or treating at Grandma Eileen's and Grandpa Jim's house. Our first family Halloween was an exciting weekend.

Fall Camping

I love camping in the fall. This weekend we went to O'Bannon Woods for a weekend of Halloween camping. It was chilly, so Lucas had to stay bundled up as you can tell in the pics. Daddy and Lucas carved his first pumpkin.



We decorated our campsite with a pirate ship complete with a plank for walking up to the treasure chest filled with candy. We were camping with the Blankenbergers and Koesters and we all dressed up as pirates, even Lucas. We went trick or treating from site to site until Lucas's bucket was filled with candy.


On Sunday things had finally dried out from the Friday rain so we were able to let Lucas have some fun in the leaves. We had a great time and we are sad to put the camper away until next year. We added a slideshow to share all our fun times.

First Trip to the Zoo

Saturday we finally made our first trip to the zoo. We had the best time!! It's Boo at the Zoo this weekend in the evenings so there were lots of pumpkins and Halloween decorations. At first Lucas was not sure what to think and he was still waking up from the nap he took in the car on the way there. But mid-way through he started getting very excited. He watched all the animals very intently and loved the giant turtles, hippo, monkeys, giraffes, pot belly pigs, otters and zebras. He even started pointing out the animals to us before we had pointed them out to him. He loves to crawl through tunnels so he especially enjoyed the tunnel where he could see the otters swimming at him. There is a slide show of our trip to the right. Just click on it to enlarge.

9 months old

Lucas turned 9 months old this week. He is crawling all over the place and pulls up on just about anything. He loves going outside to play with his friend Jacob (neighbor). He is waving and giving fives when he is in the mood. His little personality is just getting bigger and bigger everyday. He has learned what NO! means but doesn't always listen :)

Lucas is still loving his books we read Brown Bear at least 5 times a day. Bath time is also one of his favorite times of day. We have moved to the big boy tub because the splashing was getting out of control.

Busy Weekend

Daddy wasn't feeling well this weekend, so there was plenty of Mommy and Lucas time. On Saturday morning we played outside and then Saturday afternoon Lucas and I went wedding dress shopping with Aunt Amber. Lucas is going to be the ring bearer in her and Uncle Nathan's wedding next summer. He had a definite opinion on which dress he liked he really didn't pay much attention until she put on his favorite and then I couldn't keep him away from her. Just check out The Wedding blog linked to below.

Sunday morning we ventured out to the grocery and Sunday afternoon we played in the living and watched the football games and NASCAR race. Now that Lucas can crawl he is into everything. We are working on the word No and I've decided he has selective hearing like his Dad. Lucas can just tune me out and just keeping on doing whatever he is doing without even acknowledging Mommy's voice. He found the doorstops and they are a big hit as you can see in the video. An hour later he figured out how to take them off the wall. He is also all over the TV cabinet and can turn the big screen on and off. I put a lock on the TV cabinet upstairs and he decided to show me by just taking the lock off. He is keeping us busy :)

9 month check up

Lucas had his 9 month check up this morning. (It was a little early because his doctor is getting ready to go on maternity leave.) He loves the paper on the exam table as you can see in the pic. He flirts with the nurses and doctor until they give him a shot and then he isn't nearly as pleasant. He got his flu shot today, just one so not so bad. He weighed in at 20 lbs (50%) and 27 in tall (10%) So we are short and stocky. She said everything else looked great and he is doing well.

Crawling!!

Lucas crawled across the floor Friday night. It took some coaching for him to do it for the camera. It's a one legged crawl, but it moves him across the floor where he wants to go, so we think that counts. As you can tell in the video, Mommy and Daddy are very proud.

Lil Chef

When I got home today Carrie and Lucas had a little surprise for me. He got a little chefs hat for helping me in the kitchen. He's really taking after his daddy.

Baby Olivia Eileen!

Sarah and Kirk and Evan welcomed baby Olivia to the world on Saturday. She and mom are doing well. She weighed in 7lbs 5 oz and 20 in. long. What a cutie!

First Trimester is over

Well, today we are 12 weeks pregnant and the first trimester is over. It's hard to believe that in just 6 months we will have another baby. I'm feeling great. I keep saying I would forget I'm pregnant if I didn't know any better. I'm moving into my maternity tops. I'm being stubborn on my pants and just not buttoning them. I'm at the in between stage where my maternity tops look like tents but my regular tops are really too small for me to look nice in them. Last time my belly was a cute round bump. This time since I never lost the sac of skin and last of my pudginess, my belly is not so cute. We have an appointment at the end of the month and should be able to hear the heartbeat with the doppler for the first time. We should be able to find out what we are having around mid November and I'm sure we will share the gender of our little with everyone :) 3 months down and 6 months to go.

8 months old

Lucas is 8 months old today. He is getting so big. He now has 2 bottom teeth. He loves for me to brush them at night after his bath. He is saying Mama and Daddy and occasionally giving me open mouth slimy kisses when I ask. He loves to play hide and seek and peek a boo and finds the smallest things to be hilarious. He's very close to crawling. He gets on all fours and rocks back and forth and then just puts his hands out for you to help him walk. He is pulling up to standing on his bed, the pack-n-play, the couch, and the window sill. He loves to stand at the window and watch the cars drive by.

Lucas is getting 3 meals of solid foods and is still loving these meals compared to his bottles. He is drinking out of a sippy cup on his own with his solid meals. Unfortunately, he is still getting up once a night to eat, but 2 times in the last week he has skipped his night feeding so I'm hoping he is growing out of that one. Time is flying by and I'm amazed at the things he is learning and how much he is communicating to us.

Play Date

Lucas, Audrey, Lucy, & Patrick

Lucy, Patrick, Lucas, & Audrey

Lucas had some of his friends over this morning for a play date. It was a success, but the group picture was a challenge. The last time we had these babies together Lucas was 10 days old. I added that photo here for comparison. They grow up so fast. Lucas had a great time playing with his friends. There is a new slide show posted of the kids all having fun well some of the time :)

Audrey Fisher -- almost 1 year old

Lucy Bretz -- 9 months old

Patrick Bretz -- 2 years old

Jacob Pugh -- 18 months

Long Week and Weekend

Lucas and Landon

We had a long week. I had a head cold at the beginning of the week and Lucas started teething. So we both felt crummy. Then on a brighter note we had our first appointment with the OB and everything looks good with the baby.

We had a great weekend camping at New Harmony with the Blankenbergers, Koesters, and Wills. Then we finished up the holiday weekend with dinner at with the Rudolph's. Lucas started cutting his second tooth this weekend, but he did great camping with heat. Unfortunately it's back to work tomorrow. How nice it was to have an extra day off. I have posted a album from our camping trip. Click on the box to see them full screen.

Big Brother

Yes, it's true. Lucas is going to be a big brother. We used this shirt (Soon to be BIG BROTHER, ETA April 2009) to tell our families the news. I'm due April 3rd. We had an ultrasound last week, to check out how far along I am and the baby is the bump at the bottom of the black circle. We are very excited to be pregnant again, but a little scared about the idea of having kids 14 months apart. I'm glad because I think they will be very close and easily able to entertain each other, after they get a little older, but there is going to be some time of chaos as well. But life would be boring without a little chaos every once in a while :)

7 months old

Lucas turned 7 months old this weekend. I know I've said it before, but my how time flies. He is getting more and more of a personality and you can never predict what will tickle him enough to make him laugh. This week it is Mommy running in place in the kitchen :) We moved his mattress down today because he had figured out how to pull up on the rail and it was getting close to being dangerous. He loves to hold our hands and walk around and the past few days he has been doing raspberries constantly. Check out the video of him walking and doing raspberries at the same time.

Standing

Lucas loves to stand now. He's not the interested in learning to crawl. He stands at the window and bangs on it. He stands next to the couch and bangs on it. He loves to stand next to coffee tables and bang on them too. So after we noticed a trend, we bought him this little Learning table and he loves it. He is also walking all over the house holding our hands. We are in trouble :)

Las Vegas

Well, we left Lucas overnight for the first time and took off to Vegas. Actually I had a conference for work on Monday and Tuesday so we flew out on Saturday and back on Wednesday. We had a great time. Lucas stayed with both sets of Grandparents over the weekend and did great. We missed him a bunch and we are glad to be home. Here's a pic of us in front of the waterfall at the new Wynn hotel after one of our fabulous dinners. We brought Lucas back a Cookie Monster, since he loves the Seasme Street characters so much.

Jumperoo

Our neighbors let Lucas borrow their Jumperoo and he loves it. It took him a couple of days to figure out the motion and now he is jumping all the time. There are some colorful animals on the sides that he loves to look at and tries to touch too. Check out the jumping video, just ignore Mommy and Daddy's silly comments.

Horse Races

On Saturday we got together with the extended family and took a trip to the horse Races at Ellis Park. We had a great time and I think Lucas really likes the horses. Every time they went by he was in a total trance.

Vanderburgh County Fair

Well, we made our traditional trip to the Vanderburgh County Fair this week. The weather was beautiful. Congrats to the BB Girls on their sewing projects. 1 champion, 2 reserves and a blue. Lucas was the subject of one of Sara's photography projects. It got a Reserve as well. After checking out the projects, we went to the Banquet Hall and fed Lucas. Apparently, he thought Daddy was talking to him on the phone.



After we got Lucas's belly full, we thought this might be a good timeto introduce him to Mommy's favorite animal. So we introduced him to one of the Will Dairy Farms cows. Congrats to the Will girls on Grand Champion for their cows. The cow and Lucas stared at each other at first.

Then the cow didn't seem to mind Lucas rubbing her with his feet.Then of course you can't leave the fair without getting some ice cream from the Young Dairymen's Booth. Unfortunately, Lucas got a hold of Mommy's milkshake and loved it :) Lucas' first trip to the fair was enjoyable and I can only hope that as he gets older he will enjoy it as much as I did as a kid.