Is this really happening?

My baby is growing up too fast. He's long surpassed the skinny little newborn stage(where I cried to the pediatrician more than once that he looked like a plucked chicken) and is now a smiley chubby baby gaining more and more awareness of the world every day. Before he was born, my friend Robin gave us some toys to borrow for later. I packed those toys away in Joseph's closet and I clearly remember thinking that we wouldn't need them for a long time. Golly geez, long time is here. We brought out the "Jumperoo" and Joseph loved it until he got to tired to hold his head up and it went spastically bumping into the sides of the seat. We had to put a dictionary under his feet since he couldn't reach the floor to bounce. He got a good 5 minutes of fun out of it anyhow.

Ho Ho Wierdo

Joseph met Santa for the first time a few days before Christmas. Mom and I took him and waited in line for, like, ever for him to lounge on the Big Man and get his picture taken. I'm glad Mom went with me because I'm not sure Drew would have patiently waited in the line through the 8 zillion kids who were all generally happy to be there until it was time to sit upon the big red knee and then froze in holy terror. I am reminded of Christmas a few years ago. Drew and I were walking through a maze of Christmas shoppers at the mall and strolled past "The North Pole". The line was huge and most of the parents looked like they'd rather have a colonoscopy than stand in that line. Drew, bewildered, commented, "Why do these people tell their kids that Santa is at the mall?" What struck me was the seriousness with which the comment was made. I bet he'll be the first to tell Joseph that Santa is at the mall next year. Anyway, there are two things that strike me about this picture of Joseph with Santa. First, the baby in the picture really doesn't look like our Joseph. I don't know who that baby is. Joseph's head really is not that big and round. Don't get me wrong, it is kind of round and maybe somewhat large, but this picture somehow accents the roundess of his little gourd. While Mom and I were out Christmas shopping, several strangers stopped to look at my sweet baby. A few (I swear, at least three) made some comment like, "How old is he?". . . followed by, "Wow. Look at that head." One lady acted kind of embarrased after she said it like her internal monologue was malfunctioning and she didn't mean to blurt it out. She followed up, in an attempt to reconcile, with "Must have lots of brains...haha." I"ve learned that people (strangers) really like to comment on babies' sizes. Would we ever comment back? Should I have followed up with, "Wow. Look at the size of that rear end?" Again, I digress. The other striking feature about this picture is darn obvious...what's wrong with Santa Claus. You know that's the first thing you noticd after the baby's head. He appears to be suffering from a lack of that certain twinkle, which I noticed he had had attempted to remedy with a copious amount of rouge.

Dear Daddy

Happy Birthday! A whole lot has happened this, your 29th year, hasn't it? Probably the most life changing year of your life, huh? I hope the past 12 weeks with me have been some of the best. Daddy, I've only known you for 12 weeks, but I've heard stories about you and I know things about you. I know how smart you are and I've heard all those stories about how good you can play soccer and baseball and basketball. . . and how fast you can run and how quick you can figure things out. I can't wait until you show me how to do those things. We've already been practicing, haven't we. You try so hard to get me to grab hold of my toys and kick things. You spend hours with me on my mat trying to figure out how to roll over. You try so hard to get me to laugh and all I can do is smile at you. I just can't seem to get that sound out yet, but I will. And you'll be there, so excited. Remember the first time I rolled over onto my back? Mommy had never seen you so excited. And then you made me do it again, and again, and again. You were so proud every time I did it. I'll keep on doing new stuff and making you proud, and at the same time I'll always be proud of you. I've heard more things about you. I've heard all about how patient and kind you are. From the day I was born, you've learned to hold me and feed me. All those nights when I was a little bitty baby and I would cry, you would stay up with me as long as I needed you. Mommy would sometimes get upset when I couldn't go to sleep at night, but you wouldn't. You held me and talked to me and never became impatient. I know you were tired but you never said so. I've also learned how hard you work and I know that you do it for me. You've just gotten to be a partner in your law firm. But I want you to know that even if your job was to collect old cans, you'd always be my partner. I love you, Daddy. Happy Birthday. Love, Little Buddy

Chesley Walker Lucas

Cousin Chesley is here! Born at 2:15 December 28. She's 6 pounds, 15 ounces and so cute! Oh, and I got my new fancy camera today so expect lots of my amature photographic endeavors in the coming days.

Christmas Eve Pictures

Yes, I know. It's been over two weeks since our last post. However, I have the excuse that I went back to work last week. Joseph stayed with Grandmas and Daddy and next week starts daycare. Yep . . . we're goin' to the Big D and don't mean Dallas. Anyone who wants to come by the office Monday with well wishes and bottles of hard liquor is welcome. Here are some pics from Christmas Eve. We misplaced our camera on Christmas Day (the diaper bag ate it) and so we'll post some of those pics later after Uncle Ben gets them to us. I'm getting a new fancy camera soon (maybe tomorrow) so I'll probably go crazy with posting pictures of the boy following this recent hiatus. So I guess the loyal Joseph followers (aka Grandparents) want an update. Joseph is smiling a lot lately. I mean A LOT. He has also come up with a plan for remedying our economic troubles and bringing world peace - Christmas six times a year. The idea is this (according to Joseph) . . . if we all buy Christmas presents six times a year, how can our economy fail? Furthermore, who's in the mood for a war at Christmastime? Such a scheme will definitely bring world peace as well. Anywho, enjoy these pics and wait for my new camera! Oh, and Joseph's new cousin Chesley is likely gonna be born on Monday (which is also Drew's birthday), so this week's gonna be wild and crazy! J can't wait for his partner in crime. He's gonna look after her at daycare and she's gonna hook him up with all the pretty girls. Hopefully they won't scheme against us until they're at least in middle school.

Holiday Hurricane....Sorry it's been so long!

2 Month Stats

We took Joseph for his 2 month check up today. He's now weighing 12 pounds and measuring 23.5 inches. He's in the 50th percentile for both weight and length. This was awesome news since he was only in the 7th percentile at 4 weeks. Everything check out great. He's such a freaking super hero...he took the shots with barely a flinch.

Dear Lord...

Thank you for my bath tub. Thank you also for my pacifiers and my gas medicine. And pretty girls.

Eight Weeks Old

Favorite Cousin Brinkley

Turkey Boy

Seven Weeks Old

Snow!

Friday morning we got up in Greensboro for Joseph's 3 am feeding, and there was snow falling! By the time we got around to taking pictures, all that was left was just this little bit on this bush.

Ladyfriend

Our dear friends, Vance and Erin Jennings, have two gorgeous red headed girls, Riley and Macie. We have had the privelege of watching Riley grow to age 3 and now Macie is here! Macie is Joseph's ladyfriend. Erin and I were pregnant together and Macie is 12 weeks old. J likes older women. He met Macie for the first time Saturday and was being coy (i.e. slept the whole time). He was trying to act cool. We can't wait for them to be able to be aware of each other. Erin's coming next week so they can roll around on the floor together.

Business in the Front. Party in the Back.

First Vacation

We went to the beach Saturday through Tuesday with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a great time. Joseph slept all the way down there and all the way back thanks to his magic sleep dust emitting car seat.

In other news...Joseph starting rolling over from tummy to back last week. He's done it about 6 times. We think this is quite the feat for 4 weeks old!

What a Treat!!!

Yesterday we got a visit from Aunt Patti and Uncle Fred all the way from Shelby! Grandmama and Grandaddy came too. It was the best day! Aunt Patti brought a huge lunch and we pigged out and watched "The Joseph Show" all day long. I wish Aunt Patti did not live so far away, but we will visit her in December. Love ya'll!

The Spa

Every time we give Joseph a bath Drew and I discuss the temperature of the water. He says its too hot...I say too cold. So..the other day I gave Joseph's bath sans Drew and got the water nice and warm. Guess what...first time the little booger didn't scream his head off. In fact, he was in hog heaven laying there with his big ol tummy and with his drunk face on.

Happy Four Weeks!

Joseph turned four weeks old on Tuesday. We thought this was a milestone for a little fella so we made him a cake and sang to him. He didn't seem to mind.

Ole!

Last night we took Joseph out to eat Mexican with our good buddies Bill, AJ, Charles, and Cammie. He was totally oblivious to his first "adult outing" and slept. It was good to see our friends as we've been in total baby mode for the past month. Things are slowly starting to settle down and become normal, or new normal. Good times!

Laundry and Randy Travis - My Youngun is Just Like Me

So...one challenging aspect of raising up this boy is that if he's awake, there's no chill time...he wants to be entertained. There is very little sleep time during the day. My mom said I was the same way for the first 3 months. It definitely keeps things interesting. To keep him content takes creative measures. This morning I really needed to do some laundry and cleaning. I put him in his swing in the laundry room with me and turned up the Ipod. He was perfectly content so long as I was singing and/or dancing. I realized that this could be a very good way of getting off those remaining pregnancy pounds. So, the little scheme only worked for so long before fuss pot started up somewhat. Then, enter Randy Travis. ....My love is deeper than the holler, stronger than the river, higher than the pine trees growing tall upon the hill...I TOLD Drew he likes country music. Picture 1 is post-Randy, picture 2 pre-Randy. Awesome.