Getting stronger everyday

So I really slacked with Levi and didn't give him the tummy time like I did with Lucas.  He is not super close to crawling but he does get up on all fours and look around until he decides to plop back down and roll over 

"Ok Mom, that's enough"

Growing up

Well my little guy is growing up!  Lucas is getting more and more hilarious every single day.  Here a few highlights from the past 2 weeks.

Lucas got his baby (one of my old boy dolls from back in the day) and decided to nurse him after I nursed Levi.  If you look closely you can see that he made me help him pull his shirt up :)

Lucas is a wiz at the computer.  He can open the internet, open Netflix, and put on his shows (Dora, Diego, Blue's clues, etc).  This is him playing his Jump-Start Preschool game!  He also can go to the computer and open his game all by himself and play away.  It's been neat to see how smart he is!

Lately Lucas always seems to be outside on the patio when they play the National anthem.  For those non-military people out there, every weekday at 5 pm they play the national anthem on the loud speakers all over the base.  If you are driving you are supposed to pull over until the song is over and if you are out and about on base, everyone stops and salutes or puts their hand on the heart.  Lucas says it's the "prayer song" and puts his hand on his heart or sometimes he folds his arms.  I thought it was cool that he was sporting both sides of his heritage, wearing the Brazilian team soccer shirt while respecting the American national anthem.

Baking and Gardens

Brian went TDY (Temporary Deployment something or other) for a few days and I was forced to come up with fun things to do to keep the boys moving inside since my allergies were too bad to play outside all day.  One day we made sugar cookies.  As Lucas was decorating them, he couldn't resist taking a bite out of each one of the cookies on his tray!

Levi had fun playing in the jumper by us

We started cucumber and zuccini plants on Saturday 3/19.  These are the plants on Monday 3/28!  They grew so fast, I wasn't counting on that.  Now we need to get the garden prepped so that I can move the cucumbers that are now at least an inch taller!

Let's go fly a kite

Blame it on the upbringing of watching Mary Poppins all the time, but anytime I see a kite I can't help but start singing "Let's go fly a kite"...I am singing it right now...

When we went to the BX (the store on base) they had these cheap little kites for less $2.75, so I figured, why not.  Lucas had so much fun!!!

After we were outside for a bit Zach came running up from the playground to join us.

7 Months and 4 wheelers

How time flies when you're having fun!  Levi is already 7 months old today.  It feels like we brought him home just yesterday.  This past weekend Lucas was riding his little Power Wheel 4-wheeler and Levi looked super jealous, so Brian set him on it when Lucas took a break.  Lucas immediately turned around and saw Levi on it and hoped on the back and took off!  They had so much fun riding together :)

Quick recap of where Levi is at
* Has 2 bottom teeth
* Sits up on his own really well, he can even sit on ride-on toys
* Can roll on to his belly, although he hates it and flips out when it happens
* Not anywhere near crawling
* Is getting pretty good balance on his feet
* Still LOVES to jump
* His feet touch the ground really well when in his jumper (no more pillow under his feet)
* Eats baby food 3 times a day (just one little pot each time), still refused to eat rice cereal
* Loves physical comedy (watching people or things fall, or a persons startled reaction)
* I am guessing he weighs just under 16 lbs, we go to the Dr. tomorrow for his 2nd flu shot
* LOVES being outside, sometimes he cries when you come back inside :(
* Tends to draw people to him, when he is on the floor suddenly so is everyone else!

Lucas's funny sayings over the past few days:
* he patted me on the head and said "Good boy Mom mom, good boy"
* I was nursing and he said "I want strawberries Mom mom" I told him to wait until I was done.  He got them out of the fridge and opened the container.  I heard them spill all over. "Look at ALL the STRAWBERRIES!" me: "Ok Lucas just leave them there and I will clean them up" Lucas: "No, I clean up, Mom mom" me "Ok, well just put them on the counter"  Lucas: "No, I wash them Mom mom".  He went and washed some in the bathroom. Me: "Let me see them before you eat them" Lucas: "No I eat them mom mom"  He ate them, with the leaves at the top and all!

To the RESCUE!

For the past month or so Lucas's new catch phrase has been "____ to the rescue!".  Usually he will fill in the blank with whatever toy he happens to be playing with at the time.  Tonight at bedtime his toothbrush was on the counter, but the tooth paste was up in the medicine cabinet.  As I started to walk away to get something I hear Lucas say "Lucas to the rescue! I geeeet the toothpaste!" then I turn around to see him trying to on top of the counter to get it!

Lets get the silly's out

So my favorite part of being a mom is probably getting to hear all of the HILARIOUS stuff they come up with.  I swear I have to call my mom every day with a list of funny things and I really should write more of them down.  Here are just a few from today

Lucas counting his cars, "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, number, twenty, number, two, number, number, number, number"

I was cooking dinner and Lucas turned around in the kitchen and looked at me and the stove he said "OH NO!" and ran off.  He came back wearing his Mr. Potato head's fireman hat and said "I put the fire out!" and wanted to put out the "fire" on our stove.  I told him he could put the fire out after our food was done cooking :)

While eating dinner Lucas was being silly and said "It's Santa Claus?!" and pointed at our tree (he likes to say Santa is on different things).  I responded with "No way, that's crazy!  What is he doing up there?"  Lucas: "He's singing"  Me: "What's he singing?"  Lucas: "Ho, Ho, Ho!"

Lucas also learned how to ride his bike (with training wheels) on Sunday.  I am sure he could have done it a long time ago if I had wanted to take him out in the cold, but I have been lazy.  As I was cheering him on and telling him how good he was doing, he was just absolutely beaming.  His smile was infectious!  It was such a proud mommy moment!  The sad part was that earlier that morning he put his chin on a lamp's light bulb and gave himself a 2nd degree burn :(

On another happy note Levi got his 2nd tooth two days ago and his 1st one he got about 2 weeks ago.  Oh and today he learned how to make a kissing noise!  It was super cute.

New foods and cuddles

Levi has been so different from Lucas.  Lucas started eating rice cereal at 4 months and loved real people food ever since.  With Levi I had been trying to get him to eat rice cereal since he was 4 months but he wouldn't have it.  Finally when he was about 3 weeks ago I decided to just skip rice cereal and move to other foods.  He likes them for about an ounce worth and then he's had enough.

He likes eating with Brian, but he ends up MUCH MUCH messier than he does with me.  We don't mind the mess as long as he eats!

Lucas has become a camera hog.  Anytime I get it out he starts saying "CHEESE!" until I take his picture.

Lucas likes to help entertain Levi while he is eating.

Sometimes he gets carried away and it scares Levi

We got Gus this toy the other day...he loves his little snuggle buddy!  Who knew dogs liked to spoon?

4-wheeler

This tax return has brought Brian and Lucas a lot of fun.  Since we got home from our SG visit where Lucas got to ride a yellow 4-wheeler, Lucas has literally been asking every other day to go ride a 4-wheeler.  All this 4-wheeler talk got Brian thinking and when he found the right deal on a 2003 Honda 250, he couldn't resist.  We bought this on Monday (Presidents day) morning, and right after we got it, we took it out on a test run.

While Brian and Lucas rode Levi and I had fun hanging out in the truck (it was super cold and windy).  Brian wouldn't let us leave without me giving it a little test run, since this is kind of supposed to be my 4-wheeler until Lucas gets big enough for it.  It was pretty fun and I am sure with time I will get used to it :)

ABQ Biopark

When we do eventually leave Albuquerque I am definitely going to miss the ABQ Biopark.  The Biopark consists of the Zoo, Aquarium, Botanical Gardens, and Tingley Beach.  The best part is that you buy a pass for a year for the whole "park" so you get into all these places with 1 pass!

It was time to do something fun so we went to the Aquarium on Saturday

Lucas loves this place

Watching the diver feed the fish and lobsters

Levi likes looking at the fish

These are from the Children's Fantasy Garden (instead the botanical gardens)