9 months.

I notice lately that I have been taking photos of Luke primarily with my phone. It is definitely not the best quality but seems to be within reach whenever I need to snap a quick shot. I love my new DSLR that I got for Christmas from my two guys but it is definitely not for taking quick little snap shots. Thankfully I have a little fujifilm camera that just needed a battery charge.. Hopefully I'll be able to snag some more.

Things have been a little quiet lately so I thought I'd just jump on here for a minute and try to catch up.

Luke is 9 months old now. I may have mentioned, but on the day he turned 8 months at 5pm he started crawling. Yes- I remember the exact time. He was not crawling at 4:45, or even 4:55. At 5 pm on the dot, my dad held up the remote and Luke crawled across the room to get it. So that was kind of awesome.

Now he's 9 months. He eats 3 meals per day, is not a big fan of juice (hooray!), loves chicken and BBQ sauce, will devour a hot dog in no time, likes to eat off of a fork, wants to eat whatever I'm eating (which is a-ok with me, I don't mind sharing with him), loved Stuffed Pepper Casserole, oranges, noodles, broccoli, french fries, summer squash and can crawl super fast. He can stand up and walk along furniture and has been seen multiple times just standing without holding on to anything. He's so observant and wants to be involved in every conversation. He'll fake cough to get your attention and will now grab your chin if you're looking away so that you can look at his face and talk to him. He loves the swings and the see-saw. He still eats everything he finds on the floor, dust bunnies and rocks are not left behind. If you ask for a kiss, he'll give you one and sometimes he needs to just give kisses for no reason. He hollered when his auntie walked away because he didn't get to give her a kiss. He laughs for no reason, kind of like a chuckle. He'll say Num Num when he wants something to eat. He likes Snicker-doodles. He makes a stinky face. If you say cheese and point a camera at him, he'll show you all his teeth. And we gave him a haircut because his hair was in his eyes. He looks like such a big boy now. He's the light of our lives. 

I seriously could not ask for a better kid.

P.S. I'm working on my 20 wishes. I can knock a few things off at least. Maybe I'll get around to doing a post on it soon :)

My life in pictures (lately)

Lucas learned how to give kisses. It's pretty much the best feeling in the world.

And he likes BBQ sauce and Orange Juice. And anything with good flavor, like tacos and stir fry.

He learned how to crawl on his 8th month birthday and hasn't stopped since.

And he just learned that he can pull himself up and walk along the furniture. Which means we're in BIG trouble.

Wish us luck.

Happy 2013!

So, uh, Happy New year.....? You know, it's only January 17th. Only a little late.

But hey, I do what I can.

So guys, it's 2013 already. For real. Lucas is going to be 7 months old next week. That again is for real. Everything is just going by much too fast.

Let's start with Christmas. It was awesome. Lucas was so so good and loved everything and has literally played with everything he got so far. Puppets and an awesome dinosaur ball popper, some teething things and a bunch of trucks. Gotta love little boy toys!

Drool - story of our lives right now.

Oh and that telephone. you see it? Yeah, that's what he liked the best on Christmas morning.

But this guy got his mumma a new camera. To take picture of him. Because that's all I've used it for so far! 

Then New Years came and went. No big happenings there. 

But honestly, I'm welcoming 2013 with open arms. It's going to be a good year. Eric and I will be together for 13 years in September and married for 5. Lucas will be 1 in June (I know, right?!)

But the whole reason for this post is what I plan to do with 2013.

2013 = The year of paying it forward.

Why, you ask. Well let me tell you.

Before Christmas, Mom, Lucas and I were in the store getting some groceries. I had a bunch to put in the car, plus the little guy so I headed to the car. Well as I'm loading the trunk and making faces at Lucas, this man walked up to me. First of all, I was a little freaked out. I didn't know him. He was approaching me and my child. I was a little hesitant to turn around. 

So he came to me and put a dollar in my hand and said "Please take this, put it in a savings account for your son, and if you don't have an account, make one and make sure you put this dollar in it for him."

Did that really just happen?

I said "Sir, you really don't need to do that."

"Please take it. I want you to save it for him. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year"

as he was walking away I shouted my "Thank you so much, that was so kind."

He got in a van with another man and they rolled down their windows as they passed me and yelled "Merry Christmas!!!!"

In awe of what an amazing selfless act that was, I managed to get Lucas buckled in the car but could not get that off my mind.

I has left my carriage behind my car while I was buckling him in because I knew my mom would be out and we could just put both of our carriages away. Well, the next thing I knew, a woman breezed by my car and grabbed my carriage to put away (she didn't even have one to put away from her own shopping).

I yelled "That was so sweet, thank you so much!"

Lady: "You have your hands full right now, take care of that little boy!"

Does it get any nicer! I think not.

So that's my story.

I feel like all of us might take the things we have and the people we have in our lives for granted. It really is the little things in life that matter the most.

Do nice things for others. Whether it be people you know or people you don't know. Sometimes you find another person in the world that you just connect with on some level. Sometimes you just have to make someone smile. That might be all that they need. It's not a hand out, it's a gut feeling that you want to do something for someone else because it'll make that person a little lighter, feel a little better, and maybe that person will even pay it forward too.

It has already made me feel better inside to know that I helped to make someone else's day happier.

Pay it forward, guys. :)

Here's hoping this little guy makes you smile today!