luke's new best friend

Recently, Luke has begun chatting up a storm. We really have no idea most of the time what he is saying (except for the occasional piggie or uh oh! thrown in), so its hilarious just to sit back and listen or try to keep up a conversation with him. Since his verbal skills have taken off, he has also decided that he would like to converse with people on the phone too. He'll actually talk, wait for an answer, and respond in his own special verbiage.

These are all pictures of Luke holding a conversation on the phone with someone. He gets so serious and will even try to walk away so that he can better concentrate on what the other person is saying...or so that he can push buttons without us noticing.

almost with pictures

So Day 1 of Fall Break and we were invited to go to San Tan Mall with Jill and her kiddos. 'Great idea!' I think to myself. A wonderful picture taking opportunity that I can actually document on-time on the blog!

Yeah right! We get there and I took Luke to the younger area first to get ourselves warmed up because we arrived a few minutes shy of our planned meeting time with the Hildwine's. He starts climbing the steps, attempting to get in the adirondack chairs they have there for adults that he can't quite manage to get out of on his own, and making fast breaks for the handicapped ramp to run to wherever he can get to. The actual toys? Not worth the time of day.

So we migrate on over to the older area of the play area and I am completely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of kids there, let alone the size and speed of them. Luke may be big for his age and could probably pass easily as a 2-year-old, but he didn't really stand a chance against the three and four-year-olds running through there. Add in the fact that he has a tendency to bolt from the play areas to begin with and that I'm 24ish weeks pregnant, we didn't last long before I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions and a minor panic attack.

Total amount of time spent at the mall play area: 40 minutes. Number of pictures taken while at play area: 0. Understanding now that neither Luke or myself are ready to tackle the play area again with Keith present to tag team with me: priceless.

goals and (possible) lofty ambitions

I'm going to be extremely realistic here: working full time, chasing a toddler, and becoming more and more huge with a very active baby growing in my belly has put a severe dent in my previous blogging capabilities. I swore to myself that I would blog more during this pregnancy so that when it came time to create her First Year book like Luke's, I would have way more documentation of what had happened over the course of my 10 months of pregnancy for her to look back on years down the road when she may be experiencing the exact same things that I am right now. That was crazy talk.

I barely stay awake long enough after Luke falls asleep to grade the mounds of papers that make the trek home with me each day and if I do stay awake, I'm fighting the insane amount of heartburn this sweet girl is causing me. I do have to say, however, that I think I may have found a winning combination of prescription Zantac, Mylanta, and Extra-Strength Tums that are doing the trick. The ice cream and never-ending bowls of cereal have seemed to support the health of my esophagus, too.

I do admittedly compose various sorts of blog posts in my head at 3am when she's spinning somersaults in my belly, but I am way past attempting to launch myself out of bed at that point to actually type anything out.

All in all, with my grading completed and the next week miraculously school-free, I will spending time updating (and updating and updating) this lovely blog. I will. And if I keep repeating that to myself, it might actually happen.