First Birthday Party

Luc's 1st Birthday Party!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

@ noon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guests:

Mommy & Dada
Grandma & Grandpa
Bonne Maman & Bon Papa
Uncle Dave
Taty Nathalie & Uncle Billy
Logan, Taylor, Kendall
Great Grandma Uno
Great Aunt Alice & Uncle Bill


Originally, Luc's first birthday theme was going to be owls with fall colors. But Luc began to like Elmo, and would light up every time he saw Elmo anywhere. Since I couldn't easily find owl-themed birthday invites and decorations, we went with the Elmo theme.

Bonne Maman borrowed a bounce-house castle to set up in the family room for the kids. Luc had a blast with that and especially loved the slide.

 
Grandma made Luc's birthday cake and put a picture of Elmo on it. It was a homemade vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. Super Yummy! Luc loved it, and managed to keep somewhat clean while eating it. 

"I just wanna taste, Mommy."

Luc couldn't even wait to go outside to ride it

Luc got lots of presents from everyone. They included: wooden puzzles (from Mommy and Dada, and Logan and Taylor), Mega Blocks (from Taty Nathalie and Uncle Billy), a growth chart (from Kendall); wooden cars and a wire maze (from Mommy and Dada); a book and clothes (from Great Uncle Bill and Aunt Alice); money (from Great Grandma Uno); a T-shirt from the D.C. Spy Museum that says "Deny Everything" (from Uncle Dave); a v-tech learning turtle book (from Great Aunt Anita and Uncle Ron); a dump truck, pull cars, Crayola drawing markers with magic and bath paper (from Grandma and Grandpa); a SmarTrike (from Bonne Maman and Bon Papa). The tricycle is Luc's favorite (since it takes him outside).

Luc got to spend a lot of time with his cousins over his Birthday weekend and Thanksgiving. He loved playing with Kendall since she was more his size. But Luc also loved to follow around Logan and Taylor and see what they were up to. He would often walk away from Mommy and Dada into the other room where the boys were. By the end of the weekend, Luc was randomly going up to his cousins and giving them kisses. Luc does very well playing with other kids. When one of them stole something he was playing with, he had a stunned look on his face since he's not used to playing with others, but didn't complain. He would try to play with them or would move along to something else. Like always, Luc is most content when he's with a bunch of people.

Luc and Kendall playing with the new truck

Luc giving everyone Thank you kisses

Autumn Fun

 Frederic and I really love living in Columbia. Any store or restaurant you want is a few minutes from the house. Baltimore and D.C. are close-by as well. We're in the middle between our parents. Columbia is known for it's award-winning, planned community and excellent schools. It was also designed to promote healthy living and has over 80 miles of trails. We have an entrance onto those trails right across the street from our house. Walking on those trails has become a favorite pastime for us. Luc loves it as well. He's always loved to be in the stroller and go for a ride. Now he's liking to walk on them himself and look at, and pick up, the nature around him.

Look what I got, Dada!

You want some leaves? 

After we took some pictures of Luc playing with the leaves, we headed on our journey. We still had more than half our route to go (about an hour's walk total). Luc insisted he walk...and walk...and keep walking...until he wore himself out by the end that he agreed to go on Dada's shoulders.

No hand-holding here.

Blind driving. I can push my own stroller, Mommy.

Grandma & Grandpa

The Ultimate shoulder of Rest.

Luc spends the majority of his life with his Grandma at this point. It's a little bittersweet for me. I wish I were the one with him all day long, but at the same time I know he's with a wonderful person who will help raise him into being a great boy and man. Many times Luc fights not going home so that he can continue to play with Grandma.
Grandma's house is always an adventure. She's got tons of seasonal decorations that quickly become toys. Her pots and wooden spoons make the best drums. She's always got the best food around, and as a bonus, Cali makes for a great best friend.











Grandpa is sure to make a phone call to Grandma every morning after he arrives at work in D.C. Whenever the phone rang, Grandma would tell Luc that it's Grandpa on the other line. Now whenever Luc hears their landline ring, he always thinks it's Grandpa, even when Grandpa is home. Since Grandpa gets to to work from home on Fridays, Luc has the opportunity to spend time with him often. He takes comfort in his arms and can easily put a smile on Grandpa's face. I think Luc will have a great time playing with Grandpa and his trains when Christmas comes around too.

Luc, the Professor

Luc has taught me so much in this past year. He's taught me about life, motherhood, parenting, marriage, and mostly, Myself.

I once read an article about motherhood. It said, before you have children, you think you're the expert on how people should be raising their kids, and you have the answers to all their parenting problems. Then you have your own child. You soon realize, you know nothing about parenting. Luc has definitely made me realize this. I always had my own ideas on how my child would act, and how I would discipline him. I knew how I would react to any situation so that he was a great child 100% of the time, and I was a perfect parent. I've read up on everyone's advice on how to raise my child too. I'm pretty well-versed in all the different methods from sleeping to eating. However, I can read a million websites, blogs, or books. I can talk to every other mother in this world, and no one can give me advice that actually works with Luc. Everything I thought I knew about parenting and how I wanted to treat my child has change. I've had to come up with my own rules. I've also had to change the way I think about a lot of things.

This is what Luc has taught me about being a Mother:


*You've never seen a 40-year old man still sleeping on his mother's shoulder. 
 I've spent way too much time worrying and trying to find solutions to Luc's sleepless days and nights. People and books, doctors and friends tell you not to let them sleep with you, on you, near you. They need to learn to put themselves to sleep, alone, in the dark, all the time.-even if this means having them scream their lungs out for hours on end. I've tried that. Luc fought back (strong) and even threw-up in his bed. I've taught myself to take it day by day, night by night. One night, one thing might work. The next night, that same thing will not work. I try to listen to what Luc wants by his cries. Is he in pain? Is he cold? Is he anxious of being separated from me? Is he just being stubborn? I hope some day he can sleep by himself, alone, and without my help. I'm sure he'll find a way, in his own time.

*Stop Worrying.

This one is very hard. I've known from watching my own mother worry about her children, that completely not worrying is impossible as a mother. But obsessive worrying is just no good- for me or Luc.

I've worried too often about sickness, accidents, autism, should Luc get vaccines or not, should he sleep in our bed with us or should I go on the couch, is he eating enough, are these habits he's starting now a development problem, etc. This article online put some things in perspective.

"We don't actually have much control over the way our kids turn out. Genes do a lot of the deciding, and the owner of those genes does most of the rest. People blossom when we love them, not when we worry about them. Worry just teaches worry. Let it go."

*Go with the Flow.

 I've grown-up to be a little control freak. Whatever I can have a grasp on, I like to control in some manner.  Part of it is hating relying on others to get it done and do it correctly. Part of it is to give myself a purpose. Part of it is just to have comfort in knowing what comes next and not having any surprises. I have to often remind myself that Luc is his own person, and I cannot control him. This mantra also ties into Luc's mood swings, tantrums, wants and needs, dislikes, sleeping issues, daily routines, etc. Yes, babies are known to thrive on routine and things they can expect to occur. But life does not work like that. You have good days, bad days, good luck, bad luck. You have to go with the flow of life. Work it one day at a time, and do the best you can in that moment. Luc is a little person. He has his own mind and opinions. I not only have to recognize I cannot control that, I must also respect it.

*Do what You feel is right.- Right for you. Right for him. Right now.

 There are books and doctors endorsing every parenting style ever imagined. They all believe they know what's best and what's going to work for your child. I've thrown all those books away. I've returned to my original thought on life and everything in life- Follow your Gut. I once gave a stressed new mother of twins this same advice the first week of her being a Mother. I soon realized (as an exception to the section above) that I was correct in this parenting advice, but needed to learn to follow it myself. I'm one of the very few who know Luc the best. I have the maternal instinct since giving birth to Luc to feel what he needs. I need to listen to that instinct and trust that little urge inside to do what I think is best for him. I need to learn to ignore what everyone else thinks.

Halloween, Halloween, This is Halloween!

Two days before Luc's first Halloween, Maryland and the North East were battling it out with Sandy the Hurricane. We were scared 1. she wasn't going to pass quick enough, and 2. there would be so much damage that Halloween would be cancelled. But alas, Sandy dumped her business on Monday, came back for seconds on Tuesday, and ran away by Wednesday morning. Wednesday night was perfect for some candy-collecting.

Yes, the typical costume for Luc would have been a monkey. But I'm honestly getting a little tired of all the monkey paraphernalia hanging around our house. I saw a cute circus lion costume in a craft magazine. Grandma was kind enough to put it all together for us.

I'm a Lion. Tada!

On the prowl

Ryan, Katherine and Audrey came over to Trick or Treat with Luc and us. It was a lot more fun then going by ourselves, especially since the candy wasn't going to Luc. We did the entire street and got lots of goodies. By the end of the route, Luc insisted on walking the rest of the way, and walking up to the front doors, himself. He would also point to the candy he wanted to take out of the bowl, just like Audrey was doing.
Luc loved to see the other kids in their costumes as well. He seemed to really enjoy this holiday.

Audrey and Luc ready to get some candy

Lion Luc and Dada

Lion Luc and Mommy

Lion Luc and Soccer Mom

Luc walking along from house to house

Thank you, Grandma, for making my lion costume!

Eleven, oh Heaven!

Luc now has 5 teeth (three on the top, two on the bottom). The fifth one came in by surprise. We knew Luc was starting to teeth again (his nose was running and getting crusty, he was starting to drool and chew on his fingers), but we were waiting for him to get cranky and cry all the time before we saw a bump. One afternoon, while playing with Luc and carrying him upside down and him laughing, I saw the tooth had already cut through the gum. He's taking this set a lot better than the first.

This is what he's been up to lately.

Baby Luc can now:

-play ball with you by throwing it back (somewhat in your general direction) when you roll it to him
-likes to push his toy cars around
-crawls under the chairs like he's going through a tunnel
-hands things to you, but always expects you to offer it back to him
-hands you a book, if he puts it in your face (literally) he wants you to read it 
-dances whenever he hears music, even in the middle of the mall when the song is barely audible
-stares at other babies and kids
-walks, can even eat a cookie at the same. Such multi-tasking!
-starting to imitate our actions more and more
-kisses Cali on demand (but no one else)
-will leap out of our arms when he sees his stroller, wanting to go on a walk
-throwing more tantrums when he doesn't want to do something
-says 'Hi' or 'Bye' and waves, but usually after the person has already passed by

New Vocabulary:

*hot (whenever he sees something in/on the stove)
*up (to be picked up)
*out (wanting to go outside)
*this/that (when he's pointing to something)
*tries to repeat the word you tell him when describing the pointed-to object
*"Vrooom" while pushing a toy car around on the floor

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Under a Roof.

If Luc could live outdoors, I seriously think he would. No matter what time of day it is or what the weather looks like from the inside, he still tries to pull the handle on the sliding glass door to the deck. Ever since the day I opened the blinds in the living room and encouraged Luc to look out the window, he's been asking for the blinds to be open every day.

Looking out the window.

What Luc will endure to be outside. It's not even winter yet!

It's the Little Things.

Luc is very meticulous. He sees all the very little things (fuzz on the carpet, imperfections, loose threads, etc.) and tries to get to it. He will patiently spend his time until he's able to pick it up/pull it apart. If only he had that kind of patience for other things.

DJ Play It One More Time.

Frederic and I started turning on the music stations on our tv a little while back. And since Luc loves music, he's now realized that the tv can play nonstop music for him. He will walk up to the tv, point at it and grunt. I ask, 'You want to listen to music?' and he starts laughing and smiling.

Daddy's Boy.

Ever since Frederic stayed home from work one Friday to take care of Luc, Luc has become all about Daddy. The second Daddy arrives, Mommy is a nobody and into Daddy's arms Luc screams. It's very cute. At the same time I'm getting a dose of my own medicine when Luc used to only want me, and when he would stop crying only when he got into my arms. I guess I'll welcome the break...

Random Acts of Snuggles.

Until the last month or so, Luc was never one of those babies that would just curl up in your lap and snuggle with you. Well, he still doesn't curl up in our lap because he always wants to be on the go, but now he will randomly give you a hug when you're holding him. And if you're lucky enough, he'll try to strangle you with his arm wrapped so tight around your neck.

Never to Forget.

Luc's bedtime routine goes something like this: has his last bottle at 7pm. Sits in his highchair while we eat dinner. Daddy cleans up dinner while Mommy gets Luc into his pj's and brushes his teeth/gums. Daddy comes up for a good night hug while Mommy sits down in the chair and grabs the book Luc picked out. The second Luc sees the book that'll be read to him, he's jumping out of Daddy's arms to sit in Mommy's lap for story time. The longer Daddy stays saying goodnight, I love you, sweet dreams, the more Luc gets impatient to hear his story and flip the pages.

The end.

This past weekend, Frederic and I went to Williamsburg, VA for my cousin Joe's wedding. Bringing Luc with us would've made the trip a little complicated, and him needing to be in bed by 8pm would've cut our night super short. Frederic's parents so kindly agreed to come over and watch Luc for us while we were away.
We sure did miss our lil guy!

Story time!

Luc did pretty well for his first time away from Mommy and Dada. He didn't even cry a tear when we snuck out of the house Saturday morning. He did a good job eating well for them, but not so much with taking naps Saturday. He made up for it by sleeping in until 6am Sunday morning. He never does that for us!

 That time with Bonne Maman and Bon Papa gave them all a chance to bond. By the time we got home, they were best friends. Luc loves when Bon Papa tickles him from behind. Luc pretends he doesn't know he's still there, but you can see the smirk on his face as he waits for Bon Papa to tickle his side another time.
Luc loves that Bonne Maman will read any story to him. He also loves that she'll play endlessly and repeat the game over and over. He never tires of hearing her sing songs to him in english and french either.