What a Weekend!

It was another jam-packed weekend for the Damascus Luce's!

Speaking of jam packed...on Saturday morning I packed my car to the roof with donated items and headed off to Annapolis (home of the donation site: The Clothes Box). THANK YOU to all who donated!!!

It was so fun to make 4 trips into The Clothes Box with items and have the volunteers there bowled over by how much we collected. Whatever clothes or other items cannot be used by the Sudanese family will be sold from their store and the proceeds go to the Anne Arundel Medical Center.

On my last trip in a gentleman got out of his truck and followed me inside. Once there he asked where the proceeds go and how they get their merchandise (answer: all donations). He said he'd been donating clothes and other items elsewhere for years but will now donate them to The Clothes Box since the hospital has been so wonderful to his family. Yay!

This was meant to be a quick 2 hour trip (1 hr each way). However, my keep powers of navigation must have been on the fritz because I made a wrong turn on the way home and the return trip took about 45 minutes longer than it should have. That's what I get for not printing out the return instructions!

Once I finally got home on Saturday pm, our little trio made its way to a children's consignment store in Mt. Airy and found some more socks for the contiuously growing boy.

Sunday the Tres Luce's headed off to the Ray's home in search of food, fun and lots of people. Rob and Jen had a ton of people over to celebrate the 2009 MD Jaycees Executive Team and their families.

Thankfully Jacob was not the only youngster, although he was the youngest.

The next oldest was adorable little Blaine who is 18 months and still slightly bigger than Jacob. Jacob watched Blaine perform all sorts of fun-looking circus stunts with his mom and dad. I could see Jacob's wheels a-turnin'. I may try some of them as soon as he is more proficient at sitting and standing by himself on moving surfaces.

The 2 took an immediate interest in each other and eventually, when Blaine's mommy was holding both boys, Jacob tried to tackle his new friend. Ahhh the joys of parenting boys.

Good thing they get to see each other again this coming weekend at the convention! Here is Jacob with another new friend - Lisa.

Hearts and Flowers

OMG - I almost completely forgot to tell you all about the wonderful Valentine's Day that Steve and I enjoyed! It actually began on Saturday when we received a "hand"made Valentine from Jacob (the loverly daycare ladies made them using the kids' handprints) and Jacob received a red and white stuffed doggy from his caregivers. Yep - it's on the fridge.

The Best Hubby in the Known Universe started Saturday off with a rose for me and a sweet card. Then he picked out a good mix of Indian food for dinner. While he started those dishes I took care of Jacob and then we finally got to eat around 9:15. Dinner was supposed to be after Jacob went to bed around 7:45 but apparently these dishes took longer to make than expected. It didn't matter - they were delish!

We enjoyed some adult conversation (no baby babble allowed), some adult beverage of the grape variety, and the candlelight dinner. It was a wonderful date. Speaking of dates, we had figs (Ok not really dates but they remind me of dates) as our decadent desert.

Thank you, honey!

Over the River and Thru the Woods

On Sunday we headed over the river and through the woods to the home of the Grandparents Luce. OK, so in reality it's a tiny little creek and just a lot of trees, but the sentiment remains the same.

They wanted to celebrate Steve's upcoming birthday before they leave the country again. They might have also wanted to see Jacob again, but they never really begged this time.

While we were there Jacob practiced clapping (see video), sitting up, eating, and chatting.




He also did lots of rolling around on the floor and got held a lot.

Of course there were plenty of slobbery kisses to go around, too.

It was a great time, highlighted by a cake for Steve! Sorry - we didn't think to take a photo of that. Besides a photo just isn't as tasty as the real thing.

On Saturday we received a small shipment of hand-me-downs from Aunty B (thank you! - they fit perfectly!!!) and prepared to send a few shipments back. The long weekend ended with a skype-to-skype call with Jacob's Aunt Sandy. We're all getting used to that technology and maybe next time we'll both have video the whole time!

Hope you had a terrific weekend, too!

Mondays are a Challenge

Are Mondays bad for you? I've heard of plenty of studies that show more folks have heart attacks on Mondays. Often times when asked how their doing I hear a lot of people say, "Good...for a Monday." It really seems like Mondays just aren't good for most folks.

Well, they're not too good for Jacob either. Yesterday he hardly ate or slept at daycare. Most Mondays are like that, but yesterday seemed particularly bad. Of course, as soon as he got home he couldn't eat enough and he passed out cold for an hour before waking up to eat before finally crashing for the night.

At daycare they said he just looooves to watch all the other kids play or play himself. He can't quiet down and Mondays are the worst. It's like he forgets over the weekend how much goes on there.

Now that I'm typing this I think I realized why yesterday was so bad. One of his usual caregivers - Miss Amanda - had her last day on Friday. I think he misses her!

I'll bet Jacob gets back in the groove with whomever replaces Miss Amanda soon and he'll be eating and sleeping better soon enough. Maybe Mondays will still be bad but not this bad!

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Keep those wheels a rollin - Rawhide!

That's what I keep thinking each time Jacob starts to roll because he just keeps going and going. He doesn't like to stop! So once he reaches the end of the foam block mat or the end of a blanket we have to move him back to the opposite side so he can do it all over again. Did I mention he only likes to roll one way? I've tried blocking him with my leg...

But he ends up looking like he's trying a new yoga pose. He loves that mat! It's where he rolls, practices sitting up or just hangs out chewing on all his toys.

And I have to clean it often from all the drool :) He's got 4 teeth now... and working on the front middle 2 as we speak (those are supposed to come in between 8 & 13 months so we're ahead of schedule!). This weekend was so beautiful so we spent some time yesterday walking on a path near our house. We were only gone for 1 hour but by the time we got back Jacob, who had spent the entire time lounging in the sling, passed out for about 2 hours. I guess it takes a lot of energy to watch all the people and doggies go past.

We were also blessed to receive a number of items from some friends - Camille, Greg and their brood - for both the Sudanese woman (I still have to meet with Lydia for more!) and some items for Jacob. Thank you so much for your generosity! I went through everything Jacob has outgrown (there's a lot!) and everything is either returning to Aunt Betsy or going to the Sudanese woman. It looks like I'm delivering things next weekend finally!

I was also able to catch up with one of my best friends on Saturday evening and meet some new friends. It was a terrific, busy, and yet strangely relaxing weekend!