One little L

My dearest Luca~

One year. Only one year that you have been with us, and it already seems like a life time. You've made a pair of adults into a tripod of a family, and for that our lives have been forever changed. It's hard to image that at exactly this time last year, an amazing little boy was brought into our lives and we couldn't stop staring at incredible gorgeous you. You know what? It's been a year and we still can't keep our eyes off you. It's impossible to imagine not having you in our lives.

I've enjoyed your babyness every day. Cuddling you, nourishing you with my body, entertaining you, reading to you (even when sometimes you don't have the patience for it), and showing you new things in the world. I've loved every moment of it.

You have just become mobile in the past few months, and it's taken us a bit by surpise. You are a very curious little boy, with a love of water -whether it be the shower, or the swimming pool (or to our dislike...the toliet bowl). You are fascinated by big trucks and playing with anything that can be pushed along the ground - you even have your own sound effects to go with this. You are also very strong willed. Although you know the meaning of 'no' you like to test us as parents, and it's hard not to cave in when your cuteness distracts us. Never fear, my little boy - we will perserve.

On your first birthday we've attended the party of your friend Juliette who is one day older than you (her mom even made you a small cake!) We'll open up your cards, and read them to you one by one, before hanging them up on your wall. We've had quite an exciting few days with the holidays and you have a lounge room of new toys, so we will wait to throw a party for you next month.

Your smile can make the greyest of days seem like summer. The laughter you protrude is music to my ears. I could not love you more, I could not be more proud, I could not imagine an accomplishment more magnificant than being your mother. We can not wait to see what type of person you become over the next year.

Love,
Your Mommy


At Juliette's Birthday Party (look at the little 'L' cake that her mom Chelsea made for you)

Showing Juliette how to eat cake (look at that nasty bruise on my leg! I dropped a weight on it by accident)And how to play with cake!

Spin

James has been using a free 12 day pass to go to my Gym over the holidays (he usually just uses the gym at his work) and we've been taking advantage of the free 12 days by going at least once a day.

Today we did a RPM class, which is a like a spin class. In my mind it's the hardest class that they offer because by the end of it you are dripping in sweat - no I take that back....you are soaked in sweat. James did this class with me for the first time, and I think he almost blacked out while on the bike. He had a pool of sweat on the ground. If you haven't given a spin class a go - try it. It's pretty hard core, but then it makes you feel better and sort of justifies all the Christmas junk we've been eating.

* James would like me to say that he was also putting in the most effort today :-)

A cheesy photo of a RPM class....look at all those muscley posers!

Party Trick

Luca recieved a Hippo walker thing, and as of yesterday (Christmas Eve) he can now walk while pushing it. He's a bit crazy with it....goes really fast like he's out of control, then crashes and breaks out in fits of laughter.

(yes, I realize that only a parent can find this really cool....but it's one of those developmental stages, where you just can't believe he's growing up so fast. Before we now it, he'll be walking by himself)

Baby's First Christmas (part 3)

Lunch at James' realitives (that's his Dad in the picture). Once again, Luca stole the spotlight...and had a great time watching the other children. He's fascinated by older children.
Having fun on the trampoline outside!After Lunch, it was back to the beach to join up with Bruce's family (James' stepsisters and brothers). More food, more drink, more merriment (did I make that up, or is that really a word?)

He kept this hat on just long enough for me to take a picture (he was too busy shoveling ham in his mouth to notice the hat).

After Luca went to bed, we went out for an evening stroll to reflect on our first Christmas with Luca. I have to admit, Christmas is the best when you are a kid yourself, or when you have kids. Yeah, definitly.

Wake up, it's Christmas Morning

Luca went to bed a bit later than normal on Christmas Eve, but we didn't expect him to sleep in as long as he did on Christmas morning. The 'baby alarm clock' usually goes off around 6-6:30am, so when he wasn't awake at 7am, I started to get a bit anxious. For once, I wanted him to get up early...it was Christmas! We finally decieded to wake him at 7:45am. There were presents to open, and a busy day ahead - time to get up!

We did our stockings first (thanks Grandma Cassie)...

And then opened up each present one by one. Our lounge room turned into a minefield of toys, and gifts, and wrapping paper. It was GREAT! Santa brought Luca a toy truck, and he recieved lots of clothing from Mommy, and Daddy....not too mention heaps of cool toys and books from Grandma Cassie, Granpa Bob, Grandma Fran, Grandpa Dennis, Aunt Erin, and Great Grandma Loomis. Yeah, we hit the jackpot all right.

Luca checking out one of Daddy's gifts....

After our little family Christmas, James Dad came round for breakfast and then little man started to get cranky so we went out for a walk. The sun was shining and it was warm. There were heaps of kids out riding their new bikes, and families going for walks together. Things I never noticed before, until we became parents. It was very heart warming.

After the walk (and nap for Luca) we had a marathon session of Skyping the family back in the States. Luca just loves talking to everyone through the computer and this way the Grandparents got to watch him open up some of his gifts.

Phew! By lunch time we had already had a busy day...but it was time to go to Lunch with James' Dad's side of the family...and then off to the beach for more festivities....

Christmas Eve

I had to go into work on Christmas Eve, James was off for the day, and Luca went to daycare. James and I had been talking about traditions that we wanted to start now that we were a family. One thing we wanted to do was bake Christmas Cookies for Santa every Christmas Eve, but we had left it a bit too late this year.

Have I mentioned how great James is? While I was at work and he was running around town doing last minute errands, he also baked us some cookies for Santa. I would have been happy with just some 'out of the box' cookies, but he actually looked up a recipie on the internet and decorated them himself as a suprise for me. Yeah, they look a bit wierd, but they tasted awesome (at least that's what Santa told me...)

I got off work at noon, and we took the opportunity to both go to the gym while Luca was in daycare. Then it was off to the beach to start the festivities....
We had a really awesome BBQ dinner at Jo and Bruce's house (James parents). James' brother and James' cousin Cadyn was also there. Look at Luca trying to look under the table cloth...funny, eh? The little boy got his first taste of steak and cheesecake. Yeah, you guessed it. He LOVED it.

Present time! James and I got season tickets to the local professional theatre in town (very cool gift) and Luca got lots of beachy type things, a great walker, and this pop up play tent to crawl around it.

After all the excitement it was back to Palmerston North to wait for Santa's arrival the next morning.

OOOps

Okay - here's the non metric version of that brownie recipie, so you can actually use it now!


1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

This time last year

I was big. B-I-G with a little baby just waiting to come out. I remember being so excited and wandering each day....would this be the day? Luca was due on the 23rd of Dec, so this time last year we could care less about Christmas...we had bigger things on our minds. I was happy at work (knowing I wouldn't be back for many many months, and I was passing the time hanging out at the outdoor pool swimming laps and tanning my big ol belly. Ahhhhh....the days :-) A few pics from this time last year.

Magic (healthy) Brownies

I had several Zucchini that I needed to use up before they went off, so I did a quick search on the internet to find some semi healthy type dish to cure our sweet tooth that we had last night. I found heaps of recipies for zucchini bread, but most required splenda (so wish they sold that in NZ!!!) or eggs - which we were currently out of. Then I came across this....OMG...you HAVE TO TRY IT. It's Zucchini brownies and it turned out awesome. It's my new fav recipie.

A few tips....
The batter will be DRY - and you'll think it won't turn out, but it will b/c the moisture from the zucchini is what makes the brownies moist. Trust me. I had to kind of press the batter into the pan.

Also - I reduced the amount of oil and sugar in the recipie but next time I'll sub applesauce which will also cut lots of fat. Also....I didn't make the icing or put nuts in- they were good enough without them. When baked, you won't even see the zucchini and no one will ever be able to tell you put it in.

Magic!



120 ml vegetable oil
300 g white sugar
10 ml vanilla extract
250 g all-purpose flour
45 g unsweetened cocoa powder
7 g baking soda
6 g salt
250 g shredded zucchini
60 g chopped walnuts

30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
55 g margarine
240 g confectioners' sugar
60 ml milk
3 ml vanilla extract




DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched. To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

The group turns One

Our antenatal class meets about 1x a week - usually just the mothers and babies. We've met some good friends through this group, and it's reasurring to talk to other parents going through the same stages and things that we are. Luca is one of the youngest of the group as he was born on the 28th of Dec. A few weekends ago the coffee group got together for a big joint 1st Bday BBQ party. It was great because all the Dad's came along as well. Awesome food and heaps of toys to keep the kids entertained.

Including lots of ride on toys!

Aren't these flowers gorgeous?! I got them from the wholesale flower auction which takes place at 6am in the morning. I'm getting ready to start taking some more floristy classes shortly.

We took Luca to have his photo taken with Santa at the mall, but they refused to let us take our own digital photo (even though we were willing to pay the $10 sitting fee). So we refused to do it - yeah, we are scrooges aren't we? But the whole reason we wanted the photo was so we could email it to friends/family. We used their props to take our own photo instead...ha ha. We'll sit on Santas lap next year or find another one in town this year.

Like the tree? I had this erected in our town square - my budget, my idea....and it's caused a bit of controversy in the city of Palmerston North....but mainly only from the newspapers who have nothing else to report. The media will quiet down and it will become old news after a while. I think it's fantastic - as do many members of the public.

Luca's first smoothie, and taste of cow's milk. Nice mustache.

Baby's First Christmas

The last weekend of November we set up our Christmas tree, complete with homebaked cookies, and Christmas Music. After all this prep to make sure we had our Christmas decorating evening set to go the only thing we forgot to check were the lights. Our lights didn't work, and instead of dashing off to the store to buy more (which is about a 1 hour mission when Luca is involved) we just made it a two evening process. Our new lights are LED and go have 7 different flashing patterns you can choose from. We prefer the solid white lights, but got the LED ones in hope that they would last till next year.
Every year we get a new ordament (usually from someplace that we have travelled to). This year's ordament is Luca's first Christmas one - you can kind of see it directly to the right of his head. It's pretty cute.You'll notice there are less ordaments at the bottom of the tree? Lucky for us Luca hasn't seem all that interested in the tree yet. We're keeping half of the presents tucked away in a closet so he doesn't try to lick, suck, and chew the paper off of them or take them and hide them around the house.

Thanksgiving minus the Turkey, Pie minus the crust

NZ doesn't do turkey (which is very very sad for those of us that love, love, love turkey)....well I take that back - they occasionally do turkey, but they are very very expensive - so for Thanksgiving we had chicken instead. It's obviously not a national holiday over here, so I cleverly did thanksgiving dinner in the crock pock, along with a few dishes made the day before - so that I could just come home after work and whip it all together in about hour. We had a really yummy meal - and semi healthy too. We've got a lot to be thankful for this year.

This pumpkin pie was crustless, and turned out so good. You can't buy canned pumpkin over here - so you actually have to cut up a pumpkin, cook it, and puree it. Lots of work if you ask me. Its a funny thing though, because although it takes so much effort they eats lots of things with pumpkin in it...pumpkin soup, pumpkin pastas, roasted pumpkin....the day they bring canned pumpkin to NZ will be a sweet day indeed. Back in the US they have the luxery of buying canned pumpkin but it doesn't seem like people even eat it that often. Share the wealth...start exporting to NZ!!!! We need it.

I also made a walnut pie - which is worth it's wieght in gold. Walnuts I have discovered are also very expensive over here. I brought the leftover pies into work, and made everyone's day.
This weekend has been gorgeous. So gorgeous we spent a lot of it outside - we went to the first of many many Christmas functions. During the day we went to my work's children's Christmas party at the local pool, and later that night James and I went to a formal dinner for his work.

Christmas Comes Early

We bought this toy months ago on sale, and we were determined to keep it as Luca's main Christmas gift...until Daddy decieded he had to have it now. Makes me wander who was more excited about the gift - James or Luca....ha ha. So Santa came a bit early - and now we must again go to the shop to get something to put under the tree...

He does like it! Luca is pulling himself up and getting into everything. This little digger makes all kinds of engine and diesel noises and lights up. What a boy toy!

Need a Nerd?

I'm back! You'll notice it's been some time since the last post. Our computer has been infected by who knows what and was playing up. We tried loading up some free antivirus software which just made things worse, and then I spent hours trying to fix it myself. Today I called an expert (Need a Nerd) in to help out. Why didn't I do this two weeks ago? This guy came round today and fixed everything...and I also purchased some top of the line antivirus system, and he answered endless questions for me. We are now back and running and I have my sanity back.

James is away on 'adventure training' this week. He's doing a 5 day river - float trip that we had been wanting to do for years together. Just figures he goes out and does it without me for work...and gets paid to do it!? Who has the better job? Yeah, that's what I thought. Oh, well...at least the computer's fixed.

Caught in the act

I thought the silence was a bit odd...so I went into Luca's room to find him on the floor with a box of tissues....all over the floor. I can imagine how much fun it would be for him to pull them out one by one, throw them up in the air and watch them float back down again. Here he is - moments after I caught him. Needless to say, I make sure the tissue box doesn't sit on the floor anymore.

Thanks for the new outfit Grandma Cassie! This is Luca's 'spring training' outfit. Two weekends ago the weather was so incredibly nice...almost felt like summer. Notice the green grass and the shirtless daddy? The warm weather is such a nice change from the horrible, miserable, winter we had.

Happy Halloween!

Grandma Cassie sent over this adorable Dragon costume for Luca. It was such a hit at the halloween party I hosted for his 'coffee group' friends (these are all babies that were born within a month a him....from our antenatal classes). Halloween isn't big over here at all. In fact we got 0 trick or treaters (compared to the hundreds that Grandma Cassie and Grandpa Dennis got in Missouri and Florida)

In just the past few years its getting to be more popular in NZ. The Daylight savings means it's light out until about 8pm - which doesn't make trick or treating quite so good. It's just not as scary when it's still daylight out. There's also all this contreversy in the media about halloween - people think it's a night for random acts of vandalism...egging houses etc. Boo-hoo! That's not what halloweens all about!!!! Regardless, I hosted a party....which I think will have to be a yearly thing b/c I love halloween so much, and it would be a pity for Luca to miss out on the fun.And a few of our friends - this is Tom and his mom Thea. He was born 2 days before Luca.

And Ashley - the jailberg. He had a ball and chain around his foot at the beginning of the party

Chelsea and Juliette - both dressed as pirates. Juliette was born the day after Luca!

Babies just look so cute dressed up. Here's Georgi as a devil...she looked sooo cute!

And Olivia as a mouse (sorry forgot to turn the photo around)

Oh, I forgot to share my exciting news. On Halloween night I attended a party hosted by my gym (yeah, I know...I'm such a gym bunny...but they were giving away lots of free prizes in which you had to be in attendance to win...I figured I'd give it a go...I mean who would actually go to a gym party???) You know what...it was kind of fun. I went to spin class prior to the party, which made me a bit lightheaded after my 2nd glass of wine at the party. The exciting news is that I won a prize! Not the $10,000 I was hoping for, but $500 in personal training vouchers. I figured this will be good to use right before the wedding. Hmmmm...I would have so much rather had the $10,000 (to pay for the honeymoon, parts of the wedding, a few small debts we have.....) but heck, I can't complain, A PT is pretty cool too.

Happy Halloween