Luca at 15 months (ish)

Naps: Make that nap! Down to mostly one nap a day, sometime after 11:00 am and for 2-3 hours. 

Feeding/Eating: He loves to eat and will eat mostly what we eat. Bananas are by far his favorite, and really, all fruit is very popular. He's able to do things like eat a whole pluot by biting into it and seems so big! We work on the silverware eating at that is hit or miss, sometimes ending with thrown forks and being "all done." 

Clothing: He's still wearing some Carter's onesies that are 6 month but mostly 9 month sizes are in the rotation. Some 12 month clothes, especially footie PJs. A lot of the summer clothes we have are either gifts or hand me downs so I haven't had to buy much for quite some time. And now he wears size 4 shoes. And boy does he LOVE shoes. He likes to be wearing his and/or carrying a pair around. And he's pretty adament about getting Matt and my shoes and carrying them to us even when we really don't want them. He prefers Matt's bright green running shoes and my plasticy silver flip flops. But at least he understands the concept of pairs and mostly brings us pairs and mostly brings the right shoes to the right person. 

He's still pretty slight despite how much he likes to eat!  

He also really likes hats. He will chose to wear a hat around the house and mostly leaves it on, or takes it off only to put it back on. This morning he even saw my visor and said "hat" and insisted I put it on.

Bedtime: Luca goes to sleep anywhere from 7:30 to 8:30 pm. We still rock him to sleep but are trying to put him down before he's completely out at least some of the time so he can learn to soothe himself to bed. 

Sleeping: He's capable of sleeping through the night but doesn't always do so. He was REALLY sick for a week and we let him come to bed with us when he awoke upset and not feeling well. So then we had to break that habit but we're mostly there. Now he may wake up in the middle of the night but we let him work it out and he's normally back asleep within 15 minutes.

Teeth: Eight full chompers in the front and molars are at the surface. Can't wait for those molars to get through!

Development: So much development! He's walking all over, can comprehend lots of what we're saying and will respond to instruction. The earliest signs of this were with food...being able to sign more and hungry and now he pushes his high chair to you if he wants to eat and walks to the fridge and grunts if he wants his milk. (We're working on words to pair with those!) He still really likes books and is favoring the ones that have some element of interaction like a pop up, texture, moving parts, etc. He also really likes his 100 words books so we spend time pointing at things and naming them. 

On August 11 he started the transition to the Toddler Room at daycare and he's SO ready. He has jumped right in to the morning routine with the "big" kids and seems to really enjoy it. And it totally wore him out on the first two days so he was happy to take a nap in the infant room. The transition has also seemed to encourage his vocal development. He was a regular chatter bug since his first morning with the toddlers.

Personality: Luca is still really laid back. The most fired up he gets is around water. He got his first goose egg on his forehead when he tried to run to a splash pad to play in the water. And at the Kelly's he was so vigorously splashing that Finn was upset by it. We did swim lessons with him at the YMCA and he was the splashiest, happiest kid there. 

He shows his toddler-ness though, occasionally throwing himself on the ground, arching his back, grunting at us, etc. And continually splashing in the dogs' water bowl no matter how many times we say no. 

Mama/Daddy update: Matt and I are doing well. Matt is in summer mode so he's pretty laid back and works from home a lot to help us juggle the dogs, and life in general, a little easier. Sometimes I think we're crazy to have added Frenzy to the mix but we love her and she's such a sweetie. Hopefully Bounce likes the change as that was our biggest hope! 

I've been really stressed with work and trying to stay positive which just makes me appreciate my home life and Luca even more. Poor Matt just has to be my sounding board as I process all of the changes. I've been trying to keep up the workouts to balance things but am only running 3-4 miles per run. I did a strict diet/cleanse that helped me drop some stubborn weight so that's been a definite plus!

Matt is training for a half marathon and is really rocking his runs. It's the most serious he's been about this training and I'm so excited to see that paying off.

Wrapping up a decade

Inspired by my good friend, Nick, who paved the way of turning thirty and writing an awesome blog post to summarize his twenties, I did the same. I'm sure I missed a few milestones here and there (Hey, I'm thirty now, my memory isn't what it used to be!) but here's the rundown of the past ten years. I'm pretty excited to see what is in store for me next. 

20: A student at Gonzaga University (go Zags!), I spent half of my twentieth year studying abroad in Florence, Italy. By studying I mean travelling around Europe—hitting 16 different countries total, drinking wine and eating lots of pasta and gelato. This was also the year I became an Aunt for the first time (to Corbin).

21: I rang in this birthday in Florence and then returned to the real world where I had to work my butt off to lose the lbs I might have picked up from all the wine, pasta and gelato (totally worth it though!). I also had elective surgery to bring my ta-tas down to a normal size, a decision I am so happy for and experience I often forget even happen since I feel like I now have the body I was meant to have.

22: This was the year that I graduated college then got my first “real” job at a marketing communications agency in Vancouver, WA and moved into an apartment to live by myself for first time. Marking yet another first, I bought a car on my own for the first time—my first, but not last Subaru.

23: At the time it was a tough decision, but I chose to start grad school at Washington State University (Go Cougs!) to get my masters degree in Communication. I picked up and move to the small college town of Pullman, WA which was daunting at the time but gave me a change to be truly independent. As a last hoorah before two-years of being broke and studying, I went  on a cruise of the Blue Danube with my Grandma, Mom and Aunt.  

24: I guess this was a lowkey year for me. With a grad student budget, I was pretty broke and spent my time buried under academic journals. While that sounds kind of depressing, it was far from it. I made good friends and took plenty of study breaks to “play,” including regular visits to 80’s night at the college dance club/bar.

25: I finished grad school classes and left Pullman without finishing my thesis so I could start a new job (don’t recommend doing that, by the way). Fate brought me together with Kate O’Farrell, another Gonzaga graduate, who I lived with in Portland. This was the year I became forever indebted to her as she introduced me to Matt over tequila shots at a bar in Seattle. Oh, and I had my second knee surgery to repair my meniscus which restricted my driving for six weeks forcing me to live with my boss during the week so I could get to/from work. Ah, memories. 

26: This year began with a bang. Matt flew from Knoxville to visit me in Portland for our official first date two days before my birthday and stayed for the whole birthday weekend. Best. Birthday Present. Ever.  No longer a poor college student, I got to vacation again—off to Alaska with my best friend Kristen where we glacier trekked and sea kayaked. Then Matt and I got engaged and I scored a job for an education management company located in Knoxville, Tennessee (I still think it’s crazy to think that I just upped and moved to the South to be with a boy, but it clearly worked out well!).

27: Ring Ring Ring—wedding bells rang this year. Followed by wonderful honeymoon in the Mexican Riviera. And our family grew by one cute puppy (Bounce). We also spent a lot of time exploring the South knowing we wouldn’t live there forever. We had trips to Nashville, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; Ashville, North Carolina; Charlottesville, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina. And went in for my third knee surgery (third times a charm?), this time to remove that pesky meniscus. Whew; that was a busy year!

28: I was a cheerleader for a good part of this year as Matt made final strides on finishing his PhD in Accounting, wrapping up our time in Knoxville. To celebrate his new DR. title, we traveled to the Dominican Republic (DR—get it?). Then did a little cross-country move to Sacramento, CA for Matt’s first professor job. Fortunately I also landed a job at a local advertising agency and we officially settled into life as Californians. 

29: I view this year as one were finally are of the age that changes are starting to be fewer and farther between and we can  start to settle (though, not for long!). I kept things interesting though, with big trips to Brussels, Greece and Maui. Plus a little jump out of perfectly good plane. And perhaps the most significant milestone of the year, I finally finished that master degree I started back at age 23 (hallelujah!).