Dear Lucas (31 Weeks)

As the weeks go on these letters are becoming harder to write because you are growing and changing so fast it is hard to remember everything that has happened in a week. Now that you have hit the 7 month mark it is sinking in that before we know it you will be one and no longer a little baby anymore. Last night your Dad and I were talking about how much we've changed since the first day we brought you home. I told him it was too bad that you didn't come with a remote control so that now that we have a little experience we could go rewind and enjoy our little newborn Lucas since neither of us could really remember how the first few weeks were because we were so tired and just feeling out our new roles as your Mom and Dad. Also, it would be nice to fast forward through the times you are teething and don't feel good and pause the moments when you just want to cuddle up with us and give us your sweet baby kisses or share you sweet laughter.

You are already so independent. You want to feed yourself. You don't want to nap in our arms anymore and would rather be in your own crib where you can stretch out and roll around. I'll lay you at one end of your crib and when I get you out in the morning you will be laying sideways at the other end. Now you are basically "sleeping through the night." You wake up usually once between 7:30PM and 11:00 (which is fine with me since I'm usually up then anyway) and I nurse you and when you are done you want to go right back to sleep. I don't see you again until a little after 7 in the morning. We don't even do your whole little bed time routine anymore. I haven't read you "Guess How much I love you" before tucking you in for weeks (even though I have it mostly memorized by now.) You just seem like you would rather just be put in your crib and left alone so you can snuggle with your blanket person and get some sleep (you still love to be read to, just not so much before bed.)

We are not really worried about your weight anymore (okay yeah I know I should change that to I'm not really worried.) I know you are growing just fine and at your own rate. You are eating and nursing all the time. You are even starting to get cute little baby fat on your thighs and you have the cutest smallest little belly that hangs slightly over your diaper when you sit up. Also, I can tell you are almost out of your 3-6 month clothes and soon I'll have to pack those up to. The other day I was pulling out your 6-9 and 6-13 month clothes from under your crib and in the same box were your 0-3 month clothes and I just couldn't believe how much you have grown! Your old clothes looked like little doll clothes. I put you in your little patchwork outfit today because the weather is so nice and so I could enjoy you wearing it at least one more time.

You love being outside. Since we first brought you home if nothing else works to get you to stop just opening the door and letting you peak outside is a sure fire way to calm you down. When the weather is nice and you are bored with playing insides I will walk you around the front yard and let you touch the tree bark and feel the leaves and of course you always have to show some love to Babies the outside cat. I hope the weather stays nice so we can keep going outside. I also need to stop being lazy and take you for walks outside in the fresh air instead of taking you on stroller walks through the mall (which I'm sure stroller walks outside would be a lot cheaper!)

You have slowly added a few more sounds to your every growing baby talk vocabulary. Now you not only say "da da" but have added in a "ba" and a "ga" every now and then. You still love to "razz" and cough to get attention. You also make this strange sound if you aren't picked up from naps as fast as you would like. It isn't a cry or a scream but it sounds like you are rolling Spanish "r's (something I still can't do, which is one of the reasons I took French in high school). It is the funniest thing.

Even cooler than the sounds you can make now is how much of a little copy cat you are turning into. You seem to try to do whatever your Dad and I do. If we pat our leg for Jadie to come to us there you go hitting your legs like a mad man and smiling at us when we notice what you are doing. Then if you seem me spin something on one of your toys you are grabbing for the toy and trying your hand at spinning it. If I am looking at a magazine you want to hold it to. If I am on the phone you want to eat it. I'm just relishing in these moments where you want to be like me and your Dad because I know there will come a day when we won't be "cool anymore" or you will pledge that you won't ever be like us (and then when you have kids you will slowly realize you are very much like us and that it isn't as bad as you thought it would be.)

We've also started giving you new nicknames. Your Dad has been calling you cheekie-cheekies lately. (His thing so I don't know why) and I have for the most part stopped calling you boogs and started calling you Lucas-Lou and Lukie-Lou and since you seem to love funny sounding two word names bugga-bugga (My thing and I still don't know why.)

Well Bugga-Bugga, I love you to the moon and back,

Ma-Ma