Letters For Lucas

Wonders, Mishaps, Blunders and Joy.. commentary on my life as a mom in the form of letters to my son

Cars

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From auctions and events near and far, in his short life, Lucas has been around a lot of cars.

My husband sells cars for a living, but not just any cars, vintage, classic, (mostly) European cars.

His showroom is less than five miles from our house, so Lucas and I stop by to visit a lot.

A camera is never far out of reach…

Monterey Car Week – August 2009

La Jolla Motor Car Classic – January 2010

This post is for Wordless Wednesdays and if you want to link up or see some really beautiful photographs, visit Alicia at A Beautiful Mess. This week, she shares her love for Valentine’s Day. Look for a special photo of her and her husband in the snow shaped heart. 🙂
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Date Nights

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Last week, I had the honor of publishing a piece on date nights in the Studio30 Plus Magazine.

Studio30 Plus is a blogging community where people over 30 can meet, network, exchange ideas, make new friends and find new blogs to follow.

In case you missed my post, here it is:

I must confess until this past Saturday, it had been over a month since my husband and I had our last date night.

I blame myself. If your home is like ours, I am the organizer/event planner/social activity director. If I don’t schedule a babysitter or call my sister, date nights don’t happen.

I’ve been dating my husband for eight years in May and I have no intention of stopping, but the minute you have children, let’s face it, date nights become increasingly difficult to pull off.

Typically, we only get a sitter for a special occasion; a group function, a friend’s birthday party, a work or holiday event where kids aren’t invited. It’s rare that date night is just the two of us. Plus, there’s the warding off of the guilt, finding the time and funds, booking the sitter or begging family members, etc., etc., etc.

I believe one-on-one date nights are extremely important. Not every week, but certainly and at the very least, once a month. That’s only 12 times a year.

I really get into our dates and by “get into” them, I mean I spend a little extra time on my appearance; washing and blowing my hair dry, shaving both my legs and applying full make-up. It’s the least I can do when I consider 95% of the time, my husband gets yoga pants, sneakers, hair in a pony tail under a baseball cap and a gamey stench.

For us, date nights give us a chance to reconnect, catch up and spend a whole dinner [uninterrupted] gazing across the table at one another and remind ourselves that we are more than just our son’s parents.

We recall why we fell in love in the first place, remember that we are two people with many layers, interests and emotions, all while making a conscience effort NOT to talk about our son, his latest milestone or funny moment, which is always a lot easier said than done. I wish we could find the time to have more evenings out together because they always bring us closer.

By the way, on Saturday, we had drinks and an appetizer at one of our favorite restaurants, followed by sushi at another and then ended up at a neighborhood bar for a night cap. We were home by 11:00 PM.

How often do you and your husband have date nights and what are your favorite ways to spend them?

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Love Is In The Air

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Love the perfectly worn in jeans.
Love girl time.
Love toasting to anything, as long as it’s with champagne.
Love surprising my husband at work.
Love the comfort of home.
Love ooey gooey cheesy pipping hot pizza.
Love seeing dolphins glide in and out of the water as I walk along the beach.
Love freshly painted toe nails.
Love getting lost in an epic novel.
Love dancing in the backyard with my son.
Love the first bite of a red velvet cupcake.
Love the moment right before Dave Matthews gets on stage.
Love when new episodes of Grey’s Anatomy are on.
Love enjoying a Kronenbourg and an omelet at Les Deux Magots cafe in Paris.
Love my son’s infectious laughter.
Love warm sunny days that make me happy to be alive.
Love fresh crisp sheets.
Love the smell that envelops me when I walk into a spa.
Love the UPS man arriving on my doorstep with a package.
Love sandwiches on Squaw bread made with turkey, Swiss and tons of veggies.
Love hearing National Anthem.
Love the feeling you get after a hard work out.
Love a big bowl of popcorn and settling in to watch a movie in bed.
Love hitting every green light.
Love spending time in a book store and walking out with nothing but a sense of peace.
Love visiting with a dear friend.
Love ordering room service.
Love a nice glass of Cabernet with Trader Joe’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups on the side.
Love watching my husband and our son play.

What do you love?

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! May love surround you today and always.

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Mysterious Ways

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I could never have imagined that my parents would not meet my son.

It didn’t once enter my thought process when I dreamed about having a family. In my mind, two sets of grandparents were always part of that equation.

Being a parent without parents never ever crossed my mind.

They should be here.

My son should have two sets of grandparents.

My mother and father should know Lucas.

Lucas should know my mother and father.

He will.

Lucas will know my parents through me and my husband and my sister and anyone else that wants to tell him about what amazing people they were. He’ll hear that he reminds us of them in small ways; like a simple expression on his face that looks just like one my mother would make when she was giddy with excitement and big ways, too, like Lucas’ insatiable curiosity that was so similar to my father’s and how they were taken from all of us too soon.

But it’s not the same.

Lucas is missing being able to go to a Red Sox game with my dad, hear first hand about the small town in Texas where he grew up. He is missing learning about stamp collecting, how to make the perfect Orange Julius and the intrigue of film-noir movies.

Lucas is missing holding my mother’s soft hands, devouring her scrumptious chocolate chip cookies and celebrating each and every holiday with gusto, as only she knew how.

Lucas is missing out on so much.

But they are missing out too.

I have a beautiful, smart, funny, awesome son and just once, I’d love for my parents to able to hear his magical laughter every time I chase him around the park.

Losing my mother and father at such an early age, mine and theirs respectively, is unfathomable. But, sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways and the unfathomable happens. I lost my parents and less than a year later became pregnant with Lucas. I suffered the greatest loss of my life and then gained light and hope and more joy than I ever thought my heart could hold.

I could never have imagined that my parents would not meet my son or that they wouldn’t be here longer than they were, but the way I used to think changed and then the whole world shifted.

If want to know more about how I lost my parents, please read For My Broken Heart.

This post is for The Red Dress Club’s writing meme, Red Writing Hood. This weeks prompt was to write a post that begins with the line, “I could never have imagined” and ends with the line, “Then the whole world shifted.”

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Ritual Cleanse – Half Way Point

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It took every ounce of willpower that I had this morning not to head straight for IHOP. I woke up ready to eat like a horse and had a nasty headache. Instead of a full stack of pancakes with a side order of bacon and a large Diet Coke, I drank another Ritual Cleanse juice and went on a 6.50 mile walk!

It’s the end of Day 2 of my juice detox and I feel fantastic! I’m serious. Maybe it’s because I’m a big believer in the power of positive thinking, or maybe, just maybe, this stuff really works.

I feel energized and focused and I’m loving the juices…. There are six different flavors per day made with fresh, organic, nutritious and delicious fruits, vegetables and spices: pomegranate, coconut water, spinach, kale, celery, cucumber, ginger, lemon, apple, cashews, agave, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and more!

It’s hard to believe I haven’t had anything to eat since Tuesday night and while there have been some very tempting moments, I have not cheated once! This is huge considering there are toddler snacks all over my house and I’m feeding my son three meals a day. Macaroni and cheese never looked so good.

I knew going without caffeine/my beloved Diet Coke was going to be the hardest part for me so I kept waiting for the headache. When I finally woke up with it, I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it through the day, but as soon as I drank some green tea, I instantly felt better. I doubt I’ll ever be able to give up my Diet Coke addiction, but I am certainly going to cut WAY back!
Not feeling full and bloated has been great too.

Since all I’m doing is drinking juice and lots of water, I’m peeing a lot more than usual. I had to stop twice on my walk.

And, I know this will sound strange, but I missing chewing, so I’ve had two pieces of SUGAR FREE gum, for what it’s worth.

Yay me! One more day to go….

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My Forever Valentine

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This photo was taken seven years ago.

This photo shows up on my phone two to five times a day and causes me to light up like a Christmas tree, roll my eyes or breathe a sigh of relief. Sometime days, it’s all three.

This photo is of a younger version of us, but us just the same.

This photo was taken three years before we were even married.

This photo is of me and my one true love, my forever Valentine.

We have spent eight Valentine’s Days together.

I love this picture and I love this man.
This post is for Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop: Prompt 4.) Share a photo that captures your special Valentine(s).

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Family Day

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This post is for Wordless Wednesdays and if you want to link up or see some really beautiful photographs, visit Alicia at A Beautiful Mess. This week, she shares a great find from the Gap. 🙂
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Time To Detox

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My husband and I are doing something utterly insane this week. Well, okay, it’s not that crazy, people do it all the time. In fact, little did I know, Todd has actually done it several times in the past and for a lot longer period of time.

What are we doing?

We are cleansing! For the next three days, we will eat and drink nothing but juice and water.

We are using a friend of a friend’s product called Ritual Cleanse. We are doing the Seasonal Reset Cleanse; which consists of six fresh pressed pure vegetable, fruit and nut juices a day, one every two hours for three days.Before signing up, I tasted these juices and they are delicious! I’ve also heard nothing but great things about the outcome, so I am really excited (or as excited as one can be over starving themselves for 72 hours).

I digress…

People cleanse for many different reasons; it’s a quick, easy, efficient way to flush the whole body and reset all its systems. For some it’s all about the weight loss. For me, I’m not interested in losing any weight, although, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be thrilled to see a lower number on the scale after three days of not eating. Between moving and the holidays, there has been a lot of late night eating, take out, fast food and alcohol, so my personal goal is to detox my insides and jump start my body for a healthier way of eating.

I’m sure by the middle of Day 2, I’ll have a raging headache and want to eat my arm off, but I’m trying to stay positive and I am very committed to doing this.

We start tomorrow and I will be tweeting about my experience follow me here: @letters4lucas and I’ll post an update here next week.Stay tuned and wish us luck!

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13 Things I Know For Sure

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I haven’t been on this planet that long, but certainly long enough to learn a few things about myself, my habits, my body, the products I purchase and my pastimes, that I am now willing to put in black-and-white:

1) Bangs only look cute on Heidi Klum and always seem like a good idea at the time, but will take forever to grow out and look terrible on my face.

2) No matter how great my intentions are, fresh produce will go bad before I know it. Buy as you need, no more, no less.

3) I might as well get $100 out of the ATM, I know I’ll spend it and it will save me the time and embarrassment at Subway.

4) The hotter the shower, the drier my skin.

5) I should have started using eye cream at 20 instead of 30.

6) Generic brand Q-tips suck!

7) If it’s already 9:00, do not start a movie, I will fall asleep. The exception to this is when my husband is out of town and then for some god forsaken reason, I can stay up until after midnight.

8) Send thank you notes immediately! Having to start with, “I’m sorry this is so late…” is no way to thank someone.

9) A watched pot never boils, a phone doesn’t ring, nor an ‘In Box’ fill.

10) I will never be known for my dinner parties, but maybe my unique handwriting.

11) There is such a thing as karma and I am a firm believer in what goes around comes around and it can show up in many different forms; parking spots, waits in line, transferring sleeping children from car seats to cribs and simply being at the right place at the right time.

12) Chances are I will probably never breathe the same air as Dave Matthews, but a girl can dream, can’t she? *Swoon*

13) As much as people may think, it really doesn’t take a lot to make me happy; a bowl of popcorn, a fountain drink, an hour on the treadmill or in a book store, a full tank of gas, showing up on time.

What do you know for sure?

Please take a moment to visit The Purse Blogger today. Laura has selected me as her Favorite Lady of the Week. Thanks, Laura, I’m honored!

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20 Months

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Unbelievably, Lucas is 20 months old today!

He is the light of my life and his personality just gets better and brighter each and every day. Lucas’ retention blows my mind daily and his growing vocabulary is impressive to everyone he meets.

We ran into my friend, Kat at the grocery store the other evening and after chatting with her for a few minutes, I asked him to tell her goodbye and he said, “bye, bye meow meow”. Priceless!

Lucas has learned to talk in full sentences, which is a lot of fun and always interesting to hear what comes out of his mouth. No more than two or three words, but sentences nonetheless; “Mommy’s cup”, “Mommy sit”, “Mommy help”, “more juice”, “Elmo show”, “go, go, Percy”, “fast, fast, fast” and he’s also on a “I see a….” kick.

He loves playing matching games, hide-and-seek with his bottle, running around our backyard, dancing and playing DJ with my iPhone and has stopped eating crayons, which is huge! This week, I’m going to introduce him to Play-Doh.

Lucas is trying to ditch his nap, which is stressing me out, but I’m going to try to get him to hold on to it a little while longer. Wish me luck.

His latest favorite thing to do by far is play choo choos. He has a starter train track set and 15 trains and at least three have to go with us every where. He is a Thomas the Train (and Friends) fanatic!

I love this child and all the smiles and giggles he provides on daily, sometime hourly basis. 🙂

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