8 years ago

It is almost John and I's 8th anniversary. I was looking through some old pictures and found these. Fun to see how the Adams family has doubled in the last 8 years from 7 to 14. We all look so young too.
The last picture is the latest Adams family picture missing us, as Luca was getting casts off in Philly and we couldn't gather at the beach with them. Looking forward to the next family gathering.
Below is a picture of the Walker family from our wedding and then latest one from the beach, two girls have been added since then Juliette and Claire. The family has grown from 10 to 19 in the last 8 years! wow!

Dare devil

It is evident that Luca is his daddy's son. He is fearless when jumping off and on things. He  keeps me on my toes saying, "this is safe for me mommy" as he jumps off two steps or balances on top of something...I guess we need to revisit the definition of safe. You can see from the video below. Glad for his spirit and courage...now to keep him from breaking anything.

Jumping

Sleeping through the night!

I am happy to announce that our little lady is sleeping through the night and so am I! I am can't believe how tired I was. I knew I was kind of tired, but now that I am sleeping through the night I am blown away by how much better I feel during the day! Thanks to the book: Sleep Easy, Sleep solutions we are all enjoying a fully night's sleep.
Juliette continues to be full of smiles and loves to move. She learned to roll over last week. I am still working on getting a video of it. She likes to play on the monkey mat but still loves being held most of all. Luca can make her laugh more easily than anyone else. She loves him!

Luca

I told Luca that I needed to take a picture of his foot to sent to Dr. VanBosse because he has a blister from the new AFO's. Luca said, "do you need to take a picture of the whole kid?" I said "yes the whole kid then the foot." Luca is quite a whole kid! Hopefully the blister will heal soon and then he can wear his new boots again. (He is able to wear the left on at night at least)

Juliette laughing

Napping protest

Luca woke up at 6:30 am (on his own), went to school on the bus from 8:15 am-12:20 pm. One would think he would be tired...he needs to nap but fights it so hard, so he is in his bed protesting at the moment. Lucky for me, I get to hang out with this little lady that has taken two naps already today and is happy as can be.

Boys are home!

John and Luca got home yesterday around noon. They got on the first flight they tired! Stand-by really worked this time. Everyone is happy to be home and to have them home. Luca went back to school this morning, which was also good for everyone. He is enjoying it. Too bad it ends for the summer in just two more days! He will have a new class and new teachers in the fall. (and maybe a new school too, we haven't decided if we will keep him at Lowell or not, yet)
Juliette appeared on another blog today. I love that! Thanks Alicia and wanted to share with anyone who wants to watch it. http://www.shouldbeablog.blogspot.com/

John and Luca's Trip

John and Luca are just leaving Shriner's Hospital after 6 hours of appointments! The waiting back and forth between the dr. and the one who makes Luca's AFO's. John said Luca did so well till about the last hour and is already asleep in the car after 10 mins. of driving. Wow, what an incredibly long day! Luca has his new AFO's on and did a good job being brave having the old cast taken off. 

This is what Luca said yesterday after arriving in Newark:

"I like taking this trip with you daddy" 

Juliette's 4 month

Juliette had her 4 month check up and shots today.
Here are her stats:
Height: 25.75" (87%)
Weight: 15 pounds (57%)
Head: (69.7%)

She is growing like a champ and it is all going too fast. I cannot believe how big she is already! She is such a cutie-pie!

Back to Philly

John and Luca go on the first flight they tired today, flying stand-by, back to Philly. Luca has his dr. appointment tomorrow to get his cast off and get his new AFO's. Then they plan to come back Tues. I am so happy the flight out went well. They flew non_stop to Newark. They will sleep at the Hick's tonight and drive to Philly in the morning.
John is undoubtedly the best dad ever! Happy Father's Day to an amazing and dedicated dad to be doing this with his son, Luca!

Lots of pictures!

Here are a bunch a pictures I took in the last two days!
School update: Luca told me that Jam learned how to share, apparently Luca takes credit in his classmate learning this new skill. He took the bus this morning after needing to be driving to school the last many days.

Juliette is growing so fast and is such a doll! She is working on rolling over and I am hoping she will start sleeping longer stretches at night soon. She is such a great baby though, it is hard to complain! Luca is getting so much better with her. She cried off and on all the way to church yesterday and Luca didn't say a word about it.
Luca also enjoys the IPAD we got for our Philly trip and navigates his way around it quite well.

John and Luca leave for Philly on Sunday, June 17th and hope to come back on Tues. They are flying stand-by so hopefully that will work out too!

Also, John had a little fender bender with the Volvo so we are a car short this week. Trying to figure out if we should "fix" it enough to drive it or try to get a different car. Sad and expensive, but glad no one was hurt and that the kids were not in the car with him when it happened!

Friends

Our friends, Angela and Stevan and children are visiting Seattle this week. Mari came over too for waffles and sunshine! She brought her banjo and we had a great time outside together! Juliette missed most of the party but woke up just in time to say good-bye!

Back to Sunday and School

I didn't get a chance to tell you all about my first day back to work with two children. This past Sunday I was all ready for work. I had a SPU gal coming to watch both kids and I was prepared, with milk for Juliette ready in the fridge, and a painfully written out detailed morning schedule for both kids. I was waiting at the door 7:15 am, both kids were asleep, coffee in hand, ready to go...7:20, 7:25, 7:30...ummmm this is getting late. I hope my sitter didn't over sleep, 7:35 am, OK, I thought, time for plan B, what IS plan B? I remembered my friend Jen had offered to watch the kids so I called her, and asked sheepishly, "Can I bring Luca to your house for the morning, in like... five minutes?" She was so gracious and said, "Sure!" (she even offered to watch both kids) but ended up bringing Juliette to church with me. Luca had a BLAST, of course, going with the Lee family to West Seattle church and having lunch with them. They have two adorable little boys his age. I arrived at their house after church and Luca barely looked up and said, "mom, I am busy digging in the dirt, i can't go now." So precious! Thanks again Jen. It was a little stressful to start back to work that way (esp. with 4 hours of sleep the night before...Juliette was responsible for that one:) But Jen made it possible!
Today was my first day back in the office and it was great. Luca was in school and John was home with the kids. I was gone for 7 hours and it was the longest I had been away from Juliette since her birth. It was so weird not to have to take care of any children while I was at work and I got SO much done!

 (can you tell Luca is excited about school?)

Luca had great first day of school. The teacher called to tell us that he cried twice, once when a kid threw play-dough at him and the other time because he did not want to leave school to go home. He made a new friend named Madeline and got to even sit next to her on the bus ride home. We haven't gotten too much other info. out of him but he seemed to have a really good time.

School Starts tomorrow!

Who knew but June is back to school month for us! Luca starts school tomorrow. We went to his new class today to meet his three teachers and see his new classroom! We are very excited. He gets to ride the school bus and everything. Here is a picture of his classroom. There will be 12 kids and three teachers. We haven't met his new therapists yet but I am sure we will soon. He will be at Lowell Elementary School in the Capital Hill neighborhood. They are the only school in Seattle that has an OT and PT gym!

My two cutie pies!

I had my second day alone with my kids since getting back from Philly. It was long but was a good day. We took the bus to the Junction in West Seattle, had a picnic with daddy at work, rest time for all three of us, Luca and I played soccer in the back yard, both kids had baths (which is a bit of a challenge with Luca's one cast needing to stay above water), Luca and I made pizza, read stories and went to bed. John and I enjoy the pizza and some wine that I brought back from Germany at Christmas time. Juliette is still awake at 9:20 pm. (she has been going to bed a bit earlier the last few night, but is wide eye tonight).

I go back to work part-time, on Sunday. Luca starts preschool on Tues. (we get to meet his teacher on Monday) and it is a Tues.-Fri. am program through Seattle Public Schools. Feels like life is beginning to normalize for really the first time since Juliette's arrival. It is so good to be home!