A letter to my Valentine!

My sweet sweet baby boy,
    Wow, it is hard to believe that only a short 18 months ago we were meeting you for the very first time!  The love I have for you seems as though you have been in our lives forever!  I can not believe that in only 18 months you have captured my heart  and totally redefined my idea of true unfailing love.  You are honestly the most amazing gift that I could ever have received and I thank God every single day that he allows me to be your mom.  Each day is such an adventure and I love that I get to spend it with my little buddy by my side.  You have such a vibrant personality that makes your dad and I laugh constantly.  You are a man of mystery to many but to your dad and I, you are an open book.  You pick and chose who you open up to but once you do, you are the sweetest most fun little boy around.  I secretly love that you have to warm up to others and don’t give your love away to just anyone! Your love is precious and deserves to be a prize!  I hope you remember that always!  You are growing and learning new things daily. It is crazy how quick you pick up on things (especially physically) and surprise us with your new tricks every day.  I have no doubt that you will be a little athlete and excel at whatever you put your mind to.  You are our fearless little monkey and I love it!  You can hang in there with your older cousins and are tough as nails. If you are playing and fall down, you pop right back up and continue on with out a whimper.  You are mommy’s “big guy” as we like to call you! Honestly, the only time you cry is when you hear the word no! ha! You are soooo independent and hate to be told that you aren’t aloud to do something.  Your independence is wonderful but also scary at times too!  The other day, we were outside and you were exploring like usual and decided to take a little walk.  Being your independent self, I let you walk and walk because I wanted to see how far you would actually go by yourself before you looked back to make sure someone was with you.  Well to my surprise, you made 4 houses down and had no intentions of turning back or seeing if you had mom or dad by your side.  You were perfectly happy by your self and probably would have walked 10 more houses down had I not gone and grabbed you.  I always say that if you and the dogs get out of the house together, its bad news because you both would put your noses to the ground and not look up until the next county.  It would be like the movie Homeward Bound all over again!  Speaking of your dogs, man do you love them!  They bring so much joy to your life and you love getting to play with them any chance you get!  Your favorite thing to do with them lately is feed them!  You think it is so fun to throw your food off your high chair and watch them  devour it!  You also love when they lick all the crumbs off your hands!  You think its so funny and honestly its adorable to watch you interact with them.  I cant wait until this summer when you are playing in the back yard with them and truly get to enjoy them!  
This summer will be a special and exciting time for you!  It will be your second birthday and also the arrival of your little sister!  There will be lots of changes but I want you to know that one thing that will not change is the love we have for you bug!  You will always be our precious little boy and mommy’s first baby!  And while you may not technically be the baby of the house anymore, you will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart being my first born.  I hope you know that we wanted to give you a sibling close in age so that you could always have a best friend and special bond.  I can not wait to see you as big brother and know you are going to make the best one ever!  You are going to take on the special role being her friend and protector and I know you are going to be her idol!  She will look up to you from the day she is born till the day she dies and I am so happy that you two will have each other!  You are such a special little boy and I am so blessed that you are mine!  I love you more than words could ever describe and I hope you always know that!  You are the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I fall asleep!  Like the book that we read always says, “I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as im living, my baby you’ll be!”

  

                     Happy Valentines day my sweet boy!!

A day at the Atlanta Aquarium with Papa

Atlanta Aquarium With Papa

Last Wednesday we had a fun filled day with Papa at the Atlanta Aquarium.  It was the perfect going in the morning mid-week because we practically had the whole place to ourselves.  From the moment you arrived, you were mesmerized by all the fun things to look at.  Your eyes were huge, and you were in awe of all your surroundings.

 We started off at the kids area where you can pet the stingrays.  At first you were not too sure of what to do but after a little help from Papa, you were ready to dive right in!

 You loved being to close to the animals and wanted to touch each one that passed by.  Lucky for you, you got a real up and close experience when you touched a stingray and it flew out of the water and soaked you!  You were startled and scared to death, but in normal Lukey fashion you got over it in about 2 seconds and were ready to have some more fun!  Well, after we changed your shirt and wiped you down from all the water.  Thank goodness we brought a change of clothes!

 Next we headed over to the Ocean Voyager which is an extremely big tank and houses everything from fish to sea turtles to sharks to whales.  This was by far your favorite part of the whole aquarium.  You stood in awe for a good 10 minutes looking at everything that passed by you.  It was so fun to watch your eyes light up when you saw something you liked!

 While you did LOVE the Ocean Voyager exhibit there were a few fish in there that you were not too sure about.  The grouper above being one of them.  Every time we tried to take a picture with you in front of it, you would not take your eyes off of it because I think you were worried it would get you! ha! I cant say I can blame you, after all I think it was at least 3x your size!

 The Penguins were another exhibit you loved!  They were so playful and kept wrestling with each other and swimming in the water right in front of you!  I think they reminded you of some of your stuffed animals because they were so cute and you kept banging on the glass like you wanted to play with them!

 Next were the Sea Otters, which were soo cute!  They were so playful and I wanted to take them home with us!  You loved them too! So much so that when Papa took you to the gift shop to pick out a stuffed animal, you chose a little sea otter!

 Here are the Beluga Whales which were a part of the cold water exhibit.

 And here are the tiny sea horses!

 By the last half of the Aquarium, you were exhausted!  All you wanted to do was sit in your stroller, suck on your bubby and love on your new stuffed animal while taking in the rest of the sights.  We decided you had had enough and it was time for lunch before we had to head home and put you down for a nap.

Papa picked the Varsity because he said you had to experience everything ATLANTA had to offer since we were down town.  I agreed but also knew this may lead to your first real tummy ache haha!  

 Just as I thought, you loved it! The hotdog and fries were a huge hit!  You scarfed them down and made your Papa so proud!  

 We had such a fabulous day with you and loved all of the memories we made.  I know it is a day that neither your Papa or I will soon forget.  You are becoming such a big boy now and I cant wait to have many more fun days with you just like this! We love you sweet boy!