Letters For Lucas

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

This Thing Has Got To Go!

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My iPhone and I have a love/hate relationship and I think we need a little time a part. To put it mildly, our relationship has gotten out of hand. One of us is obsessed and the other could care less.

The iPhone: a hundred different habit forming items all in one sleek package.

What would you give for a device that was designed to keep you connected, entertained, informed and make you completely crazy?

Let me explain…

I love being able to look up anything and everything that pops in my head on the Internet; I can self-diagnose a nonexistent medical condition, figure out the name of that guy in that movie, or the title of the song that I can’t stop humming and drool over the J. Crew spring line.

I hate to use it for phone calls, but love to text.

I love that I can keep track of important dates, play Scrabble, update my Facebook status and use the built-in GPS to find my way.

I hate that it distracts me from my son, but love that I can capture daily photos of him with it.

I hate that it is the ultimate time waster and my #1 reason for not reading more, but love having it while waiting for a friend to show up for a lunch date, stuck in a long line or at my doctor’s office.

I hate being so accessible, but love that my babysitter always picks up and is quick to respond.

I love that it can hold my entire music collection and a special play list just for Lucas.

I hate that the battery life is so short. My house has five power cords and I can never find one!

I love being able to check the weather, tag a song on the radio and shake in to find the closest eatery.

I hate that the damn thing was so expensive that I treat it as a second child, even with a hard case and screen protector.

I love Tweeting long after my husband has gone to sleep and making lists of blog ideas I have at 3 in the morning.

I hate that it won’t let me use my potty mouth in texts or Tweets without auto correcting me… hell becomes he’ll, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever!

Yes, the iPhone can be and do so many wonderful/evil things.

Okay, I am ready to take bids!

What would you give?

C’mon, you know you want one!

These things really are amazing.

Actually, looking back over my list, I do believe my loves outweigh my hates…

On second thought, I think I’ll keep it.

Grr. That damn thing, it always knows how to push my buttons.


This post is for The Red Dress Club’s writing meme, Red Writing Hood. This week’s prompt was to write a humorous ad, a la Craigslist or eBay, where you’re selling things after a breakup.

This is my 500th post!

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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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For The Love Of Elmo

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Today is a special day.

It’s Elmo Monster’s birthday!

Why I know this, is somewhat disturbing to me, but I guess it comes with the territory when you’re a mom. I’m blaming Twitter.

We are big Elmo fans in our home.

Well, one of us is.

With all of the Elmo merchandise we have purchased in the last year, I would hope that the adorable furry red monster is having a pretty terrific day. Assuming he gets royalties. As I type this, a certain little someone is enjoying Elmo’s World Happy Holidays for the 36th time. Yeah, I know it’s February 3, I just can’t bring myself to delete it.

Lucas has even dressed for the occasion.

Happy Birthday, Elmo! Thank you for making this little boy very happy.

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Project Smile – January

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Count your smiles instead of your tears; count your courage instead of your fears. – Unknown

January was full of ups and downs for us; a new year, a new home, good news, followed by bad, but I’m grateful that I found something to smile about every day:

1st – The first day of a new year full of possibilities.
2nd – Work out routine resumed after three weeks off. Ouch!
3rd – Getting out of the house despite the rain.
4th – Pretty in pink nail polish.
5th – Believing that miracles can happen.
6th – A new path to walk.
7th – There is nothing better than a PB&J to put a smile on my face.
8th – Four loads of laundry, grocery store AND Target, washed and dried my hair, started a new book. It was a VERY productive day.
9th – Lunch and movie with a girlfriend.
10th – Gorgeous walk along Newport Beach strand.
11th – I bought my domain name.
12th – A visit with an old friend and a wonderful compliment.
13th – Today, we have lived in our new house for one month and slowly but surely are making it a home.
14th – Taking time to stop and smell the flowers.
15th – We hung our first picture!
16th – Golden Globes and Thai food with a fellow movie lover.
17th – We rode Becky the elephant!
18th – Today was not a great day, but snuggles with my son always make me feel better.
19th – The wonder of nature.
20th – My sister.
21st – A visit to an old neighborhood I used to once frequent a lot and delicious quiche.
22nd – Champagne brunch with my sister, Aston Kutcher (in the movie No Strings Attached) and shopping for shoes!
23rd – A bowl of cereal makes a great dinner.
24th – Play date at our house.
25th – Covering up the grays, finishing one book and starting another.
26th – Meeting a newborn, visiting our old neighborhood and wine time.
27th – A beautiful walk along the coast and lunch.
28th – A fun day at the Irvine Ranch Park with friends and spend a lot of time thinking of my dad today with love, he would have been 64 today.
29th – Blowing bubbles in the backyard with Lucas.
30th – Dinner with friends and all our kids! Pure comedy.
31st – The first day of a new round of music class.

I hope every day of January gave you something to smile about and that your 2011 is off to a great start!

Alicia is the beautiful brain child behind this wonderful monthly meme. Be sure to link up at her blog, A Beautiful Mess or check out other people’s reasons to smile.

You can see my December reasons to smile here.

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Gone Too Soon

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It’s been 1201 days since my parents died.

1201 days? That seems like an eternity to me when I think of all they’ve missed.

Then again, 1201 days really isn’t that much time at all when I think of how fresh the loss is in my heart.

I often worry that I’ll forget what they sounded like and looked like, but both are etched in my brain and woven throughout my memories.

I carry them with me everywhere and I ache to hear their voices again and dread each and every single anniversary, birthday and other special occasion they are missing. But it is the mundane everyday life events that they are missing that make me the saddest.

1201 days later and I am still pressing on.

I press on for my sanity, for Lucas’ sake and for them, because that is what they’d want me to do.

My father would have been 64 today.

Michael Stephen Adams

January 28, 1947 – October 15, 2007

Rest In Peace.

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A Year Full Of Possibilities

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My Barnes & Noble Silver Lining Paris Remembered 2011 desk calendar finally arrived this week and I can’t wait to start filling it in!!For as “high tech” as I am or try to be with my iPhone and online calendar, I get a big charge out of keeping track of my so-called life in black-and-white and multi-colored highlighters.

There is nothing better than a brand new, crisp, clean calendar.

Plus, I keep track of everything!

You probably didn’t know (or care) that I moved my body 735 miles last year in the form of walking, running, bike riding, the elliptical or StairMaster, or that I took Lucas to the Bay Area solo four times? How about that I saw 12 movies – in the theater and ate lunch at Subway 51 times (don’t judge!). I got my hair colored five times and had five massages, which is about 10 too few, by the way! I also noted that Lucas’ last day of wearing the Doc Band was June 3, he took his first steps on July 6, had his first hair cut on August 1. Looking back on 2010, I have a very blessed life.

And now, a whole entire year lay before me, page after page just begging to be filled in with birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, play dates, many more spa appointments, visits to Grandma and Grandpa’s, visits from aunt Leah, lunches with friends, dinners with my husband, long walks, yoga classes, weekend get-aways, Lucas’ milestones and a whole lot more!

A whole year full of possibilities…

How will you fill your 2011 calendar?

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Three Little Words

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There are a handful of moments in your life that you just know while it’s happening you’re going to remember for the rest of your life.

Motherhood is full of them; the first time your child smiles at you (and you know it’s not gas), the first time you hear them say “mama”, where and when their first steps take place, and this…

After spending a few hours last Sunday at the world’s most beautiful shopping mall, South Coast Plaza, located dangerously close to our new home in Orange County, we were in the car driving home and I was asking Lucas if he had a good time and reviewing all of the fun things we did and saw.

We talked about the cars at the toy store and the dinosaur on display in the window, whose mouth would open and shut, the elevator button he pushed, the escalator we rode, the big balloons for sale in the center of the mall, the colorful horses on the carousel (that we also rode) that went up and down and the great dinner he ate.

It was an animated conversation and he was responding enthusiastically to all of my questions and being really cute and playful.

As we were nearing home, he let out a perfectly timed “ouf” as in, “wow, we did do a lot and boy, am I exhausted!”. Todd and I both giggled and I said, “I love you, Lucas.” To which he replied…

“I do too”.

And just like that, I welled up and got tears in my eyes.

Okay, so it wasn’t a direct “I love you”, but he knew what he was saying and it melted my heart.

Since then, Daddy (of course) has gotten several actual “I love yous”, but I’m still only getting the “I do too”.

Whether he means he loves himself or me, I’ll take it and I’ll always remember the first time he said it.

For those of you with today off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I hope you are enjoying it with the ones you love.

This piece was featured on Nichole’s blog, In These Small Moments, in her weekly feature, Small Moments Spotlights — Week 3 on February 4, 2011.

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The Terrible Twos: A Preview?

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It seems as though with 18 months came the onset of the “terrible twos”.

And the stink eye…Mean, huh?

I was not prepared for either one.

Lucas has been having melt downs pretty much since the day we brought him home. They were few and far between and we learned very quickly that he can’t be in one place for very long, needing and relishing change to his environment. But now, these melt downs are full blown temper tantrums and they can be wicked.

There are two to three a day and we have learned to minimize our interference and just let him go through it. It’s safer for everyone involved.

We have never hit Lucas. As parents we do not believe in spanking, so we never will (I have been tempted for sure, but have refrained).

But he hits.

When he’s mad or frustrated or bonks himself on the corner of a table, he hits it. He hits us. He hits himself.

It’s scary.

Where do children learn to do this? Is it a natural instinct, a protection mechanism? Is it a boy thing, or do girls do it too? When does it subside? Please tell me it subsides!

More than once recently, Lucas has been put in a Time-Out for hitting and throwing things with very little to zero effectiveness. He thinks it’s a game. We don’t want Time-Out to be a punishment necessarily, but an opportunity for him to reset himself, i.e. modify his crappy behavior.

I have read that 18 months is not too early to start this practice, but we are novices and it doesn’t seem to be going very well so far.

Today, I bought a designated Time-Out chair. Hopefully it will help him understand we mean business. Any Time-Out advice?

When did the terrible twos begin in your house and what else can we expect from them? I miss my sweet boy.

Lucas turned 19 months on Thursday. I can’t wait to see what this month will bring. Wish us luck…

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A New Year

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2010 was a year of highs and lows for our household. Luckily the highs outweighed the lows and in many cases I shared them on Letters For Lucas

Here are (just) the highlights:
January – Leah moved to Los Angeles.
March – I got my third tattoo.
April/May – We took a very memorable trip to Australia and New Caledonia, where I got to see my dearest and oldest friend, Sophie again after 10 long years.
May – A fun girl’s weekend to San Luis Obispo.
August – Lady Gaga in concert with Leah.
August – Letters For Lucas turned one.
September – Todd started his new business, European Classic Cars on PCH.
September – I gave Seattle another shot, fell in love and got to see my friend Siobhain again after 25 years.
October – I participated in my third Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk, second with my sister and I got to cross ‘walk over the Golden Gate Bridge’ off my Bucket List.
December – We moved to Orange County.

December – Leah and I took Lucas to Disneyland for his visit time.

Looking forward to 2011, but not a big proponent of New Year’s Resolutions per se, my goals tend to be very similar from year to year:
  • Exercise more
  • Read more
  • Cook more
  • Be present no matter what I’m doing or who I’m with. Be in the moment.

And this year, I am on a mission to declutter our home starting with Lucas’ toys and books, but more on that in another post.

What’s on your agenda for the next 364 days of the year? Let’s make ’em count!
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