Category: Luke

Luke’s 8th birthday

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ Leave a comment

As I sit here listening to Toto and thinking about my 8-year-old big kid (you, Luke!), I can’t help but smile. Luke has been our buddy through all of life’s experiences for the last 8 years. Luke has so much spunk, kindness, thoughtfulness, rampant energy, hunger (proverbially and physically), and true tenacity, all wrapped up in what we can only describe as pure Opie Taylor energy. With freckles and strawberry-blonde hair for days, when the belt is buckled, the shirt is tucked, the hands in the pockets, I simply want to hand him a fishing line and send him off to the creek (I’m sure there’s one around here).

It’s easy to celebrate our Luke, he is an excellent big brother, kind friend, worthy competitor and companion. He tests us at times, but at the height of frustration, busts us up with laughter, which usually is to his advantage (though, sometimes not). I don’t have the words to encapsulate my feelings about having an 8-year-old, this dude was just a baby, our first. But he’s an excellent one. And I couldn’t be more thankful to walk around this world and this life with him. We are truly blessed and adore this boy, happy birthday buddy!

Boys Birthday Catch Up!

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ Leave a comment

Luke turned the big ol’ age of SEVEN months ago and I’ve been drafting this post since. Let’s pretend it’s disbelief, but probably it’s purely the chaos that has been our last six months, a story for another post. Whatever the case, enough time has passed that Jordy also turned TWO in the meantime. I have to say, reflecting on life in this space is incredibly valuable to me. And while it becomes far less frequent, the depths of these posts that I’ve written over the years for and about James and the kids are everything to me. It takes me back to that very specific spot in time, the entire experience of those moments that we enjoyed, lived through, felt blessed by, or maybe, just barely survived. And sometimes I cringe, and that’s really okay. Either way, it is a treasure trove to our family story.

LUKE IS SEVEN

This guy. A friend til the end. Luke is the most steady, patient, kind, tenacious, long-suffering kid. I can really spill my heart to him and he is so understanding, maybe not always grasping the whole picture, but he just gets that human side of things. He is insightful, aware of others, and I can see him wanting to make people feel safe at every turn. He is as active and athletic as all get out and thrives in pushing himself physically; there’s a verging on crazy drive to master things is in Luke. It’s so exciting to see his talents and passions unfold day after day as he discovers more about the world. My dear boy, you are growing in a million ways right before our eyes. It’s hard to believe in six months we will be staring eight in the face. Luke makes us so proud and brings us so much joy. He lights up our family and we pray the feeling is mutual 🙂

JORDAN IS TWO

This sweet boy really deserves a last year run down, at least an 18-month-er. We all adore our baby bear Jordan. He is such a curious, brave, strong, capable little boy. He walks to the beat of his own drum and I am wracking my brain to remember a time when he was afraid. How can this be?! I can’t think of anything. He has given us the most shocks with his quick growth and ability to do things overnight that we didn’t know he could. He is in that investigative phase, where he will inspect and be curious about anything and everything. He has always and continues to love music. We’ve actually had to wean him from certain albums. He lives life to the ultimate fullest and just brings so much sweet love to our crew.

Happy birthday sweet boys!!

Luke turns 6!

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, our Luke turned 6, and I’m still sitting here trying to add up on my fingers how. This means that almost 7 years ago, I was pregnant for the first time, and 6 years ago, our world flipped upside down and we had our first taste of sleepless nights, busier days, baby giggles, breastfeeding pangs, newborn blowouts and the like. While it’s hard to wrap my mind around, what’s easy to see is what a blessing Luke is to our family.

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Continue reading “Luke turns 6!” →

Two years

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ 1 Comment

A month late .. My big boy is now two!! His tiny two years feel like they’ve packed in an eternity of memories.. laughter, joy, cuddles, late nights, early mornings, stuffy noses, dirty feet, lost patience and intense love! Two years feels small, but with Kate here to remind us how little he once was, two feels like a grown tiny man.

I get glimpses of who he is growing to be and who he is meant to become (just glimpses, people! that sounded a bit grand..). Right now, I feel like I’m learning how to better pinpoint the things that are in his heart and giving him a platform to discover those things. The most fun part of what I’m discovering about him, though, is that he is a good friend. I love going to the store, or walks, just us. Continue reading “Two years” →

One-and-a-half!

~ Casey Mastrianna ~ 1 Comment

I cannot believe that we are already halfway through this year of being ONE! Months?? We don’t even reference these things anymore! He is a one-and-a-half year old, and saying that means plenty to most people we talk with 🙂 Here are a few things I’m loving about our one-and-a-half year old..

+Loves books, bikes and music so so much (you’ve got moves kid..)
+A really good listener and when we instruct him, his eyes get as big as saucers.. sometimes I bust up laughing!
+Luke is my protector! If James teases me or tickles me, he’ll totally get aggressive with him 🙂 We have to help him so he knows it’s not okay to attack daddy 😉
+Mornings are the best, even though I don’t love the wake up calls, waking up to “mama mama mama mama” in a cute voice, definitely helps
+Huge sense of humor.. it’s so hilarious to discover what he thinks is funny. Specifically “yucky” or words said with an accent are winners 🙂
+We went through a phase of too many “no’s” in his everyday talk, so we practiced “no thank you” and “no please” to give him a response if he really wants to say “no” and his version is adorable. He does it in the softest, sweetest voice. I’ve never been so happy to hear a polite no!
+Loves the beach and our walks.. really anything to do with water. He cries when we leave and when bathtime is over.
+He also cries when it’s time to be done playing basketball. Although those are full on breakdowns. Continue reading “One-and-a-half!” →