Lukes 1st Christmas

We had a great time attending all five Christmas celebrations that we had. It was quite busy, but Luke was a trooper for the most part (even without many naps).

We started celebrating Christmas with Keith's side in Minnesota. We got together with Keith's dad side on Saturday for a very fun Christmas. The food was GREAT, and I had a blast (as usual) during the gift exchange!!!





Then on Sunday, we had Keith's immediate family Christmas. Luke had a great time opening gifts and trying to eat the paper. He also enjoyed rolling around on the carpet while we were enjoying our Christmas dinner.



We had a few days to recuperate before the festivities started once again. On Christmas Eve, we went to my Aunt Judy and Uncle Steve's house to celebrate with my mom's side. Luke enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and hearing the birth of Jesus story. He also enjoyed playing with Cousins Austin and Karsen.

We had spent the night at my parents on Christmas Eve, so we enjoyed celebrating Christmas with my sister, brother in law, and my parents. We had a nice brunch, then opened more gifts. Luke enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Papa while Keith and I snuck out to see a movie.

With all the family festivities, we celebrated Christmas with just our family on the 26th. Here are a few pictures from the busy Christmas we had.

Merry Christmas!

We have been busy with the Christmas season with some fun events! Last week, Luke attended his first Christmas program for his cousin Austin. He had a good time watching and jiggling "his" keys to Jingle Bells. We have attended several Christmas parties as well. We also took him to see Santa. He wasnt really that impressed and just sat there till we took him off his lap. I really thought he would try to go for the beard since he very much loves touching other people's faces. Our next Christmas activity is to celebrate Christmas with Keith's family. When we return from our trip, we will celebrate with my family.
Also, Luke got to meet his Aunt Katie last night for the first time. She is here for a whole month and then returns back to Derry till around November. He wasnt feeling well when he met her, but is very excited to see her many times during her month stay!!!!
Here are some pictures from the past couple weeks and his 7 month picture update. It is getting very hard to get the picture with the sign now that he is getting more grabby.
Well, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Fun times with the laundry!

Luke has been enjoying playing in the laundry basket lately. My family has found this rather funny because when I was younger I used to have an infatuation with becoming a laundry lady when I grew up. At our house, we divide up the laundry duties. Keith sorts and washes, and I fold and put away. Keith puts Luke up on our bed as he is sorting, and it is so much fun watching Luke try to grab the clothes as they go into the designated piles. Im sure he will grow out the "fun times with the laundry" phase but until then it is fun to watch.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We ended up going to my parents for Thanksgiving to celebrate with my mom's side. Lots of good food was eaten, and after dinner we played a little game about what we were thankful for. There were so many things to be thankful for this year.

One of the things I am most thankful for this year is my husband and Luke. Keith has been a great father to Luke, and it is so much fun watching the two of them interact. I very much appreciate all the help that he gives me since we both are working, even though I may not always tell him.

We did not get up early to go shopping this year (we both had to work friday), although I did go to CVS later that afternoon for some VERY good deals (Heidi, you would be very proud at how well im doing at CVS). I also got some good deals online from Children's Place and Gymboree. What kind of deals did you all get?

Soon very soon!

Luke has made several attempts at sitting up by himself in the last couple weeks. However yesterday, he sat up and stayed there for almost 5 minutes. As you can tell he was quite pleased with his accomplishment (or maybe it was all the clapping we were doing for him sitting) Soon he will be sitting without the support of his arms on his own, and he can clap at his accomplishment himself.

Half birthday!

Happy half birthday Luke!!!!!

Fun at home!

Hi Everyone! We have all been well here, but staying warm inside the house on these rainy days. I had taken a few days off work this week and last week, so Luke and I enjoyed spending all day together. He had his 6 month appt yesterday and is growing like a weed. The doctor said he looks extemely healthy and is achieving his milestones quite well (he is very close to sitting on his own)
He is now 28 1/2 inches tall (95th percentile) and 16 lbs 13 3/4 ozs (50th percentile) He is done with his vaccines for 3 whole months now. Luke is currently enjoying more and more solids. He has had rice cereal, barley, sweet potatoes and pears. Tomorrow we will do some squash...should be fun! Here are some more current pictures from the past week!

Ribbit! Ribbit!

Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

Don't forget to vote!

On Saturday, Keith and I took Luke when we went to vote. It was nice that we were able to vote early because in May when we voted, the line was over an hour. Luke must have been excited while we were there because every couple minutes, he would let out a little squeal. This is Luke's friendly reminder to vote next Tuesday (or before to avoid long waits).

Weekend update!

We have had some pretty busy weekends lately. This past weekend was another example of that. We started out the weekend on Saturday morning getting up rather early for a Saturday (I usually like sleeping in since during the week I start work at 5 am) and going to Fort Ben for Keith's mini-marathon race. It was a little chilly, but the sun did decide to shine for the majority of the race. Luke enjoyed strolling around to the various "cheer points" so we could cheer daddy on. Keith ended in about 1 hour 48 minutes. Later that evening, we attended a wedding reception for our good friends, Matt and Sarah. They got married in Hawaii and got back in time for their reception. We had a great time, including Luke. In fact, Luke had such a great time, he slept in on Sunday morning. In fact, we even had to wake him up for church instead of him waking us up. Keith's friend, Michael from North Carolina, was able to make it up to the reception so we enjoyed spending time with him while he was here.
We were also able to get some yardwork done in between all our activities. I laid out a blanket for Luke so he could enjoy the weather while we worked. He enjoyed watching the cars go by (some a little too fast) and our little neighbor girls playing tag outside. I think he wanted to play tag too because I would look over every once in a while and his little legs would be kicking and moving around.

Five months already?

Yesterday was L's five month birthday! He celebrated by spending the day with his Grandma Mary. Since our babysitter is in Hawaii, my mom came over to watch him during the day. I think he was glad he was able to show off some of his talents to others. He has been rolling over a lot more, so he was proud to show Grandma that. I have been trying to get it on video, but he is too quick for me.

I have made a sign showing how old he is every month, so it was no different yesterday when I put the sign next to it. It is neat looking back from month one to see how much he has changed.



He is proudly holding his own sign showing how old he is. *Notice the top is wet from him trying to eat it*

Introduction

It seems as if everyone else has a blog, so I decided this may be a good easy way to update pictures more often! Since my husband and I dont have family in town, we send a lot of pictures by email of baby L. Baby L is almost five months and is constantly changing daily. We are truly blessed with a GREAT son!

Here are a couple pictures from this weekend.

We started giving Baby L rice cereal on Saturday. He seemed to take to it well, but we have put that on hold since he has a rash now. After the rash goes away, the cereal will resume to make sure it was just a coincendence.

Have a great day!