Happy Birthday Daddy!

I love you - Luke 4-29-09

I am lucky because...

...my amazing parents celebrated 35 years of marriage today! Yes, I am not mistaken THIRTY FIVE YEARS MARRIED! There really aren't many of those anymore - and they still like each other...here's to 35 more!

...I am this little boy's mom
...Luke slept well last night and I was up before he was. It gave me a few minutes this morning to snuggle with Steve before having to go, go, go. Loved it!
...it was a beautiful day. The wind died down, the sun was out for a while, it rained gently for a bit, and it is just awesome to have the windows open and nice spring air in the house.
...Luke totally helped me with a couple of projects today: stringing CD's to the garden border to try and eliminate some of the deer visitors and cutting info cards for my moms group. He danced on the cd's and he crumbled all of the info card paper. Somehow, it was still more enjoyable with his help.
...we attended a trial Wiggles and Tunes class today and Luke made more new friends while singing, dancing and playing instruments. This is a VERY COOL class for little kids. We will start a new session next week!
...I got a ton of errands done this morning and Luke was a trooper through it all. He ate bits of apple throughout all of the stops and just enjoyed seeing what was going on around him. He also learned that the candy at the grocery checkout is just right for him to grab a Payday as I try to sign my receipt.
...He also let me know he was done at Mailboxes, etc...when he just started crawling out of the store (the door was open to the sidewalk outside) as I attempted to use the paper cutter. Yeah, I got one side of one page cut and we were out of there.
...Steve told me what he would like to eat for his birthday dinner! Yeah! Steve is so easygoing that he would eat anything so for him to actually request something makes me really excited to cook it for him.
...Luke walked around for 15 minutes throwing everything out of his crib and talking to himself before collapsing with his booty in the air for a nap today. So funny!
...we have great neighbors. Meg brought us some extra bananas from their shopping today and Luke flirted with her like crazy. I think the two of them are a little bit in love.
...I get to write a short column about being a mom for the Mother's Day edition of a local paper.
...Luke loves his plush hedgehog. I student got it for him when he was first born and now he just rolls all over it, bites the nose, hugs it, bites the nose again, etc...
...I got to watch Luke play with his bath toys and splash around even as the water ran out of the tub because he pulled the plug. He ended up sitting in bubbles looking around like 'what happened here?'
...I am sitting in a quiet house enjoying replaying the day and thinking about having some chocolate pudding (I have recently discovered pudding made with whole milk...whole new world)
...Luna just came in and laid down by me. She will always be my #1 girl.
...I am Steve's wife
...I am going to go get a bowl of that pudding ;)

gardening and golf

Mom and I spent a lot of today working in our yards - mom did a LOT more than I did -and Dad and Steve played golf together at the booster golf scramble. We all seemed to have a fun day. Luke helped me out for a while and Steve came home with some Adirondack chairs that they had as a silent auction item. I have admired these chairs in years past and Steve said they are my Mother's Day gift :) It is Steve's b-day week so Luke and I will be trying to spoil him every day. Feels like summer here in s. Illinois and that is a goooooooood thing!
His play spot while I worked on a new little garden. Steve brought the balloons home for Luke after prom last night. He was excited to show them to Luke this morning and Luke was thrilled to play with them and watch them blow in the breeze - I mean WIND - it was really windy here today!
Yeah - he likes animal crackers and he is not afraid to show it!
On the move...nothing like outdoor furniture for helping you get around
happy mama, sweet baby boy
Right after Steve got home tonight. He had the chairs out by the time I got back from walking and Dad hung out for a bit. Yeah - a picture of all 5 of us! Thanks, Dad! Thanks, Steve!
Gpa getting a big silly grin out of Luke. He loves to laugh with Gpa Nick :)
Little love between these two? I think so...
Lovey for Gpa.

I took the dogs out with Luke for a walk this evening and before we left we stopped for a visit with a neighbor. She has a 16 month old named Kathryn and Luke just kept laying his head on her giving her lovin'. It was precious. When he tried to love on her mom, though, Kathryn pushed him away which was even more precious!

I also made pasta with olives which is my favorite, and I was very proud of the fact that my kiddo was totally into black olives. I thinkhe ate more of the pasta than I did - total chowhound these days. It is fun to feed him!

Toilet Humor

Yeah...my child has played in our toilet...is that so wrong? He will make a beeline to the toilet any chance he gets and now has started to take toys with him that he can watch swim for a while and then try to rescue. Good, clean fun - right? I have taken to cleaning the bowl 1-2 times a day just in case he makes it in there like he did in these photos...

I have also been letting him air out for a while in the morning. I know I would want to after wearing that heavy diaper for a whole night, so he just cruises around with his cute little booty showing. Today he peed in our bedroom - no biggie - and dropped a bomb in the living room - no biggie, but a little grosser. I should have trusted my gut and picked him up when I saw his face go into 'poop mode' but whatever, it saved a diaper, right?

The week has gone by quickly. It must be the warm weather. It is so easy to go out and play, and it is fun to be out and busy when it is nice out which makes the time zoom by. Luke had a fun time with Gma Susan and Gpa Paul on Thursday. It is always a pleasure to pick him up and see that happy face!

Friday we went to our first Parent Connection get together. I just learned about this group. It meets at a local school on Friday mornings and Wednesday afternoons and is designed for moms and their kids (0-3) to get together to play and visit for a couple of hours. It was great! Luke had an amazing time. He started out just sitting and watching what was going on as is his style, but in no time, he was climbing up anything or anyone he could so that he could get closer to the toy/kid/snack/etc...that had caught his attention. The funniest part was watching him try to climb on older (3 yrs) boys and having them try to pry him off of them. They were really patient, but just not quite interested in a baby crawling on them :) I also enjoyed talking to the coordinator, the program is run from a grant that she has rec'd, and the other moms. They were really friendly and welcoming and I think that we will have some fun Friday mornings to come!

I spent the day in Paducah playing a couple of matches and came home to a baby filling up his crib. He just seems bigger every minute to me! He had a great day with dad - taking the dogs on a hike and playing together lots. We had dinner at Gma Jackie's, visited our garden and had a quick bath. He is loving baths these days b/c they cool him off before bed and he really likes water. We are going to be in Gma's pool a lot this summer!


His appetite is back in full force. He is eating a lot and down to pretty much just a bedtime bottle - yeah! Loving oranges, string cheese, toast and chicken these days.

Some new Luke things:
He will give you 'five'

He has waved good bye- not really a habit yet, but getting better

He has been saying mama lots more. It is pretty much the sweetest thing I could hear and I love it xoxo

He loves his stuffed animals and the dogs and his family - when I say "lovey" he will bend his head down to whatever he is holding or whoever is holding him and love on them like a hug. Precious and sweet. It is a really really really neat way to start a day!

Splash, splash, splash in the tub. He LOVES to splash and make as much water as possible end up on me, daddy or the floor. It is pretty funny, he has a great time and it burns up a lot of energy!

He started a new dance today when we were sharing an orange on the deck. I had taken his diaper off so that he could hang out/air out for a while and he would take a bite of orange and then bounce up and down and smile and nod his head. It was making me laugh so hard. I got a little bit of it on video but as soon as Steve was trying to record it he quit!


First thing this morning. Plopped him in bed with dad so that I could get him some milk. sleepy and cute. Lesley sent me this sleeper right after I had him and it seemed so big! I love that he is wearing shorts and t-shirts now, by the way, fun to be looking at some different outfits. Many thanks again, Aunt Laurie, he has worn several of his b-day outfits from you and they are all great!

Too Much Information

Three happy guys - Dad, Luke, Uncle Glenn

It has been a while since I have been on here. The house is freshly painted, the weather is nice enough to have windows open and we are all doing well. I just took Luke to his 1 year doctor appt. He pretty much hated every minute of it, but part of that is because he was up really early and getting pretty tired by the time we left the clinic. No shots today. I don't think a baby that has recently gotten over a fever and is teething like mad needs more stuff to deal with so we will catch up eventually. He did have to have blood drawn - from his arm!- to test for anemia and lead. That was rough. Here are his current stats:

22 lbs
29 inches

He lost half a pound since last Tues. He isn't really into eating I think due to the molars and having one sore mouth. I am sure he will catch up though!

Last weekend was great - we spent most of our time at Gma Susan's. Last week was a continual house hop among gmas :) Friday, Steve took Luke over and I worked to get the house kind of back in order. Saturday, we met up and Steve and Luke cheered my on at my tennis match. I have never had so much fun playing a match as I did last Saturday looking up to see Luke and Steve smiling at me...I won quickly so that I could hang out with them!

I am leaving a lot out but I need to take advantage of Luke napping and get back to work around here. Did I mention that the weather is stunningly beautiful? Yes!!!!
Bathtime in Gma Susan's sink...he loved the bubbles and the kitchen tools.

Looking back at mom. He will crawl through these tubes now like he is exploring new land - loves them!

Climbing up the 'mountain slide' what a big boy!


And what a happy boy! I made it to the top!

I think I want to slide down.

Now I am not so sure...

Can I just climb off of this thing?

Celebrating Gma Susan's great work on the library board Sunday.

Learning about Herrin history with Gpa Paul. This looks like he is really interested, but he was much more interested in what the ladies listening to the speaker had in their purses...little snoop :)

And the sun is out

Yippee...I opened all of our windows this morning, smiled at the sun and got my contacts in before Luke woke up! He was up once with Steve last night but did really well. He has been back to his happy self today, too. No fever, no crankiness, no wanting to cuddle :( He is on the move and checking out the world.

We went for a 4.4 mile walk with Claudia today with the dogs so it was kind of wild but a great way to start the day. I enjoy getting to visit with Claudia, too, so I probably could have walked another hour!

When we got back to the car, Luke had a little snack and I had a text from Gma Susan asking if we wanted Luke to spend the night with her tonight so that I don't have to drive him over early tomorrow on my way to Cobden. I called her to thank her for the offer and said Luke was feeling better and would love a night with her + it is a night with no paint fumes around him and she said the best part is that he will be with me! She is hilariously in love with Lukester...

He is napping while I do some quick laundry at my mom's and eat some lunch. We met a friend of mine at the park this afternoon (see the fun that is had when the weather is NICE!) and then got a snack at the co-op. She has a 2 1/2 year old that Luke could not get enough of...just kept following him around and trying to hug him and talk to him. So cute and Cole was so patient and good with Luke. He even pointed things out that Luke should stay away from so that he doesn't get hurt :)

No picture yet..camera is buried under painting supplies/plastic and tarps - Luke is really adorable, still, though!

Rainy weather, Paint and High Temperatures

Warning - There are no cute pictures of Luke on this post, just me kind of complaining/rambling...

The weather is gross right now...two days of rain and it was cold today. I have had enough and would really like Spring to show up for real. I hope this means it will be warm until at least November.

The painter has gotten two rooms done in the house. He is awesome and does a great job. The humidity hasn't helped his progress, but what he has gotten done is really nice. It will be nice to open the windows if it does warm up tomorrow so that the paint fumes are gone sooner than later. I spent the night at my mom's last night to avoid the primer smell.

Continuing on my positive rant, Luke still has a fever. He has had one for more than two days now. What part of the universe allows babies to suffer with fever due to four molars coming in at once - or for any reason. Give me a break.

He is working hard to be his normal smiling self but really just wants to be held and cuddled. That is actually the only good part of this. I am really enjoying all of the snuggles and all of the time he has spent resting on me while I rub his back. We were up for quite a while last night (this morning actually) while he repeatedly fell asleep only to wake up shrieking minutes later. When he did find comfort and was able to sleep it was snuggled up tight against me with my arm under his body. My arm was asleep two hours later when we woke for the day and I loved it.

We did go to the doctor today and he confirmed that the fever is coming from the teeth. That was a relief (and kind of a validation of mom & dad's intuition) and he tested negative for strep (another relief) so we are just going to watch the temp, give him lots of love and keep him hydrated and happy.

I have been repeatedly thankful that my parents live blocks away. We have spent the day there the past two days to get out of the painter's way and it has been really nice. Clean house, quiet house, lots of fun things to watch out of the windows, etc...I think of it as our vacation home! ha :)

First Moms on a Mission meeting last night - Success! Cool! Fun! Exciting!

Steve saved a Basset Hound named Daisy from getting hit on a busy road tonight. Lucky Daisy. Awesome Steve. Life IS good

Spring Break

Today is my normal Cobden day, but they are on Spring Break so Luke still enjoyed a Gma Susan and Gpa Paul day and I enjoyed a Erinn + dogs day. We went on a great walk after I left Luke playing the piano with Gpa and luckily we went out before the rain came in this afternoon. I got his birthday clothes all washed and enjoyed looking at them again, cleaned the house up, mowed the back yard, cleaned up the front porch and flower bed, cleaned out my car (yikes!) and enjoyed every productive minute! Later, we had dinner with Gma Jackie and Gpa Nick, went to swim class and played a while before Luke knocked out on his daddy's shoulder. You can see how tired out he was in the pics below although I did manage to catch him smiling as he climbed around the bathroom enjoying some naked time. Don't we all enjoy a little naked time!? ;)

Luna coming back to check on me while we walked. Love my #1 girl!

post-shower and looking a little fatigued but still pretty darn cute!


Luke melted my heart today when I picked him up at Gma's. He was happy to see me and a couple of times paused to rest his head on my shoulder and get kisses from his goofy mama. I loved loved loved it! He really enjoys Gma and Gpa time (on both sides) and he really gets so much out of the time with them - love, education, love, adoration, adventures, love...I could go on!

The sun came out today,

and Luke needed some shades.




Later, he helped me with some laundry and then climbed some stairs.




Today was a good day (line stolen from an old Ice Cube song - remember that one?)