Mom time is good time! (and some pictures of Luke!)

going after his new favorite snack...yes, he does get a piece in his mouth once in a while...I get it out quickly but he is pretty persistent.



Just got home from a great day with my mom. We went to see STOMP! at the Fox Theatre. It was really dynamic and fun. My mom is great company - we had quick drives there and back with our constant chatting and a nice dinner together after the show. It was really a treat to have some one-on-one time with her for a while since the last year we have mostly spent time together with Luke :) Thanks, mom I love you!

Speaking of Luke, here are a few shots of him figuring out how to get out of a basket that he got himself into Friday night. You can't tell from the pictures, but he was sitting on his glo-worm and playing music which made the whole scene a little bit more amusing.


Fun weekend - surprise date with Steve last night to celebrate 4/4, enjoyed every minute of our time together and lots of sunshine which meant planting some flowers, long walks and our first visit to Farmer's Market.

Grandma had the best day of all!

Happy Birthday to my Uncle Pat! Hope you had a great day! We love you :)

Today was work day for mom, which was great, and that means is was a Luke day for Gma Susan. She came in this morning with leftover Budweiser that she is tired of having sit in her fridge, and said that she and Luke were really going to live it up while I was out :) She also brought risotto for Luke's lunch, which he did get to enjoy.

Luke had a fun and busy day with Gma and Gpa. They spent lots of time outside, visited with some friends that live nearby and just loved being together. Susan left me a great letter explaining the day that I will keep for Luke to read when he can appreciate the joy he has brought to his grandparents. Luckily the rain held off until the afternoon, and I got home to see Gpa Paul relaxing on the couch and Luke was sleeping until the thunder woke him up. I heard from Gma that Luke was acting sleepy today around lunch until Gpa got here and he got a second wind from being excited to see his Gpa :) Thanks Paul and Susan! Glad that you all had a ball today.

Tonight was swim class. We got to the pool and were told that the teacher was gone so class was cancelled. They hadn't called any parents so three of us were ready to go...I asked if we could just swim anyway, and the guy in charge said okay :) So...tonight was a daddy swim night and here are some great pics to prove it!





Luke note, bedtime has changed again - if we put him down on his belly (even when he is totally knocked out on one of us - is there a better feeling in the world than a baby totally trusting you enough to just sleep on you?)- he will pop right up and sit up and cry b/c he is so tired and he doesn't quite get how to lay back down (sad)...so we put him on his back, he cries for about 30 sec. and then he is out...with George right next to him, of course!

If today is any indication...

...April is going to be a wonderful month! -knock on wood- That is not an April Fool's, either. My April Fool's joke would be saying that Luke has mastered sleeping through the night, but even I am sick of hearing myself talk about his sleeping habits so I will just continue on to what a wonderful start we have had to my favorite month (#4!). I have said for a while now that April is great because all of the good stuff is coming, flowers galore, summer, warmth, not wearing layers, family time, lake time, fun time, did I mention warmth?

Today has been great - ridiculously nice out, met a friend for a walk this morning and we took another this afternoon with the dogs, talked to some fun moms at the grocery store (hey, staying home with a baby will drive a person to talk to anyone that will talk back, not that I need that much encouragement) On our second walk, I was going by a neighbor's house as they got home with their 5 day old little girl. Dad is a teacher with us at the HS, and it was really exciting to be one of the first to meet little Hannah. I tied the dogs to Luke's stroller (totally safe and smart, I know) and got to peek at her as she got home from a doc. appt. So precious and so little. She is 3 pounds bigger than Luke was and still seemed so tiny! The dogs sat and waited next to Luke until I returned, too. They are smart and good girls :)

There are a couple pictures of Luke making a break for it while I tried to put groceries away. I like to leave the back door open when it is nice out and realized this morning that I will have to keep a much closer eye on who is coming and going this spring.


Luke almost fell asleep trying to eat lunch. His eyes were falling shut as he munched on ravioli - it was a site. I cleaned him up and got him out of his seat in time for him to fall asleep on my shoulder while walking back to his room. He has napped like a champ and when he gets up we are going to finish lunch (!) and head to the boys tennis match.

Steve did a great job this weekend of babyproofing a couple of important spots - like the fireplace :) and a few cabinets. Luke is motoring around everywhere so we are trying to balance between being protective and letting him figure stuff out on his own.

I am also very proud of my sunflower starts. Last year the birds ate all of the seeds I put out, so I tried my luck starting some this year and it has been really awesome to watch them sprout in days-yippee-I hope lots of them make in the yard - they will be a great treat later this summer.



Life is good, and I am thankful...happy, happy April.

A year ago...

...I was getting a little rest in between running to visit Luke at the hospital/getting my brain wrapped around the fact that I was a MOM (yikes!) and I got a call. The Nurse practitioner in the unit called and said that Luke was ready to come home!!!! We were not expecting the call on that Thursday so it was a big thrill to hear the news. Steve met me at the hospital for a seemingly endless array of info/steps before we were discharged. I will always remember him showing up with a big smile on his face and his pink shirt on (it WAS a Thursday).

Woo! Hoo! That news was what we had been waiting to hear for days (yes, he had a short stay at the hospital and we were very thankful for that.) The nurses were/are so wonderful and I still think of them with a smile. They taught me a LOT in a few days and were SOOOOO good to Luke. Nurses are really special people :)

I just rocked Luke to sleep for his nap and I held him a while longer than usual. The year has gone quickly & I am so thrilled/fortunate to be a part of his happy and healthy life. Here is a picture of him sleeping for the first time in his crib and also of him last night on the way to swim class. Wow! On that note, he was a wild man in the water last night - kicking, smiling, putting his face in, even playing ball with another baby boy (they each just kept grabbing the same ball away from each other)

Birthday post

Here is the birthday boy! I got one picture of him before he flew into a rage because he wanted the camera. So....it is bad that I love the one of him with his head thrown back like the world is going to end? AAAAH...Luke you are so funny! Happy birthday, baby! Mommy really does love you - and she loves you in your bib overalls :)





This one year old is walking around whatever he can hold on to, he can click his tongue on the roof of his mouth, he really likes to talk about his dada and he is getting the whole drinking out of a straw thing down. We are down to about 2-3 bottles every 24 hours, trying to get away from those more each day. His daddy taught himto climb the deck stairs tonight, too. There is a new skill aquired everyday!


Delicious treats from Sophrona Bakery. I have eaten way too many leftovers today, and enjoyed every bite!

Can a little boy and his daddy get any cuter? Just relaxing pre-party on the deck, checking out the sticks, etc...



This is the 'floating island' punch that my mom and Steve made fun of me for making for the party. Hey, people seemed to like it. Thanks, Paul, for complimenting the punch, that made my day!

My mom had balloons and streamers up for EVERY birthday that I can remember, and I mean into my 30's! So, I had to continue the tradition. Luke wasn't sure about walking under the streamers but the balloons were a big hit. He wanted to bite them - thankfully none of them blew up while he was chomping down.

Here we go...Luke's first cake/sweet/crazy sugar experience...





Proud parents for sure!

Luke was enthralled with Aunt Rebekah :) He loved her blond hair and all of her accessories. He munched on her necklace for a while and just enjoyed soaking her up!

With Aunt Rebekah and Uncle Greg. It was really great to see them both and Uncle Greg has an amazing way with little kids. Luke couldn't get enough of him - it was really fun to see them imteract!

Helping mommy clean up the kitchen while he played with a new toy. Thanks to everyone for such wonderful first year gifts. He got lots of great and educational things that he is already enjoying lots.


After his party, we took a second walk for the day and enjoyed the lovely evening and just kind of relaxed. Luke was excited to check out some new toys for a while but he went to bed easily and didn't get up until 1:45 :)

Today was another gorgeous day and we ran lots of errands, ate lunch outside at Panera (Steve even met us!), played at the park, visited with a friend that moved away last year (Amber - it was great to catch up and see that you are doing so well up north!) and this evening we helped Gpa Nick & Gma Jackie plant our shared garden. We had three generations planting onions, greens, radiches and lettuce at the community garden. It is a great project and really special to have Luke and my dad working on together.

Hey Luke...

It's your birthday, and lots of people were around to say - Have a great day!

Those are the lyrics to a birthday song that is kind of a tradition in my family so I sang it to Luke when I went in to get him this morning.

He had a great day. I am only posting two pics but there will be more. Several friends called or texted happy birthday wishes, the weather was absolutely wonderful and his peach tree is blooming!

He got lots of love from grandparents, Miss Meg and Mr. Bob, Uncle Greg and Aunt Rebekah and even a call from Aunt Shannon in Italy! Lucky Luke!

A year ago he was on a feeding tube trying to get the eating thing down, and we were very anxious to bring him HOME. How thankful are Steve and I for the little guy sleeping with his buddy George and his new buddy Tatty Teddy (from Aunt Shannon) right now in his room. Luke has made life better, and we are just lucky to know and love him.


He was very meticulous about how he ate his cake. No big bites, he had to figure out what that red and yellow stuff was first and then he was really pretty neat about it :)

Peach blossoms. This tree was a gift from a teacher and friend at the high school last year when Luke was born. I think it was one of the most thoughtful gifts you could give new parents, and it was really wonderful to see those blossoms this weekend. New life, new year...

Let the structured activities begin!

Great day...Luke slept well, we got ready quickly and without incident this morning and I got to WORK on time (well 8 minutes late...but who's counting AND I called to let the school know!). Yeah - WORK! I am working at my former internship site with my wonderful mentor, Jackie, once a week for the rest of the school year. She has a wonderful project for me, I am going to get to know and work with lots of great students and it just feels great to be using another part of my brain for a little bit each week.

I was really excited to pick Luke up this afternoon, too! He had a great day with Gma Susan and Gpa Paul and he was all smiles sitting on Gma's lap when I got to their house. I have said it at least 100 times, but he is really lucky to have all four of his grandparents near. It is truly wonderful to see them together!

We got home and had a fun visit with Daddy. Luke was thrilled to see his dad (so was I) We talked about our days, Luke had some snacks and then we put on our swim gear and headed to the community center for Luke's first swim class! It was pretty fun to have an evening activity, and Luke warmed up to the class by the time it was over :)

He is not a kid that dives into the middle of the party. He really takes everything in, looks around, gets a handle on what is going on around him and THEN he is ready for whatever life brings. The class was 30 minutes, and he was smiling, kicking and splashing in my arms - 20 minutes into class :) He did great, though, and I think he will enjoy the next few weeks of class.

He just started crying so I am going to go see what is going on in that crib (it is almost 10, he has been asleep since 8?!) It was another stunningly beautiful day here today - trees are popping, flowers are blooming and it is wonderful to just take in...crying stopped, thanks for helping out, George.