He's Cruising!

Luke is getting increasingly mobile with each passing day. He's still tentative, but he's growing in confidence as he CRUISES around on things! I took videos of his exploits because these are definitely milestones that you have to see in motion. Check them out on my video blog: He'll cruise around the outside of his saucer and along the couch. He's even quite adept at cruising from one item to the next, provided they're within about 2 feet of each other. I don't yet have video footage of this, but he's gone from the saucer to the couch, from the saucer to the TV stand (as you can see in the picture!), from the saucer to Nathan's computer chair, etc. It's very fun to watch him go!

And to put a plug in for some other fun new videos on my other blog, here are some teaser links in case you want to just check out a few: discovering how to open our dresser drawer, some walking practice, lots of splashing during his first swim, practicing standing on his own by taking his hands off the saucer, and turing the pages of his book. Enjoy!

Three generations! Playing on the trampoline!

Making a Splash!

Here's a somewhat overdue update on what we've been up to! Lots of fun opportunities to take pictures. :)

"Look, Ma! One hand!"

I thought it would be kinda fun to take some pictures together since we matched that day.

Luke's first time swimming!!! We had dipped his foot in the water on Labor Day last year, but this was his first time actually in a pool by himself. (We got him this swim shirt to wear with his trunks to protect his pasty white skin - I think it looks pretty good. And I wish he'd let us put these sunglasses on him - he looks SO CUTE!) He swam in a little wading pool at Grandma's house last Saturday. At first, he was a little tentative, then got splashed by an older cousin which made him quite upset! We took him out and played on the sidelines with a bucket of water until the older cousins went inside to eat lunch. Then we tried the pool again alone. I stood him in it and let him walk around for a bit (holding onto his hands still) and when he seemed to be comfortable with that, I lowered him into the water sitting and distracted him with the toys. Pretty soon, he was an old pro - splashing up a storm! You'll notice in the last picture that his hair's quite wet - that is completely due to his own splashing! :)

All the grandkids - 9 of them now! The last picture like this was in July when Luke was just born. Now that BJ's here, we needed another one. Luke was past his naptime and REALLY didn't want to do this picture. The first picture here is a crop of him in one of the photos that didn't turn out (most of the other kids didn't look good in this one either). I was kind of at a weird angle for taking pictures of this as there were 3-4 other adults with cameras more straight on, but this second picture turned out rather well, considering. With this many kids, having all of their faces SHOWING in the picture is often the only measure of success! :)

Cousin Evelyn turned 2! Isn't this a lovely cake my mother-in-law made? Evelyn's party theme was Strawberry Shortcake. :)

We had a second swim party after the birthday party festivities and afternoon naps were over. Once again, it was nice to wait until after the older and more energetic cousins were done before trying Luke in the pool. However, Evelyn is a mild swimmer also and this was her first real time in a pool also, so they played together pretty well.

This is Monday after all the festivities. Luke had just woke up from a nap and was pretty happy, but his hair had definitely seen better days! The weekend was HOT and he'd had sunscreen put on his skin twice, so there was sweat and goo working against him. He was due for a bath Monday evening, so I had just let it slide until then. He must have been lying up against his crib bumper or something to achieve this stylin' hairdo!

Here's proof that I normally stay on top of Luke's hygiene! This is after his morning nap on Tuesday, and his feet were sticking through the slats - most likely just playing after he woke up, not actually sleeping this way. :)

Little ladybug on our green pepper plant. We're not sure what's eating the leaves, but I read that ladybugs don't eat them, so it must be something else. I have 4 miniature rose bushes and they can attract aphids, which ladybugs DO eat, so that's happy news. :)

Luke was especially fussy Thursday morning for some reason, and I was struggling to find things to occupy his attention until his morning nap. I had a couple pots that I'm throwing away (they're non-stick and the coating has started to come off - not good!), so I decided to let him have a whack at them. He really enjoyed using them as drums!

My boys! And Luke still really likes water bottles - he actually stood alone for a second with this because he was grasping the bottle with both hands! He officially received his calender sticker for "Stood Alone" on Saturday!!! He can stand for quite a long moment without our assistance - and can even turn his head around and turn his body some as well without losing his balance! He's still learning it and hasn't mastered it, but he stood for long enough a few times that I felt it was worth a sticker. :) He'd stood for just a couple seconds alone before, but never this long or with such confidence. Also, note in the water bottle picture - he has a 5th tooth! It's to the left of his front teeth (your right as you look at the picture). It came in last Monday. I'm pretty sure his 6th just came in today also (on the other side of his front teeth). :)

Just a nice picture of Luke (and nice clean hair!)

Today, we went hiking at Whitney Canyon again since Nathan had the day off for the holiday. We invited Nathan's parents to come along with us, so the 5 of us made the short hike along a creek (much less water than the last time we came!) and actually made it to the "waterfalls" at the end (I'm sure they would have been more impressive had we managed to make it that far last time). We had fun in any case, especially since the day was overcast most of the time making it nice and cool - very pleasant for hiking! In the last picture, Luke's playing with Grandpa's walking stick. Nathan's parents came over to our house later for dinner to enjoy some traditional Memorial Day BBQ - steaks, corn on the cob, and cheesy rice (okay the rice isn't exactly "traditional", but it went well with the meal!). :)

Scattergories

What is your name.......... Sarah
4 Letter Word.............. Sock
Vehicle................... Saturn
City..................... Springfield
Boy Name................... Sam
Girl Name.................... Shirley
Alcoholic drink.............. Strawberry Daquari
Occupation.................... Scuba Instructor
Something you wear........... Shirt
Celebrity.......... Sharon Stone (2 points!)
Food....................... Shrimp Scampi (2 points!)
Something found in bathroom........ Soap
Reason for being late........... Slow
Cartoon Character................ Speedy Gonzales
Something you shout................ "Stop!"
Animal...................... Skunk
Body part.................... Stomach
Word to describe you................... Stylish (I can dream, right?)

If you like Scattergories as much as I do, feel free to try this with your first name and words that match the first letter of your name. :)

First Mother's Day

Such a happy guy!

Do I have something on my face?

I gave Luke his first haircut on Saturday. Here's the before and after pictures. It turned out okay - I'm definitely not a professional! Luke didn't like getting it done one bit. I think what he protested the most was just me pulling up at his hairs to be able to cut them. When I went to do some touch-ups later, I tried to do it without having to pull up his hair (and without accidentally cutting his skin). It worked, but we'll see how things go the next time he needs his hair cut. :P I just trimmed the front and side edges - I didn't cut all of his hair. His side hair would stick out over his ears, so that was for sure what we wanted to trim, and his front hairs would look kind of scraggly sometimes, so since we were getting in there with scissors, we figured we'd do both. :)

Here he is eating lunch, after his hair had some time to get tousled and "lived in" a little bit. He'd had a bath, taken a nap and endured a few quick touch-ups from me as he was eating. :) He's happy now - no more scissors!

I'm an aunt for the 8th time! Benjamin James (BJ) was born to Nathan's sister, Jessica, and her husband, Gary, on Saturday morning - he's their 4th baby. He was 8lbs, 5oz and 21 inches long. Luke and I went to visit them in the hospital.

While I held the baby and talked "delivery talk" with Jessica, Gary held Luke and entertained him.

I had to get up early on Sunday (even though it was my first Mother's Day) because our church has gone back to 2 services (instead of 3) for the summer and we needed to be there earlier than we usually do. So, I figured I wouldn't see any indication of celebrating Mother's Day for awhile because Nathan was still sleeping. Yet, when I went in to get Luke up to feed him, this is what I found inside the door to his room - a red miniature rose bush and card from Luke!

We got a family picture at church - I had a hankering for a new one and this is a nice occasion to take one. Also, I am wearing a dress to church for the first time since I was pregnant (I had been wearing skirts and shirts instead). Since church is at 2 services now, the schedule is changed enough that I don't have to nurse at church anymore, so I don't HAVE to dress in 2-piece outfits anymore. I still will most of the time, since that's what I have lots of now (and what fits me), but just knowing that I have the freedom to wear a dress if I want to is very nice - so I took advantage of that on this first Sunday. :)

Got some nice pictures of Luke and I with the flower he got me for Mother's Day. And he's wearing his "I Love Mommy" shirt - I thought it was appropriate. It was a little challenging to get him to look at the camera (as you can tell from the other pictures - see Hughes site), but this first one Nathan took turned out very nice!

Our boy is getting so big! Here he is standing at the filing cabinet after "walking" over to it with Daddy's help. He's getting much better at picking up his feet and moving them forward when we hold his hands. As soon as I have a chance, I'll try to get working on my videos - I have so many good ones to show you! Lots of what Luke is doing now can only really be captured in a video. :)

10 Months Old

So, I know I'm behind on posting. I've been meaning to get one up here for a while (since Luke turned 10 months, which is almost a week ago!). Nevertheless, here I am and here are some fun pictures from the past week. Enjoy!

Joanna and Vijay came to visit last Wednesday! We spent some time on the grass outside with our boys. It was a little tricky getting a good picture of the two of them. The first one is an unedited picture of them both with their first two fingers in their mouths. :) The second one is a photoshopped picture containing the best takes of each boy - technology can be helpful!

For Thursday family dinner, we met up with Nathan's parents and the Duncan kids at a park for dinner (we all got stuff at Wendy's to eat there). Lots of picture opportunites after dinner when all the kids played in the playground. Luke officially LOVES to swing, isn't sure what to think about the slides, and likes to watch the big kids playing. :)

Friday, Luke turned 10 months old! Such a big boy - where has the time gone?

I thought this was cute - note the piece of bread that's stuck to his ear (and all 4 teeth!).

And any opportunity to take more nice pictures - how about Sunday morning when he's wearing a nice blue dress shirt? I think he's starting to yawn in the second picture - guess that's my cue to wrap things up! :)

Luke's been pulling up on his toys! He's not pulling all the way to a stand, but he'll pull up so that he's on his knees, which are still folded Indian-style. He pulls some on his tool bench, but does best pulling onto this basketball hoop. He'll often put a little bastketball into the hoop that's too big for it, then he'll pull up onto his knees and try to push the ball through. I have a video of him kind of doing that, so you'll have to watch for it on my video blog. I have a bus load of videos to process and put up, so hopefully I'll get to them soon! :)

Also, some fun tidbits that I might not have mentioned before:

Luke has been riding in his "big boy" carseat for 3-1/2 weeks now. He is still facing backwards because he's not a year yet, but he has outgrown the height requirement of 29" for his infant carseat. Technically, he's still at 29" (I think - according to my feeble attempts at measuring with a yard stick), but he was just getting too big for the little seat. His feet could touch the back of the seat flat-footed. :)

And, we have finally lowered his crib! I have been nervous with him getting bigger and bigger and a little bit more active. When he's on his tummy in his crib, he can see out over his bumper, which means it's only a matter of time before he'll want to get at what's beyond that. And, since he's starting to pull up on his toys, the two factors don't make for a very good combination. I'd rather be safe than sorry when it comes to him being alone in the crib. :)

I'm also starting to think about his 1st birthday party! I've been to the party stores to research what sort of "theme" for plates, decorations, etc. we want to go with. I think we've settled on one, so in the next week or two I'll go and get all those goodies. I want to send out the invitations a month early, so that's at the end of this month! Time flies SO FAST!!!