Birthday Buddies

Luke attended two parties last Saturday. His friend Hayden turned 1 and his friend Jacob turned 2. He loved watching all the people. He got to put on his first party hat!

First Bites

This was taken back in July. It captures some of his first bites of real food from a spoon. It took him the longest time to figure out what to do with his tongue. He has the spoon process down quite well now. I got a kick out of looking back at these first few bites. I wasn't sure if we would ever get the hang of it when I took this!

The Man in the Mirror

I am lucky enough to get to do this EVERY NIGHT! After a nice long bath I get to wrap Luke up in his white towel and put him in front of the mirror. He gets a kick out of the baby staring back. If you watch until the end of the video, you can see his best Gene Simmons impersonation.

Jumping Bean

Luke is quite the jumper. He will jump in this for 30 minutes each night while I hit the mill. Sometimes he really gets wild and slams into the sides of the door just laughing his fool head off. He has become my regular workout partner.

Ethan Turns Two!

Ethan's birthday bash was last weekend. It was filled with balloons, friends, family, inflatables, presents, bubbles and yummy food. He had a great time. They got a big jumpy house for the party that can be reused. I think they will get many months of fun out of it.

Month Six

Dear Luke,

You are half a year old! That sounds REALLY old! (Don’t worry…you don’t look a day over 5 months.) This past month has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. I have gone back to work and started to leave you at Grandma and Pop’s house. The first week I left you there was the most difficult. I cried each day at work. On one particular day it was really difficult. I kept thinking of you all afternoon. I was putting a bulletin board together for my kids that said, “Bananas About Great Work”. I kept looking at the word “bananas” and knew something wasn’t right. I looked up the spelling and it was correct. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the word! The next day a teacher came through my office and let me know that all of the a’s in the word were on BACKWARDS! Some days I totally think I have lost my mind. I miss you so much at times I can’t concentrate on a single thing. I know you are in great hands at Grandma’s, but I miss you being in my hands. Each morning when I take you in to see Grandma, she gets on her knees and greets you and talks to you in the doorway. You can hardly take your eyes off of her. You two have certainly bonded. You also hang with Grandpap one morning a week. He comes to our house and watches you and then takes you to Grandma’s house for the afternoon. He tells you the most wonderful stories while you sit and stare in complete awe.

You love looking at books. Grandma reads you a stack of books a day and I hear you giggle your way right through them. You laugh your fool head off at the silliest things. If I snort at you, you blink a little, act startled and then giggle, giggle, giggle. You have started eating more solids. You love fruit the best and can’t get enough applesauce or bananas. I can’t believe how much you smile. You seem to constantly go through the day with a smile on your face.

You “cough talk” a lot now. You do this fake coughing sound and then look around to see who is watching you. If we cough back it delights you to no end! We carry on coughing talks quite often and you just think it is the funniest thing ever. The way you carry on while you cough makes me think you might be up for an Academy Award one day.

You are a complete swaddle addict. This hasn’t posed much of a problem until now. It seems you are now strong enough to break loose and make yourself mad at night. This requires me to do a reswaddle and a rebink but it sooths you most nights pretty well.

You still won’t roll over much because you like to keep me in a constant state of worry. I’m just certain that this month will bring on lots of rolls. You still are amazed by your feet each day and love to stick your big toe in your mouth. Each month I think it can’t get any better but it does. You constantly add to your bag of tricks. Thank you for letting me watch you grow and change for the past 6 months. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!

Love, Mama


Month One...




Month Two...

Month Three...

Month Four...

Month Five...

Month Six...

4th Tidbit

Before we finally got your highchair put together you actually ate dinner with us while you sat ON the table. (Don't worry Melissa, I cleaned it thoroughly and often!)