9 Months Old

Our little man turned 9 months old last week and is doing great! We went to the doctor for his check-up on Friday and he weighs 20 pounds 10.5 ounces (50-75%) and is 29.5 inches tall (90%). So basically he is slimming up (could have fooled me), and is on track to be tall like his daddy. He is at and above his milestones developmentally, and when he got his shots he didn't even cry. He made a grunting sound like he was trying to fight through the pain. This really impressed the nurses and was so funny to see! =) Here are his new accomplishments:

• Cruises around everything and can take a few steps between one object to the next
• Stands on his own for a few seconds at a time
• SUPER fast crawler
• Crawls up stairs
• Eats table food as long as it is small and smushy enough (no honey, peanuts or eggs)
• Waves (this is very inconsistent)
• Says Mamama more often and sometimes I think it is directed at me

One other important milestone to mention is that this weekend I left Luke for the first time. I went on a women's retreat at our church and had a great time. Luke enjoyed time with his daddy and everything was clean and in order when I returned. What a great daddy he has! Ok now for the pictures... Here he is waving away. I mentioned in a previous blog that he has taken quite a few spills. Here is a good picture of him from about 2 weeks ago with all his bruises. Poor guy! (He is as good as new now)

Too cute in the tub!

He really loves Ernie. In the past month he has been trying to play with him more and more. Here he is trying to give Ernie his ball. Ernie really likes to play catch and will drop it by Luke to play. So cute! Unfortunately Ernie isn't catching on that Luke won't throw it.

And finally here is a good shot for all the people that think Luke is always smiling. Yes... he does get upset! =)

Daddy Is Home!

Luke gets so excited when his Daddy gets home from work. He is so darn cute and I finally remembered to get my camera and snap a few pics. "Oh yeah! Daddy just walked in the door." "I will crawl towards him so we can play."

"Man I love this guy. He always likes to wrestle."

Soooo cute, I love it! This weekend our neighborhood also had a spring festival with a petting zoo. Luke got to see and touch some animals he has never seen before. He thought the goats were really fun.

No Sitting Still for Us!

Luke is definitely on the move at all times! He does not like sitting still and wants to explore everything. This is so fun to watch, but has resulted in several bumps and bruises over the past week. A few days ago I walked into the kitchen to make Luke's bottle. He was right at my feet and then I turn around and see him standing on the second step of our stairs! I freaked out and ran to get him. When his daddy got home he wanted to test it out, and sure enough Luke crawled all the way to the top. Needless to say we now have a gate at the top and bottom of the stairs. Luke has also been loving his new walker that Tula and Pop gave him. It has a fun activity board on the front that he can't get enough of. Luke has been using it to walk all over and his balance is getting much better. He is even standing for up to 30 seconds without holding on to anything. I don't think it will be long before this boy is walking on his own.

Climbing on top of boxes is fun too!

He also enjoys knocking over the stacking cups. Brian will make 2 towers on either side of the room and Luke will crawl back and forth over and over just knocking them over. He always has a smile on his face like he is so proud he was able to knock it over.

With all this moving and shaking it makes for one tired little man.

This week we were also able to hang out with the ladies. Here is an updated diaper picture. Ellie and Kate sure are catching up.

We went to the Dallas Arboretum with Ellie and Kate on Tuesday. We enjoyed a lovely picnic and the weather was gorgeous. Luke loved being outside and the grass was so soft he was able to crawl everywhere. (Oh and in the pic below you can see one of those bruises I mentioned earlier on his cheek)

Luke and Ellie were mesmerized by a bird in the grass.

Here is Ellie and Kate with their mom, Tori. They turned 6 months old this week.

We had a great time walking around looking at all the flowers. Luke did have a meltdown because he was so tired. He finally gave in though and took his much needed nap. I wonder what new things next week will bring...

Easter Fun

HE HAS RISEN! What a wonderful and meaningful holiday. We had so much fun celebrating with our families over the weekend, and I must say, what a cute little bunny we have. =) Saturday night we went over to Brian's parent's house and had a lovely dinner. Luke enjoyed watching Ernie and Howie play all night. Here is a picture of Howie licking Luke's face.

Here is Luke playing with his Grandpa John. He is playing with all the toys Brian used to play with as a baby. On the next picture you can see Luke's favorite activity, "flossing his teeth" with the plastic xylophone string. This is a three generation picture with Papa, Brian and Luke.

Here he is having his first taste of jello. Boy did he love it! He is wearing a bib given to him by his Great Aunt Connie and Great Uncle Joe. They love Scotty dogs and have one named Gus.

Here he is playing with some eggs and a stuffed bunny that Brian's parents gave him. Brian's parents still haven't decided what their grandparent names are, so I keep writing "Brian's parents". Brian, Jeff and Tracy have been giving them a hard time about this, and resorted to calling his mom "Abuela Loco" aka Crazy Grandma. I guess if she doesn't come up with a name fast she will end up being called that. =)

On Sunday, Rett, Grant and my mom joined us at our church. It was a great service and Luke really enjoyed the nursery. My dad is actually in Europe for work and Ali and Will stayed in Fort Worth. Below is a picture of Aunt Ali and Luke earlier in the week.

Here he is with his Easter loot from Tula and Pop. We are going to Hawaii this summer, so he got some good gear for the trip.

Luke and his Uncles. Did they call each other ahead of time so they could dress like twins? =)

One final bit of news....I am now a working woman. I started at CareNow, an urgent care center, today and really liked it. It is a perfect job for what I am wanting to do. I am working prn (as needed), and have to do a minimum of 2 shifts per month. This is awesome because I basically get to be a stay at home mom, but with a little side job. Even better is that we have so much family around, it is easy to find a babysitter. Thanks to Aunt Ali and Tula for keeping Luke today. He loved it!

Weekend Yard Project

What a fabulous weekend! Luke had a great first Easter (post to come soon), and it was a rare occasion where we had nothing scheduled to do either Saturday or Sunday. We took advantage of the free time, and did some yard work we have been planning. When we moved into our house 2 and a half years ago, the back yard was nothing but grass, 1 tree and a small concrete slab. Well, last year Brian was quite the handy man, and extended the patio and built an arbor. In the fall he planted 3 new trees, and this past weekend he dug up the grass to make 2 new flower beds. I am quite pleased with the results and hopefully we will be landscaping in the next couple of weeks. Here is the finished project after 2 long days of hard work. Ok so maybe Luke and I didn't do much, but we did supervise very well. =) Here is the back corner bed. Ran out of mulch so we still need to do that. Side yard bed. Brian relaxing after a hard days work under the arbor.

Here is my accomplishment for the weekend. My mom gave me the topsy turvey tomato planter and here is the finished product. Ill update with a pic in the future if it really works.

Luke really enjoyed being outside for the majority of the weekend. His crawling has gotten so fast that I brought the pack-n-play outside to "contain" him. It worked great. We also rolled out his highchair and he was able to eat some of his meals on the patio. I let him crawl around in the grass for awhile, only to find him eating dirt after onlyhaving my back turned for a second. So.... back in "the container" he went. =)