Family, Friends, and a Big Helper

Two weekends ago Brian's aunt and cousin were in town and came to see Luke. The whole family came over for dinner and we had some good ole fried chicken. Yummy! Most of Brian's family went to Iowa State University, and Brian actually attended school there for 2 years, so they are all big ISU fans. We have some sweet friends at church who also went there and give us all their Iowa State gear. Here is Luke supporting the Gahan family team.

And here he is having fun with his grandma.

Another activity for the weekend was replacing a rotten post in our fence. Luckily his cousin, Collin, was able to pitch in and was a big help. If you notice, they also had another little helper who wanted in on the action. =)

Checking out the finished product.

Here are the boys after a long day of work, enoying some pizza. Thanks Collin!

While the boys were outside working on the fence, I was going through my closet and getting rid of things that are just taking up space. Well during this project, I came across a Cookie Monster shirt that I used to wear for PJs. Luke took one look at it and had to have it. As you know he LOVES Seasame Street and really enjoyed wearing this shirt. It was way to big, but we were able to tuck it in to make it work. By the end of the night his pants were too dirty so he just wore the shirt. Love it!

Luke had some lady friends come over this week to play. Of course his best bud, Isabelle, was there, as well as one of Ali's highschool friends and her daughter, Lily. These three got along great and were just too cute!

We also had the pleasure of Miss Isabelle this past Saturday. These two love each other so much. She calls Luke, "Gook", and he calls her, "EEEE-belll". So sweet! Well I went to get the laundry out of the dryer and when I came back in the room this is what I found. Both kids in the dog kennel! They were laughing and just having a ball.

On another note, the reason the kennel is in the living room is because we are trying to train Ernie. He is such a sweet dog, and we love him, but he has serious anxiety that is getting to be a little too much. Thinking about dealing with him and 2 kids is a bit overwhelming, so we actually got a trainer to come to our house on Friday and give us some tips. I never thought in a million years I would ever get a trainer, but it has already made a huge difference! I'll keep you posted on his progress, but so far so good! On Saturday Luke got another opportunity to be a big helper. We put down new mulch in the back, and boy was Luke all over it! He loves doing anything his daddy does so this was right up his alley.

Moving mulch is hard work!

Well that's it for now, and in 2 weeks from today and we will know the sex of baby #2! I can hardly wait!

A Big Boy Bed & A Bump

We hit a huge milestone this weekend...Luke is now in a big boy bed! A few weeks ago I mentioned that he crawled out of the crib, and then really didn't do it again. Well on Friday he did it again, and there was no going back! The second that boy would wake up he would swing his little leg over the side and throw himself over the side. (not that safest thing ever!) So Brian and I reluctantly decided, that it was time to convert his crib. He will be getting an official "big boy bed" in a few months, once we decide what we want, but for now his little crib works great in the toddler version.

Last night was our first attempt at sleeping in the "new" bed, and it went great! We had about an hour of walking around the room, escaping the room, sitting on the couch out in the loft, sitting in the rocking chair and reading, etc, before he finally fell asleep. Brian and I had to take turns telling him to get back in bed. We have a video monitor for his room that we mounted up in the corner of the ceiling and can actually see most of his room. It was quite comical watching all his antics while he thought no one was looking. Brian's family was over for dinner last night as well, and we all huddled around the monitor waiting for what he would do next. Too funny!

Once he finally did fall asleep, he stayed there all night! I unfortunately did not get much sleep, as I kept thinking he was roaming the upstairs and had to constantly check the monitor. =) He woke up this morning bright and early, and to my surprise stayed in his room until I came to get him! We are hoping for another good night tonight!

Nap today was a bit of a struggle. All he wanted to do was play and I watched him do all the things he did the night before, as well as, pull all the animals off his book shelf and put them in bed. He finally did go to sleep and slept about an hour. I'll take it!

Now for the pictures! Here is Luke and his daddy working away. Luke likes to mimic everything his daddy does, so he was hard at work on the screws.

Testing out the new bed.

He got under the covers and said "nigh nigh" all by himself. What a big boy!

I can't believe my baby is no longer in a crib! This day came sooner than I thought, but I am so proud of him! One more little thing to add is that Luke had another milestone this weekend. He said his first sentence! Brian's family has a little dog named Howie, and he was at our house last night. Luke said on 2 different occasions, "Where Howie Go?". At first I thought I was hearing things, but today during his "nap" I heard him on the monitor say "Where Daddy go?". He is growing up so fast!

And now to the bump. You always hear that you show much quicker with the second pregnancy, but I didn't fully appreciate it until now. I look about the same now as I did when I was 20 weeks pregnant with Luke. Here I am at 14 weeks pregnant. The first picture was last week and the second is 14 weeks pregnant with Luke. Oh and pardon the 2nd ugly picture, you would have thought I would have tried to look a little nicer for a bump shot. =)

It is getting more and more real that we are going to have a second baby, and we are so excited! I go to the doctor this week and hopefully will get to schedule the "Big Ultrasound", which I am hoping takes place the first week in April. Boy or Girl.....we shall see!

Licensed to Drive

We went to the Lake this weekend and Luke enjoyed some nice rides on Rocky with his daddy.

He enjoyed it so much he tried to figure out how to take it out on his own.

When he realized he couldn't reach the pedals he coerced Pop into taking it for a spin. (Oh and thanks to Uncle Todd for the super cute Pitt hat!)

What a sucker Pop is, because Luke got Pop to let him steer. =) Boy did these two have fun. Luke loved driving and couldn't get enough. He wasn't half bad either!

After all that driving it is nice to take a break.

But breaks don't last long around here, especially when there is a boat you drive.

Other lake activities this weekend included playing with the car set that Uncle Rett got for Luke. These two played with cars for hours, and Luke was very partial to the red car. Luke sure does love his Uncle Rett.

Look at it go!

The weather wasn't the best this weekend, but we did enjoy some nice outside sitting. (Don't worry there was sufficient supervision around this fire)

Nothing like enjoying your dinner on a nice night by the lake. =)

Slacker

OK I admit it.... I have been a huge slacker in the blogging department this past month. There are several things I meant to post, and never got around to. I blame this on pregnancy. When I was pregnant with Luke, everything was pretty much smooth sailing. No morning sickness and pretty much felt great overall. Well, this time around it has been very different! I have pretty much felt horrible, all food has looked disgusting, and have been extremely tired. I basically have to lay in bed for Luke's entire nap because I am exhausted, but thankfully I am now feeling much better and have more energy. Looking back I would have thought working full time would be more exhausting, but I'll have you know running around after a 19 month old is much more tiring! Ok so now to play catch up. Luke had his 18 month old check-up at the beginning of the month and is doing great. He is ahead developmentally, and talking up a storm. I can understand pretty much everything he tries to say, however for others, it can sometimes be hard to understand. He is very independent and wants to do everything himself. We are loving this stage! Luke's new stats at 18 months were:

• weight 27.5 pounds (65%)
• height 32 inches (75%)
• head - 85%

So he is slimming up, but still has a pretty big head! =) Alright now on to the pictures that I missed. The other day I looked around the living room and no longer saw Luke playing. I went to look for him and this is what I found. When I walked in he proceeded to tell me "nigh nigh" and pretended to go to sleep. Too funny!

Last week we went to visit Cousin Ben. He is just too cute and Luke truly does love him. Here is Luke "helping" with the bath.

Oh I just love this little guy!

On Valentine's Day we received Luke's first official fridge art from Sunday school. He was very proud of it and enjoys looking at it throughout the day.

Last week we hit a huge milestone, one that I thought wouldn't happen for a few more months. Luke crawled out of the crib! I was sitting in bed early one morning and heard a huge "BANG". I look on the monitor and Luke is no where in sight. I go up to his room to find a smiling little guy who looks at me, starts clapping and says "YEAAAAAHHHHH". Umm I don't think so. Luckily, we headed to Fort Worth that same day, and he hasn't crawled out since. (Maybe he forgot??) Well I hope it lasts a little longer. I enjoy having him in a "little cage". =) Here he is enjoying his book, so proud that he figured how to get out of his crib.

I mentioned earlier that Luke likes doing things himself, and here is an example. Tula and Pop got him this cute stool for the bathroom and now all day he wants to "bush teeeeth and was hans (wash hands)"

Brian and I just got him his first basketball goal, and boy does he love it! After every shot he says "misssss", even if he made it so we are working on that. We might have a little baller on our hands. =)

You may have noticed in some of the above pictures that Luke has a little eye wound. Well he got his first shiner about a week and a half ago. He was running and tripped as usual, but hit his eye on the corner of the stairs. He had a hard time at first, but of course shook it off and was running around like his crazy self in no time. Here is some documentation of our first big injury, which, by the way, is almost completely healed. 1 hour post fall

About 5 hours later. =(

The next day. What a sad face.

Almost gone!

I will say I was a little disappointed, because I assumed with an injury like that, we would get a serious black eye. It really didn't even get black which was very surprising.

OK I think I am finally caught up. Off to take a nap. =)