We're Back...

...from Costa Rica! Brian and I went on vacation with his family for his sister's 30th birthday. We had so much fun and I have a ton of great pics that I will post later. This trip involved a lot of adventure activities and we opted not to take Luke. It was so hard to leave him for a whole week, but he had the best time at Tula and Pop's, and everything went very smoothly. Thanks Tula and Pop for taking such good care of him. Ok now for some Luke pictures! Here he is right before Brian and I left for the airport. He had just woken up and it was so hard to leave this little face behind. Here is a picture that Tula sent me while we were in Costa Rica. Luke was loving an afternoon rain shower on the driveway.

We went to Austin before the big trip and here he is just enjoying Memaw and Pepaw's backyard.

Luke is now old enough for a big boy carseat. He loves facing forward and obviously is very comfortable. This is on our way back from Austin. Hank looks pretty comfortable as well.

I just love this!

Luke learned some new tricks while we were away. He can tell you what a doggie says, "Woo Woo". He can point to his nose. He will shake his finger at Ernie when we are telling Ernie "no". He will shake his head "no" when he knows he is not suppose to touch something. He also learned to "jump". Well he actually just bends his knees when you tell him to jump, but it is pretty darn cute.

Before we left on the trip, he learned to blow his nose. He saw me doing it one day and then went and grabbed some toilet paper off the roll and copied what I was doing. He now does this all the time and seems pretty proud of himself.

Oh and he will use any cloth he can find. Brian caught him getting into the dishrag drawer. He then nicely put it back in the drawer after he was finished. Don't worry we got it back out. =)

Luke also really likes to hug. This is his Bunny Bear. He sleeps with it and loves to give him hugs.

He couldn't resist giving his friend, Ellie, a hug either. =) She's not too sure about this...

This past week we tried our hand at crayons. I thought maybe he was too young, but saw on my friend Jocelyn's blog that her 1 year old was able to color, so we thought we would give it a try. This activity was suppose to take up some time, but unfortunately it lasted all of 5 minutes! Dang that boy doesn't stay focused for long. =) He did have fun though.

His masterpiece.

First Birthday Party

Last Saturday we had Luke's Birthday Party at our house. It was a small family party with hamburgers, cake and presents, and was just perfect for our little guy's first birthday! Here he is listening to everyone sing him "Happy Birthday". Daddy helping him blow out the candle. Luke's first piece of cake. He wasn't sure what to think of this little car. Oh wait this is awesome! Oops, did I eat too much? We are so proud to be his parents. =) My first attempt at decorating a birthday cake. I grew up with my mom making awesome cakes for us, so I am gonna try and continue the tradition. Hopefully I will live up to her!

Here he is with the Gahan family....

...and with Papa, his great-grandfather... (As you can tell, this boy wouldn't sit still)

...and the Gibson family.

Wow, look at all those presents!

Having fun opening his gifts.

On his real birthday we went to Story Time at the library with some friends, and then the next day had some of his buddies over to our house for lunch and cupcakes.

Here we are before Story Time. Luke had a rough day. He just wasn't interested in sitting still and definitely let his mama know that. Let's just say that there was biting involved!

Here are his buddies enjoying lunch at our house.

And here are all the kids sitting for a picture. They all had party hats on at one point, but this is the best shot we could get. =)

Luke's first birthday was wonderful and we will have these memories forever. I can't believe we now have a one year old! Wow!

1 Year Old Today!

Exactly 1 year ago at 6:27 pm, the sweetest little boy came into our lives. I can't believe he has been here an entire year. It went by so fast! I couldn't imagine my life without him and praise God that Brian and I were chosen to be his parents. He brings us so much joy and life is just too fun with him in it! He is still changing daily and in the past month has learned some new tricks.

• Walks super fast and will run from you if you chase him
• Climbs up stairs very quickly (lets just say I was getting groceries out of the car for maybe 1 minute and turned around and he was at the top of the stairs! Yikes that was a little scary!)
• Dances to pretty much all music
• Said his first word- Nigh Nigh (Night Night)- He says this when we put him in his crib and when we read "Goodnight Moon"
• Gives hugs
• Drops things and then puts his hands in the air as if saying "where did it go"
• Brushes his hair
• Waves Bye Bye
• Claps
• Eats anything and everything!
• No more bottles!

Here are a few pictures from Luke's first day of life. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 19 and 3/4 inches long.

Happy 1st Birthday Luke! We love you more than you know!

Still Partying!

This weekend we celebrated two more birthdays! We had a little family party for Luke on Saturday at our house, and then on Sunday we went to BJs to celebrate Aunt Tracy's 30th Birthday.

Here is the two of them enjoying BJs.

Luke was having the best time chewing on this straw.

Here he is showing the birthday girl how it is done. He had his party the day before and is now very experienced at blowing out candles. =)

Luke's party was so much fun and I have so many pictures that I will post a little later. He got a lot of great gifts too, including a wagon, 2 lawn mowers (one for inside and a bubble one for outside), some bath toys, a bowling set, some balls, clothes and several stuffed animals. He is having so much fun playing with all of his new things.

Here he is showing off his mowing skills.

Checking to make sure he has enough "gas".

After his party, Brian and I took him to the pool in his new ride. He really loved sitting in the wagon and it was a perfect place to enjoy a nice snack of cheerios and apple juice. =)

Oh and here is one last picture of the newest thing he has learned. The other day my brush got knocked on the floor. Luke went to pick it up and started brushing his hair. I never actually taught him this. It is so fun to see him doing things that he just picks up on his own.

Luke's official birthday is tomorrow! I can't believe my little baby will be 1!

Party Time!

July is a huge month of celebrations in our family. Over a week and half span Luke turns 1, his Tula turns 50, his Aunt Tracy will be 30 and his Uncle Will and Aunt Ali will celebrate their first wedding anniversary! Those are some big milestones this year! Well yesterday was Tula's 50th and we all went to my parents to celebrate. Here is Luke with the Birthday Girl in front of the sign my aunt made her. What a cute little girl my mom was!

Since Luke's birthday is a week from today (WOW!), the Dodges brought their gifts for him early. Here he is with a fun puzzle.

They also got him the cutest shirt. It says Neptune on it, which is my mom's maiden name. We are going to Austin in 2 weeks and Pepaw will absolutely love this shirt on him! Also notice his super cute shoes. They were a gift as well and are little crocodiles.

Here's Luke with his sweet cousin Molly.

After present time the boys got in the pool, and Luke walked around the patio. He found this angel statue and went to hug it. All the girls said "awwww" the first time he did it, so he kept doing it over and over throughout the night. So cute!

Here's Luke relaxing in the pool with Uncle Todd. They actually share the same birthday, July 21st. In fact, Luke also shares his birthday with his Great Grandpa Don. Very cool!

Luke escaped while I was changing him into dry clothes and thought he would go chat with Memaw. What a cute little booty. =)

This past weekend we also attended a birthday party for Miss Isabelle. Her birthday is tomorrow and we had so much fun playing with all the kids. Here he is with the "Lost Group" babies. Boy was this a hard picture to take!

What a fun week we had. I will conclude with more Luke cuteness. Here he is talking on the phone, wearing his 4th of July "USA Rocks" shirt...

... and here is his newest trick. He will drop his sippy cup or knock something over, and then put his hands up in the air and say "doo". Not sure what "doo" means but I think it means "Hey where did it go?". I love it!