One Year Old

Well I guess I'm 4 days late but Luke turned 1 on Tuesday. What a week we had. It all started on Saturday with his first birthday party. Now people warned me that they went overboard for their first kids first birthday and they would never do it again. Well I was determined to have a big party no matter what anyone else said. My grandparents said we could have the party at their house. Their yard is perfect for lots of people. So my plan was to make enchiladas and cupcakes and everything that goes with it.

Wednesday before the party my mom came over and we started the enchiladas. She fried tortillas while I assembled. When she was done with the tortillas she left and I was trying to assemble but Luke woke up and was in a very bad mood. He wanted to be held. I was doing the best I could while I held him but was so happy to have Jason home to take over Luke duties.

The next day was April 15th. The last day of tax season!! Jason's mom was also coming in. I had to work half day and Jason was going to work in the morning and then picking his mom up right before the annual tax day lunch he does with his coworkers. When I got off work I ran some errands with Luke and my brother Kyle. Over all not a terribly stressful day quite yet.

Friday. I don't even know where to begin for Friday. My plan was to wake up and get to making some cupcakes. I knew I needed to make about 80 of them. Well I wasn't able to get started until 12:30. Then my good friend April came over around 1:30 to help me make tags for the goodie buckets with her mom's cricket (I want a cricket so bad!). Then when she left at 4 it was back to cupcakes. I had already made two batches of Vanilla Bean cupcakes and was on to my Hershey's Perfectly chocolate cupcakes. I made the most beautiful batch ever. They were perfectly round and super cute. I did notice they looked a little dark so I tasted the crumb that came off the toothpick and that is when I realized I forgot to add sugar. I was so angry!! So off to another batch. Finally I had enough cupcakes and started making the chocolate covered pretzels. By the time I finished everything in the kitchen it was 8:30. I had to finish the buckets and put the tags on which took an hour and a half. I used a beach pail with a shovel and filled it with some treats and candy, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and for the older kids a little mini version of barrel of monkey's. Then I was off to bed before the madness.

Saturday was crazy. I feel like I was just there in the background. It was so surreal to be celebrating my baby boys first birthday. I think overall the party turned out great. The Jumper was awesome. I got it for the older kids but they didn't even get in it and all the younger kids loved it. Luke was hilarious, he would get on his hands and knees and bounce. He had a great day! He was not fussy at all and he went to anyone who wanted to say hello. The best part had to be the cake. He got so messy we had to give him a bath before he could return to the party! The best party for me was hiring my cousin Pam to take pictures of the party for me. I would never have been able to do it, not to mention I have some awesome pics now! Thanks to everyone who came hope you had fun!! I know I've left a lot out but my brain is mush when I think about the party. So enjoy some of the pics! I got a disk with about 400 on it so these are just a few. There are so many good ones it was hard to pick. I will post more another day.


This was after his bath.

Oops I guess the pics are out of order. Here is Luke in the bath after cake

Love this one. He looks surprised the camera is there

Love it he is telling everyone to keep it down while he eats

So happy!

concentration

Getting ready to get dirty!

This is my favorite picture. He just looks so beautiful!

According to Jason & Shirley this is his "Bad Boy" look

Luke and his friend Boston

Being silly with his new friend Rose

So serious

This is my favorite non Luke pic! Jason, Chris, and Ryan

Aurora and her Grandma Lynn

Some Grandpa Bob lovin

The cupcakes. Loralyn helped me pipe the frosting on. Thanks L!

I made Luke a 6inch Vanilla bean cake and frosted it with all white. The second Loralyn got there I begged her to decorate it for me and it came out perfect!

Pre-party bouncing with Luke and Rory

Dangerously close to toddler hood

One week from today my little baby boy will turn 1 year old. I have been feeling so emotional the last couple of days. When I say good bye and head to work I get teary eyed when I think about how much he has grown. I feel like Jason and I really started living when Luke was born. Why does time have to go so fast once you finally have everything you have wanted?

As we are crazily finishing up tax season (ok so not me but Jason!) and working really hard on prepping things for the huge party on Saturday, I find myself just really soaking up all the Luke time I possibly can. He has the most infectious laugh I have ever heard. He has a new thing he is doing when he is around a bunch of adults and he hears someone laughing he has to laugh like he knows why we are laughing. He is such a little ham. He has 4 teeth now (well the top two have broken through and the top left is about halfway down and the right is trying) but now the next two top teeth are trying to come through. He has been giving me more and more kisses. We have this game where I throw him down on the bed and then he grabs my hands and pulls himself up and kisses me then goes back down just to do it all over about 15 times. As gross as baby kisses really are (you know the open mouth sometimes tongue kisses) I love them! He is still giving "Love" to anyone who wants it and the cutest thing was when he gave sissy aka "Sophie" love the other day. He really has a gentle sweet side.

Then there is the not so sweet side. I'm not going to sugar coat it and pretend he is all kisses and love. He has a very bad habit of slapping me in the face. He seems to be getting a little better and hasn't done it out of anger in awhile but does it to get my attention now. He has also been biting. Now its a little hard to bite when you have 2 teeth on bottom and the two on top aren't really all the way down but he tries. If he doesn't get it the first time he will try a few times until he feels like he bit you. Then there is the bully side. We had some fantastic friends over the other night for Jason's 31st birthday and to break in the new grill and fire pit, and Luke was very mean to Rory. Of course the sweet little angel that she is rolled with the punches and didn't get upset. Luke would see Rory playing with one of the push toys and he would come over and pull her hand off and take it from her. Well she would just move on the the next push toy and he would come take that one. I felt really bad when Jason was trying to tell Luke not to do that and Rory thought he was getting after her and she got very upset. Not quite sure how to handle this. I'm really hoping he grows out of this soon.

As part of our discipline guidlines we try to avoid yelling NO at him. Its hard for me because I'm usually doing something else and the first thing that comes to my mind when he is getting close to doing something bad is to yell No quickly. We try to say Luke, we don't do that or Please don't do that. It actually seems to work a little better. Guess I have to try harder to stick with that instead of the yelling.

He is eating 3 meals a day now. He eats everything. I still have not found something he doesn't like. The only time we feed him anything is breakfast when he has oatmeal (and not the baby oatmeal anymore he has moved on to real people oatmeal) and either applesauce or yogurt. Then for lunch and dinner he has just about anything. His favorites are: cheese, any fruit, cooked veggies, toast, chicken, burritos, quesadillas, eggs, and just about anything else we eat. Its been a lot of fun to make him what we eat and just chop it really small.

I could go on and on with all the cute fun things he is doing now but I will spare you since I've already written half a book. I will say the cutest thing he has done recently is starting to sing along to music. Obviously not actual words but hums along and carries out long notes. So cute!
Well tomorrow I will try to post a before and after picture of his new haircut. We are going to get it done tonight. I'm nervous and excited!

Weekend fun

I really was going to write about how Luke has been feeling but since there have been so many things he has had going on and it could take me forever to write about it all I will just say for the most part Luke is better. He still not quite back to his normal self but I will attribute that to teething. We also may have an allergy to strawberries but we are still unsure if that is what the problem was. Last week was very long for all 3 of us and I for one am glad its over. This was by far the sickest Luke has ever been and I'm looking forward to some healthy time!

This weekend was a really beautiful one is San Diego. On Sunday we got up to 89 degrees! We did lots of fun stuff this weekend. Jason had games on both Saturday and Sunday so Luke and I did lots of play time out front with the neighbors. Luke loves hanging with the neighbors he really likes Sophia but she is a little shy, although whenever we are not out her mom says she asks to play with Luke all day long. Saturday night we hung out with Chris and Becca. We went to Sushi then headed to their house for some Trivial Pursuit. They actually have a video game version on the playstation. Its really fun and Jason and I won! Well I should say Jason won because I only knew a couple of the easy sports questions and then the entertainment questions.

Sunday Luke and I said goodbye to Jason around 10 and then went out to play with Susie, Sophia, and Hunter again. Luke fell face first into the street and got a bump and bruise. Seems like these injuries are happening more and more. Luke thinks he is a big kid and can keep up with Sophia. Once we were done playing Luke went to sleep and mommy went to work on the kitchen. It looked so nice and clean I really love a nice clean kitchen! When Luke woke up we went to the grocery store to get ready for our BBQ with a couple of the neighbors. We had lots of fun playing and were outside until after 7. We had to carry Luke in the house screaming because he wanted to stay out and play. We are loving our neighborhood and the friends we have made there. It was a lot of fun. Made me realize how much I love having Jason home this time of year for all the fun BBQ's and playing outside until it gets dark. He missed that for 4 years and I know he is happy to be able to do stuff like that too. Its really fun now that Luke is walking and can chase after the older kids. He is such a big boy now.

Funny little story about Luke. He has been a lot more vocal now. Its funny because I know I say this about once a month but he really does talk more and more. Friday night we were doing our nightly bottle and play time in mommy and daddy's bed before Luke has to go lay down in his crib. After he drank his bottle he sat up and looked at us with a very funny intense look on his face and started talking and moving his hands in the air. He did this over and over for awhile. He was really trying to tell us something important. It was seriously one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

I put a deposit on the Jumper for Luke's party. I ended up getting a great deal. I looked around at a lot of different places and finally found one that was $85 plus a $10 coupon and no delivery fee so a Jumper for 5 hours $75! I am pretty happy with that! Now I need to practice Luke's cake and start to make lists of things to do. Hopefully more people RSVP so we know what to expect. Getting very excited. Just got an email today saying Luke is 49 weeks old. Holy cow only 3 to go until he is ONE YEAR. Wow I hope with the second kid it goes by a little slower (I can hope right?).

Luke's 11 month birthday

So today Luke turned 11 months. He hung out with daddy while I worked. He has had a little cough the last few days but no snotty nose. This afternoon he started to grab his ear a little but the last time I took him to the doctors for it he said it was just teething, and since we know his top 2 teeth are starting to poke through I didn't think anything of it. We went out to dinner with a friend and wouldn't eat. Then about a half hour into the dinner he started to melt down. He starting crying so I picked him up and he just didn't look good and was very whiny. Definitely not normal Luke so we decided to take him to urgent care. Our doctors office had told us the last time he was sick that the urgent care was open until 10 so it was a about 15 minutes to 8 when we headed over there. We were kind of second guessing ourselves as to whether we really should when Luke started crying a lot. He normally never cries in the car and he just sounded miserable so we knew we were making the right decision. So we pulled up at 8:00 on the dot when Jason looked up and saw the sign that said open 8am to 8pm. I grabbed Luke as fast as I could and ran into the building. Luckily we got in just in time because the doors locked right after that. Well turns out Luke has a double ear infection. Poor little man. Jason is starting to worry that Luke will need to have tubes put in his ears like he did as a child. So far this is his second ear infection. Hopefully its his last and no further action needs to be taken. I guess we will see.

Just Luke

Chilling at the park

Running around on the grass

my two boys

They look so happy don't they?

In action chasing after a little girl






He loves to spin everything

getting ready to go down the slide

taking a break

pasta night

First major owie




This picture was taken when Luke was 6 days old

This one was 10 1/2 months. He doesn't even look like the same person!

11 months...Almost!

Luke will be 11 months on Saturday. He is leaving babyhood. He seems so much more grown up recently. He is eating way more people food vs purees. I took him to the park yesterday with our neighbor and her two kids and he loved it. The park is really cool and has rubber bouncy floors. He LOVED the swing. It was so cute. He would laugh so hard every time I pushed him. He also like the slide. Last night he walked up and down the hallway about 15 times. Just back and forth. He was so proud of himself. He is getting his 3rd and 4th teeth. The top left is poking through and the top right is visible but not quite poked out yet.

Things are going to be changing for me at work soon too. In June it looks like i'm going down the 3 days a week. Our business has been down a lot and there really isn't any other option. I totally understand and in some ways I am very excited (more time with Luke!) and others a little nervous because we will be pretty tight financially. Its not necessarily permanent but at least until business picks up we have to do it.

Sleep

So the very night that I wrote about Luke not sleeping he started sleeping! We have had 3 consecutive nights of uninterrupted sleep! He has been good the last two nights he has slept 9 and a half hours!! So excited and hopeful we are turning a new leaf. The key has been to stick to his 9:00pm bed time, which we have down now and he doesn't even stand up and cry he just gets a little upset when Jason walks away for about 20 seconds then goes to sleep. We have never been ones to use the cry it out method but letting him learn to put himself to sleep has worked good. Yes we had to let him cry for 10 minutes a couple of nights but we never let him go one minute over 10 minutes because we don't really believe in the whole let them cry for 45 minutes if necessary. We both just don't have the heart for it.

Every single day his walking gets better and better. Its so cute to see him walking around. I just love this little man so much! My absolute favorite thing he does is if you say give me love he touches his forehead to yours. It is the cutest thing in the entire world. He has been doing it for months but its my favorite part of the day every time I get some love from the little guy. We now have very sloppy open mouth kisses to. It is a little gross but hey when your kid wants to give kisses you will take them. I also think he has tried to bite me a couple of times when he has been mad. The first time he tried to bite my face and when I moved it he grabbed me and tried to do it again. Then last night he was standing up and I took something away and he grabbed onto my leg and put his mouth on it. Hopefully by keeping up the telling him no and removing him from the situation works. We will see. He is a very opinionated little man and hie wants his way.

I have a new obsession. It started when I came across this womans blog entry about the birth of her little girl Nella. When she was born the mother realized she had down syndrome and she wrote the most beautiful story of how she felt and it made me cry like I haven't cried in a long time. That night I rocked Luke to bed and held him so tight and kissed him a hundred times. Well I have read every blog entry since then and check every single day to see if she has posted something new. Nella is so beautiful and her mom sure knows how to write! Check out her blog if you feel like crying a little:http://www.kellehampton.com/ I just can't get enough of her and her pictures! Start with Nella's birth story then you can go back and read the newest. I tried to post a link straight to the birth story but it didn't work so just go to the blog and scroll down to the bottom where it has all her posts and if you click January 2010 I believe its the first one that comes up. Love it!