Happy Birthday Luke!

This cute board book was the theme of Luke's 1st Birthday yesterday. I can't believe how big he's getting. We had a great day. Here are some pics.



With such a busy day planned, I wanted to make sure that Luke had a fun and didn't just end up crawling around our feet while we ran around like crazy. So we started off by taking him to the zoo for a few hours. We don't live very far away from the zoo and luckily we have a membership so we don't have to stay all day to get our money's worth. Luke loves the aquarium. He also liked the carousel (although, I think Mom and Dad liked it more).


We had a little party at our home with some of our neighbors. Luke really liked his fire engine cake. I don't think he cared so much that it looked like a fire engine but he really liked eating it. It was the first time I've ever seen a kid practically devour the whole cake rather than just lick off the frosting. (Thanks Jess for your amazing chocolate cake recipe!).


Thanks to all the people who called to wish Luke a Happy Birthday and to those who helped us celebrate!


Just as a side note: If I had to base our birthday theme off of Luke's absolute most favorite thing, it would have been electrical outlets & cords. I wasn't sure how to make an electrical cord cake, so we went with trucks instead. Just to demonstrate Luke's love of outlets, this past week I caught Luke playing inside the cabinet underneath the TV. I thought he was innocently playing with his toys back there until I realized that he was just faking me out. He was really getting in there to pull out all the plugs for our T.V., etc. He's a tricky one!

Caught red-handed!

The Y

I'm home. That's what I felt today when I took a quick drive around my old college campus. There are lots of places I could say that about. I would feel that way if I went to San Jose again. I'll feel that way when I step off the plane back in Columbus. There can be lots of places that feel like home during our lives.

Another thing happened too. I got tears in my eyes! Tears in my eyes? Really? There are only a few things that do it to me. That short list would include saying goodbye to Andrew in an airport, looking at my son, reliving a memory from Japan...really there are not many things that make me get teary.

I don't know why I felt that way. I certainly don't want to go back to being a BYU student. I don't think it's sadness ...or even profound happiness. I think I've decided that its gratitude. There is something about the place where you became the person you are. Revisiting it, hopefully, makes you feel grateful that it did it's job well. I started there when I was 18, more than ready to leave high school behind but really quite immature, a little restless, and with absolutely no plans (I only thought about getting into college...I never thought past that point). I left when I was 25, married, and pretty much determined about the path I want my life to take (okay, still not so sure about the major...but its over and done with so there's no changing it). All that happened in between was everything that ultimately made me who I am. So that's why I feel like I'm home. There aren't many "defining moments" in our lives, but a great many of mine are all at one location.

Now I just need Andrew here. Maybe we'd sneak into Lavell Edwards Stadium again and kiss on the 50 yard line like we did when we were kiddos. No, we probably wouldn't ...there are too many far greater memories there. Thanks BYU...you're the gift that keeps giving. Now give us a wicked awesome football season.

Baby Steps

Today, I finally broke down and gave Luke his first haircut.

Before

(sorry for all the eating pictures....it's really the only time I can get him to sit still)

After

Do you notice a difference? Neither do I. But it was definitely trimmed...a little. I started off the day by preparing to say goodbye to the cute curls (honestly, I've been thinking about doing it for months, so I thought I would be ready). I took pictures of every angle so I could remember what they look like in case they never come back (highly doubt they won't come back, but you never know). I told myself that Luke is almost a year old and its time to let him become a little boy and have a decent haircut in place of a baby mullet. I kept thinking that to myself as I got out the scissors and starting combing through his thin locks with my fingers. But as I started to trim, I sort of panicked. What if I was forcing him to grow up too soon!? First, its a premature haircut and the next thing you know he will be wanting to drive when he's 6! I don't want to rush his babyhood!

Then I remembered, I don't want to be crazy. That is often the mantra I repeat to myself when I realize that my current train of thought will only result in manic sentimentality or depression or some other crazy thing. It works like a charm. So I cut. I'll admit, I was generous with the champagne-colored locks and let them live for the most part. I guess its baby steps for Mom.

P.S.

Andrew finally got his medical board exam scores back and did better than anyone expected (mostly better than he expected...I always knew he would rock it). Now he just has to decide what kind of doctor he wants to be when he grows up. Piece of cake, right?

11 Months...Continued

To continue, I'm starting to realize how quickly kids pick up on the things you say. I am constantly saying "uh-oh" when something tips over or Luke flings his food through the air. Recently he has been mimicking me. He doesn't quite have the sounds down yet, but he definitely has the intonation down perfectly. Now I just have to teach him when to say it because he can crawl around saying it (or grunting it...whatever you want to call it) for hours at a time. In this video, you will also see this new face that Luke has been making lately. I don't get it at all...but he likes to scrunch up his nose and pinch his lips together. I'll let you know when I figure out what that's supposed to be. It looks something like this:

I'm pretty excited that Davis and Luke are starting to play together. I didn't know if it was possible because Davis is about to be a big 3 year old. But he is a good "older brother" (by the way, I have no idea whose binky that is...oops).

Will and Luke are also starting to really play together. I love the mischievous look they both get when adults check up on them. They don't really ever get into trouble, but I think they are just in the planning stages.




Here are Luke and Davis. I think Luke has an idol.

11 Months

Blogging might not be a summer hobby for me. The outdoors are so tempting that I just can't talk myself into sitting in front of the computer unless I absolutely have to.

Luke just turned 11 months old which blows me away. Am I about to have a one year old? That's crazy. Pictures don't quite capture his fun personality...even videos rarely come close. But we have a few that we really like.

Luke is getting much better at going to bed at night, but nap times can still be a struggle. Sometimes I have no option but to let him cry in his crib. I always find him in funny positions when I come in later to check on him. I'm sure he was thinking that if he just remained sitting then he wouldn't fall asleep. Poor kid...but check out that flexibility.

Mealtimes are more about destruction than consumption. Its a little annoying to clean up after, but I tell myself that maybe he's just really curious about what food is made of and he's going to be a world famous scientist someday. Either that, or a food critic.

Luke LOVES the binky. It has been his constant companion since he was born. He loves to play with it...especially if he has more than one. Andrew and I have watched him switch binkies in and out of his mouth for a good 5 minutes. I'm not sure why he likes to test them all out. I guess he is a connoisseur of fine binkies.

Up

Lately, we have been working on the words, "up" and "down". Yesterday, I'm almost positive that Luke threw his hands up in the air and said the distinct word, "up". I was extremely excited to think that he might have possibly attached a word with its meaning. Although, he says, "uhhhhhh" a lot, so maybe the "p" at the end was serendipitous. I couldn't help taking a quick video for the grandparents (he doesn't say "up"in the video, but its still cute).