Memorial Day Weekend

After my brother graduated we headed to the lake to spend the rest of the weekend out there. I have to begin this post with an apology. I only took like 3 pictures of the entire weekend and way more fun was had than what my photos document. Somehow I bring my camera with me and then usually fail to use it the majority of the time. I'll get better at that.

Anyways, my MIL just added this fancy new patio to the house that we hung out on the majority of the time and just enjoyed each others company. When the wind wasn't too bad we too the boat out and several people skied, tubed, and wake-boarded. Andrew took Luke for a swim in the whale pool with his cousin, Brazos. There was lots of splashing, and I think a little peeing in the water. Boys...


We had a great weekend out on the water, but we are even more thankful for the men and women that put their lives on the line everyday so that we can have this freedom. And we also remember all the ones that have passed and the sacrifice they made. We live in a wonderful country and we are so thankful for our military! Hope you memorial day was wonderful!

Seven Months- May 29th!

Luke,

You are growing and changing so fast! You are finally getting more hair on your head, and I actually have to comb it several time a day to keep it looking nice.
You are eating more and more real food. You have tried little puffs, and yogurt melts and love them both. Your favorite foods are avocado, pears, and carrots. You do not like blueberries or strawberries.
You are SO CLOSE crawling! You raise up, rock on you knees and launch your body forward, but you haven't quite figured out that you don't have to move both your knees at the the same time. It is so cute to see you try and try and try. You are very persistent and I know you will get it soon.
You are loving spending time outdoors; sometimes when you get bored in the house and you are just fussy I take you outside and let you put your feet in the pool. You think you have won the lottery when I do this. Water and outdoors, together- you are overwhelmed with happiness.
You are a champ at sleeping at night; you go to sleep around 7 and sleep till about 6, eat and then go back to sleep until about 8. For naps you are well into a 2 nap a day routine. Every now and then you will squeeze in a third nap, but for the most part you are a 2 nap a day man.
You finally have figured out when I leave the room. You don't like it at all- you want to know where I am at all times. Hopefully if you start crawling that will solve this problem. You can come find me!
Everyone always comments on how big you are- even though you are only in the 70 percentile in weight so really your not that 'big'- but I love you no matter what your size is!

Love,

Mommy

Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle.

This weekend my little brother graduated from Abilene High. We are so proud of all that he has accomplished and we are excited to see what he will do in the future. We had a great time in Abilene watching him graduate!


Taking Luke to graduation is quite a task. Having to hold him in for several hours in a seat was difficult, but between 4 of us we all took turns trying to entertain him. He even managed to fall asleep for a few minutes, and we tired to cover his ears when the air-horns went off, but that didn't last long. Overall he did a great job- especially in Abilene's record breaking 109 degree temperature!

An iPhone Recap

We have had a great past few days. If only the three of us could get our allergies under control then we would be doing even better. Mother's day was good- I got to spend it with who I wanted to- my baby boy Luke! We had so much fun. He wasn't in the greatest of moods because he was teething but we tried to help him forget about his pain some. The best 2 ways we got him to not fuss and worry about teething were these 2 activities:

Swimming:


Swinging:

He could do both of these forever- I know we will be spending most of our time in the pool and at the park this summer. I am trying to convince Andrew to get him a swing set for the backyard, but no such luck yet. Don't you think it would be fun for Luke to be able to go back and forth from swimming and swinging?? It would be Luke's dream world.


Anyways...Luke also moved up in the car seat world. He now has a convertible car seat instead of an infant carrier. He loves it so much more. No crying at all. He can now see out the window! Hopefully he will like it this summer when we drive 14 hours to Destin...yikes!



I decided to put my magic bullet to use and make some homemade baby food for Luke. It was so easy. I just picked up some fruits and veggies from the store. Threw them in the blender with a little water, and pureed them. I now have food for him for a week that is fresh and healthy- and way cheaper than store bought baby food. I'll still use the store bought stuff for on-the-go, but this will be great for at the house!



Luke has been laughing for a little while now, and it is the weirdest things that make him laugh- on this particualar day it was me sticking my finger in his mouth. I finally caught his giggles on camera and it is so cute. Hope you enjoy!!

Day trip to Corpus

On friday Andrew, Luke and I flew down for a day trip to Corpus Christi, to visit my grandmother, who is in the nursing home. When we got to the airport, of course there was only 1 security line open causing us to miss our morning flight, so we didn't end up getting down to Corpus until noon. Just in time to make it to the local Dairy Queen for lunch so everyone could see and meet Luke. After that we headed over to the nursing home where my Memaw is to visit her. She doesn't communicate verbally any more so we spent time showing her some pictures. She didn't talk the whole time we were there but she stare at Luke a lot of the time. And she followed conversation with her eyes, so we know she knew who we were and could understand, she just couldn't communicate back. My aunt came over and also visited with us and saw Luke too- Luke go to meet lots of new family members on this trip! While we were down there we took a 4 generation family picture. My memaw looked at Luke the whole time, but we got the picture anyways! :) I think she really liked Luke. We actually made our flight back home that evening, except we lost Luke's paci on the flight home- which was not a pleasant experience. He wasn't awful, but we had to be very creative in entertaining him or he would cry. (Note to self: bring more than 1 paci next time) Overall, we had a great mini-trip and it was great to see my memaw and it was good for her to meet/see Luke!

Luke in his Pa's shoes!

Six Months- April 29th!

Luke,

You are now 1/2 a year old! I can't believe it! You have changed and grown so much.
I can already pick up on your personality. You are going to be a social butterfly like you father. You are always wanting to know what is going on and and can't stand not watching every little bit of action. You love everyone that you meet, and you have already made a lot of friends.
You also have a great love for food. You absolutely devour any food that I give you (except for jarred bananas, which you hate). I can't feed you fast enough. You have tried lots of baby foods, but your favorite by far is avocado. You can eat an entire avocado and bowl of oatmeal in one sitting. You have been practicing with a sippy cup, but you can't quite figure out how to tilt your head back so that you can actually get something to drink.
You are now a champ at sitting up. You can't bring yourself to sit up yet, but if you are left in the sitting position, you can hold that for as long as you want. You can also bring yourself up to crawling position, but you haven't made any forward progression yet. You can push yourself backwards, but no crawling yet.
No more baby bath tub for you- you have graduated to the sink now that you can sit up- it makes bathing you so much easier!
Our biggest struggle as of lately has been your teeth. No teeth yet, but you can tell it is really bothering you. You are fussy and cranky, and chewing on EVERYTHING. We have been trying to help ease you pain, but we just hope those teeth pop through ASAP.
You absolutely love being outdoors, and we have been taking advantage of that by taking you to the lake, hanging out in the back yard, and taking you to the park. You actually go to same park that your daddy grew up playing at!
You are sleeping like a champ and getting more hair every day! You are my pride and joy!

Love,

Mommy

Dancing in the Rain

Today is Andrew and my's 2 year wedding Anniversary. It was a rain day like today that I woke up and looked out the window and saw rain on the day that I was supposed to get married outdoors. It was a day full of chaos, laughter and tears, but in the end God stopped the rain for a few minutes to allow us to wipe down the chairs/aisle and have the wedding. I stared out the window all day and watched the guys bail water from the wedding area and at one point they were wet vacing the aisle. All of our guests were so sweet about the situation, because I am sure everyone's shoe's were ruined as the walked out into our mud filled swamp of a wedding site.





After the wedding was over we had a reception in a tent. (By the way, do you remember that storm that crushed the Dallas Cowboys facility, yes that's the same storm I got married in.) Please see how dirty my dress was, and I even had to wear my mother in law's garden shoes. During the reception my brother in laws pushed cars out of the mud.


We had to squeegee the dance floor, and we multiple slips and falls because at one point water was rushing over the dance floor. During the toast, we barely could hear it because the storm was so loud.



All in all it was the funnest party I have ever been to/throw, even though it didn't go according to plan. We had so much fun just enjoying each other and not worrying about a perfect wedding. I think about this day often, and think that our wedding sorta helped prepare me for life- there have been lots of things that have happened since being married that I have no control over, and I have had to learn that God is in control no matter what. These past 2 years have been absolutely wonderful. I love Andrew more now than the day I married him. And we now are parents to a beautiful boy, who we love so very much. We have a great family and I look forward to the manyyy years to come.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's learning to dance in the rain.