end or beginning?…definitely a BEGINNING!!!

A few weeks ago I philosophized (here) about ends and beginnings, depending on the hour and context. Well, I feel quite confident that this is a BEGINNING, regardless of what hour or context you catch me in

memorial weekend fun

hiking & biking, 4-wheelers & water-balloon weilders – that’s what memorial weekend fun is made of!!

5 years ago

Some of you may wonder why this was not posted on friday…but I ask you, is it better to be with one’s loved one with total attention & care or sitting in front of the computer???

Friday we celebrated 5 years of marriage!!!

Much has happened in these fast, short years, and much more than we could have anticipated. God has been SO good, merciful, loving, and generous to us, mostly through those of you who may happen to peruse our blog. I have the privilege to spend every day with a beautiful, caring woman! Thanks sweetie!!!

developments

kids’ minds are GENIUS!! It is truly amazing to watch Luke develop…at times I think I can see those neurons racing around in his head, synapses firing like pistons on a dragster…just beautiful! So, as you can see in the vid below, Luke has become motivated to go after things. This “going after” involves physical moves as well as emotional/cognitive. We have noticed this increasing cough/cry act when he wants something but doesn’t get it, or if we set him down and he doesn’t want to be left there – cute but conniving.

What else…
…seemingly every time, when one of us opens his diaper to find poop, there comes a quiet (though sometimes not quiet) little chuckle
…he has figured out that he can pull the crib bumper down and see out (we recently lowered the mattress level to thwart his attempts at looking out). Because of this, he has discovered the neighboring stand that has cd’s and player on top. He can reach between the rails and flip through the cd’s making a clicking sound – this in opposition to sleeping.
…luke has discovered how to turn his jumper (a seat and spring that hangs from a door frame) into a jumping swing…i hope to catch this on video and post for you to see, lots of fun
…strangers/less familiar people than mama & papa are now scary and reason for the cutest pouty lip and tears; it takes a little bit to warm up and then he is back to his normal carefree self
…the first tooth has FINALLY pushed through! Just one and Luke is not a fan of letting you touch or see it, but it’s there.

8 months

I know, I know…I’m slow getting this up. Luke is now 8 months! He weighed in at almost 23 lbs and 29 inches long.

7 months

Just a few weeks late…

 

 

I weighed in at 21 lbs and 28.5″ long

Here’s my new trick I just learned…

A Merry Christmas to All…

…and to all lots-of-fun-with-toys!!!

 

 

(I apologize for the small picture size…having technical difficulties with wordpress)
figured it out…not sure why I have to manually tell it that I want to link this thumbnail to the original pic file when I inserted the pic as a thumbnail…seems redundant…why would I insert as a thumbnail if I really just wanted a small pic??

Photo Update – Luke

I finally got a minute to update Luke’s photos. I’m trying a new way of posting, using Google’s Picasa Web, so let me know if you cannot access them. Click the links below to access each album.

Luke 4 month (updated)

Halloween

Baby Dedication

Luke 5 month

Luke hit the 5 month mark on Sunday. It is so fun to watch him grow and change. He has started recognizing things other than mom and papa’s faces, such as his bottle. I must say that sometimes I might take a few extra seconds getting the bottle to him because he shoots his arms straight out, mouth opens, tounge works in and out, and he says “oooooo…..oooooo…oooooo!” It is fun to see (does this count as fathers exasperating their children??)!

We often find him scooted into the corner of his crib, face planted in the bumper, but when he is awake he hasn’t made any real move to crawling. I guess he can turn himself around, but anytime he works his arms and feet, he arches his back…looks funny cause he is high-centered on his belly.

What a blessing and joy Luke is!!

Luke Rolling Over

Okay, so we took this video about 3 weeks ago and I am just now posting it! Sorry it is a bit long. You can skip to about 45 seconds to get the roll over. Course, by now it seems that he hardly has to try to roll over…and Mere has seen him (only once) roll from his tummy to his back.  Enjoy!

Luke’s Olympic Medley

Luke decided to put together his own olympic medley. There is the eye focus followed shortly by the tongue routine. The high-speed cameras show the close finish by tongue. Then there’s the “agoo” special. Topping it off is the sneak peek at the winner’s post-games relaxation technique