This is how ...

Linus the cat gets back at Brooklyn for sniffing, licking, and chasing (see picture below) him ALL DAY LONG

The little rocker...

I know I've called Luke my little rockstar before ... and he really is. Dancing, and just music in general, have always caught Luke's attention. It is so obvious how much he loves it. So, again, I must post to show you just how much he loves to rock out.



Okay, sorry it's sideways, but for some reason I canNOT figure out how to flip it around right now :(

Mommy is nervous ...

She doesn't want to leave me on Thursday to go to work ...

...and she really doesn't want to get up before the sun to get everyone where they need to go :(

Oh, wouldn't it be easier if we could all just stay home and play all day?

Kisses & High-fives

Luke can officially do both now ... and do them well! It is so incredible to me just how much he understands, even though his communication back to us is so limited. Every day now he shows me that he knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about - so incredible, the ability to soak everything in.

I will try to get some pictures and/or video of Luke giving high-fives (which are always followed with a huge smile) and kisses (usually open-mouthed) to post.

We had a great weekend visiting Todd and his girlfriend down in Monterey. We took Brooklyn with us, who had a blast playing on the beach with her cousin, Cosmo.

That's about all the news from here - Mommy's busy setting up her classroom for the school year and Luke's first day of daycare is on Thursday - I'll let you all know how it goes (I think Mommy is more worried about it than Luke)!

Have a great week!

Signing "milk" and "all done"

Here's a clip of Luke signing "milk." You have to watch his hands carefully to see him do it, but he does say it a few times.

And one more of him waving "bye bye" and saying "all done" in the bathtub

Down, down, down

Watch him as he makes his way down the stairs

Rocket walking

Here's a clip of Luke walking behind the rocket ship that he received for his birthday. By the way, he LOVES that rocket. As you can see, he is doing pretty well with the walking - he could probably do it on his own if he would just let go.

The Sea & Sand Table

As you can see, it's a lot of fun for Luke ... even if I am cleaning up sand every time we open it. Obviously a good pre-bath activity!

Loving Tahoe

We just returned from a wonderful long weekend in Tahoe. My cousins from NJ were in town visiting, and Luke loved playing with them. By the way, up for discussion while we were all in Tahoe was what relation Luke has to my first cousins ... I believe that he will be 2nd cousins with their children, but what is he to them (first cousins once removed?)? If you know, leave me a comment - we were trying to figure it out!



Brooklyn also joined us for the trip - it was our first vacation with her and she did so well. She very obviously loved being in Tahoe. The weather was perfect for her, she loved playing with the dog next door, and she spent lots of time exploring the grounds. Here are some photos of our trip:



Luke playing in Bklyn's water (look at her face - poor thing)


Daddy & Bklyn


Mommy in the hammock (and for the record, I always thought that the most relaxing landscape to me was the beach, but I may have changed my mind!)




With Courtney & Kelsey

Bad Mommy!

I haven't posted in so long - sorry! And, there are so many new things going on in the life of Luke, so I'm going to try my best to catch you all up in the coming days. I have bunch of his new "things" that I want to catch on video, plus some recent pictures to post.

Here are just a few of my favorite new TODDLER (yikes, I can't believe that I have one of those!) things:
1. Signing and saying "all done" when he's finished with his food
2. Signing "all done" for anything else that is over (putting the toys away, letting the water out of the tub) or turned off (the TV)
3. Turning around and going down the stairs on his own ... and sliding down on his belly
4. Turning around to be feet first when getting off the bed or couch
5. Communicating so much better. If he points at what he wants and I hand him the wrong thing, he can almost always tell me what he wants either by pointing again or signing the word (this happens a lot for milk)
6. Walking behind his new rocket ship
7. Starting to stand on his own
8. Trying all sorts of new foods!
9. Petting the dog and cat without making them want to run away
10. Drinking water from his new water table :)
11. Dancing to everything - music, singing, drum beats, hammering
12. The way he tips his cup and head so far back when drinking juice or milk that he nearly topples over

A weekend getaway for Mommy!

This past weekend I went to Houston for my dear friend Stephanie's baby shower. It was so much fun to see "the girls" from college - we always have a good time. Four of us came in from out of town and we shared a hotel room, just like the good ol' days! Here are a few photos of our weekend together:


By the way, I have the best friends a girl could ever ask for - I love them!

Daddy and Luke stayed home together, and from what I can tell, had a great time. Lots of playing and watching sports (and probably a big Baby Einstein marathon too!)

The Video Montage

is finished ... and copies have been ordered!!!

If you would like to view it (sorry, it's almost an hour long!), you can click on the thumbnail below:

Luke's 1st Year

If you have already watched it, but want to see the updated version, just scroll the the last few minutes ... the rest of it remains almost the same as the original "rough" version that I posted a while back.

Luke's party

Saturday's party was an absolute success. Thank you to all of you who came and made it so special. We are SO VERY lucky to have such wonderful parents ... without whom we could never have pulled it all off. My parents brought so much food and wine and Michael's parents were here from NJ helping with all of the little details (yard work, setting up, balloon bouquets, running errands)...thank you, thank you!

I was really pleased with the cakes (and sad that I didn't get a photo of the one for my parents, who celebrated their 33rd anniversary on Saturday):

We were thrilled with how beautiful the yard looked (thanks to my FABULOUS husband!) and how great all the food turned out (thanks to everyone who contributed and Ernie who got off of a plane and went straight to work helping Michael)





Luke was shocked to wake from his nap to find 40 people in his yard, but he eventually warmed up and loved the cake and the present opening.




What a great party! We are so blessed with so many wonderful friends and family.

There are SO many more pictures, I've posted many of them in his monthly Kodak Gallery, which you can access here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=tyf7ieb.8p0zsea3&x=1&y=-kwmvse&localeid=en_US

Where do I begin?

Wow ... so much has happened since my last post, I don't even know where to begin to catch up. I suppose I'll start with Luke's actual birthday. We had a wonderful day

we took Brooklyn for a walk (one of Luke's favorite activities),

we went out to lunch with my mom,

we went to Los Gatos to pick up cupcakes and choose a balloon for Luke at the local florist shop (and Mom bought me a beautiful bouquet of dahlias),

we presented Luke with his gift from Michael and I - a toddler-sized outdoor play escape,

and we enjoyed a low-key dinner at home followed by cupcakes and a MUCH needed bath!

I think, all in all, it was a fabulous Luke-centered day! I was definitely more emotional about him turning one than I had anticipated, but it was certainly bitter-sweet ... my tiny baby is gone, but in his place I have an absolutely wonderful, hilarious, happy, sweet, fun-loving little boy. Who could ask for more?

Tomorrow he'll be one!

I can't wait to have a day that is all about Luke tomorrow. We're planning to do everything that he likes ... no running errands, no eating vegetables if he doesn't want them ... just a day full of stuff that makes Luke happy.

Here are my favorite pictures from the past month: