Top Baby Loves

My favorite baby things from Luke's first year
1 - Our days at home together - being able to spend the year at home with Luke ... and feeling so incredibly fulfilled (thank you, Michael!). I feel so lucky and grateful to have had this opportunity

2 - Sweet smell of clean baby after bath time ... and just bath time in general as it has always been one of Luke's favorite parts of the day

3 - Soft, bald baby head - when else can you look so good with a bald head?

4 - Uncontrollable laughing from Luke ... sometimes it even sounded like he was crying because he would laugh so hard. It is contagious.

5 - Loud squeals! Those few months when Luke would squeal at the top of his lungs regardless of where we were (airplane anyone?)

6 - Getting so incredibly excited over the smallest (yet monumental) things like a tooth coming in, rolling over, or crawling ... it truly makes you realize the importance and joy in the "little things"

7 - The sheer excitement on Luke's face (and the waving of his arms) when Daddy walks through the door at the end of the day

8 - The obsession with the cat - he just can't get enough of his furry friend. Some of Luke's first words have been "kitty," "cat," and "hi-kitty" ... and the clucking sound we use to call the cat

9 - Soaking it all in - Luke has such an amazing ability to watch what we do and then attempt to do it himself.

10- Dancing and the rolling motion that he does with his hand (and has done since he was VERY young) whenever he hears music ... TOO cute!

11 - Snuggles - we did a lot of snuggling when he was tiny and now it seem more and more difficult to get in because he just doesn't want to sit still. But, occasionally he just wants to lay with Mommy and Daddy and I LOVE it. I also love how he snuggles his face into "blankie" after he wakes up.

12 - The love of yogurt and cheese (he's his mommy's boy!) ... cracks me up!

13 - Smiles, which Luke has been generous with since he was just a few weeks old - they light up a room

14 - Baby babble - it fills the house with such a sweet sound

10 days and counting...

Pictures from Luke's 3rd month:

Favorite pictures from month 2

Here they are:



Only 11 days to go!

The countdown to ONE

I can't believe that my little man will be ONE YEAR OLD in 12 days! At my baby shower I received a frame that holds a picture from each month of his first year. I just started working on pulling some of my favorite photos together for the frame and converting them to black and white - I figured it would look best that way with so many pictures in one frame. I thought, since there are 12 days until his birthday and I have 12 months (almost) of favorite pictures, that I would post my favorites here as a countdown to his birthday.

Here are my favorites from month #1




I'm obviously going to need to do some narrowing down to select the one that will go into the frame, so leave a comment to the post telling me which one is your favorite - maybe that will help me choose just one for each month!

Just a boy and his dog

It melts my heart ... there's nothing sweeter



A woman by the name of Erma Bombeck once said,
Every puppy should have a boy.

I think that quote fits this picture perfectly ...

1st birthday montage

Okay, so I've been spending TONS of time pulling pictures and video together to create a montage for Luke's 1st birthday. I'm hoping that it will be something that we will always cherish. The plan is to finish it after his birthday party, so that I can end the whole thing with pictures from that ... but, I can't help myself and I'm going to post a "rough draft" of it here so that you can all have a sneak peek. It's SUPER long ... which is why no one other than parents and grandparents will ever probably want to watch the whole thing, but I simply couldn't bring myself to cut much out. After all, the first year IS really important (right?!) :)

Once it is complete, I'll post the final version (and, grandparents, don't worry ... you'll be getting DVD copies!)

Just click on the icon below to view


Luke's 1st Year

"Helping" Daddy

Today Daddy is busy working on phase 2 (I think that's the phase we're in) of fixing up the yard a bit before Luke's big birthday party. Today's project includes moving rocks and laying down some mulch. Here's Luke helping Daddy out.

Climbing

He's getting better all the time at climbing. Supposedly, this ability is from Daddy, who was also a climber ... oh, lucky me!

Can he climb stairs?

We get this question all the time ... so I decided to let you all see just how quickly he can make it to the top



Oh, and notice at the end of the clip, after the gate has been closed, that he knows EXACTLY where the lever is to open it ... it's only a matter of time before he has that figured out, at which point I suppose we can just take it down (?)

Finger painting

I decided to try finger painting today. Let's just say that it lasted all of about 5 minutes, but I suppose it was a good introduction :). After about 2 minutes, he handed me the paper and proceeded to paint his high chair tray ... good thing the paint is super washable!

Drummer Boy

His favorite part of music class (other than "bubble time")

The infamous "Toddler Tantrum"

Is it possible that my not-yet-toddler is having tantrums already? This took place after I moved him away from a table lamp that he was insisting upon pulling down onto his head.



I think we're in trouble!

Waiting for Daddy to come home

such anticipation

Swimming lessons part II

I'm happy to report that today went (slightly) better than last week. Although the lesson itself was basically a repeat of last Wednesday, he really enjoyed the "play time" after class. He was able to float, kick, and even went under a few times without crying!

Next week I'm trying a new strategy and getting there early. I figure that maybe if we have a short "play time" before class, he'll be more comfortable and actually want to participate in the lesson (we'll see!).

Yet again I wonder ....

...why we bother to buy toys?