Luke meets the Bontragers

This weekend my mom's side of the family in Indiana had a little open house/shower so everyone could meet Luke. He charmed everyone, and my aunts couldn't get enough of his squishy little chubby legs! :) What a handsome little guy, huh? We stayed with my cousin Emily and her husband Jim. She also hosted the party at her house (all while being 11 weeks pregnant and tired!). Thanks for everything Emily!!My cousin Kristina and I were originally due with our babies 2 days apart, but Cara ended up coming into the world several weeks before Luke. Here are Luke and Cara saying hello!
All the babies! Aunt Mollie has Luke (8 weeks), Aunt Elma has my cousin Tina's son Caleb (7 months), and Aunt Ruth has Cara (3 months).
Luke with his great Aunt Ruth and Uncle Dave
Aunt Regina
Joel and his mini-me James

On Saturday, Jim gave us a ride with his antique John Deere tractor.

Luke wasn't sure what to think of it, but I think he liked it!
Every Saturday, Jim gives rides to kids in the trailer park close by to where they live. They came running when they saw us coming. Such a neat opportunity to love on some kids who desperately need it!

Smiley Sweetie Pie

Our little Luke is 7 weeks old and is smiling more and more each day! These pics aren't the best ones of his smile, but it's hard to capture. I think in this one below he looks like his daddy! My next goal is to try to get a pic of his new pout that he's been sporting. For whatever reason, whenever Chad or I sneeze, he sticks out that lower lip for a perfect pout and then cries. His parents then proceed to laugh hysterically at him. We're so mean. :) He loves his swing, and it sometimes rocks him to sleep as you can see. Of course, the times that I hope it will rock him to sleep, it doesn't work and he just sits there with his big eyes enjoying the ride.
Tummy time! He is getting so strong and seems to even like tummy time...well at least for the first several minutes.
Daddy captured a snuggle/sleep time in the wee hours of the morning.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We celebrated this year at our friends Joel and Helen’s house – thanks guys!

My beautiful son gave me two Easter gifts, one I loved and one I was not so fond of.

Gift #1: He slept through the night!!! He went to sleep around 11:30 and didn’t get up until 7! Sweet bliss…I forgot how wonderful it could feel to get 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Of course, this gift only lasted one night, but I sure enjoyed it while it lasted. And I needed the rest for what awaited me later that day…

Gift #2: I was so careful. I waited to dress him in his cute Easter outfit until literally one minute before leaving for church to try to save it from being ruined by some sort of toxic bodily waste product. Checked his diaper right before leaving. Clean. About 3 ½ minutes into the church service, literally, I exaggerate not, my sweet Luke had an explosion like none other. We’re talking poo everywhere! He even managed to somehow get some on one of his cute socks which matched his cute shirt Aunt Tanya got him, also now covered in poo. His daddy was on stage singing in the choir, so I was on my own to deal with it. I quickly grabbed the diaper bag and frantically made a beeline for the bathroom to peel off his now toxic clothing, only to discover *Sweet Lord!* I only had three wipes left which was not nearly enough for this mess. I found myself repeating “I don’t know what to do…I don’t know what to do…I don’t know what to do”…pretty sure I scared that little girl who was in the bathroom with me. Eventually I got the mess cleaned up and dressed him in his backup onesie that I had in the diaper bag. So instead of looking all cute like I planned, he wore a plain white boring onesie for his first Easter service with no pants or socks. *Sigh* This wasn’t in the manual. So needless to say, we didn’t get any pictures of Luke in his outfit before the Easter Disaster of 2009. The picture of us above is him in his *third* outfit of the day. I have to laugh or I would cry. I’m pretty sure if there was a contest for Poopiest Baby Ever, Luke would win hands down. We’re so proud.

These are just some other cute pics of Luke this week:

Mommy's view of holding Luke:

Luke Stats

Well, Luke had his one month check-up last week, and it's official...our son is a chunk! He's gained almost 1 pound per week since his last appointment! He's in the 75th percentile for both height and weight.

Weight: 11 lbs 5 oz

Height: 22 1/4 in

He's already growing up so fast! And it seems like he grew little fat rolls on his legs overnight. How does that happen?!

Our big excitement the last couple of days though, is that he is starting to respond to us with smiles!!! I haven't been fast enough to catch a picture of it yet, but it makes my heart melt!