Birthday Boy

They say that once you have children time really flies, but this is just ridiculous. I really and truly feel like we could have just brought Luke home from the hospital yesterday. I'm not sure what has happened to this last year, but somehow our baby boy is now 1. I'm sort of sad that he is leaving the "baby" stage, but am also looking forward to the "big boy" stage. [Sidebar: He somehow intuitively knows he is now a "big boy" and as of yesterday completely refuses to be fed anything by anyone and insists on feeding himself even though he hasn't mastered handling the spoon yet. Sigh, here we go...] He has, in his 365 days of life thus far, lived up to the title "bundle of joy", though. He brings so much joy to us and we can't imagine life without him. He is such a sweet boy and everyone who knows him is crazy about him, naturally. We love you, Luke. Happy birthday, sweet son.

about 4 days old

One of my favorite pics of my boys. Luke is about a week old.

2 months old

3 months old...and you'll have to refer to previous posts for the other months...our computer with all our pics has crashed this month, so these are all the pics I currently have access to.

The birthday boy! Can't believe he let me put the hat on.

This is as creative as I get, folks. Luke got a construction birthday cake[s].

Yummy!

He Walks!

Just 2 weeks shy of his first birthday, Luke has taken his first steps! Earlier today he did about 2 steps, later in the day about 4, and by this evening got brave and did about 8. Fast learner I guess! Sorry for the not so great footage, but seriously, I'm a mommy watching her baby take first steps...what do you expect?!? I'm so grateful though, because ever since I started back to work (though it's only part-time) I have feared missing Luke's firsts. But God has been gracious to me and has so far allowed his firsts (crawling, walking, etc.) to be on the days I am home. (Unless of course, it has happened at his babysitter's and they have not told me...but I won't think about that. :)

Visiting Grandpa

Today Luke and I went to visit my Grandpa at the nursing home. In the Alzheimer’s unit where he is staying, they have lots of activities planned to keep their minds stimulated. When we got there, another resident of the nursing home had volunteered his time to sing for this group. When he was finished, we were playing with Grandpa, and all of the residents were so intrigued with watching Luke, that they canceled the next activity so everyone could just enjoy Luke! He put on quite the show for everyone…crawling around in the middle of them, laughing, jabbering, playing peek-a-boo, reading books. As we left home this morning, I happened to grab the camera and I’m so glad I did! Grandpa was having a great day and LOVED Luke! I saw lots of Grandpa’s familiar smiles and wish he could be this alert more often.

And really, who could resist this face??? He may be the sweetest kid ever.

It's the Little Things

This first picture is horrible quality, but this was Luke's first romp in the snow. It took him a while to get into it, but eventually he started digging in it with his little mitten hands.

In other everyday news, Luke is in love with laundry. Every time I bring out a clean load he is right there to "help" me fold it. He would probably play with a load of laundry all day if I would let him.