Giddy-up Cowboy

Last weekend we took Luke to his first rodeo. Nevermind it started about the time he usually goes to bed...he LOVED it! My parents have Luke one day a week while I work, and they spend a good chunk of time out looking at my dad's cattle. If Luke had his way, that's all they would do all day. ("Moo" was his first word, by the way) So, naturally, 2 1/2 hours of getting to sit and watch horses and cows run by was heaven for Luke. Mommy and Daddy were chopped liver as Luke would only sit with Grandpa all evening (except for about 2 minutes when Grandma snuck him some gummy bears *bribery*). There was not a peep out of him...he just pointed and pointed and Dad said he would kick excitedly every time a horse/cow/bull came running or bucking out of a chute. Let's just say getting Luke to sit anywhere for this long is a miracle, so you know he loved it.

My dad, as you can tell, is a bit of a cowboy himself. Back in the day, he actually competed in rodeos in the team calf roping event. My dad is such a stud, don't you think?

This pretty much sums up the evening. Point point point.

New Looks

Luke does this new thing where he gives you this awful scowl and then just busts up laughing. One day, it was like he was just playing with facial expressions, and when he did this one (see below), I could not contain myself and laughed. So, now he does it just to make me laugh.

Lookin' mean Lookin' less mean
Smile/giggle is just around the corner (nevermind the dumb picture is sideways)

He's also discovered he can imitate Mommy's fishy face.

And then there is the sweet potato 'do. I promise he styled his own hair! And please note the red spot just above his eyebrow. He took his first face dive into cement that morning. (The first of many, I fear.) He's tough though, and barely cried 10 seconds before wanting to run back and play.

In the Motherhood

Motherhood certainly isn't easy at times, but it is wonderful. Luke is a great kid and makes me smile every single day. Yes, even on the days he throws all of his food on my freshly mopped floor. The other day, I was really frustrated about something (unrelated to him) and he immediately sensed it. He came up to me and raised his arms to be picked up. The second I had him in my arms, he started kissing me profusely (open mouth, of course) and hugging and squeezing me as if to cheer me up. He gives me hugs a lot, but that was the first time I got that kind of affection unprompted. That makes a million dirty diapers worth it. Not to mention, since becoming a mother, I now get to dance every day and someone claps for me every time I sing. This is the life.

Happy Anniversary

May 6 is the day that we said "I do". It's been 4 years, and I've never been more proud to stand by my man. He's a keeper. Since we now have a child and no longer take pictures of ourselves, this pic is from our fabulous honeymoon in Hawaii...how many years do you have to be married before you can go on a second honeymoon?????

First (Real) Haircut

Luke has been in need of a cut for a while, but well, life has been busy so it just didn't happen. But the day finally came where I was sick of washing sweet potatoes out of his long locks, so it was time for a trim. He did fairly well, with some whines and wiggles mixed in, just to let me know he didn't really appreciate sitting in that chair...but did enjoy the lollipop and book for distraction.Mission accomplished.

Eigsti Farm Fun

The other Sunday, Chad's parents declared they needed their "Luke fix" of the week so we headed out to enjoy a beautiful afternoon on the Eigsti farm. Luke of course was thrilled because that meant plenty of time to play outside.

Mr. Cool just chillin' on the porch

a boy and his sticks
Mimi giving a ride in Luke's new found love, the wagon.

so. happy. Sticks-check, wagon-check, outside-check, grandparents-check check. Life is good.

Papa giving Luke the extended tour. I think our next investment might need to be a wagon.

One Year Pics

So we've had these for a while, but I'm just getting around to posting them...these are Luke's 1-year pictures. They gave us a CD of all the pics they took, which is awesome. We didn't buy this first one, and now I think it's so cute. There is so much pressure to pick and eliminate on the spot! It's stressful, people!

Luke's Life

We've been playing outside a lot lately. Luke is obsessed with being outside. Thankfully we've had a lot of nice days! His current toy of choice is his baseball. Such a boy.
In other not so fun news...it seems that Luke may have a milk allergy. Pictured below shows how his face breaks out if he drinks whole milk or has milk product. It doesn't seem to bother him otherwise. But, our doctor recommends that we eliminate all dairy from his diet and we will do allergy testing at his 15 month well visit. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. I have found it seems everything I make has some sort of dairy in it. How do I cook? I often end up having to make him something different than we are eating, which is super unhandy. Check your labels...it seems like everything has milk in it! Anyone out there ever been through this? Any advice?
Just for fun...looks like we have a natural on our hands. He doesn't know it yet, but there are piano lessons in his future...

Things That Make Me Happy

Today we went back to the doctor and got a clean bill of health for Luke! Ears - clear. Lungs - clear. On target developmentally. Blessed? Yes. Thank you Lord for healing our babe! That was definitely a happy of the day. Other things that make me happy:

1) This face: I could be having the worst day, but one smile or giggle from this person and nothing else matters.

2) Completely unrelated to all things Luke, but this is no garbage bin. It is a recycle bin that we can put all things recyclable. Then they pick it up on trash day and it goes into a machine that magically sorts plastic, glass, metal, paper, etc, so I don't have to! This makes me happy. Don't judge. So I'm a nerd, ok? We didn't have this kind of luxury in our apartment. Plus, what can I say...it's good to be green.

The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful

About 3 weeks ago, Luke got a cold. A really bad cold...the day before we were to fly to Florida for a pastor's conference. About half way through the week after being up all night with a fussy baby, I suspected Luke had an ear infection and off to a walk in clinic we went. Sure enough, he did. So we started antibiotics. Fast forward a couple of weeks. Finished the antibiotics and Luke still just didn't seem right and so on Friday back to the dr we went. Sure enough, double ear infection this time. But that was the least of his problems. We weren't with the nurse for more than 30 seconds when she noticed a little bit of "grunting" in his breathing. They did an oxygen saturation test, and it was just ok. His breathing and lungs were raspy. That's when the doctor said that he "is flirting with going to the hospital". Chills went up my spine. They hooked him up and we did a breathing treatment. Retested his oxygen and it was too low. Waited a little bit and retested again and it was just high enough to keep us out of the hospital. Thank goodness. So, Luke is now on breathing treatments every 4-6 hours until he can get over this gunk, a steroid to try to clear his lungs, a stronger antibiotic for his ears, and ear drops to numb ear pain. Poor kid. We watch the DVD God Made Babies during every breathing treatment. It is our friend (a treatment without this distraction is torture for all parties involved). He loves this video and it is a total treat for him to watch it, which is the only thing that gets us through treatments . I haven't let him watch much before this except in extreme cases (i.e., when mommy and daddy had food poisoning). Now he's like Pavlov's dog, and sees the video come on and sits down and gets ready for his treatment.
Bad = we have a sick babe. Good = we're not in the hospital and he's still happy as normal for the most part.

our little sicky

Beautiful = Daddy brought home flowers for Mommy and Luke after a rough day.

While in Florida, we stopped at the beach for a few minutes even though it was pretty chilly.

Beautiful = SPRING is around the corner! Luke and I went out to explore our backyard the other afternoon since it was beautiful and 60-something outside. And we discovered green! This will be our first spring/summer to enjoy our yard, and I'm excited to see what flowers and plants emerge! Any guesses what flowers these will be??