Recent Accomplishments....

We practice crawling every day.
Luke still hasn't got it down yet.
He hates being on his belly, it just makes him throw up.
Plus he knows he wants to move, yet he just can't figure it out yet.
He will lay on his belly and just kick his legs as if he is telling them, MOVE MOVE MOVE!

I think Luke will be a much happier little boy when he figures out how to crawl.
That way he will be able to move around all by himself.
I know its crazy, but I will be happy when he can move around on his own too.
Just because he will be happier.
I know he will get in to more trouble that way,
but I want him to be able to explore all on his own.

On a separate note, I found this really cool pair of name brand jeans on clearance for $14!
You really can't find jeans for $14, especially some fancy name brand.
They were 75% off, I love finding those kinds of deals!
I'm really not that in to brands, except on shoes.
However, these pants were 2 inches too long.
You can pay a tailor about $15 to hem your jeans for you.
Or, I tried to hem them on my own, the correct way, by keeping the original hem.
Can you tell what I did?
If you look closely, you can see where I folded up 2 inches of fabric,
but if I'm just walking past you, I hope you won't notice.
I was proud of myself for hemming jeans the correct way and having it be not that noticeable
(or so I think)

Also pictured are "classic" Brandi shoes. I wear the same shoes all the time.
When it's time to get new shoes, I basically buy the same shoe again, just a newer version.
Gilbert makes fun of me ALL the time.
I'll tell him I got new shoes, and then he will compare them with my old shoes.
Of course, he thinks I am silly. He thinks a lot of the things I do are silly.
Because as I mentioned before, I basically buy the same shoe.
It's just funny how we always go for the same thing.
I am not one of those adventurous people always trying new things.
I am just plain. I wear plain shoes, and about 96% of my shirt wardrobe are
plain colored, one color, no design shirts.
Why do we do this?
Or Why do I do this?

Luke Lately.....

Luke has gotten smart about things lately.
He knows that if we hold his hands then he can stand up, which is something he loves to do.
He also knows that if our hands are on his sides then we can help him jump.
Which is also something he loves to do.
If we are holding his hands, he will twist out his hands and put our hands on his sides so that we can now help him jump instead of help him just stand.
He also loves to just have us do all the jumping for him. He thinks its really funny.

The other day we were out shopping. I had Luke in the shopping cart buckled in. He was having a hard time moving around because he was buckled in. So he grabbed my hand off of the handle of the cart and put it in his. Then he reached for my other hand and did the same thing. When he wants to stand up he will grab both your hands and then tense up because he is ready to stand and use those muscles. It's really quite funny to watch. He's no dumby, he knew that if he was holding my hands, then that must mean he can stand up!

When we go to set him on the floor so he can sit up and play with toys he has started a new trick of not bending his legs so he can't sit.
It's also quite funny to watch. He stiffens up his legs and will NOT bend them so you practically have to lay him down because he will not bend his body.
He know that if he is sitting, that usually means sitting by him self and not being held anymore.
It's so funny to watch his personality come through.

One good thing about Luke is he is showing to be pretty patient. He seems to be mellow mannered, yet stubborn at the same time. It's a hard thing to explain, but I am grateful it seems as though he has his daddy's temperament. He absolutely loves to get out of the house and watch things. I think he is a curious baby. He is very watchful, and is almost mesmerized by doing so. If he is watching something while being held, and you turn, he will lean around you to continue watching. It's a funny thing to test out as well.

One other funny personality trait he seems to have inherited from me is jumpiness. It's really easy to scare Luke or to sneak up on him. At first he is shocked, but then he thinks it's funny. He loves it when daddy comes home from work and sneaks up on him and scares him. When he sees daddy come home from work, he will start to tense up and shake his legs like he is preparing for it. It's SO cute!

Luke's First Hair Cut

This picture is high lighting Luke's cowlick.
It's exactly the same cowlick that Gilbert has.
I would know, I am his hair dresser.
Luke also has the EXACT same hair line.
It's higher up on the right side than on the left.
Again, just like his daddy.

These pictures might not show it very well, but I gave Luke his first hair cut today.
If you can't tell, no worries, neither could Gilbert.

Most people are really sentimental about this event, but I'm just not a sentimental person. I remember working in the salon, and when people would bring in their babies for their first hair cuts, sometimes they would cry because they were cutting off their "baby curls"
In some cultures its customary to shave the babies head on their first birthday no matter what their gender is. In other cultures it's customary to leave a tail and you grow that out and then cut it at other milestones in the child's life. I learned about all kinds of cutting customs when I worked in a salon. One of the hardest hair cuts for me was when a mother, of a different culture, brought her 1 year old daughter in on her first birthday and had me shave her beautiful baby curls off! (in my opinion, she looked like a boy)

Luke just had this one tuft of hair. It seems to be the only hair that has grown on his whole head.

It always stood up and it just looked silly. Especially when the other hair on his head wasn't growing. It took one cut, literally, only one cut with the scissors to cut it off. So technically it counts as his first hair cut even though it was just one little piece that needed to be cut. Maybe its just not that big of a deal to me because I cut hair all the time. I think it just made him even more handsome!

Oreos

We gave Luke his first Oreo cookie today.
You can tell by these pictures that he REALLY liked it.

Luke does not have teeth yet,
although I think they are coming soon
just based off of how he has been acting.
However, he can still gum an Oreo.

He got mad when the first one was all gone,
so we decided to give him another one.

This was after the second one, he really got it all over his face.
The doctor told us to put butter in his food to put weight on him,
this is how I am putting fat into his diet.
Plus what kid doesn't love an Oreo cookie?

Luke may not remember us giving him an Oreo cookie,
but he will look at these pictures when he is older
and know that he has the coolest parents EVER!

Mother's Day

This was my first official Mother's Day, even though I totally think last year counted since I was pregnant. This little guy is only 6 months old, and he already has me wrapped around his little finger. I just can't imagine my life with out him, sleepless nights and all. I just feel like the luckiest person of all to be blessed to be the mother of this little boy. I love being a stay-at-home mama and am grateful everyday for the opportunity to be able to stay home and hang out with my little Luke every day. I feel bad for Gilbert sometimes, because it's obvious Luke prefers me over him, and it's only because I get to spend more time with him. It was a fabulous Mother's Day and I look forward to all the future Mother's Days to come!

Sit-Ups

We found out that Luke can do sit-ups all by himself.

We have to hold down his legs, but he does the rest!

We thought this was so cute, we had to share it with you.

Early Happy Mother's Day

We have to distinguish the difference between a "need" vs. a "want" in our house.
I try to say everything is a "need", but Gilbert classifies most things as "wants".

Gilbert and I both have "want" lists on the fridge for each other.
This way there are always plenty of ideas when occasions like Mother's Day come around.
I try to put "justifiable" wants on my list, if there is such a thing.
Most everything on my list are not things you can run down to Walmart or Target and pick up.
They are also things that require lots of $ to afford.

Gilbert puts things that are definitely needs on his "want" list.
Gilbert puts things on his list that can be picked up at Walmart or Target
and a lot of his items are under $10.
Gilbert is so much more practical and very easy to please.
He is just simply a guy that doesn't want very much.
If you were to read our "want" lists, I think you would laugh at the difference between our lists.

I have never had a car with tinted windows.
I can agree that tinted windows is a definite WANT.
(unless you live in AZ or somewhere where its over 100 degrees for a good portion of the year)
However, I also think that this can almost qualify as a justifiable need.
Luke HATES the sun in his eyes, and tinted windows can help that.
Tinted windows can also help keep the car cooler in the summer
so that Luke doesn't sweat to death in the back seat.

Gilbert got me an early Mother's Day gift
by tinting the windows on my car today!
I should have taken before and after pictures,
but I am super excited to have tinted windows for the very first time!

This bag is the gift I made for my mom for Mother's Day.
It's a new pattern that is made for laptops or binders.
I am sure she can find some teacher reason to use this type of a bag.
I hope she likes it!

Happy Mother's Day!

Provo Half Marathon

This year I ran the Provo Half Marathon with my cousin Brittney.
She made it so much fun! Without her running with me, I don't know if I would have made it.
Last year, it snowed. It was also in the beginning of April.
This year I was hoping for better weather since it was almost a month later in May.
Nope!
We got rained on, hailed on, & snowed on!

We had lots of family to support us this year!
Thanks to all of you who went along the course with us cheering us on!

Brittney was awesome and motivational the whole way,
it was so much more fun running with someone the whole way!

This was our strong finish. We were running as fast as we could for the last .1 miles.
We were also soaked to the bone since it rained the ENTIRE time!

All that matters:
I finished!
I beat my time from last year!
I had the best husband in the world waiting for me at the finish line!

Bella & Luke

It was love at first sight. When we first put them in front of each other,
Luke started laughing. He thought Bella was too funny.

Bella can crawl, and Luke hasn't quite figured out that trick.
He is jealous that she can move around.

When we put them next to each other they seemed to really enjoy each others company.
They are only 7 weeks apart, but best friends already.

They can get a little graby, so we have to keep a distance between them.
We took them to Costco, and the carts there can fit 2 babies.
Everyone thought they were twins and we were getting stopped left and right
by people who wanted to look at the cute babies. (mostly they liked Bella and her cute bow)
Cousins are so much fun!