Bath time fun!

Luke has recently figured out that the bath tub faucet can be fun.
He is obsessed with it, and tries to take a drink while we're filling up the tub.

All bundled up....

It was chilly this morning during our morning stroll.
I put a sweatshirt on Luke, and he started holding out his arms and shaking them around.
I am sure he was thinking, what is this, I can't move!
He likes to be free, and his favorite clothes are NONE!
If we try to put a diaper on him, he will quickly crawl away.
I am sure he knows that clothes come next, and he is certainly happiest naked.
This picture doesn't show how Luke's movement was lessened by the extra layers,
and he wasn't too happy about that.

7 down...... Eternity to go!

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary.
I have to admit, that I think I am the luckiest wife, to have the privilege of being married to Gilbert. Each year I think that our lives can't possibly be more blessed, or get any better. Some how each year, they do! I am so grateful to be married to my best friend, who loves me unconditionally. Trust me, I NEED that unconditional love because I am far from perfect.
A few things that I love about Gilbert are:

The fact that he is the most easy going guy you will ever meet, which makes my life very simple.

You may think he just doesn't say much, but I consider him to be a good listener because of that.
This is also great for me, because I can do a lot of talking.

He is very easy to please, which means anything I do is more than acceptable.
Especially cooking, he will eat just about anything and appreciate it!

He really doesn't get mad at me,
even if I follow the "ask for forgiveness instead of permission" thing.

He is very helpful with Luke, and he is willing to get up in the night
(which totally deserves extra credit)

These are just a few things that I appreciate most about Gilbert.
I'm happy to be celebrating our anniversary today, and looking forward to many more!

Luke Lately....

Today, Luke is 10 months old!
WoW, does time go by too fast or what?

We're making progress in the weight category.
For once, Luke gained more weight in a week than the average baby his age.
We're crossing percentile lines, in the positive direction!

Here are a couple of things Luke has been up to lately.

• He cut his first tooth, and is working on #2.

• He loves twirling anything and everything around, (nun chucks are NOT safe toys)

• He loves banging things together, or banging things on other things.

• He loves opening every cupboard and every drawer and pulling everything out.

• he LOVES to sort, which means pulling things out of everything. It's really quite funny to watch because he just throws things behind him like he doesn't care. He just wants to get to the bottom of the box or basket or whatever he is emptying.

• He is ALL about crawling, and crawling fast.

• He furniture walks and will stand by himself momentarily until he realizes he is standing by himself. He will also reach out and walk to anything else he can get his hands on for stability.

• He still follows me anywhere and everywhere. Especially if I try to go to the bathroom, I officially believe there is no privacy. If I try to take a shower while he's not sleeping, he just comes to the shower, pulls back the curtain, and either watches me, or try to crawl in to join me, which he often does.

• He loves making "boy" noises, which include any noises he can make with his mouth.

• He is TOTALLY a social laugher. If his mommy and daddy are laughing, he doesn't care, he will just join in, even if we are laughing at him.

• My favorite: he is so addicted to his binki. So, we keep his binki clipped to him almost constantly. If his binki falls out, he will stop what he is doing, put it back in his mouth, and then continue to what he was doing. He also doesn't realize that when he is standing up, and if his binki is clipped to him, when he bends down to pick up his binki, his binki also will go farther away, so he continues to bend down further, and the binki keeps getting further and further away. It's my favorite thing to watch, although that's not a very nice thing for me to do(hehe).

• During feeding times, he often is more interested in what we are eating rather than what he is eating. I'm guessing this is normal, but he will refuse his food, and then eat anything that we are eating.

• Luke and I play together all day, and I will go around making towers of things or setting things in a line, like balls or puzzle pieces, and his favorite thing to do is DEMOLISH everything. If I make a tower with blocks, he starts laughing and goes straight for the tower to knock it over. What a boy huh!

He is just one busy boy!

Why I'm so lucky.......

Is there anything cuter?

Learning "No"

We're in the process of teaching Luke "no" or teaching him things that he shouldn't be doing.
You may think that 9 months is too young to teach this, but I would beg to differ.
I KNOW he knows what we're saying if we say "no Luke" or "we don't do that"
or if we simply shake our head "no".
I know he knows this because he shakes his head back to us
when he doesn't want to do something.

For instance, I let Luke roam around the bathroom while I am blow drying my hair.
I let him explore and open all cupboards and drawers except for one.
It houses the cleaning supplies(which I should just move)
Luke will always go straight for the cupboard he knows he is not supposed to open.
I know he understands that I don't want him in that cupboard,
and that's why its always the first one he goes for.


The next thing he knows he is NOT supposed to touch is this plant.

With every chance he gets, he tries to go put his fingers in the dirt and play with it.
He will do this until he hears me coming.

How fun is it to play in the dirt?

This is the look I get from him when he knows that I have caught him.
So as soon as I turn the corner and step into the room, he just looks at me.

Then, if I start walking towards him, he quickly crawls away from the evidence.
This is how I know that he knows he is not supposed to touch this plant.
The next hurdle to jump will be getting him to understand consequences.
How do you teach a 9 month old that there are consequences
for doing things you aren't supposed to?

And so the journey begins......

Busy Boy....

Ahhhhh........
That's the sound of Gilbert and I getting a good nights sleep.
For the first time in Luke's life, he slept straight through the night,
without waking up ONCE!
Luke's bedtime is 7:00 pm.
This morning Luke woke up at 6:00 am.
That means he slept 11 hours straight!
WOW!!!!!
Now let's hope this wasn't a one time thing.

Luke got his first clipper cut yesterday.
Or should I say, an attempted clipper cut.
It's difficult to get a 9 month old to hold still when something is buzzing and touching his head.
So it's mostly straight, or straight enough for me.

Not only does Luke not want to hold still for a hair cut,
but he doesn't want to hold still for a picture either.
I was trying to show the back, because he looks like a little boy, not a baby.
However, he was on the move as soon as I tried to take a photo.
I'm pretty sure he thought it was funny, and wanted it to be a game.
It's his new thing, he likes to be chased.

When Gilbert gets home from work, Luke gets excited and goes right over to him.
Luke knows that daddy is home to play!
This often includes shoulder rides around the house, while I chase them around.
Luke still struggles with his acid reflux, and as you can see from this picture,
he threw up all over Gilbert's head and clothes.

Luke is often very busy throughout the day.
I was doing some dishes and Luke was being very quiet, which only means trouble.
I walk over to find him pulling every single wipe out of the container and LOVING it.
He ended up playing with the wipes for quite some time, and was definitely entertained!

Silly Boy......

Today, on our way home from the grocery store Luke was entertaining himself on the ride home.
He was saying "dadadada" over and over again.
Only each time he said it, he was trying to say it in a higher tone each time.
Each time that he tried to say it higher, he started laughing at himself.
I guess he thought his voice was pretty funny.
I wished I had a video recorder with me, because I couldn't help myself from laughing either.
He did it the entire ride home, just laughing and then trying again.
The funniest part, was as he got higher, he got quieter.
I guess to talk that high he thought he had to get quiet.
It was hilarious, and made my day!

Chillin'

This is what a normal evening looks like for my cute boys.
Aren't I lucky?
Luke just LOVES his daddy!
As soon as Gilbert comes home from work,
Luke is like a lightening bolt over to him!
Then they can have their "chillin" time in the cozy chair!

Entertainment

This is something Luke does at least 5 times a day for entertainment!

Rock & Roll 10K

Gilbert, Luke, and I ran the Idaho Falls Rock & Roll 10K.
We also convinced Gilbert's sister to run with us.
It was Gilbert's first time ever running in a "paid for" race.
It was great weather, and great company.
It turned out to be a great race!

The above photo was a pre-race photo.
Can you see the excitement in our faces?

This is Gilbert's sister Andrea, and her family.
It's so nice to have your cute girls and hubby waiting for you at the finish line.

What a cute family we have!
Luke enjoyed the ride, and even took a nap during the race.

Rigby Lake

We spent the afternoon at Rigby Lake,
with the Worle family for some fun swimming time.
The water was really cold at first, but once we moved around it was fun.
The weather only allowed about 2 hours of sunshine.
As the saying goes, if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes and it will change
(in Idaho)
Luke enjoyed playing with the sand.
I'm sure he enjoyed the sensation of squishing the sand in between his fingers.

Luke really enjoys the water.
He gets super excited whenever we take him swimming.

We decided to bury his legs in the sand,
and he got excited and kept splashing sand everywhere!
He definitely was a fan of simply making a mess.
He was crawling all around in the water, since it is so shallow.

Even though it was during nap time, Luke seemed to really enjoy himself.
He just likes to get out and see what there is to see.

How fun is it to discover sand and all its squishy properties?

(It's embarrassing how white my legs are, I know)

My sister Juell and my brother Sterling came along too.
The water was too cold for them to get in though.

We put him in this floatie, and he liked jumping in the water while in it.
He could reach the bottom because this area of the lake was very shallow.
He was able to move around all by himself while in the water.

Luke wanted to walk all over to feel the sand in between his toes.
It was a fun day!

TEETH

Finally........

A tooth popped out this morning!
We've been wondering when these teeth were going to come in.

This is the best photo I could get, and his tongue is covering his little tooth.
So you can't even see it.
He's been too busy with other things,
like my camera lens cap.....


And getting into cupboards.......

Daily Itinerary

This is what a normal day looks like for me:

4:45 am: alarm goes off
5:00-6:30 am: gym
5:30 am: Gilbert's alarm goes off (aka Luke)
7:00 am: breakfast for Luke and I
7:15-8:00 am: stroller strolling with my friend (Luke loves stroller rides)
8:30-9:30 am: nap for Luke, and shower for mommy
10:00 am: finally the stores open so Luke and I can go walk around somewhere
11:30 am: lunch and snacks
12:30- 1:30 pm: nap for Luke, quiet time for mommy, which often includes craft time
1:30-5:00 pm: PLAY TIME, Luke and I play on the floor while we wait for daddy to come home
which of course includes more snack time, and movie time etc.
5:00 pm: dinner for all
6:30 pm: bath time
7:00 pm: bed time for Luke
7:00-9:00 pm: parental quiet alone time!
9:00 pm: BED TIME (if you got up at 4:45, you'd go to bed this early too)
This also includes usually getting up with Luke at least once a night(on a good night)

This is a typical day for us. I can't complain.
I really don't have a rough life at all,
especially when I get to hang out with the cutest little boy ever!