A Birthday Present

So, when we got back from the park we gave Lukey a birthday present. What un-fun parents we are--we didn't even wrap it. And he may or may not have been playing with it in the box for weeks. But, it was fun none the less.



This is Luke, not sure what to make of all these shenanigans.

This is the look he had on his face when he first saw the truck out of the box.


"Oh, wow, you can actually move this thing!"



Learning how it works...

Personally, I just love this expression.


Daddy trying to teach him that it actually dumps stuff out. Not so sure he got that lesson.


What is it with kids and always liking the boxes best?

We had a good day together, especially after I started to feel better. I actually ate lunch today! Luke was lots of fun and I'm choosing to believe that he's screaming in his crib right now because he's just so happy.... Or, cause I'm trying to make him go to sleep. One or the other. He can have quite the temper and I think we have our hands full trying to get a grip on that while he's still young. It can be hard being a parent, but we love this little guy so much. In many ways this year has flown by, but I remember parts of it dragging. I have learned a lot and he is forcing me to grow in ways I didn't even know I needed to grow. Thank you God, for my son.

More blogging to come... depending on what my evening looks like. Maybe tomorrow I'll finish off the birthday day celebration. We still have a haircut and first cake to get through!

More Birthday Fun

Andrew and I just took Luke to the park that is close by our house. I'm sad to say that it was the first time we'd been. But I'm quite certain we'll be spending quite a bit of time there this spring/summer. Luke had never been in a swing and he had such a good time.




He had such a look of pure glee on his face! It was SO sweet.





Daddy and Mommy taking turns pushing our one-year-old.



The slide was lots of fun, too!


He loved the merry-go-round, but personally, I wished I hadn't gotten on it with him. I am still quite nauseous and even though Andrew pushed very slowly it didn't feel very good.



Crazy faces!


The long walk back to the car. "Daddy, do we have to go now? Just a few more minutes?" It won't be long until he is voicing those desires in more than a disappointed look and a few whiny cries.

All in all, it was a great first trip to the park. We all had such fun.

Lukey is ONE!

Happy birthday to our little boy! It is so crazy to think that he's already a year old. I'm sure we'll get many more pictures and videos before the day is over, but for right now, here is Lukey enjoying his birthday cards from his Great Nana and Great Papa Ball and his Great Granny Preston. We let him open them all by himself and he looked like he was rather into it. I thought it was rather sweet that his first birthday cards from grandparents actually arrived on his birthday. It was fun for me!

Hopefully I'll be feeling up to doing a little bit of a birthday treat soon for the little guy. Poor Andrew has been in charge of everything for the last two days and he's doing a great job! We had to cancel Luke's party on Saturday because of this virus that has made it's rounds through the extended family here. Andrew was sick on Friday and I was sick yesterday and am still not up to par. Hopefully we'll be able to have a party of sorts later on.

mKhulu and Luke taking a nap...

Luke was cuddling quite nicely with his mKhulu until Mommy got out the camera. This is how I spent quite a bit of time when I was little. The boys and I always fought over who got to lay (lie?) on Daddy's arm. It was sweet to see my son cuddling with my dad.



This last picture was actually taken first, when he was still in cuddle mode, content with his soother. How sweet is this?

nGogo and Luke laughing

These pictures are from a visit with my parents... I'm not sure how long ago. Probably about a month. But he was having a really good time. I think nGogo may have been having a good time too. :)



He makes me laugh when he opens his mouth SO wide to laugh.


"Hi Mom! This is so funny!"


I don't remember who he was looking at by this point, but I think it was his daddy.


He can be such a happy little guy. And this wasn't even first thing in the morning!

It just does my heart good to see him laugh so wholeheartedly. I love this baby!

fall down go boom

So this is how it all started out. It was all fun and games.

He was laughing so hard he could hardly sit up.


So he started tipping over...


Tears ensued when he smacked the back of his head on the floor.


Brief cuddles with mommy for comfort.


"Mom, don't make fun!"


Kisses and cuddles.

Happy baby again!

What Luke's been eating

While these photos are somewhat old, something I really enjoyed doing (for the most part anyway) was making his baby food. We did a lot of squash, carrots, yams, peas, green beans (more difficult to do than all the others... too stringy!) etc. I'm surprised he didn't turn orange! He has now graduated to where we don't need to puree anymore which is nice. I can just cook up a bit batch of veggies and freeze them for later use. Thanks to all those who gave advice on this process. It really isn't that hard and was TOTALLY worth the money we saved. I think I calculated in February that we spent for 3-4 weeks worth of homemade baby food what we would have spent for a weeks worth of store bought. Plus, I knew exactly what was in it! It was nice to have some of the Gerber variety for traveling or whatever, and we were given several of those that an older cousin had outgrown. However, I can honestly say that we only bought 8 jars/containers of baby food total. And we bought four of those before he was even born! I did pick up 6-8 toddler meals from Beech Nut because I had coupons for those (they ended up being six cents each!) and thought they would be nice for the future. We'll probably use those in the coming months. For now, I just toss whatever is in the fridge (lately it's been butternut squash that I finally tried, thanks for the encouragement Jena!) into a reusable container and off we go. I found four really cute "snack containers" at Kroger on sale, so those are what we're using to transport our baby's food for now.






Yummy! I must admit, I had a hard time not eating most of the squash. I LOVE squash!

Okay, sorry for the book. Hopefully I'll be back to blogging more soon. We had a blast with Gramma and Grandpa Mack this last week. What a blessing!

Linky

Oh my goodness. I just found this site today. It shows you how to make felt food and it is SO cute! I just thought I would post it for all you creative t ypes. :)

Close Up of Lukey

I'm pretty sure he was again trying to take the camera out of my hands while I was trying to take a picture. Crazy kid.

Gotta love him!

Our Backyard

So this is a shot of our neighbor's RV.... er, a shot of our backyard. We have a very small yard, but Luke was enjoying it while Daddy grilled! Uncle Jonny, you'll notice that he's properly dressed. :)



He was pretty happy to be on grass for pretty much the first time in his life. He found a leaf that was pretty wonderful, and tried to eat some grass. Good times, good times. :)

Luke's First Walk in F-ville

A few weeks ago Andrew and I took Lukey for a walk around our neighborhood for the first time. It's lovely to live in an area where it's easy to go for walks! Of course, there were a lot of hills and I don't think my knee has recovered yet, but it was lovely all the same. Luke had a good time until a dog came and barked at us. That wasn't so much fun. It was also one of the few times the kid has been in a stroller. He's usually in the sling, but it was nice to have a break and just take turns pushing him along.











Once he saw the house he was ready to get out!

Luke and mKhulu

Kisses. 'Nuf said.

Dessert, Anyone?

Luke took it upon himself to unpack yet another box. This time it was kitchen items. This is how Daddy found him...


Looks like a sweet treat! He looks so proud of himself.