hey there!

hi, it's me, luke, back again. i've really been enjoying sitting up on my own and we had a great time at the zoo last friday (pictures on that the next time), and here are some pictures of what we've been doing the last week or so around here... momma does actually hold me a lot throughout the day (and she loves to do that still, even though i'm nearly 20 lbs - yikes!!) but somehow we always end up with mostly pictures of me sitting in one thing or another - happily though! i still like bouncing around in the jumperoo...

and really enjoy sitting up in the stroller like a big boy. i'm actually out of my infant car seat completely and have graduated to real seating in strollers and the car - yes!

here's an extreme close-up of me chewing on a teething ring (although still no teeth yet!) with my big blue eyes that momma wishes would stay but surely will change to brown eventually...

i've officially started eating solids now, but here's what i still think of it...

actually, once momma started mixing the rice cereal with some fruits, i was much more willing to give the spoon feeding a try. so we'll keep at it and i'll look forward to trying some new foods - exciting! plus, how cute am i in the highchair?!

speaking of eating and food, ben continues to use his imagination to cook up some great foods pretty much every day. here are some wine cork muffins coming out of the coffee table oven now... yum!

ben also loves building towers with daddy and is getting really good at making tall ones!! he likes to stand on the stool to add one block at a time at the top, while daddy steadies the bottom. fun!

and yes, still more blowing... can you believe this picture? those goggles are one of the funniest things that momma has ever seen! she may just need to get out more, but look at that scrunched up face! and those ears!!! (you may be able to click on the picture to expand it - totally worth it, if so.)...

and he can still manage "silly eyes" with them on... but don't let the jeans and long-sleeve shirt fool you, folks. that day was a fluke - it's still in the upper 80's pretty much every day here.

and now, to close - - i know i've been keeping you on the edge of your seat about our beloved beige recliner. well, sorry to all the big fans out there, but it has been *finally* replaced - yessss!! it's still a recliner, but a much better looking one, and both momma and daddy are pleased. a fine example of compromise. and somehow the beige one still remains in our garage, so we all still get to look at it every day. its novelty as an outdoor resting spot has since worn off. now we just want someone to come by and take it away (gotta love craigslist)...

okay, gotta go. see you later!!!!!!! unless you're beamee, because in that case, we'll see you SOONER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

sitting up!!

hi everyone! just wanted to stop in quick to say hi from my new perspective on the world - sitting up on my own!!

i just started this today, and momma is so excited (and of course daddy and ben too)! she thought it might be coming soon, but since i haven't been in a rush to meet any other major milestones yet (you know, like rolling over or getting teeth), she wasn't for sure. but i can tell from her claps and cheers that this is great fun to see me do something new and exciting, and i pretty much have it down really well already, in just one day! :)

but i'm sure it won't be long now before momma quickly switches to "oh no, he's growing up too fast" mode, though. :) anyway, she was so excited, snapping lots of pictures, and eventually i just got upset about the excess of sitting up and the lack of eating. and ben is always good for a great facial expression, isn't he?

he also cheered me up with his laughs for one last picture in my new position...

also, momma has been working with ben on a learning theme each day, corresponding to a different letter of the day (he knows the uppercases but still needs some work on lowercase recognition, which is weird since he types so well on the blog, right?). this week was about animals, and wednesday was about the letter Bb and bears, so they made a "big bear in the great room" - just like at the lodge! so cool...

okay, gotta go. we're off to the zoo!

growing up...

hey, you, out there! nice to see you again! :)



i wanted to wear a tie for church the other day - although it didn't stay on for very long because although i wanted to wear it so that i could be just like daddy, i couldn't fight the urge to just play with the buckle in the back. momma anticipated this and so snapped a few shots before we left...

luke isn't quite old enough for ties, yet, but he was still pretty cute in a basic onesie...

momma got him a new doorway jumper too, which he has been playing in some. apparently she always wanted to get one for me when i was a baby, but fought the urge (that one time, at least!) to accumulate more baby gear. but she decided to go for it with luke to give him a fun activity upstairs. he likes it okay but mostly prefers to be held or be closer in on the action of whatever we're doing. since momma is infamous for returning things, this might actually end up getting the boot because luke isn't totally a fan and she's luke-warm about it too. but she thought it was worth sharing at least one cute picture, and hopefully he'll just be sitting up on his own soon anyways and we won't need it after all...

we're working with him on the sitting up thing... as you can see, he's not quite there, but does think it's fun to try and we can tell that he feels like he's doing something new on his own! he also likes to stand up on furniture and hold himself up on his own for just a few seconds at a time - exciting!

meanwhile, i continue to grow up really fast... i'm practically an adult already. here i am shaving (real shaving cream, spoon razor)...

and helping daddy blow off the driveway...

the blower is new* and i absolutely love it! if i don't update the blog for a few days or weeks and you wonder what i'm doing lately, it's blowing. i blow outside. i blow inside. i blow off luke. i even blow off the imaginary "big bear in the great room" from our trip to the lodge. he now lives in our front room, and so when he gets dirty, i blow him off.

well, that's about all for now, but i will leave you with a little teaser for next time... you know the infamous recliner from our living room, right? well, next time we have big news about it, so stay tuned! :)

*the blower was supposed to be my bribe for getting potty trained. momma had been saving this one chance to bribe me and this one awesome thing to bribe me with all along. we tried potty training a couple weekends ago and i just wasn't ready... she already bought the blower and she and daddy knew i would love it so much and would be so cute playing with it, so they gave it to me anyway! this is very unlike them. i'm not sure yet what the catch is... so i'm getting in as much blowing as i possibly can just in case...