MOTHER'S DAY 2009

Mother's Day 2009 was a beautiful day here in Central Virginia.  The weather was perfect for spending the day with my two favorite men.  The morning started out with the best hubby in the world fixing me special "Mom" pancakes.  Then after we had all had breakfast, we went to a nearby garden center to buy a hanging plant and some vegetables for a little garden that Luke and I will try to take care of this summer.

Here are Luke and I with the beautiful hanging Impatients that he and Daddy picked out for me.

Grey's also in the picture, Luke just happens to be sitting on him.  A big belly makes for quite a great "seat" when holding a toddler.

Thanks boys for a wonderful Mother's Day.  I love you all!!!!!!

LUKE & DADDY'S MORNING WORKOUT

Here are a couple of videos showing Luke and Marc doing their daily workout.

They always start with pull-ups...

and finish with push-ups.

14 DAYS TO GO!!!!!!!

Well, our countdown is getting shorter and shorter.  We only have two weeks left.  As of now, we have the C-Section scheduled for the 14th at 7:30am.  Nothing like not being able to get one last good nights sleep before the blessed event.

Do you think I look bigger than two weeks ago?

AN EVENING AT THE BEACH

After it being in the 90's over the weekend, yesterday afternoon, it finally started to cool off a little bit.  After dinner, we took Luke down to the beach so the three of us could enjoy a beautiful spring evening.

Father and Son watching the water.

Here is a little video of Luke playing in the sand.

In only, every evening of the year could be this temperature.

BIRTHDAY BARBEQUE

This past weekend, Marc and I celebrated our birthdays.  As most of you know, Marc and I share the same birthday - April 26th.  I, unfortunately, am now officially middle age at 41, and Marc is a young 33.  Of course, with his gray hair, everyone still thinks I'm younger - gotta Love that.

To help us celebrate, all of our dear friends in the Hood, got together and organized a Barbeque down at our community pavilion.

Of course, we had to get a family photo commemorating the event.  In this photo, I am now 36 weeks pregnant.  Everyone kept asking me if I was sure I wasn't carrying twins again.  Do I really look that big?  The answer is YES!!  But really, I think it was just the outfit.

One of our friends was also celebrating his birthday this past weekend.  Gerry Kane turned 50 something on the 25th.  So the Barbeque was a triple celebration.

When we all get together, there is ALWAYS an abundance of INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS food.  Luke is shown here digging in to a fabulous assortment.

After filling all of our bellies, the three birthday folks went about opening cards and gifts. 

After the presents, everyone began chilling out listening to the great music that was provided courtesy of a couple of ipods from Marc and Pat Denny.

Here are Marc and his lake brother, Keith Myers.  They are usually attached at the hip.

While the adults enjoyed in their adult fun, Luke was completely entertained.  Here he is playing soccer with TJ and Aly.

Luke and his buddies - Aly Judy and TJ Myers

Luke had a blast running around the ENTIRE time.  But here, in this picture, he was standing still, chilling out, with his hands in his pockets.  Don't you love his outfit?

Luke is slowing wearing out by the end of the evening.  Here he is taking a break - sitting down and telling TJ how much fun he has had.

Some of the adults partook and a fun adult activity - Beer Pong.  Here are Marc and Tom Judy playing against Linda and Keith Myers.  I think Marc and Tom lost.

Luke has finally lost most of his energy.  Here he is quenching his thirst.  And actually, this was the first time any of us had seen him drink out of a water bottle without spilling it all over himself.  Way to go Luke!!!!

Daddy holding his favorite little boy.

The night was HUGE success.  We want to thank all of our dear friends and let you all know that we really don't know what we would do without you.

MORE OF LUKE

The following photos are just some moments I was able to capture of Luke just being Luke.

In this photo, he is showing us his LOVE of Baked Beans.  Even though he is getting really good at using eating utensils, with Baked Beans, he just can't get them in his mouth fast enough with a fork, so he just shovels them in with his hand.  This is the end result.  Also, he usually gets them all in his hair.

He is still sleeping very well every night in his Big Boy Bed.  This photo shows how he uses only the top 1/5 of the bed for sleeping.

Luke's crying face is my ABSOLUTE favorite face that he makes.  I tried to capture it here, but this picture still doesn't do it justice.

Brushing his teeth is a new skill that Luke is mastering.  I do the main brushing and then give him the toothbrush to practice.  It's hilarious how he moves his head side to side rather than the brush.  He's TOO cute.

This picture shows Luke enjoying Movie Time.  He still loves to sit in his Bumpo chair, so he planted him self in it to watch Toy Story.  I don't know if he will be able to share this chair with his little brother, who will need to use it to practice holding his head up.

Here is Luke sporting the sweat-band he got Daddy for his birthday. How CHIC is that?

LUKE'S FIRST BUBBLE BATH

Mommy found some bubble bath in the cupboard, so she decided to treat Luke to his first Bubble Bath.  He really didn't quite know what to think of it, and it wasn't baby proof - so his eyes got a little stung when it got in them - but honestly he didn't seem to mind.

I CAN SLEEP ANYWHERE

It has now been day number two that Luke has forgone his afternoon nap.  I put him in his bed at nap-time, but he prefers to climb out and play.  Yesterday he played in his room for about two hours.  Today, since the sun has finally shined it's lovely warm face, I let him play for about 45 minutes and then I took him for a golf-cart ride.

It's now 5:00 and about 15 minutes ago, he was very busy playing and riding his bulldozer.  He was on the bulldozer right next to the chaise lounge where I was lying down.  One minute he's riding, the next minute, I can't see him, and I can't hear him.  I slowly get to a sitting position and look down...

He is fast asleep on the hardwood floor.

LUKE'S NEW PAJAMAS

After visiting his two girlfriends, the Rudacille twins, in Kentucky, Luke became infatuated (well actually his Mommy did) with Julius the Monkey by Paul Frank.

So when the twins got new Julius pajamas, Luke had to get some also.

In this photo, Luke was kind enough to take time away from his busy texting schedule to look at the camera.

Aren't his pajamas cute?

LUKE'S FIRST REAL WORD

YEAH!!!  I finally got a video to upload.  This video is of Luke saying his first real word.

ENJOY!!

30 DAYS (at the most) AND COUNTING

Today, Tuesday, April 14th starts my 30 Day Countdown.  I am at 34.5 weeks and with a schedule c-section for May 14th, 30 days can't go quick enough.  Nobody in the hood thinks Grey will make it that long.  Based on the way he is squirming around in there, I may have to agree with him.  It's like he is try to kick his way out.

EASTER 2009

Easter 2009 was spent with our surrogate lake family Bob and Arlinda Kesock.  Arlinda's son Jay and his family were also there.

Arlinda was sweet enough to put together an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids.

Here's Luke just starting out to look for his eggs.

Yeah!!! He found one.

He's got quite a collection going.

He looks like he's having a lot of fun.  In this picture he is actually holding Leo's bucket.  He picked up and took off with it.  Leo can't quite walk yet, so Luke had a good head start.

Here, Luke is helping Leo look inside his bucket to make sure all the eggs are out.

After the hunt, we all went inside so the kids could see what treasures the Easter bunny brought.

Here are Luke and Leo playing with some MatchBox Cars.  Take note:  Luke is 4.5mos. older than Leo.

After nap-time for the boys, we all sat down to a wonderful Easter dinner that Bob and Arlinda had prepared.

Here are the boys all ready to dig in.

Here is Luke with his surrogate grandparents - Bob and Arlinda.

Easter 2009 was a big hit.  Next year, with Luke being 2.5 years old, we will go all out and dye some eggs for the occasion.

BEACH SEASON 2009 HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN

Today, Sunday, April 5th, was an absolutely beautiful spring day, so, of course, we had to take advantage of it and head down to the beach.

Here are Luke and Daddy, all decked out for the beach, heading down to the golf-cart.  Luke is also showing off his stair descending skills.

Miss Linda was kind enough to give us some old beach toys, which Luke seemed to really enjoy.  He loved digging up the sand and building a nice pile right in his lap.  He even has a little on the brim of his hat.

This year's beach season is going to be a lot of fun!!

OH LUKE!!

Just a couple of pictures of our main man Luke.

Here he is enjoying his Big Boy Bed.  He likes to climb up there and read his books.

Here he is helping Mommy and Daddy get Grey's new room ready.

LUKE'S BIG BOY ROOM

Luke now has a Big Boy Room!!!

It's finally all finished, and he will hopefully be sleeping during the night in there starting this weekend. He has napped in there a couple of times already, and did really well. Somehow he knows that when he's in there for sleeping, he needs to stay in bed.

This is his Big Boy Bed.
Daddy made the "Side"-board to fill the funny angle of that corner of the room. That way, he has protection on that side of the bed. On the open side, there is a guard-rail that slides out and up from under the mattress. We had to provide him with a stool, so if he does happen to get out of bed in the middle of the night, he will be able to get back in.
The "Side"-board also has shelves in the end of it for toy storage, and a cubby over the bed to hold some of his favorite books and toys.

This is the Entertainment Area.
We put a TV in his room so he can watch all the old Disney movies that Mommy had saved for him. There are a bunch of old videos, but also some new DVD's that he's gotten recently.

This is the Dressing Area.
Luke doesn't have his own closet, but this big six drawer dresser holds all of his clothes nicely. Currently, the bottom two drawers are empty, so still plenty of room for new summer clothes.

And this is the Play Area.
He has a Magnetic Chalkboard, his little Art table and plenty of toy storage with all the shelving.
The long top shelf houses all of his prized LSU gear and the Louisville Slugger Bat that Daddy got him. The top shelf of the shelving unit holds Max's things so he can keep an eye of Luke.

He LOVES his new room. He's always in there playing with his toys and writing on the chalkboard. He loves to put the magnetic letters up, but mostly he likes to dump all the letters on the floor for Mommy to pick up. However, he is very good at helping Mommy.

With six weeks to go before his new baby brother arrives, this big transition for him, I think, will go very well.