Luke

Or as we like to call him... baby Luke, Lukie, Lukie Nukie and Grant calls him baby Nuke, Nuke, and his favorite one, Nukie Nukie.

* He's 10 months old and will be 1 on November 16th.

* He puts everything, and I mean everything, in his mouth. I can't keep these floors clean enough and he still manages to find every little crumb and anything he's not supposed to put in his mouth. He finds any little toy with paper on it and chews away until the paper is in his mouth. I can't dare keep magazine out or any kind of paper because he will tear it to shreds and it will all end up in his mouth. Many times a day I'll look at him and realize he's got something in his mouth...again... and have to fish it out. I don't remember Grant being half this bad at putting things in his mouth. I just pray every day that he doesn't choke on something!

* He eats pretty well. His fav. baby food is chicken and rice. He also likes all the fruits. He likes his cereal in the morning and has just gotten good at eating those fruit/veggie puffs, Cheerios and most recently, Kix cereal.

* He is LAZY when it comes to holding his own bottle. Grant was the same way. I can sit his bottle in front of him waiting for him to pick it up but he just cries for me to hold it. Ughh... He is not a big drinker (also just like his brother) and it's rare that he'll chug a whole bottle in one sitting. I have to push fluids on him.

* He sleeps great! He goes down around 7:30 and usually wakes up at 7 in the morning. He usually takes 3 naps a day.

* He is busy, busy,busy! I'm afraid that he's going to be my more active little guy. He won't be still! I always thought that Grant was a fairly mellow baby/toddler and now I know that he was compared to Luke. He loves to be standing so he pulls himself up on to everything. He's been cruising all around the furniture for close to 2 months now but hasn't taken off walking yet. I feel like it's going to be any day but we'll see. Over the past couple weeks he has started to walk behind his walker although he hasn't figured out how to turn so he rams in to something and then stops and gets down.

* He is very strong willed and can get so mad when he doesn't get his way. I can pull him away from some place that he's not supposed to be and he'll go right back to it, whether or not it's been the 10th time I've pulled him away or not. He does not like his changing table and usually cries the whole time I'm changing his diaper.

* He has a green silkie blanket that is his favorite among his "lovies" in his crib. The way he soothes himself is by sucking on the blanket to help him fall asleep. Therefore it's often a wet mess and the yuckiest part is that if I don't wash it every couple of days it starts to stink! Sometimes I just wish he sucked his thumb instead of his blanket!

* He still has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom) that he cut starting at 4 months.

* Everyone comments on how big and blue his eyes are... also, just like his brother.

* He laughs and laughs when we get on the floor and crawl around like we are chasing him. It's the sweetest laugh. He also loves to be outside swinging and watching his brother. He is not interested in the baby toys that we have and really just wants to play with whatever Grant is playing with.

* He's still fairly small for his age. For some reason I don't have chunky babies but I wish that I did! I'm not sure how much he weighs but I'm guessing around 20 lbs.

* He loves his bath although recently it's becoming so difficult to bathe him because he does not want to stay seated in the tub. He's always wanting to stand up so he is contantly trying to pull himself up on the faucet or on the side of the tub. So, I'm constantly having to set him back down in the water and he wants to get up and on and on. Like I said before, he won't be still!

* He is loud and likes to test his vocal cords out frequently. Of course he really likes to show off his voice when we are in public places!

* He is becoming a big time Daddy's boy, just like his brother. He lights up when he sees Mike walk in the door and if he sees him leave, he cries. I guess my dreams of having a mama's boy are just that, a dream! Although on the other hand, it makes me proud of Mike and the Daddy he is to these boys. They can't get enough of him. Luke wants to get right in on the action when Mike and Grant are wrestling on the floor.

I can already tell that fun times are in store with this little guy!! : )

* I would have posted more pictures but the one I did post took 5 minutes (no kidding!) to upload!! Is it taking anyone else a long time to upload pictures??

Grant (real original title huh?)

The boys are changing so quickly and I'm already finding myself forgetting things that they have done. I have got to get better about writing down all the cute things they are doing and saying! SO, this is really just a bunch of things about them that I don't want to forget. I'm afraid it's gonna be a long one! I'll start with Grant...



* He'll be 3 December 3rd.

* He remembers everything, and I mean everything, you tell him. I can never get away with saying, "Grant, we'll do that later", hoping that he'll forget. He won't. I will sometimes tell him at night what we will do the next day and I can be assured that the first thing out of his mouth in the morning is, "Mommie, when are we going to..."

* Despite his trim size, the boy loves to eat! His favorite foods are cheese grits, cottage cheese, string cheese, chips, fruit snacks, chicken, rice, chocolate, most fruits and anything his mommie and daddy are eating. He will try anything and most of the time will like it. If he could be snacking on something all day he would. Many times a day he'll come to me with something out of the pantry that he'd like to eat.

* He doesn't like to drink out of a sippie cup anymore because that's "not what big boys do." He likes to try to be a big boy and often says, "I want to do it like a big boy." Mike and I have fostered this big boy mentality a couple months before Luke was born in hopes to not have 2 babies in the house! :) I guess all of it started when we moved Grant from his crib to a bed and we kept on saying what a big boy he was. He really liked being called that and we now say it a lot. Mike even has made up a "big boy" song that we sing to him before he goes to bed at night. Grant knows the whole song and even taught it to my mom when she was here watching them while Mike and I went to Cancun. He is very observent of other children and often refers to something the he saw another child doing... and of course wants to do it too!

* He is very attatched to his 2 blankies (called white and blue blankie...very origianl huh?) and to Jake, the teddy bear. Jake came on the scene just a few months ago when we moved in to this house. He got attatched to him and named him Jake, after my Dad's wife's son. He sucks his thumb when he is holding 1 or all of them. Recently he likes to have all 3 of them when he is watching t.v., when we are reading to him and of course at night. I do let him take 1 blankie with him in the car but they never go outside of the house or car. Luke has a green blankie, just like his, and sometimes he tries to snag it to snuggle with it too... so funny.

* He goes to Mother's Day Out on Tuesday's and Thursday's. He calls it his "big boy school." I'm so proud of how well he has adjusted to the new school. Not a single tear shed, not even on the first day. He likes that Luke goes there too and is in the class next door to his. His class is called the Monkey's and he seems to really love it. His teachers say that he is such a sweet boy and is very nice to the other little boys and girls in class. That makes me so proud.:) He's only been there a couple weeks and his teacher says he knows all the names of the others in his class. When I ask him who is in his class he says, "I don't know." But he does!

* We think he might be a bit color blind because he NEVER gets the color red right when we ask him. He always calls it green. Mike's grandfather is color blind and red and green always look the same to him. Although, he usually gets green right when we ask him. I don't know what to think. It might be too early to tell.

* He still loves airplanes and now says that he want to be a pilot when he grows up. Unfortunately if that sticks and he has color blindness, he can't be a pilot... poor guy! He also loves trucks, tractors, cars, motorcycles. He is also becoming interested in sports, mainly soccer, but he also likes to watch baseball, football and golf (only because Daddy watches it). He also likes spider man and super man and pretends to be them while running around the house with a cape on.

* Like many other 2 year olds he likes his routine. If you start doing something he likes he will want it done that way every time. At night our routine is reading some books then once he climbs in to bed he wants us to sing the "big boy song" and to pray. Oh, and to put a cup of water on his bookshelf. He tells us all these things every night... "mommie, sing the big boy song and pray." And when that is over he says "big hug and kiss" and then always says, "leave the door open." He wants a big hug and kiss anytime we leave him and he always makes sure to give Luke a big hug and kiss as well. He also makes sure that Mike and I give a big hug and a kiss to eachother when one of us is leaving.

* I am amazed every day by the new words he is saying and how well he is communicating. Just tonight he threw the word "probably" in to one of his sentences. He's also been saying, "Mommie, I have an idea... " Of course what he says is usually something he knows I would say. For example, if he wants to go play outside and knows that Luke is napping he'll say, "Mommie, I have an idea, let's go outside after Luke wakes up from his nap." I love this because he knows exactly what I would say to his questions and it saves me the breath! :) If I get on to him for something (after fussing a bit) he'll say, "Sorry Mommie, I didn't mean to." He definitely has his moments and will still test his boundaries from time to time but overall he really is a sweet little guy and is so much fun. I am really loving this age with him. He's becoming his own little independent person and I just love watching his little mind work and learn so much of what is going on around him.

* He loves to watch anything on PBS and I have to limit his time in front of the t.v. His all time favorite show is Calliou but he also likes Dora, Diego, Blue's Clue's and he's also getting in to Backyardigans. He still likes to watch Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Club House every now and then.

* He's not the best about playing by himself and is usually following me around the house most of the day. So, I'm really anxious for Luke to get a bit older so he can have a play mate.

* He is a Daddy's boy all the way. He wants to be doing everything Daddy is doing. He loves to go to Home Depot with Mike so he can sit on the tractors in front of the store. He absolutely loves to be sitting in the seat of our cars pretending to drive. Mikes lets him do this a lot in his truck so, of course, Daddy is the coolest. He loves pushing his little bubble lawn mower all around the yard after Mike cuts the grass. He tells me everytime, "Mommie, I'm helping Daddy mow the grass" and is just as serious as he could be.

* When he's in the mood he really likes singing. His favorites are Old MacDonald, ABC song, Jesus Loves (he says Wums) Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children and I've Been Working on the Railroad. I never really thought about it but when my mom was here she couldn't believe how well he could carry a tune for his age. That will come in handy if he stays in the C of C...ha! He also sings this precious song from this book that my mom got him called I Love You This Much. The song goes.. I love you best, I love you most, I love you high, I love you low, I love you deep, I love you wide, I love you this much. He knows all the words and will just bust out with it sometimes after I tell him that I love him. MELTS my heart every time.

* He loves his brother and will sometimes be so sweet to him, giving him toys to play with. All the other times he'll yelling for him to stop playing with his toys! He loves to tickle Luke and Luke will just laugh and laugh. Sometimes he'll be walking past him and stop and give him a big hug and kiss... most of the time he actually doesn't know that I'm looking.


I'm sure as soon as I end this I'll think of more to add but that's all I can think of right now.

Big news!

No, I'm not pregnant. Grant is officially out of diapers and potty trained!! We started at the beginning of the summer so it's been a gradual process but I can say that it really hasn't been that bad. I think he was really ready when we started so that made it easier. I started by just taking the diaper off and letting him run around the house with just a t-shirt on and taking him to the potty frequently. When he took a nap or when we went out I would put him in pull-ups. I know every child is different but that way worked for us! Good luck to all you other moms out there who are potty training your little ones!

Mexico

Mike and I just got back from a fabulous vacation in Cancun. We met Mike's brother, Bryan and his wife, Jenny down there and just had the best time. They live in Memphis so we hardly ever get to see them so it was such fun spending the week with them. If you are wondering, yes they are biological brothers despite looking like complete opposites! My mom and sister-in-law flew out and kept the boys for us while we were gone. I dropped my mom off at the airport today and she said her time here was just as much of a vacation since she loves every second spent with the boys. When I returned I could tell they both had a ball with their Mia and Aunt Armine. We stayed for 5 nights and 6 days and did a whole lot of relaxing by the pool and stuffing our mouths with (way too much!) delicious food.

It was an all inclusive resort and therefore we didn't have to leave the whole time we were there. I really got use to the amazing service. I had never stayed in a place so nice so I didn't know how to act when they came in our room each evening for "turn down service." When we would get back to our room in the afternoons we had these towel sculptures, which were different each day, at the end of the jacuzzi. I wish I had taken a picture of each one but forgot to until the last day, which was this bunny.

While we were there Mike and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary and also Jenny's 30th birthday! One day we went snorkeling and rode jet skiis and admired the beautiful turquoise water. The last day we were there we decided to go "off campus" and enjoy the sites of the city of Cancun and eat something different. I was pretty impressed with the shopping and the restaurants that were available and we ate a wonderful meal and had a lot of laughs... The whole time we were there the weather was perfect, although we had a bit of a scare when we learned about the recent hurricane in the Carribean! Thankfully it didn't come or way! On our way home from the airport Mike and I decided that vacations are good for the soul and we really did feel refreshed and energized. We were so anxious to get back to the boys and although we got in at 9, my mom pushed their schedule back some so that they would be awake when we got home. Our reunion with them was so sweet.

IMG_1675.JPG">IMG_1633.JPG">
This picture was taken our last night in Cancun. If you are wondering, Mike is holding a bag of Mango (his fav. fruit). He was so thrilled to see someone sellling it by the side of the road. And yes, despite being in the sun all week I didn't look like it one bit! For those of you who know me know the only shades my skin gets are white and red so instead of being miserably burned I put a TON of sunscreen on and only came back with a few thousand more freckles. Depressing, I know.