Sunday, June 10, 2012

Luke's First Birthday

I can hardly believe how quickly a year went by.  Our little Mr. Luke turned one year old last week on June 6th.  We tried to make it a fun day of celebrating with our baby boy.

The night before Luke's birthday, I blew up a bunch of big colorful balloons and Isaac helped me sneak into Luke's room and leave them all around the floor so that he would have a fun surprise to wake up to.






We opened presents first thing in the morning so that Luke (and Isaac) could play with the new toys all day long, and so that Charlie could watch before he head to leave for work.  Luke got a lot of help from his brother with the actual opening of the gifts, but he was happy just playing with the paper anyway.



After Luke was all dressed and ready for the day in his bright blue polo shirt, I was struck by just how adorable he looked playing with all those colorful balloons.  I had the crazy idea to try to pull together a little photo shoot in his room.  There are lots of reasons why I should not be a photographer.  The fact that Luke does not ever really hold still didn't help much either.







Isaac had speech and karate that day, but after we were done with all that I called up some friends and we headed over to the Woodbridge lagoon to play for a few hours.  Luke sat and played in the sand for awhile, and then eventually discovered that he could crawl around in the water.  There is a shallow ledge of water with a sandy bottom all around the edge of the pool and it is just perfect for crawling babies.


After a nap and some dinner, it was time for birthday cake!  I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, from scratch and with all organic ingredients.  (The frosting was especially yummy and Charlie told me later he thought it may have been the best cake I've ever made.)  We had a larger cake for the family to eat and then I made a little one for Luke to help himself to.


I decorated Luke's cake with some fresh strawberries on top, and just as I suspected he ate all of those off first.  He loves fruit!  He seemed a little unsure about what to do with the rest of the cake, so I helped cut a few little bites for him.  He didn't eat much of it, but he sure had fun playing with it!





He dug his little fingers into the center of the cake and squashed it all into tiny crumbs.  Then he had fun transferring the crumb pile from the plate to the tray and back again.  It was kind of hilarious to watch.  Isaac got a good laugh too and told me "Mom, Luke is a MESS!"  And Cracker was in heaven with all of the chocolate cake crumbs that made their way to the floor.





Luke got all cleaned up in the bath and ready for bed.  He usually goes right to sleep when I put him down, but for some reason he kept crying and wanting to be held that night.  I rocked him to sleep a few times but every time I laid him down he would cry again, so I sat and rocked with him till nearly midnight.  Though I was feeling a bit weary, I also appreciated that extra cuddle time since he rarely holds still long enough to be rocked at all these days.


The next day Luke had his 12 month check-up at the doctor.  My suspicions were confirmed - he is becoming a little shrimp!  Isaac was always off the charts for height as a baby, and I've noticed that Luke has not grown nearly as fast.  Especially in the past few months.  He measured 29 1/4" in height (25th percentile) and 20 lbs 7 oz in weight (10th-25th percentile), with a very average 18 1/4" head (50th percentile).  The doctor also noted that he has a small hernia that should close up on it's own over the next couple of years, and a blocked tear duct which will also hopefully clear up on it's own soon.



We had fun celebrating Luke's first year and are excited to see what the next one holds in store.  Happy Birthday Luke!  We love you!


Memorial Day Weekend

We spent a long weekend in Utah visiting family for Memorial Day.  I apologize in advance to everyone in Utah Valley that we did not see.  We spent most of the time in Price, and just one day in American Fork visiting with my family.  We had a great time, except for the road trip part - which Charlie & I both agree we are not eager to repeat anytime too soon.

We left late Thursday afternoon and drove to Vegas where we stayed the night.  We decided to rent a van for the trip (which ended up being super cheap) and we put Luke in the big convertible car seat and let him face forward so that he wouldn't be as bored.  Isaac was very good and easily entertained with movies and the iPad.  Luke was pretty good and somewhat entertained by me craning my arm around to feed him little snacks, and by a few Baby Einstein videos that we borrowed for the trip.



Friday evening we arrived in Price (which is about two hours southeast of Utah Valley) where Chris & Carly's family and Karl & Janelle were waiting for us with a nice yummy dinner.  After dinner we sat around visiting and eating dessert while the kids played.  I think Isaac headed straight to the backyard to play "Dead Man" on the trampoline.

The weather ended up being super windy and cold (and I totally packed wrong!), so some of the fun things that were planned for Saturday had to be put on hold.  Chris, Charlie, & I went for a good 5 mile run in the morning.  It was so so nice to run outside and without a jogging stroller.  What was not so nice was running against super strong winds.  We spent most of the day just talking and visiting.  I barely saw Isaac the entire weekend because he was off having so much fun with his cousins.  That night we all drove to Helper and had dinner at Balance Rock - a local restaurant named for a rock feature on the nearby mountain.


After all of the kids were in bed that night Charlie & I snuck out on a little date.  We don't have a baby sitter back home in CA, so alone time is quite rare for us.  Price doesn't have much of a nightlife (um, not really much going on in the day time either) so we just went and had dessert, stopped to get gas, and came back home.

On Sunday we loaded up in our rental van and made the two hour drive to American Fork to spend the day with my family.  I didn't take many pictures.  We spent a few hours over at my sister Lisa's house.  There was a pen set up out in the yard so the kids could play with the rabbits.  Isaac loved being able to pick them up and I think Luke just loved watching them hop around.

Isaac with his cousin Katie





We went to my grandparent's house for dinner with my mom (my dad was sick) and my aunt Shirley came too. I always love going to my Grandma & Grandpa Edwards house because they have lived in that house my entire life and going there brings back so many memories and it just feels like home to me.  Of course I love my grandparents too and it was great to spend some time and visit with them.  My grandma turned on her vibrating back massager for Luke to play with and he could not stop giggling.

Grandma & Aunt Shirley finishing up dessert
Monday was Memorial Day and we were back in Price.  Charlie, Chris, & I did the same 5 mile run and it was much much nicer without the wind.  Next we all headed over to the cemetery, which is just across the street.  Janelle had bought flags for the kids to leave on the graves.  Karl has a great (great?) uncle buried there, and Chris & Carly's family had a neighbor/friend who passed away recently.



Afterwards we drove up into the mountains for lunch.  The kids had fun exploring the little paths around the picnic area.  Ginny & Lucy were both so great at playing with Isaac and keeping him entertained the whole weekend.  Like I said earlier, I didn't see much of him!  After lunch we had s'mores and then headed back to the house.




The weather had finally warmed up a bit by then and Carly set up a gigantic slip n' slide on the hill in their backyard.  All of the kids loved it, but especially Isaac.  When Carly asked him "do you like the slip n' slide?" he replied with "no, I LOVE it!"  Funny kid.  They played for hours!


Asher, Ginny, Isaac & Lucy.  They had fun all going down together on the giant raft, until it got a hole. 

The adults relaxed in the backyard talking & playing on ipads while the kids played in the water

Cracker chasing the neighbor's cat up a tree
Karl barbecued hamburgers for everyone and Janelle made homemade ice cream and we had a fantastic dinner out in the backyard.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day and the kids stayed out playing until it got dark.

Luke loved crawling around on the trampoline, but once again the static caused his hair to stick straight out!


Luke with his cousin Lucy
Ginny & Luke


Tuesday morning it was time to pack up and head home.  The drive really wasn't terrible, but 11 hours in the car with two kids and a dog is just really not that fun.  We were glad that we went though and had a wonderful weekend with our families.  Now that both sets of grandparents are living in the same state, I'm sure we'll be up there a little more often.

I bought this cute neck pillow for Luke to nap with in the car

He kept it around his neck for approximately 2 seconds