A Few Firsts

Forgot to mention...we had a couple of firsts this weekend. First and foremost, Sam ate rice cereal. Friday night she had her first go at it and just sort of pushed it out, as was expected. She was cute doing it though. She is just so laid back, it was as if she didn't notice. She just continued to look around to see what was going on around her, the whole while pushing her tongue out at me as I tried to feed her. We have it on video, which I'll be uploading here whenever James gets around to downloading it for me. Then last night and tonight she ate again, with pretty much the same result, although I'd say she actually retained more of it tonight than she has the last two nights.

Then also tonight in WalMart, Sam was in the Baby Bjorn and I was pushing Luke in the cart. Luke was shaking a box of push pins and Sam laughed, and laughed, and laughed. She has been known to let a giggle out here and there, but this was a laughing fit! It was hilarious and her first real longstanding laughing. You could hear her all over the store (or at least on our aisle and the one over). Luke was intrigued that he was causing her to do something, but not as amused as we were. I think he was just into the cause and effect of it all and thus, continued to shake and shake...so much that he punched a whole in the box and we had to grab another one to keep the fun going.

Other than that, Luke has been sick all weekend. You can pretty much count on any holiday or 3-day weekend we'll be guaranteed a sickness in the family. Thanksgiving we were all sick, Easter Luke had croup, this time he had a nasty virus. He has a sore throat and sores in his mouth...didn't eat or drink anything for two days. Nor did he take a nap for two days, probably because he was hungry. So, anyway, it has been a challenging weekend. We both had to come home early on Friday in fact, because he wouldn't let Sandra put him down. He just wanted someone to hold him, which of course can't be done when there is another baby in need of feeding. So we came home and assisted. We watched lots of Elmo on Friday and Saturday. He was all right at church, but actually requested a nap afterwards, which is unheard of. I'm hoping he is a lot better in the morning (he was a little bit better this morning) because I have a date planned with him in the morning. James is going shopping for some fishing gear, so Luke and I are going to run to the park, play, and run back. Then, James and I are going to a movie...so two dates in one day...wow!

Just Because

This is the night time ritual...Daddy rocks Luke a couple of minutes before bedtime. Who looks more tired?
Our budding computer scientist (I hope there is a company out there whose dress code doesn't call for pants.).
Sleeping soundly...as in 10-12 hours a night!!

She won't nap anymore than 2 30-45 minutes stretches during the day, so by bedtime she just passes out...no ritual needed.

Chrismas 08!

Mirror, mirror on the wall, "who's the prettiest baby of them all?"

Feeding the ducks at the park.

Trying out his duck call on the ducks at the park (the bread worked better than the call). Oh and he tried out the goose call too...I don't think we have geese in South Texas, but his dad insisted that this was a must have item (maybe the ulterior motive was to keep the slobber off his own calls??).

Tummy time and a burping position (none of them really work...she is the hardest baby to burp).

The recorder. I think we were visited by Santa's evil twin. I mean what kind of Santa brings noisy toy upon noisy toy to one house in one year...someone is out to drive us crazy. But, hey, he loves it, so we continue to tell him he sounds better than Beethoven.

Christmas 08!

I think we need to do a Hanukkah like deal next year, where we open gifts all week long. Our Christmas was a little overwhelming for the little guy. Then, of course, we could also just not buy so much crap...yeah, we'll try that, maybe. The thing is Luke loved the bus, the kitchen, the 4-wheeler, the recorder, duck calls, the tent tunnel, and the Caterpillar truck the best, except for when compared to the generic coffee mug that Grandpa got in his stocking. When that was unveiled he took it immediately and played with it the rest of the evening. Who knew? Truly it is the parent(s) who want to buy and give, give, give; the kids really don't care about about all the toys...or at least not at this age. That's an idea. We'll buy less and save the money we would have spent on all the stuff we really wanted to buy, but didn't, and then use it when they become tweens and start asking for the next generation wii and ipod.

Loving on the baby.

Kitchen!!

Luke thinks this is his gift. He thinks everything is his. His favorite word these days is "mine". Argh!

How cute?!

Our little daredevil in action.

Christmas 08!

4-wheeling on Christmas morning. He got a little cocky and started putting his feet up.

Watching Sesame Street. Elmo's World is the only part Luke finds interesting. We have to fast forward to the end, but it looks to me like this must have been Elmo time due to the intensity on his face. Sam is just happy to be sitting on the couch next to her brother at all...it is a rare occurrence, as he isn't quite trustworthy yet.

Luke turning his little laptop on and off, on and off. It is way too advanced for him to know how to do the games. We just got it for him so that maybe he'd quite messing with the home computer...so far, no luck...he messes with both now.

Grandma and Luke on Christmas...enjoying some toys together.

Grandpa, who looks calls just "pa", and Luke hanging out the day after Christmas...probably waiting on football to start.