Tough guy

This is what my students refer to as mad doggin'.

In case you aren't familiar with prison slang, you can look it up in the Urban Dictionary here.

Oh, and while you're there, be sure to check out the word of the day - it's very educational.

Crawling, Crawling, Crawling

Luke is a REAL crawler y'all - no more army crawling for him. 

He is now doing the real full on, belly off the floor, hands & knees, cutest thing ever crawling! 

For the first few days he was just crawling around the living room, but then about a week ago, with a little coaxing, he ventured out into the hall - then into the dining room.  Woo-hoo!

And I caught it all with my camera!



Come on Luke, you can do it!



He's going for it!



Aaaaand, he's off! 



Yay Luke!

Just a crawlin' - like he's done it a million times - ha!

He found an old toy (which he's decided that he likes again so now it's back in the living room)

Time to go check out the rest of the house

I guess it's time to baby proof!  

There's A New Sheriff In Town

and he did NOT want his picture taken as you will see - not one smile!

Oh well, he's still the cutest little cowboy I've ever seen.

These were taken right after dinner which is why he is without clothes - he's a very messy eater.



Luke is 8 Months Old!

Luke is 8 months old today!  I'm finally starting to feel like it's going by way too fast.  I mean, didn't he just turn 4 months old like yesterday?  He's learning so many new things all at once.  He is pulling himself up now and can stand very well when he is holding on to something.  He can even hold on with one hand!  He just started this new thing where he pushes his whole body up in the air from the crawl position - he will push himself up while leaving his hands & feet on the floor & kinda straighten his arms & legs.  It's his favorite yoga pose.  I keep waiting for him to just pull his hands up & take off walking.  He has also started holding his own bottle, although he still prefers for us to do it for him.  He loves to eat, & especially to snack on crunchy baby snacks.  His favorite thing to eat now is anything & everything that we are eating. 

Here are some new pics from the past few days.

Luke's new swing - he loves it

Peek - a - boo! 

He looks so red headed in some of his pics - but in real life, the little hair he has is blonde 

He's been using this duck tub since he was 6 months old but now prefers to sit in the tub without the duck

Standing in our bathroom - this is where he usually is in the morning while I'm getting ready for work

He's not too sure about these ears

Chewing on my necklace - he prefers non-toys to real toys



I tried the bunny ears again & again he wanted them off



He likes them better on Bunny - Bunny didn't agree!



Tooth to Teeth

Luke has teeth!  Tooth # 2 came in - exactly 2 weeks after the first - & isn't it cute?  I love his new teeth but I know that I'm going to miss his sweet gummy grin.   

3 Very Important Updates

Luke is crawling!  Sure, it's the army crawl belly scoot, but it's still moving from one end of the room to the other & he is so proud of himself.  Last night he even went from the crawl position to sitting up which is something that he has been working on for a while.  Oh, & if there's something that he spots across the room that looks like the perfect chew toy, watch out because he will SPRINT crawl belly scoot to get to it.  And when he does I can't help but think of that silly song, Boot Scootin' Boogy.  Because he really does "get down, turn around, go to town, boot scootin' boogy" - and as always, it's the cutest thing ever!

This week Luke got his first A+ in daycare.  Of course they don't really grade them, but they do send a report home daily which tells us how he did that day.  Luke's been in daycare for about four months now & I'm not exaggerating when I say that he has never had a good day - poor baby!  I was actually starting to get frustrated & annoyed because they always circle the same thing: "Luke needed more attention than usual".  And they would sometimes circle it like 500 times so that it's bolded on the page which really made me mad because I already know that he needs more attention than usual - that's just Luke!  It's part of his personality - he loves attention & if he doesn't get it right away and all the time, he will scream and cry until he does.  Really, there's no need to circle it 500 times - I get it!  But finally yesterday, after 4 months of failing grades, Luke finally passed - & not just barely, but with an A+ (I'm a teacher, I grade things).  "Cheerful" & "happy" were circled on his report.  I was shocked & even checked to make sure that there wasn't some kind of mistake.  Nope, no mistake, this was Luke's best day ever!  His teacher also said that he was crawling all over the room and smiling a lot.  So, my Luke was cheerful, happy, crawling, & smiling!  All in one day.  Needless to say, I was one proud momma!

I saved the best update for last - Luke is finally sleeping through the night.  At almost 8 months old, he has decided that he no longer needs to wake up 2-4 times a night to eat.  The first time he did this was the night of April 1st.  I told Brad the next day that I'm sure Luke was just playing an April fools joke on us - this just wasn't like him & we never thought he'd be able to sleep longer than 3-4 hour stretches.  Sure enough the next night he was up every 2 hours crying for either the bottle or pacifier.  We were exhausted & decided that we would take out Pedi's advice & the next night would turn off the monitor & let him cry it out.  I was so nervous & was not looking forward to it (& honestly didn't really believe that we'd be able to do it since we've never been able to do it before).  But, Luke suprised us again that next night & slept through the night.  He's been doing it ever since.  It's wonderful.

Those are the most important updates for now - I can't wait to see what comes next.  I cherish every minute I spend with Luke - even the crying, fussy, need more attention than usual days because I know this time will pass by way too fast & I don't ever want to forget these precious moments.

I love my little boot scootin' boogy-ing, cheerful, happy, smiling, sleeping through the night baby boy more than words can express.  My heart explodes.

And finally, some pics taken today!

I'm back!

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. Yes, I've been busy, but working & raising a high maintenance baby has made it almost impossible to blog.  Once Luke goes to bed I'm exhausted! 

So much has happened since my last post! Luke turned 6 months, then 7 months, he can now sit up all by himself, can stand holding onto things, loves to eat real food, and uses a sippy cup. He also rode his first train, saw his first snow, got his first tooth, and had his first fever. Wow, he's accomplished so much in just 2 months!

Here are some pics!

6 months old & loves having his picture taken




Just a swinging



He CAN smile for the camera - btw, that's not his barbie - he's just holding it



But he prefers a more serious look - he is a very serious baby!



Eating his favorite food - squash.  Eating is a very messy task because he insists on feeding himself as much as possible.  I've since learned to take his clothes off to eat since we go straight to the bath afterwards.  I also need a bath after dinner with Luke.

Licking the bowl clean - he loves to eat - especially whatever we are eating.  He's so over baby food!



Sweet Cheeks!!



He LOVES to stand & thinks that my job is to hold him up all. the. time!

Showing off his first tooth - look at that pearly white!