Now nothing is safe from Luke

Yesterday Luke learned to open the cupboards. I guess today we will be installing those lock thingies.

Back at home

Luke and I are back at home after our 3 week trip to the Seattle area. Even though we were gone only 3 weeks, it feels like I have 5 weeks of work to catch up on at the house! How is that even possible? It was great to see family and friends, and it was great to see Michael and Ender again. Our flight last night got in on time, even though when we came down to land, we had to go back up because there was a plane on the runway that had lost an engine and couldn't get off the runway fast enough. So the pilot made another go around and landed and taxied, but because of the rain and lightning, we had to stop 70 feet or yards (can't remember which one now) away from the gate. Once we finally got off, we had to wait for our luggage because they don't do luggage in bad weather...so we had to wait for that to pass. We got home after midnight. Luke hadn't slept much yesterday...he had less than 2 hours of a first nap, he napped for less than 30 minutes right before we had to leave for the airport, and he slept for less than 30 minutes on the first part of the flight....and then slept a little in the car on the way home. We put him down to sleep about 12:30 and I was afraid of what time we would wake up in the morning. I guess I had nothing to worry about because he slept until 10:45! Then he napped from 12:30-2:40, and is napping again since about 4 o'clock! He likes his sleep, so hopefully he will go to bed for the night no later than 8 o'clock! I guess we will see.

I will try to post some pictures, and more details about our trip later this week.

Last week in Seattle.

It is my last week here in the Seattle area. It was nice to come up here and cool off. Yesterday there was a record breaking high yesterday, the record was set back in 2002 (I think) and it was 87...I think yesterday the new high is that it got up to 85!

Luke is doing well. Since we have been gone he has gotten 4 new teeth and I can see the whites of 2 more, and now I know why he hasn't been sleeping through the night! He has figured out that is someone is playing with him and says "I'm gonna get you" that he needs to crawl away faster, and then he does, stops and looks back, and then goes even faster. It's very cute. Lune was in the highchair while we were making diner one night and we were cooking something on the stove and he noticed the steam...he had is eyes on that steam the whole time! Very interested in how that was happening. We went out to lunch the other day with a cousin of mine, and I gave Luke some of my pasta, he really enjoyed that!

I have just about done all of the things that I have wanted to do and I have seen most of the people that I wanted to see. There are some things that I want to do when Luke is older, but right now he is just at the age that he won't care if we go to the zoo, or Pike Place Market, or ride the ferries, or go camping. So when we come back sometime, we will do more. We are however going to go to the beach today, it is going to be another nice day and Granddad has the day off.

Since we have been in Washington...

...it's warmed up a bit, the high yesterday was 85, warm to us I guess, hot to everyone that lives here! Luke is getting faster at furniture walking, he also has learned to walk behind one of those walker toys. I have a video clip that I will post when I get home. Luke has been teething up a storm, I now can feel three new teeth and I can see the whites of two more. (When he got his first two they didn't bother him, but with all these teeth coming out at once he hasn't been sleeping well, his nose is like a leaky faucet, and he gets super cranky if he is tired!) If I am holding Luke, he will reach out and want to go to other people. Luke has found that banging pots and pans is pretty fun...thanks largely in part to his cousin Mira who opened the cupboard! (he has not learned that one yet, but I guess soon!) Luke really enjoys being around other people, and his cousins make him laugh when they do silly things.

I still have thing to do while we are here in Washington. I would love to get down to the beach and take some pictures of Luke at the beach, maybe a ferry ride would be fun because when we come back in December it will be really cold and yucky. I thought about taking Luke on a little hike to some of the places we hiked when we were kids, but that's just not going to happen thins time. I also have to go to some of my favorite stores. It's a good thing I packed on the light side! I knew I would be bring stuff back, it seems like I always do!

My trip so far.

So far our trip has been pretty good. Luke didn't do as well on the flights as he has done before, he was still pretty good, but the big difference this time was that he really didn't sleep. He was asleep for the first take off but woke up within half an hour. And the second half of the trip, he slept less than an hour and a half. The flight attendants said that for a baby that has been on a plane for as long as he had, he was doing really good, so that made me feel better about the times that he was fussy! But over all he was pretty good. Luke has a little bit of a runny nose, and sneezes every now and then. It doesn't seem to be a cold right now, but maybe the sudden change in climate shocked his little system. It was raining yesterday when we got here so I'm glad that we dressed in our colder weather clothes, not that we have that much that fits him now because in TX it's just too hot, but I have put him in the next size of some of his clothes so he won't freeze. Don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining about the cold weather, but it feels colder than the 60 that it is right now. Just like in TX 104 feels much hotter than it really is. In between would be great! Because of the time change Luke was up at 4:30 am (felt like 6:30 to him!), but I think I can get him on track because he is taking his second nap right now and I can try for his third nap about 3pm and in bed between 6-7! It's almost 1 pm here and the temp is 60 out, but it might warm up because the sun is out!

Leaving on a jet plane...

...tomorrow Luke and I will be on our way to the Seattle area for 3 weeks. I have a brother that is being sent to Iraq and we wanted to see him before he leaves, and have some extra family time. Michael won't be able to come with us this time, the vacation he does have he is going to use that for our Seattle trip in December, and Ender is not coming because it's too hot for him to fly, but he will come with us in December. I will get to see my parents, all of my brothers, sister in laws, and nieces and nephews. I will even get to see some of Michael's family while we are there. I hope to see some friends, and eat at some of our favorite spots! It will be nice to escape the heat, I'm just not use the triple digit numbers, maybe I'll even see some rain! I am going to try and make some posts while I am there, but we will see if that actually happens!

9 month update!

Luke had his check up this morning and is doing great! He weighs 19 lbs. and is 28 inches long. I never remember percentiles, but his Dr. said that he is normal, tall and skinny, and perfect! He certainly however doesn't feel like he is 19 lbs., he feels more like 25 lbs.! I am glad that I got the car seat that goes to 30 lbs. and 32 inches because he won't grow out of it, and then we can just get the forward facing seat when he turns 1!

9 months old today!

Then.....

Now...

We have really enjoyed the past 9 months. I didn't think that it would go by as fast as it did, and yet at the same time at first it seemed like some parts of it took forever. Like trying to get Luke to sleep, to nap, to go longer in between feedings, and to get on a schedule. He has changed so much in the last 9 months, that it will be fun to see how much more he changes in the coming days, months, and years! And it will seem that in the blink of an eye, we will be celebrating his 1st birthday!

Last Friday...

...was the day Michael was getting home after being gone for two weeks. I decided that I wanted to surprise him with something, but at first I wasn't sure what. Then one day as I was reading someones blog (can't remember what blog) I came across this recipe for Amish White Bread and it sounded so easy that I thought I would try it! You had to do it in steps because of the yeast and the rising and stuff, but that worked out perfect because I was able to do the bread while Luke was taking his nap.


Doesn't that look yummy?! I wanted to have it cooking in the oven and close to being done when Michael got home so he could come home to a yummy smelling house, but I got confused and thought that he was coming home later than he did...so we had the bread smell ready for the time I first thought. It was still a surprise, we just had to wait!

I was really surprised at how easy this was to make. And it tastes so good! But I guess that I needed to grease one of my pans even more than I did because the bottom of the bread stuck to the pan, so we ate that one first! These are only a few pictures, I didn't take pictures for every step of the process!

What we had for dinner the other week.

Don't they look yummy! I made 6 of them, 3 for each of us, and I also grilled some asparagus that I marinated in the same flavor as the kabobs, but I don't have a picture of those because we ate them, and I didn't think to take a picture until after most of the food was already gone!

What a cute idea!

I was blog hopping today and I found this cute idea! They call it muffin-tin meals or muffin-tin Monday! Doesn't that look fun! Kind of gets you out of the rut of doing the same thing for lunch day in and day out. And what a fun way to introduce new foods! I can't wait until Luke is old enough and I can do this. There are a bunch of people who do this and if you follow the links at the bottom of this post you can see what kinds of things they put in their muffin-tins!

Today...

...Luke and I were playing on the floor together. After he used me to stand up....HE LET GO!!! And stayed up for a couple of seconds before putting his hand back on me. He did that twice today! I had to stop playing with him, set up the video camera and hope that he did it again. And he did! I even thought I saw what looked like a little furniture walking when he was trying to get to the other end of the toy basket, and another time when he wanted something on the couch and he would shuffle over to try and get it! My baby is growing up tooo fast!

Today...

7 years ago I married my best friend! Happy anniversary Michael! As I look back over the years at first it seems like the trials, hard times, moving and very bad luck out weigh the good...but then I remember all the laughter, joy, smiles, and good times that we had/ are having together! Sorry no pictures, Michael has the laptop with him in Atlanta! Yup, that's right, we don't even get to spend our anniversary together, this isn't the first time (our 5th anniversary Michael was out of town) and I'm sure it won't be the last! We celebrated last month, so were good! Looking forward to seeing where the next 7 years will take us! I love you Michael!

Noises before nap!

We think it's just toooo cute when Luke is in the car or his crib making these happy little noises! A few minutes after I filmed this he did finally go to sleep!

Almost naked!

This is what I found one day when I went to get Luke up from his nap. It was really hot that day, and even though we have A/C (we keep it set at 78) it seemed much warmer inside the house. I decided to just let him nap in his diaper. I know... rookie mistake, never leave a kid alone in just a diaper! I'm guessing part of the diaper was rubbing on the sheet, or he was pulling at it, maybe both! He sure does look happy, doesn't he?!

Take me out to the ball game...

Last night was baseball night! There were plenty of guys on the team that showed up to play, but that wasn't enough to win...unfortunately. I can't remember what the score was at the end when the mercy rule was called into play, but they did great! The weather was a bit cooler and that was nice. There were several of the families that came to watch! There is a great playground right behind where the guys play to keep the kids busy!

Michael is right handed. If you notice in the pictures he is batting left handed. Last night I asked him why. His answer...he's closer to first base! He started batting left handed in middle school, and that's the way it has been ever since.

Luke swimming!

We knew that Luke loves the bathtub, so we were glad when he loved the pool! It was really fun to take him swimming! The one thing that he didn't like, was the pre-pool...the getting ready for the pool. He did not like being slathered with sunscrean and at first he didn't like wearing his new hat. But he got use to all of that! This is at the reunion, they had two kiddie pools there and one larger pool. I'm glad that there were two kiddie pools there because there were a lot of kids. Michael went in the pool with him first and since my hands were dry, I took the pictures! Then Michael handed Luke over to me so I could be in some pictures with him, I figured that it was good for me to be in some pictures with Luke since I am always the one behind the camera! We borrowed a baby floatie from one of Michael's couisns, and the first thing that Luke did when we put him in it was sit back and relax! It was very cute! He loved that floatie! I think we will find one and get it for Luke and try and take him swimming a few times this summer. Our neighborhood doesn't have a community pool, but our friends have a pool in their neighborhood and said just let them know if we ever want to go swimming. I would love to take Luke swimming and get him use to the water so he doesn't grow up with a fear of the water or swimming!

Travel nightmare!

Warning long post.....

The past couple of weeks have flown by! We went to one of Michael's baseball games. The game was forfeited because not enough people on the team showed up, which was a shame because the team they were playing previously lost to another team...lost big, like 0-26! So had they had enough team mates show up, I think they would have one!

Ender got to spend the last weekend in the kennel while we went to Eden Utah for the Erekson family reunion! We left for our trip at an early 4am on Thursday and just barely got to the airport in time to get something to eat, and board. Luke did really well, he was asleep by the time we took off! We didn't fly nonstop, due to the price, so we stopped in Denver had a little bit of a wait, got on the next plane, and once again Luke was asleep by take off! I think we got very lucky! So other than the airlines charging us for things that should have been no charge (car seat, stroller...) when we checked in (they did refund us thankfully), everything else on the flight going to Eden was good.

Totally different story on the way home! We thought that our flight left at 10 in the morning, but it didn't. I think we were going to get on that flight, but when we went back to book it, it cost to much, so we got the next earliest flight home. We wanted to get home early enough so Michael could rest up before the work week, especially since he has to get up early. So, our flight was actually supposed to leave at 1:15. That's right I said supposed to...it was delayed! Witch was a good thing because it took a while to get past security. I had no problem at the DFW airport, so I wore the exact same thing. This time going past, I beeped. Well, it was my belt, so I had to take that off and go again...holding Luke, pants sagging, went again and was OK. But my bag needed to be checked, well, the diaper bag...nothing had to be tossed but they said next time, things need to go in a different bin to go in the x-ray. I thought it would have been okay, because I did nothing different from DFW to SLC airport! So it was a good thing that our flight was delayed, we had time to eat, find our gate, change diapers, etc. We got in the air at 2:15 or so if I remember right, and good thing for us, Luke was asleep by the time we got in the air! Now the travel nightmare begins. We didn't get on a direct flight (again, due to cost) but we had the same flight number and it was supposed to be on the same plane and just letting people of that needed connections, and pick up the people that needed to get to DFW. BUT...when we got to Denver (this by far was the worst flight for me and my motion sick self) we had to get off because of a crew change, and thought we were going to get right back on, but they told us we were on another plane, at another gate. Search for new gate...no info on departure monitors....lady at a random gate told us new gate....no one at new gate....still no info on screens... Michael went to go find out what was going on, and when he came back, he had news that made me cry. Since we were on a plane that was delayed, in Denver they decided to have the plane to DFW leave WITHOUT US! Soooo, the next flight was at 7:20! They put us on that flight, in the emergency exit row, but since we had a baby we had to get our seats changed. Luke was not having a great time, tired beyond belief, and crying very loudly. While Michael was changing our seats, I sat away from everyone else, not that that helped with softening the crying, but at least I couldn't see the looks people were giving me. We tried to explain to people who asked that we were supposed to be on the flight that left early. I did have some nice gentleman ask if I needed any help or anything, because he thought I was traveling alone, so that was nice! We got our new seat assignments, economy plus! Not that that makes this any better, but at least Michael could get some rest without having the seat in front of him in his lap! Luke was still screaming, and I thought, oh great, this is going to be the flight that he screams all the way home. The lady next to me said she didn't mind...she was a labor and delivery nurse...but I'm pretty sure the people in first class did! (Michael was the row behind first class, and Luke and I were 2 rows behind first class). Well, Luke was able to fall asleep by the time we were in the air! We finally got home a little after 12:30....so much for getting home, and getting a lot of rest! We will never (if we can help it) fly United, and we will fly non-stop whenever we can!

We did have a good time at the reunion, I'll have to post all about that and pictures and video clips soon...when I have caught up on my sleep!

Happy Father's Day!

Michael, Happy Father's Day! You are a wonderful father, and we thank you for everything that you do for our family!

I forgot to add...

...our electric company has sent us an email telling us that they have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy....so this means that we had to look for another company, we will be paying more than we were, and we won't (probably won't) get our deposit back (even though they can't honor the contract we had with them). Now we have to put our trust in a company called Amigo Energy and hope that they stay around for a while.