Kisses

Just because they're cute...

What a Difference 3 months make!

Ashleigh had us over last night to celebrate Jeff's birthday. We got a picture of our babies together. Yes, that is the same white blanket in both pictures!

Sept. 9

(Lyla, Luke, Maddy)

Dec. 15th

(Maddy, Luke, Lyla)

Lots of FIRSTS

Luke has had a lot of "Firsts" lately.

He cut his first tooth. I haven't gotten a picture of it yet because he sticks his tongue out every time I try to get a picture of it.

He started eating solids after his 4 month well check. He's eaten rice, oatmeal, and barley cereal. He did really well with all of them and we moved on to peas. He loves his peas and prefers them over the cereals!

Luke also started rolling over yesterday! Once he figured it out the first time he has just kept on rolling nearly every time I put him down.

Here's a video of Luke rolling over.

(that's our phone ringing in the background!)

Luke's First Visit with Santa

4 Month Well Check

Luke had his 4 month well check today.  He's a healthy boy!

He is 26" (90th percentile) and 

19 pounds (over 95th percentile)!

He got his 4 month immunization shots and he has been a little more fussy than normal today.  His Mama O (Andy's mom) got him the Pooh bear and Tigger yesterday that are in the pictures below.  I'm so glad I had them, they sing and play their instruments and they were the only toys that made Luke happy today! I took these pictures with his pants off so I could get his 3 bandaids on his thighs in the picture.

4 Months!

Luke is growing up so fast and learning so many new things everyday!  He has started reaching for things and of course they go straight to his mouth.  He has learned how to get his thumb in his mouth and occasionally some fingers also.  He has started sitting in his chair and holds his head up so well.  He has started trying to roll over from his back to his tummy, he gets up on his side but can't quite get over yet!  He has started giggling at us and it is the cutest giggle I've ever heard!  

One of the most fun things that he just started last week is trying to imitate me.  I've been sticking my tongue out and blowing and he will attempt to do it back.  He will stick his tongue out and bubbles come out and a little noise, it so cute!  Of course every time I get the video camera out, he'll stop and just stare at the camera. 

Here are some pictures of the past month.

He still LOVES his bathtime!

Waiting to go to church.

Attempting to roll over.

Look at all those rolls! We get a kick out of his size 3 diapers; they're called "cruisers" but our little guy isn't quite cruising anywhere yet!

He loves to stare at his mommy! I took this picture about 5 seconds before he fell asleep.

We do spoil him! Andy or I hold Luke as he falls asleep at night.  

He loves his chair! He is quickly growing out of it though.

The cutest Santa baby ever!

Nana and Nanni with Luke.

Election day.

Luke's Dedication

We dedicated Luke at our church last Sunday.

Luke was dedicated on the same day as AJ Brooks, Brock & Lyla Culp, and Caleb Chandler. Kristin, Clint, & baby Maddy joined us as well.
Each family was given a frame with their baby's name, what it meant and their bible verse on it.
Luke's name means, "Talented" and his verse is Exodus 31:3, "And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship."
Our family had lunch at our house afterwards and here is Luke's cake.

Voting & Sea Turtles

We Voted! I went with Sarah and Kristin and our babies to vote early last Thursday.  Being there together made the 2-1/2 hours go by pretty fast and all of the babies were well behaved the whole time!  Luke, Maddy, and AJ got lots of attention!

Our pastor, George Wright, shared a sermon yesterday titled, "Politicked".  I thought he did a wonderful job and thought I'd share a bit from it. I've paraphrased in order to share one of his 5 points, but you can find the whole sermon here... www.cedarcrestchurch.com/listen.

"it's the President's responsibility to appoint justices to the United States Supreme court...the people that the President puts on the bench of the Supreme Court will affect this nation far beyond the term of the Presidency.  This is a huge responsibility.  ...there are issues in this election and in our land that can and will be brought before the Supreme Court.

Do you realize that since 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled in the Roe vs Wade case that it is legal to have an abortion in the U.S. that there have been over 40 MILLION children aborted in this country...3,200 a day...let me explain it this way:

In the United States of America, if you are an unborn Sea Turtle, you have more rights and protection than an unborn human child?

Walking on the beach in South Carolina you can see these little places where marine biologists have discovered that there's a sea turtle's nest there. If you touch this nest, you will be thrown in jail.  If you destroy one of these eggs and end the life of a little sea turtle, you will be prosecuted for a Federal offense.  If you abort your child, you can do whatever you want!

Please understand where God's word lines up on this, God values human life more than anything.  As you look at this election and call yourself a follower of Christ, if the issues that are important to you are things like the economy and tax breaks and they are more important to you than the value of human life, you are not lining up with God's word.  It is the President's responsibility to put people in place that can actually change it.  We have the opportunity to vote for someone who can actually make a difference in this huge mistake of American history.  Please search your heart, please pray, that God would show you the right person to fulfill this huge responsibility to nominate the right person that can make the right decision that lines up with the Word of God!"

Sitting in His Chair

Luke has a new skill...he's starting to sit in his chair!  I have to sit right next to him because he at times starts to fall to one side.  I'm excited that he has a new toy to play with instead of the same ones he's been playing with for 3 months now!

Luke's still has a bit of congestion from his cold last week, but overall he's feeling much better!

3 Months Old & Luke's first cold :(

Luke is 3 months old! He's growing up so fast! He was a little bit more fussy this past week than he normally is and yesterday he just cried and cried.  I knew something was wrong, just wasn't sure what is was.  So, we went to the doctor today and the the doctor said that his throat was red.  After swabbing his throat and taking blood, they figured out that he has caught a virus that is going around.  He's been pretty happy today, so hopefully we're on the road to recovery!

We also found out that Luke weighs in at 16 lbs. 11 ounces today!

Here is a picture of Luke showing off his Garfield band-aid he got after they pricked his finger.  He didn't cry for very long...he's a tough boy!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Luke.  It shows off his cute little smile and how he likes to tilt his head to one side and look up as he smiles.  It also shows off how he loves to stick his little tongue out.

The Pumpkin Patch

Here Luke is all dressed up and ready to go meet his baby friends at the pumpkin patch.  We thought it would be really cute to get a picture of all the babies together in their Halloween outfits.  As you can see, as the pictures progress, Luke got to be quite unhappy with the experience!

Awww...I think Lyla has a crush on Luke!

Time to go home!

A Halloween Preview

I tried the hat on Luke that came with his Halloween outfit.

He's giving me the, "Seriously, Mom, do

I have to wear this stupid hat?" look.

Luke with AJ Brooks...

Sarah & I got a cute picture of our little boys together!

Luke LOVES Football games!

We went to see Uncle Jason's last home football game on Thursday night.  Luke was again so mesmerized by the game!  He was so happy and content...he skipped his last nap of the day and finally went to sleep on the way home.  It's 8:30 this morning and Luke is still asleep! All the football excitement wore him out!

Here is Andy and Luke with Clint and Maddie.

Luke with Nanni

Luke with Kelly

Two Month Check-up

Luke had his 2 month check-up last Thursday.

He weighed 13 lbs, 12 oz. (90th percentile) and was 23.5" tall (75th percentile).

Here's Luke...before the shots!

Happy Two Month Birthday!

I can't believe Luke is two months old!  The time has gone by so fast and Luke has grown in so many ways!

He is now sleeping anywhere between 8 and 11 hours at night! This has been our biggest accomplishment lately :)  He wakes up so happy in the morning and is usually content with playing and talking to himself in his crib for quite a while before I go get him.  We go to the Doctor on Thursday for his check-up and I'll post all of his stats then.  

Here are some recent photos...

We went to see Uncle Jason coach the freshmen at Hillgrove last week.  Luke absolutely loved looking at the field.

As we were leaving, he still couldn't take his eyes off the field.

We needed a babysitter on Saturday, Kelly was at a shower in the morning so Uncle J said Luke could come watch football with him.

Here's our little Dawg fan with a big Vol fan!

When Kelly got home Luke was worn out and ready to cuddle and fall asleep!

Here's Luke getting ready for all the game day action.  He's been giving us these adorable smiles periodically and I was so lucky to catch one on camera!

Luke loves his bathtime.  The only time he cries is when I start putting his clothes back on!

Sarah is one of my many friends that was pregnant at the same time.  We went on a walk last week and here is Luke and his new buddy A.J.  They were born one day short of a month apart.

Luke looks here like he is enjoying tummy time...he actually doesn't like it at all.  He usually gets fussy within a minute of me putting him on his tummy.  He was able to turn himself over from his tummy from the time he was a week and a half old. (I promise! I have it on video!) But he can't quite do it now... I guess it's all that extra weight.  So he gets very frustrated.  Hopefully he'll be able to figure it out again soon.