Good Food and Conversation

Last week we went up to visit Chad and Mary. It was so great to be able to spend time with them, it had been a while. They cooked us some wonderful burgers and we had a great time.

Ranger was hilarious! Didn't know we had such a trash talker in the family. But he didn't hold back when Matt and I tried to play the wii with him. I had to gracefully back out after I died about 7 times in a row playing Super Mario.

Luke had a great time playing with all of Liam's super cool toys. Too bad Liam didn't appreciate it.

See that little arm in the corner? That's Liam, saving a precious toy from a fate worse than death.

Thanks Chad, Mary, Ranger, and Liam! We so enjoyed spending time with you! And we can't wait to do it again!

I'll help you Daddy!

These two boys are so silly sometimes. But I love them and they make me laugh everyday.

Baby, you give me grey hair already.

Matt and I have had a few days off and I've been trying to be better at taking pictures. Most of the pictures are from things that happen upstairs. But in all fairness, that's where we keep the camera, upstairs by the computer.

Our little goofy goober has decided he's a bit of a dare devil. And he's giving mom grey hair. Take a look.


This one is not so scary. Just funny. What we will do to get a laugh out of him. But he loves being upside down and thrown in the air.

This is a good shot of his "little toofers". But now he'll chomp down on your baby finger if it gets too close to his mouth. Very dangerous...

This is how I find him after every nap now. Sometimes he'll even be hanging over the side as much as he can. Ugh. Totally freaks me out. We're lowering the crib again. And most days he'll throw everything on the floor. We keep extra pacifiers in his crib now so he'll have a back up. But they'll all be on the floor before it's over. Along with his stuffed animals and blankie.

This is the trick that I feel my hair changing spontaneously every time he does it. I actually had a hard time getting a good picture of it. He weebles and wobbles all over the place. And then he'll start to let go one hand to reach out to you. I just get nauseous thinking about it. And I can't stop him. He just flips over so fast and races to stand up....must think it's funny for mom to almost pass out every day.

But he's so darn cute that I try to ignore all the emergency visits that are bound to happen. I'll just think about his little smile.

How to make friends and influence people

Luke has mastered the hands-and-knees crawl now and shoots around the house like lightning. Now he has set his sights on standing up. He pulls himself up on EVERYTHING. Coffee table. Couch. Toy box. Changing table. Crib. Stairs. And he's crashed miserably every time he does it without help. He's also found an interest in walking. And he's getting better at it. Here's a pictures of Luke walking with Daddy. Can you just see the pride and joy in Luke's face. Not sure what's up with Daddy....he looks a little tired.

Here are a couple pictures of the little kiddos that came to our house. Zoey is 14 months old and James is almost 6 months old. Funny thing is they all around within 2 pounds of each other. Haha! Try to wrap your mind around that. It was pretty hilarious to watch Zoey and Luke interacting with each other. She was very interested in Luke and would want to be right next to him. I thought, "Oh how cute!" But Luke would look at her weird and scoot his bum away from her. She would just scoot closer. That went on for a bit until Zoey just went right up to him and pushed him over and took his pacifier. I laughed hysterically. Baby cried. But oh it was funny. From that moment on you could just see Luke keeping an eye on her. In this picture, Zoey's eyeing the pacifier, planning her next attack.

Well, turn around is fair game right? Since Luke kept getting his pacy stolen, he decided to take Zoey's sippy cup. This is a picture of such an exchange. Sharing is caring. Right? After they had enough of that, I brought down his toy box. Took out all the big kid toys and the stackable rings were a big hit. Both Zoey and Luke loved them. To the point of not wanting to share. While sitting right next to each other, Zoey kept reaching and taking Luke's rings. Now Zoey is much more advanced with the hand eye coordination, but Luke didn't let that stop him. What he didn't have in skills he made up with gusto. He finally had enough. Yelling loudly right in her face, he reached over and yanked his ring right out of her little hand. That's my boy! Stand up for yourself. And I have to say, Zoey took it like a lady and just ignored he existed.

During their lively exchanges, baby James just sat in the bouncy see cracking up at the both of them. He was just the sweetest thing. I think he might me made of marshmallow fluff. So wonderfully squishable! It was great having some kids over and we're excited to do it again.

Matt's BBQ

This was an event. Nay, more than an event....a journey. Not unlike the Iliad. Long. Fraught with anger, peril, but it had a happy ending. If it didn't, I probably would be laying in bed trying to forget, but I'm here, posting about it. That's good. Let me tell you about it.

Matt's a nice guy. That's why I married him. Well, being a nice guy, he likes doing nice things for people. So he offered to have all the guys that work for him in the warehouse over for a BBQ. Me, being married to a nice guy....said ok. And then the anxiety started to sink in.....

For those of you that don't understand, let me explain. Every time we have people over to our house, I fall into a tailspin of stress, anxiety, crankiness (that's for Matt's benefit, I own up to it, occasionally) over cleaning the house and whatever else in on the agenda. I don't know why I punish myself this way, it's just part of the magic that makes me, me.

Well, everything that could make getting ready for this BBQ more difficult, was bound to happen. We bought a nice, big charcoal grill. Seemed like it would be simple to assemble. Uh, NO. Big NO. The directions were very confusing. Only 2 of the bazillion parts were numbered. That fact still boggles my mind, why bother numbering 2? After two very frustrating days of assembly, Matt couldn't get the drawers and door to fit correctly. Come to find out that the bottom of the grill was put on incorrectly. This piece was one of the first pieces put together, and we had to do some tricky un-assembly to fix it.

In the process Matt pinched himself pretty bad with some pliers. And after many unpleasant things to say to the manufacturers of the grill. It was done. Looks great. I was so proud that Matt stuck through it. Even after we realized that we could have had someone from the store put it together. Irony.

We also had to brave the store about 5 times trying to get all the food we needed. Due to my self induced anxiety, I kept forgetting things. Even though they were written plainly on my list.

SIGH.

And there was the realization that my son is mortally afraid of the vacuum. Even the next day, while safely comforted in the arms of his big, tough dad, Luke was giving the vacuum the hairy eye-ball and looked like he was about to cry.

Can you write therapy off on your taxes? This is good information to know.

Well, everything came together at last. And I only crabbed at Matt a few times. Quite an accomplishment I made sure he recognized. People came over. Ate our food. Laughed a lot. And I was in bed before 10pm. Yes!!

And two of Matt's employees brought their spouses, which is cool. Otherwise I would've been the only girl. And they brought their kids. Which was nice for Luke. I'll post about that next. It was pretty funny.

But for now, I'll just go back to bed for a nap. All that crabbing makes me tired.

I should be vacuuming...

but I'm not.


I should be making a delicious chocolate sheet cake.


but I'm not.


I should be doing laundry.


but I'm not.


I should be dusting, sweeping, mopping.


but I'm not.


Instead I'm holding my baby who could possibly be scarred for life because I tried to vacuum when he was awake. and in the room. and on the floor.

Silly mommy.

Looks like it's going to be a long night of doing all the chores I should be doing now.

Oh well. I guess I'll just snuggle my emotionally damaged, completely adorable baby a little longer.

p.s. - normally I don't like vacuuming, sweeping, mopping and cleaning in general (still haven't figured out how to live without doing such tasks). But Matt invited the guys that work for him over for a BBQ tomorrow afternoon. Hence, the cleaning. Will try to take some pictures to post.

Catch Me if you Can!

The baby has finally sung himself to sleep in his room. I should go take a shower. That would be the responsible thing to do. But, instead I found myself on the computer, checking out facebook and blogspot. I also realized that I am soooo far behind on the blog. The last update was Luke's 6 month check up. And he'll be 8 months in a couple days.

Lately, it's been a challenge keeping up with the blog. When I'm home I spend most of my time chasing Luke around now that he's on the move. But I wouldn't let you guys down like that. So here's some snapshots of what he's been up to:

He's gotten some big boy toys and he loves playing with them.

Luke loves to grab something, hold it out, and rotate it in his hand with his wrist. He'll just stare, and stare at it. Totally cracks me up.

He loves the gate. Makes me anxious.

Here he is working on his modeling poses. Very Calvin Klein. Maybe he could do a diaper ad for them. Hahaha!


The dogs are starting to feel the full effects of Lucas being able to crawl. He's always loved the dogs. And would watch them from our arms and just giggle. But now he can get up close and personal with Minnie, Bruno and Tim. Poor things. Can you see the fear in Minnie's eyes? "Please Momma, make the little scary thing quit grabbing my tail?"

Can't leave this little guy on the changing table anymore. He's liable to pull a Geronimo. So I set him on the floor and walk out of the room for 2.3 seconds. This is what I get. Nice.

He knows how to pull himself up on the crib rails now. Just on his knees. But he thinks he's pretty big stuff.

I just smile looking at his face. Could he be any cheesier? The answer is yes. I just haven't been able to capture it on film yet...

Is this kid made of marshmallow? Seriously.

And if you look closely you can see his little teeth. So cute.

Well, enough of my being lazy and irresponsible. The shower is calling....