Time At The Pool

After my first week of working full time, I had the entire weekend off. It was full of course.
We went to Schlitterbahn with our youth group (a water park much like Oceans of Fun), and took Luke too.
It was such a blast! He was actually able to ride every ride. We pretty much stuck to the wave pool though. And in between we would travel over to the baby pool, where he would go down the pirate slide. It was long and fast, and at the end Luke would smile and growl, and clench his fists. It didn't matter if he got splashed in the face or not. I think it's a sign that he liked it.
The craziest moment was when we were letting him walk around in the kiddie pool. We left his life jacket on because he kept trying to run into the deeper end and he would lose his balance and fall forward. Anyway, after squatting down several times to splash in the water, he decided to lay back and raise up his feet. Our 14 month old was floating on his back in the water. All on his own. It was unbelievable to me. He must be a natural water baby because I have never heard of any kid doing that.

Dancing Like A Jumping Bean

I know you are patiently waiting for me to post pictures of Luke's first birthday party. I've been trying to get the pictures processed, and just finished putting together his First Birthday Photo Album. SO CUTE. So I'll put the pictures on here as soon as I can.

My blogging has really gotten away from me. So here's the latest.

I recently took on full time at work. I am a working mama! At first I wasn't too sure about it; the schedule clashed with my play time with Luke. But we have it all worked out. On Monday through Wednesday he'll be with me until noon and then go across the street to my Aunt's house. A few hours later Aldo will pick him up and have the afternoon with him. On Thursday and Friday I'll go into work early and Luke will be with his Abuelita. I'll get home at 5:30ish and see BOTH Aldo and Luke! I'm so excited! Today is my first day going home early!
Of course, getting up wasn't easy at all. My husband has turned me into a night owl, and the one day I wanted to go to sleep early my mom asked me to help her with a project that kept us up past midnight.


Aldo started back at work this week also. He had one week off between his internship at the medical center and work to spend solely hanging out with Luke. They are so crazy when you get them together. It's cute how each of us have our own "things" with Luke. I have the "tickly fingers" and hide-and-seek, Aldo has the "wrestling" and signature "stomp", my sister plays follow the leader with him... and I guess my Mom lets him eat things he shouldn't... but it's so sweet how we bond. More than bond. These are off of my new phone.

 Cutest Cheese Ever!

Reading On His Own

Giving Daddy Kisses

Luke has learned so much and gotten so big. He's different day to day. When he was a baby it felt like months before he did something new, whereas now I just can't keep up with him. He points to things that he wants. The other day I didn't know what his grunting was, until he went over, picked up his bottle, placed it in my hand and grunted again. He reads on his own, climbs into things, drives, talks on the phone, watches some of the movies, SAYS PLEASE in sign language (a really big feat for us, we've been working on it since he joined the nursery at church), and so much more. Someone has taught him how to jump. I'm sure it was from watching all of our youth dramas. But now every time music comes on he really gets to bouncing.

The other day I took my sister to enroll at school and after meeting with the principal, the principal said, "bye". Without any hesitation, Luke said, "bye". Is this his first real word? (besides the regular sounds of mmm, mama, baba, dada, etc.)

Oh my little jumping bean.

More to come!

The Big Show

I wasn’t sure if Luke was going to get scared from the fireworks. A couple of days before the 4^th, there were some people setting off the big stuff nearby, the ones that sound like bombs. At the time, Aldo was taking care of the chickens and ducks. He told me later that when the first one went off, Luke ran to him right through the mud and chicken poop.

So we were waiting for an interesting day.

We watched the firework show at the mall. Five minutes in, Luke was ready to explore the sidewalk and steal Twizzlers from the neighbors. I guess this isn’t one of his favorite celebrations… not until he can actually pop something anyway.

At the Start

Watching the Show

   

Grand Finale

Why I Wasn't at Work Today...

Haven’t been to Worlds of Fun in a while. Let me tell you… the Prowler is awesome!

We were invited to go with the church youth and the date just happened to work out. It was also a nice break from work and home. It’s funny though, only after a couple of hours, we were missing Luke. How am I going to do it for four days?

Baby Fever

I took Luke to the doctor for his one year check-up this week. The doc said that his weight is in the 75th percentile and his height at 97th percentile. Only three out of every one hundred kids is taller than Luke! Needless to say, he's going to be a Big Boy. It felt like we were waiting in the room forever just to start with. Luke played with his toy car, pointed at every sticker and picture on the wall, skimmed every drawer, basically broke my phone, and ate some fruity snacks while we were waiting. By the time the doctor came in he was already cranky. So he started throwing tiny fits when his ears and diaper were checked. I don't blame him. I wouldn't want anyone tugging around on me either. And then the nurse gave him four shots and made me hold his hands. Way to be cruel. I never thought this way before, but I'm starting to see how doctors are mean. Anyway...

I think I'm getting baby fever. Part of me wants another one, part of me is saying that I'm absolutely crazy. So far the rational one is winning.

Luke's First Birthday!

On the day of Luke's birthday, we were actually busy, so we didn't celebrate much at all. My mom bought him a bubble blower and the colored bubbles turned his outfit and skin all blue. That was fun. That night our church drama team was ministering at an event called HOPE. And afterward we went out to Applebee's, which is always delicious.

   

Blue Bubbles

 Grammy is So Cool!

Poke & Pop

Covered in Blue

We slept in on Saturday and went to the pool for our Father's Day/Luke's Birthday celebration. It was hot. Luke enjoyed the water and went down the baby slide two or three times. In the shallow pool he would stand on our legs and blow bubbles in the water. Sometimes, though, he would accidentally drink the water. And sometimes he'd accidentally get dunked because he was blowing bubbles when Mommy and Daddy weren't paying attention. Aldo's sisters, nephews, cousins, and parents were there along with my dad and his household. Later, we went out to D'Bronx and ate pizza as big as our heads! Sunday we were so tired, I don't really remember what we did.

Present from PaPa (hasn't quite figured it out yet...)

Luke also got his hair cut. It was something Aldo and I wanted to do together, but I think next time we'll just go to the stylist. As long as we had cookies in hand, Luke was alright. About fifteen minutes in he wasn't having it any more. And the other problem was, I didn't want to cut it too short. Or make it crooked. So I kept going back and forth with Aldo on how to do it. You'll enjoy the results. (I think he looks like a Chinese baby. Or like we put a bowl on his head.)

More Mommyhood

Summer has hit and we are officially in run-around, make-sure-to-mark-the-calendar mode.
Since the last time I have written, Luke has grown up so much. No longer does he want to eat baby food or drink from the bottle. He likes to brush his teeth and his own hair, and use a spoon... which is more like holding it in one hand while he picks up the food with the other.

The other day I took him to a doctor's appointment. He was weighed and measured, and had an iron test. When the lady pricked his finger, he sat there like a champ and watched her squeeze his little finger. And when she told me to hold a cotton ball on his boo-boo, he held it all by himself as I described it to him as "fluffy". (I signed him up for Summer Reading at the library; he really enjoys the board books that are touch and feel. Like "That's Not My Tiger..." and "That's Not My Bunny...". The pictures just crack him up! It's hilarious to watch. But right now we're working on textures.) I also learned from the visit that he can eat anything now! And from somewhere else that even though he's not speaking, he's storing away the names for things. So as we go around, I say "puppy", "fluffy", and  "cheeeeereeee-ooos". Trying to get him to say please and thank-you, or even blow a kiss. But it's not happening. Luke is very good at nodding yes and shaking his head no. And when he enjoys some fruit or other tasty food, he'll even go mmmMMmmmm. Something Mommy taught him.

Anyway, today was his first day at the pool. A real pool. And he wasn't scared of the water at all. I think it would have been a better experience if he had taken a nap earlier, but overall it was a nice day. Now we just have to get the details straightened out for his sprinkler party for his birthday!

Oh and p.s. We went to a T-bones baseball game last night. Luke played with the foil off of our hot dogs and clapped his hands for the team, while flirting with all of the girls near-by. Not one temper tantrum (which unfortunately he's figured out how to do as well).

I'll post pictures as soon as I can.