Eleven months

I have not blogged in forever because...well, I am sort of in love with those lion pictures and could not bear to have them move down the page! Oh my word, could you just eat him???? But I digress... my sweet Luke is eleven months old today. It is easy to fast-forward to "one-year-old" status and forget to enjoy him right where he is. A few musings on that subject...

He started walking a couple of weeks ago. By his first birthday he might be running and I don't want to forget his precious, wobbly steps. He has little bruises on his tushy from the frequent "flump!" landings on his bottom, but he is walking almost exclusively. I lose track of him for a second and I find him behind the shower curtain, leaning in to retrieve his duck from the bathtub.

Finally, after months of "da da da", he is finally saying "ma ma ma". It's been a long time coming for poor old mama! Of course we're not altogether sure he knows I am "ma" and dad is "da" ("da" also pops up around dogs and ducks and Russians)...but we are eating it up anyway. His first official word was "uh-oh". I say it when he drops his lovey (frequently) and in the context of some books we read and my little genius caught on.

Speaking of books, he has become quite the bookworm. He has long enjoyed clearing his bookshelves. But now he sits with the books, turns the pages, and examines them quietly. I love the written word and even if right now it is twelve repeated readings of Big Red Barn, I sooooo pray that Luke will develop a love of books like me.

I have a picture of Moose on the fridge, and every single time without fail when Luke and I walk up to the fridge, he points at the Moose picture, his face lights up, he smiles and laughs. This brings such healing and joy to my heart in the midst of my continued sadness about Moose.

Let me wrap it up with a few hijinks involving paper products. Friday I was sitting on the couch while Luke was playing on the other side of the coffee table. I meandered over to see what he was up to and he had gotten into the wipes container. I counted...he pulled out 36 wipes!

This morning, he got quiet for too long and we discovered him deeply ensconced in the toilet paper roll. Oh brother....

I love this little fella.

Pumpkin Patch

Luke and I met Kelli and baby Anna out at the Arboretum pumpkin patch today. It rained two nights ago so the pumpkin patch was a soggy mess of wet hay, but we still had a good time. We ran into another little friend, Emery Kate, who we put in an extra leopard costume I had with me so she could join in the fun. How precious are these little ones? I love Luke's giant lion tummy.

Oprah sighting!

So Tim and I went on a date to the State Fair of Texas today. Anyone within a hundred miles knows that Oprah is taping her show there tomorrow, but we were not expecting to see her today. Sure enough her motorcade passed right in front of us. I am not kidding when I say motorcade. I thought it was Michael Jackson's funeral tour. We're talking motorcycle cop escorts, black suburbans with tinted windows, mysterious secret service types talking into their wristwatches (I made that part up, but can't you see it?). All headed by a hokey little fellow wearing a Texas state flag shirt and driving a scooter. I guess he was a mini-me version of Big Tex. She and Gail rolled down the windows of their suburban and waved. We were five feet from the most famous woman on the planet. She had her hair in a pony tail. Wearing a cream sweater. Wiping deep fried butter off her famous lips. Okay, well, I made that part up too, but you know she must have jumped the line, right???

So this first sighting came as a bit of a surprise. We were ill-prepared for such glory. Gail was so pretty in a pink scarf! But we were not deterred from seeking out another photo op. We spotted the entire Dallas police force behind the Arts and Crafts building along with her bevy of vehicles. We planted ourselves on the steps of the Cotton Bowl, listened to an awesome Celtic band (The Kildares) and waited for her majesty to emerge. Apparently she was judging some food competitions inside. My Us Magazine-reading, celebrity-loving brain immediately said...

"M-U-S-T...C-O-M-M-E-N-C-E...S-T-A-L-K-I-N-G".

You know you've hit rock bottom in terms of dignity when you're hovering over the State Fair dumpsters waiting for Oprah Winfrey.

Finally...after what seemed like an eternity, she and Gail emerged and of course....my camera battery died. So you'll just have to believe me and be impressed by this shot of her entourage. And an adorable baby zebra from the petting zoo.

An apple a day...

So I just sat Luke on the dining table to remove his clothes before dinner (trust me, naked dining is a necessity at this age). Before I knew it, he reached into the bowl on the table and started gnawing on a big, juicy apple.

I was amazed that he even knew it was edible; although come to think of it, he sticks many non-edible things in his mouth. The remote control. My cell phone. My keys. My flip flops. I know, I am a bad mommy.

Anyway, we sat him in the high chair, washed and cut the apple in fourths, and watched as our little man proceeded to hog down half the apple. An unpeeled, raw apple. Supervised, of course.

Impressive, eh? My bear is growing up.

Estes Park Trip

We recently spent a week in Estes Park, Colorado with Tim's brother Seth, his wife Danielle, and their two sons, Brice (2) and Harry (1). We were blessed to stay in the beautiful home of some family friends. The view was amazing, there were elk and deer just wandering the neighborhood, and the weather was lovely. The cousins loved playing together and it was a rare oppportunity for all of us to get together. We did some hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park and Luke loved it, although I had to grease his little face up with Vaseline to prevent windburn and chafing. Seth cooked us some delicious meals (pot roast!) and each couple enjoyed a date night after the kids went to bed. It was a really relaxing week and we were so blessed. Here are a few pictures...

Nine months!

The peanut was nine months old yesterday. Time has really flown and in the last month he has changed soooooo much. He started crawling, which quickly led to pulling up. Now he is into everything. Bookshelves, magazines, kitchen tupperware, the TV cabinet...you name it. Standing in his crib, tinkering with the video monitor. Before I even had a chance to childproof, he whipped a bottle of wine off the baker's rack and broke it on the floor. Sadly, it was a bottle we bought in Italy on our honeymoon...sniff, sniff. The boy has good taste.

He is sleeping well, so mommy is sleeping well; however, I find myself more exhausted than ever just from chasing him around the house. Truly, by 8:00pm I am beat! My bones literally ache. It's sort of a sad testimony to how out of shape I am.

At his doctor's appointment today, he weighed 19 pounds, 7 ounces (30th percentile) and was 28.75 inches tall ( 70th percentile). To give you some point of comparison, he was born at 6 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20.25 inches long. He's practically tripled! Here are a few more shots of my favorite little fair-haired gentleman...

What we've been up to lately...

Some videos of swinging with Grannycat in Kentucky, first ride in the bike trailer with daddy, and a (long, sorry!) showing of Luke's crawling and bookshelf clearing skills....