Three Months

Here's our little cowboy at 3 months. His newest tricks in the last few weeks include:

• Blowing spit-bubbles
• Drooling like Cactus at a steak dinner
• Staring at his hands in front of his face
• Desperately trying to suck on his fingers but only regularly succeeding at sucking the side of one hand while shoving it in his mouth with the other (it's always a two handed job).
• Almost laughing
• Almost rolling over
  

We're looking forward to our first family road trip to Houston for Thanksgiving so Nana and Grandpa, Aunt Kim and Uncle Scott can witness his new tricks in person.

Hey there pretty darlin', lose a baby?

Y'all come back real soon, ya hear

Luke's Product Review

As Luke is getting a bit older he is showing interest in the toys that he previously never noticed he had. In the last few weeks he has really gotten into his bouncy chair that Aunt Kim bought him. The chair has an aquarium display filled with water, fishies and lots of bubbles, and there are two plastic fish that hang down from the display. There are two functions to choose from, one that plays different songs and lights continuously and one that is controlled by Luke's movement.

What do you mean the square root of -1 is an imaginary number?

If the fish that hang down are kicked or otherwise moved, or if the whole thing bounces, then fun sounds are played and the fishies swim and bubbles are released along with bubble sounds. I refer to this particular sound as fish farts. Anyway, Luke LOVES to play in this chair set on the kid controlled function. He flails his arms and legs, arches his back and gets the whole thing a-rockin'. It's like a video game for babies with little to no limb control. He gets a look of concentration on his face like he's solving complex calculus problems. Each time the bubbles come on he yells out one of his few noises- either an "ah-goo" or a pre-squeal. Very cute nontheless.

His other new fun toy is the Deluxe Jumperoo that Aunt Yasmine bought for him. It is a freestanding seat on four springs in which he can push off the floor and bounce like a kangaroo. On the lowest, shortest kiddo level his feet barely touch the ground, so we put a phone book under his feet. He can get much more grip that way. It took him a few minutes to figure it out the first time, but then he started standing, shaking his hips and bouncing a bit. He got so excited at what he was doing that he started yelling out like he does in his bouncy chair. Each time he is in it he bounces more and more and squeals in pride at his mastery of the jumperoo. It won't be long at all before we can remove the phone book booster step, what a big boy!






So that's what my legs are for!









In other big boy news, Luke now faces forward in his Baby Bjorn. He seems to really enjoy this position, and instead of quickly falling asleep while facing our chest on our walks he now looks around and stares at the trees and flirts with the passerbyes. Here he is pictured with Louis on our very first forward facing walk.

Wow, this is a much better view than your hairy chest, Dad.

Happy Halloween, bwaa ha haa!!

During the last week that Granny Svoboda was in town she carved us a pumpkin for Halloween and bought mom and baby little devils costumes. We outfitted the babe with his costume and the pumpkin with a candle for a dress rehearsal while Granny was still here. You can't tell from this picture, but it was pitch black outside minus the glow from the pumpkin; hence, Luke was blinded for a good thirty or so minutes after this photo op, poor kiddo.



That Saturday after dropping Granny off at the airport, we dressed up in our best 1950's duds for a themed party at the Weiss house. I demonstrated my mad hot glue gun skills (my friend Jaime would be so proud) and spruced up a vintage poodle skirt (not pictured, unfortunately), and Louis channeled Dean Martin. As you can tell from the pic, we were the bad parents who brought a baby to a party. But after a martini or two Luke just slept through the whole night, so he was no problem at all. Lightweight.



As Halloween grew nearer, the folks in our neighborhood really got into the spooky spirit and decorated their houses and yards. On one of our walks, the hair on Cactus' back stood on end and she started to growl deep and slow. Danger! DANGER!! And as I saw what she was reacting to I about fell over laughing... see picture below.
















In the same instant I was so proud of Cactus for wanting to protect me and the baby from the evil villian about to pounce on us. To get a better look at the "man", we ventured closer onto the sidewalk but Fearless Cactus did not follow, and instead pulled away to the other side of the street forcing Luke and I to fend for ourselves. As soon as we walked a few steps back away from the man, Cactus' fierce bravery returned, growls, teeth snarling and all. But then as I stepped closer to the scarecrow again, well, you get the idea... Good thing Luke's Jedi training is coming along well. After fighting the blue killer horses from outer space, this was a cakewalk. South Austin is safe.


Then Halloween came, and in an effort to regain her reputation as Fearless Cactus, it was time for her to don her killer man eating shark costume. So scary!

The trick-or-treaters we receieved, having fine palates of course, dined on their choice of an array of delectable goodies- Reese's peanut butter cups, KitKats, and Sugar Daddies. Mmm mmm good. We greeted each guest with devilish Luke in our arms, always to delight and squeals, especially to the parents accompanying their kids. What a ham.

Can't tell which is scarier- devil tongue or man eating shark's vicious teeth!!