Busy Social Schedule

We've had quite a busy couple of weeks lately. Luke had so many visitors! Our friends flew in from all over the world just to see how big this dude has gotten. Well, they really flew in town for the wedding of our friends Lori and Jimmy, but while they were here they made sure to say hi to Luke.

First, Yogi, Basia and Gabby flew in from Boston. Being the only girl surrounded by three boys, Gabby is quite a sought after cutie pants when she comes to town. Luke tries to vie for her affections, but she told him she likes a man with more to offer, a man of action. You know, one who walks and talks. A man who stays fit and doesn't sport such a round beer belly. Oh well. Maybe next visit.

From left to right: Martin, Luke, Gabby and Zach.

Luke says, "Hey Gabby, wanna see my crib?"

"Or, how about dinner and drinks? I've got Cheerios..."

Also in town, all the way from Norway, was our friend Julie. Luke had a bit more luck with her since she didn't seem to mind advances from a younger man.

"Oh Julie, she's so pretty... and she thinks my pot belly is HOT!"

And arriving from Scotland were more of our good friends, Dana and Reno... and stowing away in Dana's belly was Lil' Lauro! The Lauro bambino will be done cooking in November, right around the same time as the Thanksgiving turkey. Luke can't wait to show him/her the ropes and keep him/her up to date on what's cool and happening here in the States while they finish up their sojourn in the UK.

Reno, Dana and Luke- and Lil' Lauro (not pictured, but present!)

While Louis and I participated in the wedding weekend festivities, Luke's Nana and Grandpa traveled from Houston to stay with us and hang out with Luke. He had a grand ole time showing them his toys, showing off his eating skills and showing them his expansive library of books.

Deeelicious!

Luke reading Grandpa a bedtime story

Besides entertaining our many guests lately Luke has been making great strides in feeding himself. He has been practicing for quite a while with tasty, melt-in-your-mouth Gerber puffs and has gotten so good at feeding himself that he almost refuses for you to put them in his mouth for him. He wants to do it himself. He's not a baby, after all, right? He's gotten so good at this feat and at chewing (well, gumming) that he's moved on to all sorts of delicious texture-ific delights: Cheerios, bread, crackers, Goldfish, shredded chicken, etc. He's also gotten really good at drinking out of a straw and loves to show off his cool skills at restaurants. Luke orders his own drink now- glass of water, neat, no olive, with a straw- and impresses all the ladies as he drinks it down with only minimal dribbles down his shirt.

Luke's Law of Percentages- the greater the number of puffs on the table the greater percentage chance one will make it into his mouth.

8 Months Old!

Last week marked Luke's eight month birthday! He is working very hard at trying to crawl and trying to talk, but hasn't really accomplished either just yet. He can scoot backward on his belly pretty well, and he talks and sings all day long, just nothing discernable as English. It is better described as baby babbling mixed with high pitched whale or dolphin sounds- his own highly advanced multilingual human-cetacean language. What a genius.

Here are a few recent pictures:

I told you I knew Kung Fu

I need to see all the blueprints

I'm Crazy Countrywide Home Loans Man... Gimme candy!

Happy Easter and Proofs of the Toofs!

We had lots of fun on Luke's first Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny left him a basket of colorful eggs and fake grass that he highly enjoyed chewing on. Since Luke isn't allowed to eat chocolate or eggs yet, all of the eggs in the basket were plastic- but contained coin money! Score! The eggs made a very satisfying jingle jangle clanking noise as he rattled them around and bashed them against one another. And although Luke was happy to add the coins to his piggy bank collection, he was also glad the Easter Bunny promised that next year's basket would be more yummy.

Plastic eggs! Fun!

But where are the peeps and hollow chocobunny? I got gipped.

But I guess money is ok too... This Easter Bunny is a cool guy!

Ready for church- let's go!

Fun in the tub at the end of the day

My two teeth!

What Do We Do All Day?

Hey, Louis here. I know a lot of you are wondering what Luke and I do all day during my time off work to stay home with him. Here's a little peek:

Nothing says "I'm on vacation" like a little facial hair experimentation

One of the first things on my list of things to do was to make sure our address post on the curb was easy to read in case of an emergency. I've had problems with the Chinese Food delivery guy finding the house...

Luke and Cactus helped any way they could while I painted and nailed new numbers on the post. Luke was a great help and here he stands next to his work sporting new shoes from Aunt Ariane and family.

Future Engineer

Gym 1504 provides all types of the equipment necessary to prepare children to be sent out into the world. Here is Luke doing a leg workout on one of the Nautilus machines sent by Aunt Yasmine...

Giant steps are what you take, walking on the moon...

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing

After a good workout, Luke gets silly while toweling off. A.K.A., "The Peek a Boo Monster"

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing

With all the gym time he is putting in, I wanted to see how his legs workouts are coming along.

Bartender... another drink on my Dad's tab

We take a lot of strolls around the neighborhood as well. Here are some pics of Luke getting his "roll on".

#1 Stunner

Rolling on Dubs

Peace, I'm out of here

Every now and again we get some visitors. Recently, Master Yogi dropped by to check on the training of the Youngling. Here he tests the progress of Luke's legs...

Do. Or do not. There is no try...

The Force is strong with this one...

Thanks for taking the time to see what we're up to. Here's your round of applause...

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing

Supermodel Luke

Here are some of the poses from Luke's photo session a few weeks back on his 7 month birthday:

Just say no...

Just say no to crack

Technical Issues

After many annoying episodes of text not loading and other technical posting problems we are trying out a new blog template. Hopefully the issues will now be resolved. If not, we may have to get a new webmaster. He's been slacking on the job lately...

Hitting the bottle

Barton Springs drool

I love swings- yipee!!!

(Check out my cool shoes- thanks Aunt Ariane!)

We enjoyed another fabulously beautiful weekend... however, as I write this it is raining and thundering and pretty gloomy. But, Saturday and Sunday were great nonetheless. We spent the afternoon at Zilker Park and Barton Springs and had a grand ole time on the playground and down at the water.

Me and Mommy, the coolest girl I know
(not that she's writing this or anything)

Austin is awesome

While hanging out near the water, we plopped Luke down and he watched the birds and other people playing in the vicinity. He then started playing in the mud, which he loved. But then he started to put one muddy hand in his mouth- "no, Luke, don't eat the mud". So he tried to put his other muddy hand in his mouth- "no, Luke, don't chew on that muddy hand either". We eventually succumbed to the inevitablilty of the situation and elected to photograph the crunchy munchy mess. See picture below.

Umm, wait a minute... this tastes like dirt

Brusha, brusha, brusha

I now qualify for the tooth fairy college savings plan

Believing it is never too early to teach good dental hygiene, we gave Luke his first toothbrush. Actually, Luke's friend Martin enjoyed chewing on one when he first got teeth so we thought Luke would too. Boy does he. It also doubles as a drumstick, which complements his ever burgeoning drummer skills. Oh the untrained eye may dismiss his talents as mere slapping, but this kid could rival Matthew McConaughey's bongo playing skills any day of the week. But I digress. In the pic below we inadvertently captured Luke's new teeth- look bottom row center. They have just broken through the skin and are vewee vewee wee, but if you zoom in we promise they are there.

If you can't see them go get your reading glasses

Two teeny toofs!

Dripping drool drenches this dude's duds

Luke's got two teeth! Over this past week I've been able to see what I thought was a tooth, and this morning it was clearly not one tooth but two! We have suspected that some sharp little boogers would be rearing their painful little heads soon. Between gnawing his own hands off as if we never feed the poor fella, and drooling so much that he sometimes requires a couple of costume changes a day, the emergence of teeth seemed imminent. He has also been uncharacteristically whiney lately. He evens whines through smiles, as if he really wants to act his usual jolly self but just can't do it. We've been keeping him sauced up with infant pain relievers and it seems to help somewhat. I assume those are the only two little teefers at the moment, but he won't let me get too good of a look. Quit touching my mouth, Mom!

Quit taking my picture and leave my teeth alone...

Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething.
~Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson, 1894

If you were to open up a baby's head - and I am not for a moment suggesting that you should - you would find nothing but an enormous drool gland.
~Dave Barry

7 Months Old

Handsome devil

Either we printed Luke's age on an index card or this guy is getting big! We celebrated Luke's 7th Month-Day by dressing him in his smartest sweater outfit to have his first professional photographs taken. We should be seeing his face on the cover of 'Varsity Baby' magazine in the near future. The photo session went great, although it was a bit difficult to get Luke to smile without sticking his tongue out. The tongue trick gets rave reviews from the audience at home, so he expected no less while at the portrait studio. Hence, the photo chosen for purchase features a precious smile with a tip o' tongue for authenticity. Luke keeps it real like that, y'all.

Luke's newest trick is how he plays while in the Jumperoo. This kid goes to town on that thing. He gets a bouncin and a rockin and stomps his feet and runs in place and dances a jig until he's nearly out of breath. Then Cactus will walk by and he pulls out all these tricks to get her attention while reaching with both arms toward her. Sometimes it works and Cactus stops and sits patiently, sweetly next to him while he pets her in his uncoordinated manner. Cactus then likes to lick his hands, face, ears, etc until we stop her from grooming him like she has groomed other puppies we've known in the past. Luke is not a puppy, but the love is the same. We think they'll grow to be great pals.

Flintstone Feet

Luke likes to keep his gut under control so he regularly gets together with his personal trainer, Martin. Here Luke is doing some arm curls while Martin works with the medicine ball. Martin is trying to teach Luke to roll the ball, not chew on it.

New toys are delicious

Here's my little buddy teaching me how to play his favorite tunes. Special thanks to Zach for letting Luke borrow the Bumbo seat. His bum has never been so comfy.

Human capo

Revised blog description

"Luke was born on August 18, 2005. He is a Leo and enjoys pacifiers, being dry and the Beatles. This is his story..."

That description is so passe. Although Luke is still a Leo, likes being dry and likes the Beatles, he has long since ditched the pacifier. He stopped using one around four months old or so, and when given one now he just sort of chews on it for a second and then spits it out. So now we are tasked with editing the passage with a more age-appropriate sentence to characterize our young dude.

A more fitting description follows:

"Luke was born on August 18, 2005. He is a Leo and enjoys chewing on his own fingers, mealtime and the Beatles. This is his story..."

Buddha belly, evidence of Luke's love of mealtime

Wayne's World Extreme Close-Up... Woahhhhh!!!

Video Sharing at DropShots.com

Wonderful weather

We've been enjoying fabulous weather lately, allowing us to spend lots of fun time outdoors. We have been taking lots of walks, dabbling in a bit of gardening, and having tons 'o fun at the many parks around town. Here are some recent pics of Luke's adventures in the sunshine.





Just chillin, stroller style













Working on my tan while Dad checks on the new vine he planted







While walking to one park outing we witnessed the preparations for a kiddos birthday party. One delivery was particularly exciting- horses! Wait a minute... a horse with pink spots? Makes explaining the difference between real and make-believe a bit more challenging. Also possibly raises the bar for entertainment at Luke's future birthday parties.






A horse is a horse, of course??








Saturday Luke had a fun day at the park with his friend Zach (WeeZ). Luke sported his best Aggie outfit to cheer on A&M during the Big 12 basketball tournament. (Mom invoked the "first downstairs rule", which provides for the day's wardrobe choice to be made by the first one downstairs that morning.) The fact that he can now fit in this particular outfit gave us pause as we recalled the time that we received it as a gift. Luke's Nana in Houston gave it to us before Luke was born, and since the size on the tag says 6-9 months, we couldn't imagine a time that it would fit him. It seemed huge! Now it fits like a glove. Crazy...

While at the park, Luke had fun on the swings and slides, and learned from Zach and the other bigger kids how fun rocks can be! He also was told how delicious rocks are to chew on, but as far as we know he didn't nibble on any just yet.






Luke and Zach just a swingin'












I'm flying!










Rocks are fun! I like to grab handfuls and throw them down. These rocks are just about the size of my delicous toes, I bet they'd taste just as yummy...




Weeeeeeeee! Slides are fun! I'm starting to suspect that Mom and Dad are using me as an excuse to go play on these playgrounds, but I'll keep going along with it.

Future Engineer

If television isn't in Luke's future (see previous Quizno's baby post), he could follow in Dad's footsteps and strive for an engineering degree that he does nothing with.

He's getting good with the blocks and balls, I see Statics and Dynamics in his future.

Quizno's baby doppelganger

After repeated comments from both family and strangers alike regarding the resemblance of Luke to the Quizno's baby we thought we would examine side by side photos.

Perhaps Luke has already found his calling and will make a million bucks touting products on commercials. Or at least, do you think the likeness could get me some free sandwiches? Mmmm sandwiches...

Six Months Old!

February 18, my half- birthday! Woohoo!

Wow, it almost seems like a month has gone by since Luke turned five months old. To celebrate his half-birthday, we introduced the little guy to two of God's finer creations: fire and chocolate; specifically, chocolate brownies decorated with half of a candle. Unfortunately, he's not allowed to eat brownies yet so the adults had to help devour it. And unfortunately for the adults, a half candle melts very quickly onto a pan of brownies. Luke said it was proper revenge for not giving him any of his own half-birthday treat. He'll have to wait for his full one-year shindig for that privilege.

Hee Hee... FIRE!

Aunt Kim and Uncle Scott came to visit that weekend and helped us party down. They witnessed Luke's hearty appetite at dinnertime as he opened wide for spoonful after spoonful of delicious carrots, sweet potatoes, and prunes. Mmmm prunes (he loves 'em). Then they got to witness (as did we for the first time) what happens when his little eyes are bigger than his littler tummy- he pukes it all back up. In Mommy's lap. It was a pretty accurate re-enactment of The Exorcist pea-soup projectile vomit scene, sub the orange veggies for green peas. He hasn't been introduced to peas yet. Thank goodness, whew! That would have been freaky.

That following Monday Luke had his 6 month checkup with the doctor and her mean needle- stabbing nurse, but luckily this time there were only two shots to be had. He weighed in at an even 17 lbs and measured 27 inches in length, which is in the 50th and 75th percentiles, respectively. Gordo!