It was bound to happen...

Luke got a hold of Sam's brown marker. He actually pulled the felt tip out and was holding onto it in his mouth, I had to swipe it out. Thankfully, the mess was contained to his face and one tiny spot on the carpet. Is it bad that my first thought was to grab my camera?


Thanks for the sweet birthday wishes! Carrie thought she was so awesome because she knew my password. She is awesome and I should probably re think how much she knows about my life! Love you Carrie. I can't wait to see you in a few months, I'm going to be skinnier than you! :)

Luke, 14 months

Luke's Birthday Celebration

When we got home from Krispy Kreme, he (we) opened presents. He wasn't so sure about this slide at first, but now he's happy to have something else to climb on!

Then we did cake. Sam and Gabe were in full birthday party mode.

Luke did not like the cake. He also does not like balloons.

Luke's Birthday Celebration

We had a family birthday party for Luke last weekend. As is birthday tradition, we took him to Krispy Kreme for breakfast. This was his first taste of the goodness of Krispy Kreme, and I'm proud to say that he loved it! It would have been weird if he didn't! He knew all day that something was going on, maybe because we were all singing to him at every turn?

Me and my baby

First Donut

Sweet Brothers


Crazy Brothers

One Year Photos

One Year Photos

My Little One Year Old

Our littlest baby turned one a few weeks ago. January has just been plain crazy, so I'm just now getting around to posting.

Except for the "colon infection" sickness of the Fall and getting over my c-section, the last year with our third son has been a JOY. He is a joy. He makes us smile, he makes us stop, he reminds us daily to praise God and to thank Him for the miracle of Luke's life. Knowing that he is our last makes all of him growing up even more bittersweet. I would love to freeze him at the age he is right now, for just a year, so I can get in all the smiles, claps, big ole belly laughs, thick thighs, milk drinking, touch downs, head tilts and toothy grins that I can, and commit each and every one of those minutes to memory. After I have that year, I'd let him grow up some more. I'd even enjoy 18 months - 4 a little more!

I have a feeling this sweet little dude is going to be a stinker. He already runs away from us when he knows he is doing something he shouldn't. He gets in to so much more than Gabe and Sam ever thought was even possible. Nothing is safe from this kid!

Happy first birthday Luke!

The above pics are from our One Year Photo Shoot. Because I can't for the life of me figure out how to post more than 4 pictures, there will be a few post of just the photos from our little shoot.

Just in case you haven't seen enough...

What Luke has been up to, part 2

At 9 and a half months, he's trying to walk. And looking cute while he's doing it!

He's always following his big brothers around and likes to be in the middle of what they are doing. (pretend my house is really clean in this picture)

Come on! Look at that little tummy sticking out. He's got some pretty great thighs on him too!

Seriously? Already?

What Luke has been up to...

This picture deserved a post of its own. The little stinker really wanted to get up those stairs, so he figured out a way. I think I might have a climber on my hands! (and, no, he didn't make it past this point, after I put the camera down, I grabbed him!)

The best part of my day...

Six Months

There is not a day that goes by that I don't look at your sweet face and praise God for His healing power in your little life. Before you were even born, He healed your heart, twice. I'm continuously humbled that He chose to end that chapter in our life with the gift of you. You have a healthy heart. You have a strong heart. You have a complete heart. You have a heart that beats with consistency. You are healthy. You are crying. You are in my arms. You are laughing at your brothers. You are smiling at your Daddy. You are here. You are burying your head in my shoulder. You are cooing. You are sitting up. You are growing. You are eating. You are looking for Mommy. You are sleeping. You are waking up with smiles. You made it. You are us. You are here. You are healthy. You are worth it. You are pure joy.

We will forever Praise the Lord and give Him Glory for the gift of you.

I can't ignore it any longer...

He's sitting up...all by himself...playing with toys.

We won't talk about how he will be 6 months on the 14th, or about how he is trying to get on his hands and knees to crawl.

Sleepy Baby...and more

Ever since Luke was a newborn, he loved to be swaddled. I kept thinking that he would grow out of it, yet when I would try to put him down with out swaddling him, he would cry and cry, I would go in and wrap him and he would literally fall fast asleep in a minute. So we kept swaddling, and kept swaddling. We used the Miracle Blanket and he would rarely break out of it. This past week, when we go in to get him in the mornings, he has been breaking free. I decided to try putting him down again without swaddling him, just to see what he would do. He did great! He loves blankets right now, he would rather have a blanket to eat and play with than a toy, so I gave him his little nigh-night blankie and plopped the paci in and he was good to go. It's even more fun to go peek at him sleeping now, here are a few pics from the past few days. He is really under there, fast asleep... This last one cracks me up...this is really how I found him...

While I've already got a post going for the little guy, I'll just continue on with some more pictures of the cutie. When Sam was little, I was big time into Black and White photography. I did up this little collage of him...

My friend Christy coined it "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." I've done a few for some of my good friends and, of course, did one for Gabe when he came along...

I'm sure you see where this is going! After I hung Gabe's up next to Sam's on the wall, I thought about how much fun it will be one day to have a wall with three hanging next to each other. I finished Luke's HSKT photo shoot a month ago. I've got the pictures edited and the frame under my bed. I just haven't actually put it all together. I've already got that special wall picked out in the new house where they will all be displayed together. We'll have to wait a few months to see the actual finished product, but for now, here is a little slideshow of some of the pictures I will use for Luke's collage, I still haven't decided which ones will make the final cut. I threw a few others in from the photo shoot that I probably won't use, but will frame separately....

I know this post is getting ridiculous, you don't have to keep reading, unless you are family, then you are required to go to the very end of this post! Not much more, I promise...

Here is a (nother) slideshow of some random pictures. Luke thinking he's all big sitting up, or rather, propping himself up. He could probably do it by now, but I'm not allowing him to sit up yet, he's already got two teeth, he needs to wait awhile before he really starts sitting. This is what happens with your third, you don't want them to do anything because you know once they start doing stuff, they won't stop. I know I'm fighting the inevitable, but I'm just not ready for him to do big baby stuff yet! He has also mastered "the airplane" move, which cracks me up. He loves the Johnny Jump-up and his big brother Gabe, who decided Luke was interesting enough to play with for a little bit last week while Sam was at VBS. He even wanted to feed Luke his bottle...for 2 seconds, but I got a picture of it. Luke got the shaft big time when Sam got home, but he enjoyed his time with Gabe on the couch, however fleeting it was.

Now I feel bad because there is no picture of Sam in this post, even though it's a Luke post, Gabe is represented, so now I feel Sam needs to be...

There, now I feel better.

Mom, Dad, good luck reading this post with all these slideshows flashing.

Now...I'm done.

Paranoid Mommy?

Yep, that's what my baby wears to the pool. If only I could find swim pants and a long sleeved swim shirt!