Happy 7th Birthday Ellie!

For her birthday this year, Ellie chose a Family Fun Day over a party, so we had a whole day of fun, planned by Ellie!  We saw a movie, had nails painted, ate out at Root Down (her favorite restaurant), shopped for a new outfit, and had birthday cake at home.

 Such a big girl! 

So much fun!

Luke Learns to Swim (well, to float at least)

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an irrational fear of one of my children drowning.  It just seems like everywhere we turn in the summer time (and sometimes in other seasons too), there is a pool, pond, lake, etc. and I can't focus on anything else except guarding the edges like a hawk.

Ellie and Campbell can both swim now and I can trust them to stay away from the edges unless I'm with them (not that I just completely ignore them around water, but I can at least breathe a tiny sigh of relief).  Luke, on the other hand, is a complete crazy man.  He has absolutely no fear of the water, no awareness of the edge, and even tries to wriggle out of my arms if we're in the pool together.  After this summer, I decided that for his safety, my own peace of mind, and in an effort to get him pool-safe within a couple years, that I would try putting him in swimming lessons.

I had heard about Infant Swimming Resource and read all kinds of testimonials and data about how not only can babies learn to safe themselves in an accidental fall situation, but also learn to swim safely at a much younger age than other children their age who didn't have early exposure to water safety.

So, we decided to give it a try.  Not only was it pretty pricey (although, I don't think it exceeded the amount I've spent over the years for Ellie and Campbell to take lessons at the rec center -- lessons that never really amounted to proficient swimming), the lessons were every day for 5 weeks!  Each lesson is only 10-15 minutes long, but still!  Every day?!  That was a commitment in and of itself!  I figured I'd try it for the first week and see how things went.

Well, after the first week, he could already hold his breath, and float independently!  By the end of Week 2, he was turning on his own in the water and coming into a float with no assistance.  At the end of Week 4, he was being dropped into the pool every which way and maintaining a floating position until the instructor 'rescued' him.  The last week was spent on learning edge-awareness (even after all the time spent in the water, you would think he understood that you can't crawl on top of it.. but no... the crazy little man, crawled right into the deep end going after a ball he saw floating on the water!), and floating fully clothed with shoes, socks, etc.

He finished in October and we've been going back to the pool about once a week since then, and he still knows exactly what to do.  Amazing.

I won't lie to you:  It's very hard to watch someone toss your baby into the water and just let them struggle until they 'get it'... I was in tears standing on the side a lot of days.  However, I'm so glad we did it, because he seems to have respect for the water-- especially the steps/edge, and I'm confident that he'll be swimming like a big boy in just a couple years.

Here's a little video I took during Week 5:

Here's another a little closer up:

Luke Turns One!

We decided on a farm theme for Luke's first birthday party since he loves to watch the chickens in the backyard and one of his favorite toys is a miniature tractor :)

His cake had a bunch of farm animals and a tractor pulling "hay" (shredded wheat)

Blowing out the candle!

I loved this little farmer because he looked just like Luke and his bald head!

Smashing his cake!

Opening presents! 

Here's a video I made of his first year:

My Baby is One!

And He's Off!

Luke (finally!) learned to walk during Thanksgiving weekend last year.  He was about 14 months old and had been so close for SO long.

It never gets old watching a baby take their first steps!!

Happy 5th Birthday, Campbell!

For her 5th birthday Campbell decided to have a "Family Fun Day" in lieu of a party (can I just say, *so* much better than a party).  We got nails painted, saw a movie, went to Build-a-Bear, had mac-n-cheese for dinner, and just pretty much spent the whole day doing things that Campbell wanted to do.

That night she got to open presents and blow out her candles!

How can my little Baby C be so big!?!?

Campbell learns to ride a bike!

Well, a bike without training wheels, that is!

Campbell amazes me sometimes, because although she's 2 years younger than Ellie, she winds up pushing herself to achieve many milestones right about the same time.  Our sweet (very cautious) Ellie had only just ditched the training wheels about 2 weeks prior and that little Campbell practiced day (and sometimes night) until she could ride a two-wheeler just like big sissy.

Here she is on the day she finally 'got' it:

And, as promised, the next day she got to go the bike shop and pick out a 'real' bike (aka, not the very cheapest one that Target sells) with a basket, a kickstand,  and NO TRAINING WHEELS!

Way to go, Baby C!

Pearl & Darcy

Who are Pearl and Darcy you may ask?  Why, our bunnies of course!  

As a reward for learning to read last year, Ellie chose to get a bunny.  After doing some research on keeping rabbits as pets we learned that they are social animals and thrive best when they have a friend.  So, you guessed it, Campbell got one too (as she is now learning to read, we're encouraging her to choose a reward that's less annoying than a pet that could live for 10 years!  Disney perhaps??  Really just about anything that doesn't require so much maintenance would be just fine!)

Anyway, despite not being my favorite creatures that we have around the house, they are pretty cute and the girls love them.  Here are some pics from the first week they joined the family:

I love this picture because you can see the rabbit running for it's life and and the panicked hands of a little girls ready to scoop it back up!

Poor little Luke just wants to hold one.  Unfortunately he hasn't learned how to be gentle and about 1 second after this photo was taken, managed to pick up the bunny with one hand an body-slam it into the grass.  I think the bunny may still be working out some PTSD issues.

The Lukester

As you probably guessed, the main reason for my recent neglect of the blog is this guy:

Our sweet little Luke is such a joy, but the last 4 months have definitely been among the busiest of my life :)  Between homeschooling, Daniel's schedule, the girls' increasingly busy schedules, and caring for an infant, I pretty much collapse into the bed every night!  Life does seem to be evening out a bit now that Luke is on a good nap schedule and sleeping all night, so what better time to catch up on all the milestones and cute pics (mostly from the cell phone, sadly!) I have of our little guy?!  I think with Ellie and Campbell, I posted every time they hiccuped!  Oh well, at least everyone's fed and happy, right? :)

Here he is the day we brought him home from the hospital... sweet little guy in the embroidered train outfit that I found in Blowing Rock last May!

This was taken a week or two later in the 'Going Home' outfit that Daniel wore!  I have another sweet little outfit of Daniel's that Ann gave me, but it's short-sleeved and light-weight and I'm afraid he's going to grow out of it before it's warm enough to wear it :(  I guess the climate for baby clothes is pretty drastically different in Tampa and Denver! :)

As you'll see in the following pics, he slept through much of Autumn:

He went through about a 2 month period where he LOVED the swing!  Thankfully Matt and Sarah had one that Grayson no longer used, so we borrowed that and Luke slept hours in that thing everyday!    It was a life-saver for my productivity :)

He dressed up for Halloween in a Jack-o-Lantern costume that Jennifer handed down...

... and then slept through the Trick-or-Treating!

If he wasn't in the swing during school in the mornings, this was usually what he was up to.  He did not get an 'A' for participation :)

Who is putting who to bed here??

Finally!  It took 3 babies, but finally one likes the pacifier!  It's SO much easier to calm a baby when they'll take one!! :)

I love this pic... I still have it as the background on my phone :)  My how quickly they change at this age!  Excuse me while I go cry my eyes out!

He's already been on 2 plane trips in his short little life!  Here is a picture of him on his first (at 5 weeks...that was a bit tough!), to Nashville/Bowling Green for our dear friend Laura's wedding. 

While at the wedding, we had some family photos taken (more pics to come) by the photographer who took Daniel's and my engagement pics 11 years ago!  She had all kinds of props and one of them was a cute little rustic bucket.... I'm not sure Luke liked it all that well!

The girls thought it was hilarious, though!

Most of his days are spent being admired/played with/cooed at/entertained by his Fan Club.  The President of said Club is Miss Ellie P. Fox, who basically thinks that Luke is her baby.  She really is a great big sister and tons of help to me, honestly.  Campbell is not far behind her!  I'm amazed that they haven't tired of him yet!

If the Fan Club should move on to something else, we're dealing with this sort of reaction:

More Fan Club pics:

Oh how I love a swaddled baby!  I'm in luck, because Luke loves it too!  I should have known he would like to be bundled up all the time, since I basically had to evict him from the womb at 41 weeks! 

One of his other fave's is bathtime.  He mostly still gets his baths in the kitchen sink (occasionally in the tub with the girls if they beg long enough), and he just goes into a trance when he's soaking in the warm water.  Here he is in my parents' kitchen on his first trip to CA.  

Here he is in October meeting Papa for the fist time.

Aside from sleeping, he also spent the Fall eating, as you can tell from this pic!

Here he is in November, meeting Gramps for the first time.

He learned to roll over on December 28th :)

And somehow, over the last few weeks, he's become a little person!  It never ceases to amaze me how it seems that one week they're newborn/infants, and the next, totally full of personality!  We just love him to death!

Here's how he's spending the morning school hours this semester!  My what a difference Christmas break makes!

Here's the whole fam on Ellie's birthday when Luke had his first experience with Farm to Table dining at Root Down :)

Even though it's cold, if it's sunny, we're outside in the afternoons!  

Here are some photos that my brother took during Luke's First Christmas!

His head is so gigantic that if an outfit and hat come together in the same size, the hat never fits!  Case in point: His 'reindeer antler' hat that came with a Christmas outfit-- it was basically resting atop the crown of his head! 

Here he is doing some serious reflection on why his stocking only had pacifiers and teethers and no candy!!

Oh how fast the time is flying!  He is such a sweet little baby... very easy going and rarely ever cries.  He just got his first tooth this past weekend.  He's just growing, growing, growing, and changing every day!  I know that's the way things go, but I can't help be a teensy bit sad as each stage passes.  Still, we so look forward to all the joy to come!  What a blessing it is to be a parent!!!