The Fox's Den: Rosie Posie

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!!!

Well, I wouldn't exactly say that our trip out West was as glamorous as a Grand Tour of Europe, but we definitely saw a decent bit of this country!

Starting out, we had the van stocked with all kinds of activities for the girls (of course, I had the DVD player along for emergencies.. I'm no fool!)

Folks from church were so nice to make little care packages for us with snacks and sticker books, even some music to help pass the time!

Rosie Posie took up her usual post of hanging out the window any time we decelerated.

This was my view from the rear-view mirror for much of the trip!

Looking like a cross between the Clampits and the Griswolds! That van was loaded down! We even had a tree (which thanks to Harrell Hampton's ingenuity, made the trip safely and is now thriving in it's new home :))

Saint Louis and the Gateway to the West

Our itinerary went like this:

Monday: Durham, NC to Nashville, TN, where we spent the night with my brother and his wife

Tuesday: Nashville to Bowling Green, KY. Easy day spent hanging out with our friends and swimming/relaxing

Wednesday: Derek joins us and we drive from Bowling Green to Kansas City, MO. We stopped for lunch in St. Louis and visited with my sweet friend, Elizabeth and her kiddos and she kindly replenished our snack and activity stash :)

Thursday: Kansas City to Burlington, CO. Looong day with very little interesting scenery... let's just say that Kansas is not real creative when it comes to road-side views, food, etc. :)

Friday: Burlington to Denver, CO! Short drive that day, but we were able to get into town early enough to unpack a little and get sheets on all the beds before night fall. Oh how nice it was to finally see mountains in view after all that driving!