Christmas Card 2011

Strictly Ornamental Christmas

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Christmas Card 2010

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

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Lights, Balance, & Football - 14 Months Update

Last Tuesday, Luke was 14 months old.  Just like the previous 13 months, his 14th month came and went before I knew it!  October was filled with lots of BULLDOG tailgating & football, eating new foods and just getting too big!

Here is what is new at 14 Months for Mr. Luke:

• #4 tooth is very close to breaking through on top.  And I have a feeling that #5 (3rd one on top) will be right behind it.  You can see it coming when you look at his gums under his lip.
• He is still just "Furniture" walking.  He is now standing without holding on to things but not sure about taking any steps yet.  And when he does stand up with out holding on to anything, he likes to cheer for himself!  He is so proud (yes, we cheer and clap with him - brings the cutest little smile to his face)!  His balance has improve vastly over the last month.  He will stand, squat, and bounce all in the same motion!  He is even standing without hold on to anything (from floor to stance).
• He is wearing size 18 month jumpers, 12 months in shorts, and 18 months in shirts.  He is just like his daddy with long sleeve shirts on - he hates them!  He is fine with the sleeves on this jammies, but every time I put him in a long sleeve shirt, he is constantly trying to pull his arms out!
• He is still wearing a size 3 diaper.
• He is still wearing a size 4 in shoes and has the cutest lil MSU squeaker shoes.  We only hear one squeaker (since he is not walking) though with his crazy crawl.  Love it!
• He still weighs about 24 lbs.
• His favorite words are "HEY", "BYE", "Yeah", and "Babababa".
• He loves to pick up any of his cell phones and act like he is talking on them.  He even used the shoulder prop for holding his cellphone between his ear & shoulder!
• This month, he got introduced to pizza, gold fish and animal crackers!  And of course he loves them all!  He can eat half of one of the individual frozen pizzas.  He loves slice cheese and breakfast bars as well! 
• The kid loves music!  He dances (bounces) and throws his hands in the air every time he hears music.  I think that he got this from his daddy!  So precious when you catch them dancing together.
• Passy Update - well, he still has his passy.  With all the teething going on, there were lots of restless nights and naps.  So, we hare on passy removal hold.  He only gets his cut passy when in the carseat for long trips and his real passy when going to sleep at night.
• He LOVES the outside.  When I get home from work in the afternoons, I pick him up to give him a hug and then he starts pointing towards the garage.  He wants to go outside to play with his toys - and the weather has been beautiful for playing outside as well.
• He has found the light switches!  When changing his diaper and getting him dressed, he thinks it is the greatest thing now to flip the switch on the lights and fan in his room.  This is only switches that he can reach thankfully!  And, it is kinda helpful now because it is easier to grease him up after a bath and put his pant/shorts on.  But, it does create a challenge when trying to put on his socks and shoes.

Luke's favorite meat - Bologna!

PIZZA!

Look momma - yummy pizza!

This is our Wednesday night suppers since daddy is not hear to cook for us since he is at work!

Luke and Thomas enjoying their 1st of many tailgates together.

This is the look when lots of people are shouting "Luke     Thomas    Luke    Thomas" over and over

Luke with a bulldog (not THE bulldog)

Luke's 1st iced cookie!

Thanks Aunt Amy - you have created a cookie monster!

Luke and Thomas sporting their outfits made by Mom (Mimi's Magic Needle).  They are super cute and reversible.

Yay Bulldogs!

Still such a HAPPY kid!

13 Months

Well, Luke has survived another month!  He was 13 months this past Saturday and still can't believe that he is already a year old.  So, what's up with Luke at 13 months?

• He has finally got his 3rd tooth - it was it first top tooth.  It broke through last week while we were in Boston.
• He is still just "Furniture" walking.  He can stand without holding on but once he realizes that he is not holding on to anything, he goes straight to his knees/bottom on the floor.  He will sometimes hold on to your hands and take a few steps, but not often.  I am fully confident that he will walk when he is ready and that he is just a stubborn and hard headed as both of his parents.
• He is wearing size 12 & 18 month jumpers, 6/9 months in shorts, and 12 months in shirts.
• He is wearing a size 3 diaper.
• He is still wearing a size 3 in shoes (that is when he wears them).
• He weighs about 24 lbs (not real sure because our scales at the house aren't the greatest - I don't believe my weight on it :-) )
• His favorite word is "HEY" and likes to yell it quite loudly.
• He definitively has his daddy's social skills and is not socially awkward like is momma (according to his daddy).
• When he toots on you, he starts laughing - his daddy is teaching him bad habits too early!
• On his birthday, we started giving him just a sippy cup (no bottle) and he has not checked up once - never missed it all.  He will only drink from sippy cups that have straws but he will drink from the side of your cup at any time.
• On his birthday, we also swapped from formula to whole milk completely - and he drinks it better than he did his bottle.  He also gets water cups and 1/2 water, 1/2 juice cups during the day.  I did not want to start giving him the 1/2 juice this early, but it works best for his digestive system (without the juice, he will break your heart when he has to make a dirty Rebel - Stephen says this is worse than having to hold him while they give him shots at the doctor's office).  He also loves Sweet Tea!
• This past Monday, we have started the transition from the passy.  Instead of just straight up taking it away, we have cut the tip out it.  He was not the happiest camper about it on Monday according to Stephen but really has not made to big of a fuss over it.  I went into his bedroom last night before going to bed to straighten him up in his bed and he did not have it in his mouth (which it is typically glued to his mouth when he is sleeping).  So, we will cut it again next week and then hopefully be passy free in a few weeks!
• He loves food!  He is going to eat us out of the house!  Now that he is just on milk, water, juice and real food, he is eating faster than I can get things ready for him.  He will eat an entire hotdog wienie in about 2 minutes and only has 2 teeth that can help him!
• His favorite food is bread (yes, just like his momma)!  He will scream at you to give him bread and more bread if it is within his sight.
• His favorite toy is anything that he can get into his mouth!

Fenway & Plymouth Rock

Well, Luke got to spend his first vacation in the Boston, MA area.  I had to go to Foxboro, MA for 2 weeks of training for work.  So, since we were not able to go to the beach this summer and I didn't want to be away from Luke for two weeks, Stephen & Luke went as well.  I flew out for Foxboro on Sunday and they flew out on Tuesday from Birmingham.  Luke did very well on both of their flights - he slept the first leg from Birmingham to Baltimore and then ate snacks the last leg from Baltimore to Providence, RI.  I drove to Providence and picked them up, dropped their clothes off at the hotel, and then went to Fenway to watch the Red Sox play!

The Green Monster!

We got to witness history!  They just turned a TRIPLE play - so cool!

There were two couples sitting behind us.  Luke kept flirting with the girls then entire time we were there.  They just thought he was the cutest thing and could not believe how good he was being!  He would stand up and dance (bounce) in my lap when the music was playing and look at the girls to see if they saw him.  He would then just grin at them.  One of husbands used to work in the club house for the Sox's so when he went to get more beer, he went to the club house to get Luke a souvenir from the game - a baseball!  I thought it was extremely nice and cool!

Yes, Stephen and Luke were both in Maroon for the ballgame - Stephen was hoping that Papelbon was going to get to close the game.  Little did we know was that he had pitched in the 1st game that afternoon so we did not get to make an appearance in the game.  Some smarty pants had to make a comment towards us about Luke's Mississippi State shirt - something like "Mississippi State who?"  And then Stephen promptly yells back - "That is where Papelbon played college ball" and then they guy yelled back "Mullen is the Man - You Guys got a good coach."  I thought that was kinda funny!

One afternoon I got out of school at 3:30 so we decided to drive down to Plymouth, MA to visit the Mayflower and see Plymouth Rock.  When we got to the Mayflower (actually Mayflower II), they wanted $10 a person, including for Luke, to able to get on the boat and take pictures.  Well, I was too cheap so we figured we would just walk around the outside and take what pictures we could.

The "wall" they put trying to get you to buy a ticket to see the entire boat.

Stephen and Luke on the pier - such a happy kid!!

Front view of the Mayflower II

Other side of the Mayflower II

Luke & I with the Mayflower II in the back ground.

I was tying to get some picture of Luke with the Mayflower and water in the background but he was not to sure about it - I just wanted to be held.....

Please mommy - hold me ;-(

or just give me my passy and I will be okay.

After the Mayflower, we continued to check out more history.  We saw Plymouth Rock!

Bet the pilgrim were shocked to see a rock with the year they landed on shore - how cool

totally disappointed in the size of this rock!  I was expecting a "big ole rock!"

After we ate supper, we walked along a stone pier and enjoyed the sunset and awesome weather!  Luke had a full tummy and was a happy camper!  The photo session in the rocks was a lot better than the grass!

My favorite picture!  I order a canvas 8x10 from Canvas People online!  LOVE IT!

Luke's "YES" expression!

Well, it is my bedtime - 9:00 pm!  So, I will post more on our Boston trip soon!

Luke's 1st Haircut!

HAHAHAH - I just saw where I never posted this to our blog!  He has already had to get another haircut!  So two haircuts within 25 days.  The boy has a head full of hair that grows fast just like his daddy!

Well, Luke has gotten his first haircut!  Aunt Amy (my twin sister for those who don't know her) is a cosmetologist so she of course got to give him his first haircut!  Honestly, I not want to cut his hair - I loved the curls!!

But, since I knew it would be while until we would see Aunt Amy again, I let her cut his hair after his birthday party.  But bless his little heart, he was not a happy camper!  It was 9:30 at night, he was still up and was trying to make a dirty rebel (yes, he still has issues pooping even with drinking juice and solid food).  So, Amy and I did whatever we could to make him "not scared".  It was priceless!  Aunt Amy said that she had never cut anybody hair while they sat in her lap!

Luke's curls!  BYE BYE :-(

Mommy's turn to hold him while Aunt Amy cuts the back of his hair.

Look at the BIG BOY haircut - and YAY for making a dirty rebel (yes, I took a picture of him pooping - didn't realize it at the time - Sorry) :-)

The big boy with Aunt Amy!