Bouncy boy

A friend described a baby's first few months as being the 'plant stage' - the baby is cute, nice to look at, and take a lot of care but they don't really do much and there is not much you can do with them. I think I agree with that theory, at least most of it. Now that Luke is out of the 'plant stage' he is SO much fun! He has been getting more and more playful. It is so much fun to actually be able to play with him and have him interact with us more and more. Not that those first few months of his life were not fun, they were in their own way, but we are very much enjoying this stage.

This is one of my favorite videos of playing with Luke... a bouncy, LOUD little boy! :)

Of Mice and more

I thought I would try to make a Halloween costume for Luke this year. My original thought was that Luke would be dressed up as a snail or a turtle since he's scooting around but not quite crawling yet. But then I added up how much it would cost to buy all the needed materials for the costume, plus the amount of time and energy it would take to put it all together, all for Luke to spit up all over it and wear it for a grand total of 1 hour... I reconsidered. Walmart had some costumes for infants for $8.00 ~ not a bad deal at all! By the time I got around to purchasing a costume all that was left was a mouse or a flower (I didn't think Matt would appreciate me dressing his BOY up as a pink flower so mouse it was and such a cute mouse at that!) I sent Matt a text message saying that there was a mouse in our house. Matt came home all annoyed that now he has to get rid of mice as well as the gophers that are chewing up our lawn... only to find that the mouse was a 17lb, smiling, happy little man all dressed up!

The day before halloween Luke and I went to The Village (an assisted living facility for seniors) in Redlands with some friends. It was so fun. Luke didn't much care about going in all honesty, but I had fun getting him all dressed up and getting out of the house with friends ~ good times.

The residents passed out candy ~ I let Luke take some, I didn't have the heart to tell them that Luke couldn't eat any of it... plus, it meant that I got to enjoy the treats later on. It's a win win situation really. :)

Luke in his costume. He appears to be enjoying the plastic bag more than the candy.

Mmmm. Dots and Butterfinger

(he was far too interested in the candy to bother looking at the camera)

Friends ~ Eva the Monkey and Mackenzie the Goldfish

(apparently there was an animal theme for halloween this year)

More friends... and a bit of a meltdown.

Aliyah the bumble bee and Maddie the princess.

This was after a long morning and possibly too much sugar. :)

We went to a friend's house for lunch after the Halloween festivities. Luke had a blast scooting all around on the wood floors- he can move much faster without the drag of carpet. He kept attacking Maddie (in a non-violent way). It was too cute. (Thanks again Julie and Jill!)

Luke and Maddie

On Oct 31st we got to dress Luke up all over again and went to two more halloween get togethers. We normally are not big into celebrating halloween ~ in fact, Matt insists that we refer to it as Reformation Day. But we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get together with friends! Unfortunately I thought about bringing my camera too late and we were already on our way. Oh well. Matt was a 'fair weather fan' wearing a Yankees hat and Broncos shirt (lame) and I was a cowgirl wearing a plaid shirt, braids and cowboy hat (still lame but not as much as Matt's get up). You'll just have to use your imaginations to picture us all dressed up.

I thought I'd include a few more pictures. Who knows when I'll get around to posting again so I'd better make the most of this one. :)

Luke has decided it is much more fun to play underneath his exersaucer

Luke normally wakes up from a nap in a good mood - however, I took this picture when he was supposed to be going down for a nap, not waking up from one. He was having far too much fun playing with the bumpers. He did not take a nap that morning, surprise surprise.

Catching Up

Has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? Yikes. Sorry to those of you who regularly check our blog for updates on our family. Wow, three weeks to catch up on...where did the time go? I cannot believe that October is nearly over already! The month went by in such a blur, which is a good thing and a bad thing I suppose.

We've had a house full of sickos this month~ my excuse for not posting. No fun, no fun at all. We've all been fighting bugs of some sort or another. Matt wasn't feeling well a few weeks back, then Jung got a nasty little cold that lasted a few days. Next up was Luke and I followed suite shortly after. And today Charles got hit with the nasties. I've been spraying everything with Lysol multiple times a day in hopes that the sickies are over now that we've come full circle with spreading the germs in our house - we're keeping our fingers crossed.

That's not really fun news to read about on our blog, sorry, such is life. I'm trying to think of all the 'blog worthy' happenings of the past few weeks...

(In no particular order)

~ Luke had his 6 month appointment with his pediatrician. He is doing very well - eating solids, sleeping through the night on a pretty regular basis, scooting/army crawling all around, even starting to try and pull himself up on things. He is now 17lbs and 28.5 inches long - 90% for height, 50% for weight (I think we have a tall, skinny Dutch boy on our hands). He got his next set of immunizations and a flu shot to boot (not the H1N1 shot, he's too young for that). Sadly, he got a nasty little cold after getting the shots. Poor little thing was up several times that night, had a fever, runny nose and cough and was just miserable. I started getting sick a few days after that and quickly learned how miserable it is can be to be under the weather yourself while trying to take care of a infant who is under the weather -ugh. Happily, we are all on the mend and doing much, MUCH better. :)

~ We FINALLY broke down and bought a new computer! I know I have posted a few times about how I was so frustrated with our old computer and really needed to just get a new one... mission accomplished. We are now the proud owners of a MacBook Pro. So far we really like it. It takes some getting used to since we were so used to the PC's programs, but I think once we get the hang of it, it'll be smooth sailing.

~ Luke is getting his bottom two teeth at the moment. I am pretty sure that this had something to do with his cold and overall misery the past week or so. After his last doctor's appointment, Luke began boycotting all solid foods. He literally ate two containers of solids (peaches and carrots) in one sitting on Wednesday and then Thursday completely refused to eat anything. I was baffled/frustrated to say the least. I figured it was due to his cold and thought he'd return to his prior eating habits before long... wrong. He's still not interested in eating solids. All my attempts are met with pursed lips and if I am lucky enough to sneak a spoonful into his open mouth he just lets the food sit on his tongue and looks at me as if to ask "what am I supposed to do with this?". Sigh. I'm hoping that once he's cut these teeth that he'll show more interest in eating, here's to hoping. We have these mesh things (I don't know what they are really called) that I have been putting pieces of banana and some frozen baby foods into and Luke will eat more that way.

Luke definitely likes bananas (he ate one large one all by himself one day). He also likes to drop the mesh thing full of banana goop and watch it splatter all over the newly mopped floor - joy.

~ The Middle School I am interning at had a pumpkin patch/fall festival fund raiser so we took Luke and Charles to pick out pumpkins. We got some pumpkins and had fun carving them (at least I had fun and the boys humored me). Jung had never carved a pumpkin before. It was quite amusing to watch him try to scoop out all the inside goop with his hands. Yay for making memories.

I love California in the fall. No winter coats and scarves for us as we pick out pumpkins!

Carving Jack-O-Lanterns ~ another tradition we are exposing these guys to.

(notice Jung is oblivious with his headphones on - this is typical)

Jung with his pumpkin- and headphones. (I love the look on his face, like 'I can't believe you

made me put away the video games to do this!') Ha.

Charles with his pumpkin- he was more into it. ;)

We got Luke his first baby pumpkin too. He was pretty interested in it but it was a bit too heavy for him to pick it up and get it to his mouth (his favorite place to put anything these days).

Stacking cups are much easier. :)

Since its been so long since I've posted last I figured that I needed to include a few more pictures...

I love this little man outfit! I had to get a picture ~

Already standing up on his own, holding onto the couch of course, but still.

Luke watched his first Broncos game with Matt a few weeks ago since they were actually on TV (Matt usually has to go to a sports bar to watch the game). He donned his Broncos jersey for the occasion - cute little fan.

Luke looks a little worried in this picture - Matt was most likely yelling something at the game and startled Luke. Little guy better get used to it, all I have to say.

Ok. That's going to have to do it for now. I'm sure I'll remember something else later on that I wanted to blog about, but I'm over it.

Peas and Pictures

Two posts in two days! Wow. Now before you go getting all impressed you need to know that our car is in the shop (again) so Luke and I are stranded at home with not much to do for the second day in a row. I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong, I LOVE being at home. It's just that when I can't go anywhere (not that I really would go anywhere) I start to feel like I'm trapped. The house is clean, laundry is done, dinner is prepped and ready to go in the oven when the boys return, Luke is napping and so I have this time on my hands - weird. I thought that I would post some other pictures and stories of our life, because our life is SO exciting (dripping with sarcasm). At least it'll keep me occupied for a bit until Luke decides to wake up. :)

Luke had his first taste of veggies this past week. I started him on peas, for no particular reason.
I made sure to have the camera ready to go, positive that Luke would not really like this new green substance I put in his mouth.... the result below

Pure shock and confusion!

Ok, so I was sorta exaggerating his reaction. I don't know how I ended up getting that picture but thought it was too funny to leave out. His real reaction was ho-hum, no big deal... I was a little disappointed to be honest. I guess I have to wait until I give him lemons or something to get a funny reaction.

This was his real face after his first bite. He loves his spoon. He keeps grabbing the spoon I'm feeding him with so I give him his own and everyone's happy.

I think I mentioned in my post yesterday that Luke has figured out how to scoot around. He's not quite crawling yet. He will push himself up on his hands and knees but that only lasts a few seconds. However, he is a pretty good little scooter and as such, he is into EVERYTHING. Matt and I were talking about how we were SO excited when he finally learned to scoot around. Now we are like, "why were we so excited, he's twice the trouble now!" :) It is fun but boy, do we have our work cut out for us with this child! I'll just let the pictures tell the tale...

So that gives you a little taste of our life on a day to day basis. We seriously need to 'child proof' our house, like yesterday.

Here's a few more random pics, just for fun.

Sitting pretty

Yes, that is a Calvin Knights towel wrapped on his head like a do-rag.

Future Calvin stud

Crossing Cultures

We have had some great opportunities to experience other cultures recently - part of the plus of having foreign exchange students! Charles' parents, Judy and Lindon (actually, Shiu-Chuan and Chen-Tai - not sure how they got Judy and Lindon out of those Chinese names, but whatever) came to visit for a few days last week. It was great to meet them. Judy speaks excellent English, Lindon- not so much. It was fun trying to communicate by speaking slower, louder and with exaggerated hand motions (side note: why is it that when we have trouble communicating due to a language barrier, we end up speaking louder - they aren't deaf, just don't speak English... hmm)
This past Saturday (Oct. 3) was the Chinese New Moon Festival. Judy described it as similar to Thanksgiving in America- basically a holiday before the main holiday (Chinese New Year or our Christmas) when family gets together, prepares and enjoys a large meal, and celebrates together with traditions and customs. There is a legend that goes along with the New Moon Festival - something about 7 suns and one god shooting down 6 suns. This god eventually became a hero and then turned evil.... I don't really know how it goes. Judy had a hard time explaining it and Charles didn't even know the legend. If our computer was working well, I'd google it but I'm just happy to be able to get on the internet as it is, so if you're really curious you can google it on your own, how's that? :)
Regardless of how the legend goes, Charles' parents wanted to celebrate the New Moon Festival with us. They found a Chinese market and bought all the foods necessary for this feast and spent the afternoon cooking up a storm. In Charles' family, it is their tradition that the men do the cooking, so Charles' dad cooked, Judy took care of Luke and Matt and I got to relax! So nice.

The food was delicious. We definately had to stretch ourselves with some dishes - neither Matt nor I had ever had squid before or had eaten a fish that was still looking at us, but it was good food, great company, and a fun experience overall.

Judy and Luke

Lindon cooking up a storm
Some of the dishes as they were being prepared

Still cooking... notice the fish on the stove-

it was probably swimming in the ocean just hours before this.

Getting ready to enjoy the feast! Using chopsticks of course

Mmmmmmm After the meal is over and the bulk of the dishes are cleaned up the tradition is to drink green tea and eat moon cake. We were supposed to go outside and eat the moon cake while looking at the moon, but for some reason we opted to stay inside. The moon cakes were pretty good - like a little pastry with a surprise inside, either fruit or chocolate. We also had a fruit called "Dragon's Eye". It seriously looks like and feels like an eyeball (or what I would assume an eyeball would feel like) when you peel the shell off.

Enjoying tea and moon cake

Peeling the shell off the Dragon's Eye

... and the fruit - I told you it really looked like an eye

The week previously was Jung's birthday. His main wish was for us to take him and some friends to Korea Town (I guess that's somewhere near LA) for Korean food. Well, Jung's birthday was on a Thursday and Matt was in Catalina at science camp and I wasn't super excited about taking a bunch of high school boys and Luke to 'Korea Town' when I had no idea where exactly that was, we opted to go out for Korean food instead. :) There is a little restuarant by the San Bernardino airport (seriously, a very little restuarant - like half hamburger joint, half Korean food - random). Matt missed out on eating the Korean food but the rest of us enjoyed it. On Friday, after Matt got home, we celebrated "American style" with a nice meal, birthday cake and gifts.

At the restuarant with all the Korean food spread out - in Korean culture you don't order individual plates for each person but order 'family style' for the group and everyone eats off the dishes in the middle of the table. We got our own bowl of rice and soup but that was it.
Luke and Charles having a good time - waiting for Jung to finish dinner... WOW can that kid eat!

Jung ordered a "cold noodle" for dessert. I was expecting it to more like a dessert - like cake or ice cream or something along those lines. NOPE - it was like another meal, with noodles, vegetable and a hard boiled egg. Interesting. Jung was SUPER excited about it though.

Ok, so I just had a picture here of Jung eating the cold noodle, but for some reason it disappeared... or I accidentally deleted it. Luke is now awake from his nap and demanding attention (he's scooting around like mad lately and is into EVERYTHING) so I'm not going to re-post the picture, at least not right now. Maybe next post, we'll see.

Bath Time Fun

Luke LOVES LOVES LOVES bathtime! His very first bath (at a few days old) was not an enjoyable experience for anyone but since then, Luke has learned that bath time can be wonderful! I think it has something to do with the fact that he is not hindered with clothes or a diaper - this kid LOVES being in the buff. He could be a little on the cranky side and we strip him down and he'll be instantly happy. And on the flip side, he could be totally happy (like after a bath) and when he start to get him dressed... instant melt down.

I decided to attempt taking some pictures of him in the tub (trying very hard to keep them G-rated) I was somewhat successful - I managed to get a few cute pictures, protect Luke's modesty AND I didn't drop the camera into the bathwater! I'd consider that successful. :)

SO happy to be in the tub!

He gets all giddy when he hears the water pouring out of the facet

I had a hard time getting him to look at me - he was FAR more interested in the duck

"look ma, no hands! I can chew on the duck AND go for the washcloth at the same time!"

Time to actually get clean

"ok, now that I'm clean... back to the duck"

I love this dopey face!

Yay for no tears baby soap!

Okay, so in all honesty Luke isn't the only one who has a good time when he's in the tub. I've been experimenting with various hair styles now that he's got a decent head of hair....

This is the dweeby alfalfa from Little Rascals

And this is the Thug in the Tub...

That's about it in terms of new hair styles, at least for now. I'm sure as more hair comes in my creativity will soar to new heights in that department. :)

All dry and snug and ready for bed, almost.

I have been going a little "camera happy" these past few days. Luke is learning and doing more and more every day. Its as if we can see him learning new things... SO much fun. I want to capture as many of these moments as possible. I was able to capture a few fun moments and thought I'd share them with you! Please overlook the fact that I sound like a complete idiot in the videos - I'm working on that. :)
Enjoy.

First some videos...

...and some pictures.

Most of these were taken when Matt and Luke were playing on our bed. Luke was having a WONDERFUL time, just laughing and squealing and living it up! Too cute to pass up